SOTA Activation this week (maybe)

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No…  its not meant as a teaser but this Thursday August 2nd   (if the weather cooperates  ) Michel VE3EMB and myself are planning to head out to Mount Rigaud Quebec and activate SOTA Summit VE2/ML-005.

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According to Google Maps its only a 130km or 90 minute drive from Ottawa so its within easy range for a day trip.

I am planning to bring my Yaesu FT 817 with the Par End Fed for my HF antenna.  I will be bringing a 6m dipole which also works on 2m for those of you with the wish of SSB communications on 2m and 6m.  I will have more than enough battery to last for our time on the hill.

Last time I went out to the park with Michel he brought his nice new and shiny  KX3 with a buddistick vertical which worked great for him so I am expecting the same gear to be with him this time..

So knowing the gear and the antennas its a safe bet that we can be operating anywhere there is an open band between 2m and 40m.  Look for us on the HF Pack Freqs on 20m and 17m.  I’ll spend some time on 144.205 usb and 50.130 usb for those of you who might want a VHF Contact.  I also enjoy 40m so good chance of finding me around 7.280 lsb or so. 

If you hear us please spot us on the cluster and on SOTAWATCH

Although I have not had much luck with it so far I will also have my Yaesu VX8gr with me and will be attempting to beacon out via APRS on the way there and hopefully right up to the Summit and back down again after so if you feel like tracking our efforts you can  look for VA3QV-7 on aprs.fi

Michel VE3EMB also is active on APRS and you can look for VE3EMB on aprs.fi.  Between the two of beaconing hopefully one of the signals makes it into an IGATE so you can see where and what we are up to…

Like I said…  It all depends on the weather as the last thing I want is to be stuck up at the top of a mountain with an antenna in the air during a thunderstorm…  So the plans are in place but plans were also made to be changed… So crossing fingers and lets see what happens on Thursday…

73bob

Mixed Signals?

In my previous posting I mentioned that from what I had read on the cluster in the comments that the CY9M was shutting down early due to weather concerns…

I am no longer seeing those comments and no new comments other than thanks for the new one…etc…  So I am now totally confused so…

If your still looking for a new one then check the cluster…

http://www.dxwatch.com/dxsd1/dxsd1.php?f=0&c=cy9m&t=dx

73bob

Thanks CY9M

This morning after checking the cluster this morning for CY9M as I has a faint hope that I might be able to get them one last time on 10-12 or 15m I noticed the post that mentioned that due to bad weather they were leaving early this afternoon (today instead of tomorrow) from St Paul Island.

I am guessing this means the WX tomorrow is expected to be bad as I can’t imagine them wanting to load up today in bad WX unless tomorrow was really going to be worse…

(usual disclaimer… check the cluster yourself for the most up to date information… I’m just passing on what I read on line! )

If you want to check the Environment Canada Weather Radar Map click Here

So thanks to the Operators of CY9M for giving us the pleasure of their company on the airwaves for the last 6 days.  I managed to get a new DXCC in the log on multiple bands (6m, 17m, 20m & 40m all ssb) and it kept me out of trouble for a few days…

It was fun…

73bob

Paramedics study Olympic emergency response

A few times now I have shared little bits of information on the new proposed 700 mhz Public Saftey/Emergency common frequencies issue.

The following fits right in and is worth reading if you have any professional or hobbiest concerns or questions…

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/07/30/ottawa-emergency-responders-london-olympics.html?cmp=rss

Thanks to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) for the excellent report.

73bob

July 2012

As July starts to wind down it got me thinking….  Darn….  It was a really good month… Lets thing about what happened…  How good is your memory…

July 1st was the RAC Canada Day Contest and I managed to have fun and work lots of stations… No record high score but I did have fun and it was a great way to spend my Canada Day in between the BBQ and the Beer Fridge…

July 4th While my American Neighbors were doing all the crazy stuff we were doing on July 1st I was attending the monthly meeting of the WCARC.  They had an excellent presentation of their VHF DXPedition for the June VHF Contest.  They even invited me to join them at next years event as an operator for the Grafton Ontario event.

