VECTOR July 2025 News

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Previous newsletters can be found in the archive.

Thank you to everyone who came to Field Day this past weekend! Volunteers deserve an enormous thank you for helping set up, take down, organise us, and prepare food! Being back at Queen Elizabeth Park for a full weekend was good. A feedback form is circulating to the volunteers, please contribute your ideas/observations. We already have some changes for next year based on volunteer feedback.

Now we head right into the busy summer event season and it’s time to choose your shift! The Frontrunners Pride Run/Walk, 3 nights of Celebration of Light fireworks, and the annual Vancouver Pride Parade all come up in the next few weeks. If you can help with 1 (or more) shifts at any of those events, that is valuable. We need your volunteer support to fulfill VECTOR’s role in providing communication service for these events. Links to sign up for these events follow below.

We also need more people on pre-event organizing; this includes things like building shift schedules with position assignments, planning volunteer meals, and preparing radio gear ahead of each event. If one of these tasks interests you, we are eager to support you in getting involved.

VECTOR News

  • July Members' Meeting - July 2nd at 18:30

    The July members' meeting will take place on Wednesday, July 2nd, at 18:30 in the E-Comm Media Room. We encourage in-person participation, but you can also join remotely on Zoom.

    This month’s meeting will focus on our civic event commitments for the coming month with Celebration of Light, the Pride Run/Walk, and the Pride Parade; along with a recap of Field Day and our attendance at community events.

Summer Events

  • Frontrunners Vancouver Pride Run & Walk - July 13th at 07:30

    Join us to support a long-running local inclusive running and walking race fundraiser event. Vancouver Frontrunners needs 10 to 15 volunteers to provide radio support along the 5km and 10km routes along the Stanley Park sea wall on the morning of Sunday, July 13th.

    You’ll be positioned along the route to give updates about runners and help communicate in case of injuries or emergencies. There are also opportunities for people with bikes to assist with sweeping behind the race.

    We still need about 10 more people, and we need to confirm our volunteer numbers this week with the organizers for food ordering. Sign up in Better Impact - Vancouver Pride Run/Walk

  • Celebration of Light Fireworks - July 19th, 23rd, & 26th at 17:00

    The annual Celebration of Light fireworks are a Vancouver summer tradition, and we’ve been asked by the City of Vancouver to deploy volunteers to help the event run smoothly.

    Our role as volunteers will be to walk around in the crowd at the beach areas, and report crowd conditions and any concerns to the Vancouver Emergency Operation Centre by radio. There are three nights of fireworks, and a volunteer briefing session. The firework shifts run from 5:00 PM until roughly midnight, and dinner will be provided for all volunteers. Please be advised that this event involves walking and standing for several hours.

    There will be a pre-event briefing meeting for volunteers held on Wednesday, July 16th at 19:00 (in-person and online).

    We need between 25 and 30 volunteers each of the three nights. Please indicate your interest and availability in our COL Volunteer Sign-Up Form.

  • Vancouver Pride Parade - August 3rd at 10:00

    We’re looking for volunteers to help the annual Pride Parade event run smoothly. Our role will be to give event organizers field observations about the crowd, parade location, and help with medical response by radio.

    This is a single day shift with onsite volunteer orientation session. The shift runs from 10:00 until roughly 16:30, and lunch is provided for all volunteers. Please be advised that this event involves walking and standing for several hours.

    We need 12 to 15 people for this event, and you can sign up using the Pride Volunteer Sign-up Form.

Training & Practice Opportunities

  • Voice Operator Workshop - July 30th at 19:00

    VECTOR needs operators to feel comfortable with a common language for wording, procedure words and protocols so that we can smoothly and accurately shuttle messages between the specific remote ESS, DOC, or DSA sites and the EOC. While we intend to rely on data systems to transfer complex messages, we must also be able to confidently, smoothly and accurately transfer messages by voice where needed. Every protocol described in this practice represents realistic conditions for VECTOR.

    This session will allow you to practice protocols in a casual atmosphere with room to pause and ask questions.

    Join us at Hillcrest Community Centre to practice your message handling skills. More details and signup information is in Better Impact - Voice Operator.

Hands-On Opportunities

  • Monthly Emergency Communications Test - August 6th at 09:30

    The City of Vancouver will be conducting their monthly emergency communications tests on Wednesday, August 6th at 10:00. You can find more information and sign up in Better Impact - Monthly Radio Tests.

Community News

  • Richmond Amateur Radio Swap Meet - July 19th at 09:30

    The Richmond Amateur Radio Club (RARC) will be hosting its annual Swap Meet & Emergency Communications Display on Saturday, July 19th, 2025 from 09:30 to 12:30 at South Arm United Church (southwest corner of Number 3 Rd. and Steveston Hwy.) in Richmond, British Columbia.

    More information can be found on the RARC website.

On-Air Nets

The weekly net takes place at 20:00 every Wednesday on the VE7RVF repeater (VECTOR channel 1, 145.450 MHz, -0.6 MHz offset, tone of 100.0 Hz). 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
July 2 20 147.200 MHz, +0.6 MHz offset, tone 100.0 Hz
July 9 7 147.450 Mhz simplex, tone 100.0 Hz
July 16 4 146.580 MHz simplex
July 23 2 145.170 MHz, -0.6 MHz offset
July 30 430 446.100 MHz simplex
August 6 401 443.725 MHz, +5 MHz offset, tone 88.5 Hz

We encourage Winlink check-ins to the VECTOR net every week, just address your message to VA7EOC. Connect to VA7EOC-10 using simplex UHF on 441.025 MHz (VECTOR channel 420), simplex VHF on 145.600 MHz, or send your message through one of the other local Winlink gateways.

VECTOR also maintains a list of other local radio nets on our website.

Upcoming Meetings

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

  • July 2nd in the E-Comm Media Room at 18:30
  • August 6th in the E-Comm Media Room at 18:30
  • September 3rd in the E-Comm Media Room at 18:30

We highly encourage attending in-person, but recognize that online participation is more accessible for some members. Look for a link to the Zoom online conference room in your email ahead of the meeting to join remotely. You can find more details about members' meetings and RSVP in Better Impact.