The meeting was held in the Kanata Room at Sobey’s in Kanata.

The following members and guests were present:

Name Call Sign Position
John Christensen VE3IAO  
Brad Smith VE3BSM  
Dale Hennigar VE3XZT  
Les McCready VA3BZQ  
Doug Leach VE3XK  
Harold Hamilton VA3UNK  
Justin Schmidt-Clever VE3QYR  
Robin Webb VE3UIX  
Kieran Shepherd VA3KS  
Ed Blaser VE3LZV Guest
Tom Zinck VA3NFA President
Rick Bandla VE3CVG V.P. / Webmaster
Graham Ide VE3BYT Secretary

The meeting began with Tom, VA3NFA, fiddling with the thermostat. At first the room was cool. Then, it became quite a bit too hot. You can not please everyone.

Our guest Ed, VE3LZV, introduced himself, then greetings were extended with members around the table introducing themselves in turn.

Doug, VE3XK, presented Justin, VE3QYR, with a QSL card from Justin’s QRP contact on 40m with a station in Troy, N.Y. Justin’s QRP transmitter is from Oak Hills Research http://www.ohr.com/.

Tom reminded everyone about the Iroquois fleamarket and the VHF Spring in April (refer to the club web site for details).

Rick, VE3CVG, mentioned the Hamfest at Brampton on the 25th of March. There will be presentations. This is similar to the format of the fall OARC hamfest in Carp on Labour Day weekend (September 2). The URL for the event is http://www.ham-ex.ca/.

Rick noted that the links on the club web site have been updated. Rick will add links to personal pages if he is given the information. Rick will also put on the site the material from presentations made at club meetings - either in PowerPoint or PDF format. As a start, these will include Tom’s presentation on his Rover Activities, Doug’s presentation on APRS, and Rick’s on 10GHz operating and equipment (tonight).

Rick reported that the 903 MHz beacon is still putting out a good signal. Graham, VE3BYT, noted that he could hear the beacon on his ICOM R-7000 receiver using only a 19 inch vertical whip on the dining room table (Louise was truly thrilled and encouraged me to move all of my equipment into the dining room.)

Graham indicated that the February minutes are on the web site.

Brad, VE3BSM, reported that the APRS digipeaters are operating well. A software reset was necessary at VE3DVQ - Lavant, and it seems to be OK now.

Tom and Rick showed one of Kent Britain’s (WA5VJB) antennas fabricated on PCB material. They are nice quality and are available in a number of frequency ranges and designs. These include Log Periodics (400-1000, 900-2600 and 2100-11000 MHz), Yagis (900-930, 915, 1250-1300, and 2400-2450 MHz), and a Quad-Patch antenna for 2400-2480 MHz. The antennas are small and could be used as dish feed antennas and/or shielded in plastic boxes (your XYL will wonder where the Tupperware boxes went). The web URL for Kent’s PCB antennas site is https://wa5vjb.com/. The club can get a quantity discount on these antennas and will consider offering them at various fleamarkets. Tom and Rick will check prices and circulate members by Email for interest and individual requirements.

Rick presented a comprehensive talk and demonstration of wide-band radio communication at 10 GHz, using Tellurometers. This survey instrument was invented in 1957 by Dr. T. L. Wadley of South Africa. The Tellurometer was the first survey device using microwaves. With a transmitter output in the milliwatt range and the built-in antenna with parabolic reflector, the output is about 12 watts ERP. Because of the instrument design, you need two of them to talk to each other. The system is full duplex. Rick fired up his pair of instruments and a number of QSOs were successfully held across the room, and at many dB over S9.

The next meeting will be on April 4, 2006 when another neat UHF demonstration is anticipated.

Graham Ide VE3BYT
Secretary.