Embedded Files
June 4th, 2026
The new WARC comms trailer had its second deployment Wednesday as we met with the 154 Air RCACS in Amherst. There were 15 cadets and after an introduction to amateur radio inside their building we brought them out in two seperate sessions and ran them through the operation of the trailer. There were many questions on amateur radio and how it can be used in emergency communications.
June 3rd, 2026
The final club meeting for 2025-26 was well attended with over 25 members taking part.
Before the meeting was the year end barbecue and no one went away hungry.
The meeting started will a minute of silence for one of our founding members Al Christie VE1ZS who recently passed away.
Under Sick & Visiting we mentioned long time club member Jack McGee VE1CZD who recently fell and was in the hospital.
The club is looking for volunteers to help promote the new comms trailer with several events coming up for the summer. This Saturday is the Atlantic QSO party and a great time for members to operate the radios and make come contacts for the day long event. All the events are on the club website under CALENDAR.
Contact me for more details and to volunteer. themaritimeamateur@gmail.com
Jim Hannon VE1AFH gave a recap of the history of the club's bursary. Over the years the club has given out 42 bursaries to local students for a total of $8400.00.
The club voted to present the NSARA a donation towards a analyzer for testing repeaters around the province.
Nova Scotia Guard training will take place Monday June 8th at the Dr.Carson marion Murray Community Center starting at 6:30pm
A reminder is any local amateur is interested in being a executive or director of the club let us know by the annual meeting in September. You must be able to be at all the in-person meetings for one of the positions.
The annual club meeting will take place on September 8th, 2026 at the Upper Nappan Service Center.
May 27th, 2026
On Wednesday evening the new club ACS trailer was set up at the Port Elgin NB Regional School for its first display with a local group.
Members of the RCACC 2335 Port Elgin Army Cadets and commanding officer Brett Crossman invited up to come and learn about amateur radio and the operation of the trailer. (see below)
Twelve members including eight cadets attended and for over an hour ask questions about the hobby. At the end of the eveniong we gave them several links to local websites to find out more about amateur radio.
The next event for the trailer will be June 3rd 7pm when we will be at 26 LaPlanche St in Amherst to showcase the trailer with Sean Lockhart and cadets from the 154 Air RCACS. All club members are invited to attend.
May 23rd, 2026
On Saturday several members of the WestCumb ARC participated in the learning session of the new WARC Comms Trailer. When the manual is complete it will be sent out to members interested in operating the trailer.
Taking part Left to Right in the photo includes Mike Johnson VE1MWJ, Bruce Sears VE1VH, Peter Whalen VE1WIN, Kevin Burke VE1KEV, Frank Marks VE1FSM, Robert Mannette VE1CA, Brian MacDonald VE1BSD and presenteing the class Steve Orr VE1OR.
May 21st, 2026
Al Christie VE1ZS of the WestCumb ARC passed away on May 21st, 2026.
Al was a founding member of the club back in 1980 and a lifetime member.
Avard Wallace Christie | Obituary | Sharing Memories
Thanks to Mike VE1MY for the info.
May 5th, 2026
Another great meeting tonight for the WestCumb ARC.
The meeting started with a minute silence for Omar Caissie VE9TV father of club member Mike Caissie VE9MTV.
The club welcomed new member Tom Yeoman VE1BWM. Tom lives in Amherst. Tom makes 62 members.
Regrets Jim Hannon VE1AFH, Mike Caissie VE9MTV and Don Anderson VE9CUB.
Steve VE1OR gave a recap of SMART26 and everything seem to go very well with lots of good reports and a profit for the event . Plans are already in the works for SMART27. Thanks to Colleen Orr VE1CEO who took over as coordinator and get a wonderful job for her first time.
There will be a learning class for the new comms trailer for those interested Saturday May 23rd 1pm at the county office.
The club decided to have a year-end barbecue at our next club meeting on June 2nd beginning at 6pm.
The club agreed to give out two bursaries this year to the local schools. This is an annual event for the club.
Club member Borden Chapman VA1CBC donated a RigExpert StickPro Antenna and Cable analyzer to the club to be available to club members but to be stored in the club trailer.
Frank VE1FSM won the 50/50 tonight.
Next brunch will be at the Harborview restaurant in Parrsboro Saturday May 23rd 10:30am.
The last club meeting for 2025-26 will be June 2nd beginnig at 6pm with a year-end barbecue.
April 26th, 2026
On Saturday April 25th, Ron VE1BIC was joined on Tantramar Community Radio CFTA 107.9 by WARC members Steve VE1OR, Jim VE1JBL and Rob VE1CA to talk about S.M.A.R.T. and take listeners on a tour of the new Communications Trailer out in the station parking lot.
Here is the link to the program:
April 8th, 2026
The first in person meeting of the year for the WARC went very well with 18 in attendance and 10 online.
Steve VE1OR let everyone know everything seems to be in place for SMART26. With Amherst and Lynn Mountain repeaters both down, it now looks like the talk-in frequency for the event will be 146.805.
The club trailer was on display at the meeting so everyone had a chance to see it before SMART26. The club is asking for volunteers to help run the trailer when it is active around the county. Even a couple of hours helping out at events would be appreciated.
A new club calendar has been added to the club website. It will feature events that the club will be taking part in.
