Last day of the Canadian Holiday Weekend

This morning the neighborhood is quiet…  The kids and most of the parents get to sleep in…  Later today however the neighborhood will be filled with the sounds of kids playing on a very sunny but chilly day…

After putting the pets (Toby and Saber) outside this morning in the back yard I could not help but notice how nice and sunny it was.  Now that the first couple of coffees have sunk in and I am now awake the plan is to do the neighborhood walk thing and then plan for the rest of the day…

But first a couple of updates….

For now the “Balun in the Can” project has been scrapped in favour of the “Balun wrapped in Tin Foil” project.  The can idea was great and showed me the principal worked…  Now using tin foil (aluminim foil) I can (no pun intended) fine tune the amount of filtering needed to remove the regular high noise level and keep the regular atmospheric noise.

I found that if I lowered all the noise too much then I was also affecting signals…  Doing some non scientific tests…  (trial and error style work) I found that if I eliminate the steady noise level the filtering in the radio can handle for the most part the atmospheric noises that come and go…

Last night I was able to successfully hear the various stations on the 3730 group (actually were on 3725 last night) after the tin foil had been applied.  I found I had added too much the first time and so I removed about 3 layers and then I could hear the stations above the static level.  Before the tin foil all I could hear was static and before I removed some layers all I heard was the very strong local stations… A very primitive way of fine tuning but it did work…

As I mentioned earlier after my morning walk I am thinking of a light lunch then a ride on my bike the 7kms from my QTH to Jerry VE3QSO’s area so I can check out his portable station.

Last year Jerry with the assistance of Steve VE3SBC now VE1SBC constructed a cart that carried the batteries and an operating console that allowed Jerry to play portable with a great deal of comfort.  Pull the wagon to the park and power, radios along with tuners etc are all set up.  Just install the antenna of the day and its good to go…  I have heard lots about this station but so far have not been in the right place at the right time to see it….  hopefully today is the day…

More on how the day goes later….

73bob

VA3QV/bike mobile

Well guys,

I just got in from my first bike ride of the year and also got to participate from a local park in the OVMRC 2M SIMPLEX CONTEST.  I got in an approx 5km bike ride (without having a Heart Attack) which is a good thing.  As some of you who know me that has been an issue in the past and so it shows that all the work my Doctor has been doing was good for me…. 

No stress, a change in diet with some exercise = NO CHEST PAINS

Back to the radio stuff though…  I rode around the neighborhood checking out Hutton Park, Balena Park, Riverview Public School and Dale Park before before picking Grasshopper Hill Park.  If you zoom in on Grasshopper Park you will notice two ball diamonds.  I was set up on the bleachers at the 2nd diamond (the diamond on the right of your screen)

Contacts were made with VA3CKD, VE3JW, VE3NPO, VE3QSO, VA3SIE, VA3TOO, VE3EUS.  I also heard VE3WEH and  VA3RDC/m.  In addition VA3SIE was operating as a rover and I worked him in several wards…

It was a beautiful day for a bike ride and also playing in the park.  One thing I forgot about was the wind and using a flexable vertical antenna.  Usually I operate HF or VHF SSB which means horizontal dipole style portable antennas…  This time it was different….

For the contest I was using my FT817 (yes I used it on FM….) along with my 6m ribbon J pole which is constructed out of 450 ohm ladderline.  I figured that it might have a bit more gain than the 2m ribbon J pole… To be honest as I never did any A/B testing even though I have both antennas…. I’m not sure…  I was working on the principal that a 1/4 antenna on 6m is also a 5/8w on 2m.   Given that plan then it might be correct for me to guess that a 1/2 wave J pole for 6m is almost a full wave on 2m.  Now I might be wrong on that one but…  The SWR was good….  Nothing Blew Up and I did make contacts…

I also made a couple of Videos for my You Tube Site for the contest but…. Once again I am not a filmaker or a camera man ….

AND IF I COULD FIND THE ^&*^&%$!!@@##$$##%^&( Usb cable that goes from the camera to my laptop you might be clicking on the links right now to see them….  Once I find the cable I will post them and let you know

Right now its time to charge up the batteries, both the radios and mine…  Liz and myself have to out for a while so…Look later tonight for the videos….

73bob