CQ WW SSB Contest

SARC Members Operate From Three Surrey Stations

It was a busy weekend, as stations operated by at least three Surrey Club members, with
multiple operators, participated in the largest Amateur Radio competition in the
world. Over 35,000 participants take to the airwaves on the last weekend of October
(SSB) and November (CW) with the goal of making as many contacts with as many
different DXCC entities and CQ Zones as possible.

Separate stations operated by SARC members John Brodie, Fred Orsetti and Sheldon Ward were active for much of the contest operating as VE7SAR, VE7SRY and VE7RAC
respectively. In the case of VE7RAC, operated as part of the RAC Canada 150
program, we reached every continent but Antarctica and logged 1,820 contacts for a
respectable score of 714,054 points.

Robert VA7FMR at the mic

Rookie contester Michael VE7GMP
operates CQ WW at VA7XB 

John VE7TI operating at VE7IO

Jeanne VA7QD operating at VE7IO

Here is a video of the contest in progress

Check out the results here

A Successful JOTA 2017

The Scouts Enjoyed Amateur Radio

It was International Scout Jamboree On The Air today and Surrey BC was represented by operators and stations from the Surrey Amateur Radio Club and the Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio. We operated from our Operations & Training Centre.

Stan VA7NF and the HF Station

Various ages and levels of Scouts circulated through five stations including:

1. Basic Radio Theory
2. Morse Code
3. VHF/UHF including IRLP and Echolink
4. HF (Shortwave)
5. Handheld Radio practise

Rob VE7CZV introducing VHF

They spoke with stations including London, England and Colorado. This is an annual event in October and it is highly recommended as a community involvement project. Next year it is on the weekend of 19-21 October. More on this year's event in the November Communicator.

More info: http://jotajoti.info/

SARC: VE7SAR.net    

SEPAR: separs.net

We're Shaking!

The Great BC Shakeout is underway

At 10:19 an earthquake struck the Vancouver area. Radio Amateurs responded to the exercise scenario in number to offer help if needed.

https://www.shakeoutbc.ca/

Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio check-ins are in progress throughout the city and beyond. Amateur radio operators are ready to assist with communications in case the real thing happens.  

Check out our website if you want more information on the program http://separs.net/

Amateur Radio... It just works!

We Now Know What SOS Really Stands For

 Nope, it's not "save our ship." Not even close.

~ Readers Digest

“Save Our Ship!”

“Save Our Souls!”

“Save On Socks (at Sal’s Irregular Sock Emporium)!”

These are all things that “SOS,” the international abbreviation for distress, does not stand for. Best known for its appearances in desert island cartoons, maritime movies, and earworms by ABBA and Rihanna, the letters SOS have been used as a code for emergency since 1905. But what does SOS stand for, actually? The answer, dear readers, is nothing—and that’s exactly why it’s important.

Unlike WD-40, CVS, and TASER, SOS is not even an acronym: It’s a Morse code sequence, deliberately introduced by the German government in a 1905 set of radio regulations to stand out from less important telegraph transmissions. Translated to Morse code, SOS looks like this:

“. . . _ _ _ . . .”

Three dots, three dashes, three dots. At a time when international ships increasingly filled the seas, and Morse code was the only instantaneous way to communicate between them, vessels needed a quick and unmistakable way to signal that trouble was afoot. At first, different nations used different codes. Britain, for example, favored CQD; as the Titanic sunk into the ocean in April 1912, it broadcast a mix of CQD and SOS calls (the resulting confusion helped take CQD out of use for good).

The sequence of triplet dots and dashes proposed by the German government soon became the international favorite for its elegant simplicity. Transmitted without pause and repeated every few seconds, the message of SOS was unmistakable, specifically because it didn’t form any known word or abbreviation.

There was also a visual appeal. While the same series of dots and dashes could also just as easily translate to the Morse code sequences for VTB, SMB, and others, SOS had an instantly-recognizable symmetry. Not only is SOS a palindrome (a word that reads the same backwards and forwards, like civic, deified, and these other everyday palindromes hiding in plain sight) it’s also an ambigram, a word that looks identical whether read upside-down or right-side-up. When carved into a snowbank, say, or spelled out in boulders on a beach, SOS still no looks like SOS no matter which way the rescue chopper approaches.

