Message from the RAC President
(January/February
05)
Can we rest on our laurels in Canada, relax and say it could never happen here? I don’t think so. Remember the Swiss Air crash in Nova Scotia, the ice storm in Quebec and Ontario, the Pine Lake tornado in Alberta and the disastrous fire season in British Columbia? Yes, we all do. Should other disasters strike in parts of Canada tomorrow some Emergency Communications groups, properly trained, will be willing and able to respond. Are you and your team ready? If not, why not? Don’t know how to do it or where to go for training assistance? RAC has ARES teams throughout Canada, always ready and willing to assist new groups to become proficient in Emergency Communications. Elsewhere in this issue of The Canadian Amateur you will find an article written by Vice President Regulatory Affairs, Jim Dean VE3IQ, on “Industry Canada’s Response to RAC’s Proposal on Morse Code and Related Regulatory Matters.” This is another example of the kind of work being done behind the scenes on behalf of our members and Amateurs across Canada. Also of special interest to our DX’ers is an eye opener on the 2004 FP/VE7SV DXpedition – something many of us often wish we could be a part of. Well, if you can’t be there, you can still experience the thrill of travelling to St. Pierre et Miquelon and handing out a DX Country QSO to newcomers to Amateur Radio - just read the article! It was my pleasure to attend the ARRL Board Meeting in Newington CT in late January . This annual meeting provides both RAC and ARRL an opportunity to share ideas, successes and discuss new opportunities. I had the pleasure at this meeting to be seated next to ‘mi amigo’ Oscar Oropeza XE1O, the presidential representative from Federacion Mexicana Radioexperimentadores, A.C. (FMRE). ARRL President Jim Haynie W5JBP has worked toward increased cooperation among the IARU societies in North America and I believe this will be the first of many future such meetings among representatives from North American amateur radio organizations ARRL, FMRE and RAC. Before returning to Alberta I was able to spend valuable time working with Vice President Regulatory Affairs Jim Dean, VE3IQ, Treasurer Ken Pulfer VE3PU, Director Ontario North-East Ben Price VE3CDA, General Manager Debbie Norman VA3RGM and our Headquarters Volunteers. It is important to be able to discuss long range planning, review ongoing projects and develop outlines of future plans. While in Ottawa, I appreciated the opportunity to travel to Montreal and sit down at an informal meeting with RAQI President Mario Bilodeau VE2EKL and RAQI Directeur General Guy Lamoureux VE2LGL to discuss and explore opportunities to better serve the francophone amateur community. I look forward to an ongoing relationship with our Quebec Provincial Amateur Association. It gives me much pleasure to report that Ken Pulfer, VEPU, was recently presented with a certificate of appreciation from AMSAT, signed by Robin Haighton VE3FRH, President. The certificate dated October 9, 2004 states: IN RECOGNITION OF your outstanding support to Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. As one of the ARISS International Delegates, you provide invaluable support to AMSAT, the ARISS US team and our ARISS International Partners. As a result of your active participation in the ARISS program, thousands of students have been inspired to pursue careers in science, math and engineering. Congratulations on a job well done! Your RAC Board of Directors will soon be putting reports and plans together for the RAC Annual Board Meeting in Cornwall, Ontario. At the same time, we are working towards a summer Annual General Meeting, somewhere in Canada, outside of Ontario. More details will be available in a future issue of The Canadian Amateur magazine and on the RAC Web Site. As you read this we will be nearing our spring and summer season, a season that can bring forest fires, people lost in the bush, and other emergency situations. It's never too late to ensure your emergency communications programme is up-to-date and you and your team are ready to go at anytime. Any professional will tell you that practice, practice, practice is the only sure way to ensure success in the field - it just can't be left until the last minute! 73. Earle Smith – VE6NM
SONRA The Society of Newfoundland Radio Amateurs Serving Radio Amateurs in Newfoundland and Labrador for 46 years. Born in 1959 - The Society of Newfoundland Radio Amateurs (SONRA) was formed, from the dissolution of the Newfoundland Radio Club. The main purposes of SONRA are to secure the pleasures and benefits of persons interested in Amateur Radio by furthering co-operation among its members, further the interest of Amateur Radio in the community, and provide services to its membership related to Amateur Radio. Serving Radio Amateurs of Newfoundland & Labrador - For a number of years, SONRA provided services to all the Amateurs of the Province in the form of a VO Callbook, Call-plate administration, VO Newsletter, just to mention a few, but the growth in the Amateur population over the past few years made this task increasingly difficult. The advent of new regional and local clubs around the Island and in Labrador, plus a shift in the Amateur population density from the Avalon Peninsula area to the remainder of the Province, resulted in SONRA being overwhelmed with the expense of providing the services to roughly 1000 Amateurs from the funding base of a membership of roughly 300. A provincial organization starts and falters - As a result, in 1991 the thrust was reinitiated to form a Provincial organization to administer to the entire Amateur population of the Province and in 1994, through the work of Don Wyatt (VO1KX) and Mac Moss (VO1AT), the Provincial organization, VOARA, was formed, taking on many of the provincial responsibilities that had been a part of SONRA's mandate in the past, thus allowing SONRA to be one in a list of many clubs operating to serve its members and general area. Unfortunately, VOARA is no longer actively operating so all provincially-oriented activities, such as the WAVO award, Smallwood Field Day trophy and the provincial call book were returned to SONRA for continued administration. SONRA has continued to operate and holds meetings regularly. The main thrust of the club is in the area of the education of the Amateurs and the operation of those services which have proved to be of great benefit to not only the membership, but to the community as well. Currently, SONRA is involved in many facets of the Amateur Radio service to the local community, as well as Amateurs themselves. SONRA is affiliated with the local Emergency Measures Organization, providing emergency communications when called upon. We are affiliated with Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) and support the Incoming VO Bureau. We operate an HF station from the site where Guglielmo Marconi received the first wireless transatlantic signal in 1901 and operate a multi-function station from another historic site, Admiralty House, which was used during World War II as a major communications post for the North Atlantic. We are the only group officially sanctioned to operate special Marconi events from Signal Hill through our partnership with Parks Canada. SONRA helped make history on June 25th, 1997, as Paul J. Piercey (VO1HE) and Dan Goodwin (VO1MX) assisted Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in making the first amateur radio contact by a reigning British Monarch. The contact was between VO500JC, at Cabot Tower in St. John's, NF and GB500JC in Bristol, UK. Martyn Phillips (G3RFX) responded to Her Majesty on behalf of the people of Bristol and amateurs around the World. SONRA & the Marconi Anniversiary
- December 12, 2001 marked the 100th anniversary of the reception of the
first wireless trans-Atlantic signal by Guglielmo Marconi. Once again,
our club, in co-operation with several levels of government and amateur
groups around the world, provided a showcase event while making the historic
contact with Poldhu at 1600 UTC.
The SONRA WWW page (http://www.sonra.ca)is just another step that takes advantage of all communication methods possible. If you are interested in our organization you can contact us via the following methods: Society of Newfoundland Radio Amateurs
Fredericton Amateur Radio Club News Congratulations to the following who passed their Basic Examinations last evening: BASIC
and to the following who passed both the Basic and 5 wpm CW: BASIC & 5 wpm
Thanks to all the instructors and especially the students for their hard work and dedication. "See you on the radio". David Hildebrand (VE9AV)
Return to News Index
Radio and Computer Swap Meet
(Saturday, March 26, 2005)
Hamfest Laval-Laurentides 2005
- Laval, Québec Saturday, April 2
IARC Tenth Annual Flea Market
(Saturday, April 2, 2005)
Moose Jaw Amateur Radio Flea Market
(Saturday, April 2 2005)
Montreal Hamfest and Fleamarket
LaSalle (Montreal), Québec Saturday, April 9 2005
HAM-EX 2005 (Saturday, April 9, 2005) Sponsored by: The Peel Amateur Radio Club / Mississauga Amateur Radio Club Location: Brampton Fall Fairgrounds, located on Heart Lake Rd @ Old School Rd (North of Mayfield Road). Opens: Vendors: 7am Public: 9am Cost: $6 to the public Talkin: VE3PRC 146.880(-) and VE3MIS 145.430(-) Notes: Featuring Amateur Radio Equipment Manufacturers, Major Amateur Radio Retailers, New & Used Equipment / Parts, Computers, Parts, Software, Tables & Tables of Radio & Electronics Gear, Licensing Exams for Basic, CW, & Advanced Qualification, DXCC Card Checking, Exhibits, Demos, & Seminars, Gala Banquet with Guest Speaker, Door Prizes Galore & $1000 Grand Prize Draw For more info visit:http://www.ham-ex.ca
Winnipeg A.R.C. Spring Fleamarket (Sunday, April 17 2005) Location: Heritage Victoria
Community Club, 950 Sturgeon Road, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Durham Region Amateur Radio Hamfest
(Saturday, April 23, 2005)
Location: This is the hamfest you always knew as "Pickering", the big one. It's still at the Iroquois Park Recreation Centre on Victoria Street at Henry Street. Get to the Brock STREET exit in Whitby on the 401 then turn south on Brock and west on Victoria (right) (first street south of 401). A couple of blocks and you'll see the site. Opens: Vendors 7:30 am, Public
9 am to 1 pm
Notes: Lots of parking for all. Vendors enter west entrance on Victoria Street. Public enters from Henry Street. If lot is full, use (approved) parking at GO station right across the road. ATM machine on site. 3 food outlets on site. For more info visit: http://drhamfest.tripod.com
Calgary and Area Flea Market (May 14 2005) Sponsored by: Calgary Amateur Radio Association, Calgary Communications Club and The Southern Alberta Repeater Association Location: EASTSIDE CITY CHURCH 1320 Abbeydale Dr SE, Calgary, AB (Take Memorial Drive East off of Deerfoot Trail and go all the way to the East end, then turn South) Time: Saturday, May
14, 2005 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Notes: 50/50 draw, lunch available and more.... Need more information and table rental? CONTACT: Tim Thompson, VE6BZ 403-253-4893 or 403-829-4893 tlt46@telus.net
DOWN-EAST FLEA MARKET (Saturday,
June 11, 2005)
The Down-East Flea Market is the largest Ham Fest in Atlantic Canada. Details on Commercial Suppliers and associated Flea Market events will be published over the next couple of months. Location: Halifax Forum Complex
at the corner of Young and Windsor Sts. in Halifax
Tables: free and can be reserved by contacting David Nimmo at ve1nn@rac.ca Talk in Frequency: VE1PSR 147.270(+) Associated Social Events: Friday 10th Evening - 1900 at The Jolly Mug - for info contact Hugh ve1pq@rac.ca Saturday 11th Breakfast - at the Steak and Stein - 6061 Young St, Halifax Talk by Wayne-VE1WPH on the ISS set up Hope to see you there
London Amateur Radio Club 28th Annual Fleamarket (Sept. 25 2005) Sunday, September 25, 2005, located at the Western Fair Grounds Special Events Building, London Ontario. 9:00am to 1:00pm Vendor setup at 7:30am. Admission: $6.00 , tables $ 10.00 Free parking, Air conditioned, commercial dealers, snack bar facilities, wheelchair accessible with handicap washrooms Inquiries: email: hamfest2005@hamster.foxhollow.ca
or phone / mail to Doug Tompkins, VE3IDT (519) 439-5113
Website: http://larc.ca/newsletter/LARC-HAMFEST-2005.pdf
SHF 2005 Committee...Hamfest Update The SHF 2005 committee has undertaken a centennial history project. Through the years, we have noticed a decline in the archiving of photographs and history of radio in our Province. We would like to restore our past and make it accessible for everyone. Do you have old photographs that you can part with for a while? Can you make us copies? How about writing up a few pages about what has happened over the last one hundred years in your home area. Anything you can help us with is much appreciated. Please contact the SHF 2005 Committee with any information you can share. Also, as this is the celebration of the province’s one hundredth birthday, we want to make this the biggest, best hamfest the province has ever seen! Do you have ideas that you would like us to explore? Let us know! The committee has also developed a survey for gathering input from the ham community. Visit the website, www.saskhamfest.com and fill it out online!
Amateur Radio Nets are the life blood of our hobby, on such nets as the Trans Provincial Net, Ontario Amateur Radio Service Net, Communications Ontario Net, Provincial Communications Net, Sandbox Roundtable Net and many local nets, hams meet their friends, pass messages, relay information from remote parts of Canada and test their transmitters and antennas on a daily basis. The Trans Provincial Net has been noted as one of the most popular Canadian Amateur Radio Networks with a coverage area from the Atlantic Provinces to Manitoba. With such a large number of Amateur Radio Operators assembled on one frequency we have an unique opportunity to serve our communities in a very tangible way. What is required? 1) Amateur Radio Certificate of Proficiency
issued by Industry Canada
This program is not intended to replace or compete with Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) but to augment that program as an independent group with a large force of active HF operators who would otherwise be non-participants. All active HF Hams who are able and ready to provide emergency communications in and out of their areas, are welcome and encouraged to register. We can be a valuable resource to provincial and municipal authorities in the event of an emergency, provided they know who we are and where we are. If you feel you would like to serve
your community via Amateur Radio, we ask that you register as a member
of
Full program details can be found online at: oeco.hfradio.net
Vancouver Emergency
Community Telecommunications ORganization (Vector)
The Vancouver EOC shares the building with the new 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Centre (E-Comm), which provides Emergency Services professionals (Police, Ambulance & Fire) with uninterrupted telecommunications from Pemberton to Boston Bar. VECTOR was over two years in development. For a number of reasons, previous attempts to involve amateur radio in Vancouver’s Emergency Plan were not entirely successful. Extensive research and consultation was done with other municipal emergency planners and their plan’s integration with amateur radio, both successfully and unsuccessfully. BCIT Business Administration students, including one who is a Ham, also assisted by conducting a 3-month study, resulting in an assessment of current preparedness and recommendations for the future. The findings led to the concept that a non-profit Society should be created to ensure the interests of both the Ham community and the City of Vancouver are served. VECTOR has been registered as a non-profit society and four classes of membership are offered. Full membership is offered to licensed radio amateurs; Affiliate membership is open to amateur radio clubs or organizations; Associate memberships to unlicensed volunteers who wish to assist; and Corporate membership for Corporations who wish to support the Society and for the City of Vancouver itself. The City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Police Board each have one appointed director on the VECTOR executive. Full details about VECTOR can be found online at: www.qsl.net/ve7vct or vist the Vancouver Police Department web site
Getting Environmental Canada Weather Updates by Email Were you aware that Environment Canada has a FREE service whereby they will send you weather warnings, forecasts, etc. by email. Sterling (VE9SK) tells me that various services are offered including bulletins only for specific locations, forecasts up to three times a day, everyday, selected days, etc If interested you can go to www.weatheroffice.pyr.ec.gc.ca/e-products and select the subscription(s) of your choice. David Hildebrand (VE9AV)
RAC Amateur Radio Emergency Service, Ontario Section
The 9th Annual Ontario QSO Party 2005 (April 16-17 2005)
The Ontario QSO Party is open to all amateur radio operators regardless of license class and shortwave listeners world-wide. Objective: For Ontario stations to contacts as many amateur radio stations as possible on as many bands as possible world-wide. For stations outside Ontario to make as many contacts with Ontario amateur radio stations as possible. Frequencies: (Phone/CW) All HF Bands 160-10 meters with the exception of the WARC bands. All VHF/UHF Bands. For full details about this fun event visit the ODXA website: http://www.odxa.on.ca/oqp/index.html
The Radio Amateur's Code The Radio Amateur is: CONSIDERATE never knowingly operates in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others. LOYAL offers loyalty, encouragement and support to other amateurs, local clubs, and the Radio Amateurs of Canada, through which Amateur Radio in the Canada is represented nationally and internationally. PROGRESSIVE with knowledge abreast of science, a well-built and efficient station and operation above reproach. FRIENDLY slow and patient operating when requested; friendly advice and counsel to the beginner; kindly assistance, cooperation and consideration for the interests of others. These are the hallmarks of the amateur spirit. BALANCED radio is an avocation, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school or community. PATRIOTIC station and skill always ready for service to country and community. The original Amateur's Code was written by Paul M. Segal, W9EEA, in 1928 and still very valid today in 2005 !
Maritime Swap Shop The Maritime Swap Shop is held every Monday at 7:30pm local time on 3.750 MHz. All station are invited to checkin and post their wants and items for sale. The Maritime Swap Shop list can be found on many places on the internet, here are just a few: The Loyalist City Amateur Radio Club , hfradio.net , VE1AIC's Home Page and Truro Amateur Radio Club Please Note: The Maritime (on-air) Swap Shop, which was formerly held on Tuesday evenings, will now take place on Monday evenings at 1930 local time on 3750.
The Swap Shop list is posted every Monday on the Trans Provincial Net website, Ontario Swap Shop Listings , the swap shop list can also be found on packet by calling up VE3DID (Nick VE3NJG)
The
New Digital World for Radio Amateurs
So there are clearly some limitations, and if you need to transmit files and need the assurance of error checking for error-free message transmission, then you likely need Winlink 2000 and should read my article on Winlink 2000 in the March 13th edition of the Bulletin. Now having said what PSK31 won't do, here is what PSK31 is and what it will do. The term - PSK31 - is an acronym for "Phase Shift Keying, 31 Baud". PSK31 is a new modality for Radio Amateurs; well, new since 1999 or so. It is a new form of modulation that allows a much higher level of performance in keyboard-to-keyboard communication. The PSK31 platform is based on an idea by Pawel Jalocha - SP9VRC - that was subsequently refined and developed by Peter Martinez - G3PLX - the father of AMTOR. In an article that appeared in RadCom, the journal of the Radio Society of Great Britain, Peter explained why he developed PSK31. Simply put, he wanted to create a mode that was as easy to use as RTTY, yet much more robust in terms of weak-signal performance. An another criterion was bandwidth. The HF digital sub-bands are narrow and tend to become crowded in a hurry (particularly during contests). Peter wanted to design a mode that would do all of its tricks within a very narrow bandwidth. Instead of using Frequency Shift
as a method of keying (FSK), PSK31 uses Phase Shift Keying or PSK.
It employs an alphabet similar to Morse code, and this allows for text
transmission speed of about 50 wpm. PSK31 is particularly attractive
since it does not require any handshaking with a second radio station,
and this allows for roundtable QSO's with more than two stations.
PSK31 also uses an incredibly narrow bandwidth that is equal to the baud
rate and the baud rate which is 31.25. When a narrow CW filter is
employed, operators can in fact achieve a bandwidth of 31Hz, but in practical
terms, the bandwidth for most operators will be in the range of 100 Hz.
However, this still means that you can work at much lower signal levels
in the crowded digital bands. PSK31 also uses the computer Sound Card instead
of a TNC and this results in additional savings - that is monetary savings.
How Does PSK31 Work? To start, let's look at Morse code. Morse is a simple binary code expressed by short signal pulses (dits) and longer signal pulses (dahs). By combining strings of dits and dahs, we can communicate the entire English alphabet along with numbers and punctuation. Morse uses gaps of specific lengths to separate individual characters and words. When it comes to RTTY we are still dealing with binary data, but instead of on/off keying, we send the information by shifting frequencies. This is known as Frequency Shift Keying or FSK. One frequency represents a mark (1) and another represents a space (0). If you put enough mark and space signals together in proper order according to the RTTY code - the RTTY code shuffles various combinations of five bits to represent each character - you can send letters, numbers and a limited amount of punctuation. For example, the letter A is expressed as 00011. To separate the individual characters RTTY must also add "start" and "stop" pulses. For PSK31 a new code was devised that combines the best of RTTY and Morse and is called the "Varicode" because a varying number of bits are used for each character. Building on the example of Morse, the author allocated the shortest codes to the letters that appeared most often in standard English text. The idea was to send the least number of bits possible during a given transmission. For example: E is a very popular letter on the English alphabet hit parade, so it gets a Varicode of 11. Z sees relatively little use, so its Varicode becomes 111010101. As with RTTY, however, we still need a way to signal the gaps between characters. The Varicode does this by using "00" to represent a gap. The Varicode is carefully structured so that two zeros never appear together in any of the combinations of 1s and 0s that make up the characters. But how would the average ham generate a PSK31 signal and transmit Varicode over the airwaves? The answer was to use the DSP (digital signal processing) capabilities of the common computer sound card to create an audio signal that shifted its phase 180° in sync with the 31.25 bit-per-second data stream, with a 0 bit in the data stream generating an audio phase shift, however, a 1 does not. The technique of using phase shifts (and the lack thereof) to represent binary data is known as Binary Phase-Shift Keying, or BPSK. If you apply a BPSK audio signal to an SSB transceiver, you end up with BPSK modulated RF. The combination of narrow bandwidth, an efficient DSP algorithm and synchronized sampling creates a mode that can be received at very low signal levels. In fact, PSK31 rivals the weak-signal performance of CW and it is a vast improvement over RTTY What Do You Need to Get Started? The first step is to jump onto the Web and download the latest version of PSK31. PSK31 requires a standard ham station (VHF or HF), a computer with a SoundBlaster 16 compatible sound card, some free software and a very simple four component circuit if you wish the computer to control Tx switching. I purchased a RIGblaster to achieve this control, but there is a great deal of information out there for those who have the skill and want to build it themselves. If you are not concerned with Tx switching, then you just want a straight audio connection between your rig and the computer, and a couple of shielded mini-plug stereo cables will do. If your radio has an accessory jack that offers an audio line output, this is the preferred way to feed receive audio to your PC. Connect one shielded cable between the radio line output and the sound card's line input. If your radio does not have a line output, you'll have to use the external speaker jack. For transmit audio, use another shielded cable and connect it between your sound card's speaker or line output jack and the accessory audio input of your transceiver. You can also opt to route the transmit audio to your microphone jack, but you'll need an attentuator if you do that. If you use the accessory audio input, don't forget to disconnect your microphone before you go on the air. When you key the transceiver, the microphone may be "live," too! That's it. A couple of shielded cables, some free software, your rig and your shack's computer and you will be communicating with PSK31 in nothing flat. I have only been active using PSK31 for a little over two weeks but I have to tell you that it has given Amateur Radio a whole new meaning for me, and the big bonus is that my next door neighbour doesn't complain about my HF signal getting into his TV's surround sound system because PSK31 is truly QRP and I am only running 5 or 10 Watts at the most. Give PSK31 a try. I guarantee you will fall madly in love with it. Material for this article was
obtained from the following sites which provide a wealth of information
that you should know about before you start to link your computer and radio
for PSK31 operation:
Father
and Son Radio Amateurs
The Bulletin is in the process of developing a series of short articles on how Amateur Radio impacts on family and in particular, we are interested in writing about families of Hams. Considering the rapidly ageing Ham population, we would love to find out about young people (teens to late 20s or so) who are getting into Amateur Radio where there is already one or more Hams in the family.
