Lost a bunch of good antenna supports….

While walking over to meet VA3GFD for coffee this am I noticed something missing on the Science Museum Property….

Those little patches that are not green are where 5 Ash trees (antenna supports) used to be…  After walking across the Museum Grounds I noticed there are about 9 or so spots where trees used to be…

This is not the Museums fault… as the City of Ottawa has an issue with ash beetles … and in the near future we will have fewer Ash Trees…  The above link is from my  City Councillor Peter Hume.  His website describes the problems fairly well and as all the examples I will give you today are from his ward…  Which is also my ward….  It makes sense to use local material…

The above pictures were taken on the grounds of the Canada Science and Technology  Musuem in Ottawa

This picture looks a lot different now….

But the problem is not only on the Museum Grounds…  its all over the City…

The above pictures were taken less than a 5 minute walk from my front door…

But its fairly easy to tell the ones that have to be removed….

“X” marks the spot….

So there you have it…  on the Musuem Grounds they have lost lots of good (were good) operating positions.  Field Day for the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club and the upcoming Lighthouse Events will be a challenge if nothing else…  My walkabout today found lots of tree stumps where antenna supports (trees) used to be…

So if you hear of this problem becoming an issue in your local area TAKE IT SERIOUSLY as once it starts it really balloons into a much bigger problem…

Thanks go to  Peter Hume  for the information on his website…

It hits close to home for different reasons but…. There are 5 Ash Trees within falling distance of my front door…  One used to support one leg of my G5RV and more recently the end of my W3EDP antenna.  Good thing I switched to the vertical because I think if we get the usual amount of wet heavy snow and some freezing rain thrown in for good measure …. There is an excellent chance of me blogging how the tree missed the front window…. I hope…

73bob

ps….

Sorry about the feeble attempt to tie this in with Amateur Radio…. but it is a problem that has an effect on my local amateur radio operating ….  There are a few Red “X”s in my local parks  and it has me wondering how many Red “X”s are across the City’s parklands…

also…  Normally I disable the link on the pictures but the size on the blog does not do them justice in this case so if you click on the pictures (if I did it right) you should be able to see the full size pics that I took rather than the blog sized pics…

73bob

It was a Good Weekend but….

Don’t you just hate it when the “but…” gets put into the statement?

Anyway as you know VA3PCJ and myself spent Saturday operating the ILLW event from the Sand Point Lighthouse in Braeside Ontario (CA0034) and we had a great time…

I managed 12 contacts with other lighthouses along with 7 contacts with stations who were just calling CQ so I ended up with 19 contacts in the log.  This itself, is not really a large amount but the fact that I was able to break 19 Pileups while operating QRP SSB with a portable antenna kinda is impressive.  If you think its easy then dial back your power and point your beam away from who you want to talk to and see how easy it is…

Sunday turned out to be a radio day as well…  I walked over the the Science Museum in Ottawa ( I live less than a km away) and guest operated VE3RAM (OVMRC Club Station) which was operating from the Cape North (Old) Lighthouse (CA0016) which is on the museum grounds…  The 4 contacts I put into the log added to their score…  From what I saw of their log they did really well but they were running 100w with multiple antennas…  But they still did good…

The “but” side of things is that I have found out that I will most likely not get D64K into the log as today I saw the following posted:

I have been listening and watching the cluster but it seems that their location (Island on the far side of Africa) is just not in my skip zone on any band.  Actually I have looked at the DX Map and I’m not getting much from that area of the world…

I’ve made contacts further but as you can see from the above map…  the eastern coast of Africa tends to be elusive for me…

I did hear them a couple of times but not strong enough to determine if they would of been answering me so I never actually even called them…  Perhaps next time after I do something to increease my radials to the east.  I have good recieve to the west and the south but I am lacking the right amount of real estate to get the proper radial pattern to the north and east…  Not complaining as I’m not doing that poorly but you can only do so much in a compromise situation…

However the Weather is starting to cool down a bit and the kids will be going back to school soon which will free up local parks and further away llocations for day trips to work portable from…  I do see a couple of (local) SOTA activations in my future before the snow falls and we do have the Ottawa Valley QRP Societys “Chilicon” event coming up in Mid September…  Actually there are some thoughts of heading to the Champlain Lookout (local high ground) and operate for the ARRL VHF Contest in September…

There is lots of time to play radio before I hibernate for the winter…

73bob

 

Drought relief brings indoor operations

According to the Weather Network it looks like this will be a greatly needed WET Weekend in Ottawa.  I can almost guarantee that the 6m sprint will be conducted from the shack rather than the field.  But for once I’m not complaining about the wet because to be honest we really need the rain…

The forcast is for damp from now until Sunday with a chance of sound and lights or as I used to call it “Flash-N-Boomen” on Saturday.  That is why I said “almost guarantee the sprint will be conducted from the shack” as I had a close call a couple of years ago and only lost a tuner so whenever there is a “slight chance” of “Flash-N-Boomen” I just keep everything disconnected…

The long range forcast for Braeside Ontario (Sand Point Light) is not looking the best for Saturday August 18th with the guess of rain and a chance of “Flash-N-Boomen” as well but there is lots of time for that to change..

I’ll worry about the Lighthouse event  after the 6m sprint finishes…

I heard some good DX last evening on 20m after supper but the bands wern’t on my side for talking…  Hopefully tonight will be more in my favour…

73bob

There is a bright light… Walk towards the light….

