Multi sport race day is getting closer!

The Bruce Peninsula Multisport Race (BPMR) 2024 will take place Saturday, August 10th. As usual the organizers have asked for GBARC to provide radio support for their event.  The BPMR event takes place over a 100 KM course in the countryside area around Wiarton. As the name suggests, the race involves several sports and multiple stages. A hundred or more racers participate in Canoe/Kayaking, Biking and Running as they progress around the entire course.  The course is laid out over different terrain features with stages that are “on road” as well as “off road trails”. Racers are physically challenged by the demanding course with status monitoring by course marshals and radio volunteers positioned around the course communicating with organizers to ensure the racers safety.

GBARC members and Amateur Radio operators interested in joining a group of experienced operators provide radio communications to the race management team for the 100km race course on security situation report and race location status.  Amateur radio operators can now volunteer as Radio Operators.

With the length of the course, the more volunteers we have the better we are able to cover the whole course. The course offers up challenges for radio operators given a range of terrain issues creating opportunities to practice working as a group. The race also provides an opportunity to use our new mobile club repeater.

Volunteers are a vital part of the racers support ensuring communication coverage in an area that has many cell dead spots that we cover where regular race marshals cannot.  Our contribution to the event is very much appreciated by the racers knowing we have their back to get them help from the race management team since we communicate directly with them during the race event.  To give you an idea how seriously the race Management Team takes the contribution of Amateur radio, one of organizers is a Amateur Radio Operator driving around the course taking care of issues that may crop up as soon as we reach by radio in his vehicle.
If you are new to this event or have participated in the past and are able to assist with such an important community event that raises monies for local charities, then join us on the 100 km Long Course race day August 10th.  Complete the BPMR online volunteer registration form found at:

                          https://forms.gle/MHJxCkpZnTmCAjxN6

Answer all the contact information requests and the questions that follow as it pertains to the communication role.
Since the 100km run starts early in the morning and we cover their course and it takes a long time to complete, we typically indicate our availability for race day as:

    EARLY morning (5 am)
    Morning
    Afternoon

It is okay to not make the early morning as some of the locations need to have the radio operator in place by morning and does not require EARLY morning.  We do need a few operators though for early morning set-up and postings for the first 2 hours of Race Start.
Race organizers will let me know who has signed up so that we can get in touch with you all and get you the confidential course information as early as possible to assign your location in advance of showing up.  On event day, we will run a race Radio Net till the race is closed, usually by 16:00 Hrs.

So sign up now and get your names in early.

Till I hear from the race organizers and get back in touch with each of you directly.

Field Day 2024 is upon us this coming weekend.  Hope to see you all there at this great event that I think will be quite the event.

We are looking for folks to operate stations as well as possibly assist with set-up Saturday morning and tear down Sunday afternoon as well as bring an item to heat up supper.  A heating plate or BBQ or camping stove to heat up supper would be great.  That would complete the event requirements. 

Aside from the above, do come out to see what we have to display for any guests that show up.

  -  Mobile Repeater
  -  Off grid 100W HF stations
      >  Generator powered
      >  Solar powered
  -  HF radio email
  -  Portable HF antenna Tower with rotor
  -  Variety of antenna types
  -  Variety of emergency HF station set-ups

If you are going to bring something or would like to operate a station at any particular time, contact the club from the web site indicating what you will bring and/or what times you wish to operate.

Looking forward to seeing you there. 

Till Field Day, this is Frank, VA3-Golf Uniform Foxtrot saying 73.

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.   Russia withdraws from Worldwide Flora and Fauna

The Russian Flora and Fauna organization has severed ties with World Wide Flora and Fauna and will no longer participate in its awards program.

The coordinator of the Russian Flora and Fauna awards programme announced on the RFF website that it is withdrawing from World Wide Flora and Fauna activities effective immediately. Vitaly, RN3ANT, wrote that the decision was made with regret because of recent actions by the WWFF Committee, including the elimination in April of Crimean RRF park references.

Vitaly said in the June 7th posting that award applications that have already been approved will be completed but new RFF-H applications through WWFF will not. He said that Russia's own Flora and Fauna programme will continue to operate and issue awards.

-- Jeremy Boot G4NJH. (Amateur Radio Newsline June 14 edition)

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.  Shortwave Radiogram: Digital Modes that are not Phony.

