The On-line Communicator: August 2017

The Month in Review: JULY 2017

We do not publish the regular monthly edition of the Communicator in July and August, but it was another month worthy of a news brief; so here are some items to keep you up to date.

An OTC Work Party

Last week there was a work party at the Surrey Amateur Radio Operational Training Centre, 'The OTC'. Priority was to install the new Alfa-Spid rotator on the mast and get it hooked into the radio room.

Rotary Bike-A-Thon For Hearing Loss

This annual benefit event occurs every July and spans a distance of 120 Km from Burnaby to Harrison Hot Springs along the Lougheed Highway. Riders collect pledges from their sponsors. Amateur Radio provides assistance all along the route and specifically at a number of rest stops. Many of the radio volunteers are SARC members but the group also includes Amateurs from other organizations. 

This year, the 33rd edition, about $140,000 was raised for treatment of children with hearing impairment. A nice dinner followed at the Harrison Hot Springs Hotel. Kudos to SARC member Ken Clarke VE7BC who has been an organizer from the beginning.

SARC Fall Basic Class

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The RAC Canada 150 Award

The RAC Canada 150 Award is a celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday since Confederation in 1867. The Award is issued for contacting the RAC stations between July 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017. In addition to the RAC Canada Contest, the RAC Canada Winter Contest and the IARU HF Championship Contest, the RAC stations will be activated by volunteers at other times by pre-arranged schedule. SARC-SEPAR member Fred Orsetti VE7IO is coordinating the use of the VE7RAC callsign in BC. 

RAC has prepared a few Guidelines and Procedures to assist making contacts with participating stations. SEPAR is planning to operate SSB from the OTC on August 19 and/or 20th using VE7RAC.

More on this in the September Communicator

JOTA - Scouts On The Air

SEPAR has been asked to provide the support for local Scouts to participate in JOTA - Scouts On The Air again this year. Last year the event was held at the OTC with about 15 Scouts participating. We hope to expand the program for 2017 to include Morse Code practice, a hand-held radio exercise and possibly a small foxhunt so that they can remain busy while one of them is on the air via HF. If you would like to assist on Saturday, October 20, contact John VE7TI at communicator@ve7sar.net. For more information on the exercise browse http://jotajoti.info/

GNU Radio Workshop

Hopefully the SARC members who have signed up for this workshop on September 30 have already ordered their dongle. If not, the time is now! Kevin McQuiggin VE7ZD will follow up on his excellent presentation from our March general meeting.

ARDF Events in August

August 3rd: Presentation by Michael Sterba, KG7HQ talking on the general subject “Radio Direction Finding” at the North Shore Amateur Radio Club.

August 12th: ARDF fox-hunt event, 80m - Day Trip to Victoria. A venue to be selected, hosted by Victoria Friendship Amateur Radio Society. More info will be available at http://www.ardf.ca. We plan to car pool, please RSVP if you can drive and how many people you can take, or you will be on foot and need a ride.

Contact Amel at akrdzalic@gmail.com or http://www.ardf.ca site for more details.

Are Your Dues Due?

Our fiscal year ended on May 30th so if you have not renewed, a friendly reminder to do so. You can bring it to a meeting, a Saturday morning coffee or use this link to pay your Membership Via PayPal. 

Weekly Coffee

Our weekly meet-up continues through summer at the Kalmar Family Restaurant, King George Blvd at 81st Avenue. Come join us any Saturday between 8 and 10am.  

August Social

We will get together for an informal gathering in lieu of a regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, August 9 at 7pm at the OTC. Our regular general meetings resume September 13th at EMBC.

See you next month when we start our new season with a full issue Communicator