T h e F e e d l i n e May 2015Newsletter of the Saskatoon Amateur Radio Club Celebrating over 80 Years of Service

Club Emailve5aa@rac.ca

Club RepeaterVE5SK 146.64-

2m Net Nightly at 8:00 pm

Club Websitehttp://ve5aa.dyndns.org

The Saskatoon Amateur Radio Club is a great way to become acquainted with amateur radio. Our club has much to offer the beginner, as well as the seasoned veteran. Please join us at an upcoming m e e t i n g o r f o r o u r Saturday breakfast, and discover the SARC.

This Month

• Field Day History• Field Day 2015• Mystery Radio Bursts • Soldering Aluminum• Magnesium Ion Battery• Quartzfest at Quartzite• High Altitude Hobby• Silent Key • Wayback Time Machine• Announcements, etc.• Hamfest Info/Registration

Saskatoon Amateur Radio Club

326 Anderson CrescentSaskatoon, Sk

S7H 4A3

So, have we had our last snowfall of the season or is there another one lurking about somewhere? Hopefully it won’t happen and there will be no disruption to any events. Looking forward to community service events, our club will be handling communications for the upcoming Saskatchewan Marathon. Club members will be needed to fill all the spots. Listen to the nightly 2m net for more information.

Also a number of positions will be open for election on the club executive. Be sure to think about letting your name stand for one of the positions. In any organization things don’t simply happen by themselves. People are needed to make the club successful and vibrant.

Speaking of things not happening by themselves, Field Day 2015 will take place at the end of June and coordinators are still needed to make this event a success. Two or three people planning the field day and taking care of an area they feel comfortable with will get the job done.

At the end of this newsletter is detailed (to date) information on the upcoming Saskatchewan Hamfest along with a registration form.

Special thanks to organizer Terry, VE5TLC, and all those who volunteered for the MS WALK. Unfortunately weather conditions made it impossible for the walk portion to take place.

Also be sure to congratulate our new hams. If you see them at a meeting or event, please welcome them to the club. A list of names and call signs appears in this newsletter.

See you all at the meeting.

Mike

COFFEE Haywood’s Restaurant

Saturdays 9:00 AM

3016 Arlington Avenue

South of Alvin Buckwold School

Everyone is welcome. Hams, non-Hams, it doesn’t matter. We’re

there to have good conversation with good friends.

Come on out and visit! Committees Repeaters Bruce, VE5BNC Property and Assets Club Executive Training Coordinator Ron, VA5RJF Public Service Club Executive Sick and Visiting Club Members Field Day Vacant Elmer Ken, VE5KRB Trailer Club Members Space Club Mike, VE5MIK, Al, VE5MDC SARC Net Club members Feedline Mike, VE5MIK Web-site Terry, VE5TLC Bruce, VE5BNC 50/50 Draw Terry, VE5TLC Little Bear Lake Ken, VE5KRB Amateur Radio/Physics Research Station

Any items for Swap ‘n Shop in the Feedline contact VE5MIK. !

Contact Bruce, VE5BNC, or Terry, VE5TLC to put the items on the club website.!

Next Club Meeting

May 14

7:00 P.M.Cliff Wright Branch Library

Meeting Room1635 McKercher Drive(Lakewood Civic Center)

The Feedline is the official publication of the Saskatoon Amateur Radio Club. This is your newsletter! Amateur radio information of general interest, club member project descriptions and doings, radio applications to other activities, corrections, or suggestions are all welcome.

If you wish to contribute articles, photos, comments, cartoons or perhaps you want to let your fellow members know about some rare DX contact you have made, or pictures of your shack or antenna installation, or anything else that interests you, then please submit these to the editor at mluciuk@gmail.com

PresidentGarry Schwartz VE5SG 2013-2015

Vice-PresidentSylvan Katz VE5ZX 2013-2015TreasurerTerry Cutler VE5TLC 2014-2016SecretaryRon Ford VA5RJF 2013-2015DirectorsLawrence Dobranski VA5LD 2014-2016Ken Bindle VE5KRB 2012-2015Mike Luciuk VE5MIK 2014-2016Ned Carroll VE5NED 2014-2016

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

The "this is the way it used to be done" mentality stops progress in its tracks.

L O C A L A R E A R E P E A T E R S

VE5SK 146.640- Saskatoon, SARC VE5XW 146.730- Rock Point VA5LLR 145.390- Lizard Lake VE5ZH 147.270- 2 MHz offset, Saskatoon, Auto Patch VA5SV 145.330- (100) Ridge East of Saskatoon VE5RPD 145.190- Elbow/Davidson VE5CC 146.970- Saskatoon MARS Linked to VE5SKN, VE5DNA, & IRLP node 1360Link code 502*/503* VE5SKN 146.940- Saskatoon MARS. 100Hz tone on xmt only -Linked to VE5CC, VE5DNA and IRLP node 1360.

