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Newsletter of the Saskatoon Amateur Radio Club FebruaryCelebrating over 80 Years of Service

The mission of Saskatoon Amateur Radio Club is to enjoy amateur radio through the development, promotion, and expansion of

amateur radio in and around Saskatoon

2013

You are invited to an evening of dessert, coffee and good conversation. Meet us at Haywoods on Arlington,

February 16, 2013 at 7:30 PM . This evening will be in honor of Valentines Day so bring your wife, husband or significant other. If you usually forget Valentines Day now is your chance to make amends. The cost will be

approximately $5.00. Please let Doris VE5 DJQ know if you are coming. You can let her know on the 8:00 P.M. net on 146.64 or at 382-8585 (by Feb. 11th).

See you there !

NEXT CLUB MEETING

February 9th 10:30 A.M.

Western Development MuseumEducation Room

Lorne Avenue SouthBreakfast after 9 AM at

Boomtown Cafe before the meeting.

COFFEEHaywood’s Restaurant

Saturdays 9:00 AM

3016 Arlington AvenueSouth of Alvin Buckwold School

Everyone is welcome. Hams, non-Hams, it doesn’t matter. We’re there to have good conversation with good

friends.

C’mon out and visit!

NEXT ARESMEETING

1st Tuesday of each Month7:00 PM

Fire Department Staff Development Centre on the Corner of 22nd Street and

Avenue W

Call in: 146.640-

CommitteesRepeaters Bruce, VE5BNCProperty and Assets Record Club ExecutiveTraining Coordinator Ken, VE5KRBPublic Service Club ExecutiveSick and Visiting VacantField Day VacantElmer Ken, VE5KRBTrailer Vacant Space Club Mike, VE5MIK, Al, VE5MDCSARC Net -----------------L.B.L. Rep Ken, VE5KRB50/50 Draw VacantFeedline Mike, VE5MIKWeb-site Bruce, VE5BNC

President Garry Schwartz VE5SG 2013 Past President James Cloney VE5CNBVice-President Mark Bergen VE5MJB 2012-2014Treasurer Terry Cutler VE5TLC 2012-2014Secretary Ron Ford VA5RJF 2011-2013Director Bob Tower VA5BRT 2010-2012Director Ken Bindle VE5KRB 2012-2013Director Mike Luciuk VE5MIK 2012-2014Director Ned Carroll VE5NED 2012-2014

Any items for Swap ‘n Shop in the Feedline contact VE5MIK. Contact Bruce, VE5BNC, to put the items on the club website.

Club emailve5aa@rac.ca

Club Websitehttp://ve5aa.dyndns.org

Monthly meetings of the Saskatoon Amateur

Radio Club are held on the second Saturday

of each month at the Western Development Museum (2610 Lorne Avenue South) at 10:30 a.m. in the Education room.

•On meeting days, breakfast will be at the Boomtown Cafe after 9 a.m.•

VISITORS & GUESTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!

LOCAL AREA REPEATERSVE5SK 146.640- Saskatoon, SARCVE5XW 146.730- Rock Point VE5ZH 147.270- 2 MHz offset,Saskatoon, Auto Patch

VE5CC 146.970- Sktn. MARS. Linked to VE5SKN,VE5DNA, and IRLP node 1360.Link code 502*/503*

VE5SKN 145.940- Sktn MARS. 100Hz tone on xmt only .Linked to VE5CC.VE5DNA and IRLP node 1360. Linkcode 500*/501* ARES SAME wx Rcvr.

VA5LLR 145.390- Lizard Lake

VA5SV 145.330- (100)Ridge East of Sktn

VE5RPD 145.190- Elbow/Davidson

IRLP NODE 1360 Hard linked toVE5CC UHF Hub (444.975 +5M) &available to VE5CC, VE5SKN andVE5DNA VHF repeaters when linked.

All above repeaters are completely open.

