Jan 2010 Edition 54 Page 1 Rambler Newsletter of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club Incorporated The Bureau is looking for by Beth Webster, VA3CEW VE3ETT Mildred La Rose VA3AV Gordon Chambers VA3AJL Andri Lafleche VA3UN Dale Hennigar The VE3 QSL Bureau has QSL cards for the above, but no mailing funds. If the hams would like the cards forwarded, the hams should each send in $5.00 and six self- addressed adhesive labels (not the small "return address" type) showing their callsigns above their names. If they do not want cards, please inform the VE3 QSL Bureau and the Bureau will return all QSL cards back to the senders. VE3 QSL Bureau Box 157 Downsview ON M3M 3A3 g.westhouse@sympatico.ca (Gary Westhouse, VE3NIT) Canadian Ski Marathon Once again the Canadian Ski Marathon is spooling up. This year we are looking forward to much more "normal" conditions and by that I mean snow! The CSM depends on ham radio volunteers to provide important and timely safety and logistical communication for the benefit of the skiers. The amateur radio CSM web page (http://www.radio-1.ca) is up and running with 2010 information. The event runs between Buckingham and Lachute in western Quebec - snow or shine. If you would like to volunteer this year, please email Harold VA3UNK (radio1@admin2.ca). Although I can't promise anything, assignment requests are generally first-come, first-served. Please join me the second weekend in February (13th-14th) and help make 37th our best year yet! CHINA AMSAT NEW PARTNER HO-68 On December 15, 2009, just last month, China launched and commissioned their first Amateur Radio satellite, which is now available to the Amateur Radio community worldwide. The launch took place from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre of China, on a CZ-4C rocket. The HW- 1 (Chinese designation) satellite settled on a circular orbit with an inclination of 105 degrees at 1200 kilometres of altitude for a 109- minute orbit. It weights 50 kilograms and its dimensions are 680mm by 432mm. Continued on page: 3 = Page 1 = Jan 2010 Rambler Page 2 OVMRC Executive 2009-2010 President: Michel Barbeau, VE3EMB michel.barbeau@sympatico.ca, Vice-President: Beth Webster, VA3CEW cemwebster@canada.com, Treasurer: Robert Plante, VA3SHO plantrj@rogers.com, 613-231-6044 Assistant Treasurer: Arthur Smith, VA3BIT Arthur.smith@rogers.com, 613-795-1154 Secretary: Joe Lemieux, VE3EUS ve3eus@rac.ca, 613-745-5074 Standing Committee Chairpersons Amateur Radio Exhibit: Maurice André Vigneault, VE3VIG vig@mondenet.com, 613-749-9010 Amateur Radio Training & Accredited Examiner: Ernie Jury, VE3EJJ es282@freenet.carleton.ca, 613-728-3666 Historical: Larry Wilcox, VE3WEH larrywilcox@rogers.com, 613-747-5565 Membership: Joe Lemieux, VE3EUS ve3eus@rac.ca, 613-745-5074 Publicity & Programs: Vacant Radio Operations: Doug Lackey, VE3DLJ Technical: Cam Milne, VA3FO cmilne@nortel.com, 613-763-8068 Emergency Preparedness: Paul Labbé, VE3NJS Special Events Peter Noel, VE3DPN ve3dpn@rac.ca, Newsletter Editor: Robert Cherry, VE2AGE Webmaster: Chris Wiesner, VE3CUZ ve3cuz@gmail.com, 613-837-2997 For information about the duties and responsibilities about all Executive and Chair positions, please visit the OVMRC forums, Member section or ontact any member of the Executive. Sponsors The OVMRC acknowledges the following organizations for their support of our activities: A e, Ottawa, ON B , Ottawa, ON ., Trois-Riviéres, QC Canada Inc., Mississauga, ON C Ltd., Ottawa, ON Travel-Mor Trailer Sales, Ottawa, ON The cb eb ie i hed by: Magma Communications Ltd. www.ovmrc.on.ca OVMRC Life Members Maurice-André Vigneault, VE3VIG Ralph Cameron, VE3BBM Doug Carswell, VE3ATY Doreen Morgan, VE3CGO Ed Morgan, VE3GX Bill Wilson, VE3NR OVMRC Repeaters 147.300 MHz(+) 444.200 MHZ(+) Amateur Radio Exhibit VE3JW Web site: http://ve3jw.tripod.com Canada Science & Technology Museum The Rambler is the official newsletter of the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club Incorporated and is published 11 times a year (monthly, except for July). Opinions expressed in the Rambler are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the OVMRC, its officers or its members. Permission is granted to republish the contents in whole or in part, providing the source is acknowledged. Commercial use of the contents is expressly prohibited. Submit articles to the editor or by e-mail to: = Page 2 = Jan 2010 Rambler Page 3 Continued from Page 1: H HOPE I had been requested that the OSCAR designation retains the word HOPE. Therefore, the new satellite was accorded the designation HOPE-OSCAR 68 or HO-68 by AMSAT-NA OSCAR Number Coordinator Bill Tynan, W3XO. Congratulations to AMSAT-China and to Alan Kung, BA1DU, Amateur Satellite Project Manager and Chief Executive Officer of AMSAT-China. At the VE3JW Amateur Radio Exhibit station, located at Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, we had a first opportunity to work through H0- 68 on Jan 9, 2010. The 1715 UTC pass allowed contacts with Kerry, WC7V in Montana and Mark, WA8SME in California. Excellent signals were reported from the