Amherst, Nova Scotia

WestCumb  Amateur  Radio Club  VE1WRC

  Serving Westmorland County New Brunswick & Cumberland County Nova Scotia

News & Information

WARC June Brunch

Here is a picture taken of the first June club brunch in Pugwash on Saturday June 15 at the Lantern Restaurant. There were 16 in attendance. Thanks to Terry Duncan VE1AS for setting up the brunch and to Ron Bickle VE1BIC for the photo.

From Jim VE1JBL June 7th:

The final meeting of the WestCumb ARC for 2018-19 was very well attended on Thursday night with almost 40 people taking part. It was really nice to see three past members of the club taking part including Brian MacDonald VE1BSD, Bruce Sears VE1VH and Charlie Gould VE1BK. These three amateurs were part of the original group who started the club back in 1980.

Mike Masters VE1ZB, Kevin Burke VE1KEV and Robert Mannette VE1RMJ looked after the annual members appreciation barbecue put on by the executive. See pictures below.

After the meal a short meeting took place and information was exchanged about the new Fusion repeater and there was talk about Field Day which will take place this month at the Tidnish Docks Provincial Park. Set up will begin at 12 noon on Saturday June 22th and continue until Sunday afternoon. Everyone is invited to take part.

After the meeting a Auction was held to sell off Silent Key Peter Hebb's equipment with the money going to his wife Treva Hebb. The auction raised over eighteen hundred dollars. She would like to thank the club for all we have done over the last month between the members donation and the selling of Peter's equipment.
I would like to thank the following amateurs who helped go through Peter's equipment, log it, hold on to it till the auction, set it up at the meeting and helped clean up after.
Kevin Burke VE1KEV, Bob Perry VE1EDP, Ron Bickle VE1BIC, Robert Mannette VE1RMJ & Mike Embree VE1MY.
Thanks to Joe Clements VY2JC, Terry Duncan and Wendall Porter who stayed after the event to help clean up.
This was not an easy job to take on but was very rewarding to see the club come together to help Treva when needed.
There is still the tower to take down and Mike Johnson VE1MWJ and Jim Hannon VE1AFH are going to get together and plan the best way to do this. This will happen later this summer.
Also thank you to Jim Hannon VE1AFH who has taken on the huge job of going over all the newsletters that Peter made and published over the years and with help from Robert Mannette VE1RMJ they will be scanning them and putting them in a file on the website for history purposes for the current and future club members.

It has been a very good year for the club with a new Fusion repeater installed, simplex repeater up and running, a very popular SMART symposium in April and three more Fire halls throughout the county having amateur radio stations installed thanks to Cumberland Regional EMO Manager Mike Johnson VE1MWJ.

For the first time there will be a June club brunch and it will be held at the Lantern Restaurant in Pugwash across from the Fire Hall on June 15th. beginning at 10:30am

Looking forward to 2019-20.

Have a great summer and see you all in September.

VE1AMH  Fusion Repeater "On the Air"

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

From Joe VY2JC June 4th

Here is a couple of You Tube videos of Joe's tower and how to put it up and down.

May brunch in Parrsboro

Here is a couple of photos from the May brunch in Parrsboro. Thanks to Ron Bickle VE1BIC for the pictures.

Raspberry Pi Magazines

Some great information to pass along about raspberry pi's and ham radio.
Also lots of great information and projects for other things people can do with a Pi.

All magazines are free to download as PDF

Volume 80 has a section of ham radio projects, use the link below, they start on page 68.


Current and past issues can be found here:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/issues/

Rob VE1RMJ

May Club Meeting

There was a full house at the regular meeting of the WestCumb ARC Thursday night May 2nd.
After the introductions were made there was a minute of silence for club member Peter Hebb VE1SM who passed away this week. The club decided to donate a monetary fund to Treva with the first hundred dollars coming from the club followed up by donations from club members. Once all the funds are collected I will present the card everyone signed last night and the donated funds to Treva. It was also noted that Peter's equipment will be put up for club auction once it is logged and taken out from his home. I will let the club members know when this comes about. We will also need a work party this summer to take down Peter's tower. More on this later.
A recap of SMART was presented last night and we made over two thousand dollars from the event. As we are not in this to make money the club noted that maybe next year we could have more radios as grand prizes. :)  Ron Bickle has about 200 pictures of the event and will give us a link to his Drop Box so you can look at all the photos taken. As RaspberryPi seem to be very popular this year it was also noted that maybe next year besides the class we have some RaspberryPi units for sale. Both of these suggestions will be brought up at future SMART meetings. See SMART 19 for link to photos.
The new Fusion repeater is just about ready to be installed and will let the club members know when this happens.
There was talk about the upcoming running race being held in Amherst in June. If interested in helping with communications contact Kevin Burke VE1KEV.
There was talk about Field Day this year at the Tidnish Docks Provincial Park and need more volunteers. Contact Mike Johnson if available to take part.
50/50 was won my Mike Masters VE1ZB
Next club brunch will be at the Harbour View Restaurant in Parrsboro on Saturday May 18th at 11am.
Next club meeting will be Thursday June 6th. This will be our annual year end barbecue put on by the executive to say thank you to all the club members for their support over the 2018-19 year. 


