2nd RAC Meeting Update from VE3XT

If you can read this… Thank A Teacher…

If you read this in English… Thank a Veteran!

“Lest we forget…”

.

 

The following arrived in my inbox from Bill Unger VE3XT who is the RAC Director for North and East Ontario.

I am on his distribution list for his Director’s Bulletins which do get posted on this blog.  This says a lot for the way that things are changing and I think the early thoughts would be for the better…

They are trying to keep us “in the loop”… rather than in “the dark”…

This is a good thing…

===MESSAGE STARTS===

When I think of Ottawa I never imagine the heavy wet snow like we are getting tonight.

It was a long day here, we started at 8:30  and went until noon.  At 1 PM we started again and ran until 5 PM when we broke for supper at 6:30 and then reconvened  until 8:30.

But a couple of observations that I see are:

Board and Executive are volunteers, and there will be turnover, but the existing Board is cohesive and dedicated to the future of Amateur Radio and Radio Amateurs of Canada.

There are a couple of themes keep coming up for discussion.  One is communications on a 2 way basis from and to members.  Another is protection of Amateur Frequencies and representing Amateur Radio to Industry Canada, and ways to attract young and new members to RAC.

But one thing is certain, RAC will be here next month, next year and for the long haul.

Stay tuned.

Bill  VE3XT

===END OF MESSAGE===

Its ok Bill,  I don’t usually wake up to snow on the ground here in Ottawa on October 31 and I have lived here all my life.  I guess its a “Trick” (not a treat) from Mother Nature.

You and the rest of the board and executive are putting long hours and for that I thank you.

 

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Your comments about the themes that seem to be coming back for discussion were the themes that everyone was most “vocal “about at the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club Meeting which Geoff and Mitch attended on the past Thursday Night.  I guess all of us are concerned about the same items…

Keep up the good work…its appreciated…

73bob

 

Saturday in Rockliffe Park

If you can read this… Thank A Teacher…

If you read this in English… Thank a Veteran!

“Lest we forget…”

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This morning Mark VA3UMP, Jose VA3PCJ and myself headed out on a cold morning to try and warm up the atmosphere with RF.

To be honest with the CQ WW SSB contest going on I don’t really think the extra 3 stations made any difference what so ever…  But despite the cold we did have some fun…

We had previously decided on heading out to Rockcliffe Park…

View Larger Map

It would be that big green area to the left of the “A”

Mark arrived about a 1/2 hour before we did and set up his Yaesu FT897 along with a full size (6m to 160m) Carolina Windom.  With a total length of over 200 feet it was a good thing the park was empty…

Jose and myself arrived around 0930 and I set up my W3EDP along with the FT 817/LDG Tuner combo and Jose used his IC703 along with his Buddipole.

In my case things were working fairly well.  I was receiving signals from all over.  Europe, Africa and all over North America… Stations were heard on 15, 20, 40 and 80m and all of them had very strong signals…

It was like a giant Pile UP and unfortunately my meager 5w output was not enough to break any pile ups so after 2 hours of calling CQ I was shut out.  There were a few local stations I could of worked but I was hoping for something a bit more rare than Ottawa East…

Above- Mark VA3UMP

Mark was operating 40m CW and SSB.   I believe he got a few contacts in as well…  He had dialed the power down so he was operating QRP as well…

Jose seemed to be the DXer today with the Buddipole making more than a few contacts with 15m SSB being the best band…

Jose sent me his logs via email…

checked my contacts of this morning in QRZ.com (all SSB using 5W):

In 40 m: VE3DC (Hamilton Amateur Radio Club)

In 15 m:

GM6NX (Scotland)

VC6A (Special callsign of VE6SV)
EI2II (Ireland)

N5MV (Texas)

Above Jose VA3PCJ

On Wednesday past,  my Ft817 and a Buddistick had good luck from Mooneys Bay Park and now on Saturday Jose and his IC703 and a Buddipole also had good results…  I guess its true that Bud W3FF makes good antennas…

