If you’re in Ottawa this evening with nothing to do….
The Ottawa Amateur Radio Club is meeting at City Hall tonight … The meeting starts officially at 1930 local but everyone shows up closer to 1900 to get a good seating location and chat with fellow amateurs…
Next Meeting: The next regular meeting will be October 10 in the Col. By room of Ottawa City Hall at 7:30pm.Our speaker will be Martin Gillen, VA3SIE. He will speak on the subject of SOTA and FYBO contests/events
In just under 10 hours from now Michel VE3EMBwill be picking me up and we will be heading out to Britannia Park in Ottawa for the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club Portable Station Demonstration…. We will (along with lots of others) setting up a Portable Station and showing everyone who wanders by… the joy of Amateur Radio…. Ghod I hope the bands are open….
Then when the Portable station event finishes around noon we will be jumping on the highway and heading south to Kemptville Provincal Park (Rideau River Park actually) and joining up with our friends in the Ottawa Valley QRP societyas this is their annual camping/radio weekend…. Once again there will be lots of radios and antennas to be seen…
Look for lots of the new Elecraft KX3s to be in both locations and also lots of the tried and true… Yaesu Ft 817s as well…
If you like portable operations…. Saturday will be your day…
Sunday will be something new for me… That just goes to prove what a great hobby Amateur Radio is… When I can (after 23 years as an Amateur) try an aspect of the hobby for the first time…
Early (way too early) on Sunday morning a group of local operators will be leaving Ottawa and heading North up to Mt Ste Marie Quebec and then from there head up to the summit of the ski hill to operate in the ARRL VHF Contest (microwave bands)…
We will be operating a 10 ghz station and a 24 ghz Microwave station from 1800 feet agl. This is something new to me and I am curious to say the least… We will also have a 2m ssb station (for Pilot work)on the air as well so if you are able…. try listening for us on 144.260 as we try and coordinate the Microwave stations…
Now I also think a couple of us are planning to bring a QRP HF station and the Top of Mt Ste Marie is also a SOTA summit so if the contacts are slim in the Microwave contest you might hear a couple of people CQing SOTA.
If you happen to hear us on whatever band … The SOTA number is : SOTA VE2-OU-001
As I have never tried this before to be honest I don’t know what to expect… Don’t know how its going to work out but I do know whatever bands we make contact on we are expecting to have fun…
I don’t really think there will be much posted here on the weekends activities till Monday morning but then are you ever going to have a lot of stuff tossed your way in a short period of time…
Hope to see some of you in one of the 3 locations and I also hope your weekend will be as much fun as mine should be…
First of all thanks to that Europoean DX Contest of the weekend just past… Every time I was bored this weekend I was able to head down in the shack and work DX on 10-15-20 and 40m.
Make a few contacts and then come back a couple of hours later and make a few more contacts. Although according to the Atlas I have not worked all of Europe yet in the approximately 30 contacts I made over the weekend in Europe I got no new ones… All I was doing was hearing a CQ and answering it… If the log said he was a dupe then don’t answer… Was not looking for anything… Just giving out the contacts for those who were contesting…
So that was the weekend past….
The weekend future (September 15th-16th) is starting to fill up pretty quickly in Ottawa with 3 events happening so far… The big event would be the Ottawa Valley QRP Societys “Chilicon” This is a laid back camping event with QRP Portable Operations thrown in for good measure.
People will start arriving at Rideau River Provincal Park (south of Ottawa in Kemptville Ontario) on Friday afternoon and will run all weekend. This is a very unstructured event… Show up when you want…. Leave when you want…. Operate how you want…. with evening gatherings by a campfire to lie (brag) about your setup and contacts made…
It can also be a lot of fun…
In case of rotten weather there is a large covered area when you can sit and operate or cook etc sheltered from the rain… Covered roof but no sides… This is the last weekend the park is open for the season so it won’t be too busy…
Walk around the park and listen for the sounds of CW and the radio ops will be easy to find…
On Saturday am the Ottawa Amateur Radio Clubwill be sponsoring a Portable Radio Demo Event at Britannia Park in Ottawa’s west end.
