December and the Ottawa Radio Clubs

Coming up starting tonight the local clubs will be busy….

Tonight( December 4th)… The 3730/VE3ORF group meets tonight with a Supper Meeting starting at 1730 hours and the business part of the meeting starting at about 1900 hrs at Rockwells Family Restaurant in the Merivale South area of Ottawa.  (close to the Darwin Arena) I attended last months meeting and had a great time and as I was offered a ride there I’ll be going there again tonight

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Also Tonight( December 4th)…  The West Carleton Amateur Radio Club meets tonight in the meeting room at Sobeys in Kanata (Terry Fox dr/Eagleson Road)  This would be in the general area of Scotia Bank Place (where they used to play NHL Hockey in Ottawa)  The meeting starts at 1930 hours and for more info check out their website…  I believe they are having their Club Elections tonight as well

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On Wednesday December 12th…  The Ottawa Valley QRP Society will be having their monthly Supper meeting at Donnas Restaurant (ChurchillAve  North of Richmond Road and south of Scott) starting around 1700 hrs with the members showing up depending on Ottawa’s Rush hour situation.  Limited info on their website…

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Also on Wednesday December 12th…  The Ottawa Amateur Radio Club will be having their monthly meeting at the Ottawa City Hall (111 Laurier St W) at 1930 hours.  The smart people show up just around 1900 to get a good seat (a bit earlier depending on the guest speaker for the evening)  The meeing will be a Trivia Nite Contest.  If last year was any example it will be a fun evening.  Worth showing up to

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On Thursday December 20th … The Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club will be having their montly meeting at the Canada Museum of Science and Technology located on Lancaster Road just east of St Laurent blvd.  Meeting start at 1930 and once again its usually a good idea to get there a bit early…  Decembers Meeting is a social event.  They are having a “Pot Luck Supper”  Please check their website for more information

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According to their website  (the recently restructured)   Manotick Amateur Radio Group (MARG) will be holding a meeting on Saturday December 15th at 1800 hrs.  According to their website it will be a social Christmas dinner meeting being held at the “Tailgators Restaurant” at the Merivale Mall.  Please check their webiste for up to date info

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So as you can see…  you do have options…  CU at at least at one of the meetings and maybe more…

73bob

ps…

As always please double check the club websites before heading out to a meeting just in case there has been a change.  All the information in the above posting came from their website and was accurate when I posted it but things can change …  And often does…

Last night at the OVMRC Meeting

Last night I wandered over to the Science Museum  (which you might remember is a short walk from my home) and attended the monthly meeting of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club.  The meeting served as a great meeting place as I had to drop off one piece of equipment as well as get back another piece of gear…

The gear coming home was my TAKTENNA which I had loaned out to a new ham about a year ago.

The antenna covers 10-40m and can also do 80m depending on your tuner.

As you can see from the picture its a different style design but it does work (read my earlier posts) about as well as any of the other compromise (limited space antennas) antennas do.

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It will not out perform a wire antenna stretched out but it does get you on the air with a signal that can be heard.

I proved that in the RAC Canada Winter Contest a  couple of years ago.

I was talking to another amateur about this antenna and I believe it will be leaving me shortly (again) on another long term loan as he tries to find the best way to get an apt balcony “Radio Active”

Now lets talk about the toy that just left….

A few of you might know that I had a Yaesu VX1…

Thats a .5w micro dual band handie that  Yaesu put out a few years back…   I think that now they are up to the VX3.  At the last VE3ORF/3730 group supper meeting one of the hams there was mentioning that he was going to buy one of the Chinese knock offs of the VX3….  I mentioned that he should enjoy it and that I had a “REAL” VX1 that was sitting in a box and gathering dust….  We kept on talking and to make a long story short …  We met at the OVMRC Meeting last night and now its his VX1….  As much as I hate to get rid of gear …  Its a radio I was not using…  Could not see myself using….  And I still have the VX5, the VX8gr and the FT60r handhelds still in the shack that all serve alike purposes…  The VX1 was definately surplus to my needs….

So one piece leaves and another piece returns….  Liz probally would of been happier if two left but….

As I was at the meeting anyway I took the time to watch the guest speaker (Micheal VE3WMB) who was giving an excellent talk on Portable Radio HF Operations.  Micheal and myself are both avid QRP/Portable types and we have been out on a couple of event having fun.  The last time I saw Micheal was the 2012 ChillyCon event held in early September at the Rideau River Provincal Park.

He gave a very interesting talk/presentation and it was nice to be used as a good example (as a change) as he did mention QRP SSB as well as the FT817 and W3EDP Antennas in his talk. 

Anyway the meeting ended just after 9pm and I was home by about 2130 local after a great day.  After that I worked a bit on re designing the QRZ Page of a fellow ham and then I called it a night…

Today will be spent getting gear ready for the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes Contest which happen this coming weekend….

73bob

Dead Air

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Today I went from Ottawa out to VE3DLJ’s trailer at White Lake Ontario (Arnprior Ontario) to help him check things out before the snow finally arrives…  The trailer was winterised corrrectly and we were just double checking (killing time on a Thursday afternoon) because once the snow arrives its a long walk in to check stuff out…

One thing I noticed today was the lack of activity on the repeaters…  Given that most of the local amateur community are “old retired pharts” (and I include myself in that description)  I figured that we should of heard something coming out of at least one of the repeaters while driving there…We did hear some activity on a  repeater on our way back to Ottawa and did participate in a bit of a round table …

Now I mention this because recently while reading some Club Newsletters on line, I have noticed either Letters to the Editor and in one case in the minutes of meetings people questioning the need for a club repeater when in most cases there is no activity on it…

Do we repair it or just take it off the air???  The insurance is going through the roof???  No one ever uses it!!!!  We could put the funds to better use!!!!

I’m willing to bet that some of you have heard those comments before either on your club repeater or at club meetings…  Yet we get so upset when we have “Invaders, Intruders, Trespassers or Pirates  on our bands which by the way are the same bands that we don’t care if there is a repeater on it or not…  The Amateur Radio Bands…

Now if your area is anything like my area….  Your local club VHF/UHF nets are not doing that well…  The newer hams don’t seem to want to talk  (mic shy???)  and the older hams are tired of talking to themselves…  But if we don’t start to get a little more activity on the bands then although we might not lose them…  The club repeaters might disapear…  And once you lose a good repeater site , its a hard thing to get back…  Good repeater sites are becoming rare…

Thinking back when there were less Cell Phone Towers around and the cell was not as common place we had lots more activity on the VHF Bands….  Now we have much less activity ….  But its not like there is that much activity on HF either so where is everyone talking???  Its got to be on Skype or Cell because its not on the Amateur Bands…

73bob

Busy time on the Club Scene here in the Ottawa Area

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. “Lest we forget…”

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Coming up starting tonight the local clubs will be busy….

Tonight… The 3730/VE3ORF group meets tonight with a Supper Meeting starting at 1730 hours and the business part of the meeting starting at about 1900 hrs at Rockwells Family Restaurant in the Merivale South area of Ottawa.  (close to the Darwin Arena) I attended last months meeting and had a great time and as I was offered a ride there I’ll be going there again tonight

Also Tonight…  The West Carleton Amateur Radio Club meets tonight in the meeting room at Sobeys in Kanata (Terry Fox dr/Eagleson Road)  This would be in the general area of Scotia Bank Place (where they used to play NHL Hockey in Ottawa)  The meeting starts at 1930 hours and for more info check out their website…

On Wednesday November 14…  The Ottawa Valley QRP Society will be having their monthly Supper meeting at Donnas Restaurant (ChurchillAve  North of Richmond Road and south of Scott) starting around 1700 hrs with the members showing up depending on Ottawa’s Rush hour situation.  Limited info on their website…

Also on Wednesday November 14th…  The Ottawa Amateur Radio Club will be having their monthly meeting at the Ottawa City Hall (111 Laurier St W) at 1930 hours.  The smart people show up just around 1900 to get a good seat (a bit earlier depending on the guest speaker for the evening)

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On Thursday Novermber 15th…  The Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club will be having their montly meeting at the Canada Museum of Science and Technology located on Lancaster Road just east of St Laurent blvd.  Meeting start at 1930 and once again its usually a good idea to get there a bit early…

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According to their website  (the recently restructured)   Manotick Amateur Radio Group (MARG) will be holding their montly meeting on November 21st at 2000hrs.   I am guessing they will be proving more information (location and guest speaker) before the meeting date. They used to meet at the Manotick branch of the Ottawa Public Library and I am not sure if that has changed…

So as you can see…  you do have options…  CU at at least at one of the meetings and maybe more…

73bob

Tuesday Night in Ottawa- You have choices

Its the first Tuesday of the month and so you have choices in which club meeting to attend in the Ottawa Area….

