YRARC in 2025

We begin 2025 with a new insurance program from Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), our national organization, which provides general liability, property and some directors' and officers' coverage. While the liability insurance is more expensive than our commercial carrier, it provides greater coverage and most important, insurance not only for the club but for its members. As described by RAC, members of both YRARC & RAC receive liability coverage for all their amateur radio activities (albeit with certain exclusions for high risk activities), and YRARC members who are not also members of RAC will be covered while participating in club-sponsored activities (like field day or public service).

The board also reviewed our existing property coverage and determined that while our coverage of the trailer and its equipment are adequate, the repeater equipment has excessive coverage. This has been corrected, and along with the better rates offered by RAC, we were able to significantly reduce the premium without increasing our exposure. This money can be put to better use for repeater & trailer maintenance and upgrades and for that purpose we have created a reserve fund, which will be increased over time annually as our income permits.

During the summer our web site provider decided to remove the low-cost option we were using, effectively tripling the cost of maintaining the web site. We decided to move the site to a private server using a WordPress platform and this is about to launch. It should also be easier for the site's contributors to keep content up to date.

2024 was a good year for the club. In 2023 we started training new amateurs again and those new hams have become active participants in the club. In January we welcome on of those new hams, Rose VE3SFP, to the board of directors. Her official duties will be determined at the board's January meeting. 

We also had our first hamfest since 2019. With rising costs of venues, it was scaled down from last decade's events at the Markham Fairgrounds, which is now priced beyond viability, but it met our participation and financial goals. Thanks go to the many club members who contributed to its success, and to Jan VE3ZYL for organizing it.

Our ARES Team, along with interested club members, were busy in 2024 with two major exercises and several training classes, including IMS (Incident Management System) levels 200 and 300 classes that were held by the Region of York Emergency Management Office, and ACS (Auxilliary Communication Service) training by Jason Tremblay of RAC. We're looking forward to expanding the core ARES team in 2025 along with some additional preparedness initiatives.

Eric VE3EB and all the public service volunteers had their busiest year ever with events. Not only is this fun to do, and good training, but it provides an immense benefit to the club's image in the community. This pays dividends in attracting new members and winning the support of other organizations in the community. Thanks go to the many volunteers who stepped forward to help.

At the close of 2024 we also mourn the loss of former member David Oman VE3HCR in September.

At the start of 2025 we are looking forward to welcoming new hams, putting some new initiatives into action, and getting together with friends old and new for some ham radio fun.

Wishing everyone a safe, healthy & prosperous 2025,

Chris VE3NRT

President, York Region Amateur Radio Club

Notice of Annual General Meeting 2024

Take notice that the Annual General Meeting of the members of the York Region Amateur Radio Club, Inc., will be held at the usual meeting place, the Sharon Temperance Hall, 18974 Leslie Street, Sharon, at the usual hour of 7:30pm on Tuesday June 4th, 2024 for the purposes of approving the financial statements for fiscal year 2024 and the election of directors to hold office for 2 years commencing July 1st, 2024.

Regular, family and life members are advised that they have the right to attend and vote in person at this meeting, in accordance with the usual rules of order, and further, in the event of a member’s absence, the member has the right to appoint a proxy to vote on his or her behalf. An appropriate form is included at the end of this publication. Members who are unable to attend the Annual General Meeting may complete, date and sign a proxy form, which must be delivered to the Secretary prior to the call to order of the Annual General Meeting, to be eligible for voting.

For those wishing to mail a proxy, please send it to the club secretary, Michael Veit, VE3BWV.

Dated this day May 8th, 2024 at Aurora, Ontario.
Chris Sullivan, VE3NRT, President.

PROXY

The undersigned being a current member of the York Region Amateur Radio Club, Inc. hereby appoints


(Name of Secretary or other person) _____________________________________________ as proxy to attend the Annual General Meeting of the York Region Amateur Radio Club, Inc., on June 4th, 2024 and vote on my behalf on each and any question brought before the assembly, or at any adjournment thereof, and I do hereby revoke and make void any former instrument appoint a proxy on my behalf.


Dated at _______________ this ___________ day of _____________, 2024.


Name and call of member (print) __________________________________


Signature of member __________________________________

Call For Nominations: The Harvey Bell Award

 NOTICE TO ALL YRARC MEMBERS

Each year about this time, the members of our radio club have the opportunity to nominate a member for the Harvey Bell Award by contacting the club secretary no later than May 19th, 2024.

Nominations may be presented by individuals, or may be co-signed by several members. Your nomination should be made in writing or by email to the club secretary Mike Veit VE3BWV, and should include your description, explanation or citation in support of the nominee.

At the January, 1971 meeting of the York North Radio Club, as YRARC was known at the time, the membership established an award in memory of the late Harvey Bell, VE3AFK, of Aurora.

It was the wish of the members that this award be presented annually to a member in good standing with this club, in recognition of substantial achievement involving Amateur Radio, particularly in connection with the York North Radio Club.

The winner would hold the trophy for one year, and would also receive a certificate, or other citation outlining the achievement.

Any club member would be eligible to nominate any other club member for the award. Nominations will be considered by the 2024 Board of Directors at the May 21st meeting.

Harvey Bell died unexpectedly in December of 1970. At that time he was in the process of making his third attempt at keeping the club together and active. He had been a club member for almost ten years, enjoyed the fellowship and the sharing of technical information regarding Amateur Radio. He was especially interested in the Morse Code, and CW operation, but was also very involved with the fairly new SSB technology that was growing with leaps and bounds.

