RAC is broken… Heres how to fix it

Every now and again I jump on the “Soapbox” so to speak and look at some a topic and take a stand so here is todays…

My name is <insert name here>

My Callsign is <insert call here>

and I am a member of Radio Amateurs of Canada…

If you can’t make the above statement then you are the real problem with RAC…

So to start this posting…

My name is Bob and my Callsign is VA3QV and I am a member of Radio Amateurs of Canada…

Now today when I was reading the RAC Blog entry for today some of what VE3HG was saying made some sense.

They can’t be everywhere…

Our country is way too large for 7 directors (if we fill all the positions) and the rest of the executive and section management people to visit every hamfest, club meeting and any other amateur radio related event.  With the mention of the Iroquois Hamfest coming up this weekend I can remember two years ago seeing (then) RAC President Dave Goodwin VE3AAQ manning the RAC Table and talking to all who would stop shopping long enough to talk…

So as I have said in the past if your not part of the solution then your part of the problem…

The big problem is lack of participation in our National Amateur Radio Organization.

It does have its flaws but right now its the only Voice we have and without its attempts to represent us I feel that our hobby would not be as great as it is right now.

The times have changed and so have peoples opinions on the Services we so freely provide to our neighbors.

The poor showing when Ontario came up with their Driving while distracted law was not RAC’s fault but rather a warning of things to come.  Effective lobbying comes with a price and the cost can not be met unless membership can be increased.

I can remember about 10 years or so ago a wise amateur radio operator (no not me)  had just donated a rather large chunk of money to buy a new 6m duplexer for the local repeater.  He was also on the committee for the repeater and had been trying to find the time to help with the tune up of the old cavities.  I asked him why and he replied…

“There are only two ways to solve a problem…  Throw money at it or spend time on it… and I just don’t have the time!”

So part of the solution is to sign up and support RAC with your membership fees and the 2nd part would be to try and help out by giving some time to try and assist RAC in what they do. (whatever that is…)

That is what we can do to help…  Now this is also a two way street…  RAC has to help themselves at the same time…

Personally speaking I really think they have to start telling us all the good stuff they have done.  Its all in the “spin”.  Don’t tell us what you could of done “if” but rather tell us what you have done.  I would rather read on how a local ARES Groups participated in a Canwarn Drill rather than “If we had more support we could of done that…”

Look for ways to do things rather than excuses why we can’t…

We have to look at the positive side of things… We need to hear the good side and not the negative stuff..

Remind us that we have a National Body to be proud of… cause every now and again we forget…

Remind us that we have to help you to obtain the goal of bettering our hobby… Most importantly Remind yourself to listen to our concerns… because one p!ssed off member and his complaining costs our hobby more than you can imagine…

73bob

PS–> as always with these style of postings…  Comments (you don’t have to agree but be polite)  welcome… OP ED pieces really welcomed…  Flames cheerfully ignored

More on Foymount and the upcoming week

First of all thanks to Martin VA3SIE I have 3 pictures from the Foymount DXPedition (daytrip) to show you.  They just show my setup for the day and if you look past the fat person and the tiny radio gear you will see a bit of the background scenery.

I was set up in what was at one time a parking lot.

(ABOVE) Ft817 with LDG QRP Autotuner- Hamantenna CN32 Horizontal covering 2m to 40m-  12AH SLA in the grey bag.  Yes it was as cold as it looked!!!

(Above) How do you smile for a picture when its below 0deg C with the wind chill and there is no protection from the wind?

(Above) thinking that next time I chose a DXPedtion location it should be someplace WARM!!!  Dreaming of a DXPedition to Hawaii maybe?

They left the pavement and some concrete foundations but everything else was demolished at the top of the hill.  At the bottom of the hill most of the base buildings such as admin and the PMQs are still there and most of the houses and a few of the buildings are still in use.  But all of the structures at the top of the hill…  These were the building that housed the actual electronic survailance gear have been brought down to ground level or at least concrete foundation level.

