marcOgramOfficial Publication of The Montreal Amateur Radio Club Inc. Box 53047 - RPO Dorval, Dorval Quebec H9S 5W4

A MARC Monthly Newsletter Volume 57, Number 05 February 2012

Next meeting - February 29, 2012Ragchew and Fleamarket: 19:30, Club meeting: 20:00

Ignatius of Loyola Parish Church

4455 West Broadway (corner of Terrebonne) in N.D.G. - Montreal

(Please enter by the back door)

Leo Nikinnen, VE2SI Will give a presentation on Towers, raising and lowering.

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Sheldon Werner, VA2SH Vice President of MARC

effective January 21 2012, appointed as:R.A.C. Regional Director, Quebec

A Word from The President.

Hello allWell February is upon us and I wonder if anybody can explain to me how it is that the shortest month of the year always seems to last so long (deadlines except-ing of course)? These past few weeks have been very busy for me. This year, I joined two more amateur radio clubs to bring the total up to 4 in the Montreal re-gion. I keep telling myself that I cannot possibly go to all the meetings I am supposed to be attending and yet, somehow I manage. I even managed to visit with the CRALL club (of which I am not a member) this past week. Thanks to Sheldon, VA2SH for the invite!

At our last meeting, I remember mentioning that the VE2RED repeater was not doing as well as it could be. What it looks like has happened, is during that big wind storm we had in January, the antenna got blown/pushed until something or other has

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D I R E C T O R S

President:

Paul Iarrera, VE2OFHVice President:

Sheldon Werner, VA2SHTreasurer:

Jim Hay, VE2VEMembership:

Vernon Ikeda, VE2QQSecretary:

George Hedrei, VE2NGHDirectors at Large:

Craig Brander, VE2YGKRon Campbell, VA2RJC

Marc-Andre Gingras, VE2EVNPaul “Mac” MacDougall, VA2YQ

Earl Paris, VE2ESP

Club Call Sign: VE2ARCClub Website: http://www.marc.qc.ca

Club Email: ve2arc@rac.ca

Repeaters

VE2BG!! 147.06 MHz (+)

Owned and operated by Montreal Amateur Radio Club. Located on the Point Claire water tower.

VE2RED! 147.27 MHz (+)

Owned and operated by the Montreal Amateur radio Club.

Meetings of the Board of Directors

Meetings of the Board of Directors are open to any member to attend. Board meetings are held on the first Wednesday of the month (Sept. to June) at 7:30 PM at the same venue as the monthly meetings (see below).

Should you wish to attend one of the meetings you are welcome. Just speak to one of the directors before-hand to make certain that the meeting has neither been cancelled, nor the location changed.Annual Fees are:

GeneralMembers...! $25.00

Associate Members! $25.00

White cane members! $15.00

Family members (per family) $30.00

The membership year runs from September 1 to August 31. Membership received on or after June 1 commences immediately and extends through the subsequent membership year - covering a period of up to fifteen months.

.

Club Activities - Monthly Meetings

Club meetings are held on the last Wednesday of the month. The meetings will be held in the Lounge which is the rearmost door on the South side of the building unless we have rea-son to hold it in the Parish Hall which is the first door on the South side of the building. An informal flea-market and ragchew session starts at 19:30 with the formal meeting starting at 20:00. STM buses 51, 162, and 105 stops at or near the door!

broken. Marten, VE2WU will not be able to have his rigger get up there until the spring. In the mean time, Marten has switched back to the vertical which is on the roof of his house. This antenna is also dan-gling after that very same storm, but is still better than nothing. The situation as to when we start work-ing on the VE2BG antenna is very similar. That is to say, do not ex-pect much movement on the re-peater front until the month of April. That being said, I was very pleased to have gotten a response from one of our members when I let it be known in last month's news letter that we were looking for a certified rigger to do some work for us on the water tower. Special thanks go out to Mark Macpherson, VE2JT for recommending Devcom Services Inc. In St-Lazare to us. We have spoken with them, their prices are reasonable and they re-quire only two weeks notice to be-gin the job. It looks like we've found just the outfit we've been looking for thanks Mark! Now I'm sure some of you are wondering why with all the experienced climbers that we have, are we turn-ing to a commercial service? The reason is simply that the city of Montreal will not allow us to climb the water tower without proper in-surance and documentation. So even if any number of our members would be able to do the job, be-cause of liability concerns we must hire a fully insured and certified rigger.

