Kingston Amateur News

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1 Newsletter November 2007 Kingston Amateur Radio Club 2007 Executive President: Les, VE3KFS Newsletter Editor: Joan Clarke Kingston Amateur News Vice-Pres: Robert, VE3RPF Repeater Committee: VE3KFS, Les Lindstrom Treasurer: Bill, VA3OL VA3GST, John Snasdell-Taylor Secretary: Chip, VA3KGB VA3KGB, Chip Chapman Past-Pres: Tom, VE3UDO VE3JCQ, John Wood 2007 Committee Chairs Two Meter Net Manager: VE3MNE, Don Gilroy VE3CLQ, Bill Nangle P.O. Box 1402 Kingston Ontario K7L 5C6 VE3KAR The 2nd Repeater is now VE3KBR Operational VE3UEL (+) MHz VE3KER (-) MHz

2 PRESIDENT S WORDS Note from the President Season's Greetings: 2007 seemed to just fly by and now it's just about over. Hilda and I wish to pass along our very best to all club members. May 2008 be a great year as well - health and happiness to all. Les, VE3KFS From the Editor: sssssssssssss A LITTLE EARLY.BUT MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOURS!!!!!! Kingston Amateur Radio Club Page 1

3 WEEKLY NETS: KARC conducts a 2m weekly net on VE3KBR (-) each Tuesday evening at 7:30 P.M. All are welcome to check-in. SCHEDULE OF NET CONTROL STATIONS: DECEMBER JANUARY Dec. 4 VE3JPW Dec. 11 VE3VJF Dec. 18 VE3NFU Dec. 25 Informal Net Jan. 1 Informal Net Jan. 8 VE3CAK Jan. 15 VE3MUD Jan. 22 VE3CLQ Jan. 29 VE3JPW We are looking for two more net controllers any volunteers? Bill, VE3CLQ. Thanks, FRONTENAC ARES conducts a weekly net on MHz each Tuesday evening at 8:30 P.M. All are welcome to check-in. Every SATURDAY BREAKFAST at SMITTY S. Starts at 8:00 a.m. but come early, chat and mingle. If there are any conflicts in the schedule please contact Bill at ve3clq@rac.ca and we'll juggle a few things. The net script has been posted on the Website The THIRD MONDAY, of every month, at 7:00 p.m. is the ARES REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING at the Woodbine Firehall, second floor. KARC Web page designed and maintained by: VA3KGB, Chip Publication Schedule of the KARC Newsletter will be December 27 th, 2007 Kingston Amateur News Page 2

4 OF INTEREST SILENT KEY Jim MacKay, VE3GAG, passed away November 21, 2007, at the young age of 94 years. Jim was a ham for over 60 years and served his country during WW2 as a proud member of the Royal Canadian Signal Corps. Arrangements will be in the Whig-Standard tomorrow. FREE STUFF VE3TRM, Terry sent an , through the Freelist-Karc, with a list of Free Software for your use. I hope you had a good look at it and made use of some of the programs offered. They were well worth your interest. The list was too long to reprint it here but I m sure someone kept it for further use.(ed) sssssssssssss From VE3OL, Bill: The " OSS " and " HFRADIO.NET are pleased to offer all radio enthusiasts an absolutely free High Quality Online Licence Study Guide. Your kind donations have allowed us to move forward with this first ever in Canada offering. Please share this link with anyone interested in obtaining a Canadian Ham Licence, offering a course, or simply using it to show others just how easy it is to become a Radio Ham. Go to: Kingston Amateur News Page 3

5 LOCAL AREA REPEATER NEWS: wrote: The VE3IRO repeater in Iroquois ( (-) CTCSS Hz, has been relocated to the top of the Iroquois water tower and has a new four bay antenna offering considerable improvement in gain giving it an effective radiated power output of approximately 200 Watts. Additionally, the Winchester repeater has now been commissioned. It's callsign is VA3NDC and frequency is (-) with a CTCSS Hz.tone. While its effective radiated power is considerably less, it nevertheless may be better located for some in the Kemptville area. This repeater is also managed by the Iroquois Amateur Radio Club and is open for all to use and enjoy. Further, should the NGARC wish to use it for a net, feel free to do so. Please just advise of the intended net time so that I can pass the information on to IARC members. 73, Mike Pinfold VA3TUF President Iroquois Amateur Radio Club va3tufham@aol.com, va3tuf@arrl.net (613) sssssssssssss A Neat and Tidy Shack There comes a time when a little housework has to be done good job. VE3UDO - Tom Kingston Amateur News Page 4