Stations of all kinds … QRO, QRP, Portable and Transportable…. CW, SSB and Digital…. This will start at 10am and will go till about noon….
The area we operate from for this one is lacking foul weather shelter but another area of the park has a large covered shelter. I’m not sure what the plans are for bad wx. Limited talk in and info on the morning might be found on repeater VE2CRA (146.940 - ctcss 100.0)
Heres what last years event looked like… Courtesy VA3CME… And place CLOSE ATTENTION at the 3:05 mark of the video for a great looking Portable station and an excellent experienced operator….
What a few of us wimps (those who don’t tent camp, LIKE MYSELF) do is spend Friday night in Ottawa and then head to Britannia on Saturday am then head south to Kemptville for Chilicon and spend Saturday afternoon & evening there and return to Ottawa on Saturday night…. It make for a busy day but a fun day…
This might be a good time for a few definations of the terms I have used so far today…
QRP- refers to the power level used by the transmitter Less than 5w
QRO- refers to the power level used the the transmitter. Normally 100w or more
Portable station is a complete field station that you carry to the field in one trip
This is my portable station. As you can see everything fits into the backpack and is easy to carry and setup…
Transportable station is a complete field stations that you carry from the parking lot to the field in more than 1 trip or with several people helping you
Above is a picture of my “Transportable Station” FT897- LDG Autotuner- W3EDP Antenna and the heavier than heck Marine Battery. The weight of the battery alone makes this a Transportable Station.
Below is the same station being used by Connie NR4CB when she dropped in to visit the VE3ORF/3730 group when they set up at Iroquois Ontario just after field day.
Now on Sunday Sept 15 I have heard that some of the heartier ones are doing a SOTA activationof Mt. Ste Marie QC (FN25) that will (might) include some of the microwave bands… I am still working on getting a bit more info on this… I’ll let you know once I get more info…
Back in town and I see that Michel VE3EMBhas sent me the photos he took when were at Mt Rigaud for the SST (Super SOTA Thursday) activation today…
Michel picked me up at 0730 am and we left Ottawa for Rigaud QC to activate Mount Rigaud for Summits on the Air (SOTA)
And we arrived just after 9am and started to get stuff set up so we could get on the air. Rigs of the day (as expected was my FT817 with a 1/4w dipole for 6m and my Par end fed QRP 10-20-40m antenna. Michel brought his nice new KX3 along with a Par end fed antenna (same model as mine)..
I set up in the top right of the picture and Michel was set up in the top left…
The area was nice and radio friendly and although the towers were there …. The area was very quiet. I can’t speak for the KX3 but the FT817 had now static issues or noise issues…
And you can see I was fairly close to the towers…
And for that matter there were Towers (circled in red) all around us including the site of Amateur Repeater VE2RM. We were operating from the site below VE2RM and slightly to the right… As you can see its a busy neighborhood…
This was the tower below RM to the left…
But so much for sightseeing….
Once we got set up Michel started on 20m ssb and CW and I started out on 2m ssb…
My first contact on was with VE2NRG Sean on 144.205 usb. Sean lived in Mirabel QC and he was spinning the dial and answered my QC. I don’t honestly know who was more shocked him for hearing someone new calling CQ or me when he replied with a really booming signal…
I then worked Sean on 50.130 usb and he signal was even stronger…
And he was nice enough to spot me on the cluster…
After that I called CQ again and I found VE2DQO Mikein Point Claire QC. I made my call and I got a confused QRZ???? in return… Once again … whats that new call I hear on 6m…
It was fun… I tried a few more times on 6m then switched back to 2m and had no luck… I decided that I had used up all my luck with finding people on VHF and decided to call again on 6m and hope for an opening or that a local had seen the spot on the cluster…
Well my next 6m contact was not a fluke or a spot… K3KYRhad found Michel on 20m and Michel told him I was looking for business on 6m. Well Jeff lived across from Cornwall Ontario in New York State and fortunately had enough horsepower to get his ssb signal to me and enough antenna to hear my booming 5w signal… Jeff was my last 6m contact of the day…
Just before noon I checked in with Shawn VE3PSV who was doing the 11am -noon spot as NCS on the Trans Provincal Net on 7.055 and he asked me to fill in for the noon to 1pm slot… Its hard to turn down a friend so I quit my SOTA Stuff for an hour and put on my NCS Hat… However the hour was not busy and at 1pm I finished talking to my self and decided to search and pounce and try and get a couple of contacts in the log… I managed to find K9UA on 20m and although the bands were not that good (his words) he did manage to hear my QRP Station in Wisconsin USA… A little after 1pm we decided to pack things up and we headed into Rigaud for lunch and then return to Ottawa…
I had a great time …
Thanks to the stations who I made the contacts with. For the records its concidered an activation as I made more than the required number of contacts and thanks to Michel for providing the transport and the company…
According to Google Maps its only a 130km or 90 minute drive from Ottawa so its within easy range for a day trip.
