Field Day 2010

The Quinte Amateur Radio Club and Prince Edward Radio Club again joined forces this year for Field Day activities. VE3RL ran as a 2A (Two Alpha) operation, utilizing generator power. Again this year my own involvement was limited to just a few hours on the Saturday evening. I managed to operate about an hour on 6 meters (with some modest results!) and another on 80 meters, which was red hot into the late night hours.

Again this year the field day site was, well...a field located on the property of Eric VA3EP near Lake on the Mountain, Prince Edward County, Ontario. A pair of utility trailers and a converted camper housed the stations.

A portion of the antenna farm at VE3RL's field day operation. Crushcraft R7 vertical in the foreground, tri-band yagi, 6 & 2 meter antennas beside the trailer.

The old camper trailer now convereted for field day use as the 6 & 2 meter station. Atop the tower a square omni-directional antenna for 6 as well as a 6m dipole, and 2m vertical.

Yours truly getting ready for a crack at 6 meters.

An impromptu 'round table' around the square table of the 6-meter trailer. Topics of conversation: amateur radio, mosquitoes (note the electric zapper in the foreground...an essential field day accessory!) and......cell phones! Pictured L-R, Eric VA3EP, Mitchell VE3OCC, Dave VE3UGT and Ian VE3EP.

Eric VA3EP, whose property the field day site was located upon, manning the 6-meter station. A few good openings produced some decent results on the 'magic band'.

The gennies that kept VE3RL powered for the duration of the event.

The 'mess tent', gathering spot and 2-meter station for talk-ins. Kevin VA3THB won many rave reviews for his fish fry! Pictured L-R Dave VE3UGT, Ian VE3EP, Art VE3SQG, Mitchell VE3OCC and Bill VA3WOW.

Al VE3FZ and Tim VE3UO burnin' up 80 meters

You may find this difficult to see, especially if you're not looking at a LCD monitor. The yagi radiating its RF into the night sky with a misty moon in the background. Oddly it was pointing North-West. Maybe the 20 meter crew was working some KL7's!

Oh...for a rainy day!

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE good summer weather and we’ve been blessed with A1 weather the past couple of weekends in this neck of the woods. Warm temperatures, sunshine, nary a drop of rain in sight. Perfect weather…especially at this time of year...to start tackling that seemingly endless “to do” list of outdoor projects. Just the type of weekend that keeps the dedicated ham far away from the shack. So…..on such a weekend, when there’s a juicy contest taking place, perhaps a rainy day or two wouldn’t be such a bad thing! “Honey, there’s no way I can get to the gardening in this driving rain….I’ll just take care of a few projects in the basement.” (Purely coincidental the shack’s in the lower level). But, no such luck this time, the sun was high-in-the-sky, the mercury was pushing 28 degrees (that’s about 80 on the Farfenugen scare).

As stated before, I’m not an avid contester in the sense that I seriously try to compete, but there are a few contests that tickle my interest just to make some contacts, perhaps pick up some far- flung DX and, in my case, knock the rust off my CW skills. This weekend was the CQWW WPX CW contest (enough acronyms for ya?!). The object of these WPX contests is to work stations with as many different call sign prefixes as possible. Because of this, you may hear some unconventional call signs on the air. Last year, Canadian amateurs with the VE prefix were allowed to use the special prefix XM to mark the anniversary of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Conveniently, the window of time for this authorization included the WPX contests. I took advantage and signed as XM3CH. This year however, no such special authorizations were available, so it was plain ole’ VE.

No bother, as operating time was very limited thanks to that stinkin’ great weather. So, in between power washing the deck (amazing what it looks like after blasting off ten years worth of wear and tear), and pulling grass and weeds out of a badly neglected garden, I managed to work a grand total of 50 stations over the course of the 48 hour contest. On top of that the bands seemed to, how do I put this delicately…..well suck, much of the time. I see ole’ Sol was somewhat active this weekend, which may have worked out well for the 6 meter folks, but it didn’t help out 20 meters too much, at least while I was tuning around. Most of the stations worked were the garden variety A, K, N, W & VEs, but I did manage a few DX contacts with I (Italy), 9A (Croatia), a couple from EA8 (Canary Islands), F (France) signing with a TM prefix, CT (Portugal) and CE (Chile) using the prefix XQ.

