This article is a new attempt by the NORAC Executive for the upcoming year to briefly document all of our activities as a club. My hope as President is that members will add edits to this page as the year progresses. Please keep the updates short and to the point, no need to create a monster of a page with paragraphs of detail, that level of detail can easily be done in a separate articles linked from this page.
October 2019
- Membership drive underway for the new year.
- Annual General Meeting (AGM) completed - Executive remains mostly the same with Nicolas VA7AZZ joining as new Secretary.
- RAC Foundation donation in memory of Mel Stratton VE7STR prepared and mailed with a cheque.
- A new sign for BC Hydro yard trailer was created, then it was installed by Terry VE7TRZ.
- New PiRLP4 hardware for node 1050 received, unboxed, and being programmed to replace the original node PC.
- NORAC members volunteer for a total of 10 days of service as radio support for the Pacific Forest Rally in Merritt BC.
- NORAC members volunteer for a total of 4 days of service on-site at the Okanagan Scouts JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) 2019 in Kelowna (Joe Rich) BC.
- NORAC members volunteer for a total of 1 day of service as radio support for the Okanagan Marathon in Kelowna BC.
- IRLP node 1050 radio cabling adjusted to match pin-out for new PiRLP4 node hardware, system tested and moved back to site at VE7EGO on the Commonage.
November 2019
- The Field Day 2019 - Final Results are in and NORAC placed second in our 1A class in all of Canada!
- Two trips to the VE7EGO repeater site were made - Trip Report - VE7EGO - November 18, 2019 and Trip Report - VE7EGO - November 21, 2019
- The club transitions from Yahoo Groups to Google Groups as our email reflector service. Go to the dedicated page for more information and sign up today - NORAC Email Reflector Service
December 2019
- [Dec 7] NORAC Christmas Party was held at the Royal Garden Restaurant in Vernon
- NORAC member volunteers for a total of 3 days of service as radio support for the Big White Winter Rally in Kelowna BC
- NORAC members represent Canada by participating in the RAC Canada Winter Contest
January 2020
- NORAC members snowshoe into the VE7EGO repeater site to get repeaters back on the air after an extended period of extreme cold (cause of the issue: failure in AC power controller).
- NORAC members test their emergency preparedness by participating in the Winter Field Day event.
February 2020
- NORAC members represent BC by participating in the BC QSO Party event.
- NORAC members marshall the 60th annual Vernon Winter Carnival Parade for a total of 60 hours of community service.
- NORAC Amateur Radio Basic Qualifications Course kicked off with 14 students.
March 2020
- Aaren VA7AEJ commissions a selection of personalized NORAC baseball caps for members to order.
- Lindsay VE7LPG starts the weekly 220 MHz Net in Vernon.
- NORAC members represent BC by participating in the ARRL DX Contest.
- NORAC Amateur Radio Basic Qualifications Course completes with many students writing the exam and passing with honours.
- Club meet-ups and official meetings cancelled until further notice due to COVID-19 outbreak and related social distancing requirements. Club members and regional HAMs work their radios more than usual to communicate via RF instead of in person.
- The daily Vernon 80m Coffee Net is started.
April 2020
- Personalized NORAC baseball cap order is sent in to the manufacturer. Hats are made and delivered.
- NORAC members represent BC by participating in the World Amateur Radio Day special event.
- Mike VE7KPZ puts an APRS RX/TX IGate on the air as VE7KPZ-10.
May 2020
- Wilf VE7OHM puts the VA7OKN repeater back on the air with a new location and purpose.
- Technical team members visit VE7EGO repeater site for various tasks.
June 2020
- Technical team members visit VE7EGO repeater site for more and more tasks.
- IRLP node 1050 is relocated temporarily to Brad VE7WBM's QTH.
- Preparations start for setting up our own internet feed wirelessly for the VE7EGO repeater site.
- NORAC club members take part in the ARRL Field Day event. Submissions of individual entries are noted with "North Okanagan Radio Amateur Club" as club designator to aggregate club points for the event.
July 2020
- NORAC club member Mike VE7KPZ along with friend-of-the-club Kevin VE7XY of OCARC find their efforts participating in the BC QSO Party showcased in pictures in the July/August 2020 edition of the ARRL's National Contesting Journal. The article "Taking QSO Party Contesting To The Next Level" can be found on pages 9 and 10 of the NCJ. Additionally, they discover that their participation in the BC QSO Party event has won them the districts plaque in addition to second place in the SOLP phone category.
- OCARC installs HAMwan sectors at Turtle Mountain. Big thanks to our friends from the South for this implementation.
- NORAC club members take part in the RAC Canada Day contest.
October 2020
- Technical team members visit VE7EGO repeater site for various tasks.
November 2020
- Friends of NORAC, Fred VA7UN and Chris VE7EQN, put the VA7VTV MMDVM repeater on the air at Turtle Mountain in Vernon. This is a HAMwan-internet-connected all-digital-modes repeater. See the Frequencies tab of the NORAC website for full information on this installation. Big thanks as well to Stephen VA7STV for his support with the HAMwan integration.
- NORAC club member Jake VE7WEA offers a great presentation on the topic of DMR at the monthly meeting. He introduces DMR concepts, outlines how to make a "code plug" and demos operation with his hotspot setup. This is fitting timing with VA7VTV now on the air in Vernon for public use.