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!!

Lucky Activation...

I was up and out the door pretty early (for me) today, as I wanted to get back home before lunch to help my wife....and I accomplished that mission with no problem.

The propagation, as I started my activation, was: SFI=225, SN=171, A Index=8, and the K Index=1. The QSB was hellish, stations were S9 one minute and completely gone in an instant. It was a 2fer I was after today, Lemoine Point and the Waterfront Trail together, and I managed to get 16 contacts in the log in a little over 40 minutes, which was slow for me, but given the state of the bands I was happy with it.

As usual I was using my KX3 set at 10w, into a hamstick on the roof of my truck. SSB only today, CW will have to wait until tomorrow.

Starting on 40m as I usually do, it didn't take too long to get 8 contacts in the log.  Then the band dried up, I called and called with no response, so I moved to 15m.  This band switch got me another 8 contacts, including a solid S8 contact with F4ILH in Ecuras, France....which made my day.

Sixteen was all I could pull out of the hat today, the band seemed to be getting worse, even though it was supposed to be improving.  Well, it turns out we had a surprise G3 solar storm that hit about 15 minutes before I switched everything off.....no wonder I couldn't get contacts.

Here's todays contact map:

You can clearly see the ring of 40m contacts vice the 15m contacts on this map.

Stay Safe Out There!!

A Good Day...

Today was one of those rare days that I get almost totally to myself.  It was sunny, hot, and pretty humid out...so a good day to find a new park to activate!

Recently a new yellow dot has popped up on the POTA map showing a new park in Gananoque, about 35 kms (22 miles) east of my home.  The POTA website showed it had been activated 3 times before, but only with digital modes, never SSB or CW.  

This park, CA-6346, Agnes Maule Macher National Historical Park, is not very big...in fact it's quite small. There is a small gravel parking lot that can hold maybe 8 or 9 cars if they all park correctly. As you can see in the photo on the left, the park is full of tall, mature, trees, all ready for a good wire antenna. I found a solitary picnic table there, and it's located right under a big shade tree. On the downside, there are no toilets there.....at all.

For the few days before this activation the propagation numbers have been almost off the charts, and I did not think I would be able to get this activation done. But the numbers "kind of" settled down overnight and I thought it would be ok to go ahead and get it done while I had the free day.

Today's propagation numbers were: SFI=260, SN=177, A Index=17, and the K Index=1. Definitely not the best, but certainly a lot better than the previous few days. There was also a lot of very deep QSB on all the bands.

No DX was worked, although I could faintly hear a EA2 station trying to call me on 20m, but he was so far below my noise floor I couldn't make out the call. 

I ended up with 26 contacts in the log, 23 SSB and 3 CW. I'm very pleased with this, given todays conditions. Hopefully the conditions will continue to get better and I can get back there and get more contacts another day.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

Coming Up Next Weekend...

It's shaping up for a busy few days next weekend, we have the following big events:

1.  The International Lightship & Lighthouse Weekend.  That runs from 0001 UTC Saturday, August 17 to 2359 UTC Sunday, August 18.

2.  The North American QSO Party SSB.  That runs from 1800 UTC Saturday, August 17 to 0600 UTC Sunday, August 18.

3.  The New Jersey QRP Skeeter Hunt.  From 1700 - 2100 UTC, Sunday, August 18.

Click on the above event names to take you to the relevant rules and information pages.

Let's hope the propagation greatly improves for next weekend so we can get out and really enjoy ourselves on the bands!!

Stay Safe Out There!!

Plugging Away....

Yesterday was a very hot and muggy day here in Eastern Ontario.  The temperature was 27C (80.6F), but felt like 37C (98.6F) with the humidity.....in other words, very uncomfortable, and to top it off we had no breeze at all.

I made the mistake of not looking at the daily propagation numbers before I left home to activate CA-5141, Lemoine Point Conservation Area. If I had I probably would not have left home! The numbers yesterday morning were: SFI=245, SN=182, A Index=10, and the K Index=4. As well, the BZ was an unbelievable -13.5.