We are gearing up for the 80th anniversary/RAC AGM planning committee and your board of direc-

tors needs some help as there is much work to be done. At this month's meeting, expect to be hit upon by yours truly, as we need your talent on the planning com-mittee for a successful event. It looks like the event will be held on the last weekend of September. We will have two days of activities to plan, including the MARC 80th birthday celebration dinner.

Our very own Leo Nikkinen, VE2SI (of Nearfest fame) will be presenting this month, a talk on tower erection and tear down. I was fortunate enough to get a chance to work with Leo last summer on a tower take down (you should see the sweet, home brewed gin pole that he made) and am looking for-

ward to Leo's presentation. I en-courage you all to come out for an interesting evening of discussion on this essential topic. Who knows? Perhaps Leo will even be able to give us some tips on where we might be able to find some of that specialized equipment he uses when he's out there tower climbing.

From the Editor’s Desk

I’ll keep it short in this issue of the newsletter. I have decided to continue my thoughts regarding emergency communications.

I personally feel that this is a most important area of activity for Radio Amateurs. Over the past few years we have read and heard many examples where hams have provided their skill in providing assistance to communities who have experi-enced some level of local disas-ters. Surely all hams should be available for such emergency activity in whatever way possi-ble. If this is so, then we need the appropriate training!!!.

You will see in following pages where hams themselves were caught by unusual weather con-ditions. In another article I relate to an on-going emergency. Per-haps the availability of radio amateur skills would be useful and appreciated.

Finally I have given a brief de-scription of the Vermont  Emer-­‐gency  Preparedness  Workbook.  A  great  informative  publication.From your 1/2 editor.Ron, VA2RJC

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MarcOgramThe MarcOgram is published nine times per year on the second to last Wednesday of September through June, excepting December, by the Montreal Amateur Radio Club. Advertising and copy deadline is one week prior to publication.Associate Editors.Sheldon M Werner, VA2SHva2sh@marc.ca

Ron Campbell, VE2RJva2rjc@marc.ca

Articles published in the MarcOgram may be reproduced provided credit is given to the original author and the Montreal Amateur radio club.The opinions expressed herein are, unless otherwise stated, solely those of the authors concerned, and not those of the Club, the Directors or members and do not represent the policy of the Club

RSGB Announces Special Prefixes to Celebrate Dia-mond Jubilee, Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games:from The ARRL Letter on January 26, 2012

The Radio Society of Great Brit-ain (RSGB http://www.rsgb.org/) and Ofcom -- the British equiva-lent to the FCC -- have author-ized radio amateurs to use spe-cial prefixes http://www.rsgb.org/news/articlelinks.php?id=0263 during 2012 in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games.

To celebrate the Queen's Dia-mond Jubilee, all UK radio ama-teur and club stations can apply to use a special prefix for a five week period, from May 5-June 10. This will add or substitute the letter "Q" in the place of the regional identifier in the call sign. During the Summer Olym-pics and the Paralympic Games, radio amateurs and club sta-tions can apply to use the letter "O" in the same fashion for a

seven week period, from July 21-September 9.

Amateurs in the United Kingdom who choose to apply for these special call signs will be using GQ, MQ and 2Q prefixes to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, and GO, MO and 2O prefixes to celebrate the Olympic and Para-lympic Games. In addition, calls in the series GB2012aaa will be available for Special Event Sta-tions relating to the Olympics. Licenses will also be issued for four "flagship" stations using the prefix 2O12a (that's the letter "O," not a zero; "a" is a single letter relating to the location of the station).

