Serving London, Ontario, Canada and Area since 1920
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London Amateur Radio Club Serving London, Ontario, Canada and Area since 1920 |
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The next LARC meeting will be Thursday January 12, and will feature Deputy Fire Chief Dan Oldridge VE3NCI. He'll be speaking about the Fire Department's Communications and Operations, and we're pretty sure there will be some interesting radio topics discussed.
Saturday morning breakfast AKA "HAMs & eggs: The Cottage restaurant will be closed on December 17, 24 and 31 for their Christmas break. On those 3 Saturdays the breakfast get together will be at Mary's Place, 1494 Dundas near First Street, next to Value Village. We'll be back at the Cottage on January 7
Callsign Lookup: If you use the callsign.ca website to look up Ham Radio call signs, you'll find that it is no longer operational, and has been replaced by an Industry Canada service. To do a lookup, you can now go to this page:
http://apc-cap.ic.gc.ca/pls/apc_anon/query_amat_cs$. startup
Ham Radio Deluxe: If you use the Ham Radio Deluxe program, you should be aware of 2 things:
1) Jim Hartford VE3NRX is continually updating a list of Short Wave stations that you can load directly into HRD. His latest list can be found here on this website.
2) Ham Radio Deluxe has been sold by its creator, Simon Brown HB9DRV to a different group. It's not clear what the future holds (some details here) but it wouldn't hurt to download the latest version of any of the components "just in case" their availability changes.
Field Day was a roaring success, with 5 voice stations operating on 10, 15, 20, 40 and 80 meters, plus a CW station. Contacts reached from Hawaii to Europe, and we had a lot of operators with grins on their faces. Here are some different interpretations of where we made our 616 contacts:
Table showing each band, and how many contacts were made and to what sections
Table showing all sections we contacted, & contact counts for each band
10m-phone-Map (26) 15m-phone-Map (114) 20m-phone-Map (170)
40m-phone-Map (129) 80m-phone-Map (145)
20m-CW-Map (3) 40m-CW-Map (29)
VA3LON is hopefully on its way back up. The problem finally reoccurred with the repeater on the test bench, and Brad Seward has narrowed it down to the PA deck. A spare board has been installed, and the next step is to arrange the logistics of re-installing the repaired repeater at the Arva pumping station. Thanks to Brad Seward, Doug Tompkins and Gord Baker for their determined efforts to find a challenging intermittent problem.
The Monday night LARC continues to be held on VE3OME, 145.45 MHz with a 114.8 PL tone. Hopefully we can get VA3LON healthy again soon, and be done with the alternate procedures.
VE3HKY Antennas: We've had many inquiries about the two antenna designs produced by Bob Rice VE3HKY. Both his 7-Band Semi-Vertical Trap Antenna and the 7 Band Portable Dipole have enjoyed great reviews from local hams who have put them together. The first antenna is described in this web page, and the portable one is described in this video , which includes complete instructions on how to build it.
The RONA MS Bike Tour took place on the weekend of July 23/24, and by all accounts, the Hams once again made a valuable contribution. We were quite busy at times, and handled a variety of situations such as:
-being the clearing house for all checkpoint requests for logistics supportThe briefing document, the Net Control log, and a list of considerations for our post event review are on the MS-Tour page. Thanks to everyone who helped out - a job well done for a good cause: over 1.1 million was raised for the MS Society.
-finding drinking water for checkpoints where initial supply was frozen solid
-dispatching a van and nurse to assist a rider who was injured between checkpoints
-organizing/providing transport home for a rider who's spouse was rushed to hospital
-coping with flock of geese on the road in Hyde Park
-coordinating the shuffling of food and water and bike parts for riders between checkpoints
-tracking lost and found items
-IRLP contact from VR3UNA who was in China
-getting vans to locations where fatigued bikers needed transport
Basic Ham Course - Our 2011 course is definitely on, and we're getting a great response. It will take place on Saturday mornings (09:00 to 13:00) from Sept 10 to Nov 26 (skipping Thanksgiving). The last session will be the writing of the exam (100 multiple choice questions) followed by submission of license applications and callsign requests to Industry Canada. The cost for the course is $40, which includes the official study guide that normally costs $40 + shipping by itself. We have studyguides in stock, and keen students who would like to start reading up on the material are invited to register early. To do this, just contact Doug Elliott (canoe.eh@gmail.com), who will look after the details. More information available in this document.
