The under 20 club is looking for participants Sunday night. If you are wanting to either learn or brush up on your code this is the place. All of this takes place Sunday night at 19:30 (7:30 pm) on 28.020. No speed is too slow. The operators will drop down to your speed. Mistakes are allowed so don’t not participate because you think your not good enough. Grab that key, hook it up to the radio and start making some noise on Sunday nights.

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From last nights meeting. Over the last month or so we have been discussing buying a software defined radio. Dave (VE7PKE) has been spearheading this project and reported back last night that the ideal radio for this project would be the Elecraft KX3. This radio has the dual purpose of being used either as a software defined receive radio or used in the traditional ways. It is a qrp rig. VE7PKE also volunteered his time in assembling this radio if we wished to buy it as a kit. Don (VE7DS) who has one of these radios reports he is totally happy with his unit. A vote was taken and it was unanimous that we would purchase this radio. As a side bar to this purchase this also helps spend money we made through the Burger & Brew last year that we only have a year to spend. Once completed this will give our members two HF radios they can borrow and try out. Our thanks go to VE7PKE for putting in the time and effort in getting this project off ground and to the finish line.

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Burger & Brew tickets are moving quite steadily now. We have close to 50 prizes to give out that evening. If you need tickets ($15 each) please contact Jeanne jdwilson@dccnet.com These are fun nights and if you haven’t been before then you have been missing out. If you would prefer a veggie or chicken burger please let us know in advance so we can let the Sundance know quantities.

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My thanks to all who participated in Run For Life last Sunday. The weather turned nasty on us but we all survived. We even had one of our students from course join us.

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Speaking of the course tomorrow (Saturday) is the final day with the exam happening in the afternoon. We wish all our students good luck and hopefully we will have a bunch new hams on the air shortly.

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VE7WLF informed us last night he will have a sign up sheet out shortly for the Ladner Days Parade. All the info will on the email he sends out and if your available when the email arrives just let Doug know.

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We are also looking into transferring some of the money from our chequing account into some form of interest bearing account. This money will be used to buy a replacement repeater for VE7SUN when the time comes. We are looking into a tax issue before we proceed with this.

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Have a great week everyone.

Hi Everyone:
The meeting tonight is at the cop shop in Tsawwassen. A bit of business and other then that we will keep it on the light side. Tickets will be on sale for Burger & Brew. See you tonight at 7. Gord

*********************Delta Triathlon is Saturday April 20. Volunteers are needed. If you can help out contact Darrel at: darrels for full details. Start times can vary depending on location. Everybody is usually finished by around noon. Minimum requirement is a fully charged handheld.

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Came across an interesting article about getting into amateur radio. Not a long article: San Juan County ham radio club has fun and helps community – Farmington Daily Times
http://www.daily-times.com/farmington-news/ci_22913119/san-juan-county-ham-radio-club-has-fun

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If you missed last nights meeting we had a special guest. RAC Club Liaison Karla (VA7KJW) received input from several members on the pros and cons of belonging to RAC. Karla will join us again in the fall for further input and let us know how RAC is progressing.

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Last night we discussed how plans are going with a digital HF radio. Dave (VE7PKE) is looking into some alternatives to a Flex radio. He will report back when he has some more info to pass along.

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Jeanne reported last night that we have quite an extensive list of prizes for Burger And Brew on April 25. Still have plenty of tickets, let Jeanne or Os know and they will put your name(s) on them.

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Further to suggestions made by members on our recent survey Chris has added a local repeater listing. Chris has also changed the paged titled “links” to “Useful Resources” This was done as some members were suggesting various resources we should have on the site and they were there all along under “links.” The feeling is the term “links” is an old term now and people don’t pay attention to it. Were hoping “Useful Resources” will grab your attention to have a look to see what is available.

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Have a great week everyone and don’t forget if you can spare some time on April 20 for the triathlon email Darrel.

