A word from the President By Derek, VE4HAY

It is with sincere hope that, by the time you are reading this, we are out of the deep freeze. I took two weeks off being retired to go on a vacation in the middle of January, when the weather was sup-posedly the coldest, only to come back to one warm day and the another round the of the "Polar Vortex". Or as Winnipeggers call it - another day in January. The millennials think this was the coldest it has even been. Well we all know the truth on how cold it was in the past.

Okay, onto warmer things. Our annual general

meeting is coming up (please see notice above) and with that comes election time. The nominating

The Official Publication of the Winnipeg Senior Citizens Radio Club, Inc.

Spring 2019 Dedicated to Friendship, Fun and Communication Free

Mystery Event The Board has approved a request by David Rosner, VE4DAR to have use

of the Clubhouse facilities Wednesday, February 27

for a (Mystery) Social Event.

This will be a good time for all Club members, and Hams at-

large, to come and enjoy the fellowship of those of our fraternity.

Other Important Dates Check the Club Calendar for all our events

Officers & Directors 2018 Past-President ........................... Bert Andrews, VE4AND President ......................................... Derek Hay, VE4HAY Vice-Pres. ............................... Gary Goodman, VA4RWT Treasurer ........................................................................... Secretary ................................... Dennis Forster, VE4DMF Director .......................................... Tom Blatch, VE4HQ Director ................................... Harsha Godavari, VE4SAI Director ......................................... Gil Frederick, VE4AG Director .................................... Irving Cosgrove, VE4UG Director .................................... Gerry Sherman, VE4GKS Director ............................................ Alf Keber, VE4ALF Director ............................................ Ed Oakes, VE4OAK Director ...................................... Lawrence Kyle, VE4SS Director ...................................................... John VE4JON

Annual General Meeting NOTICE is hereby given In accordance with Article VI of The

Winnipeg Senior Citizens Radio Club Inc, constitution an Annual General Meeting will be held at;

Locations: The Club rooms

Date: March 27th, 2019 Time: 10:00 am

On the agenda will be

Election of officers of the Club

Report of the financial status of the club

Various committee reports. All current members are requested to

attend and participate.

committee is looking for volunteers to step forward and join the Board of Directors. It is the board of Directors that basically directs the executive to pre-form and take care of the business of the senior's radio club. The executive then reports back to the board. So if you have ideas on how or what direc-tion you would like the club to take, being on the board is the best way to have your voice heard. It is not a lot of work. The board meets one a month for an hour or two and takes care of all the business of the day. If you are at all interested, please let Bert, VE4AND, Gil, VE4AG or Gary, VA4RWT know, as they are the past presidents and are the nominat-ing committee.

As part of my duties as your current president,

other than chairing the board meetings and running the business of the club as the board sees fit, I look for ways to improve the club itself. This year, I have been dealing with our landlord, the City of Winnipeg, on installing some much needed electri-cal circuits in the south end of the Club. The circuit in the work shop stop working last fall and the city says that since it is aluminum wiring and they can't immediately find the fault that they are not going to

repair it. That circuit and the fact that we can't hook up a printer in the office without blowing a breaker (located downstairs in the museum) we have decid-ed to install some much need circuits. Work has been slow, as we needed to get permission from the landlord on the leasehold improvements, then the city assigned us a project manage and a bunch of red tape, followed by a survey for asbestos. And finally after about 6 months we are now at the stage for getting the contractor in to do the work shortly. We have hired Standard Electric, owned by Gary, VE4YH, who is giving us a great deal on the labour charges as long as we help pull wire etc. And we pay for the supplies of course. So this is something to look forward to.

Over the course of late summer to fall, we re-

placed a number of the seized up horizontal blinds in the club with sheer curtains. This has greatly in-creased the amount of light in the rooms, while keeping out a large portion of the solar heat.

