2 new QSLs from LoTW and some good news

So far LoTW is still moving forward…  I got 2 QSLs for contacts made over the American Thanksgiving period.  Thanks to Eugene AB4UG for the quick u/l of his logs…  Kinda shocked that he found the time….  seeing that…

The Twitterverse is just a buzzing with the big news….  Connie (NR4CB) and Eugene (AB4UG)  are two hams I met via the twitter medium…  You know Connie as the Bionic Nerd  and we met her when her great Canadian Tour took her to Iroquois Ontario for a BBQ back in the summertime…  Ok well she did visit lots of other places but…  It was great to meet the face at the other end of the radio….

The story is here

Well this morning I wake up to find out that Eugene “popped the question” and they have a wedding planned for mid July 2013…  For the ham types with out a calender handy that would be after Field Day and about  2 weeks after the RAC Canada Day Contest…

Nice touch though….  Takes her on a cruise and then proposes….  and just before Christmas as well….

I know you join me in wishing them all the best…

73bob

As an afterthought…  why not send congrats to them via NTS….  Kinda like the old tradition of sending congrats out via telegrams (in the days before the internet) and that way they will have a written record of your best wishes…

Using the NTS

This idea was planted in my head by one of our faithful followers of the blog.  It really makes sense to me and I thought I would share it with you and see what you think about it…

The idea is that when you make a contact with a station that you want to recognise…  It could be a 2m ssb contact or a rare county or just running into an old friend why not send that person a short message via NTS to touch base with them after.  This could be concidered more personal than a quick email and even in this day and age not everyone is speeding down the information highway…  You could also send a NTS message to request a sked or whatever …  This will let the person know you are thinking of them as well as giving some NTS operators a chance to pass some traffic that is not exercise traffic.  The dedicated NTS operators meet several times daily in the off chance that their services will be required but to be honest most days they are not as busy as the old Maytag Repairman…

In Ontario you could check into the Ontario Phone Net (1900 est on 3.745) and pass your traffic or in the North Eastern Part of North America you could check into the 2nd region net which meets daily at 1345 or 1830 est on 3.925

For more info on the NTS check out the Field Services area of the ARRL website or the RAC website

Why not give it a try???

73bob

Just something to think about on a snowy Saturday

I was re reading some of the info from RAC with regards to the the changes they have planned for the Ontario Section.  I find the wording a bit more confusing when I read it over and over and now I find myself wondering how we can have 4 sections in Ontario with 4 section managers and only two directors. Four directors would make more sense to me.   From what I could tell from an ARRL Bulletin they are going to be counting the 4 sections into contest scoring.  Perhaps before we are told who has been appointed into the positions they will be giving us more information.

 I guess that means when I participate in Field Day I will be changing my exchange from “ 1B ON ” to  “1B EON “

Now outside of adding the three extra multis for the contests I don’t see much of an issue here as I don’t seriously contest.  I don’t think it would make much of a difference as I think we have enough “serious” contesters spread around Ontario already that we should be able to work the 4 ontario sections almost as easy as we could work the single section before….  Now this is not an attack on contesting so if anyone who is a serious contester would like to nicely explain to me what I might of missed….  Please let me know….  For me the purpose of contesting is to give the serious operators some contacts…

Now something else which came to mind is that….  I know that the current Section Manager VE3AJB was acclaimed several times in the past as Section Manager for the Ontario Section.  The question comes to mind is that if we only had one person dedicated enought to want to take on the position in the past…  Where does RAC figure they will find three other amaters that are either willing or qualified to take on the positions?

I know that there are some good people locally in the various ARES groups but as section manager their job will be to support the FULL Field Services Organsiation and from when I was manager of the Ontario Phone Net there were not that many local EC’s or DEC’s that could bother to check into the only Province wide Traffic Net that the Ontario Section operated.  Now we can debate the need for the NTS but…  It is part of the Field Service Package and if you check out the ARRL website and this link should take you to an article on the ARES-NTS topic you will see that the ARRL still sees a need for NTS.

