RAC Bulletin 130824

RAC Ontario Section Bulletin for August 24, 2013

This is V__3____, Official Bulletin Station for Radio Amateurs of
Canada, with this week's bulletin

NATIONAL NEWS


ONTARIO SECTIONS NEWS


ITEMS OF INTEREST

1. Ottawa Hamfest

The Ottawa Amateur Radio Club will hold its 17th annual Hamfest on
Saturday, September 7, at the Carp Agricultural Fairgrounds, 3832
Carp Road, in Carp.  The event is in the W. Erskine Johnston Arena
at the north end of the fairgrounds.  General admission at 9 am;
talk-in on VE2CRA repeater, 146.940 (-), 100 Hz tone.  For more
information visit www.oarc.net/fleamarket

-- RAC Events Database

2. EmComm East

EmComm East, the U.S. east coast amateur radio emergency
communications conference, will be on Sunday, September 29th, at St.
John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. This year's featured
guest speaker will be the ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer,
WJ1B.  Amateurs within driving distance of Rochester are encouraged
to attend (take your passport)!)  

Previous year presenters include Ontario-East Section Manager Mike
Hickey VE3IPC, on the Deployable Mutual Aid Plan, and Ontario-South
Section Manager Ian Snow VA3QT, on an ARES Qualification Proposal. 
For more information visit www.emcommeast.org

-- Amateur Radio Newsline

3. U.S. MARS "High Pressure Test"

On August 3-4, U.S. Army MARS and Air Force MARS underwent a
high-pressure nationwide test.  The six hour drill evaulated 
performance of the volunteer radio operators under heavy traffic
conditions, relaying encrypted data between individual members in the
50 states and the headquarters station at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. 
The scenario called for breakdown of normal channels, including cell
phones and the Internet, with MARS and other unspecified military
assets replacing essential circuits

MARS, the Military Auxiliary Radio System, is a Department of Defense
unit for specially-trained Amateur Radio operators who volunteer
their skills and equipment to support government communications when
normal channels are disrupted. Separate branches exist for the Army,
Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps.

-- ARRL Web

4. Manuals for Chinese Rigs

One complaint about inexpensive Chinese ham rigs is their user
manuals.  The Radio Documentation Project is working to produce
high-quality, in-depth, open-source manuals for Chinese-built
handhelds.  The first one completed is for the Baofeng UV-5R
dual-bander.  Download the free PDF at tinyurl.com/new-uv5r-booklet

You can also find information, Frequently Asked Questions, and
software, for Baofeng handhelds at www.miklor.com

-- CQ News Service and Handi-Ham News

5. Introductions to Contesting

If you need a presentation on getting into contesting, here are two.
Rick N6XI has a web page on "Radio Contesting" at 
tinyurl.com/n6xi-contesting. Kirk K4RO has a PDF file of a PowerPoint
presentation, "Contesting 101," that would be suitable for
presentation to a club -- find it at tinyurl.com/k4ro-contesting.

-- ARRL Contest Update