The propagation Saturday was not very encouraging, SFI = 92, SN = 73, A Index = 19, and the K Index = 3. It was super noisy and the QSB was incredibly deep, one second they were S9 and the next they were S0. We also had large thunderstorms in the area, which didn't help matters at all.
So it with all this in mind I set off to the Ann Baillie Building National Historic Site, at Kingston General Hospital, VE-5293, with the idea of doing an activation. I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but it was worth the try I thought.
The first issue I faced was trying to find a suitable spot to park. There's not much of it around the site, but eventually I found one and set up my gear. I used my 40m Hamstick on a 5" magmount on the roof of my van. There is no space at all there for stringing antennas up, in fact I was waiting the whole time for the Hospital Security guys to show up and ask me to leave....but they didn't.
To recap, bad propagation, thunderstorms in the area, compromised antenna, and the KX3 at 10w....what could go wrong? Well, surprisingly nothing. I managed to get 22 contacts in 35 minutes, all on 40m. Thanks to my "pilots", VA3AMX and VE3ULC for re-spotting me on the POTA site for people to find me.
About half way through the activation, a husband and wife stuck their heads into my van to see what I was doing sitting there talking to myself. The husband realized I was a ham, and immediately asked if I knew their neighbour, Dave, from Newark, New Jersey, who is also a ham. Unfortunately I don't know Dave, but if any of you do know him, please let him know his neighbours are having a great time and say Hi!
Below is a map of the contacts I made from the Hospital site, not too bad for 10w and a hamstick!!
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