For our special event station hunters, here's a notice from the ARRL newsletter:

Amateur radio operators will have an opportunity to contact the USS Iowa during the ship's 81st anniversary celebration.

USS Iowa (BB-61) is permanently moored at the National Museum of the Surface Navy in San Pedro, California, and was first commissioned during World War II on February 22, 1943.

The on-air event will be held on February 22, 2024, from 1600 to 2400 UTC. The Battleship Iowa Amateur Radio Association (BIARA) will activate NI6BB, the ship's original call sign, utilizing BIARA's amateur gear and a circa 1980s legacy station with an AN/URT-23 transmitter and an R-1051G/URR Navy receiver.

To help operators looking for NI6BB, the band plan below has been suggested to qualified associate operators. These bands have been screened to minimize conflict with other modes or known nets, but are subject to change due to existing traffic, contests, or band conditions. FT8 or FT4 operations will be on the standard frequencies for those modes.

Band             CW               SSB

40 meters  7.061 MHz     7.261 MHz
30 meters  10.116 MHz   ----------
20 meters  14.061 MHz  14.261 MHz
17 meters  18.073 MHz  18.161 MHz
15 meters  21.061 MHz  21.361 MHz
12 meters  24.900 MHz  24.943 MHz
10 meters  28.061 MHz  28.361 MHz

73
Dave, VE3WI

Interesting article

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-e...ms-aurora/

I haven't seen any auroras this solar cycle mainly of the cloud cover when it happened and I am surrounded by trees but definitely experienced the effects on the radio conditions. Hopefully we'll see less of these solar flares soon.

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.   RAC Canada Day Contest 2023 certificates available.

The results from the 2023 Canada Day Contest have been published and
posted on the RAC Web site. A reminder that certificate winners can download their
certificate from the RAC site at this link: https://contest.rac.ca/certificates.php
Please follow the directions on the page and enter the contest, year and
your call.  Click on the search button and the system will bring up a downloadable
certificate if you were awarded one for the contest being searched for.
Thanks for your participation in the 2023 Canada Day contest.
Full contest results are at: (https://wp.rac.ca/contesting-results/),

-- Bert Richie, VE5CPU

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.    State QSO Party Challenge results for 2023 are posted

Now four years old, one might expect the bloom to be off the rose for
the State QSO Party Challenge. However, reported statistics continued to increase and the
Worked All QSO Parties Award had another great year.
We again topped a million (1,189,221) QSOs that were reported to
3830Scores.  This is a slight increase over last years QSOs total (1,169,648).
2,095 operators submitted reports to 3830, also up slightly from 2022
(2,078). 883 of them qualified for the SQP Challenge with a minimum of two contacts in at
least two QSO parties.  Many of the number who did not qualify were in-state participants who
only participated in their own QSO party.
Participants certificates are available at:
https://www.b4h.net/sqpchallenge/
-- StateQSOParty.com website    https://stateqsoparty.com/

3.   Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications

The Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications is a library of
materials and collections related to amateur radio and early communications. The DLARC is funded
by a significant grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications, a private foundation, to
create a digital library that documents, preserves, and provides open access to the history of this
community.  Resources include callbooks, periodicals, newsletters and podcasts and
videos.

You can access the Digital Library at: https://archive.org/details/dlarc
-- hamweekly.com

4.  Winter Field Day 2024 is coming up soon.

Sponsored by the Winter Field Day Association, WFD is scheduled to run
from 1900 UTC on Saturday, January 27, through 1859 UTC on Sunday, January 28.
WFD is held on the last full weekend in January and is a communications
exercise that can be worked from the comfort of your home or in a remote location. You can
participate by yourself, with your friends and family, or with a local club.
Operators may use frequencies on the HF, VHF, or UHF bands and are free
to use any mode that can faithfully transmit the required exchange intact. Similar to
ARRL's Field Day, bonus points are earned in several ways, including from using non-commercial power
sources, operating from remote locations, making satellite contacts, and more.
WFD is designed to help increase your level of preparedness for
disasters and for you to improve and practice your operating skills in winter environments, as the
potential for freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and other hazards present unique operating conditions.
See the website for full details: https://winterfieldday.org/index.php
-- arrl news

