The BPMR race organizers only have 3 ham volunteers so far, Tim VE3RTE, Sarah VE3YRB and me.

Tara is looking for at least 2 more.  Fortunately there is no long course this year so the need for comm operators is less.

Race day is fast approaching -  Sat 10 August.  Hopefully not everyone is otherwise occupied.  Please volunteer if able.

Volunteer link: https://forms.gle/ok3hqtQnUdoy4rZ86 

73
Dave, VE3WI

GBARC Club Net
Wednesday, July 24 2024
Net Controller Janet VA3EAC
Operating on this occasion from a temporary dining room portable station.


Topics:
1) Do you have a contingency plan to operate if you home QTH is out of service?
2) If you have a garden, how well is it growing?


Participants:
Echo Link:


KO4DXQ Bob
VE3DDU Ray


2 Meters:
VE3RQY Greg
VE3DGY Doug
VE3VCG Marvin
VA3MFO Jim
VE3BQM Bernie


80 Meters
HF did not work for us for a combination of reasons and, Bernie picked up as Net Control for this portion of the net.

Notice to RAC members residing in the Atlantic, British Columbia / Yukon, Midwest and Ontario North/East RegionsAvis aux membres du RAC résidant dans les régions de l’Atlantique, de la Colombie-Britannique/Yukon, du Midwest et de l’Ontario Nord/Est (voir ci-dessous)
https://www.rac.ca/call-for-nominations-of-candidates-for-regional-director-to-serve-on-the-board-of-directors-of-radio-amateurs-of-canada-inc-2024/
Call for Nominations of Candidates for Regional Director to serve on the Board of Directors of Radio Amateurs of Canada Inc.
The Secretary of Radio Amateurs of Canada Inc. hereby solicits nominations for the positions of Director for the Regions of Atlantic, British Columbia / Yukon, Midwest and Ontario North/East (postal codes K and P).
If required, an election for this position will be held in October 2024. The Director will take office on January 1, 2025 for a two-year term.
Incumbents:

• Atlantic: Al Penney, VO1NO
  
• British Columbia / Yukon: Keith Witney, VE7KW
  
• Midwest: Ed Richardson, VE4EAR/VE4VT
  
• Ontario North/East: Craig Delmage, VE3OP
  

• must be a Full Voting Member of RAC
  
• must have reached the legal age of majority
  
• must reside in the Region for which he or she is nominated
  

• be printed or typed
  
• clearly indicate the candidate’s name, call sign and RAC membership number
  
• clearly indicate the names, call signs, RAC membership numbers and original signatures of ten (10) or more full voting members of RAC
  

• sign the nomination form, indicating a willingness to be nominated
  
• include with the nomination a brief biographical sketch/CV limited to 500 words succinctly setting out his/her background and qualifications.
  
• a candidate choosing to submit a biographical sketch in both English and French languages 
will be allowed 500 words in each language. 
The biographical sketch will not include any campaign platform material.
  

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.  Delivery of July-August 2024 TCA is delayed

The delivery of the July-August 2024 issue of The Canadian Amateur magazine has been delayed as a result of technical issues at the printer.
We apologize for the inconvenience.  The digital (eTCA) version of the July-August 2024 TCA is available for viewing or download at:   https://www.rac.ca/digitaltca/

-- Alan Griffin, RAC MarCom Director, marcom @ rac.ca

2. Call for Nominations of Candidates for Regional Director

The Secretary of Radio Amateurs of Canada Inc. hereby solicits nominations for the positions of Director for the Regions of Atlantic, British Columbia / Yukon,
Midwest and Ontario North/East (postal codes K and P).

If required, an election for this position will be held in October 2024.
The Director will take office on January 1, 2025 for a two-year term.

Incumbents:
Atlantic: Al Penney, VO1NO
British Columbia / Yukon: Keith Witney, VE7KW
Midwest: Ed Richardson, VE4EAR/VE4VT
Ontario North/East: Craig Delmage, VE3OP

See the RAC website for full details.

-- Secretary, Radio Amateurs of Canada,720 Belfast Road, Suite 217
Ottawa, ON K1G 0Z5

3.  WIA Seeks Input on Future of 40 Meter Band Plan

The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) is requesting feedback from members and general amateur operators to move closer to a standardized 40 meter band plan across the globe.  Feedback will be relayed to the IARU. The WIA describes the 40 meter band as one of the more disorganized bands in terms of global alignment on frequency use.
Issues include:

Inconsistent IARU member society band plans National regulatory constraints (FCC) Outdated band plans still in place following the band expansion granted at WRC2003 Wider use of digital modes

