Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club
VE6CIA
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Posts by VE6CIA
RCMP
Jun 17th
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police amateur radio Group in Ottawa will be operating a Special Event Station VE3RCMPduring the Field Day contest weekend, June 28-29, 2014. We plan also to activate the call sign during the RAC Canada Day Contest July 1st.
The Special Event Amateur Station will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the first RCMP owned and operated radio-to-patrol-car dispatch system that was commissioned in the fall of 1939 using the call sign VY8T and thus initiated a continuing Radio Support-Service within Force. VE3RCMP during Field Day will be operated by current and retired members of what is currently known as the RCMP National Radio Services Directorate, Ottawa.
The last time VE3RCMP was obtained for field day operations was in 1989 during the the 50th anniversary. We hope the 4 letter suffix will not cause too much confusion to other FD contest station operators.
Special QSL cards are being prepared to confirm contacts with VE3RCMP.
Norm Rashleigh, VE3LC
RAC Bulletin
Jun 16th
June 16th 2014
Red Deer Hamfest – Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club
Hams from many parts of Alberta met last weekend at a hamfest in Red Deer hosted by the Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club (CAARC).
Groups such as the Southern Alberta Amateur Radio Club (SARA) and Alberta RAC/ARES took advantage of the opportunity to meet and conduct their business. RAC President Geoff Bawden, VE4BAW and Director Mitch Mitchell, VE6OH, (Alberta and Northwest Territories and Nunavut) were proud to make a presentation of RAC shirts to CAARC Club President Bob King VE6BLD and Garry Jacobs, VE6CIA Alberta Section Manager.
Mr. Bawden made a presentation on the recent history of RAC and outlined our future. The return of RAC to financial solvency and its accomplishments since 2010 were discussed with members.
RAC would like to acknowledge and thank CAARC for the grant of $600 to help cover Mr. Bawden’s travel expenses.
Mr. Bawden will be visiting other groups in Alberta before he returns home to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Web link with photo: http://wp.rac.ca/red-deer-hamfest-central-alberta-amateur-radio-club/–
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Rac Comms
Guest Operation in Brazil during FIFA 2014 World Cup
Jun 9th
Guest Operation in Brazil during FIFA 2014 World Cup
2014/06/09
The Brazilian Amateur Radio League – LABRE – has filed a request and obtained special permission from ANATEL, the Brazilian Telecommunication authority for foreign amateurs wishing to operate during the FIFA World Cup.
Radio amateur operators who visit Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup will be able to be on air without bureaucracy. During June and July, any foreign amateur will be able to operate in Brazil regardless of the existence of reciprocity agreement between countries. No IARP or CEPT license are necessary and no fees are required.
Amateurs who wish to operate in Brazil must send to LABRE the following documents
– Copy of a valid passport (identification pages)
– Copy of amateur radio license of his/her country
– List of cities in which he/she intends to operate and the respective periods
– Email address for contact
The documents must be scanned and sent to executiva@labre.org.br
For further information, contact George Gorsline, VE3YV RAC International Affairs Officer.
VE3YV@rac.ca
Radio airwaves get buzzed from pot
Jun 8th
Subject: Radio airwaves get buzzed from pot
BlankRan across this in USA Today. Thanks BOB K6YBV!!
Radio airwaves get buzzed from pot By Trevor Hughes,
A few years ago, retired electrical engineer Tom Thompson noticed it was
getting harder and harder to hear his friends across the country talking to
him on their ham radio sets. So Thompson built a portable antenna system to
track down whatever was interfering with his radio transmission.
The culprit? Marijuana grow operations, whose powerful grow lights can emit
interference blocking radio broadcasts on the ham and AM spectrums.
The first grower he encountered wasn’t pleased to know Thompson, now 73,
could tell what was going on. “He said, ‘What are you going to do, call the
cops?’ Thompson said. “And I said, ‘Well no, it’s a federal matter.
