Monday, 5 August 2024
Plugging Away....
Monday, 29 July 2024
Incoming Solar Storms...
Friday, 26 July 2024
Farewell to the FT-950...
Saturday, 20 July 2024
Support Your Park Event - Summer...
The weather last night and today was superb, comfortably warm, with a light breeze and blue skies. Great weather for being outside playing radio.
Propagation wise it was good on Saturday until 1530 UTC, after that contacts were very hard to get as the conditions started to deteriorate. The numbers were: SFI=202, SN=197, A Index=5, and the K Index=1. However, there was very deep QSB on the bands which certainly didn't help me.
One of the issues I'm finding here in the parks around Kingston is the fact that they are so busy in the summer. I know we're a tourist town, and it's good for business if the town is busy, but it gets difficult to find a parking spot in the parks unless you're there at the crack of dawn. Because they are busy it's also difficult to put up a wire antenna, I certainly don't want a lawsuit because some person, not watching where they're going, tripped over my radials or coax.
As my regular readers will know, my go-to antennas - for a long time - has been hamsticks, mounted on my truck's roof with a 5" mag-mount. I'm always surprised at how well they do, especially with 10w SSB. Last night, for a change, I dug out my Slidewinder coil with the 9.5' Buddipole whip, and used that. While it makes changing bands very easy, and it works very well, I didn't notice any significant improvement over my hamsticks.
We'll see how they do tomorrow....if the bands are usable again.
Stay Safe Out There!!
Monday, 15 July 2024
Bandpass Filters...
Monday, 8 July 2024
Great Day on the Bands...
It was an absolutely beautiful day, blue skies and 23C (74F) and because the site was on the river, the humidity was very low which made it very comfortable.
Propagation was pretty good, SFI=166, SN=119, A Index=3, and the K Index=1. However, there was quite a bit of deep QSB during the day and I know that cost me a couple of contacts by the end of the activation. Stations would be S9+ and a few seconds later would disappear for good.
Because it was a weekend the usual LIDS were out and about, you know.....the tuner-uppers and the whistlers, all of whom seem to come to your specific frequency just to play their silly games. I didn't let them bother me, I just carried on calling CQ and had a blast doing it.
When the SSB contacts died down I made a few contacts with my new portable key. It's made by Putikeeg, a company I had never heard of before. The key is great, it has a very smooth action, and the grip is perfect. I'm enjoying using it, and it wasn't that expensive either.
Contact wise I have done a lot better, but I put 36 contacts in the log. It wasn't a contest, and I took my time and had fun - which is what you're suppose to do.
Here's the contact map:
Stay Safe Out There !!
Thursday, 27 June 2024
Ticks...
I've no idea how this thing got on my back, I never felt anything crawling on me that I can remember. The tick has been removed, and placed, alive, in a pill bottle awaiting an appointment with my doctor.
This is the first time I've ever had a tick, so this has opened my eyes to the dangers of these little buggers!
If you're doing POTA or SOTA you need to be aware of these as they can cause several bad health issues.
One of the best websites I can find is this one HERE, produced by the Ontario Government. It's well worth the read, and it may save you some aggravation in the long run!!
If you live in Ontario, you might be interested in the map below:
Stay Safe Out There!!
Tuesday, 25 June 2024
Field Day...
Our club operated as a 5A QRP station, and did quite well given the lousy propagation we had over the weekend. We put 338 contacts in the log, and used 80m through 10m, minus the WARC bands. CW did 153, SSB did 131, and Digi did 54. Not too bad for a QRP battery powered setup. I guess we'll have to wait until next December, when the ARRL publishes the final scores, to find out how we actually did.