Saturday on the Bands...

After a week of lousy propagation we finally had a not-so-bad day today, and I managed to make contacts on both the west and east coasts.

Propagation this morning was: SFI=114, SN=73, A Index=6, and the K Index=1.

The main problem today was not making contacts, it was suffering through the high temperatures and humidity.  At 1500 UTC it was 32C (88F) with the humidity feeling like 42C (108F).  Not the most comfortable operating conditions, even with the wind coming in off Lake Ontario.

Radio was the KX3 at 10w, and my antenna was 17m, 40m, and 20m Hamsticks.  Yep, three bands, and 33 minutes to get 14 contacts.  

Here's todays contact map from Lemoine Point, VE-5141, Parks on the Air:

Stay safe out there!

2022 IOTA Contest...

Coming up this weekend is the Islands on the Air contest.  It's always interesting working the various islands that pop-up on the air, and I'm sure this weekend will be no different.

This year the dates and times are: 1200 UTC July 30th to 1200 UTC July 31st.

Rules can be found HERE.

Have fun, and stay safe!

Great Day on the Bands...

I decided to finally get out and do a POTA activation today.  The bands have not been the best over the last couple of weeks so I have not been up to too much.  I read today that the experts are calling what has been going on a "Propagation Tsunami" of back-to-back CME's and Solar Storms.

Todays propagation numbers while I was activating were: SFI=111, SN=83, A Index=17, and the K Index=2.

I drove down to Lemoine Point, VE-5141, and in 26 minutes had 24 contacts in my log.  Contacts were made on both 20m and 40m.  

Here's todays QSO map:

Radio in use today was my KX3, set at 10 watts.  Antenna was either a 20m or 40m hamstick, both worked very well.

Hopefully the bands will now start to behave and settle down.

A Tale of Two Hamsticks...

Over the past year I have mainly, for convenience, used Hamsticks for my portable activations, and I have been very happy with them.  The problem I have is switching between the various bands....especially in the winter!  That means getting out of the warm van and changing whips, it's a real pain and takes time, especially when it's -25C.

My hope was that I could set up Hamsticks for two different bands, and just use a coax switch to change bands, it would also speed things up in the long run.

So with this in mind, last week I decided to conduct an experiment with two 20m Hamsticks.  One would be mounted on the roof of my van with a 6" single mag-mount.  The other would be mounted on a camera tripod, and would have five 17 foot ground radials set out.

I set up my KX3 and went searching for a very loud 20m CW signal, and there were lots to chose from that day.

The coax for both antennas was connected to a two-position switch, with a RF isolator placed in line between the switch and the radio.  

Wow, what a difference!!  The hamstick mounted on the van roof was 4 db louder than the one mounted on the tripod.  I knew there would be a difference, but not that much.  Obviously this is not going to work for me.

Hopefully I'll come up with another idea before the snow flies again this year.

The set-up in the back of the van.

Come on Canada!!...

Coming up next month, 0001 UTC August 20 to 2359 UTC August 21, is the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend.   This year, 2022, is the 25th Anniversary of this event.  The International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend is an annual 48 hour amateur radio event held on the third full weekend in August.

Over the past few years the event has seen very few Canadian Lighthouses on the air.  We have lights on our three coasts and the Great Lakes, surely we can get a few more lights on the air this year?

The website with the Rules and Registration page is HERE.

Let's see if we Canadians can support this event better!

Solar Storm...

This doesn't look too good!!   This is the forecast for Monday to Wednesday.  Wednesday does not look to be a good day for chasing DX or POTA stations.

Updated 1550 UTC 5 July:

2022 IARU HF Championship...

Coming up next weekend, is what should be one of the best DX contests of the year, the IARU HF Championships.  

Hopefully the propagation will improve from the garbage we have been having, the bands will work as they are supposed to, and we will actually make some contacts.  

The idea of the contest is to contact as many other amateurs, especially IARU member society HQ stations, around the world as possible using the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter bands......I doubt 10m will have much action over the weekend, but you never know, stranger things have happened.

Dates for the event are from 1200 UTC 9th July to 1200 UTC on 10th July.

Rules for the event can be found HERE.

Good luck to everyone taking part!!

Antenna Comparisons...

On June 19th I wrote on this blog that I would like to see what the QSO pattern difference was between my operating using 10w and hamsticks versus my using 5w and a 40m EFHW up at 33 feet.

The EFHW was set up as a sloper along the East to West axis.

One difference in this experiment is that I changed operating locations by 115 km (71 miles) to the west of my home QTH. Another difference is that I dropped the power from 10w to 5w so I was legal under the Field Day rules.

So was there a difference?  Well, not really.  If you look at the QSO maps I have published over the past few months in the articles below this one, and then have a look at my Field Day contact map shown below, you will see virtually no difference in the area my contacts are made in.

Here's my stations Field Day map:

To me this shows that the difference between a 40m EFHW and a properly tuned and set-up 40m hamstick is negligible.  

Stay Safe Out There!