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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. FCC To Vote on Removing Symbol Rate Restrictions (U.S.)
ARRL welcomes news of a scheduled vote by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) to consider removing symbol rate restrictions.
In the draft decision, the FCC would replace the current HF restrictions with a 2.8 kHz
bandwidth limit. The Commission also announced that it will consider a Further Notice in
which it will propose eliminating similar restrictions where they apply in other bands and
consider relying on signal bandwidth limits. If both actions are adopted by the Commission,
there will be a period for public comment on the Further Notice issues.
ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, said the changes
will result in a tremendous time savings during disasters, when every second counts.
"We will be very pleased to have the FCC remove the restrictions on symbol rate for the
amateur bands. This will eliminate the need for temporary waivers during an event and
provide the ability to train and exercise using the higher symbol rate, allowing increased
data capability to our served agencies and partners."
-- full article at arrl news

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST
2.  Amateur Radio STEM Education Takes Center Stage at Pacificon
ARRL Education and Learning Manager, and IARU Region 2 Youth Coordinator, Steve
Goodgame, K5ATA, gave the keynote address at the 2023 ARRL Pacific Division Ham
Radio Convention, also known as Pacificon.
His presentation, to a packed audience, was a highlight of the convention. Goodgame's
passion and vision for promoting youth involvement in the hobby shined in his speech
as he discussed STEM education and the importance of inspiring youth and teachers to
engage in amateur radio and wireless technology.
Watch "A Vision of the Future of Amateur Radio" on the ARRLHQ YouTube Channel
https://youtu.be/fTi8LDz4dS4?si=GQfSd3k2BS__ERMy
to learn how to grow the next generation of radio amateurs from one of the leaders in the space.
-- arrl newsletter
 
3.  Proposed Revision of the RST standard for signal reporting
The familiar RST standard for signal reporting was introduced in October 1934
QST magazine. The concept was developed by Arthur Braaten W2BSR who
correctly recognized that the signal reporting system then in use was, in his
words, “little better than useless”. Clearly Arthur’s RST system has been a
resounding success having been in global use for 89 years and running.
However, technology and time itself has developed to a situation where the
time has come for a revision.
Standard signal reporting revision really means upgrade the S term while
retaining R term and eliminating the T term.
S. The “S” term should not be just another judgement call but should be
established by instrument measurement and the overwhelming majority of radio
amateurs are already equipped to make this change. Traditionally the S-term is
an S-meter derived quantity. Also, the S-meter by itself does not report the whole
receive picture but even with S-meter inconsistencies it is still a good idea. The
role of the noise in the report is equally important; adjusting the S term to be a
signal to noise ratio would be ideal. Specifically, an S-term report of the signal
amplitude in dB above the noise floor provides a more complete picture of the
signal reception at that moment. Now that we are trending toward SDR receivers
with good panadapters the precise signal amplitude measurement as well as signal
to noise ratio may be established at a glance but an S-meter does the job as well.
S meter reading:
The S term attempts to quantify signal strength using a scale from 1 to 9 with
6 or 7 being a typical signal report for an easy-copy signal. The problem with the
signal strength term is that it does not include noise. With this in mind a revised
S term should express a signal to noise ratio as a single number. This would be
a number that reports the signal peak amplitude above the noise floor. This is
visually obvious when viewing a panadapter.
Persuading hams to adopt dB above NF strength report is bound to take time.
If all the folks who agree with these change recommendations there may be general
acceptance on the horizon. Here’s a possible road to adoption: All readers who like
this recommended signal reporting method continue to report signals with the
expected RST system but include this new RS system immediately following
the RST. Example: RST 589, RS is 5x12 - sig is peaking 12 dB above NF.
For a great many hams this is likely to spark a discussion. Hopefully, this article
will be referenced as an introduction.
Source: Tom Pierce K8EBR  (full article at daily.hamweekly.com)
4.  Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is planninga 40th anniversary celebration conference for February 22 - 24, 2024.
The 40th Anniversary Conference will be held at the Center for Space Education:
Astronauts Memorial Foundation, located adjacent to the NASA Kennedy
Space Center Visitors Center in Florida. Organizers hope to gather volunteer
teams, astronauts, space agency officials, educators, and space and amateur
radio enthusiasts to attend the event. For registration information and special
event pricing at local hotels, visit the event website at https://www.ariss.org/,
and choose the drop-down menu tab labeled 40th Anniversary.
ARISS is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and
the space agencies that support the ISS. In the US, participating organizations
include NASA's Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN),
the ISS National Laboratory -- Space Station Explorers, ARRL, and AMSAT.
-- arrl newsletter
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
_._,_._,_

