GUYWIRE

   DECEMBER 2004

Editor VE5SC sewert@sasktel.net


The online publication of the REGINA AMATEUR RADIO
ASSOCIATION is published monthly except July and August
and is distributed free of charge as a service of RARA
to all licensed hams in the Regina Area who have e-mail
addresses. Anyone NOT wishing to receive future copies
should send an e-mail to the editor and your name will
be removed from the mailing list.

The RARA WEBSITE can be found at
http://www.gpfn.sk.ca/hobbies/rara/index.html
It contains RARA news, repeater lists as well as links to other
amateur resources.
Club meetings are held the 2nd Wednesday of each month, with
the exception of July and August, at the Science Center.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IN PLACE OF OUR REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING WE WILL BE
HOLDING OUR ANNUAL CHRISTMAS GET-TOGETHER ON
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8TH AT THE CLASSIC BUFFET,
100 ALBERT STREET beginning at 6:30 pm.  All area hams, spouses,
family and significant others are cordially invited to attend.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
                   
   CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FIELD DAY TEAM

Sam VE5SF has announced that the club entry in the June Field
Day Contest was first in Canada in the 3A category.  The score was
6,500 with 1,991 QSO's.  Eleven operators were involved.
Congratulations to the Field Day crew for a job well done.

   PRESIDENTS REPORT

At our November RARA general meeting we made some important
changes.  We decided to discontinue our phone line for the repeater
autopatch and we passed the proposed constitutional amendments. 
We also had an interesting and informative presentation from Lee Mayer
of the Red Cross.

Things are a little different now!

The phone patch is no longer available on the VE5WM repeater (28/88). 
The phone line has been discontinued due to low usage.

The approved Constitution Changes will have the following effects -
February - the members will appoint member auditor to review the 2004-
2005 incomes and expenditures, March - the Guywire will include Annual
Meeting information including past year's financial results and executive's
recommendations for the coming year, April - Annual General Meeting.


CNIB Amateur Radio Program Request

George Fanjoy, VE3PEB, (National) Chairman CNIB Amateur Radio Program
has written us a letter requesting assistance.  RARA has voted to donate
$100 to this program.

He continues in his letter:

"Please remind your members that we are pleased to receive individual
donations of money or equipment. We will provide income tax receipts and
credit such donations to their Club for the Club award program. Donations
of equipment and money are also welcome from estates.

As our new fundraising year begins, we request that you support us as many
of you have done in the past Please make your cheque payable to the CNIB
Amateur Radio Program and mail to our manager Randy Nelson VE3WPN
at the...." The Canadian National Institute for the Blind, National Office, 1929
Bayview Avenue Toronto, Ontario Canada M4G 3E8

In a subsequent e-mail to me, George also wrote:

"The Amateur Radio Program needs the help of all Radio Amateurs to find
those blind who would benefit from our hobby. Simply write or call
George or Randy and they will take it from there. Even better invite
them to your Hamshack and show them what Amateur radio is all about.
The Program has training material in large print, audio tape, Daisy, Braille
and computer forms."

George can be reached at 416 207 0797 or Internet: ve3peb@rac.ca, an
alternate contact is Randy Nelson, Manager, at amateur.radio@cnib.ca.


Our November Flea Market

We had a very successful flea market although it was delayed one week from
the traditional Saturday. We owe thanks to so many who made the flea market
successful.  Bart Ritchie got the ball rolling; he then had to go out of
town for a well deserved holiday.  We are thankful to SGI for lending us
their claims centre for half a day and especially thankful to Gord Cobb,
VE5MQ, for arranging it.

George Harwood, VE5UU, had tested some old 6 volt gell cell batteries for
us.  Alex Taylor, VE5MAB, got the tables there and back.  Allan Tidball,
VE5LAT, Bruce Rattray, VE5RC, and Garnet Matchett, VE5GPM, helped me move
the surplus out of the club room and transport it to the North Claims
Centre. Ted Odling, VE5TO, donated his amateur radio treasures which had
been gathered over a lifetime to the club.  Bill Wood, VE5EE, collected for
the tables and sold the club surplus (including our old QSTs).  Doug
Appleton, VE5DA, did an excellent job of auctioning the left over surplus.
Doug, you made that interesting and fun, even better, it is all gone.
Allan, VE5LAT, also ably did his treasurer's job, collecting and counting
money and making sure everything was in order.  Nearly all the club fleas
found new hosts. Harvey Smith went home to get his truck, I had asked him to
when I thought we would probably have a lot of surplus left over. He took
the leftover trash home.  Pat Caswell, VE5AEO, helped clean up the premises.
I thank all you who helped on behalf of the club.

