VECTOR June 2020 News

Posted 1 June 2020 in newsletter

Previous newsletters can be found in the archive.

Our next members' meeting will be held June 3 online using Zoom.

Let’s welcome Kevin B VE7TDK into our Zoom room to share what our VPD colleagues have been thinking about VECTOR.

Please register in BetterImpact if you will be attending, and make sure you have updated your Zoom software.

Survey Results

May - June Survey results:

25 responses

Priority and Focus for VECTOR:

Priority:

• Check on equipment.

Focuses:

• Maintain or repair equipment.
• Build radio operator’s capacity.
• Serve our communities.
• Tie (need to break tie and leave only one)
  • Serve our city partners.
  • Build and strengthen our volunteer network.
  • Learn more about amateur radio technologies.

Scheduling:

• Keep a monthly operating period: 67%
• Change Google Calendar to show Sunday as start of week: 56%

Activities:

• Expand the Forum to fill the monthly meeting when we can’t find anyone to speak at the start: 95%

• For the Informal Daily Net: 5% can’t attend, 5% need a radio to attend.

• For the Simplex Relay Day, absolute best time for majority is late morning to mid afternoon.

• For Zoom sessions: 14% say no way, 14% say other commitments, nobody needs help with Zoom.

Continuous improvement of surveys:

• Majority considered the survey on the complex side.

• View some survey responses.

• View the survey.

VVC (Vancouver Volunteer Corps), Our MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), and the yearly Volunteer Waiver

As you know, since 2015, when VECTOR became a volunteer group under the aegis of the VVC, VECTOR volunteers were required to be members of the VVC, and signed a waiver when they joined VECTOR. Although the VVC is now undergoing reorganization, we still have a solid MOU with the City of Vancouver that provides members with many benefits, including the radio room, antenna and tower space, our meeting and teaching spaces, COV staff support, and the use of the Better Impact site and software.

VECTOR members also garner indemnity protection as city volunteers as well as protections through WorkSafeBC. The MOU requires that VECTOR members are members in good standing in VVC. The agreement with the city, signed in 2015, has been mutually beneficial to the City of Vancouver, VECTOR, and the Vancouver Police Department.

This period of transition of the VVC, along with changes in the wording of the waiver, and requirement for annual acceptance of the waiver, raises questions for many of our members. VECTOR continues to participate in discussions about the changes in VVC as an organization as well as the acceptance of the volunteer form. VECTOR will pass along any new information to its members as it becomes available.

VECTOR COVID-19 Update and Major Civic Event Status

Due to the physical distancing requirements of our present COVID-19 situation, all VECTOR activities for now and the near future are being conducted by radio or through Zoom online conferencing.

Many of our planned summer civic events in Vancouver remain cancelled, including: Canada Day; Celebration of Light; and Vancouver Pride Parade (shifting to online).

VECTOR will update members on any changes in our activities as we progress along the BC Restart plan, currently at Phase 2.

Thank you for doing your part to “flatten the curve” to protect vulnerable members of our society.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC Provincial Health Officer:

“Be kind, be calm, and be safe.”

• BC Restart

• COVID-19 BC Provincial Support and Information

VECTOR Informal Daily Net at 19:05 on VE7RVF

Are you feeling bored, lonely or isolated during this COVID-19 social distancing phase? Hang out for a bit on VECTOR’s informal social net. Join the chat at 19:05 every day on VE7RVF, right after the 19:00 evening cheer for our front line workers. VECTOR is bringing together members and other amateur radio operators, all while staying a safe distance apart during this time of crisis.

VE7RVF - VECTOR Ch. 1: 145.450 MHz, -0.600 MHz, t100 Hz

National Special Event Call Sign Authority until June 20

Canadian Amateur Radio operators may use CF and CG prefixes for the COVID-19 Pandemic until June 20, 2020, according to Industry Canada’s Amateur Radio Service Centre.

What this means is when your regular call sign begins with VA or VE, you will have the option to use the CF or CG prefix instead. For example, instead of VA7LET you could use CF7LET. Likewise, VE7NCD would become CG7NCD.

For more info:

• Call Sign Policy and Special Event Prefixes
• VA3DBJ.ca - David Bate’s website
• Northern Alberta Radio Club Facebook post

Borrow a Grab and Go Kit for a week?

VECTOR has 4 prototype grab and go kits that need user-testing. You can use it to check in on nets and give feedback.

Each kit has its own radio, computer and antenna. All you need to do is plug it into a 12-Volt system or a regular wall socket.