Top links


[Video] New Elecraft KH1 transceiver demo
Wayne Burdick N6KR Elecraft cofounder talking about the new KH1.
KE6MT
ISS SSTV Verification Test Oct 27-Nov 1
The SSTV system will be activated to attempt to verify a replacement piece of hardware.
AMSAT UK
Being a YL in Ham Radio
A personal experience.
OnAllBands
40th anniversary celebration of the positive impact of Amateur Radio on human spaceflight
Held February 22-24, 2024, at the NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center.
ARISS
Eclipses do odd things to radio waves
An army of amateur broadcasters wants to find out why.
BBC
Linux Packeteering: The full service HF PBBS
How to set up your very own full service HF packet BBS on a Raspberry Pi.
N6CTA
Wind turbines for off grid radio: Pros and cons
Wind turbines, the forgotten stepchild of off grid power, deserves more attention.
Off Grid Ham
Listening to astronauts
All the elements screw together through the boom and so it makes it quick to put away and assemble.
GM5ALX

Video

K1N The Navassa Island DXpedition 2015
The complete video of the 2015 Navassa Island DXpedition.
HamRadioNow
USGS Shakeout exercise 2023 over Winlink: A video report
Participating in the USGS worldwide Winlink exercise.
LB4FH
Tape measure vertical on cheap dowel mast pulley system
Resonant on 5 bands.
HamJazz
Stealth foil antenna designed for a car sunroof
Simple antennas can bring joy and a sense of accomplishment.
Ham Radio Rookie

Hi Folks

If you would like a tri band 10-15-20 beam , 3 section of tower and Hy-Gain rotor and control box.
The widow of a past VE3TTV Henry would like to have it gone. 
Its located near Kelso Beach Owen Sound.
If interested a 50/50 split donation to the club and widow would be appreciated.

Other Equipment may be available.

Please contact Bernie VE3BQM via Text at 519.270.1330.

Thank

Attached Files

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.  Hurricane Watch Net Activates for Hurricanes Tammy and Norma

In an e-mail sent on the morning of Friday, October 20, 2023, HWN Net
Manager
Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, wrote:
This morning, we have 2 Hurricanes threatening landfall.
In the Atlantic, we have Tammy which strengthened into a Cat 1 Hurricane
overnight.
In the Eastern Pacific, we have Hurricane Norma. Once a Cat 4 Hurricane,
it is now a Cat 3 storm, threatening Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of
Baja California.
On Saturday, we will activate on 14.325 MHz (USB) at 8:00 AM EDT (1200 UTC)
and remain active until no longer required. If propagation dictates, we
will utilize
operations on 7.268.00 MHz (LSB)
-- arrl news

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2.  Amateur Radio Supports 2023 Chicago Marathon

On October 8, 2023, more than 140 amateur radio operators from five
Midwest states
assisted 2,000 volunteer medical personnel at the Bank of America
Chicago Marathon.
This is the 15th consecutive year that amateur radio operators have
helped coordinate
medical responses and arrange for medical resupplies.
About 49,000 runners entered this year’s event.
The event uses six main repeater channels and deploys four temporary
repeaters.
New this year was official use of the Automatic Packet Reporting System
(APRS) after
organizers trialed the system at their other events, including the Bank
of America
Shamrock Shuffle and the Chicago 13.1. APRS radios were deployed to amateur
communication teams in Chicago’s Grant Park after the race was finished.
A total of 30 radio operators worked in various capacities before and
after the race.
Also, there were 100 ham radio operators stationed at each of the 20
course medical
tents and the medical hub. In Forward Command, 10 amateur radio
operators served
as net controls, traffic handlers, logging specialists, and expediters.
-- full article at arrl news

