Life is great IF you can get everything happening when it should. Today was living of proof of having to improvise and adapt….

Liz (the patient one who tolerates/supports this hobby) had a follow up appointment at the Providence Care Health Facility here in Kingston for 1030 am… At 11am I was supposed to be the Net Control Station for the Trans Provincial Net on 7.100.

This is a conflict and I have to give priority to Liz…. But here was the solution and it worked…

I dropped her off at her appointment for 10:15 and then walked out the back door of the Health Facility and into POTA CA-6003 which is the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail.

In the above graphic the Health Care Facility if the Grey building and the Trail is the thin green line right below it.

I had activated from there before and knew which trees would work with what picnic tables.

And yes I had brought my “Transportable Station” with me….

The FT891 was quickly hooked up to the 20AH battery and my “HomeBrewed” EFHW was strung between the trees… I managed to make a couple of POTA Contacts on 40m before the TPN started up at 11am. (thanks for the 2fer Bill) I managed to wrangle up 9 Checkins to the net which is not too bad as I took the summer off from my regular 11 am shift.

After the net ended I managed a couple of POTA contacts on 20m SSB which made it a successful POTA activation along with keeping up with my obligations to the Net. At 12:15 Liz sent me a text telling me she was finished and to meet her in the coffee shop in the facility. At 12:30 I met her in the coffee shop and we headed back home.

All in all it was a busy but fun start to the day…

73bob

Life is great IF you can get everything happening when it should. Today was living of proof of having to improvise and adapt….

Liz (the patient one who tolerates/supports this hobby) had a follow up appointment at the Providence Care Health Facility here in Kingston for 1030 am… At 11am I was supposed to be the Net Control Station for the Trans Provincial Net on 7.100.

This is a conflict and I have to give priority to Liz…. But here was the solution and it worked…

I dropped her off at her appointment for 10:15 and then walked out the back door of the Health Facility and into POTA CA-6003 which is the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail.

In the above graphic the Health Care Facility if the Grey building and the Trail is the thin green line right below it.

I had activated from there before and knew which trees would work with what picnic tables.

And yes I had brought my “Transportable Station” with me….

The FT891 was quickly hooked up to the 20AH battery and my “HomeBrewed” EFHW was strung between the trees… I managed to make a couple of POTA Contacts on 40m before the TPN started up at 11am. (thanks for the 2fer Bill) I managed to wrangle up 9 Checkins to the net which is not too bad as I took the summer off from my regular 11 am shift.

After the net ended I managed a couple of POTA contacts on 20m SSB which made it a successful POTA activation along with keeping up with my obligations to the Net. At 12:15 Liz sent me a text telling me she was finished and to meet her in the coffee shop in the facility. At 12:30 I met her in the coffee shop and we headed back home.

All in all it was a busy but fun start to the day…

73bob

I just had to share this….

Mike K8MRD from Ham Radio Tube just posted this video on You Tube and if you own a Xiegu X5105 you gotta give this a try. I will be looking for the the MFJ Antennas he mentioned at any hamfests I get to.

Thanks Mike for sharing this with us….

I suggest you check out Mikes YouTube page for this and other great videos…

73bob

I just had to share this….

Mike K8MRD from Ham Radio Tube just posted this video on You Tube and if you own a Xiegu X5105 you gotta give this a try. I will be looking for the the MFJ Antennas he mentioned at any hamfests I get to.

Thanks Mike for sharing this with us….

I suggest you check out Mikes YouTube page for this and other great videos…

73bob

Well according to their QRZ page the CY9C DXPedition to St Paul Island is now underway. The operation started on August 26th and will finish on September 5th 2024.

Here is a link to their website for those of you who want more info…

I saw them spotted on the cluster (20m CW working split) and decided to give it a try. Carefully set up the split wanted (I went up 4) and then confirmed that my trusty decoder could easily decode their CW (sent at 35wpm???)

I set my contest keyer in my Yaesu FT991a at 30wpm and then hit memory 1 on the keyer. NO Luck…. after about 3 minutes of sending my call out I finally heard back VA3QV 5nn.

I glanced at the screen to confirm what I had heard and also quickly hit memory 2 and 5nn ON was sent out. Right after that I heard TU and the screen again confirmed what I had heard…

Just for giggles I checked the Club Log for CY9C and to my surprise I found the following:

Gotta love it when a DXPedition promptly uploads their logs….