Peter Hebb VE1SM (SK)

Club member Peter Hebb VE1SM (right) passed away early Monday morning (April 29th) after complications including a stroke and heart attack.

Peter was one of the founding members of the WestCumb ARC when it began back in 1980. He was present at the first meeting and was waiting for his call sign from Industry Canada after passing the exam.

Over the years Peter volunteered for many activities with the club including the annual Field Day and was editor for the WARC Newsletter.

Just last year Peter was given a Lifetime achievement award from club president Kevin Burke for his years of service with the club.

Here is Peter's Obituary. CLICK HERE

From Jim VE1JBL Apr.29th

The 4th annual Symposium for Maritime Amateur Radio Technicians (SMART) was held Saturday April 27th 2019 at the Dr. Carson & Marion Murray Community Center in Springhill NS.

Doors opened at 7am for the volunteers, presenters and vendors and soon the building was alive with sounds of amateurs preparing their presentations for the day while others were setting up their tables for displays and sale items.

At 8am the doors opened and many amateurs rushed in to get out of the cold and rainy weather.

The canteen (new this year) became the central point at this time with amateurs picking up tea, coffee and breakfast sandwiches. Then the rush was on for the 50/50 and raffle tickets. Some hams filtered out to the arena to see what was being setup for the flea market.

As promised each amateur received a Yaesu Fusion ball cap although they did not arrive till later in the morning.

At 11am the barbecues were turned on but due to the weather they had to be relocated to the side door of the arena which caused a slight problem of getting the burgers and dogs to the waiting hams..

At 12 noon lunch started with hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, pop and water. By 12:30pm everyone had been fed and then the presentations began with opening remarks from Mike Johnson VE1MWJ representing the County of Cumberland.

Bernie Cormier VE9BGC was asked to join Mike up front and Bernie presented SMART organizer George Dewar VY2GF with a plaque for his work on bringing this Symposium to life over the years. This was followed by the door prize winners and topped off by a photo of all the hams taking park in this event. The hams continued to mill around the flea market tables until classes began again at 1:30pm.

At 3:30pm the hams gathered in the arena for the Grand Prizes and 50/50.

The complete list of winners can be found on the WestCumb ARC website under SMART 19.

https://www.westcumb.ca/s-m-a-r-t-2019

The final classes began at 4pm and by 5:30pm the final hams left the building and SMART was finished for another year.

The organizing committee consists of Bernie Cormier VE9BGC, George Dewar VY2GF, Kevin Burke VE1KEV and Jim Langille VE1JBL.

We would like to thank the volunteers who helped out with the event.

Mike Johnson VE1MWJ Cumberland Regional EMO Management who made sure the arena was booked and brought two barbecues from Amherst to Springhill to help feed the hams.

Kevin Burke VE1KEV for helping the hams set up their flea market tables in the morning.

Bob Perry VE1EDP and his XYL Jo-Ann Reynolds for working the entrance tables and the giving out of name tags and hats. They also preformed other duties feeding the hams during the lunch hour.

Kevin Burke VE1KEV, Mike Masters VE1ZB, Robert Mannette and Mike Johnson VE1MWJ for another great barbecue.

Dana Rushton VE1VOX and Don Roland VE1AOE for another great raffle draw while Al Christie VE1ZS and Ron Blue VE1BBB manned the 50/50 table.

Ron Bickle VE1BIC who looked after the sound systems in both rooms and took photos throughout the day and hopefully will be on the website soon.

Bob Tuttle VE1DR who looked after the talk-in frequency from his mobile and was prepared with extra gas and others items in case of a break down along the way.

The County of Cumberland for letting us use this great Community Center to hold the event.

A special thank you to Heather Laurie and the staff at the arena who looked after all our needs and did a great job helping us prepare for the event.

Thanks to all the local clubs who donated prizes. Their names and the winners can be found on the SMART 19 webpage https://www.westcumb.ca/s-m-a-r-t-2019

Finally a big THANK YOU to the 170+ hams who came out in the not so best weather to support SMART. Without all of you this event would not take place.

