This bulletin, issued during the first and third week of each month, provides a quick reference for SARC member activities, resources and links. If you have relevant information that you would like included in the next bulletin, please respond to membership@ve7sar.net.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
A 24 GHz SSB Distance Record
On March 25th SARC members, Scott VA7SC and Dino VE7NX, achieved what is believed to be a British Columbia distance record for a SSB contact on 24 GHz. Scott was located on Cypress Mountain and Dino was east of Langley, a direct path distance of 56 km. Then they bounced signals off Mt Baker, total path distance of 162 km. These tests were in preparation for a 24 GHz CW beacon, which is under construction and scheduled for deployment in April 2025. Congratulations to Dino and Scott for these super achievements.
Free Tower and Beam
A guyed tower and 3-element beam from the estate of deceased member, Kjeld Fredericksen VE7GP, are offered free to any SARC member who is willing to take them down. Also available are four 8’ lengths of Delhi tower (on the ground) absent bolts for $150 obo. Contact membership@ve7sar.net if interested.
PARENTS ALERT!
Surrey School District Offers RF Communications Summer School
Do you have children or other relatives in high school who are interested in Radio Frequency Communications and want to learn radio theory, how to use amateur radio equipment and antennas to make contacts around world, and even with the International Space Station? Successful students will earn their Amateur Radio Certification, as well as an Electronics 11 course credit. For more information and to reserve your space, contact: Adam Drake at drake_a@surreyschools.ca. The course description for 2025 is not yet available on-line, but you can review the 2024 information here: New Radio Frequency Communications summer course in Surrey
Comprehensive Index to Communicator Articles Now Available
Thanks to the tremendous efforts of Blake VA7BWG and Reg VA7ZEB, a database index of Communicator articles back to 2007 is now available at Search the Communicator. Try it out by entering a topic, author or anything in the search box. Then if you click on author, topic or chronological index in PDF DOWNLOAD, it will bring up and index where you can find the page number of interest for your selection. Scroll way down to the relevant page number until you find the article, which you can open and/or download as a pdf. You will be amazed at the speed and flexibility of this search.
UPCOMING EVENTS
SARC General Meeting (April 9 at 7 pm)
This meeting will be in-person at the Surrey Fire Training Centre, 14923 64th Ave. Surrey. Les VA7OM will talk about 80m foxhunting in preparation for our annual event in May at Crescent Park including strategy for homing in on a fox using the popular RX80M receiver, available for sale or loan at the event.
ARRL Rookie Roundup (April 13)
This is a 6-hour SSB contest for new hams (licensed for 3 years or less), to encourage operation on the HF bands and to experience competitive operating. Mentoring will be provided by experienced SARC members. Respond to membership@ve7sar.net if interested.
VB7MAN Special Event Station – Operation Manna 80
BC hams will join other amateur organizations in Canada, the Netherlands, England, Poland and Australia in honouring the memory of those who participated in Operation Manna, a humanitarian mission carried out near the end of WWII by the RAF and Allies who dropped food supplies to the starving population of the German-occupied Netherlands. BC hams, by pre-arrangement, may book use of the callsign VB7MAN, which will be available only between April 1st and May 10th, 2025. The full story of Manna 80 can be found at https://manna80.radio/ . Also check Callsign Database - QRZ.com for updates on VB7MAN, including a Google Calendar link to reserve your operating spot.
World Amateur Radio Day is not a contest, rather it is an opportunity to promote the value of amateur radio to the public and our amateur colleagues as a lead-up to ARRL Field Day. See World Amateur Radio Day for further information.
Please respond to membership@ve7sar.net if interested in making up a team or operating on your own.
More Contests …
· April 13 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB
· April 19-20 CQMM DX Contest CW
SARC will have two tables for sale of surplus inventory. Members available to assist with sales may also use the table to display and sell their personal ham radio gear. See Swap-meet – Maple Ridge Amateur Radio Club for details. Location is Pitt Meadows Heritage Hall, 12460 Harris Road, Pitt Meadows.
SARC General Meeting (April 9)
Les VA7OM will present on foxhunting, in preparation for our annual foxhunt in May.
World Amateur Radio Day (April 18)
World Amateur Radio Day is not a contest, rather it is an opportunity to promote the value of amateur radio to the public and our amateur colleagues as a lead-up to ARRL Field Day. See World Amateur Radio Day for further information.
If you wish to participate as an SARC team or individually in any of these contests, please let me know by return email.
SARC Annual Foxhunt (May 10) – Bring Your Mother!
Mark your calendars – SARC’s 80m foxhunt and BBQ, held annually at Crescent Park in South Surrey on Mothers’ Day weekend, is open to members, family members and others. You do not have to be a ham to participate. Use your own 80m ARDF receiver or you can borrow a loaner – or you can purchase one for $125. So that food can be planned, it is essential that you RSVP: membership@ve7sar.net.
The 1st and 3rd Monday of every week, participants will get a Winlink message that includes: 1) a question or request for action; 2) a tip; 3) results of previous week's question/action. You have until the following Sunday to reply using any Winlink mode including Telnet. To participate, send a Winlink message to VE7ADF with subject “Winlink Net Signup”.
SARC has two Winlink Gateways, one at Surrey Firehall 1 using callsign VE7HME-10 on 145.710 MHz and a second on Concord tower at 100th Ave and King George Blvd using callsign VE7ADQ-10 on 145.770 MHz, packet 1200 Baud and VARA FM Wide capable.
