Last Saturday, 20 or more club members made the trek to the site of the Calgary Sports Car Club’s Winter Rally, NW of Cochrane. Given the driving conditions on Highway 40 and the Hunter Valley road this required a 1½  to  2 hour cautious drive from Calgary. The in-position target was 07:00.  When combined with the “spring ahead” time change it made for an early rise. As our Australian hams would say, “Good on you mates”!

Murphy’s law: “whatever can go wrong will go wrong “ applied to the early stages of setup and resulted in moving Net Control to simplex when both the primary repeater and the backup repeater proved unreliable. Undaunted, but prepared for the unexpected, Net Control persevered and moved to 146.52 and carried on. With the passage of time and more daylight the original repeaters were then used to coordinate efforts for the subsequent stages. “Kudos to all,” for their adaptability and persevere in the face of uncontrollable circumstances. Amateur radio at its best, when  as Robbie Burns wrote; “ The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry”.

Racing conditions proved equally challenging to the rally teams. A number of unintended off-road outcomes occurred. While there were no serious injuries Robin Greig, VE6RBN, in the ambulance role of radio operator experienced first hand the importance of good organizational planning and the commitment of volunteer’s expertise, time, and efforts to ensure the safety of all involved.

 Next up on the scheduled events is the Spring Flea Market.  It is Saturday, April 8^th at the East side Church. Seller, buyer and learning Conference information is available on the Upcoming Events section of the CARA Home page.

This year’s flea market has the usual offering of amateur radio treasures for redistribution. So if you are relatively new to the hobby the flea market is a place to get started on building your first station and connecting with others to enhance your amateur radio journey. For the not so new there will be old boat anchors to rummage through and reminisce about as well as an endless variety of parts for the current project or the ones on the drawing board.

 The Calgary Amateur Radio Association is again offering attendance incentives. A 50/50 draw will be available under Alberta Gaming license # 460298 for which we have 500 tickets available @ $2 per ticket.  There are two transceiver prizes with 300 tickets @ $5 and 900 tickets @3 for $10 available under License 460305. 

 Radio World Central http://radioworldcentral.ca has graciously donated a Yaesu FT-891 radio. This 1.8 to 54 MHz mobile transceiver is valued @$950.  CARA is providing the second radio, a Yaesu FTM-100DR for the 2 meters and up attendees interested in both the digital and analogue modes. It is valued @ $450.

 Personal attendance of the winning ticket drawn at the draw location, East Side Church in SE Calgary at approximately noon is required for awarding of prizes.

 At our last Board Meeting we discussed some ideas for this year’s ARRL Field Day the last weekend in June. The last 2 years we went out to High River and joined the FARS club at a location on the south side of town. On the 3 previous years we chose rural locations. This year we thought we should look at setting up for the 24-hour operational period within the city to make it easier for members to attend and to enhance the awareness for this facet of amateur radio. In the past we used the parking lot on the East side of the Sunridge Mall one year and Glenmore park for another.

 If you are new to the Field Day event just go to: ARRL Field Day 2017 and find out all about it. If you are a past participant and want to get in on the organization part we are now in the process of setting that opportunity up. A member is needed to take on the role of Field Day Director. This role coordinates the place, process and people to enable a whole lot of fun while building operational experience to be of assistance when mother nature or some other event calling on us for assistance. Look to the CARA Site in a couple of weeks for more information and details as they take shape.

The last item for this time concerns progress towards further linking of CARA’s VHF repeater facilities. An initiative is underway to determine which site(s) are candidates for linking in the upcoming spring through fall window for site access. More detail will be provided in the next President’s Message.

That’s it for now; see you at the Flea Market next month.

Gordon, VE6TI

At this month’s GM we will be honouring the long and extensive service to CARA of Mike Ross, VE6TC. Mike will be presented with a Lifetime Membership award in appreciation of his dedication and endless efforts to envision, plan, and build and support the Club station. For the many of you that have been involved along the way in Mike’s quest please attend and contribute your interesting observations and reflections on the journey. Other regional Ham organizations have been invited too; it will be an opportunity to reconnect with others as well. I am off to visit my daughter in those Excited States of America and will miss this meeting. So, I take this opportunity to personally thank Mike for his commitment to and support of the amateur radio community in Calgary and to our hobby. Well-done Mike.

