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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.  World Radio Day

World Radio Day 2024 will be on February 13, and this year's theme is, "A Century Informing, Entertaining and Educating."

World Radio Day was first celebrated in 2012, following its declaration by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It was
subsequently adopted as an International Day by the United Nations General Assembly.

The EA Digital Federation will celebrate the day and have nine special event stations on the air February 9 - 18. The stations will be active on different
bands and modes, including phone, CW, and digital. You can locate the stations through the DX cluster or the agenda of activity on their website.

Operating times and special QSL information can be found on their website.
   https://www.fediea.org/news/?news=20240213

-- from the ARRL Letter (Feb 9,2024)

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.   Heil Radio Donates Equipment to W1AW

The Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, W1AW, at ARRL HQ in Newington, CT, has received a generous donation of equipment from the Heil Ham Radio
division of Heil Sound.  At Bob Heil`s (K9EID) direction, the company donated four headsets, three headphones, two PTT foot switches, two microphones, and various adapters. The equipment has been placed into service for use by visiting operators, and for bulletins transmitted each weekday evening by W1AW.
-- full article at arrl news

3.  CATS - a new open source Communication And Telemetry System

At its core, CATS is a packet radio standard primarily designed for autonomous position reports, but is versatile enough to support a much wider scope of communication.  CATS is ultimately meant to be a replacement to APRS. Although APRS was magnificent when it was first developed, current technology allows us to do better. APRS also suffers from decades of bloat, making the standard difficult to learn. Here are some of the ways CATS is better than APRS: APRS is transmitted as AFSK over FM. This is an inefficient encoding technique which leaves a lot of performance on the table. In contrast, CATS uses raw FSK. This alone
provides a significant coding advantage.  APRS is typically used at 1200 baud. CATS sets the standard data rate to 9600 baud.  Whereas APRS typically uses 2m for RF transmission, CATS uses 70cm.  CATS is extremely work-in-progress. Once things are solidified a bit more, the standard will be locked down and all new changes must be backwards compatible.
for more information check out: https://cats.radio/

4.  FEMA: 2023 National Household Survey on Disaster Preparedness.

Since 2013, FEMA has conducted the National Household Survey on Disaster Preparedness.  This survey of people from across the United States gauges disaster
preparedness actions, attitudes, and motivations. Results from the 2023 survey (7600 responses) indicate that slightly more than half (51%) of Americans believe they are prepared for a disaster and 57% took three or more actions to prepare for a disaster within the last year. The most common actions people took to prepare for a disaster were assembling or updating disaster supplies (48%) and making a plan (37%); the least common actions were planning with neighbors (12%) and getting involved in their community (14%).

Key Findings include:
- There were big shifts in the way people prepared for disasters in 2023 compared to the year before.
- Only 50% of people believed that that taking steps to prepare for a disaster would help them in getting through a disaster and were confident in their ability to
take those steps to prepare.
- There was a strong association between having awareness of how to prepare for disasters and taking action to prepare.
- There was a disconnect between the 60+ community's perceived preparedness and their preparedness actions.
-Cost barriers may prevent people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged from taking important preparedness actions.
- People living in areas at higher risk of flood and wildfire impacts had lower levels of risk perception for those hazards.

-- full article at arrl.org ares newsletter
http://www.arrl.org/ares-el?issue=2024-01-17#toc04


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

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.   First Amateur Station on the Moon, JS1YMG, Now Transmitting

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully landed their Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) on January 19, 2024. Just before touchdown, SLIM released two small lunar surface probes, LEV-1 and LEV-2.  LEV-2 collects data while moving on the lunar surface, and LEV-  receives the data.  The JAXA Ham Radio Club (JHRC), JQ1ZVI, secured amateur radio license JS1YMG for LEV-1, which has been transmitting Morse code on 437.41 MHz since January 19.  The probe uses a 1 W UHF antenna with circular polarization and is transmitting "matters related to amateur business." Radio amateurs have been busy analyzing JS1YMG's signal, with Daniel Estévez's, EA4GPZ, blog introducing the method and extraction results for demodulating Morse code from the signal, as well as extracting the code string.  It's unclear how long signals will be heard. JAXA has said that SLIM was not designed to survive a lunar night, which lasts about 14 days, and is due to return in a few days. SLIM's landing made Japan the fifth country to achieve a soft touchdown on the moon. The landing was achieved with exceptional precision -- within 180 feet of its targeted touchdown location.
--arrl news

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.   YLISSB Celebrates 61 Years On the Air

