ARRL 10m Contest

This weekend we have more fun and games on the bands with this years edition of the ARRL's 10m contest.

Not sure how the contest will pan out this year, 10m has not been in good shape for a good couple of months now and the propagation numbers certainly don't give me any hope to celebrate.

My antennas seem to be in good shape, so we will forge ahead and see what we can do.

Rules and other information can be found HERE.

Not much has been going on in the VE3FI shack for the past few weeks.  The Ford Ranger that I have travelled about in for the past 9 years has been sold, and a 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan has been bought to replace it.

So far so good, the ride is comfortable and the gas mileage seems to be far better than the old Ranger.   The only issue seems to be interference from the on board computers with my Icom 2m rig I have had installed.  The only way I can comfortably operate is with the squelch turned full on, otherwise the constant noise drives me insane.

November Sweepstakes

Time to get those antennas tuned up and ready.

Coming up this weekend is the 2016 edition of the November Sweepstakes.  US and Canadian stations, working on 160m through 10m, try to work as many callsigns as possible.

Always a good contest, this year is shaping up to be a good one as well.

Let's hope the propagation improves somewhat.  At the moment (Friday) solar levels seem to be stuck at some pretty low levels.  The large coronal hole that caused the major issues in September and October is now rotating back into view on the face of the Sun.  Hopefully we'll get through the weekend first.....

Rules can be found HERE.

Robert (Bob) Goyetche, VE2PDT - SK

Just received the very sad news this morning that Bob, VE2PDT, became a Silent Key on November 10th.

Bob was part of the VE2 contingent that attended ChillyCon.   He will be missed.  My thoughts are with his family and friends, his sudden passing is a great shock.

Robert (Bob) Goyetche, VE2PDT

1969 - 2016

The memory of a good person is a blessing

Proverbs 10:7

Remembrance Day 2016

In Loving Memory of the

Officers, NCO's, and Men

of

2816 Squadron RAF Regiment

1941 - 1946

"PER ARDUA"

In Memory of

LCol David "Doc" Purich

Maj Colin "Turk" Fisher

MWO Ben Lemarbre

Cpl JC Smith

Gone, but never forgotten.

CQ WW Contest

It was an interesting weekend on the bands.  The propagation was not the best to say the least, and that led to some issues.  The LIDS were out in force, bitching and swearing at the contesters....you know it's very important that people use 1500w to talk on 20m across town discussing their most recent hemorrhoid medication.

I would really like to meet the American clown who was jamming me on 7.191 on Saturday afternoon because I was on "his" frequency....and he had a net to do on it in 2.5 hours!!!!!!!  The audacity of me to use that frequency.....I could tell he was foaming at the mouth about it and I thought he was going to declare war.   Who knows, maybe the FCC are now selling "personal" frequencies to help raise money........

Saturday morning saw the numbers at SFI=78, SN=16, A Index=26, and the K Index=3.  The bands were very noisy, and had some deep QSB issues.

One of the big issues was that there was very little east-west propagation, it was nearly all north-south.  It was relatively easy to work South America and the Caribbean, Europe was another matter all together!

Things were a little better on Sunday and I did manage to get Spain, Wales, Slovenia, Portugal, Finland, and Iceland in the log.  Best catch of the day was 6W1RY in Dakar, Senegal, on 15m mid-afternoon on Sunday.  I had been calling him on and off many times over the contest and finally broke the pileup.   New Zealand also got in the log as well as a couple of other unusual places.

Even with the idiots causing issues, I managed to put 82 countries in the log with 234 contacts....BUT..... I can tell you that I had to work for every one of them.

Next up is the ARRL Sweepstakes on November 19/20, and I have to get a better 15m antenna up ready for that contest.

NVIS Operating

Coming up next Sunday, October 16th, is the NVIS Event sponsored by the Peel ARC.  This event has had a lot of interest raised about it in Eastern and Southern Ontario.

Details on the event can be found HERE.

Timing for the event is 1300 to 1600 Local.

Frequencies are:  3.700 to 3.750.  7.060 to 7.070, and 5.357.

Stations taking part should call "CQ NVIS Ontario".

Hope to see you on the bands!

Hurricane Matthew Emergency Nets

Active for the past 2 days in response to the threat posed by Hurricane Matthew, the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) now has ramped up to its Alert Level 5 — “Catastrophic Response Mode.” As the dangerous category 4 storm has begun battering Haiti and threatens eastern Cuba, states along the US Eastern Seaboard now are taking serious notice. 

Emergency operations centers in Florida, Georgia, and Virginia are at full or partial activation, and the governors of Georgia and North Carolina have declared states of emergency. 

Matthew made landfall near Les Anglais in western Haiti at 1100 UTC. 

The following Frequencies are now in full time use and should be kept clear for emergency traffic:

Hurricane Watch Net: 14.325 & 7.268

Salvation Army SATERN Net: 14.265

Cuban Net: 7.110, 7.120, 7.045, 7.080, 3.740, and 3.720

Dominican Republic Net: 7.065

Be advised that Jamaica and Haiti also have nets running full time, but no frequencies have been made public yet.

New rig in the shack.....

There's a new rig in the VE3FI shack these days, an "almost" new FT-897D.  There's not a scratch on it!

This rig will replace my FT-857D as my main portable rig as it's getting a bit old, in fact it was the very first rig I ever bought when I was very first licensed.

It's really the same radio as the FT-857D, with some very slight differences.   I've made a good number of solid contacts today into both Europe and to the west coast with no issues using a 148' long wire.   So far I'm using a manual tuner with it, but a new LDG tuner is in the works for it.

Looking forward to operating portable with it.