[Sign up] (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZyBL6UQZ563frzRJQTnSb89xanEHxMsf5NXsYci0QsRYhoA/viewform?usp=sf_link) and arrange a hand-off.

Upcoming Training & Practice Opportunities

• Net Control Operator training

  If you would be interested in attending an introductory session on the net control operator program send an email to Andrew VA7YAA and we’ll contact you once viral circumstances permit.

• Radio Skills Course

  The next Radio Skills Course will be offered on Mondays, October 26 - November 23. Are you interested in delivering a course module or two? Please let us know!

  For more info, please contact [email protected]

On Air Radio Activities

Since our last newsletter, we started the Weekly Previews note to share all the activities. You might also catch small activities on our repeaters. Look for activities on our calendar.

Contact Kevin VE7SFA and Jessé VE7DET to get involved.

• VECTOR Simplex Relay Day July 11

  Sign-up for 2020-07-11 at 11:00

  From your survey answers, we learned that Saturday from 11:00 to 14:00 gives more people a chance to join in.

  Sign up now. Send your call sign to [email protected] or use our brief form. Further details in Better Impact.

  4 Net Control spots. Want to be Control Operator on the repeater? You’ll get a chance to prepare together before the event. The message-handling work happens on simplex frequencies, so you can focus on coordinating and helping people. Sign up in Better Impact.

• “VECTOR Simplex Relay Day” Planning Huddle on Thursday at 19:45

  City-wide simplex message-relay event? You ask a question from one part of the city and get the answer from beyond your 2 m or 0.7 m simplex range. You help relay messages between others. Perhaps you can reach more people than you expect. Perhaps you help a relay between surprising parts of the city. Let’s find out if you have a simplex contact who can relay for you in a pinch?

  Stop in on Thursday for a couple of hours.

  • See the work in the ‘Team-VECTORDay’ folder on [Google Drive] (https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1SFP5dsQQ2NCBQs4V0WVbn8fKuA6b1O2x)
  • Sign up to help in Better Impact.
  • Send your suggestions and questions to [[email protected]] (mailto:[email protected])

  Dave VE7CNV, Ernst VA7WAC, Erland VE7EFK, Nick VE7NTX, Melinda VE7OLO, Richard VE7PNP.

• Field Day Last Call

  For members who plan to join Field Day 2020, Hiroshi might have an idea about how we can do a small remote site with physical distance. Let us know what you think here. Hiroshi CF7UCK.

Future VECTOR Investment Projects

Please help us figure out how to build our dream projects, to make VECTOR stronger. We need volunteers to plan and initiate steps to make each of these dreams happen, to bring together a concept and cost summary. We’ll use these plans to order parts we can use next year to build our dreams.

Dreams we know:

• High speed links at Fire Hall 5 to TEL and HAMWAN
• 5 new “next gen” grab-n-go kits
• Replace outdated and old donated items
• High speed data links between our sites
• Full remote control of our Radio Room systems
• Multiple Winlink receiving stations
• Wi-Fi bubble and email intake system

Which dream can you help build? Contact Jessé VE7DET to learn how you can help.

Announcements, Notable, etc.

Financial Resources for folks affected by COVID-19 – updated

A compilation by VECTOR member Halldor K. Bjarnason VA7ETF, on our Google Drive

VECTOR Seeking First Nations Contacts

VECTOR is interested in connecting to our First Nations communities, particularly Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh. We have approached a few sources in the city for advice about who to speak to, but so far haven’t got very far with this idea. If you have some First Nations connections or ideas on how to proceed, we would welcome your input. Contact Jessé VE7DET.

Highlights from the Board Meetings

Learn the highlights from the board meetings in Drive. Let us know if you value links to meeting minutes at [email protected].

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.

Schedule for upcoming secondary net frequencies:

Monthly Members' Meeting

The monthly VECTOR members' meeting is the first Wednesday of every month.

The next 3 Monthly Members' Meeting dates:

• June 3 online using Zoom at 18:30
• July 1 in person to be decided at 18:30
• August 5 in person to be decided at 18:30
• September 2 in person to be decided at 18:30

Look for a link to the Zoom online conference room in your email ahead of the meeting to join remotely. You can sign up for upcoming members' meetings in BetterImpact.

TU 73

VA7SWZ || Simone Hoedel, Communications Consultant (she|her)
VA7DPO || Darryl Pogue, Director (he|him)
VE7DET || Jessé Neri, Director (he|him)
[email protected]

https://vectorradio.ca/members/discuss/
https://keybase.io/team/helpingvector
Unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples