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The preparation for the Amherst Island DX-pedition (CISA ON-021) began
in May 2005: the equipment, antennas etc…
Finally on June 30th we were ready and departed west.
The team of VB3M consisted of:
Igor VA3YDX and his son Alex
Igor VE3KAO with his 2 sons Roma and Matvey and XYL Olga
Nick VE3UKR and XYL Galina
Eugene VE3SSR and his son Dima
Max VE3CCN
After 3-x hours of driving on the HWY 401 we arrived to the ferry.
To our surprise there were a lot of cars – Igor VE3KAO and Nick VE3UKR
took the last 2 spots available.
We were on the ship for 15 minutes and saw many amazing sights of the
upcoming Amherst Island. As we got off the ship we greeted the owners
of the property which we were going to be using.
Our camping site was located on the ledge of a farm. Wayne the guy who
owns the property and a farm was whole heartedly riding over our
cables in his tractor when he was collecting scattered hay across the
field.
VA3YDX and VE3CCN has used TS-570D + vertical AP8A + 3 elements
tribander Mosley TA33, VE3UKR has used TS-50 + vertical Hustler,
VE3KAO and VE3SSR has used IC-718 + vertical R5 + LW. The Long Wire
antenna was thrown up a tree after several unsuccessful tries
involving trying to shoot it up the tree with a slingshot. Eventually
VE3SSR tied some rope & bolt to the wire and threw it up the tree
because the slingshot wasn't working. The electricity came from a 3,5
kilowatts gas-powered generator.
The tests weren't that intensive. We had more than 550 QSOs. The
condition on 20m wasn't bad and the air was clean. Europe was
responding well. The Americans and Canadian were active enough. Next
time we'll need Inverted-V antenna on 40 and 80 meters for locals
QSOs. 40 and 80 meters were noisy. Worse then in Toronto.
Somewhere close to the end of the contest wind picked up and the last
QSOs I had were with me holding in one hand the microphone and the
tent leg in the other…
Igor VE3KAO was not so lucky… he had to chanse his own tent down as it
was "gone with the wind"…
After the test we all went swimming and sunbathing and just enjoying
the weather.
The Amherst Island is populated with farms, mosquitoes, cows, deers and snakes.
But the thing that saved us from the mosquitoes was the wind and
during the night we use bug repellent which seemed useless against
them.
In conclusion I would like to thank all of our friends that helped
with making this DX-expedition a reality: Wayne, Tom, Victor VE3EO,
Boris VE3GKW, Don VE3VZ and of course Galina and Olga for their elite
culinary skills during the DX-pedition.
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