SMART24 Recap

Friday evening May 3rd was the beginning af SMART24 with the annual Meet & Greet at the Amherst Railway Station. Over 20 amateurs spent two hours eating, meeting and chatting with their fellow hams.

On a cool foggy Saturday morning May 4th, the annual Symposium for Maritime Amateur Radio Technology (SMART) began with the doors opening at 7am for volunteers and venders.

At 8am the doors open for the registered hams and the building began to hum with amateurs picking up their name tags, buying 50/50 & Raffle tickets and heading out to the arena to take in the flea market.

After opening remarks and welcome from Cumberland County Mayor Murray Scott the classes began at 9am.
There were ten classes throughout the day including Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP),  Taking care of your Transmission Line; Logging, contesting & software;  Antenna, feedline & radials; Digital Modes, slow scan, ft8 etc.; Parks on the Air (POTA); Digital Mobile Radio (DMR); Amelia Earhart radio signals update and Winlink Global Radio Email.
I want to thank the presenters of the classes including Brent Taylor VY2HF, Bill McMaster VY2WM, Craig Seaboyer VE1DSS, Bill Karle VE1YY, Robert Schofield VE1RSM,  Chris Pye VA1PYE,  Sean Bridge VE1XOP,  Stuart Crawford VE9SRC, Tobie Boutot VE9XAB and Al Penny VO1NO. 

At 12:30 lunch was served by Subway Springhill who catered this years SMART with individual box lunches which included a sandwich, chips and cookie. Thanks to Mike Embree VE1MY and Garrett Orr VA1OR for picking up and delivery of the order.
For the next hour, amateurs had time to relax, chat with other hams and explore the flea market tables.

At 1:45 the afternoon classes began and continued till 4pm.
After the last classes, everyone came out to the arena to take part in the prizes before closing the event.

I would like to thank the following for their gracious offers of door prizes. The WestCumb ARC for their two PEI Bridge Passes and gas card,  Mike Caissie VE9MTV for the donation of a Quansheng handheld radio, Scott Davis N3JFP for his annual donation of the logging and contest software,  Jose Ros EA5HVK for the VARA high speed modem license, Moncton & Area ARC and the Kings County ARC for gas cards, Radioworld for their four gift cards, James Salamone VE1JCS for the thermal mug with personal name and callsign engraved and Yaesu USA for the ballcaps. The Quansheng UV-5R Plus handheld radio was re donated by Matt VE9MV and also by Gordon VE9GC and was won by Don VE9ZP.

Winner of the 50/50 was Gino Mazerolle VE9GM.

The raffle prizes were donated this year by the WestCumb ARC (ICOM IC2730 Dual Band Mobile), ICOM Atlantic Rep Grant Saffarek VE9CXT  (IC-V86 Handheld Transceiver) and Denis Grisak K0TX for the Digirig Soundcard certificate.
The winners were  L to R: Jean-Pierre Ouellette VE9ADV who won the ICOM mobile radio, Ron Bickle VE1BIC  the ICOM Portable radio and Gino Mazerolle VE9GM the Digirig.

S.M.A.R.T 24 Photos

Here is the link to Ron Bickle's VE1BIC Dropbox for photos from SMART24.  CLICK HERE

Now to thank everyone who participated in this years event. Apologies if I miss anyone.

First of all the County of Cumberland and the staff at the Dr. Carson and Marion Murray Community Center in Springhill for their continuing support and help throughout the event.

Kushal Trivedi and the staff at Subway Springhill or the making of 150 box lunches for the event.

Atlantic Superstore for the donation of water.

Bambino's Pizzeria & Fine Foods in Amherst for the rental of the building for the M&G.

Stuart  Crawford VE9SRC posted a YouTube video on his trip to SMART.  CLICK HERE

The following amateurs donated their time to volunteer for SMART24.
Dana Rushton VE1VOX who looked after the licenses and one of the door prizes, Mike Embree VE1MY who looked after the talk-in frequency for Friday night and Saturday morning and also filled in at different tables when needed,  Terry & Sue Duncan VE1AS/VA1SIS who looked after the entrance fee, Borden Chapman VA1CBC who gave out the name tags, Colleen Orr VE1CEO at the raffle table, Mike Caissie VE9MTV at the 50/50 table, Mike Johnson VE1MWJ who manned the coffee table, Kevin Burke VE1KEV flea market tables,  Frank Marks VE1FSM for looking after the club table, George Dewar VY2GF for the lineup of presenters for SMART, George Dewar VY2GF & Gordon Cotton VE9GC who introduced the presenters, Ron Bickle VE1BIC and Robert Mannette VE1CA for the audio & recording of the classes, Tom Hughes VE1TWH who set up and operated the WINLINK lab upstairs throughout the day, Steve Orr VE1OR who also helped Tom from his mobile Winlink station outside the arena.

Finally to all registered amateurs who signed up and attended the event. THANK YOU!
Without all of you SMART would not take place.

Jim Langille VE1JBL
Coordinator SMART24