During the late 1960’s activity in the club seemed to wane, and Harvey Bell, along with a couple of other area hams kept up a steady contact with other hams in Newmarket and surroundings. Invitations were sent out on at least three occasions in a an attempt to keep the club active and growing. He had just succeeded, in the fall of 1970, to get the membership back together again, and had turned the leadership over to Frank Rusholme.

His influence and his leadership in club affairs will long be remembered by the Amateurs in this area who knew him personally. In addition to being an active 80-metre DX chaser, Harvey was also involved in RTTY (radio teletype), VHF, and had one of the outstanding stamp collections in the region.

The award, which honours his name, is considered the highest acclaim that the club can give to one of its members.

73,
Chris VE3NRT
President, YRARC

SSTV from the International Space Station

Receiving SSTV is one of the easier things to do when it comes to space communications. Two or three times are year the ISS broadcasts SSTV images on the 2 metre band. The most recent one finished a few days ago and was themed on Lunar Exploration. The signals are strong, and cycle constantly (2 minutes on, 2 minutes off) so there's a good chance of copying lots of them.

Sending SSTV could be done with a old school tape player, as it is just audio. The images are likely not encoded into audio right there on the ISS, but only exist in audio form. Still, for many who never done it, it's quite fun. The majority of passes in my area were during the night, so I left the radio and computer running and just looked at what I'd received in the morning, as did other members of the club. John VE3IPS went minimalist and copied an image by holding a smartphone microphone up to the speaker of a handheld.

I used my home VHF station, MMSSTV software, with an ICOM-7100 (removed from the car shortly after the pandemic shutdowns) and a Diamond X300-NA antenna at 25'. Verticals aren't idea for satellite communications but they do work. I heard the first ham transmission from the space shuttle by Owen Garriott W5LFL (SK) in 1983 using my mobile radio and a mag-mount antenna on the roof of my Volvo.

I tracked the ISS using gpredict, a multi-platform free open source software package. Through the (also free open source) programs rigctld and rotorctl it can compensate for Doppler shift and point your antennas at the spacecraft. With less than 3kHz shift it is hardly necessary to do Doppler compensation but I did anyway because I could, and with a vertical I certainly didn't need the rotor control capability. 

One small complaint about the organization of the event was that the 12 images were almost perfectly timed with the orbital period, so I received many copies of some, few of others and none of #5. On each pass I'd received 2 to 3 images and while most of them time there was some noise, when I received 3 images one of them was usually only partially copied.

Here's the best of each. These are unedited files. If I combined several into a single image, it could be cleaned up considerably.

1/12

2/12

3/12

4/12

5/12 - I missed this one, but Mike VE3EYS copied it and sent it to me. 

I did not copy image #5

6/12

7/12

8/12

9/12

10/12

11/12

12/12

Local Nets for YRARC Members

Here's a list of the nets that YRARC is running or in which YRARC members participate. Let me know if there are any others that should be added to list, with the criteria that at least two members should be regular check-ins.

YRARC-Sponsored Nets

• YRARC Health & Welfare Net: On the VE3YRA/V (145.350-, 103.5 Hz CTCSS) and VE3YRC/U (444.225+, no CTCSS at present), every evening from 8:30 to approximately 9:15 except on club meeting nights (first Tuesday of month September to June). This net requests the status of the participants with respect to COVID-19 and the operational state of their radios, and asks a single "10 second question" on a variety of topics.
•  YRARC 6m net: On 50.135 MHz upper sideband horizontally polarized from 8:00pm to 8:25pm Mondays and Wednesdays. Moderated discussion on recent activities by participants or anything else of interest.
• Ragchew Ramble Net: On VE3YRA/V and VE3YRC/U from 4-5pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Moderated by Joseph, VE3FMQ, on topics of interest to the participant, which are usually related to amateur radio. 
• New: YRARC "Fusion Friday", will run every Friday from 8:00 to 8:25 PM on the VE3YRC/V Fusion repeater on 147.225MHz. VE3YRC repeater is also connected to the VE3YRC-ROOM, so can be connected through WIRES-X or directly through the repeater. This will initially have no net control and will run as a round-robin net.
• New: YRARC "Simplex Saturday", every Saturday from 10 to 11AM, on 146.550MHz (YRARC channel #24) and see who you can contact. This will initially have no net control and will run as a round-robin net. Please keep a record of who you can hear and or manage to connect to. Commences 2022-01-08.
• New: YRARC Winlink Wednesday, every Wednesday at any time. Use the Check-In template form to report how you have connected, e.g. Telnet, Packet, VARA, HF, ARDOP, the equipment used, the radio, TNC, Soundcard, band, mode, operating system, software client, the RMS gateway if used, and the Winlink client program. Send the email to Mike Crabtree, VA3MCT, the York Region Emergency Coordinator, who will report the results the following day.

Other Nets

• ONTARS: None of our members is currently a net controller, but several have been in the past and several current members participate in this net which runs on 3.755 MHz (80M) lower sideband every day from 7AM to 6PM. See their web site for more information

Edward Rogers Sr. 100th Anniversary

Somewhere around December 10th, or 9th, or maybe the 11th, depending on the account, Edward Rogers Senior made the first successful transatlantic radio transmission by a Canadian amateur operator. The event was more significant than it sounds. Commercial radio was at the time using long waves, at low (LF) or very low (VLF) frequencies. The thinking of the day was "the lower the better" and radio stations for transatlantic traffic were huge undertakings. Some of the big ones used generators to produce these low frequency waves. At least one, the Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden is still operating, although only once a year.