February 8, 2024, marks the 61st anniversary of the YL System, now known as the YL International Single Side-band System (YLISSB), founded by Vera
Tallman, K4ICA (SK), in 1963.  Though the system's name includes "YL," the amateur radio term for "young lady," membership is open to both women and men. YLISSB is a community of radio amateurs who provide support, service, and fellowship to one another and to the rest of the amateur radio community. YLISSB also encourages amateur radio skill development through both personal and system-wide support programs.
The YLISSB operates on 14.332 MHz every day of the year. On February 8 - 11, from 1323Z to 1323Z, special event station K4ICA will operate on 14.240 - 14.340 MHz and 7.230 - 7.260 MHz to commemorate the system's 61st anniversary.
-- arrl news

3.  Raspberry Pi Net each Sunday on EchoLink and AllStarLink

The official Raspberry Pi Net takes place each Sunday at 5:00 PM Eastern / 22:00 UTC on the ROC-HAM EchoLink Conference node 531091 and on AllStar node 2585, 47620, 47918, 531310.  Join W2JLD/John, GW8SZL/Dave, or W4RFJ/Chief each Sunday where they talk about Raspberry Pis, Linux, AllStar, Supermon, programming, and everything else Raspberry Pi.  With a wide cast of characters and plenty of Pi to go around, join us as we sit back and enjoy great fellowship and most of all have fun while learning something new. We often have a question and topic to get the net started. Loads of info is to be had. You bring the coffee, we will supply the Pi....  Many slices... One Pi.
--  From ROC-HAM Radio Network:

4.  Two Arrested After Theft of Copper From Destroyed Radio Tower

Two people have been arrested in Texas in connection with the recent theft of copper from a broadcast tower in Hugo, Oklahoma last month. The Choctaw County Sheriff said that the two were identified by scrap yard employees in Paris, Texas, where one day after the January 15th incident, they tried to sell copper wiring from the coax line. Authorities said that Payne Media Group, the broadcast station's owner, was contacted and confirmed that the copper had come from the tower for KITX, a 50,000-watt station serving southeast Oklahoma and northeast Texas. Paris, Texas, is one of the communities in the station's coverage area.  The station has been live streaming and operating with limited broadcast range following the destruction of the tower. Its guy wires had been cut and its backup  generator also was destroyed.
-- 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

Net Control
VA3TS - Tom

VHF/Echolink
VE3DDU Ray - Nottawasaga
VA3RCA Kevin - Alliston
KO4DXQ Bob - Soddy Daisy, TN
VE3VCG Marvin - Paisley
VA3EAC Janet - Paisley
VA3MFO Jim - Mount Forest
VE3OZW Richard - Otter Creek
VE3BQM Bernie - Georgian Bluffs
VA3DNY Dan - Owen Sound
VE3DGY Doug - Anan
VE3WI Dave - Port Elgin

HF – 3.783 MHz
VA3MFO Jim - Mount Forest
VE3BQM Bernie - Georgian Bluffs
VE3DDU Ray - Nottawasaga
VA3RCA Kevin - Alliston
VE3OZW Richard - Otter Creek
VA3DNY Dan - Owen Sound
VE3RRN Dave - LAKEFIELD

Topic
Your thoughts on the current pricing of used transceivers.

A lively conversation was had, many points made, enjoyed by all.

After spending the afternoon with club WFD event in Ferndale, Ontario and lot of time left to get some of my own WFD contacts. 
It wasn't till almost 8:00 pm local when I made first QSO. I did a little S&P for first little while then started Running and QSOs started piling up. Near midnight the bands faded out except for 160 meter which was really packed with the 160 meter CW contest so I didn't bother calling CW WFD and I didn't hear anyone else doing the same. Decided to call it a night after logging 150 QSOs.  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz time. 
Got back to it again early morning about 5:00 am but it was slim picking until around 8:00 am. I managed to get few more QSOs on 80 meters then 40 meters opened up and was really productive as well as 20 meters. Snagged few on 15 meters but nothing on 10. By Sunday noon I didn't hear many new stations so called it a day. 

All in all, it was still fun. I could only qualify for 2 Objectives; points and operating 6 hours.

I worked 2 stations which were probably most active this WFD.
W4LX from Ft. Myers, FL operating 14O SFL and N5ILQ from Oklahoma, operating 11H OK.

My operating stats below

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.   Former RAC President Daniel Lamoureux, VE2KA SK

Radio Amateurs of Canada has received the sad news that former RAC
President, Daniel Lamoureux, VE2KA, became a Silent Key on December 2, 2023, at the
age of 79.  RAC would like to extend its sincere condolences to his family and
friends. A tribute article will be included in an upcoming issue of The Canadian Amateur magazine.
In addition to serving as RAC President, Daniel was also a member of the
Administrative and Finance Committee for several years. He also served as Area A Director
of Region 2 of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU).
Daniel served as President of the Fédération des clubs radioamateurs du
Québec (RAQI) for several years from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s.
-- Phil McBride, VA3QR, RAC President and Chair

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.   2024 Orlando HamCation Awards