EA8-Land. Can you say time-share? See any Yagis perched on top of those condos?

Once again, I was reminded of how wonderfully efficient CW is as a mode. At times, I can call a station until I’m blue in the face during SSB contests, but it’s a rare occasion in CW that I don’t get a response after one or maybe two calls to a station calling “CQ test”.

Each time I play around with either CW or RTTY contests, I realize my desperate need for a narrower filter, probably 300 Hz, to be able to knock out the heavy QRM and the adjacent loud signals that tend to badly attenuate the signal you’re trying to copy. This time, however I had some moderate success using the Digital Signal Processor (DSP) feature on my Yaesu FT-897. This, after reading a few tips on the Yahoo group dedicated to this radio. By activating the DSP and lowering the RF gain, I was often able to get clear copy of the desired station despite a loud signal a few Hertz away. Maybe not a true replacement for a good CW filter, but quite helpful none-the-less.

I’ll have to check the contest calendar for the next good CW or digital contest. Anyone know a good rain dance?

Twin Peaks

I was enjoying the twin peaks this weekend. No, not some late season skiing. No, I’m not talking about that 1990 TV mini-series….which I really liked BTW. I tend to take to television shows that are a little, well, let’s say off-beat. I also enjoyed Picket Fences and the series Northern Exposure….but I digress. The twin peaks I'm referring to is the image you see on RTTY software, the result of RF energy that manifests itself into Radio Teletype. This weekend the Volta contest took place and RTTY sub-bands, at least on 20 and 40 where I hung out, were chattering with activity.
This contest has been around 44 years and is named in honour of Alessandro Volta, an Italian physicist who died back in 1827 but is credited with developing the first electric cell in 1800.

There are a number of RTTY contests throughout the year, and I try to dabble in as many as possible. I’m still a neophyte in this mode, having sent my first ‘ritty’ signal maybe five years ago. As with many of the digital modes tough, I find the operating quite pleasurable, primarily because these modes are well suited to modest stations with lower power. I’m able to make decent contacts, across North America or across the oceans without too much trouble. Running between 60 and 80 watts into my simple windom, I was able to work some decent Dog-Xray from the Hawaiian Islands (KH6GMP) to Poland (SP3GHX), the latter on 40 meters, where I find it difficult to make a DX-haul on phone. I even managed a contact with a station in Sardinia, which according to my logging software is a separate DXCC entity from Italy, so I also got to chalk up a new country (better dust off the QSL cards!).

I always get excited about working KH6-land, regardless of mode. I think it’s the mental image I have of the ham there operating from a little grass shack while being served an exotic drink in a carved-out coconut by a lovely Polynesian woman doing the Hula while Don Ho plays the ukulele. (Sorry about the stereotype….I’m sure there are some hams in far off lands who have a mental picture of the VE operator they’re working squatting in an igloo chewing on raw seal meat).

Back to the Volta contest….truthfully, I didn’t work that many stations, due to the usual time constraints of the weekend, but the short time spent was well worth the effort.

Prior to the personal computer becoming a common accessory in the ham shack, operating RTTY involved some pretty heavy-duty hardware that, when operating, could shake your foundation loose or at least send the dog into a barking frenzy. Of course, modern software applications have made this wonderful mode accessible to anyone who can jam an interface between their rig and USB port (or sound card). If you want more info about RTTY, check out this great primer by AA5AU.

