Present: Stan VE6SYS, Larry VE6WL, Kalvin VE6KRO, Kevin VE6KVV, Wayne VE6WEK, Chad VA6OEM, Dave VA6SYS, Gary VE6CV, Tyler VA6TI, Roy VE6AWT, Norm VE6NFW, Brian VE6LAY, David VE6DRL, Charlie VE6KN, Barry VE6BGR, Peter VA6ARI.

Call to Order by: Gary VE6CV at 10:03 am
Seconded by: Tyler VA6TI
All in favour.

Thanks to Kalvin for securing us a new (free) meeting location at the College.

Reading of the Minutes of Feb. 17 by Peter VA6ARI
No omissions or corrections.
Motion to accept minutes as read by: Kevin VE6KVV
Seconded by: Tyler VA6TI
All in favour.

Treasurer’s Report by Barry VE6BGR
Major expenses this month: RAC Insurance and Website hosting fee, which was donated by Cory VE6COR

Repeater Committee Report by Barry VE6BGR
Not much new to report. Still suspect the solar panels.
The toroids have arrived. Will install when weather is nicer.
Will also check on the grounding.
Also working on a remote announcement system.

Field Day Report by Gary?
Email address for FD announcements and info: saarcFieldDay@gmail.com
Field Day info posted to Website and Facebook, and there is a Discord channel.

Old Business
1) Club Generator: Steve VE6SCL recommends four options:
– A-ipower 2000 W Dual Fuel Gasoline Powered Inverter Portable, $600 at Costco
– Anker 535 Portable Power Station 512Wh, $600 at Costco
– Firman 3,200 W Dual Fuel Inverter Generator, $990 at Costco
– Firman 4550/3650W Dual Fuel Generator, $700 at Costco
It was decided that we do not need a new generator right now and will reassess if/when that changes.
2) Basic Classes: Ron VE6PAP is checking with the College to see if they’re interested. Not present for an update.
Roy VE6AWT has broken the question bank into the eight sections and has created Word Doc files of all the questions in each section. These could be posted to the website. Barry is going to look for a coordinator.
3) Month 2 of Bruce’s VE6ATY link of Echolink to CAM repeater. Seems to be working. We will address it again next month.
4) Name tags. Name tags will be ordered through The Engravers at $10 each for anyone interested.
5) CW Practice. Contact Cory VE6CYT if interested.

New Business
1) Since the club is not a federal Registered Charity, we are not able to issue donation receipts.
2) Emergency Communications discussion with the city. Tyler is in contact with Jamie at the city. There will be a city meeting Aug. 1, 2024 to talk about Emcomm. Tyler will invite Jamie to Field Day.

Move to close the business portion of the meeting by: Kalvin at 10:56 am
(no seconder required)

NanoVNA Presentation by Barry VE6BGR

Next meeting will be on May 25 (fourth Saturday because of the long weekend) here at the College.

Southern Alberta Field Day 2024 will be happening the weekend of June 22 to 23 at the Lion’s Club Campground, about five km north of Fort Macleod on highway 811 (GPS coordinates: 49.7566, -113.4061). Last year’s Field Day was very well attended and this year we are expecting even more. We have invited hams from Calgary, Medicine Hat, Montana, and of course everyone in the Lethbridge area.

Camping is available (there’s lots of space). There are NO services but there is non-potable water, free firewood (end cuts from the Truss Plant in town), and out-houses. Sites are so nice and a very good size. You are welcome to come early and stay as long as you want.

Agenda (tentative):

• Saturday morning flea market around the cook house.
• Saturday hotdog and hamburger lunch provided.
• Saturday pizza supper (ordered individually from Fort Macleod Pizza and delivered to the campground).
• Sunday pancake and sausage breakfast provided.

Other Events are still in the planning stages (like a scavenger hunt for both kids and adults, and door prizes and draws). Please watch this site for updates as we get closer to the date. Also, let others know about the event and invite them along.

Registration for RAC Basic Course Spring 2024 is closing soon! Course begins Sunday, April 14.

https://www.rac.ca/rac-basic-qualification-amateur-radio-course-spring-2024/

For immediate release:

Radio Amateurs of Canada is once again offering an online Amateur Radio course so that individuals from all across Canada can obtain their Amateur Radio Operator Certificate with Basic Qualification.

The course will again be conducted with the assistance of the Annapolis Valley Amateur Radio Club (AVARC) of Nova Scotia.

This course prepares students for the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) Basic Qualification Level Operator Certificate exam to operate on allocated Amateur Radio frequencies.

Schedule and Cost:

Date: The course will be held on Thursdays and Sundays commencing on Sunday, April 15 and ending on Thursday, June 20.

Time: Classes will be held on Thursday evenings from 6 pm to 9 pm (1800 – 2100) Eastern Time  and Sunday afternoons 1 pm to 4 pm (1300 to 1600) Eastern Time.

Cost: The registration fee for the course is $50 plus GST/HST. The cost of the Basic Study Guide is extra and an order link will be provided upon completion of payment.

Instruction: 

The course instructor is RAC Atlantic Director Al Penney, VO1NO. Al was first licensed in 1977 and has been active in many areas of Amateur Radio including contesting, DXing, VHF/UHF weak signal, satellites, emergency communications and DXpeditioning.

He has served as the President of six different Amateur Radio clubs in both Canada and the United States and currently chairs the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2 Band Planning Committee. Al has taught the Basic Qualification Amateur Radio Course since 1994.

Requirements:

Course material pertaining to all topics covered in the course syllabus will be provided to all registered students. Students must have a copy of the Canadian Amateur Radio Basic Qualification Study Guide provided by Coax Publications. For more information please visit the RAC Study Guides webpage.