So althought I think the splitting of the Ontario is a good idea I am wondering if it was thought out well enough.  I am wondering if the section has enough good people (4 Section Managers, 4 Section Emergency Coordinators, 4 Section Traffic Managers etc) to continue to do the good job that should of been done in the past.

However if the “good job” had been done in the past we probaly would not be talking about the changes being made now…

73bob

 

Changing Band conditons

As those of you who know me will confirm …  I’m not much of a DXer…  When theres a bunch of us out in the park with the QRP Portable rigs I am the guy who is checking into the local or not so local 40m or 80m Net.  The guys on the 2nd region net got a big kick when last year I checked in to a NTS Net while operating in the Winter Field Day event and actually checked in from a Picnic Table in a park when the temps were so cold in Janurary…

So now that the bands are starting to go longer sooner I am hearing station I could not work in the warmer weather.  The 2nd region Net is one that comes to mind.  They meet several times a day on 3.925 as a NTS Regional Net.  When I was the Net Manager of the Ontario Phone Net I was a regular there…  Over the summer time the band conditions just were not good enough for me on 80m with the setup here at home but now….  I’m getting in on the first try and its enjoyable again…

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I also heard some activity on 3.750 around 2015 hours est which by my net list would be the North West Ontario Net.  Most of the participants of this net are (as the name implies) in NW Ontario.  For those of you with questions to a google maps thing of Thunder Bay and that should get you into the general area or just look below…

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Then go North and West from there and you see the area we are talking about.  So even hearing them from Ottawa on 80m is good for me with my setup…

The same can be said for 40m with me listening quite a bit on 7.055 which before anyone starts screaming… 7.055 is in the Canadian Voice Band and the home of the Trans Provincal Net along with several sessions of the Aurora Net.  I just keep the rig on 7.055 when doing other stuff in the shack and its amazing what I can hear that I could not hear before…

I do plan to get a multi band vertical up for 10-12-15-17-20m in the near future cuz I figure that if the bands are good lower they might be good higher and this could be my chance to get the elusive Yukon Territories (VY1) in the log to complete my worked all Provinces and Territories along with the worked all Canadian Prefixes…. Got all the others (including Sable Island ) and just need VY1…

Just my luck that the band will be open to VY1 during the RAC Canada Winter Contest when I’m the operator at VE3JW and I’ll miss them in my log…

Anyhow….  Erika has ordered my new Android based smart phone for me and today I am going out to get a Belt Loop Style case as compared to the belt clip case which we have proven can fall off my belt when my belly gets in the way…  At over $200.00 a shot I can’t really afford to keep on replacing these things…  So for now if your trying to reach me email is still the best way…

73bob

From the OPN Net Manager- Nov 28

The following just came in to my email inbox:

 

To all OPN Participants,

Be advised that, effective immediately, the start time of the OPN will be moved ahead to 6:30 Local, 23:30 UTC, with the warm up commencing at 6:20 Local, 23:20 UTC.

Hopefully, this change will be sufficient to compensate for band conditions which are likely to continue to ‘go long’ earlier over the next two months.

73 Ian VE3HMS OPN NM

 

Back from the Mountain

WARNING- THIS IS A GRAPHIC INTENSIVE POST— LOTS OF PRETTY PICTURES AND ALSO SOME OF HAM RADIO OPERATORS

Well I made it back… Tired… Happy… and stiff and sore this morning…(REALLY STIFF AND SORE)… but I made it back…

An earlier picture of me.  Same backpack but a bigger smile

An old pic of VA3SIE taken at the Maple Island DXPedition

Martin VA3SIE, Ante VA2BBW and myself headed up the King Mountain Trail just after 4pm and arrived at the summit before 5pm.

