Month: June 2022

Greg VA3CBN and I met at this little roadside park on old Highway 3 southwest of Wallcetown, ON. This park is on the Trans-Canada Trail, 10 contacts made from this park within 100 feet of the road (trail) qualify as a POTA activation. My station setup consisted of a 20ah Bioenno battery, a Kenwood TS-50 transceiver, an MFJ-9494E tuner and a homebrew spike mount using old hamstick antennas for both 20m and 40m and 4 33 foot radials. Things were pretty quiet on the bands, eventually I stirred up some activity on 20m. My first 2 contacts of the day were with S51DX in Slovenia and LY5AT in Lithuania. After that I made 4 more contacts before giving up on 20m and switched to 40m.

It took a while but I did make 12 contacts today on 20m and 40m, 8 p2ps. My last 6 contacts were made with stations from the spot list, so spotting does help. How I wish that those band conditions would improve and make “making 10 contacts” a lot easier. 73 for now, Al VE3GAM

VE-5616 Hawkins Tract

Making 12 contacts today, I successfully activated VE-5616 Hawkins Tract. Signals were still weak today, propagation conditions certainly could have been better.

Hawkins Tract has no vehicle access, so I used my new ground spike with my 40m and 20m hamsticks and 4 33 foot radials. I set up near the path through the woods and made a few contacts. I am pleased that I could complete an activation, this is not site that I would want to activate again and again.

Jeff K3JRZ recorded his POTA activation, snuck in at the end of this video: 40M Along The Canal POA Activation. Rough copy both ends that day, but we both stuck it out and made the contact.

Made 12 contacts today on the Trans-Canada Trail VE-5082 from a location just west of St Thomas, ON, near the intersection of Lyle Rd and Blind Line Rd. Six of the twelve were p2ps (park to parks). Radio conditions were not good, I did stick it out until I had made my 10 contacts.

73 Al VE3GAM

Looking at the weather forecast for the day, it sure looked like it would be a good day to go out and activate a new one VE-5617 Calton Swamp Wetland Complex. It is not too far away, southeast of St Thomas, Ontario. If only the propagation gods would smile down, then everything would be great.

Started calling CQ at about 12:30 pm local time, and finally managed to make the 10 contacts needed to activate the park by about 4 pm. Not a good day at the park, propagation was terrible. Perhaps another day will be better, I will keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks to all those out there who could hear my signal, I did make the minimum 10 contacts to activate the site. I never did make it to VE-5616 Hawkins Tract, I had planned to operate from there as well, but paucity of contacts sure slows you down. Another day…

Unless the propagation gods start delivering, my next activation attempt will be with some London Amateur Radio Club members on June 19th at VE-0255 Komoka Provincial Park. See you down the log… Al VE3GAM