The multi-year long clean-up was finally finished

this past year, and I can say, what an improvement. A lot of the junk is now gone, the work shop is ac-cessible, the office is in good order, the closets were purged, old outdated equipment was sold off for cash, old broken chairs were disposed of and you can walk around now without going through a maze. We have two rooms still to finish off - the library/lounge and the room next to it with the two organs in them. Not sure what we are going to do with that room yet. Perhaps that is where we will install a vintage radio station. Speaking of Vintage radios, most of the older vintage amateur radio equipment was donated in kind to the MB Amateur Radio Mu-seum in Austin. They are in a much better state to properly display this equipment than we were. We did keep enough gear to make one working vintage station, once the equipment is checked over.

The networking of the computers in the various

rooms is almost complete. All computers are on the network, We have a shared NAS for file storage & backup. The connection speed and stability to the internet has also improved this year, thanks to the VA4WAN group, installing better equipment for us.

Work will start up this spring on the Satellite ra-

dio station antennas. We have a climber lined up and a tall ladder as well. Once we get the antennas down, then we can evaluate what exactly is the work that needs to be done.

WSC Committee Chairpersons

Sparks ................................... Derek, VE4HAY Membership ......................... Dennis, VE4DMF Emergency ................................. Tom, VE4HQ Security & Housekeeping ........ Bert, VE4AND Technical& computers........... Harsha, VE4SAI Duty Officer ............................... Alf, VE4ALF IRLP .......................................... Alf , VE4ALF Phone ......................................... Alf , VE4ALF Social .......................................... Alf, VE4ALF Public Relations ................................................ Education ............................... Gary, VA4RWT Health/Welfare ............................. Gil, VE4AG

Comments or if you just want to reach us :

598 St. Mary’s Rd., Winnipeg, MB R2M 3L5 Corner of St. Anne’s Rd.

(2nd floor in the heritage Fire Hall) 204-666-8435

ve4wsc@gmail.com www.ve4wsc.ampr.org

As I close off this report and look back on the year, I want to thank the board for working with me and taking my vision of the club and allowing me to get some of this going. We have a lot of new mem-bers, and we are starting to get bodies through the door. We are open on Saturdays now, and it is pos-sible that one day soon we could be open in the eve-nings, if there is interest from members and we have someone to be a duty officer. If you have thoughts on how the club can be better utilized, please let me know. I am always looking for ways to get bodies in the building.

And speaking of this – when was the last time

you were at the club for socialization, to operate, to build or to just have a coffee?

Remember this is your club; Why not make the

most of it!! '73,

Monetary Donations Have you made a donation to the club lately? We can not accept PayPal at this time, but we do

accept Interac transfers. Just send them to ve4wsc@gmail.com and then send transfer pass-word to our Treasurer so we can accept the deposit.

If you have donated and you have not received

your tax receipt for 2018 please contact President Derek ve4hay@shaw.ca who will try to give them out personally or will mail it to you, providing the club has your valid address on file.

VHF Nets MRS Net - 147.390Mhz Sundays &Thursdays@9:00 pm

This net covers Winnipeg and the MRS linked repeater system, and includes various announcements on amateur radio activities and Dick's "Swap & Shop"

The Morning Net 147.390Mhz Weekdays @ 9:00 am

This net covers Winnipeg and hams of all ages are welcome to join in this net which is always a lot of fun!

D-Star Nets VE4WDR System using UHF 444.575+ DV Port B and/or VHF 145.490- DV Port C

TransCanada D-Star Net - Fridays at 8:00 pm On “Free Star” Reflector 21 ( XRF021BO )

HamNation D-Star Net - Wednesday at 9:15pm On “DPlus” Reflector 14 ( REF014CL )

Ozark Mtn. D-Star Net - Sundays at 8:00 pm On “DPlus” Reflector 1 ( REF001CL ) More nets http://www.dstarinfo.com/nets.aspx

HF Nets MB Evening Phone Net - 3747 KHz Daily at 7:00 PM Local (CT) Prairie Traffic Net (CW) 3660 KHz Daily at 01:30 UTC Aurora Net (Afternoon)

7055 KHz Daily at 23:30 UTC Aurora # 2 Net (Evening)

7055 KHz Daily at 02:30 UTC MB Wx Net 3743 KHz Daily at 8:30 PM Local (CT)

Support Your Local Suppliers Amateur Radios, Antennas, and more ...

Winnipeg’s ICOM Dealer…

Micro-HighTech Communications Ltd.

