PGARC

Any hams in FSJ being pressed into service ?

We are now taking reservations for our next Basic Amateur Radio on-line course. Starting Monday, June 14 for seven consecutive weeks from 7-9PM Pacific Time. More information at: https://bit.ly/SARCcourses

RAC is offering online courses .. the Advanced Amateur Radio Certification course is free for Maple Leaf Members. The summer session starts in early June .... 1...0 Sessions of up to 2 hours weekly taught by Dave Goodwin VE9CB. Not only is the course online the government is allowing online testing from anywhere in Canada. See more

Maintenance trip completed to Hazelton repeater site (ve7lcp, ve7bso, ve7ept), including repair of APRS digi.

This amateur radio operator in Alberta offers remote examinations for certifications in both Canada and in the US.

Ham radio was critical in 2019 during the Can-Am International Sled Dog Race, a 250-mile race through the North Maine Woods. Derrick Ouellette, KW1A, explains h...ow radio assists race participants, especially in the remote race checkpoints, in his article, Sled Dogs and Ham Radio in the North Maine Woods, in the December issue of #QST. Read it for free at www.arrl.org/this-month-in-qst, or in print! Photo: The start of the 2019 Can-Am International Sled Dog Race.

This kinda cool

Really enjoyed participating in slow-scan television (SSTV) event here in Vancouver to commemorate Remembrance Day 2020.

Many thanks to Matthew Schafer at Vernon Communications Ltd and Wilf at JVCKenwood Canada Inc. for making this possible! Now the ham curmudgeons will have one less thing to whine about.

I will be hosting another Basic Qualification Amateur Radio Exam online on Wed. Nov. 25 @7pm.

A Clean Sweep in ARRL November Sweepstakes Means Working 84 Sections this Year https://www.rac.ca/changes-to-november-sweepstakes/ The following item is court...esy of the American Radio Relay League: The ever-popular ARRL November Sweepstakes (SS) weekends are upon us one for CW and the other for SSB and this year, participants will have to search out an additional Section. The CW event is held November 7 9 (UTC), and the SSB event is November 20 22 (UTC). Each Sweepstakes leg begins at 2100 UTC on Saturday and runs through 0259 UTC on Monday. Stations may operate 24 of the available 30 hours. An SS Operating Guide package, available via the SS webpage, explains how to participate in Sweepstakes. Clubs or public service teams that are considering participating in SS will find the guide to be a useful source for information. This year marks the 79th SS event, which attracts more than 3,000 entries each fall for both weekends. The number of ARRL and Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) sections rose to 84 earlier this year with the addition of Prince Edward Island (PE) as a separate entity. The objective of SS or sweeps is to work as many stations in as many of the 84 sections as possible within 24 hours of operating. The number of sections worked is a score multiplier, and working all of them a clean sweep in SS parlance is the goal of many SS aficionados, who qualify for a clean sweep coffee mug. Hardcore SS operators try to run up the contact and multiplier counts by staying in the chair for the allowed 24 hours. Some multipliers are rarer and/or harder to work, and these can vary from year to year. For many years, the most difficult SS multiplier was considered to be Northern Territories (NT) in Canada, where J. Allen, VY1JA, in Yukon Territory, was often the only station available. Allen has stepped back from Amateur Radio, however, owing to health issues. Making a clean sweep also requires working Alaska and Hawaii (or another station in the Pacific Section), as well as Newfoundland/Labrador (NL) and Prince Edward Island (PE) in the other direction. On the rarer side, finding and working stations in Alberta (AB), North Dakota (ND), Northern New York (NNY), US Virgin Islands (VI), Wyoming (WY), and Delaware (DE) has proven vexing for some SS operators. Nonetheless, even stations with modest equipment and antennas can enjoy success. Many stations like to operate in the QRP category (output of 5 W or less), although that challenge has been more daunting in the lower rungs of the solar cycle. ARRL November Sweepstakes is the oldest domestic radiosport event (the first was in 1930). The SS contest exchange has deep roots in message-handling protocol and replicates a radiogram preamble. In SS, stations exchange: 1) A consecutive serial number (NR). Operators do not have to add leading zeros on contact numbers less than 100. 2) Operating category Q for Single Op QRP; A for Single Op, Low Power (up to 150 W output); B for Single Op, High Power (greater than 150 W output); U for Single Op, Unlimited, regardless of power; M for Multioperator, regardless of power, and S for School Club. 3) Your call sign. 4) Check (CK) the last two digits of the year of first license for either operator or station. 5) Section ARRL/RAC Section at http://contests.arrl.org/contestmultipliers.php The SS Operating Guide package, available for download (http://www.arrl.org/sweepstakes), includes all rules and examples of log formatting. The deadline to submit CW entries is November 16. The deadline to submit phone entries is November 29. Please direct any questions to the ARRL Contest Program at: [email protected]