Call: VE8RAC
Operator(s): VE8EV
Station: VE8EV
Class: SOSB/20 HP
QTH: Inuvik, NT
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs CW Mults Ph Mults
----------------------------------------
160:
80:
40:
20: 260 566 12 12
15:
10:
6:
2:
----------------------------------------
Total: 260 566 12 12
Total Score = 97,200
Club:
Comments:
292 VE, 7 RAC
For me this turned into two completely different contests. The first one was Thursday. All night I had lots of callers and good rate on both modes. When things slowed down at 0630z I already had 500 QSO's in the log and had bagged all but a few multipliers. I grabbed three hours sleep and when I got back on things were still pretty slow and just went downhill from there. Lots of power line noise and very few signals to be heard. I struggled all day Friday to put 300 contacts in the log over 13 hours. I spent most of the day on CW as very little was coming through on phone. There were several zero rate hours around midday and I eventually threw in the towel an hour early, took my toys and went home. Apologies for all the mangled callsigns and CQing in the faces of callers I couldn't hear. Better luck next time!
Low points:
- What should have been an easy run of Europeans at midnight turned into a packet frenzy when someone spotted me as a rare IOTA island. I went split for a while but eventually gave up and retreated to the friendlier waters of the Pacific.
- I'm not a CW guy. I'm having lots of fun contesting in CW but my 20wpm repertoire pretty much ends after callsigns and 5NN+exchange. I felt like a deer in the headlights several times when guys felt the need to chit-chat. All FB, but I'm just not there yet. Maybe next year...
High points:
+ First contest with the new Flex, all integrated with the touchscreen and N3FJP for CAT, keying and voice. Sweet! Not a single hiccup through the whole event and when all the big signals were booming in Thursday night the sharp filter skirts almost brought a tear to my eye.
+ Almost making the dual-mode mult sweep. I had VY0HL call me on both modes Thursday night and at the end I only needed VY1 on CW and (doh!) NT on phone.
73 and Happy Canada Day!
de VE8EV
Friday, July 1, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
XK1T - Snake Eyes
Every time I activate a rare island in the Arctic I always remember to give a large part of the credit to luck. Bad weather, either on the ground or especially in space, can scuttle the plans of even the most well organized expeditions. On our trip to Tent Island (IOTA NA-193) this time luck was definitely not on our side!
Planning for an activation of NA-193 began almost a year ago. Herschel was the only island in the Yukon Territory Group and it had been activated three times before. Despite the activity, demand for the group had increased over time and this year it landed back on the official IOTA "Most Wanted" list. Herschel Island is a bit far from here so I began studying the coastline with Google Earth and the official Canadian government mapping data. I quickly found Tent Island which was just a few kilometres inside the Yukon border and only 130 kilometres (by air) from home!
Gerry, VE8GER, has a 19' boat and our original plan was for a summer trip to the island during the IOTA contest in July. Gerry happened to make a trip up that way last summer and reported that in addition to very shallow water the area was inhabited by thick swarms of ferocious mosquitoes! We quickly decided that a snowmobile trip in the spring would be a far better idea and began to make plans accordingly. As spring drew nearer, however, we just couldn't fit a trip into our schedules and had to come up with a third option. We would go by boat in early June when the water levels would be highest and the mosquitoes would (hopefully) not be out yet.
It was a hot, sunny day when we set sail for Tent Island. We spent the afternoon packing the equipment and loading the boat and by 5pm we were underway for what was expected to be a four hour cruise. The route to Tent Island took us down the Mackenzie River through a 120km long maze of channels in the river delta followed by a 35km stretch across the aptly-named Shallow Bay on the Arctic Ocean.
Once again, though, lady luck spat in our eye. I got up around midnight and took over right about the time we ran out of propagation to Europe. I was expecting the band to stay open all night but now the only Europeans making it through were weak and watery and couldn't hear us at all. I stayed at it for several hours and put a few hundred JA's in the log but that was it. Around four in the morning the generator ran out of gas, the wind came up, and it started to rain. I went to bed happy that we were at least starting to make some progress and was sure that propagation would be even better tomorrow.