I also thank all you who came and made our day successful. Especially, BJ
Madsen, VE5FX, who came from Tisdale to represent RAC and the incoming QSL
bureau.  At one point Allan did a snapshot count and there were 68 people
there. With all the coming and going we think that probably between 110 and
120 people came.  I know that I saw people from as far away as Pennant (near
Swift Current) and Prince Albert and I was told there was someone from
Estevan.


RARA is selling 450 MHz antennas

The club has been given a number of 7 element 440 MHz Yagi antennas,
cut for 450-470 MHz. We are selling these to interested amateurs. These
are Sinclair SLR307 antennas, specs are at web site
http://www.sinctech.com/catalog/series.aspx?id=56 , look at the SY307. 
The sale of these antennas will be restricted to RARA club members until
the end of January. We will be selling them for $30.00 during this time, and
then the price will go up.  We also have access to 450 MHz 3 element yagis.

Princess Auto Crawl

We will be going to Princess Auto in Regina between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. on
January 12 (It closes then).  We will not meet together there except for the
chance eyeball QSO.  We will each buy treasures and take them back to our
meeting room at the IMAX to see who has found and bought the most
interesting treasure which fits with amateur radio.  There may be judges and
a prize!  There will be a short business meeting once we get to the IMAX.
Bring your inventiveness!


The RARA Memorial Plaque

We are exploring the updating of the RARA Memorial Plaque.

Currently the names are:

Jack Kyle - VE5JK - 1966, Art Driver - VE5CM - 1967,
Alf Miller - VE5UK - 1968, Jim Crook - VE5JU - 1970,
Jack Robinson - VE5BL - 1974, Bill MacDonald - VE5ML - 1975,
Les Groome - VE5ADR - 1980, David Sarsfield - VE5ZZ - 1982,
Bill Munday - VE5WM - 1989, John Shea - VE5JS - 1992,
Vic Ireland - VE5NV - 1992, Cliff Abrahams - VE5OF - 1993,
Jim Whetherly - VE5JW - 1993, Gord Wightman - VE5XU - 1993,

There appears to be room for 13 or 14 more names on this plaque. We know
that there are more names for the eligible spaces.

We are asking you to help fill in the names of deceased members. We won't
quit at 27 0r 28 if there are more names than that, we will find a way to
honour all the former members who are deceased. Send me an e-mail at
borjallen@accesscomm.ca if you know of other names that belong.


Attracting new participants to amateur radio.

I have been revising a previously prepared Amateur Radio in Regina brochure.
We are grappling with the question of how we can get it into the hands (and
minds) of potentially interested people?  Do you have any ideas and or do
you need some brochures to distribute?

Allan, VE5LAT, has suggested a smaller more graphical, more targeted
pamphlet showing one aspect of what we do, such as the public service of
communicating for community walks and runs.  He says you have 15 seconds to
attract someone's attention and 15 seconds to keep it.  Another amateur whom
I respect independently emphasized the same thing.  This amateur suggested
illustrated single issue pamphlets such as, 1. being pumped from amateur
radio moonbounce, 2. having the responsibility and capability to assist
emergency authorities during disasters through ARES and Emergency Planning,
3. gaining experience to help one assess whether a he/she is interested in
electrical/electronic engineering, 4. Talking to astronauts on the ISS. This
is only a start on thinking.  Maybe the club should have a poster and
pamphlet contest.

What can YOU do to show someone an interesting part of our hobby this week?


The RARA Web site

Our web site gives a small window from the world to our club and what we do.
It does reach out; an old associate of mine came to a club meeting as a
result of the web site, and an amateur who just came to Saskatchewan asked
me for information about local hams in her new community.  Who can give a
current story or project for the web site?  If we add current and
interesting stories and pictures, it shows us as a vibrant community. Send
your information to Bruce, VE5RC, or to Bart, VE5CPU. What can YOU do to
help Bart and Bruce show off our ham community?


What can we do as a club?

Sponsor a club entry in CQ World Wide? Host some of the Telephone Pioneers
radio amateurs who have had to dispose of their radio equipment for the
Telephone Pioneer QSO Party? More VHF Contests, etc?  Show off amateur radio
as a lot of fun and interesting and service? How? Can we gain media
attention? Help newcomers come to amateur radio? Solve noise and
interference problems? Tell me what you think.  Send me an e-mail at
borjallen@accesscomm.ca.


Club Station

On Tuesday, November 9, 2004, I had a telephone conversation with a
representative of the Science Centre.  We discussed a conduit through the
wall of the club room for our cables. She promised to investigate the
concept of our inviting small supervised groups for group jamborees. We
have access to washrooms during Science Centre and IMAX open hours.
On Tuesday, November 30 she told me that they may be able to install a
conduit into the club room as early as next week.

This is a start toward getting our club station back on the air and being
used as a demonstration station as well as for activities such as contests.

