A message from Ontario East RAC Section Manager (incoming)

Another gem in the email inbox from the newsgroups.  I guess I must of p!ssed someone off as I used to get these directly (or unoffically leaked) in the past…  Now I find them posted to newsgroups…

Anyway…  in case you don’t read the same newsgroups as I do…

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To Amateur Radio Clubs and Organizations in Eastern Ontario: Almonte ARC, Chapter 70 Quarter Century Wireless Association, Iroquois ARC, Kingston ARC, Manotic AR Group, Ottawa ARC, Ottawa Valley QRP Association, Ottawa Valley Mobile RC, Prescott-Russel ARC, Quinte ARC, St-Lawrence Valley ARC, West Carleton ARC, 3730 Group

If you, members of your executives or other active members will be in Ottawa for the Hamfest September 8 please stop by the RAC booth to meet Mike Hickey, the new Section Manager Ontario East, and Glenn MacDonell, Deputy Director North/East Ontario.  We are particularly interested in discussing the new reorganization of the Ontario Section of RAC that takes effect September 1 and how we can work together to strengthen amateur radio in the region.

The reorganization of RAC’s Ontario Section aims to provide better communication with and better representation of the interests of the overall Ontario amateur population.  Ontario contains 60% of the RAC membership.  Dividing the province into 4 new sections, one of which will be Ontario East (Section ONE), will bring RAC representatives closer to amateurs and clubs in the province.  This is being done to bring decision making around field operations closer to the membership.  One specific objective of the reorganization is to improve support for local clubs and we would like to discuss how we can make this happen.

The reorganization implements a significant change – broadening the responsibilities and functions of the regional organization.  In the past the focus of Section Managers has been the operation of the Field Service in their region – most prominently the Amateur Radio Emergency Service but also including the National Traffic System, Official Bulletin Service, Official Observer Service and the Regional Amateur Radio Alert network.

RAC has now decided to implement a Field Organization something that has not existed before in any national Canadian amateur radio organization. The Field Organization will undertake activities in four areas : provincial government liaison, public information, support to RAC affiliated clubs and technical coordination.  These will provide the basis for a new communications and accountability relationship between amateurs (speaking through their clubs) and the RAC Section Management team.

The scope of the four functions is not yet fully defined and the volunteers to support these activities remain to be found.  As we all know identifying objectives and creating structures designed to achieve them, while important, will not on their own deliver results.  We need to identify specific activities and the people that will help achieve them.  Better communications is key and we look forward to hearing the views of active amateurs in the region – they will help us refine the structure and identify the people required to support a growing and active amateur radio community.

As some of you already know, amateur radio clubs are able to have a table at the Ottawa Hamfest free of charge (individual vendors pay $15) so that they can describe their activities, sign up new members or get renewals and sell surplus equipment to raise money for their club.  Although the time is short, if you want to take advantage of this please contact the Ottawa Hamfest Manager, Ed Sich, VE3WGO.

If you know of other amateur radio clubs or organizations in you area that we have missed please let us know.  The email list we used did not exist before this email – just one example of what we need to do to build better communications!

Mike Hickey, VE3IPC, was named as Ontario East Section Manager on August 12, 2012.  He will be known to many of you from his previous roles as Emergency Coordinator and District Emergency Coordinator in the ARES Capital Seaway District. He will lead the delivery of RAC services in the Region.

Glenn MacDonell, VE3XRA, was named Deputy Director Ontario North/East on April 20 2012. Bill Unger, Director Ontario North/East, is our representative on the RAC Board of Directors that manages the organization.  Bill lives in Thunder Bay and consequently can only rarely visit clubs in our area. Glenn advises Bill on issues and concerns of amateurs in our part of the region, participates in RAC Board of Directors meetings and votes when Bill is absent.

We look forward to meeting you at the Hamfest and are open to meeting your executives or members at one of your your club meetings or events.

