Looking back through time…

It just seems like yesterday….  To be honest more like 3 years ago today….  February 10 2008 was the first blog post I made and it was made right here…  “The Blog” as I affectionally call it is three years old today…

So after over 165,000 visitors and 1200 posts (that averages over 1 a day for the three years) its time for a rest….

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU….

So now we broach a slightly different part of the Birthday Celebrations….  After 3 years I need a little time off…  I am going to take a couple of months off and recharge my batteries a bit… 

 If you have been following the other Social Media devices I use such as the RAC Blog, and RACTWEETS and the RAC Facebook Page you will have noticed that I have given up those mediums as well.  The RAC Social Media will continue on with someone else at the helm for a few months and then I’ll see if they will take me back. 

This Blog (The Blog) will return once I have had some time to myself and my family.  Not to mention having something new and interesting stuff to chat about….

CU about April…

73bob

North East Ontario Regional Directors Report for February 2011

This posting comes to us courtesy of Bill VE3XT

North East Ontario Regional Directors Report for February 2011

The monthly meeting of the Regional Directors was held on January 27 and then continued over to February 3. Due to Family and job commitments Stephen Mayne, VE3LWX has had to resign as Co-ordinator of Philanthropy. It is a hobby and family and job are first. I and all the Directors would like to thank him for stepping up to bat in this position.

But this also now means that we are looking for a new person to take over the position. If you are interested let me know or if you have a lead on someone who would make a good Co-ordinator of Philanthropy please contact me.

We are still looking for a Director for South Ontario. This is the largest group of Amateurs in Canada and it is imperative that we have a Director for that region. Again if you are interested please let me know.

It’s February and that means the new RAC Report will be out this month. Since this is a new endeavour for all concerned we are still working out a few kinks, but watch your email inbox for it soon.

We are presenting a balanced budget (and possibly a slight profit), the first one in several years. It has taken a while to turn our fortunes around but it actually seems we have and the future of Radio Amateurs of Canada is looking up. What we do need to survive is members, plain and simple. Memberships pays the bills for RAC. If you’re a member, thanks, if not and you are reading this in your club magazine would you please consider becoming a member?

We also voted and approved that only RAC members will be allowed to use the callsign@rac.ca alias. It was felt that members should have extra privileges and this is one of them. If you have a RAC alias and are not a member you may loose the privilege of this feature in the future. To quote the American Express ad “Membership has its privilege”.

One of the things I never get to do as often as I want is just to get on the air and make a few contacts.  This last weekend was one of my favourite events, FYBO, Freeze your Buns Off. It’s a winter Field Day and we have been operating here in Thunder Bay for the last few years with a group of Amateurs. As you can see I got one of the choicer operating locations. Soft and out of the wind! The rig is an Elecraft K1 and it feeds a 15 metre end fed with 3 radials 5 metres long.

It’s still a while away yet but remember the Smiths Falls Flea Market sponsored by the Rideau Lakes ARC is being held on May 14.

 Bill VE3XT North East Ontario Regional Director, Radio Amateurs of Canada, ve3xt@rac.ca

Getting ready for the Canadian Ski Marathon

Sorry folks about not posting as much  as I usually do but the last few days has been busy with getting gear ready for this coming weekend for the Canadian Ski Marathon.

I’ve had to program my radio with the new frequencies for the event along with gather coax and make sure the JPole works and I can find the masting for it as I will be one of the operators at the Net Control this year. 

And theres more to it than just making sure the gear works…  I spent about 5 hours on a road trip today with the COMMS Coordinator for the event making sure that all the places they have picked as checkpoints for this two day event actually could get into one of the three repeaters we will be using. 

More on this as we get closer to the event….

73bob

Driver didn’t get the message

Today’s bit of discouraging news comes to us courtesy of the Ottawa Citizen (daily newspaper)…

Its discouraging because its showing Driving while distracted in a bad way…  Another professional who can’t follow the rules…

It takes away a little more public support and we did not have much to start with…

How are your attempts at getting your local officials to send a letter to the Provincal Goverment asking them to give Amateur Radio an exemption going?  As I have mentioned previously our local MPP is not going to go to bat for us on this one as the bulk of his constituants do not know the difference between a smart phone and my Yaesu VX8Gr or my Yaesu FT2900. 

However your local EMO official might know the difference and also know the value of Amateur Radio in that real emergency situation…  He should know what the local community could lose once we can no longer operate mobile in an unrestricted way…

His letter (along with others) stands a chance of getting either an exemption or an extension of the current exemption but right now time is running out…  Less than 2 Years to go and we have lots of work to do yet…

To win this we need an effective lobby effort!

Also the people we assist with Comms for Car Rallys, Bike Tours and walkathons…. They might want to send a letter to the Minister as well…  What about the local Police Department when we assist them with Communication for a lost child or when your ARES group goes out on the Pumpkin Patrol???  Perhaps they might want to help us as well…

Take the time to read the article then you will be (might be) motivated enough to think about who we can get on our side for this fight…

Driver didn’t get the message.

73bob

New antenna thoughts… Your opinions

I have been thinking of getting a multi-band vertical antenna here to play around a bit instead of the W3EDP antenna here…  After looking at a few different ones I came up with this GEM…

If you click on the above picture you will go to the S9 Website

From what I can tell this antenna is a 43 foot vertical thats lightweight (fibreglass with an interior wire) , and by the color and thickness very stealthy.  I could see this running up the inside of my maple tree with no effort whatso ever and no one would even tell its there… 

They claim it works fine with an autotuner on 6 to 160m and even better with a remote tuner. 

By strange coincidence I do happen to have a Yaesu FC40 tuner which works fine with my FT897 or will work great with the newer FT 450 or Ft950 HF Rigs and I have been concidering one of those for a while….  If anyone wants a really good deal on my FT847 let me know…

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Also the antenna is lightweight enough to be a transportable antenna which I could use out in the field in certain applications.  Field Day and certain contesting events come to mind right off the bat…

The above picture taken from the S9 website gives me plenty of ideas…  If you remember I am in negotiations with a friend of mine about taking his old van (below)off his hands for a good price. 

This might give me a very nice base of operations for portable ops….  Drive to a great location and just mount the antenna on the front bumper while stationary…  Sheltered and comfortable but can also operate from close by on the nice WX days….  It does have me thinking….

I should know on the status of the Van by the March Break but for now…  Back to the orignal question…

Have you heard anything good or bad about the S9 43 foot vertical antenna?

Do you know anyone using one?

Your input and feedback greatly appreciated…

73bob