If you click on the above RAC Logo you will be taken to the RACBlog where Ve3HG has done some housekeeping and moved the RAC Debate and their comments to ine area which seems to be easier to read and follow…
I’m not sure if I can comment on much else on this topic. YOU KNOW MY VIEWS (PRO RAC) and so I will sit back and see what the rest of you think…. If you hit a nerve I might jump back inton the debate…
On a non-amateur topic… I will most likely be away from the airwaves and the keyboard for a short while as I come to terms with a family related issue…
Now there’s a headline I bet you thought you would not see….
Now getting serious I noticed some things today which I concider to be good news and its a great start…
First of all the previous posting of the RAC Director VE3XT Bill Unger is the statement that I wanted to hear about this whole situation. The board is looking into the problem and will be having a special meeting just to address this issue. It ain’t gonna happen overnight but in about 60 days (give or take) they will be having a meeting in Ottawa and things will get done and we hopefully will be on the road to recovery. I don’t expect miracles but the fact that something is being done is a fantastic start in my eyes at least. Your opinion could differ…
Second I would ask you to remember the post on the RAC Blog and yesterdays post it was mentioned that the Monthly Executive Teleconference occured. Just for the heck of it I headed over to the RAC website and sure enough (and much to my suprise) the July Minutes which would of been approved at the August Meeting had been posted on the RAC Website. Normally it takes me sending out a “Nastygram” or a snarky blog post to get the minutes posted promptly but this time… No fuss and it was done. Granted they are posted on the members only section but for now its a start and a show of good faith that they are trying to be more open and transparent. Once again your opinion could differ but I am pleased…
Finally if you go the the RAC Blog you will see an exchange between the RAC President and myself regarding the upcoming October Special Meeting. I suggested a “Q & A” session and he has agreed to the idea although the details do have to be worked out. Once again the fact that this has been agreed to and in a public forum gives me confidence and also makes me wonder what other good things can come out of the “New RAC.
North East Regional Directors Report September 2010
The monthly meeting of the Regional Directors was held on August 26, 2010. The most important topic of discussion was about the upcoming meeting in Ottawa to plan the future of RAC.
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With the election of President Bawden earlier this year we as a group have decided to look to where RAC is going. I won’t bore you with the litany of misery that has occurred over the last 3 years at RAC. If we don’t change the way we do business RAC’s future is uncertain. Amateurs in Canada are fortunate to have a group of people who want to RAC succeed. John Bartlett, V01OZ / HK1OZ has offered to lead the Directors and Executive in a “rebranding” of RAC. John and Peter, VE3HG, VP of Public Relations are posting news almost daily on the RAC blog. There we are asking for and printing replies from Amateurs across Canada who have ideas for RAC. If you have a criticism of RAC, that’s fine but I also hope you have a solution to make it better.
The link to Peters Blog is http://racblog.wordpress.com/ Check it out, its important that we have as much input as possible.
One of the comments I hear when I talk with Amateurs often starts off with “Somebody at RAC should do more _______ ( fill in the blank with: Contests, QRP,TCA articles, lobbying Industry Canada, update errors in the question blank or any other personal peeve they may have)”. Well plain and simple we don’t have any more somebodies. We have a part time bookkeeper and part time office clerk, that’s it. And you’re correct somebody should do all of the above. If you really want to help RAC why not be the someone who volunteers and helps.
Another initiative RAC has undertaken is to get 1000 new members during the period from Field Day, 2010 to Field Day 2011. I will be talking more about this in later news letters. There is also more information on Peter’s blog about this as well.
There will be a Hamfest October 16 in Sudbury sponsored by the Sudbury and Manitoulin Island clubs. If you’re any where in Northern Ontario this should be a must attend meet. Here is a link for more information:
If you remember back to my posting of August 5th which described a rather strong thunderstorm, and then my posting of August 6th which determined that my LDG Z100 Autotuner had for whatever reason chosen this time to stop functioning…
After that I had mentioned that I was using a borrowed Z100 thanks to Don VA3GFD while I decided on the replacement unit. Well after careful concideration Don and I came to an agreement and now the borrowed Z100 is my new Z100.
So thanks to Don’s help I was not off the air for long and now I have a replacement tuner that I was 100% familure with so there was no learning curve.
Recent comments made by the RAC President Geoff VE4BAW and also the RAC Director for North and Eastern Ontario Bill VE3XT are a good sign of things to come. It is a great start for what will no doubt bring that “Warm Fuzzy Feeling” back to all who have concerns for the state of our hobby in Canada.
Todays Blog Post is aimed towards the Amateur Operators who lived in Ottawa around 1992 to 1995. Todays Blog Topic is the Ottawa Exhibition or…
Now I can remember just after I got my Amateur Licence in late 1992 that the Ottawa Clubs used to get a special event station up and running at the “EX” but I don’t remember much else. I know that it did not last much after that year so I am wondering if any of the long time Ottawa Amateurs can remember any of the Details…
I know that the Toronto EX used to have Station VE3CNE and I actually worked them on 80m at one time but I can’t find the QSL card but somewhere in someones basement the log for VE3CNE should show a contact with VE3YBC which was my callsign at the time…
And actually if you go to http://www.callsign.ca and query VE3CNE you get the following information:
VE3CNE, Ronald Edward Martin
<Address edited out by me>
Qualification :Base/Basic ; Morse ; Supérieur/Advanced ;
CANADIAN NATIONAL EXHIBITION
So you can see the Toronto EX still at least has their callsign but can anyone remember any details of the Ottawa EX Amateur Radio Station???
Although the Blog stats indicate this is not your favourite topic (actually far from it) I wanted to get this off my chest… So thanks for listening so to speak…
Some of the material is dated and was offered to the Board of Directors at the AGM held in Cornwall in 2008 and for reason unknown to me (and others) seems to be have been “swept under the rug” so to speak.
Now by all accounts its time for a change. The best news seeming to come out of the 2010 AGM in Halifax is that we lost less money in 2009 than in 2008…
“The key business items were the financial audit for 2009 and a constitutional amendment to allow companies and institutions to become associate members of RAC. In terms of the audit the “good” news was that deficit for 2009 was less than 2008. The bad news is that there was still a deficit in 2009.
RAC Finances continues to be an issue. Our auditor noted that we are likely at the end of cost cutting measure and we need to raise revenues. Increasing membership and increasing advertising volumes are two go-forward startegies to address revenue issues .. other options will be discussed by the Board and Executive.”
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The Good News is that we lost less money??? This alone is a reason to look at changes…
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So what we have now is a few dedicated people have decided that RAC is worth saving and given us lots of stuff to think about… The only problem is that the 7 people who count here… The only 7 people with the power to start the process for real… The “Magnificent 7″ so to speak… are staying very quiet on this one…
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If you follow the “Magnificent 7″ link you will go to the RAC website and see that the Magnificent 7 are the 7 Directors of RAC.
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They were supposed to be elected by the RAC Members in their regions but more recently I believe that most of them have either been acclaimed (only person who wanted the job) or appointed (only person who would take the job).
On the same page you will see “Assistant Directors” and other members of the executive. The Assistant Directors are appointed by the Director for the region to help represent the Director locally. They have no voting rights. The rest of the executive (President, Vice President (s), Secretary and Treasurer are appointed by the board and have no voting rights.
So here we are … The discussion seems to have started on August 5th with this posting on the RAC Blog and I know the topic has been mentioned numerous other times on several different blogs previously but lets stay with current affairs for now…
As of 10am on August 25 2010 I have not been able to find a single rebuttal from any one of the Board of Directors.
The Director for North and East Ontario VE3XT Bill Unger did comment on a complaint about not being able to reach him and the President (not a board member) has made several comments about other peoples comments but there has been no official comment I can find (and I have been looking) from a board member.