In 62 minutes I managed to put just 10 contacts in my log, just the bare minimum to get the activation done, 7 SSB and 3 CW. Now I'm well aware that the propagation we had was not conducive to QRP operating, but that's what I did......10w and a 40m hamstick on my truck roof.  

Given the conditions I was very happy to get the minimum 10 contacts, no DX was worked of course, but you wouldn't expect to on a day like that.

I'm looking forward to the cooler weather that is coming, and some much improved band conditions.

 

The days contact map.

Stay Safe Out There!!

Incoming Solar Storms...

Strong (G3) Geomagnetic Storm Watch.

Not just one....but a series of coronal mass ejections (!!!!) are predicted to possibly merge and contribute to a combined impact by July 30th. Moderate (G2) to Strong (G3) geomagnetic storm conditions will be possible within the next 48-72 hours.

Going to be a fun few days on the bands.

Stay Safe Out There!

Farewell to the FT-950...

After 15 years of sitting on my shack bench I have officially retired my FT-950. I'm going to miss the old beast, it never let me down, and it has done well over 21,000 SSB & CW QSO's since I bought it new.

I started to realize that the new rigs had much better roofing filters....and just about everything else. So it was time for it to go to another home. In its place will be a much smaller FT-891. It's all I really need in the shack as 90% of my operating is POTA, lighthouse, or island activations, and this means a huge rig wasn't really needed.  The plus side is I now have much more room on the bench for more junk!!

My thoughts so far on the FT-891? What a royal pain in the 'backside' the menu system is, and the manual that comes with the radio is just about useless.  I've always used Yaesu or Elecraft......this may be my last Yaesu. I can't figure out why I must set the band settings for each individual band, instead of just doing it once, and allowing the on board computer to assign those setting to all bands. 

I'll give it a while and try to really learn this rig....but I can't promise it'll be around for another 15 years!

Stay Safe Out There!

Support Your Park Event - Summer...

It's been a busy first 24 hours of this summers Support Your Park Event. So far I have 5 successful activations completed, and a couple more planned for tomorrow. The five completed parks so far are: CA-5142, CA-6003, CA-4872, CA-4864, and CA-5143.

The weather last night and today was superb, comfortably warm, with a light breeze and blue skies. Great weather for being outside playing radio.

Propagation wise it was good on Saturday until 1530 UTC, after that contacts were very hard to get as the conditions started to deteriorate.  The numbers were: SFI=202, SN=197, A Index=5, and the K Index=1. However, there was very deep QSB on the bands which certainly didn't help me.

One of the issues I'm finding here in the parks around Kingston is the fact that they are so busy in the summer. I know we're a tourist town, and it's good for business if the town is busy, but it gets difficult to find a parking spot in the parks unless you're there at the crack of dawn. Because they are busy it's also difficult to put up a wire antenna, I certainly don't want a lawsuit because some person, not watching where they're going, tripped over my radials or coax.

As my regular readers will know, my go-to antennas - for a long time - has been hamsticks, mounted on my truck's roof with a 5" mag-mount. I'm always surprised at how well they do, especially with 10w SSB. Last night, for a change, I dug out my Slidewinder coil with the 9.5' Buddipole whip, and used that. While it makes changing bands very easy, and it works very well, I didn't notice any significant improvement over my hamsticks.

We'll see how they do tomorrow....if the bands are usable again.

Stay Safe Out There!!

Bandpass Filters...

A bandpass filter is a device that passes frequencies within a certain range, and rejects frequencies outside of that range. These items are particularly useful in Field Day settings or when a POTA or SOTA activation has two or more stations operating at the same time.

After suffering through some minor interference during this years Field Day I decided to invest in a set of filters from K9DP.com, as did another member of our club. These are for QRP operations, up to a maximum of 20w, and they are only available for 15m, 20m, and 40m at the moment. I'm hoping a 10m and 80m version becomes available in the near future.

