Last night at the OVMRC Meeting

Last night I wandered over to the Science Museum  (which you might remember is a short walk from my home) and attended the monthly meeting of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club.  The meeting served as a great meeting place as I had to drop off one piece of equipment as well as get back another piece of gear…

The gear coming home was my TAKTENNA which I had loaned out to a new ham about a year ago.

The antenna covers 10-40m and can also do 80m depending on your tuner.

As you can see from the picture its a different style design but it does work (read my earlier posts) about as well as any of the other compromise (limited space antennas) antennas do.

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It will not out perform a wire antenna stretched out but it does get you on the air with a signal that can be heard.

I proved that in the RAC Canada Winter Contest a  couple of years ago.

I was talking to another amateur about this antenna and I believe it will be leaving me shortly (again) on another long term loan as he tries to find the best way to get an apt balcony “Radio Active”

Now lets talk about the toy that just left….

A few of you might know that I had a Yaesu VX1…

Thats a .5w micro dual band handie that  Yaesu put out a few years back…   I think that now they are up to the VX3.  At the last VE3ORF/3730 group supper meeting one of the hams there was mentioning that he was going to buy one of the Chinese knock offs of the VX3….  I mentioned that he should enjoy it and that I had a “REAL” VX1 that was sitting in a box and gathering dust….  We kept on talking and to make a long story short …  We met at the OVMRC Meeting last night and now its his VX1….  As much as I hate to get rid of gear …  Its a radio I was not using…  Could not see myself using….  And I still have the VX5, the VX8gr and the FT60r handhelds still in the shack that all serve alike purposes…  The VX1 was definately surplus to my needs….

So one piece leaves and another piece returns….  Liz probally would of been happier if two left but….

As I was at the meeting anyway I took the time to watch the guest speaker (Micheal VE3WMB) who was giving an excellent talk on Portable Radio HF Operations.  Micheal and myself are both avid QRP/Portable types and we have been out on a couple of event having fun.  The last time I saw Micheal was the 2012 ChillyCon event held in early September at the Rideau River Provincal Park.

He gave a very interesting talk/presentation and it was nice to be used as a good example (as a change) as he did mention QRP SSB as well as the FT817 and W3EDP Antennas in his talk. 

Anyway the meeting ended just after 9pm and I was home by about 2130 local after a great day.  After that I worked a bit on re designing the QRZ Page of a fellow ham and then I called it a night…

Today will be spent getting gear ready for the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes Contest which happen this coming weekend….

73bob

Upcoming at the OVMRC

The next meeting of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club will be on October 18th at the Science Museum in Ottawa

Today in my email I recieved this piece of information about the guest speaker/topic for the October Meeting and was asked to share it with you….

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TITLE:  Cognitive Radio Explained to the Radio Amateur

SPEAKER: Michel Barbeau, VE3EMB

ABSTRACT:

I am a  reader of VA3QV’s blog. In a recent post entitled “Goodbye to an old friend” (August 24, 2012), Bob talks about its Yaesu FT897 that he just sold. As the name  of the post suggests, it is as if Bob and the FT897 developed a friendship over  time. This is pretty much what the cognitive radio concept is all about. It is a  radio that can think. It has a sort of brain with memory and reasoning  capability. It is able to sense the channel conditions, understand the  operator’s preferences, use past experience and determine by itself how it  should operate. After a while, it becomes a sort of operator’s good  friend.

The  cognitive radio paradigm has not yet penetrated the amateur radio market. There  are, however, interesting upcoming applications we should keep an eye on. In the  US, UHF spectrum previously allocated to television broadcast has been  reallocated to wireless networks. The software defined radio technology will be  used to make these networks adaptable and perform at their best. Besides, new  interference management models between radio services are being investigated,  such as the concept of interference temperature. The topic “cognitive radio  system” was on the agenda of the last World Radiocommunication Conference  (2012). Input have been solicited from the amateur radio  community.

I will  introduce this new concept and review some of the practical ideas that have been  put forth. All are welcome!

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Hope to CU there

73bob

Where does the month go?

