 |
||||
|
||||
|
A PUBLICATION OF THE CHILLIWACK AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
JULY 2010
INSIDE THIS ISSUE PRESIDENT’S REPORT EMERGENCY RADIO COMMUNICATOR (ERC) REPORT SCOTT PORTEOUS FIELD DAY OBSERVATIONS
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2010 saw a new Executive team for the club and as requested by members, a new direction. Jack Allan (VE7DOJ) has taken on the task of teaching new and older hams CW, some to learn CW and others to sharpen their once easy to learn speed, which over time has become quite rusty for some of us who reached for the mike. Burt Graham (VE7CTR) has taken on setting up training sessions which are held on some of the Thursday night get-togethers at the Club except our General Meeting night on the last Thursday of the month. We looked forward to implementing our ideas which are carried over from last year. An evening session by Tom Adrain (VE7XTA) explained IRLP to us, how to locate everything needed on the Web and the protocol used before and after IRLP contact has been made. During Field Day 2010 we were able to integrate the computer with amateur radio thanks to Dale Jackaman (VE7GL) and Bob Lounsbury (VA7XL). Sean Clark (VE7II) volunteered to be the HF Co-coordinator and, combined with Dale Jackaman, were able to get Club members familiar with the new K3 transceivers. We have been fortunate in being able to add some new and younger members to the Club - Welcome. Thank you to the many volunteers who have helped establish the Amateur Radio Emergency Service over the past year and made it the best we heard of in the area. The Club took part in a simulated emergency with the City at the EOC. We were on hand to pass message traffic and also to explain to some of the staff from the City what all the equipment in the Shack was for. For some from the City, this was their first time doing an exercise so we were very pleased with the way the exercise went. Jack Jackaman (VE7HJJ) has some ongoing projects yet to be finished. We will be putting up the Beam at the Clubhouse on July 19 and the VHF antenna at Heritage Park remains to be put in the right location. Jack has looked after the repeater station after it was moved to his property and has allowed the Club to keep the trailer and its equipment there as well. Since then, the repeater has been moved to Paul’s Blessin (VE7LLB) property (QTH). The Club appreciates Paul’s generosity. We will also be needing assistance helping other members who need muscle power for antennas and so forth of their own. We are also working towards the Train and Hobby Show in October. I would like to thank all the volunteers and especially Jack Jackaman for his organizational skills with the Emergency section of the Club and for storing and sorting all the various equipment needed for both Emergency and Field Day events. As always, we are looking for some new volunteers to help out with some of the Clubs commitments. It's your Club, only you can make it work. Roger Galliford VE7GMG President Emergency Radio Communicator (ERC) I thought that I should give my proper title for my duties as emergency communicator for the club. I am also pleased to announce that Elsie Friesen (VA7OMA) has agreed to be my deputy. She has already made her mark in the organization by attending a Cross Border Communications Group with me. In a weak moment, and although totally new to the organization, she agreed to take the minutes. Her well written minutes covering all aspects of the meeting were extremely well received and I believe added a great deal of credibility to the group overall and to the Chilliwack ARC inputs. Good communications is essential and accurate and well written minutes form an essential part of communications in general.
The EOC exercise that was mentioned in our last Repeater took place and was very successful. We manned our radio room and helped with telephone communications as part of our input to an exercise that was mainly held to give City employees an opportunity to work together in an EOC exercise. The setting was a simulated rail road derailment involving a dangerous chemical spill. During the exercise the EOC faxes were not working but our club’s technical expertise soon sorted that out, and again showed that amateur radio operators have many skills to assist the successful conclusion of an emergency. We also took this opportunity to give tours of our updated radio room to demonstrate our capabilities. I should add a week later there was a real rail derailment in the down town area of Chilliwack, but fortunately the rail cars were all empty. It did, however, emphasize that these things do happen and we should always be prepared.