The 1921 Transatlantic tests, sponsored by the ARRL, used wavelengths around 200 metres. This is still quite low by amateur standards. It wasn't until several years ago that the lowest frequencies in use by amateurs were in the 160 metres band, although now we have small 630 and 2200 metre for experimentation at low power. The tests proved that long distance communication was possible with a tabletop station rather than a building full of equipment.

Edward made this historic transmission from his lodgings at Pickering College, on Main Street in Newmarket, Ontario, right in the centre of York Region using a 500W spark set and call sign 3BP. He was heard by Paul Godley, operating a receiving station in Ardrossan, Scotland, using a Beverage antenna. Rogers was the only Canadian station to be heard during that weekend of testing.

The York Region Amateur Radio Club is celebrating the 100th anniversary of this event by running station CF3BP. Club members will be operating on various bands and modes from November 13th to December 12th. Logs will be uploaded to LoTW, qrz.com, and others. We are also in the midst of designing a QSL card for anyone in our logs. Canadian amateurs can send us an SASE. Outside Canada, please send $3 or equivalent to cover postage.

Edward went on to found Rogers Majestic, a very successful radio manufacturing company, a vacuum tube company, and AM radio station CFRB, located in Aurora, Ontario (also in York Region and the city that I live in). CFRB was heard all over North America and exists to this day. Edward's son, Edward "Ted" Jr., founded Rogers Communications in 1960, which is a principal player in the Canadian telecommunications industry.

See you on the air!

73,
Chris VE3NRT
President, YRARC

Update - the first electronic QSL has been received. Thanks Marcel!

N1MM Logger for ARRL Field Day

It seems that the two most popular logging software programs are N1MM Logger+ and N3FJP Logger. Both operate only on Microsoft Windows, so if you're using Linux you either need to use Wine or a different logging program.

I've used N1MM for contest logging for a long time, but I feel I've only scratched the surface of its capabilities. It has hundreds of features designed to shave fractions of a second from the contest exchange and logging process. Calling it a logger is an understatement, as it can also control and operate the radio by sending CW or recorded voice messages. It also knows how to interoperate with WSJT-X or JTDX for use with FT8/FT4 and other modes.

N3FJP is also very popular. It is simpler than N1MM+ and has fewer features, although its capabilities have been increasing steadily. Most of our operators on Field Day use it. It costs around $10-20 for a perpetual licence including updates.

Let me give an example of shaving fractions of seconds from the exchange. The CW in N1MM+ messaging facility will send CQ for you, as well as the contest exchange (e.g. "5A GTA" that the club station uses on field day) and the final thank you at the end of the exchange as well as messages like "AGN?" which can be useful from time to time. The CW can be tailored to speed up when there's something that is totally expected by the other station, like his own call sign, then slow down again when the exchange information is sent. Another example is that the spacing between CW characters can be changed from the standard 7 dits to 6 dits. That might reduce the message time by 50ms or so, which might add up to 5 or 10 more contacts over a 24 hour contest.

Learning N1MM+ can be daunting, but well worth the the time invested. The first time I used it I had it set up for RTTY in a hour or so. Support by N1MM himself and the team is excellent on the Google group and the program is free-of-charge (but not open source). I don't use N1MM+ for my general logging but after the contest I can produce an ADIF format file for upload to my regular logger which I then use to confirm the contacts in ARRL Logbook of the World.

It is truly an amazing and comprehensive tool to make your contest experience fun and productive. Here's a link to a video by the RATPAC team (who have lots of great videos) on using N1MM+ on ARRL Field Day.

Topic: N1MM Logger for Field Day

Speaker/Presenter: Anthony Luscre, K8ZT
View Video: https://vimeo.com/561658305
Download Video: https://vimeo.com/user107547861/download/561658305/d3de10fd9e
Documents: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1mvexqaudmkd4jc/AABgFaleuXUzwDVtiK8XZek0a?dl=0

Field Day is Coming

The York Region Amateur Radio Club board has decided to cancel our Field Day operations again this year out of caution with the pandemic and compliance with Ontario guidelines. We are optimistic that we will be able to hold the event in 2022. 

 Meanwhile, club members are encouraged to operate a Field Day station either from home or an outdoor location, either on AC power, battery or generator, on HF or VHF, on CW, Phone or Digital, and to submit their score to the ARRL, specifying "York Region Amateur Radio Club" as their home club. As well as recognizing the individual scores, the ARRL will also recognize the overall club score when they publish the results in QST magazine. RAC will also publish the results for the Canadian stations in TCA ("The Canadian Amateur") magazine. I'd love to see a good turnout of members. 

The ISS will be operating a repeater on Field Day which you can use to make 1 (and only 1) contact for credit for the event. The limit of 1 contact is because the ISS is overwhelmed by Field Day activity so the limit will give more stations a chance at making a successful contact. The repeater, part of the ARISS project, operates on FM and contact can be made with a dual-band mobile radio and vertical antenna. A fairly clear view of the horizon is advisable as a vertical antenna does not radiate much straight up so contact is most likely when the ISS is at lower elevation angles. 

Here's the announcement from the ARRL 

International Space Station to be in Cross-Band Repeater Mode for Field Day

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) cross-band repeater will be available for ARRL Field Day, June 26 - 27. 

Contacts will count toward Field Day bonus points as satellite contacts and Field Day contacts. Field Day rules limit stations to one contact on any single-channel FM satellite. Note that contacts made during Field Day by ISS crew would only count for contact credit, but not for satellite bonus points. 

