Members of the Quinte Amateur Radio Club and Prince Edward Radio Club set up a station at Jane Forrester Park (Meyers Pier) Belleville to participate in SPAR Winter Field Day on Jan 29, 2011. The participants braved the cold to set up in the open with an antenna supported by two sign posts. At one point a "mystery lady" arrived with coffee and chocolates for the participants. It wasn't until she had left that they realized she was a stranger to everyone in the group. Those participating included Art, VE3SQG, Don,VE3LYX, Peter, VE3UR, Tim, VE3UO, Brian, VA3BRW, Greg, VE3CH (& son), Dave, VE3DAD, and Bob, VE3QWB.
Check out photos of the event:
http://picasaweb.google.com/106344294636539420815/WinterFieldDay2011#
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Almonte Amateur Radio Club's Repeater Installation
During 2010 the AARC installed an analog repeater station at the Almonte Fire Hall that is linked with the Lanark North Leeds ARES radio network. This allows amateur radio communications by portable or mobile stations over a large area.
Last year the club also installed a hospital sponsored amateur radio station at the Almonte General Hospital.
"Our goal in 2011 is to purchase and install the necessary digital equipment for the effective operation of our Amateur Radio Emergency Service," explained Webb. "Thanks to this new technology our volunteer radio operators won't be limited to simply passing along voice information during an emergency. We'll also be able to relay important data, such as GPS coordinates, data files, and images. These can be printed at the Emergency Operations Centre and handed directly to the agencies we serve."
For information and photos about the club's community work, visit the AARC web site: www.almontearclub.ca.
Last year the club also installed a hospital sponsored amateur radio station at the Almonte General Hospital.
"Our goal in 2011 is to purchase and install the necessary digital equipment for the effective operation of our Amateur Radio Emergency Service," explained Webb. "Thanks to this new technology our volunteer radio operators won't be limited to simply passing along voice information during an emergency. We'll also be able to relay important data, such as GPS coordinates, data files, and images. These can be printed at the Emergency Operations Centre and handed directly to the agencies we serve."
For information and photos about the club's community work, visit the AARC web site: www.almontearclub.ca.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Monthly EC Report for Frontenac County ARES Group (2011/January)
Ontario Section
Monthly EC Report for the Month of January, 2011
Comments:
The Frontenac ARES Group took part in the SPAR Winter Field Day. This is the fifth
year we have done so. We deployed to a small uninsulated summer cottage,
65 Km. North of Kingston, and operated for 24 hours under less than ideal
conditions. VE3SIQ, VE3MNE, VA3ORP, VE3CLQ and our DEC, VA3WOW, all took
part in the Winter Field Day.
This event is designed to teach us how to deploy and operate under frigid
winter conditions. We do hope that everyone realizes that not all
emergencies happen in good, warm weather, and we need to be prepared for
deployments in all seasons.
Our next activity also has a winter theme. We have been asked to help the
Lanark-North Leeds ARES Group to provide communication for the Rideau Lakes Sled Dog Races at the end of the February, 2011.
Monthly EC Report for Prince Edward ARES Group (2011/January)
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
Ontario Section
Monthly EC Report for Prince Edward ARES Group in the Loyalist ARES District
Comments:
15 January With Kevin Maylin, VA3THB, conducted a half-day training
workshop on IMS100, for Bill Milligan, VA3WOW, Gilbert Provost, VA3NQ, Owen
Clark, VE3ORC, and Dave Whattam, VE3WHM.
17 January Assisted Bill Milligan, VA3WOW, DEC Loyalist District,
reviewing a draft of an operating manual for Loyalist District prepared by
Bill Nangle, VE3CLQ, of Frontenac County ARES.
17 January With Bill Milligan, VA3WOW, DEC Loyalist District, attended the
monthly meeting of the Kingston ARES group.
19 January With Bill Milligan, VA3WOW, DEC Loyalist and Peter Hodgson, VE3UR,
EC Hastings, participated in a presentation to the Quinte Amateur Radio
Club.