New Books on HF Digital Op-erations, Emergency Power Now Shipping:from The ARRL Letter on January 26, 2012The ARRL has just released two new books that you are going to want to have in your shack: Get on the Air with HF Digitalhttp://www.arrl.org/shop/Get-on-the-Air-with-HF-Digital/ by QST Editor Steve Ford, WB8IMY, and Emergency Power for Radio Communications http://www.arrl.org/shop/Emergency-Power-for-Radio-Communications/ (2nd

Edition) by Michael Bryce, WB8VGE.

Get on the Air with HF Digital is a step-by-step guide that will get you started in the fascinating world of HF digital technology. Written in an easy-to-understand, conversational style, this book will show you how to set up and operate your own HF digital station. The text includes instructions for config-uring software programs for popular modes such as RTTY, PSK31 and JT65. You'll also learn about other digital com-munication modes such as MFSK, Olivia and PACTOR. It's a fun and easy way for begin-ners learn how to get on the air!

With Emergency Power for Ra-dio Communications, you will explore the various means of electric power generation for every application -- from charg-ing batteries to keeping the lights on. This book covers the foundation of any communica-tions installation: the power source. Use this book to plan ways to stay on-the-air when weather or other reasons cause a short-term or long-term power outage. Find ways to reach be-yond the commercial power grid and identify methods for alterna-

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MARC Fundraiser WE NEED YOUR SUPPORTIn order for MARC to reach some of it’s goals, we have decided to re-introduce tadvertising in the marcOgram newsletter. The rates are as follows:Business card $ 5.00 per issue Quarter page $ 7.00 per issueHalf page $12.00 per issue Full page $20.00 per issueThe “Marcogram” from September to June, which is nine issues. We also publixh a summer efition during the months of August/September, which becomes a free month. So we actually publish ten issues. We have a list distribution of about 200 persons. A business card placed for 9 issues would only be $ 40.00. We are asking for all members to family or friends who have a business to place an ad. You could also advertise a special function.

tive power generation that will work best in your particular situation, perhaps taking advan-tage of possibilities already on hand. Emergency Power for Radio Communication, dis-cusses the proper tools for emergency or backup power, energy independence and port-able energy. Read more here http://www.arrl.org/news/new-books-on-hf-digital-operations-emergency-power-now-shipping.

VERMONT FAMILY EMERGENCY PREPARDEDNESS WORKBOOK

During  the  excellent  WIARC  Ra-­‐dio  Talk  2011,  I  happened  to  browse  through  a  few  documents  regarding  Emergency  Manage-­‐ment  and  serious  weather  pat-­‐terns.  I  guess  having  spent  about  40  years  of  my  life  in  aviation  while  not  a  weather  specialist;  some  of  my  activities  were  closely  related  to  the  metrologi-­‐cal  services  including  Search  and  Rescue.  Additional  in  regards  to  emergency  preparedness,  being  a  telecommunications  specialist  I  was  automatically  assigned  du-­‐ties  to  the  emergency  evacuation  of  international  personnel.

Going  through  the  Vermont  Emergency  Preparedness  Work-­‐book,  I  realize  how  close  it  re-­‐sembled  one  of  the  United  Na-­‐tions  documents  that  I  had  re-­‐ferred  to  in  my  foreign  country  service.

The  contents  of  the  workbook  include  the  following:

1. Are  you  prepared  for  a  disaster?• Disasters  can  happen  

anytime,  with  or  with-­‐out  warning.  A  disaster  can  be  the  result  of  a  man-­‐made  incident,  or  a  natural  event  like  a  Slood  or  ice  storm,  so  it’s  important  to  take  steps  now  to  prepare;

2. Disaster  Preparedness  Check  List• Identify  a  friend  or  

relative  in  a  different  region  who  can  coor-­‐dinate  communica-­‐tions  in  case  your  fam-­‐ily  is  separated;

• Talk  with  ofSicials  re-­‐garding  school  disaster  plans;

• Prepare  a  disaster  supply  kit  with  emer-­‐gency  supplies;  

• Make  a  list  of  impor-­‐tant  items  and  stores  where  they  can  be  purchased;

• Ensure  all  family  members  wear  appro-­‐priate  medical-­‐alert  tags.

