Free is a very good price

FREE to a good Ham Shack !  A collection of old-school test gear, including HP 8640A Signal Generator, HP 5345A Electronic Counter, HP 204C Oscillator and three (3) HP Oscilloscopes. Not sure if working or not. Donated by one of our volunteers who was cleaning out a workshop. These items can be seen at the CFTA-FM Studios at 80 Church Street in Amherst during business hours. Ask for Ron VE1BIC.  Anything left after Friday May 18 goes to the electronics recycling depot. 

May Brunch

Thanks to Brad VE1ZX for the photo. (Harbour View Restaurant)

April club brunch

Thanks to Frank VE1FSM for the photo.

WARC April club meeting recap 

There was a great turn out for the regular club meeting of the WARC.
With the first in-person meeting since last September we had 17 amateurs attend the meeting and another 12 club members online for a total of 29 members taking part.
Taking part were Jim VE1JBL, Mike VE1MWJ, Terry VE1AS, Lorne VE1BXK, Brad VE1ZX, Jim VE1AFH, Garrett VA1OR, Steve VE1OR, Chad VE1CS, Mike VE1ZB, Robert VE1CA, Mike VE1MY, Ron VE1BIC, Frank VE1FSM, Dave VE1DEH, Borden VA1CBC, Kevin VE1KEV, Peter VE1WIN, Neil VE1YZ, Tom VE1TWH, George VY2GF, Don VE9CUB, Eric VE1JW, Jon VE1JSG, Bill VA1BIL, Frank VE3AC, Charlie VE1CPI, Brian VE1BSD and Mike VE9MTV. 

Regrets from Helen VA1HAS and Gordon VE9GC.

Under old business, both bursaries have been cashed and Mike Masters VE1ZB & Mike Embree VE1MY will be presenting them this spring.
The club will be meeting with the county this Thursday to go over operations between the club and the county going forward.

Under new business, there was talk about setting up a Winlink VHF gateway at the county office and clean up and repairs to the club HF station and possible set up of HF Winlink and other digital modes.

April Brunch - Saturday April13 at 10:30 AM at the Parkview Restaurant in Oxford.

May Brunch - Saturday May 11 at 10:30 AM at the Harbourview Restaurant in Parrsboro.

Next club meeting will be May 7th beginning at 7pm. 

WARC / EMO Meeting Recap

There was a great turnout for the WARC/EMO meeting at the County office Tuesday evening.  

There were 11 amateurs who attending including Jim VE1JBL, Frank VE1FSM, Terry VE1AS, Borden VA1CBC, Jim VE1AFH, Steve VE1OR,
Kevin VE1KEV, Randy VE1ADV, Brad VE1ZX, Lorne VE1BXK and Rob VE1CA.  

Frank VE1FSM spent the evening  modifying, programming and testing the ICOM radios while Steve VE1OR programmed and tested the Yaesu Radios. Borden VA1CBC spent the evening removing  the heads of the radios for Frank to modify them.

After two and a half hours all were updated and sent packing. All the radios will be tested out in the next couple of weeks.

A reminder about the regular WARC club meeting coming up next Tuesday April 2nd beginning at 7pm. This will be an in person meeting and GOOGLE Meet will be available for those who can not attend.

March club brunch

March club meeting recap

There were 18 club members at the March meeting including Jim VE1JBL, Bill VA1BIL, Borden VA1CBC, Brad VE1ZX, Bruce VE1VH, Eric VE1JW, Frank VE1FSM, Frank VE3AC, George VY2GF, Gordon VE9GC, Mike VE1MY, Rob VE1CA, Ron VE1BIC, Steve VE1OR, Peter VE1WIN, Mike VE1ZB, Terry VE1AS and Mike VE9MTV.
Regrets from Helen VA1HAS, Don VE9CUB and Tom VE1TWH.

There was much talk about having a new club logo and having a contest for everyone to send in their logo to be judged by the committee of Steve VE1OR, Kevin VE1KEV and RObert VE1CA. There was even talk about a name change to the club. More on this later.

Two bursaries will be given out this year to the Amherst Regional High School including one to club member Mike Master's grandson Connor.

There was talk about EMO and that the radios at the 11 fire halls and 5 Hospitals need to be upgraded. There seems to be no interest from the county to help us look after this so we are at a stand still.

The registration form for SMART24 is now active and all club members who are volunteering need to fill out the form.

Club insurance has been completed and we are now insured till the end of 2024.

Several club members have installed Digirigs on there VHF and HF rigs to run Winlink, VARA Hf and VHF..
Steve Orr VE1OR is in the process of setting up a gateway at his QTH. This makes the second Gateway for VHF in the area as Robert VE1CA has already set his station up as a gateway.

