Special Advisory Notice:

For immediate release:

October 8, 2024

Jason Tremblay, VE3JXT
RAC Community Services Officer
community@rac.ca

Radio of Amateurs of Canada has received a request from the Winlink Development team to issue the following statement about Hurricane Milton:

“The Winlink Development Team from the United States has requested that all non-essential traffic on the Winlink system be suspended, including tests, weekly nets, etc., until after Hurricane Milton. They are still experiencing high volumes of traffic from Helene, so please keep the gateways open.”

Due to the FCC part 97.221 American Amateur Radio regulations, the band restrictions limit the frequencies that are used to transmit and receive Winlink traffic.

Please respect that gateways will be operating at their best capabilities, but overuse of non-essential traffic may impact their ability to provide support to storm-affected areas.

Thank you.

Jason Tremblay, VE3JXT
RAC Community Services Officer

Net Controller — VE3OZW Richard - Otter Creek

Topic for discussion -

1. Change of format for this Net.  Tonight was Thanksgiving and amateur radio trivia.  

VHF/Echolink

VA3RCA Kevin - Alliston
VE3DDU Ray - Nottawa
KO4DXQ Bob - Soddy Daisy, TN
VA3SGZ Sheldon - Chatsworth
VA3EAC Janet - Paisley
VA3MFO Jim - Mount Forest
VE3VCG Marvin - Paisley
VA3TS Tom - Shallow Lake
VE3RQY Greg - Brooke
VE3BQM Bernie - Georgian Bluffs
VA3DNY Dan - Owen Sound

HF – 3.783 MHz


VA3SGZ Sheldon - Chatsworth
VE3BQM Bernie - Georgian Bluffs
VE3RQY Greg - Brooke
VE3DDU Ray - Nottawa
VA3RCA Kevin - Alliston
VA3DNY Dan - Owen Sound
VA3MFO Jim - Mount Forest
KO4DXQ Bob - Soddy Daisy TN

73
Richard VE3OZW


  Ham radio trivia.docx (Size: 11.27 KB / Downloads: 1)

  Thanksgiving trivia.docx (Size: 7.23 KB / Downloads: 1)

These are good resource websites (not in any specific order) about solar weather and the interactions with amateur radio and propagation:

1. https://www.solarham.com/
   
2. https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/solar-activity.html
   
3. https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/goes-x-ray-flux
   

A good video posted to the 3640 group by Mike VE3MKX.  I thought others in the club may enjoy.

https://youtu.be/L1_NLEpsW90?si=3Q4YsyDVa5tt0Zg3

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.  IARU Handles 1,000TH Request for Satellite Frequency

The International Amateur Radio Union, which coordinates radio frequencies used by ham radio satellites, announced that it recently processed request number 1,000 for a satellite frequency. The Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel has faced new challenges in recent years with the increasing popularity and growth of CubeSats. With less onerous costs to launch these small satellites, the focus has been on carefully managing the spectrum and ensuring minimal interference with terrestrial services. The IARU issued a statement saying: "As Earth's orbit becomes more crowded, the IARU's work in frequency coordination will remain critical for future missions."

-- AMSAT NEWS SERVICE (via Amateur Radio Newsline)


ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

2.   York Region Amateur Radio Club Hamfest

Date:              Saturday, October 26, 2024
Location:        Aurora Legion - 105 Industrial Pkwy. North, Aurora.
Times:            Vendors: 07:30-08:45, Public at 09:00-12:30
Cost:               $10
Talk-in:            145.350- Tone 103.5 (VE3YRA)
Description:    YRARC Hamfest is back after a 4 year break due to covid!!
                       Join us for our 44th Annual Hamfest.
                       Snacks will be available for purchase.
Webpage:       https://www.yrarc.org
Email:             hamfest@yrarc.org
-- RAC events

ITEMS OF INTEREST

3.  RUSSIA, BELARUS, Again Eligible for CQ Contest Awards

Following meetings with contest directors and World Wide Radio Operators Foundation leadership, the organizers of CQ World Wide contests have restored eligibility for awards to qualifying amateurs from Russia and Belarus.
That policy change took effect during the weekend of the CQ World Wide RTTY contest, which took place on the 28th and 29th of September.

CQ World Wide Contest Director John Dorr, K1AR, announced on the contest blog that the elimination of those operators' eligibility for award plaques
-- a decision made two years ago -- was never formally incorporated into any contest rules; it was merely a policy statement. That policy is no
longer in effect, bringing the contests into alignment with so many other competitions around the world.  
-- amateur radio newsline

4.  Special Event Celebrates Sasquatch Awareness Day

The Radio Club of Tacoma is celebrating National Sasquatch Awareness Day with a series of special event callsigns that will be on the air October 16-21.
Callsigns include W7B, W7I, W7G, W7F, W7O, and W7T. QSL cards and certificates will be available.

Radio Club of Tacoma (W7DK) club members will be operating the BIGFOOT callsigns starting on October 16th at 0000 Zulu, and the special event will
end on October 21 at 2359 Zulu. Stations will be using CW, phone, FT8/FT4, RTTY and PSK modes, and will be operating on 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters
at various times throughout each day.

-- Radio Club of Tacoma (via 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

Worth a read. This is what REAL emergency communications is all about. When you have no power, no roads, no emergency services, no stores to buy even medications. To heck with licensing rules, ACS etc, this is a real life and death emergency situation.
https://qrper.com/2024/09/helene-afterma...r-30-2024/

The last few weeks have been full of difficult propagation conditions due to solar flares, CMEs etc. So I was very pleased to get a contact in Sweden this afternoon. I was activating Ainslee Wood Conservation Area near Leith for POTA with one of my QRP rigs. I was only putting out about 3-4 watts into a quarter wave vertical antenna on the beach. Maybe DX contacts will be more common as we get closer to solar max predicted for next spring.