POTA Activation...

What a beautiful November day it was here.  Not a cloud in the deep blue sky, and the temperature was an unbelievable 15C...almost unheard of in mid-November.

It was still early when I headed off down the highway to Lower Brewers Mill Locks on the Rideau Canal. This is site VE-4882, the Rideau Canal National Historic Site.  It's not a rare one, it's been activated several times...but given the large crowds out enjoying this good weather, it was my only choice to avoid the crowds.

I used some very simple antennas today, just a MFJ-1979 17' telescopic whip mounted on a Buddipole Versa-Tee about 7' off of the ground with a single 17' elevated counterpoise for 20m.  I also borrowed a 40m Ham Stick, mounted on large mag-mount thrown on the roof of my van.

Surprisingly, both antennas worked very well.....way better than I thought they would.  Contacts were made in ON, FL, AL, KY, LA, IN, PA, NJ, WV, and MI.   Most of my signal reports were 55 to 59 and I'm really pleased with that.   I managed to put four P2P contacts in the log today and had the site activated within the first 30 minutes.

Radio used today was my KX3, powered by a 1212a Bioenno Battery, and it worked flawlessly.   I'm really looking forward to doing many more POTA activations over the winter months from several locations around Kingston.  

Today's propagation numbers!

The Lock at Lower Brewers Mill

Rideau River

Great Propagation!!!!

Well, have you guys seen the propagation numbers tonight?  They are outstanding, I haven't seen numbers like this is 4 years!!

Hopefully this is a sign of even better propagation to come!

NA SSB Sprint...

Looking for something to do this weekend?  The North American SSB Sprint takes place on November 1st, from 0000 UTC to 0359 UTC.  I'm hoping to have more success doing the Sprint than I did last weekend doing the CQ WW DX Contest. 

The Rules can be found HERE.

I have decided that in future I will stay away from the BIG contests, and stick to the smaller ones....you know the ones, the type the big guns don't bother with.  I, and others, have quickly reached the conclusion that individuals who play within the set rules of a contest will never win.  There seems to be too many people running power levels far above the legally allowed limit, and who openly brag about it on the air without fear of any repercussions from the authorities, whether that's the FCC or Industry Canada. 

When you hear hams, on the air, complaining that even though they are running 3k and in one case, 5k of power in order to make contacts, something is wrong.  Yes, I know propagation was bad last weekend for the contest, but that's the cards you play with.  It doesn't mean you can continue to turn up the power until somebody hears you.  The rules are there for a reason, it's time people followed them.

CQ WW DX SSB Contest

This weekend see this years CQ WW DX SSB Contest kick off.  I will not be operating from the VE9FI contest station this year....for obvious reasons, which is a shame as I was really looking forward to it this year.  

Luckily for me my home antennas and other gear are in good shape and I will be able to take part from the VE3FI shack.   The FT-950 is warming up after being neglected as the KX3 has been the radio of choice for the past while.

I was going to activate a local POTA Park this weekend, but I'm beginning to think that would be a waste of time given how busy the bands will be with the contest.  The POTA activation will have to wait for the weekend after....hopefully the weather will still be good and warm enough to do it, that's always a risk this time of year.  I hate putting up portable antennas in the cold and snow.

This past week I have spent chasing POTA activations and having some fun on the HF bands now that they are starting to improve.  I read that over the winter activations from the Northern States and Canada start to drop off due to the cold weather, and the stations in the Southern States take up the slack to keep things ticking over.  I have plans for at least 6 local activations over the winter, and depending on the snow conditions, perhaps a few more.

I hope you're all staying safe out there!!

Tuner Uppers !!!

Sunday in the Park

I managed to spend a few hours Sunday morning down in the local park testing out an antenna and chasing POTA Stations...it was very relaxing.

It was not really a good day, propagation wise, to be out playing portable radio.  The numbers looked terrible.  SFI=73, SN=0, A=26, K=2.  It was only later after I got home that I saw the numbers had actually got a lot worse.

