I left
home a little late around 1530Z, North through a local
park, along a bridge
over the Rideau river and into
Stanley Park (
New Edinburgh) which runs along the North side of the Rideau River with the antenna
configured for urban use (40m only)
- the 20m quarter-wave vertical retracted and the drag wire coiled and stowed.
This configuration is required to avoid street lights, power lines, low trees, and various
other hazards.
Full details of my pedestrian mobile backpack and antenna system including videos are included in my web page from the Feb '07 Freeze Your B___ Off web page (click here).
Pedestrian Mobile Route (Click on picture for full size image)
As I walked to the park, I was monitoring 40m around 7030 kHz. The
only station I could hear strongly was K3HX
in PA. I rotated the loop
for peak signal strength and called Tim. After several repeats, we managed a
complete exchange, RST 229!
I entered an area of the park with less trees so it was time to reconfigure my station for the 20m option. This involved extending the 20m vertical and uncoiling the drag wire. It was quite difficult as the wind was gusting to 60 km/h and blowing snow along the ground.
Rideau Falls 1
Last month, in my Feb '07 Freeze Your B___ Off report, I noted that the first station I worked on 20m was Bob Patten, N4BP in Florida. I noted that Murphy decided to pay a visit though, because Bob faded out right after I called him. Well… history has a tendency to repeat itself, and history did so again today; Bob was the first station that I heard and he faded out again…right on schedule!
Movie 1 (Click play button to play movie)
There was plenty of activity on 20m! I worked several more stations on 20m, both search &pounce, and by calling CQ. I worked W4RYW, W5TVW, N5KIP and AD5YU as I walked around the trees in Stanley Park. Great contacts! I then got a call from Bob, VA3RKM, in Ottawa. It was nice to hear Bob in the contest.
I started walking West past Maple Island, heading for the Rideau Falls, and I got another call from a local station, Mark VA3UMP/P. Mark had been out playing HF in the park, and he was packing up and heading home. I walked up to the Canada and the World Pavilion, which is being rebuilt. There is a platform behind this site which is excellent for viewing the Rideau Falls and the Ottawa River.
From the pavilion, I worked my last three contest contacts, Ted KD9XH, Jim N5IB and Dick W0NTA. …and that was a wrap! I really enjoyed this contest, although I wish I had been on a grid square boundary so that I could have switched grid squares halfway though the sprint.
Rideau Falls 2
VA3SIE/PM Score
Score Summary
For the Polar Bear Challenge I earned 80.72 points for hiking a total of 4.67 miles and making a total of 3 eligible (non-contest) contacts.
Contest Contacts (Click on picture for full size image)
(Version: 1.0 March 18, 2007)