Roger got into radio at the age 11 when he built his first crystal radio set after watching his electrical engineer grandfather construct a Heathkit FM tuner for broadcast FM. Don Moman - VE1JY - taught Roger the finer points of Short Wave Listening (SWL) DXing when he joined the Canadian International DX Club in 1981. They did DXpeditions in the Rockies, laid mile-long beverages on frozen lakes and logged stations such as the Falklands, the Myanmar Defense Forces, low powered Australian stations and Radio Grenada. As an SWL, Roger tells me that he always thought that there were plenty of people talking on radio and it wasn't until Stan Gotfried - VE1WW - talked him into taking a course in 1997, that he decided to move to transmitting. Roger earned his basic license in 1997 and his code endorsement in 2000. He enjoys contesting, DXing, digital modes using both multimode controller and soundcard. He has contacted MIR by voice and received SSTV from MIR. He has used packet and voice to contact several astronauts and other amateurs by way of the ISS. Roger enjoys the challenge of building yagi, wire and small vertical antennas. Garth is 17 years old and in his final year of high school in Nova Scotia. He was born and raised in Nova Scotia and has attended local schools for all of his formal education. Like his father and many other Hams that I know, Garth is the farthest thing I know from the stereotypic uni-faceted teen. He shares his fathers love of nature, and together they enjoy trout and bass fishing, canoeing, kayaking, basketball, volleyball, skiing, computers, as well as the intellectual challenge of a good game of chess. And although Garth has done all of these things with father Roger, he has to drag Dad to the "edge" as they say, and get him to take up skateboarding, which is another of Garth's passions. Garth played Junior High Basketball at the Annapolis Royal Regional Academy, and is currently Co-captain of the Annapolis West Knights Basketball Team (Dad is the team General Manager). The team had a highly successful season in 2005, winning the Nova Scotia West Regional Championship and placed third at a recent Provincial Tournament. Like his father, Garth got into Amateur Radio at an early age, earning his basic license when he was only 12 and at 14 he studied, along with his Dad, and together they earned their 5WPM Code endorsements. Garth has worked Low Earth Orbiting (LEOs), did six meters at the height of the current sunspot cycle and operated pileups on that band. With his Dad, he joined the Loyalist City Amateur Radio Club for a DXpedition to Partridge Island and put Partridge on the air for Islands on the Air. Garth has a membership in ARRL and has held memberships in RAC, Loyalist City Amateur Radio Club, Annapolis River Amateur Radio Club and the Fundy Amateur Radio Club. Garth and his father, along with VE1HS - Avery; VE1JS - John and VE1WAN - Gary have for several years now enjoyed the opportunity to help the Digby Boy Scouts operate from their Digby County backcountry camp during Jamboree On the Air. Garth recently experienced a whole new level of Amateur Radio activity when he joined his father and several others (VE1DHD included) as part of the VE1JF Contest team for the 2005 ARRL SSB competition. Garth received early admission to Acadia University in Wolfville Nova
Scotia this year and come September, he will follow in another set of his
dad's footsteps into the area of the Environmental Sciences. However,
I expect that the bond between this father and son team to only strengthen
with the years and that Amateur Radio will continue to play an important
part in both their lives.
CF3VEDAY by Bob Cooke VE3BDB
The station is operated by members of The Wireless Set No. 19 Group, a Canada-based world-wide group of Radio Amateurs who collect, restore and/or operate vintage military communications gear. This website [ www.qsl.net/vc3vday ] will compliment the CF3VEDAY station by providing information about station operation, including times, frequencies and names of operators. The month of May will see the official opening of the new Canadian War Museum and this station will also conduct on-air activities from Ottawa to mark that event, using vintage military equipment. Amateur Radio operators are encouraged to invite a veteran into their shacks to allow contact with other veterans and to have contact with CF3VEDAY during its brief existence. They may even hear the "chirp" of a WS#19, renewing old memories for some. Radio Amateurs could also consider inviting young people in to view and use their radio equipment, to learn more about the stellar contribution of Canada's war veterans and to demonstrate what Amateur Radio is all about. This in itself could be a valuable history lesson to those persons under 65 who have no memory of, or appreciation for, the historic contributions of Canadians during a bitter fight against tyranny on the sea, on the land and in the air. We will be offering an original, colourful QSL card to all Amateur Radio stations that contact and send a QSL card to CF3VEDAY, as well as to SWLs who hear the station and who submit a full reception report. Please read the QSL/SWL report information: www.qsl.net/vc3vday/ Please visit the CF3VEDAY website for full details: www.qsl.net/vc3vday/ Bob Cooke VE3BDB
One Ham's Adventure
with Field Day
Probably for the first time ever, the Algoma Amateur Radio Club Field Day operation for 2004 was cancelled less than a day before operations were to begin due to lack of participants. I then wondered what I could do to salvage something of the event for myself. With less than 24 hours to get it all together, the only viable option was to operate in class 1D, home station with commercial power. With no laptop computer at all, and no desktop computer in the crowded radio room, there was some wedging to be done. Worse, I had no logging program and didn't want to use the one used by the club for many years because it was out of date and would not recognize an important new ARRL section created in 2000. I was able to download the most recent version of CT on the internet but it took quite a bit of time to get it working as it should. In spite of all that, I was up and running only a few minutes after the opening gun went off at 2 pm on Saturday afternoon. When the smoke had all cleared 24 hours later, it turned out that I placed first in Canada and fourth overal in the 1D class. If multi-operator entries are factored out, I placed second overall. The 1D class has the second largest number of entries, second only to the 2A class. I worked CW exclusively. See 2004 December QST, page 98 for the entry in the listings. 73, Bob, VA3BZ
Promoting HF and DX within Your Club by D. Howard Dickson – VE1DHD I recently had a most enjoyable lunch with friends Scott Wood (VE1QD) and Dick Grantham (VE1AI) over a bowl of my home-made seafood chowder. As an aside, it is amazing what you can learn to do once you are retired! The purpose of our meeting was to firm up some plans that the three of us had been discussing on and off now for some time, to go and do some DXing from one of our local island this spring. However, during this discussion, Scott raised the broader notion of the need to actively encourage HF and in particular DXing and contesting within the Halifax Amateur Radio Club community, and I thought that this was something worth mentioning in the Bulletin, because it could apply to any club in Canada. Promoting HF is not a new idea. In fact, those who read the Bulletin on a regular basis will have seen several of the pieces on DXing and Contesting that Scott, Dick and I have written for the Halifax Amateur Radio Club newsletter – the Reflector – in an effort to promote HF activity within the Halifax Club. With the very real likelihood of Industry Canada dropping the Morse Code requirement for HF band access here in Canada, isn’t it time for all of us to think about how we can encourage our colleagues who are currently Basic-licensed to get onto and get active in the new HF world that is going to be available to them. As Scott pointed out, one way of doing this is to set up a formal (or informal) mentoring program in the Club specifically for HF. The list of potential HF activities over the spring and summer is quite extensive (see below) and offers excellent opportunities for each of us to get out there and work with those who will soon be on the HF bands. Use this as an chance both to educate on the different protocols that exist on HF, but more importantly, to pass on our deep enthusiasm for the HF bands and for the many and varied activities that they will now be able to pursue – DX country hunting; DX rag-chewing; and contesting on SSB, CW and the new digital modalities such as PSK31. Where to start? Field Day would seem to be the logical place and you can easily involve new Hams by ensuring that your Club includes a GOTA (Get on the Air) Station in their planning for Field Day 2005. Encourage one of the newer licensees to take on the task of organising the GOTA station this year. If you have an HF-equipped club station, that is an excellent venue to bring newer HF recruits together to work alongside seasoned veterans in some of the more "friendly" contests – the RAC Canada Day Contest is an excellent one for those who are new to contesting to "cut their teeth on". For those who are fortunate enough to live in Atlantic Canada or on the West Coast, and even those in the Great Lakes Basin, we have relatively easy access to myriad islands and lighthouses where portable stations can be set up and operated during the IOTA (Islands on the Air) weekend in July, or the International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend in August. Both offer excellent opportunities to involve new Hams is setting up a portable station and operating in a remote location. JOTA (Jamboree on the Air) is another excellent event for your Club to participate in and again, it offers an excellent opportunity to involve newly licenses Hams in setting up and operating both HF and VHF/IRLP stations; the latter will be most familiar to them and a place where they will be able to demonstrate their shills. Experiencing the eager sense of excitement on the faces of those young Scouts when they make their first contact on the other side of the country or on the other side of the world is well worth the investment of a few hours over that weekend in October. Finally, one of the initiatives that the Halifax Club started in 2004, and plans to repeat this year, is our DX Forum. You can read all about our 2004 DX forum in the Bulletin – November 14, 2004 edition, but essentially it was designed around one or two special invitation speakers who talked about their DX and Contesting experiences and provided an excellent venue for information exchange and social interaction. I recommend it highly. The bottom line is – get out there and actively promote HF to our new Ham colleagues. We must protect the HF bandwidth that has been assigned to Amateur Radio, and what better way than to use it and at the same time, encourage others to do the same. List of Summer 2005 Amateur Radio Activities – 24-26 June Field Day
73 from Seabright, Nova Scotia.
