November 3 Meeting

Our next meeting will be held, as usual, at the South Fletcher’s Sportsplex (500 Ray Lawson Blvd) in the Community Room (south side of the building, near reception desk).

Our speaker will be John Illiffe, a founding member of PARC, who will talk about the origins and history of our club, as well as giving an interesting history about our hobby in Canada.

Come out and join the gang for a bite before the meeting. The group usually gathers around 6 PM at East Side Mario’s located at the corner of Ray Lawson Blvd. and Hurontario St.

See you there!

Field Day 2009

Want to know how we did on Field Day 2009? Have a look at our Field Day 2009 final entry sheet, below.  Plus, we have some photos taken during Field Day.

2009 Field Day Entry

Call Used: VE3XR
GOTA Station Call:(non
Class:3A
Participants: 20
Club/Group Name: Peel ARC
Power Source(s): Battery
Power Multiplier: 2X

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Bonus Points:

Description	Points
100% Emergency power	300
Set-up in Public Place	100
Information Booth	100
Site Visit by invited served agency official	100
Submitted via the Web	50
Total Bonus Points	650

Score Summary:

	CW	Digital	Phone	Total
Total QSOs	234	0	410
Total Points	468	0	410	878	Claimed Score = 1,756

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Band/Mode QSO Breakdown:

	CW		Digital		Phone
	QSOs	Pwr(W)	QSOs	Pwr(W)	QSOs	Pwr(W)
160m
80m	3	100			93	100
40m	196	100			146	100
20m	35	100			166	100
15m					5	100
10m
6m
2m
1.25
Other
Satellite
GOTA
Total	234		0		410

VE3AZA’s 90th Birthday

CONGRATULATIONS VE3AZA!

In September, our Club marked a momentous occasion, as founding member and First Club President, Charles “Chuck” Palmer, VE3AZA, celebrated his 90th birthday.  The membership was pleased to be able to honour this remarkable man with our hearty best wishes and celebratory cake.

Chuck was first licensed in 1935 and was assigned a VE5 callsign. (That is not a “typo” even though he lived in BC. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta all shared the VE5 designator.  BC, of course, was later  given VE7 as its prefix.)

All Chuck’s ham friends know that he is a consummate CW operator, able to copy in his head at speeds most of us can’t begin to decode. He complains now that “Arthur Itis” is slowing his fist down. But even if he had to use the proverbial ‘left foot’, he would put us all to shame. In 1979 at the Milton Hamfest, he topped all operators in a CW copying contest at better than 45 wpm perfect copy. He has been know to carry on a conversation with friends while at the same time copying high speed CW heard in the background.

Chuck is still very active as a ham, often found on 20 meters, on our local VE3PRC repeater, and at our Friday Breakfast get-togethers.

If you frequent the Trans Canada Net (2 PM on 14.140 MHz, every Sunday)  you will usually hear VE3AZA serving as the Eastern Net Controller. And yes, he does use SSB for that!

Chuck spent his working career with Trans Canada Airlines and Air Canada and has many great stories of those times. In his Amateur Radio career, he has seen the hobby grow and change immensely from triode tubes, peanut tubes, transistors, integrated circuits, computers and surface mount components; from all CW to SSB, digital modes and satellite communications.

Here are a few pictures taken at our September meeting.

Operation Red Nose

Operation Red Nose needs you!
If you can help, contact Bryan, VA3OG. (va3og@rac.ca)

Our ARES Partner, St John Ambulance, along with Safe City Brampton, Peel Regional Police and others, is sponsoring a community safety program called Operation Red Nose. It is aimed at helping drivers who feel they should not be behind their wheel to get home safely. A team consisting of 2 drivers and 1 navigator/radio operator will be dispatched to pick up the client. One driver with the navigator and the client drives the client home in their own car. The 2nd driver follows and picks up the team, ready for the next assignment.

Although a first for Brampton, Operation Red Nose has run successfully since 1984 in several other communities.

Click here to see the St John Ambulance document, Operation Red Nose. (link to be added.)

FAQ:

1. This is NOT a taxi service. The client must have their own car with them.
2. Dates: November 27 & 28. December 4,5,11,12,18,19. (Friday nights & Saturday nights)
3. Times: 9 PM to 3 AM ideally (or as late as you can).
4. Liability coverage: Drivers are covered by Client’s auto insurance, and as St John Volunteers, by a $12,000,000 policy, plus additional coverage by the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
5. Police Check: Yes, you need one. St John Ambulance will arrange. It takes about 1 week, so let Bryan know ASAP if you are volunteering.
6. Where: Pickup and delivery is limited to Brampton, between Steeles and Mayfield; McLaughlin and Airport Rd.
7. Radio Operators needed: Five people are needed each night. One to serve as Dispatcher and one portable/mobile operator for each team. A GPS unit would be useful.
8. Teams have the discretionary power to refuse to accept a client.

Homebrew Meeting – Tuesday October 20

The homebrew gang will meet on Tuesday, Oct20, 19:30 hrs. (That’s local time, not UTC or “zulu”.)
Address is 16 George Street North, Brampton at the corner of George and Diplock Ln. There is a multi-story parking garage on Diplock, and parking is free after 18:00.

Don’t forget to bring something for show and tell.

We will have a limited number of, “QRP Dummy Load – An  Introduction to SMT” kits available. The cost will be $8 for club members. This project is a good way to get comfortable working with SMD. The dummy load works very well and Gord should have an interesting enhancment to go with it to show off.

If anyone wants to meet up for dinner prior to the meeting, let Peter Ayearst know and we can make arrangements.

ARES Meeting Monday, October 19

Come on out to the monthly ARES meeting which takes place at 7:30 PM on Monday October 19, at the usual location, 10 Peel Centre Drive, Region of Peel building.

We will have a guest speaker, Mr.  Morris Samson, from the Red Cross. He will inform us about  “Operation Red Nose”. This program presents an opportunity to use your radio skills to help your local community.

Come out to Lick’s (Bramalea and Queen St) for a burger before the meeting!

Advanced Class – time is running out!

Thinking of taking the advanced class?  Time is running out!

The Peel Amateur Radio club is offering a two-day course to prepare participants for the Advanced License exam.  The class will take place on two consecutive Saturdays, on October 24th and October 31st, at the Brampton Safe City office.

Space is limited so register now by contacting Wayne Highgate (whighgate@hotmail.com).

Club Meeting – Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

The next general meeting of the Peel Amateur Radio Club will be held on Tuesday, October 6th.

PUT ON YOUR THINKING CAPS!

At this meeting we’ll be testing our knowledge of amateur radio by playing a trivia game. Topics will range from operating practices, technical knowledge, history and obscure radio trivia! Come and join the fun.

Date: Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Time: 7:30 pm

Location:
The meeting is held at the South Fletcher’s Sportsplex, located at the NE corner of McLaughlin Rd and Ray Lawson Blvd, just South of Steeles Ave. The meeting is held in the community room, on the south side of the building near the reception area.

Come at 6:00pm and join a few of us who get together for dinner at East Side Mario’s on Hurontario and Ray Lawson.

Need a ride? Please feel free to contact me by email or by phone at 905-793-8058.

Please plan to attend!

Best regards,

Doug VE3XDB