The new club hoodies were given out at the meeting. For those who were not there they will be available for pickup at SMART. The other items including t-shirts, golf shirts, mugs and stickers will hopefully ready to give out at SMART.
The 50/50 was won by Borden VA1CBC who donated his winnings back to the club. Thanks Borden.
Next club brunch will be April 18th 10:30am at Patterson's in Sackville NB.
Next club meeting will be May 5th 7pm at the county building.
March 8th, 2026
I have added a Google calendar to the WestCumb ARC club website. It can be found here - Calendar
This will be used to capture club events.
For example, calendar events will include regular meetings, breakfast meetings, committee meetings and outings that the new communications trailer will participate in. These trailer outings could be sessions at local schools and community events such as Canada Day, Jamboree on the Air and Field Day.
It could also be deployed by members for on air contests throughout the year to keep it in good service and have members practice at setting it up and operating.
The calendar entries will be color coded and as an example items in GREEN are events the new ACS Trailer will take part in. This will help members plan to volunteer some time to participate in the event.
If anyone has anything you think should be added to the calendar or any events we have missed, please let us know.
All events are subject to change.
March 4th, 2026
We had a great meeting last night with twenty-nine members taking part including Rod Tower VE9GPA who received his license with honors. Congratulations Rod on joining the hobby and also joining our club. Greatly appreciated.
Work continues on the new club trailer and we will contact Carter's to see when the logos will be put on. Four schools have been contacted to see if there is interest in having the club bring the trailer to their location to let the students tour the vehicle to learn about the hobby and the technology behing it. Once the trailer has begun to crisscross the county, we are looking for volunteers to help run the stations and be available to talk to visitors as this project will be a rolling ambassador for the club and the hobby.
SMART26 continues to become another great event with over one hundred already registered, flea market tables filling up and many prizes available.
Borden VA1CBC has offered his property in Northport NS for Field Day 2026 and with the Northport Provincial Park across the road, amateurs will also be able to participate on the weekend as a POTA station. We hope to have barbecues set up to feed the members throughout the weekend.
Ron VE1BIC would like to have a Q&A session on CFTA radio with club members about the latest happenings of the club. This is scheduled for April 25th.
Next club brunch will be March 28th at Brittney's in Amherst 10:30am.
Next club meeting will be April 7th in person at the Nappan Service Center beginning at 7pm.
February 6th, 2026
There was a good turnout for the club meeting this month with twenty-three members taking part including new member Dan VE1DVB from Westville NS. The club now has sixty-one members.
There was not much new on the comms trailer as we are deciding on storage for the unit and waiting on Carters for the logos on the trailer. We will be heading our soon to talk to the local schools to see if there is interest in bringing the trailer to them.
The SMART committee will meet on February 10th to go over the latest on the event, update the website and send out the registration form.
Kevin VE1KEV & Rob VE1CA went over the clubs new merchandise form and it is now LIVE for members to order items from the store. A reminder if paying by e-transfer use the club address ve1wrcetransfer@gmail.com
Ron VE1BIC would like to have a couple of club members meet at CFTA Community Radio 107.9 on Saturday February 28th 10am to do another on air program talking about the club. If interested in taking part in this, contact Ron at ron.bickle@gmail.com If you scroll down to the bottom of this page you will be able to listen to the first CFTA interview back in March of 2025.
The next club brunch will be held Saturday February 21st 10:30am at Patterson's in Sackville NB.
Next club meeting will be March 3rd online only beginning at 7pm.
Below is a snapshot of the online meeting.
January 8th, 2026
We had a great club meeting this past week with 25 members taking part and three guests including Jason Tremblay VE3JXT from Radio Amateurs of Canada, Al Cyples VE1CYP and Scott Hawkes VE1SLH both from Nova Scotia Public Safety Field Communications.
After regular club business, Jason gave a presentation on the new Auxiliary Communications Service which has taken over from the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. The session last for an hour and half with a lot of information shared.
Once I received the video from Robert, I will share it will all members.The monthly brunch will take place January 17th 10:30am at Brittney's in Amherst.
Next club meeting will be February 3rd, 2026.
January 1st, 2026
I have posted a video that was taken at the WARC Field Day 1996. It is located in the navigational bar at the top of the page.
Brings back good memories of a great weekend and also sad as many in this video are now Silent Keys.
December 12th, 2025
The WestCumb ARC has started preparing for SMART26.
There is a new coordinator for the event with Colleen Orr VE1CEO taking on this important task.
There also is a new website and webmaster for SMART as Rob Mannette VE1CA has taken on this role.
The new website is www.smartevent.ca and will be updated when needed so add it to your favorites and keep checking back for the latest news about the annual event in Springhill NS.
March 14th, 2025
On Saturday morning March 8th, 2025 two members of the WestCumb ARC in Amherst NS Jim Langille VE1JBL & Steve Orr VE1OR were interviewed by Ron Bickle VE1BIC at CFTA Community radio 107.9 about the club, upcoming events and amateur radio in general. Below is the interview thanks to Ron Bickle.
[WARC AT CFTA AMHERST - MAR 08 2025.mp3](https://www.dropbox.com/.../WARC-AT-CFTA-AMHERST-MAR-08...)
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse