Portable Ops...

It was a great day here today.  I managed to get out and play portable radio in the local park.  First time out playing radio this year, other than Winter Field Day.  There were not too many people at Lake Ontario Park, and nobody near me, so it was safe enough.  In fact it might be safe enough to start operating there on a semi-regular basis...unless the city regulations change again

Not many contacts made it into the logbook as the bands were not in the best condition.  The QSB on 20m was particularly bad, stations went from an S9 to S0 in seconds.   The propagation numbers were:  SFI=68, SN=0, A Index=4, and the K Index=1 at 1730 UTC.

Radio in use today was my KX3 which performed flawlessly as usual.  The antenna today was the Packtenna Mini, cut to 41.5 feet.

Supposedly you do not need radials with this antenna, but I find it works better with them.  I use a large alligator clip and attach it to the outer ring of the BNC connector as you can see in this picture.

While I normally homebrew my antennas, this one was certainly worth the money I paid for it.

Don, VE3MNE, came with me and worked on a new antenna project he has in the works for Chillycon this year.  So far it looks very promising, a few more tweaks and it will definitely give Eric, VA3AMX, a good run for his money if we can run the event this year. 😆

Once in a while I mention LIDS, and today we had a doozy, a G3 station (I have his full call) from Birmingham, England, called for over 20 minutes on top of a YL net.  The G3 knew the YL's were on frequency as he told them to go away while he tried to work DX.  I guess he must be special and owns his own frequency.  Good on the YL's for ignoring him and continuing, and I hope they send a recording of his behaviour to OFCOM.

VE3MNE working on his new portable antenna.

Today's operating position

May QRP Sprint...

Another great night on the bands!  Lots of signals on 20m and 40m tonight and many European stations calling North America as well.

Saturday night was the third  2 hour QRP Sprint in a series of six sprints this year that the Upper Canada QRP Club sponsors.  The score is accumulative over the course of the year, so far Eric, VA3AMX, is in the lead, but that may change after tonights scores trickle in.

Propagation tonight at 2309 UTC was...SFI=69, SN=0, A Index=3, and the K Index=1. There was quite a bit of bad QSB as well, but it wasn't there all the time.

Best DX for me tonight was two contacts with the Azores, not bad for 10w RF into the OCF Dipole.  On top of that I worked 2 provinces and 4 states.  Not the best of results, but I am pleased with it.

I put the following in the log:

CQ8THANKS in the Azores
W0ZF in MN
CU3HN in the Azores
W8BI in OH
VE9FI in NB
KB3CMT/p in WV
K9GPV in IN
VA3QV in ON

I'm looking forward to the next sprint in July, hopefully the weather will be good and I can operate portable for that one.

Portable Ops......FOILED!!!!

Having been cooped up in the house for quite a while, I was making plans to sneak out of the house and do a POTA at Fort Henry, VE-4864.

However, it was foiled at the last minute.

John, VE3JPW, tried to get up there last night to do a check on his new HF portable antenna.  He discovered that they have blocked the access roads to keep people and cars away.  Isn't that nice!!

Oh well......I'm off to formulate "Operating Plan B".

The red lines in the Google Map shot below shows where the barriers are placed.

QRP Weekend...

In a word, it was disappointing.   The propagation was in the toilet, the weekend numbers were: SFI=69, SN=0, A Index=7, and the K Index=1.  This coupled with some deep QSB made for some very noisy bands.  Hopefully the propagation Gods will start to wake up and allow things to improve....quickly!

This weekend saw the QRP to the Field event and the Europe to North America SOTA event.  I hung around the usual QRP watering holes but never heard a sound from any station looking to make contacts for these events.  I have not even seen any news on the SOTA event on the SOTA reflector, so it was probably just as bad on the European end as it was ours on this side of the pond.  Perhaps by the November SOTA cross the pond event propagation will have improved.

The Ontario QSO Party for a QRP SSB station was just as bad.  I managed to make contacts on 80m, 40m, 20m, 6m, and 2m.   But my final score was less than half of last years.  I did manage to make contacts from VO2 land to VE7 land, so contacts where out there to be made, just extremely difficult to do by QRP apparently.

Next weekend is the Florida QSO Party.  Rules for that event can be found HERE.

2020 Summer Field Day...

As of todays date, it would seem the ARRL Programs and Services Committee has in fact considered the Wuhan Flu issue, and has decided not to make any rule changes. 

This is disappointing, current social distancing requirements as well as our new provincial and municipal laws very likely will impact just how, and even whether, we are able to participate in Field Day this year.

It would have been very easy for the ARRL to put rules in place that encourage social distancing early enough for clubs, and individuals, to make alternative arrangements.  Part of the Field Day concept has always been adapting your operation to the situation at hand, and this year we have a real doozy of a situation. 

I really hope everyone who wishes to participate in Field Day is able to do so this year, and can do so in a safe manner, even if you must operate from home.

2020 Winter Field Day Results...

The Winter Field Day scores have been published (HERE), a couple of months early thanks to the ongoing Wuhan Flu, and people being able to do it quicker due to unfortunately being laid off work.

