Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:05:56 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/ PostNuke Powered Site en-us http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/images/logo.gif http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/ webmaster@hamiltonarc.ca http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article69.html Our Hamfest 2010 details have been posted. This year's Hamfest will take place at the same location as last year, the NEW Ancaster Fair Grounds at 630 Trinity Road, Ancaster, L0R 1R0. The event will take place on Saturday, October 16, 2010, the Saturday following Thanksgiving. Doors open for patrons at 9am and vendors at 7am. Admission is $6. The time is now to go through your equipment and book your tables. Tables are 8' @ $10 each (plus $6 admission per person). For more information or to book a table: Mardy VE3QEE (905) 648-0187, E-mail: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:05:56 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article68.html Fred VE3GCP and Adam VE3BAU have taken on an interesting activation of a Lighthouse and Island for the 3rd weekend of August in conjunction with the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW). Their ILLW # is CA0025. We will also be activating our Lighthouse (Burlington Main), ILLW #CA0015, on the same weekend and hope to meet up with them on the HF bands. They will be checking into ONTARS, so will we, so we may meet them on some of the bands. This is a fun thing (no contest) and the idea is to work as many Lighthouses or anyone you hear. Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:57:11 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article67.html One month to go.............. Announcement International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW) I am sending this out a little early so that doing our summer break, July and August, you know that we can still have fun doing ham radio activities. Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:39:39 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article66.html A Band Captain's meeting for Field Day 2010 will take place on Tuesday May 18 at 7pm at the home of Dan VA3DJ. Everyone who is running a station at Field Day can come to this meeting. If you will be attending, please contact Dan for the address and directions at: Wed, 05 May 2010 20:19:49 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article65.html Our April speaker, Nancy Lefneski, VA3TOB, gave us a very interesting glimpse into the 3 1/2 year circumnavigation she just completed, along with her husband Steven, aboard their 39 foot Corbin sail boat. She acquired her HAM license through the Hamilton club in preparation for the trip, and found it to be quite useful for such a trip. Nancy's presentation could easily have gone on for 2 hours as there was so much to cover during such an amazing journey. Areas of great interest include trip preparation, adventures, misadventures, dangers and how technology plays such an important role in such an undertaking. Anyone who would like to contact Nancy further regarding her circumnavigation of the past 3 1/2 years, can contact her at . Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:47:01 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article64.html There was an error in this month's bulletin in regards to the start time for the Hamilton CANWARN training session. The time should have been listed as 9am rather than 10am. The presentation by Environment Canada starts at 9am but for those who would like to come earlier to sign in and fill out a form to get their CanWarn ID, there will be someone there from 8am. For more information, visit www.canwarnhamilton.ca/training. Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:31:44 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article63.html Field Day 2010 will be at a new location this year, at Bruce Park on Hamilton Mountain. We have been at Rock Chapel for 15 years, however this year we had to get a new location due to changes at the RGB. Some of the parks they own, Rock Chapel being one of them, will be turned into bird sanctuaries, and others will have trails closed. Bruce Park is located between Brucedale and Queensdale on Hamilton Mountain, off Upper Wellington. (Click for map) Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:11:30 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article62.html HAMILTON, Ont., March 26, 2010 -- The 2010 CanWarn training session will soon be here and we could be looking at possibly the biggest crowd to ever attend the Hamilton training date. There has been lots of interest from the HAM community, municipal and provincial staff, as well as others. Refreshments will be provided, and participants will go home with a very special gift from Environment Canada. To read more about CanWarn Training, click here. Saturday April 17th 2010, 09:00 until approximately 12:00 Nash Auditorium, Wilcox Building, Chedoke Hospital, Sanatorium Road Hamilton, ON Please arrive at 8am to sign in. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:31:59 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article61.html Just a reminder that at this coming May meeting, we will be having "Homebrew/Show & Tell Night". If you've been working on a project, bring it along and enter it. The winner will receive, not only the admiration of your fellow hams, but also the Crawford Trophy. The only requirement is that this project must have been completed during this past year. It is OK if you started the project more than a year ago but it should have been completed during the period of June 2009 to May 2010. Projects built from kits are acceptable as they are still considered home-brewed. Or just bring along your project to "Show & Tell" us what you've been working on. Include any documentation that may help explain your project. You can show or enter more than one project if you wish. The more the merrier. Don't be shy. Bring your goodies to the meeting and show us what you've been up to. Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:17:29 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article60.html The 13th Annual Ontario QSO Party 2010 will be held on the third full weekend of April 1800Z April 17 to 0500Z April 18, which translates to 2 PM on Saturday April 17 to 1 AM on Sunday, then sleep time (part of the new rules a couple of years ago so Rovers and Mobiles would have a proper sleep time for safety), and from1200Z to 1800Z April 18, which translates from 8 AM to 2 PM on Sunday April 18. Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:24:56 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article59.html The new controller has now been installed. We have it currently in test mode on the UHF repeater. The phone patch has been enabled. After a long time coming we are now testing the new Link controller and phone patch. For control of the repeater we use the Internet via DSL. Bell finally installed the DSL hookup and it is now working. It provides more remote control in the form of adjusting levels, timers and messages. Dan Martinak (VA3DJ)donated a small LCD monitor that fits nicely in the repeater cabinet. Myself donated a computer system running WinXP and a router. The new controller is now online and controlled via the Internet. Both Mike (Ve3XMS) and myself have remote access to it. Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:07:42 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article58.html Just like to let everyone to know that all the VE3DC Contest Awards are now on the Club web site. This has being a learning experience for me as I have no web page experience. Thanks to Anita and the HARC club for giving me the opportunity to play on the page and upload the awards. I look forward to keeping the awards up to date and working with Rick as he receives the awards. I will be learning to do the HARC Swapnet page coming soon. So keep a look out. 73 VE3RYI Mark Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:32:01 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article57.html Environment Canada trains ham radio operators and other interested parties to spot and report severe weather. They learn about the structure of storms, the types of clouds to watch for and what the department's severe weather watches and warnings mean. All CANWARN volunteers are encouraged to sign up for the refresher courses which the department offers each year. Everyone is welcome, you do not have to be a Ham. The next CANWARN training session is scheduled for Saturday April 17th 2010, 09:00 until approximately 12:00 at the Nash Auditorium, Wilcox Building, Chedoke Hospital, Sanatorium Road, Hamilton . Please arrive at 8am to sign in. Click here for a map. For more information about CanWarn Hamilton, visit www.canwarnhamilton.ca. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:21:15 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article56.html Due to the fact that the school is closed during the March break we have had to change the date of our March general meeting. It will be on Wed. March 10, one week earlier than our usual date. Please make note of this change in your calendars, and we hope to see you there! Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:01:17 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article55.html This is to announce our next contest, the CQWW 160m SSB contest we will be running as VE3DC. Easy way to remember is that it is the last weekend of February. We usually only run the SSB contest in February, but if enough of you are interested in doing the CW one too, it is at the end of January. Let me know if you want to contest with CW. Here is the link and once there, you can click on Rules for 2010. Please note the changes to the rules: http://cq-amateur-radio.com/160%20Meter%20link.html Click here to get the PDF file. I will make a text file for anyone who cannot read the PDF...let me know. Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:07:25 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article54.html Please note, Hamilton Amateur Radio Club has a new mailing address, effective immediately: Hamilton Amateur Radio Club 117-350 King St. East P.O. Box 75073 Hamilton, ON, L8N 4G6 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:54:19 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article53.html This will be our next contest "The RAC Canada Winter Contest 2009" which will be in December. This year it is before Christmas, instead of being at that awkward time between Christmas and New Years. The clocks have gone back for the winter so now 0:00 Zulu or UTC means 7pm instead of 8pm as in the summer. This is a 24 hour contest, happening on December 19th, 2009 this year...so that means the contest starts at 7pm on Friday night December 18th and goes till 7pm on the Saturday December 19th, 2009. Thanks to Dan VA3DJ for getting the information for us. This is the year that it is early, as happens every few years, because otherwise the contest would be on December 26, starting on Christmas day locally...so the earlier date is better for us all. Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:57:30 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article52.html Bob NP4B will be on Coffin Island to run a Special Event Station on Sunday December 20,2009. He will only be able to operate on 20 meters because of the backpacking set-up he has. A TenTec radio capable of 50 watts and a backpack homebrew 20m vertical to pull up in a tree. We are hoping to work him from the island in the morning from the VE3DC contest site, after our Canada Winter Contest which runs on the 19th. We have already worked him with this set-up from the Puerto Rico Mainland on 20m in the daytime. Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:53:13 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article51.html The new rules are here at last. Contesters: The rules for the 2009 edition of the Canada Winter Contest have been posted at the Radio Amateurs of Canada website at: http://www.rac.ca/en/rac/programmes/contests/. This year's contest will run on Dec 19, 2009 from 00:00 to 23:59 UTC. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:56:54 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article50.html This will be our next contest "The RAC Canada Winter Contest 2009" which will be in December. This year it is before Christmas, instead of being at that awkward time between Christmas and New Years. The clocks have gone back for the Winter so now 0:00 Zulu or UTC means 7pm instead of 8pm as in the summer. This is a 24 hour contest, happening on December 19th, 2009 this year...so that means the contest starts at 7pm on Friday night December 18th and goes till 7pm on the Saturday December 19th, 2009. Thanks to Dan VA3DJ for getting the information for us. This is the year that it is early, as happens every few years, because otherwise the contest would be on December 26, starting on Christmas day locally...so the earlier date is better for us all. I haven't seen the official contest rules for 2009 yet, but it should be in the November/December issue of the TCA magazine put out by Radio Amateurs of Canada. The 2008 rules also show the new date at this link 73 Rick VE3BK Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:37:44 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article49.html Mark your calendars for this year's H.A.R.C. Christmas party! Planning is currently underway for the H.A.R.C. Annual Christmas party to be held on Wednesday December 9th, (second Wednesday in December). This year we will again be celebrating at the Warplane Heritage Museum, however it will be in The Dofasco Dome, not the hangar. For those who wish to have a visit with the plane exhibits, they are free to do so and can also take advantage of the tour guides who will be at our disposal. Cost will be $35.00 a plate for traditional turkey dinner and all the fixings. Social hour with cash bar begins at 6:00 P.M. with the buffet dinner at 7:00 P.M.. Prizes will be drawn for throughout the evening. If the ladies ask tell them "dressy casual". Family and friends are welcome. We need to firm up numbers in advance, so if you can attend, please either bring a cheque to the November 18th General Meeting and meet with Anita OR print and fill out the form and mail it along with a cheque by November 22nd to the club address below. Hamilton Amateur Radio Club P.O. Box 91215 Effort Square Postal Outlet Hamilton, ON, L8N 4G4 If you miss both of these opportunities, please contact Anita VA3ANI as soon as possible to make other arrangements. Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:48:50 -0500 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article48.html As of October 26, 2009, Ontario's new distracted driving law will make it illegal for motorists to use hand-held wireless communication devices or any hand-held electronic entertainment devices while driving. Specific attention has been given to the Amateur Radio community. Stated in a document at the Government of Ontario's web site: The use of hand-held radios by amateur radio operators (who provide assistance, especially in emergency situations such as severe storms and blackouts) will be phased out within three years, to allow hands-free technologies to be developed. To read the full document, visit news.ontario.ca. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:15:25 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article47.html A new extensive ARES training program has been put together by RAC. The ARES training course covers many topics including emergency operations, the role of the amateur radio operator, emergency preparedness, equipment, safety issues and more. If there are enough interested parties, it will be possible to offer the course to the Hamilton-area ARES volunteers. Anyone interested in attending this training course, should contact Jerry Osborn at: The course will take place on Wednesday evenings at Dofasco, tentatively starting November 4, 2009. Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:00:00 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article46.html Our annual Hamfest is fast approaching and we are still in need of some volunteers. Anyone who is available to help out at the Hamfest, please contact Mardy VE3QEE at: For more information on the event and its new location, click here: HARC Hamfest, Saturday October 17th, 2009. Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:09:29 -0400 http://www.hamiltonarc.ca/Article45.html Anyone who would like to donate equipment for the club table at the upcoming Hamilton Amateur Radio Club Hamfest please contact Fred VE3GCP at: It's a great time to clean house and put that surplus equipment to good use by helping out the club! Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:59:15 -0400