I R L P N O D E 1360 Hard linked to VE5CC UHF Hub (444.975 +5M) & available to VE5CC, VE5SKN and VE5DNA VHF repeaters when linked.

A P R S 1 4 4 . 3 9 0

VE5RHF Saskatoon DIGI VE5BNC-3 Saskatoon IGATE & SATGATE VE5XW-1 Rock Point VE5HAN-4 Hanley DIGI

L O C A L & R E G I O N A L N E T S

Sask. WX 80m 1400Z 3735 Khz ARES (Sun.) 80m 1430Z 3753 Khz Aurora 40m 2330Z & 0200Z 7055 Khz Manitoba 80m 0000Z 3747 Khz Montana Tfc 80m 0030Z 3910 Khz Sask. 80m 0100Z 3735 Khz

C O N T E S T S • CQ-M International DX Contest 1200Z, May 9 to 1159Z, May 10• SKCC Weekend Sprintathon 1200Z, May 9 to 2400Z, May 10• CQ WW WPX Contest, CW 0000Z, May 30 to 2359Z, May 31

Be kind and respectful to your fellow hams. After all, without them, all you’d hear on the air is static.

Alberta 80m 0130Z 3700 Khz 80m YL Net 80m 0315Z 3755 Khz-Sundays B.C. 80m 0130Z 3729 Khz

SARC Local 2m 0200Z 146.640- Prince Albert 2m 0330Z 147.150+

Saskatoon and Area Frequencies, Nets, Contests, DXpeditions

L I T T L E B E A R L A K E •The LBL telemetry address is    dougf.no-ip.com/tlm/test2.txt •The 6 m. beacon address   dougf.no-ip.com/va5mg

D X P E D I T I O N S• VK9X Christmas Is. May 7 - 10 By JA0JHQ as JA0JHQ/VK9X; 40-6m; CW SSB

• E6ZS Niue May 15 - 25 By JA2ZS as E6ZS, JA2AUU as E6NZ, JA2ATE as E6TE, JA2LSS as E6SS; 160-6m; CW SSB RTTY PSK31 JT65

• 3B9 Rodrigues Is. May 19 - 24 By EA5IDQ as 3B9/EA5IDQ; 40-10m; SSB RTTY

For a full list of DXpeditions see: Announced DXpeditions

For a full calendar of contests see: WA7BNM Contest Calendar

April 9th, 2015 Meeting Minutes

Congratulations to our newest hams!Ryan Betemps Call sign pendingTim Marushak VE5 TWMDave Karaloff VA5 DAKBob Seaborn VE5 XEFDon Dixon VE5 DOG

Call to Order: Meeting was called to order at 7:02 by Sylvan (VE5ZX)

Attendance: 24

Garry (VE5SG) arrived and took over the chair at 7:06

Acceptance of the Agenda: Ned (VE5NED)/Sylvan (VE5ZX): cd

Acceptance of the March 2015 Minutes: Ron (VA5RJF)/Richard (VE5RNP): cd

Financial Report: Terry (VE5TLC) Club finances are stable. Acceptance Terry (VE5TLC) /Mike (VE5MIK): cd

Repeater Reports: VariousSK is up and running in analog mode. Digital mode operation maybe next year.Rock Point working well. Batteries keeping charged. Digipeater working OKLittle Bear working well. Strong aurora signals last month. Telemetry not working – likely a tree issue.IRLP working ok. Some old equipment being updated. 9300 reflector is back on the air.

Ham Class Report: Ron (VA5RJF) and Terry (VE5TLC)Tim, Dave (Bob Seaborn) have passed. Two more to write the exam later.

MS Walkathon: Terry (VE5TLC)We have a number of volunteers. The organizers want us to sign waivers.We need a 'bike person' (Lee Coates has volunteered)working on 147.39.

50-50 Draw: $14 Tim won and returned the cash to the Club.

Discussion: Surplus Gear Disposal Garry would like to take a batch of surplus stuff to

Moose Jaw Suggestion made that it be taken to MJ and leftovers be taken to Ham Fest.

Discussion: Field Day site proposalSylvan (VE5ZX) explored the Farmers Market – lots of people around. High Visibility. Need to check the area for HF noise. It should be possible to set up the trailer. Will need to check with SPD about overnighting there.

