More Pictures from Winter Field Day

The following pictures come courtesy of Bob VE3MPG who was one of our visitors yesterday to the Winter Field Day Site.

ROY VA3CKD 20M VOICE STATION

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ROY VA3CKD AND A VISITOR

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ROY VA3CKD TUNING THE FT 817

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BOB VA3QV “DREAMING OF WARM”

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BOB VA3QV- FT 817 ON 80M

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JOSE VA3PCJ(VISITOR) WITH ROY VA3CKD

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MARTIN VA3SIE AT THE CW STATION

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Above pictures are courtesy Bob VE3MPG

As mentioned in the previous post…

Temps were -20 deg C which if I did the math correctly works out to -4 deg F.  We managed 27 contacts in total with 7 multis for a total of 189 points.  Once you add in the bonus points (1000-outside) + (1000-off electrical grid) + (1000- not at home) we ended up with a total of 3189 points.  I believe we operated for just under 5 hours counting set up and tear down…

73bob

VA3RCS Winter Field Day Updated

VICTOR      ALPHA      3 REAL      COLD      SPOT

VA3RCS

Operating report for the  SPAR Winter Field Day Event Jan 30

Operating as: VA3RCS

Stations Operators: VA3SIE, VA3CKD and VA3QV

QRP/ MULTI OP/ OUTDOOR STATION/ NON COMMERCAL POWER

Temp at start of event was -20 deg C or -4 deg F

27 contacts with 7 multi for a total of 189 points

Qualified for all 3  1000 bonus points for a total of 3000 points

Final score would be 3189 points and we operated for under 5 hours.

When I arrived at Weston Park (City of Ottawa) Martin VA3SIE and Roy VA3CKD were already setting up.

Roy VA3CKD in the Park- Picture courtesy VA3SIE

Martin was using his KX1 along with two Verticals and Roy was using his FT 817 with a vertical for the higher bands.

VA3SIE in the field- Picture courtesy VA3SIE’s Camera

In addition Martin was using his VX8r for 2m voice and APRS (digital mode) contacts.

As usual I was using my FT 817 with a LDG QRP Autotuner along with my W3EDP antenna.  The rig was powered by a 12AH SLA.

VA3QV operating VA3RCS -Picture Courtesy VA3SIE

The event was a blast and we even had 4 visitors to the site including:

Bob VE3MPG (who showed up and took some pictures)

VA3QV(left) and VE3MPG(right) “Bob talking to Bob“

Picture courtesy VA3SIE

Jose VA3PCJ ( it was great to see an old friend again)

VA3QV (sitting) and VA3PCJ- Picture courtesy VA3SIE

Jamie VA3JME (who is getting used to the cold in preparation for the Canadian Ski Marathon) and a friend of Jamie’s (whose name escapes me at this time ) who is thinking of getting his liscense.

Jamie’s friend (Left) and Jamie VA3JME

Picture courtesy VA3SIE

I can’t speak for the other operators but I had several comments about sanity and operating outdoors in the Canadian winter…

I was able to check into the 2nd region Traffic net (2RN 3.925 mhz at 1345 eastern )and represent the Ontario Section (Ontario Phone Net) but there was no traffic to be passed that day.  The Net Participants from the New York and New Jersey Sections had no problem hearing my QRP Voice Signal although they were laffing at the phonetics I used for the callsign when I checked in.

Victor Alpha 3 Real Cold Spot seemed to bring a smile to their faces or a chuckle in their voices…

For those of you who were listening for me yesterday.  The chattering you heard was not the relays in the tuner …  It was my teeth as I talked…

If you head over to Martin’s Blog you can see some other pictures he took along with a few small videos that will be on his Youtube Site as well.

We did have fun and it was cold.  There will be a few more pictures being posted in the near future when I can find a few more spare minutes.  Thanks to SPAR for hosting the event and for those of you who visited us either in person or on the air…

73bob

VA3RCS Winter Field Day- Activation Notice

We are running a bit late this morning but the rest of the crew are heading over to Weston Park in Ottawa …

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View Larger Map

…  If you zoom in on the kiddie pool area thats where we should be set up close to

I should be joining them by around 1300 EST and as everything starts at 1200 EST it won’t be too bad.