APRS 144.390VE5RHF Saskatoon DIGIVE5BNC-3 SaskatoonIGATE & SATGATEVE5XW-1 Rock PointVE5HAN-4 Hanley DIGIVE5YR-4 Davidson DIGI

PACKETVE5BBS 145.010 Saskatoon BBSVE5USR-3 145.010 U of S DIGIVE5YR-7 145.010 Davidson DIGIVE5HAN 145.010 Hanley DIGIVE5TH 145.010 Regina BBSVE5XXX 145.010 Prince Albert BBSVE5MPK-2 145.010 Melfort NodeVE5MPK 145.010 Melfort BBSVE5NEP-3 145.010 Minichinas DIGI

LOCAL AND REGIONAL NETS Sask WX 80m 1400Z 3735 KhzARES (Sun.) 80m 1430Z 3735 KhzAurora 40m 2330Z 7055 Khz & 0200ZManitoba 80m 0000Z 3747 KhzMontana Tfc 80m 0030Z 3910 KhzSask. 80m 0100Z 3735 KhzAlberta 80m 0130Z 3700 KhzLocal Area 2m 0200Z 146.640-B.C. 80m 0200Z 3727 KhzSask. 2m 0300Z 146.970- linked net 146.940-80m YL Net 80m 0315Z 3755 Khz SundaysPrince Albert 2m 0330Z 147.150+(All nets are daily except where noted)All qualified Hams are welcome to checkinto any of these nets.C O N T E S T S

• North American Sprint, SSB 0000Z-0400Z, Feb 10

• PODXS 070 Club Valentine Sprint 2000 local, Feb 14 to 0200 local, Feb 15

• ARRL Inter. DX Contest, CW 0000Z, Feb 16 to 2400Z, Feb 17

• High Speed Club CW Contest 0900Z-1700Z, Feb 24

For a full calendar of contests see: http://www.contesting.com

In the process of upgrading

Saskatoon and Area Frequencies

January 12th, 2012Monthly Club Meeting Minutes

Call to order Garry VE5SG Whistled the start of the meeting on a new 'RailRoad' whistle. Present: 24, incl 7 students. Welcome Lee Smith VE4ALC who works wi th a i r ambulance. Agenda acceptance: Bob VA4BRT/Ken VE5KRB! cd

Minutes from the November 2012 meeting N e d V E 5 N E D / S e a n V A 5 L F c d Correspondence: Ron VA5RJFnone

Financial Report Terry VE5TLC Good, stable financial state TerryVE5TLC/Eric VE5HG cd

WDM Report Ron VA5RJF The Museum has just completed its busiest season of the year, during which no progress was made in our negotiations. A meeting is expected within the next few weeks to proceed. acceptance Ron VA5RJF/Lawrence VA5LD cd

Repeaters Ned VE5NED – Rock Point – working well Ken VE5KRB Little Bear – battery issues - no wind.no sunlight for last 5 weeks. Looking at fuel cell possibilities Bruce VE5BNC SK repeater working 'ok'LLR Lizard Lake working well in Battleford SV may get space for another antenna – having interference issues – 100Hz tone added. 9300 reflector dropping packets, currently using 9012 as replacement

There was a short discussion about low traffic on 2m in Saskatoon. The observation was made and there was concurrence, but no real solution appeared.

Santa Clause Parade Bruce VE5BNC – 16 participants – usual chaos, parade went well. Dan CDO (call?) was helpful. Participants got door prizes and other goodies afterward from Mall Sponsors

Asset Disposal Bob VA5BRT List of assets on website. List will be sorted into a list of items to be sold to be sold, and other assets. Some stuff at VE5RON's place – a bit difficult to access.

Valentines Doris XYL favorite dessert – to be brought by Hams for a dessert night with no radios. A social evening. Location to be announced - perhaps a restaurant?

New Business Peter doing code on 2m on 146.640 right after 8PM Net

Bruce – MS Society walk in late April more details to follow Midtown repeater unusable due to interference from 640AM Radio – may go to UHF (440?)

Show and tell Garry VE5SG Home made key – strap hinge and some brass bits Elecraft KX3 kit - wondrous radio – 3 hours assembly time ($1,400)

Bruce VE5BNC – APRS tracker intended for SABER project

50-50 Draw - $11.50 Neil

Adjournment – Sean VA5LF

From the Presidentʼs Desk

February is just about upon us, and we start counting down the days to the official start of spring. Now, we have been around long enough that the date on the calendar and when warmer weather arrives are two different things. However, that fact does not seem to dim our expectation. Go figure.