Hams may visit the WIA website to submit responses.
https://www.wia.org.au/

-- WIA

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

4.  Hanover Ham Haul

Date:               Saturday, August 10, 2024
Location:         Hanover Drive-in Theatre, Hanover, ON
                       GPS coordinates  44.1508 N, 81.0033 W.
Times:             Vendors at 0830, public at 0930 hours until 1300 hours.
Cost:               $5.00 per person Children under 12 free.
Talk-in             146.520 simplex, no tone
Description:    This is the sixth annual Hanover Ham Haul
                       This is a BYOT (bring your own table) hamfest.
                       All proceeds after expenses go to the support of local charities.
E-Mail    davemargetts @ bmts.com
Webpage:    https://www.ontars.com/

ITEMS OF INTEREST

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

Wonderful weather today for the BARC 50th Annual Ontario Hamfest!
Great to see so many familiar faces!
Check out my photos at this link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EHmZyb4YEdWJHH7Q9

73,
Kevin VA3RCA

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

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1.  Advance Notice of Basic Amateur Radio Exam Update

Working with the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) plans to update the Basic Amateur Exam
questions and answers in early 2025. An advance copy, in PDF format, will be posted in the coming months on ISED's Downloads page so that instructors and
examiners can update their material before the transition. After this update, ISED will perform a similar review of the Advanced Amateur Exam, with new exams expected after 2025.  The existing Basic Question Bank will be used until the new bank is implemented sometime in 2025.

RAC’s Examination Standards Committee is now working on recommendations for updates to the Advanced Question Bank.

-- Dave Goodwin, VE3KG, Regulatory Affairs Officer
regulatory @ rac.ca

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

2. 14th annual - Junk-in-the-Trunk - Barrie ARC Hamfest

Sponsor:     Barrie Amateur radio Club
Date:           Sunday, July 28, 2024
Location:     410 St. Vincent Street - Barrie Legion #147
                   Overflow parking at the Tims plaza across from Legion or Medical building plaza
Times:        Outdoor Vendors 7:30,  General Public 8:30
Cost:         General Public - FREE - FREE - FREE
                  *** Donations to the Legion would be gratefully accepted
Vendors     $10 per space - $10 for any extra spaces
Talk-in:       147.000+ Tone 156.7 VE3RAG repeater
Description:    Profits will be split and donated to the Barrie Legion
Webpage:    https://barriearc.com/

-- RAC Event Calendar

ITEMS OF INTEREST

3.  ARRL Developing Performance Analysis Program for NTS

The National Traffic System (NTS) will soon be evaluated with new tools to help improve system performance. The ARRL is developing a web-based Performance Analysis Tool (PAT) to ultimately improve speed and accuracy of the traffic system. Additional training materials will also be developed to improve NTS  performance. Once the new tools are complete, the ARRL will hold a test exercise to measure their effectiveness.

-- ARRL NTS Letter

4.  The July-August 2024 SARC Communicator now available

With another big Summer issue. The July-August 2024 Communicator, digital periodical of Surrey Amateur Radio Communications is now available for viewing or download.  We bring you 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.

You can download it as a .PDF file: https://bit.ly/SARC24Jul-Aug
or read it on-line:    https://www.calameo.com/accounts/7665474

-- Surray Amateur Radio Communications

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

GBARC 2M net;                                                 
VE3OSR 146.94MHZ & VE3GBT 146.73MHZ

The RWS project allows anyone using an HF radio and a computer to access the internet from anywhere if needed, either because of an emergency or if you simply go somewhere that doesn't have internet.

The current implementation of the server uses the VARA modem, which is free, though the uncapped speed version costs $70. (But, if you call CQ and a server with a licensed copy of VARA answers, there won't be any restrictions, and vice versa for any unlicensed server hosters)

The server has a lot of built-in commands which allow you to:
View a website (either in plain text or raw HTML)
Perform a quick search
Get the weather forecast for a given city + state
Download a given URL (download is encoded into base64 to allow download through text, instructions for how to decode are given alongside the download)
View and create threads and comments in the community section of the GitHub of the project
Print server info, logs, and global active servers

I've read Part 97 of the FCC and I've made sure my server is fully legal.

My end goal for the project is to have hundreds or thousands of servers hosted around the world, which would allow coverage for almost everyone on Earth.

The server and instructions for how to host your own are listed at the GitHub:
https://github.com/Glitch31415/rws

To connect to a server, make sure you have VARA and VarAC installed. Once those are installed and working correctly, go to 14.110 MHz USB and call CQ. (Both 500 Hz and 2300 Hz bandwidths are supported.) Wait for at least 2 minutes. If a server has heard you, it will call back and try to connect with you. The list of commands and other instructions are sent once you're connected.

I need testers and server hosters to properly see if the server will work correctly in the real world! If you aren't using your radio at the moment, and if you have a computer connected to the radio, you can get the server running in 10 minutes and just let it sit in the background, waiting for a connection, with no further hassle needed.

If you want an external helper for dealing with the downloads and base64, KC3VPB has created a helper that can decode base64 automatically and save it to a file.
https://github.com/Caleb-J773/rws-tools-...e/releases

For more info or if you need help, email me:
jpradiophone@gmail.com

RWS Discord invite link:
https://discord.gg/muYEBCjqsM
_._,_._,_