Minutes of the Meeting on September 01, 2009
The meeting was held in the Kanata Room in Sobey's, at the SW corner of Hazeldean and Terry Fox Drive.
The following people were present:
| Name | Call Sign | Position | MH Grid | RAC | WCARC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barney Baker | VA3BGB | Secretary | FN25ai | Yes | Yes |
| Bernie Madore | VA3BMZ | Member | FN15vz | Yes | Yes |
| Tyler Tidman | VA3DGN | Guest | FN25ai | Yes | |
| Ken Asmus | VA3KA | Treasurer | FN15wg | Yes | Yes |
| Kieran Shepherd | VA3KS | Guest | FN15wg | Yes | |
| Peter Jago | VA3PJ | Member | FN25 | Yes | Yes |
| Stan Madore | VA3SMM | Member | FN15vz | Yes | Yes |
| Margaret Tidman | VA3VXN | Guest | FN25ai | Yes | |
| Bert Zauhar | VE2ZAZ | Member | FN25bk | Yes | Yes |
| Rick Bandla | VE3CVG | Webmaster | FN25hm | Yes | Yes |
| Don Greene | VE3IGN | Member | |||
| Dave Conn | VE3KL | Member | FN25bh | Yes | Yes |
| Andy Hart | VE3NVK | Member | FN25bh | Yes | Yes |
| Doug Leach | VE3XK | Vice President | FN15wg | Yes | Yes |
| Glenn MacDonell | VE3XRA | Member | FN15dj | Yes | Yes |
| Dale Hennigar | VE3XZT | Director | FN15 | Yes | Yes |
| Al Penney | VO1NO | President | FN24cw | Yes | Yes |
| Abigail | Guest | FN24 | |||
| Erin | Guest | FN24 |
Opening:
The meeting was opened by President Al Penney(VO1NO) at 19:30 hours. Al requested that guests and members inroduce themselves.
Secretary's Report:
Secretary Barney Baker(VA3BGB) suggested that because the August minutes had not been posted in time to permit review by the members, the members can view the minutes of the August meeting as well as this meeting (September) and be prepared to approve them at the October meeting.
Treasurer's Report:
Treasurer Ken Asmus(VA3KA) reported that the club has 30 members and $300.00 in the account. He informed all present that he was pursuing the change of account to the Aterna bank which will result in lower transaction fee's.
Old Business:
None
New Business:
None
General Reports:
Maritime DX Forum
Al - VO1NO described the subject forum which proved to be very interesting.
Air Cadets
Erin and Abigail, 2 of the 4 Air Cadets who assisted WCARC at this year's Grid Expedition, were present and Erin described her school project, which was to design and build a CO2 powered car. She named the car VE3WCC and was pleased when her car was able to travel approxmately 20 feet during tests.
New Icom Radio
Ken - VA3KA informed members that Icom has just released the IC-9100 radio which includes D-STAR capability on many bands and is equated to the Kenwood TS-2000.
Beacons
Doug - VE3XK reported that the beacons were off line for some duration due to a power failure. When power was restored all beacons returned to operation and on frequency within 15 minutes. He expressed the concern that if the beacons were off for an extended time during a cold winter day, that damage to some of the components was possible.
D-STAR
Rick - VE3CVG reported that the group has:
- conducted experiments with some non-Icom applications;
- developed script files to keep module C linked to REF016B;
- participated in the friday evening Canada wide net;
- constructed 2 of 3 hot spot circuit boards to extend coverage;
- plans to activate the first hot spot in Cumberland on 446.950MHz;
- Dale - VE3XZT is improving the antenna structure and will upgrade the 1296 antenna to one supplied by Manfred VA3WK;
- Rick started installing the temperature monitoring logic;
- Ying has a server at the radio/gateway site and is experimenting with improving internet access.
- Rick thanked Andy - VE3NVK for programming the hot spot PIC firmeware.
After a brief outage, the domain name was re-registered. Discussion is required with Rene Kahle to transfer official contact status.
Bob Chambers has supplied us with a website page to assist in membership registration and wcclist registration.
Bob Chambers also updated the MinGen application used to generate meeting minutes.
Presentation(s)/Activity:
Zoom
Doug - VE3XK showed a video which illustrated the scale of Distance using the powers of ten. The image changed from zero to the macro of 10 to the 23 power and then to the micro at ten to the minus 16 power, a very educational video.
Kieran's Antenna Party
Doug - VE3XK provided a talk and power point presentation on the work done by several members at Kieran's QTH removing many pieces of equipment to be used by the club or sold to generate funds.
After the slide presentation, Al - VO1NO presented Kieran - VA3KS with a plaque expressing our appreciation for his generous donation to WCARC.
Operation Crossroads
Al- VO1NO gave us a talk and power point presentation about two atomic test explosions on Bikini Atoll in July/August 1946.
Adjournment:
The President Al Penney(VO1NO) stated that there being no further business, the meeting would be adjourned. The meeting was closed at 21:50 hours.