This Saturday am (thats April 21st) VA2EPR Tom, VA3QV Bob will be getting into the Jeep belonging to VA3PCJ Jose and leaving Ottawa to head up to Foymount Ontario to operate from Renfrew County (REN) for the Ontario QSO Party… The contest is sponsored by the Contest Club Ontario. Please follow the links to go the websites for more information.
If you chose to follow VA3PCJ-7 on aprs.fi you will be able to even see when we get there… or you can watch us as we travel up there. I will also be active on aprs.fi as VA3QV-7 but I will just be beaconing occasionally along the way and once we arrive just so my XYL who follows me on aprs will know that I am still moving.
The plan is to arrive there around noon and get the 3 stations set up (we all will be operating single op QRP under our own calls) and give out lots of REN contacts from the start at 1400 till the sun goes down as the temps start to drop at the same time. Seeing that the weather person is calling for rain (or to be specific “Cloudy with showers” ) we are planning to be hunkered down under a couple of tarps… trying to stay dry…
Both Tom and myself operate the Yaesu FT 817 and we will be operating HF and vhf/6m. Jose with the ICOM IC 703 and will be operating HF and 6m. Both Tom and Jose dabble in CW and I prefer SSB. I know that Jose will be using his 43 foot S9 Vertical which attaches to his trailer hitch and he will be able to operate 6m to 80m. I will have my Par end Fed antenna and so will be operating 10m to 40m and I will also have a 6m dipole antenna which also works great on 2m. Not sure what Tom is bringing for HF but he will have a dipole for 6m and a small arrow beam on a camera tripod for 2m.
I know Tom’s vhf/6m set up works great as I have worked him on several SOTA activations when he was up on the hill and I was nice and warm/dry in the shack in Ottawa.
Although I don’t seriously contest I do enjoy having lots of people to talk to… I guess the term would be “Giving out Contacts“. Operating for about 5 hours with any luck will give out the Valued REN multiplier out on several bands and help a few operators work towards the rare “Clean Sweep” which they get if they can contact all the Ontario Multis in the Contest. Its a big province so its not as easy as it looks…
Click on this link to see the complete map.
Hope to work you in the contest…
And remember that “Radio can be an outdoor sport…”
73bob
Tags: amateur radio, APRS.fi, Foymount Ontario, Icom IC 703, Ontario QSO Party, QRP Portable, Renfrew County, Yaesu FT 817
