It's Getting Better...

Yesterday on the bands wasn't bad, but today was much better! After my trip yesterday to Lemoine Point, I decided to take a drive out to Parrott's Bay and see how things were. It was great!

Propagation this morning was: SFI=145, SN=87, A Index=5, and the K Index=1. 

The temperature was hovering around 1C (3.8F), so winter is definitely on its way. I'll have to make sure that my truck has some extra warm items for the coming winter POTA season.

The Radio today was my KX3 and various hamsticks as usual.

First up today was Dave, KJ5MTY, from Rockwall, Texas, on 10m. I started there as it looked really busy, but I actually only managed to make 3 contacts on the band, all into Texas, before I moved on to 12m.

Now I don't have a 12m Hamstick, but using my ATU the 10m hamstick tuned up on 12m with no problem. Contacts on this band today included Didier, F5NZO, and Sepo, IZ8BIR, both of whom were booming into my location. 

I moved to 15m after a short time and made 11 contacts there. Surprisingly I didn't work any DX on this band. It was mainly the US West Coast, Texas, and Oklahoma that made it into my logbook. 

It was a good day, and hopefully I'll manage to get out again tomorrow and do it all over again.

Here's today's contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

Band Test...

After the terrible band conditions over the past week I decided that today was perhaps the day to get out there and see if things had improved yet. Aside from a bit of QSB things were actually not too bad.

I did a quick 30 minute activation at CA-5141, Lemoine Point, and managed to put 14 contacts in the log from there. 

As usual I had my KX3 set at 10w, and a 40m Hamstick is use, and a fine job they both did. Propagation this morning was: SFI=156, SN=102, A Index=59, and the K Index=1. 

First in the log today was Chris, N0TAR, in Groton, CT. No DX was worked, and that's OK as I really just wanted to see how the bands were. I've decided that looking at the numbers for the weekend I'll try and get an activation in, between rain showers, on both days.

Here's todays activation map:

Stay Safe Out There!

Remembrance Day - 2025

In Loving Memory of the

Officers, NCO's, and Men

of

2816 Squadron, RAF Regiment

December 1941 -  June 1946

In Loving Memory of

WO Derek Pilkington, BEM

Sgt Tam MacDonald

Cpl Dave Cromb

Cpl Willie Crosley

In Loving Memory of

LCol David "Doc" Purich

Maj Colin "Turk" Fisher

MWO Ben Lemarbre

MCpl George Game

Cpl Dave Jodoin

Cpl John "JC" Smith

Cpl Randy Hampel

Cpl Sam Gordon

Also,

MWO Darlene Powers

Gone, but not forgotten.

We Will Remember Them.

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!!

15m is hopping...

What a great day on 15m it was today! I thought I would get out an do an activation as I don't plan on doing any activations over the weekend as the CQ WW SSB Contest will be on, I don't feel like fighting over-powered QRO stations with my QRP transmitter to try and make a contact.

Propagation today was: SFI=130, SN=98, A Index=6, and the K Index=2. Radio, as usual, was my KX3 with 10 screaming watts into a hamstick. There was a fair bit of QSB, but not enough to cause any real issues.

I actually started the activation on 40m, but after two contacts the band simply dried up and I couldn't rustle up any other contacts at all. So, off to 15m it was.

First DX in the log today was Bernd DL2DXA in Dresden, Germany. He was followed by GW0RQC, OE1DXU, DL1AX, F4ILH, DA2PK, ON4ON, IK3SWB/qrp, G0RQL, OS8D, EA2CPG, IZ4NPE, and SP8DSX. Interestingly, IK3SWB/qrp was using 5w SSB, and he was 55 into my station, and I received a 53 from him. 

The whole time I was activating today I was wondering what my Dad, VE7CVQ (SK), would think of POTA. He was a CW only guy, very rarely did he pick up a mic. I don't remember him ever doing Field Day, he just operated from the shack like 95% of hams did in those days. But you know, I like to think he would enjoy it. I'm sure the size of today's radios would shock the hell out of him. He had the complete line of the Heathkit SB-101, top of the line for its day. 

Here's todays contact map:

Oh yeah, I heard today from a US operator that QRP doesn't work........who knew????

Stay Safe Out There!!

Sunday on the Air...

I was not going to go out and activate today as the forecasted propagation was supposed to be pretty bad. So I thought about it for a short while and thought, "what the heck, let's go give it a try". You know what they say, "A day playing radio is better than doing the honey do list".

Wow, what a surprise I had, it was a good move to go to Lemoine Point Conservation Area!

The propagation numbers were not spectacular, but seemed to be decent enough.  They were: SFI=156, SN=80, A Index=36, and the K Index=2. Lot's of bad QSB about as well.

I chose to start on 10m, not a band I use a lot, but it's that time of year when it starts to get active. Did I pick a good time to get on that band! In the first 6 minutes of the activation I worked: OS8D, PR8ZX, F4HJO, EA8CTF, and GM4VYQ. Not too shabby for 10w and a Hamstick!

After a while I moved to 15m and worked EA8DQP, EA8ED, EA3HAB, and EA2EZ. It was definitely a day to speak Spanish. I certainly didn't expect to work 3 stations from the Canary Islands. It just shows you, just get out there and call CQ, you never know who's going to answer your call.

I know there were other DX stations calling me, but they were under my noise floor and I just could not pull them out of the noise. I hate disappointing people, but I just couldn't get them in the log.

It may be a few days before I get out again, we have a series of heavy rain days coming in, starting tomorrow, so I'll hunker down and get some things done around the house before winter hits properly.