See you next year at SMART 20.

From Jim VE1JBL Apr.12th

Mike Johnson VE1MWJ, Jim Hannon VE1AFH and Jim Langille VE1JBL were on tour today completing amateur radio installations at CFTA Community Radio in Amherst and the Westchester Fire hall. At 10am we arrived at CFTA to run new cable from the amateur radio station VE1TCR and the antenna was moved from the attic to the tower. Ron Bickle VE1BIC station Manager was there to help us with the installation. Thanks Ron.
After lunch thanks to Mike we proceeded to Westchester to install an antenna and run cable to the amateur radio station that was installed a couple of weeks ago. After completed we made contact with Mike Embree VE1MY who gave us a great audio report. We also found we could hit several repeaters from this location including Parrsboro, Moncton, Charlottetown and Truro. Clearly a great location for amateur radio. We packed thing up around 6pm and headed home.
Cumberland REMO along with the WestCumb ARC have now completed 10 volunteer fire departments in Cumberland with one to go in Wallace. This will be completed soon which will finish this project. 
The other project with the 4 hospitals in Cumberland County were completed a few years ago.
Other amateur radio stations will continue to be installed around the county this year. More information on those coming soon.
Click on PHOTO GALLEY for pictures.

From Jim VE1JBL Apr.5th

We had a very large crowd at the WARC monthly meeting Thursday night. There were 28 in attendance including three members of the Moncton & Area ARC and a old friend and past member of the club Charlie Gould VE1BK from Pugwash NS. Charlie was one of the founding members of the club when it began back in 1980.There was actually three meeting held this evening including the final SMART meeting before the event on April 27th, a repeater group meeting for sharing of information on the new Fusion repeater and the regular club meeting.

Peter Hebb VE1SM Newletter Editor was not in attendance as he is currently in the Amherst hospital. We wish you well Peter.

Final plans for SMART were talked about and everything seems to be in place for the event on April 27th. Volunteers are asked to be at the Community Center Friday night at 6pm to set up the rooms and the arena for the event and again at 7am on Saturday for regular duties. Kevin Burke VE1KEV will be looking after the flea market tables in the morning, Mike Masters VE1ZB, Robert Mannette VE1RMJ and Kevin will again be looking after the barbecues, Al Christie VE1ZS will man the 50/50 table and Dana Rushton and Don Roland VE1AOE will look after the raffle tickets.
Mike Embree VE1MY will not be able to help out with the 50/50 table do to other commitments so if anyone from the club would like to help Al Christie VE1ZS with this please let me know.
We also need a volunteer to look after the small room for the day which includes introduction of the speaker and to keep track of time for each class. If interested let me know ASAP.

The Fusion repeater is coming together nicely. Most of the parts are in, the paperwork is coming along and hopefully the installation will begin in the near future.
There was a nice round of applause for club member Bob Tuttle VE1DR for his donation of one thousand dollars towards the new repeater.
The Moncton club members who were in attendance were very interested in the Fusion repeater and had many questions to ask.
After the meeting was over Paul Cant VE9TTT presented a donation of one hundred dollars towards the new Fusion Repeater.
Thank You Paul.

We have not had much interest in Field day this year so if you are interested in taking part contact Mike Johnson VE1MWJ at
Field day will be held at the Tidnish Provincial Park this year.

A cheque has been sent to the NSARA for club dues for 2018-19. We have 17 members this year who have joined the NSARA.

50/50 was won by Dana Rushton VE1VOX.

Club brunch will be held this month on Apr.13th at the Park View Restaurant in Oxford at 11am.

Next club meeting will be May 2nd.

From Jim VE1JBL Mar.20th

The four simplex repeaters purchased by the county are now all ready for operation thanks to Lorne Anderson VE1BXK who modified the Motorola radios to connect to the repeaters.
All repeaters will be on the same frequency 146.490 MHz. but each one will have a different CTCSS tone to activate the repeater. The only repeater active at this time is at Leicester with a tone of 71.9 Hz.

From Jim VE1JBL Mar.8th

There was 19 members and guests at the regular monthly meeting of the WestCumb ARC Thursday night.
The first subject of the evening was the proposed Fusion repeater. The repeater committee met three times over the past month and after a vote decided to order the new Fusion repeater while the sale is still on. It has been decided that the new club repeater will hopefully go in the same site as the Amherst repeater VE1WRC in West Leicester. Plan "B" would be the John Black Road site.
The paperwork has gone in to buy the repeater and Lorne Anderson VE1BXK has put in the paperwork to the Province of Nova Scotia for there OK to put the repeater in the site.
Club member Bob Tuttle VE1DR has graciously donated one thousand dollars towards this new repeater. The club will cover the rest.
Both repeaters will be located at the same site but the new repeater will have a new callsign VE1AMH for Amherst and a new frequency 145.190MHz.
The committee is now waiting on Yaesu to process the order and to send us the repeater. There are still other components needed to get this repeater up and running and they will be working on this over the next couple of months.

