VECTOR July 2021 News

Posted in newsletter

Previous newsletters can be found in the archive.

Our next members' meeting will be held July 7 online using Zoom. Member technical share, checking in on teams, getting ready for July activities.

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

1. Coming Meeting

Details attached to mailed version.

  1. Electric Car Powering Your Station - Erich VE7EEF - 20 minutes
  2. Brief Practical Exercise - Activation Net - 15 minutes
  3. O&I Forum - DSAs, VEMA, Partnerships, Training Team, Nightly Nets, Grab and Go Kits - All - 55 minutes

2. Community News

Guest Speaker: Electric Cars Powering Your Station
Helpers for Delivering September Basic Course
Improve how ESS and VECTOR prepare together
Connect with Our Community Partners
What’s a Disaster Support Hub to VECTOR?
Youth on the Air Camp for the Americas and Contest Day
First annual RAC Portable Operations Challenge on now
Catching up on Special Guests
Ready for a July Simplex Relay Day?
Technical sources (several local)
COVID-19 Update
VECTOR seeks Techs, Devs, Helpers, and Teachers

Electric Cars Powering Your Station

  • Electric Cars can power a mobile carpentry shop, so your radio is easy

  • Learn how it works from a fellow VECTOR member

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Helpers for Delivering September Basic Course

Team Page | Contact Anthony VE7XAK

  • One way VECTOR serves Vancouver: helps people become amateur radio operators

  • May need more help to run 2 sessions in September

  • Team has been meeting weekly getting ready

  • Join the current team and get ready to teach new operators in September

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Improve how ESS and VECTOR prepare together

  • VECTOR still setting date to meet with VEMA ESS volunteer coordinators to review expectations for how VECTOR works with ESS (Miranda M., Jackie VA7JKE)

  • Miranda (VEMA) hopes City Volunteers can hold joint exercises

  • City Volunteers: ESS, NEAT, NEPP, VECTOR

City Volunteers | VECTOR’s City Page

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Connect with Our Community Partners

Team Page

  • Your community centre may need help to prepare for being a Disaster Support Hub - can you help? (see What’s a Disaster Support Hub below)

  • Community partners also have ways to exercise your skills and knowledge

  • VECTOR’s immediate mission includes Vancouver ESS and 6 go-to community centres with VEMA

  • VECTOR’s broader mission involves helping the other 20 community centres become Disaster Support Hubs (see next headline below)

  • VECTOR’s new Grab and Go Kits are designed for storing in the ESS containers at community centres to aid Disaster Support Hubs or any ESS use

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What’s a Disaster Support Hub to VECTOR?

Resilient Neighbourhoods

  • City needs community help to make sure we have Disaster Support Hubs

  • Local hams serving hubs allow VECTOR to focus on DSAs and ESS

  • We can help communities get gear and find local hams for DSHs

  • Kerrisdale and Dunbar already have ham systems and DSHs; and need help updating radio programming

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Youth on the Air Camp for the Americas and Contest Day

  • US camp dates: 2021-07-11 to 2021-07-16

  • W8Y will be on HF, satellite, and more during the camp – see Online Activities

  • Contest round 2: 2021-07-18 10:00-21:59 UTC

Online Activities | YOTA

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First annual RAC Portable Operations Challenge on now

Evolving Details | FAQ

  • Top 5 will earn an award for operating away from home; monthly, yearly, and lifetime awards

  • Portable Operations: take your equipment, antennas, and power supply to an away site

  • Expect to see a leaderboard!

  • Examples:

  • Let’s see if RAC will add our outdoor activities to the list!

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Catching up on Special Guests

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Ready for a July Simplex Relay Day?

Let us know with an email to [email protected]

Last year’s version

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Technical sources

Local

Further away

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VECTOR COVID-19 Update - Recovery Begins

Response | Restart

Careful, respectful gatherings

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

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

  • Give as much commitment as fits your life as a helper finishing jobs

Get advice | Help a team | Get the code

  • Be an instructor for the Basic Amateur Radio Proficiency Course

    Best way to learn is to teach another person. Find full details on the course page.
    You can also become an organizer and help keep the course going.

    Training Team | Ask Anthony VE7XAK

  • Free the ideas from our Brainstorming Session recording

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

    Email Jesse VE7DET | Check it out

  • Become an examiner for VECTOR

    VECTOR will help you become an examiner if you are interested and you can give time to invigilate exams for the Basic Proficiency Course.

    Ask Linda VE7LMP

  • Help local widow find new home for amateur radio gear - auction?

    Are you interested in an HF receiver or an Icom IC-706MKIIG radio from a silent key in Vancouver? We have planned an auction! Expect to see Doug’s radio and a few VECTOR radios that we can retire. Learn more.

