OVMRC – Week 20 – Exams

Posted on 2011-02-22 by James

The second-last night of the OVMRC Operator’s Course was the first of two exam nights. There were many anxious faces going into the night, and plenty of smiles at the end. Most managed to achieve, or even exceed their goals which is fantastic! Congrats to all who met their objectives tonight.

There are a few who will take advantage of another exam night next week to improve their scores in an effort to achieve their personal objectives for the course. I wish them all the best in their studies, and hope to even see one or two out at the next study session I plan to run.

I myself wrote the Advanced exam (even though I wasn’t expecting to) and fared about as well as I thought I would. Suffice it to say that I am quite pleased with my showing. So another feather in the cap, and one last qualification to nail-down. I just need to start practicing my Morse Code!

In the event that I don’t see all of my cohort next week, I wish everyone the very best in their pursuits, and I dearly hope to see some more familiar faces at OVMRC events in the near future.

73 all, and good work!

James

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VE3JW Training & Satellite Course

Posted on 2011-02-12 by James

Today I met with Darin (VE3OIJ) at the club station VE3JW to be officially covered on the station open/close procedures, etc. I also took the opportunity to start the satellite course with Darin.

What we weren’t expecting was a mob of 10+ people from Gatineau to descend upon us. There was a call from Maurice-Andre warning of a pack of people arriving in about 5 minutes. By this point, Darin had me through the theory section of the course and we were on to the practical. Well as I am sure you can guess, the mob of people hindered the completion of the course. Oh well, another time!

I really enjoyed my time with Darin – he is very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. I know that I would learn quite a lot from him if given the opportunity. He’s definitely Elmer material. Heck – he helps teach the OVMRC course, what more can you ask for?

Thanks for your time today Darin! It was very informative and nice to work at the station with you!

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OVMRC – Week 18

Posted on 2011-02-08 by James

This Week:

*Regulations Part III by VE3QMC
*Course Review by VE3EJJ

The third and final module on Amateur Radio regulations was last official component of the course. Once again the material was presented by Michael (VE3QMC) who is very knowledgeable in the area of regulations (and technical matters too!). His well thought out explanations helped guide us to the how & why of some of the finer points in the regulatory aspect of this hobby. Michael took the time to address all questions and gave very in-depth explanations of the answers. I admire his patience in dealing with some of my questions / concerns as they tend to be more in-depth and technical in nature. We covered a lot of useful stuff including transmitter output power, bandwidth and modulation limits – all of which are fairly complex concepts in nature. Hats off to you Michael!

Our fearless leader Ernie (VE3EJJ) then took just over an hour and a half to attempt to summarize the early electrical theory with us. There never seems to be enough time in the day to cover all of the topics, and so I can understand the difficulty that such a review can present. I think that the broad review was well done and should encourage people to look over the early topics once again. I might try to organize an informal review session for my classmates, it may help encourage people to study and perhaps bolster their confidence going into the final test.

As always, I stayed a bit late to chat with Ernie after the class and as usual, I was awarded with some more of Ernie’s wisdom. That man should write a book!

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Sunday: Like going to life school

Posted on 2011-02-06 by James

So I managed to sneak down to the club station (VE3JW) again this afternoon to spend some time working with Ernie (VE3EJJ). I can’t tell you what a fountain of knowledge he is – it is simply something that you have to experience. We spent a great deal of time talking about all the technical / geeky stuff that most people I know tune me out over. Ernie asked me where he might find some copper sulphate (CuSO4) which is a beautiful crystalline solid and I suggested the hardware store. You see, copper sulphate is a potent fungicide and is also known to solve algal bloom problems in ponds – its regrettably toxic for fish though. If copper sulphate is not readily available, it can be made with some sacrificial copper and sulphuric acid, but the solution should then be titrated. Alas, I digress.

Ernie is a Renaissance man, and he intends to do some copper plating. Naturally, he knows exactly how to do it all, and has a plan in place. Its just a matter of putting the plan into action. So we had a great chat about chemistry, and some experiences Ernie has had in his early years.

As we waited for the next satellite to rise (typically 30mins or so) we took apart one of the barrel connectors for the satellite rig as it was acting up lately. Some poking and prodding at the internal structure seems to have fixed the deformed inner-workings. With the plug back up and running, I watched as Ernie worked AO-51.

As usual, there were some rather boisterous radio amateurs monopolizing the satellite pass and it seemed that Ernie was not able to be heard on the far end. As the satellite was setting, Ernie could be heard louder on the down-link. We suppose it has something to do with not tuning the up-link frequency to account for Doppler shift.

Before I knew it, the Museum was being closed and it was time to shut-down for the night. I had another great afternoon operating with Ernie, and his wisdom and patience are always appreciated.

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