2026-02-21, 16:39:28
This is V_3___, Official Bulletin Station for Radio Amateurs of Canada with this week's bulletin.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. RAC Amateur of the Year Award 2025: Fred Archibald, VE1FA and Helen Archibald, VA1YL
The RAC Board of Directors takes great pleasure in selecting Fred Archibald, VE1FA, and
Helen Archibald, VA1YL, of Port Williams, Nova Scotia as the recipients of the RAC
Amateur of the Year Award for 2025.
Fred and Helen Archibald have been pillars of Amateur Radio in Canada for decades. While
the award traditionally reflects contributions within a given year, their sustained excellence in 2025
– combined with a lifetime of service – made them compelling joint recipients.
Their partnership – spanning more than 50 years of marriage and decades of Amateur Radio dedication
– reflects teamwork, resilience and service at the highest level.
Radio Amateurs of Canada sincerely congratulates Fred Archibald, VE1FA, and Helen Archibald, VA1YL,
on being named the RAC Amateurs of the Year for 2025. An article about the Award will be included in
the March-April 2026 issue of The Canadian Amateur magazine.
-- Allan Boyd, VE3AJB, RAC President (Full article on the RAC website)
ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST
2. What the heck is FT2?
The fastest digital mode ever created, it uses 3.8 second cycles.
Based on the WSJT-X 72 bit payload it uses shortened tones to achieve the short cycle.
It requires a good signal to decode (-12 vs FT8 at -24), and tight time synchronization.
The first qso was completed on Feb 16, 2026 taking only 11 seconds, 4x faster than FT8.
See the full information and downloads at https://ft2.it
The installation packages now support W64, W32 and linux OS.
-- amateur radio weekly news
3. Anytone AT-D890UV full duplex satellite HT (plus DMR)
This new HT has full duplex capability to allow users to work satellites.
It requires fixed frequencies as no automatic doppler shift is available, but is now
the only unit available on the "new" market with this capability.
For the full writeup see https://www.amsat.se/2026/02/16/
-- amsat-SM bulletin (via amateur radio weekly news)
4. BUNKERS ON THE AIR PROGRAM EXPANDS
The links between amateur radio and history grow stronger every day as hams have discovered from all our
special event stations and awards schemes. In the UK, Bunkers on the Air began with Royal Observer Corps
bunker sites in 2005 with radio and history education in mind.
Worldwide BOTA's Jason Dale, 2EØJIV, told Newsline that, as with other nations, US BOTA is closely modeled
after the one in the UK. With some bunker sites still considered sensitive areas, BOTA established an activation
zone giving plenty of room for permitted activations without having to infringe on the bunker itself. In the UK
and the US and several other countries, that's 1,000 meters from the center of the bunker itself.
The worldwide platform hosts each country's available awards and bunker databases as well as lists of new
countries - and newly added bunkers. Specific rules and local maps are available on each country's individual site.
Best of all, said Jason, some portable loggers, such as Ham2K, have also gotten into the act and have already
added BOTA into their software.
Canada's BOTA site is : https://wwbota.net/cabota_1/ (now at 1750 entries).
-- 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
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. RAC Amateur of the Year Award 2025: Fred Archibald, VE1FA and Helen Archibald, VA1YL
The RAC Board of Directors takes great pleasure in selecting Fred Archibald, VE1FA, and
Helen Archibald, VA1YL, of Port Williams, Nova Scotia as the recipients of the RAC
Amateur of the Year Award for 2025.
Fred and Helen Archibald have been pillars of Amateur Radio in Canada for decades. While
the award traditionally reflects contributions within a given year, their sustained excellence in 2025
– combined with a lifetime of service – made them compelling joint recipients.
Their partnership – spanning more than 50 years of marriage and decades of Amateur Radio dedication
– reflects teamwork, resilience and service at the highest level.
Radio Amateurs of Canada sincerely congratulates Fred Archibald, VE1FA, and Helen Archibald, VA1YL,
on being named the RAC Amateurs of the Year for 2025. An article about the Award will be included in
the March-April 2026 issue of The Canadian Amateur magazine.
-- Allan Boyd, VE3AJB, RAC President (Full article on the RAC website)
ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST
2. What the heck is FT2?
The fastest digital mode ever created, it uses 3.8 second cycles.
Based on the WSJT-X 72 bit payload it uses shortened tones to achieve the short cycle.
It requires a good signal to decode (-12 vs FT8 at -24), and tight time synchronization.
The first qso was completed on Feb 16, 2026 taking only 11 seconds, 4x faster than FT8.
See the full information and downloads at https://ft2.it
The installation packages now support W64, W32 and linux OS.
-- amateur radio weekly news
3. Anytone AT-D890UV full duplex satellite HT (plus DMR)
This new HT has full duplex capability to allow users to work satellites.
It requires fixed frequencies as no automatic doppler shift is available, but is now
the only unit available on the "new" market with this capability.
For the full writeup see https://www.amsat.se/2026/02/16/
-- amsat-SM bulletin (via amateur radio weekly news)
4. BUNKERS ON THE AIR PROGRAM EXPANDS
The links between amateur radio and history grow stronger every day as hams have discovered from all our
special event stations and awards schemes. In the UK, Bunkers on the Air began with Royal Observer Corps
bunker sites in 2005 with radio and history education in mind.
Worldwide BOTA's Jason Dale, 2EØJIV, told Newsline that, as with other nations, US BOTA is closely modeled
after the one in the UK. With some bunker sites still considered sensitive areas, BOTA established an activation
zone giving plenty of room for permitted activations without having to infringe on the bunker itself. In the UK
and the US and several other countries, that's 1,000 meters from the center of the bunker itself.
The worldwide platform hosts each country's available awards and bunker databases as well as lists of new
countries - and newly added bunkers. Specific rules and local maps are available on each country's individual site.
Best of all, said Jason, some portable loggers, such as Ham2K, have also gotten into the act and have already
added BOTA into their software.
Canada's BOTA site is : https://wwbota.net/cabota_1/ (now at 1750 entries).
-- 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