MS Tour Zoom Call

 

The MS Bike Tour takes place July 26 and 27, and I'm very happy that 21 LARC hams have volunteered to help out. There are lots of changes this year due the change in the London base location from Western to Fanshawe College. To go over all the changes, and what locations and roles I've assigned to the hams, we're going to have a Zoom meeting on Tuesday, which is July 15. Here's the Zoom link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83266548015?pwd=PWAW4g9Fv4Z4OONnNc9p2tdILKKKLT.1

 

 

The zoom session will be up around 7:30 and we'll start the meeting at 8 PM sharp. 

I'll also be putting up some maps and other info on the LARC site, so keep an eye on it.

It's still early, and my plans may still change, but as a teaser, here are the current assignments:

 

 

Nothing's cast in stone, and don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like to discuss where I've assigned you, or anything else related to the tour.

 

73,
    Doug Elliott  VA3DAE

    LARC Education and Public Service Coordinator

    London ARES Emergency Coordinator
    cell & text: 519-630-8925
    email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

    web:  http://nerdpit.ca 

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Major Update on the ARES > AuxComm Transition

 

If you're wondering what the heck is going on with the long anticipated arrival of the new AuxComm organization, here's your chance to get the full story. Al Boyd VE3AJB, President of RAC, will be giving a detailed update in a Zoom call which will take the place of the ARES net on Tuesday June 24. Mark your calendar and prepare your questions.  Zoom session available at 7:30, meeting starts at 8:00. Zoom connection link is: Here

 

Group POTA Event

 

We've had some interest from people who would like to attend a POTA event to see how it's set up and how everything works. On Tuesday July 1, Al McRorie VE3GAM will be activating Jonas Park in St. Thomas, and he'll be glad to provide explanations for newcomers. Set up starts at 1 PM, and details are in his Groups.io post on May 28.

 

 

The 2025 ARRL Field Day is June 28-29, beginning at 1800 UTC (2:00pm)

The location will be at the LARC Club station, located at

427 (London) RCAF Wing

2155B Crumlin Road North

London, Ontario

(43.033766, -81.1589447)

 

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The Special Event held during Emergency Medical Services Week in North America was concluded on the evening of May 24, 2025.

 

The event was used to bring attention to all First Responders in any emergency, as we used HF SSB to spread the message that we need to thank all our First Responders as publicly as we can, and to let them know how much we appreciate what they do when we most need them. Many times we get their help but circumstances preclude our being able to thank them at the time. With that week being EMS Week, the Special Event using VC3EMS was our way of bringing attention to the great job the First Responders do.

The event started a couple of years ago when W4GJ, Dr. Bob Lightner, in Gainesville Florida contacted me. Bob wanted a partner station to operate during EMS Week when he had the callsign N4E. The station is at the W T Loften High School Amateur Radio Club in Gainesville. I suggested to the then President of LARC, Rick, IMG, that it would be a great opportunity to get involved and use the equipment and antennas that are at the Wing. Rick agreed, and the event was started as part of the Club's Special Events other operation, VE3FIRE, run during Fire Prevention Week in October each year.

During this event we made 644 contacts on HF SSB and were able to say thank you to our First Responders for their work under tough circumstances. They look after us when we most need it. During these events we, as a Club whose members volunteered to operate, got a lot of thanks for putting the event on, and conducting a much appreciated effort to let our First Responders know we appreciate and thank them for their selfless service. 

The following Club members offered to help, and from the Club Station at the Wing the following members volunteered to operate:

VE3RBO, Ruth who came out on two different occasions and topped the list with the most contacts made, at 164 contacts!

VE3PTV, Archie

VA3XLS, Luke

VE3NRR, Nathan

VE3FLK, Joshua

VE3NIS, Corbin

VE3IMG, Rick

VE3ACW, Mike who helped with the logging as well as making many contacts.

VA3CBN Greg who operated from his home station

Gianna, SWL who came out for three hours on the first day to see what we were doing. She got a short course from Mike ACW on how to operate and she got on the air and made some contacts. Great! 

I did some operations from home between my daily trips to the Wing so Mike and I were there keeping the Club open in case anyone who had not volunteered previously, showed up unannounced. 

A big thank you to Corbin, VE3NIS who came  to the Club station on Saturday after his Wing breakfast and made some contacts.

I would be remiss if I did not thank Doug, VE3IDT who was so helpful setting up the roster and helping me with the amalgamation of all the various logs into one main ADIF document so it could be posted to the  eQSL site. Also thanks to John VA3MSV for his help with bringing Ruth out to operate, and combining the two Club station position logs into one file for VE3IDT.

Thank you Jim, VA3AHQ for posting the report to the LARC website.

The band conditions were not perfect, but we persevered and were able to put a reasonable number of contacts in our final log.

I can only try to encourage more members to support the efforts being made to get the Club station equipment on the air, or to volunteer to help out by getting on the air from your home station if you have one.

A big 'thank you' to those who helped. It was very much appreciated.

 

Respectfully submitted by:
David VE3KGK

Special Callsign Events Coordinator for LARC

 

 

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Here are the LARC Board Directors for 2025/2026

 

 President: Jasmine Llamarr - VA3PRR 

Vice-President: Paul Picot - VE3PIK

Secretary: Tom Hart - VA3TFH

Treasurer: Dave McCarter - VE3GSO / VE3EI

Director: Rick Brown - VE3IMG

Director: Lee Cassar - VA3XLC

Director: Corrie Van Amelsfort - VE3CVL

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 Wires-X

The WIRES-X Node/Room at the LARC Club Station is now operational.

It is registered under the call sign VE3LAC and is Room # 82355. This node is connected to a FTM-200 radio which is acting as a link radio to the VA3MGI repeater.

 

A document for connecting will be found here.

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Fox Box Talks

In order to keep our Fox hunts going, we need some hams who are willing and able to fill in as an alternate Fox when Doug isn't available. To train these brave people, Doug is going to give a couple of training sessions on how to use the gear that does the Fox transmissions, known as the "Fox Box".

This is a preconfigured self-contained setup that's actually quite easy to use.

The first of these Fox Box Talks will be at the Wing on Thursday April 17 around 7:30 PM, coinciding with the builders group get together.

If you'd like to attend, but can't make that date, contact Doug, and we'll try to accommodate you for the next session.

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LONDON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ANNUAL HAMFEST 2025

SATURDAY AUGUST 30, 2025

9am – 12 pm

Vendors: 8am

Admission: $8.00 (Age 10 & UP)

DORCHESTER FAIRGROUNDS

4939 Hamilton Rd. Dorchester, ON

For more information click here

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Congratulations to the New Hams in the Club!

Saturday Dec 7 was the last day of our Ham course, and the following people passed the exam and are now part of our ham radio family. More recently three new hams have passed their qualifications ( Top of list):

 

David Bovingdon VA3DAL

William Francis VE3ZWF

Rick McClentic VA3BIA

 

Mel Sheehan VA3FDG
Adam Tapp VE3WKI
Nick Phoenix VA3PHX
Helen Klus VA3UCW
Daniel Fenton VA3FNT
Daniel Hart VA3DJH
Robert Snyder VA3WTK
Marc Stahl VA3FUT
James Richardson VE3FBV
Gidd Ray Bruzo VA3GID

 

Please give these new folks a warm LARC welcome if you run into them on the air or at the Wing.

There are going to be additional exam sessions in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for additions to this list.

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Our digital experimenters net has now moved to 7pm on Mondays on VE3LON due to Wednesday night scheduling issues.

Please adjust your schedule or anyone who is interested please join along in the Net.