Further to Yesterdays Posting for NCS

I was mentioning the need for Net Control Stations:

Here is our Schedule as of todays date:

Monday-     VE3RHJ     Brad

Tuesday-     Temp Open Shift- Unsure of Duration

Wednesday- Temp Open Shift- Approx 1 Month Duration

Thursday-     Temp Open Shift- Approx 2 Month Duration

Friday-           Temp Open Shift- Approx 2 Month duration

Saturday-    VA3PB Paul covering shift for approx 2 months

Sunday-     VE3PSV     Shawn

Notes:

Tuesday- Joe is off on long term medical leave and his date of return is unknown.

Wednesday- Ian is off for approx 1 month and then will be returning

Thursday- George is heading south for the winter and will be back in approx 7 weeks

Friday- Is currently open but Paul VA3PB has shown an interest in returning to his old time slot and give up his Saturday Slot once we change back to the Summer hours Net time of 1900hrs

If you can help out or would like more information please contact the Net Manager

Net Control Stations Wanted

Due to winter holidays and medical issues I have an immediate need for 4 Net Control Operators.

Two would be a full time positions – (one shift a week)

One would be a temp posting for approx 5 weeks ( one shift a week)

One would be a temp posting for approx 8 weeks ( one shift a week)

The pay is lousy but the time off is great…

If you would like to help out please contact the Net Manager

73
Bob Sharp VA3QV Net Manager Ontario Phone Net

RAC Ontario Section Bulletin for February 6, 2010

RAC Ontario Section Bulletin for February 6, 2010

NATIONAL NEWS

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

1. Sunday ARES Net Frequency Change

The Sunday afternoon Ontario ARES HF net has moved to 7080 kHz to
take advantage of improving propagation and to keep away from the
heavy US usage of 7100 and up.  The net meets at 1 pm EST (1800
UTC).

– Bob Howard VE3YX

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2. Thinking Day on the Air

The Girl Guides’ 2010 World Thinking Day on the Air (TDOTA) will be
February 20 & 21.  This is an opportunity for the members of the Girl
Guides and Girl Scouts  to talk to other members all over the world
via Amateur Radio.

To celebrate the centenary of Guiding, several special event stations
will be on the air from the U.K.  In Ontario, the 95th Hamilton
Guides will operate station VA3TVW. For more information see
www.guides-on-the-air.co.uk

– via RSGB News

3. Canada Day Results Available

The results for the 2009 Canada Day Contest have been published on
the Radio Amateurs of Canada Web site, in PDF format at
tinyurl.com/y8nyvzn (Yankee Eight November Yankee Victor Zulu
November).  Plaques and certificates will be going out in the next 30
days. Plaques will be mailed as in previous years and the
certificates will be emailed out as PDF files suitable for printing.

– ARRL Contest Update

4. Field Day Packets Now Available

Field Day 2010 is June 26-27, and the ARRL has already made its Field
Day packet available for download.  It includes the complete rules
(including changes for 2010), as well as other reference items such
as forms, ARRL Section abbreviation list, entry submission
instructions, a Frequently Asked Questions section, guidelines for
getting bonus points, instructions for GOTA stations, a kit to
publicize your event with the local press and more. Find it at
www.arrl.org/contests/forms/fd-2010-packet.pdf

– ARRL Web

5. Hams in Haiti

Spectrum magazine, the official publication of the Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), has a great article
about the success of ham radio operations in Haiti.  Read it online
at spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/hams-in-haiti

– via RAC Blog

=======================================
Bulletin sent from Official Bulletin Manager Brad Rodriguez, VE3RHJ.

RAC Ontario Section Bulletin for January 30, 2010

RAC Ontario Section Bulletin for January 30, 2010

NATIONAL NEWS

1. Haiti Frequencies Released

The HF frequencies used to respond to the immediate needs of the
Haiti Earthquake, 14.300MHz, 14.265MHz , 7.045MHz, 7.065MHz,
7.265MHz, 3.720MHz, 3.977MHz have now returned to normal use. The
groups who have been passing messages on those frequencies will
revert to monitoring mode or their normal operations.

There are still a number of radio amateurs in the country attached to
relief groups who may still be heard on the amateur bands on various
frequencies.  As always, please listen before transmitting, and if
you hear any station passing emergency traffic then leave the
frequency clear and avoid causing QRM.