July 5th was a wake up call reminding me and my family about being prepared.  The water main self destructed in our neighborhood and we were “Water Challenged” for a few days while the City made the necessary repairs.  It proved we were not as ready for a disaster and that I can’t go running out with ARES to help if my family is not safe and well looked after first.  The plans have changes slightly here and we now have more items in stock for sheltering at home.

During the next 10 day period I managed a few contacts from home and got out into the park once…

July 15 Participated in the IARU contest and highlite of the event was making a contact with the South Cook Islands.  My furthest one so far.

July 21  Found me taking the FT 817 out for some fresh air and attempting to compete  in the CQ WW VHF Contest.  The boom of my 6m delta loop broke shortly after set up so I just got some fresh air instead.

July 26 I participated (giving out contacts in the Islands on the Air Contest as well as managed to get the CY9M DXPedition in the log on 3 different bands (so far) 6m, 17m & 20m.  At the time of writing this, the DXPediton is ongoing so I realisticly stand a chance on 15m ( I have heard them there) 40m (heard them there also) depending on what bands they activate between now and the end of the DXPedition on the 1st of August.  I have heard them on 80m and 160m CW but I have not heard them on voice on those bands and you know how good my CW skills are…

Now from a Radio Point of View—> July was a really good month…  I had fun and was pleased to get 3 new DXCC entities in the log.  I am now sitting at 137 (unconfirmed) with 57 confirmed.  Before you ask… I have still not gotten on LoTW yet so the amounts are not going to raise much till then…

August is starting to look like it will be a good one with plans in the works for a SOTA activation and a Lighthouse activation this month.  Nothing is carved in stone yet but there is an easy accessable summit in VE2Land about an hours drive east of Ottawa and there is a Lighthouse about the same distance but west of Ottawa on the Ottawa River…  I have been offered transport to both locations (as its too far for the Electric Vespa) and now we are looking at the weather and everyones schedules to see if either event is going to happen…  Often it does not but we can hope…  Between Weather and health us older pharts seem to have more issues with getting there than operating once there…  I guess its a sign of the times…

Hope your month went as well as mine did…

73bob

 

Playing with Antennas

In between  trying for DX … I have been busy fixing, building and creating three antennas which have been on my got to get done list for a while now…

The first was to build (or rebuild) my 1/4 wave 6m dipole…  It uses a piece of PVC Pipe as the insulator and I use two 54 inch lengths of copper pipe as the elements.  This was my antenna of choice at home for 6m till I built the lightweight delta loop.  Seeing that I broke the Delta Loop last weekend and I needed something up  fairly quickly for the CY9M DXPedition it was a quick rebuild.  I guess it worked fine as Cy9M is now in my log on 6m ssb.

The second project was the creation of  what I hope is a 15m to 40m magnetic loop.  I put all the pieces in the right places and hooked it up and it recieved.  It also tunes just a bit (noise increases and decreases) but I was expecting more.  In the next little while I will have to hook it up to an antenna analyser and see how good or bad it actually is BEFORE I transmit with it…  This one is a work in progress.  I did rcv CY9M on 17m with it though but the S reading was not very high but neither was my noise so it might be a trade off…

Finally as I was on a roll I have had the 7 element 2m beam that belongs to Doug VE3DLJ sitting in my backyard needing repairs for a while now…  I got so confident after my two previous jobs that I jury rigged the repairs and it works…  parts are still needed before it goes up on a mast but…  the temporary repairs show that its now worth getting the parts to repair properly…

Its been a great weekend…

73bob

And the “Games” continue…

It was a bit of a slow start but I am proud and pleased to announce that I managed to get Cy9M in the log.  This brings me up to DXCC 137 (uncormfired) and I am pleased.  The first entry happened at 2036 UTC on the 28th on 50.105 usb.  The second entry happened at 1236 UTC on the 29th on 18.145 usb.

