Club Activities Homebrew Night Meetings

2026-04-08 OARC Homebrew Night Report 2026 – Report 

2026-05-09
Joannadanna

We had our usual full house at OARC Homebrew Night 2026, where we again celebrated low-cost, scrounged, and inventive solutions. There was a total of 10 homebrewed projects presented, nine in the room and one online. We heard tales of your successes and lessons learned. 

2026 OARC Homebrew Night Presenters 

Here is a quick synopsis of the presentations: 

  • Norm, VE3LC, gave us an update on the integration and testing that he has been doing on our new DSTAR repeater.
  • Roger, VA3EGY, did a bit of a show-and-tell of his bicycle mobile, explaining the source for all the parts from a variety of vendors and how he made it all fit, while ensuring it was weather protected and secure.  
  • Ralph, VE7DQS, who presented online, explaining his homebrew remote tuner for an Alpha Mag Loop antenna, which uses a 9v battery to run the 12v motor, used a plastic straw to connect the drive motor to the capacitor, used the potentiometer to report position of the variable capacitor. He provided a good description of the circuit. 
  • Bert, VA3PXE, presented his CW Sender Trainer, based on Arduino and a custom case made from LEGO. He described some challenges with software setup during the project build. 
  • Karl, VA2XZQ, and Celeste, VA2CZL, presented a pocket-packet node, big learning curve, hardware arrived late, webpage and ESP32 software. 
  • Amy, presented about her theories on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a medical imaging technique that uses strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves to form images of the organs in the body. 
  • Kelly, VA3TUE, presented about her Enigma coding machine, a working encryption machine, which she is selling as a kit for $350 US. 
  • David, VA3DPL, described how he is making monitors from old laptops by salvaging the screen (leaving it in the case so it has a backing) and then, with the correct part number, purchasing new LCD controller boards for the screen. 
  • Dave, VA3OCC, described how he used AI to design a website and all the pages to remote control a couple of his radios. He used 44 net. Getting AI to design the website was simple enough but he had a bit more of a challenge getting AI to develop the remote-control features and get things tuned.
  • Dave, VE3KMV, discussed his efforts to build simple, low-cost antennas requiring no special tools, including VHF or higher, folded dipoles, and slot antennas. Some are still works in progress. 

All of this year’s Homebrew presenters will receive a $10 Tim Horton’s card from the Club so please find Roger at the OARC Monthly Meeting in May to pick up yours. (Ralph, we will mail yours to you!)

2026 Clare Fowler Award 

Clare Fowler was a life-long Amateur Radio operator and a beloved, long-time member of the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club. He enjoyed countless hours contacting radio operators around the world, testing and building antennas, and sharing his knowledge on radio calls, at Club meetings, and in international publications. The OARC’s Clare Fowler Award was named for him because he won it so many times! Click here to see the criteria for the Clare Fowler Award. 

Winner of the 2026 Clare Fowler Award 

I’m pleased to announce that the winner of the 2026 Clare Fowler Award was Dave Hall, VA3OCC. You can read the description of Dave’s project above. Congratulations, Dave! 

There is normally a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize for the Clare Fowler Award but this year, because we had so few judges and due to the lateness of the hour, we decided on just a 1st prize and that all the other presenters (except for Roger, obviously) would receive a $10 Tim Horton’s gift card. Please join us in thanking Mike, VE3FFK, who judged all the projects this year, with some help from Harrie, VE3HYS. 

Thanks everyone for coming out and start thinking about your projects for OARC Homebrew Night 2027! 

Criteria used by the judges for the Clare Fowler Award 

Originality (30%) 

10 – not original, circuits and applications in most amateur publications, kits, existing software.
20 – modifications to published circuits and applications, modify existing software, modifications and additions to kits.
30 – new original concept and/or application, little or no info in most amateur publications, develop new software, mathematical calculations, not a kit. 

Complexity (30%) 

10 – simple, few parts/components, dimensions, layout and lead lengths not very critical or easily measured, multimeter instrumentation, make in a day or less.
20 – fair number of parts/components, chassis, circuit board, some attention to dimensions, layout and lead lengths, simple software program, use vswr meter, signal generators etc., construction time between one day and a week.
30 – relatively large number of parts/components, one or more circuit boards, critical layout, dimensions, write and debug software programs, more advanced instrumentation, time more than a week. 

Craftsmanship (15%) 

5 – very simple tools, crudely constructed 10 – more advanced tools, nicely constructed 
15 – beautifully made, clean, labeled. 

Presentation (15%) 

5 – short or rambling presentation, few details or explanation.
10 – reasonable explanation about item, how it works and was constructed.
15 – very well thought out short and concise description of how the item was developed and constructed, hand out information available.

Last Updated on 2026-05-10 by Joannadanna