Now to be honest St Pauls Island is not exactly “rare DX” at a distance of just over 800 miles I know that I will get them on one of the bands…

Todays attempt was just quicker than I expected and in a different mode.

This afternoon (1500 utc) CY9C was spotted on 15m CW and I thought I would try again as I needed CY9 on 15m for my feeble attempts at 5 band DXCC.

It was a ZOO between the lids who can’t understand what “UP” means and the DX Cops who insist on explaining to the lid what UP means there was no chance of me hearing the reply if they actually heard me (I was up 4-8) …

Well I got a few days but at least I got them once.

73bob

As we start to run out of August its a sign of a couple of things… For me it means that the Parks will have less activity as the kids will be back at school…. Which means less noise and more room.

It also means that I will be back on the Trans Provincial Net as the 11am (Eastern) Net controller starting on Sept 2nd.

So starting on Labour (Labor) Day if you have the time and the VOICE Privs to operate SSB on 7.100 please drop in and say “HI”

Depending on the Weather and the Band Conditions I might be at home…. or I might be operating from one of the POTA Sites in the Kingston Downtown area. You never know…

Above and below POTA CA-5303 Fort Frontenac National Historic Site

I also should be covering the net while on a “Road Trip” planned for early October… More details for my Hamilton Ontario POTA trip to follow closer to the time.

Above and below my POTA “Transportable” station. FT891 being powered by the 20 ah ECO Worthy LIPO4 battery feeding a 40m EFHW with a 64:1 unun. The antenna supported by my 33 foot MFJ telescopic pole.

The above “Transportable” setup managed to activate 4 POTA Parks, 1 Museum Ship (SS Keewatin) as well as NCS (more than) a few hours on the TPN.

As always hope to get you in my log…

73bob

Well according to their QRZ page the CY9C DXPedition to St Paul Island is now underway. The operation started on August 26th and will finish on September 5th 2024.

Here is a link to their website for those of you who want more info…

I saw them spotted on the cluster (20m CW working split) and decided to give it a try. Carefully set up the split wanted (I went up 4) and then confirmed that my trusty decoder could easily decode their CW (sent at 35wpm???)

I set my contest keyer in my Yaesu FT991a at 30wpm and then hit memory 1 on the keyer. NO Luck…. after about 3 minutes of sending my call out I finally heard back VA3QV 5nn.

I glanced at the screen to confirm what I had heard and also quickly hit memory 2 and 5nn ON was sent out. Right after that I heard TU and the screen again confirmed what I had heard…

Just for giggles I checked the Club Log for CY9C and to my surprise I found the following:

Gotta love it when a DXPedition promptly uploads their logs….

Now to be honest St Pauls Island is not exactly “rare DX” at a distance of just over 800 miles I know that I will get them on one of the bands…

Todays attempt was just quicker than I expected and in a different mode.

This afternoon (1500 utc) CY9C was spotted on 15m CW and I thought I would try again as I needed CY9 on 15m for my feeble attempts at 5 band DXCC.

It was a ZOO between the lids who can’t understand what “UP” means and the DX Cops who insist on explaining to the lid what UP means there was no chance of me hearing the reply if they actually heard me (I was up 4-8) …

Well I got a few days but at least I got them once.

73bob

As we start to run out of August its a sign of a couple of things… For me it means that the Parks will have less activity as the kids will be back at school…. Which means less noise and more room.

It also means that I will be back on the Trans Provincial Net as the 11am (Eastern) Net controller starting on Sept 2nd.

So starting on Labour (Labor) Day if you have the time and the VOICE Privs to operate SSB on 7.100 please drop in and say “HI”

Depending on the Weather and the Band Conditions I might be at home…. or I might be operating from one of the POTA Sites in the Kingston Downtown area. You never know…

Above and below POTA CA-5303 Fort Frontenac National Historic Site

I also should be covering the net while on a “Road Trip” planned for early October… More details for my Hamilton Ontario POTA trip to follow closer to the time.

Above and below my POTA “Transportable” station. FT891 being powered by the 20 ah ECO Worthy LIPO4 battery feeding a 40m EFHW with a 64:1 unun. The antenna supported by my 33 foot MFJ telescopic pole.

The above “Transportable” setup managed to activate 4 POTA Parks, 1 Museum Ship (SS Keewatin) as well as NCS (more than) a few hours on the TPN.

As always hope to get you in my log…

73bob

Today I found about a new Rig coming out (early 2025??) by Yaesu.