Calling all Elmers: We have some Hams-to-be who would appreciate having someone they can call or email for assistance as they study for their license test. If you'd like to help out, please contact Doug Elliott (webmaster@larc.ca), and we can discuss what's involved.
Intro to HF: We've had some inquiries from people who would like to explor using the HF bands, but could use some help getting started. If you'd like to join in, or help newcomers to HF, get in touch with the executive, and we'll see if we can get something going.
Mutual AID: Would you be willing to answer some questions if a fellow ham needed some advice? Got a problem you can't figure out? Want to try something new but need someone to show you the ropes? Check out our new Mutual AID page, a new way to get people who are looking for assistance together with the folks who can help supply the answers. Let us know what you think of this new facility.
If you use Ham Radio Deluxe, you can download the latest HRD shortwave broadcast text database, provided by Jim Hartford, VE3NRX, from the Mutual AID page. Jim provides frequent updates, so reloading the file once in a while is a good idea.
Ontario's New Rules For Hand-Held Wireless And Entertainment Devices come into effect on October 26, 2009. It would be a good idea to carry a copy of the actual law (see sections 13 and 14) and a copy of your Ham license in your glove compartment in case you need to convince a police officer that your mobile radio usage is permitted.
Advanced Ham license study group. A couple of us are working towards writing the exam for our advanced license. If you'd like to join us, send an email to the webmaster and we'll welcome you with open books. Some sources of study material are outlined in this document.
Pictures and details from Field Day are available here, although it's a work in progress.
Wanted to follow up on a LARC presentation? If we received a copy of the presentation, or any addition websites for references, etc, you'll find them attached to the meeting notice in the Club Events page.
New HF Band Plan Chart: RAC has announced revised band plans effective immediately. There's a new DX window on 40M, and a bigger one on 80M. Some HF nets may be changing because the frequency they use is now inappropriate in the new plan, so keep your "ears" open for changes. The full details can be found on the RAC website's HF Band Plan page , and here's a summary chart.
Has your Email address changed? We need to know your new one to make sure you get the monthly newsletter. Please update us if this is the case by emailing the webmaster@larc.ca.
Membership: At the summer break, our membership list stood at 102. Membership dues are a significant portion of the income that keeps the club running, and we'd like to thank our members who pay their dues promptly: list of LARC members .
Flaunt your face - show your shack. In our hobby it's not always easy to put a face to all the fellow hams you talk to on the air. To help us all figure who's who, LARC invites its members to submit digital photos of yourself and/or your shack to be published on the membership page of our website. Purely voluntary of course, and if you prefer you can submit just one (depending on whether you think your face or your shack is more presentable).
How will it work? On the membership page, we'll attach your own picture where your first name appears, and the picture of your shack to your callsign. See the entry for Doug Elliott, VA3DAE for an example.
How do you submit your pictures? Just email them to the LARC site webmaster address, which is
webmaster@larc.ca
All LARC meetings are located at St. Judes Anglican Church, 1537 Adelaide Street North at Fanshawe Park Road East in London, Ontario at 7:30 PM the second Thursday of the Month (unless otherwise noted, no meeting July and August). For upcoming meetings and other events (including upcoming local Hamfests and Fleas) check out the current event schedule. Everyone is welcome to drop in, you do not have to be a member to come to a meeting as a guest.
Your comments, suggestions, and questions are always welcome - just contact the executive .For all the latest news see the Club Newsletter page for the current and older newsletters. If you are not on the newsletter mailing list (or have changed email address) to get your electronic copy each month, send an email to webmaster@larc.ca
Some other sources of HAM radio news (expect lots of duplication):
You do NOT have to be a LARC member to get our newsletter!
RAC Latest News RAC's Canadian News RAC's International News
The American Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL)
eHam.net's News Page
The Amateur Radio Newsline
WorldRadio
QRZ.com's Ham News Page
This Week in Amateur Radio
Google search for Amateur Radio News
Note: some documents on this site (such as the newsletter) are use "PDF" (portable document format). See this page for more information on installing FREE PDF readers on your computer if those files do not open automatically.
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