I believe over 1400 logs were sent it.  Of that number only 47 entered as QRP in the Outdoor Section of the event.  Of those 47 QRP entries our group came third overall and were the top Canadian QRP entry.

This was our first Winter Field Day attempt as a QRP entry after many years of doing it QRO, we did not expect to do as well as we did, and I can tell you we certainly didn’t expect to be the top Canadian entry this year.  

It was a great team effort and plans are already underway to go bigger and better next year.

Things to do...

While we're all hunkered down trying to stay clear of this Covid-19, here's a few things to keep you busy next weekend....

To coincide with this years annual QRP To The Field event, the next Trans-Atlantic S2S QSO Party will be on Saturday 18th April 2020 between 1300z and 1700z.  Due to various restrictions in place in a number of EU countries about being outside, participant numbers may be down.

As usual, some may prefer to start a little earlier and others continue after 1700z when propagation has been known to improve.

This is also the same weekend as the Ontario QSO Party, so there will be lots of contacts out there to make.  Rules for this event are HERE.

The QRP To The Field event runs from 0800 local to 1800 local.  The Ontario QSO Party is split into two parts.  The first runs from 1800 UTC on April 18th to 0500 UTC on April 19th, and the second part runs from 1200 UTC to 1800 UTC on April 19th.  Their Rules are HERE.

As you can tell the bands should be hoping if the propagation Gods smile upon us that weekend.  

I'm planning on operating portable from my back deck as all parks and conservation areas in my part of the world are now closed to the public.   

Have fun and stay safe everyone!!

The Weekend's Results...

Let me start by saying I've had better contest results....   It was a very tough go for the most part, with very deep QSB on the bands here, especially on 15m and 20m.

Propagation wasn't the best, in fact the numbers never changed all weekend.  They were:  SFI=68, SN=0, A Index=5, and the K Index=2.  Those numbers, coupled with the deep QSB issue, made life pretty miserable.....especially for we QRP operators.

Looking back on the weekend it was probably a bad decision to opt to run QRP, but you know, somebody has to do it 😀

Once again, as with the big ARRL DX contest two weeks ago, the "Tuner Uppers" were out in force - making it even more difficult to complete an exchange under the marginal conditions we had.  I just don't get why people need to tune up right on frequency instead of moving off 5 or 10 kc.  It's just ignorant to be honest.

One other thing, I didn't hear anyone working split this weekend, and I can't figure out why.

I managed to make contacts on 80m, 40m, 20m, and 15m on Saturday, but on Sunday 15m was dead and not a sound was heard on it here.  20m became the 'go to' band on Sunday.

There seemed to be very few European stations on this weekend.  I heard no Scandinavian, Baltic, or UK stations....in fact there were a lot of stations I normally work in big contests that where missing.    I'm hoping it was the lousy propagation and not the current pandemic that was the cause of that.

I have to say how amazed I am to have heard so many operators, in the middle of a big contest, take the time to wish us well and to stay safe.  It was so nice to hear.

Hopefully life will get back to normal shortly, but until then....stay safe and take no chances!!

A Public Service Announcement...

This Weekends BIG Contest...

In many locations around the world we're all stuck indoors these days, and for those of you looking for something to do - other than looking at four walls, lucky for us this weekend is the CQ WW WPX Contest, SSB.

One of the years biggest contesting events, it's always a great way to collect those rare DX stations in the log.

Rules can be found HERE.

The contest runs from 0000 UTC March 28th to 2359 UTC March 29th.

Hope to work some of you on the air.

Have fun....and stay safe!

March QRP Sprint

Tonight was the second in a series of QRP sprints being run by the Upper Canada QRP Club.  They are 2 hours in length, and are held every 2 months, with the score being accumulative over the year.

Once again I used my KX3, it performed very well, I'm so glad I bought it.

I used both of my antennas during this Sprint.  It's very nice to have the option of switching between them as needed.  The majority of tonights contacts were done on the 80m OCF Dipole, which is now up at 50' since John, VE3JPW, put up a new support line for it.  Both antennas did a great job tonight.

The main workhorse tonight was 40m, it was crammed with stations called CQ for the Russian DX Contest.  As the Grey Line went through the propagation was fantastic, if I could hear them, I could work them with no issues.  It was near the end of a long day and they were hungry for contacts.

Propagation tonight was:  SFI=70, SN=0, A Index=6, and the K Index=1.  Almost identical to the last sprint in January.

So with 10 watts coming out of the KX3, I put the following stations in the log:

J42L in Greece
S53MM in Slovenia
HB9NE in Switzerland
HI8RD in the Dominican Republic
LZ5K in Bulgaria
VE3MNE in Ontario
4O4T in Montenegro
ED5N in Spain
CM6RK in Cuba
F5USK in France
N4PD in Virginia

Over all it was a great evening, and I'm really pleased with the contacts I made.

DXpedition Cancellations...

Due to the current world-wide situation, the following DXpeditions have been cancelled……for obvious reasons....everyone needs to stay safe.

