OSCARC Newsletter for October 2010
The regular monthly meeting was called to order at 1946EDT on Oct/05/2010.
Members Present: David VE3RER, Dave VA3ETE, Alex VA3XLO, Jean VE3WAD, Jay VE3EMP, Neil VE3NGS (president), Ori VA3XW, Tim VE3IXN, Bill VA3WTT (treasurer), Jeff VE3PRX (secretary), Ian VE3IJS, John VA3JE (chairman). Regrets: Peter VE3EYI, Ward VE3WGK
The Minutes of last meeting were presented by the Secretary and amended to include thanks to Jean WAD and Jay EMP for the refreshments at last mtg. A Motion to approve the amended minutes was made by Ori XW, seconded by Tim IXN. Carried.
Business arising from the Minutes: Jean WAD read aloud a thank you card we received from the family of Stan VE3HT(sk).
President’s report:
-A Motion to officially thank last year’s exec was made by Neil NGS, seconded by John JE. Approved unanimously.
-Two issues were identified which need to be dealt with this year.
1) The on-going RF noise problem caused by the building ventilation fan motor controllers. This has been hampering the on-air operation of VE3OSC for several years now, in spite of the source being identified quite some time ago by members of the Club. The Science Center is aware of our findings as is Industry Canada who had an inspector verify the illegal RF emissions in the fan room and submit a written report. Although there was some brief progress after the Science Center recently changed electrical contractor the implementation of a fix seems to have stalled once again.
2) The method of vetting potential volunteers for Shack duty. The current requirement to commit to 1 shift/week for a year with no temporary or fill-in positions is seriously hampering the Club’s ability to attract operators to keep the station open for viewing by visitors to the Science Center.
-A Motion was made by Ori XW, seconded by Jean WAD, to extend the mandate of the President to continue discussions with Science Center management to find a timely resolution to these two issues. All in favour. Carried
Secretary’s Report: Jeff PRX reported that he had nothing new to report.
Treasurer’s Report: . Bill WTT said there had been no changes to the Club’s financial position.
Technical report: from Ward WGK, presented in his absence by John JE:
-There has been no progress in resolving the HF noise problem
-The satellite systems are working but antennas are still not aligned, both in azimuth and elevation. In spite of this Jean WAD has heard the ISS several times. She has also heard SO50 but it was quite noisy.
-John JE and Ward WGK have been discussing building a fan antenna to replace the broken wire one.
General Business:
-There was discussion about getting a logo made up for the Club. Jeff PRX will investigate options.
-It was noted that we’re out of QSL cards. Efforts are under way to get a new batch printed up.
-Ideas for possible off-campus outings were batted about. Suggestions included trips to: Toronto EOT, Provincial EMO, SiriusXM, Leslie Teleport , Ham Radio Museum in Guelph, Air and Space Museum, Environment Canada/CanWarn, Rail Heritage Park, CTV Queen St. It was agreed that the next trip will be to CBC’s Toronto headquarters on Saturday October 23 at 14h00. Please email John VA3JE if you wish to attend.
-There was general discussion of having a Christmas Dinner in lieu of regular meeting. Tim IXN will scout locations and report at the November meeting.
-There was discussion of Jay EMP’s GPS server idea. www.teenychron.com The plan is to get an external GPS antenna feeding back to a dedicated small LINUX-based computer in the Shack to allow us to display very accurate local and UTC time. It will also be used to time-sync the satellite computer. More work will need to be done on this. Contact Jay if you want to be involved.
Future Presentations:
November/02: Update on D-star by Eric VE3EI of ICOM Canada.
TBA = Aron VA3UMA on his portable military HF rig.
TBA = Neil VE3NGS reminiscences of the original VE3OSC
TBA = Ian VE3IJS on EcholinkTBA = 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 John VA3JE if you can help.
Floobie Dust and interesting URLs:
-RAC Bulletins: http://rac.ca/en/news/bulletins/2010/ Check out #’s 24, 22, 21 regarding a request for feedback on future RAC initiatives and the recent Region 2 Telecommunications Conference. Especially look at # 14 detailing Industry Canada authourizing frequencies in our 2m and 70cm bands for use by non-hams to marshal a bicycle race in Ottawa! What part of illegal under the Regulations don’t they get? Can you imagine their reaction if we hams decided arbitrarily to operate outside our assigned bands?
-A site featuring various shortwave receivers: http://sites.google.com/site/hkradioer
-Great site on WW2 German radios. http://www.laud.no/ww2/index.htm Check photos and links at the bottom:
-From member John Hansen on plasma antennas:
http://www.haleakala-research.com/uploads/OperatingPlasmaAntenna.pdf Check Google for more.
-Check out the virtual QSL feature at www.qrz.com You can leave or pick up QSL information once you are logged in.
-And be on the lookout for this on your trips to and from the parking lot:
http://smr.newswire.ca/en/ontario-science-centre/rumoured-unicorn-sighting-reported-in-don-valley
-In addition to our website OSCARC now has a Facebook group to increase the club’s online visibility. And we’re on Twitter, where you can follow @ve3osc for “breaking news”. Links to the Facebook and Twitter pages are at www.oscarc.com.
Break: called at 2041 – 2056
Presentation:
Ori XW brought a suitcase full of memorabilia having to do with the early days of broadcast radio in the 20’s and 30s. Included in his collection were listener log books and cameos of radio personalities.
Afterwards the chairman thanked Ori XW for his excellent talk and Jean WAD for her selfless, and much appreciated, provisioning of the break. At 2201EDT a Motion to adjourn was made by John JE, seconded by Neil, NGS. Carried.
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 http://www.oscarc.com