A Chair is needed for Field Day. No volunteers yet.

New Business:Stuart (VE5KAS) – proposal re: Elmering for new members.Wondered if other ways can be found to help new hams blend into the Club.Discussion followed – generally supportive of having an active elmer to facilitate the developement of new hams. This growth will inevitably increase the pool from which EMO and other organizations can draw members. Motion: That one member of the Board be designated as an Elmer coordinator: Sylvan(VE5ZX/Bruce (VE5BNC): cd

Suggestion – that the Feedline Editor include write-ups of new (or old) members and their stations/shacks/whatever.

Permanent Meeting Place: several sites were discussed. John (VE5MU) will ask about access to the Fire Department training centre on 22nd and Ave W.

Bruce (VE5BNC) mentioned a significant amount of good press we've received lately about our high altitude baloon program, SABER

Adjournment at 8:30pm: Ken (VE5KRB)/John (VE5MU)

Field Day - A Short HistoryField Day is an annual amateur radio exercise, widely sponsored by IARU regions and member organ iza t ions , encourag ing emergency communications preparedness among amateur radio operators. In the United States, it is typically the largest single emergency preparedness exercise in the country, with over 30,000 operators participating each year. Field Day is always the fourth full weekend of June, beginning at 1800 UTC Saturday and running through 2059 UTC Sunday.

Since the first ARRL Field Day in 1933, radio amateurs throughout North America have practiced the rapid deployment of radio communications equipment in environments ranging from operations under tents in remote areas to operations inside Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs). Operations using emergency and alternative power sources are highly encouraged, since electricity and other public infrastructures are often among the first to fail during a natural disaster or severe weather.

To determine the effectiveness of the exercise and of each participant's operations, there is an integrated contesting component, and many clubs also engage in concurrent leisure activities (camping out, cookouts, etc.). Operations typically last a continuous twenty-four hours, requiring scheduled relief operators to keep stations on the air. Additional contest points are awarded for experimenting with unusual modes, making contacts via satellite, and involving youth in the activity.

Field Day stresses emergency preparedness. Frequently, entire radio clubs get involved and assemble a portable radio station in a field or park. Some might use quickly deployable portable antennas while other might erect more elaborate radio masts and towers supporting several antennas. Generators or solar power provide electricity to amateur radio transceivers, which may be located in tents, cars, recreational vehicles, or other portable shelters.

The contest aspect of a Field Day operating event is to contact as many stations as possible in the given time period (twenty-four hours, during a weekend, if setup commences before the contest starts, or 27 hours if setup commences at contest start time) using the portable station. Each station will exchange information with other participating stations. For the North American Field Day, the exchange consists of the station call sign, the name of the ARRL-recognized section from which the station is operating, and a class designator which indicates the number of transmitters concurrently used at the station and information about the type of electrical power source being used.

The contest portion of Field Day has two purposes. The primary purpose is to demonstrate the group's ability to plan operations that can be effective for an entire twenty-four-hour period, including operator endurance and adequate numbers of operators for a shift operation. The secondary portion is to demonstrate the technical proficiency of the station that has been hastily constructed for the purpose; in theory a better station will be capable of emergency operations in more dire conditions. Such a station will also be capable of making more contacts during the contest portion of Field Day.

The rules governing this activity are published by the sponsor of the particular Field Day exercise.

Field Day is frequently used to attract significant publicity for amateur radio, and some clubs simultaneously demonstrate technologies including single sideband voice, morse code, digital modes (such as RTTY, PSK31, and Winlink, among others), and communication via amateur radio satellite.

It is hopeful that a large contingent of SARC members and guests will demonstrate their emergency communications skills during the 2015 ARRL Field Day event. As always the event is scheduled for the last full (occasionally rainy) weekend in June.

What is Field Day? Field Day is that day when HAMS test themselves and their equipment in an unfamiliar environment under emergency conditions. What does that mean? Well, first you pick a location not normally utilized. Besides the “trailer shack”, there may be a wide select ion of pr imit ive tent/shelter si te possibilities for operating positions. We’ll keep a lantern lit for you. There is usually a good selection of areas to plant towers, masts, and antennas.

Why even mention Field Day so early? Well, certain preparations must be made - by YOU - if the event is to be a personal and club success. First, YOU must commit to participate. Field Day affords us the chance, and challenge, to test local (VHF/UHF) and longer range (HF) capabilities. Transceivers, manuals, power supplies, battery, chargers, cables, connectors, fuses, personal needs items, tables, chow, and so on, and so on need to be readied.

This annual preparedness exercise is a good time to get together with other HAMS and friends. Field Day is an opportunity for all hams to enhance their on air communication skills and procedures. If you’re not a regular on HF, or a new ham, this is a great chance to get on the air in a very safe, supportive environment. Plan NOW to work closely together to set up an effective emergency communications site. Volunteer to help out and make this event a success!

MikeVE5 MIK

DX Code of Conduct for Ham Radio OperatorsIt is no secret that the on-the-air behaviour of some hams, especially in pileups, has gotten worse in the last few years. Unpleasant, uncivil, impolite behaviour of some of our fellow hams reduces the enjoyment of our hobby. It does not have to be that way nor should it be. Impolite behaviour is counter-productive and simply inconsistent with the aim of our hobby, to have fun.

Just as we work to improve our technical skills, we should all aspire to hold ourselves to the highest ethical operating standards.

This DX Code of Conduct is a reminder of the high ideals of which we are all capable. Let’s follow it.

S A R C

Is this ET? Mystery of strange radio bursts from space

BURSTS of radio waves flashing across the sky seem to follow a mathematical pattern. If the pattern is real, either some strange celestial physics is going on, or the bursts are artificial, produced by human – or alien – technology.

Telescopes have been picking up so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs) since 2001. They last just a few milliseconds and erupt with about as much energy as the sun releases in a month. Ten have been detected so far, most recently in 2014, when the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia, caught a burst in action for the first time. The others were found by sifting through data after the bursts had arrived at Earth. No one knows what causes them, but the brevity of the bursts means their source has to be small – hundreds of kilometres across at most – so they can't be from ordinary stars. And they seem to come from far outside the galaxy.

The weird part is that they all fit a pattern that doesn't match what we know about cosmic physics.

To calculate how far the bursts have come, astronomers use a concept called the dispersion measure. Each burst covers a range of radio frequencies, as if the whole FM band were playing the same song. But electrons in space scatter and delay the radiation, so that higher frequency waves make it across space faster than lower frequency waves. The more space the signal crosses, the bigger the difference, or dispersion measure, between the arrival time of high and low frequencies – and the further the signal has travelled.

Michael Hippke of the Institute for Data Analysis in Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany, and John Learned at the University of Hawaii in Manoa found that all 10 bursts' dispersion measures are multiples of a single number: 187.5 (see chart). This neat line-up, if taken at face value, would imply five sources for the bursts all at regularly spaced distances from Earth, billions of light-years away. A more likely explanation, Hippke and Lerned say, is that the FRBs all come from somewhere much closer

to home, from a group of objects within the Milky Way that naturally emit shorter-frequency radio waves after higher-frequency ones, with a delay that is a multiple of 187.5 (arxiv.org/abs/1503.05245).

They claim there is a 5 in 10,000 probability that the line-up is coincidence. "If the pattern is real," says Learned, "it is very, very hard to explain.”

Cosmic objects might, by some natural but unknown process, produce dispersions in regular steps. Small, dense remnant stars called pulsars are known to emit bursts of radio waves, though not in regular arrangements or with as much power as FRBs. But maybe superdense stars are mathematical oddities because of underlying physics we don't understand.

It's also possible that the telescopes are picking up evidence of human technology, like an unmapped spy satellite, masquerading as signals from deep space.

The most tantalizing possibility is that the source of the bursts might be a who, not a what. If none of the natural explanations pan out, their paper concludes, "An artificial source (human or non-human) must be considered.”

"Beacon from extraterrestrials" has always been on the list of weird possible origins for these bursts. "These have been intriguing as an engineered signal, or evidence of extraterrestrial technology, since the first was discovered," says Jill Tarter, former director of the SETI Institute in California. "I'm intrigued. Stay tuned."

Astronomers have long speculated that a mathematically clever message – broadcasts encoded with pi, or flashes that count out prime numbers, as sent by aliens in the film Contact – could give away aliens' existence. Perhaps extraterrestrial civilizations are flagging us down with basic multiplication.

Power source But a fast radio burst is definitely not the easiest message aliens could send. As Maura McLaughlin of West Virginia University, who was part of the first FRB discovery points out, it takes a lot of energy to make a signal that spreads across lots of frequencies,

across lots of frequencies, instead of just a narrow one like a radio station. And if the bursts come from outside the galaxy, they would have to be incredibly energetic to get this far.

If the bursts actually come from inside the Milky Way, they need not be so energetic (just like a nearby flashlight can light up the ground but a distant light does not). Either way, though, it would require a lot of power. In fact, the aliens would have to be from what SETI scientists call a Kardashev Type II civilization (see "Keeping up with the Kardashevs” below).

