RAC Bulletin 120211

RAC Ontario Section Bulletin for February 11, 2012

NATIONAL NEWS

1. 500 kHz Allocation Moves to Next Stage

Committee 4 of the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12)
has approved a worldwide secondary allocation to the Amateur Service
at 472-479 kHz, with a power limit of 1 watt EIRP, or 5 watts EIRP in
special circumstances. This proposal now moves to the Plenary
session for consideration. Individual countries may elect to opt out
of this allocation.

-- RAC Bulletin Service

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

2. Ontario Restructuring Update

RAC, through its Ontario Section Restructuring Commission, has
decided to divide Ontario into four Sections: Ontario North, Ontario
East, Ontario South, and Greater Toronto Area. The four Section
Managers will meet as a Provincial Council to handle provincial-
level issues.

The new Section Managers will be appointed by the VP Field Services
from qualified persons recommended by the membership. Nominations of
RAC members may be made through your local club. Nominations close on
March 31st, new managers will be appointed by May 1st, and the
transition will be complete by September 1st.

More information can be found at the RAC Blog at blog.rac.ca.

-- RAC Bulletin Service

3. Ontario ARES District Changes

Effective January 2012, Emergency Management Ontario has changed its
sector boundaries. Ontario ARES will rearrange Districts to follow
the EMO change. The new EMO Sector maps can be found at
tinyurl.com/emo2012.

-- via Allan Boyd, Ontario Section Manager

ITEMS OF INTEREST

4. ARRL to Permit Use of LoTW for CQ Awards

Applicants for CQ's WPX award will soon be able to use ARRL Logbook
of the World (LoTW) credits in their applications, under an agreement
between CQ and the ARRL announced on January 24. Previously, ARRL had
prohibited the use of its LoTW system by any outside organization.
The target date for starting WPX support on LoTW is April 1, 2012.
Support for additional CQ awards will follow, although no timetable
has been set.

-- CQ News Service

5. Hungarian Cubesat

Andras Gschwindt HA5WH is requesting Radio Amateurs to send reports
of telemetry data from the Hungarian student satellite Masat-1, due
to be launched on February 13. Its call sign is HA5MASAT and
telemetry is being sent GFSK on 437.345 MHz +/- 10 kHz Doppler shift.
The group also needs amateurs to receive voltage and temperature data
sent in CW. For more information, and decoder software, visit their
web page, cubesat.bme.hu/en/

-- AMSAT UK, via RSGB News