Shortwave Radiogram program 358 will transmit digital and text images over shortwave frequencies June 13-19. The program utilizes MFSK modes transmitted from WRMI in Florida and WINB in Pennsylvania.
The following lineup will be followed:

1:46 MFSK32: Program preview
2:52 MFSK32: More phony than real US newspaper sites
7:38 MFSK64: Low-income New Yorkers rely on cell for internet
11:33 MFSK64: This week’s images
27:54 MFSK32: Closing announcements
See https://swradiogram.net/ for frequencies and times.

-- Shortwave Radiogram net blog

3.   Society of Broadcast Engineers: Malware attack

The ARRL is not the only membership organization to have suffered a malware attack recently. On May 30, the Society of Broadcast Engineers had its website  content and pages removed by malware, according to an earlier announcement.

On June 5th, an updated article posted on Radioworld.com said that the malware has since been removed and the SBE's website is back up and running. The  society assured members that none of their data had been compromised and they are now running scans to verify that any remnants from the attack have been eradicated.

The SBE comprises 116 chapters and more than 4,500 members who work in the broadcast and multimedia technology fields.

-- Radioworld.com news

4.  ARRL Systems Service Disruption  (Jun 6 update)

ARRL is working with industry experts, including cyber crime attorneys and the authorities, who have directed us to be conservative and cautious with our  communications while restoring the ARRL network.  ARRL’s association membership system was not impacted by this attack.  Additionally, the online ARRL Store is operating as normal. ARRL Field Day merchandise is still available for immediate shipping.  The digital edition of the July 2024 issue of QST will be available as
scheduled, on Friday, June 7. The print edition will go to press on Monday, June 10.  
As previously reported, the ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator is processing Amateur Radio License applications received from Volunteer Examiners who  completed candidate exam sessions. As of June 6, our staff are processing applications from exams given on May 22.  The publication of most ARRL 
e-newsletters, including the weekly ARRL Letter, has resumed with minimal disruption to regular schedules. A new platform for emailing newsletters has been implemented, leading to some variations in layout.

-- arrl 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

NCS Va3ts Tom

VHF
KO4DXQ Bob
VE3DDU Ray
VA3MFO Jim
VA3DNY Dan
HF
VA3MFO

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.   IARU 2024 Election Results

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) has re-elected Timothy Ellam, VE6SH/G4HUA, as President and elected Thomas Wrede, DF2OO, as Vice President. Both will serve 5-year terms.
Ellam begins his fourth term as President. Wrede has been active in IARU matters for several years and has managed the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC) international affairs team since 2009.
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is the worldwide federation of national amateur radio organizations. The membership of the IARU consists of more than 160 member-societies in as many countries and separate territories. ARRL is the IARU International Secretariat.
-- arrl news

2.  ARRL Field Day 2 Weeks Away (Jun 22-23rd)

The theme for 2024 ARRL Field Day is “Be Radio Active.” All amateurs and prospective hams are encouraged to use the Field Day Station Locator (www.arrl.org/field-day-locator) to do just that. Sites are encouraged to have a Get on the Air (GOTA) station for visitors interested in being able to get on the air from the Field Day location.
In a change to the rules for 2024, each GOTA contact adds five bonus points, with no limit on the number of GOTA contacts. This way, each contact adds bonus points, and it should give people a reason to stay radio active.

Complete rules and other resources for the event may be found at   www.arrl.org/field-day.
--arrl news

3.   RAC Canada Day Contest  (July 1st, 2024)

Each year on July 1, the anniversary of Canada’s Confederation, RAC sponsors the RAC Canada Day Contest and Amateurs all over the world are invited to Canada’s Birthday Party on the air.

This year there are several changes including:
• In support of the new RAC Headquarters Amateur Station, RAC contests will now recognize its call sign VE3RHQ as a new 20-point bonus call sign as part of the contest scoring. All the major software authors have implemented this change, so please update your software if you have not recently done so.
• We are no longer accepting paper logs. The RAC Contest Management Teams Web Log System at https://contest.rac.ca/ is the preferred method to submit logs and email logs will still be accepted for the near term.
• The Winnipeg Amateur Radio Club and the Manitoba Repeater Society have amalgamated into the new Radio Amateurs of Manitoba. They will now be the sponsor of the Rookie Plaque.
• We have received several inquiries about how the 10-minute rule was adjudicated in the Multi-Operator Single-Transmitter both HP, and LP.

As a result we have extensively rewritten Category Note 4 to provide more clarity.

