Quarter Century Amateur Radio Club / Whitecourt Amateur Radio

Box 473, Edmonton, AB, T5J 2K1 Email: mail@qcarc.net     QCARC  WCAR Membership Form
Membership dues and donations support these QCARC WCAR 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 all -600 KHz 

Weekly Newsletter and Swap & Shop Listing 12/1/2021 by Paul, VE6UFO

THE QUARTER CENTURY CENTURY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB IS HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THE OFFICIAL FORMATION OF A NEW SUBSIDIARY BRANCH OF QCARC CALLED WHITECOURT AMATEUR RADIO.  THIS GREAT GROUP OF AMATEURS IN THE WHITECOURT AREA HAS HAD A REPEATER AND WEBSITE WCAR.CA FOR A FEW YEARS NOW AND HAS EXPRESSED A DESIRE TO EXPAND ON THEIR ACTIVITIES AND THIS WILL HAPPEN UNDER THE UMBRELLA  OF THE  QCARC.






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.

VE6UFO's WEEKLY COMMENTARY
December is here. Top of the season to everyone! Our  Christmas tree and  outside  lights are up and most of our shopping is done,so we are ready but things will still be pretty low key here.
GO RIDERS!!!!! CFL DIVISION FINALS SUNDAY!!


IF YOU HAVE ANY ITEMS OF INTEREST THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD TO THIS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, EMAIL mail@qcarc.net 73, Stay well and be safe. Have a good week!!
Paul VE6UFO, QCARC Secretary Treasurer and Net Manager



                                                                                                   


    

CURRENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

QCARC SPRING SOCIAL/FLEA MARKET AND AGM TENTATIVELY SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 9, 2022 IN EDMONTON - WATCH FOR DETAILS

A presentation about the new RAC Auxillary Communications Service is available at  https://www.rac.ca/auxiliary-communications-service-presentation/
Winlink Wednesday information is at WCAR.CA and Winlink Wednesday emails can be sent via Winlink to Bill  VA6RQ.

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 ALBERTA PUBLIC SERVICE NET WEBSITE HAS A LOT OF GREAT INFORMATION INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING:
 CHECK IT OUT AT http://www.apsn3700.net/


THE QCARC WCAR 2M NET TAKES PLACE EACH WEDNESDAY AT 8:30 PM ON THE VE6QCR AND VE6PP REPEATERS

The QCARC annual membership dues are still only 10.00 per year. QCARC Membership Form

CONTEST CALENDAR FOR THE COMING WEEK

ARRL 160-Meter Contest 2200Z, Dec 3 1600Z, Dec 5 http://www.arrl.org/160-meter


Edmonton Area 5 day WX Forecast

Wednesday 12/1 Cloudy, showers Low -5 High 5

Thursday 12/2 Mix of sun and cloud  Low -10 High -1

Friday 12/3 Mix of sun and cloud Low -14 High -4

Saturday 12/4 Mix of sun and cloud Low -13 High -6

Sunday 12/5 Mix of sun and cloud Low -11 High -4

 

DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, ETC.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

If you or an amateur you know is celebrating something let me know and I will list it here….
Birthdays


Betty VE6BTY


FUNNY OF THE WEEK  

What does Santa suffer from if he gets stuck in a chimney?   Claus-trophobia!!
                                                                           

DID YOU KNOW?
Rudolph the red nosed reindeer first appearred in 1939 when the Montgomery Ward department store asked one of its copywriters to create a Christmas story for kids that the store could distribute as a promotion. The movie featuring the island of misfit toys and Hermie the elf hit the airwaves in 1964.

Swap & Shop listings for this week - To list something here, please email Paul, VE6UFO at mail@qcarc.net or call 780-232-7012

NEW For Sale by Neil VE6TCK ICOM IC-756 Pro HF/6M rig comes with Pyramid power supply 6-15v adjustable at 22 amps with overvoltage and overcurrent protection and voltage and amp meters, MFJ boom microphone, hand microphone and CI-V interface.  Asking $950.00 OBO   Phone/Text 780-818-1975 or email ve6tck@gmail.com

For Sale by Howard VE6FS Kenwood TS480HX HF/6M Transceiver 200 WATTS OUTPUT. One owner rig, has all the filters and options. $900.00 OBO  TEXT ONLY PLEASE 780-222-3525

For Sale by Paul VE6UFO on behalf of a QCARC member GENERAC 4000XL generator in new condition. Used 1 hour total. Always stored indoors and has been recently tested and is working well. It comes with the manual. Unit is located in west Edmonton. Pictures available upon request. Asking 600.00 OBO. If interested contact Paul at mail@qcarc.net or call/text 780-232-7012

Estate sale for VE6KN http://www.caarc.ca/news/ve6kn-estate

Al, VA6ALE has tin sheets in 2 different sizes 16"x27" and 14"x18" they could be used for 2m ground planes or whatever. They are FREE. If interested email va6ale@aol.com

