August 21st, 2026

This week marks the end of the tenth year of the net. A huge thank you to all that have and continue to participate in the net, to practice and prepare to serve their community in times of need.

This year the net received a total of 71,811 messages (~1381/wk). Episode #491 had the most messages received: 1550 (very nice!).

There were 2298 unique participants (1938 US, 360 worldwide), with 797 being new to the net. #473 had the most new participants: 36. Each week, ~982 participants joined the net.

174 Century Club Certificates (100 weeks of check-in) were issued; 72 received 200-week endorsements, 26 received 300-weeks, 14 received 400-weeks, and 3 received 500-weeks! #509 was the first time the net issued the most certificates at once: 8.

A total of 13,725 P2P messages were received (including ANCS being available to receive messages). ARDOP was used to send 3,308 messages, and VARA to send 10,417. #491 saw the most P2P messages received: 330. ARDOP was used the most during #495: 88, and VARA during #487: 225.

73,

KN4LQN, David, Chesterfield, VA

June 12th, 2026

Brit Fader (VE1FQ) ran the VE1 and VE0 QSL bureau for over 49 years. He was Mr. QSL and Mr. Field Day for many of those years. The Brit Fader Memorial QSL Bureau, respectfully named in honour of VE1FQ, is operated by HARC using the RAC “Method B” for funding this service. This means that any Amateur Radio Operator wishing to receive QSL cards from the Incoming Canadian Bureau MUST establish an account with the VE1 QSL Bureau.
To set up or to update your account, please email QSL Bureau Manager. Include your name, callsign, address, phone number, and email, indicate whether you wish your cards to be mailed, picked up at swap meets/flea markets, or at HARC meetings, see below. A minimum deposit of $5.00 is required in your Bureau Account. Postage will be debited from the account when cards are mailed out to you. Mail a cheque to the Brit Fader QSL Bureau, PO Box 24018, Dartmouth, NS, B3A 4T4. Visit the QSL Bureau in the HARC Station located in Fire Station #50 at 2050 Hammonds Plains Road.
Or send an e-transfer to: QSL Bureau Manager (preferred method). A record of all transfers and any correspondence with the bank and post office is retained and is available. 

If you have any questions, contact the QSL Manager Dan VA1DAN at qslbureau@halifax-arc.org

June 11th, 2026

Here are the 2026 contest results for the NSARA contest.

NSARA CONTEST RESULTS 2026

CALLSIGN POINTS

VE1HD        1370

VA1ECM      1370

VE1PJS        1156

VE10R           840

VE1FOX        664

VE9JK           634

VE1XYL         607

VE1FSM        425

VE1KEV         407

VY2JTN         397

VE1KTD        128

VA1HEL         70

VE9ML           64

VE1RCI          48

VE9SAB         40

VE1JSR          20

VE9MTB         12

I wish to thank everyone who participated in this years event.

Everyone who participated will receive a certificate, which were mailed on June 8.

Craig VE1DSS

President NSARA

May 23rd, 2026

The NSARA has taken on the challenge of upgrading the MAVCOM system, which is the UHF backbone for the provincial amateur repeater network, consisting of 40+ VHF repeaters within the province. The upgrade will allow the system to be modernized, expanded and stabilized for all the amateur community’s use. The equipment purchased and budgeted for consists of Kenwood NXR-1800 UHF repeaters (~35 pieces), Arcom RC-210 controllers (~10 pieces), and several specialized multiport controllers. The ability to add CTCSS tones to all the UHF links will stop the constant interference that is heard across our system when there is a lift or other stray noise is being generated. Along with the UHF backbone upgrade, several of the crystal-controlled VHF repeaters will be replaced by the installation of Midland 71-3050B repeaters, recently acquired from the province. These are much more modern systems and will be better for our use.

The installation of mini computers within the provincial sites, along with the ability to access the internet thanks to the new agreement from the province to provide this service, will allow NSARA to reboot, troubleshoot and monitor our system from the safety of our homes. This removes the requirement and not be required to travel drive many kms to the top of a mountain to do undertake these tasks. Further, this will allow sites to be accessed in a timely manner via the internet whenever a fault happens, and not months later when the access roads are passable. Although this system is in its infancy, it will grow to include reprogramming of controllers and repeaters as required.

Planning for this project started last year and is ongoing as we are moving forward. Some of the equipment purchased has started to arrive and we are trying to be as efficient as we can to deploy it to the repeater sites as they are now more accessible – although several in northern Cape Breton may still be covered in snow!!

Other assets required are a modern test set, for the setup of the repeaters, along with a proper antenna analyzer to help with the maintenance and troubleshooting of the repeater sites.

Craig Seaboyer VE1DSS

President, NSARA

Members of the WestCumb ARC hosted the 200th edition of Exercise Handshake on July 29, 2025 at the county office in Upper Nappan.

