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

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

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

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 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

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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.

Keep an eye on the POTA Spots pages

73bob

If you remember my previous post where I commented:

“Onwards and upwards so…. Happy 4th of July to my American Friends…. I’ve already gotten 7 of the 13 Colonies station in the log and I started chasing them today.“

“Check out their website for more information.”

So it would seem that last evening I was lucky/skillful enough to get the remaining 6 colony stations in the log along with the WM2PEN Bonus Station in the log.

Last night I did hear the GB13COL Bonus Station on 20m ssb and could not break the pile up.

This morning I did hear the TM13COL Bonus on 15m cw but once again was unable to break the pile up.

So far out of the 14 contacts ( 13 colonies and 1 Bonus station) 3 contacts were made in CW and 11 were made using SSB.

Power levels are 90w for SSB and 40W for CW.

I’m (foolishly) feeling confident that before the event ends on July 7th I should be able to complete the SWEEP including the 3 bonus stations.

After all I only need 2 more…..

The last time I was able to do this was in 2022.

Once again Happy 4th of July to my Neighbors to the South

73bob

The Coles Notes Version:

Operated for approximately 12 hours….

81 SSB contacts…. on 4 amateur bands

54 contacts on 40m, 16 contacts on 15m, 10 contacts on 20m and 1 contact on 80m.

Furthest contact was with KL7SB in Alaska, with the next furthest being K6JO in Orange County (LA) California.

Made numerous contacts up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

My Yaesu FT991a worked flawlessly and the antennas I used was my 60 ft (approx) inverted L for 40 and 80m.

My homebrewed modified Coastal 20 antenna was excellent on 15m and 20m.

This was a great “Warm up” for the RAC Canada Day Contest coming up on July 1st

Thanks for the contacts…

73bob

The Coles Notes Version:

Operated for approximately 12 hours….

81 SSB contacts…. on 4 amateur bands

54 contacts on 40m, 16 contacts on 15m, 10 contacts on 20m and 1 contact on 80m.

Furthest contact was with KL7SB in Alaska, with the next furthest being K6JO in Orange County (LA) California.

Made numerous contacts up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

My Yaesu FT991a worked flawlessly and the antennas I used was my 60 ft (approx) inverted L for 40 and 80m.

My homebrewed modified Coastal 20 antenna was excellent on 15m and 20m.

This was a great “Warm up” for the RAC Canada Day Contest coming up on July 1st

Thanks for the contacts…

73bob

… The Choice had to be made…

Field Day 2024 will be starting in 3 hours. In previous posts I had mentioned that I was either going to be operating as a 1B station or a 1D stations depending on the weather. “Mother Nature” helped me make the choice and its not nice (or smart) to argue with Mother.

The choice is “1D” and if you read the following from The Weather Network you will see why.

---

Kingston, ON

Special Weather Statement

Issued at Sat 8:59 AM Jun. 22

Issued by: Environment and Climate Change Canada

Description:
Significant rainfall possible this afternoon into Sunday.

Hazard:
Rainfall amounts of 30 to 50 mm. Locally higher amounts possible.

Timing:
This afternoon into Sunday.

Discussion:
The potential exists for multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms this afternoon into Sunday. Local amounts exceeding 50 mm are possible. A rainfall warning may be required for some areas.

For information concerning flooding, please consult your local Conservation Authority or Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry office. Visit Ontario.ca/floods for the latest details.

Heavy downpours can cause flash floods and water pooling on roads.

Watch for possible washouts near rivers, creeks and culverts.

###

---

So there you have it….

Setting up in a Park to operate 1B in a Monsoon is one way to ruin my almost new FT891 seeing that as a general rule they don’t like water.

And to be honest it would not be fun for me either.

I still will be participating and hope to give out the rare exchange of 1D ONE to as many stations I can contact during the event. At home I have the chance to operate VHF, 6m, and the HF Bands that the Field Day rules allow.

So have fun, stay safe and make lots of contacts

73bob

Sunday afternoon after I got home from the Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour I set my Buddipole up on my back deck.

Above pic shows the configuration but that’s not my deck…

It was set up as 6m dipole and was approx 20 feet off the ground. Using my Yaesu FT991a (my shack radio) I fired things up and spun the dial….

In a 30 minute time period I managed to get 9 Stations in the log. All of them were SSB contacts and they all were to the South West of my location.