Here's a picture of the set that arrived today:

Stay Safe Out There !!

Great Day on the Bands...

This past Sunday I decided to drive to the Thousand Islands National Park and activate CA-0099 for POTA.  This was a new site for me, in fact I have never driven through the park before, and I highly recommend that if you can, do it.

It was an absolutely beautiful day, blue skies and 23C (74F) and because the site was on the river, the humidity was very low which made it very comfortable.

Propagation was pretty good, SFI=166, SN=119, A Index=3, and the K Index=1. However, there was quite a bit of deep QSB during the day and I know that cost me a couple of contacts by the end of the activation.  Stations would be S9+ and a few seconds later would disappear for good.

Because it was a weekend the usual LIDS were out and about, you know.....the tuner-uppers and the whistlers, all of whom seem to come to your specific frequency just to play their silly games.  I didn't let them bother me, I just carried on calling CQ and had a blast doing it.

When the SSB contacts died down I made a few contacts with my new portable key. It's made by Putikeeg, a company I had never heard of before. The key is great, it has a very smooth action, and the grip is perfect.  I'm enjoying using it, and it wasn't that expensive either.

Contact wise I have done a lot better, but I put 36 contacts in the log.  It wasn't a contest, and I took my time and had fun - which is what you're suppose to do.

Here's the contact map:

Stay Safe Out There !!

Ticks...

After spending last weekend at Field Day, in a campsite near Harrowsmith, Ontario,  I seem to have picked up a tick.  After complaining to my wife about something being wrong with my back, she discovered a large red spot with a tick at the centre.  See photo on the left.

I've no idea how this thing got on my back, I never felt anything crawling on me that I can remember.  The tick has been removed, and placed, alive, in a pill bottle awaiting an appointment with my doctor.

This is the first time I've ever had a tick, so this has opened my eyes to the dangers of these little buggers!

If you're doing POTA or SOTA you need to be aware of these as they can cause several bad health issues.

One of the best websites I can find is this one HERE, produced by the Ontario Government.  It's well worth the read, and it may save you some aggravation in the long run!!

If you live in Ontario, you might be interested in the map below:

Stay Safe Out There!!

Field Day...

It's over for another year.  This year's version of Field Day was a very wet one.  It actually rained, heavily, for about 20 of the 24 hours.  I'm lucky that I have a very good lightweight tarp that attaches to the back of the truck, and gives me a large dry area to work in.

Our club operated as a 5A QRP station, and did quite well given the lousy propagation we had over the weekend. We put 338 contacts in the log, and used 80m through 10m, minus the WARC bands. CW did 153, SSB did 131, and Digi did 54. Not too bad for a QRP battery powered setup.  I guess we'll have to wait until next December, when the ARRL publishes the final scores, to find out how we actually did.

As I said the propagation was not the best, but given what we have had to work with over the last month, we guessed it wouldn't be very good.

Here's a photo of my setup:

And here's the weekends contact map:

Stay Safe out There !!

Eastbound - Day 5 & 6...

Neys Provincial Park is a beautiful spot, and I was lucky enough to get a site right by the beach for the night.  The only downside to the site was the billions (and I do mean BILLIONS) of flying critters that insisted on visiting me.

Neys is POTA site CA-0316.  I had a good evening activating the park and put 36 contacts in the log....before the bugs won the war, and drove me back into cover.

The next morning I started the long drive to Chutes Provincial Park.  It was a beautiful day, with brilliant blue skies, and really enjoyable.  It was a 620 km day and it took a little over 7 hours to do, thanks to the roadworks I had to navigate.

Once I arrived a Chutes I was surprised to get the very same campsite I had for my first night on the trip, so setup was a breeze as I knew how everything fit there.

It didn't take long to get on the air, and soon had CA-0181 on the air before supper.  The campsite was very quiet, I don't think very many people were staying there.