After looking at my day planner I seem to wonder where we are expected to find the time for anything these days…  Today is October 5th and we are just getting ready to start the Canadian Thanksgiving Long Weekend (October 6,7,8th) and I am finding that I am getting fairly busy for the rest of the month…

Oct 6,7 & 8th- Canadian Thanksgiving Long Weekend

Oct 10th- Ottawa Valley QRP Society Monthly Meeting

Oct 10th- Ottawa Amateur Radio Club Monthly Meeting

Oct 13th-  Ontario ARES SET Exercise

Oct 14th-  Ottawa ARES Exercise

Oct 18th-  Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club Monthly Meeting

Oct 20th-  Eastern Ontario Scouts Jamboree on the Air

Oct 27 & 28th- CQ WW SSB Contest

And just for good measure you include three Medical appointments for me and a couple for Liz it does make for a busy month.  Hopefully I can find some spare time to work on my WAS and DXCC before the CQ Contest to make sure that everything still works…

73bob

News from the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club

Seems that tonite is a night for news…

The following was sent to me by the President of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club with the request that I share this with you…

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If you can, please spread the word (I don’t have emails of  all members).

Michel

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OVMRC Meeting September 27 (Thursday), 7:30 PM

We are starting a new year. The first meeting  will be the time to register with the club. You may download the membership form  from the club’s website (www.ovmrc.on.ca/Rambler/Membership-Form.pdf) and fill  it out before the meeting. Full Membership (Member of RAC) is  $25.00/year.

Featured Presentation

Speaker: Darin Cowan VE3OIJ

Title: VE3JW – Your  Amateur Radio Station

Abstract: This presentation covers the  history of VE3JW, from inception in 1974 to the present day. It shows the  progression of equipment through the years and includes a discussion of current  capabilities. Also included are highlights of the special events that put  amateur radio on display at the station, and concludes with a brief call for  volunteers.

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If you live in the Ottawa Area why not drop in on Thursday evening???

The location is the Canada Science and Technology Musuem

View Larger Map

You might even see me there….

73bob

Results in from the Larry Wilcox Memorial Contest

Last night I got an email alert advising me that the June edition of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club Newsletter “The Rambler” was on line and available for downloading.  As always I followed the link and downloaded it and imagine my shock when I saw:

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To get some background information on this contest and its importance to me  please follow this link.

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To see what I had planned for the 2012 contest please follow this link.

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And to read up on how my operation went for the contest please follow this link.

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I guess its true what they say about if you don’t submit your results that you can’t win.  I was using 5w with a handheld running into the  Arrow Portable Sat beam and I was using the 3 elements of the 2m part of the beam only.  I did have a bit of altitude to help me out but nothing like a SOTA activation or anything like that.  There was only one other actual Portable station and I don’t know what he was using but I am very suprised by the longest QSO award as the other station was a rover. 

 I had expected that the longest QSO award would of gone to a person who had a bit more than 5w horsepower and more than 3 elements in the beam and a lot more altitude than the 4 feet that the camera tripod held the beam off the ground.

However the two pieces of wallpaper were not the reason for participating in this contest…  It was to honour the memory of an old friend and I think that it was a success…

Thanks to the OVMRC for keeping the memory alive…

73bob

Weather and Islands

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UPDATED AS OF TUESDAY OC TOBER 11TH AT 1400HRS LOCAL

THE CISA EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

WE WILL BE RESCHEDULING LATER IN THE SEASON

73bob

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As I’m starting to get my gear ready for this Saturday’s attempt of the CISA activation of Nicholl’s island with VA3SIE Martin I decided to check with the Weather Network to see what we would be up against.

When Martin and myself activated Maple Island back in September 2005 it rained….  When we activated Bate Island in December 2006 it snowed,,,  When we attempted to activate Pig Island in Feb 2011 we froze….   Well keeping with tradition we are supposed to get rain this Saturday…

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MEMO TO SELF…. pack a blue tarp for Saturday…

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For gear I plan to bring my (what else but) my trusty FT817 and LDG QRP Autotuner combo. 

