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.

73bob

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.

73bob