The only things at the top of the hill now are commercal towers for television rebroadcasting and other private commercal radio systems along with a Packet Node and an amateur repeater.

Picture shows the Christie and Walter Tower on the left- Not sure what the little one on the right is and yes there is still a little bit of snow left at the top

All above pictures courtesy VA3SIE

Martin has more pics on his flicker page and if you want to take a look feel free…  The link is here

David VE3ZZU and Larry VE3WEH took some pictures as well and I know as Larry used to be posted to Foymount in the 1970s he took some pics of the base buildings as well so perhaps once he shares them with us you will get a view of history as well as radio.

In the mean time if you “Google Foymount” you will see several websites that serve of a reminder of when the world was a much more dangerous place that it is now.  Nuclear war is far more  threatening than Terrorism…

Anyway now back to the rest of the week…

Saturday starts with my most favourite time of the year which is the start of the Eastern Ontario Hamfest circuits.  I find the best deals will be had in the next few weeks as everyone who is thinking of heading to Dayton is sell off their stuff to get some extra $$$ for Dayton.  After Dayton they are selling off their stuff to appease the XYL after over spending at Dayton.  Yes there are deals to be had at this time of the year…

Saturday will (should) find me in Iroquois Ontario with the Iroquois Amateur Radio Club being the host of the Iroquois Hamfest.

View Larger Map

This is a smaller but well attended hamfest with not too many commercal dealers but the hall is filled with used equipment for sale.  Many good deals were found in the past as many amateurs were passing on their treasures…

I’m supposed to be heading down with Doug VE3DLJ and traditionally after the hamfest a large group heads over to the local truck stop at Camden Road and the 401 and sits down for a very large group lunch.  I’m looking forward to it…

Not sure what else is going to be happening radio wise as I am planning to let things warm up before I head outside again (other than an afternoon in the park)  No point in travelling several hundred kilometers just to freeze so it will be Hutton Park and Weston Park for a while…

Hope to work you on the air and also see you in Iroquois..

TALK IN FOR IROQUOIS IS ON VE3IRO 145.290

73bob

Its cold at the top…

They used to say its lonely at the top but yesterday it was cold at the top…

REALLY GOSH DARN GOLLY GEE WHIZ COLD!!!!

The weather channel indicated it would be dry and they were right there but I also remember the words sunny and they were not exactly right with that part of the predictions…

Anyway Ante VA2BBW, Patrick VA3CMD, Bob VA3QV (thats me) Martin VA3SIE, Larry VE3WEH and David VE3ZZU packed into a few vehicles and had a staggered departure from Ottawa between 0700 and 0830.

Not counting the maniditory stop at Timmies in Renfrew the trip was bang on time at just under 2 hours…

I rode with Larry with David and Patrick following in their own vehicles and when we arrived at Foymount…

Ante and Martin had already set up the antenna and were taking advange of the altitude adding some attitude and hunting Polar Bears…

Larry, David and Patrick did some operating on various bands from their mobiles and I headed about 200m away and set up my Hamantenna up for 6m and tried some QRP 6m SSB and some QRP 2m SSB.

You might notice the words “Tried” being highlighted above cause I had no luck whatsoever.  I quickly put up a 6m ribbon JPole on my 17 foot Shakespere WonderPole and could just hear VA3GFD Don on 146.520 FM Simplex but he could not hear me.  Reception from the top was just fantastic as I was hear repeaters from all over such as VE2CRA, VE3RIX but with only 5w to operate with and no beam to aim I was able to chirp them but not good enough to have a QSO.

However I did not try HF and the others had some fun there with Ante and Martin getting lots of Polar Bears with Ante making the contact of the day (again he gets the hi profile contact) with a QSO with Steve WG0AT.  Steve is a well known QRP Outdoorsy type who packs his gear and radios etc on two goats called “Rooster and Peanut” and is very well known in QRP Radio Circles..