20 January With Bill Milligan, VA3WOW, DEC Loyalist District, attended the
monthly meeting of the Frontenac ARES group
27 January With Dave Whattam, VE3WHM, ran the VE3TJU backup generator and
familiarized Dave with the generator and repeater setup.
Ontario Section
Monthly EC Report for Prince Edward ARES Group in the Loyalist ARES District
Comments:
15 January With Kevin Maylin, VA3THB, conducted a half-day training
workshop on IMS100, for Bill Milligan, VA3WOW, Gilbert Provost, VA3NQ, Owen
Clark, VE3ORC, and Dave Whattam, VE3WHM.
17 January Assisted Bill Milligan, VA3WOW, DEC Loyalist District,
reviewing a draft of an operating manual for Loyalist District prepared by
Bill Nangle, VE3CLQ, of Frontenac County ARES.
17 January With Bill Milligan, VA3WOW, DEC Loyalist District, attended the
monthly meeting of the Kingston ARES group.
19 January With Bill Milligan, VA3WOW, DEC Loyalist and Peter Hodgson, VE3UR,
EC Hastings, participated in a presentation to the Quinte Amateur Radio
Club.
20 January With Bill Milligan, VA3WOW, DEC Loyalist District, attended the
monthly meeting of the Frontenac ARES group
27 January With Dave Whattam, VE3WHM, ran the VE3TJU backup generator and
familiarized Dave with the generator and repeater setup.
Monday, January 31, 2011
The Frontenac ARES Group's Winter Field Day Experience
from THE FRONTENAC TIMES (Newsletter of the Frontenac ARES Group)
February 2011
Well it was a great weekend for Winter Field Day. VE3FRG operated as a multi-indoor station. On Saturday, we had light snow and -5C and on Sunday, we had more snow and -18C.
The road into the cottage was interesting, as it was not properly ploughed out, and the “slide all over the road” factor was high, but we all made it safely, including Bill, VA3WOW, from Belleville.
Once we unloaded the small mountain of gear into the cottage and got the wood stove going it was back outside to string up the antennas. It took us a little over two hours to get two dipoles into the air and run the coax for them. Dave,
VA3ORP, erected his vertical antenna and radial system on the lake ice and that took him over an hour to do.
It really is amazing just how much longer it takes to do simple things in the cold weather (about 4 times as long). The other winter problem we experienced was working with gloves on. It’s very hard to do, and it is very easy to drop parts into the snow if you are not extremely careful…….and on that subject, George is looking for a new pair of wire cutters, if anybody has a spare pair.
It took a good five hours for the cottage to warm up to a comfortable level, but after seeing the photo’s of Bob, VA3RCS, standing out in the cold and operating, I shall not complain…….because I know Bob would never let me forget it.
It was a tight fit with the 5 of us in the cottage, and sleeping space was at a premium……just ask Dave!
Don VE3MNE made his usual field day supper...."Gilroy's Gourmet Road Kill Chili", and as usual it was superb.
Bill VA3WOW contributed a very nice bottle of Cabernet merlot for supper, called "Cape One". It's a blend of Canadian and South African red wines and was outstanding. It is highly recommended to all our resident “winos”.
Operating wise, we made 70+ contacts, 35 on SSB, 1 on PSK31, and the remainder on CW. For the most part, the daytime propagation on the bands went from “bad” to outright “bloody miserable”. But, on Saturday evening 160m was just hopping with CW signals, but no SSB was to be heard. George, VE3SIQ, operated 20m to good success, and Don VE3MNE and Bill VE3CLQ operated 80m, 40m SSB and PSK31.
We made a number of good DX contacts, including EC2DX, Imanol in San Sabastian, Spain, YT1A, Vladan in Kraljevo, Serbia, PI4DX a club station in Walsoordeu, Netherlands, and IK6CWQ, Lou in Torrebecchia, Italy. Dave
also completed a CW contact to Paris, France, but I do not have the CW log to note the callsign.