Jim Hannon VE1AFH and Jim Langille VE1JBL who participated in the first Handshake back in 2008 were in attendance along with other local operators Mike Masters VE1ZB, Mike Johnson VE1MWJ and Kevin Burke VE1KEV. We had three special guests for the event with Craig Seaboyer VE1DSS,  Al Cyples VE1CYP and Colleen Nesseth from Shubenacadie Radio Communications Centre (SRCC).

The Maritime QRS Roundtable is a weekly sked on 80m for CW at around 10 wpm. We chat for an hour on Wednesdays starting at 20:30 Atlantic Time. While we often meet at 3.566 MHz, sometimes we arrange another, more convenient, frequency. Join in by sending your call in any break in the conversation or just listen in to practice on-air copying.

Rather than using CW net Q-codes, we coordinate using the simple Discord chat app, which is available on all digital platforms. We encourage beginners of any speed to join on Discord: we’ll find a QSO that’s right for your speed! For access to the Discord server, email Jim VE1KM at ve1km@jcampbell.ca or Bruce VE9QR at ve9qrp@gmail.com using the subject ‘QRS Roundtable’. 

May 10th, 2024

With the Doaktown VE1XI repeater being the final one updated, all IRG repeaters in the province of New Brunswick are now tone-enabled.  Users are required to program a sub-audible tone with their transmission to activate a repeater.  For more information, see our Revamp page.

All  IRG VHF repeaters use a CTCSS (or PL tone) of 151.4 Hz, while IRG UHF repeaters use 141.3 Hz.  You can check the complete updated repeater listing by clicking on the “Revamp” tab at the top of any page. 

There is still more work upcoming, including correction of some audio drop-out issues, and a reconfiguration of the zones and hardware replacements.  Once all is complete, a new network diagram of the system will be published.

For more information about the IRG,  CLICK HERE

Posted March 14th, 2024

In order to support our continued growth, both in scale and global coverage, we are in the process of doing some cleanup and reorganization in the way the Programs, Locations, DX Entities, and Parks are stored in the database.
All Canadian parks now start with a prefix of "CA" instead of "VE" 

CLICK HERE for the full story.

Posted March 8th, 2024

Here is the list of stations I took a picture of today which includes a new gateway VE1WAR-10 hosted by Steve VE1OR at his home in Warren Nova Scotia just outside Amherst.

For more information about Winlink  CLICK HERE

Changes to the RAC Field Organization Sections

As previously reported, on May 25 the Board of Directors of Radio Amateurs of Canada approved changes to the “RAC Field Organization” which will take effect on January 1, 2023. This will be most noticeable during Field Day.

Beginning in 2023 the Maritime Section (MAR) will be deleted from contest to be replaced by Nova Scotia (NS) and New Brunswick (NB).

Here are the new Canadian sections beginning in 2023

The end result will be 14 Sections:

• Alberta (AB)
• British Columbia (BC)
• Manitoba (MB)
• New Brunswick (NB)
• Newfoundland and Labrador (NL)
• Nova Scotia (NS)
• Ontario North (ONN)
• Ontario South (ONS)
• Golden Horseshoe (GH)
• Ontario East (ONE)
• Prince Edward Island (PE)
• Quebec (QC)
• Saskatchewan (SK)
• Territories (TER)

New Canadian Amateur Radio Frequencies

RBR-4 Update: July 2022

For immediate release:

On July 28, 2022, Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) released an update to a very important document for Canadian Radio Amateurs: “RBR-4 – Standards for the Operation of Radio Stations in the Amateur Radio Service”.

The document specifies what frequencies we may operate on and with what bandwidths.

There are two major new additions to our spectrum:

472 to 479 kHz, also known as 630 metres: on this new band, we are allowed to run a maximum of five watts EIRP, using emissions with a maximum bandwidth of 1 kHz.

5351.5 to 5366.5 kHz in the 60 metre band: this is a new worldwide allocation. Canadian Amateurs are allowed to run a maximum of 100 watts ERP, using emissions with a maximum bandwidth of 2.8 kHz.

The new 60 metre band is in addition to our existing fixed-frequency allocations at 5332, 5348, 5373 and 5405 kHz. The new 15 kHz-wide allocation overlaps our existing authority to use 5358.5 kHz. Canadian Amateurs are unique in having authority to use 100 watts ERP on the four spot frequencies and on the new 15 kHz worldwide segment. Amateurs in most countries are limited to 25 watts or less and may operate only in the new 15 kHz-wide segment.

Please note that Amateur Radio is a Secondary radio service on these bands. Amateurs may not cause harmful interference to Primary users and we may not claim protection from interference by Primary users.

There are other small changes in RBR-4 that bring Canadian Amateur Radio regulations in line with changes agreed at several previous World Radio Conferences (WRCs) of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Radio Amateurs of Canada would like to thank former Regulatory Officer Richard Ferch, VE3KI, for his dedicated work over several years to bring these changes forward.

You can find the English version here:

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf10650.html

You can find the French version (IPR-4) here:

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/fra/sf10650.html