A Long Day...

Yesterday was a long day, 328 km (204 miles) driven, and 6 parks activated. All this with the temperature hovering around 31C (88F), and no wind to speak of.

First up was CA-1375, Dupont Provincial Park. Not much to do there except play POTA as the park doesn't have any facilities at all.

Then it was off to CA-6514, Battle of Chryslers Farm National Historic Site. This site is right next door to Upper Canada Village, and was completely RF quiet. Great spot to activate, but...there's no shade so it was pretty hot there.

Next on the list of parks to do was CA-0419, the Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary. This is a great spot, I wish I had had more time to explore the place. 

It was now lunch time, so it was off to Morrisburg to get lunch and some liquid in me. While I was there it actually rained quite heavily for about 10 minutes, which did nothing but make the humidity even worse than it has been.

Lunch over, I headed back west and drove to CA-4855, Battle of the Windmill National Historic Site. This is a very small site, and the parking lot is the size of a postage stamp, but lucky for me it there were only 2 other cars there. 

The last site on the list was CA-4868, Fort Wellington National Historic Site. This was the only site I activated that had shade and I could get out of the hot sun. There was a nice breeze blowing as well of the river, just a great spot to operate from.

The 6th park was the Waterfront Trail, CA-6003, that ties all the other sites together.

So, how were the bands? In one word - "Crap". The only band that I could make work was 20m. All of the other bands had a S9+20 noise floor, it was very frustrating to say the least. But being that far from home I had to make it work, so it was a 20m day. Contacts were made using both CW and SSB, but there were long periods between contacts.

Most of the day the bands were filled with static crashes from the incoming thunder storms, making the QRN unbearable. On top of that the QSB was pretty bad as well. Signals disappeared seconds after you established a link with them.

The propagation numbers for the day were: SFI=108, SN=71, A Index=3, and the K Index=0. Radio used was my KX3 set at 10w, and .....as usual a 20m hamstick.

Surprise contacts for the day? Thomas, SM3NRY, popped up and answered my CQ at Fort Wellington, and he was immediately followed by Larry, F5PYI. Those guys made my day.

Here's the days contact map:

Thanks to all the Hunters, many of whom got me in multiple parks during the day. Without these guys POTA would be a waste of time, so a HUGE shout-out to them!!

Stay Safe Out There....and go and play radio!!!

NJQRP Skeeter Hunt...

Just a reminder that the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt is only two weeks away, set to take place on Sunday, August 16th.

While you really don't need a Skeeter number to participate, having one adds to the fun. Just send an email to Larry, w2ljqrp@gmail.com with your name, call, and the state or province you'll be operating from. Skeeter number requests will be honoured until Saturday, August 15th.

This is for both CW & SSB stations, so no excuses, get out and operate!!  

You can find more details and the rules HERE.

Stay Safe Out There!!

Frontenac Biosphere Reserve...

Yesterday, July 31st, I went up into the County and activated CA-0023, the Frontenac Biosphere Reserve. It's a fairly popular place to activate either POTA or VEFF due to its size, 2,700 sq km.

What I like about it is the fact that due to its size there are many, many, options to go to for an activation. You don't need to go to the same spot twice.

I decided to go and find a new spot to park and ended up where the K&P Trail crosses Scanlan Road....just don't block the farmers gate. 

Propagation didn't look too bad, but the reality was it certainly was bad, and the QSB was extreme. The numbers were: SFI=152, SN=123, A Index=5 and the K Index=1. Stations seemed to be quite weak with very few strong stations making it in to the log. SSB was almost a waste of time, and most of my contacts were on CW.

Radio was the KX3, a the antennas was the 20m hamstick.

No DX was worked, but I did get good coverage across the USA, in fact more than I usually do.

Here's the contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

Parrott's Bay...

What a great day on the bands today, 48 in the log in about 40 minutes. A great way to spend the morning! Of course this comes after a week of bad propagation and lousy weather, so it was really nice to get out the house and get a bit of radio done.

Propagation today was: SFI=148, SN=101, A Index=22, and the K Index=1. No QSB was noticed at all, which was great.