2223 Henderson Hwy,

East St. Paul, MB Ph. (204)-783-1885 Fax (204) 779-7522

Contact George Hill, VE4GDH

Visit their web site.. www.microhightech.ca/

A Bit About Ourselves: This space reserved for profile articles on board

members.

Duty Officers By Alf, VE4ALF

We are still looking for members who will com-mit their time to be duty officers. The requirements of a duty officer are; firstly to learn how to lock and unlock the club house, turn on the various rigs and the basics of operating them. You are trained so that members can drop in and use the equipment and you can guide them along. It is hoped that we can have enough duty officers to cover 6 days a week (Monday – Saturday) from at least 10:00am – 3:00pm. This way we can advertise our hours and actually be open.

The following is the current list of duty officers

who will be at the club on their days. Come on down, and have a coffee, operate a radio or two and make use of your club.

Monday - GaryVA4RWT & Brian VE4BDB Tuesday - Rand VE4RI, Ken VE4KGK, Gil

VE4AG Wednesday - Alf VE4ALF & Tom VE4HQ,

Brian VE4BDB Thurs. - Bert VE4AND & Lawrence VE4SS Friday - Ed VE4OAK & Gary, VA4RWT, Brian

VE4BDB Saturdays - Gary, VA4RWT, Drago, VE4DBV

Responsibilities include,

Working with another duty operator (always work in pairs)

Opening and close on your given day of the week

Keeping the core hours of 10:00am – 2:00pm on your given day of the week

Assisting other members to use equipment (after you are trained on it yourself)

Opening up rooms as needed (workshop, operat-ing rooms, etc.)

Answering question of members and potential new members (visitors)

It’s not rocket science, but it does require a com-

mitment for an extended period of time. Without duty officers, we will need to close the doors. It’s your club, please support it.

NB: Please note that we are also looking for spare duty officers. Please contact Alf if you are interested in helping out at the club.

President Derek, VE4HAY presents Ken, VE4KGK with his Honour Award. Ken was one of three recipients to receive the award this year. Gary, VA4RWT was Presented his award at the Christmas Luncheon. Brian, VE4BDB also received his award.

Equipment Donations The Club will continue to ac-cept equipment donations from individuals and estates, provid-ed that said equipment is in working condition and would prove to be an asset to the club. All equipment should be ac-cessed prior to it coming to the club by a member, serving on the equipment evaluation com-mittee. Donors should be made aware that instances where the club deems the equipment to be saleable, this may occur.

Worked All Winnipeg Award From March 8th to March 17th, set your VFO's

to 146.520 for another Worked All Winnipeg QSO party. Let's see what our rigs can do without a re-peater. From your home QTH on a base antenna, mobile or a portable with a 17" rubber duck try and log 25 (or more) contacts within the city of Winni-peg.

You are not limited to 2 meters! Any contact

made direct between two stations without a repeater counts. Any band, mode, even D-STAR, DMR & Fusion. Make contact with fellow digital voice en-thusiasts on analog and then QSY to another fre-quency to try digital. For D-STAR set your radio to 145.670 or 446.100 in DV mode and UR field to CQCQCQ. For DMR, program your radio with 446.500, color code 1, time slot 1. For Fusion try 145.690 or 446.125

No QSL cards needed. A copy of your log book

with two other Hams who have checked your log and mail (unless you run into VE4HK at coffee) it with $2.00 to cover the cost of the certificate and postage to:

"WORKED ALL WINNIPEG AWARD" Custodian, Dick Maguire VE4HK c/o Winnipeg Senior Citizens Radio Club Inc. 598 St. Marys Road Winnipeg, MB R2M 3L5 Complete contest rules can be found at: http://www.winnipegarc.org/awards.html

Club Access Are you interested in accessing the club facilities

in the evenings? If so please contact the club Presi-dent for more information.

Do you have a project that others might like to

also participate in? Something like an antenna build or a kit build, or whatever.

The club facilities and the workshop are available

for anyone to make use of. Examples are the Mag-netic loop session that happened this past Spring. If you are interested in a project at the club, please contact anyone on the executive to make arrange-ments for access and promotion.