But maybe there's no pattern at all, let alone one that aliens embedded. There are only 10 bursts, and they fit into just five groups. "It's very easy to find patterns when you have small-number statistics," says McLaughlin. "On the other hand, I don't think you can argue with the statistics, so it is odd."

The pattern might disappear as more FRBs are detected. Hippke and Learned plan to check their finding against new discoveries, and perhaps learn something about the universe. "Science is the best game around," says Learned. "You don't know what the rules are, or if you can win. This is science in action."

If the result holds up, says Hippke, "there is something really interesting we need to understand. This will either be new physics, like a new kind of pulsar, or, in the end, if we can exclude everything else, an ET."

Hippke is cautious, but notes that remote possibilities are still possibilities. "When you set out to search for something new," he says, "you might find something unexpected.”

Keeping up with the Kardashevs

THE first search for extraterrestrial intelligence, Frank Drake's Project Ozma, looked for radio broadcasts from hypothetical aliens in the 1960s.

Around the same time, cosmologist Nikolai Kardashev began to wonder what a truly advanced civilization's radio messages might be like. His main conclusion: more powerful than ours. In a 1963 paper called "Transmission of Information by Extraterrestrial Civilizations", he grouped ETs into three categories according to how big their broadcasts could be. The labels stuck, and SETI scientists still use them today.

A signal from a Kardashev Type I society uses a planet's worth of energy, pulling from all its resources - solar, thermal, volcanic, tectonic, hydrodynamic, oceanic, and so on.

A Type II civilization has a star's worth of output at its disposal. It would have to capture all its sun's radiation, throw material into a black hole and suck up the radiation, or travel to many planets and strip them of resources.

A Kardashev Type III civilization controls the power output of a galaxy like the Milky Way. If a galaxy was home to just one Type III society, it would be completely dark except for the waste infrared radiation (heat) blowing from their massive engineering projects.

YOU CAN JOIN ALUMINIUM WITH ORDINARY SOLDER

Reprint from RADIO projects for the Amateur By Drew Diamond VK3XUIn chassis, box and antenna work, we sometimes reach a point in the job where the most ideal joint would be a soldered one. But as everybody knows; "you can't join aluminium with ordinary solder". Well, in many circumstances, you can! Smaller solderable items typically used in radio and electronics projects, including those made from brass, copper, mild steel or aluminium may be effectively joined to aluminium using ordinary 60/40 resin cored soft solder and an 80 or 100 W electric soldering iron. Here's a dodge which will allow you to do it.

Warm up the soldering iron and make sure it is hot and "at the ready". Have a wet sponge, or an old paint brush on hand for cleaning the tip just prior to application to the job. The components to be joined must first be cut to a rough burnished finish with a clean abrasive, such as emery cloth, wire brush or fine file, leaving no dust, filings or fingerprints.

The components must be pre-tinned before joining. To prevent air from reaching the work surface(and causing rapid oxidization which would normally prevent the flow of solder), apply a film of ordinary, clean engine oil to the area to be soldered (two or three drops may be picked up on the blade of a screwdriver and applied to the job). Apply the hot iron to the work, and melt a little solder onto the tip. At first the solder will refuse to flow, but will remain attached to the tip as a molten blob. Heat the work by sliding and rolling the tip around under the oil. Suddenly, as the aluminium reaches the solder melting temperature, solder will begin to attach to the aluminium by "working" it with the tip. Continue flowing the solder onto the area required. Allow the job to cool, then wipe off the remaining oil with a cloth. Align and clamp the components to be soldered together. Now, without oil this time; apply the iron tip to the join, and produce a bead or fillet by melting a little extra solder onto the joint in the usual way.

Magnesium-Ion May Soon Replace Lithium-Ion Batteries

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are the mobile power sources of choice today, used in everything from laptop computers to hand held transceivers and even automobiles. For years, though, it has been known that they can overheat and even catch fire. Now there may be a new battery material that overcomes this problem.

The overheating problem is much less likely to happen with batteries made with magnesium. And magnesium ions in the battery electrolytes can carry a double positive charge, increasing the device’s energy density, or the amount of electricity the battery can store.

Still, no one’s been able to make a commercially viable magnesium-ion battery, mostly because of magnesium’s high reactivity with other materials in such a cell which would interfere with the movement of the ions through the electrolyte. Now, researchers Liwen Wan and David Prendergast of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California have conducted computer simulations that show this reactivity actually isn’t a problem.