Radio, as usual, was the KX3 set at 10w, and the antenna were the usual hamsticks. I used both 20m and 40m, and made CW and SSB contacts. It was a good job I had a spare battery with me as the one I was using quit after about 30 QSO's.

I'm hoping to get out again on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, and the propagation looks good for both days. 

Here's today's contact map:

I recently received a EFRW QRP Antenna Long Wire 4:1 from Tufteln, It's a QRP antenna, good for 20w they say. I'm hoping to give it its first outing this Sunday. Stay tuned for that review. 

Here's a few pictures of it:

It has a 30' radiator and a 15' ground radial. I'm looking forward to seeing what it can do.

Stay Safe Out There!

Good Day on the Bands...

It was a good day on the bands today, a distinct improvement over the past few days, in fact better than the past week! I decided to go north of Kingston and head into the Frontenac Biosphere, CA-0023, and have some fun.

Twenty-Nine contacts went into the log in a little over 50 minutes.  This was a combination of SSB and CW contacts. For the past few months I have a new personal rule, when I do an activation I need to use both SSB and CW, otherwise it doesn't count. Of today's 29, 11 were CW contacts.

Bands used today were 15m, 20m and 40m. Radio was the KX3 set at 10w, and as usual...Hamsticks for the antenna.

Today the IARU HF World Championships took place, so the HF bands are pretty busy with DX stations calling. This morning 15m was busy and I made a few contacts there.

Propagation for my activation was: SFI=107, SN=80, A Index=12, and the K Index=1. However, the QSB was pretty bad, signals faded to nothing in milli-seconds.

I'll be keeping my eyes on the propagation for tomorrow as I'd like to get out again, but they are forecasting a K Index of 5 in the morning, and a slow decline back to normal levels in the afternoon.

Here's the days contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

On the Shoulders of Giants...

Recently, I have been spending some time reading blogs, and watching YouTube videos on portable operating.  Some of them are very good, others are pretty much garbage and are going to get somebody hurt one day, and I thought “How did we get here today, how did this portable operating craze start, and where did it come from?”.

Operators have forgotten the first generation of portable QRP’ers in North America, those who scaled Colorado Mountains, or hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, or the Appalachian Trail, who took part in the Polar Bear Club monthly events, the Flyin’ Pigs events, the Freeze Your Butt Off events, QRP to the Field and QRP Afield annual events.  This was all we had for QRP events back then, the ARRL didn’t have any QRP endorsements for WAS or DXCC, RAC had nothing for QRP either.  Nearly every other contest had no QRP category during this period.  

It was the events, mentioned above, that really planted, and nurtured, the seeds for portable QRP operating.  WWFF, SOTA, NPOTA, and POTA simply expanded the original horizons of committed QRP operators.

Keep in mind that during the very early days, dedicated QRP rigs were a rarity, nearly all gear was home brewed. The first real commercial QRP rig that came out was the Ten-Tec Powermite-1 in 1969, this was followed by the Ten-Tec Argonaut in 1972, and the Heathkit HW-7 in 1973.

But in 2001 we were drooling over the FT-817, at a cost of US$670. This was the rig that opened the flood gates for QRP.  It was it’s small size and weight that was the big draw to it.  Small enough and light enough to throw in the bottom of a rucksack and get up those mountains and operate, the first real “QRP shack in a box”.

Around 19 years ago the first YouTube video’s of what was known, in those days, as “Adventure Radio” came out.  In no particular order these were Budd W3FF, who later went on to invent the Buddipole antenna system.  Steve WG0AT, and his two pack goats, Rooster and Peanut. Guy N7UN, a prolific QRP blogger, and the lone Canadian, Jean-Pierre VA2SG (now VE2ZQ).

These four operators probably did more for portable operating than everyone else combined.  Their videos, which were really just personal blogs, showed us how it was done.  They talked us through building lightweight antennas, and then went out and used them, showing how they worked, or tweaking them if the didn’t.  They showed us what to take with us, what battery was the best and lightest.  They discussed their radios in detail, allowing us to make our own decisions on what was best for our bank accounts. And best of all, they showed us what was possible and they allowed us to dream of having similar adventures.

