#9
FEED BACK
GEORGIAN BAY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
NEWS
SEPTEMBER 1974
Editor Bill VE3EFX
Executive
President Jim Vamplew VE3CRV
Vice Pres. Dick Shave VE3BIS
Sec. Treas. Cy Weaver VE3DQA
The June meeting opened at 7:45 P.M. with 20 members and 3
visitors, including VE4XR and his XYL, present. The minutes of the previous
meeting were read and approved, then the financial statement showed that we had
$78.89 in club funds.
It was suggested by Ian VE3HIP, that the meetings should start at 8pm in the
Fall, and this was agreed to after some discussion and a vote taken.
Since we formed the club the executive has been trying to get information on
the members who support ARRL and RSO, without too much success. I have now vome
up with a membership application form that will give the club all the
information we require on each member. It was approved at the meeting and will
be sent out with the November issue of Feedback.
A decision was made at the meeting to increase membership dues to $5
for full members, $3 f or associate members and $10 for family membership.
Current memberhips expire on December 31st, but people who join the
club between now and the end of the year will be paid up till the end of 1975.
The next topic discussed was Field Day, and this wasmainly to acquaint the
new amateurs with the logging proceedures and to make sure that everyone knew
what was going to be done and what they had to bring.
The final item on the agenda was the "Junk Sale and VE3EFX disposed of gear
to the tune of $18 worth so the club will get $1.80 at the next meeting.
Congratulations are in order to the people who now hold new calls. These are
Tess, VE3HIR, Ian, VE3HIP, Mike, VE3HIN Rick, VE3HIO, Lavern, VE3HIG,
and Jim, VE3HKV. Don't forget to let me know if you guys are interested in a
contest in the Fall so that I can set it up in plenty time.
The Field Day operation was very successful and all those who took part are
to be congratulated on the fine performance they gave. The total number of QSO's
claimed is 656 and with the multiplier and bonus points, the total
score sent in to ARRL is 1512 points.
The weather, which always plays a large part in the success of such an
operation, could not have been better, and the radio conditions were good to all
parts of N. America.
Our newly licenced operators gave good account of themselves and the
equipment operated without a hitch for the entire period.
I got a brief writeup into the Kincardine paper on June26th and there was a
story put in the Wiarton Echo by Art, VE3BP, complete with pictures.
The only criticism I have is of the logging. Many calls were incorrect and in
quite a number of cases the ARRL section was missing so that we could not claim
these contacts. There were also a lot of calls not put on the dupe cards, but
when all is considered the results are very encouraging and we will be better
prepared for the next one
Next year I'd like to see stations operating cw only and fone only as this will
make the rewriting of the logs a lot easier.
Ian, VE3HIP, is putting out a nice signal on 2m with his mobile rig, and he is
also being worked on the lower frequencies using the Viking 11.
Mike and Rick Slack are active also on the repeater and the LF bands. Usually
new hams try to get contacts with all states for the WAS award as it is fairly
easy to work them from here.
Don't forget the GBARC Net at 9.3Oam on 3.783mhz every Sunday morning.
VE3EFX is carrying on as RSO delegate for this area for another term, so be
prepared to join the ranks if you are not already a member. I'd like to see 100%
of the club membership in the RSO by Xmas. Family membership is only $2 per
member after the first member pays his $5.
The executive of the Grey Bruce Motor Club has approached us with
the request that we provide them with communications facilities for a rally
that they plan to organize in April of next year. The rally will be sponsored by
the Canadian Automobile Sport Club, it will be a big event as they expect
entries from all over Canada and the U.S., and this will be a first for
this area.
The rally will be held on a Saturday, and will take place within the area
from Southampton to Pine River and East to Paisley.
I suggest that we use 2m mobiles at the required checkpoints and my base
station which can cover the whole area. We can use 94 simplex and I believe this
will give the best communications for this purpose.
The start and finish will likely be at the Sutton Park Inn, Kincardine, and if
we can get sufficient operators and gear we can put a station in there as well,
so that my base station can contact the organizers without going through by
landline.
There will be a marshal in each mobile unit so the operator will only be
required to pass messages to the next or previous checkpoints, or direct to the
base station.
We would like to have twelve mobiles at least and will be calling on the club at
Goderich for support in this operation. We can get valuable publicity if we put
on a good show in ths rally, if you are a RSO member you would read of the
winter rally that the Amateurs covered earlier this year, in TOA.
The people I have in mind at this time for the rally coverage are; VE3's BIS,
DQA, CRV, BSF, ARV, HIN, HIG, HIP, HIR EFX, HKV, and from the Goderich club; GVD,
AUI, NX, EAR, EYN, and anyone else that I can GET with 2m gear and / or
a ham ticket. Of course I didn't forget Rick VE3HIO, but I know he isn't old
enough to drive a car so we can use him at one of the base stations.
Apart from the radio side and publicity for the club , this is an
excellent
chance to get out and see some of the top rally drivers in the country perform.
