2024 Comes to an End...

As 2024 comes to an end I sit here in wonderment at how fast the past 12 months have slid by, and wonder if 2025 will slide past even faster?

I started 2024 suffering from Covid, and it took a long time for me to get over it. It certainly wasn't a walk in the park for me, it was not a good experience, and one I have no wish to repeat at all.

There were some great amateur radio adventures during 2024 including a 30 day, 11,000 km trip to the west coast and back, camping out every night, and activating POTA parks as I travelled province to province across the country. That memory will stay with me for a long time.

I have ended the year with over 3500 new QSO's in my logbook, 213 POTA activations, 34 new POTA parks activated, and 3 island activations, all successfully completed. I survived Winter Field Day, Summer Field Day, and Chillycon, and I had a blast doing it all.

My 2025 plans have not been made yet, it may just be a quiet year....I don't think I could really top 2024 for activities. However, I do have plans for both Winter and Summer Field Days, Chillycon, and a couple of week long road trips are in the planning stages to activate some new (to me) parks a bit further afield. 

One plan I do have so far, is to do Summer Field Day in the Northern Ontario RAC Section, instead of Ontario East. 

A big THANK YOU to all my readers and visitors here, I really appreciate you dropping in.

From My Shack to Yours....May your year be filled with endless joy, new opportunities, and unforgettable memories.

Merry Christmas - 2024...

The snow finally arrived last night, and the last POTA Activation of the year of the year is done and logged. I'm still trying to figure out where the past 12 months has gone so fast; it seems like only last week I was writing Christmas wishes for 2023 while suffering through a bout of Covid. Hopefully 2025 will take a bit longer to get through!

Christmas is the perfect season to be reaching out to others when laughter and good tidings are in the air. Here's hoping that your Christmas will find you amongst friends and family, sharing the spirit of the season.

Stay Safe Out There Everyone!!

Great Weekend on the Bands

The ARRL 10m Contest is in full swing right now, and I have stayed away from that band all weekend. I didn't want to give the contesters any more competition than they all ready have....true story!!  Instead, I spent the weekend activating local parks on 40m and 15m; both of which behaved splendidly.

The propagation numbers have been very good all weekend, and I'm sure the contesters each made a pile of contacts. I was happy with the 64 QRP contacts I made today. My KX3 was in top form as were my hamsticks, it never ceases to amaze me just how well I do during my POTA activations. 

My furthest contact was with OH5TQ in Verla, Finland, he was 6438 km from me. That's a respectable 643.8 km per watt. In second place was IW2BNA at 6414 km away.

While I was out activating the park today I was thinking of my Dad, VE7CVQ (SK), and what he would have thought of POTA and operating portable in a park. My Dad was a Heathkit guy, his "baby" was his SB-101...and I can't imagine him dragging that rig out to a park to play radio. That would have been a foreign concept to him. 

However, as long as I provided the radio, I'm sure he would have loved it.

If the weather holds I'll be back out tomorrow at another park. I know the weather is going to turn for the worse...soon, so I'm trying to get as many activations in the log in the good weather I can.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

An Antenna Experiment...

I'm sure you've all seen pictures of portable Hustler Antennas mounted on a single mount on a mast. Have you ever wondered why Hamsticks have never done the same?

It's getting cold up here in the "Great White North", these days and the less time I have to spend outside changing Hamsticks while operating portable, the better I like it. For a few days I contemplated buying a few Hustler Antennas and testing out their multiple antenna adapter mount....but then I thought "Why waste the money?". I have Hamsticks, all I needed was the mount.

Lucky for me, Don VE3MNE, had the mount, and he didn't need it...Yahoo! The adapter plate was quickly mounted on one of my mag-mounts, and off I went to Lemoine Point, CA-5141, to do a quick POTA activation with the new antenna system....but would it work? Would there be interaction between the three antennas? I was sure there would be, but how bad could it be?

I have to admit it was a bit unwieldy putting the antennas on the mount, you really need three hands to do it, but it got done. You also must remember that everything takes longer in the cold, so don't rush. The lengths of the individual whips were not changed, I just left them as they were when I use them individually, so I did expect some issues with that.

The mount put up on the roof of the truck with a 40m, 20m and a 10m Hamstick on it, I could actually put a fourth antenna on the mount, but I thought that might be pushing my luck a bit. Three contacts were made on both 10m and 40m and another twelve contacts on 20m. 