3.  A POTA Book for Park Activators and Hunters

The Parks on the Air book gives you a look at the setups and processes
of 14 operators
from a variety of skill levels and backgrounds and offers advice and
motivation for taking
your radio out to a park. Each chapter includes a detailed gear list so
you can see exactly
what your fellow operators are using, whether they’re leaders of the
pack or folks just getting
started with Parks on the Air. Setups cover satellite operating, QRP,
urban backpack
portable, activating tailgate-style, wire antennas for POTA, and more.
The Parks on the Air Book may be purchased from the ARRL Store

https://home.arrl.org/action/Store/Product-Details/productId/2013464221

4.  Using Amateur Radio to Play Chess

Playing chess using amateur radio? The concept may have begun in 1912
when a group
of college students from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) wanted
to challenge
chess players at The Ohio State University (OSU). Though the official
origin is still being
debated, clippings from a 1912 issue of The Case Tech, one of CWRU's
former student
newspapers, reveal that the challenge was made when the CWRU Wireless
Club procured
a Morse code transceiver.
Nowadays, chess moves are relayed over the air by voice using EchoLink
through a
Cleveland, Ohio, repeater with algebraic chess notation relayed by
voice. In the future,
each chess team will determine what method works best for them based on
skill level and
participation.
HAMCHESS is a great way to reenergize amateur radio clubs and involve
other college
organizations. In 1945, the United States and the USSR squared off in a
radio chess
tournament using CW. In the 1980s, Chess and Amateur Radio
International, a club with
more than 200 members, used 20-meter SSB in a match between five US
players and five
players in Oceania, a geographical region spanning the Eastern and
Western hemispheres.
-- full story at 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

Top links


US Congressional Amateur Radio advocate not seeking reelection
Rep. Debbie Lesko recently introduced legislation to remove FCC symbol rate limit.
ABC 15
Revision of the RST standard for signal reporting
The time has arrived to adopt a new signal reporting system.
K8EBR
Meadow Day Experiment
Working Amateur Radio Operators using broadband Internet connectivity via Starlink.
N8GNJ
ARDC seeking committee members for 2024
ARDCs mission is to support, promote, and enhance communication science and technology, promote Amateur Radio, scientific research, education, development, open access, and more.
ARDC
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex
Live analog TV within voice bandwidth.
ZL2AFP
Signals – Museum of Information Explosion
New museum aims to foster appreciation for communication technology.
Signals
Using a municipal flagpole for an antenna
My municipal flagpole antenna was doing fine business.
Ham Radio Outside the Box
Madeira HF beacon CS3B destroyed in wildfire
The CS3B was part of the International Beacon Project.
EI7GL

Video

Ham Radio saves stranded motorist in New Jersey
There was no cell service to dispatch emergency services during Tropical Storm Ophelia.
KD2GIY
My Simple HF Ham Radio antenna and shack apartment setup
How I setup a 10m dipole, an MFJ BigStick and a shack with limited space, to produce the results I was looking for.
KI5IRE
2 meter band tape antenna is lightweight, portable
Duct tape, copper foil tape, and a way to connect to it can make for an amazing J-pole antenna.
Ham Radio Rookie
How to POTA and SOTA on VHF with a Technician License
Bring a chair, relax, enjoy the views, and most important have fun.
W6IWN

Oct 18, 2023
Topic: Car installation Trick or treat install.
Gbarc Anniversary  

VE3BQM Bernie Controller 
KO4DXQ Bob
VA3MFO James
VE3OZW Richard
VE3RQY Greg
VA3TS Tom
VA3DNY Dan

HF
VA3TS Tom
VA3MFO James
VE3OZW Richard
VA3DNY Dan
VE3RQY Greg

“Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill: “Get Ready to Shakeout” – Thursday, October 19
https://www.rac.ca/great-shakeout-earthquake-drill-get-ready-to-shakeout/
For immediate release:
This year's International ShakeOut Day is Thursday, October 19, when millions of people worldwide will participate in earthquake drills at work, school, or home! At 10:19 am (local time) on 10/19, you can join millions of people across the world practising earthquake safety.
 
