March 1 Member Meeting Open To All

Posted 26 February 2017

NOTE: Our March 1 member meeting will be held in the Hastings Community Centre two blocks to the west of the Vancouver EOC, directly across from the PNE.

As this meeting will not be held in the secure E-Comm / Vancouver Emergency Operations Centre facility the meeting is open to all Vancouver area radio amateurs.

Our featured guest speaker is Radio Amateurs of Canada president Glenn MacDonell, VE3XRA. Glenn is in Vancouver to attend meetings of the Radio Advisory Board of Canada and has graciously accepted invitations to speak at two local amateur radio meetings: VECTOR (Wednesday) and the North Shore Amateur Radio Club (Thursday).

Those new to amateur radio can find more information about RAC, Canada’s national amateur organizing society, at http://wp.rac.ca/. Glenn has been involved for many years in amateur radio as an operator and through his involvement in RAC, the Ottawa Emergency Measures Radio Group, Ottawa Broadband 2.4GHz Hamnnet, and policy and activism at the civic and national level.

Glenn will give us an update on happenings at RAC, speak to issues relating to all Canadian Radio Amateurs and will share his observations on the emergency communications aspect of amateur radio.

We are pleased to confirm that Paul Peters, Emergency Telecommunications Coordinator for the Public Safety Division of the Cowichan Valley Regional District, will also speak at our meeting. Paul will be sharing information on the MRIP (Multi-jurisdictional Radio Interoperability Project) he has been driving on Vancouver Island and news on Exercise Sweeper 2017, a mid-Island focussed emergency communications exercise that VECTOR and a number of other EOCs remote to CVRD will also participate in this year.

If a few members could show up 20-30 minutes early to help set up the room that would be appreciated.

Upcoming Later This Week

Sunday March 5 : VECTOR Grab & Go Radio Kit Training. Held at the Vancouver EOC and delivered by Steve Lelievre / Daniel Amaya there are two sessions each with two openings for this hands-on voice and data radio operation course. VECTOR members can sign up directly in Better Impact at this link.

Sunday March 5 : Burnaby Amateur Radio Club Swap Meeting. This is one of our annual fund-raising opportunities and VECTOR will again have a table of items for sale. Coordinates and other details can be found in this article on our website. We could still use a few more volunteers who either have strong backs or are familiar with a wide range of equipment to help with sales.