Quarter
Century Amateur Radio Club
Box 473, Edmonton, AB, T5J 2K1 Email: mail@qcarc.net website: www.qcarc.net QCARC Membership Form
Check out the Quarter Century Amateur Radio Club Facebook page.
Membership dues and donations support these QCARC owned repeaters:
VE6QCR 146.640 Stony Plain--VE6BOX 146.730 Athabasca--VE6PP 146.820 Whitecourt--VE6SS 146.880 Pigeon Lake All have 100Hz tone and offsets are al -600 KHz
Weekly
Newsletter and Swap & Shop Listing
12/6/2023 by Paul, VE6UFO
NEWSLETTER FORMAT
NEWER CONTENT APPEARS DIRECTLY BELOW AND ITEMS AFTER THE SWAP & SHOP LISTINGS ARE OLDER. IF THIS NEWSLETTER IS NEW TO YOU PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THING
QCARC'S EXPENSES ARE PAID FOR BY DUES, CASH DONATIONS AND THE SALE OF DONATED ITEMS
IF
YOU HAVE ITEMS TO DONATE FOR THE CLUB TO SELL
CONTACT VE6UFO 780-232-7012 or mail@qcarc.net
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO THE LIST TO RECEIVE THIS NEWSLETTER WEEKLY, PLEASE EMAIL TO mail@qcarc.net
SHOW
AND TELL!
SHARE PICTURES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF YOUR HANDYWORK
TO HELP INSPIRE OTHER HAMS TO DO SOME BUILDING.
PLEASE COMPOSE YOUR ARTICLES TOGETHER WITH PICTURES IN PDF FORMAT AND EMAIL THEM TO mail@qcarc.net
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT ALL THE PREVIOUS ITEMS ON THE SHOW AND TELL PAGE AND WATCH FOR NOTIFICATONS WHEN THERE ARE NEW ITEMS POSTED
WHAT'S YOUR CLUB UP TO?
IF YOUR CLUB HAS EVENTS OR NEWS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ANNOUNCE HERE, EMAIL mail@qcarc.net
QCARC TOWER TEAM - HAMS HELPING HAMS! mail@qcarc.net
We
are dedicated to helping out any ham or their family that needs
assistance with station takedowns and dispersal or the setup of new
stations.
SARA CLUB MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
PLEASE SUPPORT THE SOUTHERN ALBERTA REPEATER ASSOCIATION. SARA
IS DEDICATED TO PROVIDING THE AMATEUR COMMUNITY IN ALBERTA WITH A
RELIABLE NETWORK OF LINKED REPEATERS. MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION AT www.saralink.ca
The current edition of the Surrey Amateur Radio Club Newsletter is available at The Communicator Digital Edition: The November - December Communicator is now on-line (ve7sar.blogspot.com)
NOTICE - WEB DOMAIN CHANGE
The Northern Alberta Radio Club web domain has changed from narc.net to tnarc.ca. Please update your records accordingly.
The Northern Alberta Radio Club event volunteering registration page is at The Northern Alberta Radio Club - Volunteer (tnarc.ca)
NEW! HF Propagation map in real time. HF Propagation Map (dxview.org)
CONTEST
CALENDAR
WA7BNM
Contest Calendar: 12-Month Calendar
EDMONTON AREA 5 DAY WX FORECAST
Wednesday 12/6 Mix of sun and cloud High 3 Low -4
Thursday 12/7 Mix of sun and cloud High 1 Low -2
Friday 12/8 Sunny High -1 Low -10
Saturday 12/9 Sunny High -1 Low -11
Sunday 12/10 Mix of sun and cloud High 0
Low -11
DECEMBER
BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES,
ETC.
If you or an amateur
you know is celebrating something let me know and I will list it
here…. mail@qcarc.net
FUNNY OF THE
WEEK
Why was Santa's Little Helper depressed? He had low elf esteem.
DID YOU KNOW?
Each year in North America, over 15,000 people go to emergency rooms during November and December for injuries related to holiday decorating accidents.
IF
YOU HAVE ANY ITEMS OF
INTEREST LIKE PICTURES, A PERSONAL STORY OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU
WOULD LIKE TO ADD TO THIS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, EMAIL mail@qcarc.net
73,
Stay well and
be safe. Have a good week!!
To list something here, please email Paul, VE6UFO at mail@qcarc.net or call/text 780-232-7012
ANOTHER GREAT BUY AND SELL RESOURCE IS HAMSHACK.CA
UPDATED!! FOR SALE BY QCARC If you are interested contact Paul VE6UFO mail@qcarc.net or call / text 780-232-7012
A pair of 4-1000 tubes in good condition removed from a working FM broadcast radio transmitter. $150.00 for both.
Yaesu FT901DM HF transceiver in nice condition. Tested and has good RX and TX on all bands. $300.00 OBO
Delhi DMX medium duty 48 foot tower $350.00 OBO
FOR SALE BY STEVE VE6SRL IN DEWBERRY ICOM IC-735 with matching autotuner and power supply. Asking $975.00
Will ship at buyer's expense or can drop off in the Vermillion or Lloydminster area. For further details srlamden@hotmail.com call 780-847-3530 or text 780-808-9010
FREE!! FOR GIVEAWAY BY ROB VE6YXE IN BEAUMONT ve6yxe@gmail.com or text 587-588-6848
Rob has to give away the last 3 years of the RAC TCA magazine free for anyone who wants to come pick them up.
FOR SALE BY IAN VE6OHS IN BARRHEAD hamdabbler@gmail.com 780-284-7486
Ian
has for sale a rack mounted 2U drawer that originally cost over
$100.00. Open to offers. Text or email to request a description or
photos of this item.
WANTED BY BLAIR VE6AGH
IN LETHBRIDGE - ve6agh@yahoo.ca
403-327-8207
As
usual Blair
is looking for military radios of any kind but below is a list of some
specific items.
19 SET- THIS IS NEEDED FOR THE VERMILLION LEGION
Military Sets:
Marconi CP-24 or CP-44 Aircraft Transmitter
Antenna for CP-34
WS-58
Command Set Racks
Let him know what you have.
WANTED BY MAURICE VA6MA 10 inch tubular tower sections, at least 5 or more. Contact Maurice at 780-288-9697
FOR SALE BY QCARC ON BEHALF OF A CLUB MEMBER If you are interested contact Paul VE6UFO mail@qcarc.net or call / text 780-232-7012
Cushcraft 10m monoband yagi with a 30 foot tubular guyed tower - no rotator $200.00
Cushcraft 15m monoband yagi with a 40 foot tubular guyed tower - no rotator $200.00
FOR SALE BY BILL
VA6RQ IN RIBSTONE If you are
interested in Bill's items email him at va6rq@rac.ca
Yeasu FT767GX with 2m and 70cm modules. $500.00
Used
SCS Pactor Modem PTCII-EX with P3 licence. Comes with cables for the
Yaesu FT857 (Computer to Radio for CAT control and Radio to TNC)
$700.00
O.B.O.
New in Box Hygain VB-64DX 4 Element 6M Beam
ant for $325.00 Radio
World price - $411.00
For sale by Terry VE6LL of Thorsby Contact Terry by email beaujangles04@hotmail.com or phone 780-991-0573
Davis Vantage Vu Pro 2 wired weather station. Includes data logger unit to feed weather into to the internet. In good condition. $350.00 OBO
Wanted by Lars, VA7LP of Richmond, BC Contact Lars by email trinorca2@icloud.com
Lars is looking for a HEX Beam. If you have one that you want to part with, please let him know.
FOR SALE BY PAUL VE6UFO IN STONY PLAIN mail@qcarc.net or text 780-232-7012
Valor PHF160B mobile 160 metre HF antenna $75.00
BELOW IS OLDER CONTENT THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY SEEN IF THIS IS NOT YOUR FIRST TIME READING THIS NEWSLETTER
The new VE6OG WEAK SIGNAL PROPAGATION REPORTING beacon went into service on Saturday 11/26/2022. It is part of the HB9VQQ INTERNATIONAL WSPR BEACON PROJECT and it is located in DO23ts about 60km Northwest of Edmonton, AB. The screenshot below shows typical North American coverage in addition to signals travelling over the Arctic Circle into Europe. There have also been spots into Asia, Africa and Oceania. The 200mw ZachTek transmitter and Diamond CP6 vertical antenna (formerly used by Kathy VE6HI, SK) are sending signals 3 times per hour on the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metre bands. You can do a search for VE6OG here and view the map of signal paths in real time or a table of spots. Thanks to the Abbott family and the QCARC for their assistance with this project. Les was an avid WSPR user and he would be proud of this legacy.