Another key event was the erection of the antenna system for our repeater now successfully located on Chilliwack Mountain with kind permission of Paul Blessin (VA7LLB). We are also indebted to the Chilliwack Emergency Coordinator for providing a man lift system to make the task a safe and easy one. Hopefully next week we hope to complete the final big project of placing a large beam antenna on our 60 foot tower at the club location. The Chilliwack Fire Department will provide a ladder truck for this process as part of their training but also to our advantage. Once this is done HF enthusiasts will have top of the line K3 radios attached to an excellent antenna system. Field Day was a great success this year and a detailed report can be found in this volume of the Repeater. The most significant aspect was the use of computer logging and hopefully we can extend this skill to emergency communication operations in our radio room and when using the K3 for logging HF contacts. We now also have foot mike controls and good headsets that are also essential for emergency radio communications My thanks go to all members who participated and made things happen in recent months. It has been a fun few months
Jack Jackaman VE7HJJ Chilliwack ARC ERC REPEATER INSTALLATION The Club’s 146.960 repeater has been stored at Jack Jackaman’s (VE7HJJ) residence for a couple of years as there was difficulty finding a suitable location to place it. Paul Blessin lives on Chilliwack Mountain and was willing to have the repeater placed at his location. Arrangements were made to rent a man lift in order to put the antenna in a suitable tree and to run the coax cable from the antenna to Paul’s basement, where the repeater was to be situated. The actual work of installing the repeater was set for March 25, 2010. A work crew was put together and met at Paul’s place. Tom Adrain (VE7XTA) and Harold Thiessen (VE7HHT) were to be the main people in the man lift. First, some limbs on the tree had to be cut and then the antenna lifted and put into place. That work took approximately 3 hours and then lunch break. A chili lunch had been provided along with some desserts, which refreshed the crew and they were able to finish the work
Tom & Harold preparing tree
Attaching the antenna to tree
John Pierce checking out repeater
Following lunch, the attention was moved to getting the repeater in order and having the cabling attached. This particular part of the work involved another few hours. The repeater is working very well and many thanks to all those who participated SCOTT PORTEOUS FIELD DAY OBSERVATIONS I got to the field and I helped set up radios with VE7GL. I learned a lot from him. I was under the tables, giving power to everything, one of the power bars had three sockets that didn’t work so that one had three other power bars coming off of that one. I setup foot petals and headphones and computers (two of which were networked together). When I got on the air I had three people trying to get to me so I went with the first one I heard and then I got the other two guys as well. Total that day for me was over 60 contacts, out of 190 when I left. I had contacts from Alberta and one from VE7GL himself. I had a great time at field day and I would like to do it again. Whoever was making the burgers it was good. Scott Porteous Call sign: VA7SAJ Age: 11 FIELD DAY - BROWNE RD. JUNE 26/27 2010 Burt Graham -Vice President Chilliwack Amateur Radio Club For those who were unable to attend the Chilliwack Amateur Radio Club field day, the question that they probably would want answered would be this: “Was field day a success”? From the comments I received from the many club members and guests alike, I would venture that the answer would be a resounding YES. The reason for the resounding YES is because our club members committed themselves to various duties and small details. Thus, because everyone did the small things, the big picture resulted in a very effective, two days of fun. This year field day started at 6:30am for me (VE7CTR), Jim Turner (VA7JAT) and Jack Jackaman (VE7HJJ). Jack, due to attentiveness to detail, had the majority of the equipment, stored at his place, ready to go. The mobile tower and antenna was moved to the site, along with another trailer loaded with a military tent that was loaned to the club for the duration of field day. Shortly after 7am, Jim Turner, who was in charge of the erecting of the tower, and other club members who had committed to setting up the mobile tower and antenna started showing up. John Pierce (VE7BXN) took the Captain’s seat and directed the many members on how to erect the tower to his satisfaction. It should be noted that there were new members and older members involved and the antenna was put together in fast order. Mind you the tower was raised three times before John was happy with how it was put together. A good job was done by all. Kudos to John for his patience and ability to teach the new members on how to put the antenna together and raise the tower. While the tower and antenna were being put together and raised, Dale Jackaman (VE7GL) and Scott Porteous (VA7SAJ) were getting the radios setup for the start of Field Day at 11:00am. It should be noted that Scott is 11years old and Dale was giving him instructions on how to put all the equipment together. Dale’s comment was “he was eager to learn and he did a great job”. By start time, the two K3 radios were ready to go and there was no lack of club members who were anxious to get started. The time schedule that the club members put their names forward for to operate the radios was erected and the fun began. It wasn’t too long before Scott, the 11 year old, was logging for Bob Lounsbury (VA7XL). Bob asked Scott if he would like to give calling a whirl and he jumped at the chance. By 8:00pm Saturday, the number of calls recorded by club members was at 155. Of those Scott had not only done 60, he also logged them himself. I should also mention that Scotty did all his calling on 40m. There was a lot of noise on 40m but Scotty had the opportunity to work a couple of pileups. Well done Scotty.