We kicked around the options and decided that there were only two. Either way we had to tear everything down and load up the boat and then we could either go home -or- we could wait out the storm in the boat, try to find a new campsite, and start all over. Given the conditions, finding a better spot seemed unlikely. Even if the rain quit right away it would still be days before everything (including ourselves!) dried out. The wind was pushing the water into the bay against the river current so the water levels were up. We decided to get while the gettin' was good. Gerry and I flopped around in the mud and rain for the next couple of hours tearing everything down and loading up the boat. We pushed off around 9PM and after an hour of pounding through the three and four foot swells on Shallow Bay we were safely back into the river channels and headed for home.
Final QSO total was only 830, fairly evenly split between North America, Europe, and Asia. Of those, 35 were on satellite and 5 on CW. Better luck next time, I hope!
Planning for an activation of NA-193 began almost a year ago. Herschel was the only island in the Yukon Territory Group and it had been activated three times before. Despite the activity, demand for the group had increased over time and this year it landed back on the official IOTA "Most Wanted" list. Herschel Island is a bit far from here so I began studying the coastline with Google Earth and the official Canadian government mapping data. I quickly found Tent Island which was just a few kilometres inside the Yukon border and only 130 kilometres (by air) from home!
Gerry, VE8GER, has a 19' boat and our original plan was for a summer trip to the island during the IOTA contest in July. Gerry happened to make a trip up that way last summer and reported that in addition to very shallow water the area was inhabited by thick swarms of ferocious mosquitoes! We quickly decided that a snowmobile trip in the spring would be a far better idea and began to make plans accordingly. As spring drew nearer, however, we just couldn't fit a trip into our schedules and had to come up with a third option. We would go by boat in early June when the water levels would be highest and the mosquitoes would (hopefully) not be out yet.
It was a hot, sunny day when we set sail for Tent Island. We spent the afternoon packing the equipment and loading the boat and by 5pm we were underway for what was expected to be a four hour cruise. The route to Tent Island took us down the Mackenzie River through a 120km long maze of channels in the river delta followed by a 35km stretch across the aptly-named Shallow Bay on the Arctic Ocean.
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| Tugboats and barges along the river as we head north towards the Arctic Ocean. |
We made good time through the river channels but once we arrived at Shallow Bay our luck started to change. We took this part of the trip very seriously as there have been many fatalities over the years with boaters running aground out in the bay miles from shore. Despite several attempts we could not find deep enough water to get out into the bay. After several close calls we decided to back-track and head an hour further north towards Langley Island and try to cross the bay from there. By this time the weather had turned cold and cloudy, a fog had rolled in, and there were two-foot swells rolling down the bay. By GPS and depth soundings we picked our way between the islands and finally made it out onto the bay. The heavy seas and fog made for slow going and there was rarely more than four feet of water under the keel all the way across. The swells were frequently breaking over the bow but we made steady progress. Shortly after midnight the fog lifted, the sun came out, and we caught our first view of Tent Island in the distance. Even that close to our goal we were still not sure we would be able to land. We tried several different approaches to the island that were all too shallow but eventually we found our way in and made landfall on the east side of the island. Two huge driftwood logs had blown up on shore and made for a perfect place to pitch the tent and provide anchors for the tower. We spent the next three hours unloading the boat and making camp. Our tent was a huge 12'x14' canvas wall tent and we took our time to make sure it was well secured. We were both well aware that the two big logs we were anchoring the tent to did not just fall out of the sky! When a storm blows in off the Arctic Ocean the surge can go several hundred metres inland and being only 2 metres above sea level it was obvious that anything on Tent Island could easily be washed away.