In the October issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, they write that the interference is much lower than had been thought, and therefore that a magnesium-ion battery would be more efficient than expected. On that basis, researchers at the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan improved the stability of the magnesium-ion battery. Fei-Yi Hung, one of the three leaders of the team, told the online publication Energy Trends that they accomplished this in part by turning to a new technology that uses electrodes made of magnesium membranes and magnesium powder.

The idea of a magnesium-ion battery has long been attractive not only because it’s less likely to overheat, Hung said, but also has up to 12 times the energy density of a lithium-ion battery and its charge-discharge efficiency is five times greater.

So when can we expect to see Magnesium Ion batteries hit the consumer market? According to the research teams it will be a while as there are still other technical hurdles to overcome.

More on this story can be found on the web at

tinyurl.com/magnesium-batteries. (Journal of the American Chemical Society)

The QUARTZFEST Experience at Quartzite

If you’ve ever driven from Phoenix AZ, to Palm Springs CA, on Interstate 10 you will have passed through the small town of Quartzite. During the “snowbird” months of November to March you will see RV’s and trailers parked on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. RV communities spring up during the “winter” months and little towns/villages form and become home to many RV’ers.

Quartzite is also the home of the annual Amateur Radio gathering the last week of January at Mile Marker 99……the event known as Quartzfest. The event is a complete boondocking experience on BLM land. No hookups, no amenities, NO fee. Free for up to two weeks. Daily seminars, happy hours, campfire time, evening movies, everything! Quartzfest is a 7 day event full of seminars and workshops on Ham Radio and operational techniques, Alternative Energy (mainly solar) and RV'ing…and to my knowledge is the only event of its kind in the world. Included in the schedule are seminars and classes (crafts, etc.) for those who attend but are not interested in gaining technical knowledge.

http://www.quartzfest.org/

Great YouTube video about the Quartzite area

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3QOKAv7T1Y

�LESLEY PORTER

Main photo is one taken by the SABRE onboard camera. Inset: Bruce Coates, right, prepares to launch the ballon.

High-altitude hobby

� SUBMITTED

Not everyone can go into space but with a tank of hydrogen and a bit of knowledge about circuit boards, a balloon could be the next best thing.

That’s what high-altitude ballooner Bruce Coates has been doing for seven years. Coates, a unit support specialist in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), is a member of the Saskatoon Amateur Radio Club (SARC), a local society for ham radio operators and hobbyists. Over coffee with another member in 2007, they decided the try launching a high-altitude balloon (nicknamed SABRE) and tracking it using ham radio technology.

“What ham radio has let us do is be able to track it and have more fun with it than you might without,” he explained. “Without ham radio, we could still fly balloons, but people would use things like cell phones which don’t work past a certain altitude and don’t work outside of the range of a cell tower.”

Since the maiden voyage in 2008, SARC has launched 21 balloons in the province. From take off to crash down, a typical SABRE flight is just under three hours, but they get some serious air: the highest the balloon has ever flown was just over 110,000 feet, “which is three and a half times higher than a jetliner, or four

times as high as Everest, or a tenth of the way to the space station, however you want to look at it,” laughed Coates.

The balloon is made of latex, is about two metres across and stretches substantially once filled with hydrogen (less expensive than helium, said Coates). Dangling precariously from the balloon is a bright, neon parachute and a payload box carrying tracking gear, GPS equipment, and still and video cameras to capture the journey.

But launching a balloon is not quite as simple as the movie Up makes it out to be. Before the balloon leaves the ground, the flight has to be co-ordinated through, and approved by, Transport Canada and Navigation Canada.

“We’re taking this balloon and launching it up into the air, and we have to worry about air traffic at that time,” said Coates. “If something ever hit it, it would be exceptionally bad.”

The balloon, which cannot be steered, is treated as an aircraft flight and monitored by air traffic control, he explained. The onboard GPS updates every 30 seconds, so the balloon is also tracked on the SARC website.

Once up, up and away, the balloon rises above the ozone layer to the upper fringes of the atmosphere, a place called near space, where pressure is sorely lacking. “By the time it gets up there, it’s almost a vacuum,” said Coates. “Sooner or later, the pressure is just too much and the balloon breaks.”

At that altitude, there is more than just pressure to worry about, though. The brutal weather conditions—as low as -60°C—and intense ultraviolet light pose a threat to the safety of the payload.

And how does an amateur balloonist protect the payload from extreme cold and harsh ultraviolet rays? “In a word, Styrofoam,” said Coates. The box is cased in a layer of Styrofoam one inch thick, enough to insulate from the environmental stressors.

