W.A.R.C. REGULAR MEETING – November 08, 2017
The Meeting was brought to order at 7:22 p.m. with President Kevin (VE1 KEV) in the chair. The meeting was held at the CFTA-FM studios, as the County Building was unavailable that night.
Sixteen members were present. Introductions were made around the room. Regrets: Rick (VE9 RWS).
Minutes From the Last Meeting:
The minutes from the October 2017 regular meeting were posted on the WARC website and distributed in the Newsletter.
It was moved/seconded by Ron (VE1 BIC)/Peter (VE1 SM) that the minutes be approved. Motion carried.
Business Arising From the Minutes:
Nothing to report.
New Business:
Nothing to report.
Treasurer's Report:
Jim (VE1 JBL) presented the Treasurer’s Report.
It was moved/seconded by Jim (VE1 JBL)/Lorne (VE1 BXK) that the Treasurer’s Report be accepted. Motion carried.
Bob (VE1 EDP) asked Jim about being able to use e-transfer but not PayPal, and Jim replied that there was a surcharge for each PayPal transaction, bit that was not the case for e-transfers. Bob noted that he had heard that the TD bank has transactions “floating around in cyberspace.”
Correspondence:
A letter was received from the C.N.I.B. asking for donations. As it was not specifically asking for donations for assisting visually-impaired Amateurs, it was decided not to make a donation.
Field Day:
Nothing to report.
Publicity:
Ron (VE1 BIC) said he had put a PSA on CFTA about the meeting.
Public Service:
The annual “Pumpkin Patrol” took place on Tuesday, October 31st. It was a quiet night with 4 vehicles patrolling until about 10 pm. Participating were Bob (VE1 EDP); Jim (VE1 AFH); Jim (VE1 JBL) and Mike (VE1 MWJ). This was held on the same night as “Operation Handshake” which had 44 Amateurs checking in out of a total of 70 participants.
Newsletter:
Peter (VE1 SM) reported no problems. He has updated the membership list, which is changed slightly from the computer version, as he tried to make it all fit on one page.
Ron (VE1 BIC) suggested that the list really should not be made public, but could be sent by email to each member.
Web page:
Jim (VE1 JBL) reported the site is working fine, and he had added the e-transfer feature.
E.M.O:
Mike (VE1 MWJ) announced that another EMO meeting to be held on November 14th at the County Building. Jim (VE1 JBL) wondered if the photo badges would be ready, but Mike was not sure.
N.S.A.R.A:
Brad (VE1 ZX) said a meeting was held on October 21st in Greenwood. He noted that Jim (VE1 AFH) was no longer vice-president. That position has been filled by Craig Seaboyer (VE1 DSS).
President’s Report:
Nothing to report.
Net:
Mike (VE1 XDT) reported that all the Nets are doing well. Al (VE1 ZS) had been net control the past week with 23 check-ins.
There are also some people on the Wake Up Net. Norm recently had 44 check-ins.
Mike (VE1 XDT) noted that people on the “Newbie Net” were being asked to stay off the UHF backbone. Brad (VE1 ZX) said those are hub repeaters, with no squelch tails, but Mike said he meant they were being told to not use the links between repeaters.
Bob (VE1 EDP) said that people were saying their calls to quickly. They should be using phonetics.
Mike (VE1 XDT) added they should be using the standard international phonetics, not made-up ones.
Jim (VE1 JBL) said Cape Breton was having trouble getting in, possibly because there were too many links.
Repeaters:
Lorne (VE1 BXK) reported there was an issue with the hub repeater at VE1 SPR on Lynn Mountain. He said Brad (VE1 ZX) had met with Bill Elliott, who had donated a new power amp.
They had been at the Southampton site on Tuesday and added a ground bar to the rack. Brad said there are new grounding standards at all the Grid sites, so the WARC and/or EMO will need to order some grounding bars and wire lugs, for Salem. Kirkhill, Sand River and the Springhill Hospital sites. The grounding issue had been brought up in a recent meeting in Halifax.
Brand said a group in the Valley had changed the programming on a controller, and the link was now on all the time.
