Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club
Articles
RAC Canada Day Contest
Feb 3rd
I just received this in my in box today!
VE6BLD RAC Canada Day Contest 2020
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
CAARC 2020 Official Field Day Scores
Dec 16th
I finally looked in the December QST for the 2020 ARRL Field Day Results.
Boy, are there a lot of entries to read through this year.
Our Central Alberta ARC showed 7 entries for a total of 2,928 points. These were the participants that I could confirm in the listings (my digital copy had very small print and I don’t think it supports “Find”}:
(December 19, adding information VA6SJA)
Station Class Points
VE6CIA 1D 644
VA6SJA 1E 384
VE6WCE 1D 56
VA6MPM 1B 1 Operator Battery 155
Points accounted for 1,239.
In addition, by some technical glitch, it appears that the VE6BLD entry was not recorded. He sent in his entry and used the club name Central Alberta ARC. That station had 372 voice QSOs which would have added 372 points to our total.
As a matter of interest. there were scores as low as 2 in the 1D category and 46 in the 1E category. So, you should not have felt that your score was too low to submit.
Did you participate under the Club Name of Central Alberta ARC? Would you like to add your statistics here?
If you cannot look up your own score, send your claimed score to me at va6sja@rac.ca and I will try to confirm it.
John VA6SJA
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
Preparations for Field Day 2020 at VA6SJA
Oct 27th
This is some of my Field Day story. What is yours? Anyone else who participated in Field Day is welcome to post about their efforts to this web site.
I have always enjoyed Field Day since my introduction to the ARRL sponsored annual event as a new amateur in 1994.
To adapt CAARC’s 2020 Field Day efforts to today’s COVID reality, as CAARC appointed Field Day leaders, Paul VA6MPM and I decided to encourage participation from individual stations this year rather than gathering in a big group to set up and operate a Class A station. This resulted in amateurs participating from their regular home stations, either using commercial power or using emergency batteries or generators, or participating in portable stations of 1 or 2 participants (Class B).
Here is the story of my setting up my 2020 Field Day Station.
Partly because of my family’s frequent moves, I do not have a permanent outside amateur radio antenna infrastructure. More >
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.
Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club Fathers Day June Picnic
Apr 12th
Please be advised, the Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club Fathers Day June Picnic has been cancelled till 2021 due to Covid-19.
VE6XY silent key
Sep 19th
A funeral service for VE6XY Rod Lins President of CAARC was held on Friday the 27th of Sept. 2019 at Wilson’s Funeral Home Lacombe, AB.