satellite 1-watt retransmissions. We also copied its beacon at 435.790 MHz. This transmission is only at the 200-miliwatt level but nevertheless, it was heard clearly all the way down to 0.5-degree elevation. The beacon is a Morse code transmission that goes like this: BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 TBE TTT (8 times) XW XW Later on, the AMSAT-China web site will give more details on the beacon information at: http://www.camsat.cn This new HO-68 satellite has an FM transponder and a Single Side Band linear transponder. For the schedule of availability of either transponder, see the above noted web site which lists the on and off times of the transponders according to regions. Otherwise listen to the downlink for FM on 435.675 MHz and for SSB/CW on 435.765 MHz. The FM transponder uplink requires a PL tone of 67 Hertz to talk through on 145.825 MHz (Uplink) but not on the SSB Linear transponder on 145.925 MHz (Uplink). Mode V/U is also used for the Packet BBS operating at 1 watt and which you will find at 145.825 MHz (AFSK 1200 BPS) Uplink, and 435.675 MHz Downlink. Enjoy working or monitoring this new satellite as well as all the other Amateur Radio satellite available for your experimentation, your enjoyment, and your accomplishment of awards. An introduction course on Amateur Radio Satellite Communications is available free of charge at VE3JW. Maurice-Andre Vigneault, VE3VIG AMSAT Field Operations Coordinator About XW-1 Satellite Type: Microsatellite Apogee: 1200km Perigee: 1200km Inclination: 105 Period: 109 Local time of descending node: 21:30 Weight: 50kg D P ! Mode V/U (J) FM Voice Repeater (30 dbm (1 w)): Uplink: 145.8250 MHz FM, PL 67.0 Hz. Downlink: 435.6750 MHz FM Mode V/U (J) Linear Transponder (Inverting) (30 dbm (1 w)): Uplink:145.9250 - 145.9750 MHz SSB/CW Downlink:435.7650 - 435.7150 MHz SSB/CW Mode V/U (J) PacSat BBS (30 dbm (1 w)): Uplink:145.8250 MHz AFSK 1200 BPS Downlink: 435.6750 MHz AFSK 1200 BPS Mode Beacon (23 dbm (200mw)): Downlink:435.7900 MHz CW = Page 3 = Jan 2010 Rambler Page 4 OVMRC AMATEUR RADIO FIELD DAY - JUNE 26-27, 2010 by Larry Wilcox VE3WEH and Michel Barbeau VE3BPM What is Field Day? Amateur Radio Field Day is an annual event of the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) in conjunction with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). It is always held during the last full weekend of June. Field Day is open to all amateurs in the areas covered by the ARRL/RAC Field Organizations and countries within the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2. DX stations residing in other regions may be contacted for credit, but are not eligible to submit entries. The objective of Field Day is to work as many stations as possible on any and all amateur bands (excluding the 60, 30, 17, and 12- metre bands). Why a Field Day? There are several reasons for Field Day to happen. Above all, it is an activity during which we do what we like the most: communications over amateur radio. During the 27 hours of the Field Day, the amateur radio frequencies are live and busy, like no other time during the year because it is by far the largest amateur radio communication event. It is an ideal time to make contacts with fellow amateurs in Canada, US and all over the world. Field Day is a learning experience during which you can experiment, learn and improve skills for setting a station and operate under different modes. The set up of many types of towers, beam antennas, dipole antennas, kitchen and radio tents and other radio equipment begins on Saturday morning. At exactly 2:00 P.M., we go "on the air" for the next 24 hours until 2:00 P.M., Sunday. Field Day helps us learn to operate in abnormal situations and less than optimal conditions. A premium is placed on developing skills to meet the challenges of emergency preparedness. Participants are strongly encouraged to deploy their station in a location other than their usual place, away from the base, and to use alternative sources of electrical power. Hence, Field Day is an occasion to exercise our ability to set up a station in conditions that occur during natural disasters where communication equipment has to be deployed at temporary locations where normal electrical power is not available. Field Day is an exercise where our state of adequate preparation is verified in case a real emergency occurs. Should an emergency ever arise in our region, local Radio Amateurs would immediately provide emergency communications whenever, wherever, and for as long as is required. For example, vital emergency communications were provided by volunteer Amateur Radio operators throughout the duration of the Ice Storm of 1998. Field Day is a competitive event where qualified amateurs of Canadian and American Amateur Radio clubs and individuals, set up their radio equipment in various locations to test the readiness of "Amateur Radio Emergency I want to compete, Field Day can just be an occasion to make contacts, exchange information and have fun with your fellow amateurs. Field Day simulates operating under emergency conditions. It is a good chance to