Jan.10/04, three of us from the Durham Region QRP Club (VE3REP, VE3KQN,
VE3ELA) met at a park in Ajax (north-east of Toronto) to participate in the annual FYBO outdoor QRP contest.

The weather was fair with a temperature of 23 deg. F, but a biting north wind increased the windchill factor greatly.

First we assembled the antenna system, which consisted of a vertical support made up of several fibreglass interlocking posts topped with a 20 foot fishing pole as the apex for our multiband Windom antenna. Including sag, this gave us a centre height of about 45 feet. The ends were then tied off to convenient tree trunks.

We soon had VE3REP's Elecraft K2 tuned up on 20 meters at a picnic table under a shelter, and the radio came alive! 15 meters wasn't open for us, and only a handful of stations were worked on 40 meters. After 3 hours of operating, we decided to pack it in after only 18 contacts made across North America..

The exercise was a lot of fun though, and we avoided freezing by ingesting
delicious chocolate brownies, washed down with thermoses of hot soup and tea. Sure would have been nice to have had some of those hot packs for the poor toes and fingers. After 3 hours of sitting around in the cold, it became very difficult to send coherent CW! I believe the secret is to get up frequently to go for a walk, and keep moving to stay warm.

The highlight for me was working another FYBO station in South Carolina who was using a Kanga FOXX-3 transceiver (mounted in an Altoids tin) running 500 mW. It was agreed unanimously we should do this again next year!
 

Thanks to Garry, VE3REP for taking care of the photography....his pictures of the event can be seen in the gallery!!
72,
de Ken VE3ELA

On Saturday April 26, 2003, members of the  Durham Region (Ontario) QRP Club, using the call sign VE3QDR operated from Camp X in Whitby, Ontario during the QRP to the Field Contest hosted by the NORCAL QRP Club. We operated for approx. 5 hours.
Our operators were: VE3GND, VE3REP, VE3SIA, VA3JE, VE3ELA and VE3KQN.

Our category was Multi Operator Ghost Town Our equipment was a K2 transceiver at 5 watts maximum, a 40m loop antenna supported by an MFJ 33 foot pole, a
home-brew multiband ground mounted backpack antenna and a hamstick dipole at 18 feet.

  Summary:
   SPC - 40m = 8, 20m = 19 for a total of 27
   QSO Points - 40m = 8, 20m = 27 for a total of 35
   points.
   Our QTH was once a spy training school - more
   information in this note - multiplier 5x
   Bonus points - "G H O S T  T O W N " -  Ga, --, Ok,
   Sd, Tn, Tx, On, Wa, Nm = 800

  Final score - 35 x 27 x 5 + 800 = 5525

 About our location:  Camp X or STS 103 was a military facility from 1941 to 1944. The facility was used to train spies, saboteurs and European Partisans for operations behind enemy lines during world war two. FBI agents were also trained for U.S. homeland
defense as well as many other members of the various military services. The site also housed a very large radio transmitter called HYDRA which was used to communicate with England as well as the Caribbean
and South America.

 *************
  Please note that during June 7th and 8th, 2003 there will be a reactivation of Camp X on please reference www.campxhistoricalsociety.ca

  I would also like to thank the three members of the Society who took the time to talk with us at the site during the contest. They were doing a "Archeological Survey" of the area at the time.                

- 72 Jim.