Starting at 1730 at Rockwells Family Restaurant  at the Merivale Mall you will  find members of the VE3ORF/3730 Group starting their monthly supper meeting…  The Supper part of the meeting ends at 1900 when the meeting part of the meeting starts….

Starting at 1930 hrs at Sobeys Store on Hazeldean Rd (corner of Terry Fox) in Kanata you will find members and guests of the West Carleton ARC having their monthly meeting…  The guest speaker VE2ZAZ will be talking about the new Raspberry PI mini computer and how you can use it for various amateur purposes…  Speaking from experience if you get to the meeting a bit early the Sobeys makes a great pizza and there are also many fast food locations close by so you can have supper then the meeting…

No matter what meeting you choose to go to….  you will be edcuated,  entertained and enlightened….

73bob

News from the Lakehead….

The following just came in my email from the person who sold me a used buddistick a couple of years ago….

If your in the area why not drop into the meeting…

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Hello all,

 

It is that time of the year again!

 

The first meeting of the Lakehead Amateur radio club will be held Thursday September 13, 2012 at 7:00 PM

Confederation College McIntyre Building room 191.

 

Please make an effort to attend as this will be nominations and elections meeting.

 

We are also accepting membership renewals.

 

I hope to see you all there.

 

FIRST MEETING of the Lakehead Amateur radio club First Meeting including nominations and elections When Thu, 13 September, 7:30pm – 8:30pm GMT-04:00 Where Confederation College, McIntyre Building, Room 191 Who (Guest list has been hidden at organiser’s request)

Cheers Jeff Cederwall VE3JTD

Secretary of the Lakehead Amateur Radio Club

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Thanks Jeff for sharing that with us and its great to see that you are still active in our hobby…

73bob

A new addition to the VA3QV Blogroll- The Oakville ARC

Please join me in welcoming the Oakville Amateur Radio Club and their blog to my blogroll.  You can find their blog link on the right hand side of your page in the Blog Roll catagory.  If you just want to get there from there then you can click the following link as well and get there even faster:

http://ve3hb.wordpress.com/

If you are thinking of setting up your first (or almost the first) HF Station there is a series of posts on how to do it easy and more importantly cheap as you work your way down the pages.  The author of these articles is Peter VE3HG.  Those of you who follow my blog will notice that I have mentioned his articles before as good reading and this time is no exception.  If your new or not so new give the Oakville ARC Blog a look through.

Happy New Year

73bob

Ottawa Antenna Proposal info

Recently you have seen me mention some proposed changes to the  City of Ottawa bylaws as they pertain to antennas.  Not only AMATEUR but all external antennas on property inside the City.

The West Carleton ARC has the following on their website:

October 4, 2011 Meeting – Discussion on City of Ottawa Proposed Antenna Policy. Guest is Rob MacLachlan, Dept of Planning & Growth Mgmt

From their website also comes the following…

Club Meetings

The club meets on the first Tuesday of every month unless a change is announced by email. Meetings begin at 19:30hrs local time.

Please be forewarned that WCARC meetings are informal: we usually have a Treasurer’s report and a very brief report on various projects that are underway. We have a show-and-tell session at every meeting, so if you have something that the rest of us might be interested in, bring it along. We also talk quite a bit, as we have to get a whole months worth of excitement packed into a couple of hours. No club coffee is provided at this time.

 

Meeting Location

The club will be meeting in the Meeting Room, upstairs in Sobey’s at the SW corner of Terry Fox Dr. and Hazeldean. Please note that the “Bring Your Own Chair” program is in effect at this location

If you have the time and the means to get to Kanata on Tuesday October 4th along with an interest in what the City is planning to do with OUR ANTENNAS then this would be the meeting to attend.

