The Scribes Notebook

KWARC Club Meeting of April 5, 1999

KWARC Club Meeting of April 5, 1999
Paul, VE3SY opened the meeting at 7:30pm with 70 members present. Paul immediately invited John VE3DOS, who was unable to remain for the whole meeting, to take the floor.

CANWARN
John made the announcement that the CANWARN training session is due to be held at St.Andrew Presbyterian church on Tuesday April 20th at 7:00pm. He informed members that limited copies of the new atlas would be available on the night. Those unable to attend the training session would be able to obtain a copy by completing a form that John will supply at the next club meeting.

Guest Speaker
Those in attendance, whose ranks were swelled by the prospect of a talk on Spy Radios by Bob Morden were disappointed to learn that the event had been cancelled. Ben, VA3BNY apologized, explaining that Bob had been forced to cancel on account of an illness in his immediate family. The news, which reached Ben late Saturday night, left him scrambling for something to fill the bill. After some desperate searching for material, he and Ted Dodda, VE3TJD, working against the clock, put together a very slick presentation they entitled, "The birth of a repeater".

The presentation, which began at 7:35pm, dealt with the concept and the eventual realization of a 6 meter repeater station. Tedd's passion for the 6 meter band quickly became evident as he talked lovingly of cavities with 81dB of separation and his 50W "baby". The project, still very much in its infancy, employs a temporary 30 ft high antenna located on the roof of the Baden site. Yet even with this modest set-up he was able to boast of several long distance QSO's (The greatest so far being VE3HKE in Scarborough. (A distance of 75 miles).

Ted announced future plans for the repeater to include the relocation of the antenna at 150 ft above ground, a phone patch and automated time announcement. In his conclusion he noted with enthusiasm that repeater coverage will eventually extend as far as Goderich which will, working in conjunction with other area repeaters, open up most of Southern Ontario and into Buffalo N.Y.

Ted invited everyone with 6 meter capability to experiment with the repeater which can be found on 53.37Mhz (1Mhz offset)

Note: It seems that 6 meters is becoming all the rage. CANWARN is proposing using the band as a back up for its emergency communications this year.

Next meeting
The first half of the meeting concluded with Ben thanking Ted on behalf of the club for his excellent impromptu talk. Ben also mentioned next month's meeting which is to feature a presentation by Bob Rushby VE3GLA who will provide a glimpse into the remote station control software he is currently developing for MFJ.

Repeater directory
Just prior to the break, Paul VE3SY, offered members the opportunity of purchasing a VA3PT Mini Repeater Directory. These small but useful publications, normally selling for $2.00, were being offered at half price.

The members broke for coffee at 8:20pm.

50/50 draw
The meeting resumed at 8:50pm after a half-hour break. The 50/50 draw broke all records with a grand total of $30.50. Ben VA3BNY picked the winning ticket belonging to Walter, VE3NEI.

Business Meeting
Paul explained to those present the recent move to "unbundle" membership fees, making it possible for those with access to the club's web-site to avoid paying the cost of postage that had previously been mixed in with the general fee. A motion to reduce membership fees by $5.00 a year for those opting not to receive the Kilowatter by post was proposed by Bob, VE3MCK and seconded by Ted, VE3TJD. The motion passed by a show of hands and will be effective as of July 1st.

Field Day
Vice-president, Dave VA3DGS, informed us that Field Day is once again imminent and scheduled for the fourth weekend in June. Dave, who successfully organized last year’s event plans to put on a Field Day Show and Tell at next month's meeting. Members will have the opportunity of signing up on the night if they wish to participate.

Fergus Flea Market
Dave, demonstrating his varied ensemble of headgear, also informed us that in addition to coordinating Field Day he is also the KWARC liaison person for the Central Ontario Amateur Radio Association flea-market to be held in Fergus on June 12th.

Ever in search of volunteers, Rich VE3DCC, announced he was seeking people to assist with flea market parking between the hours of 5:00am and 1:00pm. As an extra incentive Rich has offered to provide donuts to all helpers. Please contact him for more information. (With respect to the parking roster, not the donuts).

Technical Report
Ben gave the technical report, standing in for John, VE3AMZ who was unable to attend. Ben’s report sounded as though it should have submitted to the Ministry of Transport rather than KWARC members! According to Ben, an unmarked truck with an insecure load went through the area recently leaving a trail of debris strewn along the highway. With the aid of another litter conscious citizen, Ted Dodda VE3TJD, he was able to clear up a mess that included several rolls of heliax antenna cable, a commercial VHF antenna and sundry pieces of mounting hardware.

These items will be used to update the equipment at the Baden and Mannheim repeater sites. The only cost to the club is likely to be the professional rigger we are obliged to employ who will install the aforementioned equipment. Ben’s attempt to find one of these along the side of the road was in vain.

Members Package
Following up on a discussion at the last month’s executive meeting, Paul VE3SY explained to members that although the club has a large amount of information available on its web-site KWARC lacks a hard-copy alternative. Paul outlined a proposed booklet and invited those who might purchase such a publication to add their name to a sign-up sheet.

