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Friends:

Future Events:

October 25 - "A Genealogy Workshop" - hosted by Ross Fines

Previously, Friends of CRC hosted an introductory talk on genealogy. A second talk is being organized as a genealogical workshop. The genealogical workshop will present examples of specific searches of family surnames. So far, four Friends members have agreed to present the results of their family search efforts. Each presentation is expected to take fifteen to twenty minutes. At the end of a search presentation, the speaker will answer questions from the audience. In the course of the talk, the presenter could outline how to start a search, methods of searching a family history, problems encountered in the search, documentation techniques, sources of information, and other topic related to family genealogy. The workshop is scheduled for Thursday, 25 October, starting at 1:00PM and ending at 3:00PM with a ten minute coffee break at 2:00PM.

November 29 Stephen Bigras, ex officio International Polar Year (IPY) committee, to speak on the IPY.

Christmas Luncheon "Ho""Ho""Ho". Reminder CRC Christmas Dinner 2007.

The CRC Annual Christmas Dinner (at noon) will be held again this year at the same time as the Dinner for CRC Staff. This will probably be the week of December 15, 2007. In past years it has been Wednesday or Thursday of that week. We will try to give you as much lead time as possible, please watch the newsletter in November for details.

Hazel Baskin

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E-mails Received:

From: harold raine

To:donross@magma.ca

Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 10:36 PM

Subject: RE: Bob Sturrock has passed away

Don,

Bob was a pleasure to work with. He did indeed have a great interest in science and there were a couple of examples of his extracurricular interest while we were at the Lab on Montreal Road.

He had read about "ground effect" machines and resolved to build one (which was another name for a hover craft). He made a small box about 3 feet by 2 feet, fitted it with a vacuum motor and skirts, plugged it into a hallway electrical outlet with a long cord and proceeded to demonstrate the hovercraft principle, running this contraption along the hallway. In later years he built a mansized one in his garage, with rather unfortunate results

Another scientific curiosity that he experimented with involved equipping a screen with straight pins that were all connected electrically. This screen was placed facing another metallic screen that was used as a ground plane. When the needles were connected to a high voltage source and (cigarette) smoke was allowed to fall between the two, one could see that the potential would accelerate the smoke latterly through the screen. It didn't work too well but as I recall we felt it did do what he thought it would.Bob's work on Alouette was primarily on the command system. As part of the sharing arrangement with NASA, the command receivers were supplied by NASA with Bob as the responsible engineer. We were called Defence Scientific Service Officers (DSSO's) then. His participation of course continued after we moved to the Electronics Lab (EL) at Shirley's Bay.

From: kowalik

To: Don Ross for Friends of CRC:

Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 7:32 AM

Subject: Re: Bob Sturrock has passed away

Hi Don,

Further to Harold Raine's remarks, I should like to add that indeed Bob was easy to work with. My relationship with Bob was entirely on the Alouette program. In addition to his responsibilities on the command receivers Bob took on the design of certain parts of the electronics. As we all knew, Bob was very analytical. One of the requirements was to provide fuses to protect power supplies feeding various electronic units. The obvious choice was fuses, but at first he could not find reliable fuses in the industry that would not in themselves burn out prematurely and become a circuit hazard. Bob realized that a resistor of an appropriate value could serve as a fuse if one compensated for the voltage drop that it would cause. If the electronics at the end of the line developed a short the resistor would burn out due to current overload. A resistor would not burn out prematurely like a fuse might. We all thought it was a great idea. Bob tested a variety of choices and it worked every time. Then Bob decided to test this in an evacuated bell jar to simulate space vacuum. Surprise, surprise! The resistor would not fail due to overload. No oxygen to oxidize the thing! So back he went to the search for reliable fuses and as we all know he was 100% successful. In 1994 I visited Bob and Irma for a few hours. It was a great pleasure. As I recall golf all year round was high on the agenda.

Harry Kowalik

From: Laval Desbiens

To: Don Ross for Friends of CRC

Sent: October 3, 2007 15:55

Subject: spectralumni

a recent addition to our historical site

http://www.spectralumni.ca/alouette.htm

regards - Laval

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Deaths:

KENT, John D.B., P.Eng. Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Passed away suddenly at home August 18, 2007. He was born in Montreal, Quebec to Leonard and Catherine Kent. For nearly fifty years, he was the much beloved husband of Sandra Matthews. He was extremely proud of his children David (Surinder), Donald (Barbara), Cynthia Koehler (Paul), Kimberley Bermender (Daniel) and his grandchildren Amiet Chevrier, Luke, Robert and Matthew Koehler and Sabrina Kent. Always he cherished his brother Leonard (Barbara) and sisters Marie Tilley (Dawson) and Rosalie Smith (Bruce) and his sister-in-law Barbara McDougall (Vance). He held dear his many nieces and nephews and his friends from the many places he lived as he traveled during his careers in the military, federal government industry and in recent winters in Florida. He will be greatly missed by all. Friends may pay respects at the Kelly Funeral Home 1255 Walkley Rd. (east of Bank) Monday from 6 to 9 p.m. and after 12 p.m. Tuesday. Funeral Tuesday in the Chapel at 2 p.m. If any wish to make rememberances, in lieu of flowers, donations to the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation or the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be appreciated.

PINCH, Madesta (nee Carroll) Peacefully, surrounded by family, on Monday, October 1, 2007 at the Ottawa General Hospital, at the age of 71. Madesta, beloved wife of Michael. Loving mother of Joseph (Terri) and Helen (Eric Artelle). Proud grandmother of Lindsay. Cherished sister of Desmond, Wilfred, Thomas (Betty) and Patrick (Anne). Sister-in-law of Teresa Carroll. Predeceased by her brother Ambrose and sisters Margaret, Dorothy Foley, Isabel Corcoran. Friends may pay respects at the Kelly Funeral Home, 2313 Carling Avenue (west of Carlingwood) Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. Funeral Friday to St. Isidore Church for Mass of Christian Funeral at 11:00 a.m. In Memoriam donations to the Ottawa Hospital Foundation, the Ottawa Hospital Regional Cancer Centre or Carefor Health and Community Services appreciated.

Editor’s Comments:

Thank to Don Edwards and Peter Jaques for their phone calls as I always enjoy conversing with our Members. They both said it was a good idea to include obituaries in the news letter.

Jim Sawtell
iq4u@storm.ca
613-836-5795

Friends of CRC        Les Amis du CRC
3701 Carling Avenue                     3701 avenue Carling
P.O. Box 11490 Station H             C.P. 11490, succursale H
Ottawa, Ontario K2H 8S2             Ottawa, Ontario K2H 8S2
613-990-6673                                 613-990-6673 
Website: friendsofcrc.ca
E-mail: crcfriends@igs.net
Membership: Don Ross donross@magma.ca