ISS cross-band repeater contacts are also valid AMSAT Field Day satellite contacts. The ARISS cross-band repeater uplink is 145.990 MHz (67 Hz tone), with a downlink of 437.800 MHz. ARISS suggests that those unfamiliar with the ISS repeater may want to practice with it prior to Field Day. 

ARISS had planned to switch modes to the Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) during the second week of June, but this won't happen until after the first ARISS school contact following ARRL Field Day. The ARISS ham station will be off-air during spacewalks on June 16 and June 20.

Copyright © 2021 American Radio Relay League, Incorporated. Use and distribution of this publication, or any portion thereof, is permitted for non-commercial or educational purposes, with attribution. All other purposes require written permission.

Pablo VA3HDL Tower Project

Pablo's presentation is now up on YouTube. In it you will learn how Pablo, with no previous experience with erecting an antenna support structure, completed the installation of a 48' used tower during the Summer of 2020. You can also refer to his web site for more information. The minutes of the general meeting will be published in the members'-only section of the club web site when available. The next club meeting will be on Tuesday, November 3rd. Notice will be give in the club Google group, the club web site (where you can also become a member), and by email to members. The link to the virtual meeting will be sent to members by email, and available to those who wish to attend as guests by emailing the club secretary.

YRARC General Meeting, 7:30pm EDT Tuesday October 6th, 2020

Until further notice we are meeting on-line to comply with COVID-19 regulations and recommendations.

The meeting link and other access information will be sent to the membership email list. If you do not receive the message by the morning of Monday, October 5th, please contact our club secretary (secretary@yrarc.org) to register. The meeting is open to club members and everyone with the genuine interest in ham radio (just like our in-person meetings).

The speaker this month will be Pablo, VA3HDL, with a presentation on the tower project he completed this summer.

Look forward to seeing you on-line!

73, Chris

YRARC General Meeting, 7:30pm EDT Tuesday September 1st, 2020

The meeting link and other access information have been sent to the membership email list. If you did not receive the message please contact our club secretary (secretary@yrarc.org) to register for the meeting. The meeting is open to club members and everyone with the genuine interest in ham radio (just like our in-person meetings). 73, Chris

General Meeting: September 1st, 2020

The club's next general will be held on Tuesday, September 1st on-line at 7:30pm. We will have the usual format of the business meeting followed by the presentation. This month's presentation topic will be Winlink. The meeting link will sent to all club members several days prior to the meeting.

YRARC General Meeting - Minutes 2018-04-03

Meeting held in the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to Order at 19:35 by Chris VE3NRT. Total members and guests attending: 32.

1. Welcome & Introductions: Chris VE3NRT
   
2. Adoption if minutes from 2018/03/06. Moved Bill VA3QB, seconded Brian VE3IBW. Carried.
   
3. Treasurer's Report: Charles VA3TTB
   
   • Opening Balance 2018-03-01 [available to members upon request to secretary]
     
   • Income: None
     
   • Expenditures: None
     
4. Antenna analyzer update VA3TTB. The circuit board that Charles was planning to use has some flaws, and he is searching for an improved board.
   
5. Repeaters: Steve VE3UT. Due to the recent interference (noise) on the repeaters, causing them to transmit continually, Eric VE3EB shut down VE3YRC-V and VE3YRA. Steve VE3UT will investigate. VE3YRK-V update: a replacement antenna will be on site in approximately 2 weeks, and will be installed when a rigger can climb the tower.
   
6. Summer Field Day: Steve VE3UT. It may be difficult to operate the kitchen as done previously. Assistance will be needed in the kitchen on Field Day weekend, as well as assistance with shopping. Options to be discussed are – reducing the number of meals, a lighter lunch, or possibly preparing only dinner. It was suggested that we invite a Scouting Venturer group to assist.
   

Break 20:00 – 20:20

Guest Speaker: Bob VE3WY. Bob spoke about his trip last summer to Zone 2 in northern Quebec, north of the 50th parallel, to grid square FO10le. Bob and fellow VHF fans from Canada and the US set up a special event station VC2EME in a normally quiet park, to work as many stations as possible Earth-Moon-Earth. June 21 was the chosen date since the moon was closest to the earth without Jupiter or the sun behind the moon. Unfortunately the date coincided with other visitors celebrating St. Jean Batiste Day, and they found a choice camping spot beside the toilets. In spite of vehicle difficulties experienced by the US amateurs, and the limited space available, the trip was a success.

Minutes - YRARC Board of Directors Meeting - 2018-02-20

Meeting held in the Magna Centre, Multipurpose Room 4. Called to Order at 19:15 by Chris VE3NRT. Board members attending: Chris VE3NRT (P), Steve VE3UT (VP), Charles VA3TTB (T), Barry VA3LLT, John VE3IPS, Mike VA3MCT, David VA3DCY (S). Absent: Geoff VA3GS, Rick VA3VO, Eric VE3EB. Others attending: None

1. Approval of Agenda & declaration of conflicts of interest. Amendments: None. Conflicts of interest declared: None. MOTION: To adopt the agenda, Moved Barry VA3LLT, seconded Steve VE3UT. Carried.
   
2. Minutes: MOTION: To adopt minutes of Board Meeting date 2018/01/15. Moved Steve VE3UT, seconded Barry VA3LLT. Carried.
   
3. Actions arising from minutes: None
   
4. Committee Reports:
   
   1. Treasurer’s Report: Charles VA3TTB
      
      Income Expenditures Balance
      • Opening Balance 2017/12/01 [is available to members from Secretary on request]
        
      • Memberships $25.00
        
      • Total income $25.00
        
      • Cheque $20.00
        
      • Total expenditures $20.00
        
      • Interim balance 2017/12/19[is available to members from Secretary on request]
        
      • MOTION: To adopt the treasurers report. Moved Charles VA3TTB, seconded Barry VA3LLT. Carried.
        
