Last weekend, I headed out with Darin (VE3OIJ) to help chase a pair of weather balloons that were being launched from Perth by the Lanark Space Agency (LASA). One of the balloons, VE3LCA-11, had a payload with a GPS, camera, temperature sensor and an APRS beacon. It’s goal was to take pictures over the course of its flight for the Grades 5 and 6 students from St. John’s School it was being launched for.

The launch was well-attended by students, parents, visitors to the farmers’ market and many of the chase teams. After the obligatory group photo with the students and the balloon, they did a count down and released the balloon and its payload. It disappeared into the clouds about 4500’ AGL, so we watched its progress on the display they had set up for people to watch.

Meanwhile, the second balloon, VE3REX-11 (aka LASA 4), was prepped for launch. It’s goal was to set an altitude record for amateur weather balloons. It’s payload consisted solely of a small GPS and an APRS beacon, which weighed less than the first balloon. It was launched off in due order, so we headed off, stopping only to buy some homemade cookies from the farmers’ market.

We decided to chase VE3LCA-11 since its payload needed to be retrieved more than VE3REX-11’s.

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The Globe and Mail had a story this morning that caught my eye. To combat the use of cell phones by students in his school, Steve Gray, the principal of Port Hardy Secondary School, purchased a cell phone jamming device. The students figured out within a couple of days that something was interfering with their cell phones and quickly organized a demonstration. The principal eventually gave in and turned off the device.

At first pass, jamming cell phones in the school might seem like a not unreasonable solution to the problem. Students shouldn’t be using their cell phones in class, so if their phones are jammed it shouldn’t affect them.

The problem is that cell phone jamming devices are illegal in Canada under sections 4 and 9 of the Radiocommunication Act. Specifically, Section 4(2) states:

(2) No person shall manufacture, import, distribute, lease, offer for sale or sell any radio apparatus, interference-causing equipment or radio-sensitive equipment for which a technical acceptance certificate is required under this Act, otherwise than in accordance with such a certificate.

Section 9(1)(b) states:

9. (1) No person shall

(b) without lawful excuse, interfere with or obstruct any radiocommunication;

Anyone who violates either section 4 or 9(1)(a) or (b) or who “without lawful excuse, manufactures, imports, distributes, leases, offers for sale, sells, installs, modifies, operates or possesses any equipment or device, or any component thereof, under circumstances that give rise to a reasonable inference that the equipment, device or component has been used, or is or was intended to be used, for the purpose of contravening section 9” is …

guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable, in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both, or, in the case of a corporation, to a fine not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars.

The principal claims that he didn’t think it was illegal to operate the jammer. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.  He now knows that it is illegal to operate or even possess a cell phone jammer, but he’s quoted in the article as stating “I’m going to hold onto it and hope the regulations follow reality.”

Industry Canada needs to immediately confiscate the device and fine the school board for breaking the law by both having operated the device and possessing it.

And the students need to respect the rules established by their school and turn their phones off when they’re in class.

I’ve had my amateur radio license since the mid-1990s, but I took a hiatus from the hobby for a couple of years for various reasons a few years ago.  When I got back on the air a couple of years ago, one of the first people I talked to was Don, VE3DRO.  An older chap, I actually met him in person one Friday morning at a gathering of local hams in a Tim Horton’s in Orleans just a few weeks after getting back into the hobby.

Since then, I’ve talked to him periodically, mostly on the VE3RIX repeater.  (I’m not on the air every day, so a fair bit of time can pass between conversations with other hams.)  He always seemed to be in a good mood and was a nice guy to talk to.  The hobby needs more people like him.

Last night I received an email that Don had become a silent key — he passed away a couple of nights ago.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the memorial service today, but I heard that it was standing room only.

Rest in peace, Don.  Your voice will be missed on the air.

73 de Gordon, VE3XGD

Only a few hours remain in 2007, so I thought I’d take a moment and look back at the last year as I experienced it.

I did a fair bit of travelling in 2007, most of it for work. During the year I visited Toronto a couple of times, Halifax (work), Sturgeon Falls (work), Sudbury (play) for a few hours on the Sturgeon Falls trip, Miami Beach (play), Winnipeg (work) and Edmonton (work). In fact, between mid-October and early-December I boarded 16 different flights, and passed through Toronto’s Pearson Airport (YYZ) four weeks in a row. I also passed through airports in Montreal and Calgary in the course of doing these trips. And, I think I’m missing a couple of trips from this list.