 
Attention all Canadian Amateurs:
We would like to invite you to participate in the Great Shakeout on Thursday, October 19, 2023 at 10:19 local time. The Great Shakeout is the world's biggest annual earthquake drill, aimed at providing accurate ground truth in the event of a disaster.
In North America, it is sponsored by the United States Geological Survey and Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, Inc. (Winlink Global Radio Email). You can find more information on their websites, as well as on the FEMA (The Federal Emergency Management Agency) website and the RATPAC (Radio Amateur Training Planning and Activities Committee) website.
The primary objectives of the drill are as follows:
1) Send a Winlink DYFI report to the USGS and tactical address, QUAKE-23, within one hour of the earthquake at 10:19 your local time. However, it is acceptable to send your DYFI report later in the day as long as the time of the report is stated as 10:19. We have coordinated the Exercise ID 2023SHAKEOUT with USGS to make Shakeout reports easy to identify, so please use it!
2) Use RF if possible, but Telnet is also acceptable.
The ground truth reports will be mapped in the Winlink GIS software to produce a visual report, as seen in 2022.
Canada has experienced its fair share of extreme weather events, wildfires, flooding, and man-made emergency situations in 2022 and 2023. As a result, Radio Amateurs of Canada conducted a two-part annual Simulated Exercise on October 14 and 16 to test the skills of Amateur Radio operators in the event of an emergency or during a solar eclipse.
By participating in the Great ShakeOut, you will help professional services better understand the benefits of using Amateur Radio and our dedicated operators. Whether you are new to Winlink or have been using it for years, this straightforward drill will have a significant impact on promoting Amateur Radio in North America and the world.
Please support the Great ShakeOut by visiting the RAC website for more information.

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. Volunteer Opportunities with RAC

RAC continues to provide many programs and services to its members and
strives to adapt to meet today’s requirements, but we need your help to
do so. Please take a look at the following opportunities and consider
joining the RAC Volunteer Team. Contact information for each volunteer
position is provided below but please contact Alan Griffin at
marcom@rac.ca if you need assistance.

1) Information Technology (IT) and Website Management
We are always looking for volunteers to help with the RAC website and
with the Membership System.
Please contact RAC’s Chief Information Technology Officer Jeff Dale,
VA3ISP at cito@rac.ca for more information.

2) RAC Field Organization
National Advisory Committee and Sectional Council Positions
The following positions are full-time volunteer positions starting in
January 2023 with a term of two year. Applicants must be members of
Radio Amateurs of Canada.
Please provide a cover letter and resume to Jason Tremblay, VE3JXT,
Community Services Officer at community@rac.ca.

National Advisory Committee
Deputy Community Services Officer
National AuxComm Coordinator
National Community and Youth Coordinator
National Radio Traffic and Bulletin Coordinator
National Training Coordinator
National CanWarn Coordinator
Section Manager for the Territories

Sectional Council
The following positions are effective February 1. For information on any
of these positions or the application process, please email
community@rac.ca.

Deputy Section Manager
Sectional ACS Coordinator
Sectional Community and Youth Coordinator
Sectional Radio and Traffic Coordinator
Sectional Training Officer
Sectional CanWarn Coordinator
ACS Group Coordinator
ACS Rapid Response Team Leader
ACS Provincial Response Team Coordinator

-- RAC website

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2. Jamboree-on-the-Air is on October 20 - 22, 2023

Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA), the largest Scouting event in the world, takes
place on the third weekend of October (10/20 - 10/22).

This annual global operating event allows Scouts to use amateur radio to
connect with hams around the world. The event is supported by many local
amateur radio clubs and individual operators. JOTA starts Friday and ends
Sunday, but there are no official hours of operation, so you have the
whole weekend to make JOTA contacts.

More information about JOTA may be found on the Scouting website, at
https://www.scouting.org/international/jota-joti/jota/.

-- arrl news

3.  WRTC ANNOUNCES CHANGES IN QUALIFYING CRITERIA

The World Radiosport Team Championship competition to be held in England
in 2026 has announced some changes being made to the selection criteria
which the organising committee believes will make the qualification
process fairer. The announcement by event vice chair Lee Volante GØMTN,
writing in the WRTC2026 groups.io email-list, comes as the first of
several qualifying events takes place this month.

