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Jim passed away in early August. He had been a regular member of the club and was always a joy to chat with at the weekly coffee meetings. A ham for many years he had lots of equipment which he would give to other members who had a need.

The club's repeater has been upgraded with a taller mast and a new antenna. The antenna is now a comet GP9 offering 8.5dbi gain. SWR of 1.05 on the receive frequency and 1.12 on transmit. The new coax is a 1/2 inch Heliax  hard line with a return loss of 1.22 DB for the 117 foot length. Reports from club members have already said they have heard an improvement in coverage.

It is hard to imagine that we suddenly lost Ken on Dec 23rd. He was a long time member of the club and a very active amateur. He was the top chaser in western Canada in the summits-on-the-air program and more recently a busy hunter in the Parks-on-the-air program. He would often be checking to see when the next club member was activating a summit/park to make sure he made a contact. He was also the clubs most proficient CW operator having learned the skills in his work in Marine Navigation. He would always come by a club event to offer his support and encourage his friends.

At the last operating event at Centennial Arena, we discovered that our Windom antenna was not functioning. Upon accessing the roof and looking at the antenna we discovered that the coax just above its connector to the bottom balun had corroded and broken. In fact, it totally separated in Ralph’s hands. A couple days later Jim and Eric returned and put a new end on the coax and water-proofed it.

Jim Leary (VE7BCJ) passed away on September 12th. He had been a past member of the club for many years. He enjoyed mobile operating and had an extensive set up in his truck for HF communications.