Hopefully, we will see them relaunched when the world gets back to normal.

Stay safe out there....and wash your hands !!!

PZ5G - Papegaaien Island, SA-092

FK/Chesterfield - Chesterfield Island, OC-176

VU4R - Neil Island, Andamans Group, AS-001

TU2R - Ivory Coast

PJ2/DK5ON - Curacao Island, SA-099

DU2/SP5APW - Calayan Island, OC-092

ZC4MK - Cyprus, AS-044

V6ZP - Polap Atoll, OC-155

V62S - Satawal Atoll, OC-299

ZA/HG2DX - Albania

T30ET - Tarawa Atoll, OC-017

9K2F - Failaka Island, AS-118

ZD7VJ - St Helena Island, AF-022

Trans-Atlantic S2S QSO Party

To coincide with this years annual QRP To The Field event, the next Trans-Atlantic S2S QSO Party will be on Saturday 18th April 2020 between 1300z and 1700z. 

As usual, some may prefer to start a little earlier and others continue after 1700z when propagation has been known to improve.

This is also the same weekend as the Ontario QSO Party, so there will be lots of contacts out there to make.

The QRP To The Field event runs from 0800 local to 1800 local.  The Ontario QSO Party is split into two parts.  The first runs from 1800 UTC on April 18th to 0500 UTC on April 19th, and the second part runs from 1200 UTC to 1800 UTC on April 19th.

I'm already looking for a good operating location.....

A Great Weekend...

The ARRL International DX Contest is one I enjoy doing every year, to me it's the start of the contesting year.   Clearly, while the bands where not exactly in top form this year, we are I believe, out of the bottom of cycle 24 and coming up into cycle 25.

And yes, the "Lids" and "tuner uppers" where out in force all weekend doing what they do best.

40m was hopping on Friday night with wall-to-wall signals.  80m was busy with contest signals in-between the constant "let's talk about our medical issues" nets.....you know the type, they use 1500w to talk across town about their hemorrhoid problems, all the while splattering 15 kc either side of their signal!

Still, I managed to put 8 stations from the EU in the log as well as the UK and Northern Ireland on 80m, something that hasn't happened here in a number of years.

Friday night the propagation numbers were:  SFI=69, SN=0, A Index=7, and the A Index=0 at 0130 UTC.

Saturday morning 15m opened into South America and the Caribbean.  I managed to work most of the islands and all of South America with the exception of Bolivia.  I have never managed to work Bolivia, but I guess there are not too many hams there.

We also saw a very short opening on 10m as well, and I managed to put Brazil and Argentina in the log before the opening disappeared.

The Saturday propagation numbers were:  SFI=69, SN=0, A Index=4, and the A Index=2 at 1533 UTC.

Both of my antennas worked as advertised.  The 35.5' wire vertical did very well on 15m and allowed me to work that band without any issues.  I will have to add a few more radials in the spring though. The 80m OCF Dipole, now that it has been raised another 20' (it sits at 50' above the ground), also worked extremely well, and surprisingly also now works on 15m, something it has never done before.  I wonder if the new height has something to do with that?

Most of Saturday was spent working 15m with the odd expedition to 20m and 10m.  I found 20m to be an absolute zoo with multiple stations micro-kc's apart from one end of the band to the other.  I worked the loudest signals and went back to 15m.

The Sunday propagation numbers were:  SFI=70, SN=0, A Index=4, and the A Index=2 at 1100 UTC.

I had no intention of even trying to score millions this weekend as I wasn't sure how well the antennas would perform, so Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, only at a slower pace. I went from band to band and worked the loudest signals, and looking for those few I don't already have in my log book.

There was some very deep QSB on the bands on Sunday, nothing we couldn't deal with if you took your time and had some patience.

I shut down early with 100 contacts and 49 countries in the log.  Overall it was a very good weekend.  I had a lot of fun and plan on doing it all over again for the CQ WW WPX Contest at the end of the month.

Antennas...

I had quite the fruitful evening, my 80m OCF Dipole is back up in the air....at twice the height it was before.  Thanks to John, VE3JPW, it's now sitting up at 50' in the large pine tree at the back of the garden.

Between John and I, it took us about 20 minutes to get it back up into the tree thanks to a compound bow and a modified arrow.  That's going to be one useful tool at Field Day this June!

I tested it out with a quick check in with Mike, VE3CMM, the net controller for that hour on the ONTARS Net on 3.755.  Mike gave me a solid true 59 after I told him I was after a signal report after putting the antenna back up.  It was only after I had signed off that I realized that my FT-950 was set at 5w output, so it was a true QRP contact, even though it was unintended.  So I was very pleased with the 59 report.

Later I had a sched with Don, VE3MNE, who informed me I had bad RF on my 80m signal.  After playing around with the settings, and changing a piece of coax, it turned out to simply be my mic gain was turned up too high.  It was thankfully a cheap and simply fix.

It looks like I'm all set for the weekend, it will certainly be nice to be back on the air.  Even though I don't plan on a serious effort on this weekends contest, I'm looking forward to putting a good number of DX stations in the log.