Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club
VE6BLD
Welcome to the CAARC web site. I have been a Ham since 1978 and I am active on most modes from HF to UHF Satellite communications.
Posts by VE6BLD
Grounding information for everyone
Apr 14th
Jim VE6JHK passed this information video on to me after we had a discussion on the air with a few hams the other day. Thanks Jim.
VE6BLD 144 MHZ SSB horizontal Antenna install
Mar 18th
VE6BLD 144 MHZ SSB horizontal Antenna install. We had a beautiful March plus 15 degree day to get my SSB Quagi antenna up the tower. Many thanks to VE6CIA Garry, VA6MPM Paul and VE6MIM Mike for helping with this rather difficult install. I have quite a few other antenna that could have posed a problem but we found a hole to pull up the 14 foot long Quagi and get it installed above the HF beam, 2 m Quagis, 70 CM Quag-v antennas. Garry climbed to stand on the top plate of the tower and then stood on the HF antenna boom to be able to reach above the 440 MHZ Quagi. He was able to install the new quagi on the verticlal mast of the 14 foot long vertical folded dipole I used for my commercial antenna for my business. He would have been reaching up to about the 63 foot height! The antenna checked out with a great SWR. Thanks all three of you for all the great help!! I should now be able to work Calgary and Edmonton easily on SSB simplex with the other weak signal hams. I an barely remember when VE6BGT Skip and I with Sarina’s and some other hams help built the whole tower and antenna 32 years ago! Check out the great pictures Sarina took in this Gallery.
After you close the picture browser you will have to refresh your page to go back( New problem I have to figure out now !!)
RAC Canada Day Contest
Feb 3rd
I just received this in my in box today!
VE6BLD RAC Canada Day Contest 2020
Winter Field Day Fun VE6BLD
Jan 31st
I spent about 6 hours Sat and Sunday working the Winter Field Day. The bands were good until after 9 Saturday night. I slept in Sunday till 9:30 but managed a lot more contacts till noon.
Here are my results.
51 Sections, 38 States, 222 contacts, 1320 points,
80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 6m, 2m.
I hope to see some more results from others here.
Bob VE6BLD
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL USERS
Dec 24th
Santa visited the International Space Station (see link below)
Click link below for full video
https://www.space.com/norad-tracks-santa-claus-trip-to-international-space-station?jwsource=cl
Earthlings and astronauts chat away, via ham radio
Dec 24th
Earthlings and astronauts chat away, via ham radio
The International Space Station cost more than $100 billion. A ham radio set can be had for a few hundred bucks.
Perhaps that explains, in part, the appeal of having one of humankind’s greatest scientific inventions communicate with Earth via technology that’s more than 100 years old. But perhaps there’s a simpler explanation for why astronauts and ham radio operators have been talking, and talking, for years.
NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock was just a few weeks into his six-month mission at the space station when feelings of isolation began to set in.
Wheelock would be separated from loved ones, save for communication via an internet phone, email or social media. At times, the stress and tension of serving as the station’s commander could be intense.
One night, as he looked out a window at the Earth below, he remembered the space station’s ham radio. He figured he’d turn it on—see if anyone was listening.
“Any station, any station, this is the International Space Station,” Wheelock said.
A flood of voices jumbled out of the airwaves.
Astronauts aboard the space station often speak to students via ham radio, which can also
Have you paid your dues and confirmed your RAC membership to the executive?
Nov 17th
CAARC Membership
Club memberships are due in November. Please submit your dues as shown below.
Club memberships are $25.00 each or $30.00 for a family and are due now. You must be a paid-up member to be eligible to vote at the Annual General meeting in November. Cheques may be mailed to Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club, Box 1103, Red Deer, AB, T4N 6S5. If you prefer, Garry VE6CIA has also agreed to accept e-transfers for club memberships at ve6cia at gmail dot com. This is what we did for the club raffle earlier this year.
Club insurance is due. Please also confirm your RAC membership by email ( ve6cia at gmail dot com ) so we can get the best rate for the club.
can also download the CAARC membership and renewal form under the “Site tools” tab and send your dues by snail mail to the listed address on the bottom of the form or bring it to the meeting. Your support helps keep your repeaters operating and your club active.
Thank you from your executive
73 CAARC Executive
VE6BLD’s solar pop can heater to warm your shack from the sun.
Nov 11th
In 2014 I found a video on you tube of a man in Newfoundland who had built a solar pop can heater. I decided I would build one for my big shop in the back of my large town lot. There is a south facing wall to install it on a foot away from the wall for safety reasons as it can produce 80 -90 degree C! I had an old double pane window in the shop that was about 3 by 7 feet. So the project began. I also had the aluminum frame from a score clock which had been removed from a school gym which turned out to be the perfect depth to fill with rows of pop cans after being insulated with 2 inch styrofoam. The metal frame also had a perfect indentation on the front to install the double pane window. See the pictures in the link below for how I built this pop can heater. I used a small squirrel cage fan on the inlet in the garage and another one on the outlet in the garage. There is a temperature sensor 
at the top of the outlet pipe connected to an adjustable digital temperature control ($8.00 on ebay). I can set any temperature to turn on the fans and I can also adjust the differential to turn off. As soon as the sun comes up and shines on the heater it will quickly come to the set temperature I programed of 32 C. The heater was tested to produce up to +180 degrees F (+80 degrees C) before I installed the fans. This is a good reason to have 2 fans so it will not melt the heater if one fan quits! Today Nov 11, 2020 the sun was very low (temperature – 12 degrees all day) but the heater quickly rose to +32 C and the thermostat turned the fans on. The heater produced a steady +18 C temp into the garage all day until there was no more sun shining on it. ! Darn nice free solar heat.
Click the pictures in the gallery
Click this link to see the picture gallery of this project
VE6BLD multi-coax junction box on my tower
Oct 16th
I have just completed building and installing a multi-coax junction box on my tower. I have 9 coaxes coming down the tower and feeding through a 4 inch pvc conduit to the basement. Every time a thunderstorm approached I would have to go behind my operating desk in the shack and disconnect them all. Two of the lines are 7/8 inch hardline with 1/4 inch solid core center conductor. Any lightning strike would have a direct path to the shack- not great!! I had an old aluminum weather proof box which was used for a chart recorder in a town pump house. Please see the pictures for the construction and finished product. There is also another WP box three feet away to connect the coaxes from the house to a grounding bar during bad weather. The red banana plugs ground the disconnected coax coming down the tower after they are disconnected. This way there is no path for the lightning to enter the house through the coaxes.
Correction in Club Name to Use
Jul 2nd
Would you post the following for me? I seem to be caught in an endless loop of verifying myself.
John
Correction in Club Name to Use
CAARC Participation in 2020 ARRL Field Day`
Garry VE6CIA told me first. When we use the web applet to report our results, when filling in Club/Group Name, when we start typing “Central Alberta”, a list of possible completions is presented. One of the choices is Central Alberta ARC. Go with that, don’t fight it! Then the ARRL will add our individual scores to derive our club score.
John VA6SJA
