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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. RAC Winter Contest - 00:00z to 23:59z  December 17th, 2022

Bands and Modes: 160, through 2 metres (no 60m or WARC), 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 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, VE4RAC, VE5RAC,
VE6RAC, VE7RAC,
    VE8RAC, VE9RAC, VO1RAC, VO2RAC, VY0RAC, VY1RAC and VY2RAC.
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 QSO from all bands multiplied by the total number
of multipliers from all bands.
Categories: All categories are designed to be multi-mode, Phone and CW
categories except for the two
single operator single mode categories. It is required that single
operator all bands’ categories have at least
one contact in both modes to differentiate those categories from the
single model categories. All other
categories may operate single mode if so desired recognizing that it
reduces their potential contacts and
multipliers.

Info on the RAC website at: https://www.rac.ca/contesting-results/

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

2.  ONTARS SANTA NET Reminder - Dec 14th, 15th,  2022

The popular SANTA Net will take place 14th and 15th December, 2022 on
3.755 MHz at 5pm
each night. Be sure to gather the children for an opportunity to chat
with Santa.
Frank VA3FJM will be Santa's helper this year.
-- Ontars Newsletter

ITEMS OF INTEREST

3.  Quarter Century Wireless Association to Celebrate 75 Years on
December 5, 2022.

QCWA's mission includes promoting "friendship and cooperation among
Amateur Radio (Wireless)
operators who were licensed as such at least a quarter of a century ago."

During the organization's 75 years, it has had nearly 40,000 members.
The Cleveland, Ohio, chapter
was the first chapter chartered in 1951, and now has over 100 members.

QCWA Special Event Station, W2MM, will operate from 0001 UTC December 3 to
2359 UTC December 10, 2022.

QCWA is also hosting the members-only Worked 75/75 Members Contest from
December 5, 2022, through February 18, 2023. The contest encourages QCWA
members to contact
a minimum of 75 QCWA members during the contest period. All contest
entrants will receive a special
certificate.
Additional information is available at
https://qcwa.org/1-worked-75-75-members-contest.htm.
-- ARRL news

4  A Christmas Message to the World from SAQ

On Christmas Eve morning, December 24, 2022, the Alexander Grimeton
Friendship Association,
in southern Sweden will be on the air sending out a special Christmas
message to the world.
The event will begin at 07:30 UTC with the startup and tuning of the
Alexanderson alternator
transmitter through Grimeton Radio Station, call sign SAQ. The
transmission will begin at 08:00 UTC
with the 98-year-old 200 kW Alexanderson alternator on 17.2 kHz CW.
Grimeton Radio Station, SK6SAQ, will be QRV (ready) on the following
frequencies:
3.535 MHz CW,  7.035 MHz CW,  14.035 MHz CW
3.755 MHz SSB,  7.140 MHz SSB
QSL reports can be sent to SK6SAQ via email at info@alexander.n.se.
The Alexanderson alternator transmitter is the only remaining example of
early pre-electronic radio
transmitter technology. The station, built in 1922 - 1924, has been
preserved as a historical site.
From the 1920s through the 1940s, it was used to transmit telegram
traffic by Morse code to
North America and throughout the world during World War II.
More information can be found at the Grimeton Radio website
https://alexander.n.se/en/
-- ARRL Newsletter

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

Topic: Mobile Ham installation 

VE3BQM Bernie Net Control
VE3PCP ROB
VA3MFO James
VE3OZW Richard
VA3KOT John
VE3XBO Bart
VE3RQY Greg
VE3IXR Ron
KO4DXQ Bob

HF Check-in:
VA3MFO James
VE3PCP ROB
VA3KOT John
VE3OZW Richard
VE3RQY Greg
VE3DDU Ray

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


NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS
ONTARIO SECTION NEWS



1.  ONTARS SANTA NET - Dec 14th, 15th,  2022

As we prepare for Christmas holidays, ONTARS is pleased to announce that the popular
SANTA Net will take place 14th and 15th December, 2022 on our net frequency of
3.755 MHz at 5pm each night. Be sure to gather the children for an opportunity to
chat with Santa. Frank VA3FJM will be Santa's helper this year.