I was at the last meeting of the G. B. M. C. and saw a movie of the Trans &mdash
Canada rally which was very good . The details are far from
complete as the
preparations are just getting underway , but as further info becomes
available
I will be getting it out to everyone through the newsletter and on the club net.
I hope to have one or two of the G.B.M.C. executive come to the
November
meeting and tell the club what progress has been made and also to pass
along any additional info on what they want us to do. Your support in this
venture will be very greatly appreciated by all concerned, and the experience
gained will be of benefit in future operations of a similar nature.
The Sunday morning net is being supported very well though the summer
weather is here. it's nice to have CRV checking in from his island retreat and
DXO is always a good signal from the north country.
Conditions on twenty meters have picked up very nicely in July with some DX
coining in during the afternoons. VE3EFX hada run of good contacts including GM,
HB9, EA3, and a new country VQ9 which is the Seychelles Islands in the Indian
Ocean.
The ten and fifteen metre bands were good too but you had to be there at the
right time and the openings usually were of short duration. I missed out on the
Kingman reef Dx-pedition as I couldn't work split frequency and he refused to
contact VE's on his own frequency.
If you are thinking of buying any radio equipment the following will be of
interest. The station at VE3EFX is presentlj undergoing a facelift, the FTDX4OO
is sold and a new FT1O1 is on order. After shopping around and checking prices I
ordered the rig from Glenwood Trading in Vancouver. Their price on the basic rig
is $769 and the CW filter is $46.95. I checked the price at Peterson's in London
and they want $829 plus $49 for the CW filter. On top of that you pay 7% tax in
Ontario which will bring the total cost to around $938. It pays to snop outside
the province and save the tax. The total savings on the rig will pay for the
external VFO and still leave some beer money.
If you are putting up a beam antenna be sure to leave enough slack coax at the
top of the tower to allow the beam to turn as far as it is supposed to go. I
didn't,ane one day turned the beam further than usual. The result was , broken
coax and a trip to the top of the tower to effect repairs in the middle of a
good DX opening on twenty. Fortunately the weather was good, it could have been
in the wintertime.
LITTLE KNOWN
SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES
Compilation of very important but little
known Scientific Principles Related to Certain Peculiar Laws of Inexactitude,
Perversity, and Whimsey in Scientific Endeavour.
MURPHY'S LAW
If something can go wrong, it will.
SKINNER'S CONSTANT
That quantity which,when multiplied by, divided by, added to, or subtracted
from the answer you get, gives you the answer you should have got.
( This is also known as FLAWNEGAN'S FINANGLING FACTOR ).
TIORNER'S FIVE THUMB POSTULATE
Experience varies directly with equipment ruined.
CAHN'S AXIOM
When all else fails, read the instructions.
GUMPERSONS LAW
The probability of a given event occurring is inversely proportional to it's
desirability.
THE ORDERING PRINCIPLE
Those necessary supplies for yesterday's experiment must be ordered no later
than tomorrow noon.
The TRANSCRIPTION SQUARE LAW
The numbers errors made is equal to the sum of the "squares" employed.
CHISHOLM'S LAW OF HUMAN INTERACTION
Anytime that things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something.
RIDDLE'S CONSTANT
There are coexisting elements in frustration phenomena which separate expected
results from achieved results.
RULE OF ACCURACY
When working toward the solution of a problem, it always helps to know the
answer. Provided, of course, thatyou know there is a problem.
The foregoing was stolen £rom the pages of HIGH Q , official organ of the
LAKEHEAD A.R.C. Thanks are due to Bill, VE3EEW, whose permission to reprint
would probably have been given if he had been asked.
Ian, VE5HIP, was enquiring about the possibility of covering more
channels with the 2m mobile rig. For mobile operation the best way to go is the
synthesizer route. I talked to Fred, VE3AIU, and he has one that was bought from
the firm of GLB Electronics, 60 Autumnwood Drive, Buffalo, N.Y. The
unit comes either in kit form at $129.95 or $189.95 wired and tested. Don't
forget these are U.S. prices so add the 35% duty and tax to get the
local cost. To make it worth the cost you would need to do an awfull lot of
driving and operating.
The next club meeting will be held on This is the
second Thursday in the month, and don't forget it starts at in the CIAG
computer bldg.
We heard on the net, July 28th, that Van, VE3ARV, had broken a leg · We
all send our best wishes for a speedy recovery.
VE3EFX has finally pried a QSL out of VX1 for the 50th Canadian prefix, so
by the time this issue of Feedback comes out I should have my Maple Leaf
Award.
On the Civic Holiday weekend, VE3BIS and VE3HIP went out to the repeater
site and did some work on the equipment. It is too early to assess the results
of their labours at tLLe time of this writing , but the repecter
is functioning very well. A random sampling of calls worked by VE5EFX
through VE3OSR in the period July 20th to August 4th include VE3's AER, AKC, ARV,
AYM/m, BIE/m, BQN/3, BWT/3, CDM/3, COG/rn, CUJ/m, DPT, DWE/m, ETF, FLZ, HIP/rn,
XQ,/m, and W8AKP/VE3 From the above it would appear that the repeater is
becoming well known and is being put to good use by people travelling
through this area. We could use more monitors on the channel as a number of
those contacted said that there appears to be a lot of times when nobody
comes back to a call.
