The 1957 ARRL Convention - Toronto

A register of participants in Canadian ARRL Conventions (and some other meetings) was given to me last year. As part of my historical research into YRARC I've searched the pages for callsigns that I recognize. Some of them, like P.D. (Phil) Balmer VE3BAL, have a familiar callsign but are now in someone else's possession, which is no surprise some 58 years later. Also Al, VE3UT is not the VE3UT we all know.

Cross referencing is made all the more difficult by the hand-written entries, often with signatures rather than printed names, despite having "Please Print" at the top of the page . Here's page 1. You can click through if you want to examine it in more detail.

The pages are so long they don't fit on my scanner. The first column denotes ARRL membership. Unfortunately there is no date other than 1957 in the register and Google has provided no joy in finding out anything further about the event.

The second last line of this page shows the signature of Alex Reid, VE3BE, who was the Canadian Director of the ARRL at the time.

The club connection I found (on a subsequent page of the register) was that of Ron Cronk, VE3EBD. He hosted the first meeting of the York North Amateur Radio Club of 1963 but did not attend any other meetings and did not identify himself as a member of the club in the meeting register.

There are probably some other people of note at this meeting and I've found some familiar names in the subsequent meetings but I will save that for a later date.

A New Look for Splatter

I was inspired to change the template for this blog. On the one hand I just read that white lettering on a black background is for moody, artistic or dramatic blogs, which this certainly isn't. More so it's a practical matter that many of our members aren't getting any younger and that template is a bit difficult to read, and the links are almost impossible to read.

Hopefully everyone will like the new look. Let me know if you do (or don't).

YRARC Supports the Newmarket Jazz Festival

From Don VE3IXJ

I would like to take a moment and thank all the radio club members who volunteered to help make the Newmarket Jazz Fest another success this year.

I know those who were present Sunday evening were challenged by the weather events and it was handled very professionally and no one was injured.

The list of volunteers below are the ones that made this event extra safe and special.  They are in no particular order.

• Alf VA3BLE
• Don VE3IXJ
• Rob VE3RQB
• Barry VA3LLT
• David VA3DCY
• Bonnie Stone
• Robert VA3BXG
• Mary Fischer
• Carlos VE3CAZ
• Geoff VA3GS
• Ron – KG4CVL
• Eric VE3EB

From left to right David VA3DCY, Barry VA3LLT, and Rob VE3RQB.

It is also noted that YRP were very happy with the use of the radios on channel 10 as it made communications much simpler for them.

St. John Ambulance did not have any of their radios, and once again, the GMRS radios were particularly useful and SJA could communicate directly with us and YRP.  I was only aware of 3 minor medical emergencies that SJA were able to respond to very quickly having good communications.  It worked very well having their setup next to our trailer as well.

We were also able to successfully use channel 90 prior to the storm where I could observe the King City radar from home and communicate details to the trailer.  Channel 90 is presently on at the REOC radio room on Yonge Street.

Thanks Again,

Don Matthews – VE3IXJ

Elecraft K3 20M Receive Performance - mystery solved

I can't believe how long I managed to live with this problem. At first I thought it was something to do with my antenna. Later I thought it might be the K3, and I looked in vain at the schematics to find any components in the receive path that were unique to 20M.

The most telling sympton was the noise. The noise level was always much lower on 20M. Sometimes it didn't register on the S-meter, but it rarely if ever got as high as S3. Still, I managed to work plenty of stations including DX on it. I might have even managed to work 20M digital at Field Day with it last year, as I think the problem has been around for that long.

It all came to head recently on JT65/JT9 where almost always the signal reports I received were much less than the ones I sent. I have a vertical antenna and the reports are S/N ratio so was it some man made noise source? The low S-meter reading was evidence against that. Occasionally the report I received would be 25 db higher than the one I sent, even though I was only running 10W (medium power on this mode). Usually they were about 10-12 db higher.

Here's a look at the transceiver as it was set at the time. The astute K3 owner may immediately see the problem, if he or she hadn't already figured it out from the description.

In the middle of this was a North American QSO party RTTY. 40 and 80M aren't working on my antenna right now (another painful story will unfold, I'm sure) so I tried to use 20M and found I couldn't hear much. Around the same time, trying to work PSK I also found a lack of signals, but a guy I chatted with on 30M said the band was crowded. Hmm.

The problem turned out to be (embarrassingly) simple. If I'd written Elecraft I'm sure they would have responded with the answer right away. The K3 has a separate receive antenna. It is selected by a switch right next to the power button just above the volume control. If you look just under the first zero in the frequency display you can see the letters "RX". I must have hit the button accidentally some time ago. The K3 has per-band settings for a lot of things and this is one of them, so in fact I had no antenna connected to my rig while receiving on 20M.