5. Insurance: Charles VA3TTB. The Directors and Officers insurance is due on March 15. This policy does not automatically renew, and must be applied for each year. Again the need for this insurance was debated, since according to RAC and their insurance provider, D&O insurance is not necessary for amateur radio clubs, since we have no shareholders, no employees and not other other parties who would rely on the club for income or other funding. The topic of renewing the insurance was debated. MOTION: To renew the D&O insurance. Moved Barry VA3LLT, seconded Mike VA3MCT. Carried.
   
6. Repeaters: Steve VE3UT. The power supply for VE3YRA is on hand, and ready to be installed. VE3YRK VHF is still off air due to the 4:1 SWR. A new antenna should be available in the spring. Chris VE3NRT noted that the D-Star operating system is no longer maintained.
   
7. Winter Field Day: Steve VE3UT. Steve presented his WFD cost summary:
   

   Item	Advance	Expenditures	Refund
   Advance	$275.00
   Gas bought Steve VE3UT		$90.00
   Gas bought David VA3DCY		$23.40
   Propane	$15.00
   Name plate for Melted Coffee Pot award		$8.00
   Kitchen expenses (drinks/snacks) Peter VE3PBT		$54.20
   Total expenses		$190.60
   Excess gas purchased Steve VE3UT	$21.00
   Total money received		$296.00
   Cash returned to treasurer		$296.00 - $190.60	$105.40

   • Winter Field Day cost: $190.60 - $21.00 = $169.60
8. Web Site: Mike VA3MCT. The new web site is ready to go and we have access to thee products and services offered by Tech Soup, such as 'Google for non-profits'.
   
9. ARES: Mike VA3MCT. There has been no recent activity, but we have been invited to the Barrie ARES Central Ontario meeting on April 7 and have been asked to bring our trailer. MOTION: To allow the trailer to leave York Region to go to Barrie for April 7. Moved Mike VA3MCT, seconded John VE3IPS. Carried. John VE3IPS will attend a GTA ARES meeting in February.
   
10. Auditor: Charles VA3TTB. Charles VA3TTB met with John VA3JI and Doug VE3XV to discuss the auditor's requirements and to establish procedures and guidelines. Charles distributed a draft of the proposed procedures.
    

Minutes - YRARC Board of Directors Meeting 2018-01-16

Meeting held in the Magna Centre, Multi Purpose Room 4.. Called to Order at 19:10 by Chris VE3NRT Board members attending: Chris VE3NRT (P), Steve VE3UT (VP), Charles VA3TTB (T), Geoff VA3GS, Barry VA3LLT, Eric VE3EB, David VA3DCY (S), Mike VA3MCT. Absent: Rick VA3VO, John VE3IPS. Others attending: None

1. Approval of Agenda & declaration of conflicts of interest. Amendments: None. Conflicts of interest declared: None. MOTION: To adopt the agenda, Moved Barry VA3LLT, seconded Steve VE3UT. Carried.
   
2. Minutes: MOTION: To adopt minutes of Board Meeting date 2017/12/19. Moved Mike VA3MCT, seconded Steve VE3UT. Carried.
   
3. Actions arising from minutes
   
   1. Rick to attempt to sell hardline on Kitchener swap net – no update.
      
   2. Alex to be reimbursed $20 for stolen item at Hamfest. Cheque will be written.
      
   3. Set up recording of the repeater with time stamping – no progress to date. There seems to be no jamming at the moment.
      
   4. Establishment of a dollar value threshold to record assets. The value would be the current value. MOTION: That $100 be established as the threshold in determining when to record an item as an asset. Moved Geoff VA3GS, seconded Steve VE3UT. Carried.
      
   5. Geoff VA3GS will get a quote for QSL cards.
      
4. Treasurer’s Report: Charles VA3TTB. MOTION: To adopt the treasurers report. Moved Charles VA3TTB, seconded Geoff VA3GS. Carried.
   
   • Opening balance - members may request balance from Club Secretary
     
   • Memberships $305.00
     
   • Markham Fair rebate $460.45
     
   • Hamfest 2016 $100.00
     
   • Hamfest 2017 $270.00
     
   • Other $80.00
     
   • Go-kit item replacements -$51.83
     
   • Hamfest expenses -$842.82
     
   • Trailer repair parts -$51.56
     
   • Winter Field day 2018 -$275.00
     
   • Food for December gathering -$196.09
     
5. Insurance: Charles VA3TTB
   
   • RAC insurance is provided by AON. $5 million liability insurance for a club costs $160/year plus $1 for each RAC member and $10 for each non RAC member. The coverage includes members and visitors.
     To include a name insured, there is a $75 one time charge for each named insured.
     
   • RAC property insurance rates are 1% of the insured value per year.
     
   • Vehicle insurance is not available from RAC.
     
   • Director's insurance according to AON is likely not required for our club.
     
6. Banking: Charles VA3TTB We need a signing director (in addition to Charles) to sign a bank form to allow Charles (the treasurer) to have read-only access to our bank balances. Steve VE3UT will provide the second signature.
   
7. Auditor: Charles VA3TTB. Charles VA3TTB and John VA3JI will meet with Doug Smith to discuss the auditor's requirements and to establish procedures and guidelines.
   
