INTERFERENCE ON 3840.0 kHz  (Oct. 28 2005)

Industry Canada is attempting to trace intermittent interference on 3840 kHz and perhaps other parts of the 75 m ham band . Ben Gardner KD7BCW has recorded samples of the interference which so far has not been detected by IC's Cloverdale HF monitoring site . The Canadian Forces CKN station is suspected , but no solid proof so far.

If you are on HF ,  you can help by noting any such incidents , the frequency , strength of signal , and characteristic .  If you could e-mail a summary of 
your report to me on Nov. 5th , I can then forward a compilation of your reports to IC .  If the signal is radiating from a BC or Western Canada location , IC will try to deal with it.

I would appreciate an e-mail from those of you who are willing to participate in this sleuthing , so that future e-mails on this HF problem will only be sent to you .  Please forward this message to HF operators within your respective clubs .

Ed Frazer , VE7EF
Director - B.C. & Yukon Region
Radio Amateurs of Canada
ve7ef@rac.ca
 

Latest news on ARDF - the FARSC newsletter  (October 2005) 

FARSC business

Next FARSC AGM will be held November 16, 2005. All welcome.

There will be the usual careful examination of socks, leading to the selection of officers and directors. AND, there will be exciting directors' reports of activities and inactivities, and the ever popular discussion of what's next. See prezzie report following for tantalizing hints.
 

President's Report

Hello Everyone.
Another year seems to have slid by - where did it go?
Congratulations to our small but admired group of stalwart fox hunters who have continued to carry on.
I do not have much to report as the club is in a state of limbo as we are not certain just where we will go. I do know we should hold our AGM soon, and I suggest that November 16th, at my place, might be a good time.We can do sock inspection then, and discuss the club future. 
As Joe will tell you in this newsletter, we just found out there may be some rumblings from the people south of the 49th that could prove interesting and that may affect us.

Robin VE7DFI, Pres.

EVENTS

The Region 2 ARDF contest in Albuqueque NM happened in August. The results are posted on their web site. There was no Canadian representative present and TCA has accepted an article from Kenneth E. Harker WM5R reporting on the results and chastising Canadian amateurs.
There has been some (VERY PRELIMINARY) indication in emails from folks in Portland that FARS USA is thinking about hosting the next Friendship Radio Games, and it may possibly be next year. 

OTHER NEWS

ARDF practise sessions, with alternating 80m and 2m hunts continue. The twice a month sessions are held on the first and third Saturdays, muster in the lower parking lot at Beaver Lake park about 9:30 to be ready for a 10:00 start. All welcome. No ham licence required. FARSC usually has three or four receivers available which can be shared with the equipment challenged. 

Earlier this year, some ARDF gear was sent from here to Ken Olke, VE6AFO, in Calgary. We hope to hear about a bloom of ARDF activity there soon.

ARDF equipment reports - VE7BFK

1. Simple 80m ARDF receiver from WB6BYU - update 

I mentioned in the previous newsletters that this receiver would be 
featured in a QST article 'real soon now'. The article has been printed in the Sept/05 issue, and even features Dale himself in operating posture on the front cover of QST. Excellent publicity for ARDF and a good construction article.
I have an early version of the circuit board for this receiver, and will be getting it built up real soon now.

2. Our current equipment complement and status

FARSC has accumulated a fairly comprehensive set of gear, a bit at a time. Here is an inventory at the present time.

2 meters: 5 transmitters, not all the same.
3 Altai receivers
1 Chinese receiver
80 meters: 6 Chinese transmitters of same type (IARU style timing)
1 Chinese 'practice' transmitter
3 Chinese RF80M receivers
2 Chinese, short-range receiver kits (not yet built)

All of the equipment above is in good working order. The rechargeable batteries in the 2m transmitters are now several years old and might be expected to require replacement within the next year or so.

The recent disregard by local emergency services hams of the prior use of the crystal-controlled) 2m fox frequency, and the improbability of securing even national frequency coordination for ARDF use, illustrates that it would be desireable to have frequency-agile transmitters.

