Kamloops Amateur Radio Club

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our guest presenter for the next club meeting will be Ralph Olds, VA7NU and his presentation is titled "Electrons and Propagation".

Ralph received his basic qualification in 1960 when he was 15 years old , and his advanced qualification a year later.  In those days, hams had to show their log book and proof of operating experience to be allowed to write for the advanced qualification.

Ralph worked for many years in computers with IBM, and about 1994 started a business making RF filters, and over the next 15 years made about 20,000 filters with 12 employees.

He has been making (mostly) ham filters as a retirement business for the last 6 years in Armstrong as OCI - Olds Communications Inc.

This will be hybrid meeting, but you are encouraged to join us in person if you can.

For those who can only join online, please use this link: https://bbb.isurf.ca/b/ada-jnt-mkf

To join the meeting in person please meet outside the lobby of the Victoria Building at 210 Victoria Street.  The KARC meeting will be held in the offices of the Province of BC on the 5th Floor. This is a controlled access building so please try to be there by 6:50pm so we can start the meeting promptly on time at 7pm.  Please wait outside until someone comes to open the door.  You may also call (250) 318-5150 to let us know you are downstairs waiting.

There will be donuts and apple fritters for those attending in person!

The Agenda and Minutes from the last meeting are attached below.

 

 

 

 

 

The KARC will be participating in the 2023 BC QSO Party from the Winter Field Day barn at Peter's farm in Knutsford.  We left the antennas in place after Winter Field Day, but have refilled the wood pile, the generators, as well as the propane tanks for the space heaters, and we will be operating 2 stations simultaneously from the barn.  Please join us for some more fun on the HF bands, and some great company.  There will be lots of opportunities for new hams or visitors to get on the air, so please consider coming for a visit.

The contest runs from 8AM to 8PM on Saturday, and 8AM to 4PM on Sunday, but we will likely shut things down a little early on Sunday so we can get the antennas down before dark.

If you have any questions, or need directions to the site, please contact Myles at ve7fsr@telus.net

For more information on the BC QSO Party, including rules and helpful hints, please see: https://www.orcadxcc.org/bcqp.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next monthly meeting of the Kamloops Amateur Radio Club will be held on Thursday, February 2, 2023 at 7:00 PM PST.

The KARC is pleased to announce that our special guest presenter will be Morley Fountain a broadcast engineer who has lived in and worked out of Kamloops for the past 22 years.

Morley has worked in broadcasting full time since 1984, and he has worked in both the radio and TV broadcasting environments.

Morley has been working for Global Television, part of the Corus Entertainment Group, for the past 29 years. He began as a system engineer in 1995 looking after the over the air transmission system in the BC Interior.  Currently his role is within the National Conventional Infrastructure team as the Senior Manager of DTV projects.

Morley is on the ISED / CAB radio advisory committee as well as the SC6 working group.

He is a graduate of the Saskatchewan Technical Institute's Radio Television and Communications Equipment Servicing program, as well as the Broadcast Engineering program from Cleveland State University.  Morely is a licensed ham radio operator, VA7MGF, (although not active) holding a basic and advanced qualifications.

Morely has built AM, FM, and both analog and digital television transmission systems in 9 of the 10 Canadian provinces, and he has also spent time working in the US.

Morley will spend most of his time talking about the technical requirements for television broadcast transmitter site.  He is going to keep the presentation as a general overview of the industry.  Focus for this talk will be on television only.  The draft agenda is as follows:

1. Brief introduction with a little more detail about my role at Corus/Global;
2. Brief history of analog TV and the transition to digital;
3. Large part will be the building blocks to building a site from new;
   • How to begin;
   • Choosing a site;
   • Leasehold considerations;
   • How to determine ERP;
   • Licencing;
   • Considerations for antenna, transmitter, and tower;
   • Commissioning and proof of performance;
   • Test requirements and ISED compliance;
4. On-going maintenance, remote control, and disaster recovery; and.
5. Questions, and closing remarks.

This will be hybrid meeting, but you are encouraged to join us in person if you can.

For those who can only join online, please use this link: https://bbb.isurf.ca/b/ada-jnt-mkf

To join the meeting in person please meet outside the lobby of the Victoria Building at 210 Victoria Street.  The KARC meeting will be held in the offices of the Province of BC on the 5th Floor. This is a controlled access building so please try to be there by 6:50pm so we can start the meeting promptly on time at 7pm.  Please wait outside until someone comes to open the door.  You may also call (250) 318-5150 to let us know you are downstairs waiting.

There will be donuts and apple fritters for those attending in person!

The Agenda and Minutes from the last meeting are attached below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The club received some awesome media coverage of our Winter Field Day exercise in Knutsford, thanks to the crew from Castanet Kamloops.  Thank you to Kristen and Josh for coming out to visit us on a cold Sunday morning!