Ham classes are under way with 7 students this year. Ron, VA5RJF, is the coordinator and has been doing a terrific job making a power point presentation for all of the lessons. This take a lot of effort and time. Terry, VE5TLC, has been taking care of the scheduling and keeping us informed. Thanks to both of them for this important job.

Our first social is on the horizon. Doris, VE5DJQ, has been making the arrangements. February 16 is the day. See the notice elsewhere in this Feedline.

Peter, VE5JZ, has been doing Morse code instruction after the SARC net that is held at 8:00 pm. This is aimed at the folks that want to learn the code, and have had no previous instruction. I guess this would also apply lightly to folks who once knew it but need some reinforcement. The usual time is around 8:15 pm after net, and is on Monday to Friday. At a later time he will be doing some practice to help build up a bit of speed. He would like to have some brief QSO's using CW later on in the program. Sending code is a big help in the learning process. Therefore, give some thought to acquiring a code oscillator and a key. You can phone Peter or myself if you would like more information.

On one of the SARC net evenings I brought up the suggestion of doing some “Portable in the park” activities. The response was gratifying. This will be done. This could also be an exercise in emergency preparedness. The setup one can bring depends on what you have available. One could have a totally independent station all the way down to just come out and see what we are doing. If you want to give this a try and all you have is a rig you can carry, we will be happy to provide power, share an antenna, and anything else to let one operate as a portable. This might be an opportunity for those who do not have access to an antenna to get on the air. Keep tuned for more information as spring draws near.

Bruce, VE5BNC, and his team will be doing some more balloon launches this spring. I think he said shooting for April but will likely happen in May. Watch for it.

The Dayton Hamvention is May 17, 18 and 19. I plan on going. We have family in the area and the grandchildren are out of school on May 17. Works out very well for us. This will be our third time there, so if anyone wants information on the Hamvention, you can see me.

Garry VE5SG

The really great thing about contests is that they are regularly scheduled - regardless of great propagation, DXpeditions, or the mood of the sun. Thereʼs usually always a contest going on somewhere that you can get involved in. Everyoneʼs got ideas on how to do better in a contest. If you assembled 15 hams and asked each of them to come up with a list, youʼd have 15 different lists, all of them meaningful. After digging around online, here are a few that you could possibly use.VE5MIK

1. Check the contest details and times, etc:   before setting out o participating in a contest, it is essential to check out the basic facts. Obviously one of the first is to check the times. With different time zones around the globe, don't assume they will start at midnight local time.

It is also important to check out other essential facts such as the serial numbers that need to be given. These change from contest to contest, so don't assume that they always consist of the contact serial number. However even if the details are not to hand it is often relatively easy to find out what the serial number consists of.

Also, if you are entering the contest, find out what the top scores were for previous years, then you will know what scores to aim for to have a credible entry. Also find out any special requirements for submitting the entry and where to send it.

2. Check out your equipment beforehand:   When operating in a contest, the competition to make contacts is very fierce. While it is a good opportunity to make contacts with many more stations than normal and many from new countries, it is wise to check over all the equipment and make sure it is all operating to its best. These preparations may also be the opportunity to install a new antenna, or make other improvements. But don't leave things too late as any problems encountered could result in loosing some or all of the time in the contest. It is best to install any new equipment well before the contest and have time to make any final alterations of get to know how to use it and how it performs to its best.

One particular area to check is the antenna system.• Antenna corrosion - as antennas are left outside they are subject to the rigors of the weather and corrosion

will set in. Check that all joints on the antenna are electrically sound, and also that the antenna itself is mechanically satisfactory.

• Check antenna connections - corrosion can easily bring about poor connections to the antenna. This will considerably reduce the performance. These need to be checked regularly. Check feeder performance - again feeders are subject to the weather. Any moisture entering the feeder will degrade its performance and cause the loss to rise. While a good VSWR may indicate all is well with the antenna this may not be the case as any power reflected by the antenna will be attenuated and this will result in a low VSWR that may be taken to indicate all is well - but this is not the case. Use antenna measurement equipment to check the loss.

