EN39 - This Year's Canada Trip
I figured I would try and post a bit earlier this year about my trip to get everyone thinking about it again.
I will be headed to my family's place on Lake of the Woods in Ontario Canada (about 40 miles NW of International Falls, MN)- EN39ad. Last year went pretty well in terms of radio activity. I worked my first Aurora opening and worked the June VHF Contest from up there (when I got the Aurora, among a few other neat QSO's). You can read about that trip here. I also managed to get my first contest award out of that June VHF Contest, check the post here Lets hope the weather stays nice and we don't get all the wind during the drive that we had last year!
The way this looks is we will leave on Monday June 15th. Hopefully we can get all the way up in two days. That would put us at Wednesday the 17th for arrival. I should be back for Field Day.
I don't know if I will set up all three bands this time or not. I probably will have them up just in case. 6 meters seems to get all the activity - we are so far out in the boonies there it is hard to get any tropo QSO's on 2m or 432. I will not have internet access (as always, at the cabin anyway) so Meteor Scatter would be difficult at best. I would have no good way to set up a sked, unless I called a buddy to relay the info to an activity logger.
I will have enough radios to monitor all three bands (6m, 2m, 70cm) at the same time. I got my FT-857D last summer after the trip so I didn't have it for the contest (that would have helped though - I am sure I would have made more 2m QSO's then). If I put all 3 bands on the air it will be an RCI-5054DX for 6m, TS-2000 for 2m, and FT-857D for 70cm. Unless I am operating 6m then the FT-857D will be on 6 since it does a full 100 watts. The TS-2000 will stay on 2m and 70cm as it puts out more power on those bands (100w on 2m and 50w on 70cm).
So that is the scoop! If you know of any VHF operators let them know I will be on the air from up there. Spread the word - the more people know I'll be there the more people will be listening.
I guess I should mention the frequencies also. On all bands I will hang around the calling frequencies. I would say to always try 6m first as that will be THE KEY band (and always has been). I will call on 50.125 USB as long as my QSO rate doesn't get out of hand or the band opens up wide. If that does happen then I will move up to a clear spot, hopefully not too far above 125. I have run in to cases where the band has been so clogged I haven't found a clear spot until 210 or 220 before though. On CW listen for me at 50.100. This frequency seems to do real well for CW and I nearly always use it, or close to it.
On 2m - 144.200 all the way around, unless my QSO rate goes up or the band opens up. Then I will go up.
On 70cm - 432.100 all the way around again, up if I need to.
I will be headed to my family's place on Lake of the Woods in Ontario Canada (about 40 miles NW of International Falls, MN)- EN39ad. Last year went pretty well in terms of radio activity. I worked my first Aurora opening and worked the June VHF Contest from up there (when I got the Aurora, among a few other neat QSO's). You can read about that trip here. I also managed to get my first contest award out of that June VHF Contest, check the post here Lets hope the weather stays nice and we don't get all the wind during the drive that we had last year!
The way this looks is we will leave on Monday June 15th. Hopefully we can get all the way up in two days. That would put us at Wednesday the 17th for arrival. I should be back for Field Day.
I don't know if I will set up all three bands this time or not. I probably will have them up just in case. 6 meters seems to get all the activity - we are so far out in the boonies there it is hard to get any tropo QSO's on 2m or 432. I will not have internet access (as always, at the cabin anyway) so Meteor Scatter would be difficult at best. I would have no good way to set up a sked, unless I called a buddy to relay the info to an activity logger.
I will have enough radios to monitor all three bands (6m, 2m, 70cm) at the same time. I got my FT-857D last summer after the trip so I didn't have it for the contest (that would have helped though - I am sure I would have made more 2m QSO's then). If I put all 3 bands on the air it will be an RCI-5054DX for 6m, TS-2000 for 2m, and FT-857D for 70cm. Unless I am operating 6m then the FT-857D will be on 6 since it does a full 100 watts. The TS-2000 will stay on 2m and 70cm as it puts out more power on those bands (100w on 2m and 50w on 70cm).
So that is the scoop! If you know of any VHF operators let them know I will be on the air from up there. Spread the word - the more people know I'll be there the more people will be listening.
I guess I should mention the frequencies also. On all bands I will hang around the calling frequencies. I would say to always try 6m first as that will be THE KEY band (and always has been). I will call on 50.125 USB as long as my QSO rate doesn't get out of hand or the band opens up wide. If that does happen then I will move up to a clear spot, hopefully not too far above 125. I have run in to cases where the band has been so clogged I haven't found a clear spot until 210 or 220 before though. On CW listen for me at 50.100. This frequency seems to do real well for CW and I nearly always use it, or close to it.
On 2m - 144.200 all the way around, unless my QSO rate goes up or the band opens up. Then I will go up.
On 70cm - 432.100 all the way around again, up if I need to.
posted by Steve at
5:29 PM
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