Finally, A Break...

We woke up this morning to decent temperatures, a big blue sky, and no haze or smell of smoke from the wildfires. A decent day for an activation I thought, and that was before I looked at the daily propagation numbers.

Although I had my KX3, battery, and logbook with me, it wasn't until after the local clubs coffee meet-up that I decided to give it a try as the numbers looked workable. 

The propagation numbers were: SFI=151, SN=138, A Index=24, and the K Index=3. The bands were very noisy and every one of them had bad QSB. But signals were there.

I started on 40m SSB and first in the log was Elliot KC1WFL. This was a special contact as Elliot is only 6 years old, but a very professional sounding operator. It was great to work him. Only 6 contacts on 40m made it into my log before the band dried up. I then tried 10m and 15m, but had no luck on either of them.

The next 11 contacts were made on 20m SSB. It took a little under an hour to get them in my log, and it was great to get out and activating again. Contacts were made in 15 different Provinces and States.

Hopefully this coming week I'll be able to get out again and get a few more parks in my log book.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

Weekend Propagation...

Well, the propagation certainly isn't looking too good for this weekend. I was hoping to be able to take a new antenna out into the field and do some testing.....but apparently not.

I've actually lost count of how long it's been since we had decent propagation. Hopefully this foolishness will sort itself out shortly and we can all get back to operating our radios with good results.

Here's how it looks:

Stay Safe Out There!!

A Little Improvement...

After nine days of mediocre to poor propagation, today was a little better. I decided to go to Lemoine Point Conservation Area and see how bad it was.

It took an hour and fifteen minutes to get 11 contacts in my logbook. The QRN and QSB were pretty bad, signals were really up and down, and contacts hard to make. I really appreciate the 11 hams who made the contacts with me, and persevered through some brutal band noise.

No DX today, furthest contact was with Tom, W6IJL, in Arizona on 20m.

I'm hoping things continue to improve so I can try and get out again tomorrow, and do it all over again.

Here's today's contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

This Isn't Good...

There's a major G4 solar storm raging at the moment, looks like we will have very poor band conditions for a few days.

Here's how it looks:

Stay Safe Out There!

A Pretty Good Day...

I decided to activate Sharbot Lake and Silver Lake Provincial Parks yesterday, and it turned out to be pretty good. First of all the weather was excellent, 23C (73F) under clear blue skies. The warmest day here so far this year.

I also found out that you don't have to pay the day use fee if you present a veterans card, this is valid Monday through Friday. Needless to say my card will be getting a lot of use this coming season! The cost of entering the provincial parks is getting out of hand.

Propagation wise it was the best it's been in the last few weeks, but still not terrific. The numbers were: SFI=133, SN=102, A Index=8, and the K Index=2. Once again the QSB was very bad and I missed at least  two Park to Park contacts because their signal disappeared completely before I could complete the contact.

Best contact of the day was Larry, F5PYI, on 20m. I managed to work Larry in each park. Radio was my trusty KX3 at 10w, and my usual Hamstick antennas.

Here's the days contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

Good Book...

Just received my copy of Salty Walt's Antenna Book. Highly recommended!! If you're into building your own portable antennas for POTA & SOTA, or just messing about in your garden....this is the book for you.

I bought my copy from Amazon.ca, which was a lot cheaper than direct from the ARRL. 

Lot's of projects for next winter, and while these are shown as "portable" antennas, there's no reason they couldn't be put up on a more permanent basis for the main QTH.

Stay Safe Out There!

A Propagation Upturn...

It's been 10 days since I have been out doing an activation, mainly due to the very poor propagation and the futility of trying to operate QRP in such conditions. Yesterday wasn't too bad on the bands, for a change so I decided to get out and give it a try again.

It took 40 minutes to get 17 contacts in the log. I managed 11 SSB on 20m and 6 CW on 40m, so I was fairly happy with that. The radio in use was my KX2, and my usual hamsticks. The bands look even better this morning, so I think I'll be doing another trip today. 

A few new antenna parts are on order from various companies to put together a ground mounted vertical, more on this when the parts arrive. I'm hoping the new antenna will help simplify things for me. I hate doing POTA activations with a 10 metre collapsible mast, the less attention I can draw to me the better I like it...and let's be honest, not every park is suitable to erect a mast and wire.

Yesterday the propagation was: SFI=119, SN=93, A Index=13, and the K Index=3. There was very deep QSB as well. As you can see for the contact map above, 20m was very short, except for the single opening into St. Kitts and Nevis.

Stay Safe Out There!

The Week That Was...

What a lousy week, both propagation wise and weather wise. No park activations got done, and very little radio at all was done. The propagation doesn't look like it will improve much before Tuesday at the moment. This is thanks to a coronal hole stream heading our way.

We've also had heavy rains and thunderstorms through the area over the past 48 hours, so that hasn't helped either.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get out on Tuesday with a new antenna I would like to test during a POTA activation. Photo's to follow if conditions are good!

Stay Safe Out There!

Back to the Parks...

Circumstances have changed around the QTH over the past few days. My Mother-in-Law, who has lived with us for the past 12 years, will be moving into a long term care home tomorrow, as her dementia has reached the point we can no longer care for her at home, she now needs full time professional care. 

This means that as of tomorrow I will no longer be tied to the house everyday helping take care of her. It also means my sainted wife will now be able to do things she has been putting off for the past few years. While it will be very strange not to have Mother-in-Law here with us, she will be close enough that we can easily visit her every day.

Once a few outstanding chores have been taken care of around here, I will be able to activate local parks as often as I wish. I'm also planning on travelling to new parks that I have not been to yet; I'm really looking forward to this.

It's been a week since I have managed to get out to the local parks and do an activation. This was a 50/50 split between lousy propagation and my obligations around the QTH. 

This morning I managed to get out and actually play radio in a park. Propagation was not the best, the SFI was sitting at 152, SN=87, A Index= 26, and the K Index=2. The old Sun has not been on its best behaviour all week, and today proved no different. It was very surprising at just how quiet 40m was today, with my processor turned off I had no background noise at all, just clear audio. You don't get that very often.

I did manage to put 19 contacts in the log, all on 40m, which was strange as 40m was shown to be in poor shape. There were no prizes given for DX contacts today, just solid contacts around the Eastern Seaboard.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There....and May the Fourth Be With You!!

QRP To The Field...

Here's a surprise.....I've just been told that unknown to everyone, this year's QRP to the Field Event has been delayed a week and will take place this coming Saturday, April 26.

Here's a link to the rules page HERE.

This is good news as the bands were absolute garbage last Saturday when it was originally planned to happen. I didn't do very well because of the conditions, and never submitted a log. Good job I didn't as I can do it all over again this Saturday, and hope for much better conditions.

I can't get upset over this screwup this year at all.  Paul, NA5N, has just within the past 2 weeks lost his wife, and I'm sure he has other things on his mind right now.

So there you go, another chance to get out and play QRP radio coming up this Saturday.

Stay Safe Out There!