OSCARC Newsletter
for November 2009
The regular monthly meeting of the Club convened at 1938 EST on Tuesday, November 03.
Members present were: Ward VE3WGK
(President), Peter VE3EYI (Chairman), Jeff VE3PRX (Secretary), Bill
VA3WTT(Treasurer), Jean VE3WAD, John VA3JE, Alex VA3XLO, Jay VE3EMP,
Dave VE3ETE, Tim VE3IXN,, Dave VE3RER, Ian VE3IJS, Bill VA3PPC
We were pleased to have a visitor in the person of Neil VE3NGS who had recently returned to Canada after an extended stay in New Zealand where he holds ZL1NZ. Many years ago Neil had been a regular operator at the OSC ham shack when it was
well equipped with Collins gear and located elsewhere in the building. Neil enjoys CW and has an interesting collection of keys, bugs and paddles.
The Secretary read the Minutes of the October meeting. There were no errors or corrections. Ward VE3WGK moved they be adopted, seconded by Alex VE3XLO. The motion was carried by those present.
There was an open discussion of Ontario Bill 118 regarding handsfree operation in a moving vehicle. It was pointed out that there is a 3 year exemption for Hams in the Act.
It was generally felt that handie talkies would not be exempt but that using a regular mobile mic would be. Our exemption is based on the fact that Hams are federally licensed and the province has no jurisdiction.
It was suggested that all Hams keep a copy of the traffic act along with a copy of their station licence in the glove box should they need to clarify the rules if they are stopped by the police. A copy of the Act can be found here:
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/source/regs/english/2009/elaws_src_regs_r09366_e.htm
Ward VE3WGK gave a report on his on-going discussions with OSC regarding attracting more volunteers.
The issue of background noise from visitors to the Science Center in the area out front of the shack was discussed.
It was thought that a noise cancelling mic for the rig would be a good thing. John VA3JE wondered if close-talking on the original handheld mic for the HF rig would help. It was suggested that Club members do some searching for mic options and feed the information back to John.
Once again the topic of nametags for Club members was raised. Various options were discussed which would not infringe on any OSC copyrighted logos. Ward VE3WGK was going to follow up and report his findings at a future meeting.
Ward also advised that the VE3CTV (145.370) repeater is back in service and available if the Club wanted to reactivate the monthly Net in 2010. He also confirmed that, although the Club has equipment made available to it by the Science Center which could function as a 2m repeater, the waiting list for a frequency pair is several years. There was some discussion about approaching the VE3ULR repeater group to see if we could link to them on 70cm.
Several contests are fast approaching although it was thought that the short lead-time and OSC considerations would make it difficult to participate. Efforts will be made to find contests and events in 2010 which VE3OSC could tie into.
It was mentioned that the ladder line for the G5RV antenna is no longer fully attached; the cable tie needs to be replaced. This needs to be done before ice comes. Contact Ward VE3WGK if you can help out. Also, our satellite antenna is tracking again.
All members were encouraged to find a topic they could talk about at a future meeting. This can be some homebrew gadget, some interesting info gleaned off the Internet, personal stories about their involvement with ham radio, etc.
Floobie Dust: (A category roughly equating to miscellaneous but interesting bits and pieces.)
-Ward reported that he worked Chilliwack BC with 1W on 20m from the shack!
-We can now get into ONTARS frequently with the G5RV, with the noise down to S6.
-Popular Science back to 1910 to now available on Google Books
-Check out http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/. Click the op left of the page.
-Check out http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com. Make your own indoor DTV (or 70cm) antenna.
-Peter can get DTV from Buffalo, Toronto, Rochester, Hamilton with his new 8-bay bowtie antenna in the east end of Scarborough. It IS possible!
At 2043 EST the group broke for coffee, cookies and schmoozing.
Afterwards:
Jay VE3EMP showed off his portable rig-in-a-bag. The versatile carry-all is from Communications Outfitters. Mounted in it is a Yaesu FT 817, antenna tuner, gel cell and collapsible vertical antenna and a wide assortment of accessories.
Ward VE3WGK showed his Opek HVT-400B antenna: multiband vertical. This is a plug tapable unit similar to the Outbacker.
Peter VE3EYI showed the ‘away’ bag for his ICOM706 mobile rig, including a small switching power supply, manual Kenwood antenna tuner and segmented dipole for 20/15/10m and a UHF/VHF antenna using large spring-type document clips for mounting. He has used this setup in hotel rooms, etc
The meeting was adjourned at 2137EST.
The OSCARC meets at 1930 local on the first Tuesday of the month, unless it is a holiday, in which case the second Tuesday. Check in with Security from the lower parking lot down the hill on the south end of the building.