I am planning to bring my Yaesu FT 817 with the Par End Fed for my HF antenna. I will be bringing a 6m dipole which also works on 2m for those of you with the wish of SSB communications on 2m and 6m. I will have more than enough battery to last for our time on the hill.
Last time I went out to the park with Michel he brought his nice new and shiny KX3 with a buddistick vertical which worked great for him so I am expecting the same gear to be with him this time..
So knowing the gear and the antennas its a safe bet that we can be operating anywhere there is an open band between 2m and 40m. Look for us on the HF Pack Freqs on 20m and 17m. I’ll spend some time on 144.205 usb and 50.130 usb for those of you who might want a VHF Contact. I also enjoy 40m so good chance of finding me around 7.280 lsb or so.
If you hear us please spot us on the cluster and on SOTAWATCH
Although I have not had much luck with it so far I will also have my Yaesu VX8gr with me and will be attempting to beacon out via APRS on the way there and hopefully right up to the Summit and back down again after so if you feel like tracking our efforts you can look for VA3QV-7 on aprs.fi
Michel VE3EMB also is active on APRS and you can look for VE3EMB on aprs.fi. Between the two of beaconing hopefully one of the signals makes it into an IGATE so you can see where and what we are up to…
Like I said… It all depends on the weather as the last thing I want is to be stuck up at the top of a mountain with an antenna in the air during a thunderstorm… So the plans are in place but plans were also made to be changed… So crossing fingers and lets see what happens on Thursday…
Break out the popcorn and get all the kids around the computer monitor…
As you remember from reading the previous post… Martin VA3SIE and myself went up to Mount Morissette yesterday and I made my first ever SOTA Activation…
Martin brought along his camera to document the activity and he has allowed me to share it with you…
Just remember when watching the video that the camera adds a few pounds (like about 100) so I’m not really that fat… It also adds a few years (like about 15) so I’m not really that old either…
Thanks to Martin for allowing me to share this with you
After being an Amateur since May 1991 I finally had my 1st SOTA Activation. With the assistance of Martin VA3SIE I was able to attempt and complete the activation of SOTA Summit VE2/OU/14which is Mount Morissette QC.
We arrived at the summit and we then proceeded to install both stations. I was using my Yaesu FT817 along with my Par end fed QRP Multi ban der (covers 10 to 40m) and I also put up my homebrewed 6m dipole just in case… I was glad I did as I made one 6m ssb contacts but more on that later. Martin was using his new KX3 (thats 2 of them I have seen in the last couple of days and I am still impressed with them…) along with an 88 foot doublet…
After installing both stations we got on the air at 1700 UTC and the fun started…. My contacts for the day were…
The weather person had threatened us with some “Sound and Light” and although we did see a little of it we managed to get about 2 hours of operating in before being chased off the mountain. I made 9 contacts and I’m not sure how many Martin made but I know the KX3 made some SSB and CW contacts but outside of my one contact on 6m it seems that 20m was the band of the day. I had listened on 40m, 17m and 15m and heard a few stations but no one answered my CQs there. Today it seems 20m was the moneymaker for sure…
We drove back to Ottawa in a couple of pretty fierce downpours but the rain stopped before we arrived back at my home QTH. Just after I got in the front door it started up again so I was lucky at home as well as at the summit…
A big thanks to Martin for taking me up there (and bringing me back) and a very special thanks to the 9 amateurs listed above who helped me have a successful SOTA activation on my first try…
Its really hard to comprehend the changes in the Weather in the last week…. All of last week I was out on my Electric Vespa and wearing Golf Shirts, shorts and sandals in temps in the mid to high 20′s Celcius… This weeks overnite temps that start with the phrase “minus” and this morning after the checking the weather network websiteI see the following:
—
Freezing Rain Warning
Issued at 6:44 AM EDT Wednesday 28 March 2012
Summary
Freezing rain this morning.