Sunday morning Bill, VE3CLQ, checked into the Pothole Net, run by the Ottawa Valley Mobile ARC, and had three short QSO's with ED, VE3GX, Glenn, VE3XRA, and Ernest, VE3EJJ. He was hoping to have a short contact with Bob, VA3RCS, or Martin, VA3SIE, but they where nowhere to be found.
All-in-all it was a good weekend with lots of lessons learned.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Eldorado Gold Cup Sled-Dog Race (2011/01/22)
On Saturday, January 22, 2011, amateur radio operators from the Prince Edward County ARES group and the Hastings County ARES group in Loyalist ARES district were joined by local hams and those from as far away as Port Hope and Thornhill to provide communication for the annual Eldorado Gold Cup Sled-Dog Race south of Bancroft, ON.
Tim (VE3UO) provided leadership as “net control". Pete (VA3PGB), Susan (VA3PWS), Bob (VE3QWB), Matthew (VE3OCC), Joe (VA3JAD), Gary (VE3IVU) and Doug (VE3ZDG), were joined by Gord Hewitt (VE3GIH), Greg James (VE3GVJ) and Lee McMurter (VA3LHM), who traveled considerable distances to help out. They provided communication from each road-crossing and race check-point to ensure the safety of race participants and spectators, as well as to transmit race results to the start/finish line. Lee’s father, Harry (VA3HJM), dropped by in the afternoon to see how things were going.
Race communication was conducted via a new 2m. repeater (146.610- MHz.) at McCrea, ON., operated by the Central Ontario Amateur Radio Club. Those using the repeater were impressed by its coverage.
Tim (VE3UO) provided leadership as “net control". Pete (VA3PGB), Susan (VA3PWS), Bob (VE3QWB), Matthew (VE3OCC), Joe (VA3JAD), Gary (VE3IVU) and Doug (VE3ZDG), were joined by Gord Hewitt (VE3GIH), Greg James (VE3GVJ) and Lee McMurter (VA3LHM), who traveled considerable distances to help out. They provided communication from each road-crossing and race check-point to ensure the safety of race participants and spectators, as well as to transmit race results to the start/finish line. Lee’s father, Harry (VA3HJM), dropped by in the afternoon to see how things were going.
Race communication was conducted via a new 2m. repeater (146.610- MHz.) at McCrea, ON., operated by the Central Ontario Amateur Radio Club. Those using the repeater were impressed by its coverage.
Friday, January 14, 2011
EC Report for the month of December, 2010 from Frontenac County in Loyalist District
Comments:
Saturday, December 4th, saw members of FCARES manning radios at the
Frontenac County Administrative Office in order to take part in the 2010
EMO Provincial SET. We were there from 1000 to 1200, and it was a lovely
sunny day with a brilliant blue sky…….it also wasn’t that cold, only about
-2C.
Contact was quickly established with VE3EMO in Toronto. Most of the work
was done via the IRLP 9035 Node, but the Ontario Phone Net on 3.742 was
also used.
We also took part in the evening portion of the SET, with Bill VE3CLQ and
David VE3DZE looking after traffic on the IRLP link and on 80m with the
Ontario Phone Net from their home stations.
In January we plan on a digital workshop on the 9th, and we will be taking
part in the SPAR Winter Field Day on the last weekend of January.
Saturday, December 4th, saw members of FCARES manning radios at the
Frontenac County Administrative Office in order to take part in the 2010
EMO Provincial SET. We were there from 1000 to 1200, and it was a lovely
sunny day with a brilliant blue sky…….it also wasn’t that cold, only about
-2C.
Contact was quickly established with VE3EMO in Toronto. Most of the work
was done via the IRLP 9035 Node, but the Ontario Phone Net on 3.742 was
also used.
We also took part in the evening portion of the SET, with Bill VE3CLQ and
David VE3DZE looking after traffic on the IRLP link and on 80m with the
Ontario Phone Net from their home stations.
In January we plan on a digital workshop on the 9th, and we will be taking
part in the SPAR Winter Field Day on the last weekend of January.
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