If you were planning to drop in for a visit there will be a talk in on VE2CRA Repeater which is 146.940 (-) CTCSS 100.9

If you want to set up a sked for an hf contact VE2CRA is also IRLP Node 2040.

Will be operating multi op (3 Stations) at QRP Levels.  One station will be CW on 20,30,40 and 80m

One Voice station on  10-40m

Other voice station on 2m 6m and 70 cm (FM/SSB) and also on 80m SSB

Callsign to be used will be VA3RCS with the “RCS” Standing for “REALLY COLD SPOT”

Hope to hear you on the air….

73bob

QST Amateurs operating in Ontario

The following information came from Radio Station CFRA.  Just a reminder to keep a copy of your Amateur License with you as phase two starts very soon.

We are still exempt but now might have to prove it…

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Thanks again to Radio Station CFRA for the reminder:

Hand-Held Cellphone Ban Enforcement Begins Monday

Josh Pringle
Friday, January 29, 2010

Ottawa Police are warning motorists that they will be fined starting Monday for talking or texting on a hand-held mobile device while driving.

After a three-month education campaign on Ontario’s new Distracted Driving Law that prohibits the use of hand-held devices to talk, email or text message while behind the wheel, police forces across Ontario will begin enforcement on February 1st.

Drivers could be fined up to $500 for violating the new law.

Ottawa Police say between 2006 and 2008, distracted driving was attributed to 55-hundred traffic collisions on Ottawa roads.

New Addition to the Radio Inventory

Well today after a “little bit” of horsetrading…  I don’t have a horse but I do now have a Yaesu FT60 handheld.

This will free up my 12 year old ADI dual band handheld to work as a backup voice/packet rig when connected to a small power supply as the last battery pack I had for it was getting real flaky…

The FT 60 will need a new battery pack in the very near future but at least it is still a current model so I can still get accessories for it…

Another Yaesu for the collection….

73bob

SPAR Winter Field Day 2010

Well its Canada and its Winter Time and Martin VA3SIE, Roy VA3CKD and myself were talking and that in itself means its most likely time to dust off my other callsign VA3RCS and plan to go outside and freeze for a while.

For the purposes of our latest winter event the “RCS” part will stand for:

“Really Cold Spot”.  Now normally we find the CF3 prefix to go with the callsign which would stand for Canadians Freezing 3…

When you put it all together you get the following pile up busting callsign of:

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CANADIANS FREEZING 3 REAL COLD SPOT

This year however we will be operating as

VA3RCS

or

Victor Alpha    3 Really Cold Spot

In the past this callsign has been used with our Bate Island DXPedition for the Canada Winter Contest from the 2006 RAC Canada Winter Contest and the 2009 Spar Winter Field Day and the FYBO 2009 outing of VA3QV and VA3SIE. Its almost like a tradition that Martin, myself and some other friends such as Roy always head out to play radio in the wintertime for no other good reason than … “WE CAN”

It seems that 2010 will be no exception and this Saturday Jan 30th with our usual great amount of preparation…  we will be heading out to a location yet to be determined but should be some place in Ottawa.

I believe the two choices for operating are either in Weston Park which is close to Pleasent Park and Othello in Ottawa South East or somewhere in the Experimental Farm.

We will be heading out somewhere so keep an eye on the blog here for the latest developments of where we will be heading to play…

More later.

73bob

Ontario ARES HF Net

The following came in to my inbox today:

Hi All:

Dave VE3DVE, Bob VA3BZ and I, Bob VE3YX have moved to 7080 to take advantage of improving propagation and to keep away from the heavy US usage of 7100 and up. We haven’t had other ARES stations checking in, nor have we heard any ARES activity on the other frequencies 7153 or 3742. Spread the word! Maybe we can get the net back to what it was a year or so ago.

cheers;

73 de Bob   VE3YX

The Ontario ARES Net meets Sundays at 1300 eastern

I will remind/mention to you all that the Ontario Phone Net meets daily on 3.742 at 1600 hrs eastern (winter hours) 7 days a week and is always looking for people to check in to represent their part of the Province.

73bob

” Volunteers” vs “Whackers”

To some there is no difference…

Listening in on the air during the recent Haiti activities I could not help but notice comments being made about people who were asking for opinions on various portable amateur radio equipment because they had been asked to look into this in anticipation of a deployment to assist in Haiti.