73

Mike Hickey   Glenn MacDonell
VE3IPC VE3XRA
Section Manager Ontario East Deputy Director Ontario North/East
Radio Amateurs of Canada Radio Amateurs of Canada
ve3ipc@aol.com

ve3xra@rac.ca

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For more info on RAC please go to  http://www.rac.ca

For more info on the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club Hamfest please go to:

http://www.oarc.net/fleamarket/

73bob

Getting ready for the Colorado QSO Party

This weekend the Pikes Peak Amateur Radio Association is sponsoring the Colorado QSO Party The rules can be found by the following link :

http://ppraa.org/downloads/coqp/2012%20COQP%20Rules%2012-1.pdf

After taking a quick read the rules seem pretty standard with a couple of exceptions.  Trying to contact as many Colorado Counties (see below map) is a given…

I guess their participants are a bit younger than here in Ontario as they run for a 16 hour period rather than stopping to take a nap in the middle of the contest… 

I also like the idea of a power multiplier for the QRP stations…

Granted there is lots of areas in Colorado where a QRP station can get to a location with Altitude and Attitude and have a lots of fun.  Our old Friend Steve WG0AT (along with Rooster and Peanut) has made many contacts from the high altitude areas of Mt Herman and other areas

So on Saturday for as many of the 16 hours I have conditions for…  in the sprit of the contest…  my FT817 and Par end fed will be out in the field trying to contact Colorado Stations…

Now according to the Weather Network the weather will be cooperating so that is one think less to worry about.  If there is a slight breeze then the bugs will be kept away…  another issue solved…. and if the bands cooperate then it should be  a great time as well…

If your in Colorado I hope to work you on the air and no matter where you are if you hear me by all means give me a call and say hi…

73bob

Message from Outgoing RAC Ontario Section Manager

I got this off one of the newsgroups and thought I would share it with you.  Thanks to VE3AJB for all the good work he has done on our behalf in the old Ontario Section.

The Ontario North Section is getting a good man…

Thanks again Allan…

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Radio Amateurs of Canada

From the Desk of Ontario Section Manager
Attn: All Ontario Amateurs
MESSAGE TO ALL AMATEURS – THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT & WELCOME TO THE NEW ONTARIO RESTRUCTURE

As you are aware changes have been made and now are ready to launch September 01, 2012 here in Ontario on behalf of the Radio Amateurs of Canada in relation to the Ontario Field Services. In the past Ontario has been served by one elected official of fields services that being the Ontario Section Manager. For the last 7 years I have had the honor and pleasure to be elected and serve as your Ontario representative for Field Services on behalf of RAC. This position brought responsibilities of overseeing the field services in Ontario including ARES, the NTS, Official Bulletin Service and the Official Observer Service. I have had the opportunity to work with many wonderful and knowledgeable amateurs in these services and the wealth of experience in the province is second to none.
However I also have been around long enough to realize that one person and one person alone cannot do justice to the job it disserves. I know that during my time I have spent relentless hours on e-mails and discussing issues with many amateurs over the phone. In realailty these concerns should be addressed face to face. I am a firm believer that for RAC to flourish in the future you need to have personal, interaction with your RAC official. Living in Northern Ontario and working full time I did not have the luxury to visit many clubs or ARES groups. I have met many of you at flea markets and meetings but you need to have there ability to contact your RAC Official when you need him/her. This is why I am excited about the new restructuring proposal undertaking by RAC. With three more additional Section Managers in the province representing their section of the province there is the opportunity to get more interaction. Each Section having a coordinator for the field services will only work better and represent all of you and make RAC stronger as a national organization.
One of my last duties as Ontario Section Manager is to welcome the three additional members to the Ontario Team.

