SB RAC @ CANADA < VA3RAC $RAC_9501.19 RAC NEWS BULLETIN 1-95 INTERNET EDITION - 15 JANUARY 1995 Issued at RAC Administrative Office 614 nNorris Court, Unit 6 Kingston, ON K7P 2R9 Internet Editor: Cam Inglis VE3UXN Internet Transmission: Steve Cutway VE3GRS IN THIS BULLETIN CATV SIGNAL LEAKS MAY INTERFERE WITH AIRCRAFT OTTAWA CLUB UNDERTAKES MAJOR ANTENNA PROJECT BRIEFS INFORMATION ON YOUR RADIO LICENCE MAY BE SHARED RESULTS OF SCARBOROUGH ARC MEMBERS SURVEY OTTAWA VALLEY MOBILE RADIO CLUB SURVEY SCANNER AIDS POLICE AAA ... AMATEUR AUTO ASSISTANCE IN FOCUS WITH PHOTO RADAR BULLETIN EDITOR RESIGNS IN LAKEHEAD 25TH ANNIVERSARY FOR AMSAT ONTARIO CALLSIGN LICENCE PLATES MORE EXPENSIVE SENIORS ATV REPEATER IN OTTAWA FREE GEOMAGNETIC FORECASTS AVAILABLE VERNON HAMS PLAN FOR REPEATER REPLACEMENT PACKET SYSOPS ASKED TO PASS ESPERANTO COMMUNICATIONS NEW ALBERTA ARC IN SLAVE LAKE RAC CALGARY CONVENTION NETS A PROFIT ONTARIO HYDRO REVISED CODE AFFECTS HAM RADIO RAC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING SCHEDULED FOR APRIL UPCOMING IN YOUR FEBRUARY TCA CATV SIGNAL LEAKS MAY INTERFERE WITH AIRCRAFT Barc Dowden VE3TT, regarded the appearance of a Maclean Hunter CATV van outside of his house as a bit ominous after it appeared three days in a row. A man holding a dipole was trying to locate a leak in their cable which appeared strongest right outside of Barc's home. In his backyard is a combined telephone-CATV terminal box sticking out of the ground. A technician figured there was a leak in the feeder cable 12 feet from the terminal. Reporting in the Ottawa Pioneer Amateur Radio Club bulletin, Barc said his curiosity caused him to tune his handheld to 145.25 MHz (channel 18), and sure enough he received an S9 signal. As he walked up and down his street the signal disappeared. It was then that he remembered a Radio Shack amplifier had been installed in his basement several years before. A 50' double shielded coaxial cable from the amplifier fed a TV set on his second floor. Just as he was about to turn off the amplifier, a CATV representative (obviously a supervisor), rang his doorbell and asked for access to Barc's backyard to do some testing. Barc let him through and then disconnected the amplifier. The test signal for cable leaks is a modulated tone on 118.25 MHz. After the tests the supervisor reported that he was unable to hear the leaks reported earlier by the technician. He did tell Barclay that they were very concerned with possible CATV signal leaks at frequencies in the aircraft band around 118.25 MHz because it could cause interference with aircraft operations. OTTAWA CLUB UNDERTAKES MAJOR ANTENNA PROJECT Early in November the 48 foot tower, located at the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, took on a new look when a Super Thunderbird (model TH7DX) HF antenna, was added to the top of it. Club members from the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club undertook the project which took 15 people about five hours to assemble the more than 700 parts. The antenna has a 24 foot boom and weighs 75 pounds. It was raised to the top of the tower using a hydraulic aerial platform. The OVMRC bulletin reported that VE3JW was on the beam. BRIEFS Source: ARRL newsletter. The November 1994 edition of QST at 272 pages was said to have set a record for size. W1AW has reoriented its beams for 10,15 and 20 metres to provide better coverage of the southeastern states. The 120 foot tower now has upper antennas on those bands pointed west and lower beams, fed in phase, pointed south. The London Science Museum announced that its Amateur Radio exhibit station GB2SM, would be closed because its time had passed. The Radio Society of Great Britain went to work and now says the museum has agreed to discuss an innovative, state-of-the-art, hands on exhibit to replace the existing station. GB2SM was scheduled to close November 7, 1994. The RSGB hopes to find a way to keep the famous call sign on the air. The United Kingdom has lowered the minimum age for its full amateur license from 14 to 10 years. The applicant is required to hold a novice license class A or B for a full year and then pass either a full class A or class B exam. INFORMATION ON YOUR RADIO LICENCE MAY BE SHARED The Ottawa Valley ARC bulletin reports that Industry Canada will release to the public all information that appears on radio licences to facilitate frequency coordination between users. A fee for this information may be charged. Exceptions are made when information relates to national security, to federal, provincial or municipal police operations or operations pertaining to foreign governments and embassies. The release of licence information is said to be of benefit to Amateurs using bands shared with other services who want to coordinate Amateur frequencies with those of other services on the band. RESULTS OF SCARBOROUGH ARC MEMBERS SURVEY When asked if they normally attend club meetings, 97.5% of those responding to a recent SARC members survey said they did. 65% said they would like to hear better speakers at those meetings. Just 10% said the business portion of club meetings needed to be shorter. About 80% of this club's membership is over 50 years of age, and 50% have been licenced under 10 years. While 15% report an involvement in packet radio, none of the respondents said they are currently involved with ATV, moon bounce or direction finding. HF holds the greatest interest for club members with 32.5% involved. VHF is close behind with 30% involved. UHF users amount to 15%. CW is of interest to 12.5%. 