Ham Radio Canada

DMR Network in Toronto CANADA : jamming | interference SHUT DOWN

DMR Network in Toronto CANADA : jamming | interference ** SHUT DOWN **

Southern Ontario : Presently May 2018, most area accessible repeaters have been disabled due to jamming / interference / abuse.

Analog FM : Presently May 2018, many area accessible analog repeaters have been disabled due to jamming / interference / abuse.

https://twitter.com/dmrnetcanada
https://twitter.com/hamradioscanada

This is a disappointment !!!
VE3WZW ANDRE

LED Bulb RF Pollution - Elektor Magazine investigates

LED Bulb RF Pollution - Elektor Magazine investigates

DARC, the German national amateur radio society, are requesting amateurs to send LED bulbs which pollute the RF spectrum to the magazine Elektor for investigation

A Google English translation reads:

Elektor-Verlag GmbH calls all readers and especially all radio amateurs to send non-compliant LED bulbs including power supplies. Elektor wants to investigate this EMC-technical and then forward it to the competent market surveillance of the BNetzA.

The reason for the action: As a result of a press release of the DARC in September 2017 on the significantly increasing interference of radio communications, other radio services and the DAB reception by non-EMC compliant LED bulbs Elektor had investigated such lamps (as well as LED strips). The result showed a progressive electromagnetic pollution.

QRZ Service Update - Biography Pages

QRZ Service Update - Biography Pages
Changes to Call Sign Pages

QRZ is announcing today that the availability of certain features pertaining to the display of user biography pages will be undergoing changes that promote greater security and better uniformity between listings. These changes will affect the way in which customized user biography pages are shown. Most users will not be affected by these changes, which affect only those who have elected to use features provided by the Expert Options and CSS Styles menu and in particular, those who have styled the upper part of the call sign page.

What is Changing?

Call sign pages on QRZ are shown using a Tabbed interface that overlays a few different sub-pages of data for each call sign. These tabs include Biography, Detail, Logbook, and possibly Web Contacts. The changes announced today affect only the data shown in the Biography tab, and only if you have made use of certain Expert options.

Call sign pages are typically spread across two distinct parts of the page. There is an upper area, called the Callsign Data Block followed by a tabbed section which holds the Biography, Detail, Logbook and other features. With this new security update, the information shown above or outside the tabbed section will be restricted to QRZ Use Only. This means that users will no longer be able to style, apply colors, background images, or other enhancements to the part of the page that lies outside of the tabbed area. Inside the Biography tab, users will be able to stylize their pages as before, including the use of Expert options and CSS.

fred AA7BQ

Amateur HAM Radio and Boy Scouts and Girl Guides Canada

I typically hear Amateur HAM Radio operators complaining about many things, however rarely taking action or involved in change. So as a result of a conversation I felt needed investigation I accepted it as a new intuitive.

The topic of why is Amateur HAM Radio not included in the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides curriculum?

The claims was as follows, but how true this claim is, is uncertain :

Boy Scouts and Girl Guides are not allowed to have technology in the curriculum

I am optimistic with the start and this public intuitive here that many will copy this public project that is outlined.

I have since followed up with the Executive Director of the Boy Scouts Canada.

RESEARCH START HERE ::

How Amateur Ham Radio Could Save Us | NBC Left Field

Hawaii's Communication Breakdown and How Going Amateur Ham Radio Could Save Us | NBC Left Field

Hawaii's recent false nuclear missile alert showed us how reliant we are on cell phones and modern technology—and how unprepared we are if they become inaccessible. But in case the unexpected happens, an unlikely group of hobbyists—ham radio operators—are standing at the ready and may save us all.

IRN or Zello This Is Not HAM Radio

IRN or Zello This is not HAM Radio.
Will IRN replace conventional ham radio?
This is so common and claimed all the time.

Radio-Tone RT4

But IRN, Zello, Team speak is fun, but I wanna see what you will do when the cell tower is down!
This is bullshit! I get 99,999% of cell signal no matter where I am.

I wonder if you can reach a VHF or UHF repeater for 10% of the time of your traveling with a typical 4 Watt handheld with its rubber duck antenna. And if GSM is not available, I could use a global WiFi hotspot.

Disclaimer: You may be excommunicated by the ham radio community for using satellite wifi hotspots.