‘ With 22 states and the District of Columbia allowing medical marijuana,
and Colorado and Washington permitting recreational use, there’s been an
explosion in the number of people growing their own pot, much of it indoors.
With that growth has come increasing interference from the grow lights,
which suck down huge amounts of electricity to shine upon budding marijuana
plants. Growing pot indoors is usually more secure and gives the grower more
control over light, water and insects, which results in higher-quality
plants commanding a premium price.
The interference problems from one type of system have gotten so bad that
the amateur radio association, ARRL, filed a formal federal complaint on
behalf of the country’s 720,000 licensed ham operators. The problems are
worse in Colorado and California, said Sean Kutzko, an ARRL spokesman.
The interference is caused by what are known as “ballasts,” electronic
systems controlling the grow lights. Unless they’re properly shielded, the
ballasts can throw off a wide range of interference. “We’re seeing numerous
cases … and that’s causing us a problem,” Kutzko said. “We just want to
make sure the manufacturers are in compliance with FCC laws. The FCC has the
power to regulate anything that interferes with licensed radio
transmissions, such as ham sets, but also cellphones and AM radios.
Ham Radio on Fox News
Jun 5th
VE6YXR 444.550MHz linking system
Mar 24th
Congratulation Jeff VA6JL who bought, borrowed, aquired and traded for all the equipment needed to put together 3 fully functional linked UHF repeaters and install them at three sites on a shoestring budget. The usual HAM way.
CROSSFIELD ( NOT AT MONIES MUSHROOM ) 448.750 – 5 MHZ PL 107.2
SUNDANCE ( NORTH PIGEON LAKE ) 448.750 – 5 MHZ PL 100.0
HEATBERG ( SOUTH OF ALIX ) 449.875 – 5 MHZ PL 107.2
these are all on line and linked full time to VE6YXR in Red Deer 444.550 + 5 mhz no tone
Hope to hear you on and give us some coverage reports going forward.
RAC – RFinder agreement
Mar 5th
WWW.RAC.CA WWW.RFINDER.NET
March 3rd 2014
RADIO AMATEURS OF CANADA PARTNER UP WITH RFINDER
“THE WORDLWIDE REPEATER DIRECTORY”
Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) and RFinder are excited to announce a new business partnership
agreement effective March 1st. RAC endorses RFinder as the official Worldwide Repeater Directory for
all Canadian amateur radio operators.
The RFinder is a steadily growing worldwide repeater directory including IRLP, Echolink, AllStar, DStar,
MotoTRBO, and even Winlink information. RFinder currently have over 175 countries in the directory.
Access to the World Wide Repeater Directory is provided by any version of the RFinder smartphone
apps on Android, iPhone and iPad/iPod Touch. The same user-id enables access from any version
of the RFinder app, the browser interface (web.rfinder.net), or through a growing list of third-party
memory programming applications such as RT Systems radio programmers and CHIRP open source
software. One subscription, access to worldwide repeater data from any computing device on
Windows, Linux, OS X, web, Android iPhone and soon on Windows Phone!
Canadian hams purchasing the RFinder application will financially benefit the Radio Amateurs of Canada
through the terms of this new agreement.
“Obviously, going forward, we encourage all Canadian Amateurs to consider RFinder as their repeater
directory provider. RAC staff and volunteers will proactively work with RFinder on providing repeater
directory information updates for Canada as repeater directory information is a constantly changing
environment” notes Glenn MacDonell, VE3XRA, RAC Vice-President.
“Our partnership with RAC and the Amateur Radio community in Canada is a milestone in the
development of RFinder – The World Wide Repeater Directory. We offer the same agreement with
Radio Amateur societies world wide. This is a unique opportunity for each geography on Earth to have
their own branded Repeater Directory while giving their local Hams access to repeaters all over the
world, and financially supporting the local Amateur Radio advocacy group. We will translate to any
language!” says Bob Greenberg, W2CYK, creator of RFinder.
Canadian RFinder users will see a new graphic feature; the RAC logo appearing on their app as well.