By 1908, the code we know and love took effect as the official international radio distress signal, and remained that way until 1999, when Morse code was declared all but dead. Today, a ship can signal distress with the touch of a button, the lift of a phone, the launch of a rocket, or—if they’re feeling nostalgic—flashing a good ol’ SOS via light signals across the waves. Remember it fondly, and then memorize these other mnemonic devices that could save your life.

https://www.rd.com/culture/sos-meaning/

Amateur Radio Helps Puerto Rico Communicate

From NBC News

When things went dark and quiet in Puerto Rico, a cadre of amateur radio operators became a lifeline on the island.

About two dozen amateur radio operators on the island helped police and first responders communicate when their radio networks failed completely. Some of the radio operators, or hams traveled on trucks to provide communications to the power company, PREPA.

“It’s a less than ideal solution, but it works and that’s the essence of amateur radio – make it work,” said Tom Gallagher, CEO of the American Radio Relay League, the national association for amateur radio.

Now the ranks of operator are about to get reinforcements.

At the request of the Red Cross, the league planned to send 50 radio operators into Puerto Rico with “enormous” radio gear in water proof containers, their own power supplies, new generators and solar arrays. The crew and equipment were to leave Thursday from Atlanta.

Their job, once set up and in place, will be to be the communication pipeline for the Red Cross Safe and Well program, helping people on the mainland trying to connect with loved ones on the island or get news of their status.

“You can relieve a lot of misery by telling people their relatives are okay,” said Gallagher, whose call sign is NY2RF.

The ham operators working with first responders are part of the Amateur Radio Emergency Services, ARES. They regularly drill with police, fire brigades and hospitals and regularly drill and practice what to do in floods, hurricanes or dangerous rainstorms.

More on this story:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-rico-amateur-radio-operators-are-playing-key-role-puerto-n805426

Shortwave: International Radio for Disaster Relief (IRDR)

Humanitarian Aspects of HFCC Activities

HFCC is a non-governmental, non-profit association, and a sector member of the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva in the category of international and regional organizations. It manages, and co-ordinates global databases of international shortwave broadcasting in keeping with International Radio Regulations of the ITU. 

The HFCC provides representation, tools and services to its members for the resolution or minimization of instances of mutual interference among shortwave transmissions. Organizes regular conferences prior to the start-dates of seasonal broadcasting schedules that coincide with the dates of clock-time changes for the summer and winter periods. There are two seasonal schedules and their validity is global. The schedule designated "A" corresponds to the summer, and "B" to the winter period on the Northern hemisphere.

From its infancy since 1920s shortwave radio has been associated with its potential of being a communication tool in emergencies. This use of shortwave radio is still
very much present among amateur radio enthusiasts for example, who discovered its long distance properties early in the twentieth century. Amateur radio provides a
means of communication on shortwaves and other frequencies "when all else fails". This role of amateur radio is well recognised, valued and appreciated both by the
public and by the world institutions managing and regulating the use of the radio spectrum.

In contrast the huge technical potential of international shortwave broadcasting that operates transmitter facilities tens, or hundred times, more powerful than those of
amateur radio, remains almost unused in emergencies. At the moment when local and even regional communication and information networks are needed most, they
are destroyed or overloaded and the population suffers from an information blackout. 

Shortwave radio is capable of remaining the only source of information.
Although the life-saving role of radio broadcasting is widely recognised by the public, and confirmed by surveys conducted after the recent disasters - and even
acknowledged by world leaders - no concrete projects have been ever designed and no regulatory framework has been developed.

That is why the HFCC - International Broadcasting Delivery in co-operation with the Arab States and Asia-Pacific broadcasting unions are working on an International
Radio for Disaster Relief (IRDR) project that is based on the system of online co-ordination of frequencies managed by the HFCC in accordance with International Radio
Regulations.

For more information and frequencies, visit their website:
http://www.hfcc.org/humanitarian/

SARC Member Sets UHF Contact Distance Record

Dave VA7THO - 2001 Miles

Our October presentation was given By Dave VA7THO. Dave is particularly interested in digital communications on the high bands. 

One use of APRS is to exchange messages via satellite, sometimes over long distances. Dave set an ISS Digipeater (UHF) distance record recently between himself at White Rock, BC and Jerry W8LR of Middletown Ohio, a distance of 3224 km.

They each used a Kenwood TH-D72 and Arrow antenna. The International Space Station digipeater at that time ran at a frequency of 437.550, but has since returned to its usual frequency of 145.825 so their record may be tough to beat for a while.

Dave talks about the contact

Congratulations on this notable achievement!

Dave's record is included at: https://www.amsat.org/satellite-distance-records/