– IARU Region 1 News

2. Haiti Reciprocal Licensing

CONATEL (the Haitian Telecomm regulator) has set up temporary offices
and released a public notice. Amateurs wishing to operate in Haiti to
assist with disaster relief need to contact CONATEL to get formal
reciprocal operating clearance, before any use of telecommunications
equipment or the spectrum resources.  Contact CONATEL at Number 97,
Avenue Panaméricaine, in Pétion-Ville between 9 AM and 1 PM,
telephone 3454-0541, 2516-0000, or 3702-1414, or at these e-mail
addresses : techommunication (at) yahoo.fr, or info (at)
conatel.gouv.ht.  Note that Haiti is an international call; dial 011
and then country code 509 before the phone number.

– ARRL Web

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

3. Great Lakes Net Time Change

Starting January 30, the Great Lakes Emergency and Traffic Net
(GLETN) will change its operating time from 6 pm Eastern to 6:30 pm
Eastern Time.  As band conditions improve the net will move back to 8
pm in half-hour increments.

– via Shawn Gartley, VE3PSV

ITEMS OF INTEREST

4. Nominations Open for Dayton Amateur of the Year

The Dayton Amateur Radio Association is soliciting nominations for
its Amateur of The Year, Special Achievement, and Technical
Excellence Awards.  This year nominations are also sought for Club of
the Year.  These recognize amateurs who have made significant
contributions to the art and science of amateur radio.  The
recipients will be honored at the 2010 Dayton Hamvention.
Nominations close on March 15th.  For information visit
www.hamvention.org/awards.php

– Amateur Radio Newsline

5. Morse Code on Canadian Coin

A new commemorative coin honoring the centennial of the Canadian Navy
features a line of Morse code around the outer edge. The characters
spell out the Navy’s motto, “Ready Aye Ready,” in both English and
French.

– CQ News Service

6. ARRL Elects First Female President

The American Radio Relay League has elected First Vice President Kay
Craigie, N3KN, as the organization’s new president, succeeding Joel
Harrison, W5ZN, who did not seek re-election. Craigie is the first
woman to hold the League’s top position.

– CQ News Service

=======================================

Bulletin sent from Official Bulletin Manager Brad Rodriguez, VE3RHJ.

NTS operating under Winter Field Day rules

On Saturday Jan 30 2010 OPN Net Manager Bob Sharp VA3QV while operating as part of the Victor Alpha 3 Real Cold Spot (VA3RCS) Group participating in the SPAR Winter Field Day checked into the 2nd Region Traffic Net at 1345 hours EST representing Ontario and the Ontario Phone Net.

“VA3RCS going to Ontario with No Traffic over…”

“VA3QV at the mike”

(Above Picture courtesy Martin VA3SIE)

The NCS for 2RN was AK2Z (Doug in Camden NY) and according to QRZ.com it was distance of just over 140 miles from Ottawa to Camden NY or 230 kms if you like the metric system.  Not too bad for an 80m daytime contact.

Signal reports were good from other stations in the New York Section and the New Jersey Section.

Dougs setup can be found on his QRZ site and the setup in Ottawa was a Yaesu FT 817 (5w QRP) along with a W3EDP antenna at approx 15 feet above ground level.

At 1345 hours Eastern the temp in Ottawa was approx -20 deg C or -4 deg F but it was sunny out.

“If you can pass traffic outside at -20 degrees then you can do it anytime”

For your information the Ontario Phone Net meets up with the 2nd region net daily at 1345 hours and 1830 hours on 3.925 mhz  to pick up traffic for Ontario and to send traffic from Ontario.  In addition the Ontario Phone Net meets daily at 1600 EST on 3.742 mhz

More pictures and infomation can be found of the following blogs:

VA3SIE Martin and VA3QV Bob

Bob Sharp VA3QV Net Manager Ontario Phone Net

OPN holding Traffic

The Section Traffic Manager (STM) for Ontario as part of his duties generates Test Messages or Exercise Traffic and inserts it into the system in an attempt to give Amateurs who do not usually handle traffic a chance to get some practice.