6 ARTICLES OF INTEREST Report from Geneva at the mid point of WRC-07 Friday November 2 nd marks the half way point in the World Radio Conference currently taking place in Geneva. In spite of a promising start and strong Amateur Radio participation in the conference, we have made relatively little real progress so far. The Canadian proposal for a new, worldwide amateur band at 135 khz has been stalled by a few countries in the Arab bloc for reasons which are difficult to understand. Several different wordings describing the proposed allocation were tried without success. Finally, on November 2nd, draft text was approved, subject to an objection by one country, and a footnote allowing a number of other countries to opt out. Even though the proposal has been accepted at the drafting level, it will still have to clear the committee and plenary level s before it can be included in the final acts of the conference. All progress in the band from 4 to 10 MHz remains deadlocked as the two major opponents, the HF Broadcast service and the Fixed service (representing the interests of the defence community in most areas of the world), are showing little interest in a compromise solution. However, time is growing short. Even if a compromise can be found at this time, there is a large amount of detailed work to be done before the result can be translated into the regulatory language necessary to reach a decision by the end of the conference. At the present time, changes to the amateur allocations have not been ruled out, but chances for any increased spectrum at 7 MHz seem slim to nonexistent, with only one country (Georgia) proposing the idea, and chances for a new 60 metre band are not a great deal more promising. In the event that a decision is reached, it is unlikely that any changes to broadcast bands will come into effect until the next sunspot minimum around 2015 to 2018, which seems a long way away to most amateurs. sssssssssssss WARC bands now authorised Thailand Thailand's Intermediate and Advanced class radio amateurs are now permitted to operate on the so-called WARC bands (10-, 18- and 24-MHz) as well as in windows in the CW portion of the 80-metre (3.5-MHz) and 160-metre (1.8-MHz) bands on a permanent basis. The authorisation, granted in a new Act governing amateur radio in Thailand by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), follows years of lobbying by the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST). The details were published in the Royal Gazette on October 11, 2007, becoming effective the following day. Kingston Amateur News Page 5

7 Up until this announcement, which is part of a complete revision and consolidation of amateur radio regulations by the NTC, Thai radio amateurs had only been able to operate on the 80- and 160-metre bands during international contests on weekends, while the WARC bands had been only authorised by the Thai authorities for use during certain special event stations on a few occasions. Special permission to operate on the low bands during contests had been sought by RAST on an annual basis for more than five years to allow its members to compete internationally while also serving to demonstrate that there was no interference to other services. Specifically, the increase in HF spectrum allocated to amateur radio in Thailand is from to 1.825MHz, to MHz, to MHz, to and to MHz and operators should respect the International Amateur Radio Union Region 3 band plan. No changes were made to the VHF bands, where 6-metres (50-54 MHz) and 1,240 MHz are still off-limits and 430-MHz (70-cm) is authorised for monitoring only, such as to listen to satellite downlinks. Two metres (144-MHz) is channelized and minor amendments were made to repeater allocations. Under the new regulations, all club stations in the provinces were also given 180 days to register as a society which must have a minimum of 20 members, while there is a requirement that each club station must operate for at least three hours a day, which is a reduction from eight hours under the previous regulations. The syllabus for the amateur radio examination has been revised and a new requirement for Intermediate class operators who are able to operate on HF frequencies is that they must be at least 15 years old. Morse code is retained as a requirement for the Intermediate class licence with the proficiency in sending and receiving being set at eight words a minute. As word of the new regulations and of activity by HS and E2 stations on the WARC bands spread after several of Thailand's amateur radio operators began making contacts, so the pile-ups began. Thailand and CQ Zone 26 are in high-demand by award-chasers, both on the WARC bands as well as 80- and 160-metres. sssssssssssss The following is absolutely amazing and beautiful. The Sable-3 Balloon Launch. Thanks to VETRM. Terry, for submitting it. Go to: SABLE-3 Southern Alberta Balloon Launch Experiment #3 Camera In Space! On August 11/2007 a group of amateur radio buffs in the Edmonton,Alberta area sent a camera into space using a weather balloon. Taking pictures all the way up and down they reached the incredible height of 117,597 feet that s 22 miles or 35 km! Awesome! Kingston Amateur Radio Club Page 6