12.5% said they were interested in operating as a club in other contests. Only 5% said they wanted to see family events like dances, while 42.5% said training/building workshops are important to them. 75% said they thought the club should have a construction project. The survey indicated that 77.5% of those responding like technical articles in the club bulletin. About 50% said they like articles regarding legislation affecting the hobby. General topics are of interest to 60% responding while home brew is found interesting by 52.5%. RAC news is of interest to 35%. The survey covered a wide range of topics with only a representative sampling being mentioned here. An article separate to survey results in their bulletin said that the club membership has been on a steady decline for some time, dropping by almost 50% over the last three years. There are 84 members listed on the current club roster. OTTAWA VALLEY MOBILE RADIO CLUB SURVEY The OVMRC survey conducted last fall resulted in 53 responses from a membership of 221. About one half of those responding are 50 years of age or older. Approximately half of those have been licenced three years or less. Approximately 90% said they attend club meetings, and 40% catch the club nets. Those involved with VHF represent 80% of those surveyed. HF is right behind at 70%. Morse code involvement was recorded at 45%. Interest in technical articles in the club bulletin was 85% while 75% said they would read legislative articles, 70% home brew and 50% RAC news. 60% would like to participate in training and building workshops and 40% like the breakfast meetings on the weekends. SARA WILL EXPAND AGAIN SOON Writing in the Northern Alberta RC Emitter, SARA Association President, Ron Whaley VE6RKW, says that coverage of their repeater system will soon include Fort McMurray, Vermillion and the Lloydminister area. The SARA (Southern Alberta Repeater Association) system is a half-duplex UHF voice back bone or trunk. It starts in Montana and stretches to Cold Lake. Ron says to think of the trunk as an open party line in that any entry on to the system carries a signal the length of the network. Connected to this "live" trunk are a number of drop repeaters, or entry points to the system. These drop repeaters are either owned by SARA, individual clubs, or private owners. By using DTMF tones one can bring up the system (or drop repeater), then by sending additional tones call up a distant desired drop repeater(s). The system routes commands automatically, so you need only key in the code for the desired repeater. The system presently goes just about everywhere with access to the trunk in Medicine Hat, Milk River, Lethbridge, Brooks, Calgary, Red Deer, Clive, Edmonton, Andrew, Cold Lake and Athabasca. Through an interconnect the trunk is also available through the Yellow Head system. That system covers Carrot Creek, Edson, Hinton, Jasper, Grand Cache and Grand Prairie. There is also an uplink to IPARN located in Calgary. The system is open at all times for any type of QSO. It often gets used for provincial nets, public service events and general chats. It also allows for emergency communications throughout Alberta. THANKS, BUT NO THANKS From Today's Senior Magazine, August 1994 I recently retired and in looking at some of the alternatives I may have in possibly relocating from my present house to a lesser, but adequate one, I followed up on the many "mature lifestyle" mini-communities that are both described and advertised in newspapers. I was impressed by the provision of community activity facilities of many kinds ... but mention the hobby of Amateur radio and not one of the eight communities we have visited would allow an antenna. An antenna is a basic need to practice this very friendly hobby. "Sure we can sell you a house in our lovely community, but you cannot operate your Amateur radio here because we don't allow towers!" I very much enjoy reading lifestyle features in newspapers, particularly those that relate so closely to our needs. However, from now on we will be bypassing all those advertisements and now irrelevant items of mature lifestyle communities. SCANNER AIDS POLICE Two Ottawa men didn't get away with their crime thanks to a little luck and someone monitoring the police frequency. The crime involved the theft of an automated teller machine in Kingston containing almost $75,000. Damage to the machine itself was estimated by the bank's insurance company at more than $45,000. No one saw the theft in progress but a motorist with a scanner heard a report of the theft around 1 a.m. Passing a shopping centre the motorist observed a suspicious white car and white van leaving the parking lot. He followed the suspect vehicles and eventually phoned in their location to police. Police caught up with the vehicles near Prescott where they recovered the bank's machine. When arrested one man confessed to stealing the ATM and also implicated his accomplice. AAA ... AMATEUR AUTO