The packet system with links on Kirkhill, Gore and Hilden had heard a funny “beep” back in 2015 that came from the Valley. It turned out to be a GPS error correction device at the interchange in New Minas. The device was made in the U.K. and was using an Amateur frequency. An Industry Canada inspector said the device should not have been using that frequency.
Jim (VE1 JBL) mentioned direction finding on the Newbie Net on Sunday night, where people should be told to listen on the input frequency.
Lorne (VE1 BXK) said he was surprised that Industry Canada had acted so quickly.
Jim (VE1 JBL) noted that Dave was having problems with inappropriate operators on the Mercury Net. Ron (VE1 BIC) suggested using a simple PC recording program to make a record of the problem.
Lorne (VE1 BXK) wondered if it was occurring on the input or backbone.
Brad (VE1 ZX) noted that Industry Canada won’t do much with regards to profane language.
John (VE1 JCH) said there was no longer an expiry date on Amateur licences.
Jim (VE1 JBL) said the ARRL is active in the USA in policing profanity, resulting in some large fines.
Lorne (VE1 BXK) noted that some paragliders are using Amateur frequencies.
Kevin (VE1 KEV) brought up the subject of the proposed UHF digital repeater. He was thinking about using BrandMeister. He was going to check on some sites, possibly Clairmont.
Dara (VE1 VOX) said Raspberry Pi and a board would run around $300.00.,and wondered about a multi-coupler.
Brad (VE1 ZX) suggested that this really should be handled by the Repeater Committee, and Kevin said they would have to get together.
Brad (VE1 ZX) suggested anyone working with repeaters should get Advanced qualification, noting that we have educators in the Club.
Jim (VE1 JBL) said there was an on-line question bank.
Dara (VE1 VOX) said he was willing to help with a course.
Bob )VE1 EDP) said he took his advanced course in Sackville.
Jerry (VE1 KW) said RAC is selling the Advanced Study Guide for $40.00, which gives you online access for questions. He called it a perfect setup.
Bob (VE1 EDP) said Kevin and Mike (VE1 XDT) should bring their plans to the Repeater Committee and see what happens.
Lorne (VE1 BXK) added that if a site is found, you will still have to get a frequency from Ron (VE1 AIC) and they you have to have an engineering check.
Mike (VE1 XDT) suggested keeping DMR on the VHF repeater and putting BrandMeister on the proposed UHF repeater.
Lorne (VE1 BXK) said he had noticed a dropout on DMR the other night.
Brad (VE1 ZX) said the problem seemed to be worse in the evening.
Lorne (VE1 BXK) said the software can detect de-sensitizing.
Mike 9VE1 XDT) wondered if there was a situation of packet loss from a radio to the repeater to another radio.
Lorne (VE1 BXK) suggested reprogramming for analog, then checking in real time.
Mike (VE1 XDT) said there is a problem on Mondays on a network in Quebec.
Dana (VE1 VOX) said it is not just DMR, but other Internet traffic.
Bob (VE1 EDP) noted that Belair was running a sale.
Unfinished Business:
Ron (VE1 BIC) asked what was happening with the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Net (MESH) project that Brad (VE1 ZX) had brought up at a previous meeting.
Brad said he has discussed the project with Al Prosser. He said we need to draft a “letter of intent” to the Province letting them know what the WARC intends to work towards. He said 8-10 radios are available, and 3-corner antennas would be used.
Robert (VE1 RMJ) said it could be used with an old laptop running Linux.
Jim (VE1 LBL) noted that the Packet system was up this week.
New Business:
Nothing to report.
Hints & Kinks:
Ron (VE1 BBB) said he has been on a site called coaxpublications.ca which has questions drawn from Industry Canada.
Sick and Visiting:
Nothing to report.
Technical & Operating Information:
James (VE9 WIN) said the foundation for his new tower would be ready for the weekend.
Social:
Christmas Potluck on Wednesday December 13th at 6:30 at the County Building.
January Brunch on Saturday the 13th at Patterson’s in Sackville.
The 50-50 was not held.
Next Regular Meeting:
Wednesday, January 10th 2018 at 7:00 pm at the Municipality of Cumberland Building in Upper Nappan.
Adjournment: 9:08 pm. Ron Bickle (VE1 BIC) Secretary