Minutes of the Regular Meeting on March 6, 2012

The meeting was held at the premises of Mobile Knowledge, 11 Hines Rd., Kanata.

The following people were present:

Opening:
The meeting was opened by President Al Penney (VO1NO) at 19:30 hours. He thanked, Mobile Knowledge and Jeff (VE3EFF) for providing a meeting place at short notice and welcomed one visitor, Dan Powell (VE3PCR).

Secretary's Report:
Secretary Glenn MacDonell (VE3XRA) introduced the minutes of the previous meeting. Moved by Glenn that the previous minutes as read aloud, be approved. Seconded by Bert Zauhar (VE2ZAZ).
Motion approved.

Treasurer's Report:
Treasurer Ken Asmus (VA3KA) reported that the club had 16 paid up members with $724.00 on hand and expected to grow as members renewed for the current year (beginning in January).

VicePresident's Report
Vice President Andy Hart (VE3NVK) reported on the continuing challenges of booking meeting rooms. He had waited, as requested by Sobey's (at Terry Fox and Hazeldean), until a week before the meeting, to book the room, only to discover that another group had already booked our time, earlier. Noticing that others had recently booked far in advance, he booked the meeting place for the next four meetings: April through July, 2012.

Director's Report
Bert Zauhar (VE2ZAZ) noted that club membership seemed to be falling from a high of 32 members 2 years ago to the present 16. The Executive agreed to consider the membership situation.

Old Business:
None

New Business:
None

General Reports:

Beacons
Continue to work nominally.

D-STAR
Ken (VA3KA) reported that the occasional internet drop-outs affecting the repeater in downtown Ottawa mentioned at a previous meeting are still being worked on but otherwise no significant developments.

Proposed Ottawa Municipal Concurrence and Public Consultation Process
Glenn (VE3XRA) reported on progress persuading Ottawa City officials to understand amateur radio requrements, as they developed a new Municipal Concurrence and Public Consultation Process. Glenn (VE3XRA), Andy Hart (VE3NVK) and Ray Perrin (VE3FN) made presentations to City Council Committees around the end of February that led to a Committee Chair proposing that City staff meet again with these hams to correct identified problems. The upcoming meetings with staff, should lead to revisions in The Process that will be considered by City Council on 28 March 2012.

Grid Expedition
President Al (VO1NO) reported on early preparations for the expedition to FN04xa (near Grafton, ON). An e-mail describing the expedition and soliciting participation has been sent. More information will be provided at future meetings.

24GHz Project
Bert (VE2ZAZ) agreed to look at modifications to the gunplexers obtained from surplus radar speed measuring devices to use them as wide band FM transceivers.

Presentation(s)/Activity:

As an alternative to a presentation, members participated in a round table sharing information on some of their recent and planned activities. Topics addressed included:

Ken (VA3KA) - reported on participation in the ARRL Southwestern Division Convention in Yuma Arizona, 17-18 February 2012.

Dean (VA3CDD) - progress on his VE3XDK transverter kits, and passed around a printed circuit board.

Bert (VE2ZAZ) showed the JYE DSO 082 Pocket-Oscilloscope (reviewd on his website) and a "too good to be true" 6800 mAh Li-Ion 12V battery pack. Both are reviewed on Bert's website at http://ve2zaz.net/ and blog at http://ve2zaz.net/blog.

Al (VO1NO) - Planned attendance at the New England Amateur Radio Festival (NEAR-Fest) in Deerfield, New Hampshire, May 4-5 2012.

Bert (VE2ZAZ) - Planned attendance at the Dayton Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio May 18-20, 2012.

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.