General News

RAC Notification:
RADIO AMATEURS OF/DU CANADA applauds 60 meter band frequency allocations!
RAC has been working on achieving this new band allocation since 2010.
Industry Canada has announced that a number of specific frequencies within the 60 meter high frequency band have been approved for amateur radio use as RAC advocated. This is now in effect.
A total of five specific frequencies within the 5 MHZ band have been allocated, 5332 kHz, 5348 kHz, 5358.5 kHz, 5373 kHz and 5405 kHz. Radio amateurs across Canada have new frequencies to explore as a result of a recent decision of Industry Canada.
“Canada has joined a number of countries in making channels available in the 60 metre band, near 5MHz for use by radio amateurs. This will provide increased ability for Canadian radio amateurs to help out in providing emergency communications when existing systems fail as has happened in ice storms and flooding. We applaud this decision of the Canadian government.” said Geoff Bawden, President of Radio Amateurs of Canada.
Unlike the commercial communications systems so important to modern society, amateur radio does not require an extensive infrastructure for communications. Radio amateurs take advantage of natural phenomena to send their signals across town and around the world. They delight in being able to set up in a remote location with their own power supplies and simple antennas, often home built, competing to see who can make the most contacts in a limited time. The Amateur Radio Emergency Service in Canada, sponsored by RAC, provides training and organizes exercises for radio amateurs to sharpen their skills to be able to respond to emergencies. As well these organizations and amateur radio clubs often provide communications to community public service activities and events such as ski races and marathons, bicycle races and car rallies. The skills radio amateurs develop through their hobby and these activities mean that in emergencies that shut down power grids, internet and wireless communications, amateur radio can continue to function. In major emergencies such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011 and the Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines last year amateur radio operators are often the first source of information from affected areas.
The key resource for amateur radio is access to the radio spectrum. Conditions in the atmosphere and high in the ionosphere determine the distances over which communications are possible. The new allocation at 60m between existing allocations at 80 m and 40m should make regional communications more reliable. Furthermore as Canada and the United States have allocated many of the same channels to their radio amateurs cross border communications are possible. Fortunately major emergencies are relatively rare. Radio amateurs will explore communications on the new frequencies as they do in all available bands, experimenting, learning and making new friends across the world.
TECH DETAILS
The five 60 metre channel allocations are the same as authorized in the USA, with the same power restriction of 100 watts ERP (relative to a dipole antenna). Transmissions, independent of emission mode, must be centered on the each of the following frequencies: 5.332, 5.348, 5.3585, 5.373, and 5.405 MHz with a maximum allowable channel bandwidth of 2.8 kHz. When operating SSB, upper sideband will be the convention to follow on the 60 metre band. Other modes that are permissible will be CW, Data (including PSK 31 and Pactor III), and RTTY. With this latest authorization on operation on the 5 MHz channels to Canadian Amateurs with HF privileges, there will no longer be a requirement to operate under a special Developmental license and VX9 call sign. Holders of such licences can now let them lapse. Canadian amateurs should refer to the posting of RBR-4, Issue 2, for all details before proceeding to operate on the new 60 metre channels: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf10650.html (copy the link to your browser)
Their curiosity and eagerness to develop and share this hobby will enrich the communities where they operate and provide needed resilience in communications when emergencies require it.
Technical details of this decision can be found here: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf10623.htm (copy the link to your browser)
Tech/Admin contributions, Norm Rashleigh VE3LC. Glenn MacDonell VE3XRA.

Hamfest Time!!!
Registration is open! Available here is the 2013 registration. Hope to see you there!!
www.gwhamfest.org

George Forsyth AA7GS
212 Skyline Drive N.E. (Home)
Great Falls, Montana 59404 aa7gs@arrl.net

George Forsyth (work)
207 2nd Ave So. (shipping)
Great Falls, Montana 59405
george@securemontana.com

FEMA training: http://training.fema.gov/IS/crslist.asp
Montana’s Ham Radio Forum: www.w7eca.net/forum

Director: Glacier Waterton International Hamfest
Member: North Central Montana Auxiliary Communications Group

ICS 100-200-230-250-288-700-702-800-802-813-907-ARECC-CERT-FEMA AUX COMM-FEMA COML-

North Central Montana Auxiliary Communications Group Net:
AE7OC 7PM Thursdays 146.740 (N7YO) Echolink 37656 IRLP NODE #7908 (147.300)

Volunteers provide key emergency communications

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS: Russell Storry, emergency radio coordinator, recently participated in a practice session during which an email was sent and received using ham radios and netbook computers.
Equipment allows emails to be sent using ham radios and battery-powered computers
by Laura Walz | editor@prpeak.com
Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 11:21 AM PST
Ham radio operators in Powell River are a key part of the region’s emergency response system. Members of Powell River Amateur Repeater Society and Powell River Amateur Radio Club volunteer to be part of the emergency radio communication unit, which comes under the umbrella of Powell River Regional Emergency Program (PRREP).

A major disaster on the West Coast would have the potential to knock out communications, including telephone and Internet service. The unit would activate equipment kept in an emergency communications trailer, which can be set up wherever an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) would be established. Both the Powell River Regional District and City of Powell River have contributed funds for equipment, as well as a grant from BC Gaming.

The emergency radio communications group, which has 10 regular members, is part of Emergency Management BC (EMBC), said Russell Storry, emergency radio coordinator. “We have identify cards and coverage through WorkSafeBC for a tasked event,” he explained. “We complement Emergency Social Services [ESS] and ground search and rescue.”

The trailer is equipped with generators and fuel, Storry explained. “Our task is to pass messages. We provide backup communications in the event that telephones and Internet are not available.”

The group recently added a system which enables them to send digital messages within the region and also to Victoria, using a combination of amateur radios and other equipment. The system allows an EOC in Powell River to have outside communications and both send and receive messages.

Digital messages can be sent between two ham radios connected to netbooks or laptop computers that can run off batteries, explained Derek Poole, a radio operator with the unit. “With the software we’re using and that hardware, we can send text messages, emails back and forth,” he said.

Without the system, communications would be voice-to-voice over the radio, Poole said, or actually picking the message up physically and delivering it. “The problem with a real large-scale event can sometimes be the radios can really get tied up with the urgency of the communications,” he said. “This uses a different system, a different set of frequencies and it’s very fast. When you send a message with this method, once it’s all set up and you push the go button, it’s a matter of a few seconds and it passes the whole message. It doesn’t tie up the airways to any extent at all.”

Currently, the system works radio-to-radio directly, so it is restricted by distance. The plan is to install a digital repeater on Texada Island, which would allow the group to work in more isolated areas, Poole said.

While the system is somewhat slower than normal Internet service, it is possible to send small attachments, Poole said. “For example, if you had specific, written instructions that you had to pass on, the commander or whoever was in charge could sign that off and send it off signed to another location,” he said. “They could receive it and it could be an official document as part of whatever exercise you are involved in.”

Poole said he was excited about the new capabilities, which he said has applications for search and rescue as well. “If we were in the backcountry and there were poor communications back into the front, we could do equipment requests or resource requests using this system.”

The group is looking for more members, said Storry. “The issue for us would be if we had an event, to provide volunteers on a continuous basis around the clock for a number of locations takes a lot of people.”

People interested in volunteering don’t have to have their own ham radios, but most do. People do need an amateur radio licence to use amateur radio bands, Storry explained, and computer skills are helpful.

Members of the society assist newcomers with learning how to become an EMBC registered radio communications volunteer. The society meets on the first Saturday of the month from September to June at the Cranberry Training Centre.

Interested readers can find more information by following the PRREP links on the regional district’s website.