Noisy Bands...

The weather was so good here today I had to visit three parks before I could find an empty parking spot! I must confess that I'll be very happy after the Labour Day long weekend - when the little people go back to school and spend their weekends playing baseball, or soccer, instead of running wildly around the local parks screaming at the top of their lungs, All this while mom and dad keep their noses buried in their phones.

I ended up at CA-5141, Lemoine Point Conservation Area. It was a mess of screaming little kids. It was actually a relief to finish the activation and get out of there before my headache got any worse. 

It took a little less than 45 minutes to put 18 contacts in the log. There was a great deal of QRM and QSB, and the bands were extremely noisy.

Radio was my KX3 set at 10w, with Hamsticks, and while all my contacts were made on 20m SSB or CW, I did try 40m, 17m, and 15m, with absolutely no luck at all. It was very surprising that 40m was as inactive as it was, normally it's a go to band.

Propagation was SFI=126, SN=77, A Index=8, and the K Index=1.

There will be no radio for the next 24 hours as we are expecting monsoon rains for that period.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

US Islands QSO Party...

Coming up on August 29th & 30th is this years' US Island QSO Party. It's always a good time chasing islands, and it's a nice time of year to be near the water.

A link to the rules and other information can be found HERE.

While only US Islands count, I'm lucky that a local island is also in the Frontenac Biosphere, and that location has activation numbers from at least three different park programs. That way I can chase islands and other parks...may as well make good use of my time outdoors before the snow decides to return.

Stay Safe Out There!

The Bands...

It was a nice day here, 22C (76F) under a nice blue sky. It's amazing that some of the trees are starting to show colour as their leaves start to turn.

I went back out to Parrott's Bay, CA-5142, this morning, and took almost 90 minutes to make 10 contacts. It was brutal. 

Propagation numbers were: SFI=117, SN=83, A Index=6, and the K Index=1. QSB was bad. Seven CW stations made it in the log as did 3 SSB. Both 20m and 40m was used, and 17m and 15m were both tried, but  offered no contacts in either mode.

I'm now sitting at 20,000 POTA QSO's in my log, and 986 parks activated. I'd like to make it to 1000 parks, but given the political BS stunt pulled by the POTA Board in the last few days, I'm going to have to give it a bit of thought about continuing. 

It's a bit of a quandary really. Other than POTA there's VEFF, I did that for a while, but the organization leaves a lot to be desired, especially at the very top....the rest of the volunteers are fantastic and very capable. SOTA is a "no go" as there are no accessible SOTA summits for hundreds of km in any direction. There is a solitary HEMA Summit near by, but I've already activated that this year.

There are no beaches to activate around here. BOTA, "Bunkers on the Air" is a joke, and not worth the effort. This leaves TOTA, "Tiles on the Air", an interesting idea that merits looking at.

My thoughts today go out to Larry, F5PYI, who chose the high road and resigned, after years of hard work putting the French POTA sites on the map. Bonne chance et garde le sourer, mon ami. 

Here's todays pitiful contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

A Long Day...

Yesterday was a long day, 328 km (204 miles) driven, and 6 parks activated. All this with the temperature hovering around 31C (88F), and no wind to speak of.

First up was CA-1375, Dupont Provincial Park. Not much to do there except play POTA as the park doesn't have any facilities at all.

Then it was off to CA-6514, Battle of Chryslers Farm National Historic Site. This site is right next door to Upper Canada Village, and was completely RF quiet. Great spot to activate, but...there's no shade so it was pretty hot there.

Next on the list of parks to do was CA-0419, the Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary. This is a great spot, I wish I had had more time to explore the place. 

It was now lunch time, so it was off to Morrisburg to get lunch and some liquid in me. While I was there it actually rained quite heavily for about 10 minutes, which did nothing but make the humidity even worse than it has been.

Lunch over, I headed back west and drove to CA-4855, Battle of the Windmill National Historic Site. This is a very small site, and the parking lot is the size of a postage stamp, but lucky for me it there were only 2 other cars there. 

The last site on the list was CA-4868, Fort Wellington National Historic Site. This was the only site I activated that had shade and I could get out of the hot sun. There was a nice breeze blowing as well of the river, just a great spot to operate from.

The 6th park was the Waterfront Trail, CA-6003, that ties all the other sites together.

So, how were the bands? In one word - "Crap". The only band that I could make work was 20m. All of the other bands had a S9+20 noise floor, it was very frustrating to say the least. But being that far from home I had to make it work, so it was a 20m day. Contacts were made using both CW and SSB, but there were long periods between contacts.

Most of the day the bands were filled with static crashes from the incoming thunder storms, making the QRN unbearable. On top of that the QSB was pretty bad as well. Signals disappeared seconds after you established a link with them.

The propagation numbers for the day were: SFI=108, SN=71, A Index=3, and the K Index=0. Radio used was my KX3 set at 10w, and .....as usual a 20m hamstick.

Surprise contacts for the day? Thomas, SM3NRY, popped up and answered my CQ at Fort Wellington, and he was immediately followed by Larry, F5PYI. Those guys made my day.

Here's the days contact map:

Thanks to all the Hunters, many of whom got me in multiple parks during the day. Without these guys POTA would be a waste of time, so a HUGE shout-out to them!!

Stay Safe Out There....and go and play radio!!!

NJQRP Skeeter Hunt...

Just a reminder that the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt is only two weeks away, set to take place on Sunday, August 16th.

While you really don't need a Skeeter number to participate, having one adds to the fun. Just send an email to Larry, w2ljqrp@gmail.com with your name, call, and the state or province you'll be operating from. Skeeter number requests will be honoured until Saturday, August 15th.

This is for both CW & SSB stations, so no excuses, get out and operate!!  

You can find more details and the rules HERE.

Stay Safe Out There!!

Frontenac Biosphere Reserve...

Yesterday, July 31st, I went up into the County and activated CA-0023, the Frontenac Biosphere Reserve. It's a fairly popular place to activate either POTA or VEFF due to its size, 2,700 sq km.

What I like about it is the fact that due to its size there are many, many, options to go to for an activation. You don't need to go to the same spot twice.

I decided to go and find a new spot to park and ended up where the K&P Trail crosses Scanlan Road....just don't block the farmers gate. 

Propagation didn't look too bad, but the reality was it certainly was bad, and the QSB was extreme. The numbers were: SFI=152, SN=123, A Index=5 and the K Index=1. Stations seemed to be quite weak with very few strong stations making it in to the log. SSB was almost a waste of time, and most of my contacts were on CW.

Radio was the KX3, a the antennas was the 20m hamstick.

No DX was worked, but I did get good coverage across the USA, in fact more than I usually do.

Here's the contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!