News / Information

VE1PKT Repeater Update ( Hammonds Plains)

Posted October 4th, 2023


Effective October 1, 2023, the VE1PKT 146.685 MHz repeater (Halifax/Hammonds Plains, NS) has been upgraded to CTCSS - (PL tones) on receive..  Users will need to set their radios to transmit a sub-audible tone of 82.5 Hz to access the repeater.

Neil, VE1YZ

Licensee and sponsor VE1PKT and VE1CDN


2023 Greenwood Flea Market

Posted October 1st, 2023

Thanks to Brian VE1IQ for the info.


Date: 21 OCT 2023 (Saturday) 

Time: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Open 8:00 AM To Sellers for set up) Place: Greenwood Community Centre - 110 Church St., Greenwood, NS Cost: Admission is $5.00. (Tables Free to Sellers) 

GPS Coordinates: N44° 58.512’ W064° 55.612’ 


To Book Tables Contact: 

Flea Market Coordinator - Carol VE1ICY cfhutchinson@gmail.com 

For Additional Info Contact: GARC President – Phil Hunter VE1PHL garc.ve1wn@gmail.com




Yaesu Fusion, Wires-X, CQ Maritimes Room,
Maritime Fusion Net, Fredericton Fusion Net

Posted August 1st, 2023

Updated August 18th, 2023

With the popularity of Yaesu Fusion Radios here in the Maritimes, here is some information I would like to share with anyone interested in buying a Fusion radio.

There are now over 20 Fusion Repeaters across the Maritimes and a room dedicated to Maritime Amateurs.

The CQ Maritimes Room #60207 is hosted by the WestCumb ARC in Amherst on the VE1AMH repeater 145.190 and there are several other  repeaters connected to this room including VE1CDN Halifax 442.975, VE1CRA Charlottetown 145.310, VE9MFR Moncton 146.625, VE1AEH Kentville 145.370, VE9FNB Fredericton 145.390 & VE1YAR Yarmouth 444.700..
 
NOTICE: This room is setup to be used by Fusion radios only. No access for hot spots.

There is a Maritime Fusion Net each Wednesday evening at 7pm AT and several other repeaters connect during the net so that other amateurs in the region have the opportunity to check into the weekly net. This net also has a LIVE feed via YouTube thanks to Robert VE1CA so that amateurs around the world can follow the net and take part in the chatroom. 

There is also a Friday Fredericton Fusion Net at 8pm AT which operates throughout the year except July and August.

For more information about Fusion / Wires-X and a list of repeaters    CLICK HERE

There is also plenty of information about Fusion & Wires-X on the VE1AIC-VE1CRA website   CLICK HERE


Jim Langille VE1JBL

IRG System Update - July 26

As of today, the VE1BM  147.120 repeater in Fredericton has been upgraded to full CTCSS - (PL tones) on transmit and receive.  Users will need to set their radios to transmit a sub-audible tone of 151.4 to access the repeater. 

The Fredericton VE1BM repeater joins those in Elmtree, Campobello, Maces Bay, and the new UHF repeaters as requiring a PL tone.  For an up-to-date list of all new repeaters and PL tones, go to https://ve9irg.net/revamp/ctcss_chart

You don't need to set a PL tone to hear the repeater.  However, if you are troubled by local interference on your local repeater frequency, you can set your radio to only open squelch when it hears the repeater.  Some radios refer to this as TSQL or "tone squelch".  All repeaters in the IRG system are now transmitting a PL tone, 151.4 on VHF repeaters, and 141.3 on UHF repeaters.

And another important reminder:   We urge you to program all your radios to send the PL tone now, even before your local repeaters are upgraded.  That way, you won't find yourself suddenly unable to work the repeater, as there will be very little advance notice of when a particular zone or repeater is upgraded to require CTCSS.  Get out your radio manual and do it now, before you are caught without being able to transmit into a repeater when you most need it.

The phase-in of CTCSS is part of the ongoing upgrade of the IRG system underway.  For more information:
 IRG system upgrade and changes coming   |   Up-to-date chart of upgraded repeaters  |  The future is sub-audible tones


S.M.A.R.T. 23 Recap

The sixth annual Symposium for Maritime Amateur Radio Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) began on Friday evening May 5th with the first ever Meet & Greet at the Amherst Railway Station. It turned out to be a success with over thirty amateurs taking part over two hours. This will probably now be an annual part of SMART.

On Saturday, a sunny morning greeted everyone for SMART23 at the Dr. Carson & Marion Murray Community Centre in Springhill NS.