3. Be prepared for propagation changes and listen for what is happening:   Knowing how propagation changes can be a key factor in planning not only what times to e around and not sleeping, but also what bands will produce the best results. There are many magazines and websites that provide propagation predictions and these should be studied just prior to the contest. Live statistics of the ionosphere conditions can also be used during the contest. Knowing the bands, knowing how the propagation predictions may affect their properties and knowing when to operate and where paths are likely to be open and at what times gives stations a real edge over many others. Listening on the bands before the contest can be a real help.

Contesting

4. Remember to rotate your antenna periodically:   Another ham radio contest tip is to ensure you rotate your beam (if your antenna is rotatable) periodically. Propagation both at HF and VHF will change with time, and it is necessary to ensure that your beam is rotated to keep up with any changes. Even at VHF where changes may not be as marked, changing the beam heading will reveal a new set of stations who would have previously been too weak to contact.

5. Equipment skills:   A further amateur radio contest hint is to be familiar with your equipment. Speed is of the essence in any contest, and when things start to get muddled, the only way out is to take a break to catch up. It is therefore essential to be able to operate all the equipment swiftly and efficiently. Examples include:

• Transceiver - know all the controls, especially how to change things like incremental tuning on transmit and receive, etc.. Make sure you can change settings quickly.

• Morse key - with keyers / Morse keyboards being used almost exclusively for Morse, CW make sure you can use them efficiently.

• General keyboard skills - logging programs are essential for serious contest entries. Again they also provide many other facilities that interface directly with the transceiver. Touch typing is therefore a real advantage along with knowing how to use the program efficiently.

6. Try alternative modes:   Many contests are multimode contests. This gives the opportunity when the contact rate falls to change the mode. Often Morse will provide contacts when going is more difficult so a change like this can be beneficial.

7. Investigate good strategies from previous contests:   If you have taken part in contests in previous years, it is worth looking at what strategies paid off? What gave the best number of points? Did changing bands to give new countries / areas provide more points, or did sticking with the more popular bands and contacting more run of the mill stations give the best results? It is worth taking a look at previous contests in general and also at the particular contest in question as different strategies will work better for different contests.

8. Join a contesting group:   It always pays to learn from the experience of others. Joining a contesting group can help in a number of ways. One is to discuss how others approach contesting and learn what approaches work best. Another advantage is that a contest group may well enter a contest with a multi-operator entry. Participating in a contest with others will bring first hand knowledge of how to approach contesting.

9. Interface your radio to a computer:   Although many people will want to operate a radio themselves, but connecting the radio to a computer the full power of much of the software available for logging, radio control and the like can be gained. This will pay real dividends in a ham radio contest environment where efficient operating and speed are of the essence.

W1AW 2013 Winter Schedule

A Czech Morse Key StoryIt is fantastic to relate a story which strengthens your faith in the Amateur Radio fraternity.

On the Dec. 1, 2012, I placed an order with Mike Bowthorpe G0CVZ ( http://www.czechmorsekeys.co.uk) for one of his highly rated Czech Morse Keys. Promptly, the next day I received acknowledgement of my payment and that the key had been posted that day.

On the Dec. 10, 2012 the mail man arrived on the doorstep with a registered package, it was my key. Only 10 days from Peterborough, UK to Richmond, Australia. However, despite the key being well packaged, parts had been damaged in transit. I email Mike explaining the situation and included a few pictures of the damage and asked how I could have the key replaced, fully expecting to have to pay for at least postage if not a little more.

The emails followed something along these lines:

Hi CharlesSorry to hear about the key I will send another today.

Hi Mike,I am happy to return this key to you if you wish or pay whatever you deem to be a fair price for the replacement key.

Hi CharlesNo need to return the key, you will have some spares.

The key was shipped today 10th Dec 2012 UK PO Ref: RU 1227…….Now that is what I call service, the new key arrived today, 24 Dec 12 (Christmas Eve), in pristine condition and at no extra cost. The Czech key lives up to its impressive reviews, lovely to use, will now be my main key.

Many thanks Mike, an absolute pleasure doing business with you.