So what actually happened? Well, there were no issues at all. It worked as I had hoped it would, with no noticeable interactions between the individual whips that I could see or hear. I had no negative comments about my signal, and they tuned as normal with the Elecraft KX3 ATU. Too bad I didn't think of this last winter!

The other telling point is that I saw no difference in what my daily contact map looked like. I still worked the same areas of Canada and the USA as I normally do. 

I think it was a great success and I can see this antenna system being used a lot this winter.

Here's a few pictures of the antenna:

And, here's todays contact map with that antenna:

Stay Safe Out There!

First Snow of the Year...

It had to happen, we've had it far too easy this winter so far. We awoke to a gentle snowfall that is supposed to last until at least noon. I doubt we will get too much of an accumulation, but it is a reminder of things to come!

Lemoine Point was calling my name today, it was time to get another activation done down at CA-5141.

Conditions today were cold and snow. Propagation wise the numbers were: 

SFI=225, SN=137, A Index=5 and the K Index=0. The QSB wasn't too bad, especially compared to yesterday.

Only 20 contacts in the log today during a short 30 minute activation....guess who didn't bring a warm jacket with him? They say that if you don't like the cold you're not a true Canadian. For the first time in a very long time, I was the only person in the parking lot, so I got to choose the best spot to operate from.

Contacts were made on 10m SSB, with the KX3 and a Hamstick on the roof of my truck. It's too cold to fool around with masts and wire antennas. This year my winter philosophy is to get there, get it done, and get home where it's warm. It's true that the older you get the more you feel the cold.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe & Warm Out There!!

VA3KS Memorial Event - Part 2...

It was a great activation today up at Portland Bay, CA-5957, for the actual Memorial Event.  The weather wasn't so good, it was -1C (30F) while I was there, with a stiff icy breeze coming off the lake. To top it off there was a brief snow shower around noon.

Propagation wasn't too bad, unfortunately the QSB was not very good.  The numbers for the day were: SFI=200, SN=148, A Index=8, and the K Index=1.

Due to the breeze I decided not to put up my mast and Rybakov antenna. I stuck with what works well for me, my KX3 set at 10w, and a Hamstick for whatever band I'm on.

The day started off great, I had 14 contacts in my log in the first 11 minutes. First up was 2E0VPF from England, then in very quick succession stations from Poland, France, Norway, Brazil, Belgium, Spain, Venezuela, Austria, and Sweden.

A number of my contacts mentioned that they had worked Kieran in the past, and a few shared some stories, which made the day even more special.

The day ended with 71 contacts in my log, so I was extremely pleased with that. Bands used were 10m, 15m, and 40m. I did try 20m but the noise floor was far too high for me to copy any stations at that location. Thanks to all of you who chased me on 40m. They were difficult QSO's to complete due the bad QSB, but I'm sure I worked all who called me.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

VA3KS Memorial Event...

It will soon be one year since we suddenly lost our good friend Kieran VA3KS. I have missed his wise counsel greatly, as well as his totally warped sense of humour. The thing I have missed the most though, is meeting up with him at different locations and doing POTA activations.

Next Sunday, November 24th, is the one year anniversary of his passing. Here in Kingston, several parks will be activated in his memory, and I will be activating one of his favourite places, Portland Bay Conservation Area, CA-5957.

Eric VE3DN, will have the Pinhey Forest Conservation Area, CA-1581, on the air as well for the event. This was the last park Kieran activated. 

Those stations taking part will put "VA3KS Memorial Event" on the comment line on their spotting page. If you see us on the spotting page, give us a call, and help celebrate the memory of a great ham, and a fantastic friend.

Stay Safe Out There!

FX-4CR...

The new tuner arrived this week, and works perfectly with the radio. I'm very pleased with it. It's taken a bit of time to remember to reduce power to 5w and switch to FM mode in order to tune, but repetition will make it easier to do.

This particular tuner was originally designed for the FT-817/FT-818, and actually comes with a CAT cable for those radios. Thankfully it also works with most QRP radios, and the tuner is actually good for up to 30w.

So far it's worked with my 138' EFHW, and my Hamsticks, so it's definitely a keeper.

The radio itself is pretty intuitive, and it gets easier to use every time I get it out of the case. I actually busted a pile up with it the other day, I heard a station in South Dakota calling CQ POTA, and he was immediately hit with a  pile of stations calling him.....and I was the guy who got through with 20w!!!  It made my day!!

Stay Safe Out There!!