A 10m Day...

It was a dark and cloudy day here today, temperature was hovering around 10C (50F), and we had light rain coming through the area.  Over all, not a nice day...but a perfect day for playing portable radio!

Ten meters was today's go-to band, it was filled with signals, and most of them coming in from Europe. I decided to make that the first band I tried, and it ended up being the only band I needed.

Up first was Jerry F4HJO, followed by Danny ON4VT, and Thomas SM3NRY. Then, for some reason, I worked five stations from Texas in a row. As quick as it arrived the pipeline to Texas disappeared and I was once again making contacts into Europe. S57MS, M0TTQ, EA4TL, GW5GDP all went into the log, one after another.

Today's propagation was nothing special, SFI=214, SN=108, A Index=20, and the K Index=1, but it was certainly working for me. Radio was of course my KX3 set for 10w, and I was using my normal antenna, a 10m Hamstick on the roof of my truck.  

The activation of CA-0023 ended with 21 contacts in my log, and I'm quite pleased with that.

Here's todays contact map:

I'm planning on going to a different park tomorrow, so we shall see how that turns out!

Stay Safe Out There!

More Bad Propagation...

This just in......

It looks like Thursday and Friday are going to be very poor radio days!!

Stay Safe Out There!!

Propagation...

It's going to be a rough few days on the bands by the look of the latest forecast from SolarHam:

"The latest geomagnetic forecast as of 00:35 UTC (Oct 4).

While there is (G3) storming in the forecast for Friday due to the X7.1/CME predicted to pass Earth, that plasma cloud was fairly faint and there is less certainty with the dynamics of that particular event. The stronger CME observed on Thursday associated the X9.0 flare is more likely to impact our geomagnetic field with a passage predicted sometime on Saturday (Oct 5). Keep in mind the timing of this hourly forecast is all dependent on the CME's arriving past Earth as predicted."

Stay Safe Out There!!

Chillycon 2024...

Chillycon 2024 was held this year from September 20th through the 22nd. The weather was absolutely superb, no rain and no "Chilly" periods, it was just glorious!!

Propagation wise it could have been a bit better, but we made do and we all made some good DX contacts. This year we introduced a new trophy for SSB DX, to complement the CW DX award we have had for the past 10 years. This new award was generously donated by Eric, VE3DN.

The downside of the event was the very poor attendance.  This year we only had 8 people show up.  A few more did show up on the Saturday and spent a few hours at the camp, but overall it could have been a lot better, especially given the weather we had.

The winner of the Upper Canada QRP Club Award for CW DX was Tom VA2NW, and the new VA3KS Memorial Award for SSB DX was Don, VE3MNE.  

One of the highlights of the weekend was the visit on Friday evening by Jennifer, the widow of Kieran, VA3KS. She came to meet with us and talk about the shenanigans we used to get up to with Kieran. He was very good at leading us astray! As she was leaving she very kindly left on the table an unopened bottle of 12 year old Glenfiddich single malt scotch, with which we toasted our old friend as we sat around the campfire that evening.

Here's some pictures of the event:

Don VE3MNE being presented with his award by Eric VE3DN.

Tom VA2NW being presented with his award by Eric VE3DN.

Jennifer being shown Kieran's memorial award for the first time.

Stay Safe Out There!

Hay Bay...

It's been a long time since I have been out to Hay Bay, to the west of Kingston. Last Thursday a new POTA site was authorized, CA-6350, Hay Bay Church National Historic Site, and I decided to get out there today (Sunday, September 15) and get it activated for the very first time.

The propagation numbers were in the toilet most of the day, and I did not think I would do very well, but it turned out to be a great activation after all! CA-6350 is a nice spot to activate from, the noise floor is S0, totally quiet.  

Today the propagation numbers were: SFI=172, SN=68, A Index=21, and the K Index=3. The BZ was +2.5, but did slip to -6.6 during the activation.

I met the two caretakers of the Church and property, Terry & John, and they told me they have no issue with us being on the property to activate the Church at all. There is parking to the west side of the Church, and there are picnic tables and a couple of large trees for shade as well....they would prefer if we didn't put wires for antennas in the trees though.

I was on the air at 1505 UTC and I had the site activated with 10 contacts by 1511 UTC....a whole 6 minutes. The day ended with 49 contacts in the log, with 40m 15m and 20m being used, and three European DX stations made it in the log as well, two Spanish and one from France, not too bad at all considering the state the bands were in.

Radio used was my KX3 set at 10w and I only used my Hamsticks on my truck roof.

Thanks to all those in Kingston, and surrounding places, who chased me, it was good to get you in the log.

Here are a few more pictures of the old Church....

And here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

Sneaking Out for an Hour...

It's been pretty busy around the homestead over this past week, and time for radio work was at an all time high premium. However, I did manage to sneak away for an hour and get an activation in at Lemoine Point, my closest POTA site.

My past three or four recent activation have been hampered by very bad QSB, today was no different. It took a while to drum up the contacts, but after a few minutes calling CQ, they started to flow in.

As I was short on time I used my KX3, and Hamsticks, for this activation. The hamsticks do very well, and I'm constantly surprised with who I can have a QSO with using them. The propagation today was: SFI=241, SN=134, A Index=7, and the A Index=3. 

Given the poor propagation numbers I was surprised at how well I actually did. The big surprise of the morning though was working Michael, KB9VBR, a well known Ham Radio YouTuber. Anyway, with 19 contacts in the log I had to shut it down and get back home to help the XYL with chores.

Here's today's contact map:

 Stay Safe Out There!!

Xiegu G90

A new rig appeared in my shack a few weeks ago, an Xiegu G90. It's an interesting radio, 20w max output and has a built in ATU, which truthfully could tune a wet piece of string it's so good.

So far I have used it on just one POTA activation, which was not really a hot day, but I was very surprised at how hot the radio got after 10 minutes of use at 20w. Because of this I decided then and there to purchase the cooling fan unit that goes with the radio.

I have not had a chance to use the radio outdoors with the fan yet, but I'm hoping to this weekend. Hopefully it will do the trick and keep the radio cool.

Here's a couple of pictures showing the cooling unit:

Stay Safe Out There!!

A Little Island Activating...

This past weekend was the W/VE Island QSO Party....well it should have been, except for the fact that the US Island guys who run the event decided that VE stations could no longer enter the contest due to our low numbers. Whatever, we'll play on our own islands and have just as much fun.

So, today I drove up to Washburn Island, ON-289, with Don VE3MNE, and had an excellent time. The island is also a POTA "2fer", with CA-4882 and CA-0023...so an even better time was had.

Propagation wasn't too bad, compared to what we had at the beginning of the week, but it's still got a ways to go before it's really good. The numbers today were: SFI=232, SN=188, A Index=10, and the K Index=1.

I changed things up a bit today, instead of my usual Hamsticks on the roof of my truck, I chose to erect a 29' Rybakov antenna with two 17' ground radials and use it with my KX3. It's a good antenna, worked as advertised by several YouTubers, and I was very pleased with it. You will see this antenna built with either 25' or 29' of wire. Furthest DX was Thomas SM3NRY, in Sweden, closely followed by Chris K2MMT, in California.

Shown on the right is my 4:1 Unun, Rybakov and four 17' radials, although I only used 2 today. I think this antenna is going to get a lot more use, as I really enjoyed being able to switch bands without unscrewing various whips in order to do so.

I ended the day with 27 contacts in the log on 40m, 20m and 15m. I did try 12m but had no luck there at all.

Here's todays contact map:

And here's how I hold the DX Commander up in the air:

Stay Safe Out There!!