GUYWIRE

OCTOBER 2007

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
www.sarl.ca/rara
The website 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 WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 10th 7:30 PM
at the Science Centre - Imax Board Room top floor IMAX entrance Coffee will be served.
Visitors welcome.
 The organization of the annual fall Flea Market and JOTA will be discussed.

PRESIDENTS REPORT

Good Day.
Just a word of what is coming up.
We are now organizing the Fall flea market. The format will be very
similar to last year. I will require one person to set up a coffee station that morning.
The coffee and coffee maker can be picked up the night before.
If you have some fleas you would like to sell please email or call so that I know how
many tables you will require. VE5SX@accesscomm.ca cell 591-1096 The location
has not been confirmed as of this time. The date is scheduled for Saturday
November 3, 2007 If you can spare some time to help pick up some tables or help clean up
the facility please call Darrell VE5SX.

J.O.T.A. is set for October 19 to 21. We have had a request from a scouting group to
assist with this program. If you are willing to assist with this worthy cause then contact
 Darrell VE5SX. IRLP is very good for this program.

We are now looking for a volunteer to head up the training for Basic
Classes. If you would like to assist with teaching a class or part of a class then
please call Darrell VE5SX.

Congratulations to all that took part of Field Day out at Burnside. Another successful and fun weekend.
The food was enjoyed by all. Thanks Con. To all the volunteers that organized field day 2007 I say thank you.
 With out your participation the program would not be as successful.

Our next meeting will be Wednesday October 10, 2007 Science Center Board Room.
The presentation will be a discussion forum on Where is amateur radio headed in the future,
what effects will IRLP and internet and telephone systems have on Amateur Radio Clubs.
You may wish to do some research and bring some material to help explain the topics.

Is there anyone in our club that has not used IRLP? Check out
www.irlp.net look for the amount of available nodes to contact. 27 pages in pdf. form.

Is there anyone in our club that has used WinLink2000? Check out
www.winlink.org

Hope to see you at the meeting.

73's Darrell Dickson VE5SX




FALL HAM CLASSES

Plans are underway for fall ham classes. If you know of anyone who is interested in taking either
Basic or Advanced classes, please contact any of the club executive members.

PUBLIC SERVICE EVENTS

The annual Santa Parade is on Sunday, November 18th at 1:00 pm. Start time has moved back one
 half hour this year. We will be using 25th Ave. again to assemble the parade and the route continues
 down Albert to the Southland. I will need 14 or more people to help assemble and direct traffic.
Let me know if you can assist please.

Thanks,
Bill EE

REPEATER NEWS

A new repeater with good coverage in the southwestern
part of the province is now on the air. The Zortman repeater operates on 147.26.
 Where is Zortman you might ask? The repeater is located at Zortman Montana, and is about
140 miles due south of Gull Lake Sask. The repeater is located in the Little Rocky Mountains
giving it excellent coverage west to Great Falls, MT and north to Swift Current.

VE5UHF REPEATER INTERFERENCE

The mysterious interference on the output frequency of the VE5UHF
repeater seems to have disappeared. The cause was probably an itinerent survey crew using radio
 location equipment. Radio Location is the primary user of the 440 mHz band but there were no
stations licensed to use this particular frequency. We hope this is the last we will hear of this.


SCOUTS JAMBOREE ON THE AIR

Jamboree on the Air will celebrate its 50th year this year when it gets
on the air October 19-21.
Normally a 48 hour event, this year's JOTA will be 50 hours long in
recognition of the anniversary.
The fun begins at 2200 (local time) October 19 and ends at midnight
(local time) October 21.

An on-the-air operating event sponsored by the World Scout Bureau, JOTA
was founded in 1958 by Les Mitchell, G3BHK. It has grown to become the largest
international Scout event.
More than half a million Scouts and Guides in more than 100 countries
participate in JOTA,involving as many as 10,000 Amateur Radio stations.

The event relies on the Amateur Radio community and local hams for its
success. Getting Boy and Girl Scouts (including Cubs and Brownies) on the air to talk
with other Scouts around the world provides a great opportunity to expose youth to Amateur Radio.
Some troops and clubs team up to make a big splash with lots of activities, radios and
antennas, offering a variety of modes to experience. For others, JOTA provides an opportunity
to coach a smaller group of Scouts and to just have fun talking on the radio.
Scouts usually enjoy communicating by speaking into a microphone, but some radio amateurs are
able to provide other modes, such as slow-scan TV or amateur TV, satellites, packet
radio, RTTY or even EME.

-ARRL

Local Note: Last year many local scouts took part in JOTA with the help
of club members using the VE5WM repeater on the IRLP system and on HF when possible.
Organizing of this years JOTA operation will be discussed at this months meeting.


MARCONI REVISITED

For those of you who missed the presentation on Marconi at the last meeting, or for those who want
to delve into a little more history, I would suggest reading the book Thunderstruck by Erik Larsen
which is available at your local library. Some of the Marconi presentation was based on this book.


SOUTHERN ALBERTA BALLOON LAUNCH

Excellent pictures taken by the Alta. Amateur Radio High Altitude
balloon launch can be seen at http://www.sbszoo.com/bear/sable/sable3.htm

SPUTNIK 50TH ANNIVERSARY

It's 50 years since the USSR launched their famous satellite. A comprehensive
story on Sputnik appears on the ARRL Web page.
Go to: http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2007/09/28/03/?nc=1

THAT COPPER IS VALUABLE

Thieves in some parts of the country have discovered a quick way to make money.
 With the high price of copper, they have discovered that AM broadcast
stations are a goldmine.
Broadcast stations have copper radial wires, sometimes as many as 360 of
them, in the ground below each tower. In the dark of night they sneak in and pull the
wires out being careful not to take too many of them at any one time so that the
station monitoring doesn't raise an alarm. Broadcasters are combatting the practice by
replacing the radials with barb wire. It works as well as copper and also acts as a deterent
to thieves.


END OF AN ERA

It's the end of time, at least as far as AT&T is concerned.
The brief note in customers' bills hardly does justice to the momentousness of the decision.
 "Service withdrawal," it blandly declares. "Effective September 2007, Time of Day information
service will be discontinued."

What this means is that people throughout southern California will no longer be able to call
 853-1212 (or "UL" 3-1212) to hear a woman's recorded voice stating that,
 "At the tone, Pacific Daylight Time will be...."

-CGC Newsletter

EQUIPMENT DISPOSAL

The daughter of the late George Ford, VE5GLF has asked for help in disposing of his ham equipment.
Several club members have offered to help and an inventory of his equipment will be forthcoming.
Hopefully this can be done before the Fall Flea Market.


LOOKING FOR CANADIAN HAM NEWS ON THE WEB?

Go to http://www.hfradio.net


TODAYS TECH TIP

Tired of burning your fingers when using matches to heat heatshrink? Use a butane barbeque lighter.
It throws off just the right amount of heat and is a lot easier on the fingers.

THIS MONTHS PUZZLER

Why is an old time ham like UPC scanner? Answer next week.




R.A.R.A. Membership Application 2007– 2008
(Please write clearly and enter Y or N in boxes as required)

Name: _____________________________________________

Call Sign: ______________ Current RAC membership

Mailing Address: _____________________________________

_____________________________________

e-mail Address: _____________________________________

Renewal or New Membership

Single Membership ($30) ____ Family membership ($35) ____

I have enclosed $____ for ____ membership(s) indicated above. Please include this application with your fee to club treasurer Allan Tidball or mail cheque to Regina Amateur Radio Association
(VE5LAT) Box 153 Station Main
Regina, Sask. S4P 2Z6