Salmon Run Contest

/0 Comments/in /by

I like the way the Washington State QSO party ‘runs’…   it’s very friendly. People stop to chat and compare notes.  CW exchanges are at slow speeds, encouraging those who don’t use that mode much. And it’s daytime only; sensible. The BC QSO party and future Vancouver Island contests should follow the same format.

I’m surprised that more BC stations didn’t participate in Salmon Run; maybe they just dabble like me and don’t post their scores. (I had other activities on both days). I got 27 of the 39 counties in WA; next year I plan to take a more serious ‘run’ at the contest.

Editor’s note: Thank you Alan for “flying the IslandHF flag” in this contest.

Pierre’s Trap Dipole

/0 Comments/in /by

On June 5th, Pierre VE7NRO and Glenn VA7HC went to the Gorge Park to test Pierre’s trap dipole antenna on 80 and 40 meters. Initially we raised his fiberglass pole up about 35 feet. Guy wires were attached and the antenna with coax attached was raise up to approximately 25-30 feet. This effort took about 2 hours under brilliant sunshine.

Pulling out his MFJ Analyzer, Pierre checked the SWR on those two bands. The photos below show that Pierre did a great job in cutting the antenna to the correct length. Congratulations, Pierre.

Meshtastic project – a south island mesh network

/1 Comment/in /by

Curt VA7CAS, Zachariah VE7ZCZ, and Glenn VA7HC recently met at Hillside to get a south island LoRa mesh network off the ground. Curt helped a ton by purchasing Heltec V3 radios and flashing the firmware. Great fun for hobbyists. And not too expensive. Interested? Reply to the post.

Below are some photos.