Home Page of VE7NI

Welcome to my home page. Now that the sunspot activity is at a minimum, I have some time to do some web page work instead of doing some of the things I enjoy doing most... DXing, contesting, and QRP CW activities. My logging programme has seen little use in the past couple of years although I should confirm the QSO's already entered because the QSL cards have been still arriving.

I was first licensed in 1979 (in London, Ontario) with the call sign VE3LDM. My first HF rig was a Heathkit HW7 but I later graduated to a Swan 350. My buddy and I shared an apartment on the top (12th) floor of a building in Northeast London. I had a Cushcraft triband vertical antenna on the roof of the building and I used to work lots of DX on CW. Europeans were my favourite but I remember working Tasmania as well as South Africa. That was still at a time in Amateur history when one had to learn Morse and be on the air for a year using Morse and present your log to the Department of Communications Inspector before you were allowed to challenge the Advanced Amateur exam.

Something happened to my outlook on CW that year... instead of disliking it, I found it a very efficient way of having a QSO with a person in a distant country. Yes, quite often not much more than "Name, QTH and RST" were exchanged but WOW, getting back a QSL card from a DX station was the icing on the cake! All I had to use was a straight key loaned to me by my Dad, VE3CRW. Several times other Hams commented, "You have a good Fist" and I didn't realize just how much of a compliment they had given to me. I still have my log books from those early years and maybe, in a nostalgic moment, I should look back at them to see what I might remember. Much of the time I would comment on the local weather conditions so I dare say perhaps I have more complete records than most people hi hi.

A number of other rigs have sat in front of me and allowed me to make CW contacts, run phone patches and participate in Nets, both CW and SSB. I have owned a Kenwood TS530S and a TS450S but presently have gone to Ten Tec gear because of their superb performance on CW. My main rig is a Ten Tec Orion; I also have an Omni 6+, an Argonaut 5 plus three of the Ten Tec "T-Kit" QRP rigs for 20, 40 and 80M. Although I have a Centaur 600 watt HF linear amplifier, I seldom use it. It is there "if I ever need it" or if I want to snag a rare DX station such as what happened for Peter I Expedition. Most of the time, my QRO operation is at 50 watts. When the bands are open, my preference is for QRP (5 watts RF output power). At the height of the last solar cycle, I was fortunate enough to have some time to operate and worked 100 countries using QRP CW. Several "pieces of paper" (contest awards) are on the walls of my shack to indicate how well QRP CW can perform in contests.

I am a member of Radio Amateurs of Canada, RAC ARES, the ARRL, SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network), the FISTS CW Club and a life member of the Quarter Century Wireless Association with membership in Chapter 151, the Wild Rose Chapter.