At the November 25 meeting a topic was brought up regarding insurance for club executives, personally I was nor aware of such a thing but upon hearing of this I contacted our RAC insurance contact for their take on it...the correspondence is included below.... 

On Thu, Nov 27, 2025 at 12:34 PM VA3TS Tom <va3ts@va3ts.ca> wrote:

Quote:Dear RAC, I am writing regarding our club (Georgian Bay ARC) affiliated club insurance. A topic was brought up at our last club meeting regarding "Directors Insurance", which, if I am understanding this, applies to elected club executives to reduce or prevent the risk of litigation resulting from club executive actions. 
My question therefore, is does our current club affiliation (VE3OSR) and participation in the RAC insurance program, cover our club executives?  If this is not covered is it something that can be added? 
RAC Insurance
https://www.rac.ca/insurance/
Best regards and 73
Tom St.Amand VA3TS/VE3TSA
President Georgian Bay Amateur Radio Club
www.gbarc.ca
===============================
Hello Tom,

This is a question that does come up occasionally regarding the club insurance and as such I have a well-used response that I received from the insurance provider which I can pass along to you here.

Liability Coverage handles cases where a group or organization, through accident or negligence, causes damage or injury which the group holds responsibility for.

Director and Officer Insurance handles cases where an executive group, through accident or negligence, loses or more generally mishandles funds, investment, or other responsibilities that have been entrusted to them, causing damage to stakeholders that they would be legally responsible for.

It is the opinion of our insurance provider that the normal actions undertaken by amateur radio clubs do not traditionally require the specific coverage offered by D&O insurance and are sufficiently covered by Liability insurance. Because of this, while Liability and optional Equipment Loss & Damage coverage are offered with our negotiated insurance policy, D&O packages are not offered. We have occasionally conferred with them about this when clubs inquire about this exact topic, but they have remained firm on this position.

As such, if your club's executive feels that their actions do necessitate additional D&O coverage above and beyond the general liability coverage they receive from the RAC program, they would need to look for a commercial source of coverage from another insurance provider or broker.

Please let me know if you have any questions! Thank you.

Adam MacDonell, RAC Office Manager
Radio Amateurs of Canada Incorporated
720 Belfast Road, Suite 217
Ottawa, ON K1G 0Z5
Tel: 613-244-4367  1-877-273-8304

This is V_3___, Official Bulletin Station for Radio Amateurs of Canada with this week's bulletin.

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.  YOTA Month 2025 event participation in the Americas

This special event is sponsored by IARU Region 1 YOTA (Europe/Africa/Middle East/Parts of Asia).
They are sponsoring an award for working YOTA stations all around the world.
Stations located within the Americas include:
In the USA: K8Y, K8O, K8T, and K8A
In Canada:  VE3YOTA and VE7YOTA
In Mexico: 4AØYOA
In Curacao: PJ2YOTA
In Argentina: LT4YOTA
Stations will have the callsign suffix YOTA, except for the USA stations.
-- youthontheair.org website

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.   LINK CONFIRMED BETWEEN RADIO EMISSIONS, AURORAS

Scientists have just made a new discovery about what exactly makes them happen - and curiously,
it's radio!
Scientists at the University of Southampton have confirmed what they consider to be an unmistakable
cause-and-effect relationship between radio emissions and sudden auroral eruptions.
The international team’s findings, have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
The researchers speculate that this will alter the means by which space weather is forecast.
According to published reports, the use of advanced ground-based observatories made it possible for
the researchers to detect and identify signature patterns of low-frequency radio wave emissions in the
magnetosphere that were immediately succeeded – repeatedly – by auroral explosions.
This discovery provides a missing piece for physicists who, until now, were never certain of the immediate
trigger behind the violent energy release that expresses itself as the northern and southern lights.
-- Travis Lisk N3ILS (via amateur radio newsline)