Spring is nearly in sight. Time to start thinking about what we need to do to take advantage of the good outdoor weather. The folks at the club station recently completed their review and priorities to address maintenance needs for the CARA antenna farm. The budget and work plans for the four towers and antenna systems was presented to the Board and approved this month. A similar plan and process is anticipated to be completed in the next two months to cover off VHF facility needs in order to implement in the summer.

This is also the time of year when CARA’s support needs for its various annual events are identified, quantified and scheduled. The first CSCC car rally goes March 12^th in the Wiaprous valley area north west of Cochrane. Garry Spicer, VE6GDS, is coordinating CARA’s communication operators with the Calgary Sports Car Club.

This event is particularly suited to club members with 2-meter mobile equipment, an interest in VHF operation and in participation in a service opportunity with one of our communities. From the enjoyment and satisfaction perspective there is no better spot to observe the thrills and spills of high speed rally car racing than at one of the numerous Blocker positions along the course.

Gary said at last count we have about 75% of the operator needs covered. There is still a need and opportunity for more to participate. If you are new to this but unsure you may be able to accompany and experienced operator once the required positions are covered. Rally detail and volunteer participation registration can be found at: Cochrane Rally. Scroll to page bottom for registration sheet. Contact Garry <spicergarry@gmail.com> if you would like further information. I look forward to seeing many of you at this event.

Next up is the CARA Spring Flea market, April 8^th at the East Side Church. Peter Barry, VA6PJB and the CARA Secretary heads up the organization. Watch the website for further details as they unfold.

A bit farther out is the Annual ARRL Field Day Event.  CARA has fielded a team for this event for as long as I can remember. For the last two years we joined with the Foothills Amateur Radio Society (FARS) group in High River and had good WX and a good time. We may want to host the event this year and ask other regional amateur radio groups to join or we may just go it alone.

While the event is still a ways off we need to get the planning effort kicked off in March. The definition of planning and fun will be left up to those members who can and will participate. Please contact: VE6PJB, Peter Barry and express your interest in the organization of this event. 

Still lots going on here.

The Welcoming of New Hams

A special thanks to all the members that came out to the January GM to welcome the most recent graduates of the fall Basic Class. More than 30 existing members gathered at the club station and engaged the newest members in an informal exchange of information about the amazing amateur radio journey awaiting them.

Rob, VE6CCL, had name tags ready for the recently qualified hams and an operational 40-meter transceiver at the east end of the main floor. This drew considerable attention but was essentially wiped out by the QRM generated by the chatter of the 40 plus members in the room. 

About 7:30, round tables, each with an existing member discussion leader, were established to get down to specific inquires from the new members.  The new, not so new and the old exchanged information, experiences and initiated the time-honoured tradition of Elmering. The club station was opened up about 8:45 and was still humming with interest when I left just before 10:00.

To all, a big “well done”!

Moving On

As an individual, Amateur Radio has served me well. It has enabled the pursuit of technical knowledge and experience from which I benefitted personally and professionally.

I have been communicating here and at the interest group meetings over the past couple of months about the fun part of our, “Have Fun and Serve Our Community” directional statement.  I think the “Have Fun” part boils down to participation in an activity that is personally enjoyable and as a bonus, experiencing a sense of personal satisfaction from that participation.

At first glance, the “Serve Our Community” part sounds a bit like an obligation. But is it that or is it an opportunity to have fun?  

The “Serve” part is self-explanatory. It’s the “Our Community” piece that could benefit from further definition. As a club we have both internal and external communities.

At the centre of the internal community is the existing membership. Sustaining and growing the membership base is fundamental to organizational survival and continuity. Probably the most important service opportunity for existing members is to contribute to the attraction and development of radio communications knowledge and skills in new members.

Another set of communities within CARA includes various interest groups. These are centred upon the opportunities various spectrum and communications modes offer to have fun and provide service. Providing learning opportunities for new members to acquire experience and confidence in the functional aspects of these interest groups is perhaps the most important service opportunity existing members can undertake to sustain their interest areas. Last month, the DX group took the time and invested the effort to examine and present to the CARA Board a first cut at the group’s alignment to the Fun and Service direction and the organization's goals. At the next Board meeting the group’s operational budget requests will be undertaken. Other interest areas are encouraged to do likewise.

