VE3WCR - Fonthill

VE3WCR - News

Space Shuttle and International Space Station Activity

The VE3WCR repeater is viewed by the Directors of the Niagara District School Board of Niagara as an educational repeater. This is the reason it is still at E. L. Crossley Secondary School with the board's full consent along with providing NPARC with high speed internet for the IRLP connection at no cost to our club.

Mr. D. Durant of the District School Board of Niagara took our NPARC proposal to the Board of Directors showing how we could bring the Space Shuttle and ISS to the classroom. It was endorsed unanimously on that basis of both serving the Niagara Peninsula and an education tool. For this reason I have connected VE3WCR to the NASA education website on Shuttle and ISS activities when active and will continue to do so as per our agreement.

For those not aware there is a four digit number to bring up a node at the world location of your choice. Peter, VA3WET has provided instructions on our website along with a link to nodes worldwide that can be accessed. When you access a node and after the preamble wait approximately two(2) seconds before you talk. 73, disconnects you from the node and puts the repeater back to local.

At the times Space Shuttle and ISS are brought up from the NASA NODE you can still work the repeater as normal with NASA activity in the background as their audio output is one way. It is only with NASA approval a two way link can be brought up to enable students to talk to the International Space Station as this was our ultimate plan approved by NASA.

There are many people who have made this operation possible, both the making of VE3WCR a first class repeater and the addition of IRLP. I would like to name and thank them at this time. I hope I have not forgotten anyone:

District School Board of Niagara, Mr. D. Durant;
The Trustee's of the District of Niagara School Board;
Dale Sackfie, VE3LVW; Jake Voogt, VE3NCL; Conrad Nahachewsky, VE3LOS; Daniel Nahachewsky, VE3LCJ; Peter Teminski, VA3WET; John Boswell, VA3BOZ; Fred Older, VA3LSB; Frank Endenburg, VE3SQ; Jim Servos, VE3VLS and Len Cutress, VE3TC.

This project has taken three years to complete and added a new flexibility to the operation of the club.

My very best regards to all,
David Hodson, VA3UL,
Past President, March 30th, 2008.

Internet Relay Linking Project

IRLP or the Internet Relay Linking Project is now operational on the VE3WCR NPARC Club repeater in Fonthill. Amateurs in the Niagara Peninsula now have access to repeaters around the world connected to the system.

What is the Internet Relay Linking Project? By using the internet and voice-over internet protocol or VoIP software, amateur radio operators are able to make contact anywhere in the world by using their local repeater. IRLP operates a worldwide network of dedicated servers and nodes offering very stable worldwide voice communications between hundreds of towns and cities.

To find out more about how to use the system, join our Forums or contact one of the Executive. To learn more about IRLP, go to http://www.irlp.net. To find out about the status of nodes, go to http://status.irlp.net.

If you plan to use the system regularly and you are not an NPARC member, consider joining NPARC as your dues will go to support this worth while project and the repair and operation of the repeater.

de Peter, VA3WET
August 15th, 2007

New Hard Line Installed on VE3WCR Repeater

Things could not have gone any smoother at the VE3WCR repeater site. With the help of Frank VE3KLM, Dave VA3UL, John VA3BOZ and myself Peter VA3WET, the new feedline went up quickly, smoothly and safely. Dave VA3UL gave us a lesson on installing connectors to a hard line. Thanks Dave, most of us had never seen it done before.

The antenna was hit by lightning some time ago and temporary inferior feedline was being used. The new hard line should greatly improve the repeater's performance.

The following pictures show Dave VA3UL, hard at work installing a connector on the hard line.

de Peter, VA3WET
August 28th, 2006