When you get to the You Tube site do a search for Goathiker and see what you come up with.

Anyway…  Freezing Weather aside we had a great time…

Left to right:

VA3SIE, VE3ZZU, VA2BBW with Gunther, VA3QV, VA3CMD VE3WEH

(Picture courtesy VE3WEH and his cameras auto shoot feature)

As Martin did much more operating than I did why not go over to his blog and check out his report on the event…

73bob

Everythings fine… I’m just busy this week

Every now and again several things seem to happen that keeps me away from Radio and try as I do…  It just can’t be avoided…

So although I have been busy most of the week with non radio things I want to say that all is well as as of 1900 hrs edst on Friday the Foymount Mini DXPediton or Day trip is still a “GO.”   We will be active on the Polar Bear Frequencies as well as some QRO Work and I will be trying to give out the rare FN15 Grid Square on 2m fm along with 2m and 6m ssb.

Plans right now call for a 0800 departure from Ottawa and if you look back to THIS ENTRY IN THE BLOG you will see the maps for the trip and some other background information.

Hope to work you on the air…

PS…

I had lunch today with Doug VE3DLJ and the plans are in place to travel to the Iroquois Hamfest on the Saturday of the upcoming Easter Weekend.  Hope to see you there…

73bob

RAC Minutes Now posted on website

Well I just finished checking the RAC Website and after checking their “Management/Minutes” section I can tell you that now all the Monthly Minutes that should of been previously posted…  Have now been posted…

Now despite what you think this is not making a “Mountain out of a Molehill” but more the quest for knowledge.  Remember the people who we entrust our national organization for Amateur Radio to meet once a month via conference call and conduct business that effects Amateur Radio in Canada.

The RAC website tells us that the minutes will be posted as soon as they are approved/accepted at the next months meeting.   so when they are missing for a few months (in the last case 3 months) and at a time that we were vunerable (President and two directors resigned November 1st and no reports published till March) I feel it was my right almost a duty to ask what the heck was going on…

In effect If your going to do it do it right or….  Do it right or not at all…

Lets git er done……… As Larry the cable guy would say…

The posting of the minutes is a good thing…  It happened fairly quickly after RAC was notified (through this blog) that there was a problem.  The VP Public relations notified the President and I am assuming the President contacted the Secretary who then made the minutes available to the VP Tech Services who I believe looks after the website and he then posted them on the site…

Now everyone has been reminded on how the system is supposed to work so hopefully around April 20th or so the minutes from the March 18th meeting will be posted so we will know again what is going on.  I can’t stress enough how important this is to most of the membership as its our only way to keep abreast of whats happening and how good (or bad) things are going…

As an example a few months back I made a request to my regional director and the VP Field Services.  The request seemed simple but turned out to be more complex than orignally thought.

There was lots of email debate on the proposal and I was under the impression that at some time in the future that this would be discussed at the board level.

After reading the minutes for December, January and February its obivious to me that it did not happen.  I’m not holding much hope for the March Meeting (just passed)…  I am giving the new executive the benefit of the doubt as they are new and there were several more pressing issues ( President and two directors resigning) and I won’t scream too loudly this time…

The problem is that it took me almost 4 months to find out that nothing had been done after the email discussion…

So now we start the process all over again… I make the request….  they talk about it…. and hopefully this time it does not get lost in the confusion.

73bob

Ham Humour

Now I know you have most likely seen this one before but I always get a chuckle out of it whenever I read it.  I found this yesterday in my email in box as part of a yahoo group on Portable OPS I subscribe to…

If you get a chance and you are registered user on Yahoo click on their logo and follow the steps to join the group.  Low key but very friendly

Anyway enjoy………..

CARE AND FEEDING OF YOUR PET HAM

Pet hams are so intelligent they often seem human, but they can be difficult to raise. Only someone with great patience should attempt it. In case you do, here is a guide to the basics.

