Serving Westmorland County New Brunswick & Cumberland County Nova Scotia since 1980
The final meeting of the WestCumb ARC for 2021-2022 took place Tuesday June14th, via Google Meet with twenty-two members participating.
Those in attendance included Jim
VE1JBL, Bill VA1BIL, Borden VA1CBC, Brad VE1ZX,Dana VE1VOX, Don VE9CUB,
Eric VE1JW, Frank VE1FSM, George VY2GF, Gordon VE9GC, Jim VE1CHI, Joe VY2JC, Kevin VE1KEV, Lorne VE1BXK, Mike VE1MY, Mike VE9MTV, Peter VE1WIN, Rob VE1RMJ, Ron VE1BIC, Ron VE1BBB, Steve VE1SV, Terry VE1AS.
Regrets from Dave Harris VE1DEH, Mike Johnson VE1MWJ and Mike Masters VE1ZB.
All future meetings will be on the first Tuesday of each month.
Everyone have a great summer and hope to see you all when the club begins a new year in September.
The April club meeting of the WARC
turned out to be a very informative meeting and very well attended.
There were 24 members and one guest including Jim VE1JBL, Bill
VA1BIL, Brad VE1ZX, Dana VE1VOX, Eric VE1JW, George VY2GF,
Joe VY2JC, Ken VE1UF, Kevin VE1KEV, Lorne VE1BXK, Matt VA1MRT, Mike VE1MWJ, Mike VE1MY, James VE9WIN, Peter VE1WIN, Pravin VE9PKV, Robert VE1RMJ,Ron VE1BIC, Scott VE1CHL, Steve VE1SV, Terry VE1AS, Tom VE1TWH, Mike VE1ZB, Borden VA1CBC and guest Frank VE1FSM.
New business included help to Allen Ramsay VE1GAR from Amherst who asked to have someone from the club help him set up his ICOM 7300 radio. Kevin VE1KEV will work with Frank VE1FSM to help Allen get his station on the air.
Kevin VE1KEV will be setting up “Run for the Sun” put on by the YMCA. Amateurs will monitor the event from different locations throughout the race. Contact Kevin for more details.
Lorne VE1BXK mentioned work continues on upgrades to several repeaters around the area. A newer repeater has been acquired from the NSARA to be installed at Sugarloaf.
Mike VE1MWJ will be heading to PEI to meet up with George VY2GF and Joe VY2JC to investigate taking down several towers at the home of Jeff K1ZM. More on this at a later club meeting.
The club would also like to thank Steve Orr VE1OR for donating several Motorola radios for some of these repeater upgrades.
Robert VE1RMJ mentioned that he will be continuing work on MESH very soon. More on this at a later date.
Mike Johnson VE1MWJ talked with Bill Ireland at the county office and Bill is all for the club and what it represents. He will talk will others at the office to see if we can return to the building to hold our meetings come September.
Mike VE1ZB mentioned that the club net was still very active with over 30 check-ins per week. A reminder to all members to support the net each Monday night at 8pm.
SMART22 is still a go for April 30th. After much discussions the event will take place and everyone will need to wear a mask or will not be able to enter the building. More on this on the club website.
Next meeting will be May 10th.
It is with great sadness that I report that Bob Tuttle VE1DR has passed away at his home in Pugwash Junction NS.
Bob had been a long time member of the WestCumb ARC.
He was a regular net controller on the morning Wake-Up Net, back-up NCO for the WestCumb 2 Meter Net, one of several WARC operators that participated in the YMCA Cross border challenge, auxiliary member of Cumberland REMO and first operator of the VE1PFD ham radio station at the Pugwash Fire Hall and the North Cumberland Memorial Hospital.
Bob was also the “Talk-in Host” for the SMART Symposium guiding hams to the regular event in Springhill NS.
Bob was very interested in being part of the new VE1AMH Fusion repeater for Amherst and donated half of the funds needed to get the repeater up and running and the only request from him was to name the repeater in memory of his late wife Florence Tuttle.
Bob will be dearly missed by many hams around the Maritimes.
Below is a picture of Bob at his home in Pugwash Junction taken in October 2020 after we finished setting up his new fusion radio and installing a new dual band antenna at his home. The other photo is Bob (center) at the YMCA Cross Border Challenge providing communications for the event.
Bob Tuttle VE1DR, this station has gone silent.
Gentlemen,
I am pleased to report Phase One is now completed and the DR-2X VHF repeater 145.190- is now "ON AIR" as of yesterday May 19 2019 @ 4:30 pm.
I thought it more appropriate to install the DR-2X VHF Fusion Repeater project at Salem in two phases as more time would most likely be required to fit it all in just one day.
Phase One Installation (Completed May 19 2019)
Install VHF Multi-couplers in Rack 100
Install RX/TX RF RG-214 coaxial cables from Rack 303 DR-2X VHF Repeater to VHF Multi-coupler Rack 100
Terminate N-Male RF connectors on both RX/TX RF cables at Multi-coupler Rack 100
Install 2RU shelving for DR-2X VHF repeater and 1RU for HP Lap Top computer
Phase Two Installation (Completed June 1st, 2019)
Install HP Laptop WIRES-X computer and HRI-200 WIRES-X modem on 1RU shelving (already mounted) in Rack 303
Install D-Link DIR-819 router on top of IRLP Node 1RU computer in Rack 303 (1RU shelving maybe required if needed)
Install Web Switch 7 near bottom of Rack 303 (3RU blank panel required)
Update IRLP Node 1RU computer static IP information to match D-Link router already configured (Loan of Monitor & keyboard required on time only)
Connect HRI-200 to HP Laptop WIRES-X computer via USB port
Interface HRI-200 to DR-2X VHF repeater (ACC Port)
Set DR-2X from "REPEATER" mode to "WIRES-X" mode
Connect Laptop WIRES-X computer network port to D-Link router network port
Connect Web Switch 7 network port to D-Link router network port
Connect IRLP Node 1RU network port to D-Link router network port
Connect Seaside IP cable to D-Link router WAN port (internet drop)
AC remote outlets for interfacing in order of priority on power up:
D-Link router, HP Laptop, DR-2X VHF Repeater, MSR2000 VHF Repeater, DC power supply, RLC-4 Repeater controller , (AC-DC adapter provided), IRLP Node
Test complete system for both Analog RF operation and WIRES-X internet operation
73,Lorne - VE1BXK