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

Topic Spotting software, 2024 Dayton

VE3BQM Bernie Net control
KO4DXQ Bob
VE3DDU Ray
VA3RCA Kevin
VA3MFO James
VE3OZW Richard
VE3FP Adam Andrew
VE3RQY Greg
VA3TS Tom
VE3WI David Leslie
VA3DNY Dan
VE3XBO Bart

VE3XBO Bart
VE3DDU Ray
VA3RCA Kevin
VE3OZW Richard
VE3WI David Leslie
VA3MFO James
VE3DNY William

Interesting Finds: dxsummit.fi , qrzcq.com

If you want to go to Dayton, but don't want the hassle of finding accommodations and the long drive, here's an easier way to spend a day at the convention, on the Ann Arbour MI club's bus trip.

The downside is driving to Ann Arbour the day before and staying the night in a hotel, as the bus leaves at 04:30.  But you get a fun bus ride to/from the convention grounds with a great bunch of hams who've done this for years.  Price is $70 (US of course).

I did this trip in 2018 and it was a blast.

73
Dave, VE3WI
-------------------------------------------

Please share the following information with your local amateur radio club members.

The ARROW Communication Association is once again proud to sponsor a motor coach trip to the 2024 Hamvention at Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio. Started in 2002, this annual club activity has grown in size and reputation with hams across Michigan and Ontario.

To Register and see full Details visit: https://w8rp.org/daytonbus2024/
If interested, please register by March 10th

Join us on Saturday, May 18, 2024, when we depart from the park-and-ride lot beside Ann Arbor Pioneer High School (601 W. Stadium Blvd) at 4:30 a.m., arriving in Xenia around 8:30 a.m. On board, you can stretch out, relax, take a nap, chat with other hams, and enjoy a light breakfast with coffee as the coach takes you directly to the country’s largest amateur radio event!

Thanks
James AE8JF
President, ARROW
-----------------------------------------

A simple fill in form to contact the executive regarding donations. Links are found on the homepage and the "about GBARC" page

https://gbarc.ca/donate.php

RAC Ontario Sections Bulletin for January 6, 2024

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.   Registration for the RAC Advanced Course is still available!

The next RAC Advanced Course starts on Sunday, January 14 and Monday,
January 15 with 10 weekly sessions. You need to be a RAC Maple Leaf Operator Member
(present or future) to register for this course. See RAC website for complete info.

With your Advanced Certificate, you can run higher power, operate a
remotely-controlled station, obtain operating privileges when travelling overseas, set up repeaters,
be the trustee for club stations and even become an Accredited Examiner (AE) if you also have the Morse
Code qualification.

There is room on the conference server for 250 participants in each
session. Auditors are welcome to attend on a space-available basis, provided they are RAC Maple Leaf
Operator members.  You can sign up by following the instructions on the registration page.

https://www.rac.ca/rac-advanced-course-for-maple-leaf-operators-winter-2024/

-- Alan Griffin, RAC MarCom Director

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.    Quartzfest 2024 - January 21st to 27th, 2024

QuartzFest is a ham event held in January near Quartzsite, Arizona. No
other hamfest in the world brings together in one gathering so much innovation in mobile
antenna systems, mobile ham shacks, recreational vehicles, portable and mobile EMCOMM systems,
off-the-grid living, alternative energy and radio education. Work their special event station
W8Q or participate in the Northern Arizona DX Association DX Challenge.

-- Check out the website at  https://quartzfest.org/

3.   Hamclock "kiosk" application

Have some space on a wall in your hamshack and a spare raspberry PI
lying around?  Hamclock is an application that provides real-time space weather, radio
propagation models, operating events, and other information particularly useful to the Radio
Amateur.
Info at:    https://www.clearskyinstitute.com/ham/HamClock/

-- Elwood Downey, WBØOEW  (via hamweekly.com)

4.   Surrey Amateur Radio "Communicator" now available

The January - February 2024 Communicator, digital periodical of Surrey
Amateur Radio Communications is now available for viewing or download.
With 120 pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of
Canada and elsewhere.  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.

  https://ve7sar.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-january-february-2024-sarc.html

-- SARC

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