Welcome to the Kamloops Amateur Radio Club Website!

Please click on any of the top club links at the top of the page, or more informational links on the side. News is immediately below.

Silent Key VE7EKC

VE7EKC  Reginald Walter Gale    

March 10, 1940 – November 8, 2021

A long-time resident of Logan Lake, Reg passed away peacefully with his loving children by his side in Penticton.  Predeceased by his loving wife of 50 years (the love of his life), Gladys May Gale, his sister June, and brothers Cameron, Fred, and Doug.  He will be sadly missed by his son, Donald Gale (Rhonda), daughter Deborah Mueller (Wayne), grandchildren Martina, Melanie (Ray), Andrew, and Daniel, great-grandchildren Alexander and Elias, sisters Bernice (Johnny), Colleen, Marion (Brian), and brother Edward.  Reg is survived by his second wife Beryl.

VE7VGO home from the hospital

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am please to share with the membership that Vern, VE7VGO is now home from the hospital after his auto accident.  It will take a bit before he is fully back to normal, but if you get a chance give him a call on the repeater or twisted-pair. 

Great to see you home, Vern!

KARC members recognized for their service to the club

At the 2021 Annnual General Meeting, two KARC members were recognized for their outstanding service to the club. 

Vern, VE7VGO, was nominated for a Life Membership in recognition of, and appreciation for, his many years of service to the club.  Vern has been a mentor and role model for many of us in the club; he served as a Club Officer for many years, and his contribution to our repeater network, club events (Field Day!!), and volunteer activities have helped make the KARC what it is today. 

Congratulations, and thank you Vern!

 

 

 

Chuck Hays, VE7PJR, was recognized for his service to the club as our Net Control station for the Tuesday and Wednesday evening 2M nets.  Chuck was presented with a plaque as a gesture of our sincere appreciation for his many hundreds of hours of volunteer time as Net Control.  Without Chuck's tireless effort and dedication we would not have our nets.

Thank you, Chuck!

KARC volunteers assist with tower take down

Four members of the club assisted to safely take down the tower of former club member Al McKnight (SK).  His wife Barb contacted the club in late May and asked for our assistance.

Myles (VE7FSR) scoped out and planned the project with Barb, and in September Myles, Mark (VE7ALN), Chuck (VE7PJR), and Peter (VE7DNZ) got together over two evenings to take down the tower.  On the first evening Myles removed the old satellite dish, VHF antenna brackets, and lowered the two sections of aluminum masting.  He also got the rigging ready for the next evening when the team would be taking down the tower itself.

Peter brought the club gin pole, and Myles and Peter lifted off the tower sections and carefully passed them down to Chuck and Mark.  Fortunately Al had used stainless fasteners and anti-seize so everything came apart fairly easily.  It didn't take long and the tower sections were down in the back yard.  A few more minutes with a pipe wrench and a long extension and the bolts were off the mast base plate.

It was really nice to be able to assist Barb with this project, and I sincerly appreciate the help of Chuck, Mark and Peter in helping to make this possible.  Thank you!

Welcome to our newest club member!

I would like to introduce you to our newest KARC member Iain Tynan- VE7FXJ/VE7IET.

Iain has lived for 20 years in Kamloops with his family, and he has worked at Royal Inland Hospital since his arrival in Kamloops, first as an internist and currently as a hospitalist.

When Iain was in university he had friend with an amateur license and his friend introduced Iain to some fellow hams and soon Iain became hooked on listening to shortwave. Unfortunately, given time constraints, he did not get his own license until 2000.

Iain is looking forward to being part of the KARC, and is interested in learning from others.  His current rig is a Yaesu FT- 857 (but he also has an older Kenwood TS-690S) and uses a variety of wire dipoles (my wife is not too happy with them). He also has a Buddipole antenna for portable use, as well as an Icom 2100 for VHF.

If you hear Iain on the radio please give him a call.

Welcome to the KARC, Iain, and thank you for becoming a member!

Amateur Radio News of interest to KARC members

Pacific Northwest DX Convention

Registration is now open for the 2021 PNW DX Convention sponsored by the Willamette Valley DX Club in Portland, OR.  Registration is free and open to everyone since this is a virtual convention.  Technical sessions and prizes are still under development by the convention committee.  Please check the PNW DX Convention website for the latest info.

The in-person convention scheduled for August, 2021 has been cancelled.  The WVDXC will be holding a one day virtual convention via Zoom instead.  The date is Saturday Aug 7, 2021.  All hams are welcome.