73 …. (Charles) Garry Cottle VK2GAZ

ISS ContactElementary school students having an experience that's out of this world. Canadian Astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield answered 20 questions from the students, straight from the International Space Station. Held at Saint Rose Elementary School, over 400 students plus grade 6 kids from Barnhill Elementary were in awe of the astronaut.

In a packed gymnasium, select students went up to a microphone and asked the Commander various questions, like how cold it is, if he can see a solar eclipse and how long oxygen can last. Hadfield saying his favourite part about being an astronaut is working with wonderful and friendly people. He was 9 years old when he first saw people walking on the moon, which is when he chose that career path. A good chuckle came from the crowd when Hadfield admitted that yes, he often gets lost floating around the ISS -- which is the size of 5 NHL rinks. He says he can clearly see Saint John from space, saying with our coast lines, rivers and harbours it really pops out.

It was in April when Greg D'Entremont and his Loyalist Amateur Radio Club team found out the ISS was looking for one school in each province to have a chat with the astronaut. After many meetings and setting up antennas, the plan was ago. D'Entremont said he was involved last time the ISS did this in Quispamsis, which took over 3 years to get ready.

Principal Victoria Moseley tells CHSJ news the kids did various space themed projects leading up to the talk, and this event was the climax of so much learning. She says they were the only school that actually had enough time for all the students to ask their questions.

Mayor Mel Norton had the chance to watch, and says everyone in the room felt like they were 6 years old with all the energy and excitement. 

NASA Science NewsOn Feb. 15th an asteroid about half the size of a football field will fly past Earth closer than many man-made satellites. Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, astronomers have never seen an object so big come so close to our planet.

FULL STORY: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/28jan_2012da/

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwidzVHvbGI

Calling all Hams!The executive is working to grow our clubʼs membership. Weʼre looking to contact any

former club members to offer them the opportunity to once again become members of the Saskatoon Amateur Radio club.

Weʼd also like to contact any hams who are currently not members of a club.

If you have any names to suggest, please contact Terry, VE5TLC (terry.cutler@shaw.ca) or Ron, VA5RJF (ron.ford@shaw.ca)

Burkina Faso DXpeditionMembers of the Italian DXpedition Team will be active as XT1T from Ouagadougou (Grid Loc. IK92fi), Burkina Faso, between February 21st and March 6th.

Activity will be on 160-6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. Suggested frequencies are: CW - 1826.5, 3515, 7015, 10115, 14025, 18070, 21025, 24891 and 28025 kHzSSB - 3760, 7145, 14220, 18145, 21295, 24945 and 28475 kHz RTTY - 14081 kHz 6m - 50105/CW and 50125/SSB

Equipment will be 4x Elecraft K3 transceivers with 3x KPA500 amps and 1x ACOM 1000 amp into 2x Spiderbeams, 1x Yagi (20/17/15/12/10m), 1x vertical (80/40m), 1x vertical (30m), longwire (160m), 1x Cubical Quad (6m), 1x Diamond Loop RX (low bands) and 1x DHDL RX (low bands) antennas.

The pilot station is IK7JWY, and the pilot station for the 6m band is IK0FTA. Software Management (real-time log online) will be by IH9GPI.

QSL I2YSB for direct QSLs and IK2CIO for Bureau QSLs (no E-mail request please). A OQRS will be available for direct cards only.

Now available on their Web page is a survey for both bands and modes needs. The official Web site is: http://www.i2ysb.com/idtOfficial forum is: http://www.hamradioweb.org

Over the decades, many people including military and other government personnel, amateur radio operators, Boy Scouts, and the like have learned Morse code for the purpose of public service, gainful employment, radio operating privileges, merit badges, and many other individual reasons. These people may have experienced anything from hope, to frustration, to satisfaction, or even joy. Unfortunately, many of these folks were never taught exactly what to do to properly learn it, and even more importantly, what NOT to do.

My hope here is that the information and suggestions included in this article will allow those who are interested in learning Morse code, just building skill, speed, or accuracy, to avoid the senseless pitfalls and frustration that can befall anyone who just doesn’t know any better than to just do it wrong.

