The SARC Communicator: March-April 2026

Hello Radio Enthusiasts!

The latest issue of the SARC Communicator is officially live, and it’s one of our most diverse editions yet. Whether you are a history buff, a dedicated tinkerer, or a DX adventurer, there is something in here for you.

Inside this issue:

• Historical Deep Dives: From the electrical empire of Werner von Siemens to the high-stakes drama of the Alexanderson kidnapping, and a special event station commemoration of the Titanic disaster.
• Bench Projects: Learn how to make Homebrew PCBs with a 3D printer and copper tape, or peek at the elegant KD5ZZU Z-match tuner build.
• DX & Field Ops: Travel back to the 1994 Peter I Island DXpedition or get the latest on the North Fraser Club’s 925 MHz Balloon Project.
• Radio Secrets: Unlock the hidden "superpowers" of the Icom IC-7300, 7610 and 9700 and explore the "IPS Buffet" antenna mix-and-match review.

We also take a moment to look at the "Lighter Side" with tales of Field Day chickens and offer a dose of Rational Optimism regarding the vibrant future of our hobby.

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~ John VE7TI, Editor

Contents for this issue: 

• • Siemens built an electrical empire that still exists today           4
  • Trials & Errors: G.E. and the Alexanderson Kidnapping          8
  • Homebrew PCBs with a 3D Printer and Copper Tape             12
  • Amateur Radio’s Most Sacred Symbol of Discipline              13
  • Radio Ramblings: Chameleon Project - Digital Radio            16
  • KA3DRR: The Compass Lied. The Ionosphere Didn’t           26
  • String a horizontal loop                                                            30
  • Hidden features in the Icom IC-7300 transceiver:                   34
  • Activating LZ9X Bulgaria                                                       38
  • High Above the Noise: Charlie and the Field Day Chicken    42
  • The IPS Buffet Antenna: A Mix-and-Match Field Review     46
  • Add Digital Television to Your ARES Tool Kit                      48
  • Fun with Arduino and Semaphore Signaling                          52
  • The North Fraser Club: High‑Altitude Amateur
    Radio at 925 MHz                                                                   54
  • Club in Focus: The Orca DX and Contest Club                      56
  • ‘Probing’ Around Inside an Old Receiver                               60
  • From a ‘Rocket’ radio to an ‘almost’
    real one… and beyond                                                             62
  • When an app outlives its creator                                              64
  • A ‘Barn Find’ Radio                                                                 66
  • RAC Amateur of the Year Award 2025                                    68
  • Closure of the Weatherradio Service in Canada                      69
  • Outside the Box: KD5ZZU’s elegant build of a
    Z-match tuner                                                                          70
  • Advantages and Disadvantages of the Z-Match                      72
  • The ultimate rebuild of an ancient Yaesu FT-817                    73
  • Rational Optimism About the Future of Amateur Radio         76
  • Foundations of Amateur Radio: Transmitting
    into a dummy load… for a year… on purpose                         84
  • To Honour Titanic’s Legacy and the 
    Heroes of the Airwaves                                                            87
  • Twelve Safety Laws for Amateur Radio Operators                 90
  • Profiles of SARC members: Andy Carr VE7SNF                   94
  • BC QSO Party and ARRL DX Contest (CW)                          99
  • Friends Remembered: “Walt” Bond VE7WDB/VE6MW      101
  • SARC General Meeting minutes                                            105
  • Spotless!                                                                                  110
  • QRT: “Radio is the same as in 1920…”  Really?                   114
  • Ham Leftovers                                                                        117      

   

The Communicator: January - February 2026

The Communicator First Issue of 2026

Happy New Year! This first issue of 2026 spans 110 pages and offers a comprehensive exploration of amateur radio. Readers will find a diverse mix of content, including technical projects, the latest operating news, and engaging historical perspectives relevant to the amateur radio community.

Historical and Informative Features

Readers will find historical profiles of notable figures in radio, this time including Edouard Branly, inventor of the coherer, and the fateful and communications-stricken flight of Amelia Earhart. The Silent Revolution: The future of RF is in light, is an overview of transceivers using light rather than wires, promising  less noise and terrific bandwidth. You will find tutorials on a variety of relevant subjects including HF digital modes such as FT8 and JS8Call, suggestions for contest logging software, and tips for successful portable operations.

