On March 22, 2026, NORAC participated in the Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association's propagation test on the 60m band. As before, a 60m dipole was setup at the DND grounds coupled with Howard's Yaesu FT-710 to try to make contacts with NARA. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great start. Due to recent solar activity, nothing was heard on the band except for a couple of NORAC members reaching us via ground wave. However, all was not lost. After an hour and a half of eating donuts, the band started to open up, slowly! Finally, after hearing only faint signals, the voices started to become more legible. We managed to all contact NARA control in Nanaimo albeit challanging. Thanks to Felix VOL and Colin EEH for helping me setup and for Paul PDE, Wilf OHM and Peter PAE who came up and participated in person.
Howard VA7PWF
In British Columbia, we have 1,455+ Provincial Recreation Sites, 750+ Recreation Trail networks, and 10+ Interpretive Forests. These do not qualify as POTA entities, so we are developing a BC focused "On the Air" program featuring these amazing places to activate ham radio from.
For more information please check out:
February 7, 2026 - Vernon, BC
Another Carnival Parade Successfully Delivered!
Big thanks to all the NORAC members who turned out today to support the Vernon Winter Carnival parade. It was a great event and the NORAC team pulled off another successful parade organization with great support from the VWC executive.
This is a very important event to serve our community while creating awareness of the club and amateur radio service.
Team members included:
Alex VE7NOC
John VE7JWS
Doug VA7CPS
Howard VA7PWF
Colin VA7EEH
Mike VE7KPZ
Paul VE7PDE
Jake VE7WEA
Richard VE7NT
Felix VA7VOL
Bud VE7KBK
Mike VA7XDM
A special thanks goes out to Felix VA7VOL who did most of advanced planning, and Wilf VE7OHM for providing the mobile VHF repeater setup used for the event.
In total, with pre-event planning plus on-the-day efforts, the club provided approximately 12+(12*4)=60 hours of service to our community.
Check out the 2026 Winter Carnival Parade gallery for event pics by contributing photographers Wilf VE7OHM and David VA7SZ.
On a chilly -10C Saturday morning, three brave souls set out to Kin Park in Vernon to set up for Winter Field Day 2026. At 9am, Howard VA7PWF, Colin VA7EEH and Warren VA7WPX began the process of setting up the tents and arranging the radio equipment. Wilf VE7OHM and Alex VE7NOC arrived shortly after to erect the Cushcraft R5 which would be our main antenna. The new arrangement of putting two pop-up tents together and completely closing them in, then combined with a couple of heaters offered by Jerome VE7JAR and Paul VE7PDE, did the trick to keeping us warm and toasty. It wasn't long before all of us started peeling off our heavy winter coats allowing us to operate comfortably in hoodies and sweaters.
The turnout from our members was great with even a visit from the City of Vernon Councilor Teresa Ann Durning Harker who stopped in to see what NORAC was all about. The beautiful clear skies also brought out lots of passersby, many who stopped to ask what on earth are were doing!
Although band conditions started off poorly, they gradually improved as the day went on. Operating under VE7NOR, we managed to make 113 contacts.
For more images of the event, please check out the 2026 Winter Field Day gallery.