The doors opened at 7am for volunteers / flea market tables with Kevin Burke VE1KEV, Frank Marks VE1FSM and Mike Masters VE1ZB looking after the set-up of tables while Mike Embree VE1MY was on the talk in frequency of 147.285 VE1WRC directing hams to the event.

As the flea market tables were being set up volunteers were busy preparing for the rush of hams expected at 8am when the doors opened. Once opened, Terry VE1AS & Susan VA1SIS Duncan were tasked at looking after the entrance fees while Mike Caissie VE9MTV, Don Anderson VE9CUB & Gordon Cotton VE9GC gave out tickets for lunch and helped the hams collect their name tags.

Hams began filing in and soon were buying raffle tickets from Steve VE1OR & Colleen VE1CEO Orr and 50/50 tickets from Al VE1ZS and his wife Mary. Thanks to Dana Rushton VE1VOX for getting the License for the draws.

While this was going on, Ron Bickle VE1BIC, Tom Hughes VE1TWH and Robert Mannette VE1CA were busy preparing the classrooms with audio and video testing.

At 8:40am Mike Johnson VE1MWJ who again this year was MC gave the opening remarks and at 9am the first classes began. Over the next three and a half hours 6 classes were held before lunch began at 12:30pm.

Members of the Springhill Teen centre prepared hamburgers and cheese burgers on the barbecue while potato salad was dished out to all. After lunch, amateurs milled around the flea market and vendor tables, others collected their QSL cards from the VE1/VE0 QSL Bureau while others checked out the automobiles registered for best amateur radio install.

Other displays included the Halifax ARC promoting the club's 90th anniversary coming up later in the year, Maritime Contest Club, Old Timer's Club and the Atlantic Provinces Support Team for Amateur Radio (APSTAR).

At 2pm the afternoon classes began and after 4 more classes over the next two and half hours it was time to give out the door prizes and raffle prizes.

There was over one thousand dollars of door prizes this year including an ICOM handheld radio from Grant Saffarek VE9CXT from ICOM Canada which was won by Jon Gordon VE1JSG. Other door prizes were from Yaesu USA, Scott Davis N3FJP, Radioworld, WestCumb ARC, Moncton & Area ARC, Fredericton ARC, Halifax ARC, Kings County ARC and Greenwood ARC

Other prizes this year were from Maritime Lady Amateurs, Limitless Designs by Robin Stone and Streetsridge Custom Designs by Ann Cutmore who designed our logo for SMART and made our mugs and shirts for sale.

As always raffle prizes were from the WestCumb ARC including 3 radios. Winners of the radios were Mike Caissie VE9MTV, Rod Bourque VE9HV and Garrett Orr VA1OR.

The 50/50 was won by Craig Seaboyer VE1DSS from Antigonish NS.

The first “best auto install” generated a lot of discussion & interest. Frank VE1FSM was very thorough with his inspection and analysis of each vehicle and their radio installation.

Winner of best radio installation went to Mike Masters VE1ZB while Brad Ross VE1ZX took second place.

The organizing committee for SMART would like to thank the following presenters who hosted the classes.

Chris Pye VA1PYE, Fred Archibald VE1FA, Al Penny VO1NO, Gordon Cotton VE9GC, Brent Taylor VY2HF, William McMaster VY2WM, Robert Schoefield VE1RSM, Craig Seaboyer VE1DSS, Len Morgan VE9MY, Bill Karle VE1YY,

Jason Ingraham VE1PYE and special guest Walter Rawle AC1AE.

We also want to thank organizer George Dewar VY2GF who worked very hard to find these presenters for the event.

We would also like to thank the Municipality of Cumberland for their continuing support and the staff at the Dr. Carson & Marion Murray Community Centre who set up the centre and looked after all our needs throughout the day.

Finally a big thank you to all the amateurs who attended the event and their continuing support of SMART. Without all of you this event would not take place.

For more information, winners and pictures from SMART23 go to the

WestCumb ARC website at www.westcumb.ca

If I missed anyone my apologizes. Please let me know.

Hope to see many of you next year at S.M.A.R.T.24.

Jim Langille VE1JBL

Coordinator S.M.A.R.T.


Grand Prize Winners SMART23

Left to Right: Rod Bourque VE9HV Moncton NB, Garrett Orr VA1OR Warren NS, Mike Caissie VE9MTV Irishtown NB & WARC President Kevin Burke VE1KEV.

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

If you have any questions, please contact RAC Regulatory Affairs Officer Dave Goodwin, VE3KG, at regulatory@rac.ca

Dave Goodwin, VE3KG

Regulatory Affairs Officer

Radio Amateurs of Canada

regulatory@rac.ca