Amherst, Nova Scotia

WestCumb  Amateur  Radio Club  VE1WRC

  Serving Westmorland County New Brunswick & Cumberland County Nova Scotia

News & Information

From Jim VE1JBL Apr.12th

Mike Johnson VE1MWJ, Jim Hannon VE1AFH and Jim Langille VE1JBL were on tour today completing amateur radio installations at CFTA Community Radio in Amherst and the Westchester Fire hall. At 10am we arrived at CFTA to run new cable from the amateur radio station VE1TCR and the antenna was moved from the attic to the tower. Ron Bickle VE1BIC station Manager was there to help us with the installation. Thanks Ron.
After lunch thanks to Mike we proceeded to Westchester to install an antenna and run cable to the amateur radio station that was installed a couple of weeks ago. After completed we made contact with Mike Embree VE1MY who gave us a great audio report. We also found we could hit several repeaters from this location including Parrsboro, Moncton, Charlottetown and Truro. Clearly a great location for amateur radio. We packed thing up around 6pm and headed home.
Cumberland REMO along with the WestCumb ARC have now completed 10 volunteer fire departments in Cumberland with one to go in Wallace. This will be completed soon which will finish this project. 
The other project with the 4 hospitals in Cumberland County were completed a few years ago.
Other amateur radio stations will continue to be installed around the county this year. More information on those coming soon.
Click on PHOTO GALLEY for pictures.

From Jim VE1JBL Apr.5th

We had a very large crowd at the WARC monthly meeting Thursday night. There were 28 in attendance including three members of the Moncton & Area ARC and a old friend and past member of the club Charlie Gould VE1BK from Pugwash NS. Charlie was one of the founding members of the club when it began back in 1980.There was actually three meeting held this evening including the final SMART meeting before the event on April 27th, a repeater group meeting for sharing of information on the new Fusion repeater and the regular club meeting.

Peter Hebb VE1SM Newletter Editor was not in attendance as he is currently in the Amherst hospital. We wish you well Peter.

Final plans for SMART were talked about and everything seems to be in place for the event on April 27th. Volunteers are asked to be at the Community Center Friday night at 6pm to set up the rooms and the arena for the event and again at 7am on Saturday for regular duties. Kevin Burke VE1KEV will be looking after the flea market tables in the morning, Mike Masters VE1ZB, Robert Mannette VE1RMJ and Kevin will again be looking after the barbecues, Al Christie VE1ZS will man the 50/50 table and Dana Rushton and Don Roland VE1AOE will look after the raffle tickets.
Mike Embree VE1MY will not be able to help out with the 50/50 table do to other commitments so if anyone from the club would like to help Al Christie VE1ZS with this please let me know.
We also need a volunteer to look after the small room for the day which includes introduction of the speaker and to keep track of time for each class. If interested let me know ASAP.

The Fusion repeater is coming together nicely. Most of the parts are in, the paperwork is coming along and hopefully the installation will begin in the near future.
There was a nice round of applause for club member Bob Tuttle VE1DR for his donation of one thousand dollars towards the new repeater.
The Moncton club members who were in attendance were very interested in the Fusion repeater and had many questions to ask.
After the meeting was over Paul Cant VE9TTT presented a donation of one hundred dollars towards the new Fusion Repeater.
Thank You Paul.

We have not had much interest in Field day this year so if you are interested in taking part contact Mike Johnson VE1MWJ at
Field day will be held at the Tidnish Provincial Park this year.

A cheque has been sent to the NSARA for club dues for 2018-19. We have 17 members this year who have joined the NSARA.

50/50 was won by Dana Rushton VE1VOX.

Club brunch will be held this month on Apr.13th at the Park View Restaurant in Oxford at 11am.

Next club meeting will be May 2nd.

From Jim VE1JBL Mar.20th

The four simplex repeaters purchased by the county are now all ready for operation thanks to Lorne Anderson VE1BXK who modified the Motorola radios to connect to the repeaters.
All repeaters will be on the same frequency 146.490 MHz. but each one will have a different CTCSS tone to activate the repeater. The only repeater active at this time is at Leicester with a tone of 71.9 Hz.

WARC Brunch March 2019

Photo by Dana Rushton VE1VOX

From Jim VE1JBL Mar.8th

There was 19 members and guests at the regular monthly meeting of the WestCumb ARC Thursday night.
The first subject of the evening was the proposed Fusion repeater. The repeater committee met three times over the past month and after a vote decided to order the new Fusion repeater while the sale is still on. It has been decided that the new club repeater will hopefully go in the same site as the Amherst repeater VE1WRC in West Leicester. Plan "B" would be the John Black Road site.
The paperwork has gone in to buy the repeater and Lorne Anderson VE1BXK has put in the paperwork to the Province of Nova Scotia for there OK to put the repeater in the site.
Club member Bob Tuttle VE1DR has graciously donated one thousand dollars towards this new repeater. The club will cover the rest.
Both repeaters will be located at the same site but the new repeater will have a new callsign VE1AMH for Amherst and a new frequency 145.190MHz.
The committee is now waiting on Yaesu to process the order and to send us the repeater. There are still other components needed to get this repeater up and running and they will be working on this over the next couple of months.

The next topic was SMART 19.

Everything is coming along. We now have several door prizes and Grand Prizes for this year's event thanks to clubs and individual hams. Forms have been sent to the province for lottery and 50/50 ticket sales. We are expecting 150 hams to take part this year. There will be multiple flea market tables and hopefully other vendors available. Keep checking the website for updates.