You can read the complete article and see the video in these links:

https://www.castanetkamloops.net/news/Kamloops/408855/Amateur-radio-club...

https://www.castanet.net/video/24493/karc-holds-winter-event/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are live and operating from Winter Field Day!  We have Mark VE7ARN, Jim VE7HS, Austin VE7QH, Ralph VA7VZA, Mike VE7KPZ, Shawn VA7NIN, Jason VA7HAB, Brock VA7AV, Peter VE7DNZ, and Myles VE7FSR operating CW, Phone and Digital.  The wood stove is keeping us warm, and the generator is keeping the lights on and the radios running!

Everyone is having fun, and five of us are camping out tonight (three in tents, one in his truck camper, and one in a cot inside the building.

We had a miserable wind and blowing snow on Friday making set up a challenge, but we were able to get the Carolina Windom up in a nearby tree, and the BuddiHex installed on the Max-Gain mast.  We are operating 3 Outdoor BC, which means that we are able to have three stations operating simultaneously.  We are using the club IC-7300 and Austin brought his Elecraft KX-2 and Yaesu FT-891 radios. 

Here are some photos from the contest site.  More photos may be viewed here: https://karc.ca/node/734

Drone footage of Winter Field Day can be seen here: https://youtu.be/Cbi1TWBA7vk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KARC Winter Field Day
January 28-29, 2023

The Kamloops Amateur Radio Club will be participating in Winter Field Day 2023, to be held on January 28-29 at the farm of Peter, VE7DNZ in Knutsford.  We will be operating  the club callsign VE7UT as Class 2 Outdoor BC, on CW, phone and digital modes.  We will be using an old grain storage "shed" (an old homesteader building) located about 700 metres from the parking area on Mannings Road.  Peter has plowed a "road" into the shed, but it's only suitable for high clearance 4x4 vehicles, and there is parking near the shed for those so equipped.  We will be shuttling people into the Winter Field Day site so it's your choice if you want to hike into the site, or be chauffered in!

Setup will start at 1100 hours PST on Friday, January 27, and the exercise will kick off at 1100 hours PST on Saturday, January 28 and run to 1059 hours on Sunday, January 29.

Myles, VE7FSR plans to install a small wood stove in the shack, so it should be nice and cozy inside.  We will be using the club's IC-7300 as our main HF station, and Myles' SGC-2020 ADSP QRP radio (extra points for QRP!) as our second station; please feel frree to bring your own radio if you like.  We have at least three HF antennas we want to try, using telescoping masts and some nearby trees for supports.  Power will be supplied by a 3KW generator, and we will have lights inside.  For those interested, there is lots of room for winter camping adjacent to the "shed", and there is also room for two or three cots if you want to sleep inside.  You will need to supply your own chair and whatever else you need to keep yourself warm and well fed; the club will be bringing tables and other "accoutrements" needed for portable HF operation.

Bathroom facilities will be "primitive" so please be forewarned!

If you are interested in participating please contact Myles in advance so we know how many to expect.  Ralph's XYL Rita will be cooking dinner for us on Saturday evening (chili, corn bread, etc.) so please confirm your participation by January 21 so Rita knows how many to cook for.

We will be holding the final planning meeting on January 24 at 20:30 hours PST online at:  https://bbb.isurf.ca/b/ada-jnt-mkf

A Google Earth KMZ file is attached showing the location of the shed, as well as a KMZ file showing where you can park.

Here is a link to Google Maps that you can use to help you navigate from the Knutsford Community Hall to the parking spot on Mannings Road.  https://goo.gl/maps/JU2nxVxyJNDHnT9N8

We will be monitoring 147.320+ (the VE7RLO repeater) so if you need directions to the site or a shuttle in from the parking area please call "CQ VE7UT".  We will also be broadcasting the Winter Field Day location on APRS starting on January 27, look for VE7UT on aprs.fi!

Congratulations to Simon and Caitlin Rizzardo, our members from Merritt. 

Simon and Caitlin are pleased to announce that Finnigan Rizzardo was born on January 10 at 5:23am in Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, and he is the first new addition to the ham radio family in the region.  Finnegan weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds three ounces, and Simon says he is already holding his first VHF HT radio.  Soon he will be following in his Daddies footsteps and checking into our local nets.  Caitlin is encouraged that Finnigan is so big; she says he can start picking up after himseld around the house when they get home from the hospital.

The KARC woud like to extend our sincere congratulations to Simon and Caitlin, and club members have pitched in to purchase the familiy a gift card to Oskosh B'Gosh so they can stock up on wee gaffer accessories.

Congratulations, Rizzardo family!  Welcome Finnegan!

 

 

 

 

 

The next monthly meeting of the Kamloops Amateur Radio Club will be held on
Thursday, January 5, 2023 at 7:00 PM PST.

The KARC is pleased to announce that our special guest presenter will be the Coquitlam Amateur Radio Club, VE7SCC.

This high-definition virtual tour will be presented in real-time by Coquitlam club members and will cover the following topics:

1. Club History;
2. Partnership with the City of Coquitlam;
3. Capabilities across all amateur bands including CFARS;
4. BCWARN-enabled remote station control and demo;
5. Station automation and contesting;
6. Mobile comms trailer;
7. Mechanical and Electrical fabrication and repair on site;
8. Video Conferencing and online streaming setup; and,
9. Live Q&A with members of VE7SCC.

This will be hybrid meeting, but you are encouraged to join us in person because you will get the best experience of the live high-definition video feed from VE7SCC.

Please don't miss this opportunity!  You will be amazed (*blown away*) by the VE7SCC club station, comms trailer, fabrication facilities, etc..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those who can only join online, please use this link:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81900487788?pwd=UjRzZFJOM2huMjExajFtVGlFZC9tUT09

Meeting ID: 819 0048 7788
Passcode: ve7scc
One tap mobile
+12042727920,,81900487788# Canada
+14388097799,,81900487788# Canada

To join the meeting in person please meet outside the lobby of the Victoria Building at 210 Victoria Street.  The KARC meeting will be held in the offices of the Province of BC on the 5th Floor. This is a controlled access building so please try to be there by 6:50pm so we can start the meeting promptly on time at 7pm.  Please wait outside until someone comes to open the door.  You may also call (250) 318-5150 to let us know you are downstairs waiting.

There will be donuts and apple fritters for those attending in person!

The Agenda and Minutes from the last meeting are attached below.

December 20, 2022

We have been doing some unplanned and impromptu low temperature experiments at VE7LGN on South Forge Mtn.  With the recent arctic cold front, outside (and inside at South Forge!) temperatures at Mt. Lolo and South Forge plunged to below -30C.  

I was down visiting Lee, VE7FET, and we were watching the temperatures drop steadily at the KARC repeater sites where we have remote temperature monitoring.  At Lolo we have an outside temp sensor, and the lowest recorded was just below -31C.  The rest of our sites we only have inside temp sensors, and at Iron Mtn (with the heat on) the inside temp was between 2C and 8C; at Mt. Lolo (with the heat on) it was 14C inside.  At Dufferin it was between -2C and -6C (inside!).  The temperature of the charge controller heatsink at South Forge was -26C, and the battery temperature was -32C.

Lee got curious about the temperature of the Raspberry Pi device we use to run the Allstar repeater software for VE7LGN.  When we checked the temperature of the SoC (CPU) of the Raspberry Pi it was reporting 1C! The rest of the Pi would have been at -26-30C!

According to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the certified operating temperature for a Raspberry Pi is between 0°C and 85°C. The SoC (CPU) chip is certified from -40°C to 85°C, but the LAN chip is only certified from 0°C to 70°C.

So the VE7LGN Raspberry Pi was operating at a temperature much lower than it was certified for!  What's even more amazing is that the Pi managed to maintain the network connection at a much lower temperature than the LAN chip is certified for.

In doing some research we discovered that some Pi enthusiasts did some testing with a Raspberry Pi 4 running a heatsink cooled by liquid nitrogen and when the SoC temp got below 0C a bug in the Pi code was revealed and instead of reporting something like -2C, the Pi instead reported 4 million degrees!

https://www.hackster.io/news/sensor-equipment-creates-the-coolest-raspberry-pi-4-with-a-coolipi-case-and-liquid-nitrogen-cfe07484d13a

Southern Interior Amateur Radio Google Group Email Reflector

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Thompson Okanagan, Kootenay Rockies, Cariboo, Chilcotin)

There is a Google email reflector -- created by NORAC’s past president, Aaren Jensen VA7AEJ -- that is designed to create an online community for amateurs across the southern interior region. Participation is voluntary and subscribers may unsubscribe at will.  

To subscribe to this group please send an email to: bcsi-amateur-radio+subscribe@googlegroups.com

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails, please send an email to: bcsi-amateur-radio+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

Once you are a member to start a conversation just send an email to bcsi-amateur-radio@googlegroups.com. Everyone in the group will receive your email and the conversation has started. Expect delivery delays as email reflectors do not bulk send to everyone at once, they typically deliver in smaller batches so they don't falsely trigger spam systems.

Here is the web link to the Google Group page: https://groups.google.com/g/bcsi-amateur-radio

This service is entirely free and optional, no membership is required. The focus of the group is better communication over our wider provincial region. Asking questions, selling something, discussing regional issues like repeater outages, emergency callouts, wildfires, and storms. So many things that people can share, even just posting club nets and events to a wider than the local group.