Quarter Century Wireless Association
Harold VE3DWH announced that QCWA is to hold its spring meeting at the Plainsman Restaurant on May 1^st. Among others, Fred Hammond has been invited to attend. This will depend upon Fred’s state of health at the time. He also announced that Ben VE3MNS has applied for the QCWA scholarship mentioned in this column earlier this year. Club members joined with Harold to wish him luck.

Harold also noted that a page listing QCWA members can now be found on the KWARC web-site. www.kwarc.org/qcwa/

Silent Keys
Harold VE3DWH expressed his regret at the recent passing of Bob VE3AKN. He also reported that the club had sent a card to Oliver Ketchaba VA3OL expressing condolences following the death of his wife.

ARES report
ARES district coordinator, Robert VE3ZLV reports that he has again met with Red Cross officials. During the meeting Robert offered to assist in the upcoming Red Cross Car Rally, scheduled for May 16^th. He informed the members that 12 volunteers were needed to establish 5 check-in points, and described the event as being an excellent opportunity for individuals to test their communications and message handling skills. One member of the audience pointed out that the weekend of the 16^th is not an auspicious choice since it coincides with Dayton. Nevertheless, information relating to the Rally will be posted on the web-site. All volunteers will be welcomed.

Emergency get-together
From Tom VE3FCK. The fifth annual "Partners in Response" event is to held on the 7^th and 8^th of next month (May) at Westmount Mall located at Wonderland and Commissioners Road in London. As well as displays by the Police/Fire/Ambulance services, visitors can expect to see the amateur community well represented. Further details may be found at the KWARC web-site.

At 9:20pm a motion to adjourn the meeting was proposed by Marg, VE3BLJ and seconded by Ted, VE3TJD.

Executive Committee Meeting
April 13, 1999

Exec members present were Paul VE3SY, Ben VA3BNY, Dave VA3DGS, John VE3AMZ, Bob VE3ZLV, Greg VE3NXB and Gord VE3NQK

1. ARES
Bob VE3ZLV passed out copies of a draft of his KWARC ARES Deployment Document. The purpose of his document is to describe how the ARES group is called into service in the event of an emergency.

The document was well received, but Bob is looking for any helpful sugestions for improvement before completing his work.

Bob plans to invite a director of the Canadian Red Cross to visit a future radio club meeting to see who we are and how we conduct our affairs. We also agreed to pay for the VE3RCK radio licence from now on.

A plan is underway to have an ARES net on the VE3KSR repeater Wednesday evenings.

2. Membership fee changes
The new structure was reviewed by Paul and Greg suggested that a chart or something similar be presented to the membership in the bulletin to help clarify the "unbundling" process that created the new fee structure.

Greg also stated that some members are not aware of their membership expiry dates and renew well before expiry. As a result we have a number of members that are "paid-up" into the year 2001 and beyond. This may cause a revenue anomaly in the future.

3. COARF Fleamarket
Paul VE3SY reported that very little correspondence has been received from Bill VE3WHS regarding the status and planning for the upcoming Fleamarket on June 12. So far there have been no meetings between the reps of the two supporting radio clubs. So far we are assuming the KWARC responsibilities are the same as last year like parking, door prizes and talk-in.

4. Cuban assistance effort
Gord VE3NQK reported that there have been some changes between our group and the university radio club in Santiago. Communication is a problem and we hope to get information on the status of the 75 meter transceiver that was donated to a new young ham that recently acquired his ticket. Apparently this item is still held in customs.

5. VE3IC club station
Paul and Gord presented the activities of the radio club station call VE3IC. The costs to send QSL cards to the stations worked recently were reviewed and Paul presented a motion to budget $100 to the QSL card manager Gord for this activity over the next year. Seconded by Greg. Carried.

6. Technical Committee
Chairman John reported on the status of the new 6 meter repeater set up for experimental use at the VE3KSR site on Baden Hill. So far many hams have been using this machine which has a wide area coverage and is considered for a possible link to another 6 meter machine in the future. Ben VA3BNY and Tedd VE3TJD have been working on this new venture.

A decision was made to the technical committee to list equipment, dollar value, and site location for all the equipment that the club has in use for repeaters, packet and club stations.

John VE3AMZ reported that a professional rigger has agreed to do the work to install the new hard line and antenna at the VE3KSR repeater site within two weeks. Greg will forward a cheque for $200 to John to cover most of the labour to complete this installation.

7. Program matters
Program chair Ben presented a motion to provide the program manager with a means to provide club meeting visiting lecturers with a complementary meal, refreshments and possibly a gasoline voucher to pay transportation expenses when traveling a distance to attend. Gasoline gift certificates were suggested by Paul. This would appropriately recognize the visiting lecturer/presenter for their contribution.

John moved that the program manager have a budget of $200 to facilitate this action as required. Seconded by Paul. Carried.

Meeting closed