Its Saturday am here in Ottawa. Around 0930 EST or 1430UTC and we are digging out after two days of snow. We have received more snow in the last 36 hours than we have found for the winter so far. In addition the temps today of -20c and with the wind chill of -31c are doing their best to make sure the snow will be staying and the lakes/rivers should be freezing…
Although I am no longer a big fan of winter… (Ever since the doctor put me on blood thinners I really feel the cold much more) the snow and cold weather will almost guarantee that a few amateur radio winter events will no go on…
A few of the local Ottawa and Area Amateurs are planning a SOTA DXPedition on Feb 4th to Mount O’Brien which is located north of Ottawa in the Province of Quebec. They will most likely doing the assent wearing snowshoes… I wish them well and will be listening for them from Ottawa as well as following them up the hill on APRS.. I’m not the best climber in dry weather and I really don’t do snowshoes so…. I will have more info on this event for you later….
As well the Canadian Ski Marathon occurs on Feb 11th and 12th but the amateur radio side of things starts on the Friday so for some of us its the 10th, 11th and 12th. I am heavily involved with this event so you will be seeing more reports as we get closer to the date…
Some of you might remember my failed attempt of activating Pig Island in Ottawa for the CISA Program about a year ago. Martin VA3SIE who was with me on the attempt also blogged about it. Well with the freezing cold weather there is no doubt that the Rideau Canal will be in shape for the walk from the shore out to the Island. Last year the day that the attempt was made was just too cold and given the choices of playing radio (and freezing solid) or warming up… I wimped out and walked back to shore to thaw out… I am planning anouther attempt after the Ski Marathon as long as the weather is cold enough to keep the ice solid, but a bit warmer so I don’t freeze… More info on the CISA Program can be found here.
Lets see how things look towards the end of February…
Tags: amateur radio, Canadian Islands Awards Program, Canadian Ski Marathon, CISA, SOTA, Summits on the Air
