FEEDBACK
#6
GEORGIAN BAY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB NEWS
Executive
President Jim Vamplew VE3CRV
Vice Pres. Dick Shave VB3BIS
Sec. Treas. Jack Avis VE3DTS
Editor Bill VE3EFX APRIL 1974
The March meeting was attended by 18 members and 5 visitors in the C.I.A.G. bldg. and the meeting opened at 7.50 with the reading of the minutes of the previous meeting. Jim seems to be having trouble in getting a mailbox for the club, but will endeavour to rent one before the next meeting.
VE3EFX talked about Field Day, outlining the rules and conditions of the operation. Bob, VE3DFS was present and assisted in the discussion. He will be able to provide one station and at least one more operator. Dick,VE3BIS said that his rig would be available too, so it looks as if we'll be able to put on two stations in the class A category. The minimum number of operators for comfortable operation of two rigs is six, as two hours on and four off is about enough over the contest period. We decided to accept the offer of a site by Art, VE3HP at his cottage near Tobermory. The club secy. will write for the necessary forms and information from ARRL. Full information will be in future issues of "Feedback".
An enjoyable film was shown by Dave, VE3DXO, taking us back to amateur radio as it was in the mid fifties, and a number of wellknown hams appeared in the various types of operation.
The next club meeting will be held on Thursday, April l8th.in the C.I.A.G. Computer Bldg. so plan to attend.
A number of people are apparently confused by Z time which means GMT and is five hours ahead of EST. It is advisable to keep your logs in Z time as the contests require it, DX stations require QSL1s in it, and for keeping skeds with stations in different time zones it is the simplest way.
VE3EFX received the Winnipeg Centennial Award #1 and it looks very nice. When are some of the other club members going to get involved in trying for sopae of the certificates that are available?
This issue of the newsletter contains the circuit for a simple c.w. transmitter sent in by Mike Slack who is attending the course at Georgian College. It will be easy to build and would be an excellent rig to get on the air with Tnx Mike.
I have included a ZONE MAP this month so that everybody will know which time zone we are in. Some years ago the world was divided into 40 zones and the CQ magazine made available a Worked All Zones certificate. In some of the contests it is necessary to give your zone as well as a report and it is amazing how many old timers havn't a clue what is going on when the stations they contact ask for their zone. Even if you don't enter the contests it's nice to work a few dx stations and it'll enhance your image if the dx doesn't have to take time out to explain what should be common knowledge to North American Hams.
There is no 30 second delay when the repeater is activated now since Van VE3ARV did a few modifications to it the other week. The output was a bit off frequency after the mods but Jim VE3CRV went out and adjusted it. Thanks are due to these people who keep the repeater functioning and all of us who use it but live out in the fringe areas are very much indebted to them.
The repeater list was sent in to me by Percy VE3GN and I'm sure it will be a great help to those who plan mobile operation on trips. I appreciate the help in getting material for the club newsletter.
VE3AII/SU is with the Canadian peace keeping forces in Egypt and can be heard on 20 metres almost daily passing traffic to families in CANADA. He will work you after the traffic skeds are completed. His QSL manager is VElAL. For the time and frequencies in current use check with VE3IG on 3.752 mhz. around 00.05 z.
VE3EFX has the latest DX CALLBOOK if anyone needs the address of stations worked.
The G.B.A.R.C. net meets on 3.783 mhz at 14.30 Z every Sunday morning, tune in.
It is fortunate indeed that we didn't go ahead and mail out copies of the club constitution to all members. As I mentioned in the newsletter last month anyone wanting a copy should send me a s.a.s.e and guess what , not one request to date.
The response to my request for an alternate net control on the C.J. Net was about as expected **zilch** and out of the thirty eight or so other hams in the club nobody has bothered to send in their story for publication this month, so what is with you guys out there? It was amusing to get the reaction in February to the 14c postage due that some members had to pay, I got calls on various nets from guys that probably hadn't switched their rigs on in weeks, some wrote letters and there was even the odd phone call, but of all the characters that crawled out of the woodwork and made such efforts to contact me, not one mentioned the fact that I had the wrong club name in the heading of the newsletter.
On paper we have a large club membership but , in fact it is being run by a very small nucleus of dedicated people who are giving their time and energy in large amouts. Don't discourage them by your lack of intrest, your responsibility to the club doesn't end when you pay the membership fee, it begins there.
I keep hearing rumours of a club award for contacting GBARC members but so far have no real info on rules etc. when I get it from Big Daddy in Chesley I'll pass it along in these pages. There is an award you may be interested in, called The Maple Leaf Award for working or hearing and confirming Canadian Prefixes as follows.
Class 3- 15 different Canadian Prefixes
Class 2 -25 " "
Class 1 -30 " "
QSL's for contacts must be in your possession, a certified list signed by two amateurs must accompany the application, and all contacts to be made after January 1st. 1965
SEND APPLICATION TO;
VE3GCO, Mr G. Hammond, Geography Dept.
L.D.S.S. 155 Maitland Ave. South, Listowel, Ont.
and enclose $2 or 14 IRC's.
There is a new swap net on Sunday evening now , The Ontario Swap Net run by the twins from Tel Aviv VE3CZA and VE3GAS on 3.790mhz. at 0O.30z right after the Chicken Junction Net closes. Seriously though it is worth checking in to.
Don't forget the GBARC Net at 14.30z Sunday Morning on 3.783 mhz
The program for the April meeting will contain a talk on 2metre FM and repeater operation by Dick, VE3BIS with the possibility of a demonstration of some FM gear if the problem of getting a signal into the C.I.A.G.bldg. can be overcome. The talk will supplement the article written by Dick for the newsletter a couple of months ago. The accent will be on operation of the equipment and slanted to the newcommer.
The launching of the seventh amateur built satellite is due to take place this Spring and could come at any time. OSCAR 6 has been in orbit since Oct. 1972 and is still in operation so it is hoped that OSCAR 7, which is a more sophisticated package, will function in the same manner. For latest information , listen in on the AMSAT Net at 7pm EST Monday on 3.855mhz. For the uninitiated, OSCAR stands for- Orbital Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio-, and the first one was launched in 1961.
Some pretty strong rumours are around regarding operation from CHINA by W1GEY, in April. Dates are 19th, 2Oth,and 21st. 50 watch for the pileups. QSL to W1GEY.
The Postal Supervisor in Kincardine called me the other day to enquire if the service on our last newsletter had been okay. I told him that it had and I was waiting to see how the next one went through before writing to the Regional Director. This issue will leave Tiverton on Tue. April 2nd. so if it reaches you late be sure to let me know. By the way if your QST is arriving late read the letter on page 79 of the March issue.
Jack Avis would like to see the club have a social get together with the XYL's and YL's so I thought maybe Dick could arrange another tour of Douglas Point. We had one last year for the Goderich club and it was a big success. What say?
There now are 55 paid up club members so, if space permits next month I will put an up-todate list in Feedback, names and callsigns only.
We must start on the club bylaws to supplement the constitution, any ideas ? I feel that we should increase the Associate membership dues next year , as they barely cover the newsletter postage at $1. Repeater expenses should be taken in-to account with a special levy to be collected from repeater users.
