2026-03-14, 07:52:44
This is V_3___, Official Bulletin Station for Radio Amateurs of Canada with this week's bulletin.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS
ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST
1. Meshtastic Does More Than Simple Communication
Meshtastic has been experiencing a bit of a renaissance lately, as the off-grid,
long-range radio text messaging protocol gains a ton of new users. It’s been used
to create mesh networks in cities, during disasters and protests, in small groups
while hiking or camping, and for search and rescue operations. Although it’s
connected plenty of people together in all of these ways, user GreatScott! wanted
to put it to work connecting some computing resources instead. He has a garden
shed that’s too far for WiFi, so Meshtastic was used to connect it.
All he really wanted to do was to implement a basic alarm system that would
let him know if someone had broken in. The actual alarm triggering mechanism is
a LED emitter-detector pair which sends a 12V signal if the infrared beam is
broken. The sensor is connected to a Heltec ESP32 LoRa module which is set up to
publish messages on the Meshtastic communications channel. A second module is
connected to the WiFi at the house which communicates with his Home Assistant server.
Integrating Meshtastic devices into Home Assistant can be pretty straightforward
but there is some configuration to get these specific modules working as an alarm.
But with perhaps more configuration than he planned, GreatScott!’s alarm is up
and running. Meshtastic projects often balloon into more than we had originally
planned though, in more ways than one. You can follow along as our own attempts
to connect all of New Jersey with this new protocol.
-- hackaday.com (via this week in amateur radio - https://twiar.net/?p=39995)
2. Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio Rally (RADAR) on April 4, 2026
RaDAR is Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio, conceived by Eddie Leighton ZS6BNE.
RaDAR encourages outdoor operations with a unique challenge: make five contacts
and redeploy as quickly as possible within four hours. The RaDAR Challenge has
become the RaDAR Rally with some rule tweaks. Please take a look at the complete
rules, and if interested, please make your plans and register.
Registration is open through April 3rd UTC. If your plans change, send an
update. This is not a contest; it is just for fun!
Check out this intro video and the April 2026 roster at this site.
https://www.radarrally.info/
-- Greg N4KGL (via daily.hamweekly.com)
3. Big Numbers for POTA
If you haven’t seen it yet, take a few minutes to watch Kevin W1DED‘s YouTube update
on the state of POTA. Kevin is on the Board of Directors of Parks On the Air.
There are two parts to the post, first a rundown of POTA stats and growth, and then
a discussion of new work that is being started to implement improvements in the
program, the website, and the infrastructure.
Year Logs Submitted Total QSOs
2023 245,000 10.6 million
2024 333,000 13.0 million
2025 406,000 15.2 million
That’s an average growth rate of about 40% over the period.
Full article at: https://pota.news/
-- Parks On The Air.
4. 2026 Hamvention Award Winners Announced
The 2026 Awards team is pleased to announce the Hamvention Award Winners. It is always
difficult to make our final decisions as we receive many excellent nominations. Please
join us in congratulating these very deserving winners.
Technical Achievement Award - Robert Famiglio K3RF
Amateur of the Year Award - Dr. Jose “Otis” Vicens NP4G
Special Achievement Award - Martha Fell N3QBE and Joe Fell W3GMS
Club of the Year - Long Island CW Club
More information can be found on the Hamvention web site.
-- Michael Kalter, W8CI - Award Chairman 2026
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS
ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST
1. Meshtastic Does More Than Simple Communication
Meshtastic has been experiencing a bit of a renaissance lately, as the off-grid,
long-range radio text messaging protocol gains a ton of new users. It’s been used
to create mesh networks in cities, during disasters and protests, in small groups
while hiking or camping, and for search and rescue operations. Although it’s
connected plenty of people together in all of these ways, user GreatScott! wanted
to put it to work connecting some computing resources instead. He has a garden
shed that’s too far for WiFi, so Meshtastic was used to connect it.
All he really wanted to do was to implement a basic alarm system that would
let him know if someone had broken in. The actual alarm triggering mechanism is
a LED emitter-detector pair which sends a 12V signal if the infrared beam is
broken. The sensor is connected to a Heltec ESP32 LoRa module which is set up to
publish messages on the Meshtastic communications channel. A second module is
connected to the WiFi at the house which communicates with his Home Assistant server.
Integrating Meshtastic devices into Home Assistant can be pretty straightforward
but there is some configuration to get these specific modules working as an alarm.
But with perhaps more configuration than he planned, GreatScott!’s alarm is up
and running. Meshtastic projects often balloon into more than we had originally
planned though, in more ways than one. You can follow along as our own attempts
to connect all of New Jersey with this new protocol.
-- hackaday.com (via this week in amateur radio - https://twiar.net/?p=39995)
2. Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio Rally (RADAR) on April 4, 2026
RaDAR is Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio, conceived by Eddie Leighton ZS6BNE.
RaDAR encourages outdoor operations with a unique challenge: make five contacts
and redeploy as quickly as possible within four hours. The RaDAR Challenge has
become the RaDAR Rally with some rule tweaks. Please take a look at the complete
rules, and if interested, please make your plans and register.
Registration is open through April 3rd UTC. If your plans change, send an
update. This is not a contest; it is just for fun!
Check out this intro video and the April 2026 roster at this site.
https://www.radarrally.info/
-- Greg N4KGL (via daily.hamweekly.com)
3. Big Numbers for POTA
If you haven’t seen it yet, take a few minutes to watch Kevin W1DED‘s YouTube update
on the state of POTA. Kevin is on the Board of Directors of Parks On the Air.
There are two parts to the post, first a rundown of POTA stats and growth, and then
a discussion of new work that is being started to implement improvements in the
program, the website, and the infrastructure.
Year Logs Submitted Total QSOs
2023 245,000 10.6 million
2024 333,000 13.0 million
2025 406,000 15.2 million
That’s an average growth rate of about 40% over the period.
Full article at: https://pota.news/
-- Parks On The Air.
4. 2026 Hamvention Award Winners Announced
The 2026 Awards team is pleased to announce the Hamvention Award Winners. It is always
difficult to make our final decisions as we receive many excellent nominations. Please
join us in congratulating these very deserving winners.
Technical Achievement Award - Robert Famiglio K3RF
Amateur of the Year Award - Dr. Jose “Otis” Vicens NP4G
Special Achievement Award - Martha Fell N3QBE and Joe Fell W3GMS
Club of the Year - Long Island CW Club
More information can be found on the Hamvention web site.
-- Michael Kalter, W8CI - Award Chairman 2026