Our External Communities are of two types as well. The first includes public organizations in need of real time communications in geographic locations where the public information infrastructure is unable to meet their specific communications needs for specific events or circumstances. For these communities, CARA’s service opportunity is to utilize its existing infrastructure or that of other clubs and individual amateurs to enable the served organization’s safe execution of a specific event. This is very much in keeping with amateur radio’s long history of facilitating communications in places or times of need when the existing communications structure is unavailable or overloaded. It is very much fundamental to existence of pieces of the radio spectrum that are exclusively, or upon a secondary basis, available to us for our hobby and service pursuits.

An example: the next scheduled service opportunity is the provision of radio operators for the Calgary Sports Car Club Rally, March 12^th in the Waiparous Valley region northwest of Cochrane. A number of CARA members participate in this event as well as other rallies throughout the year. This is very much appreciated by the event sponsors and provides a meaningful opportunity for CARA members to provide service and get up close to the action. Sports car enthusiasts have fun through demonstration of the capabilities of their cars and personal skills in completing a defined course in the least amount of time. Mother Nature is always the wild card in these events and course conditions are utterly dependent on the cards she has dealt on any particular day.

This season, Gary Spicer, VE6GDS, has stepped up to the Rally Coordination role. This entails the recruiting and preparation of CARA operators to provide the radio communication needs required to conduct The Calgary Sports Car Clubs event in an efficient and safe manner.  Dave Cason, VE6DED, is continuing to assist with these events. Please check our events calendar for further details and redirection to the Rally events website.

The second external community includes other organized amateur radio groups in Calgary and region. These groups also have internal and external communities to serve. It is important for CARA to consider how it can work with these groups to meet mutual objectives.

CARA is a club with a long history (some say it goes back to 1924) and in order to make that history accessible to current members, the club Historian role is being undertaken by Ken Olke, VE6AFO. Knowing where you came from helps to understand how you got to where you are now.  That, in turn, may offer guidance to where you want to go next. Dale Olson, VE6QDO, has scanned most of the published Key Klix issues to make them readily available. Ken has access to similar materials from various local and provincial level publications available for reference and further examination; another service opportunity benefitting internal and external communities.

In the end, an organization’s journey is sustained by the energy contributions of its membership. Perhaps serving our communities is the part of the fuel that enables the fun.

73 de VE6TI

Gordon

Best of Xmas and Holliday Greetings to all. No GM this month; enough going on in our family lives to focus on at this time of year.

At our November Board meeting we discussed the need for the Board to maintain focus on club objectives and outcomes in order to remain sustainable and meaningful for present and future members. Towards that end we intend to establish some operational roles to take on the responsibility of ongoing management of the club's facilities and delivery of reoccurring service offerings. 

We believe and trust that within our membership the skills necessary to do this are already present. As conceived the roles will be filled by members at large. In addition it provides opportunity for greater member participation in the processes of formation, management and delivery of CARA offerings. The Board will continue to provide directional input and guidance to the members who undertake these management roles. 

At the January Board meeting the roles will be defined.  Membership input is invited/requested. So when you sit down after Xmas and begin writing your New Year's resolutions add in one to contribute your thoughts and ideas on these definitions.

See you again in 2017. Canada's 150 anniversary. Now there is something to think about too. 

   

President’s Message, November 17, 2016

Upcoming General Meeting

‪Next Tuesday, November 22, the fun part of the November GM will be about HF operation via a remote station.  This topic was one of the high interest areas expressed at our GM in September.

Unlike VHF operation where the size of an efficient antenna is modest, HF antennas of comparable efficiency are "high, wide and handsome".  Even on 20 meters a half wave dipole is 33 feet long and prefers to be 30 or more feet above ground to perform well. Yes, size matters; it's a physics thing.  So, if you have enough real estate, a mature tree or two, permission from your partner and reasonable neighbours you can have a go at putting up a simple wire antenna and have some fun on HF - maybe.

