SMART18 Recap

On Friday Apr.28th at 6pm organizers and volunteers from the WestCumb ARC arrived at the Dr. Carson and Marion Murray Community Center in Springhill NS to transform the Center into a ham radio venue for one hundred and forty two hams.

Saturday morning started early again for the volunteers who showed up at 7am to get the building ready for the hams at 8am. Coffee, tea and breakfast treats were set up, flea market and display vendors arrived to set up their tables, registration, name tags, 50/50 and raffle ticket tables were prepared and the final tests of sound boards, wireless mics and projectors were checked.

At 8:45am everyone was asked to join the organizers in the main room for opening remarks by Cumberland County Regional EMO Coordinator Mike Johnson VE1MWJ followed by SMART Coordinator Jim Langille VE1JBL.

Classes started at 9am in both rooms and continued till noon when the much anticipated barbecue was ready to go in the arena. After everyone had sat down to enjoy their hamburgers, hot dogs and soft drinks Mike Johnson and Jim Langille started calling out some of the door prizes winners (see winners below)

At 1pm classes started up again and when the classes were done at 1:45pm everyone was ushered outside to get a group photo using the Cumberland Regional EMO drone.

Classes began again at 2pm and during those classes organizers drew the remaining door prizes and posted them on the large white board located in the main display area. When the classes were let out at 2:45pm everyone was ask to check the white board to see if they were a door prize winner and at the same time the raffle prize winners would be drawn for.

At 3pm classes continue and at 4pm the final classes took part until closing at 5pm.

New events this year were antenna displays in the arena thanks to Bernie Cormier VE9BGC and Al Penney VE1NO.

Another new event was a small flea market inside the arena to go along with the "Out of Trunk". Registered amateurs would receive a table to display their items as long as there was someone there to look after the table throughout the day. If not, they could still park just outside the arena loading door to show their items. Not sure how many items were sold but did notice amateurs heading out the door throughout the day with different items. Thanks to Kevin Burke VE1KEV for looking after the flea market tables and helping the hams set up in the morning.

Another new feature this year was a sit down area for lunch. After receiving their food, amateurs had plenty of room inside the arena to sit, eat and chat with fellow amateurs throughout the lunch hour.

I would like to thank Kevin Burke VE1KEV, Mike Masters VE1ZB and Robert Mannette VE1RMJ for again looking after the  three barbecues and somehow feeding over one hundred and twenty hungry hams and volunteers during the hour.

Special thanks to Treva Hebb wife of club member Peter Hebb VE1SM who looked after the breakfast tables and kept the coffee and tea going throughout the day.

Thanks to Jo-Ann Reynolds and Bob Perry VE1EDP for looking after the registration table and giving out the name tags. Jo-Ann and Bob also helped give out the burgers and dogs during the lunch hour.

Thanks to Mike Embree VE1MY and Al Christie VE1ZS who manned the 50/50 table and to Dana Rushton VE1VOX and Don Roland VE1AOE who looked after the raffle tickets. Dana also spent many hours talking to people to obtain many of the door and raffle prizes. He also made the raffle prize tickets and obtained the lottery license for the event.

Thanks to Bernie Cormier VE9BGC and Ron Bickle VE1BIC Station Manager of CFTA Community Radio 107.9FM in Amherst for looking after the setting up of the sound systems in both rooms and looking after any problems that would arise. Ron also took most of the photos of this year's event. See Photo Album.

Thanks to Mike Johnson VE1MWJ and the County of Cumberland for getting us the building to hold this event and for the use of the county barbecues.

A huge thank you to all of the clubs and individuals who donated prizes this year to the event. I was overwhelmed by the response. They include Craig Seaboyer VE1DSS, Scott Davis N3FJP, The Maritime Amateur, Tri-County ARC, Fredericton ARC, Yarmouth ARC, Marc Ouellette VE9MAO, Scott McNutt VE1CHL, Hull Electrical Service Ltd, Truro ARC, Radioworld, Moncton & Area ARC, Bob Tuttle VE1DR, Holmes Security, Jerry Hannah, Radio Amateurs of Canada, WestCumb ARC and Belair Tech.

Thank you to the WestCumb ARC in Amherst for purchasing a PEI Bridge Pass to give as a prize to one lucky amateur from Prince Edward Island to offset the cost of coming to this event.

Thanks to the following for the major prizes, Radioworld, Jentronics, WestCumb ARC and Truro Heights DMR Group.

Thanks to all the presenters who did a wonderful job throughout the day including J.P. Leblanc VE9BK, Brent Taylor VY2HF, Gerry Hull VE1RM/W1VE, Sean Bridge VE1XOP, Bernie Cormier VE9BGC, Craig Seaboyer VE1DSS, Al Penney VO1NO, Dave Hull VE1HUL, Tobie Boutot VE9XAB, Dave Goodwin VE9CB, Bob Robichaud VE1MBR and special guest Cory Sickles WA3UVV from Yaesu USA who came here and gave a wonderful presentation on Fusion Radios, repeaters and their technology.   Cory also had a display table showing off Fusion radios.

Other displays included Brad Ross VE1ZX showing off his Fusion setup and Ron MacKay VE1AIC who had two tables showing off his D-Star, Fusion and DMR radios along with several Hot Spots to complete the setup.

A big Thank You to Bob Tuttle VE1DR who was up very early to be Net Control Station for the Talk-in frequency. Bob was mobile in the parking lot for most of the morning directing traffic to the Center and was available if anyone was lost or broken down.

Thank you to the staff at the Dr. Carson and Marion Murray Community Center for looking after us again this year with the setting up for the event and helping us with anything we needed to make this event run smoothly.

Thanks to the organizers of this event including George Dewar VY2GF, Bernie Cormier VE9BGC and Kevin Burke VE1KEV.

Finally a big thank you to all the amateurs and future amateurs who registered online and attended this year's event.

NOTICE: Final attendance figures.

Registered - 125 of 142

Walk-In -     8

TOTAL -  133