The Styrofoam also serves as crash-safety gear when the payload comes hurling back to Earth. “Our standard for equipment is, you should be able to take your payload and drop it from about table height or so onto cement and have it survive.”

In addition to the GPS trackers, the group uses data from the American National Weather Service that measures wind to predict where the balloon will not only fly, but land as well.

The payload has ended up in some interesting locations, including forests, sloughs and even on a power line, which SaskPower had to remove for them.

One landed “about four kilometres past the end of the last road north of Prince Albert, so we had to walk through the bush and swamp to get it. Once it lands, it’s like the world’s biggest geocache,” said Coates. “We know where it is, we just have to go find it.”

Thank you to Leslie Porterfor permission to reprint this article

� LESLEY PORTERBruce Coates, support specialist, Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

more fun with it than you might without,” he explained. “Without

y balloons, but people would use things like cell phones which don’t work past a certain altitude and don’t work outside of the

Since the maiden voyage in 2008, SARC has launched 21 balloons in the province. From

to crash down, a typical ight is just under three

hours, but they get some serious

Silent KeyRudolph Edwin Luukkonen VE5IZ

Rudolph Edwin Luukkonen passed away peacefully at Sherbrooke Community Centre on Monday, April 13, 2015 at 93 years of age. He is survived by his brother Joe, his sister-in- law Justine, and by his nieces and nephews, Anna, David, John, Sharon and Karen and their families. Rudy lived a long and interesting life - it can honestly be said that he knew poverty and was never bitter, and success but was never vain. Born to Edwin and Anna Luukkonen in 1922, he grew up on a small farm near Birsay, Saskatchewan. He graduated from high school with marks that would have won him scholarships to the career of his choice in today's age. His were harder days, but Rudy played every hand life dealt him with stoic skill and patience. He earned a living as a farmer for most of his years, but also

laboured as a lumberjack, coal miner, journeyman gas fitter and TV repairman. His greatest attribute - beyond an enormous capacity for hard work - was a personality tailor made for accumulating friends. Rudy had a lot of friends - farm friends, ham radio friends, Saturday night dance friends (mostly female!) - and later golf friends. His last two years saw his health decline, and eventually, despite the loving care of his great-nephew Adam McKee, Rudy had to move into higher level care at Extendicare, and then Sherbrooke Community Centre. Rudy's family would like to thank the wonderful aides and nurses, and administrators at house two for the devoted care they gave our dear uncle, and for the true home that they provided him. We especially appreciate their dedication to Rudy and to us, as we tried to ease his passing over the last week.

SARC Wayback Time MachineDo You Remember?

If you have a picture or a ham radio

related story from

WAYBACK, or not so wayback,

send it in and we’ll put it in the Feedline.

This month a little bit of everything.

SARC Important Dates

May 14 Club Meeting at Cliff Wright

May 31 Sask. Marathon

June 11 Club Meeting

June 27/28 ARRL Field Day

July 4, 5 Saskatchewan Hamfest

A N N O U N C E M E N T S, N E W S, E T C.

June 27, 28Join the fun!

Ham Radio Volunteers Needed for the

Saskatchewan Marathon

More information during SARC 2m Net

Dry Ingredients • 2 Kenwood 440’s or any other suitable transceivers •Club Trailer •Tower •Antenna •Club Generator •The desire to learn, have fun and meet with friends

Wet Ingredients •Club Members •Visitors and anyone interested in ham radio •Pot Luck supper and other fun activities

Instructions•Mix dry ingredients in the parking lot of the Western Development Museum. •Slowly add the wet ingredients and stir gently until all lumps are removed. •Bake at any temperature for 24 hours.

The results are outstanding!

The perfect recipe for fun and good times!

VE5AA Field Day Recipe

Some of the concepts of this video are a bit stretched - like no call signs, but it does capture the spirit of our hobby. Find the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxU1ZhINaHk

MEEWASIN AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY

SASKATCHEWAN HAMFEST 2015 July 3 to 5, 2015

Martensville

(North Ridge Centennial Community Centre – 901 3rd Street North)

RADIO AMATEURS OF CANADA (RAC): We are

happy to report that the Radio Amateurs of

Canada has chosen to have MARS host the AGM for

2015. For members or non-members, see what your

national representative organization has been up to

and interact with the RAC Executive and volunteers.

SASKATCHEWAN AMATEUR RADIO LEAGUE (SARL): Saskatchewan is the only province outside

of Quebec that has a provincial organization left.

Support SARL by attending the AGM and get

involved!

HOTEL INFORMATION: Martensville is home to a

brand new Canalta Hotel. We have a group

booking under “MARS” but you must call the hotel

directly at 1-844-249-2555. The booking will be

held until June 3, 2015. Single occupancy

$139/night.