-- Ontars Newsletter

ITEMS OF INTEREST



2. How to Repair? The Death of Schematics

There was a time when, if you were handy with a soldering iron, you could pretty easily open up
a radio or TV repair business. You might not get rich, but you could make a good living. And if you had enough business savvy to do sales too, you could do well. These days there aren’t many repair shops and it isn’t any wonder. The price of labor is up and the price of things like TVs drops every day. What’s worse is today’s TV is not only cheaper than last year’s model, but probably also better.Besides that, TVs are full of custom parts you can’t get and jam-packed into smaller and smaller cases.

via Blog – Hackaday https://hackaday.com/2022/11/21/how-to-r...chematics/



3.  FreeDV has joined the Software Freedom Conservancy - FreeDV activity day

There have been many operational & voice quality improvements over the past few years so please join the group on the next FreeDV Activity scheduled for 12AM Pacific time (0800Z) on December 17 to 11:59PM (0759Z) on December 18 (48 hours).
More information at  https://freedv.org/

Here are the Suggested frequencies:
80 meters: 3.625, 3.643 or 3.693 MHz
40 meters: 7.177 MHz
20 meters: 14.236 MHz
17 meters: 18.118 MHz
15 meters: 21.313 MHz
12 meters: 24.933 MHz
10 meters: 28.330 or 28.720 MHz
-- QRZ news feed



4  FCC Bans Authorizations for Devices That Pose National Security Threat

The Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules prohibiting communications and video surveillance equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security from being authorized for importation or sale in the United States. The vendor ban includes Hytera communication devices which covers a dozen DMR HT's popular with Amateur operators.

The Covered List (which lists both equipment and services) currently includes communications and video equipment produced by Huawei Technologies, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, and Dahua Technology (and their subsidiaries and affiliates).


https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-bans-au...ity-threat

-- FCC.Gov website for full information.

This concludes this week's bulletin. Does anyone require repeats or clarifications?

Hearing none, This is V_3___ returning the frequency to net control.

GBARC 2M net VE3OSR(146.94) & VE3GBT (146.73) Tone 97.4 Echo Link node 333014
On the air every Wednesday evening 7:30 local time(EST)  
Following check-ins and topic discussions, we revert to HF for the "73" round open mic on or about 3.783 MHZ.

Net Control Operator -VE3RQY - Greg-Owen Sound, ON
Topic for tonite: Static electricity precautions: What do you know about winter static electricity caused by snow on antennas?
Check-ins: 
Echo link:
KO4DXQ Bob - Tennessee

VHF:                                                                    HF: 3.783 MHZ
VE3PCP - Rob- Inverhuron, ON                                    VE3VCG                              
VA3MFO - Jim- Mount Forest, ON                                 VE3BQM
VE3VCG - Marvin- Paisley, ON                                      VE3OZW
VE3EAC - Jan-Paisley, ON                                            VA3MFO
VE3IXR - Ron -Walkerton, ON                                      VE3FJN - Colin- Hamilton, ON
VE3OZW - Richard- Otter Creek, ON
VA3KOT - John- Georgian Bluffs, ON
VE3BQM - Bernie-Georgian Bluffs, ON
VA3TS  - Tom- Georgian Bluffs, ON

73 Y'all!

Found this list of links to "Sources of Electronic Mechanical and Surplus Parts".  It says all are in the US, but there are a few Canadian vendors listed, like A-1 Electronic Parts in Toronto.  Maybe someone here has the bits you need.

https://www.nostalgickitscentral.com/info/parts.html

If you want to peruse a catalog of weird (and some scary) stuff, click on the link "Amazing Devices" in the Electronics column.

73
Dave, VE3WI

Well, if you missed doing any HF operating this past weekend November 26 & 27 then you probably missed awesome band conditions. 

I worked the CWWWcw part time and covered all bands 160 though 10m. 15 meters was exceptionally good as well as 10. Only ran S&P because there was very little room to find a spot. CW covered bottom 100kc and some beyond on each band. Using N1MM for logging set to 30wpm worked flawlessly.  

I worked call signs never heard before, others were South Africa, Greenland, Ukraine, Malta, most of South America and Europe. Also heard New Zealand, Australia and Japan but did not make any contacts. Most of the contacts were made using the offset dipole and the TH6 beam used occasionally, mainly 15m. 
Here are my results and hope these conditions keep improving. Great to see more and more ham ops using CW.  


Hope to catch you on Canada Winter Contest

A couple of folks have cancelled, so there are some seats available.  Please let me know ASAP if you want to attend, so I can tell the restaurant.
73
Dave, VE3WI
candu.nuke@gmail.com

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.  Bryan Rawlings, VE3QN, appointed to Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of
Fame (CARHOF)

The Board of Trustees of the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame is
pleased to announce that
Bryan Rawlings, VE3QN, has been named to the Hall of Fame.
The Constitution for the Hall specifies that the appointment as Member
of the Hall is made for
“outstanding achievement and excellence of the highest degree, for
serious and sustained service
to Amateur Radio in Canada, or to Amateur Radio at large”.
A detailed account of his achievements will be presented in an upcoming
edition of The Canadian
Amateur magazine.
For more info on the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame please visit:
https://wp.rac.ca/carhof/
-- Frank Davis, VO1HP,  Chair, Board of Trustees,  Canadian Amateur
Radio Hall of Fame

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.  Dayton Hamvention Announces Theme for 2023

Dayton Hamvention® 2023 is just over 6 months away, and next year's
Hamvention team has
selected " Innovation! " as the event theme.
The team reports that, in just one word, the theme encompasses the world
of amateur radio today.
"There are so many exciting 'Innovations!' worldwide in amateur radio.
We want to capture the spirit,
and we expect to see many of these throughout the coming year and
presented at Hamvention 2023.
Hamvention 2023 runs from May 19 - 21 at the Greene County Fairgrounds
in Xenia, Ohio.
Tickets are on sale now, and can be purchased at
https://hamvention.org/purchase-tickets.
Hamvention's website is at https:/hamvention.org

3.    BIG PROMISE FROM ULTRA-TINY BATTERY

A company in France believes it has come up with the latest solution to
provide battery power for
micro-power devices. The company, ITEN,  has developed an ultra-small
rechargeable lithium battery.
At first glance, the surface-mount solid-state battery might easily be
mistaken for an SMD chip as its
housing is only slightly larger than the battery's own dimensions of 3.2
by 2.5 mm. They are, of course,
not chips: These batteries have a capacity of between 0.1 mAh and 0.5
mAh. They were found capable
of tolerating temperatures between minus 40 degrees Celsius, all the way
to 85 degrees Celsius.

Their ability to deliver peak currents make them especially useful for
powering RF transmissions such as
Bluetooth, Sigfox and LTE, to deliver packets of data via sensors. The
website, CNX software, also sees
the batteries as being useful for sensor data loggers, beacons and
backup power supplies for microcontrollers.
The solid-state technology is considered another plus contributing
toward a usable lifespan of between
10 and 20 years. The company has said the batteries are also fast-charging.
Hackaday, notes that there are some evaluation kits available directly
from the company in France.
-- Amateur Radio Newsline/ Hackaday.

4  Wildfire-monitoring satellite built by U of A students to be
launched into space

The satellite, dubbed Ex-Alta 2, was created through the efforts of
hundreds of students in the AlbertaSat
club and will be making its way to the Canadian Space Agency this week,
before being shipped to NASA
for launch in February.
Ex-Alta 2 is a "CubeSat" (about the size of a loaf of bread) and its
mission is a wildfire imaging satellite,
it has a custom camera onboard, student-built, student-designed and
tested and it will be taking images
of active wildfires, postburn effects and vegetation analysis.
The inspiration for the project was the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire and
students have been working on the
satellite over the last five years. Its estimated operational life is
one year after deployment.
While the focus will be on wildfires in Canada, the satellite will be
able to take images worldwide. Due to its
orbit, students will only be able to communicate with the satellite,
send it commands, and download images
for about 10 to 15 minutes and only about three times a day.
The satellite is part of the Canadian CubeSat project run by the
Canadian Space Agency, where university students comprised of 15 teams
in all provinces across the country were given the opportunity to build
a CubeSat.
-- Postmedia.com Author: Anna Junker ajunker@postmedia.com

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

Net Controller — VE3OZW Richard - Otter Creek

Topic for discussion -
1. HF antennas - What do you have?  Homebrew or brand name?  
2. Christmas is a little over a month away.  If you were asked what you wanted for your ham shack, what would you reply?
3. OR OPEN MIC

VHF/Echolink

KO4DXQ Bob - Soddy Daisy, TN
KO4OLJ Mark - Verona, VA
VE3PCP Rob - Inverhuron
VA3MFO Jim - Mount Forest
VE3BQM Bernie - Owen Sound
VE3WI Dave - Port Elgin
VE3RQY Greg - Brooke
VA3FYB Eric - Tobermory
VE3VCG Marvin - Paisley
VA3EAC Janet - Paisley
VE3XBO Bart - Meaford

HF – 3.783 MHz

VE3XBO Bart - Meaford
VE3PCP Rob - Inverhuron
VA3MFO Jim - Mount Forest
VE3BQM Bernie - Owen Sound
VE3DZG Dave - Val Therese
VE3WI Dave - Port Elgin
VE3RQY Greg - Brooke
VE3FJN Colin - Hamilton
VE3DDU Ray - Nottawasaga

We need your help by submitting ideas for topics via this forum.  This is a net for all of us.  Help out your fellow club members and net controllers by submitting topics for future nets.  Reply to this thread with any suggestions.

Consider being a GBARC Net Controller.  It is a positive learning experience and great fun.  The only scary part is when your pen runs out of ink while the calls are coming in!

Thanks to all, 73

Youth On The Air – Radio Amateurs of Canada (rac.ca)

For immediate release:
The next Youth on the Air Camp for the Americas has been scheduled for July 16-21, 2023 at Carleton University in Ottawa. This is an excellent opportunity for Amateur Radio clubs to help build the leadership of tomorrow.

A team of RAC volunteers will serve as the local host for this event. The main organizers are Roger Egan, VA3EGY, and Harrie Jones, VE3HYS, at yota2023@rac.ca.

Youth On The Air (YOTA) is a program for and by young Amateur Radio operators in the Americas, closely modelled after the Youngsters On The Air program in Region 1 (Europe, Africa and Middle East) of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). The goal of the program is to build skills and foster lasting friendships and mentors with younger Amateurs.

Youth On The Air Camp is for Amateur Radio operators between the ages of 15 to 25. A total of 30 campers will be accepted.

Come to YOTA camp and we’ll teach you all kinds of cutting-edge technology that can be used with Amateur Radio and connect you to other young Amateurs and mentors in North, Central and South America.

Already an expert? We’re looking for young Amateurs to take their knowledge to the next level and share their previous knowledge with other young Amateurs. The camp will focus on building strong relationships with peers and mentors, and developing new radio skills.

Campers will operate a special event station, featuring cutting-edge HF and VHF/UHF radios that many only dream of having a chance to use – and a wide array of antennas.

Applications schedule:

Applications begin December 1, 2022.
Applications completed by January 15, 2023 and first time attendees will be given priority.
We will accept applications through May 31, 2023.
Applicants must be certified Amateur Radio operators residing in North, Central or South America between the ages of 15 and 25. We welcome all Amateurs in our region who meet these requirements.

Cost: The application process is free and the cost of the camp is $100 USD plus transportation to and from the Carleton University. The $100 USD fee will not be payable until after acceptance. Should a potential camper not be able to afford the fee, they may apply for a scholarship.

Sponsorship: This is an excellent opportunity for Amateur Radio clubs to help build the leadership of tomorrow.

Important: We know that changes in the COVID-19 pandemic status between now and July will have an impact on hosting the camp. Should we not be able to host the camp or if we need to reschedule, we will let everyone know with as much notice as possible.

For complete details about the camp and/or to sign up for updates by email, visit the camp webpage or contact Roger Egan, VA3EGY and Harrie Jones, VE3HYS, at yota2023@rac.ca.

YOTA Camp 2023 – https://youthontheair.org/ottawa2023/