The 2021 Annual General Meeting of the Kamloops Amateur Radio Club was called to order at 7:56pm on May 6, 2021.
Chuck Hays, VE7PJR, was recognized for his service to the club as our Net Control station for the Tuesday and Wednesday evening 2M nets. Chuck was presented with a plaque as a gesture of our appreciation for his many hundreds of hours of volunteer time. Thank you, Chuck!
All Officers were elected by acclamation.
The new Officers for 2021/2022 are:
President, Myles Bruns, VE7FSR
Vice-President, Dave Facey, VE7LTW
Secretary, Adam Clark, VA7AQD
Treasurer, Jordan Mohle, VE7OSX
Directors: Jim McNaught, VE7JMN; Ralph Adams, VA7VZA; Bill Erlenbach, VE7EAF
Whether your building an EFHW antenna for your yard or for portable use, this antenna will do the job for you very well and can be used horizontally or as a sloper. The entire length of the antenna is slightly less than 75 feet with the 80 meter portion providing 50 khz bandwidth. This project is modeled on M0MSN's 80m EFHW build on YouTube, thanks Mike!
Whether your building an EFHW antenna for 80 meters or for 20 meters, this transformer will do the job for you very well. Firstly you are going to need all components in the parts list, everything can be found on Amazon.ca and Mouser.ca. Check out the photos in detail to get a better understanding on how to build this cool project.
Step 1: Drill holes for and install the SO-239 or BNC connector, the stainless steel machine screw antenna connector and the ss machine screw ground connector.
I would like to introduce you to our newest KARC member Simon Rizzardo, VE7RIZ, from Merritt. Simon has worked for Emcon Services with the Crushing and Heavy Haul Division for the last 21 years. This job involves a lot of travel which can see him driving all over BC and Alberta. He is active on 2m and 70cm and hosts an IRLP repeater from his residence in Merritt on 147.080+ T110.9
He is also a Transport Canada certified drone operator and holds a ROC-A certificate for aviation frequency. You will find Simon enjoying snowmobiling and off roading with his family in his free time. As part of his work with Ministry of Transportation Simon is also well versed in the MOTI repeater system. Simon checks into the different Nets when in Vancouver on the VE7RPT system and Northern Net when in the 100 Mile house area when at the cabin on Dempsey Lake. He looks forward to helping with work parties at Thynne Mt., Iron Mtn, and South Forge Mtn in the future.
If you hear Simon on the radio, please give him a call.
Welcome to the KARC, Simon, and thank you for becoming a member!
The club has a new member, Mike Smith, who is not a licenced amateur but he joined the Kamloops Amateur Radio Club in order to make contact with like-minded electronics enthusiasts and to possibly learn some things about radio design.
Mike worked in mining as a metallurgist for 37 years and has recently retired. He worked at mines all over most of Canada and has now settled in Kamloops for retirement. Mike has recently remarried and has children in Williams Lake and Kamloops, as well as two step-daughters.
Electronics has always been a hobby for Mike over the years and he has a patent on an electronic device from one of the mines he worked at. Now that he is retired and has the time now, he is currently setting up his electronics workshop and getting back into electronics as a retirement hobby that he is looking forward to. His favorite projects include building radios, alarm circuits, and high voltage generators of various styles. During the summer months he works in his garden growing herbs and vegetables.
Mike has a very extensive inventory of electronic components that he needs to downsize and would like to donate the parts to club members if they can be used by an electronics hobbyist such as himself. Mike has very kindly organized the parts, and has put together two lists of "lots" available to KARC members.
Click the following links to view the PDF lists: Link 1Link 2 There are sample photos of some of the lots below.
Mike will be joining us at the May 6 club meeting to introduce himself and answer any questions you might have about his huge list of items.
On March 21 and 22 Myles, VE7FSR, visited the VE7LGN repeater on South Forge Mountain near Logan Lake, and the VE7IRN repeater on Iron Mountain near Merritt, to check on things and address some issues that had come up over the past few weeks. The VE7LGN repeater was not working properly, or was working very sporadically, and the UPS at Iron Mountain was generating an error that could not be resolved remotely over the IP net.
The club received a very interesting email this weekend which is worth sharing with our members.
Connecting with Family Through the Mt. Lolo Webcam
Hi,
I'm not sure who will read this email, however I just wanted to say that because of the mountain top webcam your organization has on Mt. Lolo I am able to occasionally connect with my family back home in Toronto and share the passion of backcountry skiing with them. It's been hard not being able to travel back due to COVID, and even though nothing will replace seeing them in person, the live feed as I wave to them after I notify them that I am on the summit makes it easier.
Simon (perveyor of fine snowmobiles), VE7RIZ and Myles, VE7FSR made a trip to the VE7LGN repeater on South Forge Mountain on the afternoon of March 9 to check on the status of the repeater. The repeater had been reported as constantly kerchunking and not operating properly. Simon and Myles discovered that the batteries were discharged so low (and had probably frozen this winter) that the Daniels repeater was unable to operate properly, other than when the solar panels were in full sunshine. The repeater controller and Daniels radios were disconnected from the batteries and the VE7LGN repeater will remain off the until the club can access the site this summer for the planned repeater replacement and upgrades.
