VECTOR February 2021 News

Posted in newsletter

Previous newsletters can be found in the archive.

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

1. Session Info | 2. News | 3. Learn | 4. On Air | 5. Notable | 6. Secondaries | 7. Meetings

1. Session Information

Details attached to mailed version.

  1. Radio On-air and Field Activities - Jessé VE7DET - 20 minutes
  2. Brief Practical Exercise - Your Activation Schedule - 15 minutes
  3. Operations and Intelligence Forum - All - 55 minutes

2. Community News

VEMA includes VECTOR Current State Assessment in report to Managers

  • VECTOR is the only non-commercial part of VEMA’s current state assessment for City of Vancouver
  • Teaching, improving site-to-site data links, and kit exercising among visible opportunities for VECTOR to help
  • VEMA poised to include VECTOR alongside other city departments in strategy workshop with 5-year horizon

Mobile Emergency Communications Unit to succeed CERV Bus in 2022

Details: Team Page | Add to Calendar | Add yourself to list

  • Team meets Friday nights - we pick a better night after more people attend
  • Help answer some questions to make our next decision
  • Next: 2021-01-29 at 18:30

ESS, KEEP, VEMA and City to attend VECTOR TABLETOP

About TABLETOP

  • 2 seats open
  • Representatives from Kerrisdale Emergency and Earthquake Preparedness, ESS Zone C, and Film And Special Events Emergency Preparedness attending
  • Our VEMA liaison (Kris H) also attending
  • Exercise to build partnerships and share knowledge among participants

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VECTOR COVID-19 Update - Stay local with your core bubble

Use Jitsi for pop-up meetings when you need to share screens

  • Use just your web-browser: https://meet.jit.si
  • Zoom still works for core meetings and courses
  • Radio best for fun and practice
  • Consult our Jitsi guide

Latest Pandemic Awareness and Restrictions

Summary information and links | Direct link

  • Respect people’s core bubbles
  • Limit outings to essential travel and careful neighbourhood walks
  • Our sites remain restricted as noted previously with our work rules posted in the members section of the website

Thank you for being a protector for people in our communities who could suffer from the impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC Provincial Health Officer:

“Be kind, be calm, and be safe.”

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VECTOR Seeks Technicians, Helpers, Devs and Teachers

  • Find your fit in VECTOR!

    Check who to ask in the People section and dig in on the Teams page. (All team pages are in the members' section of the website. Grab the latest code from the VECTOR section in your MyImpactPage News. )

  • Find work that fits you

    Logistics Team | Ask Tyler VE7PDO | Sign up

    Jobs have many different levels of commitment and challenge. Next items include: deploying laptops to sites, re-programming radios, checking the health of our roof gear, checking on COMMS-1, and taking care of our 53 computers.

  • Be a presenter for the Radio Skills Course

    Radio Skills Course Team | Ask Andrew VA7YAA | Sign-up

    Use the slides and outline we have on file in a defined time slot. Find full details on the course page.

  • Free the ideas from our Brainstorming Session recording

    Can you pull the treasure trove of ideas out of recording we have from the August 2018 Brainstorming Session and into a spreadsheet?

    Email Jesse VE7DET | Check it out

  • Help with VPD Disaster Communications Gear

    Help us work with VPD to make sure its amateur radio gear can work with us. One of the stations Bryan VA7BFY assembled has lost its home. It’s time to outfit that station for current needs.

    Email Jesse VE7DET | Join the conversation

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3. Upcoming Training & Practice Opportunities

Radio Skills | Packet and Tech Nights | Net Control

Become Better Emergency Communications Operators - Radio Skills Course

  • Scheduled to start February 23. Openings for instructors.
  • New details on website - Events | Team
  • Ask to join team or volunteer to present a section - [email protected]

See Demos for Packet Radio and Other Tech

  • What other technologies do you want to see? Tak can do on-camera demonstrations
  • Work with other attendees to solve your latest communications problem
  • Winlink is a key skill for emergency communications operators - packet radio goes far beyond Winlink
  • More: on our team page | in the learning section

Take Your Skills to Next Level - become a Net Control Operator

  • Write an email to Andrew VA7YAA to join the list
  • First step: attend an introductory session on the net control operator program – can do this on Zoom

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4. On Air Radio Activities

Local Nets | Program | Calendar | Jessé VE7DET | Team Page | Team Mail

Improving Events for 2021 Underway

Drills Games and Exercises to announce new event descriptions for this year’s program at the February members meeting.

Connect Casually Any Night - 19:05 nightly on VE7RVF

Check-in and Chat Nets have run for over 280 nights (since 2020-04-01. The nightly Net Controller chooses a question or topic to share; anything from radio to food to entertainment to no topic at all. A slow night might cover 8 check-ins, but several times 35 operators have joined and shared.

Keep Formal Net Skills Sharp on Weekly Net - 20:00 weekly on Wednesday, VE7TEL

Checking in on Wednesday’s stretches a few less-used skills. Details below under the Next Nets list.

Winter Field Day Saturday - 11:00 for 24 hours

Connect and log your contacts on most bands and send your results to Winter Field Day.

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5. Announcements, Notable, etc.

Find more VECTOR detail on website

Refitting prototypes with aluminum-screen panels begins

Team Grab and Go

  • Main parts ordered for the first 4 “Vision”* Kits
  • Re-fit for Prototypes 2 and 3 will match Prototype 4
  • Team huddles bi-weekly on Tuesday afternoons in Zoom

NPR Evaluation hits first snag

Team New Packet Radio

Learn from Understanding Risk BC 2020

URBC.ca

  • Find knowledge you need for preparedness in the Understanding Risk BC - each session includes slides
  • Better understand flood and earthquake risks after seeing the maps and figures - on YouTube
  • Dr. Tiegan Hobbs covers the immediate impacts of earthquake (a black swan over Vancouver)
  • Rapid Damage Assessment System shows publicly available plausible earthquake scenarios for Vancouver

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6. Weekly Net

Catch the weekly net at 20:00 every Wednesday on the VE7TEL repeater: VECTOR channel 2, 145.170 MHz -600 kHz.

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:
Date Channel Frequency Information
February 03 20 147.200 MHz +600 kHz T100.0 Hz
February 10 7 147.450 MHz T100.0 Hz simplex
February 17 4 146.580 MHz simplex
February 24 1 145.450 MHz -600 kHz T100.0 Hz
March 03 430 446.100 MHz
March 10 401 443.725 MHz +5 MHz T88.5 Hz

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7. Monthly Members' Meeting

VECTOR gathers on the first Wednesday of every month to keep its operations flowing. Connect in our Zoom virtual space unless otherwise noted.

The next 4 Monthly Members' Meeting dates:
  • March 03 at 18:30 - Guest: Mika McKinnon VA7SCI
  • April 01 at 18:30 - Guest: Jordan Myers
  • May 05 at 18:30 - Guest: Dr Tiegan Hobbs
  • June 02 at 18:30 - Guest: Kevin Bernardin VE7TDK

Connect with others before and after the main session:

  • Join early (15 minutes) at 18:15
  • Hang around after (20 minutes) until roughly 20:50

Please find the link to the Zoom online conference room in your email edition of the newsletter for joining remotely. You can sign up for upcoming members' meetings in BetterImpact to log your meeting time automatically.

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Tnx es 73,

VE7DET || Jessé Neri, Director (he|him)
[email protected]

VA7SWZ || Simone Hoedel, Writer and Communications Consultant (she|her)
VE7CNV || Dave Koyanagi, Proofreader (he|him)
VA7DPO || Darryl Pogue, Director (he|him)

https://vectorradio.ca/members/discuss/
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