Field Day 2025 took place at Silver Star Mountain Resort in parking lot E at an altitude of 1,600m (about 5,200 ft). This gave great take off for our antennas in all directions except due north... and we needed all the help we could get given marginal HF propagation conditions at times during the event.
First the club's sincere thanks to Ginny Scott, Local Sales Manager at SSMR, for pulling everything together for us and doing an excellent job of hosting the club. We had exclusive use of lot E for the club and visiting members plus free access to the showers in the village. Very much appreciated.
Views from the location were amazing. We have a ton of great photos & videos and as soon as I have figured out how to include pictures in an article I'll update this article with pictures... VA7RLX.
Campers assembled starting as early as the Thursday evening with the majority arriving on Friday evening. Campers included Howard VA7PWF, Colin VA7EEH, Lorne VE7LWK, Simon VE7RIZ, Jerome VE7JAR. Jane VE7WWJ and Mike VE7KPZ also camped with the club for the Friday night.
There were the usual ups and downs getting Cranky, the club's trailer mounted telescopic mast, properly set up and operational. But within about 90 mins everything was working just fine although we did discover a coax cable failure as the event progressed.
Operators included Simon VE7RIZ, Jerome VE7JAR, Ritchie VA7RLX, Brad VE7WBM, Warren VA7WPX, Felix VA7VOL, Howard VA7PWF and Lorne VE7LWK. Day visitors who dropped in to show support and help eat the great lunch included club members Gary VE7GCP, David VA7SK, Brad VE7WBM and Doug VA7CPS. Multiple guests from OCARC arrived, which was fantastic, including former NORAC member Doug VE7VZ.
Colin VA7EEH and Howard VA7PWF were the stars of the show and planned and organized pretty much everything for the club. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Jerome VE7JAR and family enjoyed some mountain biking and Jerome tackled and survived the challenging Beowulf trail. Ritchie VA7RLX enjoyed a couple of hikes and only had one wildlife encounter with a very friendly golden retriever and its owner. However early on the Sunday morning a large black bear did wander across the campsite and disembowelled the garbage can pretty effectively. That bear knew how to take apart so-called bearproof garbage cans!
The club had decided this would be a fun event but for those interested we completed 394 contacts in total. 4 CW, 28 FT8 and 362 SSB. We operated on 80 through 10m. CQs were sent out on 6m but no contacts resulted.
July 1, 2025 - Central Okanagan, BC
The Orchard City Amateur Radio Club had plans to do some maintenance on the Little White VE7ROC repeater (146.82- T88.5). Mike VE7KPZ joined in on the fun - a 6 km return, 400 m elevation gain hike. The plan was to assist as a pack mule and then activate for both SOTA and POTA while at the summit. Little White mountain, SOTA reference VE7/OK-001, is located in Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park, POTA reference CA-3863.
The group gets ready at the trailhead cut block parking.
Following Gary Cooper VE7GCP's great instructions, Mike drove to the trailhead the day before and camped out. At 8:30 AM the main group arrived and hiking commenced 9 AM.
The group stopping for a break just exiting the forest section.
Continuing up to the col.
A lovely trail.
Along the ridge to the summit top right.
Sandra packed the two new solar panels all the way to the top like a Nepalese sherpa.
Bug-covered Mike happy to arrive.
The group gained the summit just after 11 AM. The maintenance team, led by Chris Walter VE7EQN, got to work while Mike set up for both VHF and 20/40m HF operation.
Mike's operating position.
This was the first field test of Mike's new QRPLabs QMX. Mike had forgotten to bring headphones/speaker so HF operation could only be via FT8 using iFTx on his phone. 40m FT8 gave only one QSO with Steve Maidment VE7DBS in nearby Kelowna. Conversely, 20m FT8 was jam packed and a bit of a challenge to get heard at QRP power level. Over the next hour the QMX's 5 watts of RF power was able to make 8 more contacts with folks all over North America plus one notable contact in Japan, Kazuhiro "Kaz" Idenuma 7N1FRE.
Mike operating in the shade.
VHF FM operation yielded 11 contacts. Wilf Mulder VE7OHM was the farthest QSO north in Vernon while Orin Beebe VE7BEE was the farthest south in Keremeos. Many Kelowna locals were also added to the log.
SOTA Goat app confirmed the SOTA activation zone.
With a total of 20 QSOs the activations were sufficiently complete so Mike tore down the station and headed over to other repeater site to see if any assistance could be rendered. Mike assisted with a bit of fibreglass work on the comm shell before loading up some of the maintenance supplies to carry for the trip down.
The group heads down.
The group made it back to the vehicles at the trailhead in just over an hour. Down is always easier than up, especially for Mike as he was 4.5 litres of water lighter for the return trip. Mike decided to camp out at the trailhead another night before heading home to Vernon the next day.
July 2 sunrise heading home.
You can see the official OCARC report (with more details of the service work done) for this event here: https://www.ocarc.ca/node/624
It was a great hike with a great group,
Mike VE7KPZ
Ps: if you are interested in mixing amateur radio with hiking, shoot Mike an email via his QRZ email address.
Pps: big thanks to Rob Smith VA7MF and Anton North VE7NRT for picture contributions.
David Sinclair VA7DRS only resided in the North Okanagan for a couple of years but he was well known at the North Okanagan Radio Amateur Club. He regularly attended club meetings and camping trips, volunteered at service events and served a term as the club’s vice president. David was always willing to lend a hand where he could and always enthusiastic about the amateur radio hobby. His departure was sudden and this resonated greatly with club members - he will be most notably missed. NORAC members’ thoughts go to his widow and family.
David Sinclair’s VA7DRS celebration of life will be held Saturday July 26th 1:00-3:00 pm at Kinsmen Club Hall 2175 Coquitlam ave, Port Coquitlam. All are welcome to attend.
May 18, 2025 - Falkland, BC
Big thanks to this year's Falkland Stampede Parade organization volunteers:
Jake VE7WEA with YL Caitlin
Ritchie VA7RLX
Colin VA7EEH with YL Donna
Howard VA7PWF
Bud VE7KBK
Doug VA7CPS
Mike VA7XDM
Felix VA7VOL (lead)
The weather cleared up just before the event. The event organization went smoothly. Many hands/handhelds made for light work.
In total, with each club member volunteering a half day of their time plus Felix's prep time, this adds up to approximately (10 x 4 hours + 6 hours) 46 hours of community service work.
On May 10, 2025, NORAC lost it's founding president, Dennis (Denny) Warner VE7ASY.
Denny became NORAC's first president on November 6, 1975 and built the club's first 146.880 VE7RSS repeater - a vacuum tube unit - in 1976. For more about Denny and his role in the early days of NORAC see the Club Early History page.
In recent years Denny was noted for his incredible morse code skills, staying on the key late into the night at every club Field Day event.
Above we can see Denny VE7ASY on the key alongside Aaren VA7AEJ logging while Jane VE7WWJ looks on. In the background we have Watty VE7WTE (also recent SK), Doug VE7VZ, Phil VE7PAZ, Terry VE7TRZ, Bud VE7KBK and one of Phil's kids by the snack table at NORAC Field Day 2018.
Denny's obituary on Castanet can be found here: https://www.castanet.net/obituaries/WARNER%2C_Calvin_Charles_%22Dennis%22/33912/