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3. Upcoming Training & Practice Opportunities

Review Learning Program | Dive into Exercises

Radio Skills | Tech Nights | Net Control

Level-up - Tech Night and Troubleshooting, July 13

Session Overview | Add to Calendar

  • Help each other solve someone’s latest communications problem
  • Come together monthly: July 13, 19:00
  • Get help with a problem that frustrates you

Level-up - become a Net Control Operator

  • Write an email to Andrew VA7YAA to join the list
  • First step: attend the introduction to the net control operator program on Zoom

Get Perspective - Radiograms

YT:KD8TTE

  • Examples for smooth passing for radiograms (concise, clear, compelling)
  • Sure beats the hour-long seminar videos previously available

Find more

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4. On Air Radio Activities

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

Connect Casually Any Night - 19:05 nightly on VE7RVF

Time Estimate: 30 minutes

Find like-minded operators at check-in and chat nets. Members have run these nets for over 450 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. Connect to around 15 fellow members. A slow night might cover 8 check-ins, but several times 35 operators have joined and shared.
Even though it is a casual net, please remember to follow proper radio procedures by identifying with your call sign at both the beginning and end of each period of communication as per RBR-4 — Standards for the Operation of Radio Stations in the Amateur Radio Service section 9.3.

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New VECTOR Winlink Gateway active - 441.025 MHz simplex

Time Estimate: 15 minutes

Tune your radio to 441.025 MHz and run your Winlink session to become more comfortable using Winlink email over radio. Finicky 440 reception means repositioning your antenna by as little as 10 cm can make a difference.

  • Added new Lenovo M90n after rack server hard drive packed it in

  • New Lenovo M90n running RMS, BPQ, and APRS-IS

  • VA7EOC-10, 441.025 MHz simplex

  • VA7EOC-1 active for APRS-IS

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

Time Estimate: 30 minutes

Checking in on Wednesdays stretches a few less-used skills. Details below in 6. Weekly Nets.

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5. Announcements, Notable, etc.

Get to know other members on air

Nightly Check in and Chat | Monthly Exercises

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Updating Our Frequency Table

  • Aiming to limit major changes to order
  • Major updates needed to align with existing repeater situation
  • Get involved: Frequency List in Logistics forum
  • See what it is: Work in Progress (please only view, post comments to the Logistics forum rather than edit)

Help Out | Logistics forum

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July Tech Night Next Week - 2021-07-13, 19:00

  • Second Tuesday: 2021-07-13, 19:00, VECTOR Zoom
  • Any topic welcome
  • Join the call to get involved

Details

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July ARDF at Pinewood Elementary, Surrey - 2021-07-10, 09:30

  • New 80 m transmitters coming out in Watershed Park
  • RendvezVous: Pinewood Elementary
  • 5 foxes at 3.58 MHz and and one beacon at 3.56 MHz
  • Amateur Radio Direction Finding
Time Activity
08:00 See how 80m transmitters/foxes are synchronized and setup
09:30 Meet for the fox-hunt
10:00 Start Fox-hunt
12:00 Finish

BC RadioSport

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New Operations Manual for Amateur Radio Emergency Services coming up

  • Remember: understanding A.R.E.S., R.A.C.E.S., and N.T.S. help VECTOR
  • We apply the same structures in our own context
  • VECTOR is Vancouver’s amateur radio emergency service
  • VECTOR has a specialized framework with VEMA

RAC | Previous | EmCom

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Government Report to BCARCC

  • DESCENT satellite rescued
  • Changes to CPC-2-0-03 regulations about antenna systems and support structures
  • ISED does not usually investigate profane and obscene language on air
  • ISED will not normally investigate interference complaints between hams
  • Additional Call Signs still cost (RIC-9)

ISED Report

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Using Radio’s Larger Ecosystem to Help Others

  • How would non-amateur radio operators get information to emergency services without telephones?
  • What if Amateur Radio Operators monitor FRS Channel 1 at a regular interval?
  • Proposal: National SOS Net
  • Video: HRN394
  • SEPAR net is on the Radio Relay International list of nets

Local VHF Radio Relay Net - SEPAR | SOS’s via FRS-GMRS

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Expecting to finish new kits this summer

Team Grab and Go

  • Still waiting for laptops
  • Planning next year
  • Next team huddle (bi-weekly) on Tuesday afternoons in Zoom: 2021-07-13, 16:00

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Want to make your own VECTOR-compatible kit?

Team GnG

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Two New Mid-Island Repeaters

Mid-Island Emergency Radio Coordination Team

  • 144.930 MHz T123.70 Hz - Mount Bruce, Merrick VE7CHO sponsoring
  • DMR - 440.250 MHz

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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 opportunities for amateur radio operators to test radios using other bands and modes of operation.

Schedule for upcoming secondary net frequencies:
Date Channel Frequency Information
July 07 44 146.430 MHz
July 14 20 147.200 MHz +600 kHz T100.0 Hz
July 21 7 147.450 MHz T100.0 Hz simplex
July 28 4 146.580 MHz simplex
August 04 1 145.450 MHz -600 kHz T100.0 Hz

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7. Monthly Members' Meetings

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:
  • August 04 at 18:30 - Guest: AC Tom Cooper - VFRS and VECTOR
  • September 01 at 18:30 - Guest: Gabriel VA7GXM - Being in Earthquakes
  • October 06 at 18:30 - Member Insights Special Session
  • November 03 at 18:30 - Guest: Kris H - VEMA

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
  • We’ll have breakout areas available

Please find the link to the Zoom online conference room in your email edition of the newsletter for joining remotely or on your BetterImpact homepage. 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, President (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/
https://keybase.io/team/helpingvector
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