Antenna re-think
Looking back at the pictures from my 2023 World Amateur Radio Day (WARD) article, I see I could have made some improvements. The legs at the base of the vertical, being aluminum, could have been attached to the ground system. Similarly, they could have had wire stubs attached to them, to allow additional radials to be added off of each one, to easily make a portable antenna with four, rather than just one radial. The longer I play with it, the more I see what I could/should have done. Oh, well, next time…
QSO parties
The weekend of the CQMM, Ontario and Quebec QSO parties has come and gone, and I still don’t know how to log all three at the same time. Even if I had three computers running logging software, they couldn’t all talk to the radio at the same time. Logging on paper would be OK, but I’d need a few extra hands to run the dupe sheets. I can do it for VHF contests because the rate is so slow, but on the big waves it just won’t do. Any ideas?
I dipped a toe into the Canadian Prairies QSO party, but didn’t hear much action. Maybe because of that I couldn’t get motivated to spend as much time in the chair as I would have needed. Maybe I just slept through all the good hours. Oh well, there’s always next time.
More exams = more new hams
This has already been an unusual month for me, as I had a request for a class full of exams from some Carleton University students with an interest in aerospace. That, plus a number of students unable to do tests with LC, due to his recent COVID troubles, has made for a lot of paper moving through the printer. It’s really nice to see new hams of any age get “launched”. For all we know some of this crowd could actually end up as hams in space some day. With interests varying from SDR and rocket telemetry to restoring old military equipment, they are a mixed lot. It’s nice to see exams being passed by hams who were born in this century. You will hear more about exams next month when I do my annual examiner’s report for the exec.
Field Day is nigh
It may be six weeks away, but Field Day is coming up FAST. You probably know the situation at our previous location, the Corkery Community Centre. It is under (de-)construction. Although it might be usable just now, nobody knows what the situation will be when the big day arrives. In view of that, we started (again!) to look for a suitable site, with the same lack of results. This time we had one person come to our rescue, in the form of Paul, VE3ICV. He graciously offered the use of his place in Osgoode (see the map on https://oarc.net/2023-06-24-arrl-rac-field-day/).
Because his station is located there, we have had to abandon our usual “Class A” (set up away from home) operation and its bonus points, but at least we are assured of a place to play. There are upsides to being blasted out of our routine. New discussions about how many transmitters to deploy, what antennas to use, and where, have to be had. (I have my eye on a design from W6NBC) We even have to decide whether to run class E (generator) or D (no generator). Paul says that given Murphy and rural power reliability we should go with the generator. If you thought the previous place was a long way from home, this will be more so, unless you happen to live in Manotick or somewhere like that. Win some lose some, but at least we are still in the game. If you can’t make it out, ARRL is still collecting aggregate club scores, so get on the air anyway.
73
mk
See you there
Last Updated on 2023-05-17 by AdminOARC