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
Just to bring most of you up to speed I got back to Kingston last (Friday) night after spending a week in Ottawa looking after my daughters cats while her and her husband took their annual winter trip to Cuba.
During this time I managed to activate 6 different Pota Parks as the first test of my newly acquired Portable POTA station.
The station consists of a Yaesu FT891 HF Radio, a home brewed End Fed Half Wave fed by a 64:1 unun. I also recently acquired a Buddi Pole Deluxe(complete with 12 foot telescopic mast and tripod) set up which gives me the ability to set up where the trees are not cooperating.
The only thing missing is the 12v power source but I will be buying a battery by the spring as I do not see the need to test this station out again till the weather gets much warmer.
In my mind, I thought the best way to judge to performance of my new setup was to use it in the same way I would use it at home so….
I asked the Net Manager of the Trans Provincial Net, Barry VE3ISX if he would mind if I controlled my hour of the net “Portable from Ottawa” for the week. He had no issues so it was going to happen.
On Friday Jan 19th at 11am I did my usual stint as the NCS (Net Control Station) on the Trans Provincal Net. I operated from Park VE-1515 the Mer Bleue Bog Conservation Area. From 11-12 noon I operated on 7.100.00 LSB as the NCS then after 12noon I went up to above 7.200 so the American POTA Hunters could get the park into their Log. 28 stations were logged in total.
On Monday Jan 22nd I called the NET from Park VE-1596 which is the Hogs Back Conservation Reserve. Before the net on 20m, during the net on 7100.00 and after the net on 7205.00 gave me a total on 38 stations in my log.
On Tuesday Jan 23rd I set up at Park VE-1578 The Pine Grove Forest Conservation Reserve. Operating before the net 20m (again) and then after the net on 40m ended up with a total total of 58 stations in the log including the contacts made on 7100.
On Wednesday Jan 24th I set up at VE-4882 the Rideau Canal Historic Site. Operating on 20 and 40m as usual even with poor band conditions I managed 31 contacts in the log.
My last activation was on Thursday Jan 25th (in the freezing rain) to activate VE-1294 the Aviation Woods Conservation Reserve. The parking lot was glare ice and where I parked was not close enough to a trees so the one end of the end fed was attached by a bungee cord to a traffic sign and the other end was supported by the 12 foot buddipole mast. Not the best but I did manage to get 28 stations only on 40m. Net contacts were made on 7.100 as usual then on 7205 after the net.
On Friday Jan 26 Ottawa had more rain predicted and it was supposed to be more freezing rain so I decided to cancel the last park I was aiming for.
This test prove to me by the signal reports that the POTA station works as good (if not better) than my home station. People could not tell the difference between “Bob in Kingston” and “Bob in the Park”.
I had mentioned earlier that I did not have a battery for the gear yet so I had to dial the output power of the 891 down to 30w so I would not pop the fuse in the cigarette lighter 12v power source in my daughters car. So all of the contacts I mentioned above were made at30% of the radios actual output power. I was quite impressed and no fuses were harmed in the activations.
The purpose of the trip was to spoil my “Grandkits” and test out the POTA Station. Outside of a couple of my oldest friends who I met for lunch while in Ottawa I stayed quiet and listened on the local repeaters. The only socializing done was on the radio. There were lots of people I most likely should of visited but this time I decided to rest up, re charge and play radio.
So thanks go out to the POTA Hunters who helped me test and activate. The POTA activators for suggestions and my Park to Park Contacts. To my regulars who check in with me daily on the Trans Provincial Net for jumping in with signal reports and helping me with my activation totals. Barry VE3ISX also gave me a shout out on the TPN Website and even checked in with me from the park.
I had a blast and hope to do it again next year when my daughter takes her annual pilgrimage to some where warm.
As you know I tend to hunt a lot of POTA activators. I also have activated a (Very) Few parks in the Kingston area as well.
About 11 months ago (Feb 2023) when I was having some medical problems which had me doubting my ability to operate portable I decided to sell my POTA Rig (Xiegu X5105). To this day my Doctor does not know exactly what the problem was but it was with me for approximately 6 months. Its gone now and I hope it never comes back….