Another challenge all us city dwellers are facing is the increasing level and amount of electromagnetic noise produced by all the other radiators in the neighbourhood. Getting away from the noise is rapidly becoming a major impediment to the enjoyment of HF operation.

So, if having your own effective HF antennas is challenging for your situation then consider participation in remote station operation. It turns out CARA has one. It can be operated from the comfort of your own dwelling via the Internet and a computer equipped with the remote station operation software. This methodology will be illustrated and demonstrated as part of the presentation.

Recent Board activity

Enjoy Amateur Radio - Serve our Community

The previous CARA Executive adopted the above statement of mission for our club. The current CARA Executive thinks they got it right. In a simple statement the two sides of the coin illustrate the benefit and cost sides of any volunteer based organization.

Enjoy Amateur Radio; that's the fun part. It brought us to the hobby; it keeps us active in its various pursuits and in contact with people of similar interests. It is the benefit side of membership. It's not a thing, thing; it's a feeling thing.

Serve our Community is the cost side. Time, talent and treasure are the three currencies required of members to meet the cost side. Of the three, time and talent are of most value. CARA is in the most fortunate situation to have access to treasure that does not come directly from its members' pocketbooks but does require investment of members' time. CARA is most in need of the participation of its members.Time is currency of high value and its investment benefit is not a thing, thing, it's a feeling thing.

The cost benefit situation in the world of retail commerce is a different challenge involving the same three currencies but in the reverse order. Its objective is to maximize the perceived benefit to extract the most treasure from its customer base while minimizing the effort and time to make the investment in their goods or services. It is cost driven and relies heavily on the perception of the need for the latest thing, thing. 

In talking to other leaders of amateur radio club's in our region we learn that we are all facing membership participation challenges. In implementing the past Board's mission the current Board recognizes the need to refocus leadership and organizational infrastructure as well as membership time and talent to realize the benefit of membership enjoyment. We understand that a members’ participation is a large component of the member's enjoyment. Hence we need to involve more members in the doing of the building and operating of the infrastructure rather than just using it. In short we need to build communities of doers" willing to share their time and talents at the point where it matters to achieve membership enjoyment for themselves and their fellow members. 

Over the next quarter, the focus of the Board will be to establish a number of important functional roles with defined responsibilities to coordinate club operations. How that is to be approached will comprise the business portion of next week's GM. It won't be as much fun as the Remote Station presentation but it will be important to meaningful engagement of those members willing and able to contribute their time and talent towards this objective.

Looking forward to lively and interesting conversation. See you there, ‪next Tuesday at the club station ‪at 7:00 PM.

73 de VE6TI

Gordon Hungerford

The leaves are falling, temperatures are falling and the days continue to shorten. Winter is coming. The allusion in the "Game of Thrones" books and TV series references the need to prepare for what is coming. A bit lame, I admit. I needed a segue and there it is.

With the election of a completely new CARA Board the need for preparation for the future of the club was clear from the start. Since the end of June we have had several face-to-face meetings, Go To Meeting sessions, and exchanged dozens and dozens of emails to get to know each other's interests, skills and form as group. Keeping HMCS CARA on its established course at the same time provided opportunity to understand how the current ship functions.

So, what has been accomplished so far? 

I think the most significant outcome is agreement at the Board that CARA needs to be less about things and stuff and more about being relevant to current members and attractive to future members of the club. 

With that focus we have set four directional goals:

•    Have fun while learning about and participating in the vast array of endeavours in the world of Amateur Radio.

•    Attract and retain members, young and old, just learning or experienced, in school, working or enjoying retirement.

•    Manage the club's tangible and human assets to sustain the Club's future, sustain the hobby and support public events in need of the radio-based communications that our skills and facilities can provide.

•    Seek opportunities to collaborate and participate in the efforts of other amateur radio club's in the region as they pursue similar goals.

September's General Meeting format, where we mixed the Fun and Business parts of the meeting, will be followed again in October. The Fun Part is a primer on the CARA Net initiative started a couple of years ago. Robin Greig, VE6RBN and our current Vice President will take us through the what, why, current status and next steps in this strategy to link club repeaters. He promises the presentation to be more about the utility, flexibility and benefits of this approach rather than the magic that goes on in the boxes. A progress update will be provided as well.