The next topic was SMART 19.

Everything is coming along. We now have several door prizes and Grand Prizes for this year's event thanks to clubs and individual hams. Forms have been sent to the province for lottery and 50/50 ticket sales. We are expecting 150 hams to take part this year. There will be multiple flea market tables and hopefully other vendors available. Keep checking the website for updates.

Field Day 2019

After several years of sitting on the sidelines there is renewed interest in having Field Day this June. A committee is being put together to get this off the table and "On the Air"
Mike Johnson VE1MWJ, Ron Bickle VE1BIC, Jim Langille VE1JBL will be looking for volunteers to make this event happen.
Mike has contacted Department of Lands and Forestry who has given us permission to hold Field Day on June 22nd and 23rd at the Tidnish Docks Provincial Park.
Located near Tidnish Cross Roads (north 400 m/yd off Route 366) in the Northumberland Shore region, Tidnish Dock Provincial Park marks the eastern terminal of the historic Chignecto Marine Transport Railway – one of Nova Scotia’s most ambitious engineering projects. The project called for the construction of a 17 mile (28 km) long double-tracked railway from Fort Lawrence on the Bay of Fundy, across the isthmus to Tidnish Dock on the Northumberland Strait.
Today, a section of the old railbed is a 3.7 km (2.3 mi.) walking trail that starts at the Tidnish Visitor Centre, leading to the Tidnish Dock Provincial Park. Along the way it crosses an historic keystone bridge and a modern 66-m (215-ft.) suspension bridge over the Tidnish River.
In addition to its historic significance, the park includes a small warm water beach (unsupervised); picnic tables; change rooms and vault toilets; and interpretive panels.
We are also hoping to have another station set up at the old Western terminal in Fort Lawrence.
We will be getting a special call sign VE1CSR for the event and have special QSL cards printed up to give out for contacts and visitors. 
For this event to take place we will need many club members to volunteer. We will need radios, power supplies, antennas, tower, wire antennas, cable, generators, tents, trailors, barbecues, food, a schedule of operators for voice and CW, logging, foxhunt,   someone to look after visitors and public officials, publicity, social media, pictures, videos, safety etc. 
If interested contact one of the members noted above.

50/50 was won by Jim Hannon VE1AFH who donated his winnings back to the club. Thanks Jim.
On behalf of the County of Cumberland Mike Johnson VE1MWJ Regional EMO Management presented a cheque to the WestCumb ARC for its continuing support of Regional EMO and the setting up of radio stations around the county.
The next club brunch will be March 16th at Patterson's in Sackville NB.
Next club meeting will be April 4th. Below are some pictures taken during the meeting. Thanks to Ron Bickle for the pictures.

From Jim VE1JBL Feb.9th:

The county room was full for the regular monthly meeting of the WestCumb ARC Thursday night.
Kevin brought in the club shirts and everyone seem pleased with them. There will be another order going in when there is enough interest. Contact Kevin Burke VE1KEV if you want to place an order.
There was talk about SMART. The event will take place Apr.27th in Springhill. The registration form is now active on the website. Always looking for volunteers if you would like to help out. Contact Jim Langille VE1JBL if interested.
A letter was read from Bob Tuttle VE1DR asking about placing a new Fusion digital repeater at the Leicester site in place of the analog repeater that is there now. He is willing to make a donation for a new Fusion repeater if it is placed at that site. The repeater committee will get together next week too go over the offer and what all it takes of changing up the repeater.
Mike Johnson reported about the new simplex repeater that is now active at the Leicester Fire Hall. He asked that everyone try it out and report to him your findings on how far away you can activate the repeater. The frequency is 146.490
Dave Hull VE1HUL won the 50/50.
Next club brunch is at Brittney's on Saturday February 16th.
Next club meeting will be Thursday March 7th.