Convention History: The PNW DX Convention has been held every summer since 1955 with the sponsorship rotating between the major DX clubs of the Pacific Northwest.  The 66th Annual Convention will be hosted by the Willamette Valley DX Club.

Together, these organizations have upheld the rich traditions of amateur radio and the pursuit of DX through five solar cycles. Over the decades, we have enjoyed wonderful friendships and the very special international cameraderie that ham radio fosters in the Pacific Northwest and around the world.

http://pacificnwdxconvention.com/

------------------------------------------------

PSAT2 (NO-104) Satellite VHF Transceiver is Alive with Innovative Mode

Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, says the PSAT2 VHF transceiver awoke from an 8-month slumber on April 26. "We have no idea why. Its telemetry looks fine," Bruninga said.

Voltage is between 6.2 and 7.0 V and exterior temperatures are between -18° and 22° C. PSAT2 will not be in Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) mode, but in a brand-new experimental mode for dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) uplink (145.980 MHz) and voice downlink.

"You pre-load your grid and call sign into a 16-digit DTMF memory in your radio, and when the satellite hears this it will assign a QSO number and QSL the grid by voice and then generate an APRS packet," Bruninga explained.

There's even a way to send back a DTMF QSL, so you can make it a two-way DTMF contact. Successful DTMF grids and messages will appear on a special URL on the PSAT2 page.

To QSL, key in that station's 2-digit QSL number and then dump your pre-loaded QSL DTMF message. Bruninga adds, "Read the docs and be sure you know what you are doing." A PSAT2 Users Operations Manual is available on the PSAT2 web page.

http://aprs.org/psat2.html

2021 KARC Annual General Meeting and Election of Officers

The 2021 Annual General Meeting of the Kamloops Amateur Radio Club was called to order at 7:56pm on May 6, 2021.

Chuck Hays, VE7PJR, was recognized for his service to the club as our Net Control station for the Tuesday and Wednesday evening 2M nets.  Chuck was presented with a plaque as a gesture of our appreciation for his many hundreds of hours of volunteer time.  Thank you, Chuck!

All Officers were elected by acclamation

The new Officers for 2021/2022 are:

President, Myles Bruns, VE7FSR
Vice-President, Dave Facey, VE7LTW
Secretary, Adam Clark, VA7AQD
Treasurer, Jordan Mohle, VE7OSX
Directors: Jim McNaught, VE7JMN; Ralph Adams, VA7VZA; Bill Erlenbach, VE7EAF

"The Simple Build" 80, 40, 20 Meter EFHW Shorty Antenna

 

 

 

 

By Tim Wallace, VA7PD

Let's get started!

Whether your building an EFHW antenna for your yard or for portable use, this antenna will do the job for you very well and can be used horizontally or as a sloper. The entire length of the antenna is slightly less than 75 feet with the 80 meter portion providing 50 khz bandwidth. This project is modeled on M0MSN's 80m EFHW build on YouTube, thanks Mike!

Check out the photos to get a better understanding on how to build this cool project.

"The Simple Build" 64:1 EFHW antenna transformer (UnUn)

 

 

 

 

By Tim Wallace, VA7PD

Let's Get started!

Whether your building an EFHW antenna for 80 meters or for 20 meters, this transformer will do the job for you very well. Firstly you are going to need all components in the parts list, everything can be found on Amazon.ca and Mouser.ca. Check out the photos in detail to get a better understanding on how to build this cool project.

Step 1: Drill holes for and install the SO-239 or BNC connector, the stainless steel machine screw antenna connector and the ss machine screw ground connector.

Welcome to our newest club member!

I would like to introduce you to our newest KARC member Simon Rizzardo, VE7RIZ, from Merritt.  Simon has worked for Emcon Services with the Crushing and Heavy Haul Division for the last 21 years. This job involves a lot of travel which can see him driving all over BC and Alberta. He is active on 2m and 70cm and hosts an IRLP repeater from his residence in Merritt on 147.080+ T110.9
 
He is also a Transport Canada certified drone operator and holds a ROC-A certificate for aviation frequency. You will find Simon enjoying snowmobiling and off roading with his family in his free time.  As part of his work with Ministry of Transportation Simon is also well versed in the MOTI repeater system.  Simon checks into the different Nets when in Vancouver on the VE7RPT system and Northern Net when in the 100 Mile house area when at the cabin on Dempsey Lake. He looks forward to helping with work parties at Thynne Mt., Iron Mtn, and South Forge Mtn in the future.

If you hear Simon on the radio, please give him a call.

Welcome to the KARC, Simon, and thank you for becoming a member!

 

Pages

Subscribe to Kamloops Amateur Radio Club RSS