The callsign VE4Selkirk St Andrews St
Clements was very active on all bands. The station was located in the
old RCMP Office in the basement of the City of Selkirk Offices in 1982
with the latest in amateur radio equipment. Frank Doolan spent
countless hours at the station handling traffic for the seniors as well
as phone patching. This was the first seniors ARC funded by the New
Horizons program in Manitoba. Soon after we established the club,
Winnipeg followed. When the civic offices were expanded we were forced
to move to the Fox Avenue Seniors home, this was an excellent location
for handling the seniors traffic but was very tiny and security of
equipment was minimal. As equipment started to vanish and our ranks
were being diminished it was decided to liquidate the depreciated
assets and purchase communications equipment that all hams could make
use of. We still retain the callsign VE4SSS for special events, ARES
and field day..
Canadian Amateur Radio Research Club:
The VE4NRC club was formed by the following amateurs plus many others:
The
club was formed in a great rush in May 1979 to attempt to design and
fly an amateur radio package that would fly on a high altitude research
balloon. The balloon was intended to reach a maximum altitude of
120,000 feet and drift west for 24 to 48 hours. Since there was no
information available on effects of altitude on electronic equipment
and silver cadmium batteries we winged it. After all, this was the
height of the cold war.
It
was decided that we would attempt to fly a simplex repeater to make the
project available to as many amateurs as possible. In actuality the
package consisted of two repeaters back to back. The input of one
section was on 147.33 and the output on 144.33, on the other the
frequencies were reversed. This simplistic (no pun intended) approach
allowed the control operator to listen and transmit on 144.33 while the
general ham population operated on 147.33.
As
well as the two meter vhf propagation experiment we also flew a 440
beacon designed and built by Barry VE4MA. We planned to conduct RTTY
contacts during quiet times. We couldn't get the model 75 (loaned by
Dick VE4HK) up the stairs so this was hauled by rope over the edge of
the Gimli MB abandoned control tower, quite a site, no amount of RF
could break through the expletives deleted during that exercise! We
never did make a RTTY contact, we never had the quiet times.
I
have never seen as much cooperation in this race against the clock. I'm
certain that we will never see it again. Hams from all walks of like
contributed without hesitation, hell, through the cooperation of the
National Research Council we made contacts with NASA who provided the
silver cadmium batteries without question. These batteries had reached
their shelf life and could not be risked on a space launch but were
brand new. Hugh VE4HC baby sat these temperamental beauties giving them
their every four hour burping at 85 deg F to bring them up to full
strength. This was a two week project alone.
While work continued on our package design,
Vic VE4VG
designed and built four six element yagi beams along with their phasing
harness and aimable stand. The array was placed on a swivel stand and
an agc meter mounted between the aiming handles. This array was placed
on the roof of the control tower (more sore muscles as well as verbal
exchanges that would make any grandmother shudder).
Stay tuned, much more to follow as my gray matter
starts to matter! Also, if you would like to add anything that my memory has deleted, please let me know.
VE4SSS Services
The
club provides open access to the general ham population to the multi
band repeater VE4MBR as well as the auto patches and the linking system
into the Manitoba Repeater Society via VE4MIL.
We
are also able to provide Volunteer Examiner services to anyone in the
district wishing to obtain or upgrade their amateur certificate. The
fee for taking any examination is five dollars, no taxes. The fee is
non-refundable and goes to support the costs of operating the club
equipment. For appointments or more information please contact Bill
Bowman VE4UB.
As
a club project we are continuing to print and supply the Manitoba VE4
Bluebook which is the bible for Manitoba hams. This publication is
provided for twelve dollars per copy, absolutely 100% of the twelve
dollar cost is returned to amateur radio. Proceeds have gone to support
projects around the province with only the following restrictions:
1-the funds MUST go to a specific project, the project must be of a
beneficial nature to ALL hams, not just the specific club membership.
2-no equipment purchased can be used to enhance the performance of an
individual amateur. 3-no equipment purchased can be in the possession
of an individual amateur. 4-financial statements are required from the
club or organization to show where and how the money was spent.
5-books must be paid for in advance, no exceptions. This year is
the first year that we have printing costs, this is beyond our control
and no ham receives any monies including myself and Rick.