ASSISTANCE From a report by Andre St. Jacques VA3ASJ Andre St. Jacques has a physical disability and uses a four wheel motorized scooter for transportation. According to his report in the Ottawa Valley Mobile R.C. Rambler, he was returning to his home in Vanier when his mobile chair ran out of battery power right in front of the Parliament buildings. This wasn't a life threatening situation but it was uncomfortable and there was little doubt that assistance was needed. Andre gave a call on his HT and Marc Charron VA3MDC, soon arrived with his truck and two friends to help out. Andre says, "Luck was certainly on my side." He says the event proved to him that the use of Amateur radio can be a life saver. Andre has been licenced since March, 1994. IN FOCUS WITH PHOTO RADAR Ontario has recently introduced a pilot test photo radar highway speed enforcement project which is based on other successful programs including those in western Canada. OPP Inspector George Marshall, project manager, photo radar, and OPP officer Ray Herrie, operator of photo radar van unit #1, were recently guest speakers at the London Amateur Radio Club meeting. Inspector Marshall covered topics that explained the mission, logistics and provincial supervision of the pilot project, while officer Herrie conducted tours of the mobile unit. Brad Seward VE3NRJ, reported on the presentation in the LARC's newsletter. Brad is also Ontario Section Director for The International Municipal Signal Association, a group whose main focus is public safety issues. The mission of photo radar, according to his report, is to target the "aggressive" motorist who exceeds the natural ebb and flow on Ontario's highway systems. The OPP have leased the equipment for the pilot project. The radar transceiver is manufactured by Gatsometer Technologies of Amsterdam and is computer coupled to a high speed 24 x 35 mm camera using a 150 mm viewing lens. The radar operates near 24.125 GHz. It emits a beam approximately 1 metre wide in the optimum detection zone of 20 degrees to the road verge and has a maximum scan range of approximately 300 metres. The unit is capable of performing speed samples of 200 per millisecond. The camera operates with a synchronised strobe flash at a fixed shutter speed of 1/1000. The film and shutter combination allow for 2 pictures per second. The units can operate in all types of weather and available light scenarios including a very dark rainy night. Presently the OPP have four vans equipped with photo radar operating on Ontario highways. BULLETIN EDITOR RESIGNS IN LAKEHEAD Jim O'Brien VE3UA, recently resigned as editor of the Lakehead ARC Hi-Q. He wrote a short piece in his bulletin summarizing his educational and "fun" experience over his three year editorship. Along with receiving much needed help from a number of club members he also mentioned the usefulness of ARNS bulletin, Worldradio magazine and W5YI Report. The Amateur Radio News Service (ARNS), is an organization of Amateur radio newsletter editors and publicists whose purpose is to help editors improve their club publication. ARNS publishes a monthly newsletter of their own which is very inexpensive and extremely helpful to newsletter editors. Jim says, "Every issue contains valuable tips and explanations needed by new editors." Amateur radio newsletter editors can get more information about ARNS by writing to them at 510 West Harrison, Alliance, OH 44601. The editor of ARNS bulletin is David Baron AF6S. The publisher is John Myers WX8G. Jim found Worldradio magazine an excellent source of material that bulletin editors can freely copy, with credit of course, to the source. He also found W5YI a good source of late breaking, copyright free articles. Jim also made regular use of Canadian news material from the RAC bulletin which he sourced from packet radio. 25TH ANNIVERSARY FOR AMSAT According to a report in The Hamilton Amateur last November, AMSAT recently celebrated their 25th Anniversary. The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation is a scientific, educational non-profit corporation devoted to providing satellites for the Amateur Service and disbursing information on how to use them to hams all over the world. Robin Haighton VE3FRH is the AMSAT Area Coordinator for Ontario. He recently spoke at a meeting of the Hamilton Amateur Radio Club. ONTARIO CALLSIGN LICENCE PLATES MORE EXPENSIVE Ontario hams will find new reflective licence plates with their callsign now cost $30. You can also select special colour graphics on your plates at a price of $185. SENIORS ATV REPEATER IN OTTAWA Bill Westbrook VE3EKA, chairman of the senior's video repeater committee of the Pioneer Amateur Radio Club in Ottawa, reported that on December 13, 1994, a video signal was put on the air for the first time on 914 MHz, from the video repeater VE3TVA, using the newly installed antenna at CJOH. VE3TVA in Ottawa operates on 439.250 MHz receive, 914.000 MHz transmit. FREE GEOMAGNETIC FORECASTS AVAILABLE From the Pioneer ARC Teleparc Energy, Mines and Resources Canada, Geophysics Division, studies solar activities from its Algonquin Park facilities and prepares regular reports which are available to the public free of charge. Those receiving these reports will get a review of