Grid Squares EL87,EM31, EM53, EM73, EM90, EM94, EM98 were logged. And for the record Kingston Ontario (my home) is in FN14

I also tried 2m ssb with the 991 and my 2m halo but no luck hearing and being heard.

But still getting 9 contacts into the log using a simple dipole antenna in a small time period shows us why they call 6m the “Magic Band”

73bob

This weekend is the ARRL June VHF contest. Its a fun way to test our your VHF Capabilities and your antenna systems…

The following is a “cut N paste” from the ARRL Website:

---

About

Contest Objective: For amateurs in the US and Canada (and their possessions) to work as many amateur stations in as many different 2 degrees x 1 degree Maidenhead grid squares as possible using authorized frequencies above 50 MHz. Stations outside the US & Canada (and their possessions) may only work stations in the US (and its possessions) and Canada.

Dates: The second full weekend in June. (June 8-10, 2024)

Contest Period: Begins 1800 UTC Saturday, ends 0259 UTC Monday.

---

Now this is a busy weekend for me (radio wise) as the Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour will be in Kingston during that time and its the only scheduled Public Service Event that our local group does every year.The picture on the left was taken the first year I assisted the Kingston Group on the event. Previous to that I lived in Ottawa and I participated with the Ottawa Group on the same event.

But lets get back to the contest for a bit:

First of all…. Head over to the ARRL website for the latest update and the full rules for the Contest.

Click on the ARRL logo below for the Rules PDF

Using my Yaesu FT991a I plan to be giving out the “Rare FN14” Grid square on both 2m and 6m SSB.

On Saturday my Bike tour shift will finish around 6pm (EDST) or 2200 (UTC) if I did the conversion correctly… So I plan to operate from 2300 UTC for a couple of hours.

On Sunday my tour will finish around 9am (EDST) or 1300 (UTC) once again if the conversion works and will try again then around 1400 UTC once I get home.

My 2m/70cm antenna will be a simple Halo or loop which will be horizontal at approx 20 feet above ground. The 991a has an output of 50w ssb on 2m. As the loop is “sort of” useable on 70cm I will be able to give some locals an extra multi.

My 6m antenna will be a simple “Buddipole 6m Dipole. The 991a has an output of 100w ssb so it should be able to get a bit of a signal out across the Lake (at least I hope it will).

Later tonight there is a vhf net that starts on 144.250 usb that is based in Eastern Ontario. Check out the West Carleton Amateur Radio Club for more into on that. After that they call the role on 70cm and 6m. I stand a change on 6m and 2m if someone has their beams aimed southwest. More on how this works later.

Lets see who can hear the “Popgun” with the tiny antennas…

73bob

Anyone who has been with me for awhile knows that every now and again “Murphy” of Murphy’s Law fame comes for a visit.

Things here have been going fairly well (Ham Radio wise) recently. I have been able to some contacts (mostly 20m SSB) during the daytime and also in the evenings (mostly 40m SSB) and considering the band conditions I think that’s pretty good.

But (and you know there had to be a “but”!

After making some evening 40m ssb contacts last night I shut off the power supply and left the shack. I came back to the shack and turned on the power supply and the radio would not turn on.

I did a quick check and the power supply now had an output of 4v dc. Not what I was expecting as before I shut it down it was steady at 13.5v dc which is normal for this unit.

I then took the cover off and could not smell the “magic smoke” and there was no visible issues on the board itself. No burn marks on the board, everything attached and no signs of any thing out of the ordinary.

I did have a backup PS so I’m still on the air with a 25 amp unit rather than the 30 amp unit that now is a paperweight.

The replacement from “The Toronto Toystore” will set me back around $220.00 after shipping/taxes, so it won’t break the bank and they have one in stock so “fingers crossed”.

So, this morning I look out into my backyard and notice the counterweight attached to the end of my “Stealthy Inverted L” is laying on the ground. A quick check found that the wire itself was intact but…. (yup but again) the wire had slipped off on of the branches that support the horizontal section of the wire. This does happen every now and again so…. 30 minutes later I’m back on the air.

The plan now is to see if the band comes to life (the numbers are looking good) and I can get (more than) a few contacts in the log.

.

Ending on a positive note I was able to contact VE3FI Bill as he activated POTA CA-2376 as part of his cross Canada tour. I guess the antenna is working after all that.

73bob