Details
Freezing rain that is currently falling will change over to periods of rain later this morning. Travellers should be prepared for slippery conditions as untreated surfaces may become locally icy.
Alerts
—
So its safe to say that today will not be a sit in the park day and play QRP Portable… The Electric Vespa will be kept safely in my backyard under its cover and any radio work being done today will be happening from the safety and warmth of my basement…
But today there is still lots to keep me busy as far as radio goes… I still need to troubleshoot the issues my APRS station (VA3QV) developed on the weekend and there is also a hardy soul in Colorado (no not Steve…) who is planning a SOTA (Summits on the Air) activation today on Mount Crosier….
—-
I am trying to activate W0/FR-064 (West Crosier). This one got away on my last attempt (Thunderstorm).
Date: 28 March 2012
Time: Approx.: 1600 UTC – 16:30 UTC
Location: N-Colorado / DN70gk Elevation: 2744 M / 9020 ft – 4 (+3) Point(s) Call Sign: KØMOS
After my attempt on the weekend to work Steve wG0AT on Mount Herman Colorado I can tell you despite the “Height is Might” rule its harder than it seems to hear that QRP Signal from the Summit when your sitting at home with all the electrical noise associated with living in this day and age…
I think I would of had better luck hearing him with the FT817 and the Par end fed antenna from Weston Park where I have a ZERO Noise level but could he heard me with my antenna roughly 9000 feet (about 2500 meters) below mine???
Anyway as you know with our hobby…. Its a very rare day you can’t find something to do…
The band conditions were a bit better… The APRS rig (aprs ssid VA3QV) is back up and running kind of… Never had this happen to me before so… If you can figure it out let me know…:
As long as the ACER Netbook is running off its internal battery the APRS Gear (AGWPE/UIVIEW Softare and the Rigblaster NOMIC interface) works great… Whenever the Netbook is running off the power supply (plugged into 110V) the unit refuses to hear anything from the radio… It will however transmit a beacon whenever I till it to… This is the same Hardware (Radio and interface and USB to serial port adapter ) I have been using for a long time now. I have been using AGWPE and 32 bit UIVIEW for just as long. The only change is that when all these problems started I downloaded a more recent copy of AGWPE and installed it but then the problems were there before the software change and now they are still there…
Darned if I can figure it out but the fact that it only occurs when I am plugged into the wall gives me an idea that it has something to do with the power supply of the Netbook. However according to the company website the power supply is putting out the correct voltage (yes I measured it) and the power supply does not seem any warmer to the touch than it did before so I’m not sure…
I have a back up USB to Serial port adapter so the next step is changing that over to see if thats it… Although its seems a lot of work to see 80 stations on the screen now its bugging me…. it used to work… and as I really changed nothing and only put it away for a while it should work and come hell or high water gosh darn it …. it will work again…
But sorry about the ranting yesterday…
The highlight of todays radio work will be the contact I think I made today with wG0AT who was up on Mount Herman Colorado doing a SOTA Activation. I had seen the “Tweet” from Steveearlier stating he was heading up the mountain and using APRS.fiI had followed him up the mountain so to speak. As his “Tweet” had given his Operating Frequencies I just sat on 18.125 waiting and listening…
The nice thing about following Steve on YouTubeis that I know what his voice sounds like and suddenly I hear a voice I have heard before asking if the Frequency is in use… I wait and then hear his first call and go back to him…. I hear his reply but before the exchange could be made I get a blast from a station just underneath us who is way too loud… Not sure if we completed the contact but I know he heard me and I know I heard him so… Thats about as good as it gets in poor band conditions… Ottawa Ontario to Mount Herman Colorado is just over 1500 miles as the crow flies which is not too bad for ssb when one end of the QSO is QRP. I was using the FT450 which was at 100w but Steve was QRP at his end so…