That's all for this month, and last excluding the constitutional amendments,
except for the most important thing:


December Supper Gathering

We hope to see all amateurs and radio enthusiasts and their families who are
in or near Regina at the supper gathering, 6:30, December 8, at the Classic
Buffet, 100 Albert Street.

73
John Allen, VE5SJA, RARA President


   PUBLIC SERVICE REPORT

The City of Regina is holding an emergency exercise on December 9th
and 10th. ARES has been asked to participate in this exercise as we are
an integral part of the city's emergency plan.

   The exercise is in two parts. The first part is from 13:00 to 16:00
on December 9th. The second part is from 08:00 to 16:00 on December 10th
(lunch provided). Our responsibility will be to pass official written
traffic from one location to another (room to room). There will be two
rooms used in the Police Station as well as the Emergency Command Bus.
This a a very good opportunity to exercise our own "go kits" and become
familiar with how to pass written traffic. We require a hand held (with
spare batteries) or mobile radio with antenna and power supply, as well
check out http://home.comcast.net/~buck0/hamgear.htm for additional
ideas. We will probably use simplex (146.520 or 147.330) or we may have
to use City hall repeater (147.120 +) or the truck repeater (147.210 +).
So make sure your radio(s) are programmed for those contingencies.

   The exercise takes place at the police station. As the police
station is a secure building, the emergency co-ordinator requires names
of persons participating so security personnel are informed as to the
attendees. Let me know as soon as possible if you can attend. Your
attendance may be for the entire time or any portion thereof.

   In consideration of the Salvation Army's support of ARES activities
we decided at the October 19th meeting to man their Christmas Kettles.
In a discussion with Edith at the Army office, we will man kettles at
the Golden Mile, Northgate Mall, Costco and Victoria Square from 18:00 -
21:00 on December 21st.

   The manning of the kettles can be done by teams of two or by
splitting a shift with someone else. Maybe discuss this with another
ARES member with reference to location and times. This is an excellent
opportunity to inform the general public to our organization.

   I will be co-ordinating the schedule with the Salvation Army. We
should try to have our schedule in place by the first week of December.

   -VE5TLW


    QRP-CANADA and The Phantom Benefactor

The Phantom Benefactor has a Christmas Gift for someone special. If you
know of someone who wants to operate CW but currently does not have
the means to get on the air, send a brief write-up of his/her circumstances,
care/of Bruce Rattray, VE5RC.  For more details click here, or visit the
QRP-Canada web site at:   http://www.qrp-canada.com/
   -RAC   

FCC FORFEITURE WATCH - PROPOSED $125,000 FINE
AGAINST PILOT TRUCKING CENTERS.

 The FCC has proposed a $125,000 fine against Pilot Travel
Centers (truck stop retailers).  In response to complaints that
Pilot was selling non-authorized CB transmitters at its travel
centers (e.g. Amateur Radio Service transmitters that could be
easily modified to operate on CB frequency bands), the Commission
initiated an investigation and issued nine Citations.  The
$125,000 proposed forfeiture was based upon the company's
continued sales of transmitters on thirteen occasions after
the issuance of those Citations.

 In its Notice of Apparent Liability, the Commission
reaffirmed that Amateur Radio Service transmitters that can be
easily modified to operate on CB frequency bands are CB radio
transmitters and therefore subject to FCC equipment authorization
requirements.  The problem with CBers using ham gear is two-fold:
Ham equipment is relatively high powered and can easily operate
on frequencies not authorized to CBers.   
   -CEG Newsletter

   IRLP NEWS

There is now a 10 meter IRLP node on the air and several more
upcoming in England now that they have changed their regulations.
All will require CTCSS access tones due to interference problems.
The node locations and node numbers will be published next Guywire.


LAST MONTHS PUZZLER

In amateur circles, what did the initials CAROA stand for?

Answer:    Canadian Amateur Radio Operators Association,
one of the predecessors of RAC, CARF, CRRL and other
national organizations.  It was active prior to 1950. The
organization published a magazine called XTAL.  The July
1947 issue featured an ad by the War Assets Corporation,
advertising war surplus transmitters, receivers, relays and
Selsyn generators.

THIS MONTHS PUZZLER

What is the Maunder Minimum?

Answer next month.



MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

To join or renew, fill out the form below and follow the instructions
at the bottom. Support Ham Radio in Regina.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
R.A.R.A. MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

Name __________________________________ Callsign___________

Mailing Address ___________________________________________

E-Mail Address _____________________________________________

I enclose _____ Single membership ($25.00) New _________

_____ Family membership ($30.00) Renewal______

Give this application with your membership fee to
the club treasurer VE5LAT or send it to: Regina Amateur Radio Association
Box 153
Regina, Sask. S4P 2Z6

The membership year runs April 1st to March 31st.

SUPPORT AMATEUR RADIO AND YOUR LOCAL CLUB

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -