The Monitor

The Canadian Snowbirds acrobatic team flew into Brantford for an air show Wednesday August 29^th to kick-off our community’s United Way campaign. What a difference in the weather from last year! This time the weather co-operated and the Snowbirds put on a spectacular show. About twenty-two of our members were involved with providing communications for this event and the club did a superb job as usual. Organizers are hoping to make this a yearly event and I know our club will be asked to help out again next year. Many thanks have to go to Ebe VE3EBH for being the Communications manager and getting the club prepared for this event. A job well done!!!

Several club members were quite active during the summer months. Field Day was held at VE3ZAR’s QTH again in June and even though we didn’t break any records, we were able to improve on last year’s results.

Mike VE3BSE continued on the lecture circuit and gave us a talk about digital signals.

Bob VA3BIK had us involved with the Paris Canada Day Parade, which is becoming a club annual event now.

Dave VE3ZVR had us searching all over Brantford on a nice evening one Tuesday searching for a hidden transmitter. Turns out it was hiding at our repeater site.

As most of you know, we lost one of our members while he was vacationing out west in July. Bob was well known in the area and within the Ham community as evidenced at his memorial service held in Brantford. His involvement with the students at the W. Ross MacDonald School will certainly be missed. Our club made a donation to the WRM Amateur Radio club in his honour.

On a happier note, two of our regular members have agreed to get married! Congratulations to Peter VE3OCN and Sheila VA3MIS who will be sharing a radio on July 29^th, 2001. The rumour going around the club is that Sheila will have to change her callsign to VA3MRS. Good luck to you both!

During a weekend in August, a friend of mine and I decided to work a contest together at his QTH. I left from work on Friday and went to his place to plan our strategy. I stayed overnight there and when the time came to start the contest, we were ready! Unfortunately, I didn’t inform my wife our plans and that I wouldn’t be home Friday and Saturday nights.

Late Sunday afternoon when I returned home, I was confronted with a very angry wife. I was barraged for nearly two hours with a tirade. Finally, my wife stopped the nagging and simply said to me, "How would you like it if you didn't see me for two days?" To which I replied, "That would be fine with me."

Monday went by and I didn't see my wife. Tuesday came and went with the same results. Come Wednesday, the swelling went down just enough where I could see her a little out of the corner of my left eye.

Introducing a new web site for newcomers to Amateur Radio. Whether you are a newly licensed ham or just thinking about getting that first license there is useful content here for you. Some of the content you will find includes:

If you know someone who is thinking of getting his or her license or needs more info about this hobby, this is a great spot to start. The site was put together by Don Cassel VE3BUC, and plans to update it as time permits.

OSCAR 40 ON MODE U/S-NO EXCUSES. If you’re eager to experience satellite Dxing, what’s stopping you?

THE ULTIMATE DX HOLIDAY. What happens when a couple of phone guys decide to enter the ARRL DX CW Contest from an exotic location?

On Saturday, August 18th, hams in Texas and Manitoba completed the first 24-GHz Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) QSO. Noted microwave enthusiast Al Ward, W5LUA, of Allen, Texas (EM13), says his QSO with Barry Malowanchuk, VE4MA, in Winnipeg, Manitoba (EN19), was a result of several years of effort in trying to optimize antenna gain and receiver sensitivity, and to obtain adequate power to make the roughly half-million mile path to the moon and back.

"Signals were weak but easily copied at both ends," Ward said. The August 18th QSO took place at 1417 UTC on 24,192 MHz. Malowanchuk said the two exchanged "M" reports. "Signals were quite good with slightly less that the normal buzz experienced at 10 GHz," he said. The weather at VE4MA was reported to be clear and cool while W5LUA was reporting cloudy, warm and humid conditions.

Thanks to Amateur Radio, a sailor aboard a US Navy destroyer at sea got to hear his newborn son's cries for the first time. On August 12th, members of the Maritime Mobile Service Net, with cooperation of the Pacific Seafarers Net, put sailor Mark McDonald in touch with his wife, Wendy, in California and set to go into labor at any time. The sailor later was able to chat with his wife and her mom and to listen to his son's crying.

Terry Pipitone, KB1FMM, in Connecticut, got a front-row seat. He said the Net session started out in typical fashion on 14.300 MHz, with Ron Dugger, WA4ZJT, taking the helm. Soon, Tom Lange, W4MDL, on McDonald's ship checked in seeking help from anyone who could put the husband and wife in contact. When no West Coast stations were available to handle a phone patch, Pipitone volunteered. He made some calls to California, where--as it turned out--Wendy McDonald soon went into labor and headed for the hospital.

As the time neared to close the Net, Pipitone recalls, it was decided that all parties would move to the Pacific Seafarers Net on 14.313 MHz, and all relevant information was relayed to the Net Control Station. While KB1FMM remained in contact with the hospital, ARRL member Tom Whelchel, WA6TLL, in California stepped in to provide a phone patch between the hospital and the ship, which was somewhere in the North Atlantic. All stations moved to 14.337 MHz.

At 0810 the baby was born and at 0815 Mark and his new son--Justin Alexander McDonald--were on the phone together. Mother and son were all doing fine, and the proud father was in tears. The timing and the cooperation could not have been better.

The maximum of Cycle 23 occurred in April 2000 at a smoothed sunspot number of 121. Cycle 23 continues its descent to minimum, which is predicted to be in the 2006 to 2007 time frame.

Now is the time to concentrate on the higher bands--especially 12 and 10 meters in the fall, winter, and spring seasons. On the other end of the spectrum, low band aficionados still have several years before things get really good.

A new Amateur Radio tracking and communications satellite called PCSat is scheduled to launch September 17th (0100 UTC) from Alaska. PCSat will augment the existing Amateur Radio Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) by providing links to the 90 percent of Earth's surface not covered by the terrestrial network.

Designed and assembled by midshipmen at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, PCSat's first mission was to provide practical hands-on experience in support of the students' aerospace curriculum. The midshipmen worked under the guidance of Academy Senior Project Engineer Bob Bruninga, WB4APR--the acknowledged "father of APRS." "We hope that PCsat will be a new direction for amateur satellites by serving the communications needs of travelers with only mobile and hand-held radios anywhere on Earth," Bruninga said.

In addition to its APRS capabilities, the satellite will offer 1200 and 9600-baud packet operation on VHF (145.825 MHz) and UHF (435.250 MHz). For APRS digipeating, the satellite will use the recognized North American APRS frequency of 144.39 MHz.

Benton Harbor, MI: Blossomland Amateur Radio Association, W8KIT, 1400Z Sept 15 to 2400Z Sept 16, celebrating the 75th anniversary of Heathkit, 7.250 14.260 21.360. QSL. Heathkit Educational Systems, 455 Riverview Dr - Bldg 2, Benton Harbor, MI 49022.

Atlantic City, NJ: Southern Counties Amateur Radio Association, K2BR, 1400Z Sept 17 to 0400Z Sept 23, during the Miss America Pageant, 7.250 14.250 21.325 28.325. QSL. SCARA, PO Box 121, Linwood, NJ 08221.

Berlin, PA: Somerset County ARC, K3SMT, 1700Z Sept 22 to 1700Z Sept 23, during the 8th annual Berlin Whiskey Rebellion Days, 80 meters 40 meters 20 meters 28.325. Certificate. SCARC c/o NJ3T J. Crowley, 135 Baxter Dr, Somerset, PA 15501.

Milton, ON: Mississauga Amateur Radio Club, VE3MIS, 1400Z-2000Z Sept 22 to Sept 23, at the Halton Radial Railway Museum, 7.230 14.240 28.340. Certificate. MARC, c/o Michael Brickell, 2801 Bucklepost Cres, Mississauga, ON L5N 1X6, Canada.

London ARC Fleamarket. Sunday September 23^rd at the Western Fairgrounds starting at 9:00 AM.

Hamilton ARC Hamfest 2001. Saturday October 13^th at the Marritt Hall, Ancaster starting at 9:00 AM.

JOTA 2001. Jamboree on the Air, which exposes young people to the wonders of ham radio. This year’s event will be October 20-21.