RAC Bulletin 2009-02-28

RAC Ontario Section Bulletin for February 28, 2009

NATIONAL NEWS

1. New RAC President

At the February 24th Radio Amateurs of Canada Board teleconference
meeting, President Dave Goodwin, VE3AAQ/VO1AU, announced that he was
resigning his position effective immediately. Dave indicated he is
unable to devote enough time to RAC affairs because of a recent
increase in personal and professional responsibilities.

Dave became RAC President on Jan 1st, 2008. All attending the
teleconference thanked Dave for his service to RAC.

At that meeting the RAC Board elected Bob Cooke, VE3BDB, to be the
RAC President until the end of the current term on Dec. 31, 2009. Bob
has previously been an Assistant Director, Ontario South Director,
and since January 2006 Vice President for Field Services. Bob has
left the VPFS position to accept the appointment as President.

-- RAC Bulletin Service

2. New RAC Vice President for Field Services

The Radio Amateurs of Canada Board of Directors has appointed Sue
Cooke, VE3SUH, as Vice President for Field Services, She will act as
VPFS until December 31, 2009, or until a permanent replacement is
identified and appointed,  whichever comes first. 

Sue has previously been an Assistant Director in Ontario South
Region, an Official Bulletin Station, and  RAC's Corporate Secretary.
She is a RAC Certified Emergency Co-ordinator.

-- RAC Bulletin Service

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

3. Repeater Council Needs Your Help!

The Western New York Southern Ontario Repeater Council (WNYSORC)
needs to know about your repeater.  The Council's job is to assist
repeater sponsors in finding frequencies and avoiding interference.

At present, there are 163 repeaters which have not been updated for
over two years.  The Council has been unable to contact their
sponsors, sometimes due to outdated contact information. 
Those repeaters are in danger of being classed as off-air and the
frequencies released for other users.

The council asks all hams to check with their local repeater sponsors
to ensure that their information is up-to-date with WNYSORC.
Sponsors can find the update forms on our website, www.wnysorc.org

-- Peter Henry VA3PWH, via Jim Taylor, VA3KU

ITEMS OF INTEREST

4. W1AW to QSY on 160 Meters

Starting Monday, March 9, the American Radio Relay League's station,
W1AW, will begin using a new 160 meter frequency for its CW
transmissions.  Due to increasing activity near the current
bulletin frequency of 1817.5 kHz, W1AW will move to 1802.5 kHz.

-- ARRL Web

5. Japanese Ham Satellite Silent Since Launch

Japan's KAGAYAKI satellite has not been heard from since its launch
on January 23. It was supposed to begin transmitting Morse code on FM
or 9600-baud packet on its downlink frequency of 437.375 MHz, but as
of February 15th it has not been heard. Controllers think that either
an antenna or the solar panels may not have extended properly,
resulting in very weak transmissions. Hams are asked to monitor
437.375 for KAGAYAKI and report anything heard to JN1GKZ via email,
m-arai (at) a.email.ne.jp.

-- CQ News Service