VA2BBW (picture taken last winter at PBMME)

Once at the top we split up as not to interfere with each other and we set up the rigs/antennas  and started to operate.  I started on the VHF Bands making several contacts on 2m and 6m ssb.  The stations I contacted were all in my Grid Square so everyone was in FN25

2m VE3VIG  Maurice Andre 5/9   FN25

6m VA3UMP Mark  5/9 FN25

2m VA3UMP Mark 5/9 FN25

2m VE3KKL  Gord 5/9 FN25

The rig was my FT817 powered by a 7ah SLA.  My antenna was a 1/4 wire dipole for 6m which works just as good on 2m as a 5/8w dipole.  The trees let me aim the dipole South.

I also heard a very weak partial call of “TC” and once I got home and checked the blog and I think that  would of been  Graham VE3GTC who lives in Embrun Ontario .  Graham would of been my furthest contact of the day on VHF if we had actually made the contact.  Due to how I had to string the dipole to avoid other hikers I could not get enough antenna aimed East to successfully make the contact.

Sorry I missed you Graham but thanks for trying…

After numerous CQ 2m and CQ 6m and getting no more contacts I decided to take down the VHF/6m dipole and try the W3EDP.  By this time the hiker were starting to thin out a bit…  Darkness was starting to set in so I figured that I would not be tripping anyone up.  I was able to stretch the W3EDP out at an approximate height of 7 feet above ground in some light bush and once again although it was more NVIS at 7 feet the antenna was running east-west so the bulk of the signal would of been heading south (or if you believe NVIS …up)

The APRS worked great and it reassured my family that they could look at the APRS.fi website and check and make sure I was still moving…

Follow my APRS track

Just in case the link does not function you can insert my callsign (VA3QV-7 ) and select the date (October 16) manually and it should show you the track.  You can see more detail if you pick the satellite view but the Terrain Feature will show you a map most of you are more used to seeing.

Rather than try to break into a QSO on 80m just to say I was operating QRP/Portable on a mountain in Quebec I spun the dial and found the New York State Phone Traffic Net on 3.925 .

The NCS for the session was “Ham” K2UCO and he lived in Oneida NY.

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As you can see from the map Oneida is just east of Syracuse NY which makes it about 5 hours drive south of my location depending on how busy the 1000 islands border crossing is.

Not to shabby for a QRP signal with a wire antenna in a tree at 7 feet.  I guess the tree being on a mountain top helped.

During the net I was able to contact Glenn VE3GNA who is the Ontario Section Traffic Manager (STM) and pass 8 pieces of traffic I was planning to bring to the Ontario Phone Net that evening from the mountain, but as the sun was dropping and the temps were dropping as well I had an idea that we would not be staying up much longer.

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Before I started to power down and pack up the honour of last contact of the night goes to Norm VE3DHR in Hawksbury Ontario who was the NCS of the Sandbox net.

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This net is a roundtable net that runs 7 days a week on 3.733.  Conditions to the east were not the best but he did hear me…

So the final tally for my part of the operation would of been

80m- 3 contacts

6m-  1 contact

2m- 3 contacts

After this contact with the only light being from the moon and our various styles of flashlights ( I had a 5 LED setup clipped to my hat brim) we all broke camp and headed down the trail.  The trip down although took less energy than the trip up (thanks to gravity) doing it in the dark was quite a bit more difficult for myself being the very novice hiker.  However I did make it back with no scrapes, sprains, breaks or bruises and all the equipment I humped up to the top made it back…

Although I did not take an actual camera with me here are a couple of shots I took with my cellphone so it will give you a bit of an idea of how things looked…

From the top…

Looking out

I can  see for miles…

…and miles

The shack

Sunset on the mountain

Makes it worth the hike

Looked better in person

Ottawa in the distance

Our light down the mountain

So as you can see the scenery was great and take my word for it the company was fantastic.

I’d like to thank Martin and Ante for taking me up there and more importantly bringing me back…

Since I got back into the hobby (about 10 years ago now) and bought my FT817 I have done lots of portable work, local parks and even a couple of small CISA DXPeditions, but nothing like hiking up a side of a mountain (molehill to some of you real hikers) and getting to see the view and also be fortunate enough to play radio once I got there.

IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!