I was able to hear them last nite on 40m and today on 20m but was unable to break the pile up.  On 40m last nite I had some issues setting the split (guess I was overtired) so if I messed anyone up… SORRY!!!  However the DX Cops did point out the error of my ways…

I would hope to get them in the log a couple more bands as I have worked VY2 (Prince Edward Island), VO1 (Newfoundland) and VE1 (Nova Scotia) in the past on 20m, 40m and 80m and seeing that St Paul Island is right between the three of them if we have any sort of conditions I should get a couple more bands…  If not it was a blast anyway…

During the IOTA CONTEST I also hunted for a few new ones but the ones I heard…  The competition was just too rough and I could not break the pile ups…

Anyway… I am having fun… and thats what its all about…  More on how things turn out later…

73bob

Let the “Games” begin

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Yesterday was spent close to the shack or at least within DX CLuster of it (gotta love smartphones) in my failed attempt to get CY9M  in the log before the IOTA Contest started…

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However after over 12 hours of watching the clusters and listening where they were…  I knew that it was not going to happen…  It seems I am deaf at the distance of 1200kms to St Paul Island…  I talk to Kenora on a regular basis at close to the same distance and the same with the south eastern states in W4Land with no problems…

To prove to my self that the gear was working as it should of been… several 15, 17 and 20m contacts were made in various locations with no problems what so ever…

I can talk further east with no problems with most of Europe in my log already but…

For reasons I can’t explain other than I have offended the DX Diety….  No Joy yesterday in my attempts…

However at first if you don’t succeed…. You know the rest….  I will be looking at the cluster for the rest of the contest and see who is spotting them on their 20m operating frequency and see if I can get them into the log…  In the meantime perhaps there is some DX out there for me…  who knows?

73bob

Its the start of the Weekend

Between the Olympics starting up and this being the IOTA contest weekend I think I know what I wll be doing this weekend…  On the radio side of things I have gotten the Olympic Amateur Radio Special Events Station 2O12L in the log twice now.

Contacts have been made on 17m and 20m.  Depending on band conditions I can hope for contacts also on 40m and 80m with a slight chance of 15m.  Don’t think I have much of a chance on 10, 12 and I have nothing up for 160m

Now…

In addition to all the hype about the Olympics (radio and non radio) this is also the IOTA contest weekend.  As you know this stands for Islands on the Air.  This years event has me stoked because not only do I have a chance to get a few new DXCC into the log but one of those new DXCC entities is a Canadian Territory.

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CY9M is operating from St Pauls Island off the East Coast of Canada.  As I type this I can hear CY9M operating on 20m giving out contacts…  Sad part is that I can hear the people causing the pile ups…  I just can’t hear the reason for the Pile ups…  According to their website they will be active on several bands before the contest starts and then they will be active on 20m for the contest.

I will be spending lots of time in the shack or close to a radio this weekend in the hope of getting them in the log….

73bob

An early start to a Good Weekend

Although today is only Thursday…

The big stations have already been flexing their muscles in anticipation of the IOTA (Islands on the Air) Contest this weekend…

Between that and the Olympic Games Station  2O12L which seems to be on the air from London 24/7 its making it a very busy time for Radio Amateurs in their persuits of new stations…

Don’t forget to check the DX Clusters to see whats on the air… 

The CY9M DXPedition from St. Paul Island should be on the air soon (if not already)

As I have mentioned in earlier blog posts…  The days before a Major Contest are some of the best days to try for some rare DX as the big guns are out there testing their equipment.  If you look at the DX Cluster there are lots of stations operating as Callsign/exotic location…  They are testing out the antennas, and gear before they come on the air with the Contest Callsign.  If you want an easier pile up to break the days before the contest are for you…  During this time you are only competing with the DXers and not the Contester and the DXers during the contest…  Think about it…

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Some of my best QRP DX came just before a contest…  The bands were cooperating and I was able to push out a signal strong enough for the Big Gun Station to hear.  He was doing 99% of the work but without my 1% the contact would not have happened…

Its amazing what you can do with 5w and a buddistick…

So why not Get on the Air and make some contacts…

73bob