At this time the Net is holding traffic for the following areas of Ontario

Mississauga – 3
Etobicoke – 4
Kingston – 3
Port Carling – 1
Atikokan – 2
Toronto – 6
Woodbridge – 1
Kenilworth – 1
Scarborough – 3
Spring bay – 1
North York – 1
Windsor – 1
Markham – 1
Elliott Lake – 1

If you would like to assist please either check into the Ontario Phone Net which runs daily at 1600 EST on 3.742 or contact the Section Traffic Manager VE3GNA

Bob Sharp VA3QV Net Manager Ontario Phone Net

New Frequency for Ontario ARES Net

The following came in to my inbox today:

Hi All:

Dave VE3DVE, Bob VA3BZ and I, Bob VE3YX have moved to 7080 to take advantage of improving propagation and to keep away from the heavy US usage of 7100 and up. We haven’t had other ARES stations checking in, nor have we heard any ARES activity on the other frequencies 7153 or 3742. Spread the word! Maybe we can get the net back to what it was a year or so ago.

cheers;

73 de Bob   VE3YX

The Ontario ARES Net meets Sundays at 1300 eastern

I will remind/mention to you all that the Ontario Phone Net meets daily on 3.742 at 1600 hrs eastern (winter hours) 7 days a week and is always looking for people to check in to represent their part of the Province.

73bob

With help from my friends

Some days its difficult to hear the net just due to the poor band conditions.  Now fortunately I have had some help courtesy of the VE3MAZ Echolink Remote Rcvr in Niagara Falls

VE3MAZ-L

In the past I was forced to use Ken’s system due to the high noise level I had here in Ottawa.  Now due to the poor band condtions I am stealing his system again…

The way I have it set up is as follows….  I have a audio line coming from my FT 847 and my laptop to a switch box.  My head phones plug into the switch box and then I just switch from one input to the other depending on where in the province you are and what receiver gives me the best signal.  My own rcvr in Ottawa or Ken’s rcvr in Niagara Falls.

N8AD-L

Without the support of Ken in Niagara Falls and Len N8AD in Erie PA who also runs an ECHOLINK HF Remote Rcvr I would not be able to fully manage the Net and so we all owe them a vote of thanks…

There are others who run these ECHOLINK nodes and I don’t mean to slight them by not mentioning them.  First of all there are too many to mention and secondly I only use these two for my OPN duties.

The services the others provide are just as important as proven by the recent Haiti Earthquake relief work where  a couple of amateurs in Haiti were able to find a WIFI hotspot and echolink their message out from a location that their radios were able to function.

A lot of hams don’t like VOIP and are dyed in the wool HFers but if they were to see how the new technology can help them…  And with the expected influx of traffic coming soon from Haiti I will gladly take all the help I can get to keep the Ontario Phone Net running smoothly.

Thanks again guys…

Best 73

Bob Sharp VA3QV Net Manager Ontario Phone Net

RAC Ontario Section Bulletin for January 23, 2010

RAC Ontario Section Bulletin for January 23, 2010

NATIONAL NEWS

1. Haiti Updates

Note that the frequencies 14265, 14300, 7045, 7065, 7265, 3720, and
3977 kHz are still being used for disaster response. Please keep them
clear.

Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) and Union Dominicana de Radio Aficionados
(UDRA) were turned back from Port-au-Prince when their convoy came
under fire.  RCD has established a 2m repeater at the Dominican
Republic border covering some of Haiti (including Port-au-Prince).

RAC VP of Field Services Doug Mercer, VO1DTM, reports that French-
speaking Canadian hams are monitoring the emergency frequencies, and
a group is ready for deployment to Haiti when required.

CNN has reported on amateur radio activity from Haiti; visit
tinyurl.com/ydw79ze (Yankee Delta Whiskey Seven Nine Zulu Echo).