8. Trailer: Barry VA3LLT. The trailer is currently at Al's Tack Shop. It was moved there after the Scout winter camp at nearby Shadow Lake, to be on site for Winter Field Day.
   We may need to repair a speaker connector.
   Repeaters: Steve VE3UT. There have been no changes to the repeaters. Gf VA3GS has submitted the repeater information to WYNSORC for this year.
   Web Site: Mike VA3MCT. Mike asked the board to look at the new website and send him comments. He will resend the site URL.It may be possible to send e-mail to members via 'Google for business' or Mail Chimp.
   Hamfest: Geoff VA3GS. No report, the hamfest is finished for the year.
   
9. Property: Rick VA3VO. No report.
   
10. Public Service: Eric VE3EB. At the recent Scout winter camp, Brian VE3IBW and Eric were in the trailer demonstrating APRS to the older youth, and Geoff and David were in the main building teaching phonetics and code to the younger youth.
    
11. ARES: Mike VA3MCT. No report.
    Winter Field day: Steve VE3UT: Steve noted there are 2 weeks left before Winter Field Day. Setup will be on Friday January 26 and the trailer is already on site. $55 has been given to Peter VE3PBT to purchase refreshments, and $220 is on hand to pay for fuel. The 40m dipole needs to be repaired – wires re-soldered to the balun. Steve noted that we should do an equipment check following each event to check for damaged or missing equipment.
    
12. Basic qualification course: Geoff VA3GS. There will be a new course next fall.
    
13. Membership: Barry VA3LLT We have approximately 70 members.
    
14. New Business:
    
    • Meeting Attendance. A review of board members attendance was discussed.
      
    • A Stouffville Scout group would like us to do a presentation at one of their Thursday meetings. The presentation would be approximately 1 to 1.5 hours long. Code/voice/APRS to be determined. The date to be determined.
      
    • Gas used at the previous Scout winter camp. MOTION: To reimburse David VA3DCY for gas purchased upon presentation of a receipt, value not to exceed $30. Moved Steve VE3UT, seconded Eric VE3EB. Carried.
      
    • USB – RS232 adaptor for D-Star trailer radio. MOTION: To reimburse Steve VE3UT for the purchase of the USB adaptor $30 max. The motion needs to be presented at the next General meeting.
      
    • Club event vests: Eric VE3EB - Eric proposed purchasing identical vests with the club ID/logo, to be worn by club members at club public events. He suggested purchasing 16 to 20 vests that would be owned by the club, and members could also purchase their own vests. He also proposed purchasing an open tracker in the future.
      

Minutes - YRARC General Meeting - March 6, 2018

Meeting held in the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to Order at 19:35 by Chris VE3NRT. Total members and guests attending: 28.

1. Welcome & Introductions: Chris VE3NRT
   
2. Adoption of minutes from 2018/02/06. Moved Brian VE3IBW, seconded Rick VA3VO. Carried.
   
3. Treasurer's Report; Charles VA3TTB. Members may obtain the opening and closing balances from the club secretary. Receipts: Excess money from Winter Field Day $105.00; Expenditures: Serial port adapter $28.24, Scout Winter Camp Gas: $23.39.
   
4. Insurance: Charles VA3TTB. Our membership at RAC has expired, and membership in RAC could have benefits with the future purchase of insurance. MOTION: That YRARC join Radio Amateurs of Canada as an affiliate club for an annual cost of $27.95 plus GST. Moved Rick VA3VO, seconded John VA3JI. Carried.
   
5. Repeaters: Steve VE3UT: VE3YRA will be off the air on Wednesday March 7, at 09:00 for approximately one hour, to replace the power supply that had recently failed. The repeater has been on air using a temporary supply. Doug VE3ATP is waiting for better weather to replace the VE3YRK antenna. Don VE3IXJ mentioned there is a new DMR repeater north of Bradford.
   

Guest Speaker: Due to last minute circumstances, the scheduled guest was unavailable. Charles VA3TTB filled in with some of his thoughts on weather radar. Being an enthusiastic bird watcher, weather radar is of interest to him. Weather radar has an approximately 1 degree beam, which is elevated just above the horizon. At a given distance away from the radar station, the beam will be at a certain height above ground. The pulses can be reflected by small objects such as rain, snow, small insects such as bees and also birds. One of his pictures showed a ring of objects. They were birds, flying at their normal height above the ground. Another picture showed a concentration of migrating birds along the Niagara Peninsula. In conclusion, he wanted us to know that a doctor gave us a talk on the birds and the bees.

Minutes - YRARC General Membership Meeting 2018-02-06

Meeting held in the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to Order at 19:30 by Chris VE3NRT. Total members and guests attending: 38.

1. Welcome & Introductions: Chris VE3NRT
   
2. Trailer and Membership Report: Barry VA3LLT.
   
   • The club trailer was used at Winter Field Day, and a small clean-up is needed.
     
   • We have a total of 73 paid members, including life members.
     
3. Trailer Item Purchase: Steve VE3UT. MOTION: To approve payment of $28.24 for a USB to RS232 adaptor, purchased for the D- Star radio in the club trailer. Moved Steve VE3UT, seconded Rick VA3VO. Carried.
   
4. Adoption of minutes from 2017/12/05 and 2018/01/02. Moved Brian VE3IBW, seconded Steve VE3UT. Carried.
   
5. Treasurer's Report: Charles VA3TTB. Due to an incompatibility between a USB drive and a computer, there was no official report, only a verbal summary.
   
6. Insurance: Charles VA3TTB. We have 3 insurance policies, liability insurance, trailer road insurance and directors insurance. Charles is investigating getting us coverage at better rates.
   
7. Public Service: Eric VE3EB.
   
   • There are planned events for the year 2018, including but not limited to, the Mount Albert Run, the Newmarket Music Festival, the Aurora Street Sale, Run for the Cure, and various events at the Sharon Temple.
     
   • We participated at the recent 2nd Markham Scouts Winter camp. Steve VE3UT, Geoff VA3GS and David VA3DCY set up on the Friday (in winter conditions). On Saturday Geoff VA3GS and David VA3DCY introduced younger youth to Morse Code and the phonetic alphabet. For the older youth, Eric VE3EB and Brian VE3IBW demonstrated APRS and digital modes with the help of Steve VE3EZ (who was off site).
     
8. Winter Field Day: Steve VE3UT
   
   • WFD weekend was on January 27 and 28. Set up started on Friday with the club trailer, Steve VE3EZ's trailer and one section of the summer shelter. We operated as 3Oscar (maximum 3 transmitters at one time and Outdoors).
     
   • In 2015 our score was 3573, in 2017 our score was 6348 and for 2018 we claimed 10,690. The total number of QSOs were 239 with a multiplier of 7, for a QSO score of 2345. We claimed 1500 bonus points each for non-commercial power (generators), operating outdoors, away from home and a minimum of one satellite QSO. We made 3 Satellite QSOs (although only 1 counted).
     
9. Repeaters: Steve VE3UT. VE3YRA was off the air recently due to a failed power supply. It was returned to air using a temporary supply. A replacement supply will arrive soon.
   
10. ARES (EmComm) Report: Don VE3IXJ. The UHF frequencies used on the cross-band repeaters at the EOCs, may conflict with digital frequencies. Don is working to resolve the situation.
    

Break: 20:10 – 20:25

Guest Speaker: Alex VE3ASE

Topic: Amateur Radio Satellites.

It can be inexpensive to start working satellites with a minimum of equipment. Alex started with a simple 'tape measure' yagi and a dual band handheld radio. Satellites can be worked regardless of band conditions, since they are worked with line of sight VHF and UHF communications. The satelites are in low-earth orbit (not geosynchronous orbit like communications satellites) and have a 10 to 20 minute maximum window when they can be 'seen'.

FM satellites operate on 1 cross-band channel, and like a terrestrial repeater, allow only one QSO at a time. Linear satellites have a 50 to 100 kHz bandwidth and allow multiple SSB/CW QSOs.

For FM satellite operation, the handheld radio should be capable of full duplex operation, first to ensure you are actually being heard by the sattelite and secondly to be able to respond quickly to a QSO. Alternately 2 separate radios could be used. Because of the satellite movement, you can expect a doppler shift, so at least 5 pre-programmed transmit and receive frequencies are necessary – (2 lower, 1 on frequency, 2 higher). In addition, a voice recorder is necessary to record the exchange in the QSO. In order to know when satellites will be 'visible', satellite pass prediction software is invaluable.

The most critical antenna is the downlink antenna. It should be a high gain Yagi. While the antennae can be hand-held, it can also be permanently mounted, and motor driven as done by Brad VE3HII. The setup can also be more expensive.

Minutes - YRARC General Meeting 2018-01-02

Meeting held in the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to Order at 19:30 by Chris VE3NRT. Total members and guests attending: 26

1. Welcome & Introductions: Chris VE3NRT
   
2. Adoption of minutes from 2017/12/05. Postponed until February 2018.
   
3. Repeater Committee: Steve VE3UT
   
   • The voice IDs on the repeaters are now muted when the repeater is in use. VE3YRK-V is still off the air due to a 4:1 SWR.
     
   • Winter field day will be on January 27 and 28, and we will be at Al's Tack Shop on Vandorf Rd. A show of hands indicated approximately 10 people plan to attend. The cost of fuel and snacks will be covered by the club. Peter VE3PBT will prepare a light meal for those wishing to stay for supper at a cost of $3 per person.
     
4. Don VE3IXJ noted that VE3BAL is now on a new frequency.
   

Break: 19:50

Guest Speaker: Don VE3IXJ
Topic: The Power of the HT Repeater.

Don demonstrated a simplex repeater, Surecom SR-112, costing approximately $80 Cdn bought on eBay from China. It attaches to the mic/speaker of the HT radio. On receive it records the audio, then re-transmits the recorded audio. It is a very simple solution for use in a local environment. Then Don demonstrated a crossband repeater, Surecom SR-628, costing approximately $90Cdn. The lightweight and inexpensive repeater could be set up easily and quickly in a typical emergency where simplex operation might be ineffective.

The crossband repeater was connected to an inexpensive Chinese radio capable of crossband. Anything received on VHF was retransmitted on UHF, and anything received on UHF was retransmitted on VHF. To extend the range, Don added a second crossband repeater/radio combination and then a third repeater/radio combination. From end to end a typical path would be VHF Freq#1 – repeater – UHF Freq#2 – repeater – VHF Freq#3 – repeater – UHF Freq#4.

A conversation could be heard on any frequency along the path. A radio in the middle could transmit on UHF Freq#2 or VHF Freq#3 and be heard at both ends of the path on VHF Freq#1 and UHF Freq#4.

YRARC General Meeting - Minutes 2017-12-05

Meeting held in the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to Order at 19:30 by Chris VE3NRT. Total members and guests attending: 27

1. Welcome & Introductions: Chris VE3NRT
   
2. Adoption of minutes from 2017/11/07. Moved Rick VA3VO, seconded Jack VA3UU. Carried
   
3. Ontario VHF Association: Bob VE3WY; The Ontario VHF Association is having a 1 day meeting in June, with antenna testing in the morning, and technical talks in the afternoon, followed by dinner. Bob asked if we as a club would host the event.
   
