OVMRC – Week 17

Posted on 2011-02-01 by James

This Week:

*Regulations Part II by VE3QMC
*Station / Operating Procedures by VE3EJJ

Michael (VE3QMC) spent another weeknight with the course to further discuss the topic of regulatory policies in the Amateur Radio spectrum. There was a lot of very good discussion on finer details of what is and is not allowed in Amateur Radio. Of particular interest was the topic of the D-Star proprietary Codec & whether it intentionally obscures the meaning of a message through a non-open source protocol. We worked through the discussion and came to the agreement that while it is a less than agreeable arrangement, because any Amateur can purchase the equipment necessary to receive the transmissions, the radios do not effectively use a secret cipher. The only sticking point is that the Codec is covered by Intellectual Property laws, making home-brewing a receiver illegal. Now that is just dirty!

The second portion of the night was a visit to VE3JW to have everyone try out HF communications under the guidance of Ernie (VE3EJJ). A visit to the station is always a welcome addition to our curriculum. I think that the course would benefit from more practical radio work – to offer some first-hand exposure to the world of radio. By putting into practice the theory and operating procedures we’ve learned, it allows a more profound understanding of the course material. Another great OVMRC course night!

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Another day at the station with Ernie

Posted on 2011-01-30 by James

As luck would have it, I was free to visit the station today. As usual, Ernie was there manning the station solo and greeted me warmly when I had arrived. He was working away at the VHF/UHF station getting set for what he hoped would be a few satellite logs for the day.

I fired up the FLEX-3000 and tuned it into the familiar 14.070MHz running fldigi in PSK31 mode. With the beam turned approximately 80′ I saw EA8ATE calling CQ from the Canary Islands. I was excited and immediately answered Sergio’s call. My first trans-Atlantic QSO on HF! After a brief chat with Sergio, I went on to contact EA8CEQ (Manolo).

Then Ernie and I got to talking all things radio, electrical theory, instrumentation and so forth. This man truly is a wealth of knowledge – anyone wishing to get into Amateur Radio would be well advised to take the OVMRC course to learn from Ernie and the other knowledgeable teaching cadre (ie. VE3OIJ, VE3SUY).

As it was getting on in the afternoon, I tried for a few more contacts so I swung the beam around to 170′ and saw PR2R calling CQ. This marks my first contact: to Brazil, to South America, to a DXpedition station. The QSO was necessarily brief yet will remain memorable as one of those many radio-firsts I’ll be logging. Now I just have to get my own equipment up and running so I can get some under my own call-sign 😉

So, thus ends another fun day at VE3JW. I really am thankful to have access to such great equipment, and to be part of a great club.

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OVMRC – Week 16

Posted on 2011-01-25 by James

This Week:

*Electromagnetic Compatibility by VE3BBM

The topic this week was presented by Ralph (VE3BBM) and dealt with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) which covers radio interference & lack of immunity. This topic is of great interest because it is in everyone’s interest not to interfere (whenever possible) with the day-to-day lives of our neighbours. And likewise, it is important for us so that we can effectively deal with sources of noise which effect our ability to operate.

The entire evening was dedicated to this topic as there is a lot of information to cover. Ralph’s talk was extremely informative as his professional experience dealt with EMC in a variety of situations. I really appreciated hearing stories of his personal and professional experiences in dealing with EMC since it helps to hear actual examples of what is being discussed.

As usual, the OVMRC is able to tap into some great expertise to present the material which is pertinent to both the Basic exam and to the interest and technical sides of our hobby. As always, VE3EJJ (Ernie) was there to help guide us through the material and to offer some additional pointers on Ralph’s talk.

We covered the material with time to spare and so it was a nice opportunity to chat with everyone for a bit before dispersing. Hopefully we can do the same after the Basic exam – it would be nice to establish a circle of friends from my cohort.

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A visit to the club station

Posted on 2011-01-25 by James

Today I took the opportunity to visit the club station during some down-time. The visit to the museum was initially in the hopes of meeting with Cedric who is the volunteer coordinator for the Museum of Science and Technology (as well as the Aviation Museum, and the Agriculture Museum). As luck would have it, Cedric was away at another museum but was scheduled to be back at the Sci-Tech Museum at 11:30am.

I took the opportunity to check in at VE3JW to pass some time while waiting for Cedric. I had checked the OVMRC site prior to my visit at the Museum to see who would be operating that day and so I figured I would meet Sandy (VE3HAZ) at the station when I arrived.

Sure enough I met Sandy and introduced myself and he immediately welcomed me into the station. Sandy and I talked quite a bit as he operated the HF rig on the digital station. I had a really nice time chatting with Sandy in between satellite contact attempts (it was a bad orbit-day when I looked at the sky-view). Sandy is a really personable guy and so the time flew by as we chatted. I am really beginning to see how friendly the club members are! What a great group of people!

I didn’t log any radio contacts for the day but I sure did have a great time chatting with Sandy! Thanks for the great morning, Sandy! Now its time to follow up on some unrelated business prior to the radio course tonight. (Yes, I know that I am a geek)

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