There's some leakage between the main antenna and the RX antenna path. It's not quantified in the manual but I estimate it's around 30db. It just goes to show how sensitivity isn't the most important thing in a receiver. I managed to work a lot of DX with that 30db "attenuator" in the signal path, although I'm happy to report that 20m is quite a bit more interesting these days!

I hope some day I'll be able to erect a separate receive antenna for even better DX. Unfortunately the noise level now usually hovers around S7.

Good thing I was on 40m not 20 at Field Day 2015 otherwise I might have received the "Melted Coffee Pot Award" for a second time.

QSO with Former Club Member

I received an email last night (August 4th) from Mike Bracci N2GF after making a JT65 contact with him who identified himself as a former YRARC member (as VA3PS, but he also has calls VA3YQA, VE3IWR, VE3TPH, and VE3YKZ) and Emergency Coordinator for North York. I'm pretty sure he was before my time but didn't mention the years that he was a member. Maybe some of you will remember him. Please let me know if you do.

His QTH, like many Canadians it seems, is now Fort Myers, Florida. His qrz.com page lists his address as a condo, so I suspect JT65 is a great way for him to get his signal out with a stealth antenna.

Here's a picture of his new rig, a Yaesu FTDX1200.

RAC Releases Updated Canadian HF Band Plan

Friday's ARRL Letter mentioned that a new HF band plan for 0 to 30MHz was released, including the new 600 (a.k.a. 630 metre) and 2200 metre bands. It appears to have been released very recently despite having an effective date of January 1, 2015. The format is very similar to the ARRL equivalent for US hams. It is available for viewing on-line or for download as a PDF file.

History of the York Region Amateur Radio Club

I notice in my web searches an excerpt from the history of the club, noting that it was taken from the club web site. This led me on another series of searches because the history of the club is no longer on our web site, having been lost in the ravages of being passed from person to person.

Finally (a dramatic way of saying after about 20 minutes or so) I retrieved it from the "Wayback Machine". I'm not sure whether this is the full posting as it ends rather abruptly with Geoff's ascent to the position of Chairman. So I'm posting it here for your reading pleasure while I search for more. If anyone has more documents or even recollections I'd be happy to share them with the club. Maybe an old-timer or two would even consent to a video interview to help newer members know what the good old days of the club and ham radio were like.

If anyone remembers if there was a "Second Twenty Years" article let me know. Also if anyone knows Frank Rusholme's call, I'd like to add that as well. It looks like the author of the article didn't know. [Update 2024-07-13; Since writing this I have seen the 1969-1971 meeting sign-in book and the first meeting that Frank attended was January 27th, 1971. Unlike many others, he did not write a call sign in the book so perhaps he did not have one. Rusholme appears to be an uncommon name and my web searches found only 1 possible lead, which is an obituary for Eva Rusholme Earle, listing (a) Frank Rusholme as her first husband, from January 30th, 2023.

I've also found a reference to Art Stevens VE3YS, the club's first president. He was listed in the Winter 1938 Amateur Radio Callbook. 

VE3YS — A.  J.  Stephens,  57  Gorham  St, Newmarket, Out.

 Looks like a typo on the province. The current holder of the call VE3YS lives near North Bay, Ont.

History of the York North Amateur Radio Club

The first twenty years

On March 11, 1959, a meeting of the Newmarket area amateurs was held in the Newmarket council chambers on Main St. Acting as chairman of this meeting was Harry Richardson, VE3ACN. The meeting was held to form a radio club for amateurs in Newmarket and area. Bill Kingston, VE3EXH proposed the name York North Radio Club which was adopted.

The club’s first executive was elected, with Art Stephens, VE3YS being named president. Dues for membership in the club would be $1.00 per year, and $0.25 a month with two meetings held each month. By May of 1959, the club had grown to 24 members. They held their first social activity - a dance at the Stouffville Legion Hall. They also received their first club station licence - VE3YCD - which reflected their close relationship with the York Civil Defence organization.

In September of 1959 a second executive committee was elected with Bill Kingston, VE3EXH being chosen president. During the early part of 1960, the club began including special programs, such as guests speakers and films, blending the technical with the social aspects of the club. In May of 1960 the club purchased its first transmitter, a Heathkit DX-40 and used an HQ-110 receiver, on loan. The first QSL card was received from K4TYF, a ham in Tennessee. Gus Grant, VE3EQR and Max Boag, VE3NP chipped in extra funds to make the station possible. That summer, the club held its first Field Day.

