A 10m Day - Part 3...

There was not supposed to be a "Part 3" to my 10m adventures, but I had such a great day yesterday I couldn't resist!

It was one of those perfect fall days, it was 19C (66F) outside, under a beautifully deep blue sky.  The local trees are well into their change of colour these days, with brilliant flashes reds and yellows dotting the views all over the city.

A few days a month I get to leave my house, take my time, and not have to worry about things. My Mother-in-Law lives with us; she suffers from Dementia, and can't be left alone at all. Yesterday was our respite care day and a PSW looks after her allowing my wife and I some "us" time. The break is always very welcomed.

I decided to spend my time at Fort Henry National Historic Site and do yet another POTA activation.  It's been a while since I was at Fort Henry, it's normally a very busy place, but as it was a week day, yesterday wasn't busy at all.

The only spot left at Fort Henry to activate from these days is the parking lot - all other roads around it are either closed off or have no parking signs on them.  Seeing that there was the only one choice to operate from, it was the KX3 and a 10m Hamstick kind of day!

Propagation was "interesting".  The SFI=176, SN=94, the A Index=8, and the K Index=3.  There was also some very deep QSB throughout the whole time I was on site.

First in the log was Kurt ON4CCN at 1522 UTC.  The last station, Sean KI5UCO/qrp, went into the log at 1732 UTC.  I ended up with 62 contacts in the log, with 22 DX stations, and 13 Park 2 Parks included.  It was just a fantastic day on the radio.  All my contacts were on 10m, and I really enjoyed the several mini-pileups I had throughout it.

Here's the contact map:

I'm hoping to do this again next Sunday....if the bands stay as good as they have been.

Stay Safe Out There!

 

A 10m Day - Part 2...

It was colder here today than it was yesterday, it was 6C (452F) when I was out in the park, with an icy cold hard wind blowing in across Lake Ontario.  Shades of things to come in the next few months.

As it was yesterday, 10m was filled with signals, so that was my band of choice again.

The propagation today was SFI=195, SN=127, A Index=5 and the K Index=1. My radio set-up was the same as yesterday, my KX3 at 10w, and a 10m hamstick on the roof of my truck. There was some quick deep fading, and I know I lost a few contacts as they disappeared before I could write down their callsigns.

It didn't take long for the DX to start rolling in. First up was Hiram XE1AQY, followed quickly by Ron PE1ISP, and Thiery F4IDN. After a couple of US stations the European DX flowed.  I worked PD4US, SK6QA, F5NZO, EA1DD, F6OYU, YL3BF, and G7SQW.  I also had a German station call me, DC1FLO, but he was portable /W4 in Florida.  

I ended the activation with 18 contacts in the log.  Not too bad I thought!

Here's today's contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

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!!