We made good time through the river channels but once we arrived at Shallow Bay our luck started to change. We took this part of the trip very seriously as there have been many fatalities over the years with boaters running aground out in the bay miles from shore. Despite several attempts we could not find deep enough water to get out into the bay. After several close calls we decided to back-track and head an hour further north towards Langley Island and try to cross the bay from there. By this time the weather had turned cold and cloudy, a fog had rolled in, and there were two-foot swells rolling down the bay. By GPS and depth soundings we picked our way between the islands and finally made it out onto the bay. The heavy seas and fog made for slow going and there was rarely more than four feet of water under the keel all the way across. The swells were frequently breaking over the bow but we made steady progress. Shortly after midnight the fog lifted, the sun came out, and we caught our first view of Tent Island in the distance. Even that close to our goal we were still not sure we would be able to land. We tried several different approaches to the island that were all too shallow but eventually we found our way in and made landfall on the east side of the island. Two huge driftwood logs had blown up on shore and made for a perfect place to pitch the tent and provide anchors for the tower. We spent the next three hours unloading the boat and making camp. Our tent was a huge 12'x14' canvas wall tent and we took our time to make sure it was well secured. We were both well aware that the two big logs we were anchoring the tent to did not just fall out of the sky! When a storm blows in off the Arctic Ocean the surge can go several hundred metres inland and being only 2 metres above sea level it was obvious that anything on Tent Island could easily be washed away.
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Setting up camp under the midnight sun at Tent Island, Yukon.
|
The following morning was a beautiful, calm, sunny day as we worked on assembling the tower, yagi, and HF station. Luck was still not on our side, though. The yagi had been strapped to the side of the boat and the heavy seas coming across the bay the night before had filled the traps with water. We spent the next two hours disassembling the antenna and taking apart the traps to dry the coils. Just after midnight zulu we finally had the antenna up and working and got on the air.
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| Yagi all dried out, stood up, and ready to get on the air! |
Conditions were only fair the first night. After working North American sunset and some Pacific contacts we turned our attention over the pole to Europe. More bad luck. Only a handful of Scandinavian and Russian stations were making it through. We found out later that despite the promising auroral forecast, a solar coronal mass ejection and several small solar flares had conspired to keep the K-index at 2 or higher. We shut down at one in the morning that day with only 300 contacts in the log.
The next day was windy, cloudy and cool. The K-index was at 3 and we limped along until late afternoon when the propagation gave out entirely. I switched to CW and called CQ for over an hour with only 4 replies! Fortunately, I had also brought along my portable satellite gear and worked many stations via AO-51, SO-50, and AO-27 satellites.
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| Making our own propagation via amateur radio satellite. |
Things eventually picked up during NA sunset and then improved steadily all night. I had high hopes that we were finally going to get a big opening to Europe so while Gerry worked the early risers I took a nap and planned to come on at 0600z and run as long as I could. I dozed and listened to Gerry making slow, steady progress with what sounded like an unruly pileup. This was his first experience running with a big pileup and I thought about relieving him early but he was holding his own. I decided it would be better to rest up so I could focus on rate later on.
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VE8GER running his first pileup and doing a damn fine job!
|
Once again, though, lady luck spat in our eye. I got up around midnight and took over right about the time we ran out of propagation to Europe. I was expecting the band to stay open all night but now the only Europeans making it through were weak and watery and couldn't hear us at all. I stayed at it for several hours and put a few hundred JA's in the log but that was it. Around four in the morning the generator ran out of gas, the wind came up, and it started to rain. I went to bed happy that we were at least starting to make some progress and was sure that propagation would be even better tomorrow.
