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RAC Ontario Sections Bulletin for September 30, 2023 - Printable Version

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RAC Ontario Sections Bulletin for September 30, 2023 - Richard VE3OZW - 2023-09-30

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. Update on Phishing attempts using RAC email addresses.

There have been several recent reports from RAC members of phishing
attempts by someone
purporting to be from Radio Amateurs of Canada.
Phishing attempts use publicly available information to fake legitimacy.
In some cases they use
the names and contact information of RAC officials to gain your trust.
For example, this week’s phishing attempt falsely states that it
originates from “Phil A McBride”
and this is not the case.
It also uses the fake heading “Radio Amateurs of Canada Closing Special
Report ’23” to encourage
users to open the document by clicking on a link.      **Please do not!**

To date, there have been no direct successful attacks on the RAC
computer system. Unfortunately
attempts to defraud people through email messages are a part of the
world we live in today.
We will continue to take measures to ensure that our computer system is
as safe as possible and that
our members are provided with information.
Radio Amateurs of Canada is continuing to increase our cybersecurity. We
do not keep any financial
information and only widely available personal information (such as
name, call sign and dates relating
to current membership) is available in our system so our risks are
considerably less than compared to
commercial systems. For more information please see our Privacy Policy
and Cybersecurity webpage.

We continue to stay abreast of any changes in cyberthreats and their
responses. We are also planning
on making available to members the use of security systems you may
already be aware of in other
systems – such as providing for the use of complex passwords as well as
Two-Factor Authentication
to log in to our website. We will provide additional information on
security updates as they are made.
In closing, any email claiming to have your @myrac.ca address and
password is a scam and should be
deleted. Radio Amateurs of Canada will never ask people to download
files from a third-party site in
their email communication. Always check to see if the sender of a
suspicious email has an @rac.ca
email address as all RAC officials use @rac as their domain.
If you are concerned or suspicious always contact the RAC office before
opening any files in an
email message that appears to come from RAC.
Alan Griffin, RAC MarCom Director
-- RAC bulletin

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.  Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP) ( October 14, 2023 )

The SEQP is a typical ham radio contest for those who wish to makes
tens, hundreds or even
thousands of CW, SSB and digital mode QSOs on 160-6 meters during the
2023 and 2024
solar eclipses.  Each QSO will become one of millions of data points
which will help researchers
answer science questions about ionospheric variability. Please
pre-register if you will take part.
Pre-register form:  https://hamsci.org/contest-info#PreRegis
SEQP FAQs  http://hamsci.org/seqp-faqs
SEQP Rules  https://hamsci.org/seqp-rules
-- HamSci.org

3.  Join us for the 1st Ever Wisconsin POTA Campout!

Parks on the Air and camping is a great combination and if you love both
of those activities,
I invite you to attend our first ever Wisconsin POTA campout on October
13-15, 2023 at the
Clear Lake campground in the Northern Highlands American Legion State
Forest (POTA K-7260).
Your hosts, Michael KB9VBR, Travis W9HDG, and Joe KD9CJX have been
getting together
for an autumn campout for a few years. Parks on the Air has been always
been a highlight of these
adventures. This year we are opening up our campout to the greater POTA
community. This event
will be part social activity and part Parks on the Air activation. You
can activate as little or as much
as you want, in whatever mode you choose. The sky is the limit. Learn
new skills, see now other
hams operate, and learn how to deal with interference when a bunch of
hams get on the air at the
same time. That’s always part of the fun. The weekend is guaranteed to
be a blast.
Camp the entire weekend or just come out for the day/evening. We’d love
to have you either way.
The campground is located off of State Hwy 47 between Woodruff and Lake
Tomahawk Wisconsin
-- Amateur Radio Daily News

4.  New LoRA Distance Record: 830 Miles!

The LoRa radio communication system is useful for low-bandwidth
communication, and as many
readers will be aware its special skill lies in delivering long range.
For most of us that range tops
out at a few miles, but pushing the limits of what is possible for LoRa
has resulted in some significant
records falling. Most recently this has reached an impressive distance
of 1336 kilometres.
The record in question was set from near the Portuguese coast, from
where LoRa beacons on a
fishing boat and its buoys were able to open up a gateway on the Spanish
Canary islands. The
conductive surface of the sea makes an excellent aid to propagation, and
from amateur radio
experience we’d guess that tropospheric conditions aided by the summer
weather would have
something to do with it too.
via Blog – Hackaday
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/15/new-lora-distance-record-830-miles/

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