Easter weekend activities

It was a long weekend, but with a number of family get-togethers and other Easter-related events, time spend in front of the radio was limited. I did rise early on Saturday morning with the hope of making a few JA contacts on 40 meters CW as the Japan International DX Contest was underway. However, I heard only a hint of a couple of stations from the land of the rising sun and I was only able to tell they were indeed from JA because I could copy the responding station. I did hear two ZL’s calling CQ contest but didn’t call as they we’re looking to snag JA’s as well and a contact with a VE would have netting them zero points (although I would have loved it for the log book). I wonder if New Zealand has any type of DX Contest of its own? I’ll have to check that out, although I don’t recall one.

Worked a few stations in the Georgia QSO Party Saturday night, primarily 40 meter CW, but also a couple of phone contacts. Speaking of such contests, the Ontario QSO Party takes place next weekend (1800 UTC Saturday April 18 to 0500 Sunday the 19th, then again from 1200 to 1800 UTC on Sunday). I hope to be as active as possible and as time permits to put Hastings County on the air. I'll be on phone and CW, primarily 40 and 20 meters. I WISH I had a decent antenna for 80 meters. I can use the tuner so that the match on my 40 thru 6 meter windom doesn’t cause blue flames to shoot out of the back of the FT-897, but I think of the RF energy shoots straight up and lands approximately 15 feet from the antenna! Too bad, because 80 is the only band that hold up late into the night.

So keep an ear out for VE3/VA3’s next weekend and give us a shout!