Now if you follow this link it will take you to the ML & S website which is where I got the information.

Just give it a good look over…. They did the work so it seems only fair that you read up on it from their site…

Now here are some of my early comments….

From what I have read (and the way I see it) the new Yaesu FTX1F will be in direct competition with the Elecraft KX3 along with the Icom IC705.

I’m guessing that it will also be close in price with Icom and Elecraft.

However that expected price point will keep it out of my backpack. Although I am a BIG FAN of the Yaesu brand. I have 3 (FT991a, FT891 and FT2dr) of them in the shack right now.

I just can’t justify any radio costing approx $2000.00 CDN going out with me into the field where it can easily get damaged.

If (when)I buy one it will be sitting on my desk beside the Yaesu FT991a that is working great for me.

I have very well used Xiegu X5105 that works well for me in the field. If it was to fall off the picnic table or get damaged in any other way I will be out about 25% of the expected price of the FTx1F.

Guessing that there will be more info coming out in time for the Hamcation in Florida along with Hamvention in May.

I’m looking forward to seeing a North American Price…

Then all I have to do is convince Liz we need one.

73bob

Today I found about a new Rig coming out (early 2025??) by Yaesu.

Now if you follow this link it will take you to the ML & S website which is where I got the information.

Just give it a good look over…. They did the work so it seems only fair that you read up on it from their site…

Now here are some of my early comments….

From what I have read (and the way I see it) the new Yaesu FTX1F will be in direct competition with the Elecraft KX3 along with the Icom IC705.

I’m guessing that it will also be close in price with Icom and Elecraft.

However that expected price point will keep it out of my backpack. Although I am a BIG FAN of the Yaesu brand. I have 3 (FT991a, FT891 and FT2dr) of them in the shack right now.

I just can’t justify any radio costing approx $2000.00 CDN going out with me into the field where it can easily get damaged.

If (when)I buy one it will be sitting on my desk beside the Yaesu FT991a that is working great for me.

I have very well used Xiegu X5105 that works well for me in the field. If it was to fall off the picnic table or get damaged in any other way I will be out about 25% of the expected price of the FTx1F.

Guessing that there will be more info coming out in time for the Hamcation in Florida along with Hamvention in May.

I’m looking forward to seeing a North American Price…

Then all I have to do is convince Liz we need one.

73bob

Once again let me take you back in time where on June 1st and 2nd I had operated the SS Keewatin in the Museum Ships on the air event.

And if you look at the below PIC its quite clear that the Ship is in the dry dock

So now fast forward to today and I get notified that the Kingston Dry Dock is a National Historic Site and had been accepted as a Parks on the Air (POTA) location.

I quickly uploaded my logs for the Museum Event to POTA and now it seems that I was the first activation for the site (All Time New One)

Over the last few years I have hunted a few ATNO locations but in my feeble attempts of activating Parks this will most likely be my first (and only) activation of an ATNO….

So…. Thanks to all the hunters…..

73bob

And a big thanks to VE3FI for bringing it to my attention.

Once again let me take you back in time where on June 1st and 2nd I had operated the SS Keewatin in the Museum Ships on the air event.

And if you look at the below PIC its quite clear that the Ship is in the dry dock

So now fast forward to today and I get notified that the Kingston Dry Dock is a National Historic Site and had been accepted as a Parks on the Air (POTA) location.

I quickly uploaded my logs for the Museum Event to POTA and now it seems that I was the first activation for the site (All Time New One)

Over the last few years I have hunted a few ATNO locations but in my feeble attempts of activating Parks this will most likely be my first (and only) activation of an ATNO….

So…. Thanks to all the hunters…..

73bob

And a big thanks to VE3FI for bringing it to my attention.

Remember yesterday when I mentioned the latest addition to my POTA setup, the Xiegu 5105 QRP rig….

Well this morning I decided to test it out and see how much work I would have to do with setting the parameters such as mic gain, processor, to make it sound like me… I was also testing out my EARCHI 9:1 unun with a 29.5 foot random wire to see how it would play with the built in AT of the 5105.

I figured I might as well do the testing at a POTA location just in case I was able to turn the test into an activation.

For this I chose Fort Frontenac POTA CA-5303. Its fairly easy to get there via the Kingston Transit system and its also close to downtown and all the amenities I might need. In the North East corner of the picture you will notice some white lines on the ground.

They are actually the walls of what’s left of that part of the Fort. Also the only parts of the Historic Site that is open to the public.

