Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour

Next weekend, June 11th & 12th, is the 49th running of the Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour, and the 14th year the Frontenac Radio Group has provided communications support for the event.  After a two year hiatus we have managed to scrape together enough volunteers to look after our normal communications locations.  This Saturday will be the first time in 2 years we have had the whole gang together, in person, since Covid hit us.

We do have the threat of rain on us this weekend.  It's only a 30% chance, but it's not a thing we need or want.  The last time we got hit with cold rain was 10 years ago, that year 60% of the riders went down with hypothermia with the tour being abandoned half way, and riders evacuated by bus back to Ottawa.

There are only 1300 riders registered this year, the numbers being reduced from the more normal 2100 due to covid concerns.

For those hams who regularly use the VE3FRG repeater here in Kingston, please note it will be out of service next weekend and reserved for the Bike Tour traffic only.  If you need a repeater please use the VE3KBR repeater on 146.940- with a 151.4 tone.

If you're in any of the locations shown on the map below over the weekend, please watch out for the cyclists.

ARRL Field Day 2022...

Now, last year, after Field Day finished, I wrote that I wouldn't take part in it again due to the silly rule changes the ARRL had made because of Covid 19 that ended up making a total mockery of Field Day.   Then early this year I commented, negatively, about the ARRL voting to make these silly rule changes permanent because it had allowed so many more hams to take part....never mind the poor operating habits and bad behaviour those changes had encouraged.

I still think they are silly rule changes, nobody will change my mind on that.  It's called "Field Day"....not "Sit at home and operate from the comfort of your Shack Day".  Field Day is supposed to make you think, and operate, outside the box.  It was designed to make you travel to, and operate portable from an unprepared location, and then compare your results against those of the other participants who had done exactly the same as you had.

This is now hard to do when operating from a temporary field location, operating from batteries, using less than optimum wire antennas, when the people you're comparing yourself too are using 1500 watts with professionally installed towers and beams...all from the comfort of their normal home shacks.  It seems to me that the whole spirit of Field Day has been thrown away in order to make the event "bigger and better".

This year I have decided that I will in fact operate during the event.  I have been invited to Northumberland County to take part in a QRP Field Day.  You know, 5w maximum, and only home-brewed wire antennas allowed.  I'm going to have fun, tell tall tales and swop lies with friends I haven't seen in two years, and I will ignore those lazy individuals who decided to stay home and operate from the comfort of their own homes instead of following the true Spirit of Field Day.

It's going to be fun.

Stay Safe Out There!

Can You Trust the Propagation Forecast??...

Over the past two months I, and others, have noticed two things with propagation.  The first thing is that when the forecasted numbers are bad, we're still making good contacts.  The second thing is when the forecasted numbers are good, there's no contacts to be seen.....anywhere.

Today was a good example.  The forecasted propagation. numbers were:  SFI=102, SN=34, A Index=24, and the K Index=3.  It certainly didn't look very good, as an example the SN was at 110 a few days ago.  Today we also had some extremely deep QSB, which made making contacts, and hearing contacts, much harder.

This morning I went to Lemoine Point Conservation Area, VE-5141, for a quick POTA activation. I decided to use my Packtenna 20m EFHW antenna today, instead of my Hamsticks.

The picture to the left shows the 20m EFHW antenna with the 40m extension, and the home-brewed centre piece to hold it on the mast.

Using an analyzer Don, VE3MNE, and I ran the numbers on the End-Fed.  Just configured as the 20m antenna, and without the extension to take it down to 40m.  

The numbers where:  14.040 it was 1.9:1 and at 14.340 it was 1.8:1.   While it is usable, it wasn't so good on 10m, 28.040 was 2.5:1 and at 28.450 it was 2.4:1.  

It worked very well for me on 20m.  I went QRT with 13 contacts in the log after 20 minutes.  This little antenna will definitely get some more use this summer.

Here's todays activation map:

As for the propagation numbers?  Yeah, I think I will continue to note them, but ignore them...maybe I'll make more contacts that way!

Stay safe out there!

Saturday Night on the Bands...

Yesterday evening I decided to drive to Fort Henry and see what I could do on the bands for our clubs bi-monthly QRP Sprint.  The weather has not been the best here this long weekend, in fact we have had three people killed in a severe wind storm by falling trees that afternoon.  Luckily, the area I live in escaped the worst of it and had no damage.  Later in the day it was all over and things were already back to normal.

During the day the bands had been filled with deep QSB and near constant huge static crashes.  As a result I wasn't too sure how things would turn out that evening, but it was very nice out, and the temperature was 22C under beautiful blue skies.  

The propagation numbers for the evening were:  SFI=166, SN=110, A Index=10, and the K Index=2.

As is now usual for me, the radio was my KX3 set at 10w, and Hamsticks for my antenna.

At 2300 UTC I started on 20m, and first up was Luis, EA4TL, immediately followed by Rubens, IU1HJF. I ended up with 29 contacts, including YV1SW in Venezuela, and KP4M in Puerto Rico.  Other contacts were made out to Washington State, Louisiana, and Texas among others.  It ended up being a really good night on the hill.

Here are my contact maps by band, 20m on top and 40m below:

Friday in the Park...

Another day in the park, and another day of bad bands and deep QSB.   The propagation numbers today were SFI=173, SN=154, A Index=10, and the K Index=3.  The good news is that it was blue skies, sunny, and 22C, which certainly made up for those cold activations I did last winter.

Today was probably a good example of when not to use QRP power levels, but I still managed to have a successful activation, it just took longer.  As usual I was running 10w with my KX3, and hamsticks for my antennas.  There was no room at the activation site to set up a EFHW or a dipole.

It took me over an hour today to make 16 contacts, my slowest day ever...so far.   The QSB on 20m and 40m was terrible, quite possibly the worst I've heard it this year.  S9 stations disappeared in nano-seconds...never to be heard from again.

I only managed to get 2 contacts on 40m, and they were both local.  I must have called on 40m for 20 minutes with no luck before I moved to 20m which turned out to be a bit better, but you still had to work to get the contacts.

It's a long weekend here in Canada, so hopefully the bands will improve so we can enjoy ourselves!

Here's todays QSO map:

Stay Safe out there!!

Bad Bands?...

The bands do not seem to be very good these days.  The propagation numbers, while they look good, certainly don't perform the way you would expect them too.

During the day on Saturday the propagation numbers looked good, but contacts were pretty rare. Where I could hear stations calling (and there were not many), they were very much in my noise floor, and I was not able to work them.

On Saturday evening I decided to go to a local park and do a POTA activation, and to be honest, after my attempts during the day, I did not think I would get the 10 contacts to successfully activate it.  Man, was I wrong!

The propagation numbers in the evening were:  SFI=153, SN=120, A Index=7, and the K Index=2.  

I started at 0001 UTC, and in 44 minutes using my KX3 and a set of Hamsticks for 20m and 40m, I made 47 solid contacts, including two out to California, and a DX contact with Manuel, EA1GIB, in Spain.  Not too bad for 10w!!

There was some QSB, and I did have a S5 noise floor on 40m, but the stations kept coming. In the end it was a great night.

The night's QSO map:

A Beautiful Day...

What a great day it was, the temperature got up to a fantastic 23C.  I couldn't let that go to waste, so it was off to play some portable radio with the KX3.

Once again the actual propagation numbers belied how the bands were actually performing.  Propagation numbers this morning were:  SFI=119, SN=89, A Index=6, and the K Index=1.  However, there was very deep QSB on 20m which certainly didn't help matters.  It took me exactly 30 minutes to make 20 contacts, the furthest of which was in Washington State.

After 13 contacts I moved to 40m and made another seven contacts there.  I had been sitting on 14.297, and out of nowhere a noisy Over-the-Horizon Radar (Russian or Chinese??) started up on that frequency and that was it.....time to QSY to 40m.  The IARU Region 1 Monitoring System has been trying to keep track of these interlopers, who seem to keep popping up all over the 20m, 15m, and 10m bands.  I am going to suggest that this will continue as long as the conflict in Ukraine continues.

Apart from the QRM and the bad QSB, it was very nice to be able to operate outside in shorts and a t-shirt again.  

Todays QSO Map:

FT-891...

A new rig found its way into my shack this week, a new FT-891.  What an amazing little rig it is, 160 - 6m in a compact package.  Along with the rig a LDG Z11 Pro II showed up.

This rig will not replace my KX3 for portable operating, for one thing it's quite a heavy little rig, but it will be more a back up rig in the shack.   

I've had my main rig, the FT-950 for 12 years now, and while it's a fantastic radio, I simply do not use it to its full potential.  I'm no longer contesting these days and I feel it's just a waste of radio sitting on my bench.  It will probably be on the market soon.

Tomorrow I'm off to the park for our club weekly meet-up, and will be taking the FT-891 to give it a first work out to see what it can do.  Stay tuned for news on that.

Stay safe out there!!