Winter Field Day - The Result.

Absolutely fantastic band conditions for the 12th Annual Winter Field Day, held last weekend.

Operating SSB QRP with 10w I used the VE3UCC club call of the Upper Canada QRP Club.   The FT-897D was dialed back to the allowed 10w, and I used both my 148' Inverted L long wire antenna and my 80m OCF dipole.

The propagation numbers never changed the whole contest.  They stayed at SFI=76, SN=27, A index = 13, and the K index was 2.

There was quite a bit of deep QSB on Saturday, but it didn't really give me that much of a problem.

Washington - East & West, LAX, Orange, and San Francisco were all worked on the grey line late on Saturday.   BC and Alberta were worked early Sunday morning.  I had no issues getting my signal heard with only 10w on wire antennas.

There were lots of new hams on the air, some did very well....including Adonis, a 10-year-old "ham in training" who made 103 contacts by himself (ok, Dad was there) !!!!!  Well Done !!!!!

There is one ham though who deserves to be singled out.  That is Joseph, AC1DD.  He was working on 7.180 and was subjected to the most despicable and deliberate interference everytime he transmitted.    The foul language thrown at him had to be heard to be believed.  The two individuals doing the abuse never gave a callsign, but they did state that one was from GA and the other from AL.   Throughout this Joseph continued to call CQ and never let the abuse affect his work.

Every time I went past this frequency I gave a listen, and it went on over a four hour period.   Of all the abuse I heard, the only, and cleanest piece of it I could write is "No Sumbitch contests on my frequency."  Almost sounds like a challenge to me 😎

Looking forward to next years WFD.

My Contact Map.

Winter Field Day

Yep, it's that time of year again !!!!   Like to play out in the cold?  The 12th Annual Winter Field Day(TM) is upon us again next weekend, January 26 & 27.

The Rules can be found HERE.

Started in 2007 Winter Field Day(TM) has quickly become a firm favorite within the ham radio community.  Think of it as the ARRL Field Day in June, only without the bugs.

If you're looking for more information or help, have a look at the WFD Facebook Page HERE.  There's nearly always an Admin around to answer questions.

Stay warm....and have fun !!

NA QSO Party 2019

Coming up next weekend is the North American QSO Party.

Rules can be found HERE.

Dates and Timings are 1800 UTC January 19 to 0600 UTC January 20, 2019 (third full weekend in January).

We're looking at snow here next weekend so this contest may be a good reason to stay indoors and stay warm.

Not much else going on in the VE3FI shack at the moment.  Too cold to do much outdoor operating, so spring had better hurry up and get here!

Don't forget that Winter Field Day is coming up on January 26th & 27th.  Details HERE.

Happy New Year...

RAC Winter Contest

Had a great day yesterday taking part in the RAC Winter Contest.  It was a good warm up for Winter Field Day.

I managed to work everywhere except VY1, VE8, and VY0.  Strangely, there was no sign of any station out of the north this year.  There was quite a bit of European traffic on the bands, and I did manage to put France and the Netherlands in the log as well.

The score from last year was beaten by a big margin, many more multipliers jumped into the log this year compared to last year.  Yet the propagation was a lot worse.

Contacts were made on all bands except 160m and 10m.  Lots of traffic on 160m, just didn't hear anyone calling CQ Contest, and nobody responded to my CQ's.  And, as usual nothing at all was heard on 10m.  However 6m was very active and I managed a good number of contacts there.

At 1800 UTC on Saturday, the propagation numbers here were: SFI = 68, SN = 0, A Index = 24, and the K Index = 3.  Not the best set of numbers, but the actual activity on the band was out of all proportion to what we should have had given those figures.  So there you have it, get on the air and call CQ.

As a side note, this is my 500th Blog entry.  I never anticipated reaching this number, but now I'm here.........I think we'll keep going 😎

2019 will see some changes, some new radios are coming, and I'm planning a total rebuild of my antenna system.  The current antennas have been up  for six years and it's time for some major maintenance and changes to them.

Merry Christmas

They say the best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas surrounded by your precious family, and many great blessings for the coming year. 

and

I hope to work you all during the RAC Winter Contest
December 29th, 0001 - 2400 UTC

See You On The Bands!!

New Handheld...

The new radio arrived today, just in time for the empty box to go under the tree 😆.  I ordered a new dual band Yaesu FT-2DR, C4FM and analog handheld.

From what I've seen of it in the short time I played with it before the battery had to be put on charge, I'm going to enjoy this radio.

Over the past few years I've only owned Baofengs, so this is a real step up in the radio department and a huge learning curve.

This radio also has a built in GPS unit and does APRS, something I've not really been into before....so again, I'm looking forward to experimenting and messing around with it.

Ontario Island activations coming up....

I received the following information this morning and thought it may be of interest to a few readers of this Blog....

John, VE3ISE,  will be activating Lakecourt Island. ON-303. & Lighthouse CAN 1417 on Dec 15, 2018 at 1500Z on or about 7270 +/- QRM switching to 20m at 1630Z on or about 14270 +/- QRM.  Grid Reference for this is FN03fe38. 

ALSO:

He will be activating Forans Island, ON-293, & Lighthouse CAN 1417 on Saturday  Dec. 22, 2018 at  1500Z  on or about 7270 +/- QRM switching to 20m at 1630Z on or about 14270 +/- QRM....This area has heavy electric static but he will do his best. Grid Reference for this is also at FN03fe38. 

ALSO:

He will be activating Haywood Island, ON-292, & Lighthouse's CAN-540 & 541  On Dec. 29, 2018 at 1500Z on or about 7270 +/- QRM switching to 20m at 1630Z on or about 14270 +/- QRM.  Grid reference for this is at FN03ie. 

These activations are in conjunction with the ARLHS Christmas Lights QSO Party, and all of the above is dependent on weather.  

It looks like John has a few busy weekends coming up !!