 The antenna of the day will be either my homebrewed W3EDP (10-80m)

or my PAR ENDZ FED (10-20-40).  Both antennas work well and are easy to put in the trees.  In addition I will have a 1/2 w dipole for 6m (its also a 5/8w on 2m) to use should the need arise.  My 10.5ah battery pack will be the power sourse and i will be paperlogging with mynotepad.  I am expecting we will be using the OVMRC Club call of VE3RAM with the Parks Canada special Prefix of “CG” so listen for CG3RAM…

Check @VA3QV on Twitter for last minute changes and frequency updates…

73bob

 

Attention Prefix Hunters

The following bit of information comes to us from Martin VA3SIE on behalf of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club (OVMRC)

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The OVMRC has sponsored a national special event prefix for the months of September and October 2011:

CF for VA
CG for VE
CH for VO
CI for VY

This special prefix celebrates the Centennial (100 years anniversary) of Parks Canada, the Worlds First National Parks Service.

From the 1st of September until the 31st of October 2011, Radio Amateurs in Canada can use CF instead of VA, CG instead of VE, CH instead of VO and CI instead of VY as callsign prefixes.

Why not organize an outing to a Parks Canada maintained property in your region and try out the new prefix there portable?!   I”m planning to visit the Rideau Canal (which is maintained by Parks Canada) here in Ottawa sometime this month or next…

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Thanks to Martin and the OVMRC for getting this set up and also watch this blog and my twitter account @VA3QV to see when you will have a chance to work CF3RCS (Canadians Freezings 3 Real Cold Spot) as I’m sure I can find a location to operate from between now and then…

73bob

SPAR Winter Field Day UPDATE

Well its Sunday morning here in Ottawa and I just got home after visiting the two operators who were on shift for the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club’s Winter Field Day efforts for today.

Yesterday we had 3 operators (VE3VIG on 20CW, VE3EUS on 20SSB and 15SSB and myself VA3QV on 40SSB, 2FM and 70cm FM)… 

 Today Maurice-Andre and Joe decided to return (they had so much fun yesterday) and today MA was on 20CW, 80CW and 80SSB and Joe was on 20SSB and 40SSB and when I dropped in for my visit this morning they all were smiling and making contacts…

Not sure what the final counts will be as I won’t see the logs from each operator till the OVMRC Executive Meeting this coming Thursday night and then I have to merge them into my submission to SPAR but right now it looks like something like this…

From looking at the log sheets briefly but not dupe checking or counting scratches on the lines I would guess around 100 contacts on all bands…

Multis- 8

Along with the 3000 bonus points (Battery Power, Outdoors and not at home)

I would guess that our estimated score would give us First Place in Ottawa but then I think we were the only ones who participated from Ottawa.  If there was more than us then I can guaranteee we were in the top 5…

Hell…  I mean HECK… We had fun…  No one got frostbite and we made contacts…  The scores will be posted here once I see the completed logs but I really would be suprised if it was much more than I mentioned above…

Here are a couple of Pictures as taken with Joe’s camera but not sure who took the actual photos…

Above VE3EUS and VA3QV

Above  VE3VIG on 20m CW

I think this one was taken by Harold VA3UNK when he dropped in for a visit…

I’ll get the final report on this one done much later this week as I won’t even see the logs till Thursday evening and nothing will get done till some time on Friday…  With the preperations for the Canadian SKI Marathon taking priority it will get done but just not soon…

Its gonna be a very busy two weeks here at the QV Shack… 

73bob

Getting ready for the SPAR Winter Field Day on Saturday

Well plans are going great in anticipation of VE3EUS Joe and myself VA3QV Bob activating VE3RAM for the OVMRC (Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club) in the 2011 SPAR Winter Field Day.  To be honest as no one else has committed to joining us I’m not sure what our catagory will be as if we do it as as a single transmitter entry then the other operator can duck across the street to McDonalds and warm up.

 

View Larger Map

If you enlarge theabove  map you will see the area we are planning to operate from which is across the street from the McDonalds on the south side of Bourassa St between St, Laurent and Gladwin Cresent

 

But in the past we have a history of guest operators showing up with no notice (who are club members) and figure they have a right to operate as its a club event….

