Portland.....Here We Come...

That's Portland, Ontario, ...not Maine or Oregon.  Tomorrow I'm heading there to meet up with another ham to activate Portland Conservation Area, VE-5957, for the Spring Support Your Parks Event.

Our weather for the past few days here has been spectacular...temps anywhere from 20C to 27C., and it's looking good for tomorrow as well.  So the good weather, plus the Support Your Parks Event, equals a road trip.

This will be the second time I have activated this conservation area, it's right on the historic Rideau Canada, and is very quiet electrically.

Propagation wise things have not been the best, but I noticed today that the SN had finally broke one hundred again, so if that remains for tomorrow we should be ok.  Today I did a short activation of VE-5141 at Lemoine Point on 40m and 15m, and did quite well.  The propagation numbers were:  SFI=160, SN=149, A Index=6 and the K Index=2.

Here's todays contact map:

Let's hope everything aligns tomorrow and we have a successful day.

Stay Safe Out There!!

Busy Weekend Coming Up...

I suspect there will be lots of activity on the bands this coming weekend if the list of contests and other events is correct.

Here's the list:

 

  - POTA Support Your Parks weekend

    - 0000 UTC Saturday to 2400 UTC Sunday

 

  - Ontario QSO Party

    - April 15 1800 UTC to April 16 0500 UTC, and April 16 1200 - 1800 UTC

 

  - Nebraska QSO Party

    - April 15 1300 UTC to April 16 0100 UTC, and April 16 1300 - 2200 UTC

 

  - Michigan QSO Party

    - April 15 1600 UTC to April 16 0400 UTC

 

  - North Dakota QSO Party

    - April 15 1800 UTC to April 16 1800 UTC

 

  - Quebec QSO Party

    - April 16 1200 - 2000 UTC  

Have Fun and Stay Safe Out There!!

Rough Propagation Today...

It was a windy -13C when I left the house this morning, a lot colder than what I was expecting. It's been nearly 2 weeks since I was out to do a POTA activation....so you know it just had to happen!

Today I chose to go to VE-5305, the Frontenac County Courthouse National Historic Site. The Court House was built between 1855 and 1858, and it is a beautiful old limestone building.

This was my third activation here, and it's always a difficult activation, the noise floor is perpetually through the roof, and today was no exception. I started off on 40m, and had to work with a S7 band noise.

I only made 16 contacts today, and it took 5 bands to do that.  Contacts were made on 70cm, 2m, 12m, 15m, and 40m. This was a record activation for band changes for me, and the first time I activated on the 70 cm and 12m bands.   Being the weekend I stayed away from 20m as it was extremely busy with nets of great importance.....or so I have been told on air.

Propagation numbers today were:  SFI=125, SN=23, A Index=13, and the K Index=3.  Let's all hope those numbers improve over the next few days!

I used 2 HF antennas today, my hamsticks, and a 9.5' Buddipole whip for 12m, and that's going to get more use.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

Incoming Storm...Updated

Get ready for a moderate (G2) geomagnetic storm watch has been added starting March 24th due to a large coronal hole now facing Earth. The solar wind stream flowing from this hole is predicted to reach our planet by Friday.

Here's an update, 1600 UTC, March 23:

And the current conditions as of 1604 UTC:

And here's the 0148 UTC update...an A Index of 60!!!!:

More to follow as it is made public.

The Amazon Truck...

Hopefully, when the Amazon delivery truck arrives...the wife is out 😀.  But today that wasn't the case, she was home.....oh well. I had ordered a couple of new items for the portable shack to make my life a bit easier.

First up was a Bioenno 12v 3amp battery.  This will allow me to hike into some of the POTA parks and not have a rucksack filled with a big heavy battery.  This one should give me a few hours at 10w.

And, the second item to be delivered was an "Anker Soundcore" powered speaker.  It came highly recommended by Thomas K4SWL and Bill K4NYM who both use one.  After so many hours flying on Chinook helicopters my hearing is not what it should be at all, and this speaker makes a huge difference with the KX3.

Here's some photo's:

Stay Safe Out There !!

Good Conditions...

I finally managed to get out and do another POTA activation yesterday, I needed to, it's been over a week since my last one, and it was time to escape from the house for a while.

The temperature was above zero....well, just...it was +1C.  The wind was pretty cold though, which certainly didn't help.

The propagation numbers were:  SFI=134, SN=23, A Index=7, and the K Index=2.  There was some QSB but not a lot, in fact it really didn't bother me at all.  

As usual in winter I used my KX3 and hamsticks for ease of set-up and yesterday was no different.  It was a slow day POTA wise, but I did hear many station taking part in the Russian DX Contest.  Be what it may, but I only managed to put 11 contacts in the log.  I did make contacts with DX stations in Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, and the Dominican Republic.  Not bad for 10w and a 10m Hamstick!!

Here's yesterday's contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

A Quick POTA Activation...

Yesterday I thought I would sneak off to the local park and do a quick POTA activation, the weather was nice...and as a bonus the temperature was above zero, in fact it was +3C and no wind !!

The propagation numbers were: SFI=180, SN=155, A Index=22, and the K Index=2.  Not the best of numbers, but I've activated in much worse at the bottom of Cycle 24.

So it was off to Lemoine Point, VE-5141, which is about 15 minutes from my QTH, and surprisingly it was very busy for a weekday.  It took me longer to find a good parking spot than it did to get the park activated.

First up was 10m, and while the band was quiet, there was very little traffic on it.  I ended up with five contacts there before moving on to 40m, which while very noisy, managed to scare up 14 more contacts for me.  

Radio was the KX3 at 10w, and the antenna was a 10m or 40m hamstick mounted on a mag-mount on the roof of the van.  

Here's the contact map.....I'll let you guys figure out which were the 10m and which were the 40m contacts!

Stay Safe Out There!

Not a bad weekend to be on the bands...

Not a bad weekend to be on the bands!!  This weekend was the ARRL SSB DX Contest, and I managed to put 30 countries in my log in about 2.5 hours of on-air time.  My "go-to" bands were 10m & 15m, in fact I never even checked any of the other bands at all.  It's nice to see something other than 20m & 40m being used.

I must admit that after spending the last 2 years not contesting at all, I have come to love the laid back attitude of the POTA activations I do.  This weekend was fine to put a few DX entities in the log again, but I can't see me getting seriously back into contesting like I used to do.  Being asked to repeat my callsign three or four times, and then getting a "59" signal report, just makes me laugh now.  

Another thing that crossed my mind today, is why is it that we mostly only hear these European stations during contests?  Do they never get on and call CQ during weekdays or evenings....or do they only take part in contest weekends?

Was it just me or did it seem there were less stations calling CQ this weekend?  While the bands were busy, they did not seem as busy as years past.  Too many people hanging out on 14.074 it would seem.

Propagation on Saturday was:  SFI=175, SN=122, A Index=22, and the K Index=2.  

Antenna in use this weekend was my 80m EFHW fed with a 49:1 Unun.  If nothing else it's nice to know the antenna is still capable of working DX.  Radio was trusty my FT-950 at 100w.

Saturday's contact map: