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:

NameCall SignPositionMH GridRACWCARC
Barney BakerVA3BGBMemberFN25aiYesYes
Peter JagoVA3PJMemberFN25agYesYes
Bert ZauharVE2ZAZDirectorFN25bkYesYes
Dave GoodwinVE3AAQMemberFN25dgYesYes
Graham IdeVE3BYTMemberFN25chYesYes
Clayton SmithVE3IRRVice PresidentFN25aiYesYes
Andrew HartVE3NVKTreasurerFN25bhYesYes
Doug LeachVE3XKMemberFN25wgYesYes
Glenn MacDonellVE3XRASecretaryFN25djYesYes
Bryan CampbellVE3ZRKVisitorFN25dkYes
Al PenneyVO1NOPresidentFN24cwYesYes


Opening:
The meeting was opened by President Al Penney (VO1NO) at 19:30 hours.
The President welcomed one guest, Bryan Campbell (VE3ZRK).


Secretary's Report:
Secretary Glenn MacDonell (VE3XRA) introduced the minutes of the April meeting and moved that the minutes be approved. Seconded by Bert (VE2ZAZ).
Motion approved.


Treasurer's Report:
Treasurer Andrew Hart (VE3NVK) reported that the transfer of the club bank account to the new bankb would take place shortly. At present the club had a balance of about $795 with an outstanding committment for the recently installed 900 MHz and 1296 MHz beacons of about $260. Recognizing that the club would have to make the RAC insurance payment near the end of the year of about $175, he noted that at present about $225 remained uncommitted and could be used for projects over the balance of the year. He commented that the club's fiinancial year began in January and to date we have 15 paid up members. At the end of the previous year we had a paid membership of 23 so the club can expect some additional revenue from membership renewals over the balance of the year.


Vice President's Report:
Vice President Clayton reported that the usual meeting room was booked at Sobeys for the June meeting and that he had requested the room for the July, August and September meetings. He noted that speaker for the June meeting would be Marcus Leech who will speak about meteor scatter of radio signals. The main focus of the July meeting will be a report on the June Grid Expedition and Bert (VE2ZAZ) will speak about digital modulation in August.


President's Report:
The President reported that the Club would have a table at the Smiths Falls Flea Market on May 11. Unfortunately Ken Asmus (VA3KA) was ill and would not be able to participate so the President asked members who planned to attend the Flea Market to help out. Following the Flea Market the St. Lawrence Repeater Council would meet at 12:30 at the same venue. The President noted that one of the club members, Graham Ide (VE3BYT), would be handing over the leadership of the Council after several decades of devoted service. The members congratulated Graham and thanked him for the service he had provided to amateur radio serving on the St.Lawrence Valley Repeater Council.
Finally, the President reminded members that he would leave the area in August when he moves to Nova Scotia.


Old Business:
Glenn MacDonell (VE3XRA) reported that he could find no reasonable way for the club to add capability for 3.4GHz, for the club's participation in the ARRL June VHF QSO Party (the annual Grid Expedition to FN04) this year. He had obtained some 3.4 GHz WiFi repeaters but it would take some time to determine whether they could be successfully modified.
Bert (VE2ZAZ) reported on ongoing developments to improve performance on the new band added for 2012, 24 GHz that focussed on improving the sensitivity and selectivity of the IF (a modified simple and inexpensive FM radio): a low pass filter for the IF ,amplification of the IF signal and varacter bandspread adjustment.


New Business:
None


General Reports and Announcements:

Grid Expedition:
Al (VO1NO) reported on ongoing preparations for the 8-9 June event. Arrangements are in place for the use of the site and the power and communications equipment at all bands used in the event in 2012 will be available. While we have committments from enough operators to compete successfully there is always room for more and he invited members to particpate either for the entire event or for a part of it. The club has done very well in the contest since it began using the location 5 years ago - placing first in Canada 4 of the 5 years. Glenn (VE3XRA) agreed to post the announcement of the VE3WCC operation and to co-ordinate skeds, particularly for meteor scatter communications.

Remote Briefings
Bert (VE2ZAZ) reported that he had delivered a presentation on EME to the Seaway Valley Amateur Radio Club using Skype. The presentation was similar to one he had given to WCARC but this time he did it remotely using a cellphone internet connection at the SVARC meeting place. He had sent the files for the presentation earlier and spoke to them and answered questions using Skype. He was pleasantly surprised how easily the presentation went and gratified that those attending the SVARC meeting reported that it worked well for them. He noted that this is an effective way to bring presentations to distant clubs where travel would make appearing in person too difficult.


Presentation:
Andy (VE3NVK) gave us a talk on the Raspberry Pi describing how it could be used and discussing the types of uses that best suited this remarkably small and inexpensive computer.


Adjournment
The President, Al (VO1NO) stated that there being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 20:40.