Good day on the Bands...

Yesterday was a great day to be out doing portable radio.  It was dry, warm, and very sunny.....and yes, the propagation wasn't too bad.

Propagations was: SFI=139 SN=86 A Index=7 and the K Index=1.  

I went to Lemoine Point and did two activates at the same time, I activated it for POTA, and I took part in the QRP Afield Contest for a few hours.  There did not seem to be too many QRP'ers about, but I still managed to get 22 in the log.

I started off on 40m and it wasn't too bad, there was a bit of QSB, but nothing that couldn't be worked around, and all of the contacts were within the usual 40m range.  The band soon dried up and after 14 in the log I decided to move to 15m and see what I could do there.  First up was Jose EA1BUL, from Asturias, Spain, he gave me a 59 signal report.  He was immediately followed by two back-to-back K6 stations out of California.  The band seemed to change and I finished the day with 3 contacts into Florida. Not too shabby for a KX3 at 10w and a Hamstick!

Here's the days contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

This Weekend...

This Saturday, September 16th, is the date for this years QRP Afield event, sponsored by the New England QRP Club.

This is one of the few QRP Contests, that I have found, that allows all modes - and it runs from 1500 to 2100 UTC.  Six hours of QRP bliss!

Rules for this event can be found HERE.

Looking forward to working some of you in the contest.

As an added bonus, the weekends propagation doesn't look too bad.....well, after this weeks surprise CME, it couldn't get much worse.  However, here's the forecast for Saturday, the 16th:

Have fun, and Stay Safe Out There!

Back At Lemoine Point...

I had a great day today activating Lemoine Point, VE-5141, for POTA. The extremely high heat and humidity of last week has gone away, and the weather is certainly more autumn like these days - and I'm loving it!

Today's propagation was mediocre at best.  There was lots of very deep QSB going on, and this was coupled with high noise on 20m and 40m. The propagation numbers were: SFI=161, SN=127, A Index=8, and the K Index=1. Having said it was a mediocre day, it was the best day we have had for over a week.

The antenna today was my 29' vertical random wire, with a 9:1 unun, and three 17' ground radials. The radio was my KX3 set at 10w.

While todays contact map is nothing spectacular, I had a pleasant hour and a lot of fun working the park hunters.

Here's todays map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

Not Looking Good...Updated

This weekend is shaping up to be not so good propagation wise.  Here's the official forecast:

"The geomagnetic field is expected to be primarily at quiet to unsettled 
levels on 1 Sep due to weak, positive polarity CH HSS effects. By late
2 Sep to early on 3 Sep, active conditions are expected, with a minor G1
storm level more than likely and a chance for moderate G2 conditions,
when the 30 Aug CME is now predicted to arrive."

Update as of 1111 UTC:



Let's see how this plays out over the next few days.

Stay Safe Out There!

W/VE Island QSO Party...

Coming up this weekend....

Get out and have some fun.......and Stay Safe Out There!!

2m -- the lonely band...

A few years ago I wrote here about the lack of use on 2m in Canada, and today I was thinking about how nothing has changed over the years regarding the use of that band.

Interestingly though, recently I have made a few contacts on both 2m and 70cm during POTA activations, but most of them were pre-planned before I left the house. We are always hearing that if we don't use our allotted frequencies we could lose them, and as I have said before, given the level of corporate greed out there these days, we should take absolutely nothing for granted.

I am a keen follower of the following blogs, Irish Ham Radio, The Radio Rover, and Chris M0RSF. I'm always amazed at the amount of traffic those three gentlemen generate on 2m simplex during their WWFF and SOTA activations.

We have hams here who collect Grid Squares, but it seems only during contests, and it's primarily only done on 6m.  We have SOTA in North America also, but not much is done on 2m simplex, especially here in Ontario.  It’s nowhere near as popular here as it is in Europe.

The UK, and several other countries, also has HEMA, an organization that is similar to SOTA, but for smaller summits.  It’s very popular, but it appears to be only operating in VE3 land here in North America.  We also have the GMA, which also has a summit in VE3 land, hopefully that's just the start.  All of these activities support 2m activity, yet there seems to be very little of it here in Canada and North America in general.

While there are plenty of activities to do on 2m, it would seem, however, the real issue is getting people out of their shacks, and getting involved in some of these activities to make sure we don’t lose our frequencies.

Remember, the Europeans only have 144 to 146 and do all of the above activites.  Here in North America we have twice that amount of frequency, 144 to 148, and apart from a pile of dead repeaters that get used once a week for a poorly attended net, not much else goes on.  

I have just discovered that the Wireless Society of Southern Maine, does in fact hold an annual 2m contest!  Here's the link to the RULES. 

So don't forget about 2m...and 70cm...during your portable operations!

Coming Up August 19th & 20th...

This weekend, as well as the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend, is the North America QSO SSB Party. The contest runs from 1800 UTC August 19th to 0559 UTC August 20th.  

It's nice to see they have a QRP classification for this contest, I might have to dabble in it.

Rules can be found HERE.

Stay Safe Out There!

Monday at the Park...

As promised there was another POTA activation completed on Monday morning.  The weather was fantastic, a clear sky and a good breeze to keep the bugs away....can't ask for more than that!

This time I used my 33' mast, and a 29' radiator with two 17' ground radials and a 9:1 unun.  It worked very well and contacts on 20m were made to WA, NM, and TX, 14 amongst other states on 40m. 

Propagation was about the same as Sunday, SFI=150, SN=85, A Index=5, and the K Index=0.

This antenna will definitely get used more often.

Monday's contact map:

Stay Safe Out There !!