• Section Manager Ontario South Ian Snow VA3QT – ONS
• Section Manager GTA George Duffield VE3WKJ – GTA
• Section Manager Ontario East Michael Hickey VE3IPC – ONE

I know these three experienced amateurs will serve the amateur community well and I look forward to the new direction Ontario is taking and working with these fine gentlemen. Having served as Section Manager for all of Ontario for the past 7 years I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you that have supported me and my field services members over the years. Your commitment to the program has been proven many times over. I look forward to serving the members of Northern Ontario as your Section Manager for Ontario North – ONN. As always I am open to any questions or concerns that you may have. Please feel free to contact me at anytime. I look forward to this new process and the exciting times ahead for field services and RAC.
Yours Truly
Allan Boyd
VE3AJB
Section Manager
Ontario
Radio Amateurs of Canada

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73bob

As the Beams turn… An update

I just got the following off the RAC Blog.   (http://blog.rac.ca )

So as of 1916 hrs EDST here is the latest in the ongoing saga…

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RAC Bulletin 2012-050-1E – Re-in statement of Volunteer Examiner Qualifications
2012-08-29

Industry Canada has advised the Radio Amateurs of Canada that the Volunteer Examiner Qualifications of VA3MPM have been re-instated. Mr. Myers was the subject of a previous bulletin announcing his qualifications had been revoked.

The information regarding the revocation of the qualifications was  provided to RAC by Alan McLean, a Spectrum Management Officer with the Amateur Radio Service Centre of Industry Canada.

Mr. McLean now indicates that he spoke in error yesterday regarding Mr. Myers.  Mr. McLean now indicates that the qualifications were suspended but then were re-instated a couple of weeks ago.  It appears that Mr. McLean relied on a database of examiners which incorrectly showed the qualifications as suspended.  Mr. McLean further indicates that a task has been assigned inside of Industry Canada to update the database to show the qualifications are no longer suspended.

Understandably, Mr. McLean does not wish to further discuss the matter publicly at this time.

The Radio Amateurs of Canada shares the concerns of Mr. Myers that incorrect information regarding his work as a volunteer examiner was provided by Industry Canada to not only the Radio Amateurs of Canada but also to several members of the public.

Bill Gade, VE4WO
Regulatory Affairs

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Vernon Ikeda – VE2MBS/VE2QQ
Pointe-Claire, Québec
RAC Blog Editor/RAC E-News/Web News Bulletin Editor

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Although I did not post the earlier Bulletin I feel its the right thing to do by posting the retraction issued by RAC.

73bob

Some equipment changes at the VA3QV Station

As you might remember…. I did mention it earlier that I sent my FT 897 packing to a new home …  Well I also sent a tuner with it and the new owner was given the choice of a Yaesu FC-40 Auto tuner or the LDG Z100 Auto Tuner.

Above Picture  LDG Z100 Autotuner

Above Picture Yaesu FC 40 Autotuner

Thanks to Universal Radio for the excellent product information on their website

The new owner thought that the LDG would work better for him and it seems he was right as his new station is getting great reviews on the airwaves and making lots of contacts… ( I am told…)

At home I was using my FT 450 with the Z100 into a 4:1 balun to the 43 foot S9 Vertical Antenna.  When I sold  the Z100 as part of the FT897 deal I had hoped that the build in Autotuner in the FT 450at would of been strong enough to keep the status quo in the shack.  Unfortunately…. No Joy on 80m.

The built in Tuner worked great on everything between 6m and 40m but no luck on 80m.  As we don’t have 60m (Yet) in Canada I can’t comment on that band…  So now what to do??? 

Last night I took the FC 40 out of its box and proceeded to install it in the place of the Z100 and the 4:1 balun.  I had read that several hams had had good luck with remote tuners such as the SGC, the MFJ and the ICOM.  After an earlier  email to S9 I was informed that although (to their knowledge) no one had tried it yet after looking at the FC 40 specs there was no reason why it would not work…

Well today I am pleased to inform you that it works…  I’ve got back full coverage between 6m and 80m (can’t comment about 60m yet) and it seems to be functioning great.  Due to where I have it all installed I might have an issue in the damper fall with control cable locations but for now it seems to be great.  A longer control cable would allow me to route it better…  but for now its working so will be ok for a test period…

All I had to do was attach the S9 to the binding post on the top of the FC 40 then attach the ground radials to the Ground binding post of the FC 40.  I then ran the control cable in to the shack along side the coax run (and yes I had to remember to attach the coax to the FC40 as well) and then plug the control cable to the FT 450′s Tuner Plug.  After that it was just a matter or going into the menu system and changing the Tuner Button from Internal to External Tuner and we were in business.

