The meeting was held over the internet via a Zoom video conference. The following people were present:

Name Call Sign Position MH Grid WCARC RAC
Charles MacDonald VA3CPY President FN25ag Yes Yes
Karen Bryden VA3IGO Member FN25ag Yes Yes
Bertrand Zauhar VE2ZAZ Secretary FN25bk Yes Yes
Lawrence Dobranski VA3IQ Vice President FN25 Yes Yes
Clayton Smith VE3IRR Member EN82qb Yes Yes
Mike Kennedy VA3TEC Member FN25 Yes Yes
Ray Perrin VE3FN Member FN25dk Yes Yes
Rémi De Cristofaro VA3DRI Member FN25 Yes Yes
Bill Redmond VA3WBR Visitor - No -

Opening

The meeting was opened by the President, Charles (VA3CPY) at 7:16 pm. There were three visitors attending the meeting.

Secretary’s Report

Bert (VE2ZAZ) posted a draft version of the June 2023 meeting minutes on the Club website prior to this meeting. Moved by him that the minutes be adopted as posted on the website. Seconded by Rémi (VA3DRI). The motion was carried.

Treasurer’s Report

  • Ray (VE3FN) provided the following report: We have an additional $0.11 in our chequing account because of interest. So our chequing account had a total of $2733.94 while our term deposits remained unchanged at a total of $2107.60.
  • Ray issued a correction to last month’s Treasurer report. The payment of $101.70 was actually made for the purchase of the member badges. The payment of $110 for the Kinburn Community Centre rental was made back in February 2023.
  • The Club currently has 24 regular members and 4 life members.

Vice President’s Report

Lawrence (VA3IQ) informed the members of the following upcoming meeting presentations:

  • Meeting presentations already scheduled:
    • August 2023: Mike (VA3TEC) - The state of the art in FPGAs.
    • September 2023: Dennis (WA4LPR) - INTRFIL - Round rod inter-digital filtering construction software.
    • October 2023: René (VE2UG) - 47 GHz 3D printed antenna.
  • Meeting presentations in planning:
    • Paul (W1GHZ) - Subject and date to be determined.
    • Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation. The presentation will be given by a Ph.D. student.
    • The Codec 2 HF Voice codec. One of the creators will make a presentation.

Director’s Report

No report, as the Director was absent.

President’s Report

Nothing to report.

Presentation(s)

No presentation was given this month.

Old Business

  • 902/1296 MHz Beacons: The beacons are still non-operational. Bert (VE2ZAZ) will contact Phil Lytle (VE3HOA) again to get an update on their attempt to organize a visit to the YMCA roof to re-activate or recover the beacons, depending on the Club’s decision regarding beacon relocation.
  • Lawrence (VA3IQ): The Club’s interest in providing advice on emergency communications to a local emergency preparedness committee. Lawrence reached out to the president of the emergency preparedness committee. He has not heard back from him. A discussion on that matter between the Club Officers will take place when we know more. The board will report back to the members at a future meeting.

New Business

  • In-person meetings: Lawrence (VA3IQ) will start to search for a low-cost location for our meetings. Members are asked to come up with suggestions of venues. An informal discussion followed.
  • Club participation at the OARC Carp hamfest (scheduled September 9th 2023): Bert (VE2ZAZ) will make the table reservation.

Show and tell

  • Bert (VE2ZAZ) talked about an RCS-10 coaxial switch smart controller he designed and built. It works great with an Icom IC-7300, or with any Icom HF radio equipped with a physical “Remote” CI-V jack.
  • Clayton (VE3IRR) showed a simple antenna installation for receiving weather balloon radiosonde beacons.
  • A few participants tried to place calls on the the Hamshack Hotline VoIP network.
  • Mike (VA3TEC) showed an Intel N95 dual-core mini-computer, which is available on Amazon for around $225. This PC beats the Raspberry Pi units in features and performance.

Ask the Club

No questions were asked.

Adjournment

The President observed that there was no further business; the meeting was adjourned at 9:26pm.