This event happens seasonally, on the 3rd full weekend of the month (Saturday & Sunday UTC). These are ‘activity weekends’ where the main purpose is to get out in the parks, and have as much fun as possible.
Winter – 3rd Full Weekend of January. January 18-19, 2025
Spring – 3rd Full Weekend of April. April 19-20, 2025
Summer – 3rd Full Weekend of July. July 19-20, 2025
Autumn – 3rd Full Weekend of October. October 19-20, 2024
Hope to get you in my Logs during the upcoming event….
This event happens seasonally, on the 3rd full weekend of the month (Saturday & Sunday UTC). These are ‘activity weekends’ where the main purpose is to get out in the parks, and have as much fun as possible.
Winter – 3rd Full Weekend of January. January 18-19, 2025
Spring – 3rd Full Weekend of April. April 19-20, 2025
Summer – 3rd Full Weekend of July. July 19-20, 2025
Autumn – 3rd Full Weekend of October. October 19-20, 2024
Hope to get you in my Logs during the upcoming event….
It was a great time being back in Ottawa, visiting with friends from my old neighborhood and also spoiling my Daughters two cats.
However on the “Radio side” of things …. not so good
The plans were that I would be able (weather permitting) continue to control my hour on the Trans Provincial Net while away. It seemed that “Mother Nature” had different ideas. Most days rain or the threat of rain kept me from heading over to the park.
Above pic showing where the park was and the route I took
As I mentioned in a previous post…. there was a local (non-POTA) park within walking distance to operate from. It was a local sports field and had some bleachers for when the crowds came for Junior Soccer/Football and or Rugby…
Below pic showing how I set up at the park
Although the operating position was excellent there was NO PROTECTION from the elements which in my case meant rain.
I was able to wrap my MFJ mast to one of the bleachers and stretch the end of the EFHW antenna to the other bleacher and it did work like a charm. Signal reports were great considering I was running 50w into the antenna
So for 1 out of a potential 5 operating days it was fun and dry. Walking home with the gear safely packed in the backpack “Mother Nature” paid a short visit.
I also managed to activate CA1515 and CA1516 using my Xiegu X5105 along with a 29 foot wire (supported by the same mast mentioned earlier) with a 9:1 unun, a 17 foot counterpoise with a choke on the radio end of the coax. Jose VA3PCJ was nice enough to offer me a ride there and back. I activated the parks using SSB and VA3PCJ activated the same parks using CW and his KX3.
For Jose’s version of the park activation click HERE
I am expecting to be returning to Ottawa in Mid-January 2025 for another visit with my GrandKits and like last years winter visit there will be a car to keep me warm and dry.
It was a great time being back in Ottawa, visiting with friends from my old neighborhood and also spoiling my Daughters two cats.
However on the “Radio side” of things …. not so good
The plans were that I would be able (weather permitting) continue to control my hour on the Trans Provincial Net while away. It seemed that “Mother Nature” had different ideas. Most days rain or the threat of rain kept me from heading over to the park.
Above pic showing where the park was and the route I took
As I mentioned in a previous post…. there was a local (non-POTA) park within walking distance to operate from. It was a local sports field and had some bleachers for when the crowds came for Junior Soccer/Football and or Rugby…
Below pic showing how I set up at the park
Although the operating position was excellent there was NO PROTECTION from the elements which in my case meant rain.
I was able to wrap my MFJ mast to one of the bleachers and stretch the end of the EFHW antenna to the other bleacher and it did work like a charm. Signal reports were great considering I was running 50w into the antenna
So for 1 out of a potential 5 operating days it was fun and dry. Walking home with the gear safely packed in the backpack “Mother Nature” paid a short visit.
I also managed to activate CA1515 and CA1516 using my Xiegu X5105 along with a 29 foot wire (supported by the same mast mentioned earlier) with a 9:1 unun, a 17 foot counterpoise with a choke on the radio end of the coax. Jose VA3PCJ was nice enough to offer me a ride there and back. I activated the parks using SSB and VA3PCJ activated the same parks using CW and his KX3.
For Jose’s version of the park activation click HERE
I am expecting to be returning to Ottawa in Mid-January 2025 for another visit with my GrandKits and like last years winter visit there will be a car to keep me warm and dry.
Its another gig sitting my “Grand Kittens” for my daughter as she and her hubby will be out of town from September 20th for a week. I guess I did a good job when they went to Cuba last January so I got invited back…I will be operating /p from Ottawa from September 21st to September 27th.
Most of my operating will be from September 23rd onwards.
As you can see from the above pic… they like having me around (one cat at least)
This time its a bit different because the car will be going with them to their rental cottage which is about 2 hours north of Ottawa.
However I plan to take both my Portable Station and my Transportable Station with me so I can activate some POTA locations with the Xiegu X5105 and also use my Yaesu FT 891 as I control the Trans Provincial Net for my 11am slot.
Before we go any further please remember that all my RF Plans you will see below are if the weather is good. I don’t like operating outside in the rain and neither do my radios….
The closest park to where they live is a City Park and not a POTA park.
The park has two sport fields and they have bleachers so it will be easy as I will have somewhere to sit along with strap my MFJ 33 foot mast to so the EFHW will have some altitude.
That will allow me to act as NCS with a 100w station with a full size antenna.
Once the net is over I will be packing up and heading back to the apartment for lunch. In the afternoons…. Once again if the weather is cooperating I plan to take the X5105 out to one or two of the local POTA Parks for a couple of hours. Check POTA Spots….
Due to the fact of not having access to a vehicle I will be heading out either on foot or public transport. After checking the POTA map it seems there are quite a few POTA sites that are fairly easy to access via the Bus and LRT service. However a few of the “Locals” have mentioned that they might pick me up and we could do an activation as a group so you never know.