Today I am paying for it…  Knees are very sore and today is the payback for how great I felt looking out at the region last evening…  Heck to be honest I am feeling my age this morning…

I had so much fun I think I will try it again in the springtime…

73bob

Saturday and its time to play outside

What a beautiful day….

Saturday morning… Jose VA3PCJ and myself headed out to the south end of Ottawa and set up 2 QRP stations  very close to the Ottawa Airport at Eccolands Park.

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Jose used his IC703 which had just returned from ICOM after some waranty work and I used my FT817.  If you know your radios…Saturday was a QRP Day…

For antennas Jose started with a G5RV then switched to a 35 foot vertical using a 9:1 balun and one radial.  I started with my W3EDP then switched to my Buddistick and finished up with the W3EDP.

Jose with the IC703

Now you might notice that the pics of me seem to be missing…  well Jose took them with his camera so I am waiting for the pics (along with his logs) but I was there and we did have fun.  I managed contacts on 17m, 20m, 40m and 80m.  Nothing was real DX but contacts across North America on 4 different bands when I am QRP/P was a good thing…

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I even managed to check into the Second Region Net (1345hrs at 3.925) and represent Ontario for the Ontario Phone Net

So we had a great time…  The WX was great…  The bands were not the best but they have been worse and the company was fantastic…

73bob

 

How the weekend went

Its now Monday afternoon and lets take a look back at the (lack of) radio activities over the weekend…

Saturday had afternoon had me playing back yard or Patio Portable as I was forced outside by the high temps and the lack of central air.  There was a threat of Thunderstorms and worse and although my little area of Ottawa South was spared from the “worse”  Toby, Saber and myself did get chased indoors a couple of times in the late afternoon.  However I did get to watch several serious storms make their way east-south-east on the weather radar on line website and was glad I was not living along the St Lawrence River close to Cornwall.

On Saturday evening I was able to check into the 2nd region Traffic net at 1830 local (eastern) time and represent Ontario with no Traffic going out to the net and nothing coming to Ontario from the net.  At 1900 local (2300Z) I was the scheduled Control Station for the Ontario Phone Net on 3.742.  Even with the poor band conditions I was able to carry out my duties and operate the net.

Signals were good into to South River Ontario and Parrys Sound ( both in the general area of Huntsville Ontario which you might remember from the recent G8 Summit) and other stations were in Southern Ontario and the GTA who for some reason were not as strong.

As mentioned in Saturdays post the rig for this exercise was my FT 897 powered by a 12 volt automotive booster pack.  As the W3EDP is resonant on 80m I did not need my tuner.

After the end of the net I packed up the gear cooked supper on the BBQ and that finished my radio work for the evening.

Sunday morning I did not get on the air in time for the OVMRC summer version of the Pothole net.  The net runs on 3.760 starting at 10am Ottawa Time and formally does not run between Field Day and Labour Day but there is a group of  “keeners” who do try and say hi and catch up on the weeks gossip on that frequency/time over the summer months.  My gear was functioning but my timing lousy as I remembered about the net at about 1030 and all was quiet by then…

Later on Sunday (1300 eastern)I did manage a couple of short 40m contacts checking into the ARES Ontario 40m HF Net on 7.080.  For this event I operated from the Shack (temps were a bit lower) and managed contacts with Bob VE3YX in Deep River Ontario as well as a few other net participants.

I normally like to try and check in with the QRP Yaesu FT817 and a portable W3EDP antenna from a local park but today if was my FT847 from home with the home version of the W3EDP.  The big difference between antennas is that the home version is a bit higher  where the portable version is normally lower to work within the NVIS Principals… On Sunday NON NVIS and QRO managed to get the job done…

For the rest of Sunday I had some non radio stuff to do so the shack was vacant till this afternoon which finds me writing this to you…

Just to jog your memory we are getting closer to Maplecon in Late August and the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club Carp Hamfest after Labour Day. There is still lots to do in the summer using amateur radio.  The different clubs might slow down after Field Day but you don’t have to slow down…  You can still get out there and have some fun in our wonderful hobby.

