The meeting was held at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Kanata, a temporary meeting place used while the regular meeting place in the Kanata Room in Sobey's remains unavailable.

The following people were present:

NameCall SignPositionMH GridRACWCARC
Mathieu GouletVA3ECMGuestFN25flYes
Ken AsmusVA3KATreasurerFN15wgYesYes
Greg SpeakmanVA3OMPGuestFN25Yes
Peter JagoVA3PJMemberFN25agYesYes
Harold HamiltonVA3UNKMemberFN25djYesYes
Bert ZauharVE2ZAZMemberFN25bkYesYes
Graham IdeVE3BYTMemberFN25chYesYes
Brian CrookVE3CRGMemberYes
Jeff MilneVE3EFFGuestFN25agYes
Geoff JohnsonVE3KIDMemberYes
Dave ConnVE3KLMemberFN25bhYesYes
Andy HartVE3NVKDirectorFN25bhYesYes
David FrankVE3DMUMemberFN25cgYes
Glenn MacDonellVE3XRASecretaryFN15djYesYes
Al PenneyVO1NOPresidentFN24cwYesYes


Opening:
The meeting was opened by President Al Penney(VO1NO) at 19:30 hours. He welcomed guests VE3EFF, Jeff Milne, and VA3ECM, Mathieu Goulet, and new member VE3CRG, Brian Crook.


Secretary's Report:
Secretary Glenn MacDonell(VE3XRA) introduced the minutes of the previous meeting. Moved by VE3XRA-Glenn MacDonell that the previous minutes as published on the web pages be approved. Seconded by VE3BYT-Graham Ide.

Motion approved.


Treasurer's Report:
Treasurer Ken Asmus(VA3KA) reported that the club had 21 paid up members and $536.00 on hand. 14 members for 2010 had not yet renewed their membership for 2011 one month into the new year.

Old Business:
None

New Business:
None

General Reports:

Beacons
The Beacons have been off the air for a few weeks after a power failure on the local grid because the 3 members who usually reset them after such a failure have all been out of the country. This will be resolved shortly.

D-STAR
Ken(VA3KA) reported that VE3EFF's hot spot in Stittsville is now on the air. Work to improve internet access at the YMCA, site of the repeater, continues.

Grid Expedition
Al(VO1NO) reminded the meeting that WCARC will undertake its annual expedition to FN04xa for the ARRL June VHF QSO party on June 11-12 2011 and again operate from a site near overlooking Lake Ontario. Last year a shortage of operators and poor propagation limited our score and we dropped from highest score in Canada 2009 to #2 in 2010. We plan to regain top spot this year. Most participants will travel the approximately 3 hours to the site near Grafton Ontario on Friday June 10 to begin set up and return home Monday June 13. However anyone wishing to help with operations for part of the weekend is welcome to participate.

FUNcube Dongle
Andy(VE3NVK) described and showed the meeting the FUNcube dongle he had recently acquired. It is a software defined radio receiver operating from 64MHz to 1.7 GHz the size of a USB memory stick. More information is avaialable at http://www.funcubedongle.com/.

Measuring Oscillator Stability
Bert(VE2ZAZ) briefly described work he was doing to assess the stability of several of his oscillators using Spectrum Lab, a free WinXP spectrum analyzer program (information and download from http://www.qsl.net/dl4yhf/spectra1.html/. Bert has been able to achieve very high accuracy with a simple setup. As a result of interest from members he will do a presentation on his work at a future meeting.

Islands on the Air (IOTA)
Al(VO1NO) noted that he planned to participate in a DXpedition to activate Bon Portage Island on the southern tip of Nova Scotia 30-31 July 2011.

Presentation(s)/Activity:
Jeff Milne(VE3EFF) demonstrated the use of "Radio Mobile", freeware developed by VE2DBE, to predict the performance of a radio system. It uses digital terrain elevation data for automatic extraction of a path profile between a transmitter and receiver and uses this profile along with system, environmental and statistical parameters in a radio propagation model. Jeff has been using the system to great effect to understand propagation of D-STAR signals from the downtown Ottawa repeater at 2m, 70cm and 23cm. He showed where reception was difficult and how the hot spots currently being deployed will improve coverage. More information on Radio Mobile (including downloading the free software) is available at http://www.ve2dbe.com/english1.html.

Adjournment:
The President Al Penney(VO1NO) stated that there being no further business, the meeting would be adjourned. The meeting was closed at 21:30 hours.