Ken Long, David, Rachael & Scott Porteous The GOTA radio was in a separate tent, and was to be used by new hams to help boost their confidence. The writer observed various operators taking turns with the radio. Visitors who came to the camp also had the opportunity to do a tour of the site and have a try at the GOTA radio. Writer feels that this station was a hit with everyone who used it, especially the new hams.
Roger Galliford & Jim Turner in GOTA Tent
Field Day Site on Browne Road
Elsie Friesen (VA7OMA) took on the task of organizing the supper. This year, the committee felt that a change was necessary to allow those who have prepared the meals in the past to be given a break. The committee decided that the only meals that would be supplied would be supper on Saturday night and breakfast on Sunday morning. It was felt that the members would BYOB (bring your own beef). Because Elsie encountered some family problems she asked Bonnie Pierce (VA7BXN) to assist her in calling all the club members to ask them to bring a salad or a dessert. Bonnie graciously did this, even though I promised her this year would be her year off. Bonnie, as usual you did a great job of organizing the food. Bonnie’s comment was “this year I got to get a good plateful of the salads on the table and not just the dregs that were left over”. To Keep the workers well fueled, we have to thank Elsie for the foresight of arranging to have coffee, muffins, donuts and other goodies on hand Gerry Lazarowich (VE7BLL) was kind enough to offer to bring his 3 burner grille to help Elsie Friesen cook the meat. Close to 5pm Gerry fired up the grille and started cooking the meat. Elsie was able to get back to relieve Gerry. Between these two wonderful people the meat was cooked to perfection. Gerry and Elsie, you guys did a great job and kudos go out to you from all the club members. John Pierce asked me if I did a count of how many people were at supper. I didn’t count but I guessed between 30 and 40.