From Jim VE1JBL Feb.7th, 2019

Mike Johnson VE1MWJ Cumberland Regional EMO Management and Jim Langille VE1JBL from the WestCumb ARC returned to the new Leicester Fire Hall today to finish installing cable runs for the department's VHF and TMR radio. At the same time we finished up the amateur radio station and installed and tested the first of four simplex repeaters by Argent Data Systems on 146.490.
We received reports from Bob Tuttle VE1DR in Pugwash Junction, John Haley VE1JCH in Tidnish and Kevin Burke VE1KEV in Amherst. The repeater is operating perfectly at this time and we are now looking for more reports from amateurs who can access the repeater. We want to get a footprint of this repeater. Take notes on where you were, power you were using and the signal report. Later in the evening after returning home in Tidnish I had no problem bringing up the repeater on 5 watts at 25kms away.
The Leicester Fire Hall is located at 442 ft above sea level. The pictures below show the amateur radio antenna above the entrance door to the fire hall and the simplex repeater sitting on top of the radio. The last picture is taking in front of the building showing the height of the location. It is hard to see but to the left in the picture is the Amherst wind farm and areas of New Brunswick in the background. To the right of the picture you can see the Northumberland Strait.
 
Remember this is a simplex repeater. It only plays back what you say to it so keep your test short. If you are talking to someone on the repeater remember there is a delay between each transmission.
Thanks to Lorne Anderson VE1BXK for finding the radios and wiring the repeaters to these radios.
Send reports to Mike Johnson at mjohnson@cumberlandcounty.ns.ca                                          


From Jim VE1JBL Jan. 4th 2019:

There were 12 members present at the regular monthly meeting of the WestCumb ARC on Thursday Jan.3rd, 2019. Regrets from Mike VE1MWJ, James VE9WIN and Lorne VE1BXK.
There was plenty of talk about SMART 2019 and starting to get prepared for this year's event on April 27th. A new page has been set up for this years event on our website. https://www.westcumb.ca/s-m-a-r-t-2019
System Fusion was also discussed as many club members and amateurs throughout the Maritimes are getting into this mode.
Final fittings for club shirts took place and Kevin Burke VE1KEV will now take this to Carter's Cresting . Please bring your 30 dollars to the next club meeting to pick up your shirt.
Dave Harris VE1DEH won the 50/50 and turned his winnings over to the bursary fund. Thanks Dave.

This month's brunch will be held on Saturday Jan.12th at Patterson's in Sackville.

Next club meeting will be February 7th, 2019.

Sept. 7th, 2017

The first meeting of the WestCumb ARC was held on Thursday evening Sept.6th at the ED Fullerton building in Upper Nappan.

There were sixteen members attending with two guest.

First was the annual meeting and all members of the executive have returned for another year. Kevin Burke VE1KEV President, Mike Masters VE1ZB Vice-President, Ron Bickle VE1BIC Secretary and Jim Langille VE1JBL Treasurer.

A motion was made to permanently moved the club meetings to the first Thursday of each month due to a conflict with the county meetings. Motion carried. The dues for the year will remain the same and can be found on the website under Club Dues. 

The regular meeting followed the annual meeting and the hot topic for the evening was the report from Mike Johnson VE1MWJ of happenings from the Oxford sinkhole. Mike showed us several videos taken by the county drone showing different angles not seen from television video. The county is still following activity and Mike will give us updates and more video at the next meeting in October.

Mike also informed us that the county has purchased five new radios, antennas and power supplies to be installed in fire halls and other places throughout the county during the upcoming year. He has also received three more simplex repeaters to go along with the one we already purchased in the past year. At this time two of the repeaters will be permantly installed at locations around the county and the other two will be mobile stations to be activated when needed. He is still planning for a simplex exercise for the club in the upcoming year.

Robert Mannette VE1RMJ has purchased 16 amateur radio manuals from Coax Publishing in Ontario on behalf of the club for amateurs wanting to upgrade from basic to advanced license and people around the area wishing to learn and become amateur radio operators. These books are for sale from the club at $46.00 for either the basic or advanced book. Contact Robert Mannette  VE1RMJ at ve1rmj@gmail.com if you wish to purchase a book. Six books were sold after the meeting last night.

Member Bob Tuttle VE1DR brought a new member to the meeting last night. Terry Duncan VE1AS was introduced before the meeting. Terry and his wife Susan who is also a ham VA1SIS have recently moved here from Ontario.

WELCOME to the area and the club Terry and Susan.


50/50 was won by new member Terry VE1AS. 

The first club brunch of the new year will be held on September 22nd at Patterson's in Sackville NB beginning at 11am. Come early for a good seat.

The WestCumb ARC 2 Meter Net will begin another new season on Monday September 10th at 8pm. Hope to hear many of you on there to support our local club net. Also a reminder to renew your club dues ASAP.

The next club meeting will be held October 4th at 7pm.