After supper I did a POTA late shift and got many contacts in the log before the inevitable rain hit, and it didn't stop for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow I have another 7 hour day on the road, but at the end of the day I'll be back home.

Stay Safe Out There!!

ARRL Field Day 2024...

This year's ARRL Field Day is coming up this weekend, June 22/23....are you ready?

The rules can be found HERE.

I'll be on the air as part of the Upper Canada QRP Clubs team, operating as VE3UCC.  

I'm hoping the propagation, and the weather, both decide to behave themselves and allow us all to have a great weekend, in the field, and on the bands!

Stay Safe Out There!!

Eastbound - Day 3 & 4...

 

I did not get an activation done at Gull Lake last night as the campsite had a S9+20 noise floor and I couldn't hear a thing. This means that I have not managed to do a POTA activation in Alberta, west bound or east bound.

Today will be a short day, only 630 km, ending up in Deleau, Manitoba.  This is a fantastic little campground that the regional municipality looks after.  Well worth a stay, and they ask just a small donation to stay there!

Just before noon I arrived at the small village of Pontiex, this is the home of CA-1138, Notukeu Regional Park, and it had never been activated before.  Well, it's activated now!  I managed to put 21 contacts in my log in a little over 20 minutes.  Propagation was still not the best, but with 10 screaming watts out of the KX3...it was on the air.

Instead of going straight to the campground at Deleau, I went north about 15 km and activated CA-1061, Oak Lake Provincial Park,  in fact I had so much fun here activating, I ate my supper there and did the late shift from the park as well.  

After my two activations I drove back to Deleau and set up camp for the night.

Tomorrow I'm off to Arron Provincial Park, just 20 km west of Dryden, Ontario.

The next morning was pretty chilly, with the temperature being only 5C at 0630 in the morning when I climbed out of my sleeping bag, and began another 600 km drive east.

Just past Winnipeg the highway enters the Boreal Forest, where kilometres of pine and spruce trees are mixed with the granite outcroppings of the Canadian Shield.  

After a quick lunch in Nipigon, Ontario, I arrived at the trailhead for CA-0245, Kama Hills Provincial Park.  This was another park that had never been activated before, and it wasn't long before you realize why that was.  The trail goes almost straight up, almost a scramble than a hike.  It takes about an hour to reach the park boundary, and that was as far as I went.  

Once I was set up I realized my battery was nearly out of power and I had to restrict my output to 5w SSB.  To be honest I didn't think I would get a completed activation here, but was I wrong.  Among my contacts that day were Larry F5PYI in France, and Jose EA1BUL in Spain....they made my day!

That evening I ended the day at Neys Provincial Park, and had a successful activation of CA-0316.

Tomorrow night I should make it to Chutes Provincial Park in Massey, Ontario.

Eastbound - Day 1 & 2...

The first day back on the road again today....heading home! I have a 703 km drive over Highway 3 to do, and suspect it will take about 8 hours through the mountains.  

I find Highway 3 East is a terrible highway to drive, multiple steep grades and descents, and many tourists on the road who have no idea about how to safely drive in the mountains!  Make sure you have good breaks to do this route!

No radio work was done during the day, as the propagation was not very good at all, the propagation numbers were: SFI=184, SN=150, A Index=28, and the K Index=3.  This gave us some very deep QSB. 

My stop tonight will be at Yahk Provincial Park, about 40 km east of Creston.

It was an early start from Yahk to start day 2, and it was a chilly 7C (44F) under blue skies.  I did manage to get in a POTA activation last evening after the propagation numbers improved, so CA-0750 was activated.

Just outside of Cranbrook I managed to get a solid 2m simplex contact with Don WR7DW, in Eureka, Montana, about 20 km south of my location on Hwy 3.  It's always great to get a contact on .52 simplex!

It was another 700 km day and tonights stop will be at Gull Lake, Saskatchewan.  Getting a bit tired already as two 700 km days is pretty exhausting at best.