73bob

Field Day 2010 Report

UPDATED WITH PICTURE PROBLEM CORRECTED….shucks…73bob

For Field Day this year I was the guest of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club (OVRMC).  I was part of a 4A effort that was located at the field with the Lighthouse in front of the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa.

The event started on the Saturday morning when I walked from my place over to the local Starbucks which is located about 500m from the Museum and then wandered over to the Field Day site.  Before I started “Lugging” my gear over I wanted to make sure that the club trailer was on site. 

Picture courtesy VE3EMB

Thats me in the black shirt, brown shorts, white hat and wide butt…

As you know I no longer own a car and as it takes more than one trip to get the station from my place to the museum I wanted to make sure I could store the first trip in the trailer when I went back for the 2nd trip.  As it turns out “Sandy” who had brought the trailer to the side offered to give me a lift in his pickup truck so everything made it from my QTH to the Field Day site a lot easier than me making two trips on foot.  Fortunately I do live close enough that I could of carried it if I had needed to…

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As you can see its a very short walk…But as we had some light rain falling the ride was very appreciated…

My assignment for Field Day was to set up and coordinate (Band Captain) the VHF Station (2m-6m-70cm), the 80m Station and the 160m Station.  The rig I brought was my Yaesu FT897 and a Jetstream 12v Power Supply.  For antennas I brought my 6m copper pipe dipole and a 2m loop antenna.  The 2m loop also is good for 70cm. 

For the HF bands I planned to use my W3EDP for 80 and 160m with a homebrewed 6-80 OCF Windom as a backup antenna for 6m and 80m if needed.

Late Friday Night we had been informed by the Muesum Management that the damage caused the the Earthquake on Wednesday afternoon to the lighthouse had not fully been corrected yet and due to that we would not have access to the interior of the lighthouse.  This includes the stairs to the top so we would not be able to hang dipoles off the top railing for this event.

Picture courtesy VE3EMB- you can see the 6m antenna on a mast off the lower railing on the left had side of the lighthouse.  One end of the windom was also tied off this railing…

 

That caused a serious change in plans but in true Amateur Radio Tradition we overcame and adapted and still were on the air…

As I mentioned earlier we were running a 4A setup and our people were as follows:

 

Above- Alan VA3STL with the Carleton University ARC on 10m and 15m- Picture courtesy VE3EMB- Thats Alan in the Blue Windbreaker hanging the antenna…

Above-Maurice-Andre VE3VIG on 20m (in front) with David VE3ZZU in background working on the 20m dipole antenna- Picture courtesy VE3EMB

 

Above-Ernie VE3EJJ on 40m – Picture Courtesy VE3EMB

Bob VA3QV on 80m and 160m and Bob VA3QV with Free VHF Station but you already know what I look like and as I don’t have a close up available taken on Field Day…  Lets go with what we have…

As far as the operating went….  I started on 2m and was shut out… Not even any locals so I went over to 6m and found there was a bit of an opening so I was able to snag one local and about 3 southern stations… I then went back to 2m then 70cm with no luck…  Returning to 6m I managed a few more contacts while trying to describe the functions (quirks) of the 6m band to a few of the Carleton Students.

This would be a good time to mention that VA3STL who is a professor at Carleton U is also the facility sponsor (supervisor) or the Carleton University Amateur Radio Club and recently ran a very successful program that gave us a bunch of new amateurs.  Now these…kids???  no flames on this one please— compared to me anyone under 30 is a kid in my eves…  Alright… 

These new amateurs are the future of Amateur Radio….  Its kind of unique…  They can spell “Radio” and as most of them were electrical engineering students they can also build a radio…  All we really had to do was teach them how to talk on a radio and most of them picked that up rather quickly…  Althought we were there to give them a hand or a hint most of the 67 contacts made on the 80m band were made with a new ham at the mike…  For me this was the best part of field day…  Its actually renewed my enthuaism for the hobby… 

On a sad note as it would not be a field day if everything went right my W3EDP refused to load up on 160m…  This was a bit of a shocker as in the past I have used it in the exact same location with the same equipment with no issues but for whatever reason this time….FUBAR…. (kiddies ask your Dad what that means)…  So I was forced to take the W3EDP down and go with the Windom which is a 6m to 80m OCF Dipole.  The combination of the FT897 and the Windom was so good that I was able to have VE3RAM (OVMRC Field Day Callsign) control the Ontario Phone Net (3.742 at 1900 hrs) on Saturday evening.

