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This Week:

*Transmission Lines by VE3EJJ
*Antennas by VE3SUY

This week started with an informative discussion led by Ernie (VE3EJJ) on the topic of transmission lines and their properties. There was a great deal of theory covered in the discussion, all points which are important considerations since in order to transmit and receive effectively, you need to connect your radio to your antenna in some manner. Of particular note are the properties of quarter-wave length and half-wave length transmission lines. Until now I still couldn’t remember that a quarter-wave stub shorted at the end presents an open circuit to the generator. That is a key concept!

The second half of the night’s discussion focused on antennas. Truthfully, both topics could easily span an entire night on their own. It is unfortunate that both topics occur on the same night as each other, for the simple fact that they are such important topics and demand an in-depth discussion.

Bob (VE3SUY) did a fantastic job of describing the function of an antenna from the first-principles, all the way to more advanced antenna designs using phase-matching stubs, etc. As a result of my studies, I was already very familiar with antenna properties, however, as is usual form for Bob, he managed to teach me a few new nuances about radio theory. It really is a shame that we didn’t have more time to cover antennas in more detail – I get the impression that Bob could teach us all quite a bit!

It was a bit of a bummer to hear that Bob would not be joining us for any more of our lessons as he is headed out to his winter paradise of Sydney, BC. It has been an absolute pleasure learning from Bob, and I will truly miss the technical banter that we share before the course, and during the presented material. We really are quite lucky to have such great instructors for this course. Both Ernie and Bob embody the essence of Amateur Radio and I swear that if you cut Bob, you would find that he bled RF.

Thanks for all your hard work and dedication, Bob! Have a great winter out west and I hope to see you at future OVMRC events!

This Week:

*Radio Receivers by VE3SUY
*Digital Techniques by VE3EMB

This week Bob (VE3SUY) covered methods of detecting radio signals in some detail. It was an extremely educational talk, even those having some familiarity with this topic would benefit from the material covered. I was really fascinated with the regenerative receiver that was discussed, but not found in the course manual.

The talk on digital techniques given by Michel (VE3EMB) was very well covered. It is an excellent introduction to a topic that many people may not be aware of in terms of amateur radio. I myself fully intend to explore the digital world quite thoroughly.

So all in all, some relatively heavy theory once again but the topics were very well covered and of great importance.