I leaned my MFJ 33 foot mast (supporting the 9:1 and wire in the vertical configuration) up against the tree.

And then ran the COAX over to the remains of the wall and set up my radio there and started operating.

My first contact was on 7.255 with the NCS of the ECARS net. He did hear me and considering I was QRP I was pleased. He did tell me that my audio seemed hot as if I was overdriving things. Lowering my voice seemed to help.

After that I looked at POTA Spots and managed to get W2IDG and VE3FI into the log from their parks and then finished up with the NCS of the MidCars net on 7.258.. All contacts were made on 40m SSB. I tried 20 SSB and was hearing lots of stations including a POTA Activation in VO1 but no luck breaking any of the pileups.

Then I figured it was time to get home and try to re configure the radio to my liking… I turned off the Speech Processor and lowered the Mic Gain from 60 to 40. Over the next few days I will get out again and see what else I have to do to get things sounding right.

Till then

73bob

Remember yesterday when I mentioned the latest addition to my POTA setup, the Xiegu 5105 QRP rig….

Well this morning I decided to test it out and see how much work I would have to do with setting the parameters such as mic gain, processor, to make it sound like me… I was also testing out my EARCHI 9:1 unun with a 29.5 foot random wire to see how it would play with the built in AT of the 5105.

I figured I might as well do the testing at a POTA location just in case I was able to turn the test into an activation.

For this I chose Fort Frontenac POTA CA-5303. Its fairly easy to get there via the Kingston Transit system and its also close to downtown and all the amenities I might need. In the North East corner of the picture you will notice some white lines on the ground.

They are actually the walls of what’s left of that part of the Fort. Also the only parts of the Historic Site that is open to the public.

I leaned my MFJ 33 foot mast (supporting the 9:1 and wire in the vertical configuration) up against the tree.

And then ran the COAX over to the remains of the wall and set up my radio there and started operating.

My first contact was on 7.255 with the NCS of the ECARS net. He did hear me and considering I was QRP I was pleased. He did tell me that my audio seemed hot as if I was overdriving things. Lowering my voice seemed to help.

After that I looked at POTA Spots and managed to get W2IDG and VE3FI into the log from their parks and then finished up with the NCS of the MidCars net on 7.258.. All contacts were made on 40m SSB. I tried 20 SSB and was hearing lots of stations including a POTA Activation in VO1 but no luck breaking any of the pileups.

Then I figured it was time to get home and try to re configure the radio to my liking… I turned off the Speech Processor and lowered the Mic Gain from 60 to 40. Over the next few days I will get out again and see what else I have to do to get things sounding right.

Till then

73bob

People who know me have heard me say that after all these years there are 3 radios I have sold that I actually regret selling. Well now there are only 2 radios that I regret selling…

.

Welcome the Xiegu X5105 back into my portable shack…

.

Between my FT991a and my FT891 there was a bit of a gap. The Yeasu FT891 Portable Station was a bit too heavy for my old bones. I needed something in a lighter backpack to make it easier to carry if I was to choose to activate one of the local POTA Parks here in Kingston.

The above pic shows my old X5105 with the Bandspringer attached

The Xiegu X5105 fills that gap. With the built in battery pack, the built in automatic antenna tuner along with the contest keyer and the built in CW Decoder it makes it a dream portable station.

My antennas are a 40m EFHW made with 28ga wire and a QRP AMAZON 49:1 unun. I also can use a 29foot end fed random wire using a QRP EARCHI 9:1 unun.

I also have the SOTABeams Bandspringer antenna that plugs right into the antenna input and uses the built in tuner to operate between 10m and 60m.

So what’s the other two radios you might ask?

Above is my first QRP setup. FT817, LDG QRP Autotuner.

If I could work a deal for a Yaesu FT817 and a Flex 1500 it would complete the list. However used rigs are pricy and it seems most hams think that radios seem to appreciate with age so like I mentioned above it has to be a good deal for both the seller and myself.

73bob

People who know me have heard me say that after all these years there are 3 radios I have sold that I actually regret selling. Well now there are only 2 radios that I regret selling…

.

Welcome the Xiegu X5105 back into my portable shack…

.

Between my FT991a and my FT891 there was a bit of a gap. The Yeasu FT891 Portable Station was a bit too heavy for my old bones. I needed something in a lighter backpack to make it easier to carry if I was to choose to activate one of the local POTA Parks here in Kingston.