So I’m thinking of just entereing the Multi OP catagory and then we have all the bases covered….  Its not really about the score on this one as we won’t make it (if my failed Pig Island CISA Activation is an indication) for the full 24 hours anyway so this time its just friendly, for fresh air and to give out some contacts to a group of people who are taking this much more seriously than we are…

Right now the equipment is looking like this…  Joe will be bringing his FT857 with a suitable (big and heavy) battery along with his 10 to 20m (10-12-15-17-20m) home brewed vertical to operate on 10-15-20.  I will be bringing my FT817 with a 12 AH SLA along with my Par Endz Fed for 10-40m and my Buddistick Vertical for 10-40m.  I will also have my handheld (Yaesu FT60r) with me as for this contest 2m and 70cm contacts count (even repeater contacts count— check the rules from the above link) .  I was debating bringing a W3EDP antenna with me for this one so I could add 80m and 160m for this event but so far as I am guessing we will be operating from the start till the sun goes down…. Do we really need 80 & 160m???  If I’m wrong I can always run home as our location is a 5 min walk from my place and pick it up…  The same goes for spare batteries…  I’ll keep them fully charged at home and run back for a spare if needed…

Above FT817 and  Yaesu Ft 857

Picture courtesy VE3MPG- 2010 Winter Field Day

There will be lots of locals out there this time for this contest.  Martin VA3SIE along with Ante VA2BBW will be doing a multi event station from “Devils Mountian” near Mont Laurier QC.  Their effort will be a SOTA/Winter Field Day/ Polar Bear (PBMME) event. 

 They will be leaving Ottawa way too early in the morning and driving north for about two hours.  Then its a roughly 9k snow shoe hike up to the summit (about 4 hours) then they finally get to operate with a 3 hour hike back down to the car for a 2 hour drive back to Ottawa. 

View Larger Map

If you check Martins Blog he will have more information on this event.  Both Martin and Ante will be operting QRP HF CW but you should be able to follow them on APRS.fi and they also might be active on VHF using the IRLP system (again check Martin’s blog) for skeds and SPAR Contacts.  Also fellow blogger and ARES Type Bill VE3CLQ will be operating some of the Frontenac ARES Group from the Kingston area.  Check Bill’s blog for more info as well…

So thats the plans as they stand right now…  On Thursday Joe and myself are going to head over to McDonalds for lunch (not a high point but…) and check out the field across the street at the same time so we can get the antenna area paced off and do a site plan….  From other events I know that road noise and some minor electrial noise will be a drawback but on the big plus side would be the indoor washrooms, and hot coffee/food right across the street from us.  In the 2009 SPAR Event I actually froze my FT817 up and having a warm location to recharge my body is a really good thing…

More on this on Friday and look for Tweets on Saturday from the site….

73bob

Just finished the RAC Winter Contest

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Well its over and we had a blast…

If you remember yesterdays post I mentioned that I had 5 goals for the contests…

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1- Have fun…  It has to be fun cuz if its not fun then why are we doing it???

2- Make lots of contacts and talk to old friends….

3- Work all of the Canadian Callsign Districts (Provinces/Territories)

4- Finish in the top half of our catagory (Multi Op-Multi Transmitters- Low Power)

5- Have fun- I know that this is a repeat but its doubly important that we have fun for the same reason as #1 on the list.

So lets take a look at the goal for the VE3JW Contest team…

1- We did have fun…  Nothing is better than watching the look on the face on a new ham when either they break their first pile up or they are causing their first pile up…  Fantastic…

2- I worked Norm VE3XRC in Thunder Bay… I can’t work him from home with my average antenna…  It was like old home week… Lots of voices from the past…

3- Well this one is a kinda succeeded…. Worked  VO1, VO2, VE1, VY2, VE9, VE2, VE4, VE4, VE5, VE6, VE7….

but missed VY1, VE8 AND VY0…  We did hear all 3 of the Northern Call Prefixes but could not make ourselves heard but we did try hard…

That makes it a goal for next year…

4- I am hoping with a score of just under 100,000 points we were not at the bottom of the list…  No doubt most of the RAC stations would of scored higher than we did as Multi-Multis but think our score was good for our first attempt at serious contesting ever from the Musuem…

One drawback to operating at the museum is that you are part of a Living Breathing Exhibit so there are times the pileup has to wait as you answer a question from a member of the public visiting the msueum…

5- Well we did have fun…  Lots of fun…

I have not taken a close look at the logs but…  its was a great time…

73bob