VECTOR October 2019 News

Posted in newsletter

Community News

  • Maple Ridge Club Swap Meet

    The annual fall swap meet from the MRARC will take place on Sunday, November 3rd at the Pitt Meadows Heritage Hall. The start time this year is 10:00. More information can be found at http://mrarc.net/swap-meet-november-3rd/

Upcoming Training & Practice Opportunities

  • Radio Skills Course

    VECTOR is offering its popular Radio Skills Course in Fall 2019 for members and for graduates of VECTOR’s Amateur Radio Licence course. The course consists of four 2.5 hour classroom sessions and four 1.0 hour on-air sessions. The objective of the course is to help members gain on-air experience and practical skills while collaborating with other members of the VECTOR community. An amateur radio licence is required to participate. Course modules will include:

    • The phonetic alphabet and pro-words
    • Repeater versus simplex operation
    • An introduction to the VECTOR Net
    • Directed and tactical net protocols
    • The VECTOR Radio Room
    • How to pass radiogram messages
    • VECTOR Grab and Go Kit demo
    • VECTOR’s Activation Guide
    • The role of HF in EmComm
    • How VECTOR uses APRS
    • Sending email with a hand-held radio
    • Antennas for your handheld
    • Personal Grab & Go Essentials
    • Things to consider when buying a radio.

    Course activities will include communicating with other course participants over the air, monitoring and participating in radio nets and maintaining a record of radio contacts during the course. Participants who do not have a personal VHF radio my borrow a VECTOR handheld for a refundable $20 deposit.

    Classroom sessions will be held on Tuesday evenings 18:30 - 21:00, October 29th to November 26th (no class November 12), at the E-Comm Media Room. On-air instructional nets will be held Wednesday evenings 20:30 - 21:30 hrs from October 30th to November 20th and are an integral part of the course; participation from home or a mobile location is required.

    New and active VECTOR members are encouraged to enroll. The course is offered free of charge.
    Please send enquiries to [email protected].

  • Request a Training Session

    In an effort to provide better scheduling and more member-driven learning opportunities, you can now use BetterImpact to request a training session. Available sessions include:

Hands-On Opportunities

  • Community Centre Radio Exercise

    On Saturday October 19th, starting at 13:00 we’ll be running an exercise at several city sites. This is an opportunity to get on-air practice with voice and data protocols, while testing the radio kits at a handful of community centres. Think of it like a mini-VANSLAM! Sign up in BetterImpact.

  • Maintenance, Repair, and Operations Jobs Session

    There is always work to be done to keep our equipment ready for an activation. If you want to get hands-on with radios, antennas, software, and other tasks, check out the our “jobs board” in OpenProject.

  • Lower Mainland 2m QSO Party

    All the fun of Field Day contesting, but with your handheld! On November 16th, look to make and log as many contacts as possible using 2m VHF simplex. More details to come at the November Members' Meeting.

Weekly Net

The weekly net takes place at 20:00 every Wednesday on the VE7TEL repeater (VECTOR channel 2, 145.170 MHz, -0.6 MHz offset). Each week, a secondary net follows on a different frequency, providing an opportunity for amateur radio operators to test their radio with other bands and modes of operation.

The schedule for upcoming secondary net frequencies is as follows:

Date Channel Frequency Information
October 2 201 224.640 MHz, -1.6 MHz offset
October 9 4 146.580 MHz simplex
October 16 401 443.725 MHz, +5 MHz offset, 88.5 Hz tone
October 23 44 146.430 MHz simplex
October 30 7 147.450 MHz, tone 100.0 Hz

Monthly Members' Meeting

The monthly VECTOR members' meeting is the first Wednesday of every month. The next 3 meeting dates are as follows:

  • October 2nd in the E-Comm Media Room at 18:30
  • November 6th in City Hall at 19:00 (this meeting will not be Zoom-cast)
  • December 4th in City Hall, doors open for membership renewal at 18:30 (Annual General Meeting starts at 19:00 sharp)

Look for a link to the Zoom online conference room in your email ahead of the meeting to join remotely.