Minutes of the Regular Meeting on July 03, 2012

The meeting was held in the Kanata Room in Sobey's, at the SW corner of Hazeldean and Terry Fox Drive in Kanata.

The following people were present:

Opening:
The meeting was opened by President Al Penney (VO1NO) at 19:30 hours.
The President welcomed one guest, Bob Sharp (VA3QV).

The President noted the recent passing of Eva Bandla, XYL of longtime WCARC member and Webmaster Rick Bandla(VE3CVG). The meeting unanimously extended condolences to Rick and his family.


Secretary's Report:
Secretary Glenn MacDonell (VE3XRA) distributed minutes of the previous meeting. Members pointed out typographical errors that were easily corredted. Moved by VE3XRA-Glenn MacDonell that the minutes as corrected be approved and published on the the WCARC website. Seconded by Bert Zauhar (VE2ZAZ).
Motion approved.


Treasurer's Report:
Treasurer Ken Asmus (VA3KA) reported that the financial situation had not changed significantly since the last meeting. The clubnow has 23 full time members and 3 life members. At present the club has about $650 in the bank and the one large pending expenditure is the renwall of our insurance through Radio Amateurs of Canada.


Old Business:
None

New Business:
None

General Reports:

Beacons
Doug Leach (VE3XK) reported that the WCARC beacons at 2m, 1.25m and 70cm continue to operate nominally. Some members asked about the possibility of a beacon at 1296MHz recognizing the growing interest in that band. Doug noted that there would be space for a fourth beacon in the present beacon hardware. The club has not had the financial resources to consider a fourth beacon. He suggested it might be worth checking with other clubs to ase if their was interest in sharing the costs. No decision was take but some members will likely continue to investigate possibilities.

24GHz
Bert (VE2ZAZ) reported that the 2 transceivers he had demonstrated at the May meeting worked well at the Grid Expedition in mid June.

VE3WCC APRS Digipeater
Ken Asmus (VA3KA) reported that work was underway to resolve problems with the digipeater described at the June meeting. Brad (VE3BSM) is working on the issue and it appears the TNC is the likely problem. Ken has provided a replacement TNC and that should be installed soon.


77GHz
Glenn (VE3XRA) reported on a meeting he had attended with representatives of Bosch from Germany concerning their desire to use spectrum around 77GHz for short range automotive radar. At present in North America amateur and radio radio astronomy are primary users in this band. Automakers would like to introduce collision avoidance radars in vehicles in the next few years and some governments are considering making such systems manditory for certain vehicles initially such as heavy trucks. Automotive radar systems in Europe at present operate at 24GHz - some high end vehicles by BMW and Mercedes use short range radar for "adaptive cruise control" automatically adjusting speed when other vehicles are close. Automotive radar must vacate the 24GHz spectrum in Europe by 2015. In Europe, regulatory authorities worked a swap to give radio amateurs a slighlty lower band, freeing up the desired spectrum. Bosch has had preliminary meetings with the US Administration and ARRL and provided the briefing to RAC representatives following a meeting with Industry Canada. The presentation was factual focusing on the radar systems and what was being done in other administrations. Bosch has not made a specific proposal to Canada yet.

D-STAR
Ken (VA3KA) reported on efforts to solve the recurring problems with internet connections for the downtown Ottawa D-STAR repeater. It now appears that throttling back of data flow by the internet provider is the main cause of the problems. A new internet provider will be tried. The Almonte repeater continues to function well.

Presentation
Al Penney (VO1NO) reported on the expedition to FN04xa for the June ARRL VHF QSO party. WCARC compiled its largest ever score this year, more than twice the highest achieved in earlier years. His presentation is posted on the club website.

Adjournment
The President stated that there being no further business, the meeting would be adjourned. The meeting was closed at 21:45 hours.