Well its over for another year…
From all reports Kudos go out to the good citizens of Ottawa-Gatineau who were able to party without filling the holding cells for another year… My own neighborhood was exceptionally quiet… Its noisier on any Friday night and it seems everyone who would be loud was downtown and got it out of their system before they made it home…
Only 9 stayed the night in the “City Hotel” and they would of been released this morning (with a slight headache) after show cause… Even the fans from the soccer finals were well behaved…
No serious crowd issues but there were a few fires and unfortunately a couple of people drowned swimming where they should not of been. Unfortunately you can’t leglisate common sense… My condolonces to the families involved…
For me the day was spend Calling CQ contest and sitting on the deck enjoying life in general…I started at 8pm on the 30th (0000 hrs utc) and ran till about 1am and it was hard going… I then made it back to the shack at 8am and operated until I lost my voice then I took a couple of hours break… Coming back after that was a one hour on and then one hour off schedule and I finally gave it up at 6pm when the family needed me on the deck to BBQ supper. I hade the best of intentions of making it back for the finish but… The food was good and the tall boys cold…. Needless to say I had a good time…
If you participated in the RAC Contest then you know that the bands were not the best… But for those who were patient there were some stations out there to be contacted…
I ran as a Single Opertor SSB only 100w station and my results are as follows
64 Canadian Contacts plus 8 RAC Stations and 15 DX stations for a total of 87 contacts. This cave me a total of 830 points and with 26 multis my final score was 21,580 points.
On a band by band breakdown heres how I did…
2m- 2 contacts and 2 multis (Ontario and Quebec)
6m- 1 contact and 1 mult- (Ontario)
10m- 1 contact and 1 multi (Ontario)
15m- 1 contact and 1 multi (Ontario
20m- 31 contacts with stations in NL, NS, NB, ON, MB, SK, AB, BC, NU
40m- 26 contacts with stations in NL, NS, NB, QC, ON, MB, SK, AB
80m- 28 contacts with stations in NL, NS, NB, ON
I made no contacts on 160m. If you remember that earlier this week I mentioned that I had to bring up all the antenna radials so I could make the yard safe for some fence contractors? When then finished I tried to get them back exactly where they were before but I guess I missed something because I was unable to get the tuner to load up the antenna on 160… It used to before but this time no luck… That might of been good for a few extra contacts but no use complaining about missed contacts or poor band conditions as the conditions were the same for everyone…
This year I did not hear any VE8 or VY1. I did hear a VY2 but he was searching and pouncing looking for multis and I never was able to find him calling CQ and when I was calling CQ he never heard me… Looking at the cluster VE8 and VY1 seemed to be really rare… Anyone work one???
Given my current location (same one I have had for 25 years) there is not much I can do or could of done to improve my operating circumstances…. IMHO the antennas are the best I can get away with and keep the landlord happy… Yes I did use the words Antenna(s)and Landlord Happy…
So the only way my scores are going to get better is if the bands get better or I knuckle down and take this contesting more seriously. Knowing me… The bands are going to have to get better…
So anyhow… I did enjoy another Canada Day…. I did have fun and I hope you did as well.
73bob
Tags: Amater Radio, Canada Day, City of Ottawa, RAC Canada Day Contest
July 2, 2012 at 10:04 pm |
Nice to have a contact with you Bob…even if it was on 80m
I was only running 5w. Made 33 contacts, but given the band conditions I’m quite pleased.
73,
Bill VE3CLQ
July 3, 2012 at 12:37 am |
Concidering the distance between us being about 100 miles or 160 km making an 80m contact would of been about the best chance we had… I found 40 to be long….
Thanks for the contact (could not tell you were QRP)
73bob
July 4, 2012 at 12:25 pm |
Bob: I have said it before and I am going to say it again. You really should try and learn CW. Then if your voice goes south you can continue contesting. Due to my sabbatical I missed both FD and Canada Day this year, but have enjoyed doing CW in the past.
73,
Glenn
July 4, 2012 at 12:56 pm |
Glenn… good to hear from you… hope all is going well…
As a reminder I do know code… i took the test… So what I should be doing is practicing and getting my speed back up and getting my ears turned up….
However as its not one of my fav operating modes it never seems to make it to the top of my “to do” list…
But point taken…. If I had done what I have been procastinating about for years now…. Perhaps my scores would of been stronger and my voice not so raspy
73bob