The standard comments seemed to be ” Leave it to the pros….”  &  ” unless you have all your support with you you will be  drain on the resources and be part of the problem…”

Now for the record I agree with the above statements in the case of self deployment but the two words everyone who commented seemed to have  missed were “been asked”.

Self deployment is never a good thing unless the disaster happens in your neighborhood.  A couple of hams gathering every handheld they own and can borrow along with 5 to 10 magmounts, which they put on every square inch of the roof of the family car and head out to save the world is not a good image for the public to view our hobby…

“Whackers” (a slang term for a wantabee) is not how we want the public service types to view our hobby…  I saw an ad once for a “Official Radio Operator Badge”  ….    I can see it now….. 

“FREEZE….Radio Operator …KEEP YOUR HANDS WHERE  I CAN SEE EM!!!”

However getting back to the words “Been Asked” leads us to believe that some group is participating in the relief effort and has asked the only ham they know to look into setting up communications or assisting with communications for that group.  His safety/security and logistics should be looked after by the group who wants his assistance and so ….  should not be a drain on the local resources.

Picture courtesy http://www.missionradio.org

As the above picture shows… A simple setup such as a Buddipole, FT897 or IC 706 (as two examples) a small generator and a laptop along with a digital interface would travel  light and give fairly reliable communications from the the field in Haiti back to the groups people stateside for their own internal and logistical communications…

The two examples that I did see mentioned were both for someone who was “being asked“  to assist rather than someone playing John Wayne (no offense intended to the Duke) and boldly rushing out to save the world with his handheld…

Remember… A volunteer has “been asked“  to help and a whacker demands to help… whether you need it or not!!!

What I saw  were two people who were asked to help being “Shot Down” in a public forum when they were just asking for opinions on gear because  they had been asked to help…

If one of the many people who responded had just noticed those two little words… “Been Asked”…  perhaps the next time our group…  your group…. is looking for warm bodies for some sort of public service that involves amateur radio you might of found them just a bit easier…

Looking back it seems that so far the only people using Amateur Radio for relief and humitarian efforts so far are the groups who asked their volunteers to step up and do a professional job…

73bob

Haiti Earthquake Amateur Radio Update 15

The following comes from RAC

Posted Jan 25 at 0723utc by VA3QV

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RAC Bulletin 2010-003E – Haiti Earthquake Traffic – 2010-01-24
2010-01-24

Haiti Earthquake Traffic – 2010-01-24

As the recovery in Haiti continues, the IARU would like to thank Hams of the world for being there for the people of Haiti. Many messages have been successfully passed over the airwaves. Effective immediately the frequencies 7.045MHz and 3.720MHz are released with gratitude to all who have kept them clear in the last days.

73

Doug Mercer VO1DTM
Vice President Field Services – Radio Amateurs of Canada
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Seeing as we are still smiling…

Well the ARRL VHF Sweepstakes are ongoing but I have reached the time that my participation must finish.  Two real reasons for this is that (1) Liz needs to go out and (2) I think I worked everyone who participated within groundwave range…

Anyway here are the results:

I managed to give out 23 contacts on 3 bands (2/6/70cm) in 8 Grids…

Furthest contact was on 6m with K1TOL in FN44 which if you look at the map was 275 miles as the crow flies.

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Seeing that I was using a rotatable copper pipe (at 15 feet) dipole on 6m with the 100w of my FT 897 I am quite pleased.

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Now you know why he heard me…

I do think his beams (yes beams) and the 1.5 kw output was probally doing most of the work but my “popgun signal” was loud enough to be heard by the “big gun” and as one of my goals in a VHF contest is to give others contacts it was a success,

I also was able to make 2m and 6m contacts in FN25, FN15 and FN14 with additional 70cm contacts in FN25 and FN15.

Like I said I was able to give out contacts to 6 serious contesters ( yes 5 were locals) so I will be watching for their scores to see if my contacts with them influenced the final outcome in any way…

As you can guess by the results there was no 6m opening to the main part of the contest was those who take it seriously (beams, amps, etc…) looking for the guys like me (radio, some sort of antenna and active) to rack up their scores so it kinda made me feel like rare DX…

Like I have said many time before…  If guys like me don’t participate in the contest then guys like them would have no one to talk to…

Anyway after 24 hours of contesting with about 8 hours total of radio time it all ends till the next time…

73bob