Two new sub-groups will be created in the qualification area comprising
Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. This will allow contesters to
compete more directly against other local operators for qualification |
points. Competitors in the United States call areas of 1, 2, 3 and 7
are also seeing changes which the committee believes will better
accommodate propagation differences in the region. For qualification
scoring among Western US operators, Nevada, Utah and Arizona will now
be grouped into one sub-area with Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana
and Wyoming into another. The northeastern US call areas will be
grouped into three sub-areas for scoring purposes. The states of
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode
Island will be in one sub-group; New York, New Jersey and the
United Nations call of 4U1UN will be in a second sub-group and the
third group will comprise Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and
Washington, D.C. There will also be more sub-areas for Alaska
and Canada.

The 15 qualifying events are taking place between October 2023
and March 2025. Competitors can submit scores from as many as
eight qualifying events.

-- Jeremy Boot G4NJH (Amateur radio Newsline)

4. Web based antenna designer and calculator

Rob (DM1CM) has created a website for all of us who find trying to
understand EZNEC, 4NEC2 and similar packages too hard. Rob says that
while the site is simplified and concentrates on common wire antennas,
it is still fairly accurate as behind the screen he is using antenna
modelling software. As the work is not done on your local PC some
operations can take a little while to complete but be patient and
it will get there.

As well as supplying dimensions for you to build one of the four
"standard" antennas (Linked Dipole, End-Fed-half-wave, Delta Loop
or Half Square (more to be added)), it also shows you the
propagation pattern, VSWR charts, antenna current diagram and the
smith chart for the chosen antenna.
Check out the site at www.sota-antennas.com.

-- Amateur Radio Daily

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

Top links

Web based antenna designer and calculator
Tools enabling design and modelling of simple wire antennas for portable use on HF.
Sota Antennas
CBC stops broadcasting official time signal
For more than 80 years the beeps and tones of the time signal have connected Canadians.
CBC
Migrating the shack PC to Debian Linux
I am very happy with the performance of applications.
DK1MI
A comprehensive Elecraft KX2 field kit
A kit that gives lots of options for antenna deployments.
QRPer
Put up a dipole for 10m, a very active band
A little dipole for 10m is not too much of a challenge.
Marxy's Musing on Technology
72 hours of emergency power on a budget
An American made solar briefcase which fits the bill.
OH8STN
FT-891 as an emergency CB
Spectral output of the FT-891 operated on the CB band is quite clean.
AE5X
QRP Contact from Australia to Spain with video from both sides
Originating from a portable SOTA activation.
SolderSmoke Daily News
ARRL launches NTS newsletter
The NTS Letter is a monthly digest of all things related to the ARRL National Traffic System.
ARRL

Video

GNU Radio tutorials for 2023
Tutorial by Daniel Estévez on getting started with GNU Radio Companion, gqrx, and rtl-sdr dongles.
BSRC Tech
How to turn a cheap extension cord into the ultimate 10 meter vertical
Recycling unused extension cords for antenna builds.
HamJazz
Demonstrating the FM capture effect
Why aircraft still use AM.
Tall Paul Tech

It this is of interest to anyone (likes and views), I will post it weekly too.

Richard VE3OZW

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Introduction to HF packeteering in the modern age
A brief overview of the current state of packet radio on the HF bands.
N6CTA
Discovery Dish pre-launch
A lightweight dish and feed for L-Band weather satellites and hydrogen line reception.
RTL-SDR
Double the Hamstick dipoles, double the fun
It's well secured to the chimney in a way that won't damage anything or anyone during the worst of Chicagoland weather.
KD9CPB
Building a DIY end-fed halfwave matching unit on an RCA connector
I stick with the 49:1 windings on the transformer and a 100pF capacitor shunted to ground.
N7KOM
Amazing what you can build from your junk box
I did not order anything from Amazon, instead looking in my parts drawer.
VA3QV
Hot Iron Newsletter
A highly technical quarterly newsletter for Hams.
W4NPN
Counterpoise testing
Testing changes to the radials on a Hamstick system.
WK4DS
Space junk crackdown intensifies as FCC gives first-ever fine to Dish
The U.S. government is cracking down on potentially hazardous trash disposal — in space.
Washington Post

Video

A fully-automatic RotoBug by WB9LPU
A system in which both dots and dashes are made by the same oscillating pendulum.
Antique Wireless Museum
Sci-Fi short film DUST
After repairing his Ham radio using parts found in the forest, a recluse radio operator receives a distress call from a stranded Soviet cosmonaut in orbit.