4. ARES Report: Mike VA3MCT; The recent SET in Markham was based on a 5 day power outage. Messages were passed using only simplex communication, however hand written messages using standard voice relaying are slow, and not the way to go forward. Eric VE3EB and others are experimenting with Fldigi to transfer messages of UHF and HF. Steve VE3UT and others have tested D-Star to transfer messages. John VE3IPS would also like to encourage the use of NVIS antennae for short range HF links.
   
5. Treasurer’s Report: Charles VA3TTB; There was no working projector and no definite treasurers report, just figures from memory. Charles spoke about a proposed project night Arduino antenna analyzer. He has been sourcing parts for the project, and the cost should be approximately $100.
   
6. Repeater, Winter Field Day Reports: Steve VE3UT; The D-Star VHF repeater is off the air until further notice. The antenna has a 4:1 VSWR. Steve asked for a headcount of potential WFD participants, to estimate refreshment requirements (approximately 10 to 12). Proposed bands for operation will be 160m, 80m, 40m and 20m...Phone, CW and digital modes. Rob VE3RQB wanted to know when the 'brag messages' on the repeaters would be lowered when there was a conversation in progress.
   
7. Public Service Report: Eric VE3EB; There are still items remaining from the estate of Bernie VE3OTR. John VE3POJ is disposing of the assets. Contact Eric for details.
   
8. Hamfest Report: Geoff VA3GS; Geoff thanked all who were involved with the Hamfest. He also noted that as of December 1, all cell phones can be unlocked without charge for the unlock code.
   
9. Membership Report: Barry VA3LLT; We have a total of 70 paid members including life members.
   
10. Name Tags: Doug VE3VS;Anyone a name tag, please contact Doug. When there are enough orders, the name tags can be made. There is a DXpedition at the Galapagos Islands, and Doug received his Vimy 100 certificate.
    

Meeting adjourned at 20:15. Moved Rick VA3VO, seconded Jack VA3UU. Carried.

The Christmas party followed the business meeting.

Minutes - YRARC General Meeting 2017-09-05

Meeting held in the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to Order at 19:30 by Chris VE3NRTTotal members and guests attending: 42

1. Welcome & Introductions – Chris VE3NRT. Adoption of the Minutes from the 2017/05/02 and 2017/06/06 general meeting postponed until October.
   
2. Public Service – Brian VE3IBW for Eric VE3EB. Past events included the Canada Day celebration at the Sharon Temple and the Newmarket Music Festival. We received a $600 honorarium for our participation at the music festival. Upcoming events include the Sharon Temple Illumination on September 8 and Weaving Words, also at the Sharon Temple on September 17. Run for the cure is on October 1 and we will need 10 to 14 volunteers to run this event.
   
3. Treasurer’s Report – Charles VA3TTB. Charles stressed the need to pay our dues and support the Hamfest, since we have many expenses including insurance and rental costs for the Hamfest which occur throughout the year.
   
   • Opening Balance 2017-09-01 [available to members on request to club secretary]
     
   • Income: None
     
   • Expenditures: None
     
   • Closing Balance 2017-09-01 [available to members on request to club secretary]
     
4. Hamfest – Geoff VA3GS. Our annual hamfest will be held on November 4 at the Markham Fairgrounds. This year we will use Hall 2 as the entrance as before, and this year, all exhibits will be in Hall 1. We will need lots of help, on Friday for preparation, on Saturday morning to run the event and also for tear down. When we do the cleanup, we save ourselves money.
   
5. Ham Classes – Geoff VA3GS. Information about upcoming classes – TBD.
   
6. Summer Field Day – Steve VE3UT
   
   • Steve gave a quick summary of Summer Field Day, noting that it was a success with many bands operated, more QSOs and a record breaking number of Satellite contacts. This was in spite of having to shut down early because of severe weather.
     
   • Plans are underway to hold Winter Field Day in January with details to follow.
     
   • We have been invited to attend a Scout Winter Camp, the weekend before WFD. This will be a 'low key event'.
     
   • We have also been asked to participate at a Scout JOTA camp at Woodland Trails (Kennedy Rd north of Bloomington) on October 21.
     
7. Repeaters – Steve VE3UT. The IRLP node should be working within a few weeks.
   
8. Co-ax and 6m Net – Johnn VA3JI. John has some 7/8” Heliax available, and would also be willing to reactivate the 6m Net if there is sufficient interest.
   
9. ARES / EmComm – John VE3IPS, Mike VA3MCT. There is a GTA SET on Saturday October 14. York Region will be holding an emergency exercise on Wednesday and Thursday November 15 and 16. The scenario will involve a simulated 5 day power outage and will be at the Markham EOC. Check-ins are encouraged during the event.
   
10. Co-ax and TV tower – Doug VE3VS. Doug has some co-ax and TV tower sections available.
    

Break 20:30 – 20:45 Guest Speaker Grant VE3XTV – “Amateur TV Repeaters”. Grant talked about his amateur TV repeaters. He has plans for a hybrid analogue/digital repeater and spoke about some of the challenges and potential obstacles in getting his repeater up and running. For the moment the repeater input would accept analogue signals, and the repeater output would be a digital signal. Much of the equipment used would be old broadcast equipment, available at bargain prices, along with some custom made items. Future plans are for an all digital repeater.

Meeting adjourned at 21:30.