Minutes - Meeting of January 4, 2005
Another gala meeting of the WCARC was held on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 at Ken’s lab in Stittsville. The December 2004 meeting had been cancelled due to an excess of normal Ottawa weather.
Present were:
| Name | Call Sign | Position |
|---|---|---|
| John Christensen | VE3IAO | |
| Rene Kahle | VA3XK | |
| Les McCready | VA3BZQ | |
| Kieran Shepherd | VA3KS | |
| Barney Baker | VA3BGB | |
| Ken Asmus | VA3KA | Treasurer |
| Doug Leach | VE3XK | |
| Manfred Kahle | VA3WK | |
| Dale Hennigar | VE3XZT | |
| Bob Clermont | VE3AKV | |
| Tom Zinck | VA3NFA | President |
| Richard Hagemeyer | VE3UNW | |
| Rick Bandla | VE3CVG | Vice President |
| Graham Ide | VE3BYT | Secretary |
| Harold Hamilton | VA3UNK |
The meeting followed its usual generally unstructured format, and a wide variety of subjects and projects were discussed.
Manfred, VA3WK, presented the Secretary (me) with a handsome pen, suitably inscribed by the WCARC, as an inducement for me to avoid procrastinating unduly (or forever) in writing minutes of club meetings. This is truly a fine writing instrument, in green and gold - my old school colours! Many thanks, Manfred.
Manfred showed the latest iteration of his design for the APRS message readout prototype with TNC and GPS receiver in the box, and a four-line display - very neat. This can attach to a PDA with a serial port. This project is nearing completion. Many of us will want to build one of these. Additions or modifications suggested were a keyboard, weather information display, or remote control and display using a wireless PDA.
Graham, VE3BYT, showed the almost-completed 902 MHz Yagi that he is constructing. This is 7 elements, only about 24 inches long, and designed for vertical or horizontal polarization. It is built inexpensively on a wood boom and uses the simple trombone match for 50 ohm coax. Details are on the Antennas page on the WCARC 902 Band Project site at https://www.slvrc.org/902band/ and also on Rick’s “How to build Cheap Yagis’ page at https://ve3cvg.webqth.com/antennas/cheapyagis/index.html. Graham told Kieran, VA3KS, that he is “still working on the “Lindenblad antenna”.
Our visitor Bob, VE3AKV, became a member of the club. An initiation fee was briefly considered for new members, but this was waived (waved) by Rick, VE3CVG, (with his regal right hand).
Ken, VA3KA, mentioned that some revisions are needed at the bank in view of the changes in the executive. The club still has nine 900 MHz amplifiers on hand and available for sale.
Doug VE3XK, gave us a rundown on further details on the RAC insurance for members and the implications for club coverage. Not all details are available as yet. A club fee of $50 is likely if all club members are also RAC members. There will be a surcharge to the clubs for non-RAC members. Details will have to be worked out for WCC family memberships when not all in the family are also members of RAC. Club treasurers can do an RAC membership check at the Information Centre on the RAC web site. There was much discussion about potential situations where the club could become liable for damages and so on.
Again, members expressed appreciation to Rick, VE3CVG, for his makeover of the WCARC web site.
We were reminded about the VHF/UHF Contest coming on Saturday and Sunday, January 22 and 23. Tom, VA3NFA, for some reason declined to go mobile and be a Rover this time, mentioning something about it being January, in Canada.
Richard, VE3UNW, showed us a pocket size fluorescent lamp from Lee Valley Tools, about the size of a deck of cards. This would be a very useful gadget for camping, and for reading a book or operating a rig under the covers. It’s only $4.95, and it operates on two AA cells.
Ken, VA3KA, hinted that the Hinternet on 2.4 GHz has been very stable. At present seven stations are on. Throughput may become an issue with the ISP.
Richard, VE3UNW, indicated that about 40 volunteers will be needed for the Canadian Ski Marathon the second weekend in February, the 12th and 13th. Richard also reported that Mike, VE3FFK, would be holding a course on Net Control on Saturday at Algonquin College.
The meeting was adjourned at about 9:15 PM.
Graham Ide VE3BYT
Secretary.
Note: Rick, VE3CVG, returned the Linx Modules Evaluation Kit to the club. This kit was in turn borrowed by Graham, VE3BYT. Further note: The Rx and Tx manuals are no longer in the box. I have these as Adobe .pdf files. I will put them on a CD with the Evaluation Kit when I return it. VE3BYT.