Winlink 2000
Digital Radio Email Messaging System
If you are a Ham with an RV or a
"Camp" in a remote corner of this Country of ours, you probably know all
about Winlink 2000 and Airmail, so you can
fast forward to the next article in this edition of the Bulletin.
However, if you have not heard of Winlink 2000, please read
on.
All of this is now possible using HF Amateur Radio and the Winlink 2000 system running PACTOR I, II or III, on any of the HF bands from 3.5 to 30 MHz. The mobile user, whether on the high seas, in jungles of a remote region of the world (see the article on VE6KBS - Karl in Calgary, Alberta and his use of Airmail and Winlink 2000 while in Kenya), or travelling in an RV, now has the ability to provide family and friends with the state of their well-being, along with the joys of their travels. Mobile and maritime users have the ability to transmit GPS co-ordinates and to post their positions on a map, and to gain access to a host of global text-based and graphic weather information and other helpful material whenever or wherever they need it. Winlink 2000 and Emergency Communications -- The Winlink 2000 (WL2K) VHF radio-email digital network system also greatly extends the ability of the Radio Amateur to provide a public service to the greater community, by linking the Internet email system with the more traditional Amateur Radio packet system. The Winlink 2000 system was designed specifically for emergency communications where local or regional communications are disrupted, including cell phone overload and the loss of the Internet, and where the accuracy of the information being passed is paramount, and where a paper trail is essential.
Those readers who have been involved in emergency communication situations where formal message handling was used will appreciate just how slow and tedious the process of passing a long and complex voice message can be. There are many places where errors can occur, particularly at the final stage when the radio operator receiving the message has to copy it down "legibly" on a three-part form.
How often have you though how wonderful it would be if all formal message handling could be done on a computer, with operators using a keyboard to fill in a Message Form template, cut and paste into an Outlook Express email, and away it goes to the recipient. Winlink 2000 is just that vehicle and operates in exactly that way. It uses standard PC email programs such as Outlook Express, so minimal training is required. Large amounts of data can be exchanged accurately, including damage and status reports; work assignments; lists of supplies and equipment needed; medical information; and anything else that is text or graphic based. But, best of all, there is a permanent, stored record of each message sent. Winlink 2000 on the VHF side has the capability of being a very effective system for emergency communications. By using the Paclink email-based VHF/UHF Packet-to-Winlink 2000 system, and employing existing VHF Packet networks (ah HA..so….. Packet is not dead), mobile or portable Winlink 2000 stations can deployed to a disaster site incident command centre, and to hospitals and Red Cross comfort stations, thereby providing "last mile" communications coverage back to the local Emergency Operation Centre. In the event that the Internet fails, Paclink can operate on its own. But in the case of a widespread disaster where the Internet is down, long-haul Winlink 2000 can be employed using Airmail for message-based HF-to-Winlink 2000, as a substitute for the Internet. You may then be interested to know
that there are already many organizations and agencies in the USA using
Winlink
2000 for emergency communications, and I understand a few in Canada
that are either considering a Winlink system or are already using one.
Perhaps your EMO communications group should look into this new message
handling technology.
Winlink 2000 node or
PMBO (Personal Mail Box Office) operators ensure that HF-based Winlink
2000 traffic (Airmail) is passed into, out of, and
across the country. There are currently three Winlink 2000
PMBO HF operators in Canada. Here in Atlantic Canada VE1YZ - Neil
is one of those operators. Neil is a retired Air Canada pilot and
lives at the Head of St. Margaret's Bay just to the west of Halifax.
The other two are:VE6KBS - Karl in Calgary and VE2AFQ - Andre in Montreal.
A practical Example of Winlink 2000 Winlink keeps Karl
- VE6KBS - in contact with family and fiends as he climbs
Return to News Index
Howard: I read with interest "bulletin mar1305n" that arrived by e-mail today. The section on the Radio Amateur's Code, written by Paul M. Segal, W9EEA, back in 1928, got me thinking. While I agree wholeheartedly with the Code (of ethics) he wrote, I offer this for consideration as well: What does AMATEUR RADIO stand for? It stands for: A Advocate
- Always presenting Amateur Radio in as positive way.
R Ready
- To lend a hand.
73 de VO1JDH
Hi Howard,
I will go back to read more about the Winlink system/capability. (And here I've only recently downloaded Echolink, but have not yet had the time to jump into tutorials and exploration.) Cheers,
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
