Well some people always question my sanity and those that know me well… know the answer already but….
Today I had the choice of accepting an offer of a ride to the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Carp Ontario or heading up to the Champlain Lookout in VE2 (just north of Ottawa close to the Camp Fortune Ski Hill in the Gatineau park) and playing radio in the ARRL VHF Contest…
So it seems as I write this on the Saturday Morning I gave up this…
Picture taken a couple of years ago at Carp
for this…
The first two pictures are courtesy of the US Nationial Weather Service (screen captures). The first one is from the Buffalo Area and the 2nd is from the Watertown Area.
The last Picture is from Environment Canada (screen capture) showing the same WX condtions… In all 3 pictures the RED DOT is the approximate area where I will be operating from in less than 6 hours from now (0830 edst is the time now)
Click ***HERE*** for a link to the current radar Picture
Now just so you think I’m not completely nuts… These plans were made long before the weather forecast was even created and even earlier this week the storms they had predicted did not show up.
However at 2am this morning I was woken up by the first band of thunders storms that were the advance of what you now see on the radar map… Who would of guessed that this time they would be right…
The orignal plan was for Michel VE3EMB and myself to leave Ottawa around 11 am and arrive up at the lookout around noon and get set up (KX3 and 6m beam) (FT817 and 2m/70cm beam) and be ready to go from 1400 which is the start of the ARRL VHF Contest till when the batteries gave out on our stations… It was supposed to be a fun way to spend an afternoon… The revised plan is that Michel and I will talk on the phone around 1030 and decide on the go or no go options depending on the current radar images or how badly its already raining…
Swing your beams just north of Ottawa and give a listen just in case… (50.125, 144.205, 432.150) …. we defy the WX and make it up there…
73bob
Tags: amateur radio, Amateur Radio Hamfests, ARRL VHF Contest, Camp Fortune QC, Carp Hamfest, Carp Ontario, Champlain Lookout QC