Some
of the major projects supported in the past were the initial packet
linking system in Manitoba, assistance to the Manitoba Repeater Society
to further the linking system. Funds have also gone to clubs throughout
the province.
VE4MBR Autopatch
We hope that the autopatch will be open for local calls as well as 911
soon. To dial a local number just announce yourself ie: "VE4xxx
accessing the patch", let the carrier drop then send the seven digits
followed by the "*" character. Once your call is finished send the "#"
character (hold it for a couple of seconds), let the carrier drop so
the repeater can send its clear message and then announce "VE4xxx clear
". Please advise the person on the other end that you are on a amateur
radio link at the start of your call.
We
have created some shortcuts to dial supporters of the phone line costs
as well as macros for emergency assistance in the Selkirk, St. Andrews
& St. Clements district. They are simple 3 digit codes followed by
the "*" character. Please advise the person on the other end that you
are on a amateur radio link.
CODE
DESCRIPTION
CODE
DESCRIPTION
911*
911 EMERGENCY
700*
VE4UB
900*
SELKIRK RCMP
701*
VE4UN
901*
HIGHWAY RCMP
702*
VE4NME
902*
TERRY's TOWING
703*
VE4OA
999*
WWO CANWARN
704*
VE4UI
706*
VE4QE
705*
VE4PI
One
other feature that you might find handy is the time. You can call up
the voice announcement of the time by identifying yourself and sending
the "A" character followed by the "*" character. All of the
instructions apply to the UHF as well as the VHF repeater sections.
VE4MBR & CanWarn VE4WWO
As
a public service we will attempt to have notices of any weather Watches
and Warnings posted as an end of activity announcement. This happens
when the carrier drops after the courtesy beep. If a is upgraded to a
it will be repeated continually unless a net is established. When the
Watch/Warning is ended it will also be announced. We will be going
through some teething pains until the VE4 CanWarn system is fully
established. The battery backup on both repeaters guarantees us 48hr
transceive during which we will have no problem linking in our standby
generator. Once again, everything that applies to the VHF section also
applies to the UHF section.
Any
Licensed Amateur Radio Operator may become a CANWARN Spotter. You do
not have to be a member of any other Amateur Radio Club or Organization
to join. Training in Severe Weather Spotting, and Net procedures will
be provided by local experts. People who are SWL's or those who are
currently studying for their Ham ticket may also wish to participate as
associate members, but since you must have a Licence to operate VHF or
UHF Amateur frequencies, your participation will be limited until you
can get the applicable licence class. Families of Hams are also welcome
to participate as associate members if their sighting reports can be
passed along by the licensed Amateur in the household.
VE4MBQ & VE4WWO News Story
Click here for a Story from The Winnipeg Sun - Sunday August 2nd, 1998.
NB: the new callsign for the Winnipeg Weather Office is VE4WWO. Anyone
in the Selkirk area that holds an amateur radio certificate and
interested in CanWarn training, please contact Bill VE4UB at 204
482-3402. Others that may be interested in becoming an amateur radio
operator please contact me as well. Individuals in other areas can
still contact me and I will try to put you in touch with either your
Emergency Coordinator or an Industry Canada Volunteer Examiner close to
you.
Monday,
November 29th, 2004: I
have built quite a few
TinyTrak3 and
PocketTracker3 units as well as running a
PacComm TNC for Digi operation
but last week I discovered the most amazing unit for portable
APRS. Rick VE4RA had shown
me his Kenwood
TH-D7A dual band + APRS unit and felt it was more than I needed
as we have two Kenwood TH-79A units as well as a couple of TH-26s.
The TH-26s have been demoted to APRS duty with the TinyTrak3s and
the TH-79As are getting tired. I noticed a new (hardly used)
TH-D7A unit for sale on EBay and picked it up at about half the
going rate. The unit has been superseded buy the "G" model
that has quite a few more APRS features but this one is great for my
use. All a person needs to add is a GPS for a full system.