RAC is the voice of amateur radio for all Canadians and is also a member society of the IARU
(International Amateur Radio Union).
Contact information:
RAC: Vincent Charron, VA3GX/VE2HHH, Dir. Comm. & Fundraising – hq.communications@rac.ca
RFinder: Bob Greenberg, W2CYK, creator – w2cyk@rfinder.net
Personally I prefer www.repeaterbook.com Why wouldn’t I, it’s free!!!!!!!!!!
New Canadian Band Available
Feb 1st
RAC Notification:
RADIO AMATEURS OF/DU CANADA applauds 60 meter band frequency allocations!
RAC has been working on achieving this new band allocation since 2010.
Industry Canada has announced that a number of specific frequencies within the 60 meter high frequency band have been approved for amateur radio use as RAC advocated. This is now in effect.
A total of five specific frequencies within the 5 MHZ band have been allocated, 5332 kHz, 5348 kHz, 5358.5 kHz, 5373 kHz and 5405 kHz. Radio amateurs across Canada have new frequencies to explore as a result of a recent decision of Industry Canada.
“Canada has joined a number of countries in making channels available in the 60 metre band, near 5MHz for use by radio amateurs. This will provide increased ability for Canadian radio amateurs to help out in providing emergency communications when existing systems fail as has happened in ice storms and flooding. We applaud this decision of the Canadian government.” said Geoff Bawden, President of Radio Amateurs of Canada.
Unlike the commercial communications systems so important to modern society, amateur radio does not require an extensive infrastructure for communications. Radio amateurs take advantage of natural phenomena to send their signals across town and around the world. They delight in being able to set up in a remote location with their own power supplies and simple antennas, often home built, competing to see who can make the most contacts in a limited time. The Amateur Radio Emergency Service in Canada, sponsored by RAC, provides training and organizes exercises for radio amateurs to sharpen their skills to be able to respond to emergencies. As well these organizations and amateur radio clubs often provide communications to community public service activities and events such as ski races and marathons, bicycle races and car rallies. The skills radio amateurs develop through their hobby and these activities mean that in emergencies that shut down power grids, internet and wireless communications, amateur radio can continue to function. In major emergencies such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011 and the Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines last year amateur radio operators are often the first source of information from affected areas.
The key resource for amateur radio is access to the radio spectrum. Conditions in the atmosphere and high in the ionosphere determine the distances over which communications are possible. The new allocation at 60m between existing allocations at 80 m and 40m should make regional communications more reliable. Furthermore as Canada and the United States have allocated many of the same channels to their radio amateurs cross border communications are possible. Fortunately major emergencies are relatively rare. Radio amateurs will explore communications on the new frequencies as they do in all available bands, experimenting, learning and making new friends across the world.
TECH DETAILS
The five 60 metre channel allocations are the same as authorized in the USA, with the same power restriction of 100 watts ERP (relative to a dipole antenna). Transmissions, independent of emission mode, must be centered on the each of the following frequencies: 5.332, 5.348, 5.3585, 5.373, and 5.405 MHz with a maximum allowable channel bandwidth of 2.8 kHz. When operating SSB, upper sideband will be the convention to follow on the 60 metre band. Other modes that are permissible will be CW, Data (including PSK 31 and Pactor III), and RTTY. With this latest authorization on operation on the 5 MHz channels to Canadian Amateurs with HF privileges, there will no longer be a requirement to operate under a special Developmental license and VX9 call sign. Holders of such licences can now let them lapse. Canadian amateurs should refer to the posting of RBR-4, Issue 2, for all details before proceeding to operate on the new 60 metre channels: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf10650.html (copy the link to your browser)
Their curiosity and eagerness to develop and share this hobby will enrich the communities where they operate and provide needed resilience in communications when emergencies require it.
Technical details of this decision can be found here: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf10623.htm (copy the link to your browser)
Tech/Admin contributions, Norm Rashleigh VE3LC. Glenn MacDonell VE3XRA.