demonstrate our capabilities to the local authorities and to the public. We generate our own electric power using generators, batteries and solar power and operate our radios from our communication trailer and tents to protect ourselves from adverse weather and mosquitoes. Bonus points are granted to reward efforts to acquaint the general public with the capabilities of Amateur Radio. Moreover, it is an occasion to get new people interested in our hobby. How does it work? It is important to know that during Field Day, Amateur Radio stations are place into six classes, A, B, C, D, E, or F. You log your contacts = Page 4 = Jan 2010 Rambler Page 5 and send your log to the ARRL, and will compete with the other stations of your class as listed in Table 1. In addition to portable or mobile operation, Canadian and American Amateurs also operate from their home station. According to the class, several transmitters may be in operation concurrently at the same station. Class Type of station A Portable with three more transmitters B Portable with one or two transmitters C Mobile D Home E Emergency operation centre Table 1: Classes of stations. During a contact, in addition to call signs, you exchange three items of information, namely, the number of transmitters, letter class and location. On phone for instance, a Field Day exchange looks like the following. Firstly, I would call CQ as follows: F D F ield Day, from Victor Echo Three Echo Mike If you are operating a one transmitter home station (Class D) in Ontario and VE3WEH replies you respond: E E Mike Bravo, please copy one delta O You should get a res Victor Echo Three Whiskey Echo Hotel, please copy one Delta O Due to noisy conditions on the band, you may have to repeat your coordinates several times in order to complete the contact. You may decide to operate in one of the digital modes, such as PSK31 or RTTY. The structure of the dialogue is similar, but actual words are not transmitted. You may send a general call as: CQ FD de VE3EMB K A station replies as: VE3EMB de VE3WEH K You send: VE3WEH 1D ON DE VE3BPM K You receive: VE3EMB 1C ON DE VE3WEH SK Then you log the contact. The final objective for all during the 24 hour event is simple. Contact as many stations as possible during the 24 hours of operation. The final score results are submitted to the ARRL and are published in !L magazines. Past OVMRC Field Days Some of our interesting highlights over the years regarding the Field Day were recorded by Ed Morgan VE3GX as follows. JUNE 1959 - The OVMRC participated for the first time in a Field Day. JUNE 1960 - The second club Field Day was held. We placed second in the two transmitter class. Twenty operators worked six bands to pile up a total of 494 contacts and a score of 3126 at Camp-Y. There were 246 contacts on CW and 248 on phone. JUNE 1961 - Billings Bridge Shopping Centre was the location for a 75 metre, mobile whip tune- up. The OVMRC also entered the three transmitter class during the Field Day and came first in Ontario, fourth in Canada and 28th in North America in a field of over 200 clubs. JUNE 1962 - The OVMRC came F transmitter class. We gained extra multiplier and were 18th in North America in a field of 228. There were only 8 operators so it was quite an accomplishment. Our F JUNE 24-25, 1967 - Club placed second in our class in the Canadian field of 14 during Field Day JUNE 24-25, 2000 - We held Capital Region FD2000, under call sign VA3RAC. It was a record setting 35 Alpha stations on the air under the direction of Field Day Coordinators Glenn McLeod VE3GLN & Fernand_Pierre = Page 5 = Jan 2010 Rambler Page 6 Cyrenne VE2GPF held at the National Museum of Science and Technology, Ottawa. There were 152 people participating, with 35 transmitters in simultaneous operation. The following are extracts from the December 2000 QST © ARRL Magazine Seven Clubs + 2 Languages + 6 Months of Planning + A Pinch of Craziness = Success By Glenn McLeod, VE3GLN What started as a wild idea at a N D bration, turned out to be one of the best Field Day efforts ever attempted, any way you look at it. According to the old saying, anytime you have three hams in one community you end up with two clubs. Imagine the networking necessary to bring seven active clubs together for a Field Day extravaganza. But through long hours of hard work and cooperation, seven clubs the Capital Region DX Club, the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club, the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club, the Pioneer Amateur Radio Club, the West Carleton Amateur Radio Club, Emergency Measures Radio Group, and Le Club de Radio ! O came together to organize, plan and execute the largest Field Day operation ever 35A. When all the dust had settled, over 200 persons planners, operators, support personal had contributed to the event. We paid great attention to small details during the planning. Many think it is an RFI nightmare to put a 3A station on the air within a 300- metre circle. Well, try managing three transmitters (CW, phone and digital) on the air simultaneously on 1.8 MHz through 432 MHz. Now throw