I’m not hearing much on the bands right now… Hoping its because everyone is resting up for the RAC Canada Day Contest which starts at 0000 hrs UTC on July 1st…
For this contest I will be operating 10-160m using my S9 43 foot vertical with my Yaesu FT450 as the radio of the day. I am hoping for 160m if my LDG z100 autotuner can bring the SWR down low enough for the built in AT in the 450 to bring it down the rest of the way. It won’t be very efficient but if I can just grab a couple of extra multis it could make the difference…
For the VHF side of the contest as we are allowed 2m and 6m I will be using my newly built 6m delta loop on 2m and 6m ssb with my FT 897 . I’ll also have my JPOLE up at about 15 feet or so (where it usually sits) for the outside chance of some 2m fm contacts. Actually after looking through my logs for the last few years I really could/should ignore the vhf stuff altogether as its just not really popular in the Ottawa Area unless its a VHF Contest. It always amazes me seeing as Ottawa is on the border with Quebec so anyone in the National Capital Area could made an easy 4 multis (2m and 6m in VE2 and VE3) with very little effort which makes a weak station’s score a little more respectable…
I just got the RAC CONTEST SOFTWARE (scroll down and follow the links) installed on the last computer in the house old enough to still run it. Its a good thing that one computer in the house still runs XP.
For the rest of the day it will be taking life easy… resting up… sitting in the backyard in the shade… and getting ready for the contest
73bob
Tags: amateur radio, Amateur Radio Contests, Happy Canada Day, RAC Canada Day Contest