geomagnetic activity affecting the polar cap, auroral, and sub-auroral zones for the period as well as a prediction for the next period. Seventy-two hour forecasts are also available by calling (613) 992-1299 in Ottawa for a recorded message. You can direct calls for information on available services to (613) 837-3527. VERNON HAMS PLAN FOR REPEATER REPLACEMENT From NORAC Ragchew Vernon B.C. club president Lowell Laidlaw VE7LRl, says their 20 year old repeater may be in need of replacement soon. The club now has volunteers in place to raise the necessary funds to finance the project. The anticipated replacement cost is about $13,000 for a 75 watt machine. Pager interference may also result in the repeater frequency being changed. PACKET SYSOPS ASKED TO PASS ESPERANTO COMMUNICATIONS From HaGAL-Israel Ham News Esperanto is an International language invented by Eliezer Zamerhoff in Russia more than a century ago. Zamenhoff, a witness to the violence around him, came to the conclusion that the maladies of human society were caused by people not understanding each other, and devised a simple and precisely logical language that he proposed as the universal mode of communications. It is used for communications in every field of science, art and culture. Being one of the easiest to learn, it gives those who may not use one of the "official languages" the opportunity of communicating in an un-national neutral language. A faithful group of hams continue to use Esperanto and there is even a contest in Esperanto. Often it is used in packet communications. System operators not familiar with Esperanto have been known to kill the messages. Using Esperanto in Amateur radio began in its earliest years. The IARU, at its congress in 1925, strongly recommended the use of the language to enable all hams to communicate with each other. Except for a current group of devotees, this recommendation was never fulfilled. An estimated 500 hams continue to communicate with each other using Esperanto and they recently appealed to packet sysops to not reject traffic where the topic is indicated as "Espera@" or "Esperant". NEW ALBERTA ARC IN SLAVE LAKE From Northern Alberta Emitter Alberta has a new Amateur radio club in Slave Lake. The club has a 30 watt repeater installed about 30 miles north of Slave Lake. This location is thought to be excellent as it is 400 feet above surrounding terrain and the antenna is at the 210 foot level on an Alberta Power radio tower. The acting secretary treasurer of the repeater association is Jim Munsey. You can write him at 9628-69A Street, Edmonton, T6B 1W3. RAC CALGARY CONVENTION NETS A PROFIT From Calgary ARA Key Klix Ken Oelke VE6AFO reports that the final audited figures are in and the RAC first national Convention resulted in a profit of more than $13,000. Profits were distributed to Radio Amateurs of Canada ($4,000), Defence of Amateur Radio Fund ($695), and AMSAT-NA ($695). The remaining balance remains with CARA for their efforts in sponsoring the convention. ONTARIO HYDRO REVISED CODE AFFECTS HAM RADIO From the Lakehead ARC Hi-Q There is a new Ontario Hydro code which took effect in January, 1995. Of particular interest to hams will be the section referring to radio amateurs. Among subjects covered are lightning arresters for lead-in conductors, antenna grounding and antenna clearances from primary hydro lines. Antenna towers must be far enough away from primary power lines so that if they were to fall over they would not come in contact with the power lines. You should contact Ontario Hydro if you have any questions regarding the new code. RAC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING SCHEDULED FOR APRIL Radio Amateurs of Canada is currently finalizing plans to hold its 1995 Annual General meeting in Ottawa in late April. Members wishing to propose motions on major policy issues such as changes to the Constitution should prepare them soon. Detailed information about the time and place of the meeting will be published in the April issue of TCA. Those writing to RAC are reminded that the postal box has been closed and mail is now being delivered directly to the office. Please address your mail to: Radio Amateurs of Canada, 614 Norris Court, Unit 6, Kingston, Ontario K7P 2R9. UPCOMING IN YOUR FEBRUARY TCA The February issue of The Canadian Amateur features good news on 220-225 MHz remaining as amateur primary, details on the new RAC Board of Directors, a feature on a young Newfoundland amateur, plotting repeater signal countours in Mississauga, details and results of the VE3ONT moonbounce outing to the Big Dish in Algonquin Park, a report of six amateurs operating aboard an icebreaker at the North Pole and using remote cameras at a BC repeater site. All this, plus the usual selection of letters, Silent Keys, regular columns, contest and DX reports, Club Corner news, YL News, QUA, Rogues' Gallery, ARES, Public Service, Section News, bench and homebrewing tips, shortwave listening, the Swap Shop, flea markets and propagation forecasts - in the February issue of The Canadian Amateur, coming to your mailbox this month. Please note that the mailing address for RAC has changed from Box 356 to 614 Norris Court, Unit 6, Kingston, ON, K7P 2R9. 73 de VA3RAC Steve VE3GRS at the keyboard