VECTOR March 2026 News

Posted 3 March 2026 in newsletter

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Chinatown Spring Festival last weekend and to our bowling social.

Previous newsletters can be found in the archive.

VECTOR News

• March Members' Meeting - Wednesday, March 4^th, at 18:30

  The March members' meeting will take place on Wednesday 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 retrospective on the Hastings Mill and Chinatown Spring Festival events, a look ahead at the Vaisakhi Parade, and discussion around upcoming opportunities.

  If you are planning to attend the meeting in-person at E-Comm, you must RSVP in Better Impact.

• Benevity Donation Platform

  VECTOR is now set up on the Benevity platform to provide our membership and the public a way to take advantage of employer matching when donating to VECTOR or volunteering their time.

  Each employer has their own Benevity portal. To donate or to log your volunteer hours through Benevity, please log in using your employer’s portal and search for VECTOR or VANCOUVER EMERGENCY COMMUNITY TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANIZATION. Our Benevity Cause unique identifier is 861965416RR0001.

Upcoming Events

• Vancouver Vaisakhi Parade - Saturday, April 11^th

  On April 11^th VECTOR needs 16 to 20 volunteers to support the Vaisakhi parade through the Punjabi Market area of South Vancouver. This event is one of VECTOR’s most valuable contributions to the city in terms of field communications and situational awareness.

  We are waiting to confirm the full event details with organizers and our city partners, but we’ll try to offer full-day, morning, and afternoon shifts for this event. You can sign up to help in Better Impact - Vaisakhi Parade.

• Vancouver Sun Run - Sunday, April 19^th

  Volunteer registration for this year’s Sun Run is now open! Volunteer amateur radio operators will be positioned throughout the course, acting as the eyes and ears of the event coordinators. They play a vital role in providing situational awareness, reporting emergencies and helping lost children reunite with their families.

  Based on current racer registration, it’s likely going to be record-breaking attendance this year. To meet this, organizers have increased the number of positions, providing improved coverage. They can definitely use your help by filling one of the positions indicated on the 2026 Sun Run Radio Coverage Map. If you’re new to this event, no worries; you’ll be paired with an experienced mentor who will support you.

  Please consider supporting this event in its 42^nd year! Sign up on the Sun Run Volunteer Registration Form.

Training & Practice Opportunities

• Radio Skills Course

  VECTOR is preparing to offer our 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 Tuesday evenings, and 3 on-air instructional nets on Thursday evenings. To join the class, please fill out the online registration form.

• Voice Operator & Message Handling Workshop - Wednesday, March 25^th 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 to practice your message handling skills. More details and signup information is in Better Impact - Voice Operator.

Hands-On Opportunities

• Monthly Emergency Communications Test - Wednesday, March 4^th & April 1^st, at 09:30

  The City of Vancouver will be conducting their monthly emergency communications tests on Wednesday, March 4^th at 10:00. You can find more information and sign up in Better Impact - Monthly Radio Tests. This month we will be testing at DSA 3 in East Vancouver.

  April’s test will be on Wednesday, April 1^st and will include a test at DSA 4.

• Monthly EMCR PREOC Radio Check-In - Wednesday, March 18^th, at 18:30

  In the evening on the third Wednesday of every month, the South Coast Provincial Regional Emergency Operations Centre (PREOC) runs a series of nets on several radio systems to test communication with EOCs. VECTOR is encouraged to participate each month from the radio room.

  Learn how to use HF, Winlink, PACTOR, and IMERS from the radio room by signing up in Better Impact - Monthly PREOC Check-In.

• Community Centre Exercise - Saturday, March 21^st at 11:00

  Help us test and maintain our radio kits at some local community centres, while practicing message handling and Winlink. We’re aiming to set up radio kits at 2 or 3 centres on Saturday, March 21^st. We can add and remove additional sites based on the number of sign-ups.

  You can sign up in Better Impact - Community Centre Exercise.

Community News

• Weatheradio being discontinued as of March 16^th

  From Environment and Climate Change Canada: Starting March 16, 2026, Weatheradio and Hello Weather services will be permanently disconnected. For 50 years, VHF Weatheradio stations have provided continuous transmissions with weather information and alerts. In the early 2000s, the system was upgraded to support sending encoded emergency alerts for specific areas. It is being discontinued in favour of cell phone-based alert systems.

  More details from this report on CTV News.

  As amateur radio operators with a focus on emergency communications in times of disaster, VECTOR feels that having systems like Weatheradio are essential to ensuring there is a viable fallback in place if the cell network goes down. We encourage people to contact the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change as well as their local MP to raise concern about the loss of this important country-wide system.

• CBC - The ‘Big One’ just got more complicated

  Scientists have discovered a massive tear in the tectonic plate off the coast of Vancouver Island. This “rip” suggests that the northern end of the Cascadia Subduction Zone is actually starting to shut down. The CBC’s Johanna Wagstaffe investigates what this discovery might mean for the “Big One” off the coast of Vancouver Island.

  Watch the video on CBC News.

• DEEP - Introduction to Rapid Damage Assessment - Thursday, March 5^th at 19:00

  John Halldorson with the Dunbar Earthquake and Emergency Preparedness group is presenting an introduction to BC Housing’s Rapid Damage Assessment Program. The RDA program is designed to provide non-professionals with the basic skills to identify unsafe conditions in wood frame, masonry and concrete structures caused by floods, earthquakes or windstorms.

  You can RSVP to this, along with other workshops and presentations, on the DEEP website.

• The Communicator Magazine

  “The Communicator” from Surrey Amateur Radio Communications (SARC), serves as a bi-monthly electronic periodical for amateur radio operators. It covers a wide array of topics, including radio history, DX reports, and more.

  You can read the March/April edition of The Communicator online and find previous versions online at the VE7SAR archive.

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 by sending your message through one of the other local Winlink gateways. The VA7EOC-10 gateway supports both AX.25 packet and VARA FM.

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 meeting dates are as follows:

• March 4^th in the E-Comm Media Room at 18:30
• April 1^st in the E-Comm Media Room at 18:30
• May 6^th in the E-Comm Media Room at 18:30

We strongly 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.