As far as learning Morse code is concerned, don't EVER look at a list that equates characters such as letters and numbers to "dots and dashes". Learn by listening ONLY! That way you can avoid the pitfall of mental conversion where your mind "sees" the dahs and dits and then converts them to a character. That conversion process almost always causes a plateau in the learning curve at some speed around 10 words per minute. It can take months if not years to unlearn that process and move forward in reliable faster copy of CW (Morse code on the radio).

Many successful operators recommend that when you start learning Morse code, listen to code being sent at 15 to 18wpm, even if you can't copy anything yet. It will teach you to hear the sounds of the characters rather than the individual sounds of dahs and dits. There are paper tapes (used on Morse-a-graphs), magnetic tapes (used on cassette tape players), and CDs (okay, you know what to do with these) that can be used when learning or practicing Morse code.

You can also use computer programs that will play Morse code, so that you can then compare what you copied on paper to what the computer actually sent. Listen to the character, write it down, and then look at the character on the screen. Do this with individual characters before performing this practice with character groups (5-character groups are common), words, or sentences. When you are practicing character groups or sentences with a computer program which then displays the character groups immediately after sending them, dim your computer monitor or turn it off while copying a batch of characters, and then turn the monitor back on to check your work. This helps you focus on copying the characters without the distraction of what is showing up on the monitor.

If you have a shortwave receiver, the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) has on-the-air CW bulletins that I like to copy for practice. The schedule for these sessions is etched in stone about 30 days prior to the session, so you can check the schedules on www.ARRL.org well in advance, and be assured that they will be doing that session at that time, and on that frequency. Their CW sessions are machine perfect, which is good for practice when building speed and accuracy, and you can check your copy accuracy since the text versions of the bulletins are available on their website. Also, many of the ARRL's CW practice sessions are actually text directly out of the current QST, their monthly magazine. They will even tell you the page number from which they are getting the text.

If you have, or acquire, an amateur radio license by the time you achieve some level of skill with Morse code, you then need to listen and "talk" to actual people on the air. Each "fist" is unique, so the timing of each person will make CW sound different with different people, unless they are really good with their iambic keyer, or they are actually using a keyboard instead of sending by hand. Practice on the air is crucial if you want to develop real skill because of QSB (signal fading), QRM (man-made noise), QRN (atmospheric noise), and human error in timing.

One very important thing... If you miss a letter, let it go!!! You don't need every letter to be able to read a sentence. If you dwell on a missed character, you will probably miss the subsequent 2, 3, or 4 characters. That's much worse than missing one letter here and there. If you discover that reading what you are writing down is causing you to miss characters that are being sent, ignore what you are writing down and just keep copying. You can always read what you wrote after they are done sending their message. They will give you time to read it before you start sending your response.

One last thing... When practicing Morse code, only practice for about 20 minutes at a time before walking away from it for a bit. You can always come back. Learn to recognize early on when the CW is starting to turn to mush. If it is, you have been at it too long and the learning rate is dwindling. Give your mind a rest and come back to it later. Also remember that the mind can function only as long as the rear end can endure, so don't abuse either end!

73,Phillip, WB8TCB

Learning Morse Code - An Opinion

The Feedline is the official publication of the Saskatoon Amateur Radio Club. Articles are accepted regarding virtually any technology related subject that would be of interest to the membership.Electronic submissions are preferred via email. (MSWord, PDF or generic text). Email submissions may be sent to: mluciuk@sasktel.net or mluciuk@gmail.com

SARC 2013 Meeting Dates " February 9, 2013" " March 9, 2013" " " April 13, 2013

Announcements, etc.SARC - New Mailing Address

Saskatoon Amateur Radio Clubc/o Western Develop Museum

Saskatoon Branch2610 Lorne Ave. S.

Saskatoon, Sask S7J 0S6

Saturday Saturday

For Sale

•TS450 Kenwood HF transceiver •Pyramid Phase #3 - 12 volt 25 amp power supply •2 meter mobile antenna •MFJ Ant Tuner •1.5 KW Ant. Dry dummy load •5 pole antenna switch •Field strength indicator. Call Doug VE5MK at 306 343 9470 or Email mcleay2@sasktel.net

Saturday

Donʼt forget the Saskatoon

Amateur Radio Clubʼs

Valentineʼs Day social on

February 16 !