Buddipole Antenna of VA3PCJ

I was questioning my sanity however as my fingers were slowly going numb while operating…  Last night at the start of the contest my home station with 100w was not breaking any pile ups…  I was really wondering what ever gave me the idea that 5w would do an better in a park… A very cold park…

I guess I needed to have more faith and the propagation Ghod punished me by smiling on Jose instead…  No matter what it was fun…  We were joined in the park by Harold VA3UNK (camera shy) who showed up to loan moral support and laff at 3 guys not smart enough to stay inside on a cold day…  He showed up…  Change that to 4 guys…

A couple of hours after we arrived it was time to Tear Down and Pack up… While we were packing up the vehicles Ante VA2BBW showed up for a visit.  We had decided to head over to “Timmies” for Lunch but Mark had to head home for previously made plans.

Jose, Ante,  Harold and myself headed over to “Timmies”…

“What do you get when you put a SAR guy and a Sailor at the same table???”

You get a really interesting discussion on GPS units…  I learned more in that hour about GPS than I ever knew before…

And I think they both have forgotten more about GPS units than I ever knew…

After that we all went our ways…  I headed home to do some stuff here on the blog and then worked on finding out which of my patchcords are due for replacement or repair…

Its snowing here lightly in the City so I’m not sure what will happen tomorrow…  I was thinking of a local park but now I only thinking of warm…

73bob

RAC Meeting update from RAC Bulletin Service

If you can read this… Thank A Teacher…

If you read this in English… Thank a Veteran!

“Lest we forget…”

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The following came to my inbox courtesy of the RAC Bulletin Service:

====MESSAGE STARTS NOW===

Via Daniel A. Lamoureux, VE2KA

RAC Bulletin 2010-028E  2010-10-30  – 10:00 a.m.

This weekend, the Radio Amateur of Canada Director’s, executive and key resources have gathered in Ottawa to plan the future of RAC. These individuals are almost all volunteers, and we are committed to the future of RAC.

Today – we are looking at what RAC needs to look like in the future. We are reviewing the feedback received, the future of ‘The Canadian Amateur’ magazine and what our physical presence needs to be in the future.  We are building a ‘vision’ of what RAC needs to look like in the future, in order to attract and retain members, and ensure the future of Amateur Radio in Canada.

Further bulletins to follow.

Signed:
Directors and Executive
Radio Amateurs of Canada

–
* * * *

Vernon Erle Ikeda – VE2MBS/VE2QQ
Dollard des Ormeaux, Quebec
RAC E-News/Web News Bulletin Editor
<racnews@rac.ca>

———-
You are receiving this bulletin because you are subscribed to an electronic mailing list.
For more information or to change your subscription please visit:
http://rac.eton.ca/racbullemail.htm

 

===END OF MESSAGE===

As I receive the information I will do my best to post it here in a timely fashion.  This identical message also came in from the Director for North and East Ontario Bill Unger VE3XT.

It seems RAC is doing their best to keep us informed…

73bob

RAC Meeting update from VE3XT

If you can read this… Thank A Teacher…

If you read this in English… Thank a Veteran!

“Lest we forget…”

.

The following message was received via emil from Bill Unger VE3XT.  He sent it out to his distribution list for his Directors Monthly Bulletin so I am taking liberty and figuring this is a special bulletin from my Regional Director.  This will be of interest to all Amateurs in Canada and its good to see that progress is being made…

=======Message Starts Here=======

Hello from Ottawa:

Going to try and send out just a real short summery on the day’s activities so far.

We started  at 6:30 for the meeting to see where RAC will be in the next 2 to 3 years.  Three major tasks lay ahead of us, 2011 plan and budget, 2012 projection and vision of RAC’s future.  Present are President Bawden, 4 Directors and 9 other Executive.

This meeting is a Pivot Point for RAC.  What we do this weekend will have an immense impact on the future of RAC and be assured there is and will be a future!

Some ideas put forward so far are we need to be open and visible, protect our volunteers and ensure the future of RAC.

We did spend some time going over the financials and they are where we expected them to be, so we are stable that way.

After the meeting we had a little time to socialize and catch up and then I went to my room to try some operating from the room using my KX1. Not a lot of signals on the bands, some strong SSB but it is the big contest weekend so that is to be expected.

