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
Tags: amateur radio, ARES, ARRL June VHF Contest, Canada Day Contest, CQ WW VHF Contest, CY9M, Emergency Prepardness, IARU Contest, IOTA, lighthouse event, Month end review, SOTA, West Carleton ARC
July 30, 2012 at 8:34 pm |
And I thought I had a busy July!!
July 30, 2012 at 8:38 pm |
You did…. and you had fun as well…
73bob