Ham radio is a hobby. We don’t have to be like the ultimate emergency communications service providers. Leave it to the pros. Of course we can help with our HF and VHF/UHF as an additional resource. But on a daily basis, for the sake of talking to other hams, about technology and discussing ham topics, IRN, Echolink, Allstar, and others will do just fine.

Did you know that you need to hold a hamradio license to use IRN too, if you want to use the available hamradio RF Live channels?

Every city has, in Toronto Canada (ham club TFMCS) common claim by that one disparaging ham, we all know the disparaging ham that trolls that repeater.
Ok, but Zello, IRN and Echolink is not ham radio!
Yeah sure, it is written in the holy book of ham radio. “They” tell you that such systems are not ham radio, so stay away from such little systems of the devil !

As explained here, to use the IRN, or Zello, a GPRS connection will do just fine. Many hams, that are still reluctant to try the IRN, always have the same old-school speech: “In case of a crisis, where cell networks are down, the IRN radios will be useless”. Well my friends, it is true. The network radios will be useless. No one is saying that IRN is here to replace conventional ham radio. It is an add-on. And now tell me.

During the course of your entire life, how many times did you experience a network shortage due to a natural disaster? I know, as hams, we always have the spirit to be the last resource in providing emergency communications. Well, keep the spirit, but let yourself enjoy the IRN for the 99,9999% of the time that cell towers are at service. Take a backup VHF handheld with if you think it’s going to save your ass. Live more in the present because technology is giving us hams a whole new playground that we never had access to before.

In our city of Toronto Canada we also have the bitter elitist and purest, one comes to mind that is holding on to the Baofeng and FM analog ham radio or HF only. He seems to be wait on the repeaters for that conversation to explode with his bias views, this occurs often when speaking to the newer ham operators and is so quick to preach FM analog and stay away from .... But to each his own and to those bitter elitist and purest :

The main point and fact here is :

"Live more in the present because technology is giving us hams a whole new playground that we never had access to before."

Here is hoping that we enjoy it all. Even digital, ie DMR (Brandmeister).

Link here : HamRadio.tk

Distracted Driving in Canada: An Update - HIGHWAY TRAFFIC ACT - O. Reg. 366-09 Extended 2021

Ontario Temporary Exemption has been Extended until January 1, 2021

HIGHWAY TRAFFIC ACT - O. Reg. 366-09 - Amateur Radio Ontario Distracted Driving in Canada
For immediate release: December 15, 2017
http://wp.rac.ca/distracted-driving/

Link here : HamRadio.tk

Distracted driving regulations continue to be an area of interest for many Canadian Radio Amateurs. These regulations are made and enforced by provincial governments and can vary considerably from province to province and over time. In Ontario, RAC Directors Allan Boyd, VE3AJB (Ontario North/East) and Phil McBride, VA3QR (Ontario South) have been working hard on this issue.

On December 15, 2017, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) announced that the current two-way radio exemption for “Amateur Radio operators and specified commercial, public transit, and public function drivers will be extended for a further three-years, effective January 1, 2018 until January 1, 2021.”

The update to the regulation can be found at https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r17475.

While we were hoping for a permanent exemption, this decision by the MTO ensures our continued ability to operate Amateur Radio apparatus while mobile. RAC will continue to press for a permanent exemption going forward.

FCC Proposes $25,000 Fine for Breaking Now-Voluntary Labeling Rules | fluorescent lighting ballasts

The FCC has proposed fining Acuity Brands Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia, $25,000 for apparently marketing radio frequency devices that were not labeled in accordance with Commission Part 18 rules at the time. The FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) on November 21. Compliance with the particular rule at issue now is voluntary.

“Specifically, Acuity marketed three models of consumer-grade electronic fluorescent lighting ballasts — two since 2006 and one since 2009 — that did not have the FCC logo affixed to them,” the FCC said in the NAL. Application of the FCC logo, which the FCC no longer requires, was to inform purchasers that a device had undergone compliance testing. The FCC also said Acuity continued to market two models of the ballasts at issue for approximately 6 months after being notified, causing the Commission to up the penalty.

“We take this action today as part of our duty to ensure that radio frequency devices are marketed in accordance with the Commission’s rules,” the FCC said. “Consistent with this goal, we find it necessary to enforce the rules requiring that devices subject to equipment authorization are properly labeled to inform a consumer that such devices have been tested for compliance under the Commission’s technical rules, because those devices could easily cause interference if they do not conform to those rules.