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Hi Everyone:

The meeting tonight is at North Delta. We have a little bit of business to touch on plus any last minute questions regarding Run For Life this Sunday. Tickets will be on sale for the Burger & Brew fund raiser on April 25 at The Sundance.

We do have a special guest with us tonight. RAC liaison Karla Wakefield (VA7KJW) will be joining us. Karla is looking for input why all our members to not belong to RAC. Now is your chance to present valid reasons.

The Basic course will be in the large room tonight so you may see some unfamiliar faces walking about. Please make them feel welcome.

I sent out assignments for Run For Life last night. If you signed up and did not receive an email package touch base with me right away so I can find out the error of my ways and slot you in.

See you tonight at 7
Gord

HI Everyone:
The meeting tonight is in Tsawwassen. Nice night for a drive. We will keep it on the social side tonight, not too much to discuss. See you all there at 7 Gord

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Antenna night presentation

For those of you who couldn’t make it, you missed a great evening. Several people commented after the meeting thanking us for putting it on. I think everybody learned something from the two presentations Thursday night. A big thank you to Don and Dave for putting on the evening. Thanks to everyone for keeping their computers turned off.

Here is the link to the beacon software Dave was showing: http://www.qsl.net/pa1are/software.html

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Still plenty of tickets for the Burger and Brew night on April 25. Contact VA7QLT (Jeanne), VE7OSK (Oz) or myself for tickets. We have had some spectactular prizes donated this past week, so this is one night you don’t want to miss.

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April 7 is Run For Life cancer campaign. I have some names already but if you would like to attend and help out, more the merrier. All that is required is about 3 hours of your time (9:00 am to noon) and a handheld with a charged battery. If you don’t have a handheld a mobile will do or, we have handhelds we can lend you. Just email me and I will add your name to the list. If you haven’t done one of these events in the past we can buddy you up with someone.

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Highlights of the Survey:

I wasn’t surprised that 100% knew we had a website, but I was taken back that 100% responded that they do use the website for various reasons.
On the question of the how appealing the website is: 2.9% said it was Extremely appealing, 25.7% said it was very appealing while the majority went with Moderately appealing at 57.1%. 14.3% said it was slightly appealing. If you haven’t looked in the last week Chris has changed the layout around a bit to make it more appealing.
On the question of how do you use the website the uses are a real variety which tells us that we are in the right direction of putting content on that you want.
On the question of how easy is it to navigate, very easy received the most votes at 45.7% with moderately easy coming in at 42.9% while 11.4% found it extremely easy.
On the question does the website have the information you are looking for 93.9% said yes while 6.1% said no.
On the question are we missing some information again we got a variety of responses. One person suggested we put the dates of the volunteer community events even if not confirmed on the site so future plans could be made with the family. That suggestion has already been implemented and some of the others we will see if we can implement.
On the question of how many areas you knew were on the website the only one that got a low rating was the distracted drivers legislation. It shows that our members are poking around the website to see what is available.
On the question of the url name change. The question was directed to give a suggestion and a lot did, but in reality most people said leave it alone, it’s fine.
On the question of any other suggestions there was a couple of suggestions but for the most part one persons comment “As good as any on the internet” pretty well summed it up.

Thanks for everyone who took part, especially the two people who had difficulties the first time around but didn’t give up and finally got in to take the survey. Your time in taking the survey only gives us a better idea of how we can serve you the member in the future.

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Have a great week everyone.

Hi Everyone:

The meeting tonight is at North Delta at 7pm. Tonight is our presentation of antennas for condo/townhouse folks. VE7DS (Don) will be giving the talk on the antennas and VE7AHT (Dave) will be doing a presentation on the basics of HF.

Tickets will be on sale for the burger and brew night. $15 per person.

CU Tonight
Gord

QSL Bureau:
I have cards for: VE7AHT, VE7CUS, VE7GHW, & VE7HRA. If your unable to pick them up tonight, they will be in the North Delta Radio room waiting for you in envelopes with your Call Sign on them.