3.  NEW RESTRICTIONS FOR SHORT-RANGE UHF RADIOS IN GERMANY

In Germany, amateur radio may get an unintended boost following major restrictions that the nation's
regulator has placed on the use of private mobile short-range hand-held radios known as PMR446.
PMR446, the popular short-range UHF radios enjoyed in much of Europe, could be enjoyed much less
in Germany this month after changes enacted by the regulator BNetZa. The regulator will prohibit
operators from using any external antennas with their radios and from using the radios as base stations.
PMR operators will also lose the ability to use their radios as repeaters or as Internet gateways -- two
functions widely available to amateur radio operators. The PMR radios, which operate on 16 frequencies
within the 446 MHz band, will be only be permitted to be used for so-called "peer-to-peer" mode.
Explaining these changes on his YouTube channel Funkwelle - the German word for "radio waves" -
Art Konze DL2ART told viewers that he expected PMR operating to drop off. He said that holders of the
new N-class entry level amateur licence have the ability to use relays and Internet gateways and can
communicate worldwide. Art reminded viewers that these changes closely follow similar restrictions
placed earlier this year on Freenet, Germany's licence-free personal mobile 2-way radio service.
-- Jeremy Boot G4NJH (via amateur radio newsline)

4.   Current Canadian Special Event Callsigns

CALL             Sponsor    From        To        Event
VC9A            VE9ACC    2025-12-01    2025-12-31    124th Anniversary of Marconi's 1901 Transmission
VE3YOTA     VE3OMV    2025-12-01    2025-12-31    December Youth on the Air Month
VE7YOTA     VE7VCK    2025-12-01    2025-12-31    December Youth on the Air Month
-- IC website

This concludes this week's bulletin. Does anyone require repeats or clarifications?
Hearing none, This is V_3___ returning the frequency to net control.
Bulletin sent from Official Bulletin Manager VA3PC

To all,

You are invited join the GBARC Field Day on Saturday Jan 24th till Sunday Jan 25th to at our QTH.  Official Field Day starts at 1600hrs UTC (or 1100hrs local time) at 758240 Girl Guide Rd in Georgian Bluffs on the North side of Owen Sound. Winter Field Day runs thru the night till 1700hrs Sunday Jan 25th.  We will be operating the CLUB radio or radios if one extra becomes available with 12VDC batteries for the duration of Field Day.

Come join us.  Help set up before the official Field Day start or just arrive and operate the radio on HF.  We also spend time just chatting with those that are present so all are welcome to just chat if you do not wish to get on the air.  Bring a folding chair for your personal use and any munchies or beverages of your choice and stay a while.  We will answer any and all questions.  A crock-pot meal will be available at supper time for those that are present and will be on a first come first served basis.  Get some before it runs out.

For those of you that are determined/interested to get on the air during Field Day, let me know your preferred time and how long you wish to operate in hours to reserve your time slot.  For your time reservation I can be reached at;

        va3-guf@outlook.com

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Sure way to making a QSO

708 QSOs, 41 States and 20 DXCCs in under 5 hrs.



What do  you think?

This is V_3___, Official Bulletin Station for Radio Amateurs of Canada with this week's bulletin.

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

1.  RAC Winter Contest - Saturday Dec 20, 2025

Radio Amateurs of Canada sponsors a celebration of the winter holiday season with the
Canada Winter Contest.

Bands and Modes: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6 and 2 metres, CW and phone (SSB, FM, AM, etc.)

Exchange: Stations in Canada send RS(T) and province or territory. VEØs and stations outside Canada
send RS(T) and a serial number.

QSOs: Contacts with stations in Canada or VEØs (maritime mobile Canadian stations) are worth
10 points.  Contacts with stations outside Canada are worth 2 points. Contacts with RAC official
stations are worth 20 points. RAC official stations are: VA2RAC, VA3RAC, VE1RAC, VE3RHQ,
VE4RAC, VE5RAC, VE6RAC, VE7RAC, VE8RAC, VE9RAC, VO1RAC, VO2RAC, VY0RAC, VY1RAC and VY2RAC.

You may work any station once on each of the two modes, on each of the eight contest bands.
Contacts in the RAC Canada Contests also count towards the RAC Canadian Portable Operations
Challenge Award.

Multipliers: Thirteen in total, Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories. Each multiplier may be
counted once on each mode on each of the eight contest bands.

Final Score: The total sum of QSO points (2, 10 and 20-point QSOs) from all bands multiplied by the
total number of multipliers from all bands.

