National Capital Chapter 70 - Ottawa, Canada

QCWA NC CHAPTER 70

Minutes of the Meeting of May 18th, 2004 Held at the Carlingwood Family Restaurant

• We were all saddened at the passing of our president Gerry King VE3GK, who became a SK on May7, 2004 at the age of 73. A moment of silence was held in his honor. Gerry was a very active talented amateur. By profession he was a teacher but as an amateur he trained, over the years, more than 650 people to become amateurs. He was an inveterate builder of power amplifiers, large antennas and telescoping masts. He was a gregarious individual who shared his amateur knowledge and experiences through writing many technical articles and on his web site. He will be sorely missed.
• With 38 members and 3 guests in attendance, the meeting was chaired by Jim Dean VE3IQ, who welcomed all. He introduced the head table, which included Vice President Gus Holtz VE3VK, Treasurer Keith Bedal VE3GFI, Director Doug Leach VE3XK, Director Ernie Brown VA3OEB, Director Marg Heaslip VE3EQE and Secretary Clare Fowler VE3NPC. Jim also introduced HQ President Croft VE3CT, and HQ Director George VE3BNO. Visitors Dick Atkinson VE3RDA, and Wally Clarke VE3CBE were also introduced. SK's in addition to Gerry King VE3GK, are Paul Cooper VE3JPL,and John Dewar VE2GAR.

  ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Present members are the best source for recruiting. Everyone is encouraged to bring in a new member who has been a licensed amateur for 25 years or more.
• Keith VE3GFI reported that the membership currently is 74 of which 7 have not paid their dues for this year.
• Ed Sieb VA3ES, who had a long spell in the heart institute, is back and about. Bill Rieveley VA3AWJ has been on the sick list for some time.
• 2004 Convention pins, which are very attractive, are available from George VE3BNO for $5.00.
• QCWA President Croft VE3CT reported that on his way back from the South he stopped in and attended a meeting of Chapter 49 in Atlanta where there was a good crowd. They are considering holding the 2007 convention there. Also at that meeting QCWA has been offered the services of an advertising manager who is needed to increase the advertisement content of the Journal.
• Croft and Don Dashney VE3RM both attended Dayton where there was a good crowd. Croft however did not get to see much as he did a lot of business at the QCWA booth. QCWA is alive and well in spite of problems resulting from the illness of two nomination chairmen, the QSO party teller and the General Manager, all of whom have been replaced. A good list of candidates for the new board, which takes over Sept 1st, has been put forward. Also on the ballot you will be asked to vote for a motion to change the constitution to permit a change to the number of directors. If approved steps will be taken to reduce the number of directors from 10 to 8. For the first time QCWA, at Dayton, advertised three conventions. This year's being held in Ottawa, next year the Alaska Cruise and in 2006 the convention in Calgary.
• QCWA Director George VE3BNO noted that he will not be running as a director again and Croft VE3CT will become the past president on Sept 1st. However, Tom Atkins is running for director and we all should vote for him. Planning for the 2004 convention to be held on Oct. 15, 16 and 17 is well underway and the executive toured the facilities of the Lord Elgin hotel and no complaints were made. All local amateurs are invited to attend, so invite your friends, who do not need to be QCWA members.
• We have a 2 meter net on Thursday at 8 PM on VE3TEL, 147.030 neg. off-set that everyone is encouraged to check in.
• Keith VE3GFI is to be thanked again for doing such a good job on the Web Site at http://www.qcwa70.cyberus.ca, where a copy of the Chapter 70 constitution may be found. Also all the information on the 2004 Convention is now posted there, including an application form, information on the hotel and on the steam train excursion.
• Don VE3RM , reporting on Dayton, said that some new transceivers were on display but that they were very expensive with prices going up to $14K for the Yaesu 9000. Of interest was a small box from AOR that when connected to the microphone and audio connectors of a transceiver provided digital audio transmission. The audio quality was much better on digital when switching between SSB and digital with a BW of 2.4 kHz.
• Dave VE3AV also attended Dayton. There were something like 2000 vendors in the flea market. He managed to get through about half of them on Friday before it started to rain. He did manage to turn the dial on the $12K Icom IC-7800. He noted that both the new Yaesu and Icom transceivers were big boxes that reminded him of the radios of 30 years ago.

  BUSINESS

• Motion to approve the Minutes of Feb.17, 2004 was made by Fred VE3IO, seconded by Bob VE3ATN. Carried.
• The treasurer's report presented by Keith VE3GFI, showed a balance on Feb. 17, 2004 of $1707.19. Receipts of $165.13 included two new memberships. Expenditures were $319.08 with a balance on May 18, 2004 of $1474.24. Moved by Keith VE3GFI, seconded by Ken VE3LJ that the financial statement be adopted. Carried.
• Correspondence sent by Clare VE3NPC were two letters covering donations given in memory of Gerry VE3GK. One was sent to the Canadian Cancer Society and the other to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, both of which were mentioned in the obituary. We also sent a donation to the RAC educational program in response to a challenge made by Neil Carleton VE3NCE.

  Guest Speaker

  The guest speaker, Bert Barry VE3QAA, was intoduced by Doug VE3XK.
• Bert was licensed as VE3BTG in 1947 while in high school. He graduated in Engineering Physics from Queens in 1956 where he was the president of the amateur radio club. Following graduation he was on the staff of the NRC for a number of years doing work on the effects of radiation on semi conductors, He then did graduate work at Imperial College, University of London and received his PHD in 1952. He then worked at CRC in Ottawa until he retired in 1996. He became interested in top band 160 meter operation only about 5 years ago.
• What do you know about 160 meters, the top band? If you are like many amateurs not too much. Bert is an expert both with respect to antennas and propagation on "The Gentleman's Band". Operating on this Medium Frequency band is different than working on HF. It has many unique propagation characteristics. Unlike the HF band where you gererally know what direction the signal is coming from, 160 meter signals may be skewed as much as 90 degrees. Different antennas are used for receiving and transmitting. The preferred receiving antenna is a beverage, three wavelengths long. You need lots of real estate for multiple antennas, It is rather difficult to rotate a 480 metre long antenna. For transmitting the best antennas are verticals, and even with a top hat should be 100 feet or more in height. Bert has a central tower with switched vertical parasitic directors and reflectors that beam in six different directions. If you want to know more about how to set up a first class 160 meter station come to the QCWA International Convention to be held in Ottawa this Fall and attend Bert's talk which is one of the many technical papers that will be presented.
• Ernie VA3OEB thanked Bert for his presentation.

Gus Holtz  (VE3VK)                                                                 Clare Fowler (VE3NPC)
Vice-President  829-5859           WebPage - http://www.qcwa70.cyberus.ca                Secretary. 730-1081
1205-1100 Ambleside Dr.                                                             16 Fairbairn St.
Ottawa, Ont., K2B 8G6         VE3QCW on Thursday. 2000 hrs 147.03 (VE3TEL)          Ottawa, Ont., K1S 1T3

  Thursdays at 0900 hrs - Breakfast Embassy West Motor Hotel - Consulate Cafe 

Last modified: January 13, 2010