They say that “getting there is half the fun” and this might be the case.
Stay tuned…
73bob
Yes its an old picture but the hobby has been fun since the 1990’s
Its another gig sitting my “Grand Kittens” for my daughter as she and her hubby will be out of town from September 20th for a week. I guess I did a good job when they went to Cuba last January so I got invited back…I will be operating /p from Ottawa from September 21st to September 27th.
Most of my operating will be from September 23rd onwards.
As you can see from the above pic… they like having me around (one cat at least)
This time its a bit different because the car will be going with them to their rental cottage which is about 2 hours north of Ottawa.
However I plan to take both my Portable Station and my Transportable Station with me so I can activate some POTA locations with the Xiegu X5105 and also use my Yaesu FT 891 as I control the Trans Provincial Net for my 11am slot.
Before we go any further please remember that all my RF Plans you will see below are if the weather is good. I don’t like operating outside in the rain and neither do my radios….
The closest park to where they live is a City Park and not a POTA park.
The park has two sport fields and they have bleachers so it will be easy as I will have somewhere to sit along with strap my MFJ 33 foot mast to so the EFHW will have some altitude.
That will allow me to act as NCS with a 100w station with a full size antenna.
Once the net is over I will be packing up and heading back to the apartment for lunch. In the afternoons…. Once again if the weather is cooperating I plan to take the X5105 out to one or two of the local POTA Parks for a couple of hours. Check POTA Spots….
Due to the fact of not having access to a vehicle I will be heading out either on foot or public transport. After checking the POTA map it seems there are quite a few POTA sites that are fairly easy to access via the Bus and LRT service. However a few of the “Locals” have mentioned that they might pick me up and we could do an activation as a group so you never know.
They say that “getting there is half the fun” and this might be the case.
Stay tuned…
73bob
Yes its an old picture but the hobby has been fun since the 1990’s
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…
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This weekend is the Summer Support your Parks event. Basically get on the air and Hunt Activators from the comfort of your shack and/or Activate some parks and let the Hunters find you.
Below is a “Cut N Paste from the POTA Website
Support Your Parks
This event happens seasonally, on the 3rd full weekend of the month (Saturday & Sunday UTC). These are ‘activity weekends’ where the main purpose is to get out in the parks, and have as much fun as possible.
Winter – 3rd Full Weekend of January. January 18-19, 2025
Spring – 3rd Full Weekend of April. April 19-20, 2025
Summer – 3rd Full Weekend of July. July 20-21, 2024
Autumn – 3rd Full Weekend of October. October 19-20, 2024
For myself the plan (remember plans can change without notice) is to spend some time on Friday night as a hunter and then on Saturday as an activator spread some RF out in a couple of the local Kingston Parks.
The below map shows the local parks (Yellow Dot)
If the band conditions co operate I hope to hear you on the air and also get you in my log.
The event was held on June 1st and finished on June 2nd. At the time of posting this there were 106 Museum Ships (including memorials) on the list. For more info on the event check out: https://www.nj2bb.org/museum/ .
In Kingston we were fortunate enough to have the SS Keewatin berthed at the Great Lakes Museumand so for this event it was a 45 min bus ride with all the radio gear I needed to participate.
Here is a couple of pics I took while at the museum.
The gear I used for operating from alongside the Keewatin was my POTA Station that consisted of my Yaesu FT891, Eco-Worthy 20ah LIPO 4 battery and a MFJ 33 foot telescopic mast to support the home brewed 63 Foot End Fed Half Wave (10m to 40m) antenna.
It looks rather small compared to the size of the Keewatin… Thanks to the Taxi Driver who moved into the pic so I could show the size of the ship easier. No I did not use the taxi… Kingston Transit bus #3 stops right at the front door of the Museum.
All my gear fit in my wife’s laundry cart… She may never get it back now…
I used some bungy cords to secure the mast (right of the pic) to a fence behind the tree cover. It suspended the EFHW in a “inverted Vee” configuration and worked well for me with no tuner needed.
I was able to operate for about 3 hours (or less) each day. The gear worked without a hitch but not so much the operator.
As the radio room in the Keewatin has not been updated yet, I was forced to operate from alongside (the above pic) so I was unable to leave the gear to use the facilities and so once nature called… it was time to pack up.
At the end of the event according to my logs I actually was contacted by 100 stations that were “Welcomed on Board the Keewatin”… of those 100 contacts 12 of them were other Museum Ship and their details follow.
(Pictures above the name of the ship)
Col James M Schoonmaker
USS Lafferty
USS Thresher Memorial
USS Massachusetts
Tall Ship Elissa
USS Nautilus
Claud W Somers
USS North Carolina
Watson Naval Museum
USS Salem
USS Cobia
This was a “spur of the moment” style of activation. I was going past the ship a week before and then found out the Museum Ships event was the next weekend. Although the Keewatin does have a valid Callsign without the radio room ship shape they were not in a position to activate.
I asked if I could do it and was given the green light to operate (using my own personal callsign) from where I did. (alongside but outside the fence)
As the Drydock is part of the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail (POTA CA-6003) some amateurs also got a new park in their logs.
Long story short… The activation was a success…. At least 100 amateurs now know of our ship and the Museum Ship community welcomed the Keewatin and its my hope that next year the ship itself will the on the air.
If we made the contact, thanks again. My logs for the two day event have been uploaded to EQSL, QRZ.com, the Museum Ships Group and will be uploaded to LoTW when they have fixed the security issue. I will also offer a copy of my logs to the Keewatin Radio Operators (see above link) for their records.
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