Work-wise, I was successful in a generic competition at work that saw me move from being in a technical position to that of a research analyst. This was a big move and I’m still getting used to it, even though I’ve had this new job for a couple of months now. Fortunately, though I changed jobs, I did not have to change the group of people I work with.

According to my records, I went geocaching 29 days in the year and in every month except March and August, with April and October being the two months with the highest number of finds. Overall, I found 119 caches, the most recent one yesterday evening. I went geocaching in Ontario, Quebec, Halifax, Winnipeg and Edmonton. (I was too busy lying on the beach in Miami Beach to do any caching.)

My friends Ken & Margaret got married in June and I was the best man at the wedding. The guys took Ken away for a weekend of golfing-and-other-activities-that-shall-not-be-spoken-of. The day of the wedding, we went trap shooting before taking Ken off to be married.

During the summer I did a lot (for me) of amateur radio. I spurred on the Manotick Amateur Radio Group to run special event station VC3R for a couple of months to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Rideau Canal and its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List. We operated at several locks over the summer and had a lot of fun doing it.

I didn’t get out scuba diving this year, but I did join GoodLife Fitness through work and I’ve gone to the climbing gym about once a week and I’ve lost a fair bit of weight since the end of February. 🙂 I also took up golfing in 2007 and am looking forward to it in 2008.

To help offset the benefits of being less of a couch potato, I bought a Nintendo Wii a couple of months ago. It’s the first gaming system I’ve owned since the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) I was given years ago and I’m having a lot of fun with it. In addition to the games, it offers all sorts of nifty things.

Overall, 2007 was a positive year.

The ARLHS is sponsoring the National Lighthouse-Lightship Weekend (NLLW) contest this weekend. Basically, you try to talk to as many other ARLHS members and lighthouses and lightships that have been activated. You score a certain number of points for every QSO, with extra points awarded if you talk to a lighthouse/lightship. If you are activating a lighthouse/lightship, then you get an extra multiplier to your points after you’ve added them all up.

This evening, I activated CAN-1352, a lighthouse on a spit of land that protects the Nepean Yacht Club harbour. I started calling CQ Lighthouse at 0001Z on 04 August 2007 (remember, EDT is 4 hours behind UTC right now, that’s why it’s “tomorrow”), which was the starting time of the contest. I worked 11 stations in the next 55 minutes. At times, the conditions were great and stations boomed in, while at other times they were an S0 or just static. Of those 11 QSOs, 8 of them were other ARLHS members, one was the ARLHS club station (KC2HOU) and two were for CAN-998, a lighthouse in Quebec City.

Tomorrow, I’m heading back down to Prescott to activate CAN-767 for a little while.

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The Manotick Amateur Radio Group will be operating VC3R at the Black Rapids lockstation on the Rideau Canal Sunday, July 29th from 0830 Eastern to 1630 Eastern (1230Z to 2030Z). VC3R is a special event callsign being used to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Rideau Canal.

Operating information:

Voice:

• 20m on 14.275; other bands as conditions permit
• 146.520 simplex
• club repeater VE3RIX (145.450-), IRLP node 2596, Echolink node 148649

Digital modes (BPSK, etc):

• 20m on 14.070; other bands as conditions permit

If you’re in the Ottawa area, please feel free to stop by the lockstation. The lockstation is on Prince of Wales drive in Ottawa, roughly halfway between Hunt Club and Fallowfield.

No, I didn’t turn on the light in a lighthouse today, but I did go and “activate” it on the air so that other amateur radio operators could check it off their lists. “It” is the white and green lighthouse on the end of the breakwater in the Prescott Heritage Harbour, also known as ARLHS lighthouse CAN-767.

I decided on the spur of the moment that I would do this, so I sent out an email message to the other ARLHS members saying that I would be activating CAN-767 for a little while this afternoon. I parked in a lot about 150m away from the lighthouse and fired up the radio on 14.270 MHz. At 1812Z (1412 Eastern), N0PKX responded to my call. He had seen my email alert and was waiting for me to show up. We exchanged details and I continued to call CQ Lighthouse.

Five more people responded in the next ten to fifteen minutes. As time progressed, the received signal qualities kept decreasing until I could no longer hear anyone trying to answer my calls. I even switched briefly to 7.270 MHz, but didn’t hear anyone respond so I returned to the 20m band. At 1915Z (1515 Eastern) I had activated CAN-767 for an hour, which is the minimum time I’d decided I would be on the air, so I decided to head off in search of ice cream before doing a little geocaching.

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