The meeting was held over the internet via a Zoom video conference. The following people were present:

Name Call Sign Position MH Grid WCARC RAC
Bertrand Zauhar VE2ZAZ Secretary FN25bk Yes Yes
Mike Kennedy VA3TEC President FN25 Yes Yes
Lawrence Dobranski VA3IQ Vice President FN25 Yes Yes
Rémi De Cristofaro VA3DRI Member FN25 Yes Yes
Charles MacDonald VA3CPY Member FN25ag Yes Yes
Karen Bryden VA3IGO Member FN25ag Yes Yes
Ray Perrin VE3FN Treasurer FN25dk Yes Yes
Wayne Getchell VE3CZO Director FN25dh Yes Yes
John McGowan VA3JYK Member FN25 Yes Yes
Clayton Smith VE3IRR Member EN82qb Yes Yes
Georges-André Chaudron VE2VAB Member FN25 Yes Yes
Luc Pernot VE3JGL Member FN25ek Yes Yes
Peter Jago VA3PJ Member FN25ag Yes Yes

Opening

The meeting was opened by the President, Mike Kennedy (VA3TEC), at 7:10 pm. There were no visitors attending the meeting.

Secretary’s Report

  • Bert (VE2ZAZ) posted a draft version of the February 2024 meeting minutes on the Club website prior to this meeting. Moved by him that the minutes be adopted as posted on the website. Seconded by Rémi (VA3DRI). The motion was carried.
  • Bert contacted the Corkery Community Association once more to inquire about the Centre’s availability for our June VHF contest. Unfortunately, again this year, it will not be possible to rent that site. Consequently, Bert contacted the Kinburn Community Centre to confirm our site reservation. Both parties agreed to the same rental conditions as the previous years. He expects to receive a contract in the next few weeks.

Treasurer’s Report

  • Ray (VE3FN) reported: As of 29 February 2024, we had $15.00 in our Share Account, $3,334.97 in our Daily Banking Account, and $2,185.44 in our Term Deposits. This is roughly $600 more than we had last month because he deposited $600.00 — the dues paid by 20 members.
  • The Club currently has 20 regular (paid) members and 3 life members.
  • Ray paid the RAC insurance and affiliation fees.

Vice President’s Report

  • Upcoming presentations:
    • Confirmed:
      • April: RT Systems - Their radio programming software.
      • May: No presentation. We will hold our VHF Contest preparation meeting.
      • June: Summary of our VHF contest participation.
    • In planning:
      • VE2DX: His product line of add-ons, mainly for Icom radios.
      • VA2FSQ: Win4Icom and Win4Yaesu radio control software.
  • Due to the third Monday of the month of May being a statutory holiday, the May meeting will be held on the 13th, the second Monday of the month.

Director’s Report

The director had nothing to report.

President’s Report

The President had nothing to report.

Presentation(s)

Bert (VE2ZAZ): The Route To My 10GHz Narrow-band Communication System, taking a cheaper and longer road.

Old Business

  • Microwave day in a park: The Club will participate in the Microwave Activity Day (MAD) on April 6th, from 8:30am to noon. We will set up at the Diefenbunker, the Canadian Cold War Museum. We will try to contact some of the Rochester and Toronto area hams on 10 GHz. Concurrently, Mike (VA3TEC) will activate the Museum as a POTA site on HF.
  • Club Saturday morning breakfast: The MAD activity on April 6th will be preceded by a breakfast at Zak’s Diner, starting at 7:00am.
  • Constitution and bylaws discussion: The Club will revise the constitution and bylaws to reflect the current Club situation.
    • The proposal is to have a 2-member sub-committee to perform the exercise, and then to submit the updated bylaws to the members for approval at the 2024 Annual General Meeting.
    • Norm (VE3NPP), who has had previous experience in similar legal matters, has agreed to lead the sub-committee. We are looking for another member to assist him.
    • Some of the items previously discussed were:
      • One proposal is to add the webmaster as a Director. This would ensure that a higher number of Officers are active and available at any time.
      • The bylaws web page should be updated to reflect, either by referring to some external information, or explicitly, the current member dues.
      • The online (Zoom) nature of our meetings should be reflected into our bylaws.
      • According to Norm (VE3NPP), all 4 Officers (President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary) are directors, and we have a fifth director, which we call the Director. This complies with the Non-For-Profit corporation structure in Ontario.
  • Microwave demo by the Club at the Smiths Falls hamfest on May 11th: The hamfest will be held at a new location this year, the Civitan Club, just outside of the city. Bert (VE2ZAZ) has performed a link study between the Civitan Club and the Numogate communication hill. The results are that there is plenty of link margin, so there should be no problem establishing a demo link, despite a wooded area blocking the path. Lawrence (VA3IQ) is trying to contact the new Numogate site owner to obtain a permission to access the site. We will confirm our participation in this activity next month.

New Business

No new business was brought forward.

Show and tell

  • Georges-André (VE2VAB): Concurrent Ontario and Quebec QSO parties will take place on April 20th (ON) and 21st (ON and QC).
  • A discussion on home-buit 6m horizontal omnidirectional antennas took place.
  • Lawrence showed a EXP Microwave high power 4:1 microwave coaxial relay he purchased for $60.

Ask the Club

No questions were asked.

Adjournment

The President observed that there was no further business; the meeting was adjourned at 9:15pm.