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Radio Amateurs in Atlantic Canada Go on Standby During Telephone Outage
08/09/2017
Atlantic Canada authorities called on Amateur Radio operators in parts of Nova Scotia on August 4, in the wake of a telephone service outage. According to CBC, Bell Aliant landline and cell services were down, starting at approximately 11:20 AM. Telus, Virgin, and Koodo users were also affected. Jeremy Fowler, VE1JHF, a member of the Halifax Amateur Radio Club, said he and other members of his group were put on standby to help the municipality cope with any communication problems.
"A bunch of us pulled out our gear and were on the air, ready to go, cars loaded up," he told CBC. "At that point, everything was kind of coming online, so they told us to stand down."
Martin Swinimer, VE1KLR, expressed surprise that emergency services didn't try to contact him to assist with communications. He and Chris Vessey VY2CRV, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, said they were on stand-by as well.
Vessey told CBC that the phone outage might serve as a wake-up call, and he'd like the public be better educated on how ham radio works, in the event of another phone outage or emergency situation. The outage was blamed on damage to two optical fiber lines, and even emergency responders across the region experienced some disruption in connectivity.
Non disponible en français
Note: the following message contains an updated bio for Phillip A. McBride, VA3QR/VA3KPJ
Two nominations have been received for the position of RAC Director for the Ontario South Region. Following a review of the documentation submitted and taking into account the constitutional and election process requirements, the Committee determined that the nomination papers were complete and in order for Philip A. McBride, VA3QR/VA3KPJ and Igor Slakva, VE3ZF/VA3YDX. Their bios are included below and are also available on their websites.
The Committee recommended a Ballot by Mail pursuant to Article 6 (Method of Election) in the RAC Constitution, for the Director for the Ontario South Region. Ballots are now being distributed by RAC volunteers to the applicable postal codes from RAC Headquarters. The closing date for the return of ballots to RAC Headquarters at the address shown at the bottom of this message is Friday, September 15 by 12 noon. For more information please see the Director's Nomination Notice on page 12 of the July-August 2017 issue of The Canadian Amateur magazine.
Philip A. McBride, VA3QR/VA3KPJ
Amateur Radio has been my passion for more than half of my life. First licensed in 1994, I currently hold my Advanced + Morse Code Operator Certificate. I have been a supporter of RAC since shortly after joining my first Amateur Radio club in 1995, and am currently a Maple Leaf Member. Previous to being elected to the RAC Board of Directors, I have served as both Emergency Coordinator and Assistant Section Manager in the RAC Field Organization.
The past two years have been very eventful for me. Aside from my responsibilities as a Board member, I was the licensee and sole Canadian member of the 2016 CY9C St. Paul Island DXPedition which garnered 64,000+ QSOs. I also had the honour and privilege to operate the commemorative TM100VIMY station at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in Vimy, France this past April. Emergency and Disaster Communications remain one of my primary focuses in Amateur Radio. I am a RAC Certified Emergency Coordinator, and an active member of the Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio System. Locally, I’m an active member of the Guelph Amateur Radio Club, and I host the VE3YAP APRS Digipeater, and Layer-2 Ontario APRS I-Gate and Server.
During my first term as Ontario South Director, I have spent as much time as possible meeting and getting to know the Amateurs in my constituent area, and have worked to solve whatever problems that have been brought to me by the membership. Additionally, I have brought my 17+ years of business experience to the RAC Audit and Finance Committee, where I help to manage the finances of the organization and ensure continued stability and viability. Finally, I have worked with my counterpart in Ontario North-East to ensure that Amateur Radio operators in Ontario retain the ability to operate mobile under Ontario’s Distracted Driving regulations. At time of writing, we have had a very enlightening and productive meeting with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and are anticipating a positive and permanent resolution on this matter.
I look forward to being able to continue the important work that RAC does for the Canadian Amateur Radio community and represent the RAC members in Ontario South.
For more information please visit my website at: http://va3qr.ca/racvote2017/
Igor Slakva, VE3ZF/VA3YDX
I was born on November 17, 1962, in Donetsk, Ukraine. I got the SWL call sign UB5-073-3135 in 1978, few years later I became a consistent “Top 3” SWL'er in the USSR.
After high school and Civil Engineering Institute I served in the Soviet Army (1983-1985) as a radio operator. After the military, in 1985 I got the call sign UB3IDX; after getting independence in Ukraine my call sign was changed to US1IDX. For contest operation I have used call sign US1I. Since 1985, I facilitated the largest communal organization, as the Director of SWL section, Donetsk DOSAAF division and was the President of the SWL Donetsk Radio Club, which bolstered more than 4,000 members.
I started my next education in the Donetsk Polytechnic University in 1985 and completed it with a Master’s degree in Computer Sciences in 1990. In 1990, I joined the Amateur Radio Club UR3IWA, and I became its President a few years later. Around the same time, I organized multiple teams of performance-oriented members for participation in the National USSR and European Contests; for many of which we finished in the finalist bracket.