• Etcetera  ……  Etcetera;3. Build  a  Family  Disaster  

Kit.  • A  disaster  kit  should  

contain  all  of  the  items  that  you  would  need  for  three  days.  It  should  be  stored  in  a  place  of  easy  access.  All  family  members  should  know  where  the  kit  is  located  and  the  contents  should  be  checked  or  replaced  every  six  months.  It  is  important  the  kit  be  

easy  to  move  so  that  you  can  take  it  with  you  if  you  have  to  evacuate;

4. Emergency  Protective  Ac-­‐tions.• How  to  Evacuate;• How  to  Shelter-­‐In-­‐

Place;5. Animals  in  Disasters.  6. Power  Outages.  7. Home  Fire  Safety  Tips.

My  point  of  illustrating  this  valu-­‐able  document  in  present  times,  I  kind  of  wonder  that  I’ve  not  seen  something  similar  covering  our  own  local  environment  –  Ver-­‐mont  is  one  of  our  neighbours,  so  surly  what  is  appropriate  there,  could  equally  be  relevant  here?    Or,  is  it  that  we  have  an  attitude  that  nothing  like  this  could  hap-­‐pen  to  us.

Let  me  just  add  a  little  foot-­‐note:Most of you know that my wife and I have families in Europe and we spend a considerable amount of time in Italy. We have just received an email from a good friend of ours who lives in a beautiful small wine-growing town in the hills of Tuscany. He informed me that it is really dis-astrous at present. They first of all, had about 80cm of snow fall which the local authorities were not prepared or able to clear. Now the temperate has dropped to the minus double digits, so everything is frozen (both of these events are unheard of). The problem now (as of 12 Feb-ruary) is that goods and people are not able to move except on just a few roads. The small local hospital is running out of sup-

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plies, food stores are getting short of urgent supplies and electrical power is down in many places, fuel is not getting into the town and, they have many resident who live in outlying ar-eas. I don’t know what commu-nications are like, most have cellphones but we know that they are not 100% reliable.This is a community, which was not prepared in any form; their mindset was that it could never happen here!!!!SHOULD  WE  ALL  NOT  LEARN  FROM  THIS  AND  NOT  LIVE  WITH  OUR  HEADS  IN  THE  SAND  (  whoops  SNOW  )???

Ron,  VA@RJC

Message to a UK Ham Club Members.

Very sorry but with discussion we have decided to CANCEL the Tuesday, 7th February Meeting at MASC. Although the M25 and the A12 are now running very few Mem-bers actually live on them and since Essex County Council now have a “We do not grit Side-Roads” Policy many peo-ple will be snowed in today and Monday and Iced in on Tuesday. We also know that MASC do not “Snow Clear” the car park so that will be like a skating rink for a few more days. I have 8” of snow and a White Van has parked (abandoned) in the critical part of the hill up my road so even a Snow Cat could not get up now! Just before that a Monster Truck pulled an Audi A6 up the hill using his crawler gear.

Sorry, but we simply did not want to have heard of car crashes and people slipping up. John, G8DET Chairman

Guess we can relate to this. Ron VA2RJC

MISSION STATEMENT FROM OUR PRESIDENTIn speaking with the MARC board of directors it was decided that after Jim Hay's , VE2VE long stint as our club president, that it might be nice to give club members an op-portunity to learn a little more about  their new president as well as his thoughts and ideas on what strategic directions he may lead us.

I of course jumped at the chance (two months ago) and have been ever since, wondering what it is that I might have to say...  Honestly with only two years under my belt as a ham I sit in at a club meeting and look out at folks that have for-gotten more than I'll probably ever know on the subject of ham radio. Needless to say, it can be quite in-timidating. You know what though?  I will not let that stop me because I know that  I'm a smart guy with experience enough to handle those curve balls that life seems to enjoy throwing at us all too often.  I am also and perhaps

more importantly, enthusiastic about ham radio.  Everything I at-tempt in amateur radio, is a thrill-ing and educational experience for me. I want to do it all and at 52 years old I'm kicking myself now for not getting my ticket earlier. 

I earn my living as a systems inte-grator and as such, have spent many years consulting with my cli-ents on projects for businesses of which I typically know very little. I can't even begin to count the num-ber of times I've had to deploy sys-tems of which I know next to noth-ing operationally speaking. Appar-ently I do what I do well, as I've spent very little time over the past 25 years in an unemployed state. I am completely self taught and ap-ply the same principles I've learned over the years as a consultant, to amateur radio.  That is to say, I do not wait until I know how to do something before starting it. As ap-plied to amateur radio, this means I've begun designing antenna sys-tems before completely understand-ing what it is I'm working on.  In fact there are many aspects of ama-teur radio which I find  almost in-distinguishable from magic. I make mistakes, re-invent the wheel and am generally having a grand old time learning what is for me, new and exciting technologies. 

As for my vision as to where I should be leading the MARC, here is the mission I have given myself during my term as president of our club. 

• Increase our membership

• Advocate amateur radio at every opportunity 

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Actually these two points are one and the same because point 1 would not be able to exist without point 2.  How to go about doing this, is the work I have cut out for myself. Here are my views on this subject.

I firmly believe that if we are going to have any measure of success in increasing our membership, we must provide activities and services which will attract not only the local experienced hams, but that will also capture the imagination and curios-ity of those who have yet to get their ticket. The MARC is a club that over the years has had many illustrious members and it has played an important role in shaping the Montreal area amateur radio community.  I would like us to con-tinue in this tradition, to see more radio related social events happen-ing and to work with other clubs such as the WIARC and UMS in order to continue building a robust and active community of hams.  In doing this, I expect to hit on our more experienced members to El-mer and encourage the newer arrivals.  We need your wisdom and guidance, we look up to you, you are our examples and who we choose to emulate as we move for-ward and increase our knowledge, set up our stations and learn to be-come competent amateur radio op-erators. The relationship is symbi-otic however, you old timers need us as well.  You who have seen eve-rything, done everything and have already got the tee shirt need us newbies just as badly.  We will re-mind you what it was like when you first started out. You will re-member what a thrill every little success was and through us, you will relive the excitement of those first years as a ham. It can be noth-

ing other than a win-win situation. Everybody will benefit and as a re-sult of our activities, I believe that new members will naturally gravi-tate towards our club and we will continue to thrive for many more years to come. What better legacy could we as a club, leave to future generations of hams? 

I still have much to work out as to how to obtain success but I know that with the help of our member-ship and the board of directors, we will succeed.  Methods can and will be discussed and argued as they should be, but I sincerely hope that you all will agree with the gist of

what I am saying and look forward to working with you in the coming year to bring our plans to fruition. 

73 de Paul

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AmateurRadio Flea Market

Saturday April 14, 2012

Royal Canadian Legion7771 Bouvier

Lasalle(STM bus 109)

TIME: DEALERS - 8:15 AM PUBLIC - 9:00 AM DOOR PRIZES - FREE PARKING -

SNACK BAR TALK-IN: 147.060+ (VE2BG)GENERAL ADMISSION $5.00

TABLE RENTAL $10.00 (2 for $18) Table rental includes one admission

Information - ReservationsJim HAY 514-990-1965E-mail: ve2ve@marc.ca http://www.marc.qc.ca

Marché aux PûcesRadio Amateur

Le Samedi 14 avril 2012

Royal Canadian Legion7771 Bouvier

Lasalle(autobus STM 109)