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Actually thats a line from an old movie but I am actually trying to find a way to remind you that its almost time for the  International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend which will be with us on the Weekend of August 18-19th 2012.

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In past years I have operated from the Lighthouse at the Science Museum in Ottawa and always had a blast.  This year I am hoping to get a little further away and operate from a functioning Lighthouse outside the Ottawa Area.  Not sure how thats going to work for me but…

This is a fun event and also a way to be at the receiving end of a pile up if you are lucky enough to be operating from an actual lighthouse/lightship.

Today VA3PCJ and myself are going to drive up  Hwy 17 west of Ottawa and check out a few Lights that are on Jose’s river charts and see if we can find a cool operating location for the event.  More on how things turned out later…

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

 

Back home before the WX turned bad

Had a great time at the Lighthouse today…  I operated using the Club Call of the OVMRC VE3RAM.  Arrived around 0930 and was on the air from 1000 to 1230 eastern time.  Managed to make 4 voice contacts on 40m and three of them were lighthouses.  2 in New York and one in New Jersey. 

All in all a great time…

Detailed report to follow later this weekend

73bob

Almost ready

The Battery is charged….  The gear has been checked and packed…  Found my camping chair and table….  Even found a small beach umbrella that should give me a bit of shade….

As its only a 10 min walk from my place to the lighthouse at the museum…  Lots of time for coffee and breakfast before we have to leave to play radio…

Hope to hear you on the air while I am operating as VE3RAM Lighthouse CAN0016 (Cape North Old/Museum)

73bob

Today is equipment check day…

In preparation for our Lighthouse excursion today will be spend charging a battery pack, double checking antennas and coax and then repacking the gear and getting ready for tomorrows attempt at the lighthouse activation…

I like to empty the gear bag and repack before leaving for an event just to be sure that all the supporting toys are where they are supposed to be and in good working order…  In the past I have set everything up in a park to find out I thought the coax was packed…  Now what I normally do is empty the radio bag and put the battery or batteries (depending on the length of the deployment) on charge. 

 Once they have been fully charged I then re pack the bag with all the goodies and then I know we are good to go…  Normal goodies would be a wire antenna (W3EDP if I need 80m or Par if I don’t need 80m) and my Buddistick.  Several different lenghts of coax along with some inline barrell connectors so I can join them together if needed…  I bring two different multitools….   A small notebook serves as my logbook, spare glasses and a couple of pens are handy as well.   Radio and Tuner and Batteries are a must but as they are the heaviest items so if I can pick up the bag without straining, then its time to check to see what I forgot.  In addition I also bring two 60 foot lenghts of nylon twine with a weighted end so I can get a line over the tree branch for the wire antennas…

If this was a hiking event then I would also bring my VX5 for voice comms while hiking and my VX8 for APRS.  Both units clip to the shoulder straps of my backpack and the backpack would be carrying my personal gear such as sweater or windbraker, food and drink, first aid kit and a small tarp. 

As Saturdays event is a short walk (10 min) from my place it makes it a lot easier.  For this event I will be bringing the radio bag along with camping chair and table as there are no picnic tables where we are setting up at….

The planning makes the difference between playing radio or just taking your radio out for a walk…

73bob

3rd and Final Set of Pictures from Lighthouse

WARNING

THIS POST IS VERY GRAPHIC INTENSIVE.

LOTS OF PICTURES THAT EAT UP BANDWITH

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Here are the third and final set t of pictures of Saturdays Lighthouse event.

All pictures shown here (unless otherwise noted) are courtesy of Graham VE3GTC and we thank him for providing them to the blog…

You can see the 20m vertical and tent belonging to Joe VE3EUS

If I remember correctly this was our Visitor from the London area…

Through the screen mesh you can see Michel VE3EMB on the left and I am on the right

Robert VE2AGE

Robert VE2AGE on the left with Joe VE3EUS center and Graham VE3GBD/VA3OFD on the right

Michel VE3EMB on the Left, VE2AGE Robert center and Graham VE3GBD on the right.

Unless someone had a hidden camera I believe thats the final set of pictures…  Thanks to Michel, Joe and Graham for sharing them with us.

73bob

2nd Set of Pictures from Lighthouse Event

WARNING

THIS POST IS VERY GRAPHIC INTENSIVE.

LOTS OF PICTURES THAT EAT UP BANDWITH

======================================

Here are the second set of pictures of yesterdays Lighthouse event.

All pictures shown here (unless otherwise noted) are courtesy of Joe VE3EUS and we thank him for providing them to the blog…

Myself on the left with Graham VE3GTC on the right

Myself VA3QV  with Beth VA3CEW and Harold VA3UNK

Michel VE3EMB on the left, Robert VE2AGE in the center and Graham VE3GBD on the right (all inside the tent) with Graham VE3GTC outside.

Michel VE3EMB, Robert VE2AGE and Graham VE3GBD

A view of our setup with the Lighthouse in the background

VE3GDB Graham operating in “Stealth mode”

Michel VE3EMB and Joe VE3EUS (the picture was taken with Joes camera but I don’t know who took the camera…

Paul VE3NJS and Michel VE3EMB showing off the Log Sheet

Well that was the2nd  set.  Thanks (a big thank you) to Joe VE3EUS for letting me use his pics here in the blog.  There were a couple other cameras there so if I get sent any more pictures I will share them here with you.

73bob