Worth a read. This is what REAL emergency communications is all about. When you have no power, no roads, no emergency services, no stores to buy even medications. To heck with licensing rules, ACS etc, this is a real life and death emergency situation.
https://qrper.com/2024/09/helene-afterma...r-30-2024/

The last few weeks have been full of difficult propagation conditions due to solar flares, CMEs etc. So I was very pleased to get a contact in Sweden this afternoon. I was activating Ainslee Wood Conservation Area near Leith for POTA with one of my QRP rigs. I was only putting out about 3-4 watts into a quarter wave vertical antenna on the beach. Maybe DX contacts will be more common as we get closer to solar max predicted for next spring.

Georgian Bay Amateur Radio Club
Net log September 25 2024
Net Controller Marvin VE3VCG

Subject: Space weather websites and previously announced celestial events in the news
Echolink:
VE3BQM Bernie
VA3EAC Kevin
KO4DXQ Bob

2 Meters:
OSR:
VE3RQY Greg
VA3DNY Dan
VE3DGY Doug
VE3YRB Sarah
GBT:
VA3MFO Jim
VE3OZW Richard
VA3EAC Jan
VE3VBE Mark

80 Meters:
VE3RQY Greg
VA3MFO Jim
VA3RCA Kevin
VE3DGY Dan
VE3OZW Richard
VE3BQM Bernie
VE3VBE Mark

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.  RAC Annual General Meeting 2024:

RAC members are encouraged to attend the Annual General Meeting which will be held online. Saturday, October 5.
Time: 3 pm (Eastern Time)
Agenda:
1) Report of the President
2) Review of the 2023 finances
3) Appointment of auditors for 2024

A Question and Answer period will follow the AGM proceedings.  This is your opportunity to hear what your representatives have been doing over the past year, to raise questions, and to make suggestions about how RAC is managed and where it is going in the future.  The meeting will be attended by members of the RAC Board of Directors and Executive and is open to everyone but only RAC members will be able to vote.

RAC Members can register for the meeting at:
https://ca01web.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Uqce6tpj8sGtdWOgThM-huZToAK59d2tHm

after registering you will receive a confirmation message with details on joining the meeting, and a zoom link.

The general public can watch the AGM streamed on the RAC YouTube channel at:   https://www.youtube.com/@radioamateursofcanada
-- RAC website

2.  RSGB to End Paper Based License Exams

Beginning January 1st, Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) will no longer offer paper based amateur radio licensing exams except for special educational needs. Already, 97% of all amateur license exams are conducted online remotely or within a club space.  Additional costs and effort around paper based exams were cited
as reasons to move to an all digital format. Key dates:
-- Source: RSGB

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST

3.  Operating Patterns among Canadian Amateurs

Frank Howell K4FMH has released his last article on the analysis of the survey of Canadian Amateurs commissioned by RAC in 2021.  This aricle concerns antennas. 62% use single element antennas on HF through 6m, 31% use beams, and the rest use a type of mag-loop. For VHF and higher 77% use a vertical  antenna, 19% use a multi element array (either horizontal or vertical), the rest use a single element. Frank's full report (all topics) is available
on his website   http://FoxMikeHotel.com
-- amateur radio weekly news

4.  Raspberry Pi Becomes Secure VPN Router

OpenWRT is a powerful piece of open-source software that can turn plenty of computers into highly configurable and capable routers. That amount of versatility comes at a cost, though; OpenWRT can be difficult to configure outside of the most generic use cases. This latest project seeks to solve a single use case for routing network traffic, with a Raspberry Pi configured to act as a secure VPN-enabled router configurable with a smartphone.

The project is called PiFi and, while it’s a much more straightforward piece of software to configure, at its core it is still running OpenWRT.  There’s built-in support for Wireguard-based VPNs as well which will automatically route all traffic through your VPN of choice. And, since no Pi router is complete without some amount of ad blocking, this router can also take care of removing most ads as well in a similar way that the popular Pi-hole does. More details can be found on the project’s GitHub page.

https://github.com/pifi-org/pifi-openwrt-raspberry-pi
--  Hackaday (Read More at the above URL)

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

I have a part roll of Belden 89907 coaxial cable. It is 50 ohm thin coax. Uses SMA connectors 
Data sheet https://catalog.belden.com/techdata/EN/8...chdata.pdf

Let me know if you need some, I can bring it to the next meeting.

Georgian Bay Amateur Radio Club
Friends of GBARC Weekly Net
September 18, 2024

Net Controller Janet VA3EAC
Topic: Open Mic

Participants:


Echo Link:
KO4DXQ Bob
VA3RAC Kevin

2 Meters:
Paisley Repeater-VE3OSR
VE3VCG Marvin
VA3MFO Jim
VE3OZW Richard

Owen Sound Repeater-VE3OSR:
VE3RQY Greg
VE3YRB Sarah
VA3DNY Dan
VE3TS Tom

80 Meters:
VA3TS Tom
VA3MFO Jim
VA3RCA Kevin
VE3OZW Richard
VEA3DNY Dan

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.  ICOM Japan issues statement

Icom Japan issued a statement regarding its IC-V82 handheld radio, a discontinued model that some reports say may have been counterfeited in connection with deadly explosions in Lebanon.  The company statement did not directly address those explosions by name but said that the radios and batteries, which were  manufactured and exported between 2004 and 2014, went to markets that included the Middle East.
Ray Novak, N9JA, senior sales manager for Icom America's amateur radio division, expressed certainty that the radios in question were counterfeit.
Acknowledging the relative ease with which unauthorized radios can be duplicated, Icom's website also includes detailed information showing how consumers are able to determine whether or not their radio is a counterfeit.
-- amateur radio newsline

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

2.  Two additional Aux-Comm Training Courses

The additional courses will be held in York and Niagara Regions.
York on September 21-22nd at York Region Operations Centre
Niagara on September 27-28th at Niagara Region Headquarters

Please see the RAC website for further information.

-- Jason Tremblay, VE3JXT   community @ rac.ca

3.  Sun Parlour Amateur Radio Club Fest

When:    Sunday Sept 29th
Where:    Half Century Club, 160 Talbot Road, Leamington
Time:        08:00 vendor setup, public 0900-1300
Cost:        $5.
Talk in:    VE3TOM 146.970-   118.8 PL
Description: for 12 years, a local club flea market, indoor event.
Web:        http://www.ve3spr.ca
info:        contact Mike VE3UCY or Tim VE3TMY
-- RAC events page

ITEMS OF INTEREST

4.  National Preparedness Month - Station Readiness

As ARRL continues the September series on National Preparedness Month, we turn to a critical element for radio amateurs and especially ARES volunteers: their station.  
Some things to consider:
Can your station operate off the grid? You could run on battery power temporarily if you don’t have a permanent battery backup situation.  
Can you power more than just the radio on an alternate power source.  e.g. lights, computer, internet connection.  Backup generators are great but sometimes only feed certain circuits in your home. If the whole house system does not power the station, a portable generator could be an option.
Test the system under blue sky conditions to ensure it works, also check for RF noise, and potential power drop.
Having backup antennas is also crucial. If we are dealing with storms, it may be useful to have alternate antennas on hand, especially for HF and VHF.
-- full article on arrl.org

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