Thanks to the WCARC for getting this important info out to the Amateur Radio Community.

73bob

RAC-North East Ontario Regional Directors Report September, 2011

The following found its way into my spam filter….  It should of made it to my inbox…  Sorry its a bit delayed but better late than never….

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North East Ontario Regional Directors Report September, 2011

 

            Hello and I hope you all had a good summer. As you may be aware RAC was at Dayton and it was the first time I have been back there in 20+ years. If you have been there you know it’s an Amateurs Paradise, and if you haven’t been put it on the list. If you do go next year please stop at the RAC booth and say hello.

            Moving forward there are multiple things going on with RAC in Ontario.  The first one is the Distracted Driving Legislation and RAC’s attempt to get a specific exemption for Amateurs. We are still hoping to get a meeting with the policy Advisor to Ms Wynne and explain why we want an exemption. If you can get a letter from a local organization, NGO or group explaining how Amateurs help your community please send me a copy. There are other plans in the work and they will be unrolled as needed. We need to get Amateur Radio on bureaucrat’s radar.

            Another task force under RAC has been formed to update how the RAC Field Services operate in Ontario. Ontario is a large and diverse province and emergency preparedness is not the same for Thunder Bay as is Toronto. We need to be able to accommodate all regions. So some changes will be made to the Field Organization. Stay tuned.

            For more background information use the following link to view all the RAC Bulletins:
http://www.rac.ca/en/news/bulletins/2011/

            The other item I would like to highlight is that several positions are open on the RAC executive. The President’s, Treasurer and all the Vice Presidents positions are open. They serve a 2 year term and it is a chance to help further Amateur Radio in Ontario. You have until October 31 to apply. If you have any expertise in financial matters and can use quick books please give the Treasurers position a thought.

            The other bit of great news is that with RAC intervention Industry Canada has gazetted a proposal for Amateur operation on 60M. This could be a great Christmas present for Canadian Amateurs.

            If you are in Ottawa on September 10 or Sudbury on September 24 both cities are having Hamfests. For more information go to:
http://rac.eton.ca/events/upcoming.php

            Finally if you are operating there are a lot of special call signs that are available, for a complete listing go to the RAC site:
http://www.rac.ca/en/amateur-radio/regulatory/callsigns/special-event.php

 

If you have any questions or concerns please email me at ve3xt@rac.ca.

 

73 

 

Bill VE3XT

North East Ontario

Regional Director

 

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The above is being posted intact with no content editing as a service to the Amateur Radio Community

73bob

Wednesday at the OARC Meeting

As mentioned in the last post the OARC (Ottawa Amateur Radio Club) held their meeting last night at City Hall in Ottawa.  I was able to get my schedule straightened out so I actually made it there and was able to attend.

The guest speaker was my old friend Barrie VE3BSB who some of you might know of from his ARES work and others from his Balloon Work.  Last nights powerpoint presentation was on the Balloon Stuff.

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After searching the internet I found a copy of Barrie’s Presentation on the WCARC (West Carleton Amateur Radio Club) site and if you follow

THIS LINK and follow the instruction to view it

You could see what we saw minus Barrie’s wonderful comments on each slide

Actually as you will be on the WCARC site why not spend a few minutes and look around as its makes for good reading…  Check out the DSTAR stuff as the club has a hand in Ottawa’s DSTAR Repeater system.

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While looking for Barries Presentation I also found this picture of him giving the presentation at the QCWA Meeting held in Ottawa earlier

The QCWA website is also worth looking through…

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But now back to the OARC….

The meeting also included reports on their activities from the summertime which included the very well attended CARP Hamfest and the Portable Demonstration Event in the park which I talked about earlier here.

And you can see some pictures of the event here…

In addition to the presentation we were brought up to speed on some upcoming projects.  The club is planning a group build session as well as operating VA3RAC from the Diefenbunker in the RAC Canada Winter Contest…

I was impressed enough that I acutally dug deep into my back pocket and removed my wallet and now I am a member of that club…

Not sure whats happening today due to the threat of damp…  but hopefully there will be some sort of RADIOWORK involved…

73bob