OSCARC Newsletter
for June 2010
The regular monthly meeting
was called to order at 1936EDT, June/01, 2010.
Members Present: Peter VE3EYI
(chairman), Bill VA3WTT (treasurer), Alex VA3XLO, Dave VA3ETE, Jean VE3WAD, Tim VE3IXN, John
VA3JE (minute taker), Ward VE3WGK (president), Jay VE3EMP, Ian VE3IJS,
John Hansen, Bill VA3PPC, Don VE3ZYM
Regrets: Peter VE3JR,
Neil VE3NGS, Jeff VE3PRX (secretary), Visitors:
nil
The Minutes of last meeting were presented
by Chairman. There were no errors or omissions.
Motion to approve by Ward WGK, seconded by John JE. Carried.
On-going business:
-John JE reported slow but steady progress
on the nametag prototypes. He also told the group reported that
the U of T microsat launch schedule has been delayed.
-The project to get multiple headset
feeds in the shack is still on the to-do list.
-Peter EYI has sent a request to World
Radio on-line to get OSCARC added to the International Clubs list.
-John JE urgently needs people to
contact him re helping with the Field Day and Canada Day events.
He also needs suggestions on how to see the screen of our logging laptop
in bright sun. He says having more car batteries available for
FD would be a bonus.
-We have received no further updates
from the electrical contractor on our HF noise problem.
-Tim IXN says the problem with the shack
speaker is a scratchy volume control not a blown cone. He has
spare speakers available in the shack if it gets too bad.
-Some of the old equipment in our storage
cupboard is Science Center inventory and can’t leave the building.
Ward WGK will ask Shauna if she can find another place for it to live.
From the floor:
-Ian IJS has updated his email address.
The change will be made in the member’s list.
-John JE gave an update on the beta tests
of the Tuesday night net on the VE3JOP repeater system. Peter
EYI had a tough time accessing the 2m repeater from SE Scarborough as
did John JE in Mississauga. David RER checked in from home via
the UHF link. The 2m repeater is located in Vaughan which may
account for the poor coverage to the extreme SE. Alternate repeaters
will be investigated.
-Jay EMP suggested that it might be time
for the Club to offer another basic licence course. Contact John
JE if you can help.
-Ward WGK made a motion, seconded by
Dave ETE, that the Club buy its own tent for Field Day and other events.
Carried by unanimous vote. Bill WTT advanced funds from the treasury
for Ward to make the purchase.
-Jay EMP suggested that we look at having
an outdoor bar-b-que as a future Club activity. This met with
general agreement and will be followed up.
-Jean WAD made a motion, seconded by
Jay EMP, to give an official thank you to Ward WGK and Tim IXN for their
hard work on the Club’s antenna system. Passed unanimously.
Member input:
-Jay EMP is looking for Nixie tubes for
some old gear. Contact him if you know where he can find some.
He also has a source for rather attractive callsign business cards.
President’s report:
-Ward gave an update on his and Tim’s
antenna revitalization work. He showed some pictures he took of
the results. Here is an extract from his report:
“Tim and I have
completed the antenna work on the G5RV. It was like a 375 degree oven
on the roof today. I think we both lost 5 or 10 pounds because of the
heat! The G5RV has been raised approx 4 feet higher then before and
we have installed the ABS plastic pipe to run the coax threw so it will
not be cut on the cement wall. I tried to drill 4 holes in the
cement wall with a new drill bit for cement and special cement screws.
It was a no-go, they must have steel reinforced walls; so we used about
15 nylon ties to affix the pipe to a rod that was already on the wall.
I have taken lots of pictures. We also had to use duct tape.
I did not get on the roof with the beam or sat antennas because it was
too hot. We spent approx 2 hours completing the work .”
Secretary’s Report:
not available
Treasurer’s Report: Our
bank balance still shows no sign of red. Members can contact Bill
WTT for details.
Future Presentations:
July/06 = Ward WGK on Canwarn
??? = Ori XW on trains and train communications
generally and radio in the 20’s and 30’s
??? = Ian IJS Update on DSTAR and possibly
Echolink in Fall
??? = John Hansen on EMC (Electromagnetic
Compatibility)
(We need people willing
to do a presentation at any future meeting. 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. )
Station Activity:
-Jean WAD worked the special event station
at the Indianapolis 500 race!
Floobie Dust and interesting URLs:
-From Jay EMP: http://www.fourier-series.com/ for demystification and http://www.lhcportal.com/ for CERN’s Large Hadon Collider
-From Peter EYI: http://www.antiquewireless.org/otb/acorntube.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/955_acorn_triode. Early VHF tube used in John Hansen’s
‘new’ GDO.
-For morse practice, if you can score
a receiver, here is the W1AW sked http://www.arrl.org/code-practice-qst-source and frequencies and speeds http://www.arrl.org/code-transmissions. And here’s their stuff on-line http://www.arrl.org/code-practice-files with source texts. Even the 5wpm code is sent
with quick characters and long spacing. A good place to start.
-Need Grid Squares? Check out www.levinecentral.com/ham/grid_square.php This works from a callsign or address.
-Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association, VE7NA,( www.ve7na.ca ) hosting 24 hour special events station
VE7TUB on July 24, 2010 to commemorate the World Championship Bathtub
Race to be held on 25 July. More information www.bathtubbing.com and www.ve7tub.ca.
-Audio clips from early satellites http://www.amsat.org/amsat/features/sounds/firstsat.html. Miss Sputnik live? Relive the moment
and others.
Break: called at
2030 for recharging and eyeball QSOs. Jean WAD had to leave after
coffee.
Presentation(s):
Starting at 2050 Dave ETE gave an excellent
PowerPoint update on his progress downloading pictures from the NOAA
weather satellites and background on the satellites themselves.
Following Dave, John Hansen showed
us an interface module from an MRI machine and another grid dip oscillator
acquired on e-Bay. This one is an old Boonton model 59 tube unit.
http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/Dip_59.htm overview
http://bama.edebris.com/manuals/boonton/
http://bama.edebris.com/manuals/boonton/59/ manual.
http://blog.aa6e.net/2009/10/my-new-boonton-model-59-gdo.html Internal pictures.
http://www.hparchive.com/boonton-nj.htm
Afterwards the chairman thanked the
presenters and declared the meeting closed at 2138 EDT
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.
Our website is www.oscarc.com