I also love operating PSK31, which was the first digital mode I dabbled in a few years back. The incredibly efficient use of spectrum and, again, relatively low power you’re able to use make it the perfect match for the average ham who is not a ‘big gun’. So if you’re an amateur radio operator whose power is the stock “full half-pint” (100 watts) with a basic antenna and are frustrated by trying to be heard on SSB, give the digital modes a shot. Most of the basic software is available as free downloads. And……let’s not forget that original digital mode, CW. Still one of the best ways to punch through a signal with low, or even very little power. But, if your CW skills are just not there, no fears….there’s software for that too! (Insert shriek of horror from the CW purists). I do my best to manually transmit CW with my paddles, but I do admit, I’m usually running the receive software as insurance for times when the QRM interferes with my

brain trying to concentrate on that one signal, especially in contest situations.

Hey, I just received two packs of QSL cards via the bureau this past week. Perhaps we’ll chat about that next time.

‘til then 73 & keep the RF pumping.

Yes.....I'm still around!

Well…..hmmm, let’s see, over six months since a post....egad! When I started this blog last March, I promised myself I would try for a new post once a week. That schedule was maintained fairly well through the spring and summer, but then ran afoul in the fall. Truth is, I’m a busy guy! Work and family concerns, especially during the fall and winter months, mean much less time spent hammin’.

It’s May now. Ironically, summer isn’t exactly prime time for traditional HF contacts as the longer daylight hours means less good DX opportunities, especially on bands above 20 meters. Alas, that’s when things at work back off a bit for me and I have a little more time for RF pursuits.

For my throngs of readers out there in the Blogosphere (okay I’ve probably lost everyone with the posting drought, but maybe someone will stumble upon it from one of the hotlinks out there), here are what few radio highlights I’ve had since last fall.

Christmas DX to the North Pole
My little '2nd harmonic' Kaden (turning the big 0-5 in a few weeks!) had a contact with Santa Claus back in December. We even used his callsign VA3KDN for the occasion. No he doesn’t hold the Guinness record for being the youngest licenced amateur radio operator (who is the youngest licenced tot anyway?), Daddy decided to get an auxiliary callsign a few years ago that kinda works with his name. Should he actually want to pursue his ticket down the road, I can transfer the call to him. He may very well not be interested in the hobby (my older son didn’t take much of a shine to it), but imprinting positive ham radio experiences at a young age like a talk with big guy at the North Pole can’t hurt! Kudos to the guys with the ONTARS net who make this very special contact possible every year for many young hammies.

Contests
I did manage to spend the odd half-hour here and there making a few contest contacts. The bands were swarming with QRM in March as one of the “biggies” took place…the ARRL DX contest, SSB version. What was the most often heard expression on the air for this one?... “5-9 Kilowatt” I don’t know why the H-E-double hockey sticks I bother with these contests. With a mere 100 watts into a wire, the frustration level often runs high. But every so often, my pip-squeak signal manages to find its was through the ether to a far off land. If lucky, I won’t have to repeat my call sign ten times using every variation on phonetics I can think of…. “Negative, it’s Victor’s Eating 3 Crazy Hamsters!" Then, or course, getting my 5-9 signal report (err, why did I have to clarify my call and exchange 18 times then?). I particularly enjoyed working those seemingly few DX stations that were running just 100 watts (kindred spirits!). Most of the time their signals were maybe S3 or 5 (yes…I gave them a 5-9!), but in most cases they probably had the advantage of a decent directional antenna.

CW vs. Phone & special calls
I’m starting to prefer the CW contests, where it seems I have a much easier time making contacts, although I desperately need a better CW filter than the stock one that’s in my little FT-897.

Hopefully I’ll be able to spare a little time for the Continuous Wave version of the WPX contest coming up later this month. I don’t think there are any special prefixes available to Canadian hams this year. Last year I signed as XM3CH. Actually in the SSB WPX recently I made a handful of contacts as VG3KDN (borrowed the kid’s call!). The special prefix was to commemorate the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Managed to miss the Ontario QSO Party in mid April due to a family commitment. I used to really enjoy this contest, but haven’t seriously taken part in the past few years. I think it was 2002 when I actually managed to scoop the award for my county. Then again, I think I was one of maybe three stations on from ‘HAS’ (Hastings County).