The HamCation® Awards committee has announced the 2024 Orlando HamCation
recipients of the Carole Perry Educator of the Year and the Gordon West
Ambassador of the Year awards. Both awards will be presented at the 2024 Orlando
HamCation, on February 9 - 11, 2024.
Lewis Malchick, N2RQ, is the recipient of this year's Carole Perry
Educator of the Year Award.  He formerly taught chemistry at the Brooklyn Tech High
School, where he's an advisor to the school's Amateur Radio and Wireless Tech Club,
W2CXN.  Malchick is the trustee for the Stuyvesant High School Amateur Radio
Club, W2CLE, the chairperson of the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club Education
Committee and has participated in five ARISS contacts. He's spent his lifetime
educating children and adults about amateur radio.
The 2024 Gordon West Ambassador of the Year Award winners are Fred, AB1OC,
and Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB. The Kemmerer's hold Amateur Extra-class
licenses and are active in the Nashua Area Radio Society promoting amateur radio
instruction, youth outreach, and STEM education. Together, they've created and helped
grow Ham Bootcamp, a program encouraging more than 900 hams to learn new skills.
They're active in the club's training and licensing events, along with
Tech Night, which complements club meetings. Their participation in STEM activities includes
high-altitude balloon launches, foxhunts, and ARISS contacts for many
schools.
HamCation has been sponsored by the Orlando Amateur Radio Club, W4PLB,
since 1946, and is held annually on the second weekend of February.
-- ARRL News

3.  QRP Self-Spotting Website

Low power is fun, but especially if we manage to make QSO's or contacts.
QRP signals are usually weak and easily missed in noise and interference. That's why
we came up with the idea of creating a QRP self spotting Cluster, where every QRP
broadcasting enthusiast can announce on which frequency they are working, in which
mode, or with what equipment and power they are working.
-- QRP Cluster    https://www.qrpcluster.com/

4.  Why We Need “Shortwave 2.0”

Debate about the future of shortwave broadcasting focuses on the correct
observation that shortwave listening is no longer a mainstream activity in most of
the world.  The future of shortwave broadcasting — “Shortwave 2.0” — will not
involve any revival of those large audiences. Instead, it will be an activity of
communications enthusiasts and professionals. They would comprise a reserve corps able to relay
information to larger populations in their countries when newer media are blocked or become
unavailable.
The beginning of the end of “Shortwave 1.0” was described in “Shortwave
Broadcasting Begins Its Long Slow Fade,” an article in the 1995 World Radio TV Handbook.
The really big chunk fell from the shortwave glacier six years later,
when BBC World Service ended its English broadcasts to North America. In the following
years, other international broadcasters followed, first dropping shortwave to North
America, and eventually to other parts of the world.
Read more – RadioWorld: https://bit.ly/4912TYi

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

Net Controller — VE3OZW Richard - Otter Creek

HELP WANTED, please apply within!  Consider being a GBARC Net Controller (NC).  It is a positive learning experience and great fun.  The availability of extra Net Controllers means less work for everyone plus more variety.  It's a lot of fun and we are available to help anyone that is willing to step up and try.  

Topic for discussion -

1. Do you have a HamClock?  If so, what do you use it for?  Have you heard of HamClock?  Are you considering setting one up?
2. Do you use something similar like Simon's world map, Geochron or MacLoggerDX?
3. Open Mic

You can check out info about it at https://www.clearskyinstitute.com/ham/HamClock/

Bernie mentioned the image for KM4ACK Build-a-pi contains HamClock and much more.  https://github.com/km4ack/pi-build

I have also used the HamPi OS image which contains HamClock and many other programs for the ham radio hobby.  https://sourceforge.net/projects/hampi/


VHF/Echolink

VA3RCA Kevin - Alliston
VE3DDU Ray - Nottawasaga
KO4DXQ Bob - Soddy Daisy, TN
VE3RQY Greg - Brooke
VA3MFO Jim - Mount Forest
VA3EAC Janet - Paisley
VE3VCG Marvin - Paisley
VE3JMD Jim - Port Elgin
VE3BQM Bernie - Georgian Bluffs

HF – 3.783 MHz

VE3DDU Ray - Nottawasaga
VA3MFO Jim - Mount Forest
VE3BQM Bernie - Georgian Bluffs
VA3RCA Kevin - Alliston
VE3VCG Marvin - Paisley

Thanks to all, 73

The following screenshots show various different screens.  Lots of good useful information for radio operation.  Plus it just looks good on the wall in the shack.

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

1.   Canadian Ski Marathon 2024 (February 10-11, 2024)

Founded in 1966, the CSM is North America’s oldest cross-country ski
event. Held the 2nd weekend in February since 1967, it takes place in the beautiful
Outaouais region, centred on  Montebello. It is a two-day, family friendly event. It is not a race.
Skiers can ski on one to five sections each day. Each section averages 16 km, but there are longer and
shorter sections.
Checkpoints are set up at the start and end of each section.