DMR IDs and Callsigns grouped by Country 2017-12

Summary of files containing DMR IDs and Callsigns grouped by Country
Brought to you by VE3WZW, Last updated: 2017-12-07
Total number of IDs = 78,813

Link here : HamRadio.tk

Link here : HamRadio.tk

2017 HAM Radio Canada Christmas Event

2017 HAM Radio Canada Christmas Event #3
Southern Ontario Canada : please advise if arriving from out of town.

The Event
Details to follow
Link : HamChristmas.cf

Details to follow
We will have to limit the list.

Link : HamChristmas.cf

How Does An Inexpensive Transceiver Compare to An Expensive Transceiver

Jim, W6LG looks at sherweng.com website with extensive detail about receiver performance.
http://www.sherweng.com/table.html

Western New York Southern Ontario Repeater Council Repeater - Coordination

WNYSORC Coordination

UPDATE : 2017 December

COMING SOON!
The Spring meeting of WNYSORC to be held at the Erie County Fire Training Center Cheektowaga, NY. 11:30 am on Sunday April 8th, 2018
http://wnysorc.net/

What is frequency coordination?

Coordination, it is a form of voluntary participation in an organized program intended to keep interference between repeaters and their users to a minimum. To do this, repeater owner/trustees work with WNYSORC which maintains a database of repeater frequencies in active use (as well as new repeaters which are under construction but may not yet be in operation). WNYSORC assists the proposed repeater owner/trustee in selecting operating frequencies (and other technical details) which will, hopefully, be compatible with other existing repeaters.
Who is my local WNYSORC representative?
Your local WNYSORC representative is, first, a volunteer. In the WNYSORC, he/she is an individual who lives in your community or region of the state or province. WNYSORC is an organization of volunteers who are recognized by the Amateur Radio community as their "coordinator". WNYSORC's volunteers might participate in the program because they are interested in either the technical or the political aspects of coordination, but they all do it as a way of putting something back into Amateur Radio. These days, no volunteer is in it for the ego! It's too much work! But all volunteers do get some form of self satisfaction out of doing the job, or they wouldn't bother.
Who benefits from frequency coordination?
Everyone does. Owner/Trustees of existing coordinated repeaters are assured that the WNYSORC will attempt to protect their repeaters from interference caused by new repeaters. Likewise, owner/trustees of proposed new repeaters will get knowledgeable assistance from WNYSORC in selecting frequencies for their repeater, so that they can feel confident that their new operation will not adversely affect any existing repeaters, and they should experience little interference on their new repeater.
How does frequency coordination work?
In order to make a recommendation, the WNYSORC needs some data about the proposed new repeater, such as its location, antenna height, ground elevation above sea level, transmit power, owner/trustee etc. These items all affect, to one degree or another, the repeater's area of coverage. WNYSORC will review the data on the new repeater. Then in conjunction with the data in the coordination database, the local frequency coordination committee member may assist the applicant in finding an optimum frequency pair.
WNYSORC studies the parameters of nearby co-channel (same frequency) and adjacent-channel repeaters, and with the established, adjacent frequency coordination councils, to make sure there are not any valid objections to the new repeater. Once a new coordination is issued, there is a six month construction period to get the new machine on the air. If it's not on by this deadline, the coordination is allowed one additional six-month period (upon written request), after which the coordination is subject to cancellation. This keeps WNYSORC's database from filling up with "paper" repeaters.
For more detailed information please look at the WNYSORC Coordination Guidelines.
Is frequency coordination required?
No. Participation in a frequency coordination program is strictly voluntary. No Amateur Radio frequency coordinator has any "authority" to tell a repeater owner/trustee what he/she can, or cannot do. However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Industry Canada and the Amateur community has recognized that participation in a frequency coordination program by repeater trustees is in the best interests of all Amateurs. Therefore, FCC rules (Part 97.205c) have been adopted;

§97.205 Repeater station.
(c) Where the transmissions of a repeater cause harmful interference to another repeater, the two station licensees are equally and fully responsible for resolving the interference unless the operation of one station is recommended by a frequency coordinator and the operation of the other station is not. In that case, the licensee of the non-coordinated repeater has primary responsibility to resolve the interference.