Living Area — A pet ham needs a private nest area, an entire room where it will not be disturbed. Your pet ham will spend many happy hours alone there with its treasures. — boxes, wires, bits of metal, glass, paper, etc. that it will bring home whenever it ventures out. You will want to encourage your pet ham to confine its activity to this room to prevent the entire house from being subjected to noise, clutter and the boring of holes in the walls.

Obedience Training – A pet ham can be trained to perform simple tricks, the easiest and most common being “sit” and “speak” Do not be alarmed if it
practices them for hours at a time in the nest room.

Health Problems – The pet ham typically suffers lower back pain and minor throat irritations from too much sitting and speaking, but health maintenance costs tend to be minimal.

Travel — Your ham pet will gladly travel with your family by car or even by
air, if allowed to bring along certain familiar items from the nest room. Most
pet hams enjoy trips to places where they can meet pet hams from other families.

(Picture courtesy RAC Blog)

Breeding — If you plan to breed your pet ham, you should do so as soon as
possible after you get it. As a pet ham matures, it becomes increasingly
reluctant to engage in activities not associated with its nest room collection.

<in order to keep my blogs “G” rating …

…there is no available picture of this one>

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hope it brought a smile to your face….  All I did was really cut, paste and add a couple of graphics to fit the story…

73bob

Polar Bear (PBMME) and VHF DXPediton

Well as of todays date the Mini DXPedition (Day Trip) to Foymount Ontario scheduled for March 27th  is still a go.

View Larger Map

We are watching the weather fairly closely but so far so good…

As it stands right now we hope to be leaving around 8am which should get us there around 10am and on the air before 11am.

View Larger Map

Larry VE3WEH, Martin VA3SIE, Ante VA2BBW and Patrick VA3CMD are all Polar Bears (I think Patrick is at least) and I will be the lone VHFer giving out FN15 as VA3QV/p

We should have Martins KX1, my FT817, Patricks FT817, my FT60r and Larrys FT707 .  Not sure how the antennas are going to work out…  I will be bringing the 6m/2m antenna and my Hamantenna CN32 for 10m to 40m .  I would expect that Martin will be using his two wire verticals, Larry most likely will be using a hamstick on his car and Patrick might be trying out my TAKtenna but not sure at this time.

As you can see Frequency coordination could be an issue….

Working on the assumption that all the “Bear Hunters will be in the CW Portion of the 10,15,20,40m bands you know where to find them.

For my part I plan to be on 50.125 usb and 144.200usb with a dual band rotatable dipole (1/4w on 6m and 5/8w on 2m)as well as a 1/2w vertical hooked up to the handy on 146.520

This is a group outing but not a group event so everyone will be using their own callsigns…  Listen for lots of “GRRRs” being sent out.

Martin will most likely be using his VX8r to send out some APRS to twitter spots and I believe he will be also beaconing out as VA3SIE-7.

As usual we always reserve the right to “wimp out” if the weather is bad but right now everything is a “Go”.

73bob

Whats happening on Belfast Road?

Now to be honest I have been trying to write this for over a month now but every time I do it up I just don’t like the way it sounds…  The RAC official Bulletin that arrived in my email inbox this morning is making me want to try again and this time I am going to hit the “Publish” button when I am finished rather than the “Delete Key”.

Before I go any further I will say that I am a RAC Member and I am also  RAC Appointee in the Ontario Section (Net Manager- Ontario Phone Net)  On behalf of the Ontario Phone Net and the NTS side of RAC Field Services I put in roughly 20 hours a week between incoming and outgoing Traffic Nets that have to be visited in order to bring traffic in or take traffic from the Ontario Phone Net.

Now the above statement is neither “Bragging or Complaining” but it has been a opinion of mine for years now “that you are either part of the solution or part of the problem.”

What this means to me at least that if you don’t participate by first of all being a member and secondly by giving freely of your time then you don’t really have the right to b!itch and whine / complain about those that do…

You can ( as most do) but really what gives you the right to complain about an organisation that you do not belong to and give your time to try and better?