About FARSC

We encourage amateurs and non-amateurs interested in Amateur Radio Dirction Finding, or/and participating in Friendship Radio Games to join the Friendship Amateur Radio Society Canada. Annual fee is $15.00 which goes toward supporting and promoting the Friendship Radio Games, and if
desired, to pay for a mailed, printed copy of this newsletter. For further info, please check our web site: www.islandnet.com/~jyoung/FARSC 

There are still info and pictures about FRG01 at www.islandnet.com/~jyoung/FRG01.

The annual membership term runs roughly from fall to fall, but anytime is a good time to renew your membership.

To sign up or renew, please send $15, Name, callsign, email address, and phone number. If you want to have the printed copy of the newsletter mailed to you, we also need your mailing address. Send to FARSC, 2005 Queenston St., Victoria BC, V8R 4P3

(RAC news Service)

Radio Amateurs of Canada introduces New RAC Forum (Oct. 18 2005)

The new RAC forum is dedicated to the hobby of Amateur Radio and it's many activities. It's RAC's hope that this new and improved forum setup will be a great success.

Full Details can be found online by visiting: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RAC_Forum/

(VE4RRB RAC Forum Moderator)

Club President Don Courcy (VE1CY) tells me that new life has been breathed into the Tri-County Amateur Radio Club in Moncton since the Club recently secured a new home. 

Don states that "Our club has been homeless for a while and it has affected the membership. Members miss the days when they could meet on Saturday mornings to participate in tinkering sessions or in experimental projects. Well…, reminisce no more !  It is time to enjoy. We have a home again ! Thanks to the efforts of Elliott, VE9EWR, we now have a new clubhouse on the second floor of the Centennial Park Maintenance Depot. It is now up to us to make it better than the last one. There is a lot of work ahead; setting up the clubhouse, putting up a tower & antennas, installing the club station… We need your help to make this happen before the winter. Dave, VE9FQJ is already working on a floor plan. Eric VE9JR has been busy trying to get the place cleaned up and ready for painting. I know that Ola VE9OLA, Laurie VE1AWJ and many others have helped as well. There is excitement in the air."
.

Don goes on to point out in the Club's recent Newsletter that, "One of the biggest challenges that our club faces is maintaining and increasing our membership. We must find ways to attract new members from the pool of Certified Ham Radio Operators in southeastern New Brunswick. To do that, we must do things so they will "want" to come and join us. There are many ways to do that: finding interesting guest speakers, coming up with building projects, testing new technology, maybe restarting the Saturday morning experimental sessions, etc… We need your ideas and proposals.

The problem of decreasing membership is not restricted to our club. It is also a problem faced by the entire Amateur Radio community. We are all getting older and we need new blood. The only way to do that is to promote our hobby in the media and to offer Amateur Radio Courses. The club has just started a Basic Amateur Radio Course with seven students enrolled. I just heard tonight that we might be getting an eighth student for the course. Many requests have also been made for an Advanced Course and we are considering the possibility of offering one beginning in January 2006. Morse code training is also being considered."

The Tri-County Amateur Radio Club in Moncton appears to be up to the many challenges that our hobby faces.   Getting into their new Club facilities will give the members a big boost and we wish Don and his colleagues in Moncton well in their endeavour to build enthusiasm for Amateur Radio and build the base of Hams in the Moncton area.

D. Howard Dickson - VE1DHD
Atlantic Regional Correspondent to the
Canadian Amateur Radio Bulletin

Ham Radio, Electronic & Computer Swap Meet  (Nov. 6 2005) 
Sponsored by: The Maple Ridge Amateur Radio Club 
Location: 12460 Harris Road Pitt Meadows In the old Rec Hall 1 Block South of the Lougheed Hwy On the left side of Harris Road. Maple Ridge BC
Opens:  9:Am To 12:30PM Doors open for Vendors at 7:30AM Open for public 9AM 
Cost: Tables $20.00 includes ONE Entry Admission $3.00 
Talkin: 146.800 -600 Tone 156.7 
Notes: Pancakes and Sausages served between 8Am & 9Am. Coffee Juice and Do-Nuts served throughout the event.Great Prizes Icom Handheld 2mtr radio.50/50 Draw and many other Prizes 
For more info visit: http://www.qsl.net/ve7rmr

Ontario Section Manager Appointed (Oct. 21 2005)

Vice President Field Services Pierre Mainville VA3PM is pleased to announce the appointment of Allan Boyd VE3AJB as Ontario Section Manager, effective immediately.

