Merry Christmas...

May your heart and home be filled with all of the joys the festive season brings.  Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!!

Lakecourt Island ON-303

Received from John, VE3ISE, this morning.......

I will be activating Lakecourt Island ON-303 & Lighthouse CAN 1417 on Dec 15, 2018 at 1500Z on or about 7270 + - QRM switching to 20 at 1630Z on or about 14270 + - QRM,

ALSO:

I will be activating Forans Island ON-293 & Lighthouse CAN 1417 on Saturday  Dec. 22, 2018 at  1500Z  on or about 7270 + - QRM switching to 20  at 1630Z on or about 14270 + - QRM....THIS AREA MIGHT BE DIFFICULT. HEAVY ELECTRICAL STATIC IN THIS AREA BUT WILL DO MY BEST.

ALSO:

I will be activating Haywood Island ON-292 & Lighthouse's CAN-540 & 541  0n
Dec. 29, 2018 at 1500Z   on or about 7270 + - QRM switching to 20  at 1630Z 
on or about 14270 + - QRM,

All  in conjunction with ARLHS Christmas Lights QSO Party, and all of the above is dependent on weather.  I will be running 100 Watts from a Hustler antenna on my vehicle.

Balaklava Island

Congratulations go out to Ivan, VE7IVN, for activating Balaklava Island off the northern tip of Vancouver Island.

Ivan is a resident of the island and lives in the old Lighthouse Keepers cottage.

The grid is CO60eu, and the new island number is BC-180.

Bigelow Island

Just received word from Chris, VA3ECO, that he has successfully activated for the first time, Bigelow Island in Lake of the Woods near Kenora, in grid EN29np.

Chris reports that he made 30 contacts in an hour including QSO''s into the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico.  Not too shabby considering the lousy propagation forecast we had that day.

Congratulations to Chris!

W/VE Island QSO Party 2018

The W/VE Island QSO Party is coming up on the weekend of August 25 & 26.

This weekend is used to promote the U.S. (USI) and Canadian (CIA) islands programs to amateurs worldwide. To promote verifiable amateur radio contacts with stations located on islands in the U.S. and Canada.

Over the last few years participation from Canadian Amateurs has been extremely low, under 10 of us most years.  Let's see if we can change that this year!!!!

The 2018 Rules can be found HERE.

Pick an island and get out and have some fun.

Not Islands but.........

Port Dalhousie Lights CAN 540 & 541

Weather Permitting VE3ISE/M will activate the above lights beginning at 1400 UTC on Sat. August 4, 2018 ending 1700 UTC. Will be working 7.275 +/- QRM.  Also planning on 20m 14.260 +/- QRM around 1530 UTC 

Hope the bands are in good shape 73
John McInally
VE3ISE/M

Just in....

Just received this information tonight.  See link below for latest James Bay activation:

Click HERE.

ON-303

John, VE3ISE will be re-activating Lakecourt Island, ON-303 and Grimsby Breakwater Light, CAN-1417 this Saturday July 7th 

John's starting time  will be 1400 UTC (10AM Local Time) to 1600 UTC (12 Noon Local Time).  Working Frequency 7275 +/- QRM

He will break for lunch and plans to return to the island at 1900 UTC (3pm Local Time) to 2100 UTC (5 PM Local Time),  Working 20M 14260 +/-  QRM.

Hopefully the crappy propagation will improve by Saturday and allow us to work John.

ON-303

John, VE3ISE was able to qualify Lakecourt Island this morning on 40 Meters.     He made 26 contacts on 40, then moved up to 20M and made another 6 contacts to give him a total of 30.  

Lakecourt Island is has been given the locator ON-303.

Two VE3'S and all the rest were U.S. stations.  Where was the Canadian support for this activation ??????????  I realize that this is the Canada Day long weekend, but surely we could do better than just 2 VE contacts!!

John did this activation in 94F in the shade.  

Well done John.

Lakecourt Island

Just in from John, VE3ISA - he will be activating Lakecourt Island on Saturday June 30th .  This island is in Grimsby harbour.  

This is a first activation of this island, so hopefully we will be able to assign a new number that day.

Start time for the activation should be around 1300Z  on 40 M  7260  +/-  QRM  Switching to 20 M  around 1600Z  14265 +/- QRM.

Fairclough Island

Just received word from Don, VE3DQN, that he has successfully activated Fairclough Island (FN14vt) located in the Big Rideau Lake, and reached the minimum 25 Q's in two DX entities to formally activate the island. 

The new Island Number for Fairclough Island is ON-302.

Hopefully Don will be able to get back there for the W/VE Islands QSO Party in August.

2018 W/VE Island QSO Party

The date of this years W/VE Island QSO Party has been set out.  It's being held from 1200z 25 August to 0300z 26 August, 2018. 15 Hours in total.

There are no rule changes this year..... BUT, electronic log submission is now required. In Cabrillo, ADIF or CSV format.

So pick an island and start getting ready for this annual event.  

MacDonell Island, ON-079

Craig, VE3CIJ, will be camping on MacDonell Island, ON-079, at Long Sault (FN25na) in the St. Lawrence River and plan to operate portable while there. 

He will capability to operate on 80/40/30/20/17 but doesn’t have a plan regarding frequencies and times. 

The dates will be June 11-15th. 

Forans Island - ON293

John, VE3ISE, will attempt to activate Foran's Island (Canada ON-293) on Wednesday, May 9th.  From the island he can also see the Grimsby Breakwater Light (Canada CAN 1417)

He will be operating from his vehicle running 100 Watts into a Hustler mounted antenna.

Frequencies will be approximately 7230 + or - QRM (1.5 hours) and later 14255 + or - QRM (1.5 hours)

Start time will be 1500Z to 1800Z

Spotting on DX Summit will be appreciated.

Foran's Island has the red square on it.

Successful Activation...

Congratulations to Don, VE3DQN, for his successful first activation of Libby Island, ON-017, in FN25da.

Don used the QRP to the Field and the Ontario QSO Party participants to rack up 29 contacts, in the required two DX entities.  

Mike, VE7ACN, will be operating portable VE2 from Havre Aubert Island, QC-016, in the Madeleine Islands group for one week from April 2nd.   

It's located in FN97af

Give a listen for him!

First Activations of 2018 Announced

This year the first activation announcement is for two BC islands.....which is a first!  

On Monday, May 21st, Bill VE3FI will be activating Barnston Island - BC055, and on Sunday, May 27th, he will be activating Annacis Island - BC033.   If you are also hunting grids for the ARRL Grid Challenge, he will be operating in CN89 on those days.

Bill will be operating as VE3FI/VE7.  

Operating start time will be noon west coast time.   Bands to be used will be 20m, 14.260 +/- QRM  and 40m, 7.250 +/- QRM.

Get Ready...

Spring is just around the corner, time to start planning your mini-dxpeditions to your local islands.

The last few years the number of activations has fallen.....is this a lack of interest, or the fact that many hams are not aware of this aspect of our great hobby...we don't know, but it's time to give it a kickstart again.

Start making those plans....and let us know so we can get the information on this page and our Facebook page.