Getting back on topic before I forget what this blog post is supposed to be about the following excerpt from the Bulletin tells us that 3 amateurs have stepped up to the plate and accepted RAC Appointments…

===============================

1. Section Manager Elections

Charlie Marsh VO1VZ has been re-elected Section Manager for
Newfoundland and Labrador for a two year term starting July 1, 2010.

Jan Schippers VE4JS has been returned as Section Manager for Manitoba for a two year term of office that will begin on July 1, 2010.

Mr. Chris Pitre VE3CTP/VE3ZO has been elected as the RAC Director for Ontario South for the remainder of a two year term which started January 1, 2010 ending December 31, 2011.

All three candidates ran unopposed, eliminating the need for
balloted elections.  Congratulations are extended to them all.

– RAC Bulletin Service

========================

However the following statement bothers me slightly…

“All three candidates ran unopposed, eliminating the need for
balloted elections. “

I can’t remember the last time RAC actually had an election for any postion.  I am not sure but I believe that most of the Section Managers and Directors have either been acclaimed/appointed to their positions.  I guess I really should not complain as at least someone wanted the job but it does say something might be wrong when given all the very talented amateurs we have out there that no one wants the jobs…

We have a new President and two other new Executive Officers.  We have just come through a troubled time with the early resignation of the Past President along with two directors.  One of those positions has just been filled by acclimation.  This would be a time to keep us (the general membership) informed and fill us with confidence to let us know whats happening…

However if you go to the RAC Website you see the following:

====================================

Board of Directors Monthly Teleconference Meeting Minutes for 2009:

2009-01-27 2009-02-24 2009-03-04 – Board Meeting 2009-03-24 2009-04-28 2009-05-05
2009-06-23 2009-07-28 2009-08-25 2009-09-17 2009-10-15
2009-10-29 – Nominating committee 2009-11-19

====================================

What I am getting at is that there have been no Minutes Posted since November 19 2009.  We are missing the December 2009 minutes (Ratified at the January Meeting) , we are missing the Janurary 2010 minutes that should of been ratified at the February 2010 meeting and finally the February 2010 minutes that should of been approved at the recently held March 2010 meeting.

And we know the March Meeting occured as it was mentioned in the RAC Blog

In addition I did talk to my director and ask about the minutes as I had an interest in something that was supposed to be discussed and although I did get sent a copy of the minutes for  that date I thought the request would of given someone the hint that the minutes were not posted as they should be.

So at this time I would like to tell you that our new executive is doing an excellent job and all is going well….But I can’t as I can’t get any information from the minutes of the executive meetings…

In closing this is not “Anti RAC” just a blunt request that the Board take steps to ensure that we are being informed.  As previously mentioned by the time it makes it to print in the TCA it is already history and the RAC Blog does do a good job but often can’t go into enough detail to enlighten us.

It was once said that “Information is Power” and I believe it will make us a much stronger group is the power could be shared…

Comments welcome  but please no name calling…  OP ED Pieces would be welcomed via email as from a Guest Blogger.

73bob

(just before I posted this on Saturday March 20 2010 at 1320 hrs EDST I did take the time to recheck the RAC Website and I could not find the minutes for the December 2009, January 2010 or the February 2010) Monthly Board Meetings-  By the time you read this they might be posted and to be honest I hope they are.  I want to know whats going on in our national group)

Thursday was OVMRC Meeting Night

Every month with the exception of July and August on the third Thursday comes the monthly meeting of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club inc.

I enjoy heading out to the club meetings and catching up with old friends, new friends and others but its always a treat to meet people in person rather than on the air.

Tonight was a busy night with two presentations, a procedural vote on an expenditure along with a Home Brew competition.

