Whirlwind
Not quite a tornado, but a whirlwind of things going on at the RAC shack, VE3RHQ.
First, FlexRadio supplied us with their top of the line station, Maestro controller, 8600 Radio and a power supply, Tuner Genius XL tuner and Power Genius amplifier. They are great toys, but involve a steep learning curve, which I am still climbing from the bottom rung of the ladder. While in the early stages of climbing that ladder the provincial Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Response, Jill Dunlop dropped in. I’m sure by now you have seen the news coverage of that. The very next day, Icom, not to be outdone, supplied us with their latest, an IC 7760 and PW2 radio and amplifier, another beautiful station, with another steep learning curve.
That makes 2 ladders to climb.
While that was coming together, ISP came in to help with setup and cabling, while IHI was in to help with our RF cabling.
Somewhere along the way I got labelled as RAC Station Manager. Those who know me know I can’t manage a cup of tea without something going wrong, but I think it’s called the Peter principle.
Just time for a deep breath, then there was a station visit and official opening of the station by the RAC executive and directors, a crowd filling the space like those club meetings you have heard about here. Fortunately, they seem impressed by the place. By that time August was gone and September was upon us, with the usual start of the season at the OARC Hamfest at Carp. I did my usual examiner thing there, and as a result didn’t actually get out to the trading floor. Although the exam room seemed as busy as ever, there were fewer exams. I blame/credit this to the mid July changes to the Basic question bank causing candidates to rush to write before the change. In any case, we have 2 new Basic hams, 2 with Basic + Honours and one new CW operator. 3 failed Basic, although some were more ready than others, and one tried but failed the Advanced. Again, that candidate wasn’t studying seriously, but wanted to try it anyway.
Just after packing up the paperwork, the RAC Annual General Meeting started. We learned that their Auxiliary Communications Service is getting off the ground, there will be an exercise in Sudbury in November, RAC membership and the number of amateurs are both up and they will be adding a CW course to their Basic and Advanced courses. There was also word of a RAC store coming back “soon”, and a plea for donations to the Defence of Amateur Radio Fund. The next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) in 2027 is set to be held in Shanghai, China, so it will be even more expensive than usual to send our delegate there.
Another deep breath.
The next day was finally MY day to host VE3RHQ volunteers and donors to the station, to see what their efforts have done. It was a good time, with people, as expected, dropping in throughout the day. Some got to play with the new toys, even though none of us truly knew exactly what we were doing at times. As I write this, I am about to put the station on 6m (50.090 CW) for the first Pot Lid Net of the
season. Wish me luck.
73
mk
VE3FFK
Last Updated on 2025-09-07 by Eve