Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club
Nov 28th
The Annual General meeting of CAARC was held on Tuesday November 18th at the new Red Deer County Search and Rescue building. Ric Henderson VA6RIC ( Director of Community and Protective Services) gave everyone a tour of the new facility and equipment.
The new executive for the 2014-2015 year is as listed below.
Thanks to everyone who attended and congratulations to the new executive.
I look forward to working with you over the next year.
Bob VE6BLD
Past President – Sandy Jacobs VE6SND
President– Bob King VE6BLD
Vice President-Â Steven Lee VA6SGL
Secretary– Bill Jackson VA6BLL
Treasurer– Karen McKinney VA6LDY
Directors
Appointments
Repeaters
Skip MacAulay VE6BGT
Emergency Coordinator
Jeff Low VA6JL
Publicity
Geoff Norris VA6TAC
Webmaster
Bob King VE6BLD
Net Control
Bob King VE6BLD
Sep 22nd
Last night, Sunday September 21, 2014, at approx. 21:00hrs PST VY1MAP (Terry) called on our local repeater-146.880-looking for VY1RF (Ray).
Terry wanted Ray to make a phone call for him as he was not in cell phone range. The situation was that Terry is a member of our Search and Rescue team and they were on a search for a missing teenager. The command center they had setup was approx 35kms north of Whitehorse at Lake Laberge. The satellite phone that they were to use, was not functioning so they had no way to call for assistance, additional resources or send status reports.
That’s where amateur radio comes in. Terry, being a ham, goes out to his truck and makes contact with Whitehorse via 2M amateur radio with VY1RF (Ray) and VY1RM (Ron). They were able to pass important traffic to/from the command center.
The young man was found and all ended well.
This is the second time in as many months that amateur radio and in particular Yukon Amateur Radio Association’s members and infrastructure proved invaluable in an emergency situation. Good job guys!
Just remember-Keep calm and grab your radio!
Jul 9th
Dear Friends,
Everyone at GPS Central and Radioworld is thrilled to announce the “GRAND OPENING†of our new retail store “Radioworld Central†in Calgary, AB. We wish to invite you to join us in celebrating this exciting occasion on Saturday July 26th, 2014.
We have partnered with the very best manufacturers including Garmin, Lowrance, Simrad, Humminbird, MinnKota, Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood, FlexRadio, Minelab, Garrett, Uniden, Cobra, K40, Wilson Antenna, Bushnell, Celestron, Globalstar, ACR, BlueFox and many others to offer consumers the very best products, sales assistance and technical support from the most experienced staff in the industry, a core value built and proven over the past 15 years.
Radioworld Central’s focus is to provide the widest selection of products for Commuters, Travellers, Geocachers, Amateur Radio operators, Metal Detectorists, Anglers, Hunters, Hikers, Backpackers, Runners, Golfers, Bikers, Riders, Pilots, Truckers, RVers, Shortwave Radio enthusiasts, Weather enthusiasts and beyond, all at competitive pricing and service second to none. We specialize in providing smart electronics into niche markets and never stop searching for the next great product to bring to our customers.
Everyone at Radioworld and GPS Central are excited to be one team and will strive to continue to be Canada’s favourite Navigation and Communications retailer for years to come.
Please join us for the GRAND OPENING festivities and for a FREE BBQ Lunch that day!
Thank You for your support.
Angelo Meffe                                      Jack Summers                                 George Valentine
President                                            Marketing Manager                          General Manager
angelo@radioworld.ca                        jack@radioworld.ca                            gvalentine@gpscentral.ca
Jun 19th
From Barry Bergstrom VA6DX
Hey Bob. Here’s a quick video of the FPV flight from last weekend. You’re welcome to embed it on the CAARC site if you like; just but a note on to watch it in 720p or 1080p for a better effect.Â
Thanks Barry great video
Bob VE6BLD
Jun 17th
The Special Event Amateur Station will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the first RCMP owned and operated radio-to-patrol-car dispatch system that was commissioned in the fall of 1939 using the call sign VY8T and thus initiated a continuing Radio Support-Service within Force. Â VE3RCMP during Field Day will be operated by current and retired members of what is currently known as the RCMP National Radio Services Directorate, Ottawa.
The last time VE3RCMP was obtained for field day operations was in 1989 during the the 50th anniversary. We hope the 4 letter suffix will not cause too much confusion to other FD contest station operators.
Special QSL cards are being prepared to confirm contacts with VE3RCMP.
Jun 16th
Web link with photo: http://wp.rac.ca/red-deer-hamfest-central-alberta-amateur-radio-club/–
Rac Comms
Jun 8th
Radio airwaves get buzzed from pot By Trevor Hughes,
A few years ago, retired electrical engineer Tom Thompson noticed it was
getting harder and harder to hear his friends across the country talking to
him on their ham radio sets. So Thompson built a portable antenna system to
track down whatever was interfering with his radio transmission.
The culprit? Marijuana grow operations, whose powerful grow lights can emit
interference blocking radio broadcasts on the ham and AM spectrums.
The first grower he encountered wasn’t pleased to know Thompson, now 73,
could tell what was going on. “He said, ‘What are you going to do, call the
cops?’ Thompson said. “And I said, ‘Well no, it’s a federal matter.
‘ With 22 states and the District of Columbia allowing medical marijuana,
and Colorado and Washington permitting recreational use, there’s been an
explosion in the number of people growing their own pot, much of it indoors.
With that growth has come increasing interference from the grow lights,
which suck down huge amounts of electricity to shine upon budding marijuana
plants. Growing pot indoors is usually more secure and gives the grower more
control over light, water and insects, which results in higher-quality
plants commanding a premium price.
The interference problems from one type of system have gotten so bad that
the amateur radio association, ARRL, filed a formal federal complaint on
behalf of the country’s 720,000 licensed ham operators. The problems are
worse in Colorado and California, said Sean Kutzko, an ARRL spokesman.
The interference is caused by what are known as “ballasts,” electronic
systems controlling the grow lights. Unless they’re properly shielded, the
ballasts can throw off a wide range of interference. “We’re seeing numerous
cases … and that’s causing us a problem,” Kutzko said. “We just want to
make sure the manufacturers are in compliance with FCC laws. The FCC has the
power to regulate anything that interferes with licensed radio
transmissions, such as ham sets, but also cellphones and AM radios.
May 4th
Reprinted from AMSAT NA
Phase 1 Fox satellites are 1-Unit CubeSats. They each include an analog FM repeater that will allow simple ground stations using an HT and an “arrow†type antenna to make contacts using the satellite. This was the mode made so popular by AO-51. The Phase 1 CubeSats also have the capability of operating in a high-speed digital mode for data communications. Two of our phase 1 Fox satellite projects have already been accepted into the NASA ELaNa program for free launches.
We now have a launch for Fox-1 in 2014. These Keplerian elements approximate the perigee, apogee, and inclination of the orbit. They have been tested in several popular tracking programs, and will give a good feel for the availability and footprint to be expected. Other details will depend on the launch site and deployment profile.
FOX-1
1 99999U 13001AÂ Â 13115.03159480Â .00000000Â 00000 0Â 00000 0 1Â Â Â 14
2 99999Â 64.0000 106.4735 0200000 270.0000 180.0000 14.81480000Â Â Â 10
With the IARU coordination received, the uplink frequency will be 435.180 MHz, and the downlink frequency will be 145.980 MHz. For those using the SatPC32 tracking program, you can add the following line to the DOPPLER.SQF file:
FOX-1,145980,435180,FM,FM,NOR,0,0,Preliminary
We will update these as the launch approaches and more specific information becomes available.