The first presentation was from Maurice-Andre VE3VIG on behalf of the VE3JW Amateur Radio Demonstration Station that the OVMRC sponsors at the museum.  The presentation was to explain to the members of club of some changes needed to upgrade the facilities at the station.  The changes although costly are needed to bring the station back up to the level one would expect from a demonstration station at the National Museum of Science and Technology in the Capitol City of Canada.

From the Feb 2010 OVMRC Rambler (club newsletter) the following was mentioned:

Upgrade of VE3JW: The Amateur Radio Exhibit at
Canada Science and Technology Museum

The  amateur  radio  exhibit  at  the  Canada  Science  and  Technology  Museum  is  sponsored  by  the  OVMRC. It is also the   Rationale for the upgrade

We  propose  an  upgrade  of  the  amateur  radio  exhibit  at  the  Canada  Science  and  Technology  Museum, i.e. the VE3JW station. The upgrade consists of new pieces of amateur radio equipment.
We are aiming at exhibiting some of the latest innovations in the field of amateur radio. A goal is to  stimulate the interest for the station and hobby with fellow amateurs and potential new amateurs.  It is also our desire to increase the attractiveness of the station for visitors of all ages at VE3JW.

For the rest of the specs on the upgrade please to to the OVMRC Website at

http://www.ovmrc.on.ca/Rambler/Ram2010-02.pdf

The expenditure was voted on by the general membership and approved for the full amount so VE3JW will be getting a $5500.00 facelift  which includes  some new radios as soon as the museum gives them the OK to start the renovations.

The 2nd presentation of the night was by Gord VE3FRB who was looking for Radio Operators for the Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour which will happen this year on June 5th and 6th.  It is a two day event that takes bike riders from Ottawa to Kingston on the Saturday and the return to Ottawa on the Sunday

Last year I participated in this event and had a great time.  If you follow this link you will go back to last years blog entry on the event.

Last but not least for the evening was the annual Home Brew Equipment night and its a crowd favourite and as usual the crowd was not dissapointed.

The range of items went from modified tools for working smarter and safer, software defined radio SDR kits, a construction of a Foxhole Radio” from plans from ww2, to my world famous W3EDP Hf antenna and a couple of home brewed radios (one transmitter and one rcvr) both built from plans and parts.  Not a Kit Job..

The big drawback to the evening was that I forgot my camera and so am unable to give you pictures of the the rest of the participants.  I will try and get some pictures (from Larry VE3WEH) and get them posting in the near future…

But I can tell you that Ernie VE3EJJ got first prize for his adapted tools, Alan VA3STL came in 2nd for his hombrewed xmiter and rcvr with Roy VA3CKD getting third place for his Foxhole Radio.

Oh well theres always next year for the W3EDP….

But heck we did have fun and as I have said more than once “Radio is a hobby and hobbys are supposed to be fun” and tonight it was…

Thanks to the OVMRC for putting on a good show….

73bob

73bob

Happy St Patricks Day

So hear it is…   A few of the amateur radio products I can think of that are “Green” and by that I mean before green signified energy or environment friendly…

I can remember a time so long ago when I ventured into the Heathkit store in Ottawa.  It was on Merivale Road (south of Carling) and looked at all this neat looking stuff…

Back then was just after I got my first CB rig (1972 or so) and to be honest I did not even know what CB was… Let alone what Amateur Radio was about and I had  stopped at the store that had the big antenna and tower attached to the side of the building because the only think I knew was that radios you talked on had big antennas and I wondered what was going on…

Now 40 years later some people would argue that I still don’t know whats going on…

But now I would correct them becuase after being connected to radio in one way or another for 40 years I can tell you that its still fun…

It was fun then and its fun now!!!

And it was that fun along with some minor stuff that I learned in the hobby that also supported my family (Quite well thank you) over the years as I rose up the ranks from Junior Dispatcher to Senior Dispatcher to Operations Manager and to be honest non of this would not of happened if I had not first gotten involved with hobby communications…

So HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY and as Kermit would say:

“Its not easy being green…”

73bob