OUVERTURE: 8h15 VENDEURS, 9h00 PUB-LIC Prix de Presénce-Stationnement Gratuit-

Casse CroûteGUIDAGE: 147.060+ (VE2BG) FRAIS D’ADMISSION 5,00$

LOCATION DES TABLES 10,00$ (2 pour18.00$)

Une entrée avec location d’une table

Infos - ReservationsJim HAY 514-990-1965E-mail - ve2ve@marc.ca

http://www.marc.qc.ca

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MONTREAL AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

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MARC INCOME STATEMENT SEPTEMBER 01, 2010 - AUGUST 31,

N E W S L E T T E R

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SHORTWAVE & AM/FM RADIOS / RADIOS ONDES COURTES & AM/FMA.O.R., ALINCO, GRUNDIG/ETON, ICOM, JRC, S.G.C., YAESU

SCANNERS / BALAYEURS D'ONDESA.O.R., ALINCO, ICOM, UNIDEN/BEARCAT, WINRADIO

AMATEUR RADIO / RADIO-AMATEURALINCO, ICOM, KENWOOD, RANGER, S.G.C., YAESU

CITIZENS BAND (CB) / BANDE PUBLIQUE (CB)ASTATIC, COBRA, GALAXY, K40, MACO, PARADYNAMICS, RANGER, ROAD NOISE, SHAKE-

SPEARE, SOLARCON/ANTRON, UNIDEN, VALOR/PRO-AM, WILSON, WORKMAN

FRS & GMRS TWO WAY RADIOS / FRS ET GMRS PORTATIFS UHFCOBRA, GARMIN, ICOM, MOTOROLA

ANTENNAS / ANTENNESALPHA DELTA, ARROW, BUTTERNUT, COMET, COMPROD, CUBEX, CUSHCRAFT, DIAMOND,

FIRESTICK, FORCE 12, HUSTLER, HYGAIN, ISOTRON, LARSEN, MALDOL, MFJ, MIRACLE ANTENNA, OUTBACKER, PRYME, RADIOWAVZ, TENNADYNE,

VALOR/PRO-AM, WORKMAN

SPECIALTY PRODUCTS / PRODUITS SPECIALISESAMERITRON, ASTRON, BENCHER, CONNECT QUICK, DAIWA, D.C.I., GARMIN, GEOCRON,

HEIL, KANTRONICS, KIWA ELECTRONICS, L.D.G., MAGELLAN, MAHA, MFJ, MIRAGE, NYE VI-KING, OPTOELECTRONICS, OREGON SCIENTIFIC, PALOMAR, PALSTAR,

PRYME, RF CONCEPTS, R.F. SYSTEMS, RIGBLASTER, S.G.C., TIMEWAVE, UNADILLA, VECTRONICS, VIBROPLEX, WEST MOUNTAIN RADIO

PUBLICATIONS / PUBLICATIONSAMERICAN RADIO RELAY LEAGUE (ARRL), ARTSCI, BAYLIN PUBLICATIONS, BILLBOARD

(WRTH), CQ, CRB, HIGHTEXT, IBS (PASSPORT), KLINGENFUSS, KRAUSE, LOOMPANICS, NA-TIONAL RADIO CLUB, RADIO SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN, RADIO AMATEUR CALLBOOK, RA-

DIO AMATEURS DU QUEBEC, SCHIFFER BOOKS, SONORAN, TAB, TIARE

NATURE BOOKS / LIVRES DE LA NATURESIBLEY GUIDES, PETERSON FIELD GUIDES, NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY

PO Box 67063-LemoyneSt-Lambert, Quebec

J4R 2T8tel/fax :450-671-3773

sans frais - toll free in Canada1-800-463-3773

email : info@radiohf.ca

Specialists in shortwave radio, scanners, amateur radio, FRS/GMS, CB radio, antennas, accessories

Les spécialistes en radio ondes courtes, balayeurs d'ondes, radio-amateur, dispositifs radio domes-tiques (DRD/GMS), la bande publique (CB), an-