First thing the next morning Gerry was woken by a crash as the flapping tent had pushed the watt meter off top of the amplifier. I started to come around when he came back in from starting the generator, dripping wet from head to toe. The wind and rain had continued all night and water was running into the tent from numerous places. Upon trying the radio we found that the rain had soaked the traps again and the SWR was off-scale-high. We decided the best course of action would be to pack up the radio gear for safekeeping and wait for the winds and rain to die down so we could fix the antenna. I felt better after the gear was safely stowed but conditions continued to deteriorate. A support for the corner of the tent let loose and we struggled in the wind and rain to get it retied. Worse still was the ground. When we were setting up we found that the permafrost was only about six inches below the surface. With the heavy rainfall the ground was now becoming quickly saturated. Puddles started appearing in the tent as the ground under the tarpaulins kept getting squishier. Soon everywhere you stood a puddle would quickly form around your feet. Not yet willing to give up, I kept making satellite contacts from inside the tent, but things were not looking good. Around four in the afternoon I went outside and was horrified to discover the boat had come partially untied and was threatening to wash up on the beach. Having high seas push the boat up onto the beach and stranding us was my biggest fear! Worse still, it had dragged the rope across our fuel cache knocking over several gas cans which were now leaking our precious fuel! I hollered for Gerry and we spent the next hour repositioning the boat and getting it safely re-tied.
Once the boat was secured I surveyed our situation. The storm was not showing any signs of letting up. Our campsite had turned into a swamp and was well on its way to turning into a lake. Even if the rain stopped right away we would still have to abandon the camp site and (maybe) find a better place to pitch the tent. The yagi was still out of service until we could take it down and dry out the traps, and if we moved the tent we'd need to relocate the tower as well. We were both soaked to the skin and there were limited prospects of getting dry any time soon. I suggested to Gerry that maybe we should think about packing up and heading home.
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| Our perfect campsite transformed into a swamp and was now becoming a lake! |
We kicked around the options and decided that there were only two. Either way we had to tear everything down and load up the boat and then we could either go home -or- we could wait out the storm in the boat, try to find a new campsite, and start all over. Given the conditions, finding a better spot seemed unlikely. Even if the rain quit right away it would still be days before everything (including ourselves!) dried out. The wind was pushing the water into the bay against the river current so the water levels were up. We decided to get while the gettin' was good. Gerry and I flopped around in the mud and rain for the next couple of hours tearing everything down and loading up the boat. We pushed off around 9PM and after an hour of pounding through the three and four foot swells on Shallow Bay we were safely back into the river channels and headed for home.
Final QSO total was only 830, fairly evenly split between North America, Europe, and Asia. Of those, 35 were on satellite and 5 on CW. Better luck next time, I hope!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
XK1T Update: Back on dry land
Had to cut the expedition short and abandon the island as a storm came in off the Arctic Ocean early this morning with high winds and torrential rainfall. Details to follow in the morning but we made it back, soaked to the skin and chilled to the bone, but nevertheless safe and sound.
73
John VE8EV
73
John VE8EV
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
XK1T - Update
We didn't get nearly as much prep time as we wanted due to busy schedules leading up to our trip. We'll start packing gear and loading the boat in the morning (Wednesday) and we'll see how it goes. When we're ready to go, we'll go!
Weather and propagation (aurora) are both predicted to be marginal but at least there's no snow in the forecast. We had snow almost every day last week but today it's +22C. Just depends whether the wind is blowing in off the Arctic Ocean or not.
As with all my previous trips we have a very detailed list of equipment to pack and a spacious 16'x20' tent to operate from so once we arrive on the island we'll be good to go. It's about a four hour trip from town out to the island.
I'll update this post right before we leave.
73
John - VE8EV
Weather and propagation (aurora) are both predicted to be marginal but at least there's no snow in the forecast. We had snow almost every day last week but today it's +22C. Just depends whether the wind is blowing in off the Arctic Ocean or not.
As with all my previous trips we have a very detailed list of equipment to pack and a spacious 16'x20' tent to operate from so once we arrive on the island we'll be good to go. It's about a four hour trip from town out to the island.
I'll update this post right before we leave.
73
John - VE8EV
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
XK1T - Tent Island NA-193
The dates are set for the next island trip. VE8GER and myself will be activating Tent Island, Yukon in IOTA NA-193, and a new one for CISA from June 16th through June 19th. Our primary mode will be SSB but look for us on CW later in the operation or if conditions are poor. We'll have the yagi, amplifier, and wires, and will mostly be active on 20m. Some operation on 30m, 17, and 15m is also likely.