For sale by Mike VE6MM PRC 515 or RU-20 HF Manpack Radio with accessories in Edmonton. This covers the complete HF band of 1.8 to 30 Mhz on USB, LSB and AM. Has the upgraded digital head control unit. 2 power levels at 2 or 20 watts. Whip antenna with built-in auto tuner & separate 50 ohm BNC for external antennas. Has a repacked battery with Nickel Metal Hydrates for 24 V and an extra empty battery case for you to fill. A smart charger is included & cable with Anderson plugs for external 24 V power. The hard to find Canadian backpack frame has all carrying straps and a good shape pouch for your gear. Mike has a .pdf operators manual and schematics. He can also do an on-the-air test if you like. He will ONLY sell to another Amateur Radio operator. ASKING PRICE IS 1350.00  Photos at https://hamshack.ca/rtcl_listing/prc-515-or-ru-20-hf-manpack-radio-with-accessories-in-edmonton/ Contact him 780-242-5229 ve 6mm@rac.ca for further information.


QCARC HAS FOR SALE THE FOLLOWING ITEMS - IF INTERESTED EMAIL PAUL VE6UFO AT mail@qcarc.net or call 780-232-7012

DRAKE R4B HF RECEIVER WITH MATCHING SPEAKER IN EXCELLENT CONDITION ASKING $350.00 OR BEST OFFER

VINTAGE MOTOROLA FIELD RADIO WITH TELEPHONE STYLE HAND SET AND WOODEN CARRYING CASE $75.00

HP 120B RACK MOUNTED SCOPE CONDITION UNKNOWN 50.00

IWATSU S-5112 SYNCHROSCOPE CONDITION UNKNOWN 50.00          TO SEE PICTURES OF ANY OF THE ABOVE GO TO THE QCARC/VE6UFO FEATURED SELLER PAGE ON HAMSHACK.CA

Listing by Blair VE6AGH - ve6agh@yahoo.ca 403-327-8207
Blair is looking for military radios of any kind. Let him know what you have.
Also Blair has for sale the following Collins equipment on behalf of the daughter of a silent key
75S-3B Recvr Round Emblem 2 Collins filters sn 85304 with Manual

312-B4 Counsel Round Emblem with 200/2000 Watt meter & phone patch sn 60250 with Manual

32S-1 Transmitter Winged Emblem sn 2452 with manual

516F-2 Speaker with internal Power Supply Winged Emblem (has commercial plug in solid state rectifiers) sn 1865

These units come with all the interconnecting cables that were connected to the radios.

The paint is great on these radios. These radios have been stored DRY.

One (1) power cord could be replaced (it works fine but just doesn't look as good as the others).

These radios were in use at the time the owner became SK.
Blair can deliver along Alberta highway 2 between Coutts, AB & the Edmonton area
or along highway 36 or 21.


Estate sale for VE6BYN - Check out the link often as there will be additions and deletions http://www.caarc.ca/community/ham-radio-items-for-sale/estate-ve6byn

Wanted Mitch, VE6OH is looking for a good used 4X4 truck preferably diesel with trailer towing package and an RV around 25 ft. Contact Mitch at 780-446-8958 or email ve6oh@rac.ca

Wanted by Ric, VE7CUP remote antenna switches, working or not. If you have any for sale, please email ricmartin@telus.net

For Sale by Bill VA6RQ

New in Box AR270B 2M/70cm Ringo Vert Ant 5.5-7.5db for $275 Radio World price - $333

New in Box Hygain LJ-204BA 4Elm 20M monoband ant for  $675 Radio World price - $772

New in Box Hygain VB-64DX 4Elm 6M Beam ant for $195 Radio World price - $225

New in Boxes (2) Cushcraft A148-10S 2m 10El yagi ants $195 each Radio World price -$259  if you buy both it comes with a used co-phasing harness

USED CDE CD-45 light duty Rotator (good condition) $100

USED Hygain Ham III med duty rotator well used (new bearings) $100

If you are interested in Bill’s items please email him at   va6rq@rac.ca

BELOW IS OLDER CONTENT THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY SEEN IF THIS IS NOT YOUR FIRST TIME READING THIS NEWSLETTER

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Edmonton Area 2M SSB net is on 144.200 USB Sundays at 10:00am and 8:00 PM 

Winlink Wednesday emails can be sent via Winlink to Bill, VA6RQ.  Instructions on how to do this are on the website www.wcar.ca

AR100 Hamfest - The celebration of 100 years of amateur radio in Alberta. THIS EVENT HAS BEEN DELAYED UNTIL AT LEAST 2022.  When there is a new date further information will follow.

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/

MISC. AMATEUR RADIO RESOURCES

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

Here is a link to the RAC Canadian Amateur Radio Band Plan chart Canadian Amateur Radio Band Plans (rac.ca)

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 

Here is a link to plans for an easy to build HF multi band fan dipole MULTI BAND HF FAN DIPOLE ANTENNA DESIGN (hamuniverse.com)

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:

Daily

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

Edmonton Area 2 meter SSB 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


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