ICOM CANADA will be in attendance and have made a very generous donation of an

Icom ID-31A handheld for a door prize. Come and learn about new Icom products and of

course, D-STAR!

ALFA RADIO LTD. from Edmonton will be attending as a commercial

vendor and will have a selection of their popular AlfaSpid Rotators. Alfa

Radio Ltd. has graciously donated a rotator to be raffled off at the

hamfest! RADIOWORLD CENTRAL from Calgary will be attending as well and

will fulfill your NEW radio wants and needs. They will also have a

selection of other equipment on display! Pre-order your new toy and pick it up at the hamfest!

ANNUAL AWARDS BANQUET: Dinner Tickets are $20/person. Please advise the hamfest committee if

you have any dietary concerns. The cut off for banquet tickets will be June 15, 2015. Anyone can attend

the banquet, you need not be registered for the hamfest program. Ticket includes dinner & dessert. Cash

bar. Banquet tickets purchased before June 3, 2015 will receive an additional door prize ticket.

¾ SARL AGM

¾ RAC AGM

¾ Flea Market

¾ D-STAR Class

¾ Technical Presentations

¾ IRLP Class

¾ Door Prizes

¾ Radio Raffles

¾ Commercial Vendors

¾ Static Displays

¾ Special Guests

WHAT’S HAPPENING?

REGISTRATION INFORMATION: Registration fees include admission to the entire weekend. Early bird registrations must be received by the hamfest committee no later than June 3, 2015 to qualify for a special draw and to receive the discount.

Early Bird Admission: $25.00/person Additional Door Prize Ticket $5.00 Regular Admission: $30.00/person

FLEA MARKET: If you wish to have a table at the flea market, it should be booked in advance to be guaranteed. Setup can take place on Friday evening or 8AM on Saturday. Doors open at 9AM. No sales until 9AM Saturday.

Flea Market Tables $10.00 each

D-STAR TRAINING CLASS: An optional D-STAR training class will take place in two parts; Part One will take place for two hours on Friday evening and Part Two will take place late Saturday afternoon prior to dinner. Pre-registration is required as there will be class materials prepared in a limited quantity. Indicate this on your registration form. If there is not enough interest, the class will be cancelled.

TECHNICAL FORUMS & SPEAKERS: We are still in the process of confirming speakers and technical sessions as well as determining the order of presentations. If you have a topic of interest and would like to present it at the hamfest, please let us know!

www.meewasin-ars.ca

Meewasin Amateur Radio Society | Box 65 | Martensville, SK S0K 2T0

Saskatchewan Hamfest 2015 July 3 to 5, 2015

Registration Form

Primary Registrant Name

Call Sign

Address

City

Province/State PC

Country

Phone Number

Email Address

Other Registrants (Under 16 are free) Name: Call Sign:

Name: Call Sign:

Registration Fee Calculation

Item Quantity Fee Extras Included Subtotal Total

*Early Bird Registration (by June 3rd) $25.00 Program, Grand Door Prize (2) & Additional Prize Entry*

Regular Registration (After June 3rd) $30.00 Program, Grand Door Prize

Flea Market Table $10.00

**Additional Door Prize Ticket ($5 each or 4 for $15)

$5 / $15

MARS Logo 8oz Coffee Mug

$5.00

D-STAR Training Class (Pre-registration required)

N/C N/C

Banquet Ticket (Includes an extra door prize ticket!)

$20.00

TOTAL

$

PAYMENT Card #:

Exp. mm/YY

CCV

I hereby authorize the Meewasin Amateur Radio Society, Inc. to charge the amount listed above to my credit card provided herein. I agree that I will pay for this purchase in accordance with the issuing bank cardholder agreement. Cardholder Signature: X__________________________________________ *Early registrations received by June 3rd, 2015 will be also entered into a draw ONLY for early bird registrants. They will also receive an additional ticket to the Grand Door Prize that will be drawn at the end of the day Saturday. **Additional tickets may be purchased. Registrations received after June 3 do not qualify for early bird benefits. Door prize winner must be in attendance to win. Tickets are not transferrable. ID may be requested. Registrations are non-refundable, however can be transferred up to June 15th, 2015. Mail completed forms and payment (if by cheque) to address below. Make your cheques payable to “Meewasin Amateur Radio Society.” You will receive confirmation via email (if provided) of your registration. Thank you for your support!! Meewasin Amateur Radio Society c/o D. Racicot Box 65 Martensville, SK S0K 2T0