GUYWIRE
JANUARY 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.
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NEXT MEETING - January 14th 7:30 PM Science Center - Imax
Boardroom
This is another combined RARA and ARES meeting. The program
following
the meeting will feature a video presentation.
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CLUB NEWS
The annual general meeting of the club is coming up in March. At
this meeting
changes to the Constitution can be made. Guywire will publish the
current
constitution in the next issue. Anyone with any suggestions for
changes
should propose them at the general meeting.
Ham classes start this Tuesday and continue on Thursday and Saturday.
They are being held at the Greer room of the Regina Police station with
sessions 7:30-9:30 on Tuesday and Thursday and 9:00-4:00 on
Saturday
These are extremely intensive Basic classes which have proved very
successful
in the past. There has been a good response to the classes this
year and
we should see a good crop of new hams shortly. Advanced classes
will begin
two weeks after the basic classes. For more information on classes
contact Bill Wood VE5EE.
If you know of any ham in the area who would like to receive Guywire,
please
let me know and I will add them to the mailing list.
Also, anyone with news, interesting ideas or anything else that might
be of
interest to local hams, please send it along to the editor for
publication.
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PUBLIC SERVICE NEWS
The next public service event will be the Klondike Hike. Jim
VE5CS is organizing
that and is looking for volunteers to help out. If you can help out,
call Jim
at 586 3725.
IRLP NEWS
New Years eve saw the VE5WM repeater connected to two special New Years
nets. Earlier in the day, the repeater was connected to Reflector
9200 for the
International New Years net. It was interesting to hear from
stations in Australia
and New Zealand as the new year arrived there. Later in the
evening the
repeater was connected to Reflector 9300 where a Cross-Canada New Years
net was being held. Several local stations took part by checking
in.
The Last Mountain node is now operational but the link between the node
and
the repeater still has to be installed. In the meantime it is
operating as a simplex
node at VE5BJMs qth.
RAC NEWS
Canadian radio amateurs are becoming concerned that proposed broadband
over
power line (BPL) systems may render the HF bands unusable due to
radiation from
the power lines. A California company, Corridor Systems, has
demonstrated a BPL
system that works at 2.4 and 5.3 GHz. The system, designed to provide
broadband (250 MHz) transmission suitable for high speed Internet
access
using the existing power distribution system, does not pose any
threat to amateur
radio or other users of the rf spectrum.
ISS News
A new Kenwood radio system with power supplies and switching equipment
has
arrived at the International Space Station on a Russian Progress flight.
The Kenwood radio system will support 2 meter and 70 cm operations
(uplink and downlink) and L-band uplink with up to 25 watts of output
power.
FM voice, APRS and packet capabilities are included. A Yaesu HF
transceiver and SSTV capability will follow in January.
WEBSITE OF THE MONTH
For more information on interference free BPL log on to this website:
http://www.corridor.biz/news.htm
A website with amateur radio news in text and audio form is the
Amateur Radio Newsline. You can find it at http://www.arnewsline.org.
The reports are aimed at U.S. hams but there is occasionally an item
or two of interest to Canadians. I had thought of runnning the
arnewsline
feed on the repeater but the amount of editing required would make it a
very
labor intensive project. It would be great if RAC would
come up with a
similar news feed with Canadian news.
LAST MONTHS PUZZLER
When we talk about early trans-atlantic radio experiments, we think of
Signal Hill, Newfoundland. What other Canadian location was used
for these experiments?
Answer: Marconi also set up a radio site at Glace Bay Nova Scotia.
The only things still remaining there are the cement tower bases.
It is now the site of the Marconi Museum which has artifacts such
as spark gap transmitters on display. There is also a ham station
located in the museum.
THIS MONTHS PUZZLER
We all know about vhf, uhf and shf frequencies but at the other end
of the scale, what is the lowest regulated radio frequency?
Answer next month.
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R.A.R.A. MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
Name __________________________________ Callsign___________
Mailing Address ___________________________________________
E-Mail Address _____________________________________________
I enclose _____ Single
membership ($25.00)
_____ Family membership ($30.00)
Give this application with your membership fee to
the club treasurer or send it to:
Regina Amateur Radio Association
Box 153
Regina, Sask. S4P 2Z6
SUPPORT AMATEUR RADIO AND YOUR LOCAL CLUB
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