Much of the ski trail used for the CSM is in semi-remote areas that have
little or no cell coverage. The CSM uses commercial digital radios for health, safety, and
logistics traffic.  However, the CSM needs the skills and knowledge of ham operators to run
a controlled net on the commercial radios. When equipment or environmental factors make
the commercial rigs difficult or impossible to use, 2m ham radio is used as a backup.

The important point is that the CSM needs people who are skilled at
operating on a controlled net.  Those are ham skills.  Volunteer now at
https://signup.hambone.ca/csm/
To comment, please send an email to Harrie Jones, VE3HYS
harriej59_at_gmail.com or to Neil Herber, VE3PUE ve3pue at hambone.ca.

-- Canadian Ski Marathon (RAC Events Database)

2.    USGS Thanks Winlink Amateur Volunteers for Shakeout Service

"We at the US Geological Survey really appreciate the work of the
Winlink amateur volunteers who contributed to the recent ShakeOut earthquake scenario exercise as
well as contributing to the USGS Did You Feel It? (DYFI) system since 2020. Winlink volunteers
have sent in more than 6,000 responses for exercises and actual events. We anticipate that
your contributions will help us provide critical situational awareness in the minutes and hours
after a significant earthquake.
You have a rather unique capacity to communicate after a damaging
earthquake.  "I've been really impressed with the enthusiasm and professionalism of
all the amateur radio operators we've worked with over the past few years who have been ready
and willing to develop the interface to connect directly to USGS via the DYFI system
and to the many operators who have sent in felt reports. Fantastic!
"Lastly, I also want to thank Vince Quitoriano (USGS contractor) for
making the connections between Winlink and USGS work so smoothly."
-- David Wald, PhD, Supervisory Research Geophysicist, U.S. Geological
Survey

3.   Neighborhood Radio Watch Ideas

The purpose of a Neighborhood Radio Watch program is to promote safety
and cohesiveness of the community neighborhoods by using radios to communicate. When
normal communications are lost, radio comms can save lives, or at least, reduce fears. When
times are tough, the ability to communicate with others can be calming. In normal times, scheduled radio
nets for the purpose of radio training and practice can help neighbors get to know one
another. That tends to make life better for those involved. For neighborhood communications, CB, General
Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) and Family Radio Service (FRS) radios are options.
We've tested out CB. In spite of excellent antennas, CB contact dropped
off after about 2 miles.  GMRS proved to be better. We communicated on channel 16, using maximum
power. Coverage was about 3 miles, maximum. FM gives a good signal until it starts to
fade. First it starts to crackle, but still remains copyable, then nothing.
The FRS radios we've tried are good for about half a mile. Since GMRS
and FRS can talk on the same frequencies, FRS can be a decent option for those who don't want to
spend the $35 to get a GMRS license.
-- Reid Tillery, K9RFT, Alachua County (Florida) ARES

4.  Solar Eclipse QSO Party April 8, 2024

The Solar Eclipse QSO Party is an opportunity for amateur radio
operators to operate during the April, 2024 eclipse, before, during and after it passes over North
America. Using various modes (CW, voice, and digital), QSOs made during the SEQP will contribute to
scientific studies focusing on the ionosphere’s reaction to the eclipse. The studies should lead to
a better understanding of the interactions between the Sun, the ionosphere, and radio wave
propagation. That research should benefit hams, professional broadcasters, satellite operators and other
users of the radio spectrum.
Eclipse paths can be seen at https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/.
Almost any ham station can participate. An HF radio and antenna, usable
on one or more of the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 10 and 6 meter bands is required.
The SEQP, while technically an 'operating event', closely mirrors the
definition of a ‘contest’.   
It is a friendly competition where participants endeavor to make many
contacts in a short period of time, over the widest possible area. QSOs will be short, with
specific information (callsigns, signal reports, station locations) exchanged between stations. If it is
your first contest, the first few minutes can be a bit overwhelming, but listen in, learn the
operating rhythm, and jump in!
The basic idea is to have as many hams as possible make as many QSOs as
possible, then collect their QSO data, carefully studying it for trends indicating how
far, how strong and where HF signals propagated vs. the path of the eclipses.
The HamSCI Data Processing Team will gather all of the entries submitted
on the SEQP website, visit propagation databases such as WSPRNET.org and PSKReporter.info,
and assemble millions of data points into a research database. From that database the HamSCI
Data Processing Team will be able to assign everyone a score, which will then be published
some months after the SEQP.  There is a solar eclipse event for those who are interested in
transmitting and receiving WSPR and FST4W signals: The Gladstone Signal Spotting Challenge
If you have questions regarding the Solar Eclipse QSO Party, send them
to   hamsci@hamsci.org
-- hamsci.org website

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