Bill Kingston was re-elected as president for the 1960-61 year, and was responsible for code and theory classes being organized. In March of 1961, the club moved its meetings to 80 Bayview Ave. Field Day during the summer of 1961 was a successful event, even though the whole weekend was cold and rainy. By the end of the 60-61 season, the club treasury was in good shape, with $48.92 in the bank.

For the 1961-62 season, Gus Grant, VE3EQR was elected president of a club that had grown to a membership of 36. (A little trivia - Newmarket telephone numbers were TWining5-xxxx, but if you lived out in the country, such as Al Dike, VE3AFW, his phone number was 8W4. Of course you couldn’t dial it, you had to tell the operator. And if you didn’t know the number, the operator did!). During September and October, amateurs participated in an EMO (Emergency Measures) course. Remember, this was in the cold war era. The 1962 Field Day was quite a success with towers supplied and erected by Allen’s TV.

1962-63 - Information not available

The president for the 1963-64 season was Bill Findlay, VE3CLK. Attendance at meetings had fallen of a bit during this period of time with only 10 or 12 attending some of the monthly meetings. Early in 1964, the club received the call sign VE3YNA (York North Amateurs) replacing VE3YCD. A motion was passed at one of the meetings that the SPLATTER be issued on a monthly basis with members contributing items of interest and news about their station and operation. (Another bit of trivia - In October of 1964 the club recorded the purchase of a gift for newlyweds Doug & Heather Holmes - Doug was already licensed, VE3CWO, but it was another ten years before Heather took the courses for her ticket.) During the following year, meetings were held only on an occasional basis, with John Lewis, VE3EXC as the president. During the next couple of years only a few informal get-togethers took place.

Something had to be done about that, so in 1969, Harvey Bell, VE3AFK, Frank Preuten, VE3FEP and Nels Gradeen, VE3GLK got together and personally mailed out invitations to about 50 amateurs in the area to attend a reorganization meeting. Harvey Bell chaired this meeting and arranged for Phil Wesbury of the EMO to be guest speaker. He spoke about the need for trained radio operators in York County, and encouraged those present to reactivate the York North Radio Club. Those present unanimously agreed, and that evening, Frank Preuten, VE3FEP was named president. Meetings were held every second month during the remainder of 1969-70, but nothing was planned to continue meeting in the fall. So, in the late months of 1970, Harvey Bell once again called a meeting of all surrounding amateurs to see if there was enough interest to keep the club going. Again, there was strong support and Frank Rusholme, VE3--- was elected as president, and a schedule of meetings was arranged for the next couple of years. Unfortunately, Harvey Bell did not get to attend any, as he passed away shortly after this meeting. At the very next meeting of the group, in January of 1971, a motion was passed that the club establish the Harvey Bell Memorial Award to be presented annually to a member of the club who had made significant achievements in amateur radio; and in particular had made a significant contribution to the York North Amateur Radio Club. That award still carries on today.

The next club president, beginning in 1972 was John Epworth, VE3GQF, led the club through a period of modest growth. Then in September 1973, Bob Knowles, VE3DLJ (now VA3IL) began his term as president. Since there had not been a club newsletter for some period of time, Doug Holmes, VE3CWO and Lyle Leyland, VE3DCC volunteered to be the editors/publishers. Bob Knowles was re-elected as president in 1974. It was during this year that the Lake Simcoe Repeater (VE3LSR) was established. The first organizational meeting was held at the residence of Joe Yuricek, VE3GAS/VE3WG. Several members of our club, as well as members from Barrie and Orillia were present at that meeting. For a period of time, the fledgling repeater operated out of the shack of VE3CWO, later to be moved to the CKVR television property in Barrie.

In the fall of 1975, Ted Dubois, VE3HOI was elected president. During 1974-75 there was considerable growth in the club and in amateur radio in our area. Many who had played with CB radio had become keenly interested in the technical aspects of radio and joined our club to learn more about radio, to get their licences and enjoy the privileges and advantages of being a ham. Ted continued as president for another term.

In 1977, Bill, VE3GRE became president of the club. That fall the meeting place was changed to Meadowbrook school, where Doug, VE3CWO had been transferred as vice-principal. This was a very suitable location for meeting and teaching new people about ham radio. Past president, Ted Dubois remained hard at work on behalf of the club, making the preparations for having the club incorporated. It was on July 19, 1978 that the York North Amateur Radio Club, Inc. received its charter and letters patent. It was with sadness that the members of the club learned that the first president of the club, Harry Richardson, VE3ACN had become a silent key.

In the fall of 1978, the first board of directors of the new corporation were elected. Geoff Smith, VE3KCE, now VA3GS (SK) was elected as their first chairman of the board.