Socializing after dinner The Elecraft K3 radios worked really well. This is the first time many of the Club members were able to operate the radios and familiarize themselves with the many buttons and quirks of the radios. On the previous Monday I had ordered two Heil headsets for the K3’s. I was told that they would not arrive by Field Day. Lo and behold, on Friday afternoon the mail lady arrived and gave me a parcel from Radioworld, the HEADSETS had arrived. One of our members donated a footswitch and Harold (VE7HHT) fabricated a footswitch. All the equipment worked well and with Dale’s help, as hiccups came up, he was able to find a fix for them and make things right. Propagation on the bands was not the greatest, but the club members persevered and we did really well. After midnight, Terry George (VE7TRG), myself, Fred Meier (VE7FMN), Jim Johnson (VE7HJ), and Ryan Allison (VE7SOC) were still operating the radios. These club members were very dedicated and were enjoying themselves immensely. As for me, I was listening while Jim was calling and logging, my head was laying on my arms on the table. By 2am I was really wasted, but I had made arrangements with Jack to stay until 3am and then he would return and take over the rest of the night shift. Bless his soul, he arrived at about 2:30am and I went home. At 4:30am Roger Galliford (VE7GMG) and Phil Scyner (VE7TDD), who had company the night before, returned to the site, wide eyed and bushy tailed and started working one of the K3's. It should be noted that Phil made a super effort to be at the site to work with Roger right up to breakfast time and then helped take down the site. By 11 am Sunday morning the club members had logged 515 contacts. Dale Jackaman, (VE7GL) got in the act and went CW and personally logged 70 CW contacts. I almost forgot - Roy Fawcett (VE7MPZ), our past president, was invited to attend field day. He got involved doing some calling and logging. When leaving for the night he commented that he really enjoyed himself. I and many other members were really happy to see him come and be involved. To all the club members who got on the radio, who did some scribing, or helped in some way, your efforts made Field Day a big success. By 11:30 am, Sunday, our club members who volunteered to take down the field day site, had everything in order. When the writer arrived at about 11:25am, all he had to do was make sure the military tent survived the take down and that it was folded and stowed properly. By 1:00pm all the trailers were back at the Jackaman ranch and shortly after that it started to rain. The weather up until that time was warm, cloudy and on Saturday evening there was not a cloud in the sky. The writer should mention that not all was perfect. At next year’s field day I would propose that a check list be prepared regarding all the equipment that will be required. Secondly, we must make sure that all the equipment is in good working order at least 2 months prior to field day, i.e. generators, rotors, radios, batteries, and the other myriad of equipment that was needed at field day. If it weren’t for Jack Jackaman and John Pierce, taking the reins and making sure that the equipment was together, I really think that Field Day would not have been as User Friendly. I personally want to thank these two members for all their hard work to make our Field Day a success. One more very important aspect of Field Day is to make sure that the outdoor port-a-potty is ordered ahead of time. I would suggest that a letter be sent to Valley Tank and Storage Company to give them the date and time that the port-a-potty is required. I told them that we required it early on Saturday morning. When it wasn’t there by 9am I started making phone calls to the company. I was told that their delivery guy had made deliveries to Abbotsford and Agassiz first and being that there was no time on the request, they felt that there was no rush. Each phone call resulted in the same answer, he will be there in half an hour. Well it arrived at 11:30am. The writer suggests the time should be in huge bold letters. Installation of Antenna The installation of the Yagi antenna was the last major project of the Club for the year and arrangements had been made with the fire department to be available to us on the evening of July 19. During the daytime, Dale Jackaman, Jim Turner, Burt Graham and Roger Galliford attached the various parts of the antenna together and got it ready for installation.
Burt attaching elements
At 7:30 in the evening, the firemen showed up with the large ladder truck. Dale put on a safety harness and went up in the bucket with the fireman. I don’t know if he was too keen on the idea but there was no one else available.
Getting the antenna on the bucket The antenna was gently placed on the bucket and then the bucket was raised up. The antenna was safely attached to the tower and is now ready for use.
Dale Jackaman & fireman placing antenna on tower 2010/2011 ELECTIONS The Club is currently on it’s summer hiatus but the time goes quickly and September will be here before long. There will be two general meetings in the fall before elections are held in November. Please start thinking of who you want on the executive for next year as there will be a couple of changes. Roger Galliford will not let his name stand for president next year and I am not sure of the treasurer or secretary at this point. I am hoping Burt Graham will continue as Vice President in order to have a continuity in the executive. It would be great if a few of the younger members would allow their names to stand for a position on the executive. Please give it some thought as the time will be here before we know it. THIS AND THAT There has been some discussion regarding having a summer picnic at the Jackaman ranch in August. When plans have been more finalized, the Club will be notified. I hope everyone enjoys their summer and have a safe time doing whatever you are doing.
This newsletter is for and about the Chilliwack Amateur Radio Club and its members. Anyone wishing to contribute is welcome to do so. Please e-mail Bonnie Pierce, happyknitter@shaw.ca, with your submissions.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
Last Updated
July 27, 2010
|
||||
