VE9SFA - Darrin Erwin

Just A Update

2008-08-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

Just dropped in to update David Bate VA3DBJ web site link and what I'm up to. David's new page is back on blogspot. It is a great site for scanner, amateur radio and space info and articles. Check his new page http://scannerdesk.blogspot.com/ I have been approved for all the courses I applied for at THASO and CATTI. Ill put links on the side for those interested in any of their courses to check out. Dyna Gama Care has also accepted me to become a Urinalysis Collection Specialist. There are 18 courses all together I'm taking from Sept til may. I think ill be pretty busy!
Keep in mind everyone there is a guest book here in the right colum, please sign it!

Heading Back To Ontario?

2008-07-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

Well I spoke to the surgeon on Wednesday. He feels my driving days are over. I now have 2 choices, another surgery on my knee or Injections every 3 months or so.
Surgery will have a 50% chance of my knee getting better. On the bright side I have been looking into retraining. I come up with a course offered by CATTI in Cambridge On. The course looks awesome and should give me the major insight and knowledge Ill need to continue in the transportation industry. The course covers health and safety, dispatch, management, and many other parts of transportation including logistics.
I really want to get into a company working as a safety officer. This would be great for me and allow me to continue to do something I like and that I'm good at. There are several courses to get where I feel I need to be. Three of the courses are offered at CATTI. They will start this September and run consecutively till around February or March 2009. After that I would be looking at approximately 6 or 7 shorter courses. These courses are anywheres from a day to 4 weeks in length and would be held in Toronto, Brantford, Missisauga area. They would include such things as WHIMIS, Defensive Commercial Driving, Highway Traffic Act, Accident Recreation and Accident Review, Hours of Service, and other safety related studies. Upon completion of these classes I will be hopefully employed in some facet of the Transportation Industry.

I have just spent the day installing my radio

2008-05-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

After getting rid of "mom's" mini van. We decided it was time for something a lil more fun and sporty. So here it is our Chrysler 300. I have installed the Kenwood
D700. The main/brain part of the radio is tucked away in the trunk. The speaker, Face Plate and Mic wires are all run to the front of the vehicle. The speaker was mounted under the seat so not to ruin the clean cosmetic look of the car. The Mic can
be unplugged when not needed. I tossed around several antenna ideas as well as several mounts. One problem I had was the trunk is plastic. A trunk mount was not going to work there. Yes the roof is metal but no I'm not sticking a mag mount up on it. A window mount from Larsen crossed my mind about as hard as it would have crossed my wife if sha had seen the price. I finally decided to go with a Larsen trunk lip mount, I had one laying around anyway. Currently, I have mounted a Larson 150, I stole from the ATV. Within the next week or so, I hope to have the GPS installed and APRS up and running.

Time for an update

2008-05-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

Last post had me leaving on a trip to see how knee was going to hold up.
In short, the knee just was not ready to go back. I have had nothing but time to do an update on here, I just havent. So much has happened in the past couple months it would have your head spinning. My IRLP is up and running, complete with APRS on it thanks to Greg VE9GFI. Greg is a major IRLP /APRS GURU in St. John N.B. He took the time and patience to show a newbie like myself how to get it running again. THANKS GREG! My node is now on cent. OS. Kieth VE7GDH from Salt Spring Island B.C., was also a HUGE HELP THANKS Keith!

Back to work Sunday !!!!

2008-01-25T23:45:00.000-08:00

Well after being off work with a knee injury for 6 months. Iam ready to go back.
The first trip out should be a great test for me. Looks like ill be travelling from St.Stephen to New Jersey, Toronto, Chicago, Indiana then back to St. Stephen NB.
A total of around 3200 miles. Check my APRS location by clicking "Where Am I Now" link. In the right column.

Guest of the LCARC

2007-12-15T16:08:00.000-08:00

I found out the other night being stuck in a hotel in St.John N.B did have advantages. Like being a invited to a LCARC meeting. LCARC stands for Loyalists City Amatuer Radio Club. VE9GFI "Greg" chaired the meeting and also gave a informative
lecture. The evening ended again with me the guest drawing and loosing the 50/50 draw
Special thanks to BOB for the ride from Fort Howe Motel to the meeting and back. Who knows I may still be next meeting? Check out their great site for info and events.
http://www.lcarc.ca/

FARC

2007-11-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

On Monday November 12, 2007 I was asked to attend the Fredericton Amatuer Radio Club
monthly meeting. I had a great time. Many members approached me and chatted on various topics. I'm looking forward to joining FARC and taking the EMO course.
If you live in York County New Brunswick, or just passing through Fredericton N.B., drop by the club meeting. Meetings are held at 19:30 Hrs (7:30 PM) in the Board Room. The location is at the Victoria Health Centre (Old Victoria Public Hospital), Woodstock Rd., Fredericton. The meetings take place on the second monday of the month from September through to June. Special thanks to Al for the invite and Gus
for the amazing EMO tour. I must say I was more than impressed with the meeting and community
work FARC is involved in as well as the knowledge the club members have.
Thanks to you all! Check them out at http://www3.nbnet.nb.ca/ve9nd/

Hyndman Transport

2007-10-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post a Picture of my last ride before moving to New Brunswick.
I operated with the call VA3 XXS. Most things in my life at 1 time or another I did
where to excess "XXS"

UP UP AND AWAY.... too hard to do every day!!!

2007-09-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

Well I said it was going to get done. I put off long enough. My tower is finally up!!
With help from my wife, friend/neighbour and the atv's winch we got her up. Adorning the crest of the tower is a Diamond discone antena. I have had great success with it as a scanner antena and tx on 2m.

2007-08-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
Thanks for taking time to read this first ever attemp at blogging.
On 08/15/07 I had my knee scoped . 2 days later im sitting here wishing I could move enough to get aprs working right on my home station aswell as get my new shack together.

My Little Toy!

2007-08-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

This is my Polaris 500. I currently run a Icom T90 2m/6m/70cm radio. It gets a little help from a Mirage 25 watt amp. Then out to a spring mounted Larson ant. I have a mic and headset mounted in my helmet. This allows me the ability to access the IRLP and local repeaters when im out thrashing around. Next I want to add APRS to the ATV.
Locals here think it would be a great idea as im always getting the bike stuck in the deep mud, and needing to be rescued.