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, 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
Fron Don, VE3MNE.

My contact map for Saturday.

Mississippi Lake, just a gorgeous spot to operate from!