For the business part we will report on our first steps to improve communications with the membership. At our last GM this was the most discussed topic at the round table sessions. Last week's Board meeting re-examined the Communications Proposal commissioned by the previous Board and passed a motion to further implement more of its recommendations.  We will again set up the round tables to examine our current communications vehicles and opportunities for further improvements.

So please attend the meeting ‪Tuesday October 25. Club station, ‪7: 00 PM and add your voice to the conversations that shape CARA's future.

Last Month's meeting 30 + members attended the GM at the CSCC location.

Upon entry, members found the chairs set up for the program presentation were already occupied; not with people but with stacks of "QST" magazines. These artifacts escaped from the depths of the club's storage prison where many had languished for decades.

Their hope was to be adopted by the CARA members and provided with a new home or face the incinerator. And adopted they were. Big thanks to Rob Wilson, VE6CCL for organizing the jail break.

The Fun Part: the Program

John Fallows, VE6YE brought along the five foot diameter magnetic loop antenna completed over the summer and recounted its story of construction and testing.  Turns out that the magnetic loop design has some very useful characteristics for operation in the midrange HF bands. It's very compact compared to full sized loops, half wave dipoles and beams.  More importantly does not need to be mounted high above the ground and has good local noise reduction characteristics when rotated.

To good to be true you say.  Well like all things whose performance is based upon the immutable laws of physics, the loop has its limits. It is very narrow in band width and has radiation resistance in the range of miliohms. This translates to a capacitive matching challenge involving very high voltages and the reduction of series resistances in the antenna circuit to the bare minimum.

John accomplished the above in the traditional home-brew fashion of buying available materials locally or from Internet suppliers and building the rest. In this case the building of the variable capacitor involved the use of a 3D printer and a CNC (computer numerical control) machine that he just happened to have home-brewed as well. Use of very inexpensive Arduino based hardware and the writing of the code to enabled the control of its adjustment rounded out the project. If you missed the presentation you can view a video @ play.fallows.ca/wp/category/radio/ham-radio/

The business part of the meeting: Engaging the members

As announced we engaged the attending members in a round table discussion of the Board's directional goals. One chair reserved at each table for a Director and the rest for members.  And discuss we did. Directors responded to concerns voiced by the members and where within our directional goals they will be addressed. This part of meeting lasted upward of an hour and the Board will share a compilation of the table notes within the next week, set some priorities and publish the result to the Website and review with the membership at the business part of the October GM.

Since then: Analysis of feedback

Tuesday, Oct 4th the Board met and reviewed Director notes from the above activity. October 18 we will meet again to establish priorities for presentation and discussion at the Oct GM.

Communicating openly and frequently with the membership is one of our foundation goals. The need for that was communicated quite clearly at September's meeting and it was great to get to get it in a 2 way fashion.  Let's keep the conversation going.

We are about to kick off the 2016-2017 CARA fall season. The first regular club meeting will be ‪September 27th. Location will be the Calgary Sports Car Club, Southwest corner of 80th Avenue and Metis trail NE. 

The fun part

One of our members will present the activities and results of his “fun in the summer project” to home-brew a compact loop antenna for the mid HF range amateur radio bands. The home-brew part is literal. It begins with the construction of the very tools used to accomplish the objective. These include a 3D printer, and a CNC milling machine.  The outcome of his efforts is remarkable.  However, I think it was the journey that best illustrates the breadth of the amateur radio hobby as a vehicle for continuous learning and personal satisfaction.

Over refreshments you will be able to meet and chat with the executive elected at the end of June. Robin Greig, VE6RBN, Jim Weisert, VE6GO and Jerry Spring, VE6TL are the new members of the Board. Peter Barry, VE6PJB and myself, Gordon Hungerford, VE6TI have served on previous executives.

The business Part

Over the summer the new executive had a couple of face to face meetings and several Go To Meetings to form as a group and flesh out some of near term goals and actions. We now have a bit more "flesh on the bone" and will outline the direction and focus we have envisioned for CARA over the next two years.

The previous Board undertook a major planning initiative to increase current membership participation and grow the membership and ensure the sustainability of CARA. The scope and effort was substantial, the outcome valuable and it charts a course towards accomplishment of the stated goals. The new Board will undertake the task of implementation of this work towards accomplishment of the goals outlined last month. Namely:

• Encourage the exploration and enjoyment of the vast opportunities’ in the amateur radio hobby.
• Engage, through program offerings the young and old, novice and expert.
• Manage tangible assets and the efforts of our membership to sustain and grow CARA.
• Communicate openly and frequently with the membership.
• Identify opportunities for meaningful collaboration with other local and regional amateur radio organizations.

Over the summer input received from members sees the third goal emerging as top of mind. Towards that end the Board will establish a process to examine the current state of asset investment and utilization. This effort will provide a basis for objective evaluation of the effectiveness of the current operation as well as opportunities to advance the first two goals. 

Questions will be welcomed and consideration given to all suggestions from attendees. As stated in my first posting, the success of a club is primarily achieved through the participation and contributions of its individual members rather than its titled leaders.

Please attend, bring a friend or ask someone you know, who has perhaps let their membership lapse, to give the club another look.

tnx and 73

de VE6TI

Gordon Hungerford, President

July 25, the Board members elected at the June general meeting met for the first time. Stampede, the Folk Fest, and summer time activities had intervened. However, we were active via phone calls and emails and prior to the first meeting, each of us exchanged input to five questions:

• What is the scope of my amateur radio interests?
• What skills and experiences, personal and organizational, do I have to offer?
• What are my current views and perceptions of the state of our club?
• What do I think the near term focus for the club could/should be?
• What do I think the longer-term focus could/should be?

This information served as an introduction to each other as Board members and provided a starting point for the election of officers. The new Board roles landed as follows: Secretary, Peter Barry, VE6PJB; Treasurer, Jim Weisert, VE6GO; Vice President, Robin Greig; VE6RBN, President; Gordon Hungerford, VE6TI and Jerry Spring, Director.

We then considered and adopted the agenda proposed for the balance of the meeting. Past Treasurer, Dale Olson entered the meeting providing financial information and the process to set up the new signing authorities.

Next, each Director’s responses to the last two bullets of the input exercise identified common areas of focus for the near and longer terms. We then set up some general guiding principals as follows:

• Encourage the exploration and enjoyment of the vast opportunities in the amateur radio hobby.
• Engage, through program offerings, the young and old, novice and expert.
• Manage assets, tangible and personnel, to sustain and grow CARA.
• Communicate openly and frequently with the membership.
• Identify opportunities for meaningful collaboration with other local and regional amateur radio organizations.

From a personal perspective, I am pleased and excited to be part of the group now charged with guiding the club over the next couple of years. However, history reminds us repeatedly that the success of a club like ours results primarily from the participation, support and commitment of its membership rather than the guidance of its leaders. Let's all have some fun and enjoy each others company as we pursue the lifelong learning opportunities of amateur radio.

Greetings to all Hams,

Summer is with us once again, it's nice and warm, many of us are looking forward to field day and the many volunteer events and activities that are happening in the next few months.  Keep an eye on your email for opportunities to take part.

This is your club and your participation is what makes it what it is.

As most of you know we have brought forward our elections from September 2016 to June 2016 to allow there to be a better transition before the new executive takes the reins in September.

Also as most of you know I have decided after several terms on the executive and as a several term president decided its time to allow others to take this on.  I will at this time still be very involved with the repeater network, APRS, Cameras, Weather, Skimmer and CARANet (our wide area network that is expanding between sites) so will continue to be a part of the life of CARA but more concentrating on this direct role and the encouragement of others to get involved with this great hobby and CARA.

Many will have received the email letting you know that in fact the complete executive has decided to step aside, the majority have been on the executive for many terms and i thank them for their service and understand their various reasons, most the same as my own, also that change and moving forward can best happen if we allow it to.  Many will still be active in CARA and the hobby so won't just disappear!

For those that may considering standing check your eligibility, the list is on the latest edition of Key Klix please give it serious consideration, and start to think how you can serve CARA and the Ham community though this.

73

Dave