The above pic shows my old X5105 with the Bandspringer attached

The Xiegu X5105 fills that gap. With the built in battery pack, the built in automatic antenna tuner along with the contest keyer and the built in CW Decoder it makes it a dream portable station.

My antennas are a 40m EFHW made with 28ga wire and a QRP AMAZON 49:1 unun. I also can use a 29foot end fed random wire using a QRP EARCHI 9:1 unun.

I also have the SOTABeams Bandspringer antenna that plugs right into the antenna input and uses the built in tuner to operate between 10m and 60m.

So what’s the other two radios you might ask?

Above is my first QRP setup. FT817, LDG QRP Autotuner.

If I could work a deal for a Yaesu FT817 and a Flex 1500 it would complete the list. However used rigs are pricy and it seems most hams think that radios seem to appreciate with age so like I mentioned above it has to be a good deal for both the seller and myself.

73bob

Last night around 9pm I was browsing Amazon and found the same 64:1 unun that I use with my 40m EFHW. This antenna is my primary antenna for my “Transportable/POTA” setup with my FT891.

I decided that the last one worked so well for me that it was time to see if the 1st one was the real deal or a fluke.

Around noon today I checked my front door and found the Amazon Fairy had magically made the new 64:1 unun appear sometime between 10am (last time I checked for it) and noon.

I had a spare 100 foot roll of Princess Auto 18ga insulated wire in the shack and as a bonus for my home environment is was even green.

I quickly measured out 64 feet and then did the connection things. As with most of Eastern North America it was a rather wet day.

Around 4pm locally the rain stopped and I was able to remove the old wire and install the new antenna, once again using the fir trees on the edge of my yard for camo as not draw attention to the antenna.

The SWR is pretty good especially for a wire hidden in the branches:

6m – 2.5:1, 10m – 1.7:1, 12m- 1.2:2, 15m – 1.6:1

20m – 2.0:1, 40m – 1.3:1, 80m – 3.0:1

The bands are not the best, but signal reports (90w output pwr) were fairly well (S7-S9+) with the stations that I was able to contact.

All in all for what it is…. I’m impressed and the best part is that using the built in auto tuner on my Yaesu FT991a I can easily bring it down to 1:1 on all the bands listed above.

The results are the same on my Yaesu FT891 with the same style of balun and a 64 foot length of quality (Red) Princess Auto 18 ga automotive wire. The only real difference is that as I use the 891 with no tuner I have to be careful on some of the bands.

As the new install gets more use I will let you know if there are any “issues” with its performance.

73bob

Last night around 9pm I was browsing Amazon and found the same 64:1 unun that I use with my 40m EFHW. This antenna is my primary antenna for my “Transportable/POTA” setup with my FT891.

I decided that the last one worked so well for me that it was time to see if the 1st one was the real deal or a fluke.

Around noon today I checked my front door and found the Amazon Fairy had magically made the new 64:1 unun appear sometime between 10am (last time I checked for it) and noon.

I had a spare 100 foot roll of Princess Auto 18ga insulated wire in the shack and as a bonus for my home environment is was even green.

I quickly measured out 64 feet and then did the connection things. As with most of Eastern North America it was a rather wet day.

Around 4pm locally the rain stopped and I was able to remove the old wire and install the new antenna, once again using the fir trees on the edge of my yard for camo as not draw attention to the antenna.

The SWR is pretty good especially for a wire hidden in the branches:

6m – 2.5:1, 10m – 1.7:1, 12m- 1.2:2, 15m – 1.6:1

20m – 2.0:1, 40m – 1.3:1, 80m – 3.0:1

The bands are not the best, but signal reports (90w output pwr) were fairly well (S7-S9+) with the stations that I was able to contact.

All in all for what it is…. I’m impressed and the best part is that using the built in auto tuner on my Yaesu FT991a I can easily bring it down to 1:1 on all the bands listed above.

The results are the same on my Yaesu FT891 with the same style of balun and a 64 foot length of quality (Red) Princess Auto 18 ga automotive wire. The only real difference is that as I use the 891 with no tuner I have to be careful on some of the bands.

As the new install gets more use I will let you know if there are any “issues” with its performance.

73bob

This certificate arrived via email this afternoon. Go back in the “Wayback Machine” to early June for the background info.

Thanks to the 100 operators who got in my log when I activated the SS Keewatin for the first time from its new home in Kingston.

See you in June 2025 from the ship using the call VA3VGC

73bob