My First Four Park Rove...

Weather wise Saturday was going to be the best day of the weekend to get out and do things. It was also going to be, according to the forecast, the best propagation day of the weekend as well. So off I went on a four park rove around Northumberland and Hastings Counties.

The drive down the 401 Highway was fine, the crazy drivers must have decided to sleep in, or just stay home as traffic was light and moved very well.

Radio was my trusty KX3 with 10 screaming watts, and of course I used my various Hamsticks. The propagation for the day, and it never changed, was: SFI=165, SN=127, A Index=7, and the K Index=1.

                                                                                                                                                                       

The first park of the day was CA-5637, Goodrich-Loomis Conservation Area. This park is off the beaten track, but easy to find and is about 1.5 hours from my home. I put 12 in the log at this park, all on 40m. I didn't stick around as I wanted to make sure I had sufficient time to get all four parks completed that day.  First in the log was Mark, KD8MIV, in West Virginia.

Fifteen minutes north is CA-5086, Seymour Conservation Area, this site is right off of County Road 30. It was quite busy with hikers and families out for a stroll. The large parking lot allowed me to hide away in a corner out of everyone's way.

This park saw 13 contacts added to the log, and all contacts were made on 20m. First up here was Sherwin, KF0SVO, in Rock Valley, Iowa. 

The next park, CA-5088, King's Mill Conservation Area was about 23 minutes away to the west, and is easy to fine. There is a nice gravel parking area to park in on Wellmans Road, and a million or so ducks in the large pond all noisily awaiting their trip south for the winter.

Another 12 contacts went into the log at this site, all done on 15m. First up was Thomas, SM3NRY, in Nyravagen, Sweden. He was followed by Alex XE1UYS, and Fernando EA8DQP. 

The last park of the day, CA-5089 Sagar Conservation Area was 15 minutes south on Golf Course Road. This spot was the only site that actually had a washroom to use on it.  The other three did not. It does have a large gravel parking lot, and for most of my time there I was the only person there.

I ate a late lunch here and admired the view. It was nice and peaceful. At this park I used 15m, 17m, and 40m and put 16 contacts in the log. First up was Pat, W1WX, in Littleton, Massachusetts. He was followed by a good number of DX stations, all of whom had excellent signals into my location.

It was a great day, and I really enjoyed myself. There are several other parks in this general area that I still need to get to and activate before the snow flies, so hopefully I will get them done in the next few weeks.

Here's the contact map from the last activation of the day:

Not too bad at all for 10w and a Hamstick!

Stay Safe Out There!

The Bands Are Back...

From everything I've seen over the last few days it looks like the bands are back in business as Fall rapidly approaches!

After several months of garbage to mediocre band conditions, the past day or two has shown us that they're back in action.

On Wednesday I activated Lemoine Point CA-5141, and had great success with it. I made 20 contacts in about 30 minutes on 40m, 15m, 17m, and 10m. Four of the contacts were from across the pond, Harald DL1AX, Matt ON6MAT, Mal GW6OVD, and Chris MW0JKU.

The propagation was: SFI=171, SN=157, A Index=14, and the K Index=2.

Today, Friday, September 26th, I activated a new park to me, CA-1673 Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area. The only issue at the location is that it is very low ground, almost a bowl, and hard to get a signal out of it.

That being said, it only took me 41 minutes to get 36 contacts there, including seven DX Stations. First up was Jose EA1BUL, followed by IK4IDF, DL1AX, EA1GIB, DO5IE, EA2BD, and OK2TS.

The propagation today was: SFI=170, SN=124, A Index=8, and the K Index=2.

There was still some QSB around, as well as the usual idiotic "Tuner Uppers" on the frequency. I ended up having to move twice due to some deliberate QRM, I don't say anything...I just 'disappear' and find a new clear frequency. Some people's attitude towards "their" frequency is quite interesting. 

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

Chillycon, the Aftermath...

Chillycon, the annual gathering of Eastern Ontario QRPers lived up to its name this year as Friday and Saturday nights went down to +1C (33F). Luckily we survived as we took along enough warm clothes.

I managed to complete all the goals I had set out this year, six new parks went into my logbook. As well as Rideau River Provincial Park - CA-0365, where we camp, was activated everyday.

Parks that are new to me and activated were:

Pine Grove Conservation Area, CA-1579

McCarthy Woods Natural Area, CA-1506

Mer Bleue Conservation Reserve, CA-1516

Mer Bleue Bog Conservation Reserve, CA-1515

Mississippi Lake Migratory Bird Sanctuary, CA-0307

Mississippi Lake National Wildlife Area, CA-0057

There were a number of other parks I had on my list to do if I had time, but the bad road traffic in Ottawa made timings hard to do.  Perhaps next year!

Throughout the weekend the bands were really not too bad. There was a bit of QSB, but it was workable. It's very obvious that the bands are starting to settle down and get back to normal. Hopefully they will be fine for the CQ World Wide DX SSB HF Contest at the end of October, and the Fall Support Your Park Weekend held in mid-October.

For the weekend I only used my KX3 set at 10w, and for the antenna I just used my normal hamsticks on a mag-mount. I decided not to put up a wire antenna as I would be spending a considerable time away from the campsite activating outside parks. In the end I managed to put 11 DX countries in the log:

Brazil, Venezuela, Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, England, Austria, Dominican Republic, Germany, and Spain. Puerto Rico and Alaska also made it into my log. I haven't had that much DX success in many months!

We had about 20 hams there over the weekend. Some camped and others just dropped in for a few hours and visited. Most stayed for the traditional pizza supper on Saturday evening where the prizes are given out.

Overall it was a great weekend, lots of radio and chatting about antennas, as well as POTA and SOTA.

Already looking forward to next year's gathering.

Here's a few pics:

Matt VA3UMM receiving the plaque for the best SSB DX Contact
from Don, VE3MNE.

My contact map for Saturday.

Mississippi Lake, just a gorgeous spot to operate from!

Chillycon - 2025...

Next week (Wednesday) I'm off to the annual Chillycon gathering of QRPers at Rideau River Provincial Park. This will be the 15th time I have attended the event, and I look forward to it every year. So far the weather forecast is looking good, with no rain expected during the week we are there.

The numbers of attendees at the gathering has dropped some since covid hit us, but hopefully it will start to recover. We are expecting a large crowd to be camping for the weekend, and several others coming out to visit on the Saturday.              

I have several new (to me) POTA parks that I wish to activate, and I'm planning on doing that on Thursday and Friday. Saturday will be spent visiting other attendees and talking radios and antennas. Sunday we do a brunch at a local restaurant and then head home, fired up and ready for next year.

The parks I'm planning on operating from are:

Pine Grove Forest Conservation Area - CA-1579

McCarthy Woods Natural Area - CA-1506

Central Experimental Farm - CA-5095

Hogs Back Conservation Reserve - CA-1596

If I get the time I might also try to activate:

Mer Bleue Conservation Reserve - CA-1516

Mer Bleue Bog Conservation Reserve - CA-1515

These parks are also VEFF Parks and I will submit my logs to them as well.

This weekend will be spent getting my camping equipment sorted out and ready to go. That shouldn't take too long as I just used it for Field Day.

Look for my writeup and pictures after I get home.

Stay Safe Out There!!