I’ve been a licensed amateur radio operator since 2023. I got my license, got some gear, joined some clubs, attended events, took part in field day, and then… stopped! I got my license in June 2023, and logged my last contact that October. Until now!
Earlier this month, I finally decided I wanted to get back on the air, so I slapped together an antenna and set up a make-do shack in my basement. As I said previously, my last contact was logged in October 2023, and at that point I had a measly 20 contacts logged on QRZ, of which only 8 were confirmed. Well, between August 8, 2026 and today, I’ve made an additional 359 contacts, of which 231 are confirmed!
Just in this short period of time, I’ve made confirmed contacts in 35 DXCC entities (including some interesting ones like Montserrat, Angola, and Thailand), 5 continents, 7 Canadian provinces, 45 US states, 155 US counties, and 158 Maidenhead grid squares!
My antenna in all its glory
This was all done in a suburban neighbourhood with an S7 noise floor, on a makeshift antenna, with about 30W of power, on a 30+ year old transceiver, and a cheap tuner to compensate for my shoddy antenna work. Full station details are as follows:
- Icom IC-706 transceiver
- 1995 original, bought from Rob VE9KM SK shortly before my hiatus started
- DIY \(\frac{1}{4} \lambda\) vertical antenna with a single counterpoise (I know, I know…)
- lamp cord up a 5m fibreglass fishing rod from AliExpress, with 3D printed hardware
- MFJ MightyLite 25A power supply
- Tigertronics SignaLink USB sound card
- Cheap CI-V cable from Amazon (it’s already failing lol)
- ATU-100-0A antenna tuner
- Some RG-8X coax
- A piece of plywood with a coax coupler sticking through it to get my feed line into the house
Almost all of my contacts were made on 20 m FT8, with a handful on 17 m and/or FT4. I’m generally unable to hear any SSB signals with my current setup, and still have to improve my Morse code a bit before subjecting others to it on the air!1
I’m very pleased with these results and excited to be back into the hobby. My immediate plans include getting the remaining US states I need for WAS, working on DXCC and the Canadaward, building more antennas for different bands, and maybe getting into amateur radio satellites, SSTV, and other aspects of the hobby that interest me!
For any hams reading this, I hope to see you on the air! For any non-hams, I encourage you to look deeper into the all-consuming pastime that is amateur radio. 73 DE VE9WZ!
Short, pedantic regulatory rant: contrary to popular(?) belief, you do not need the Morse code qualification to transmit Morse code in Canada. If you read the regs (or the FAQ on ISED’s website!), the only privilege gained by obtaining this qualification is the ability to transmit on frequencies below 30 MHz, which you already have if you have Basic with Honours or Advanced. The continued existence of the Morse code qualification is a holdover to allow Canadian amateurs to operate in the handful of CEPT countries that still require amateurs to pass a Morse code test. ↩︎