 So I was quite surprised when I called K5CIP on 20m and he came right back to me.  He was operating from the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, 80 km west of Austin, Texas. Not too shabby for 10w SSB into a non-resonant antenna.

The other two contacts of the day were N8LEK and KC9IL, both stations were in Michigan, and done on 40m.

I answered many more but the KX3 and 10w just didn't cut it that day.  I did manage a "contact" of sorts with Steve, WG0AT on top of Mt Herman, Colorado.  I answered his CW CQ, he sent back my callsign, and then my key decided to stop working!!  I sent an email to Steve when I got home explaining what happened, and he was very gracious about it.

The antenna in use was what I call the "Whiskey Goat".  It was built using dimensions sent to me by Steve, WG0AT a year or so ago.  It is a 45.5' radiator and a single 17' radial.  It allows me to operate on all bands from 40m to 6m, and I have even made an 80m contact with it.  It's made with 26 gauge wire and weights nothing.  The KX3 tuner has no issues with it at all.

Stay safe out there!!

Parks on the Air

One of the things I did over the Chillycon weekend was to activate two Parks on the Air locations.  The first one I did was Rideau River Provincial Park, VE-0365. This was the first one I have ever done, and it was a lot of fun.

My first contact spotted me on the POTA system and all hell broke loose on my frequency. Honestly, it was like being at some exotic South Pacific Island on a DXpedition it was that busy. 

The second activation I did on Saturday, was the Rideau Canal National Historic Site, VE-4882. Again, it was a lot of fun and it created pileups on the frequency.  

What was the amazing part about all this is the fact I was QRP the whole time. 10w out of the KX3 into my 20m /40m linked dipole....and still creating pileups. I had contacts from PEI to Montana and everywhere in between.

After doing a bit of research I find that here are a number of POTA locations in and around Kingston that I can activate, so I think I have found a new niche in the hobby.

Stay safe out there!

We Survived...

This year we have changed the name from Chillycon to "Freezingcon".  This was without a doubt the coldest Chillycon I have attended over the past 13 years.....but at the same time it was one of the few we had no rain over the weekend.

Participant numbers was down from previous years, but we expected that with the Wuhan Flu going about.  We had 6 from Kingston, 6 from Ottawa, and a visitor on Saturday from Quebec.  Instead of the traditional Pizza supper on Saturday night, we had BBQ steak instead......and I think we now may have a new tradition 😎

Something new this year, I did two successful POTA activations from the park, and had a really great time doing them.  Friday morning I was spotted on the POTA website and within seconds I had a pileup.  It was the same on Saturday morning.  

I operated from inside the van over the weekend due to the cold temperatures.  It wasn't really comfortable and I'm going to have to rig up a portable operating position I can install and remove as needed.

Radio was the KX3, and the antenna was my 20/40m linked dipole, set up for 40m..and where it stayed all weekend.  I didn't even try 20m.  My 33' MFJ mast finally failed when I took it down on Sunday morning.  It's served me well over the past 14 years, but it was still not a pretty scene seeing it there broken.

The bands were not in the best condition over the four days, there was very deep QSB, and that made it harder for QRP stations such as myself.  I still managed to put 24 QRP contacts in the log though, so I'm well pleased with that.  The propagation numbers on Friday was: SFI=69, SN=0, A Index=4, and the K Index=2.

VA3AMX getting the
trophy from VE3MNE

Of course the highlight of the weekend is the DX Contest, sponsored by the Upper Canada QRP Club.  Over the past three years Eric, VA3AMX, has tried very hard to win the trophy......all with no success.  He has tried hard, and has placed second a couple of times.  This year, due to a lack of participants, the expert DXers amongst them, he won, with a DX contact to Bulgaria.....beating the second place station by 143 km.  I'm going to assume that the Kingston Skunk Works and DG Engineering will be working overtime this winter on new antenna designs to be ready for next year.

So that's it for another year.  Hopefully we will be back to normal by next September and we can have a non-social distancing Chillycon with the numbers of participants back to normal numbers.

Stay safe out there!!