Technical Articles

Several articles in this issue delve into practical projects and technical experimentation. Topics covered include encrypted communications in amateur radio, antenna construction and tuning, including the revolutionary Challenger+, low-power (QRP) operating strategies, free access to online software-defined radio receivers, and modifications to homebrew equipment. Additional articles address emergency communications preparedness, recent regulatory changes affecting Canadian amateurs, and reviews of new ham radio products and books.

Regular Sections

The issue includes our regular informative columnists, providing valuable information for operators.  They include feature propagation forecasts, updates on satellite and digital modes, reports on VHF/UHF activity, summaries of recent contests and on-air events, and even a ‘snow muffin’ recipe for Winter Field Day.

Feature Article: Embracing Versatility in Amateur Radio

An opinion piece reflected by the cover: “Are you an Amateur Radio chameleon?” (p. 102), employs the chameleon as a metaphor for versatility in the hobby. Drawing on the Senegalese proverb, “The chameleon changes colour to match the earth, the earth doesn’t change colour to match the chameleon,” the article gently critiques operators who specialize exclusively in one aspect of amateur radio—whether chasing DX on HF, focusing on VHF repeaters, contesting year-round, or limiting activity to digital modes like FT8.

While acknowledging that specialization can foster deep expertise, the article contends that remaining in a single niche may restrict personal growth and diminish the enjoyment of amateur radio. Instead, it celebrates those who adapt fluidly, moving between CW, SSB, digital modes, satellite work, QRP portable activations, microwave experimentation, public service events, and homebrewing. These “chameleons,” the article suggests, find greater fulfillment and contribute more broadly to the amateur radio community.

It concludes with an invitation for readers to share their own stories of adaptation and discovery by emailing communicator@ve7sar.net.

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On behalf of SARC and SEPAR, we wish all of you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.  

~ John VE7TI, Editor

Contents for this issue:

• Edouard Eugène Désiré Branly  and his Coherer  4
• Amelia Earhart: Better radio skills may have made a difference 32
• Photonics the Silent Revolution: The future of RF is in light 38
• Ham Rocket Men 42
• The story of Salmon, Idaho   44
• Profile: The Canadian International DX Club 48
• The Challenger+ OCF: A portable  Halfwave Antenna by KJ6ER 50
• About that Un-un 57
• Coaxial Cables and Common Mode Currents 58
• A Challenger+ build  61
• 2025 Appointment to the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame: Geoff Smith VA3GS (SK) 62
• A Starter Guide: Internet Remote Software Defined Radio (SDR) Receivers 64
• The BC QSO Party   66
• Ham Radio Outside the Box: What really determines the efficiency of an antenna? 68
• The VA7ZEB Line of Sight (LoS) Web App 71
• Converting the shack computer to Linux 74
• Foundations of Amateur Radio: I have a problem with logging 76
• Back to Basics: Near Vertical Incident Skywave 79
• Amateur Radio HH as a modular option of a new electric car  82
• No-ham Recipes: Winter Field Day Snow Muffins 83
• Profiles of SARC members: Blake R. Wiggs VA7BWG 86
• 2025 SARC Field Day Results 92
• SARC General Meeting minutes 94
• The Christmas Social 96
• Coming up 98
• The SEPAR Report 100
• Are you an Amateur Radio Chameleon? Embrace the multiverse of the ‘Hobby of Hobbies’ 102
• Ham Leftovers 106
• A look back: at The Communicator—January 2016 108
• Kudos 112

Pile-Up Control System

PUCS: Take control of the pile-up!

by SANDER PD9HIX and ERWIN PA3EFR VAN DER HAAR

Every special event station (SES) operator knows the thrill — and the chaos — of a true pile-up. The excitement of dozens of stations calling you simultaneously can quickly turn into frustration when QRM, doubles, and missed calls clutter the frequency. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a way to bring order to that chaos without losing the fun of real-time operating?

Enter PUCS, the Pile-Up Control System, a fully open-source, web-based platform designed by and for radio amateurs. Born from the ingenuity of the Radio Scouting Fellowship PA3EFR/J, PUCS elegantly blends traditional ham ingenuity with modern AI-assisted software development. The result is a modular, flexible system that any club or individual can tailor to their own operating style — from large-scale SES activities to small club field days.

