Great Day at the Park

Todays operating location.

It was a beautiful day here in Kingston, a high of 23C with a light wind to keep the bugs away.  So, with nothing else to do it was off to the park after my morning walk to chase some POTA with VE3MNE and VE3ULC.

At 1700 UTC the propagation numbers were:  SFI=71, SN=12, A Index=6, and the K Index=1.   I had my KX3 with me and my new home-brewed 20m/40m linked dipole.   As my new Bioenno battery hasn't arrived yet I had my old 12v 7 amp SLA with me.

I finally managed to get the linked dipole on the analyzer and was very happy to see that I did not have to make any adjustments to it.  It looks good to go on 15m, 20m, and 40m.  I did not get it up very high in the trees, in fact the apex was only at about 20 feet, and the ends were about 3.5 feet off the ground.

I had a look at the POTA app on my phone and saw that Ed, W5LST, was active on 20m, so I gave him a call.  He came right back, and gave a me a lowly 22 - he was S9+10 at my end.  None the less I was happy as even at that low height I still managed a contact into Arkansas.

I have discovered that there are 7 POTA locations in or near Kingston, so it looks like I will be doing some activations in the very near future.

The finished linked dipole.

Lighthouses!!

I'm looking forward to this coming weekend, it's the annual International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend.  Timings are 0001 UTC August 22 to 2400 UTC August 23.

There are no rules, but the event guidelines are available HERE.

I think this will be a good event to do given the local Wuhan Flu restrictions we have here in Kingston.

My plan as of today, is to activate the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour Light on the Saturday.  I'll be using my KX3 and a 20m-40m home-brewed linked dipole.   Unfortunately my new Bioenno battery has not yet arrived, so it looks like I will have to charge up my small SLA's.

Hopefully the weather and propagation will cooperate.

NA QSO Party

The Fall edition of the NA QSO Party is being held on the weekend of August 15 & 16.   This contest is for any ham, regardless of QTH.  The object is to work as many North American stations as possible.

Rules for this year can be found HERE.

This seems to be a contest I normally don't take part in, this is because most years the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend takes place the same dates, and that's an event I like to do.   However, this year the ILLW has been pushed back a week due to the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the end of the Pacific war.

I'm not sure I will enter as a QRP station, I don't think the bands are going to be good enough, so I think this will be a QRO weekend.

Any weekend on the air is better than doing yard work 😊

Stay safe out there!!

IOTA 2020

This coming weekend, July 25-26, is the 2020 IOTA Contest.   There are a few rule changes for this year, and they can be found HERE.

There are a couple of rule changes that just don't make sense to me.  One is that there will be no DXpedition stations allowed, only home stations and single operators will be allowed.  

I understand completely that most remote DX islands are out of reach this year, I think we can all see that, but this rule seems to include mini-DXpeditions to local islands.  If local rules and laws allow for this type of activity under the current Covid-19 issue, I can see no problem with operating from a local island.

Let's be honest here, YOU know your current local situation and rules far better than some IOTA committee sitting in RSGB HQ in the UK does.

August Events...

Tired of sitting at home staying safe from Covid-19?  Is the XYL tired of you being in the house under her feet all the time?  Need an excuse to hide in the shack out of her way?  Have we got something for you!!

On the weekend of August 1st & 2nd, the annual Colorado 14er event is on.  Here's what their website has to say on this:

"Amateur Radio operators from around Colorado will be climbing many of Colorado’s 14,000-foot mountains and Summits On The Air (SOTA) peaks to set up amateur radio stations in an effort to communicate with other radio amateurs across the state and around the world. Join in on the fun during the 29th annual event and see how many of the mountaintop stations you can contact. The covers the entire weekend but many mountaintop activators will hit the trail early with the goal of being off the summits by noon due to lightning safety concerns."

A link to their website and other details is HERE.

That same weekend the South California SOTA guys are having an event called "SOTAFEST".  I believe this is the first time for this event.  

Details can be found HERE.

Having both of these events on the same weekend means there will be lots of summits on the air, all calling for contacts.  

So there you go, the weekend of August 1st & 2nd is planned for you.  Have fun.......stay safe......and you're welcome. 😊 

Linked Dipole

There's not much going on in the VE3FI household these days, due to covid-19.  As a result I decided to go through the rucksack that holds my KX3 and other portable radio gear and thought, "you need another antenna".  So, I looked at what I had, an EFHW and a Packtenna, and decided to build a linked dipole for 20m & 40m.

Good things have been written about linked dipoles, and I'm hoping that I will get 15m as a bonus on the one I'm building as a harmonic of 40m.....only testing will tell.  The beauty of it is that is will give me a full sized dipole on each band.

I've assembled all the parts, except for the four alligator clips I need.  I was sure I had some in my spare parts box, but apparently not.  I've ordered some and they should be here this week.

So far I have about $25 in wire and other parts which is certainly better than the $85 that a certain UK company wants for the same antenna.  

Pictures and results of the finished antenna will follow soon.

IARU HF Championship

Coming up this weekend, July 11 - 12, is the IARU HF World Championship.  The contest runs from 1200 UTC Saturday and ends at 1159 UTC on Sunday.

Rules for this contest can be found HERE, and I would suggest you read them before you start the contest.

Always lots of good DX available during this event, let's hope the propagation picks up before Saturday.

Another Good Day on the Bands...

Another Canada Day Contest is over.  I particularly like this contest, it is a lot more relaxed than other ones.

It did start off slow, but I think that as it was held mid-week this year, that certainly didn't help.  20m was the 'go-to' band for most of the weekend.  Contacts were made on all bands, 80m through 2m, in fact the only band I didn't manage a contact on was 160m.

Propagation was the now 'normal' low numbers.  As of 0030 UTC on Wednesday, the numbers were SFI = 69, Sn = 0, A Index = 4, and the K Index = 1.  Those numbers didn't improve all contest.

I did managed to work all Provinces, and the North West Territories.  I can't remember the last time I worked a VE8 station, so that was a real bonus.  

As usual the RAC HQ Stations were the centre of activity, with huge pileups every time they popped up on the bands.   Only the VE2, VE3, and VY2 RAC Stations never made it into the log, and it wasn't for the lack of searching for them. 

Once again I operated QRP using the KX3 and the EFHW antenna.  60 contacts are in the log, and that means last years score was beaten, as was the number of mults, so I'm pretty pleased with that.