The least expensive GPS solution is the Garmin
GPS-18PC
which goes for about $125.00 Canadian. Personally I have a
listing of the coordinates for most places in Selkirk and can easily
change the coordinates as I go around town. For future trips
in my
scooter I intend to use the GPS-18 so I can keep my attention on
steering. There are many inexpensive methods to get on APRS
without spending a lot of money. We have many stations on
144.39 operating without GPS, it just means that the coordinates
have to be entered manually.
My Earlier Postings on APRS: In
all the years my TNCs (Terminal Node Controllers) sat on my shelf
unused I never thought that they would be anything more than a reminder
of the heyday of packet, 1980-1992. My last TNCs were MFJ-1278s that
served me and the community very well. One was used on HF/UHF and the
other on VHF. This was the gateway for packet for many years but with
the advent of the Internet demand and interest died off. There were
some diehards who held on but progress made this mode obsolete. There
will be arguments but it is a fact, we must move on. I along with my
youngest son Brad VE4PI started to investigate this new use of packet
that would allow tracking of mobile units as well as short messages.
Because of the insistence of Wayne VE4WTS, Garry VE4KGB, Gord VE4GLS,
Grant VE4HGD and many others we finally dusted them off and got them
into operation once again.
I'm having
a ball with my new interest in yet another mode in this wonderful
hobby. So far we have only been able to get one temporary base station
operational but I hope to have a mobile in operation this weekend. Our
intent is to get our SUV operational next, then Brad VE4PI and then my
scooter.
If anyone in the area is
interested in getting involved, please send me an e-mail and I will try
to help, there are lots of seasoned "experts" in the area who have
jumped to help me as in this case it is truly "the more the merrier".
The
bare necessities are: a computer 486 or better, a vhf transceiver
capable of fm operation on 144.390 MHz, at TNC of almost any flavor ,
an antenna and optionally a GPS and/or a weather station. Coordinates
can be entered in manually in the absence of a GPS, this is fine for
base operation unless you reside on a fault line you shouldn't drift
much. The weather station adds a nice touch but I have a problem
getting mine from tcp/ip to WinAPRS since the computers are in
different rooms albeit on a network but I haven't figured this one out
yet.
If you are interested at all, try going to
http://wx.findu.com/ve4ub check out the links on this page and I'm sure you will be hooked!
VE4SSS & VE4MBR Activities
Wednesday, February 6th,
2008:Ron
VE4QE has tuned up the new
UHF repeater and has time
booked in the radio
shop to do the final tuning
on the PA deck.
He
picked up the transmitter,
receiver and cans for the
final tuning. Once
this is completed and
installed at our Christie
Avenue site he will then
take the two metre section
and cans to the same radio
shop for retuning. We
are all looking forward to
elimination of the
interference especially when
the link is up.
He
picked up the equipment
today so we should see
the
results of his labours
before too long.
Thanks Ron!
Monday, August 28/29th,
2006:At
1815 CDT the main MTS fiber
feed was cut between
Winnipeg and Selkirk around
Pritchard Farm Road.
Long distance, cellular 911
and trunk radio service in
Selkirk were disabled.
A call from the emergency
supervisor at the Selkirk
General Hospital to Brad
VE4PI (also director of
communications for the City
of Selkirk) at 1828 put the
communications segment of
the City EOC and our
communications plan into
action.
Brad set up a portable
station at the hospital and
at 1855 notified Selkirk
Fire and Ambulance to use
FleetNet local talk groups.
He then moved the station to
the civic offices EOC.
Emergency bulletins were
relayed to fire, EMS and
police to move to VHF for
site to site and establish
Rogers communications.
Emergency bulletins were
relayed via Rogers Cellular
to news media for
public to use local numbers
rather than 911.
Emergency Services were
advised to add crews for the
night, and to utilize
patrols for highway
travelers that may not be
aware of the communications
outage. Coverage for
Emergency health maintained
via pay as you go cells.
We confirmed our
participation with Dave
VE4PN when Winnipeg net
started using VE4VJ. We continued to give
status reports to VE4PSC
throughout the evening when
we had information of
interest to the net. City of Selkirk
Director of communications
Brad Bowman VE4PI NCS for Selkirk on
VE4MBR, VE4VJ & Simplex Bill
Bowman VE4UB Assisting with
Selkirk net functions Bev
Bowman VE4BEV Selkirk ARES
incident participants:
Ron Williscroft VE4QE Bev Bowman VE4BEV Lorne Nicol VE4UN Eugene Rondeau
VE4NME Duncan Bowman VE4UI Bill Bowman Jr VE4OA Brad Honke VE4XM Brad Bowman VE4PI Bill Bowman VE4UB We had hams
available for backup coms
for RCMP, EMS, Hospital and
Selkirk Fire. Interlake Health
Region has coms via Rogers
and Ambulance units local
frequencies.
Selkirk Fire had members on
standby at the fire hall
with inter department coms
via their VHF local & mutual
aid frequencies.
RCMP Selkirk/Rural/Highways
were only concerned about
their local areas.
Interagency coms were
handled by shift at the City
of Selkirk EOC All agencies have
Rogers cell phones scrounged
by Selkirk ARES members and
concerned citizens for
Winnipeg & Brandon coms. Full service was
reestablished to Selkirk at
0005 Tuesday August 29,
2006.
Our EOC remained
active throughout the night
to ensure service should the
link fail. We halted our
local net at 0100 and
cleared with VE4PSC at that
time.
Friday, March 31st,
2006:Ron
VE4QE has tuned up the new
UHF repeater and is just
awaiting time in the radio
shop to do the final tuning
on the PA deck.
(anyone have a Bird
wattmeter that he can
borrow)? Once that is
completed it should be on
the air and we can then look
at adding IRLP to it.
Now that Environment Canada
has committed to SAME
technology for weather radio
we will be adding local
warnings to both repeater
sections. We also hope
to add 144.39 to the
repeater for APRS and add a
gateway when the IRLP is
implemented. Once the
equipment is installed we
will try to reactivate the
autopatches on both
sections. In the
beginning, please refrain
from using the autopatch
during working hours unless
there is urgent traffic
Thursday, October 20th,
2005:Duncan
VE4UI and I have installed the custom words from Sean Caldwell
KF4IWT who is the voice of
the Vyex DAB as well as "Bob
FM". The
custom words/phrases for our
area should make the
controller much friendlier.
Any reports on the all new
VE4MBR custom ID are
welcome. As well as
the normal commands try
sending "1" from your touch
pad to hear a description of
our repeater. Any of
the voice outputs will delay
before being sent and then
switch to CW if a carrier is
received. More will be
added once the link radio at
VE4MIL is replaced as we
have had Sean send us the
compatible custom words for
the links and special
functions.
Friday,
August 19th, 2005:Ron
VE4QE and I have some
upgrading done on the VE4MBR
VHF and UHF repeaters.
The custom words have been
ordered from Sean Caldwell
KF4IWT who is the voice of
the Vyex DAB. The
custom words/phrases for our
area should make the
controller much friendlier.
Thursday,
August 4th, 2005:Ron
VE4QE and I have finally
started to get some
upgrading done on the VE4MBR
VHF and UHF repeaters.
Today we got the new DAB
installed on the VHF
repeater but we ran out of
time to get it initialized.
We will get that done
tomorrow. Ron has
taken the link radio home
for a tune up and make sure
that the CTCSS board donated
by Yori VE4ACX is
operational in preparation
for the MRS link at Milner
replacement. Stand by
for more news as we actually
get planned work completed
Wednesday,
April 13th, 2005:Duncan VE4UI and Ross
Paddock aligned the
horizontal 440 link yagi
correctly to VE4MIL. My
error, in the excitement to
get the link up before the
snow last year, I was 25 -
30 degrees out in my
guestimation. After getting
the correct long/lat from
Grant VA4GD, I recalculated
and the correction made.
Quite to our surprise the
signal path is so good that
the alignment made no
noticeable difference in the
quality of our signal.
Thanks to Garry VE4KGB, Don
VE4DJ at VE4EMO and Brad
VE4XM for their signal
reports.
Ron
VE4QE and I hope to get some
more work done on the VE4MBR
UHF repeater and get this
section operational soon.
Tuesday,
December 7th, 2004:
We have acquired a set of four
vhf
Sinclabs cans which should
allow us to multicouple our
proposed APRS node into our
main antenna. Ron VE4QE
will be setting these up for
us so we are a bit ahead of
our schedule for our winter
upgrades. Watch for
VE4MBR-3 to show up. We
hope to expand this to a
gateway in the near future.
We are getting more activity
on the VHF repeater section as
hams become aware that it is
once again operating at full
potential. The MRS nets
seem to be a hit as we have a
few more hams from the
district using the links.
The new
Vyex Digital Audio Boards
should arrive soon so I will
be busy configuring the
firmware/software for our
needs. These units will
give us a lot more options and
enhance the operation.
We plan to have bulletins
available on demand as well as
notices and weather warnings.
Any ideas of what you would
like to see for information
would be welcome. When
you hear the new "voice id"
you will know they have been
installed.
Saturday,
November 27th, 2004:
We have had many more reports
and I have created a coverage
map to estimate our Base and
Mobile coverage from these
reports. It would seem
that we are definitely not an
alligator. Our receive
is much better than our
transmit. This is to be
expected I guess since we are
using very low output power.
It is hoped that in the future
we will have tone access to
higher power. Much like
the "570" to remove the T3A
tone access we would have tone
access to higher power when
required. Derek VE4HAY
proved this when he was mobile
at Grand Beach, he was Q4-5
but had trouble hearing
through the repeater. He
tested the coverage when
returning on Hwy 59 and his
only complaint was local noise
that broke his squelch even
with CTCSS turned on. I
can't explain this phenomenon
but have experienced the same
problem from within the City
of Winnipeg starting on
McPhillips Street near the
casino. Ron VE4QE was
mobile on Friday afternoon
doing testing from west and
southwest sections of Winnipeg
where communications were
possible despite experiencing
intermods. Higher power
or using the link would
correct this problem. Wednesday,
November 24th, 2004:
We have had a few more reports
and everything points to
better VHF coverage than we
ever had at the old site even
that we are lower. I can
only attribute it to the
quality installation work and
low loss feed line.
Derek VE4HAY was mobile on his
way to Grand Beach. He
was Q5 until he went down the
hill to his establishment,
pretty good as this measures
about 32m or 83km.
Duncan VE4UI was on his way to
HMCS Chippewa last evening and
was still Q5 in front of City
Hall on Main Street in
Winnipeg. Please keep
the reports or checks coming
as I would like to build a map
with portable, mobile and base
coverage from all directions.
Once this is completed I'll be
sure to post it here.
Ron VE4QE is going to have a
look at our noise burst on the
link transmitter in the next
couple of days.
On a lighter note. I
have stripped the vinyl jacket
from the two short pieces of
heliax, any ideas on what we
should do with these?
How about an SWR trophy?
Let me know. Check out
the pictures. Sunday,
November 21st, 2004:
Spent a
lot of time today
reprogramming controller
macros. Still rusty on
the commands so lots of trial
and error to get things right.
It was much easier using the
programming software over the
phone line but this will have
to do for the time being.
Jim VE4AGS checked in from his
home in Ste Anne south of
Winnipeg. He sounded
local so the VHF section of
the repeater is operating
better than my expectations.
It goes to show that a job
worth doing is worth doing
well. Duncan VE4UI and Ron
VE4QE deserve a real pat on
the back for a job well done
under adverse conditions.
Any other reports are welcome
as this is the only way to
find out what our new coverage
are is. Remember,
despite some accusations that
our PL is to keep users out,
nothing is further from the
case. The PL requirement
can be turned off by sending
DTMF 570. The PL will
turn back on after a
inactivity period on the
repeater or you can turn it
back on by sending DTMF 751.
The PL is there to stop
interference from other
repeaters further upstream in
the Red River Valley.
With inversions we had
repeaters near Fargo ND
tripping the system. Now
that all of the repeater
allocations are used up in our
area more and more systems are
going to have to do likewise.
At least with ours you can
turn it on and off as desired. Saturday,
November 20th, 2004:
Thanks to Yori VE4ACX, Grant
VA4GD and Derek VE4HAY for
their work on the link on the
Milner end. The receive
audio is much better
after their ay on the ridge.
We have some work to do as
there seems to be an
occasional small noise burst
emanating from the link radio
on our end. This only
occurs when the link is up so
we will keep it down as much
as possible till it is
corrected. For some
reason changes are required to
the macros at our end to avoid
problems on the MIL end.
I hope to have these corrected
tomorrow at the latest. Friday,
November 19th, 2004:
At
long last, thanks to mother
nature, Duncan VE4UI and Ron
VE4QE the tower work is
completed for this phase of
upgrades on VE4MBR.
On
Wednesday afternoon Duncan and
Ron were able to replace the
1/2" heliax link run with
LMR-400. The damaged cable
was beyond our worst
expectations. The line was
crushed and someone had built
the cable back up with rubber
seal tape to look round. In
places the copper shield was
open. 50 ohms is optimum but
this never even came close.
Duncan also replaced pigtails
and many adapters with one N
male connector at the
horizontal yagi.
They ran out of time on
Wednesday so Ron VE4QE
completed the termination
inside on Thursday by noon.
I
spoke with Rick VE4RA through
the link on VE4VJ to confirm
that we were operational. I
also checked into the MRS swap
net through the link to VE4WPG
at 2100 last evening. I
announced to the net that the
link was operational. Grant
VA4GD from MRS said that he
and Yori VE4ACX would be going
to the VE4MIL site on Saturday
to see if they can fix the
noise problem.
All in all, I think that the
VHF section and the link are
operating as good or better
than they did at our old
site. Only time and reports
will tell.
Please dust off your
handhelds, mobiles, bases or
whatever you have and give us
a report.
Next up, to get the new UHF
repeater installed as soon as
Ron can arrange to get it
tuned up in the radio shop.
The transmitter on the link
radio only transmits when told
to do so by the Scom 7K
controller unlike many in the
link system that are active
continually.
No
fees are requested for the use
of this repeater, the VE4SSS
executive would like to see
those hams using the
facilities to support your
provincial repeater society
MRS. Their user fees go to
supporting the linking system
as well as repeaters
throughout the province.
Remember a great deal of time
and effort has gone in to this
upgrade, this is your
repeater, use it or lose it!
Wednesday,
November 17th, 2004:
Today is the day we wrapped up
the outside antenna work on
VE4MBR. Duncan VE4UI and
Ron VE4QE
got
that completed today with the
replacement of the damaged heliax with LMR-400 on the
link antenna. No one
expected that we would have a
day like this in Selkirk on
the 17th of November! It
was expected to reach a balmy
12c on the plus side! We
made it to 11c.
The antenna gods must be
liking our work. Any
reports after the installation
would be most welcome. I
brought up the morning net on
VE4WPG via the link today but it was so noisy
that communications through
the link would be next to
impossible. It is likely
a transmitter problem at MIL
since I'm told our audio is
excellent through the link. I'll try
again tomorrow to see if
our work makes a difference or
if MRS will have to do some
work on the VE4MIL end.
As you can
see, it is really hard to
imagine how we got a signal
through this horribly damaged
heliax! Click on the
thumbnail for more views.
The outside work is completed
for this year. Ron VE4QE
will make the final connection
to the link radio in the
morning and we will be ready
for some real testing.
Please give us some reports!!!
Thursday, November 11th,
2004:
I
have been monitoring the link
this evening and it is
operational from Selkirk.
There is some noise on the
receive and I don't know yet
if it's us or them. Only time
will tell. We will know for
sure once the LMR-400 is
installed.
I
was able to check into the MRS
swap net first try on VE4MBR
through the link so this is
the first actual test with the
new yagi. After
net I checked with Derek
VE4HAY who was surprised that
I was through the link, he
thought I was local in
Winnipeg!
Don't forget the MRS Swap n'
Shop nets on VE4MBR every
Thursday and Sunday evenings
at 2100 local. The link
is brought up by timed macro
so no operator intervention is
required.
Please
check in.
Wednesday, November 10th,
2004:
Selkirk VE4MBR/VE4SSS We
have now completed the
installation of a taller mast
and replaced the feed line
with LMR-400 for the tri-band
Diamond vertical repeater
antenna. The work was
completed by Duncan VE4UI on
the tower and Ron VE4QE on the
ground. Weather was excellent
for tower work, cold and
windy! The results from the
changes are well worth the
effort. The Link antenna was
also installed to link Selkirk
with MRS and Pinetree for
additional coverage. The UHF
section of the repeater should
be commissioned in the next
couple of weeks and the 23cm
section will be added this
winter. We still will have to
replace the Link yagi feed
line with LMR-400. That run
is ready to go and should take
an hour at the most to
replace. As soon as there is
a warmer day we will get it
done. Plans for this winter
are to get the autopatches
working on VHF and UHF and
installation of an IRLP link.
The two Scom 7K repeater
controllers will also be
upgraded to enhance operation.
Negotiations are ongoing with
the City of Selkirk and our
emergency preparedness. News
should be available on this
front soon. Brad VE4PI is
also the Director of
Communications for the city
which enhances our position.
Our new home is in the old
RCMP city office and our
repeaters are located in the
secure interview room. I wish
to thank all of the hams
involved in making a success
of our operation. Without the
hard work of Rick VE4RA, Ron
VE4QE, Duncan VE4UI and Brad
VE4PI we would still have
pieces in Eugene's VE4NME
garage. A special thank
you to Eugene VE4NME and his XYL
Pauline for giving up so much
space in their garage for so
long.
Monday, November 8th, 2004:The new
LMR-400 for the Tri-Band
vertical is now fully
installed at the repeater. We
are looking for reports now
that the antenna, mast and
feed line are installed.
We now find
that the feedline for the link
antenna has been damaged. It
looks crushed where it bends
to come into the building.
This is resulting in a very
high SWR. Further testing
will be required but we have
LMR-400 to replace this line
if required.
It would
also seem that when the
windows were being washed at
the senior complex next door
using a decommissioned fire
truck some years ago. That
the outriggers failed and the
truck toppled into the
building and tower. No one
was hurt but it looks like
someone just taped over the
damage to the cable and left
it in that state?
We will
hopefully have good enough
weather to get the link
feedline replaced very soon if
required.
Thanks
again to VE4UI
and
VE4QE for
getting the job done.
Saturday, November 6th, 2004:
For
now the tower work in as
complete as we can do for the
time being. See
Photos!
The
VHF/UHF antenna is now up at
full height with the new mast.
The new run of LMR-400 is
installed the tower. The link
yagi is in place and all tower
feedline work is done for this
winter.
Monday Ron VE4QE will run the
LMR-400 feedline into the
repeater room and terminate it.
Once we are sure that everything
is operating as it should Ron
will recommission the VHF and
UHF link repeaters. When Ron
can get time in the radio shop
the new UHF repeater will be
commissioned.
Work
to be done: 1>
acquire a new tri-band vertical,
probably Diamond. This will
require new termination at top
end of LMR-400 feed line.
2>
acquire and install new 1296
repeater.
3>
install a computer and IRLP
controller. If anyone knows of a
rack mount computer case please
let me know!
4>
acquire and install a 900mHz
control link for IRLP and
repeater programming.
5>
install autopatch access on VHF
and UHF (no access from UHF
link).
These tasks are job jar tasks
and need not be completed as
listed. We would like to
acquire the new antenna ASAP so
that it is on hand if there is a
break in the weather that would
allow the switch.
Thanks to Eugene VE4NME for the
use of his ladder, Duncan VE4UI
for the tower work, Ron VE4QE
for his expertise and ground
control, Bev VE4BEV for being
the gofer.
73 < Bill VE4UB...
Thursday, November 5th, 2004 VE4MBR rescheduled - Again
& Again!
Having
been skunked on the last three
attempts by impossibly poor
weather forecasting, we will try
again tomorrow, Friday
5th. Duncan VE4UI will be
available around 1300 or so.
If anyone can give him a hand
besides Bill Jr VE4OA it would be
appreciated. We need an
extension ladder to get on the
roof and everything else is in
place.
What
has to be done:
1>
Remove the short mast and replace
with the new 20' section (VE4UI
will be on the tower)
2>
Attach the new feed line and raise
the mast to at least the twelve
foot mark.
3>
Install the horizontal UHF link
antenna at the bottom of the new
mast.
4> Get
the new feed line into the
building and terminate on the
radios.
Number
4 can be done later which will
result in the repeater being off
line until the job can be done.