We have a lot to thank these four gentlemen for, they truly were the catalyst for what we have today in portable operating.

Stay Safe Out There!

Is the Blog Working Again?...

The campsite

It looks like I can once again post articles and pictures to my Blog. Let's see how long this lasts for.

Field Day 2026 is over....and a fun time was had by one and all.

The weather cooperated, we didn't get the rain we were expecting, but we did get a little bit over Friday night but it cleared up and Saturday was very nice. The propagation was OK, lots of QSB, but really not that bad.

Contacts were made on all bands, 80 through 10, using SSB and CW. We operated as a 3A station - two SSB stations and a CW station. Antennas in use were two 40m EFHW's and a 20m vertical, these did a good job and brought us in 204 contacts over the event. Not too bad for a QRP set-up.

We had visitors from Perth drop in for a few hours on Saturday, Tyler VA3DGN and his better half Margaret VA3VXN. Those of you who volunteer for the RLCT will know those two characters.

Unfortunately, Rideau River Provincial Park was packed, and perhaps not the best spot to conduct a Field Day due to the constant screaming of unsupervised small children running amok around the sites. The incessant barking of dogs was also a pain in the rear.......and I won't mention the toilets, other than to say there was a never ending line for their use.

Here are some other pictures thanks to Eric, VE3DN:

Eric VE3DN chasing contacts.

Don VE3MNE, Supervising the SSB station.

Eric taking a break on Saturday evening.

Bill VE3FI's antenna set-up for the weekend,
a 17' whip and two 16.5' radials.

If the Blog continues to behave, I will start to post again here.

Stay Safe Out There! 

Rough Conditions...

The bands were not in the best of shape today, very noisy and bad QSB made operating "interesting". Then of course there were the deliberate QRM stations trying to screw things up.

No DX was worked today, but, and this is a first, I ran out of battery power 3/4's of the way through the activation. It's a good job I also carry a 12v 3 amp Bioenno as well, just in case, and today was the day. It allowed me to finish the activation.

Propagation numbers today were: SFI=109, SN=111, A Index=9, and the K Index=2.

Radio was my KX3 at 10w, and the usual hamsticks for antennas.

I wonder if any other POTA activators have had the following issue. Today, I started on 40m at about 7.189, and while working stations I noticed another station had appeared on top of me calling out strings of weird combinations of letters and numbers. It didn't sound like a recording. Anyway, I QSY'ed up the band to 7.288, and soon after the same station was there calling strings of numbers and letters over me again. I QSY'ed once again to 7.180 and within a few minutes the same station was there pulling the same stunt. In the end I QSY'ed to 20m and the issue went away. I guess some people have nothing to do with their lives but to be idiots.

The day ended with 19 in the log, and then it was home for lunch. I'm planning on being back out tomorrow after our club breakfast.

Here's the contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

Easter Propagation...

The propagation this Easter Weekend is certainly not looking too good. Hopefully it will pick up for next week.

Stay Safe Out There!

Great DX...

I decided, despite the CQ WPX SSB Contest, to try and activate Parrott's Bay, CA-5142. Normally on contest weekends I try and refrain from activating parks as it's too much of a hassle fighting for bandwidth.

Today was a little bit different. Instead of posting my activation on POTA Spots I just chased stations from the park, and it worked very well for me, in fact I think I will try this again during the next big contest.

It was a great day on 15m SSB today. I was very happy at how many pileups I broke with my KX3 at 10 watts, and a Hamstick. Is it just me or are there less people contesting these days? It just didn't seem as busy as I thought it would be.

Propagation was fine, but there was a little QSB. The numbers were: SFI=162, SN=118, A Index=10, and the K Index=2. 

First up today was Miguel TO7O, and he was followed by: TI7W, P45A, TI1K, HI3LT, PT1M, 8P5A, J62K, and V47T.

So don't be scared to try and activate a park during a contest, instead of posting a spot, just go and hunt.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!