Not only were we able to control the net but I was able to pass our Field Day Message along with Relay4 messages to the Quebec Section and relay two other messages to the Ontario Section Manager.

The highlight of  Field Day came much later but did involve the NTS when around 0100 local with a Carleton Student at the controls.  There was a station calling CQ Field Day but every time they made the contact at the end the operator asked the contacted station if they could handle NTS Traffic for the bonus points and strange as it seems none of the contacted stations were willing to pick up the traffic.  When we finally got through to the station I instucted my operator (I think her name was Maria from Carleton U) to accept the traffic and I would copy it.  To be honest I was expecting the usual message to “Uncle Bill from your nephew at the Ham Radio Exibit at Field Day” but as the sending station was relaying the message you could hear a pin drop as the recipient was given:

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

 

 

Now this was something…  I have been connected with the NTS for many years and this was the first time I had ever heard of a NTS message being addressed to the ISS.  We accepted reciept of the message and then continued on with our Field Day after explaining to Maria the functions and history of the NTS… 

After Field Day I contacted the Ontario Section Traffic Manager and asked how I would route traffic to the ISS and it was decided I would try via AMSAT.  The local Canadian AMSAT Rep who happens to live in Ottawa (VE3VIG) send an email to the ARRL and at this time we are waiting to hear back to see if we send it to NASA or the Russian Space Federation for relay.  From what we have been told so far it appears that this is the first time a Canadian Amateur Radio Station has had to pass traffic to outer space via NTS and it could also be the first time that any NTS Message has been sent to outer  space and we are eagerly awaiting routing instructions and also to find out if indeed this was a first for Amateur Radio.

 

 

As I said earlier this was the highlight of Field Day for me…

 

I finally decided I needed to take a nap around 0300 on the Sunday Morning and managed 4 hours before the hustle of Field Day got me woken up again.  I had purposely left the radio on 80m and when the band opened up again it had woken me up…  After a quick coffee and a couple of donuts we were back on the air and shortly after was joined by Roger VE3NPO who operated the 80m station while I did the logging.  Roger racked up a few contacts before the 80m band dropped for the day.  He then went over to visit the other stations while I checked 6m.  The 6m band was closed so at that point I tore down my gear and packed everything up.  I was torn down before 1400 and was able to help the others with tear down and by 1600 I was sitting at home in the backyard with my feet up with this wonderful smile on my face…

 

It was over but it was fun….  It was a good feeling…

 

73bob

 

PS… Thanks to the OVMRC for inviting me and also thanks to the Carleton University ARC for making this my best field day ever…

Sunday (Fathers Day) in the park…

Sunday early afternoon I headed out to the park with my FT817/LDG autotuner and my W3EDP (end fed longwire antenna) .  I had recently modified the W3EDP slightly to get it ready for handling the full 100w that I would be using on Field Day.  Everything went as planned and I made several contacts although not exactly as I thought I would.  As most of the time in the field included ARES and NTS I first posted on the Ontario Phone Net Blog and then copied it over here…

 

As most of you aware the  Field Services for RAC  in Ontario is made up of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the National Traffic System (NTS)

The NTS meets every night on the Ontario Phone Net which as you know is held at 1900 hrs eastern (EDST or EST) as close to 3,742 that we can find a clear spot to operate from

 

In addition our cousins ARES meet several times a week on HF and also on the IRLP networks. 