The following procedures may be helpful if followed when using the repeater.
Dont say you are monitoring unless you plan to listen for at least 5
minutes. call CQ if you don't intend to stay on and monitor.
If you call a station you think is monitoring, give that station time to get
back to you, he may not be sitting at the rig continuously.
If, during a qso you are making short transmissions, don't let the tail drop
every time. You have 3 minutes before timeout and you'll save wear and tear
on the equipment.
If you wish to break in on a QSO do so when the tail is on, before it
drops.
The club and it's activities are not getting sufficient publicity in the
local newspapers. We have had an operational 2m repeater in use for eight months
now and nothing has appeared in the press to tell people about it.
The Field Day Operation only made the Wiarton and the Kincardine papers,
both weeklies. No mention was made in the Owen Sound Sun Times which has a much
larger circulation , and is more likely to be read by interested persons.
The club should endeavour to get something in the paper each month just
prior to the meeting, with details of the date, time and place where the meet
ing is to be held. A brief outline of the program could also be included and
visitors invited to drop in. This would alert people in the area to the
club's activities and it wouldn't hurt the locals to be jabbed into
conciousness as they settle down in front of the "boob tube" with the paper.
We are not getting much response from the membership in the form of articles for
"Feedback". I tried to initiate a monthly article from licenced hams on "How
they got into Ham Radio". The result has been one story from VE3BSF and
nothing else. I have asked some people to come up with something that takes
about twenty minutes to write and invariably the reply has been that they don't
have time · The same characters can be heard waffling out their daily dose of
drivel by the hour on the local repeaters, so it would appear that there is
a lack of interest by the membership in contributing to the newsletter. If
you don't mind being subjected to the "thoughts of EFX", that's fine, but if you
have any complaints, put them in writing and I'll publish them instead.
VE3EFX and VE3HIR worked VE3EUP/aeronautical mobile through OSR the other
day. Is this a first for our repeater2? Garth was at 4000', North of
Parry Sound.
I have a BC221 frequency meter for sale c/w power supply and calibration book.
This, for the uninitiated, is a sig. gen. If you want to know your freq. this
will tell you. Price to any club member, a sacrifcial $40 to impoverished EFX.
Also still available is the 1/4 wave mobile antenna for 2m that clips to the
roof of your car. No holes to drill, installs in seconds, includes
coax. OFFERS?
Nice to hear Harvey 3FOT, back on the air with a distinctive signal (ac hum)
Hope you get it cleared up okay Harv.
That's a real neat 2m installation Ian, 3HIP, has in his car. He modified
theback of the car to mount the rig, and his XYL modified the front while
driving.
The following suggestions could be
discussed on the net and some of them put into effect right away.
1. Control stations should be set up for the net, possibly at the beginning
of each month, for the following four weeks, and each controller would know in
plenty time what date he would be NCS. It would be the responsibility of
the NCS to make sure that he was on 5.783 mhz at 09.30 and if he was
unable to be there , he should arrange to have a substitute stand in for
him.
2. If the secretary cannot handle the publicity side of the club's affairs, it
might be a good idea to elect or designate another individual to do it. Cn
a previous page I mentioned the necessity for more coverage of the activities
of the club.
3. It is time we had some Byelaws to supplement the constitution.
4. Our contact with the EMO should be maintained , and don't forget that
the Simulated Emergency Test will be coming up in January again. Watch QST
for details in the next few months
As the club meetings are to start at 8pm in future we'll need to
make sure the business gets underway promptly in order to get everything done.
We can't hang on till 8.20 or 8.30 for those who come late. There are
always those who show up at 7.30 for 7 o'clock meetings, or 8 o'clock
if they should have been there at half past seven.
If you have aquired your ham ticket lately you ought to send your call, name
and address to the Callbook, at the foU.owing address; Radio Amateur Callbook,
925 Sherwood Drive, Lake Bluff, Illinois, 60044 U.S.A. This will ensure that
your QRA will be in the next edition.
Very often it takes a long time for QSL cards to arrive via the bureau. A
bundle arrived for VE3EFX in August, and among them were cards for contacts made
in 1971, 1972, 1973 and some for this year, but tucked away in the pile was a
QSL for a contact made on April 9th 1967. It came from Portugal so the mails
must be even slower there than they are here. If you are active on the HF
bands you will be well advised to keep a self addressed envelope with about
16c in stamps on it in the QSL bureau, the VE3 bureau is run by ,
VE3UW, Russ Buckley, 20 Almont Rd, Downsview, Ont. Make sure that the
envelope is about 8x5 inches and put your call in the top left hand corner. That
ought to be okay for about a dozen cards.