I did a presentation recently at our local ham club on EchoLink. I operate an EchoLink simplex link at the college’s amateur station VE3ALC. It’s been on the air a little over a year now only a few of the local hams had checked it out. Of course with EchoLink you can operate directly from your computer. The local simplex node is usually connected to a small network of other links and repeaters in the greater Toronto area, Niagara region and even to a couple of repeaters in British Columbia. All you need to do is key the mic on the local 2-meter frequency on which I have it operating…and every once in a blue moon, someone will actually come back to you! I’ve noted from the systems electronic log that there have been some interesting users connecting from places like Hong Kong and Indonesia…places I can only dream of working on HF! Unfortunately these stations were connecting in the middle of the night local time, so I doubt that they got a response to any call.

That’ll do it for now. I could go on, but I’ll save that for another post which should appear quicker than it took for this one. Thanks for checking in and happy hamming!

The QSO Party. A kinder, gentler contest

I remember my early days as a ham, tuning across that bands and hearing a curious call over and over: “CQ Contest”. I was intrigued, but also very intimidated. The rapid-fire replies and responses were, at times, difficulty to understand. How did they get that speedy delivery…coffee by the gallon? With no time to sip the brew, maybe they were getting their caffeine by intravenous. I quickly learned efficiency is critical. Once false move and the responding station may snarl harshly. I also found out the hard way that to give a signal report any less than 5-9 was akin to ham high treason (subject of an earlier post). While I’m overstating things a bit, the big international DX contests in particular, can strike fear into the less seasoned ham.

I spent some of the weekend taking part (saying I was competing might also be an overstatement) in the Ontario QSO Party. As an analogy, if the big-time DX contests, with their strict protocols, is like the UN security council, the QSO Party is more like a backyard bar-be-que. Sure, there are some guys seriously competing and trying to collect as many counties as possible, but the overall ‘feel’ is simply more relaxed. Want to add a few more comments during the contact....especially if you happen to know the other op? No problem, and you probably won’t get your head bitten off.

While most U.S. states have a QSO party, Ontario, I believe, is the only Canadian province with its own. It’s been around about 10 years now and this year was the first one I’ve participated in since 2005.

The exchange for a typical QSO Party (or q-so as it’s often pronounced) is a signal report (you might even get away with giving a real one) and the name of your county, often abbreviated to three or four letters. If you’re outside the host state/province, then a signal report and name of state, province or DXCC is sent.

Now, the issue of “counties” in Ontario is a bit of a head-scratcher. We have a real dog’s breakfast of jurisdictions. Many are indeed called counties, but we also have regional municipalities, districts, united counties and a few larger cities that aren’t part of any of these and are stand-alone entities. Luckily, every jurisdiction has a three-letter abbreviation. In all we have 50 of these things.

Maybe one of the reasons I like this contest is that I’ve actually won my county a few times. Not sure about this year, as the bands weren’t overly cooperative and I wasn’t able to spend as much time at it as I would have liked. But I’ll submit the log and we’ll see what happens. I heard just one other station from my county (Hastings-HAS), but he’s a pretty serious contester…drat! Maybe next year.

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!

Everyone's a 5-9!

Amazing! Even after repeating my call sign 13 times and told my signal is very weak, I’m managing to punch a “5-9” signal into the lower mainland of Blutonia! Really, if there’s one aspect of the typical contest exchange that ought to be dropped, it’s the signal report. For once, I’d like to hear someone say: “You’re 4 by 3 with heavy QSB.” Then listen as the band falls silent waiting for the response! Okay, I’m just as guilty of doing it, but every once in a while I’ll give a true report and it messes ‘em up everytime! There must be some other piece of relevant information we could pass in the quick contest exchange other than “5-9”. Name?...nah, would need too much clarification. QTH?...most contests only care about what state/province or zone you’re in. Model of car you drive? What you had for breakfast? (Personally, I’d like to hear what the guys at the 9A1A contest club in Zagreb had on their plates this morning).