It is essential that all students have the necessary equipment and bandwidth capable of taking the course – at least a tablet or PC and a DSL broadband connection – which will be conducted using the Zoom conference platform.

You do not need your own account on Zoom to take part in this course, but you may have to download a Zoom applet to participate.

Students will receive instructions on how to log on to the online sessions once they have registered for the course. Classes will be recorded, so occasional absences are not a problem.

Complete information about the course and a downloadable copy of the course syllabus are available at the link provided below.

Registration: 

If you would like to take part in this course please register now by completing the registration form provided on the RAC website at:

https://www.rac.ca/rac-basic-course-registration-form-spring-2024/

Tyler VA6TI has set up a club Discord server for club information and chats. If you are not familiar with Discord, you can watch this little video called “How Discord Works in 148,000 Miliseconds [sic] or Less” for more information:

If you would like to join us on Discord, please email Tyler at tylerkacsor@gmail.com for an invite.

Present: Peter VA6ARI, Renze VE6DC, Milt VE6MLD, Blair VE6AGH, Stan VE6SYS, David VA6IRE, Ed VE6EKG, Barry VE6BGR, Cory VE6CYT, Wayne VE6WEK, Gary VE6CV, Kalvin VE6KRO, Charlie VE6KN, Dave VA6SYS, Tyler VA6TI, Ron VE6PAP, Walter VE6XWG

Thanks and appreciation to all 2023 board members for their service:

• Brian VE6LAY for his past five years of service as secretary,
• Cory VE6COR for his past years as president,
• Also Peter VA6ARI, Gary VE6CV, Barry VE6BGR, Renze VE6DC, Norm VE6NFW.

Meeting Called to Order by Gary VE6CV at 9:15 am

• seconded: Milt VE6MLD

Treasurer’s Report provided by Barry VE6BGR

Repeater Committee Report provided by Cory VE6CYT

• temperature related noise issue, happens when it’s cold and also when it’s very hot
• ferrite cores on order
• perhaps solar panel noise and may need to be replaced
• talk to Canadian Energy

Motion to dissolve last year’s board: David IRE

• seconded: Kalvin VE6KRO

Election of new board:

• President: Barry VE6BGR
• Vice-president: Kalvin VE6KRO
• Secretary: Peter VA6ARI
• Treasurer: vacant
• Three Directors: Renze VE6DC (Events), Cory VE6CYT (Repeater), Tyler VA6TI

Election of Two Auditors:

• David VA6IRE, Stan VE6SYS

Additional Comments:

• Tyler VA6TI, has set up a Discord Group
• a Flea Market will be held at Field Day
• Blair VE6AGH suggested getting name tags; Charlie VE6KN suggested name tags be provided as part of membership
• Wires-X net is Sundays at 7 pm

Next meeting – April 20, 2024 at 10 am

• Barry VE6BGR will present his NanoVNA demo

Move to close the meeting by Cory VE6CYT

• Cory VE6CYT and Barry VE6BGR replaced the old solar panel controller and cleaned up the batteries. There is still a mystery noise that shows up when it’s cold.
• Cory VE6CYT thinks it may be in the solar panels.

• Plans still ongoing
• Club looking into getting a new propane powered generator. Our 2 old ones are unreliable. Steve VE6SCL will have prices and more information at the next meeting.

• Club is still exploring Basic ham class Ron VE6PAP is checking with the College to see if they’re interested. Roy VE6AWT can help with planning.

• Bruce VE6ATY has ask if the club would be interested in linking Echolink to our repeater. After some discussion Blair VE6AGH suggested a 3-month trial subject to review. Motion passed.

Members Present:

Mike VA6PLC, Terry VA6TMA, Barry VE6BGR, David VA6IRE, Ron VE6PAP, Milt VE6MLD,
Peter VA6ARI, Tyler VA6TI, Kalvin VE6KRO, Amber VE6APA, Geoff VE6LSX, Ed VE6ENG,
Wayne VE6WEK, Brian VE6LAY

Call to order: 10:07 am

Motion to accept minutes of Nov. 18, 2023:
Gary VE6CV, 2nd Dave VA6IRE

Treasurer’s Report provided by Barry.

Repeater Committee Report:
Looking at getting a new solar controller.Still can’t find the mystery noise.

Presentation by Jerry VE6TL on QSL Bureau System

Presentation by Gary on FT-8, Grid Tracker, and Propagation tools

Thanks Jerry VE6TL and Gary VE6CV for putting together such great presentations.

New business:
Looking for volunteers for field day June 22-24, 2024, to be held in at the Fort Macleod Lion’s Campground.

Motion to adjourn:
Gary VE6CV 11:54 am

Next meeting: Feb. 17, 2024 in MPR-8

Here are the references for Jerry’s presentation from this past Saturday:

LOTW – https://lotw.arrl.org

eQSL – https://www.eqsl.cc

QRZCQ – https://www.qrzcq.com

Club Log – https://clublog.org

QRZ – https://www.qrz.com

VA6/VE6 QSL Bureau – https://buro.ve6hams.ca

RAC Outgoing QSL Bureau – https://www.rac.ca/qsl-bureau

Digital Modes Club – https://ft8dmc.eu

30 Meter Digital Group – https://30mdg.net

SASTAR – https://www.sastar.ve6hams.ca

• Radio is IC-7100 Icom all mode 2m, 70cm, 6m – 160m
• LDG AT600 Pro 2 Auto tuner
• Antenna is a Zero Five GP43 vertical
• Camera view on radio
• Remote control of station
• Automated 

FT-8

Log Analyzer 3.2  http://Tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer

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