Author Archives: VA3QR

About VA3QR

Obtained Basic (Canada) license on March 21, 1994. Received 5WPM Morse Code endorsement in the summer of 2003. Obtained my Advanced in the winter of 2014. Active on all Amateur bands between 160m - 70cm (excl. 1.25m), all modes. Primary rig is a Flex 5000A with ATU, RX2 and VHF/UHF module. Mobile rigs include Kenwood TM-D710A, and TM-480SAT. Antennas include Cushcraft MA-5B, Cushcraft A6270-13S, Hustler 6-BTV (with all 3 DX Engineering mods), 2 x Comet CX-333, Custom-Made Random Wire (tunes 160m - 10m), and MFJ Active Receive Antenna. I host the VE3PAQ Repeaters on 1.25m and 70cm, the VE3YAP APRS Digipeater, and the APRS2 Tier 2 network node for Ontario.

CY9C – Day 2

To quote Robbie Burns, “The best laid schemes of mice and men….” Well I made it, I’m on the North East Point with all my gear. I’ve been back to the Atlantic Cove site today and, despite all the gear we brought, we can’t get either a stable connection between both DXPedition sites via UHF,… Read more »

CY9C Update

Good morning from Dingwall, Nova Scotia. I arrived at The Markland Resort at 6:30PM on Wednesday, August 17th after having stopped in Ingonish, NS (30KM south of Dingwall) to fill 50 gas cans with 1250L of 91 octane gas. The locals looked at the 50 gas cans on the ground and then gave me slightly… Read more »

CY9C – Get Ready, Get Set….

U-Haul trailer is hitched, packed and locked, truck is full of gas, and I’m ready to go. Most of the team is already en route to Dingwall, NS. I leave tomorrow (August 16, 2016) at ~5:30AM EDT. I expect to arrive in Fredericton, NB by 10:45PM ADT, and then will drive to Dingwall, NS the… Read more »

CY9C Network Planning

So, in a little under 4 months, I’ll be on St. Paul Island – a little island just north of Cape Breton. I’ll be part of a team of operators activating the island for a DXPedition. We’ve secured our insurance, our permit and our callsign: CY9C. We will be operating from 2 different sites on… Read more »

Mobile AREDN Mesh Networking

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything – lots going on, both radio and non-radio related, and I don’t have the time to write as much as I’d like to. So I thought I’d take a few minutes to talk more about Mesh Networking, the AREDN, and operating mobile. It appears that the primary developers… Read more »