In all, for the ARRL DX SSB contest that just wrapped, I worked 28 different countries (29 if you count Blutonia) and managed to snag a new one…which made the whole effort worthwhile. J7Y provided me with Dominica. I would gave assumed I’d worked that small island in the Caribbean at some point, but my Logger32 software tells me otherwise. Now, for serious contesters with Linears and Log Periodic Antennas and Speech Processors and Magnetically Charged RF Atmospheric Eradicators (okay, I made up the last one), working 28 countries is likely accomplished in their first hour of operating. I, on the other hand, spent a combined total of maybe 5 or 6 hours at various points over the weekend trying to wring 100 watts out of my rig and push it through the coax to my modest home-made windom, where the end result is likely something more like 75 watts. So I’m pretty happy. However, I don’t think I’ll need to clear a space on the wall for a certificate!

Putting my 3 ½ year old to bed tonight, his storytime book choice (honest)… Green Eggs and HAM. That’s my boy!

73, Greg

CQ Contest!

On the eve of one of the biggest SSB contests of the year, I ask…are you a contester? I don’t consider myself to be one…at least in the sense of seriously competing. I must admit, though, I often casually participate. This weekend for a 48 hour period stating at 0000Z Saturday (7pm EST Friday) the phone portions of the non-WARC bands will be a vast sea, more like a title wave of “CQ Contest”. It’s the ARRL International DX contest and probably 2nd only to the CQ WW DX affair in October. I do pity anyone trying to keep a sked, conduct a net or just have a ragchew on weekends like this! I suppose some could move off to 17 meters or try a digital mode or even CW of they’re so inclined.

When I look at my log over the years, I can’t help but notice a lot of new DXCC countries came courtesy of a contact during a contest. For us “small gun” stations, contests do offer a good opportunity to work new, and sometimes rare, countries. While there are pile-ups, they don’t seem to be as intense and a bit of persistence often pays off with a contact. One advantage of the ARRL contest is that DX stations are looking to work Canadian and U.S. stations, as opposed to many of the other international contests where it’s everyone looking to work everyone. So, a “CQ Contest” call from a North American station can quickly produce some attention (even for us 100 watters!).

Hmmm….I’m starting to sound like a “contester”, which as mentioned above, I don’t consider myself to be. A “contester” would submit his/her logs, while I rarely do. A contester would also plan to spend as much time as possible on the air for the duration of the contest, while I try to grab a hour here and there while I accommodate typical weekend family and household obligations. (The really serious contesters must have VERY understanding spouses….or are divorced!).

So, while I plan to spin the dial as much as possible this weekend and make some contacts (a new country would be nice!), it won’t be the focus of my whole weekend. Actually in the last year or so, I’ve rather enjoyed the non-SSB contests. PSK31, RTTY and CW to be specific. There’s an awfully nice sound and rhythm to the sound of “CQ test” on CW. (I’m sure it gets the true contester’s adrenalin flowing!)

Maybe we’ll work you on the bands this weekend!

73, Greg

Weekend activities

Well another weekend comes to a close! Had some unplanned fun with RTTY during the North American QSO Party Saturday. I had to remember how to use my MMTTY software! I’m not a big contester (I’m definitely a “small gun” with my 100w into a windom), but enjoy making a few contacts particularly with modes I don’t use every day. I dabbed a bit in the CQ WW CW contest last weekend and managed to pick up a new country (Nicaragua). Okay, I was using software to decode the CW (some of these guys are sending at 50 WPM+!!….I’m sure many…maybe most…are using software) I imagine the purists would protest, but I DID use the paddle for sending! Again lottsa fun but I don’t take the competition part too seriously (read comment about the antenna!).