VECTOR May 2025 News

Posted 1 May 2025 in newsletter

Thank you to everyone who helped out with the Vaisakhi parade. A recap of VECTOR’s participation at Vaisakhi has been posted on our website.

Previous newsletters can be found in the archive.

This first week of May is Emergency Preparedness Week. You can find resources on emergency preparedness from both the provincial and federal governments. Take the time to make an emergency plan, and review what’s in your grab-and-go bag.

EP Week will also include a test of the emergency alert system using notifications to cell phones. VECTOR encourages members to use this as an opportunity to get on the radio for a quick check-in net on VE7RVF.

VECTOR News

• May Members' Meeting - May 7^th at 18:30

  The May members' meeting will take place on Wednesday, May 7^th, 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 feature a recap of our work at Vaisakhi, an update on Field Day preparations, and a presentation from John VE7TI about crowd awareness at events.

• Winlink to Win Week contest - May 4^th to 10^th

  As part of Emergency Preparedness Week and to encourage radio operators to practice their Winlink skills, VECTOR is excited to host a “Winlink to Win Week” contest. Participants are encouraged to send messages by radio modes rather than telnet, and VECTOR members who participate will be eligible to win an Anker power bank as a prize.

  The full details of the contest (and instructions for how to participate) are posted on our website.

• VECTOR 2025 Summer Events Schedule

  Date	Event
  June 28 & 29	Field Day weekend
  July 13	Frontrunners Pride Run & Walk
  July 19	Celebration of Light
  July 23	Celebration of Light
  July 26	Celebration of Light
  August 3	Vancouver Pride Parade

Community News

• Dunbar Disaster Support Hub Demo - May 10^th at 11:00

  Dunbar Earthquake and Emergency Preparedness (DEEP) and the local Pacific Spirit Medical Venturers (MedVents) invite you to an hour-long interactive demo at the Dunbar Disaster Support Hub at 11 a.m. on May 10, the final day of B.C.’s Emergency Preparedness Week.

  For more information, see the DEEP website.

• NVIS HF Propagation Test - May 31^st at 11:00

  The Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association (NARA) wants to carry out daylight NVIS tests on the 80m, 60m and 40m bands using a transmitter power of 100 Watts. This simulates an amateur radio station at an emergency center during daylight hours. The purpose of the tests will be to see, in practice, what ranges might be available.

  The date for these NVIS tests will be Saturday May 31 between the times of 11am to 3pm Pacific time. NARA will be using the callsign VE7NA and will be looking for as many check-ins an possible during this 4 hour test period.

  More details including proposed frequencies can be found on NARA’s NVIS Propagation invitation.

Training & Practice Opportunities

• Radio Skills Course - Starting May 26^th at 18:30

  VECTOR is once again offering a Radio Skills Course to help amateur radio operators refresh their knowledge and get on-air experience. This course is primarily targeted to newly licensed operators who’ve completed the basic certification course, but open to anyone wanting to brush up on their knowledge. Open to non-VECTOR members for a $20 fee.

  The Radio Skills Course consists of 4 classroom sessions on Monday evenings, and 3 on-air instructional nets on Thursday evenings. To join the class, please fill out the online registration form.

Hands-On Opportunities

• Monthly Emergency Communications Test - May 7^th & June 4^th at 9:30

  City of Vancouver will be conducting their monthly emergency communications test on Wednesday, May 7^th, at 10:00. For EP Week, we are focusing on having radio operators at 4 of the DSA sites. You can find more information and sign up in Better Impact - Monthly Radio Tests.

  The June monthly test will take place on June 4^th.

• HF Park On The Air practice - May 17^th at 11:00

  To test the radios we intend to use for Field Day, we’ll set them up in Queen Elizabeth Park as a POTA (Parks On The Air) activation. Queen Elizabeth Park is CA-4002.

  You can sign up in Better Impact - HF Parks On The Air.

• Field Day Antenna Setup - Dry Run - May 24^th at 11:00

  To practice our antenna mast setup procedure using a “falling derrick” method ahead of Field Day, we’ll gather at the COMMS-1 container in Queen Elizabeth Park to do a dry run and get everyone familiar with the process.

  You can sign up in Better Impact - Antenna Setup Dry-Run.

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:

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:

• May 7^th in the E-Comm Media Room at 18:30
• June 4^th in the E-Comm Media Room at 18:30
• July 2^nd 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.