See the RAC website for full details on the RAC Winter Contest.

-- Sam Ferris, VE5SF at canadawinter @ rac.ca for the Canada Winter Contest

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.   EvoHam Provides Resources for Digital Voice Operators

EvoHam.com recently launched as a resource for amateur radio operators interested in digital voice
modes. The new site focuses on DMR, D-STAR, Yaesu Fusion, P25, NXDN, M17, and FreeDV with
how-to guides, reviews, and tutorials.

Whether you’re a beginner exploring your first DMR handheld or an experienced operator
experimenting with M17 or FreeDV, EvoHam brings everything together in one place – guides,
reviews, tutorials, tools, resources, and news.
You can find the site here   https://evoham.com/
-- Source: daily.hamweekly.com

3.  ARRL SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE APPROACHES

Applicants have until noon on December 30th, 2025 to apply.

The ARRL Foundation makes more than 150 scholarships available in amounts ranging from $500 to
$25,000. Recipients must be active, FCC-licensed young radio operators.

Different scholarships have different criteria, however, and some awards, such as the Amateur Radio
Digital Communications scholarships, are available to active licensed hams outside of the US.

There are also three 10-10 Scholarships available to all radio amateurs who are not necessarily US citizens,
residents nor holders of a US license.

For descriptions of all the scholarships and an online application form,
visit: https://www.arrl.org/scholarship-program

-- ARRL (via amateur radio newsline)


4.   ANNUAL 'AM NIGHT' REKINDLES HISTORY FOR CINCINNATI HAMS

History itself will be getting on the air soon when the Greater Cincinnati Amateur Radio Association
hosts its annual AM night.

Rigs of every vintage - and quite a few new ones - will be tuned to 1.936 MHz on December 18th for
pre-net check-ins at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. This will be a very special edition of the Greater Cincinnati
Amateur Radio Association 1936 Net. It was, in fact, October of 1936 when the then-newly-formed
association started hosting this regular net.

This special net is expected to last two hours. After check-ins, the net iself gets going at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Hams are invited to fire up their rigs - any rigs. hear some classic AM rigs, heavy metal, military,
broadcast AM transmitters, state of the art software-defined radio...and virtually any ham radio
capable of AM mode.

-- Paul Braun WD9GCO. (full article on amateur radio newsline)

This concludes this week's bulletin. Does anyone require repeats or clarifications?
Hearing none, This is V_3___ returning the frequency to net control.
Bulletin sent from Official Bulletin Manager VA3PC

I've been using FT8 on 160m, have a listen on 1840 khz

Here's trick to work 160 on your 80/40 dipole, back off the nut to break the shield connection, the rig will use the centre conductor of the coax as a radiator as well ... sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't... have fun experimenting


Click the image for a larger view

73

To all interested Amateur Radio Operators interested in getting RAC AUXCOMM trained.

RAC has announced it will be hosting an AUXCOMM training course in Owen Sound at the end of the month of February, Saturday Feb 28 to Sunday Mar 01. 2026 at the Owen Sound Best Western on the Bay, 1800 2nd Avenue East.  This course will show you the equipment RAC can make available in a declared emergency as well as train you on the important aspects of an AUX-C trained volunteer. In a declared emergency the trained AUX-C uses their knowledge and experience in incident organization/structure and ICS/IMS forms to assist as called upon to support the communication requirements to bring an incident to resolution by the incident Emergency Management stakeholder.  If you are interested in receiving this training, then let me know by either reply to this post or sending me an email at va3-guf@outlook.com.  There are 25 seats available on the course so first come first serve so do let me know soonest as to your interest in attending.

This RAC course has 2 online prerequisites listed below that should not delay in your initial request to attend.

First prerequisite is to join the Ontario Corps of Volunteers and pass their course that has 4 modules mentioned below, after setting up of your account at the following link;

          https://www.volunteercorps.gov.on.ca/Account/Register

Set up your account as a new user.  There should be a place for selecting radio operator in your profile set-up as to your level of interest plus any other that you wish to volunteer for during the account set-up.  You will be asked as part of the registration process what distance you are willing to travel to provide assistance as an emergency volunteer.  It is your choice as to the travel distance you are comfortable with.

The following 4 modules of the Volunteer Corps training must be completed before receiving final confirmation of your position on the course and should take less than a small part of your day or can be done over a number of days dependent on your schedule;
 
          Emergency Management & Preparedness
          Volunteer Risk Management
          Accessibility & Human Right 
          Exploring the Roots of Racism

You will be able to download certificates of successful completion for each module completed.  A soft copy of each completion certificate will need to be forwarded to me before receiving confirmation of your seat on the course.

The second prerequisite is to set-up an account in the Ontario IMS Emergency Management training portal so that you can take the online IMS-100 training course.  This course will take about the same amount of time as the 4 modules above.  Go to the following link to set-up your account;

          https://training.emergencymanagementonta...e.dll/Home
 
Once your account is set-up, log in and make your way to the course catalogue for the left menu and then select Incident Management System (IMS) for the IMS course listings.  Scroll down and select the following course;

          IMS 100 Introduction to Incident Management System (E-Learning)

Complete this comprehensive training that is focused on how Ontario prepares for and responds to various levels of emergency with differing organization structure that is important to understand for the RAC AUXCOMM training.  Download your copy of the IMS-100 certificate of completion once done and send it to me.

Once I have received a soft copy of the 5 certificates of successful completion, I will be able to confirm by personal invitation confirmation letter your seat as one of the 25 on the course.

I look forward to seeing you all there in February.

Click on the attached file image at the bottom to open and show the GBARC operational repeater inventory.
This list is still a work in progress for the moment till all the details can be gathered including club asset Model & Serial numbers of each item.

More items to be added to the list as it becomes available from the repeater team site visits.  

When reading any of the forums inventory lists and you recall an item the club owns that does not show up on any list, let me know so that we can track it down.

Members who have any GBARC inventory that is not showing on forum lists at this time should contact me so that we can put it all on the inventory list for all to see.  Just add it to this thread and I will update the list accordingly.

I thank all for their cooperation and contribution to finalizing the GBARC inventory list.

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
   

Click on the attached file images at the bottom to open and show one of the 3 readable GBARC inventory pages.
This list is still a work in progress for the moment till all the details can be gathered including club asset Models & Serial numbers.

The following is a list of Odds & Ends that we have as part of the GBARC inventory.

  Item                                                       Qty                       Location             Comments
USB-A to USB-B cable                                 1                       Frank VA3GUF
Homebrew CW interuptor switch with plug    1                       Frank VA3GUF
3 prong AC power cord                               1                       Frank VA3GUF
USP to mono phone jack                             1                       Frank VA3GUF
12VDC Cigarette lighter power cords             2                      Frank VA3GUF
ARC-1146D 25ft video cable RG-6U F M/M    1                       Frank VA3GUF
Bag assorted alligator clip cables                  1                      Frank VA3GUF       Condition unknown
Bag assorted connectors                              1                      Frank VA3GUF      Condition unknown
Bag assorted meter probes                          1                      Frank VA3GUF       Condition unknown
Junk box with various cable from Paisley       1                      Tom VA3TS           Not all usable

More items to be added to the list as it becomes available from members.  When reading the list and you recall an item the club owns that does not show up on any list, let me know so that we can track it down. One such item is the 4th magnetic GBARC crest that is still not accounted for.  If anyone knows where it is or has it, do let me know.

Members who have any GBARC inventory that is not showing on the above pages or Odds & Ends list at this time should contact me so that we can put it all on the inventory list for all to see.  Just email me or add it to this thread and I will update the list accordingly.

I thank all for their cooperation and contribution to finalizing the GBARC inventory list.

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
           

This is V_3___, Official Bulletin Station for Radio Amateurs of Canada  
with this week's bulletin. 
  
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS 
 
1.  NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) announces the cancellation of  
SKYWARN™ Recognition Day for 2025. 
 
The necessary time and resources required to plan a comprehensive national event for SKYWARN™ Recognition Day are not available this year. Thus, the difficult  
decision was made to cancel this year's event by the NWS.  
 
The NWS will work with ARRL and SKYWARN™ spotters to brainstorm ideas to redevelop a spotter appreciation event in 2026. 
-- arrl news 
 
ONTARIO SECTION NEWS 
 
2. Presentation on DRAGNET - DECEMBER 3 2025 19:00 – 20:00 HRS 
 
Presented By Chris Sullivan VE3NRT, YRARC President 
An unofficial automated observer station for repeaters.  Limit disruptive and  
persistent unauthorized use and jamming on repeaters, with a 24x7 surveillance  
system to monitor and record activity on repeaters, identify sources through  
transmitter fingerprinting, and get a rough estimate of the location.  An overview  
of the system, demonstrations of its outputs, and information on how other clubs  
could use it for their own repeater operations.  Register with your Canadian Call  
Sign before December 1 at reupva3rie @ gmail.com 
 
-- Rosemarie Upfield  VA3RIE 
Communications, Education/Training Coordinator 
Auxiliary Communication Service (ACS) 
Golden Horseshoe (GH) Section 
 
3.  via Hackaday: What has 5,000 Batteries and Floats? 
 
While it sounds like the start of a joke, Australian shipmaker Incat Tasmania  
isn’t kidding around about electric ships. Hull 096 has started charging. The  
ship has a 40 megawatt-hour storage system with 12 banks of batteries, each  
consisting of 418 modules for a total of 5,016 cells. 
 
The batteries use no racks to save weight. Good thing since they already weigh  
in at 250 tonnes. Of course, cooling is a problem, too. Each module has a fan,  
and special techniques prevent one hot cell from spreading. When the ship enters  
service as a ferry between Argentina and Uruguay, a 40-minute charge will be  
different. Currently, Uruguay has about 92% of its power from renewable sources.  
Argentina still uses mostly natural gas, but 42% of its electricity is sourced  
from renewable generation. 
 
The ship is 130 meters (426 feet) long, mostly aluminum, and has a reported  
capacity of 2,100 people and 225 vehicles per trip. Ferry service is perfect for  
electric ships — the distance is short, and it’s easy to schedule time to charge.  
Like all electric vehicles, though, the batteries won’t stay at full capacity for  
long. Typical ship design calls for a 20-year service life, and it’s not uncommon  
for a vessel to remain in service for 30 or even 40 years. But experts expect the  
batteries on the ferry will need to be replaced every 5 to 10 years. 
-- Hackaday (Nov 08 edition) 
 
 
 
ITEMS OF INTEREST 
 
4. futureGEO is the Most Important Amateur Radio Initiative of this Decade. 
 
You might not know it, but plans are currently in progress to launch a  
geostationary amateur radio satellite that would provide multi-mode  
communications coverage to Europe and most of North America. Led by ESA  
and AMSAT, the project is currently called futureGEO and would be the  
pinnacle of achievement for the amateur radio hobby. 
 
futureGEO is likely to be very similar to the QO-100 satellite that covers  
Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and a large portion of Asia. The major  
difference of course would be the inclusion of North America within FutureGEO's  
footprint, opening up geostationary satellite ops to one of the largest ham  
radio populations in the world. 
 
Like QO-100, futureGEO may feature analog and digital transponders as well as a  
fully integrated software defined radio stack. What that opens up is every  
existing ham radio mode, analog and digital, utilized through an easily  
accessible stationary satellite. 
 
Based on current progress and the pace at which QO-100 was implemented, we could  
see futureGEO become reality within the next 4-5 years. 
 
Based on a presentation from ESA in 2023, the futureGEO concept was sparked by  
the IARU and supported by ESA, AMSAT-UK, and AMSAT-DL. For a proposed footprint  
that could cover most of North America, North American entities have largely  
been quiet. The exception being the formation of AMSAT-CA (Canada).  
 
Personally, I find this the most exciting active development in ham radio.  
To show my support I've become a member of AMSAT-UK and will continue to promote  
this project through both Amateur Radio Daily and Amateur Radio Weekly.  
 
-- opinion column by Cale Mooth K4HCK (amateur radio daily news) 
  
This concludes this week's bulletin. Does anyone require repeats or clarifications? 
Hearing none, This is V_3___ returning the frequency to net control. 
Bulletin sent from Official Bulletin Manager VA3PC