I'll post another update prior to departure or if anything changes.
73
John - VE8EV
I'll post another update prior to departure or if anything changes.
73
John - VE8EV
Thursday, March 3, 2011
When All Else Fails...
The ARRL has adopted the slogan "When All Else Fails..." to highlight the critical role amateur radio plans in the aftermath of natural disasters. But what happens when "All Else" just fails on its own? Last week I had yet another opportunity to find out.
Living on the edge of the world has it's communications challenges. For many years up until around the turn of the century we were served by a robust and multi-layered communications system. There was a chain of microwave relay sites going south that handled all the telephone and low-bandwidth digital circuits. Most private networks were carried by satellite. Commercial HF radio was still widely used across the north for aeronautical and marine communications. The nascent internet was still a low bit-rate, dial-up affair. Then the telephone company upgraded it's network. The old analog equipment was replaced with a new chain of high bandwidth, all-digital microwave sites. Suddenly, bandwidth was cheap(er) and plentiful. Companies dropped their private satellite links and leased lines from the telco. The commercial HF networks were still there but now they were operated remotely from the south. In the same timeframe, Internet usage exploded and the "cashless society" emerged. Paper money became passé as most people only carried debit and credit cards. The digital revolution had finally arrived.
This wasn't the first time everything had come to a screeching halt. About once or twice a year "the network" goes down. In the south everything would be instantly re-routed but up here at the end of line that isn't an option. Usually service is restored within a few hours and until then the stores put up "Cash Only" signs in the window and everyone grumbles about not being able to get on the Internet. The only difference this time was it went down right before the worst blizzard to hit the area in years.
I got up Friday morning and like most people the first order of business was a cup of coffee and checking my email. When all the usual troubleshooting failed to make the Internet work I grabbed the phone and dialled a long distance number. "We're sorry. Your call cannot be completed." I had seen the blizzard warning the day before and I knew that we might be without comms for more than just a few hours. I dropped by the mayor's office to discuss emergency communications options, including ham radio, and just about the time I got home it started to snow and the wind picked up.
Visibility was down to near zero as I hunkered down in my shack trailer and started making contacts. Around lunchtime I touched base with a "local" VY1 station (about 800 miles away) on 40m but most of the day I just ran stations on 20m in JT65 digital mode, smug in the knowlege that my little station was still firmly connected to the outside world. The storm raged all day and all night. Saturday morning I went out to discover that the snow had drifted in blocking the door to the shack and even covered the exhaust vent for the little gas heater. I shovelled the door clear and cleaned the snow out of the heater flue and got back on the radio. Every fifteen or twenty minutes, though, I had to force the door open and shovel the snow away. By lunchtime I was on the verge of being trapped in the shack and, although I can think of worse places to be trapped, I finally gave up and went into the house.
The storm showed no signs of letting up. I kept peeking out the window to make sure my antennas were still up and, surprisingly, they stayed up all weekend. That night the local cell phone company rigged up a satellite link for outgoing long distance calls so at least we had some communications. I had let all my friends and family know I could get messages out via ham radio if they needed but most only wanted to update their Facebook status. It was around this time that the novelty of the whole situation started to wear thin. With no ATMs or debit card machines machines we pooled our cash and made a run to the store for necessities. Canada has always been far ahead of the rest of the world in electronic banking and particularly so here in the north where banks are few and far between but just then it didn't seem so great. It was lucky that we just happened to have a few hundred dollars in cash on hand because usually we don't. Others weren't so fortunate and had to beg or borrow to get by.
On Sunday the winds let up little but at least it stopped snowing. I got called into work to deal with storm-related issues out there and by mid-afternoon when I got home the winds had finally abated enough to start digging. The snow was almost to the top of the door on the shack and I spent the rest of the afternoon shovelling. And shovelling. And shovelling. By nightfall I was back in the shack and had all the steps and sidewalk clear.