If you can find one please let me know… I would love to read it…
I would not go as far as calling it a “Secret Society” (yet) but for a group of people who are supposed to know how to communicate they do seem to be a “quiet group…”
I am still Pro-RAC and I would love to have that warm fuzzy feeling knowing that they are looking at the troubles and taking steps to make a few changes to ensure our continued existance. They already have the legal means to do so as they were elected or acclaimed or appointed to manage RAC…
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For the record the following is an example of a secret society…
As you can see I still have my sense of humour … FOR NOW
My name is Bob, my callsign is VA3QV and I am a RAC Member
While being bored and surfing this morning I caught a little mention of Hurricane Danielle who right now is in the Atlantic with a slight East North East direction.
A false color satellite image provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Danielle at right at 6:15 a.m. EDT Tuesday Aug. 24, 2010. Hurricane Danille, about 1110 miles (1790 kilometers) east of the Lesser Antilles, has strengthened to a category 2 storm. (AP Photo/NOAA)
This means that Florida and the Gulf coasts are spared and for that matter all of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. That projected path ensures that it won’t be news as all of us who are not in the States know that if it don’t happen to America that CNN and the rest of the News Services won’t cover it for long.
If you follow the projected path on Stormpulse you will see that Bermuda could get a bit nasty around Sunday. As the projections only go as far as Sunday you need your imagination a bit to see that if it keeps its strength and current course that the Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia and Newfoundland {VE1 VO1}) could/might have some issues a few days later. No projections are accurate that far ahead but you can see from looking at the track so far that it there were no changes it would pass just east of Newfoundland.
Just remember to keep an eye on things and remember that you should be taking some precautions if you are in the effected area.
Your ARES group might want to go over your COMMS Plans if you are in the effected area…
Don’t forget the Hurricane Watch Net could be activated…
We all will have to watch over the next week and see if Danielle will come a visiting…
I decided to start hooking a few of the old toys back up. The weather is getting cooler so I can stand to spend a little more time in the shack. Today was time to get back into APRS.
If you look at APRS.FI you could search for VA3QV. This is my home APRS station which consists of an old Yaesu FT2400 mobile radio. This set up uses a Rigblaster Nomic interface and the 2400 is hooked into a 2m JPOLE at about 10 feet above ground. I am using the Freeware version of AGWPE and the Software is UI VIEW 32 bit version. No GPS hooked to this station as it ain’t moving… Its my home station.
While you are looking at APRS.FI you could also search for VA3QV-5. This is my portable APRS setup which consists of my ACER Netbook and my Wind Mobile Internet stick. The software is UI View 32 bit. I have the abilities and equipment (ADI handheld and another Rigblaster Nomic) to run this on RF using another copy of AGWPE but in most cases I just use it with the internet stick. No GPS needed as I just update the postition as to where I am operating from. This rig would not go mobile.
So its nothing fancy but we are back with APRS. Lets see if I find any new toys for this part of the hobby at the CARP HAMFEST which will be in Ottawa on September 11th. There will be more on the CARP Hamfest in the next few weeks.
This week I picked Ottawa, Boston and Chicago... So much for my pool standings... 2 days ago
RT @OEMOttawa: #communication is critical during an emergency. Don't let a dead battery increase your risk, keep a charger in your car&home… 2 days ago
For those of you who read the article but missed the link to the video... youtu.be/5NNp-pNxiGM Tactical BBQ Apron. Fathers Day is coming 2 days ago
I know that the Toronto EX used to have Station VE3CNE and I actually worked them on 80m at one time but I can’t find the QSL card but somewhere in someones basement the log for VE3CNE should show a contact with VE3YBC which was my callsign at the time…
Some of the material is dated and was offered to the Board of Directors at the AGM held in Cornwall in 2008 and for reason unknown to me (and others) seems to be have been “swept under the rug” so to speak. 