The hour I had available to play radio passed pretty quickly, but it was a good day with another 24 in the log.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

Tuesday in the Park...

It's not very often that I get to activate a park on a Tuesday, but today was that day! 

Fall was definitely in the air, it was only 14C (57F) out under a very cloudy sky that was threatening rain....which luckily never happened.

Propagation had been pretty bad for the weekend and Monday, but today it was: SFI=141, SN=96, A Index=23, and the K Index=1. There was some QSB on the bands but it wasn't there all the time.

Radio in use today was my KX3, and the antennas were Hamsticks on a 5" mag-mount on the roof of my truck. 

First up today was Joaquin, EA2CCG, near Pamplona in Northern Spain, and he was immediately followed by Richard, KA6NPD, in Hemet, California. Both contacts were made on 15m. Those two contacts set the tone for the rest of the activation. The other thing that was nice to see today was the fact that I worked 6 YL stations, I've never worked that many in a single activation before.

I made 15 contacts on 15m, and 11 contacts on 40m. It took 36 minutes to put the 26 contacts in the log, which I didn't think was too bad for a QRP station.

Hopefully the bands will be good for this coming weekend so we can enjoy the POTA Support Your Park Event, and the NY QSO Party.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

Fall Support Your Park Weekend...

Coming up on the weekend of October 18/19 is this year's Fall SYP Weekend. This event runs from 0001 UTC on 18 October to 2359 UTC on 19 October.

The idea of this event is to get people out into the local parks and get them on the air. The weather should be cool and the bugs will have disappeared for the year, so there are very few excuses as to why you can't get out and do this one.

I have plans to be on the air at 0001 UTC on the 18th, and activate a 3fer in the local area that evening. This will allow me to travel further afield on Saturday and Sunday to get other "not so common" parks in the log. I particularly like doing the late shift on these weekends as there tends to be good pile-ups.

Also going on that weekend is the NY QSO Party. You can click on the link to go to their page and the Rules.

Hope to work you on the bands during the event!

Stay Safe Out There!!

The Big Day...

Today was not supposed to be a radio day, it was supposed to be a quiet day at home, and then out lunch with my XYL. The propagation had been forecast to be in the dumps and didn't hold much promise, however, that was not the case. So I snuck in a quick activation of CA-0023 before meeting my lunch date.

I had completely forgotten that this activation would be my 800th Park Activation until I got home and started inputting my log. 

The propagation numbers today were SFI=131, SN=88, A Index=15, and the K Index=2. There was also a great deal of deep QSB as well.....along with the usual tuner uppers, whistlers, and the "get off my frequency" crowd. They were all out today.

First in the log today was Allen, KC1SJS, with a great 59+ signal. No DX made it into the log today, but the 10th contact, the guy who put number 800 activation in the book, was Merrell, AB4MM/qrp, from Columbiana, Alabama.....Thanks Merrell!!!!

Now I start working towards activation number 1000th.

Here's today's contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!

Another Four Park Rove...

Sunday was a great day to get out and play portable radio. The day didn't start off too warm, but by mid-afternoon was pretty hot out.

I had decided earlier in the week to finish off my rove of Northern Northumberland County, and the parks along County Road 9. The fall colours were fantastic, and I really enjoyed the great views along the roads.

Thankfully the west-bound traffic on Highway 401 was pretty light that morning, most people would have still been in bed when I was heading west. I used my KX3 with 10w and my usual collection of Hamsticks. Propagation wasn't too bad, it was SFI=158, SN=109, A Index=20, and the K Index=2. Those numbers didn't change all day.

I was prepared for bad propagation on this trip, I took along my small 40w HF amplifier. Thankfully I never needed it, as once the contacts started they kept coming.

The first park was a 1.5 hour drive east of my home QTH. This was CA-5648, Garden Hill Conservation Area. It's a small site, right off County Road 9. It didn't take me long to get set up, and I quickly decided to start on 40m as it looks fairly busy. First in the log from there was Reed, AB8AS. After putting 13 in the log, all on 40m, the band seemed to dry up...so it was off to the second park.

The next park was CA-5647, Rice Lake Conservation Area. This is truly a gorgeous site, very quiet, and lots of places to get an antenna up in the trees. First station in the log from here was Wayne, VE3UWA, a fellow Frontenac County ARC member. This activation was also completed all on 40m.

CA-5636, Hazel Bird Nature Reserve. Another very quiet location for radio work. The parking lot is pretty small here, probably good for 6 to 8 cars. I moved to 15m at this location and made 11 contacts on the band before moving back to 40m. First in the log here was Darin, KG5HBX, in De Leon, Texas.

After Hazel Bird Nature Reserve I drove for about 25 minutes to Warkworth Conservation Area. First though I stopped for a quick lunch at "K Okay Cafe", one of the many restaurants on the Main Street. I can definitely recommend the ham and brie sandwich there. 

Warkworth Conservation Area is tiny, and has about 3 parking spots which are across the street from the actual conservation area. I was lucky to get one, and hauled my equipment across the street and set up on the one and only picnic table there. The antenna for this site was a 25' Rybakov vertical, with a single 17' ground radial. It was on a SOTABeams tactical mini mast, and it worked well for me that day.

I decided to stick with 15m as it seemed busy, and I guessed that I might get some good DX....I was right. First up was Pedro, PR8ZX, in Brazil, and he was followed by EA1FIC, EA1BUL, F4ILH, EC7DZZ, DF7TR, and SM3NRY. Those contacts made the day!

It was another great day chasing POTA contacts, and I really enjoyed myself. Now it's off to plan the next 4 Park Rove, which should be in a few weeks.

Stay Safe Out There!