This Weekend...

Coming up this weekend is the POTA Support Your Parks Fall Event.   The event runs from 0001 UTC 20 October to 2359 UTC 21 October.

All bands are usable as this is not a contest.

I have plans in place to activate both Portland Bay, and Mill Pond Conservation Areas on Sunday, hopefully along with a couple of other hams, so keep your eyes on POTA Spots or VE3FI.  

The WX doesn't look too good at the moment with lots of rain in the forecast, it's not going to be very warm either.  I will have do deal with a wet activation when I arrive at the first park, although sitting in a wet jacket and pants in my truck isn't how I want to spend my day.

Stay Safe Out There!

Fall Activating....

It was a good day to be on 20m this morning, not so good if you were looking to get on 40m.  I understand that 17m, 15m, 12m, and 10m, were also very good, but I didn't have the time to check them out today.

Propagation today was: SFI=164, SN=133, A Index=4, and the K Index=1, with lots of QSB as well. Some stations just disappeared after giving their callsign....never to be heard again.

Today was the first time I've managed to get out to play radio in a week, and it felt good to get on the bands, even for a short time.

Radio, as usual, was my KX3 set at 10w, and the antenna was a 20m hamstick on the roof of the truck using a 5" mag-mount.

The weather is starting to get cool during the day, so I am making sure I can operate comfortably from the cab of the truck, especially for when the snow starts to fly.......which I'm sure won't be that long.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There....

Monday at the Park...

The weather and propagation forecasts didn't look very promising when I first looked at them in the morning, it was supposed to be cool and poor propagation.  By the time I had finished my daily walk, things had improved.  So it was home to grab my radio gear and off to Parrotts Bay and another activation.

Parrott's Bay is named after James and Marie Parrott, who arrived there in 1784 as United Empire Loyalists fleeing New York in the aftermath of the American Revolution.

Considering how nice the day had turned out, I was very surprised to find I was the only person at the Conservation Area, and the trails and parking lot were all empty.  It was a very peaceful spot, and the scenery wasn't too bad either.

By the time I finally got myself setup  and ready to go on the air, it had reached a temperature of 21C, under a deep blue sky.  I had to remind myself that it is now October and this type of weather here is highly unusual.  

Radio of the day was my KX3, and my antenna was a hamstick for whatever band I was on.  I could have put up a wire antenna....but I was too lazy 😎

The propagation numbers were: SFI=159, SN=92, A Index=10, and the K Index=2.

I setup first for 40m and managed a total of 7 contacts there before the band went quiet.  I then moved to 20m and didn't make a single contact - between a very noisy band, deep QSB, and it being far too busy to find a quiet spot to operate on, I was wasting my time.  In the end, in a last ditch effort to save the activation I moved to 15m, and what a ride that was.

15m was wide open and busy with signals.  First up was Neal 2E0MNG, closely followed by Jose EA1BUL.  Next up was Steven AC6DX in California......and the rest of the activation went just like that, a non-stop pileup.  

Here's the days contact map:

The Fall Colours are starting to pop out these days.

Stay Safe Out There!!

Mohawk Island....

This Saturday weather permitting, there will be four operators kayaking to activate the old Gull Island Lighthouse on ON314 Mohawk Island and VE-0058 Mohawk Island National Wildlife Area.

The island is a couple miles off the northeast shore of Lake Erie in Ontario, Canada. 

Keep your eyes on the POTA spotting page on Sept 30 for K2EAG/VE3 (CW), N3ARB/VE3 (SSB), VE3GKT (SSB/FT8/4) and VE3JZT (CW/SSB). 

They will operate phone, digital and CW, on as many bands as possible.

Chillycon 2023 - the Aftermath...

Another Chillycon has come and gone, and what a camp it was this year!  We could not have asked for better weather, five days of brilliant sunshine with decent temperatures in the high 20's most days, and not a drop of rain.

A number of the usual regular campers did not attend, although two of them did in fact come and spend most of a day with us. Obviously the change of dates from purely a weekend event to a mid-week event didn't suit some people.  I understand next year it will go back to a weekend event only.

The propagation forecast for the week did not look too good at first, but actually things worked out very well, and we had a few days in a row of really good propagation for a change.  

Eric VE3DN, last years winner of the DX Trophy couldn't make it to the camp, but did show up for a few hours on Friday to do some operating - and try to save his winning reputation.........unfortunately it wasn't to be.  The winner of this years Upper Canada Trophy for DX Excellence is Eric VA3DXP, a first time attendee, with a 6w CW contact with YC2VOC in Indonesia, 15,000 km away, or 2500 km per watt.  Well done Eric!!  It's great to see somebody give the other Eric some serious competition!

I managed to put 155 contacts in my log over the three day period, operating very casually, and I really enjoyed myself.  This event is a great way to get rid of the stress in your life, and this year I needed the break.  

Below are some pictures of the event....

The winning DX Contest Station

Don VE3MNE and Matt VA3UMM building an antenna

 

The gathering of the minds....

Eric VE3DN presenting the DX Trophy to Eric VA3DXP

Eric VE3DN with Eric VA3DXP.

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!!