OSCARC Newsletter for September 2010
The regular monthly meeting was called to order at 1940EDT, Sep/07, 2010.
Members Present: Bill VA3WTT (treasurer), Alex VA3XLO, Jean VE3WAD, Tim VE3IXN, John VA3JE, Ward VE3WGK (president), Jay VE3EMP, Aron VA3UMA, Neil VE3NGS, Ori VA3XW, Bill VA3PPC, David VE3RER, Jeff VE3PRX (secretary), Peter VE3EYI (chairman)
Regrets: Peter VE3JR, Dave VE3ETE Visitors: Ashwin Prem, Clayton Wozney, Natalie Howarth VE3URZ
The chairman welcomed the visitors; Ashwin who provided logistic support for his dad Aron UMA’s presentation, Clayton who is starting a second career by taking Aerospace Engineering at Ryerson and is interested in getting his licence, and Natalie from the York Region Amateur Radio Club. Natalie congratulated us on a job well done in the shack introducing kids to HAMing. She also mentioned that her dad Russell AG9N is over 90 years old and still an active Ham.
The Minutes of last meeting were presented by the Secretary. There were no errors or omissions. Motion to approve by John JE, seconded by Jay EMP. Carried.
On-going business:
-Jay EMP reported that has found his audio mixer which will ultimately be used to get rig audio available to visitors outside the shack.
- Ward WGK and John JE have fixed the satellite controller after the arrival of a replacement spare part valued at $18. They report that antennas are still pointing off by about 10 degrees but this will be sorted in due course.
- Jean WAD moved, seconded by Ori XW, that formal thanks be extended to John and Ward for fixing the satellite controller. Approved unanimously.
- John JE reports no progress on the nametag project. He also said that he has still not been able to get frequency info for the recently launch U of T microsat.
- Peter EYI reported that World Radio On-line is now charging $US5.83/month for Clubs to be listed. It was decided not to pursue this any further.
-Jean WAD said that she had sent a $50 donation on behalf of the Club to the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy in memory of Stan Treeby VE3HT.
-There was some further discussion about getting a second dual-bander rig but a decision has been deferred to a later date.
- Activity on resolving the noise issue on HF has stalled. There has been no further information forthcoming from the new OSC electrical contractor regarding the problem.
- John JE proposed building a new fan dipole and having it installed and aimed at the same time antenna specialist Doug Joice is here doing other work. This met with general approval.
- It was decided to defer a decision on a large banner for the public side of the shack.
- Paper handouts for the shack are now double-sided and no negative feedback has been received.
-Ward WGK has asked OSC about the prospect of having a remote weather station at the shack as an additional visual draw for the public. He is waiting on a reply.
- Jay EMP lined up a speaker to do a follow up presentation on DSTAR. Eric VE3EI is with ICOM Canada and is scheduled for the November meeting.
Annual Election of Executive: Run by John JE.
- Ori XW, seconded by Alex XLO, nominated Neil VE3NGS for President. Carried.
- In the absence of any other candidates, Jeff VE3PRX returned as Secretary by acclamation.
- In the absence of any other candidates, Bill VA3WTT returned as Treasurer by acclamation.
-Peter EYI, seconded by Ori XW, nominated John VA3JE, for Chairman. Carried.
Congratulations to our new slate of Officers.
President’s report: n/a
Secretary’s Report: n/a
Treasurer’s Report: Bill WTT confirmed that no dues were collected this year, except from new members. After discussion it was generally decided that the above policy will continue but, should we need money for something, we will do a “special assessment” fundraiser.
Future Presentations:
October/05: Ori VA3XW the way radio was perceived in the twenties and thirties from the perspective of the commercial and hobby literature of the day
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 Echolink
TBA = 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 jevelyn@sympatico.ca
Station Activity: -n/a
Floobie Dust and interesting URLs:
-From RAC Bulletins:
“Thunder Bay MCTS Centre (Canadian Coast Guard Radio Station) proudly celebrates 100 years of radio service. Built by the Canadian Marconi Company, in the fall of 1910, the new “wireless” station, MUG Port Arthur, was the first and only Canadian Great Lakes Marconi station ever built. In 1912, following the success of MUG, the Canadian government built a chain of marine radio stations from Port Arthur down to Kingston, Ontario. In 1913, the Marconi station was rebuilt, and assigned its current government callsign of “VBA”. The “V” denotes a Canadian station, “B” is for the Great Lakes, and the “A” was given for its historic position as the first.
During the month of November 2010, the Centre’s Hams will be operating special event station CG3MUG, to celebrate our 100th birthday. The regular Amateur Radio callsign is VE3VBA. There will be several options for Amateur Radio Stations and SWL’ers to obtain a special 100th anniversary CG3MUG QSL card (a certificate may also be designed). As we get closer to the event, and make the final preparations, we will update the CG3MUG listing on the QRZ.com website. VHF and HF operation via CW, PSK, RTTY, SSB, FM, VoIP (CQ100) and perhaps other digital data modes, on the Amateur Radio bands. The email address for this special event station is cg3mug@yahoo.ca “
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“The Westcumb ARC in Amherst NS has been granted the callsign VC1J for the special event station of 65th Anniversary of the United Nations and UNESCO.We will be working the special event station from the Joggins Fossil Cliffs which became a UNESCO site last year. We will be on the air Sunday October 24th on different modes. A special event QSL card will be available. James (Jim) Langille VE1JBL President: Westcumb Amateur Radio Club”
-Jay EMP sent this URL http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/astronaut-chris-hadfield-to-be-space-stations-first-canadian-commander/article1693765/ Chris Hadfield holds the call VA3OOG. Hopefully VE3OSC will have a chance to talk to him during his time on ISS.
Break: called at 2040 for rehydration, eyeball QSOs and presentation set up.
Presentation:
Starting at 2105 Arun VA3UMA (VU2JMX) gave a very interesting talk on and demonstration of his fine looking second generation homebrew Direct Digital Synthesiser (DDS). One very neat feature of which is the ability to offset the frequency display from the actual output frequency by any arbitrary Intermediate Frequency (IF) thus avoiding the need for mental gymnastics when using the unit as the local oscillator for a receiver or transmitter. You can see information on version 1 here http://qsl.net/vu2jmx/ad9851.htm. For a full discussion of DDS and the virtues thereof check this excellent article by the manufacturer of the AD9851 chip http://www.analog.com/library/analogdialogue/archives/38-08/dds.html. You can check out the specs for the DDS chip here http://www.analog.com/en/rfif-components/direct-digital-synthesis-dds/ad9851/products/product.html. The datasheet for the PIC microcontroller chip is here http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/devices.aspx?ddocname=en010209
Afterwards the chairman thanked Arun for his talk and adjourned the meeting at 21:42EDT
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.
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