Monday morning the winds were finally calm and the sun was out. The phones and internet came back up and life quickly returned to normal. I spent the rest of the day looking for my truck...
Living on the edge of the world has it's communications challenges. For many years up until around the turn of the century we were served by a robust and multi-layered communications system. There was a chain of microwave relay sites going south that handled all the telephone and low-bandwidth digital circuits. Most private networks were carried by satellite. Commercial HF radio was still widely used across the north for aeronautical and marine communications. The nascent internet was still a low bit-rate, dial-up affair. Then the telephone company upgraded it's network. The old analog equipment was replaced with a new chain of high bandwidth, all-digital microwave sites. Suddenly, bandwidth was cheap(er) and plentiful. Companies dropped their private satellite links and leased lines from the telco. The commercial HF networks were still there but now they were operated remotely from the south. In the same timeframe, Internet usage exploded and the "cashless society" emerged. Paper money became passé as most people only carried debit and credit cards. The digital revolution had finally arrived.
This wasn't the first time everything had come to a screeching halt. About once or twice a year "the network" goes down. In the south everything would be instantly re-routed but up here at the end of line that isn't an option. Usually service is restored within a few hours and until then the stores put up "Cash Only" signs in the window and everyone grumbles about not being able to get on the Internet. The only difference this time was it went down right before the worst blizzard to hit the area in years.
I got up Friday morning and like most people the first order of business was a cup of coffee and checking my email. When all the usual troubleshooting failed to make the Internet work I grabbed the phone and dialled a long distance number. "We're sorry. Your call cannot be completed." I had seen the blizzard warning the day before and I knew that we might be without comms for more than just a few hours. I dropped by the mayor's office to discuss emergency communications options, including ham radio, and just about the time I got home it started to snow and the wind picked up.
Visibility was down to near zero as I hunkered down in my shack trailer and started making contacts. Around lunchtime I touched base with a "local" VY1 station (about 800 miles away) on 40m but most of the day I just ran stations on 20m in JT65 digital mode, smug in the knowlege that my little station was still firmly connected to the outside world. The storm raged all day and all night. Saturday morning I went out to discover that the snow had drifted in blocking the door to the shack and even covered the exhaust vent for the little gas heater. I shovelled the door clear and cleaned the snow out of the heater flue and got back on the radio. Every fifteen or twenty minutes, though, I had to force the door open and shovel the snow away. By lunchtime I was on the verge of being trapped in the shack and, although I can think of worse places to be trapped, I finally gave up and went into the house.
The storm showed no signs of letting up. I kept peeking out the window to make sure my antennas were still up and, surprisingly, they stayed up all weekend. That night the local cell phone company rigged up a satellite link for outgoing long distance calls so at least we had some communications. I had let all my friends and family know I could get messages out via ham radio if they needed but most only wanted to update their Facebook status. It was around this time that the novelty of the whole situation started to wear thin. With no ATMs or debit card machines machines we pooled our cash and made a run to the store for necessities. Canada has always been far ahead of the rest of the world in electronic banking and particularly so here in the north where banks are few and far between but just then it didn't seem so great. It was lucky that we just happened to have a few hundred dollars in cash on hand because usually we don't. Others weren't so fortunate and had to beg or borrow to get by.
On Sunday the winds let up little but at least it stopped snowing. I got called into work to deal with storm-related issues out there and by mid-afternoon when I got home the winds had finally abated enough to start digging. The snow was almost to the top of the door on the shack and I spent the rest of the afternoon shovelling. And shovelling. And shovelling. By nightfall I was back in the shack and had all the steps and sidewalk clear.
Monday morning the winds were finally calm and the sun was out. The phones and internet came back up and life quickly returned to normal. I spent the rest of the day looking for my truck...
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I know I left my truck around here somewhere.
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