Look for me tomorrow night on 10.106 MHz after 10PM EDT.

Bill VE3XT

============End of  Message=========

Open and Timely communication is building my confidence!

That  “Warm Fuzzy Feeling” is almost returning!

There will be more updates posted as they are received…

73bob

Welcome the VX1r to the shack

If you can read this… Thank A Teacher…

If you read this in English… Thank a Veteran!

“Lest we forget…”

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I forgot to mention earlier…

When I was at the OVMRC Meeting I picked up a “Gently Used”  Yaesu VX1r which is a dual band Handheld.  The radio came from the Estate of my old friend Larry whose call of VE3WEH has been assumed by his daughter Cindy  who also is an amateur radio operator.

This rig is a “tiny little thing… ” It is smaller than my Yaesu MH31 hand mich.   I have had Pagers that were larger.  It is low powered but falls into the  “No Excuse catagory”.  I now have “NO EXCUSE” for not listening to the repeater.  It fits into my pocket without issues…  Or comments…

“Is that a radio in your pocket or are you glad to see me?”

It came with two battery packs and a “AA” battery holder and seeing how little power it draws I don’t ever expect to get to use the excuse the batteries died…

Even got the box and the manual and the wall wart that charges the batteries.  Larry really took good care of his stuff…

SPECIFICATIONS

Type:	Amateur VHF/UHF transceiver
Frequency range:	TX: 144-146 / 430-440 MHz (Europe and Asia) RX: 0.5-1.7 / 76-999 MHz
Mode:	TX: FM RX: AM/FM/WFM
RF Power output:	0.5 / 0.5 W (1/1 W with external power)
Sensitivity:	N/A
Selectivity:	N/A
Image rejection:	N/A
Voltage:	3.6 VDC (3.2-7 VDC external)
Current drain:	RX: 16-150 mA TX: 0.4 A @ 500 mW TX output
Impedance:	50 ohms, SMA
Dimensions (W*H*D):	47*81*25 mm
Weight:	125 gr
Manufactured:	1997-19xx (Discontinued)
Other:	291 memories. CTCSS/DCS. ARTS. Alpha tags New price 1997 in Sweden: 2750:- SEK
Related documents:	User manual (2.1 MB)

Above picture and specs courtesy WWW.RIGPIX.com

In the picture that follows you will see how it stacks up compared to other newer Yaesu Radios with the VX1R on the right, the VX8GR in the middle and the FT60r on the left.  Underneath the VXGR in the middle is the MH31 mic without the cable.  The quality of the picture is not the best but you can at least get an indication of size.

Remember I never claimed to be a photographer…

One of the remarkable things about this radio is that it was built in 1997 and is in a smaller package than my current handhelds.  The scary part is even back in 1997 Yaesu had those annoying multi level menus which still confuse me today.

However the radio does fit in my pocket and will access both the vhf and uhf repeaters I would need to access from downtown but with the 0.5w output no long distance stuff.  It has an excellent rcvr and will do a good job on the local FM radio station when I’m taking a bus ride.  Its bigger than the IPOD but still smaller than my old Sony Walkman…

More on how it performs after I get time to play with it a bit more…

Get ready for the weekend…

73bob

 

PS…  If anyone at Yaesu is reading this…   The latest acquisition makes Yaesu Radio number 7 in the shack.  If you wanted to ship me down one of those new FT450 (d) up here so I could review it…  I would not argue with it…

Promise to ship it back after I finish with my “in depth review”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honest!!!

This way I could do review number 8

Heck I can dream can’t I???

73bob

Report from the OVMRC Meeting

If you can read this… Thank A Teacher…

If you read this in English… Thank a Veteran!

“Lest we forget…”

Good Friday Morning,

I was at the OVMRC  October General Meeting last night and it was a great time… The scheduled guest speaker was excellent,  the unscheduled guest speaker (RAC President VE4BAW) proved very interesting.

In addition to the above,  the operating budget for 2010-2011 was approved and in that budget was some funds for my Special Event-Field Day department so there is now a very good chance that you will be hearing VE3RAM or VE3JW in a few of the major contests this year.