The frequency for Robert is 145.730 using callsign VE1CA-10.

Next club brunch is Patterson's in Sackville NB on March 23rd while the April brunch will be in Oxford at the Parkview Family Restaurant.

 Next Club meeting will be April 2nd, 2024 

WARC February brunch

Despite heavy wet snow and slippery roads, we had 15 brave people attend the WARC Monthly Brunch on Saturday February 24th at "Breakfast at Brittneys" in Amherst.

Thanks to Ron VE1BIC for the photos.

CFTA 107.9 & WARC Interview

On Saturday February 17 2024, three members of the Westcumb Amateur Radio Club, Jim VE1JBL, Steve VE1OR and Rob VE1CA joined fellow club member Ron VE1BIC during his morning show on CFTA 107.9 (Tantramar Community Radio) in Amherst NS to talk about the local club, and Amateur Radio in general. Frank VE1FSM also checked in via the Amherst repeater.

Here is the link to the program: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/v4016dcvkktjt2njglfz3/WARC-AT-CFTA-FEB-17-2024-9-10-AM.mp3?rlkey=tut0qycpfi5iv0rkcamrshktg&dl=0

February club meeting recap

There were 25 members taking part in the February meeting including Jim VE1JBL, Bill VA1BIL, Borden VA1CBC, Brad VE1ZX, Chad VA1CS, David VE9DWJ, Eric VE1JW, Frank VE1FSM, George VY2GF, Gordon VE9GC, Jim VE1CHI, Joe VY2JC, Kevin VE1KEV, Mike VE1MY, Neil VE1YZ, Rob VE1CA, Ron VE1BIC, Steve VE1OR, Tom VE1TWH, Don VE9CUB, Peter VE1WIN, Charlie VE1CPI, Mike VE9MTV and Terry VE1AS.
Regrets Frank VE3AC.
There was a minute of silence for long time club member Rob Ireland VE9KM who passed away on January 17th.
In business, the new club Facebook page had over 50 members. Unfortunately  there was no talk about the VE1AMH repeater and its problems as Lorne VE1BXK was absent and the new logo for the club was postponed till next month.
Next club brunch Saturday Feb.24th Breakfast at Brittney's.
Next club meeting March 5th.

January 2024 Club Brunch

Thanks to Brad VE1ZX for the photo.

Rob Ireland VE9KM becomes Silent Key

WARC now on Facebook

The WestCumb ARC has added a Facebook page. Here is the link.
Westcumb Amateur Radio Club | Facebook 

Thanks to Rob VE1CA for setting this up.

WARC January meeting recap

The January meeting of the WestCumb ARC turned out to be a great evening with 27 members attending which is a record for attendance for an online meeting.
Taking part were Jim VE1JBL, Bill VA1BIL, Bordon VA1CBC, Brad VE1ZX, Chad VA1CS, Dave VE1DEH, Eric VE1JW, Frank VE1FSM,
Frank VE3AC, George VY2GF, Gordon VE9GC, Jim VE1CHI, Joe VY2JC, Jon VE1JSG, Kevin VE1KEV, Lorne VE1BXK, Mike VE9MTV, Rob VE1CA, Ron VE1BIC, Mike VE1MY, Steve VE1OR, Peter VE1WIN, Mike VE1ZB, Bruce VE9QR, Terry VE1AS and our two latest members Tom VE1TWH and his father Neil VE1YZ which bring club members this year to 53.
Regrets from Don VE9CUB.

Under old business Neil VE1YZ went over the schedule for the online WINLINK classes which will be hosted by the WARC. Classes will be each Sunday afternoons at 2pm and will continue till the last Sunday in February.

Under new business Kevin VE1KEV and Robert VE1CA have started a Facebook page for the club to bring us into social media. I will put out information on how to join the site when I receive the info.

There will be a SMART meeting coming up when we confirm a date for this year.

Lorne VE1BXK will be taking out the Fusion repeater at AMH and replacing it with another repeater to see if the problems we are having continues. If it solves the problem the club will send their repeater back to Yaesu for repairs.

Peter VE1WIN will be selling some of his equipment and will send me the details. Once I receive them I will forward onto the members.

I have posted Robs VE9KM items for sale on the Maritime Swap Shop for all to see.

This month's brunch will be at Patterson's restaurant in Sackville NB January 20th beginning at 10:30am

Next club meeting will be February 6th, beginning at 7pm.

