A Cold Activation...

It was a pretty cold day here in Eastern Ontario. There's not much snow on the ground, but the lakes are starting to freeze over. 

Parrotts Bay is about half frozen over these days and I expect it will be fully frozen over by next weekend.  The picture to the left looks decidedly warm.....don't be fooled, it was -21C with the wind blowing.

Over about 40 minutes I managed to put 26 contacts in my logbook.  First up was Bruno ON8BM, and he was quickly followed by DK5FF/p, LW2DO, DL1SWB, PD1CW, and EA2BD. The other contacts were mainly from the Central and Western USA.

All contacts were made on 10m with my KX3 set at 10w, and as usual, Hamsticks for my antenna. It's a winning combination and I see no reason to change it right now. Besides, it's too cold to be outside, fumbling around, and trying to get a wire up a tree.

Propagation today was: SFI=162, SN=136, A Index=10, and the K Index=3. The QSB was particularly bad at times.

I was really impressed with my SSB contact with LW2DO in Pehuajo, Argentina, which is a distance of 9,027 km away, or 902.7 km per watt.  Not too shabby!!

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!