From 1992 until 1999, I worked in the First Ukrainian International Bank as a Head of the IT Technical Support Group, where I was responsible for the global banking network across Ukraine. I immigrated to Canada in 1999. Currently, I live in Stoney Creek, Ontario and for the last 12 years I`ve been employed as a Network Analyst at Smith Detection. My job primarily consists of overseeing the security, functionality and maintenance of Smith’s corporate computer network across Canada.
I got the call sign VA3YDX in 2002. At the present time I am active on the air as a VE3ZF and VE2IDX. During the last 15 years, I have organized over 40 DXpeditions to the Caribbean and the Canadian North. I have organized multiple teams who were winners and record holders in the RAC Canada Day Contest, RAC Winter Contests and Ontario QSO Party. I have also established two national Canadian records from Zone 2 (Northern Quebec) in CQ WW DX Contest with the call signs VE2IDX and VC2X. My current primary objective in Amateur Radio is the formation of new teams to operate and finish in the first place of the National, North American and World Wide competitions. I am a member of Radio Amateurs of Canada, the Manitoulin Amateur Radio Club and Contest Club Ontario.
Excluding Amateur Radio, my supplementary hobbies include skiing, kickboxing, photo-video and public speaking presentations. I make it a point to live an active, healthy lifestyle and occupy myself with sports.
For more information please visit my website at: https://www.ve3zf.com/
The closing date for the return of ballots to RAC Headquarters is no later than 12 noon on Friday, September 15, 2017.
Please send the ballots to:
RAC Corporate Secretary
Radio Amateurs of Canada
720 Belfast Road, Suite 217
Ottawa, ON K1G 0Z5
Sukwan Widajat, VA3WID
RAC Corporate Secretary
Alan Griffin
RAC MarCom Director
RAC Stations Schedule (as of August 7, 2017)
http://wp.rac.ca/rac150/operations/
Non disponible en français
Volunteers are needed to activate the 14 RAC stations for the RAC Canada 150 Award. The following schedule is as of August 7, 2017 and new volunteers will be added as the names are submitted.
VE1RAC – Scott Nichols, VE1OP, of North Sydney, Cape Breton, will operate from August 7 to 31. Scott is a RAC Maple Leaf Member and a very active, accomplished DXer and Contester. Kevin Morgan, VE9MY, Russ Hemphill, VE9FI, Linda Friars, VE9GLF and Patricia, VE9DZ, will use VE1RAC from October 6-14 from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.
VA3RAC – Dennis Rule, VE3BF, will operate from August 6-11; Rob Noakes, VE3PCP, on Saturday, August 12 for International Youth Day; Steve Edwards, VA3TPS, from August 15 to 18 and August 21 to 25.
VE5RAC – Saskatchewan Section Manager, Summer Hartzfelk, VE5SDH, operated the VE5RAC call sign on Saturday, August 5 for the North American QSO Party contest from Saturday at noon to midnight. It was a CW operation.
VE7RAC – Fred Orsetti, VE7IO, has organized the following volunteers to operate the VE7RAC call sign for the rest of the year: Doug Pichette, VA7DP, Gabor Horvath, VE7JH, Al McNeil, VA7QQ, John Mackay, VE7RB, Al Ross, VE7WJ, Jim Smith, VE7FO, Rebecca Kimoto, VA7BEC, Koji Kimoto, VA7KO, Brian Summers, VE7JKZ, John White, VA7JW, John Schouten, VE7TI and Fred Orsetti, VE7IO. A schedule is available in PDF format (81.5 kb) at http://wp.rac.ca/rac150/operations/
VE9RAC – Jean-Paul Leblanc, VE9BK and Marcel Leblanc, VE9ML will be activating VE9RAC throughout the remainder of the year.
VO1RAC – Boyd Snow, VO1DI, RAC NL Section Manager, has organized several RAC members across Newfoundland to activate VO1RAC for the remainder of the year. The operators are: Boyd Snow, VO1DI, Doug Mercer, VO1DM, Frank Davis, VO1HP, Ken Tucker, VO1KVT, Loren Butler, VO1PWF, Ross Trickett, VO1ROS, Carl Milley, VO1UL and Max Powell, VO1VR.
The best way to keep tabs on the activations will probably be by watching the DX Cluster (e.g., dxsummit.fi).
We are hoping to get all of RAC stations on the air for the RAC Canada Winter Contest on December 30.
For more information on the RAC Canada 150 Award and how to volunteer to activate a RAC station please visit http://wp.rac.ca/rac150/ and http://wp.rac.ca/volunteers-needed-to-activate-for-rac-canada-150-award/
Alan Griffin
RAC MarCom Director
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