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Just before the start of the OARC meeting (photo copyright of the OARC)

Last week I drove through a snowy evening to give a presentation to the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club (OARC).  The meeting was in one of the rooms in City Hall and I have to admit it was my first time attending the OARC.

I was greeted by Dave, VE3TLY, the president and others and it certainly seems to be an active club.  There was a report on the club construction project and talk about the upcoming Canadian Ski Marathon and the amateur radio support that is given.

My talk was on D-STAR in the Ottawa Area and started with some D-STAR principles, covered a little on the local repeater VA3ODG and finished off with a look at the current projects and developments.  A pdf of the slides are here:> OARC Presentation PDF.

I finished off with a demonstration and tuned the HT to module B of repeater VA3ODG and chatted with a small group that had assembled there.  There was some luck as using the repeater with Maurice-Andre, VE3VIG was Greg, VA3OMP, using his FREE STAR* repeater as well as a station connecting in from Florida. This nicely illustrated the linking to the repeater from outside the local area and use of a different (FREE STAR*) network, which I had just earlier mentioned in my talk.

After the demonstration there was some good questions and comments from the audience.  The meeting officially wound-up and over coffee I had pleasant discussions with a number of the club members.

A great evening and thanks to the OARC for inviting me and making me so welcome.