Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club
Apr 12th
Mar 17th
On a posting on February 23 I had asked anyone interested int CAARC’s participation in ARRL Field Day 2020 to come to the March meeting of the Central Alberta Radio Club to establish an organization.
Because of all the commotion about the COVID-19 virus and because I am part of the vulnerable population, I will not be going to the club meeting.
If the club wishes to proceed with participation in Field Day, providing that it seems wise at that time, I am willing to provide advice and support to the extent that I have time. I do think however, that it is time for a new set of “doersâ€, including the chairman, etc.
If you can’t go to the meeting and wish to indicate support, I will collect your comments and advice to send to a member of the club executive. It would be best that I compile these comments before the meeting tomorrow evening.
Please you send me any of your thoughts by noon MDT tomorrow, March 18 AT va6sja@rac.ca ..
John VA6SJA
Feb 23rd
We had a lot of fun on Field Day 2019.
Should CAARC have an entry in the 2020 ARRL Field Day on Saturday-Sunday, June 27-28? If you want it to happen, come to the CAARC general meeting on March 18. We will be deciding if there will be a CAARC entry at that meeting. If so, we will need help; we will start creating a planning and organizing structure and distributing responsibilities.
We decided this at the general meeting on February 19.
Note: : There would probably also be participation on Friday. Up to 24 cumulative hours of set-up for an emergency powered portable station is allowed to start up to 42 hours before the start of the 24 hours of on-air operations at noon (MDT) on Saturday.
John Allen, VA6SJA
Sep 12th
By John VA6SJA CAARC Field Day Chairman 2019
We had a field day! It happened because of the participation of interested people. Good job everyone! There are many stories, and I don’t have space to tell them all and there are some that I probably don’t know. Feel free to post your story.
CAARC had sponsored a Class 1F Field Day held at the Red Deer County Emergency Communications Centre in June of 2018.
BOB VE6BLD advocated for a fun Field Day with generators at the October 2018 CAARC general meeting. I had hoped there could be a repeat of last year’s County Class F Field Day as well as to hold this Class A Field Day. But this first independent CAARC Class 3A Field Day took a lot of organizing, and Ryan VA6DSJ, who could allow us access to the County’s Emergency Communications Centre was on emergency assignment dealing with an Alberta wildfire. So, this year’s Class F Field Day was cancelled and this Class 3A Field Day had to do for this year.
I had made a participant and visitor log book allowing for 35 entries and there weren’t enough lines! Hams and former hams came from as far away as Canmore and Edmonton. More hams and family members came for the roast pork supper. At least one couple came because they saw the Field Day signs on the road,
And we got photos that help tell our story! View them on this site.
All the participants worked together to make this event happen. A good example is the set up and troubleshooting needed to get everything working, including improvising on the spot. For one instance, on Friday afternoon Bob VE6BLD and Darcy VE6DDD looked around to find a way to replace the missing centre insulator for the driven element on the Mosley TA-33 Jr. beam that Garry VE6CIA had lent us. They found a discarded snow shovel with a fiberglass handle. Darcy spliced it into place with the help of cable ties and electrical tape and the crew put it in place on top of one of Bob’s masts that could be assembled from the bottom.
Jun 28th
I finally found a new Gallery widget to add multiple pictures at a time!! Check out the field day pictures by clicking the Field Day 2019 TAB right of the Swap and Shop. Thanks to Bob VE6BLD, John VA6SJA and Ray VA6RSO for the pictures.
Click any picture or click View Slideshow below the pictures.
Bob VE6BLD
Apr 16th
04/15/2019
The US astronaut who pioneered the use of Amateur Radio to make contacts from space — Owen K. Garriott, W5LFL — died April 15 at his home in Huntsville, Alabama. He was 88. Garriott’s ham radio activity ushered in the formal establishment of Amateur Radio in space, first as SAREX — the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment, and later as ARISS — Amateur Radio on the International Space Station.
“Owen Garriott was a good friend and an incredible astronaut,†fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin tweeted. “I have a great sadness as I learn of his passing today. Godspeed Owen.â€
An Oklahoma native, Garriott — an electrical engineer — spent 2 months aboard the Skylab space station in 1973 and 10 days aboard Spacelab-1 during a 1983 Space Shuttle Columbia mission. It was during the latter mission that Garriott thrilled radio amateurs around the world by making the first contacts from space. Thousands of hams listened on 2-meter FM, hoping to hear him or to make a contact. Garriott ended up working stations around the globe, among them such notables as the late King Hussein, JY1, of Jordan, and the late US Senator Barry Goldwater, K7UGA. He also made the first CW contact from space. Garriott called hamming from space “a pleasant pastime.â€
“I managed to do it in my off-duty hours, and it was a pleasure to get involved in it and to talk with people who are as interested in space as the 100,000 hams on the ground seemed to be,†he said in an interview published in the February 1984 edition of QST. “So, it was just a pleasant experience, the hamming in particular, all the way around.â€
Although Garriott had planned to operate on ham radio during his 10 days in space, no special provisions were made on board the spacecraft in terms of equipment — unlike the situation today on the International Space Station. Garriott simply used a hand-held transceiver with its antenna in the window of Spacelab-1. His first pass was down the US West Coast.
“[A]s I approached the US, I began to hear stations that were trying to reach me,†he told QST. “On my very first CQ, there were plenty of stations responding.†His first contact was with Lance Collister, WA1JXN, in Montana.
ARISS ARRL Representative Rosalie White, K1STO, met Garriott when he attended Hamvention, “both times, sitting next to him at Hamvention dinner banquets,†she recounted. “Once when he was a Special Achievement Award winner, and once with him and [his son] Richard when Richard won the 2009 Special Achievement Award. Owen was unassuming, very smart, kind, and up to date on the latest technology.†Garriott shared a Hamvention Special Achievement Award in 2002 with fellow Amateur Radio astronaut Tony England, W0ORE.
Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, was a private space traveler to the ISS, flown there by the Russian Federal Space Agency, and he also carried ham radio into space.
Jul 18th
Well, ARRL Field Day is over for another year. Some Central Alberta amateurs operated this event from the Red Deer County EOC Amateur Radio Station. I would like to thank CAARC for encouraging me in this venture. I also thank Rod, VE6XY, and Stephen, VA6SGL, for trying to keep me grounded. And a special thank you to Brian for helping me understand the radios and correcting the aim of the HF beam antenna and for serving as Safety Officer. Ric Henderson, now Assistant County Manager of Red Deer County, found a way to let it happen. Ryan Mysko of Red Deer County served as the Red Deer County EOC member of our planning team. And a big Thank You to him for being patient with the preparations and testing and facilitating our access to the county’s radio station.
Apr 15th
Dec 20th
CAARC Members receive awards for volunteering during the last year. Congratulations to the members who received Volunteer Service and Volunteer Service with Excellence awards.
Congratulations to Doug VE6DJC on winning the GIZMO! We look forward to seeing what he adds to it for next year’s Christmas dinner!