You can find them on Sunday on 7.080 at 1300 hrs eastern along with at 2000 hrs on IRLP reflector  9035

On Mondays they can be found on 3.650 at 2100 hrs

On Wednesdays they can be found again on the IRLP Reflector 9035 at 2000hrs.

On Thursdays they hold a net on the IRLP Reflector 0040 at 2000 hrs as well.

For more information on the ARES in Ontario please check out their website

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Todays story (and yes there was a point to the information above) starts just before 1300 hrs in Hutton Park in Ottawa when VA3QV Bob (OPN Net Manager) decided to take his QRP Radio (Yaesu FT 817) out to the Park to test out a modification to his W3EDP Antenna.

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Anyway in my own words…  If you zoom in as much as you can on the map you will see a baseball backstop on the top right of the map and a row of trees below on the left.

I strung my W3EDP from a line thrown over the backstop to the tree on the bottom right of the map.  I then adjusted the lenght of the antenna so it was approx 15 feet above ground at either end and approx 10 feet above ground in the middle as I was hoping for a NVIS style of operating.  Hearing the Ontario Swap Shop on 7.055 before the ARES Net Started did not fill me with confidence but at 1300 I tried 7.080 and was able to be checked in by the Net Control Station Bob VE3YX in Deep River Ontario with a good signal report.  Seeing how long 40m usually is I was suprised as he was on how good the signals were between us.

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The above “Google Map”  image will give you an indication of the distance between the stations although Radio Waves don’t take hwy 17 but its close enough for an example…

For the duration of the Net I had good copy on most of the participants although some of them had more than a bit of trouble with my QRP Signal not getting over the static level they had at their locations.  One of the stations checking in was VE3NCQ Austin who is a regular on the OPN as well as the ARES EC for Chatam Kent Ontario.  He came to the net wondering if anyone could handle traffic for Ottawa and although he could not hear me I could hear him so relaying through the NCS the traffic was passed to  Ottawa and then my reciept of the traffic was relayed to Austin via the NCS in Deep River.

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Once again the above map is more to show you the area involved as radio waves don’t follow the 416 and the 401…

Now the big thing to remember is that the traffic got passed…  ARES and NTS got together to do it… 

So the moral of the story would be that if you don’t check into the nets who will pass the traffic???

The ARES Nets are filled with skilled communicators who can pass traffic if needed.  Several times a year for exercises the NTS is called out to support various ARES groups.  We work together and we get the job done… 

As net manager for the Ontario Phone nets I ask my NCS stations and liason stations to do their best to check into the Ontario ARES HF Nets and IRLP Nets if they have an outlet to IRLP to better hone their communications skills.  I would hope that my counterparts with the Ontario ARES Nets would be asking their operators to visit the Ontario Phone Net if they have the capabilites for 80m voice for the same reasons.

73

Bob Sharp VA3QV Net Manager Ontario Phone Net

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So there you have it…  I got an hour or so outside in the great outdoors to play radio…  I made a couple of QRP contacts on a band that I really did not expect to have any luck on.  I was able to recieve a piece of NTS Traffic that most likely would not of been able to be passed later this evening on 80m when the OPN would of been on…

Just to remind you of the basics of NVIS…and this is “For Dummies” style of description as the non technical stuff makes it easier to understand…

NVIS works best on 40, 80 and 160m

To be effective the antenna should be as low to the ground as safely can be done…  I keep mine above 7 feet but below 15 feet.

The lower the antenna … the lower the noise level on Receive…

The lower antenna uses the ground below it as a reflector and this causes your signal to go almost straight up and then bounce and come down almost straight down.  In plain english NVIS shortens the first hop…

On a day when the 40m band was long I was able to make a contact less than 200km or 120miles away from my location in Ottawa.  Using 5w we can safely say it was not groundwave…

So there you have it…  If you want the technical side do the “Google” thing for NVIS or Near Vertical Incidence Skywave and there is a wealth of technical information out there…

So if you are a father… HAPPY FATHERS DAY…. I hope the day was all you hoped for and all you expected… My day was great and as soon as I save this post its “Radios off and BBQ on”…

73bob