Committee Reports

Membership report - 2018 Submitted by Dennis, VE4DMF

Membership January 2018 ~ 88 Members Membership December 2018 ~ 98 Members Membership February 2019 ~ 100 Members Membership increased by 10 over last year and

we have already broken 100 as of February, 2019.

Education Chair report Submitted by Gary, VA4RWT

Its been a good year in WSC education activities with basic short course 16 last fall with 15 new am-ateur operators.Basic short course 17 started Febru-ary 23 2019 with 18 new students taking the course to get their amateur license. We had magnetic loop antenna building class at the club on Tuesday and Saturday it brought out some members we have not seen awhile and new members. A big thank you to Ken Kennedy ve4kgk and Ron Place ve4pl for or-ganizing the loop antenna building class.

Housekeeping Report Submitted by Bert, VE4AND

Coffee holding its own ..BEST CUP IN TOWN FOR 50 CENTS

PLACE STAYS REASONABLE CLEAN BIG thanks to those who roll up thier sleeves and

help with the cleaning

Security Report Submitted by Bert, VE4AND

..lots of People with Keys now Room doors had to be left open for heat this win-

ter as not all rads worked Hope spring will come and then We can lock up

again Thanks again to ALL that pitch in and help

Mystery Social Event Succeeds By David, VE4DAR

The Mystery Social Event was proposed to the Board of the Winnipeg Senior Citizens Radio Club last December with this goal: “Get people up to the club to have a look around and see what’s available. Primarily a social event; lunch and fun activities.” After the Board approved our proposal, Roger VE4RLF and I began planning the event for Wednesday, February 27 for 1030 – 1330 hours.

Promotion was done through an email from

WSCRC President Derek VE4HAY, and announce-ments on the Morning Net and the MRS Nets by me. Roger prepared a ham radio crossword puzzle, a test on Ham Radio Regulations, and video clips for showing. Rolf VE4VZ built a QLF key and sounder for the Quick Left Foot CW contest. I be-gan wrapping more than 40 “door prizes” from my infamous basement.

Set up and clean up were done by Brian VE4BDB, Ed VE4OAK, and Lawrence VE4SS. Derek VE4HAY, Tom VE4HQ, and Gary VE4RWT greeted visitors and showed them around. John VE4JON brought two homebrew antennas for people to see.

The “mystery” of how many folks would attend

was solved. Long-time hams such as Rick Lord, Dave Place, Tom and Ruth Mills were there. Two students from the current Basic Short Course attend-ed. Several slow-moving folks using canes made it. Together they blew the myth of blaming poor at-tendance on “the stairs” out of the water!

30 hams and guests had a good time viewing the

facility, renewing friendships, and meeting new folks as evidenced by many “thank you’s,” and pos-itive comments on the Morning Net the following day.

As a follow-up, I’ve sent this recommendation to

the Seniors Board to consider: Based on the success (30 participants and their

many positive comments) of the Mystery Social Event on February 27, 2019, at the WSC Clubrooms, I hereby recommend that the Board sponsor a similar Social Event (lunch and activities) once a month for the next 3 months (March, April, May).

Parking Note: Be aware that when parking your car in the lot

behind the club , it is very important that you: Park Only behind the building or along the fence (in-line with the building) Do NOT park in the first three spots along the fence directly at the end of the lane on the north side of the club as these belong to Miller’s Meats. Ensure that you enter your vehicle plate number in our log book upon entering the club. Failure to do so, may result in a park-ing ticket and/or having your auto- mobile towed.

As before, the goal is to increase the usage of the Club’s premises. By giving members and guests an opportunity to socialize over lunch, relationships are formed and strengthened. “A club is more than a list of members.”

WARC Centennial Hamfest & Conference

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Dakota Community Centre 1188 Dakota Street, Winnipeg

50 table flea market, Commercial Vendors Presenters & Speakers, More in the planning stages. Plus Basic and Advanced exams. Ham vendor tables are $20. Admission is $15 at the door ($10 for Pre-Registration) Children 12 and under plus 18 and under with Student ID are FREE admission ! Save $5.00 by preregistering! For all the details & to pre-register visit WARC100.ca

Magnetic Loop Antenna Building