So far so good…  I’ll let you know if anything changes…

73bob

Welcome back to VE3MPG

If you check my Blogroll (on the right hand side of page) you might notice an addition which is actually a return…  Please join me in welcoming Bob VE3MPG back to the blogging world…

Check out his blog at: http://ve3mpg.blogspot.ca/

In addition to having a great blog in the past…  many of my pictures on this blog are courtesy of him….

73bob

A day to stay in the Shack

Posted Ottawa 1215hrs edst or 1615hrs utc

Normally I don’t bother mentioning the time of when I start posting these items but today once you see the time listed on the graphics that follow…  It puts it more in perspective…

The Weather Network is calling for a chance of wet later today…  Actually any time now and from what the Weather Radar from Canada and the States tell me…

Above- Picture courtesy of Environment Canada

Below- Picture courtesy of US National Weather Service

The Weather Network will not be wrong.  Two different Radar Pictures all showing the same thing…  Therefore today is not a play in the park sort of day…  But unless we get some sound and light to go with the wet I have no problems staying in the shack and playing radio…

I have the frequencies for the Tropical Storm Isaac / Hurricane Isaac close by but so far today I have not heard much coming out of the W4Land area on 14.300 or 14.325 other than guys commenting that they don’t have to water their lawns today..  From checking the Stormpulse Website  (and if you life in Hurricane Country I think you really should be subscribing to the service) I gather that Hurricane Isaac will be arriving in “Big Easy” on Tuesday evening (thats tomorrow) and it goes without saying that looking for high ground could be a good thing to do…  Better to be safe than sorry…

Below- Picture courtesy of US National Weather Service

People are commenting on the fact that Isaac will be arriving 7 years (to the day) later than Katrina…  And we all remember what happened then…

If you listen to the Hurricane Traffic on one (or both) of the frequencies listed above try and listen to where the radio operators are calling in from…  Listen to the voices that are talking…  Are their voices cracking with the stress???  That will be the signs of a good radio operator…  Tomorrow I am hoping to hear Amateur Radio Operators doing a Professional Job as they assist their “Friends and Neighbors” in what might be an event to remember…  Hopefully for all involved it will be a “Non Event”

73bob

A new DXCC in the log…

This time I had to fight for it….

Earlier today I heard VP8LC on 12m usb.  Now I don’t usually do much on 12m and 10m but seeing as I needed the Falkland Islands on any band and I could hear Bob …  It was time to try….  My vertical seems to be  missing a bit on 10m and 12m and only really starts to perform once I get to 15m.

The DX Ghod was not on my side and I gave up after about 45 minutes of screaming my call every time Bob called “QRZ?”

Later in the afternoon I looked at the cluster and saw he was still giving away contacts on 12m and I tried again….

And this time I made it so…  according to my log DXCC #139 (unconfirmed) is now a reality…

It was hard work and it took most of the afternoon (on and off) but I finally got him…

That would also be a distance of approximately 11,000 kms (almost due south) or 6800 miles as the crow flies which ain’t too shabby for 100 w and a vertical… 

It made my weekend…

73bob

Saturday in Mer Bleue Swamp

Now isn’t that an inviting title….  Saturday in the Swamp….  Sounds like a Redneck love song…

Anyway the Mer Blue Swamp is a conservation area in Ottawa’s South East Area and its fairly close to my QTH…  Easy to get to and the area is really under used so we normally have no issues setting up for a while…

Around 1300 edst VA3PCJ picked me up at home and we headed over to set up our gear…  I brought my FT 817 along with my Buddistick antenna…  Small Profile and easy to use…

And Jose VA3PCJ brought his IC 703 and decided to test out his home brewed 15m-40m magloop

And we enjoyed the great weather and the “average” band conditions…  It was not really a QRP day but there were some great contesters out there who managed to pull out some QRP signals out of the pile ups and they were:

20M _____K0N

40M_____WT8C

EQSL is really fast…

40M_____NB8I

20-M_____N0S

20M_____W0E

20M_____N0N

All of the contacts today were courtesy of the Ohio QSO Party and the Kansas QSO Party and believe me it was hard slugging to get the 6 contacts that I did.  We were at the park from around 1330 to about 1600 and I only got 6 stations in the log and all of them were CQing contest.

If you look at it another way….  My little QRP station managed to break 6 pile ups…. 

But we won’t talk about the ones I missed…

Anyway after a little after 1600 eastern time both Jose and myself heard some strange noise in the background…  We listened carefully and decided that it was the sound of a Cold Beer calling us from an air conditioned establishement and so we packed up and headed over to a local watering hole and relaxed…

All in all it was a great afternoon…  Wish you had been there…

73bob

September Report from Bill Unger VE3XT

The following arrived in my email from Bill Unger VE3XT who is the RAC Director for North and East Ontario..

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North East Ontario Regional Directors Report for September, 2012

 

Hello again and this will be the first of my monthly Director Reports for the upcoming season.

In June of this year I along with other RAC executive met with representatives from Industry Canada for our annual CARAB meetings. One thing the group from IC asked us was to ensure that all Amateurs goto the IC web site and verify or correct the information IC has on file for you. I have done it and it’s a very simple operation. You will require your certificate number. Here is a direct link to their site: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/025.nsf/eng/home

While I am talking about IC and our CARAB meetings, do you have any suggestions that you think we should bring up with IC in our next round of discussions. We are starting to plan the agenda now and your input is always welcome. IC is also changing some of their exam questions. Have you spotted any that need updating or correcting, let me know.

Over the summer there has been a lot going on in Ontario vis. a vis. Amateur Radio, such as the reorganization of the Ontario Sections, regulatory notice proposing a change to Ontario Regulation # 366/09 (Display Screens and Hand-Held Devices) that would extend the current exemption for licensed amateur radio operators for an additional five years and on a national basis other services intruding in the Amateur Bands. If you want current and up to the minute information please subscribe to the RAC Bulletin service for breaking news. Here is the link to sign up which is the RAC main web page: http://www.rac.ca/

I would like to thank Allan Boyd VE3AJB, Michael Hickey VE3IPC, George Duffield VE3WJK, and Ian Snow VA3QTwho are the new Sections Managers for Ontario. All the details are on the main RAC web page in a bulletin. I hope some of you would consider volunteering to help them.

I also received a nice email from Glenn Killam, VE3GNA on traffic handling and he has offered to send training on traffic handling authored by Al Taylor, VE3WV (SK) and Mark Rappaport, W2EAG. Contact Glenn at: ve3gna at xplornet dot ca

Don’t forget the RAC AGM will be held in Montreal and is sponsored by the Montreal ARC on September 22. For further info check out the RAC home page. It’s not that far from the eastern part of the region and would be nice to see a good contingent of VE3’s show up. This is one of the many ways we seek input from members.

Also that weekend the London ARC will be holding its Annual Flea Market. Current info can be found at http://www.larc.ca/ I have family in London and who knows who may show up for this one?

 

If you have any questions or concerns please email me at ve3xt@rac.ca

 

Bill VE3XT

North East Ontario Regional Director

Radio Amateurs of Canada

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As Bill mentions….  If you have any questions or concerns please contact him via email

 

Published as a service to the Ontario Amateur Community

 

73bob