– various sources

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

2. Niagara Hamfest

The Niagara Peninsula Amateur Radio Club will hold its “Big Event 32″
Flea Market and Hamfest on Saturday, February 6, at the Merriton
Community Centre, 7 Park Ave., St. Catharines.  Open to the public at
9 a.m.; talk-in on VE3NRS repeater 147.240 (+) tone 107.2 Hz.  For
more information visit www.nparc.on.ca/bigevent

– RAC Events Database

3. AM Transmitter Rally

The Amplitude Modulation Transmitter Rally will be held on Saturday,
February 6, from 6 AM Eastern Time 2 AM the following day.  The event
will be on will be on 160 through 10 meters on the usual AM
frequencies,  and is open to any radio amateurs running standard
(full carrier) AM with any type of equipment.  For more information
visit www.classeradio.com/amtr.htm (that’s “Class E Radio dot com”)

– Amateur Radio Newsline

4. The Art of Radio-Telegraphy

William Pierpont N0HFF has written a book, “The Art and Skill of
Radio-Telegraphy,” for those who are interested in telegraphy, those
who would like to learn it, those who love it, and those who want to
improve their skills.  It’s a free PDF download, about 1 megabyte, at
tinyurl.com/n7g8d2 (November Seven Golf Eight Delta Two).

– Glenn Killam, VE3GNA

=======================================
Bulletin sent from Official Bulletin Manager Brad Rodriguez, VE3RHJ.

If you want to listen along

The following information comes to us via the RAC Ontario Section Traffic Manager and his new website. The site is currently under construction but what information is there is accurate and up to date…

If you are planning on participating in any of the traffic nets when the Haiti Traffic starts you should be listening now to get the formats of the nets figured out.

Try any of the nets on this list…

NTS traffic nets operate in four cycles. Each cycle is timed to maximize the efficient transfer of traffic from one level to the next. In some sections and regions, there will not be a net in each cycle. This is determined by the available operators and average traffic amounts.

The cycles are as follows:

Cycle One

10:00 am Section

10:45 am Region

11:30 am Area

12:30 pm Region

Cycle Two

1:00 pm Section

1:45 pm Region

2:30 pm Area

3:30 pm Region

Cycle Three

4:00 pm Section

4:45 pm Region

5:30 pm Area

6:30 pm Region

Cycle Four

7:00 pm Section

7:45 pm Region

8:30 pm Area

9:30 pm Region

10:00 pm Section

Generally speaking, nets in Cycles One through Three will be on voice and Cycle Four nets will be CW. There will always be exceptions to this, and as well there are wide-area nets which meet at different times to take advantage of early morning propagation for maximum coverage.

A chronological list of some of the traffic nets heard regularly in the Eastern Time zone, both NTS affiliated and wide-area. All times are Eastern.

Amateur Radio Telegraph Society (ARTS) daily 7:15 to 8:30 am on 7052 khz (CW) Wide Area

Hit and Bounce Slow Net (HBSN) daily 7:30 am on 7042 khz (CW) Wide Area

Hit and Bounce Net (HBN) daily 8:30 am (M-F 7042 khz and S-S 7114 khz CW) Wide Area

Eighth Region Net (8RN) daily 12:30 pm 3865 khz

Second Region Net (2RN) daily 1:45 pm 3925 khz- This is the net that the OPN hooks up with…

Fourth Region Net (4RN) daily 1:45 pm 7243 khz (again at 3:30 pm)

Eastern Area Net (EAN) daily 2:30 pm (M-F 7243 khz and S-S 7050 khz) Area Net

Central Area Net (CAN) daily 3:15 pm ( begins on 14345 khz and QSY’s to 7240 and down at approx 3:25 pm)

First Region Net (1RN) daily 3:30 pm 3948 khz

Ontario Phone Net (OPN) daily 4:00 pm 3742 khz (reverts to regular time of 7:00 pm with change to DST)

Fifth Region Net (RN5) daily commencing approx 4:15 pm 7243 khz

Eighth Region Net (8RN) daily 4:30 pm 3865 khz

New York Public Operations Net (NYPON) daily 5:00 pm 3925 khz

New York State Phone Net (NYS) daily 6:00 pm 3925 khz

Second Region Net (2RN) daily 6:30 pm 3925 khz (alternate 1840 khz) This is the net that the OPN hooks up with…

Atlantic Provinces Net (APN) daily 7:00 pm 3654 khz (CW)

Second Region Net (2RN) daily 7:45 pm 3576 khz (CW)

Eastern Area Net (EAN) daily 8:30 pm 3577 khz CW ( alternate 1812 khz)

Second Region Net (2RN) daily 9:30 pm 3576 khz

Each section will have nets operating at these or similar times with each time zone. This is only a partial list of the nets regularly heard in Eastern Ontario.