2025 Tsunami Exercise
Give yourself a pat if you participated in the 2025 Tsunami Winlink Exercise. If you did not cc your exercise message to SEPAR, please forward an exercise message to SEPAR for record. For those who cc’d SEPAR when sending your exercise messages, no further action is required.
Every Saturday Morning (except when other scheduled events conflict)
Members, spouses and prospective members are invited to join the SARC Breakfast social every Saturday morning from 7 to 9:30 am at Denny's Restaurant 6850 King George Blvd, followed by Operations & Training Centre ("OTC") activation from 9:30 am to noon at 5756 142 St. Surrey. At the OTC you may get help with your radio issues, operate the station radios including satellite station, participate in contests, write the exam, or join in workshops and training. Or just engage in friendly discussion with your fellow hams.
SARC Official Calendar
Your official reference for dates and times of events is the SARC Google Calendar, which is updated as details change, so please check the homepage on the SARC website: www.ve7sar.net.
NETS & REPEATERS
Sunday Monthly 220 MHz Net (next one is April 27)
Join the 220 MHz net taking place at 7:30 pm on the last Sunday of every month on VE7RSC repeater 223.960 MHz -1.6MHz tone 110.9 Hz, with net control, Shawn VE7BD. This is not a "chat" net – just check in, exchange signal reports, and get on with your evening.
Yaesu System Fusion (YSF) repeater 443.775 MHz+ tone 110.9Hz
This repeater is connected full-time to CQ-Canada (VE1AO) room 40678 – home to the Cross Canada C4FM Weekly Net on Wednesday 6 pm PST or 0200 UTC. Located on the Concord high-rise in Surrey, it is one of the few System Fusion repeaters in BC that is WIRES-X capable (i.e. it connects to the Internet). Using your Yaesu C4FM radio, you can use this repeater to talk to the world. It is connected to the highly fault-tolerant BC WARN Internet system, which is designed to remain operational during most internet outages. Familiarity with WIRES-X on our YSF repeater can play a crucial role in emergency preparedness.
Net Control Operators
From Reg VA7ZEB, Net Coordinator: You can find the full NCO Schedule here. If you are a Net Control Operator (NCO), we encourage you to review the schedule regularly to ensure you're satisfied with your shifts. If you'd like to be an NCO send a note to Reg: reg@natarajan.ca. "Net reminders" for those running or participating in various nets are automatically sent out by AdvancedAmateur.ca. If you are forgetful like me, you may want to receive reminders by signing up at Net Reminders.
PROJECTS AND AD-HOC GROUPS
Satellite Station Project
Dino VE7NX is available to coach those who wish to learn how to make contacts via satellite using SARC's new satellite station. Contact him at dimtchog@gmail.com or reply to this email if you would like to learn more.IC-7300/IC-9700 Special Interest Group
This group is hosted by John Schouten VE7TI, with the most recent update on page 31 of the March-April 2025 Communicator.
Contesting Group
See WA7BNM Contest Calendar: Home for a complete list of available contests.
USEFUL REFERENCE INFORMATION
Comprehensive Index to Communicator Articles Now Available
Thanks to the tremendous efforts of Blake VA7BWG and Reg VA7ZEB, a database index of Communicator articles back to 2007 is now available at Search the Communicator. Try it out by entering a topic, author or anything in the search box.
You will also find PDF Indexes available for download. If you click on Author Index, Topic Index or Chronological Index, it will bring up a PDF where you can find the page number of interest for your selection. Scroll down to the relevant page number and you will find the article, which you can open.
Do You Want to Learn CW?
Check out the Long Island CW Club, which has a comprehensive and highly-regarded on-line program for learning and mastering Morse Code: https://longislandcwclub.org/#.
Free VE7DXE Advanced Certification Course:
Incoming QSL Bureau
Any member wishing to receive in-coming QSL cards should send Ken VE7BC an email at ve7bc27@gmail.com or call/text him at 604-816-5775 and the cards will be collected for local distribution by Shawn VE7BD. Or, if you are simply wondering if Ken has any cards for you, please contact him. Also…
New BC Incoming QSL Bureau Feature
Download the March-April 2025 Communicator
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j3uFaNl853TqxRvRBrzX_FxMtY0GA-vu/view?usp=sharing
Link to SARC’s Basic On-Line Basic Ham Class Overview:
Welcome to our courses.pdf - Google Drive. We are now taking registrations for the next on-line course, which starts on April 7th. Cost is $80 per student unless you qualify for a family, group or student rate.
SARC Webpage, SARC Blog and SEPAR Blog:
SARC – Surrey Amateur Radio Communications
Do You Want to Join Surrey Amateur Radio Communications?
Reply to membership@ve7sar.net.
WANTED OR FOR SALE BY MEMBERS
Locally Designed and Manufactured RX80M Foxhunt receivers for sale $125 CAD:
See how it’s done here https://youtu.be/YK3gETNc2jU and order from membership@ve7sar.net
Summer Job Wanted
Successful Kwantlen summer course graduate and SARC member, Grace VA7LZT, graduates Grade 12 this year and is looking for a summer work experience opportunity, desirably in a technical field. Contact graceliu4132@gmail.com
73, John VA7XB
membership@ve7sar.net