West Coast Update...

Tomorrow is my last day here on the West Coast, so I thought it was time to bring you all up-to-date on what has been happening here.  The first five days it rained...typical Vancouver weather!  It's only been the last 2 days the weather has become warm and decent.

I had planned to activate 10 parks in and around Vancouver, I've managed to do 8.  There does not seen to be very many Hunters in this part of the country.  Here there is nowhere near the response to our POTA CQ's as we get in Ontario.  

Over the last 18 days I have witnessed some of the worst propagation I have seen in my last 20 years in the hobby.....so that certainly hasn't helped.  

In the end I finally got fed-up calling CQ on SSB, and switched to CW only.  I ended up doing my first CW only activation.  It was a bit nervous, and I believe there's a station in New Mexico who won't get credit for hunting me as I screwed up his callsign, but apart from that it went well.

I'm not sure what route I'm taking home yet, but both routes I'm looking at have many parks to activate....and a couple of ATNO's each.

Hopefully I'll be packed and out of here by 0700 tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned for more adventures across Canada!

Stay Safe Out There!!

Day 10...

Last night was spent at CA-3921, Okanagan Lake Provincial Park.  It's a small park, tucked in below the main highway.

Amazingly, the last park of this portion of the trip, I made several contacts back home to Ontario, including a QRP to QRP contact with Chris, VE3CBK.   Chris was out activating the Armitage Marina Light (CAN-1342) for Lighthouses on the Air, when he saw my spot.  I'd love to know what antenna he was using!

I made 10 contacts at this park, and then it was off down the Highway 97 to Osoyoos and my brother's summer home.

I'm taking a couple of days off and then I'll be back activating some of the local parks, before I head. into Vancouver on Friday.

Day 8 & 9...

It was a very wet night at Gull Lake, and the band conditions made activating the park quite difficult.  I got absolutely soaked taking camp down the next morning, and was glad to start driving and warm up.  Today I'm off on a trip through the Canadian Rockies.

My first POTA stop today was at CA-0005, Banff National Park.  I made zero contacts in Banff as the noise floor was S9+20 at every spot I tried.  So I gave up and moved on down the road.  I was really looking forward to operating in Banff, perhaps next time!

Second stop today was CA-0117, Yoho National Park.  What a beautiful spot!!!  But of course it was cloudy and raining.

The band conditions, once again, were not the best.  The propagation was: SFI=162, SN=74, A Index=9, and the K Index=2.  Lot's of deep QSB on the bands as well.

I managed to get 11 contacts in an hour before I had to leave and move on to the next park, CA-0028, Glacier National Park.  This was my first failed activation.  I managed to get one contact, Ken N5HA, in Leesville, LA.  That was it, despite calling for an hour, I had no other hunters.

Two hours later I arrived at CA-0061, Mount Revelstoke National Park, another beautiful location. At this park I managed to get the bare 10 required contacts, and it only took 34 minutes.

Personally I'm finding that POTA is very different out west from what I'm used to in the Eastern part of our country.  There does not seem to be as many operators doing POTA here.  Perhaps SOTA is more active here given the mountains around this part of the country.

It's also quite difficult getting a signal out of these deep mountain valleys, which certainly isn't helping my activation count.

Day 6 & 7...

Heading north from Brandon I drove up the beautiful Qu'appelle Valley and really enjoyed the great views.  My destination today was Gull Lake, Saskatchewan.

My first activation of the day was at CA-0628, Touchwood Hills Post Provincial Park.  The park is quite small, and has no facilities at all, but is a great spot to stop and have lunch and play POTA.  

I managed to put 12 in the log while I was there, but conditions on the bands were not the greatest.  Todays propagation was:

SFI=176, SN=97, A Index=10, and the K Index=2.

