Another Sunday 4 Park Rove...

Sunday is fast becoming my favourite day to get out and play radio. There's a couple of reasons for this, normally the parks are somewhat quieter as many people are in church, and as a result the bands are quieter, and any contests going on are actively listening for contacts...which helps my QRP status.

So with that I got up at "O'dark Thirty" and high tailed it up the highway 2 hours to Ottawa, where at 0900 I was set up and ready to operate at CA-1040, Burnt Lands Provincial Park. There are no facilities at this park, it really is just a patch of burnt land where a forest fire went through years ago. I've no idea why it would be a provincial park, or a POTA site. There's hardly any parking here, the few available spots are along a busy major road.

It took 6 minutes to get this park activated, all on 40m, which is a record for me. First in the log was Bruce, K9ICP, who thankfully works me at just about every park I activate. After 13 contacts I closed down and moved along to my next park.

Next up was CA-5083, Diefenbunker National Historic Site. This was not such an easy activation. In the 20 minutes to get there it seemed the propagation had changed and it was not such an easy go. In fact it took 40 minutes to get 12 contacts in the log, and I used both 40m and 20m to get the job done. First in the log here was Wayne, VE3UWA, a local Kingston boy.

The third activation of the day was at CA-5644, Pinhey's Point National Historic Site. This activation was done using 15m only, and I ended up with some good DX contacts from here. First up was Raf, IK4IDF, and was closely followed by EA1BUL, F5NZO, EA7ANC, F5PYI, and the surprise of the day, Ken, 8P5KM, who was at park BB-0036 in Barbados.

Here's the contact map for this activation:

The final park of the day was CA-1621, Shirley's Bay Conservation Reserve. First in the log here was Eric, VE3DN. This is a fantastic site to operate from, no RF interference at all, I had an S0 to S1 noise floor the whole time I was there. This activation was done using both 40m and 15m. The view isn't too bad either across the Ottawa River:

As usual the radio was my KX3 set at 10w, and hamsticks for antennas on a mag-mount on the roof of my truck. 

The propagation never really changed all day: SFI=115, SN=25, A Index=14, and the K Index=2. There was a small amount of QSB, but that caused me no issues at all. It was fairly cool all day with the temperature hovering around 7C (44F).....but at least it didn't rain or snow.

Thanks to Eric, VE3DN, who gave me guidance to the sites I activated. It's a lot easier to do with some local knowledge in your back pocket. Eric and I met up and had a great lunch together at a Kanata restaurant where we caught up on all things ham radio.

I did try one last activation, to try and get 5 in for the day. I had to go through Perth on the way home and I stopped at CA-5956, Perth Wildlife Reserve. The noise floor here was S9+20, just a ridiculous amount of noise on the site, and the propagation had fallen into a garbage can. I tried for about 10 minutes, made zero contacts, and then headed home into the rapidly appearing dusk. I had forgotten with the time change it would be getting darker a lot earlier than I was used to.

It was a great day out, and I'm looking forward to my next few multi-park roves before the snow flies.

Stay Safe Out There!!

My Second Three Park Rove...

Tuesday dawned bright and early as they say, and I had plans. My wife was away visiting her family and that left me with some spare time to disappear and play radio.

Propagation was not the best, and I was determined to get all three parks I had chosen to activate done in one day. The answer of course was to up my game and take my FT-891, and set it at 40w, instead of the usual KX3 at 10w, which is exactly what I did. The FT-891 was matched with my various hamsticks.

The first park, CA-1045, Puzzle Lake Provincial Park, took just under an hour to get to, it's north-west of my home QTH in a very rural area. I put 12 contacts in the log in about 18 minutes, all of them on 40m. The band wasn't bad, but it was noisy and the QSB pretty bad.  I was sure glad to get the extra 30w behind my signal.

First in the log for the day was Martin AC1LL, in Bremen, Maine.

It was off to my second park, CA-1514, Mellon Lake Conservation Reserve, about 30 minutes from my first stop. This one is difficult to get into, and the first thing I saw in the parking lot was a shot up canoe sign.....never a good thing!

This park saw me on both 40m and 20m. First in the log for this park was Dave W4DMH, in Paw Paw, West Virginia. The noise had settled down and the QSB was not as bad in this park. The surprise of the day was getting Larry F5PYI in the log from Maclas, France. In this park I put 19 contacts in the log in 30 minutes.

Then it was off to the small town of Tweed, in Hastings County, for lunch and a coffee before I attempted the third and final park of the day.

The third park as CA-0404, Stoco Fen Provincial Park, about 10 minutes east of Tweed. There are no facilities here at all, just 20 million mosquitoes...all heading for you! You must park on the side of a pretty narrow gravel road, and hope nobody comes past you.

This park I only used 20m, as it was pretty busy with POTA activations and I knew it wouldn't take long to get activated on that band. First in the log here was Ted N0TTZ, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He was followed quickly by Jose EA1BUL in Asturias, Spain, and Larry F5PYI again for a second park. I had 17 contacts at this park, and it took 24 minutes to activate.

Propagation for the first 2 parks was: SFI=146, SN=146, A Index=17, and the K Index=2.

Propagation for the third park was: SFI=146, SN=152, A Index=17, and the K Index=3.

The temperature was 35C (95F) by noon and very high humidity. I was glad to get the engine running after each activation to get the air conditioner turned on so I could cool down. I also went through 3 litres of water during the day.

It was an excellent day, and I have another three (maybe 4) park rove planned for late next week....if the propagation holds good!

Below is the contact map for the third activation of the day at Stoco Fen.

Stay Safe Out There!