Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club
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Jul 9th
Dear Friends,
Everyone at GPS Central and Radioworld is thrilled to announce the “GRAND OPENING†of our new retail store “Radioworld Central†in Calgary, AB. We wish to invite you to join us in celebrating this exciting occasion on Saturday July 26th, 2014.
We have partnered with the very best manufacturers including Garmin, Lowrance, Simrad, Humminbird, MinnKota, Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood, FlexRadio, Minelab, Garrett, Uniden, Cobra, K40, Wilson Antenna, Bushnell, Celestron, Globalstar, ACR, BlueFox and many others to offer consumers the very best products, sales assistance and technical support from the most experienced staff in the industry, a core value built and proven over the past 15 years.
Radioworld Central’s focus is to provide the widest selection of products for Commuters, Travellers, Geocachers, Amateur Radio operators, Metal Detectorists, Anglers, Hunters, Hikers, Backpackers, Runners, Golfers, Bikers, Riders, Pilots, Truckers, RVers, Shortwave Radio enthusiasts, Weather enthusiasts and beyond, all at competitive pricing and service second to none. We specialize in providing smart electronics into niche markets and never stop searching for the next great product to bring to our customers.
Everyone at Radioworld and GPS Central are excited to be one team and will strive to continue to be Canada’s favourite Navigation and Communications retailer for years to come.
Please join us for the GRAND OPENING festivities and for a FREE BBQ Lunch that day!
Thank You for your support.
Angelo Meffe                                      Jack Summers                                 George Valentine
President                                            Marketing Manager                          General Manager
angelo@radioworld.ca                        jack@radioworld.ca                            gvalentine@gpscentral.ca
Jun 17th
Left to right… Neal Sunderland VE6NL the new Section Emergency Coordinator for Alberta, often seen driving around the province visiting members in his Holiday Rambler Class A RV, Jeff Low VA6JL Red Deer Emergency Coordinator and veteran of the recent floods as well as Garry Jacobs VE6CIA Alberta Section Manager. Inset, Ian Burgess VA6EMS Emergency Coordinator for Calgary. [1]
Jun 17th
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. Â 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.
Jun 16th
Web link with photo: http://wp.rac.ca/red-deer-hamfest-central-alberta-amateur-radio-club/–
Rac Comms
Jun 9th
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
Jun 8th
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.
Jun 5th
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 Â ( NOT AT MONIES MUSHROOM ) Â Â Â 448.750 – 5 MHZ Â PL 107.2
Mar 5th
WWW.RAC.CA WWW.RFINDER.NET
March 3rd 2014
RADIO AMATEURS OF CANADA PARTNER UP WITH RFINDER
“THE WORDLWIDE REPEATER DIRECTORYâ€
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!!!!!!!!!!