A short distance down the road was the town of Raymore, Saskatchewan, where I activated CA-2816.  This was an All Time New One, never activated before and I was determined to be the first to activate it.  You see, the number 2816 has a special connotation to me, it was my Dad's WW2 RAF Squadron number, "2816 Squadron, RAF Regiment".....so you just know I had to get this one!!  

This "park" is a bit of a joke.  I'm not sure how it ever became a POTA Park.  Its official name is: "Raymore Recreational Site"....but is simply a 45 meter by 18 meter gravel parking lot where they allow RV's to stop and spend the night.

Twelve contacts went into the log at CA-2816, including my first contact from back home, Steve VE3PTA.  Surprisingly I also worked Jose, EA1BUL, from Spain, who I work a lot from my home parks around Kingston.

The rest of the day was spent driving towards Gull Lake, Saskatchewan, and my next nights camping.

Day 4 & 5...

Another rainy day as I left Dryden, the temperature was -2C (28F).  The road to Kenora was long and boring, miles and miles of trees and granite rocks.......with no 2m repeaters between the two towns.  I was lucky enough to have the company of Rod VE3RYD and Woody VE3JJA on the Kenora YSF repeater for a while.

On the way to Brandon, my next night stop, I stopped and activated CA-2376, the Assiniboine Corridor Wildlife Management Area.  Not the easiest place to find, but it was successfully activated for the very first time, with 20 contacts.  Foolishly, I was in a hurry and didn't take a photo.

After a night in Brandon, it was off to Gull Lake, Saskatchewan.  

Day 3...

Last night was not very enjoyable, today was even worse.  After I grabbed a coffee in Wawa it started...with heavy rain like last night, combined with heavy pea-soup fog.  This continued just about all day, I say "just about" because it started to snow around 1700 local.  Yeah, the white stuff that should have been gone 2 months ago!

Today I managed to make a single 2m contact.  It was in Thunder Bay on the VE3YQT repeater.  Unfortunately I forgot to write down the gentleman's call or name.  

I'm not equipped to camp in 2C (35F) weather, so I continued on from Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park where I was supposed to camp, and pushed on to Dryden, about two hours from the Manitoba border.

Needless to say, no POTA activations took place today, although there should be at least one tomorrow in the Brandon, Manitoba, area.  It's a new one....never activated before, and I can't recall the POTA number at the moment.

I'm not too worried about the parks I missed today, I'll get them on the way home as I'm coming back the same route.

The Wawa Goose this morning, in a rare, rain free, moment!

Day 1 & 2...

Unlike my previous trips to the West Coast, this trip started in brilliant sunshine!  I chose my departure day to coincide with people returning home after the May long weekend here.  There was very little west-bound traffic, as opposed to the miles of cars returning home.

My only 2m contact to date has been with Bob, VE3YX, in Deep River.  I passed a pleasant 20 minutes chatting with him on the Point Alexander repeater on Highway 17.  I guess nobody monitors repeaters these days.

My first night stop was at Chutes Provincial Park just outside of Massey, Ontario.  This park is conveniently also a POTA park, CA-0181.  After camp was set up I managed, under very bad propagation conditions to get 11 contacts in the log.  Between local QRM from RV generators and the QSB it was a tough activation.

Very early the next day say me activate CA-1329, Brennan Harbour Conservation Reserve, near the town of Spanish.  This was my first early shift activation, and this was the very first activation for the park.  It's difficult to find.  Again, the propagation wasn't the best, and once again only 11 contacts went into the log.

The drive that day was pretty uneventful, not much traffic at all on the roads.  My lunch stop was at Batchawana Bay Provincial Park, CA-0147.  Things had improved and while eating lunch put 17 contacts in the log.

My second night was spent at Lake Superior Provincial Park, but the weather was so bad no radio was attempted.  The wind and rain howled all night, luckily I didn't get too wet.

Today I'm off to Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, outside of Thunder Bay.  It is a POTA park, so I will attempt to get it on the air tonight.

Off we go!

Camp, the first night

The view of Batchawawa Bay

Batchawana Bay beach