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VA3PCJ and VA3QV at Winter Field Day 2010

Its too soon for the CQ WW SSB this weekend, but an excellent chance of hearing us for the RAC Canada Winter Contest,  the SPAR Winter Field Day Event, The Ontario QSO Party.  Field Day 2011 is a given along with the Lighthouse/Lightship weekend in August.

Our Local Lighthouse

Club Trailer Field Day 2010

Getting back to the meeting…

Our guest speaker was Micheal Nemat,  a student from Carleton University who designed and built a tracking program along with its own display platform using Google maps.  This does sound a lot like APRS being displayed on Aprs.fi but he designed and built the whole thing…

He designed a circuit board and had it built.  Interfaced it with a cellular phone and a very powerful GPS RCVR and set it to send DATA from his cellular phone over the internet to a server data base.  The server then accessed the data and plotted everything and then displayed it on Google Maps looking exactly like what we see on APRS.fi.

His GPS System was able to access 11 sats with the unit in the open which gave his an excellent level of accuracy and when the unit was concealed UNDER THE VEHICLE he still was able to access 6 sats for a fairly good level of accuracy.

His power for the whole unit was able to run the unit for two days non stop and when secured to the underneath of the vehicle was virtually undetected…  Remember that story of the FBI tracking device found on a vehicle a couple of weeks ago?

The unit our student built was just a bit smaller than the one in the video and did not the large battery pack.

The prototype unit was roughly just a little larger than my VX8GR which also does tracking with a built in GPS but his runs for two days , can be concealed and all it needs is a cell site.  My VX8GR runs for 5 hours, has to be in the open and needs a digipeater…  My unit cost more and both of us use google maps…

This young gentleman is going places…  Watch for him in the future…  I hope we can convince him to get his Amateur Ticket…  There is no doubt he could walk in an pass it today…  He and his fellow students could be the future of Amateur Radio if we can get them interested in interacting with a bunch of us “old pharts”…

The second guest speaker of the night was Geoff Bawden VE4BAW who is the President of Radio Amateurs of Canada.  Geoff is in Ottawa for the weekend for a Special Meeting with the rest of the RAC Board and Executive on the future of our national organisation.

Geoff started by introducing himself and made a few general comments and when he was concluding he said the words “any questions?” and that opened the floodgates…

Questions flew from the floor on the recent IC letting the bike tour use amateur frequencies, the lack of communication (or better yet) the poor communication from RAC.  The RAC Liability insurance, discounts for students and how to attract members were also mentioned.

The biggest questions/debate were from some tech savy younger amateurs who are members but feel RAC is not communicating with us.  The RAC email bulletin service, the RAC Blog and the TCA are not enough.  They would like Twitter and Facebook…  They feel we have to bring RAC’s methods of communicating with their members into the 21st century.  Which is something that should be looked into if we are going after the younger types…

It turned out quite a bit longer than we expected, but giving Geoff credit he handled every question.  I get the feeling he has handled a scrum before as he seemed confident in front of the group with no notes or script.   To be honest I was impressed!

Actually RAC was fairly well represented at the meeting with President Geoff, Director for Alberta and the North Director “Mitch” Mitchell VE6OH.  Vice-President Industreal Relations Norm VE3LC as in attendance as was VA3SM Chris who is the RAC Office Manager here in Ottawa.  Mike VE3IPC who is the DEC for Ottawa and area was in attendance as well.

The meeting which started at 1930 ran a bit longer than usual and finished up at 2200 hrs.  I found it to be very informative with two excellent guest speakers and I walked away from the meeting with a bit more confidence on the future of our hobby.

Not “warm and fuzzy” yet…  but I’m not looking for the lifeboats any more!

They say “a picture is worth a thousand words … “ so just imagine how long this post would of been without all the graphics…

Enjoy your weekend

73bob

Remembering our Vets…

If you can read this… Thank A Teacher…

If you read this in English… Thank a Veteran!

