Simplex Saturday Report

[VA3KOT John]

GBARC's first Simplex Saturday was held between noon and 1:00pm, Saturday 30th April 2022. The following stations checked in:

1. VA3KOT John (NCS)
   
2. VE3WI Dave
   
3. VE3OZW Richard
   
4. VE3RQY Greg
   
5. VE3RWY Rob
   
6. VE3PQ Paul
   
7. VE3NBJ Norm
   
8. VE3VCG Marvin
   
9. VE3JMD Jim
   
10. VE3BQM Bernie
    
11. VA3TS Tom
    
12. VE3FP Adam
    

An honorable mention should also be made to VE3DGY Doug who attempted to check in but experienced equipment difficulties.

Net controller John VA3KOT was stationed in the parking lot of Inglis Falls Conservation Area just south of Owen Sound operating 50 watts into
a collinear VHF vertical antenna mounted on a truck hitch.

What Was Learned?

• Communications between Inglis Falls to Owen Sound and points in Georgian Bluffs were clear and strong.
  
• Communications between Inglis Falls and Port Elgin (VE3WI) were challenging. John VA3KOT's signal was reported to be noisy in Port Elgin but signals from Port Elgin into Inglis Falls were loud and clear.
  
• Communications between Paisley and Inglis Falls revealed a surprising result. VE3VCG was stationed at the Paisley repeater site and comms were noisy and difficult - until Marvin re-oriented his truck then it was 59 both directions. Marvin's mag-mount antenna was off-centre on his truck roof and that seemed to be enough to dramatically change signal strength.
  
• The NCS base station is recommended to use an antenna elevated on a pole
  
• The NCS base station should check for local electrical noise interference. A hydro pole transformer was suspected to be the source of noise at Inglis Falls.
  

Thank you to all who participated. The exercise should be repeated at some point in the future to learn more about unexpected practical difficulties that are to be encountered in the field.

[VE3WI Dave]

This was an enlightening and fun exercise.  Thanks to John for organizing it.

I set up near the water towers on the E side of Port Elgin.  Ground elev is 218m, about 20m higher than home.  Rig was a Yaesu 8900 running about 50 watts, using an LiFePO4 battery.  Antenna was a 4 el. Yagi up about 15' on a tripod/mast in the back of my truck, aimed at OS.

Results:

Stations with full quieting signals:
VE3JMD
VE3VCG
VA3TS

Stations that were readable but not full quieting:
VA3KOT (@50W, could not read @10W)
VE3FP

Stations that were barely readable:
VE3BQM
VE3RQY

I did not copy any of the other stations in John's report.  I did not attempt to swing my antenna around, but that might have brought in VE3OZW.

Early on I heard someone discussing turning down their squelch.  I had initially forgotten about that, but it's essential for copying weak signals.  Just have to put up with the FM noise.  Good lesson learned.

Next time I hope to have my antenna on a higher mast, I think that will be more productive than running more power (and a lot cheaper!).

73
Dave, VE3WI

[Richard VE3OZW]

Dave,

That was me with the comment of having to reduce the squelch in order to hear John from my mobile.  Even after reducing the squelch, I still experienced difficulty in hearing VA3KOT.  I was only able to contact VE3VCG and I was able to hear you but not able to establish contact.