If you have questions about these rules or need help with preparing or submitting your log or have any other questions, please contact Bart Ritchie, VE5CPU at ve5cpu@myrac.ca.
-- RAC website

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST

4.   The 13 Colonies Special Event will take place July 1-7.

13 special callsigns will be on the air, each one representing one of the original 13 British colonies that were first established in 1607. Three additional bonus callsigns will be on the air representing Great Britain, France, and Philadelphia.
Certificates will be available whether you work one or all colonies.  The bonus stations are not required to earn a clean sweep.  More information is available on the 13 Colonies Special Event website.

--13 Colonies Special Event

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

A challenge for all the techies in the group:  The heritage communications station SAQ in Grimeton, Sweden will transmit on 17.2 kHz, on 30 June, to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

To receive SAQ on this side of the Atlantic all you need is a receiver/converter good down to 17.2 kHz, a really good antenna, and ability to read CW.  

It can be done though, some Quebec hams copied SAQ last year.  I saw pics of their panoramic display.  (Just up the band at 24 kHz, was a really big signal from the US Navy VLF submarine communications station at Cutler ME.  No trouble finding them, but it's encrypted of course.)

Here's a link to the SAQ website:
https://mailchi.mp/fd8632166433/alexande...ef18602c4b

73
Dave, VE3WI

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. HAMVENTION ATTENDANCE SETS RECORD

The worldwide gathering of radio amateurs in Xenia, Ohio, was a record setter.
General chairman Jim Storms, AB8YK reported on social media that the official attendance set a new high of 35,877 over the three days.
That topped last year's attendance of 33,861, which was also a record-setter.  Jim credited the more than 700 volunteers who worked an average of six
hours to ensure that things went smoothly at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center.
Hamvention took place May 17th through May 19th.
The dates for Hamvention 2025 are May 16, 17 and 18.
-- hamvention.org

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.  FCC SEEKS INPUT ON SOLAR STORM AFTERMATH

If you got on the air - or TRIED to get on the air - during the historic G5 solar storm a few weeks ago, you weren't the only one to notice the impact of all those coronal mass ejections.  The HF frequencies experienced wide-ranging disturbances of a solar storm that peaked on the 11th of May and the FCC is hoping to take a second look at the impact. The bureau is looking for comments about disruptions experienced in voice and data communications between the 7th and 11th of May that are believed to be a direct result of the storm.
Commenters should submit evidence in the form of electromagnetic spectrum analyses, imagery, or chronological logs along with a description of the impacts. It would also be helpful to include the make and model of the affected communications equipment - everything from transceivers, receivers, transmitters and switches to routers and amplifiers. The details of the report should also include frequencies affected, the type of antenna and cable and any relevant observations,
such as the duration of the disturbance.  
File your comments no later than June 24th using the bureau's Electronic Comment Filing System, responding to PS Docket number 24-161. Submissions will
be read by the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.

-- Travis Lisk N3ILS - arnewsline.org.

3.  ARRL Systems Service Disruption

Our phone system has been returned to service. ARRL can be reached Monday through Thursday from 8 AM to 7 PM Eastern Time, and until 5 PM on Fridays.
Members can also email general inquiries to hq@arrl.org.
The ARRL International Digital Contest is this weekend, June 1 - 2, 2024, and the ARRL June VHF Contest is June 8 - 10, 2024. The ARRL Contest Portal will
be available with limited functionality at contests.arrl.org.
Members are reminded that the June 2024 issue of QST magazine, the special Field Day edition, can be viewed online. Members may also access digital
editions of QST dating back to 2012. Access to archives for QST issues older than 2012 is not presently available. For On the Air, QEX, and NCJ magazines, members may access the current issues and previous issues back to 2020.  Work is continuing to publish the July 2024 issue of QST magazine. We
anticipate an on-time delivery of the digital edition, and delayed delivery for those who subscribe to the printed magazine. We have heard from members asking
if they can renew their membership at this time. Members can renew online at www.arrl.org/join or by phoning ARRL.

-- arrl website

4.   The new QMX+

Last week without any fanfare, Hans Summers small company QRP Labs, launched the bigger QMX+. A full blown 160m-6m CW and Digital modes QRP rig. (SSB
to come in a future firmware release).  The radio is available as either a kit, or as a ready built option. With optional metal case and GPS Unit to aid frequency alignment, RTC, and Location.
Anything which Hans designs is tuned for high performance!  With easy step by step documentation for those who are competent enough to understand and build.
Price starts at $125 + case + options + carriage. (Price may also be subject to import charges, duty etc.)     Further details: https://shop.qrp-labs.com/qmxp
QRP Labs forum:  https://groups.io/g/QRPLabs/

-- Steve, G1KQH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com

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