8 WORLD RADIOCOMMUNICATION CONFERENCE The 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is set to begin Monday, October 22, running through Friday, November 16 in Geneva, Switzerland. Among the more than 2700 attendees will be the IARU WRC-07 core team headed by IARU President Larry Price, W4RA and including IARU Vice President Tim Ellam, VE6SH; IARU Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ; IARU Region 2 President Reinaldo Leandro, YV5AMH; Ken Pulfer, VE3PU; Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, and Hans Zimmermann, HB9AQS/F5VKP. While most of the 28 agenda items under consideration at WRC-07 do not directly affect Amateur Radio, several proposals of particular interest to radio amateurs will be considered during the four weeks of the conference. Heading the list is the possibility of a new, secondary allocation to the Amateur Service just above 5 MHz. The administration of Mexico has proposed modifying the Table of Frequency Allocations to provide for a worldwide, secondary allocation to the Amateur Service at MHz, with the fixed and mobile (except aeronautical mobile) services remaining primary. This frequency range includes the five spot frequencies that amateurs in the US are allowed to use under restrictions designed to protect federal government operations. Recognizing the need to improve the reliability of amateur communication in emergencies, several other administrations have made similar provisions for their amateurs on a domestic basis. "Recent natural disasters have again demonstrated the value of the Amateur Service in providing communications in the affected area when other communication infrastructures are unavailable," the proposal from Mexico states. "This highlights the need for reliable amateur communications round the clock, under changing propagation conditions during solar cycles." When the Maximum Useable Frequency (MUF) is below 7 MHz and the Lowest Useable Frequency (LUF) is too far above 3.8 MHz, it is difficult for communication to be supported in the 3.8 MHz band using typical amateur power levels and antennas. The proposal cites experiments demonstrating the value of the 5 MHz band and showing that amateurs can operate there without causing harmful interference to the primary services. Some European administrations are taking a slightly different approach toward the same objective. A European Common Proposal has been submitted to add a footnote reading, "Administrations may allow stations in the Amateur Service to operate in the band khz on a secondary basis. Stations shall not use a radiated power exceeding 24 dbw [250 W]." Cuba proposes addressing the need for an amateur allocation in the vicinity of 5 MHz by placing it on the agenda of the next WRC, now scheduled for According to IARU Secretary Sumner, "The IARU is grateful to these administrations for putting forward their proposals, as well as to other administrations that already have expressed their support. Because of renewed interest in HF communication among government agencies and the military and pressure from HF broadcasters for more spectrum, we know it will not be easy to achieve this allocation." Kingston Amateur News Page 7

9 The conference will also consider a secondary allocation to the Amateur Service of khz. The Amateur Service currently has no frequency allocations lower than 1.8 MHz. With today's widespread use of digital technology, Sumner said, amateurs can now make use of weaker signals than ever before. "This opens a window of opportunity for amateurs to conduct technical investigations in the low-frequency range." More than 20 governments have already allowed individuals, most of them Amateur Radio operators, to experiment on frequencies between 73 and 200 khz; 15 European governments allow amateur operations on khz. There is considerable support for this allocation in proposals from a large number of administrations. Four items are on the IARU "wish list" of agenda items for consideration at the next WRC, possibly in 2011: * In IARU Region 1 (Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Africa), allocate MHz (6 meters), as is already done in Regions 2 and 3. The United States and Canada are a part of Region 2. * Allocate khz to the Amateur Service on either a primary or secondary basis. This will permit the development of reliable groundwave systems for disaster relief and provide a spectrum for experimentation with digital signal processing. * Continue to allow amateurs access to frequencies at regular intervals above 275 GHz, keeping in mind allocations and protections to other services. The IARU suggests providing specific allocations to the Amateur Service, as established at WARC-79, of "relatively narrow, primary bands adjacent to wider, secondary bands." * If the ITU Member States decide to review HF allocations at WRC-11, the IARU asks for consideration of expansion of the amateur bands near 10, 14 and 18 MHz in order to better accommodate increased activity. Sumner notes that consideration of HF issues at WRC-11 is by no means certain. More information about WRC-07 can be found on the ITU Web site. Kingston Amateur News Page 8