We
need people on the ground to hoist
things as needed and lower things
as required.
If the
wx office is correct for once, and
we have the manpower we should be
able to wrap this up tomorrow.
Friday, October 29th, 2004 VE4MBR rescheduled - Again!
It looks like the next opportunity
we will have is on Sunday
afternoon. If the forecast can be
believed it should be as good as
it gets.
VE4UI curls in the morning but
if we can get a few people
together mid afternoon there
should only be about an hours
worth of work to get it done!
73 < Bill VE4UB...
Thursday, October 28th, 2004
We
have been skunked for two days now
as far as work on the tower goes.
The new mast is on the roof, the
LMR-400 feedline is in the
building but we need the weather
to cooperate.
Yesterday, pouring rain, high
winds kept us off. VE4NME, VE4QE
and VE4UI got everything to the
site and it is ready to go.
Today, the wind and temp
cooperated but the fog and mist
made climbing just out of the
question since rubber and steel
tend to get pretty slippery.
The
forecast isn't much better for
tomorrow afternoon but hopefully
the weather office will bat a 1000
and be wrong once again. From
Saturday on the temp will be
dropping and therefore tomorrow
afternoon looks like our best bet.
With
the mast, feedline and link
antenna at the site it shouldn't
take too long to complete the job,
at least the outside work. If it
is too late we will be offline
over the weekend due to limited
access for feeding the line in
from the tower to the repeater
room. If we are lucky, the
feedline connected to the tri-band
antenna will be able to feed the
uhf link. This will save us the
cost of one run. If not, we will
replace it as soon as possible.
The
tri-band antenna will be going up
another twelve feet (at least) so
the need for the new line. Also,
LMR-400 will be better for the
1296 section when it is available.
VE4MA WARC Demonstration of 24gHz EME VE4INT Installation Circa Fall 1980 VE4MBR Prime Antenna Installation 12-Jul-94 # 0 VE4MBR Prime Antenna Installation 12-Jul-94 # 1 VE4MBR Prime Antenna Installation 12-Jul-94 # 2 VE4MBR Prime Antenna Installation 12-Jul-94 # 3 VE4MBR Prime Antenna Installation 12-Jul-94 # 4 VE4MBR Link Antenna Installation 09-May-98 # 1 VE4MBR Link Antenna Installation 09-May-98 # 2 VE4MBR Link Antenna Installation 09-May-98 # 3 VE4MBR Link Antenna Installation 09-May-98 # 4 VE4MBR Link Antenna Installation 09-May-98 # 5 VE4MBR Link Antenna Installation 09-May-98 # 6 VE4MBR Link Antenna Installation 09-May-98 # 7 VE4MBR Link Antenna Installation 09-May-98 # 8 VE4MBR Link Antenna Installation 09-May-98 # 9 VE4MBR Link Antenna Installation 09-May-98 # 10 VE4MBR Link Antenna Removal April-2001 Album VE4MBQ at VE4YWG from The Winnipeg Sun 02-Aug-98 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 1 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 2 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 3 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 4 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 5 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 6 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 7 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 8 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 9 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 10 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 11 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 12 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 13 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 14 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 15 VE4BB WARC/ARRL Field Day 1999 Photo # 16 VE4NRC QSL Card - 1979 VE4NRC QSL Data - 1979 VE4PKT Setup courtesy of Werner VE4UA Map of Selkirk & District Map of Selkirk & District Zoom Out Map of Selkirk & District Zoom In Maps by
www.expediamaps.com
Ham Fests / Meetings / Etc.
WARC
Monthly Meeting Meetings are held on the
second Monday of each month.
at
Dakota Collegiate
661 Dakota Street
The meeting will be on the third
Monday if the second is a
statutory holiday.
No meetings are held in July &
August Meetings Start @ 1930 Local Time for more info contact
WARC
MARM's
14th annual Hamfest Austin MB Exhibition Grounds
August 2010
Friday evening Campfire Sing
along
Saturday night dance party BYOB for more info contact Dave VE4XN
47th annual International Hamfest
International Peace Garden
July ??? 2010
Friday evening Campfire Sing
along
Saturday night dance party BYOB for more info contact Dave VE4XN