(RAC News Service)

With the arrival of cooler weather, millions of Canadians will light their woodstoves and fireplaces to keep out winter's chill. It may seem like a simple way to relax and add warmth to your home, but wood burning comes with serious health risks. Burning wood - whether in a woodstove or in a fireplace - releases pollutants into the air we breathe. Poor burning methods and inefficient wood-burning appliances make the problem even worse.

A cocktail of harmful pollutants 

Wood smoke includes a mix of harmful gases and fine liquid and solid particles (particulate matter) that float in the air. When breathed in, these fine particles can become trapped deep in the lungs. Exposure to these particles can cause breathing problems even at low levels.

Breathing the pollutants from wood smoke can cause a number of health problems:

• Lung infections 
• Coughs 
• Headaches 
• Eye and throat irritation 
• Runny nose 
• Asthma attacks 
• Weaker immune system 
• Increased risk for chronic bronchitis 

Be good to your neighbour 

Alison Howells, Director of Environmental Initiatives for the New Brunswick Lung Association, says that often it is your neighbours who are breathing in the smoke curling out of your chimney. In other words, "burning wood not only affects your health, but it also pollutes the air of those living in your community." Still, she concedes that for people living in rural areas wood burning is often a main source of home heating. And despite what we know about the health effects of wood burning, the practice has a long tradition among many Canadian families.

Ms. Howells says wherever possible people should seek alternatives to wood burning. If you have no other heating options than wood or choose to burn wood for comfort, you can still do many things to burn more safely and cleanly. Ms. Howells says education is the key: "Everyone can learn to burn wood more cleanly." The following steps can help reduce the health risks of burning wood:

Check your chimney 

• Have the chimney inspected and cleaned regularly by a certified chimney sweep. This will remove dangerous creosote (a by-product of wood smoke that can build up within the smoke pipe and chimney and then catch fire). 
• Have your chimney inspected at least once a year by a Wood Energy Technical Training (WETT) professional or, in Quebec, by the Association des professionnels du chauffage (APC). These certified installers and chimney sweeps have undergone a careful training program that is recognized by the industry and by government. 

• Replace your existing stove or fireplace insert with a new-technology appliance. 
• Look for stoves that are certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a standard that is accepted in Canada. These advanced appliances burn the smoke inside the stove, resulting in less air pollution with the added benefits of more heat to your home and increased safety. Hire a WETT certified professional to install the stove or fireplace. 

• Always use dry, seasoned wood that has been split properly. "Green" or wet wood does not burn well, and produces more smoke. 
• Store split wood outside off the ground, with the top covered. (Storing wood indoors can bring harmful mould spores into the home.) 
• Build small, hot fires instead of large smoky ones. 

• Don't use your fireplace or wood-burning stove to burn cardboard, wrapping paper or garbage, which give off toxic chemicals as they burn. 
• Never burn painted or treated wood, ocean driftwood, particle-board or plywood, which give off toxic chemicals as they burn. 

• Regularly clean ashes away from your woodstove or fireplace. 
• Store ashes outside in a covered metal container to avoid fire risk. 

• Install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home. Be sure to test them regularly to make sure they are in good working order. 
• Install a fire extinguisher near your woodstove or fireplace in case of an emergency. 

Trans Canada  PowWow Club back on the air! (Oct. 1 2005)

The Trans Canada  PowWow Club kicked off its  its activities for the 2005/06 Season on October 1st at midnight EST / 05:00 UTC on 3750.00khz. 
If the experience of hearing Canadian stations from British Columbia to Newfoundland and all  in between captures your imagination then tune in and check in. 
Your Net Control station will be VA3AAG Gerry. 

