RamblerNewsletter of the

Ottawa Valley MobileRadio Club Inc. (OVMRC)

Feb 2007 Volume: 51 Edition: 7 Page: 1

2006 OVMRC amateur radio operator course graduates, (from left to right) Ernie Jury, VE3EJJ, Instructor;Clark Little, VA3LIT; Joe Lemieux, VE3EUS; Geoff Roddick, VA3GRK; Theresa Mein, VA3TGS; RuthBeyerlein,VA3RBY; Dollard Olmstead, VE2DOJ; Ion Rugina, VE3MRI; James Hall, VE3MYZ.

Absent: Maureen Egan, VA3MOI; Doug Meredith, VE3DYG; Nicholas Scott, VA3NTS.Photo courtesy of Larry Wilcox, VE3WEH

We need YOU!

The 2007 edition of the Canadian Ski Marathon is just around the cor-ner. With the wonky weather, radio operators will likely be moreimportant than ever to running a successful event.

Although all checkpoints may not be up and running, the lack of snowand last minute rerouting of the trails will likely require more "eyes onthe ground" and better reporting than ever.

If you would like to volunteer, please visithttp://radio1.admin.ca and email Richard, VE3UNW atradio1@admin2.ca

Hope to hear you on the air February 10-11, 2007. 73.

2006 ONTARIO QSO PARTYFINAL RESULTSCall Location Category CW SSB Total QSOsPoints Multis Claimed ScoreONTARIO By ScoreMulti-opVE3KZ HTN MUAB HP Mixed 94 270 457 1058 195 206310VE3MIS PEL MUAB HP Mixed 55 197 252 755 111 83805VE3DC HNO MUAB HP Mixed 39 279 318 457 111 50727VE3SWA WAT MUAB LP Mixed 67 100 167 390 90 35100VE3RAM OTT MUAB LP Mixed 13 87 100 318 41 13038VE3PSH PSD MUAB LP Mixed 9 124 133 202 63 12726VE3AA COC MUAB LP Mixed 4 43 47 69 38 2622VA3OSE GRY MUAB LP SSB 0 33 33 55 22 1210

OVMRC Executive2006-2007

President VACANT

Vice-President Jean Crepeau

VA3JCN613-

Treasurer Robert Plante

VA3SHO613-

Secretary Jacques Choquette

VE3TSC

Standing CommitteeChairpersons

Amateur Radio ExhibitMaurice-André Vigneault

VE3VIG, 613-749-9010

Amateur Radio TrainingErnie Jury

VE3EJJ, 613-728-3666

Accredited ExaminerBob Kavanagh

VE3OSZ, 613-225-6785Ernie Jury

VE3EJJ, 613-728-3666

Field DayGeorge Steeves

VE3ZQH, 613-596-5015

HistoricalLarry Wilcox

VE3WEH, 613-747-5565

Flea MarketJake Guertin

VE2TQX, 819-684-9496

Field DayGeorge Steeves

VE3ZQN

MembershipGerry Trottier

VA3GLT, 613-745-5828

Publicity & ProgramsSteve Cochran

VE3SBC

Radio Operations (UHF/VHF)Matthew HallVA3MHB, 613-745-9752

Radio Operations (HF)Patrick Tunney

VA3CMD

TechnicalJake Guertin

VE2TQX, 819-684-9496

Emergency PreparednessKen Halcrow

VE3SRS, 613-837-3261

NewsletterBill Hall

VA3WMH, 613-830-5580

WebmasterElias Zaydan

VE3EKZ

Note: all e-mail addresses are:callsign at rac dot ca

RamblerOttawa Valley Mobile Radio Club Inc

P.O. Box 41145Ottawa, ON K1G 5K9

OVMRC Life Members

Maurice-André Vigneault, VE3VIG

Ralph Cameron, VE3BBM

Doug Carswell, VE3ATY

Doreen Morgan, VE3CGO

Ed Morgan, VE3GX

Bill Wilson, VE3NR

Sponsors

The OVMRC acknowledges the fol-lowing organizations for their sup-port of our activities:

• Acceptable Storage, Ottawa,ON

• Bytown Marine, Ottawa, ON

• Elkel Ltee., Trois-Riviéres, QC

• Kenwood Electronics CanadaInc., Mississauga, ON

• Ottawa Camping Trailers Ltd.,Ottawa, ON

• Travel-Mor Trailer Sales,Ottawa, ON

The Rambler is produced usingCorel’s Ventura™ 8 software.

The club’s web site is hosted byMagma Communications Ltd.

www.ovmrc.on.ca

OVMRC Repeaters

147.300 MHz(+)444.200 MHz(+)

Amateur Radio Exhibit

VE3JW

Web site:http://ve3jw.tripod.com

Canada Science & TechnologyMuseum

The Rambler is the official newsletter of

the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club

Inc. And is published 11 times a year

(monthly, except for July). Opinions

expressed in the Rambler are those of the

authors and not necessarily those of the

OVMRC Inc., it’s officers or it’s mem-

bers. Permission is granted to republish

the contents in whole or in part, provid-

ing the source is acknowledged. Com-

mercial use of the contents is expressly

prohibited. Submit articles to the editor

or by e-mail to: va3wmh@rac.ca.

Page: 2 Feb 2007

On Wednesday, January 24, 2007, studentsfrom École élémentaire publique LePrélude, a French elementary school inOrléans, Ottawa, with assistance from agroup of dedicated and talented Radio Ama-teurs, made radio contact with Sunita L.Williams, Expedition 14 Flight Engineer onthe International Space Station (ISS) underthe Amateur Radio for International SpaceStation (ARISS) program. Students fromKindergarten to grade six had made postersand a large group mural for the event wereposted on the walls of the Auditorium at theCanada Science and Technology Museum.

Amateur Radio Station VE3JW was tempo-rarily re-located to the Auditorium for thisevent. In order to use the Kenwood TS-2000radio and the Satellite antennas on the roofof the Museum, a temporary 243 foot hardline coax cable belonging to Mike JoyceVE3LTN, was installed across the roof anddown through the auditorium door. Aftermuch equipment testing, tweaking and tun-ing, trial runs and, not to mention all thewrist wringing, worry, consideration andmore testing, all was finally ready for the bigday!

Steve McFarlane VE3TBD was our Masterof Ceremonies for this event and after theintroductions and speeches by the Schooland local politicians, Steve turned it over toMike with about a minute to go. The buildup and intensity and the countdown to thecontact caused the media to rush around try-ing to find the best “shooting” positions asthey closed in on Mike VE3LTN, the primeAmateur radio operator and on Steve ReganVA3MGY, the back up Amateur radio oper-ator. Finally the time had arrived. BrianVE3IX was at the satellite console lookingafter the ISS auto tracking system alongwith Maurice-Andre VE3VIG and TerryWalton VE3TWC was monitoring thedownlink from the ISS at the usual VE3JWlocation. Newly licenced, James HallVE3MYZ along with Steve CochranVE3SBC were there as backups to relay andmessages. They used their hand held radioson simplex and relayed the countdown toAcquisition of Signal (AOS) from the ISSover to Mike and Steve at the radios in theAuditorium. Suddenly, Mike first called,“November Alpha1 Sierra Sierra, this isVictor Echo 3 Juliet Whisky. How copy?”There was total silence in the auditoriumand no response. He called again. Anotherquiet and very long pause, still no response.Tension was building, would we miss our

opportunity? He called again and finally,after a much shorter pause, we all exhaled asigh of satisfied relief as we heard a femi-nine voice call, “VE3W....JW...... here,over” Mike quickly replied, “Juliet Whis-key, roger solid copy, here’s your first ques-tion”, as he handed the microphone over toteacher Lori McFarlane. She controlled themicrophone for the students and with clock-work precision, one by one, each studentasked their one question. Astronaut “Suni”answered a total of 21 questions from thefollowing list during the 9 min and 22 sec-onds prior to losing the signal from the spacestation as it went over the horizon. Manylocal Amateurs listened in on the downlinkfrequency and heard her responses to theirquestions. However, the uplink frequency iskept confidential so the Amateurs did nothear the students questions during the trans-missions to the Space Station.

1. How did you celebrate the Holidays?2. How does it feel to live in zero gravity?3. What is the one thing from Earth that youmiss the most other than your family andfriends?4. How long can an astronaut stay in space?5. What is your favourite meal in space?6. Do you get dizzy from the speed andmotion of the station?7. Have you ever been on a space walk? Ifyes, what is it like?

8. Could meteorites crash onto the space sta-tion?9. Does everybody sleep at the same time?10. What happens if someone needsimmediate medical assistance?11. What do you recognize on the planetEarth from the station?12. How long before you became comfort-able in the space station?13. How many sunsets do you see in 24hours?14. What do stars look like in space?15. Who inspired you to become an astro-naut?16. Has anyone ever brought an animal inthe space station?17. In how many years do you think a trip inspace will be affordable?18. What do you do in your spare time?19. What do you like most about your stay inthe station?20. How long does it take to suit up to gooutside?21. How cold is it out in space?22. They call Earth the blue planet. Is theEarth really blue from space?23. What do you do with all the garbage inthe station?24. Can you smell anything in space?

Congratulations to you Maurice-AndréVigneault VE3VIG! You were the sparkplug behind this event and ensured it was a

Feb 2007 Rambler Page: 3

International Space Station (ISS) Contact with

NA1SS from VE3JW

Photo courtesy of Larry Wilcox, VE3WEH

success! I’m sure everyone will agree thatyou deserve a lot of credit. Thanks also toeach and every one of the other Amateursthat assisted in making this such a memora-ble event! Thanks also to all of the organiza-tions that were involved, the NationalResearch Council for providing the Internetwebcast, the Museum for providing theaccommodations and coffee, but a specialthanks to the school and all of the children. Itwas indeed a historical 9 mins and 20 sec-onds of time.

Come out to our next General Meeting onFebruary 15, 2007 as we are planning onshowing a video of the event.

73 until the next ISS contactLarry, VE3WEHOVMRC “Amateur” Photographer for this event

Page: 4 Rambler Feb 2007

The presentation of the OVMRC Amateur of the Year Award to BobSharp, VA3QV by Jerry Wells’ widow, June Knight, at our January 18meeting.

Photo courtesy of Larry Wilcox, VE3WEH

“As I look around the auditorium I note there are fewer Amateurs here that would have known Jerry. It is ten yearsthis year since he has been a Silent Key. He would have been pleased to know that the work and involvement hetook part in, is being carried on.

He was a Radio Amateur for 46 years getting his license in 1951 with the call sign VE3CDS.

The first award of this kind was presented to Jerry in 1997 and he was very proud of the honour. He was active formany years in the OVMRC and served in several positions on the Executive as well as participated in several nets,assisted in Field Days, GOTA, and Talk to Santa and other events. He taught Morse code and was a governmentexaminer. He was also publisher of the RAMBLER for ten years. Until his death, he was Chairman of the SeniorsCommittee for the Radio Station VE3JW here at the Museum of Science and Technology.

He was given the honour of Life Membership in June of 1989.

I have the pleasure tonight in presenting this award to a man who has shown leadership and dedication to theOVMRC over the past year. Congratulations Bob Sharp!”

NEW HOME NEEDED FOR OURELECTRONIC TEST EQUIPMENTMANUALS

Did you know our club is still selling elec-tronic test equipment manuals? Thanks tothe efforts of Ernie Jury VE3EJJ, LenGelfand VE3LGZ, and yours truly, we havebeen selling these manuals to raise moneyfor our club since 1999. They were rescuedfrom going into the dumpster and weredonated to our club. We accept orders byemail from around the world and all postagecharges are paid by the buyer. The fullamount must be paid before we mail themanual either by surface mail or airmail asrequested by the buyer. Sales over the yearshas resulted in substantial income for theclub. All of the money with the exception ofthe cost of mailing them, goes to the club.

If you want to see a list of the manuals beingsold, they are on our web page:http://ovmrc.on.ca

Currently, we need to find another home forthem. If you have storage space for thesemanuals and would like to take on the task ofselling these manuals for the club, please letus know. We have about 30 linear feet ofmanuals on shelving. We would really liketo have someone from our club look afterthis worthy project. If we cant find someonein our club, we may have to make otherarrangements and would lose this revenue.

So if you can help, let us know by email:

Larry Wilcox VE3WEH at:larrywilcox@rogers.comor telephone 613-747-5565

Len Gelfand VE3LGZ at:lgelfand@magma.caor telephone 613-749-5101.

73Larry Wilcox, VE3WEH

2m Simplex contest

The 2007 2m Simplex contest (the 4th one)is being planned for Saturday 5th May (12noon to 4pm local time). This avoids aclash with the Smiths Falls Hamfest whichis a week later.

February 15th General Meeting

1. The development of Aviation Radio in the North West Territories after WW II will bepresented by Ernie Brown VA3OEB.

2. The ARISS Radio Contact at VE3JW by our club members for an Orleans ElementarySchool on January 24, 2007, will be presented by Maurice-Andre VE3VIG.

March 15th General Meeting

1. Home Brew Night - get your projects readyto enter and maybe you will win a prize!

2. There will also be a presentation by MartinVA3SIE about his portable and pedestrianmobile QRP antenna designs.