There
is a VARA FM WIDE Winlink RMS, VE6HM-11 on 145.090 MHz at the VE6HM
repeater site in east Edmonton. There also is a digipeater, VE6MM-1
north of Edmonton
available on that frequency that can be used to connect to VE6HM-11 if
needed.
The results of the survey conducted by RAC on callsign policy are now available – https://www.rac.ca/regulatory-advocacy/
EZNEC Antenna Software by
W7EL is now free. Grab a free copy of EZNEC - Ray is making it
available as he has retired.
The newest version, EZNEC Pro/2+ v.
7.0, is available as of Jan 14, 2022 Here is
the link: EZNEC
Antenna Software by W7EL
OTHER
CLUBS AROUND THE WESTERN PROVINCES
SOUTHERN ALBERTA REPEATER ASSOCIATION (saralink.ca)
SASK ALTA RADIO CLUB Sask Alta Radio Club (saskaltarc.ca)
NORTHERN ALBERTA RADIO CLUB The Northern Alberta Radio Club (narc.net)
NORTH CENTRAL ALBERTA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB North Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club - (ncaarc.ca)
AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICES EDMONTON ARES Edmonton and Area – Amateur Radio Emergency Service
CENTRAL ALBERTA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB CAARC « Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club
FORT SASKATCHEWAN AMATEUR RADIO CLUB www.fsarc.com
PEACE COUNTRY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB Peace Country Amateur Radio Club | VE6ARC
CALGARY AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION (caraham.org)
FOOTHILLS AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY Foothills Amateur Radio Society (fars.ca)
COLD LAKE AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY CLARS - HAM (clares.ca)
MEDICINE HAT AMATEUR RADIO CLUB (mharc.ca)
SOUTHERN ALBERTA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB Southern Alberta Amateur Radio Club (saarc.ca)
CALGARY COMMUNICATIONS CLUB https://ccc.myrac.ca/
QUARTER CENTURY WIRELESS ASSOCIATION WILD ROSE CHAPTER
151 http://nicholasjanzen.ca/qcwa-chapter151/index.html
BATTLE RIVER AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION VA6RQ@RAC.CA
NORTH OKANAGAN RADIO AMATEUR CLUB Home - NORAC
ORCHARD CITY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB | The Orchard City Amateur Radio Club (ocarc.ca)
A presentation about the new RAC Auxillary Communications Service is
available at https://www.rac.ca/auxiliary-
THE ALBERTA PUBLIC SERVICE NET WEBSITE HAS A LOT OF GREAT INFORMATION INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING:
General Net Information
Several Alberta KiwiSDRs - Direct links, just click and go. These help when reception conditions are poor
Net Control Information
CHECK IT OUT AT http://www.apsn3700.net/
Winlink
Wednesday UPDATE
Checkins to the Alberta and Eastern Canada
Winlink Wednesday nets can be sent via Winlink to Bill VA6RQ and Bryan
VY2OG together as one checkin.
Information on how to check in to the USA Winlink Wednesday is at Original Winlink Wednesday
The Alberta Weak Signal Net takes place every Sunday at 10:00AM and 8:00PM Mountain on 144.200 USB. Net control is Bob, VA6ZO in Red Deer.
The Okanagan SSB net is Tuesdays 7:30 PM Pacific on 144.200 USB. The Okanagan bunch also ragchews on Fridays at 7:00PM Pacific 144.200 USB
Silent Key - Les Abbott, VE6OG
We'll Miss you, Les!
Les
Abbott, VE6OG of Edmonton passed away on October 9th,
2022 at the age
of 78 years. He was a member of QCARC since the Club's formation in
1985 and he served in many capacities including President, Vice
President, webmaster and repeater custodian and always stayed involved
even after being made a Lifetime Member in 2017. Les was first licenced
as VE3GMU in 1969 and has held VE6OG since moving to Edmonton in 1976.
Les loved working on radio equipment and if he couldn't repair it,
probably nobody could. After cominhg to Edmonton, Les spent many years
working for AGT/Telus. Les was a great guy and he helped
a lot of people in the community and in the amateur community as well.