I am starting to hear the Big Gun Contest Station Flex their Radio Muscle in anticipation of the Contest. Strong signals from Africa, Thailand and the Middle East so far have found their way to my antenna here in Ottawa. The problem is so far that the weak signal from my “Pop Gun” station has not been even acknowledged by the “Big Guns”…. I know the rig/antenna/tuner combo is working as I am making contacts a bit closer so I am assuming that when they are running full legal power and I am hearing them with a clear 5/9 signal so is the rest of the world and my return signal is just not strong enough to break the pileups of the DXers who don’t really want to contest to get them in the log…
Due to some time constraints I did not manage to get out to the park yesterday with the QRP Portable station. I checked the bands from home and they were weak… I then had to head out and do some shopping and in my travels I dropped into the RAC Office on Belfast (Right beside a very large new multi-postal code shopping plaza thats close to my home… Anyway saw some RAC Volunteers working hard on our behalf and also had a nice conversation with Mike VE3FFK about portable ops and the thought has been planted of heading out as a multi-multi portable op for one of the contests… This would be a good pairing as Mike is one great CW Op and I (as you know) prefer SSB so we would not be fighting over whose turn it is to talk… If there are only two operators and bands to chose from between 10 and 160 normally frequency coordination is not too bad. Most of us have managed a 2A Field Day station with little issues although last years 3A was a little busy at times… More on this if it becomes more than a dream…
Later today (Thursday) I am supposed to meet up with Mike VE3IPC for a caffine fix at one of the local Timmies. Mike is currently Assistant Section Manager for the Ontario Section of RAC as well as District Emergency Coordinator for the Capital District of Ontario ARES. With the restructuring of the Ontario Section he has been nominated for the position of Section Manager for the new Eastern Ontario Section (Whatever they will call it). I’ve known Mike for over 20 years now and he has given a lot back to our hobby first as a volunteer with the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club, then once he moved out of Ottawa he was the EC (Emergency Coordinator) for Prescott Russell ARES, to the positions I have mentioned above. As with any RAC election they are normally acclimations or appointments, but I think Mike will do a good job on our behalf if he gets the position.
So before coffee with Mike I am planning to double check the antennas here in the shack and also perhaps get the VHF Loops (2m and 6m) along with the flimsy telescopic masting they use up in the air for the season. As I live in the city with an exceptionally small lot using loops is about the best I can do for the VHF Bands unless I want to point a small beam in one direction and leave it locked there. The loops at approx 25 feet (just above roof height) work great for me. Gives me a groundwave distance of about 100miles and if the bands are open well just watch out. I use my FT 897 as my VHF Rig and this gives me 100w on 6m and 50w on 2m. Last year the reports were really good including a couple of VHF contacts with a SOTA DXPedition and I am hoping for the same this year.
(above shown 6m loop and 2m loop sitting on ground before going up)
The key phrase being “Flimsy” means that I leaned my lesson a couple of years ago and don’t leave the mast out in the winter time. But with the recent weather being in the 70′s F + or high 20′s C perhaps its time to get back to the Magic Band… Earlier than I usually do but I thinks things are safe for now at least…
From the OARC Website ( www.oarc.net) :
Early (way too early) on Sunday morning a group of local operators will be leaving Ottawa and heading North up to Mt Ste Marie Quebec and then from there head up to the summit of the ski hill to operate in the ARRL VHF Contest (microwave bands)…
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I am planning to bring my Yaesu FT 817 with the Par End Fed for my HF antenna. I will be bringing a 6m dipole which also works on 2m for those of you with the wish of SSB communications on 2m and 6m. I will have more than enough battery to last for our time on the hill.
Although I have not had much luck with it so far I will also have my Yaesu VX8gr with me and will be attempting to beacon out via APRS on the way there and hopefully right up to the Summit and back down again after so if you feel like tracking our efforts you can 
