Archive for the ‘Amateur Radio’ Category

Wrong plates

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Many amateur radio opperators have customized plates on their vehicals that identify themselves as such.  Back on my birthday, the same day I got the sticker for my licence plate, I also ordered custom plates for my car.  When they came in, they were flat out wrong.  I have sent them back to the MTO long ago.  Seeing as how nothing has been recieved back in my hands, I contacted Service Ontario.  They have advised me to write the government advising them of the situation.  Here is the letter I have written (contact names removed)

Ministry of Government Services

Productions and Verifications Services

ATTN: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PO BOX 9400

Kingston, ON

K7L5K9

To whom it may concern;

I write in regards to customized licence plates that have yet to been received as of writing this letter.

On 10 December 2009, I had placed an order with the Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Office located at 333 King St W, Oshawa, ON to receive custom plates with my amateur radio operator call sign.  The call sign is VA3ZAI.  On Friday 15 January 2010, the plates arrived in my mail box.  As they were picked up out of my mailbox after the Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Office had closed, I did not bother examining the plates until the weekend.  It was at this point I discovered that the plates received were in correct, reading VA3ZA1.

The Monday after receiving the plates, I contacted Service Ontario.  I was advised to bring the incorrect plates, and a letter stating the issue to the Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Office to have these sent back and re-issued.  I also included photo copies of both my wallet size licence, and “diploma version” of the licence as well.  This entire package was taken to the Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Office at 333 King St W, Oshawa, ON as of Tuesday 19 January 2010 to be returned, and have the correct plates reissued.

I have spoken with customer service representatives at Service Ontario in regards to this matter.  They have had the issue reviewed by a manager at the call centre, and have been advised to write this letter to advise of the situation.  Enclosed for your review, is a copy of my amateur radio licence (both wallet and diploma version), as well as front and back of my driver’s licence.  I will also be including an unsigned letter that I included with the original package that was taken to the Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Office.

I ask that these plates be issued as soon as possible and without additional cost to myself.  Should there be any questions, feel free to contact me by phone at 905-xxx-yyyy, or email at aaaaaa@rac.ca

Sincerely

For those of you that are interested, here is the letter I wrote to go back with the plates that I originally wrote

Monday, January 18, 2010

Service Ontario

PO BOX 9400

Kingston, ON

K7L5K9

To whom it may concern

I write with regards to the enclosed custom vehicle license plates.  On December 10, 2009, I ordered custom plates to reflect my status as a licensed amateur radio operator by Industry Canada by having my call sign as the license plate.

Enclosed you will find colour photocopies of my Certificate of Proficiency in Amateur Radio, both wallet and wall versions.  On both, it clearly indicates my call sign as VA3ZAI.  The plates received read VA3ZA1.

I would ask that the license plates be reissued on a priority basis, at no cost to me, with the correct call sign.

Sincerely

Of course both letters have my name at the bottom, my address at the top.  And both are signed

And the antenna starts…

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

So I have gotten the start on the antenna I talked about earlier today.

I stopped off at Home Depot and picked up a 10 foot long PVC pipe for $16 after tax.  This is just a standard one inch diameter pipe, white in colour.  If you get lost in Home Depot like I do, find the plumbing section.  It should be in there.  Otherwise, look for the orange aprons and ask someone.

I also picked up a tripod to support the finished antenna from WalMart.  The one I picked up can be found here.  The head is going to be modified with a longer screw that will go into a 2×4 peice of wood, yet to be picked up.

The antenna itself is going to be built as 2 separate antennas, one for the 2m (145MHz) side, and one for the 70cm (440MHz).  We started building the 70cm side. Elements have been cut.  We used an online calculator that can be found at this site.  A good friend of mine, Eric, some how came into an extreme amount of copper 14 gauge house hold wiring.  We cut the wires to be 13″ for the reflector, 12 7/8″ for the driven element, and 12″ for the directors.

While this image only shows 1 director, there are 4 more to go along with this, to make it a 7 element Yagi-Uda antenna.  All elements will be placed at 4″ intervals.  At this stage we haven’t secured the elements to the PVC, but will probably be done tomorrow.

Until then.

Antenna Build

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Howdy folks

Some of you may know, I am an amateur radio operator.  My call sign is VA3ZAI.  I mostly listen to the VE3OSH repeater (147.120MHz, + offset).  Another interest that has come up for me is amateur satellites.  These are typically launched with the cooperation of various space agencies around the world carrying amateur radio communications equipment.

I have a plan to build myself a multi-element Yagi-Uda directional antenna to try and work these satellites.  Really, any type of antenna would work, but because of the low power typically used and seen with satellites, it is best to use something with directionality.  That way, all the RF (Radio frequency) energy is more effectively used.  At most, I will probably be using 5w of power going out to the antenna.

I have found several articles that that outline, and direct one how to build such an antenna, but they are very poorly documented.  My plan when I start building this will be to actually take photos outlining each step of what we are doing.  For those that are interested to see what I am basing my build off of, simply visit this link.

Follow the Yagi build category for the process and updates.