RAC Ontario Sections Bulletin for March 6th, 2021

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. RAC Amateur of the Year 2020: Al Penney, VO1NO

The RAC Board of Directors takes great pleasure in selecting Al Penney, VO1NO,
as the recipient of the RAC Amateur of the Year Award for 2020 in recognition
of his tireless efforts to promote Amateur Radio in his home province of
Newfoundland, throughout Canada and internationally.

Stay tuned to the March-April 2021 issue of The Canadian Amateur and the RAC
website for complete information about our Amateur of the Year 2020 and the
presentation of the award later this year.

For more information about the RAC Amateur of the Year Award visit:
https://wp.rac.ca/rac-amateur-of-the-year/

-- Glenn MacDonell, VE3XRA, RAC President and Chair

2. The Canadian Amateur Radio Operating Interests survey is now live!

RAC is a volunteer-based organization and we rely on the feedback from members and
non-members to help us stay informed and up to date on Amateur Radio matters of
interest to them.

The current survey was prepared by Paul Coverdale, VE3ICV, RAC’s Special Advisor at
World Radio Conferences, with the goal of “understanding the operating interests of
Canadian Amateurs, in terms of what bands/modes are used, the amount of time spent,
the operating focus, and so on”. This information will help to guide future RAC
programs and the content of The Canadian Amateur magazine, as well as providing
valuable input for formulating Canadian positions into World Radio Conferences.

Your answers on our surveys are completely anonymous but we would appreciate it if
you would please indicate in the survey if you are a RAC member to help us to use
the information to serve you better.  Non-Canadian Amateurs may also participate
in the survey, please identify this in Questions 1 and 7.

The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete and it is available at:
https://www.rac.ca/amateur-radio-surveys/
Thank you for participating!
-- Glenn MacDonell, VE3XRA - RAC President

ONTARIO SECTION NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

3. Winlink information link.

In my attempt to edit last week's article on Winlink, I managed to drop the link
to the 24 training videos.. Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-7mirT-kjfs84FQzLr-qv066Kl94rtYM
or search youtube for San Diego ARES.
-- Thanks to Bob Howard, VE3YX for the information.

4. Approaches to Tackle Noise Problems Vary, Remedies Elusive

RF noise is a frequent discussion topic among radio amateurs. A proliferation of
electronics has cluttered and complicated the noise environment; it’s not just
power lines anymore. Unless isolated from civilization, most hams experience RF
interference (RFI) — sometimes without even realizing it, although spectrum scopes
on modern transceivers make RF noise much more apparent. Various approaches to
address the apparently worsening noise floor have been taken around the world,
some addressing lax regulation.

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) warns against complacency.
“Radio amateurs cannot sit back, because even if the desired noise limits are
agreed, there are many rogue manufacturers and dealers who will happily sell
noise-generating devices, leaving out filter circuits to cut costs,” IARU said
in a statement.

http://www.arrl.org/news/approaches-to-tackle-noise-problems-vary-remedies-elusive

-- see the full article on the arrl website news.




Posted by: Paul Caccamo <va3pc @ rac.ca>