So fast forward a while and I found myself wishing I could get out and operate from the Kingston area parks in the spring of 2024….
So now it starts…. To successfully activate you need a few things…. Radio and tuner, antenna and antenna support, power source for the radio.
In addition it should be transportable. my definition of of “transportable” it that I should be able to fit all of it in my backpack and I have to able to carry the equipment (without damaging myself or the kit) from wherever I get off the bus or park my bike to the picnic table I plan to operate from….
Radio/Tuner combo:
For a radio I went with the Yaesu FT891. I also got as a package deal the LDG Z100 pro auto tuner.
As you can see from the picture they make a great pair.
Now for the antenna/support I have decided that (as my primary POTA antenna) I will go with a 29 foot vertical (being supported by my 33 foot MFJ Telecopic masting) Feeding it with a 9:1 UNUN and a 3 raised and tuned counterpoises should give me a very strong signal on 10-40m and to some extent also on 80m. A couple of POTA Activators I know use this style of antenna and they get excellent results.
However the 9:1 unun I ordered is somewhere between China and Kingston and might show up before the snow melts maybe…. It should of been here before Christmas and well…. still waiting
I have had excellent results using the same style of antenna with a 17.5 foot vertical element on 10 to 20m.
However as I have a 4:1 balun spare, I guess I’ll put something together for testing purposes until the 9:1 arrives or till I find another 9:1 locally (in Canada).
For the power I am using a dual connect setup for 12v. At the end of power cord I have a set of spring loaded clamps that connect to a battery as if you were charging/boosting the battery...
Then closer to the radio I have a Anderson power pole connection that I can connect to a small 12v 7ah alarm battery. This allows me to run full (100w) power if I have access to a vehicle battery or at QRP levels when all I have is the 7ah battery. It also allows the topping up of the 7ah battery when running off the vehicle battery or an external 12 source.
Eventually the “plan” is to make things a bit simpler by just powering the gear off an 18ah LiFePO4 Lithium Battery but for the testing phase I’ll go with the lower cost SLA batteries.
But for now everything is a work in progress and will evolve as my needs and wants change along with keeping within the strength of my bank account. The battery itself will set me back about $300.00 counting in taxes and shipping.
This project is a work in process and I feel will most likely stretch my patience at the same time that it lowers my bank balance.
But sitting in the Park for a couple of hours activating Pota Park along with running my hour on the Trans Provincial Net on a nice day in the summertime will make it all worthwhile.
I originally going to make the title “Upgrades to the Portable Station” the realized that the title could be up for debate….
So to bring you up to speed…. My portable station consists of:
XIEGU X5105 QRP Transmitter
Antenna #1 is a homebrewed 10-40m EFHW Wire Antenna with 49:1 unun
Antenna #2 is a SOTABeams Bandspringer Wire antenna (20-40-60-80m using built in tuner in the XIEGU)
Both these antennas need cooperating trees or another support device. I do have a 33 foot MFJ Telescopic pole to help support if the trees are not an asset
Realizing that there might be a (good ) chance that on an outing the trees might not be in the right places and the pole could draw unwanted attention to my Portable Operation I purchased the following gear today…
COMET HFJ-350M TOY BOX, 1.8-50 MHZ PORTABLE TELESCOPING ANTENNA
My new “Toy”
This antenna along with a 13 Dollar Camera Tripod from Princess Auto will complete the backup antenna system.
These and a few other reviews from Amateurs who know what they are talking about helped me make my choice. There were some negative reviews but mostly from newer hams who have not quite figured it out yet…
Now this antenna is not designed or intended to be my primary HF antenna… Its in the backpack because it might be the only antenna that can be used in a certain situation.
Babysitting my “Grandkits” (Sassy and Mouse )when my daughter goes away in mid January comes to mind.
One of my 3 grandkits before 2 of them moved back to Ottawa with my daughter
I can put the Toybox/Tripod on her balcony in the evenings and make a few contacts. Her apartment is not high enough to lower the EFHW off her balcony so….
There will be more on this (much more) once it arrives and I get to play with my new Toy (Box). It was shipped today with Canada Post Expedited Parcel service and I hope to see it in the next couple of days…
VA3QV Listening more than talking 