in various assorted UHF bands, a satellite station, a Technician station, an APRS and ATV demonstrations! One of the early tasks was securing the support of various agencies and corporations within the Ottawa Hull area. The Canada Science and Technology Museum which houses a permanent communications exhibit including an operational Amateur Radio station, agreed to allow the group to use their grounds. Agencies of the Canadian Federal Government became involved, providing Canadian Forces tents to house transmitter sites, and the Communications Research Centre (CRC), which allowed the group to borrow enough tower sections to set up 22 10-metre towers across the site. The CRC also provided the power-distribution system. The Defence Research Establishment Ottawa, provided the satellite antennas. Other support was also provided by many commercial concerns. Finally, the cities of Ottawa, Hull and Gatineau all recognized the event by declaring Amateur Radio week in their communities. Site planners Brice, VE3EDR, Ernie, VE3EJJ, and Clare, VE3NPC, developed a workable station layout. Near-field radiation patterns were plotted and used to avoid any transmitter being placed in another near field. Getting three 160-metre antennas into a small area is not an easy task. (We finally decided to erect two dipoles at right angles at the far ends of the site, and a 160-metre GAP vertical). In addition, band pass filters were used to further reduce RFI. At 1800 UTC on Saturday, June 24, under the watchful eye of Michael Binder, the Assistant Deputy Minister of Industry Canada, Capital Region Field Day 2000 was declared open. All 35 transmitters were on the air at the start of the operation and remained operational for the Field Day period. A total of 152 operators participated. Yes, Murphy did participate, too, but his challenges were met. Mother Nature decided to make certain things go along inches of overnight rainfall). But nothing could diminish the outcome of what was truly an extraordinary Field Day. The Capital Region Field Day 2000 will stand for quite a while as a tribute to the ingenuity and planning skills Ontario and Quebec. Six months of planning brought together seven clubs in the Ottawa Hull, Canada area to put together a record-setting number of transmitters in simultaneous operation during the Field Day event. When VA3RAC was officially declared operational at = Page 6 = Jan 2010 Rambler Page 7 1800 UTC on Saturday, June 24, 35 stations went on the air simultaneously from the grounds of the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, the Canadian national capital. In addition, a qualifying Technician station and VHF station were also operational from the beginning of the event. A total of over 190 operators, governmental and agency officials, and visitors participated in a one-of-a-kind experience. OVMRC Field Day 2010! This year, Field Day is an ideal time for us to test all our communication capabilities and our equipment and to train new members of our service. Field Day provides a common focus for our service which encompasses young and old alike from all walks of life. You are invited to participate, attend and experience our OVMRC 2010 Field Day which takes place June 26 and 27. Visitors are very welcome. Come out and help or watch our Members set up their equipment in the Technology Park of the Canada Science and Technology Museum,1867 St Laurent Blvd, Ottawa, Ontario. The Chair for this special event is Peter Noel (VE3DPN). You are more than welcome to contact Peter to inform him about your desire to participate and inform him of what your are willing to do during Field Day. We need Phone and CW Operators, loggers, and many other members to assist with set up to make this a very successful Field Day. Please contact Peter by email at: dp_noel@yahoo.com. RAC Bulletin 2010-001E Haiti Earthquake Important information for all RAC Members: On Tuesday, January 12 at 4:53 PM, Haiti time (2153) UTC a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit 15 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince, the nation's capital. Communications in and out of Haiti have been disrupted. The RAC requests that all Canadian Hams be aware of the emergency operations on the following frequencies: 7.045 3.720 MHz (IARU Region2 Nets), 14.265, 7.265 and 3.977 MHz (SATERN Nets), and 14.300 MHz (Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net). The International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node 278173. Doug Mercer VO1DTM Vice President Field Services Radio Amateurs of Canada P.O. Box 1042 Goulds Newfoundland Labrador A1S 1H2 Tel: (709) 364-4741 Cell: (709) 697-3319 The next OVMRC executive meeting is scheduled fo r January 28th. January 2010 Guest Speaker On January 21th, 2010 we will be joined by Guest Speaker: Bertrand Zauhar, VE2ZAZ who will presenting to us on the subject of EME, entitled: "A Beginner's View of Easy Moonbouncing". Please mark your calendars to ensure you attend this fascinating aspect of our hobby. For dates and times of our meetings visit our web site, www.ovmrc.on.ca SEE YOU THERE! = Page 7 =