OSCARC Newsletter for February 2010

The meeting was called to order at 1932 EST on Tuesday, February 02.

Members present: Ori VA3XW, Peter VE3MUW/VE3JR, David VE3RER, Peter VE3EYI (chairman), Jeff VE3PRX (secretary), Bill VA3WTT (treasurer), Alex VA3XLO, Dave VA3ETE, Jean VE3WAD, Tim VE3IXN, Ward VE3WGK (president), John VA3JE, Ian VE3IJS, Arun VA3UMA

Regrets: Neil 3NGS

Visitors: John Hansen (no call) , Electrical Engineer and short wave enthusiast., interested in code, QRP, tubes and old radios And Ashwin Prem, son of Arun UMA.

The Secretary presented the Minutes of the January meeting. There were no corrections or changes. A motion to adopt as presented was made by Jean WAD, seconded by Peter MUW. Carried.

General Business

John JE gave an update on the name tag project. He said a suitable image for the background was still being sought. Several alternate pictures were
suggested and will be forwarded to John.

John JE and Peter EYI said they would try to experiment in-vehicle VOX operation using their ICOM 706s. Jeff PRX said he would try the same experiment on his Yaesu FT957. The purpose is to have an out should the law enforcement community interpret Bill 118 in a manner prejudicial to ham mobile operation.

Ward WGK said he has some boom headsets available. Contact him of you are interested.

Ori XW has confirmed that HAMs are exempt from the Bill 118 legislation, despite some leaked information to the contrary. We are reworking our correspondence to RAC as an “FYI” rather than a complaint.

John JE reported that the QRP sprint contests are held on the occasional Fri/Sat (1-2 a month). He also gave an update on the upcoming Ontario QSO Party. Contact him if you are interesting in participating with the Club.

Peter EYI updated the group on the status of Rob ESC who has relocated to Orangeville and is the ham liaison between the local government and the emergency measures people as part of his new job.

Ward WGK and John JE said they will talk with Shauna about getting a larger room for Club meeting to accommodate our increased attendance.

Ward WGK has tentative training dates for this year’s CanWarn events. Contact him to find out more. When the dates are finalized Jeff PRX will post them to website.

It was noted that Alex’s call is VA3XLO not VE3. This has been corrected
in records.

President’s Report:

Ward said he will talk to Shauna about getting a new dual-band radio for the shack.

Secretary’s Report:

Jeff reports that our new website is up www.oscarc.com. Updates are being added as quickly as possible. Contact Jeff for help signing up for RSS feed.
Jeff also asked if we should consider having a webcam in the shack which
could look over the operating position and run in a window on our website.
Contact Jeff with feedback and/or suggestions for content.

Treasurer’s Report:

Bill had some calendars to give away.
He also reported that all new members have paid dues and are in good standing. Our financial position is healthy. Contact Bill for details.

Station Activity:

Jean WAD reported that she is making more satellite contacts on her regular operating shifts. She also was able to monitor some of the emergency traffic from Haiti on the special reserved frequencies.

Ward WGK says the satellite antenna still has alignment issues which he will try to sort out. Contact him if you can lend a hand.

Ian IJS said he worked some hams on the Buffalo 146.775 repeater. Remember SSB simplex is legal at the low end of the band. An occasional check down there might turn up some interesting contacts.

Future Presentations:

In March, Peter MUW will talk about his career in navy signals while John JE will enlighten us on satellite tracking software and techniques.

In April, Ian IJS on will talk about D-star (We need people willing to do a presentation at any future meeting after April. It can be long or short. If you don’t think you can fill a slot on your own we can combine two shorter topics. All suggestions and offers to present gratefully received. Contact Peter ve3eyi@gmail.com. )

Flooby Dust and Waaf

-Ian IJS likes http://mods.dk. This is a free site which has a wealth of information available on ham equipment, mods and fixes

-Ori XW says he has supplied CW gear as props to the people who run the Toronto Historic Train museum in the old roundhouse south of the CN tower. He says the roundhouse park opens this summer. There was talk of organizing a Club visit to the museum.

-Ward WGK suggested members try out UHF repeater VE3URU on 44.475+ 103.5 PL. Also have a look at www.ve3uru.com for linking info.

-John JE provided a number of very interesting links related to software defined radio. Check out http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ On-line radio in Netherlands, http://websdr.org/ More software radio locations,  http://wwwhome.cs.utwente.nl/~ptdeboer/ham/sdr/ Description of process

-If you like building stuff have a look at www.discovercircuits.com/list.htm an electronic circuits resource.

-Peter EYI supplied the following links:

-Current issue of World Radio On-line: http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/WorldRadio.html Click on the magazine picture to download in PDF format.

-All 152 of Shakespeare’s sonnets have
been transcribed into CW for your listening and CW copying improvement
pleasure at 7, 13 or 20 wpm. http://www.retards.org/radio/shakespeares_sonnets_cw/

-Did you know that there are books on CW, such as The Princess of Mars? Per license agreement, you can download the Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel at http://www.hotpeppersoftware.com/downloads/pom_downloads.html. (Zip files.)

-Ham-mag On-line now by paid subscription

-Watch a ham radio contact with Haiti on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqaKzIkyBug with pictures

-Track hams using APRS at http://aprs.fi/

The usual break for refreshments and schmoozing was called at 2044.

After the break: Starting at 2105 Jeff PRX gave a comprehensive talk about Google Earth. He even called up a satellite shot which showed the beam on our roof. He talked about the almost unlimited uses of this free resource, including the tie-in to APRS and the ability to store custom pin markers.
It was suggested that we might be able to generate a pin map for our contacts to replace the pushpins we used to have on our old wall map in the shack. He said it was possible link this virtual QSL book to our website.

Afterwards the Chairman thanked Jeff for his presentation, Jean WAD for providing coffee and cookies and adjourned the meeting at 2140 EST.

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. Keep an ear on VE3TWR 145.410/r on the drive in. Visitors are welcome.

73