The link provided here is somewhat dated but it will give you a good idea of what happens on the Club frequency.  Please click on this link for further information TRANS CANADA POW WOW CLUB

(Thanks to Hart VA3OU)

Maritime Swap Shop

The Maritime Swap Shop is held every Monday at 7:30pm local time on 3.750 MHz. All station are invited to checkin and post their wants and items for sale. The Maritime Swap Shop list can be found on many places on the internet, here are just a few: The Loyalist City Amateur Radio Club ,  hfradio.net ,    VE1AIC's Home Page  and  Truro Amateur Radio Club

Please Note: The Maritime (on-air) Swap Shop, which was formerly held on Tuesday evenings, will now take place on Monday evenings at 1930 local time on 3750.

Looking for that special piece of radio gear to finish off your ham station? Do you have extra radio gear you'd like to turn into some cash?

Well the place to visit is the 'Ontario Swap Shop' held every Sunday at 12 noon on 7055 kHz and 7:00pm on 3755 kHz. Nick VE3NJG and Ken VE3YK host the hour long program and all amateurs are invited.

The Swap Shop list is posted every Monday on the Trans Provincial Net website, Ontario Swap Shop Listings , the swap shop list can also be found on packet by calling up VE3DID

Introducing the "Ontario Swap Shop Club" a place where you can record your e-mail address or phone number where it will always be available even if you have nothing currently listed on the swap shop.

The Manitoba Repeater Society Swap & Shop
 

This is a bi-weekly net, and listings are posted for four weeks.  Only HAM radio gear & computers may be posted.  www.ve4sss.ca/swapnshop.html

    Is it possible to be a Ham radio Contest Addict ?  If we use the criteria of other forms of addiction the answer to this question quite simply put is yes. How would we know if we or someone we love is a contest addict ? Like other addictions the changes are subtle in the beginning but the warning signs become more transparent and obvious as this addiction developes. Some of the early signs are a lack of interest in other hobbies or interests. This progresses to a lack of interest in friends, work and family. The contest addict will avoid more and more social or family events. His/her need to be involved in more and more contests grows until they are involved in the most miniscule or insignificant contest. They are now living, breathing and functioning from one contest to another to the detriment of their own personal lives. 
 
Who becomes the"Contest Addict" well science alone can not answer this question as it could be the result of many factors, genes, social environment or learned behaviour. The Contest Addict is someone who needs to come out on top and he/she is trying to impress people and validate personal worth based on achievements. The bigger the score, the more important the person feels, but why this need to gain self esteem ? The answer may be that this person is compensating for some real or perceived shortcoming. This shortcoming could be sexual, emotional, physical or the result of some early trauma in this persons life that left them feeling inadequate.

   Not every person who is a contester is a "Contest Addict" just as not every person who has a social glass of wine is an Alcoholic. When your world revolves around nothing but contests, how big your score was and you have lost track that you have a wife, family, kids the fact is you have a serious problem. I have met at two ham radio fleamarkets in the last couple of years people who have lost it all. I do mean lost it all, wife is gone they are divorced and other than the radio equipment pretty well bankrupt. I notice the same names and callsigns in Canada over and over again in every contest even the most obscure ones and the first thought that comes to mind is "The Contest Addict". Like anything else in life Contesting  taken in moderation can be a good thing for you and will help to channel competative urges and even minor agressive behaviour into an appropriate arena.

  When you can not remember the last time you took your significant other out for a meal, or you had some quality time with your children. When all you can do is live, breath and excrete contests you are becoming one dimentional and obsessive. When this activity gets in the way of your family, personal life, your day to day functioning it is time to get some help. What price are you willing to pay to be number one in the CQWW, ARRL sprint or whatever contest ? Life is about balance, whether it is the consumption of food, sleeping, dieting, exercising. Balance produces peace, harmony and is condusive to a longer and more rewarding life.

Bob Calver, VE3UUH