10 FINANCIAL STATEMENT Kingston Amateur Radio Club Inc. As of November 15, 2007 For the period October 16, 2007 to November 15, 2007 Balance at October 16, 2007 $ Income MEMBERSHIP $ /50 DRAW AND DONATION $ TOTAL INCOME $ $ Expenses NIL Balance at October 16, 2007 $ FINANCIAL ASSETS KCCU ACCOUNT $ DIVIDEND SAVINGS $ KCCU SHARES $ TOTAL CLUB ASSETS $ George Kennedy, Treasurer, KARC November 22, 2007 Kingston Amateur News Page 9

11 KINGSTON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB AGENDA Wednesday, December 5 th, 2007 At Smitty s Restaurant, back room 7:00 p.m. 1. Introduction of members 2. Additions and/or deletions 3. Minutes of Monthly Meeting: Errors/Omissions 4. Treasurer's Report 5. Old Business 6. 50/50 Draw 7. New Business 8. Reports: a) RAC b) Net Manager - VE3KFS c) KARC Newsletter d) Web page - VA3KGB e) Any other reports 9. Adjournment Kingston Amateur News Page 10

12 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE KINGSTON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB HELD ON Nov. 7, 2007 At SMITTY'S RESTAURANT, PRINCESS ST. The meeting opened at 7:00 PM by Les, VE3KFS 1. All members were introduced 2. MINUTES: It was moved by VE3VJF, Roy that the minutes of the October meeting be accepted, seconded by Chip, VA3KGB...carried 3. TREASURERS REPORT: The Treasurer s Report was presented by VE3GHK, George. Moved by VE3GHK, George, that the treasurer s report be accepted. Seconded by Don, VE3MNE... carried 4. OLD BUSINESS out. 1) A few members are not able to access the online minutes. Joan, the Newsletter Editor, will mail them 2) A Motion was presented by VE3TRM, Terry, to donate $200 to the Communications Museum; seconded by VA3GST, John,.Passed. This donation was made as a thank you to the military for the use of the drill hall for our flea market /50 Draw: Won by VE3CLQ, Bill, who donated the winnings ($10.00) back to the club. 6: NEW BUSINESS 1) The Ottawa Amateur Radio Club invited our members to join them on a tour of the Communications Museum on October 17th. [See the Freelists message with a link to photos of the event]. 2) The machine has been set up at Les s home for testing. This machine will have a sub audible tone added shortly. Work is proceeding on finding a home for the machine in Clarington Station. The machine will also have a sub audible tone added in the future. 3) VE3GHK, George, reported that the flea market door prize has been sent to the winner in Ottawa. 4) VE3KC, Steve, talked about the CNIB Ham Radio program and its benefits for blind hams. VE3TRM, Terry, moved that a donation of $100 be made to the CNIB Ham Program, seconded by Roy, VA3VJF carried. Kingston Amateur Radio Club Page 11

13 7: REPORTS: 1) RAC: Nil report. VE3RPF, Rob, reminded members of the Freelists that RAC addresses are not allowed on the list due to spam issues. 2) NET MANAGER: If there doesn t seem to be a net controller please step in and run the net. If you would like to use the Net Script it is available on the VE3KBR website. The net controller s schedule is on the web and in the Newsletter. Net manager VE3CLQ, Bill, also reported that a HF Net is starting on or about at 8:30 on Tuesdays after the VHF net. 3) IRLP: No report 4) KARC NEWSLETTER: Keep the articles and information coming in to Joan. 5) WebPages: Chip is always looking for errors, dead links, articles. Remember that club members can have an and also there is room for member webpages. 6) Sunday Brunches: VE3VJF, Roy reported that there will not be a brunch during December. 7) ELECTIONS: The following officers were elected by acclamation. President: Les, VE3KSF Vice Pres: Rob, VE3RPF Treasurer: Bill, VA3OL Secretary: Chip, VA3KGB 8) Motion to ADJOURN: at 8:00 p.m.by VE3GHK, George, seconded by Roy, VE3VJF. Bill Rumball, VA3OL Secretary KARC Kingston Amateur Radio Club Page 12