This is an interesting web site. It will show you where cell phone towers are located and who owns the tower. This might be good information if or when moving into a new area.

http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html

Elora Repeater Tower 1

Elora Repeater Tower 2

Just for fun we setup a second repeater at my place in Elora. Bruce still had his repeater at his house and wasn’t doing anything. I had a 40′ tower laying around and I also had the ERC Club dipole antenna stored here. So we figured why not combine the whole lot and see what we can do with it.

Eventually I was able to spruce up the TV Tower,, gave it a good brushing and a quality coat of aluminum paint. Added the 4-bay dipole antenna and a 50′ piece of LMR-400 coax cable (all assembled on the ground). Then I had my strong niece’s husband over for a beer and some antenna raising. Quite a job to pushup something like this. We managed, I tied it down with guy wires and house brackets.

The next day Bruce came over and he connected the coax cable and plugged the repeater in the power receptacle, and voila, that was all there was to it. The 4-bay dipole points toward the SW at 240 degrees (from Elora). Testing the system was easy, Bruce who lives in Fergus is at the back of the dipole and yet can hear the repeater very well. However directly south (toward Guelph) is not very good. We asked Terry and he tried and tried even with 50 watts and we could not hear him. Too bad.

When I drive from my place on 8th Line onto Hwy 86 I can trigger the repeater with ease, however getting near the Ariss Vally Golf Club, it is getting spotty. I tried in Kitchener and it work well with my 5 watt hand held. However close to the south west of Kitchener (shopping mall) I lost the signal, I am sure that a portable radio would have no problem. It also works well in Elmira, St. Jacobs, etc. So please give it a try.

Frequency: 442.950 Plus 5 Mz offset
Tone: 131.8

September 30, 2013

I removed the 4-bay commercial antenna and installed a 440 vertical that I used for field day. It is a shorty of around 5′. After climbing up a wobbly 40′ TV tower, I managed to remove the heavy 4-bay antenna and lowered it down without accident, except where it took some skin away. I then installed a vertical only to find out that the supplied u-bolts are for a 1 1/4″ pipe, whereas the tower has a 1′ pipe. Meaning that the supplied u-bolts are not threaded deep enough to tighten it up. So now the antenna is sitting loose on the pipe but the coax cable holds it down. Now I need to climb up there again.

In any case, the directional radiation has of improved but not enough to be heard in Guelph. It is still possible to raise the tower pipe by another 10′ or so, this might improve things even more.

It has been a while since I updated the ERC Blog. Over the weekend Al, Jim, Reg and I went to Bing’s house and took down the HF antenna as well as the tower. All went very well with no accidents or things dropping from above.

For those of you who are interested in the antenna and tower, please contact Al. The rotator is sold and the trust bearing might have to be sold as a package with the rotator. All material is in good shape however the tower needs a good scraping and coat of paint. The bottom is section is shortened since we had to saw it off from the concrete base. It still is usable.

Photo’s were taken however the writer had not received these.

Mrs. Bing was very pleased with the cheque of the radio equipment sale.

RAC Bulletin 2013-017E – Radio Amateur of the Year for 2012
2013-05-04

The RAC Board of Directors takes great pleasure in announcing the selection of Scott Wood, VE1QD of Halifax, Nova Scotia, as the Canadian Radio Amateur of the Year for 2012.

Scott celebrated sixty years in Amateur Radio in 2012. Over these years he has contributed enormously, and in many and varied ways both to our hobby and to radio in general. In his youth as a net controller in the Oregon State Fire Service, later as a radio operator in the US Naval Reserve, as a member of the Board of Directors for Radio for Peace International, in contesting and DXing, and in Elmering aspiring new hams, both young and old. However, it is the leadership in Amateur Radio that Scott has demonstrated locally, regionally, and internationally that is being recognized with this award. Scott has demonstrated vision, enthusiasm, dogged determination, and commitment to excellence in the area of Amateur Radio DXing through the establishment and management of the Maritime DX Forum for eight consecutive years. Scott envisioned the forum to be a venue where DXers in the region could come together annually to hear world-class, as well as local DX experts speak about important and current DX topics, and to provide a forum in which to share ideas with some of the best operators and leaders within the Amateur Radio community.

A presentation will be made to Scott by the RAC President at the RAC booth at the Dayton Ham Fest this month. A more detailed article will appear in an upcoming TCA/RAC Report

Geoff Bawden, VE4BAW
President and Chair RAC