PUCS can be seen operational at pucs.pa3efr.nl

From Normandy to the Netherlands

The idea for PUCS was sparked during an SES operation on the beaches of Normandy, where operators of TM80DDAY overheard multiple Australian colleagues discussing a private sign-up system for QSOs. Intrigued but unable to obtain the software, Erwin PA3EFR and his team decided to build their own version — and then share it freely with the world. With the help of AI tools and some Python wizard Barry, PC1K, PUCS was born. It was much later when Erwin decided to develop PUCS within his own environment.

Today, PUCS is freely available, fully documented, and open to anyone willing to experiment. It’s more than just software — it’s an invitation to collaborate, learn, and contribute to a smarter way of managing pile-ups.

What Makes PUCS Unique

At its heart, PUCS is a distributed system consisting of two parts:

• Frontend (commercial hosting): This is the public entry point where operators register their callsigns to join the queue. Think of it as a digital “waiting room” — transparent, fair, and visible to everyone.  
• Backend (local PC): Here’s where the magic happens. The backend checks QRZ.com logbooks every minute, automatically removes callsigns that have already been worked, and provides an admin dashboard to manage the queue, export logs, and adjust settings on the fly.

The system uses Python’s Flask framework, SQLite databases, and SocketIO for real-time updates — all standard, well-documented technologies familiar to many technically minded amateurs. It’s simple enough for a club to host on a modest PC, yet robust enough to handle large SES events.

Open Source, Open Spirit

PUCS is more than a tool — it’s a philosophy. The creators explicitly invite others to modify, enhance, and restyle the system to their own preferences. Whether you want to change the interface colors, add logging features, integrate digital modes, or redesign the operator dashboard, the code is yours to explore. There’s no hidden agenda, no locked components — just open code and open collaboration.
All scripts, examples, and documentation are available on GitHub:

https://github.com/PA3EFR/PUCS

Why You Should Try It

PUCS is a perfect project for your club’s next technical workshop. It offers practical lessons in networking, APIs, databases, and web hosting — all wrapped around a real amateur radio application. 
Beyond that, it promotes fairness in pile-ups, gives weaker stations a chance to make contact, and even allows SWLs to log their participation.

So fire up your soldering iron if you must, but this time, your “kit” is made of code.
Download PUCS, make it your own, and bring calm to your next pile-up.

As Erwin, PA3EFR, says: “Ask AI as your friend for support — and enjoy your own moments of challenge!” On behalf of the Radio Scouting Fellowship PA3EFR/J we look forward to see you on our PUCS screens at a next special event occasion.

~ Sander PD9HIX

It's our 50th Anniversary!

Commemorative VHF Net check-in 

Tuesday 7 October at 8 pm (PST)

SARC will be hosting its usual net at 8 pm (Pacific time) on Tuesday, October 7 on frequency 147.360 MHz +600 KHz, tone 110.9 Hz for a special commemoration of the society’s founding on Tuesday, October 7, 1975.   

Members and non-members are invited to check in.  We'll also be connecting to IRLP reflector 9005 for any stations who wish to join from outside our repeater’s footprint.  You can connect a repeater or your personal device by dialing node 9005.  

You can read about SARC's history at The Communicator Digital Edition: The Communicator July - August 2025

We encourage SARC members, past students, non-members, and readers of The Communicator to check in on this historic net and we hope to commemorate our 50th anniversary with a record number of check ins.

~

The Communicator September - October 2025

Back With a Fall Issue

This publication, "The Communicator" from Surrey Amateur Radio Communications (SARC), serves as a bi-monthly electronic periodical for amateur radio operators. It covers a wide array of topics, including historical figures in radio. This month Jonathan Zenneck and Edwin Armstrong. In this issue we also provide technical explanations of radio propagation phenomena such as the Gray Line and solar indices, and practical guides for amateur radio activities like building antennas. We take a closer look at specific radio equipment (Baofeng, Icom, and Anytone), and engaging in digital modes like FT8. 

The Communicator also features emergency preparedness strategies, and the diverse interests and community focus within amateur radio. Furthermore, it touches upon innovative developments like the Linux Handie Talkie (LinHT) and the importance of in-person technical conferences for knowledge exchange.

Now read in over 165 countries, this issue brings you 130 pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and around the globe. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

Download the September-October 2025 Communicator in 

LARGE or SMALL format, or read it on-line like a magazine

Previous Communicator issues:

Search for past Communicator issues

We now have a comprehensive searchable index back to 2007
HERE.  

Want to try something new? We're experimenting with AI.

Google LM has created a link. Try it HERE

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is October 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at communicator@ve7sar.net

73,

John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor

The Table of Contents for the September - October 2025 Communicator issue:

• The Unsung Pioneers: Jonathan Senneck 4
• A look at Edwin Armstrong’s contribution to broadcasting 6
• Field Day and Cross-Border Microwave Activity 7
• The Northern California DX Foundation: Decrypting solar indices 8
• Propagation Profile: Exploring the Gray Line in Radio Propagation 10
• News You Can’t Lose: Rescue team locates and rescues 12
• Page13—News You Can Lose: Mystery in Back Yard 13
• Radio Ramblings: Aircraft Radio Systems 14
• Another RFI Tracker 29
• Sniffing RF Noise with an Oscilloscope 29
• A Bridge Too Far... For Now! 30
• An AM Radio Transmitter Suitable for in-home broadcast 32
• ISED Releases New Documents for Amateur Exams 34
• Getting Started: Beginner's guide to the FT8 mode 36
• Using the Baofeng Radio: Your Guide to a Handheld Radio 37
• iCOM Special Interest Group: RFI & Noise reduction - USB cable 38
• WA5VJB’s "Cheap Yagis": Looking for a 1.2 Ghz solution? 41
• RigPi: Probably compatible with your rig 422
• The AnyTone 878 portable receives a major firmware update 44
• Ham TV again from the International Space Station! 46
• After 14 attempts our first circumnavigation of a pico balloon! 47
• The PERformer: 2024 ARRL QST Antenna Design Competition 50
• But, does it PERform? 59
• Ham Radio Outside the box: Testing the “PERformer” 60
• The Zenith Satellite Tracker 62
• Another Simple Morse Code Trainer: It uses only 7 parts 63
• High Altitude RF Adventures 64
• Hamshack Hotline Orphans invited to apply at Hams Over IP 69
• Zero Retries: The Linux Handie Talkie 70
• Ham on a Bike: Snatched a big one working my grey line 75
• Foundations of Amateur Radio: A POTA procedural proposal 76
• Listening to local RF via a web browser 78
• Back to Basics: Understanding decibels in Amateur Radio 80
• Crossword 83
• Danger in St. Elmo 84
• No-ham Recipes: Chili Con Rotini 85
• Profiles of SARC members: Michael Papp WB6GJE 88
• The SEPAR Report: Emergency Program: Net Strategies 92
• A new beam antenna for the OTC 95
• QRT: Building Your Own Antennas 96
• HAM LEFTOVERS... 98
• A look back at The Communicator—October 2015 100

The Communicator May-June 2025

Another full issue

Its a big issue, and great articles, along with our regular columnists.

Now read in over 165 countries, this issue brings you 120+ pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and around the globe. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

Download the May-June 2025 Communicator in 
LARGE or SMALL format, or read it on-line like a magazine

Previous Communicator issues:

Search for past Communicator issues

We now have a comprehensive searchable index back to 2007
HERE.  

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is June 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at communicator@ve7sar.net

73,

John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor

The Table of Contents for the May-June 2025 Communicator issue:

• The Rest of the Story: Pavel Schilling .............................................4
• NEW! A Complete Search Engine for The Communicator ..............7
• News You Can’t Lose: ..................................................................12
• News You Can’t Lose: Some enjoyable listening ahead! ..............12
• News You Can Lose: ARRL New Taxes for DX QSOs ..................13
• Mentoring Young Hams .................................................................15
• Post Special Event Summary: Operation Manna: .........................18
• Manna@80: The more unique contacts made by VB7MAN ..........24
• Radio Oranje and the ‘Kraut Sieve’ ...............................................25
• Radio Ramblings: Computing Science and Amateur Radio ..........28
• Computing Science and Amateur Radio ........................................28
• A LoRa-Based Mesh Network for Emergency Communication .....39
• A Heathkit “Cantenna” Deep Dive ................................................41
• Testing “Cantenna” oil ....................................................................43
• Making a Better Heathkit "Cantenna" ............................................46
• Another Notable Manna/Chowhound 80 Contact ..........................48
• Exploring the iCOM IC-7300's Internal Antenna Tuner ..................49
• Automatic Antenna Tuners & Couplers ..........................................52
• Electronic Keyers & Keyer Paddles ...............................................53
• Transients and Spikes on Power-line Voltage: ..............................55
• So... What is an MOV? ..................................................................57
• Testing MOVs ................................................................................59
• A Cheap and Light Weight HF Antenna .........................................60
• SO-124 [HADES-R] Satellite .........................................................61
• Tracking the ISS with an Arduino-Based System ..........................63
• Wondering where you can be heard? ............................................64
• A Reference for Coaxial Cable ......................................................65
• YADD: Maritime HF Activity Revisited ...........................................66
• The Mystery of the Mis-keyed Callsign ..........................................69
• Exploring Digital QSL Cards with DigiQSL: ...................................70
• How to Operate Pedestrian Mobile ................................................72
• Ham Radio Outside the Box: 25 Years a Ham ..............................75
• 2m: Weak-Signal Performance of Common Modulation Formats .79
• Zero Retries: An Introduction to the IP400 Network Project ..........82
• KB6NU: Buttons Are Back, Baby! ..................................................85
• KB6NU: Single sideband and a HAMNET update .........................87
• Foundations of Amateur Radio: .........................................................
• What is the difference between a Dummy Load and an Antenna? 88
• No-ham Recipes: Chinese Chicken in Sauce ................................91
• Back to Basics: A Balancing Act ....................................................92
• Profiles of SARC members: Jaspal Bagha VA7JB ........................98
• The Contest Contender: CQ WPX SSB ......................................102
• The Contest Contender: The 2025 ARRL Rookie Roundup ........104
• VB7MAN Participates in an International Microwave Party .........105
• High School Communications Course Update ............................113
• SEPAR Report: Winlink reestablished in the SEPAR program ....115
• QRT [Opinion]: The FCC Policy Statement .................................118
• Ham Leftovers... ..........................................................................121
• A look back: May 2015... .............................................................122

The Planning for MANNA@80 Continues...

Planning for the special event stations commemorating the life-saving food drops to NW Netherlands near the end of World War II is now in full swing. 62 nationalities were part of Bomber Command in WW2. 

Please visit Operation Manna @ 80 for a full list of stations around the globe. Here are the Canadian stations participating:

VB7MAN Surrey Amateur Radio Communications

In Canada, Surrey Amateur Radio Communications (SARC) has been granted special event callsign VB7MAN from April 1^st to May 10^th. We will be on the air from our training station and elsewhere prior to, during, and after the event and will seek involvement of the high school students from our RF Communications class. Contacts with Europe can be sporadic from our location but we are generally able to contact North and South America, Asia, and Oceania. We have created a QSL card to commemorate the event. The card bears the $100 Royal Canadian Mint gold and silver coin struck in 2020 for the 75^th anniversary. 

We will update this page as plans progress but hope to make a QSO with you in April or May. Any certified amateur in BC may operate the special event callsign, as long as it is only used in one location at a time. If you wish to use the call on any band or mode, a Google calendar has been set up to reserve the call for your use between April 1st and May 10th. If you wish to book an operating time for VB7MAN, please contact VB7MAN@gmail.com.

John VE7TI
Coordinator VB7MAN@gmail.com

 

VB6MAN Calgary Amateur Radio Association

CARA will be operating from the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta. They will activate on April 25, 26, and 27th and May 9 and 10. The final dates and hours of operations will depend on the radio amateur operators participating.

 

VE1MAN Nova Scotia

The Canadian teams closest to Europe will be operating from their club station as VE1MAN. They may be activating from a former WW2 air base or another location of significance to tie in with the event.

 

Radio Amateurs of Canada published an article about MANNA@80 in the March-April issue of The Canadian Amateur, as did the Radio Society of Great Britain in their national magazine RADCOM.

~

Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame Presentation

At the Surrey Amateur Radio Communications March general meeting, Hitoshi Takahashi VE7LET, the Radio Amateurs of Canada Director for BC & Yukon, presented John Schouten VE7TI with a plaque commemorating his appointment to the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame for 2024.

John Schouten [left] and Hitoshi Takahashi [right]

[left to right] Hiroshi Takahashi, John Schouten
and retiring RAC BC-Yukon Director Keith Witney

Radio Amateurs of Canada recognizes deserving Amateurs by appointments to the Canadian Amateur Radio 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”. The Trustees of the Hall have interpreted the Constitution to mean that the person has performed significant service over many years to enhance the well-being of Amateur Radio. Radio Amateurs of Canada and the Board of Trustees of CARHOF sincerely congratulates John Schouten VE7TI, on his appointment to the Hall of Fame.

A detailed account of his achievements will be presented in an upcoming edition of The Canadian Amateur magazine.

For more information 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

~

 

 

The Communicator March - April 2025

Lots happening...

You will find some great articles in this issue, along with our regular columnists.

Now read in over 165 countries, this issue brings you 115+ pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and around the globe. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

Download the January - February Communicator in 
LARGE or SMALL format, or read it on-line like a magazine

Previous Communicator issues:

Search for past Communicator issues

We are working on providing you with a comprehensive searchable index,
but in the meantime a searchable topic index is HERE.  

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is April 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at communicator@ve7sar.net

73,

John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor

The Table of Contents for the March - April 2025 Communicator issue:

• The Rest of the Story - Alfred Lewis Vail 4
• Bob King G3ASE: World War II RSS Monitor 8
• World Amateur Radio Day 10
• News You Can’t Lose - BandOpticon 12
• Page13—News You Can Lose 13
• Radio Ramblings: Passive Radar Update, BladeRF SDR, $5 Yagi 14
• The Wobbulator 25
• Rubber Coating Removal 28
• Dealing With Leaking Dry Cells 29
• An affordable and easy PCB vise solution for electronics hobbyists 30
• The ‘7300’ User Group - The spectrum scope and waterfall 31
• Remote control and operation 34
• Do you own an Alinco DR/135/235/435T or TYT9000? 37
• The Background Noise on the HF Amateur Bands 38
• BCQP 2025 — Initial Thoughts 44
• From the ATV Journal - An Impressive, Low Cost LNA 46
• Pi Pico Makes SSTV Reception a Snap 49
• ISED Releases New Canadian Basic Amateur Radio Question Bank 50
• Forget the Coax, Use Cat 6 52
• Ohm’s Law: Look what you can do with it 53
• Stranded: An Unlikely Friendship 55
• A satellite primer 58
• A DMR Primer 59
• Those Darn Wall-Wart Power Supplies! 60
• Operation Manna @ 80: Honouring the legacy through amateur radio 63
• Ham Radio Gizmos Platform  Launches Documentary Series 66
• Ham Radio Outside the Box: An Off-Center Fed Sleeve Dipole 67
• Are You a Rag Chewer or a “59 73” Operator? 70
• 2 Meters: Another Slacker DXpedition 71
• KB6NU: How do we encourage more experimentation in amateur radio? 74
• What CAD software do you use? 75
• SARC on 24 GHz! 76
• The Solar Max: Is a second peak coming? 77
• Foundations of Amateur Radio 78
• No-ham Recipes: Toad-in-the-hole 81
• Back to Basics: Understanding Ohm's Law 82
• Profiles of SARC members 88
• Index of Past Profiles of SARC members 90
• Winter Field Day 95
• A Review of Distracted Driving Regulations in BC 109
• QRT: The Crucial Role of Amateur Radio 110

Special Event Station PA80OV

Radio Club Limburg

 

announces

Special Event Station

PA80OV

Next week, members of Radio Club Limburg (https://rclb.nl) in the North Limburg region of  The Netherlands, will activate:

 

PA80OV is a special event station to commemorate Operation Veritable, celebrating 80 years of freedom.  Operation Veritable, namesake of the station, and the successor of Operation Market Garden, was the northern part of an Allied pincer movement in the Second World War.

We are back in 2025 for the third consecutive time with this special event station; having added another 5 years to our callsign.

Members of Radio Club Limburg will activate the callsign PA80OV from February 13 to 28, 2025, to work as many amateur radio operators across the world as possible. If you're in the area,  you can visit our station in the old town hall in the city of Gennep, The Netherlands between February14 and 16.

Whether you are an amateur radio operator, hoping to contact a new country, a new callsign, or you're a casual visitor, you're welcome to our website:

 https://rclb.nl/pa80ov

We hope to hear and work you.

On behalf of the PA80OV team. 

Jan, PA2P
https://rclb.nl/pa80ov

 

Operation Manna 80

A very special, special event station

SARC has been asked to participate in a large-scale special event late in April commemorating the relief efforts of the winter of 1944-45 to drop tons of food to the starving population of NW Holland. It is well described at: Operation Manna @ 80 and in the video https://youtu.be/0PwhYFdzY_Q. 

Amateur stations from the drop zones in Holland, air force bases in Britain, plus the Allied forces that provided aircraft and pilots, including the UK, Canada, The US, Poland and Australia will be represented by special event stations in those countries.

Three UK Teams, one at the International Bomber Command Centre, another at former RAF Binbrook (an Operation Manna Airfield in the UK) and another at the 100th Bomb Group Museum at Thorpe Abbots representing the US operation Chowhound from a former Chowhound airfield.

The national Radio Scouting team (Plusscouts PA3EFR/J) will be operating from an Operation Manna drop zone near The Hague, The Netherlands. Read on for further details on this team and their radio station location at  The Team in the Netherlands – Operation Manna @ 80

The stations will be active April 25-27 (Friday through Sunday) using variations of the xx80MAN callsign. Here at SARC, we will be using VB7MAN (because of Canadian location designations we are required to have a '7' in our callsign). Visit VB7MAN - Callsign Lookup by QRZ Ham Radio

Children and youth activities will also be included and there will be activity on HF, DMR and VHF

https://manna80.radio/w p-content/uploads/2024/12/Award_new.jpg 

When we activate, you can find out if we're on the air
from our HamAlert spots:

Our Grid.Radio Location

There will be a full article in the next Communicator (March 2^st)

Our email address is VB7MAN@gmail.com and our activation calendar is here.

~ John VE7TI

SARC-SEPAR Winter Field Day

Winter FD was pretty good! 

Five of us set up in three sites at Derby reach including Paul VE7VP and 3 newer hams (Carl, Barbara, and Elaine from the last class).  John VE7TI and Summer School graduate Grace VA7LZT came out and Grace was able to work 20m for a while which was great.  We only made around 60 or 70 contacts, but we were operating more casually.  We had a fair number of visitors, both Ham and non-Ham.

A full report will follow in the next Communicator.

~ Andrew VE7LGN

 

 

SARC on 24 GHz!

Believed the first in BC

On Jan 22, 2025 at 14:30 pm local time, two members of the Surrey Amateur Radio Communications Society completed what is believed to be the first 24 GHz terrestrial contact in BC.   

Scott VA7SC was in grid CN89nb at Crescent Beach and Dino VE7NX was in CN89ic at Boundary Bay, approximately 10 km distant. Scott was transmitting just 1 mW using a mixer and local oscillator into a 24" dish with shepherd's crook. Dino was using a Wavelab module delivering 80 mW output with controller and 12" dish.   SSB signals were loud and clear. Antenna orientation was critical, and with a few degrees off-target the signal was gone.

We fully acknowledge and thank Hugh VA3TO and Peter VA3ELE for their assistance in making this a reality.   

There's a video at https://youtube.com/shorts/PzVmCyqCIJY

~ John Brodie VA7XB

Five-band HF Linked Dipole [updated January 2025]

An improved build

This antenna was first described in the November-December 2023 Communicator. After a year of using it, I’ve developed some improvements. - Updated January 2025

I appreciate inexpensive but effective antenna design. Sure, you can spend hundreds of dollars to buy a multiband antenna for POTA or GOTA but they are so simple to build, why would you want to? You can enhance your skills and communication capabilities by constructing custom antennas.

One popular and versatile option is the multi-band HF dipole antenna often called a segmented or linked dipole. This antenna design allows for effective communication across multiple HF bands by connecting or disconnecting sections along its length making it an inexpensive asset for ham radio operators, particularly outdoors enthusiasts and those needing a light, packable wire antenna that can be erected almost anywhere, and with good results—better than an end-fed, because each segment of the antenna is pre-tuned during construction, and can be used safely even when no antenna tuner is available.

Ideally it is hung from a pole or tree branch at 20 feet (6m) as an Inverted V, with the center point high and the dipole legs spread at least 110-120 degrees. I have worked the globe with this set-up on sideband and 20 Watts.

 

Oly one side of the dipole is shown 

As before, each of the five sections is cut to the band so no tuner is required. It is a marvellous POTA antenna, far better than any vertical, Hamstick or commercial antenna that I have tried.

You can read/download the updated article at: https://bit.ly/LinkedDipole

~ John VE7TI