WARC December Brunch

WARC December meeting recap

Another great turnout for the December meeting of the WARC. There were 20 members taking part including Jim VE1JBL, Eric VE1JW,
Frank VE1FSM, George VY2GF, Gordon VE9GC, Joe VY2JC, Kevin VE1KEV, Rob VE1CA, Ron VE1BIC, Tom VE1TWH, Peter VE1WIN,
Mike VE1ZB, Bill VA1BIL, Steve VE1OR, Jon VE1JSG, Rob VE9KM, Chad VA1CS, Don VE9CUB, Mike VE9MTV, Frank VE3AC and guest Neil Hughes VE1YZ.
Regrets from  Dave VE1DEH, Jim VE1CHI and Bordon VA1CBC.

Under old business the club is still waiting to find out if we can get the domain from the county.
Steve VE1OR will look into seeing if the club can get a new updated logo for the club.
The club is now insured with RAC for 2024.

Under new business, with the club meetings back online the club decided to have the monthly meetings return to Tuesday nights beginning in January. The first meeting for 2024 will be Tuesday January 9th at 7pm.

The December brunch is this Saturday at Breakfast at Brittney's at 10:30am.

After the meeting was over, guest Neil Hughes VE1YZ was invited to give a short presentation on WINLINK.  Neil would like to have a weekly class online beginning in January going over all the aspects of VARA HF WINLINK.
The first class is scheduled for Sunday January 14 at 2pm in the afternoon using GOOGLE Meet. The classes will run for 6 weeks. More on this at our January meeting. 

Merry Christmas to all our members and all the best for 2024.

VE1PAR Parrsboro back "On the Air"

VE1PAR SOLAR repeater is back on air with updated equipments (rack) and was reinstalled at the Parrsboro decommissioned fire tower site as of December 2, 2023 @ 1130 am.

A tone of 88.5 Hz is now required to access this repeater and was implemented as a result of (QRM on lifts) from VHF repeater (VE9CR) Tracadie, NB whose frequency allocation is the same. Note, the 88.5 Hz is programmed for both transmit and receive (TSQ) from the MTR2000 and configured as well within the RLC4 controller.

Rack equipments

Port 1 145.470 (-) TSQ 88.5 Hz 40W [MTR2000] (updated)

Port 2 448.925 (+) 12 W [CDM750] (updated from Vertex FTL-7011)

Port 3 442.275 (s) TSQ 88.5 Hz 12 W [CDM750] (updated from Vertex FTL-7011)

Port 4 223.520 (s) 5 W [IC-38A]

APRS 144.390 (s) 5 W [GM300]

VE1ZX

Special thank to Brad for rack height work adjustments and assisting in the reinstallation.

VE1BXK

All rack equipments programming, interfacing, TXRX level controller adjustments plus RLC4 repair (new EEprom programming) and DVR files uploading.

This was followed by days of bench testing prior to reinstallation.

WARC November Brunch

WARC November meeting recap

A last minute cancellation of the in person meeting did not seem to keep the members away as 21 showed up for the online meeting Wednesday night.
Members attending were Jim VE1JBL, Brad VE1ZX, Bruce VE1VH, David VE1DEH, Don VE9CUB, Eric VE1JW, Frank VE1FSM, George VY2GF, Gordon VE9GC, Jim VE1CHI, Jon VE1JSG, Kevin VE1KEV, Mike VE9MTV, Rob VE1CA, Rob VE9KM, Ron VE1BIC, Steve VE1OR, Terry VE1AS, Peter VE1WIN, Mike VE1ZB and Joe VY2JC.
Regrets from Helen VE1HEL.

Under new business George VY2GF ask club members to give ideas of SMART presentations for next year. George also mentioned that the club should get together and come over to the Island next summer for a weekend of POTA and Lighthouse activations
There was also talk about the VE1WRC and VE1AMH repeaters and how to eliminate noise between the two repeaters.

Ron VE1BIC mentioned a new WARC debit card had arrived at his QTH. Jim will pick it up the next time in town. This will make it easier to purchase items for the club without members paying with their own money and being reimburse. Jim will also look into a credit card for the club.

It was brought up that the club should be looking for a new place to hold meetings in the future.
Robert VE1CA will contact Mike Johnson VE1MWJ about seeing if we can get the WestCumb ARC domain handed over to the club to look after.
Steve VE1OR brought up that the club should consider a new logo for the club.

This month's brunch will be November 18th at the Parkview in Oxford.
The December brunch will be December 16th at Brittney's in Amherst.

Next club meeting will be online December 13th, 7pm.

WARC POTA Party November 2023

It turned out to be a great day at the Chignecto National Wildlife Area (Amherst Point Bird Sanctuary) for a local POTA party.
Several members attended including Jim VE1JBL, Kevin VE1KEV, Robert VE1CA, Steve VE1OR, Garrett VA1OR, Brian VE1BSD, Joe VE1JCC, Terry VE1AS, Mike VE1MWJ and Lorne VE1BXK.