There is an obituary at Foster
& McGarvey - Edmonton Funeral Homes (fostermcgarvey.com)
Sincere sympathies to the Abbott family from the QCARC.
QCARC
ANNOUNCEMENTS
JOIN QCARC OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP BEFORE
MARCH 31 AND TO BE ENTERED INTO THE DRAW FOR OUR 250.00 EARLY
BIRD CASH PRIZE
QCARC Membership Form
Membership dues and donations can be e-transferred to mail@qcarc.net
THANKS
VERY MUCH TO ALL THE MEMBERS WHO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT QCARC WITH
MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS AND
DONATIONS!!
When
needed, QCARC helps amateurs or the famly of silent keys with tower
work and station dispersals. We
can sell your items for you at the flea markets or swap and shop. If
you would rather not be bothered trying to sell items you can donate
them to QCARC. If you need this
type of assistance contact VE6UFO at 780-232-7012 or mail@qcarc.net
Another benefit of being a
member
is that you can purchase items at MRO Electronic Supply with your proof
of
QCARC membership. There is a 25.00 minimum.
QCARC SELLS DONATED ITEMS AT FLEA MARKETS TO RAISE MONEY TO OPERATE OUR REPEATERS AND KEEP MEMBERSHIP DUES LOW. IF YOU HAVE ITEMS TO DONATE PLEASE ARRANGE PICKUP WITH PAUL VE6UFO AT mail@qcarc.net OR 780-232-7012. THANKS VERY MUCH TO ANYONE WHO HAS RECENTLY DONATED ITEMS TO THE CLUB.
QCARC has 2 ISED accredited
examiners:
Ernie VA6EJR va6ejr@gmail.com
Mitch VE6OH ve6oh@rac.ca
QCARC weekly 2 meter net
Wednesday 8:30PM on VE6QCR and VE6PP repeaters. After
the net,
stations are encouraged to stick around for a fun round table ragchew
QSO
session.
Do
you know of a new ham or a ham getting back into radio after years away
from the hobby that needs equipment and/or help getting a station set
up? We can help!!! mail@qcarc.net
RAC NEWS
Stephen Lee VA6SGL is the
RAC Director for
AB NT NU.
If you are not a RAC
member, please consider
joining as RAC helps protect and advance amateur radio in Canada and
around the
world. RAC members who are also members of RAC affiliated clubs such as
QCARC
get special insurance coverage. Details of this coverage are found at https://www.rac.ca/insurance/
The movement of the International Space Station can be tracked in real time at Live Space Station Tracking Map | Spot The Station | NASA
Here is a link to a page on the WCAR
website
about understanding propogation: https://www.wcar.ca/education/up/
Don VE7DXE in Victoria, BC has
established www.hamshack.ca
which is a
great site with a fully functional buy and sell feature and other
new
resources being added all the time. Check it out often!!
The Surrey Amateur Radio Club has a great newsletter and the latest edition can be found at www.ve7sar.net
If
you are trying to learn Morse code or increase your speed, there is a
great YouTube resource. Search for HamradioQRP which will get you to
the site. These videos are a terrific help.
Another good resource
including solar conditions is https://www.wm7d.net
Know someone interested in becoming a radio amateur? Resources for home learning include Hamstudy Basic available through Amazon, and Coax Publications for Basic and Advanced study manuals https://www.coaxpublications.ca/ Further, Cold Lake Amateur Radio Society (CLARS) hosts a training website http://www.clares.ca/va6hal%20training.html for Basic and Advanced. RAC also has an Advanced course available at no cost for members that have a Gold Leaf Membership.
MISC. TECH INFORMATION
A garden hose reel works well for hanging up those rolls of spare coax. They can be found at garage sales for a buck or two.
"QUICK DISCONNECT" mounts are available to easily change resonators for your HF mobile antennas. There are also some good multi-band mobile antennas out there.
Rough running gas powered generator? This problem is often caused by gas with ethanol added. Small engines don't like it so run straight gas or add fuel stabilizer to the tank.
When re-assembling a used yagi or vertical antenna made of aluminum make sure to remove any oxidation at the joints using a ScotchBrite pad or equivalent and use new stainless steel hardware.
Always keep your signal and audio cables as far away from the power cords as possible. If you have them all bunched together, you will have problems one day.
A way to check a long run of coax for loss is to use a dummy load and wattmeter at the radio and at the antenna end of the coax and compare the output readings. If the loss is very low the 2 readings will be very close to the same on either end.
Lay down those radials the easy way! Using a lawn edger for putting down radials!
Do not set an external tuner directly on top of your HF rig or you could have distorted TX audio on some bands. Make a 2 inch separator out of non-conductive material.
If the fan on your power supply or rig comes on a lot, add a small external fan on the back of the unit to help keep things cooler.
Have you ever gotten into your vehicle to find that your battery was dead because you forgot to turn off your mobile radios? Modern rigs have a programmable Auto Power Off (APO) that you can use to make the radio turn itself off after a pre-set period of inactivity.
On vehicles with roof racks, a tiltover mount for your HF mobile antenna can be easily made by attaching the L part of a mirror mount antenna bracket to the roof rack with a single bolt just tight enough that the mount will move by hand 90 degrees as required. For pickup trucks, you can mount the bracket to a pole in the box or on the bumper or trailer hitch. Ensure proper grounding.
To make it easy to see what you are doing when trying to work with connections at the back of all the various pieces of gear on your operating desk, mount a mirror on the wall behind the equipment. I saw this years ago when visiting the station of Dave VE6KD. Great idea, Dave!!
Here is a link to plans for an inexpensive and easy to build 5 band HF Vertical Antenna N5VEG 5 Band HF Vertical "Wonderstick" Antenna (hamuniverse.com)
Directional Finding (Bunny
Hunting)
Techniques and plans for building a high gain cubical 2 meter quad
antenna and
sniffer
http://www.qcarc.net/VE6OB%20Bunny%20Hunting%20Article.pdf
When
building a station, it is important to determine
the correct coax to use. Transmission line losses must be kept at a
minimum to
achieve optimum performance.
Here
is a link to some coax loss charts. https://www.w4rp.com/ref/coax.html
If you are re-using coax make sure there is good continuity and check
it with a
wattmeter and dummy load - MOST USED FLEA MARKET COAX IS GOOD
FOR THE SELLER,
NOT THE BUYER!!
Here is a link to a handy dipole antenna length calculator and various
other
resources:
Dipole Antenna Length
Calculator
(everythingrf.com)
Need to find the grid
square for your QTH? Try this: Amateur Radio Ham Radio
Maidenhead Grid Square Locator Map
(levinecentral.com)
Here is a listing of some of the
nets and other gatherings that take place regularly:
There is a lot of
activity on the 2 meter simplex frequency 146.490 in Edmonton.
Various 40 and 80 meter
ragchew groups take place all morning long from about 7:00AM until 10
or later.
Look around the bands for an opportunity to join in on an interesting
QSO.
Saskatchewan weather net
8:00AM Sask time 3.753 MHz
Aurora Net 2300
UTC 7.100 MHz
Saskatchewan Net 0100 UTC
3.735 MHz
Alberta Public Service
Net 0130 UTC 3.700 MHz
BC Net 0130 UTC 3.729 MHz
160 meter ragchews take
place 9:00 PM or later usually on frequencies above 1.890 MHz.
Weekly
Alberta ARES Net Sunday
9:00AM mountain time 3.750 MHz
The Alberta Week Signal Net Sunday 10:00AM
and 8:00 PM 144.200 MHz USB
Trans Canada Net Sunday 2:00PM
18:00 UTC 14.140 MHz
Sunday
6PM VE6KM B linked to ref001C is the international DSTAR Net
Sunday Evening Aurora Net
9:30PM Central time 7.100 MHz
Monday
8:00PM on VE6KM B linked to reflector REF016B is the Alberta DSTAR
Net
Monday Amateur Radio
Information Net 3.729 MHZ right after the BC net about 0230 UTC
NARC weekly 2 meter net
Tuesday 7:30PM on VE6HM repeater 147.060 -600
IRLP Trans Canada net
Wednesday 9:00AM on VE6HM repeater 147.060 -600
Winlink Wednesday
please check out www.wcar.ca
for information
Friday
7:00PM on VE6KM B linked to ref001C Canadian Dstar Net