*************************************Thursday, March 21, meeting is our antenna night presented by Don (VE7DS) and Dave (VE7AHT). Dave will be doing a brief outline of what the HF bands are about and some of the characteristics to look for. Don will be presenting several ideas on HF antennas dealing with people who live in condos, townhouses, anywhere where real estate is an issue and a tower or your typical dipole isn’t going to work. Also on display will be a Buddipole, Buddstick and maybe a couple of other antennas. We are still debating on which antenna to get for out grab and go HF kit we put together and want some input from especially those who don’t have HF equipment and would like to borrow it on which antenna they prefer to put up and tear down. This promises to be a fun evening so mark your calendars for this coming Thursday meeting at North Delta.

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Tickets will be available for purchase this Thursday for the Burger and Brew night, happening at the Sundance Pub on Ladner Trunk Road, Thursday April 25. If you have attended one of these in the past you know how much fun they are. OZ has confirmed that a veggie burger can be substituted, but we will have to supply numbers as we get closer to the date. Tickets can also be purchased from the website using PayPal.

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Speaking of the Burger and Brew, Jeanne (VA7QLT) has come up with a novel suggestion. As you know we have asked all members to try and get one door prize for the event. Since some members aren’t comfortable approaching vendors and asking Jeanne has suggested that if you give her $5 or $10 she will go out and buy some door prizes for the event. Besides Jeanne, you can give Tom or myself the money and we will see that Jeanne gets it. Jeanne will have to submit a list of prizes to the lottery branch in about two weeks time so please act know by either donating or getting a prize.

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There seems their may be a little confusion about the under 20 cw club held Sunday nights at 7:30 on 28.020. This informal get together is meant for those who want to learn or brush up on their morse code. The so called experts who are on Sunday are there to assist you and not impress you. They also monitor VE7RDE/VE7SUN so if your wanting to join in and feel a little intimidated or there going to fast for you, jump on the repeater and let them know what your wanting to do so they can accommodate. Don’t worry about making mistakes, these guys do it also. For people wanting to learn or brush up on their morse code you probably won’t find a better avenue then this to do it. Please give it a whirl and let the people doing this know what they are doing is a worthwhile service and you value their time. Details of the under 20 club are on the home page on the website.

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Don’t forget tomorrow, besides being St Patrick’s day, is also the Burnaby Swap Meet at Sullivan Hall on 152 (near 64th) Check http://ve7bar.org for full details.

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VE7BC advises that QSL cards have arrived. He is in the process of sorting and for those on my list I may have some on Thursday.

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Thanks to everyone who has filled out the survey on the website. I will leave it running till Wednesday and then share the results with you. If you haven’t had a chance to fill it out yet, it’s only 10 questions and should take you less then 5 or 10 minutes to fill it out. I know a couple have had issue with the site and I thank you for your efforts. The survey is at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9B32JLS

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Have a great and safe week everyone.

Hi Everyone:The meeting tonight is in Tsawwassen. Tickets will be available for the Burger & Brew night April 25. Jeanne needs to get a list of prizes into the lottery offices in about three weeks. If you have collected some prizes please let her know what and the value. We are asking all members to please try and get just one prize we can use at the event. If you can’t get to a meeting prior to the event, tickets are available through PayPal on the website and we will have the tickets waiting for you at the door.
Mark your calendars for next Thursday as this will be our antenna night for condo, townhouse or any other person who has real estate issue with antennas. Don (VE7DS) will be presenting some ideas on antennas and Dave (VE7AHT) will have some ideas on how best to use the HF bands. This promises to be a great evening.
Thanks for everyone who filled out the survey on the website. I will leave it up for another week for anyone who hasn’t had a chance on filling it out. I know of a couple of people who have had issues getting into the site and I thank you for your efforts in trying. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9B32JLS
Please see the note from Bill below and hopefully we will see you all tonight at 7.
Gord

Can you put out a “casting call” for the Burnaby swap to the club. I am looking for a volunteer helper to assist in loading/unloading, keeping an eye on things, and most importantly getting coffee J. Admission will be covered by me. ( victorecho7 )