Kamloops Amateur Radio Club

Thank you to local company Nutech Phoenix and President Bob Dieno for their very kind donation of reconditioned CO2 fire extinguishers for our KARC repeater sites. 

Nutech has been in business for 26 years and they have supported many local non-profit organizations by donating fire fighting equipment, service, or parts to keep those organizations and their volunteers safe and to help keep their costs down.

Nutech Phoenix also carries First Aid supplies, traffic equipment, PPE (hard hats, glasses, gloves, high-vis apparel), and gas detection equipment.

Welcome to the Kamloops Amateur Radio Club!

Ron Stolp, VE7CFY, is our newest member having joined the club in December.  Ron recently wrote his exam with Mark, VE7ARN, and passed with flying colours!  He received his Basic with Honours qualification and chose the callsign VE7CFY.

Ron tells us that many years ago in high school he was studying for his license, but back then it required morse code as well as a lot of electronic circuits, and although a few of his friends stuck with it and still have their licence, Ron wasn't so fortunate.

Currently he is very involved with horses in various disciplines, and he likes to travel to Arizona with the horses in winter (with the exception of the last few years). Ron thought that having an extra form of communication would be a good idea because cell phones don't always work where they ride so ham radio was a good choice.

Ron isn't on the air yet (he is waiting delivery on a couple of Baofeng portable radios that are stuck in Richmond) and hopes to be making his first QSO with one of us soon.

Here are a couple photos of Ron on his horses (I suspect you can tell which photo was taken in Arizona -Ed.), including his newest horse which is in Mission where the two of them are taking more training.

Welcome to the KARC, Ron, and thank you for becoming a member!

How amateur radio fanatics launched the world's first private communications satellite

Check out this awesome story by Jon Kelvey at INVERSE!

https://www.inverse.com/science/60-oscar-1-presaged-the-cubesat-era

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSCAR_1

The North American QSO Parties are favorites of beginners and seasoned operators alike. The NAQPs are low-power only (no amplifiers allowed) which makes for a lot more breathing room on the bands. Small stations can generate very effective “runs” in the NAQP  contests. Multipliers count once per-band, which makes for an exciting format, as multipliers can be “moved” from band to band.

The NAQPs allow stations from all parts of North America to be in the running for the top spots. The 12 hour format allows participants to do some great contesting, yet still have time for other activities during the weekend. Participants can enter in the single op or multi-op categories and also have the opportunity to combine up to five separate single op scores into a team score.

North American QSO Party, CW    1800Z, Jan 15 to 0559Z, Jan 16

North American QSO Party, SSB    1800Z, Jan 22 to 0559Z, Jan 23

North American QSO Party, RTTY    1800Z, Feb 26 to 0559Z, Feb 27

 

 

If you were listening to VE7RLO this morning you may have noticed that the Rainbow Country Net (hosted on the VE7RPT repeater in the lower mainland) was active on our VHF and UHF repeaters.

VE7RLO will now automatically connect every day to the Rainbow Country Net, which starts at 09:00 AM PST (with early check-ins at 8:45 AM).  This is one of the most popular nets in BC with hundreds of people checking in.   VE7RLO will automatically disconnect from the net at 10:30AM, so hopefully you can check in by that time!  If not, we can tweak the script timing.

If you need to use the repeater during the net to call someone, or if there is an emergency, etc you can disconnect the VE7RPT Allstar Node by sending DTMF code *1435450 (which will disconnect VE7RPT), or *10 (code to disconnect the last active node, which should be RPT).

Don't worry about reconnecting to the net, it will start up automatically the next morning.

If you find this annoying and driving you crazy, please let me know.  This is a bit of an experiment to see if it might be enjoyable for club members.  If it is not working for people, it is easy to scrub the script and go back to how things were.

73 de Myles, VE7FSR

 

 

 

At the December club meeting Lee Woldanski, VE7FET, was recognized as the recipient of the 2021 Ham of the Year Award for his outstanding volunteer efforts and commitment to amateur radio. Lee was presented (virtually) with a handsome wood and brass plaque to recognize his outstanding devotion to amateur radio and to the countless hours of volunteer time, donated equipment, education, and the remote support he has provided to make amateur radio better and more enjoyable for all of us in the KARC and amateur radio fraternity.

Lee lives in South Surrey, and is an active member and Director of the BCFMCA.  Lee met Myles (VE7FSR) several years ago and over time Myles somehow managed to coerce Lee into lending a hand to our Club (which was easy to do because Lee is an amazing person, willing to give his time and expertise to help others).  Lee became a member of the KARC, and he has been very involved in the design, build, installation, maintenance, and operation of the KARC repeater systems.  Lee has also offered advice and assistance to the KARC Board based on his extensive experience serving with the BCFMCA.  If it wasn't for Lee the KARC wouldn't have the fantastic repeater system we are very fortunate to have.  Thank you Lee, we sincerely appreciate all you have done for the KARC.

The "Ham of the Year Award" for the Kamloops club was instituted in 1971 by George Stephens (VE7YF, SK).  Please see this link for past recipients.

W1ZR Joel Hallas

Retired QST Technical Editor Joel R. Hallas, W1ZR, of Westport, Connecticut, died on November 25. An ARRL member, he was 79. Hallas retired in 2013 but remained active as a contributing editor, handling the popular “The Doctor is In” column in QST and the podcast of the same name. He had been a radio amateur since 1955.

“Joel was not only brilliant, he shared that brilliance with the ham radio community in a way that taught innumerable hams things they needed to know in order to experience success and enjoyment,” said ARRL Publications and Editorial Department Manager Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY. “He was a fine mind, a generous mentor and colleague, and a consummate gentleman. He will be missed.”

VE7EKC  Reginald Walter Gale    

March 10, 1940 – November 8, 2021

A long-time resident of Logan Lake, Reg passed away peacefully with his loving children by his side in Penticton.  Predeceased by his loving wife of 50 years (the love of his life), Gladys May Gale, his sister June, and brothers Cameron, Fred, and Doug.  He will be sadly missed by his son, Donald Gale (Rhonda), daughter Deborah Mueller (Wayne), grandchildren Martina, Melanie (Ray), Andrew, and Daniel, great-grandchildren Alexander and Elias, sisters Bernice (Johnny), Colleen, Marion (Brian), and brother Edward.  Reg is survived by his second wife Beryl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am please to share with the membership that Vern, VE7VGO is now home from the hospital after his auto accident.  It will take a bit before he is fully back to normal, but if you get a chance give him a call on the repeater or twisted-pair. 

Great to see you home, Vern!

At the 2021 Annnual General Meeting, two KARC members were recognized for their outstanding service to the club. 

Vern, VE7VGO, was nominated for a Life Membership in recognition of, and appreciation for, his many years of service to the club.  Vern has been a mentor and role model for many of us in the club; he served as a Club Officer for many years, and his contribution to our repeater network, club events (Field Day!!), and volunteer activities have helped make the KARC what it is today. 

Congratulations, and thank you Vern!

 

 

 

IMG_0539_Chuck_AWard.jpg

Chuck Hays, VE7PJR, was recognized for his service to the club as our Net Control station for the Tuesday and Wednesday evening 2M nets.  Chuck was presented with a plaque as a gesture of our sincere appreciation for his many hundreds of hours of volunteer time as Net Control.  Without Chuck's tireless effort and dedication we would not have our nets.

Thank you, Chuck!