Jim & Kevin both set up stations for VE-1718 by 1700 UTC and stayed "On the Air" for an hour and a half.
Jim showed off the new tilt up system for his vertical antenna which was built by Mike VE1MWJ while Kevin used his new antenna system he bought from a ham in Moncton. Jim ended the day with 59 contacts on 20m while Kevin recorded 10 contacts on 15M.
As these two stations were shutting down, Robert VE1CA and Steve VE1OR headed for Fort Lawrence where Robert was setting up a simplex station on 146.550 to activate POTA from there. With help from Steve VE1OR, Robert got "On the Air" and made 13 contacts using an antenna and tower thanks to Jamie VE9GOM. Robert made contacts with local club members and also club members from the Moncton & Area ARC. Steve continued over to Fort Beausejour where he made a Park to Park contact with Robert.
Earlier in the day Steve VE1OR made three activations including  Tonge's Island, Tintamarre and La Coupe Dry Dock and made 101 contacts.

Everyone agreed they had a great time and can't wait for a future activation as a club activity.

Thanks to Lorne VE1BXK, Robert VE1CA and Kevin VE1KEV for the photos.

Recap October club meeting

There was a very good turnout for the regular club meeting online October including Jim VE1JBL, Bill VA1BIL, Brad VE1ZX, Don VE9CUB,
Eric VE1JW, Frank VE1FSM, Frank VE3AC, George VY2GF, Helen VE1HAS, Kevin VE1KEV, Mike VE9MTV, Rob VE9KM, Rob VE1CA,
Ron VE1BIC,  Steve VE1OR, Peter VE1WIN, Mike VE1ZB, Dave VE1DEH, Gordon VE9GC, Jim VE1CHI and Charlie VE1CPI.
Regrets from Mike VE1MY, Borden VA1CBC, Terry VE1AS and Mike VE1MWJ.

• There was talk about the Fun Run in Oxford next Saturday and Mike Johnson will find out more if we are needed for the event.

• Richard Pierik VE1RPX has offered to give a presentation on POTA.  There will be more on this soon.

• There will be two bursaries issued next spring.

The October brunch will be held at Patterson's in Sackville NB on October 28th beginning at 10:30am.
Next club meeting will be November 8th, 7pm at the county office.

WARC Annual & General Meeting 2023-2024

Greetings all,

 Well it was a great return to in person meetings for the WestCumb ARC Wednesday evening with 17 members taking part including Jim VE1JBL, Ron VE1BIC, Kevin VE1KEV, Peter VE1WIN, Frank VE1FSM, Borden VA1CBC, Brad VE1ZX, Bruce VE1VH, Chad VA1CS, Garett VA1OR, Steve VE1OR, Mike VE1MWJ, Pravin VE9PKV, Terry VE1AS, Susan VA1SIS, Mike VE1ZB and Robert VE1CA. 

Online members attending were Mike VE9MTV, Eric VE1JW, Don VE9CUB, Jim VE1CHI, Bill VA1BIL, George VY2GF and Charlie VE1CPI.  Regrets from Gordon VE9GC.

It was mentioned that founding member Charlie Gould VE1BK is in the hospital in Pugwash with dementia.

Before the meeting started there was a "Welcome Back" barbecue where everyone enjoyed a burger and hotdog and were able to sit down and chat with other members for an hour before the meeting started.

At the annual meeting the executive and directors will remain the same and also the club dues.

The general meeting followed with talk about the upcoming Hurricane and having local hams ready in case needed to staff local fire halls in case of communications failures. The Amherst repeater VE1WRC 147.285 will be in operation for local traffic if needed during and after the storm passes.

There was also talk about local hams taking part in the near future checking out the local fire halls and hospitals testing the ham radio stations located there.

There will also be a fun run in Oxford to support the Pugwash Search & Rescue and they are looking for local hams to provide communications for this run. This will be very similar to the Cross Border Challenge the club used to take part in past years.

Another first for the club was the online meeting for club members who could not make it to the in person meetings.

 Thanks to Steve VE1OR, Ron VE1BIC and Robert VE1CA, cameras, mics and speakers were set up for the meeting so that everyone could take part and ask questions during the evening. It was the first time trying this out and we will continue to improve the online meetings in the future. 

We had a couple of door prizes for the return to in person meetings and Terry VE1AS won the SMART mug and Frank VE1FSM won the SMART t-shirt.

The return of the 50/50 was very popular and Mike VE1ZB won that prize.

The brunch this month will be at Brittney's in downtown Amherst on September 30th beginning at 10:30am.

Next club meeting will be October 11th, 7pm at the county building.

 A reminder to get your dues in ASAP to remain on the club email list and access to the meetings. 

Here is the latest list of members. CLICK HERE