“Lest we forget…”

The following came to me as an email from an Amateur Radio Operator and yes he is a Veteran.  Every now and again I treat (or subject) you to an editorial or a non amateur related posting and this is one of those times and in my opinion this time “its treat”…

The following is for your reading enjoyment and also a bit of Canadian History for you…

THE VETERAN ON OUR TEN DOLLAR BILL 

If you look at the back right-hand side of a Canadian $10 bill, you will see an old veteran standing at attention near the Ottawa war memorial. His name is Robert Metcalfe and he died last month at the age of 90.

That he managed to live to that age is rather remarkable, given what happened in the Second World War. Born in England , he was one of the 400,000 members of the British Expeditionary Force sent to the mainland where they found themselves facing the new German warfare technique – the Blitzkrieg.

He was treating a wounded comrade when he was hit in the legs by shrapnel.

En route to hospital, his ambulance came under fire from a German tank, which then miraculously ceased fire. Evacuated from Dunkirk on HMS Grenade, two of the sister ships with them were sunk.

Recovered, he was sent to allied campaigns in North Africa and Italy . En route his ship was chased by the German battleship Bismarck .

In North Africa he served under General Montgomery against the Desert Fox, Rommel.

Sent into the Italian campaign, he met his future wife, a lieutenant and physiotherapist in a Canadian hospital. They were married in the morning by the mayor of the Italian town, and again in the afternoon by a British padre.

After the war they settled in Chatham where he went into politics and became the warden (chairman) of the county and on his retirement he and his wife moved to Ottawa . At the age of 80 he wrote a book about his experiences.

One day out of the blue he received a call from a government official asking him to go downtown for a photo op. He wasn’t told what the photo was for or why they chose him. ‘He had no idea he would be on the bill,’ his daughter said.

And now you know the story of the old veteran on the $10 bill.

Metcalfe Honored by Royal Canadian Legion

- Courtesy of Royal Canadian Legion

==========

If you would like more information on Mr. Metcalfe’s Book please

FOLLOW THIS LINK

I do not know who the original author  of the above article is but a Google Search of the title brings us to many sites with the same story so I doubt the author would object to me posting it here to honour  Canada’s Veterans.

“We will Remember them…”

73bob

VA3QV/qrp from Mooneys Bay Ottawa

November 11th – Remembrance Day

If you can read this thank a teacher… If you can read this in English then thank a Veteran!

“Lest We Forget”

The weather was not bad today.  Sunny with temps around 19 deg C but it was windy.  But compared with the Weather Bomb that blew through overnight it was a really calm day…

Today I setup at Mooneys Bay Park in Ottawa along with Jose VA3PCJ…

View Larger Map

And if you look at the picture below I was operating from a picnic table immediately west of the tennis courts…  To see the tennis courts move the map south west and increase the magnification just a bit…

View Larger Map

The gear of the day was my FT817 along with a Buddistick antenna clamped to the picnic table.  I operated on 10,12,15,17,and 20m but no contacts were made on 10m and 20m.

Above is a pic of my FT817 setup.  It was not taken at Mooneys Bay.  This picture was taken at the OVMRC Meeting back in May 2010…Remember my earlier comments about my skills as a photographer?  The pic taken of the setup showing the radio did not turn out…

Above- A picture of the operating position.  Shows the Buddipole on the picnic table.

Above- A different shot of the operating position.  Shows where I was operating from with the Beach Building in the background.  It you look at the map a bit earlier in the post the tennis courts would of been on the right hand side of the shot.

Above- Jose was operating with his Icom IC 703 and he was using his freshly constructed W3EDP antenna.

Band conditions were good today’s outing and I managed contacts on 12m, 15m and 17m.   15m was really good with a couple of contest stations starting to warm up the airwaves in preparation for the CQ WW SSB contest running this coming weekend.

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I did have to fight a couple of pile ups but was able to get heard by 3 contesters flexing their muscles.  Very loud signals but they were still able to pick out my call through all the mess.  I was really suprised…  Happy but suprised!!!

Contacts making it into the log today were:

VP5/I8UZA Guiseppe who was warming up his contest station VP5I from the Turks and Caicos Islands.  He pulled my QRP Signal out on 21.320 usb on the 15m band

View Larger Map

Next on the list was OX3KQ Jesper, operating from Greenland with a very strong signal on 21.225 in the 15m band.  Check out his youtube video (below the map) to see why…

View Larger Map

And now you know why his signal was so strong…

I then managed to contact CO8LY Eduardo operating from Cuba on 24.947 on the 12m band.

View Larger Map

The last (but not least) contact of the day was NI5Y Calvin who was in his mobile and lives in Little Rock Arkansas USA.   This made it a QRP Portable to QRO Mobile contact on 18.125 in the 17m band.  His Yaesu FT857 sounded great…

View Larger Map

Of course, as he was operating a Yaesu it had to sound good…

The sun started to drop over the western horizon and with that came the reminder that this is Canada in October.  It got really cool… really quick…  so it was time to tear down, pack up and head home…

All in all it was a great couple of hours with antennas tested, and contacts made and the sunny afternoon with fresh air did not hurt either…

73bob

Balloon QSL arrived

Today’s Canada Post delivery took me by suprise…  First off NO BILLS (and it is close to the end of the month) and secondly a fairly hefty envelope addressed to me…

Not expecting anything I found inside a QSL Card from the RAQI Balloon Launch of July 12 2010 in which I managed to make a contact to their NCS station through the Cross Band Repeater in the payload.  Along with the QSL Card was a CD with AVI files showing the Launch, Flight and Landing of the Balloon.  Seeing that they had the AVI Files the recovery must of been successful.

Just to refresh your memory…  From my blog on July 12th 2010

.

Made contact with the balloon

By VA3QV

This morning around 1030 edst I decided to try and check into the net being held on the balloon’s cross band repeater…  I had my doubts as the FT897 only has an output of 20w on uhf fm…  My antenna for this was my 2m homebrewed JPole that seems to like 70cm as well at approx 30 feet above ground.

I GOT IN ON THE FIRST TRY AND WAS LOGGED AS QSO 41.

now back to today’s blog posting…

Today’s QSL Card shown below:

Now the Video shown above is from the BRAQ YouTube site but is not from the Flight in question.

It just serves as a graphic example of the flights…

I have copies of the video showing the 2010-3 launch, flight and landing but don’t want to post it myself (its their videos) and so once I see it posted on Youtube … I will make an update post…

The timing was perfect as we are still getting ready for the November 20th flight.

Hopefully there will more info from the BRAQ  Site along with more from LASA in the weeks ahead…

73bob

RAC President to address the OVMRC

Today when I got around to checking my email I found the following in my inbox courtesy of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club email Bulletin Service…

Hello Bob,

I am thrilled to announce that Geoff Bawden (VE4BAW), RAC’s President, will be making an appearance at the next OVMRC club meeting (in TWO days). He will make a short presentation and then answer some questions. You are invited to come join us at our meeting, which begins at 19:30h at the Canada Science Museum.

Mark your calendar!

73

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So there you have it…

Live in Ottawa, This Thursday Night at the October Meeting of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club the guest speaker will be RAC President -VE4BAW Geoff

If you are able to attend the meeting please take the time to do so,  The doors usually open at 1900 EDST with the meeting starting at 1930 EDST or a bit later depending on the crowds…

The reason we are fortunate enough to find Geoff in Ottawa is that this is the weekend of a special meeting to “shape the future of RAC”.  The President along with the Board of Directors and the executive officers. (VPs, Secretary, Treasurer etc) will be meeting a local location and entering into discussions on how we can transform RAC to better serve its members and the interests of Amateur Radio.  The success of this will ensure the future of RAC and also ensure the future of Amateur Radio in Canada.

These amateurs are coming to Ottawa (on their own nickel) with no expense account for this one to discuss and plan for the future of our hobby.  This shows dedication to the cause and they must be commended for it.

The problems (and we have all heard about them) facing RAC and Amateur Radio in Canada are not the fault of the Current RAC Board.  The writing was on the wall for years and we just never looked at it… Its the fault of all of us for not speaking up earlier…  Lets work with the Board and the Executive and fix the problem…

We have way too much to lose and failure is not an option…

73bob