Field Day 2019

After several years of sitting on the sidelines there is renewed interest in having Field Day this June. A committee is being put together to get this off the table and "On the Air"
Mike Johnson VE1MWJ, Ron Bickle VE1BIC, Jim Langille VE1JBL will be looking for volunteers to make this event happen.
Mike has contacted Department of Lands and Forestry who has given us permission to hold Field Day on June 22nd and 23rd at the Tidnish Docks Provincial Park.
Located near Tidnish Cross Roads (north 400 m/yd off Route 366) in the Northumberland Shore region, Tidnish Dock Provincial Park marks the eastern terminal of the historic Chignecto Marine Transport Railway – one of Nova Scotia’s most ambitious engineering projects. The project called for the construction of a 17 mile (28 km) long double-tracked railway from Fort Lawrence on the Bay of Fundy, across the isthmus to Tidnish Dock on the Northumberland Strait.
Today, a section of the old railbed is a 3.7 km (2.3 mi.) walking trail that starts at the Tidnish Visitor Centre, leading to the Tidnish Dock Provincial Park. Along the way it crosses an historic keystone bridge and a modern 66-m (215-ft.) suspension bridge over the Tidnish River.
In addition to its historic significance, the park includes a small warm water beach (unsupervised); picnic tables; change rooms and vault toilets; and interpretive panels.
We are also hoping to have another station set up at the old Western terminal in Fort Lawrence.
We will be getting a special call sign VE1CSR for the event and have special QSL cards printed up to give out for contacts and visitors. 
For this event to take place we will need many club members to volunteer. We will need radios, power supplies, antennas, tower, wire antennas, cable, generators, tents, trailors, barbecues, food, a schedule of operators for voice and CW, logging, foxhunt,   someone to look after visitors and public officials, publicity, social media, pictures, videos, safety etc. 
If interested contact one of the members noted above.

50/50 was won by Jim Hannon VE1AFH who donated his winnings back to the club. Thanks Jim.
On behalf of the County of Cumberland Mike Johnson VE1MWJ Regional EMO Management presented a cheque to the WestCumb ARC for its continuing support of Regional EMO and the setting up of radio stations around the county.
The next club brunch will be March 16th at Patterson's in Sackville NB.
Next club meeting will be April 4th. Below are some pictures taken during the meeting. Thanks to Ron Bickle for the pictures.

From Jim VE1JBL Feb.9th:

The county room was full for the regular monthly meeting of the WestCumb ARC Thursday night.
Kevin brought in the club shirts and everyone seem pleased with them. There will be another order going in when there is enough interest. Contact Kevin Burke VE1KEV if you want to place an order.
There was talk about SMART. The event will take place Apr.27th in Springhill. The registration form is now active on the website. Always looking for volunteers if you would like to help out. Contact Jim Langille VE1JBL if interested.
A letter was read from Bob Tuttle VE1DR asking about placing a new Fusion digital repeater at the Leicester site in place of the analog repeater that is there now. He is willing to make a donation for a new Fusion repeater if it is placed at that site. The repeater committee will get together next week too go over the offer and what all it takes of changing up the repeater.
Mike Johnson reported about the new simplex repeater that is now active at the Leicester Fire Hall. He asked that everyone try it out and report to him your findings on how far away you can activate the repeater. The frequency is 146.490
Dave Hull VE1HUL won the 50/50.
Next club brunch is at Brittney's on Saturday February 16th.
Next club meeting will be Thursday March 7th.

From Jim VE1JBL Feb.7th, 2019

Mike Johnson VE1MWJ Cumberland Regional EMO Management and Jim Langille VE1JBL from the WestCumb ARC returned to the new Leicester Fire Hall today to finish installing cable runs for the department's VHF and TMR radio. At the same time we finished up the amateur radio station and installed and tested the first of four simplex repeaters by Argent Data Systems on 146.490.
We received reports from Bob Tuttle VE1DR in Pugwash Junction, John Haley VE1JCH in Tidnish and Kevin Burke VE1KEV in Amherst. The repeater is operating perfectly at this time and we are now looking for more reports from amateurs who can access the repeater. We want to get a footprint of this repeater. Take notes on where you were, power you were using and the signal report. Later in the evening after returning home in Tidnish I had no problem bringing up the repeater on 5 watts at 25kms away.
The Leicester Fire Hall is located at 442 ft above sea level. The pictures below show the amateur radio antenna above the entrance door to the fire hall and the simplex repeater sitting on top of the radio. The last picture is taking in front of the building showing the height of the location. It is hard to see but to the left in the picture is the Amherst wind farm and areas of New Brunswick in the background. To the right of the picture you can see the Northumberland Strait.
 
Remember this is a simplex repeater. It only plays back what you say to it so keep your test short. If you are talking to someone on the repeater remember there is a delay between each transmission.
Thanks to Lorne Anderson VE1BXK for finding the radios and wiring the repeaters to these radios.
Send reports to Mike Johnson at mjohnson@cumberlandcounty.ns.ca                                          


From Jim VE1JBL Jan. 4th 2019:

There were 12 members present at the regular monthly meeting of the WestCumb ARC on Thursday Jan.3rd, 2019. Regrets from Mike VE1MWJ, James VE9WIN and Lorne VE1BXK.
There was plenty of talk about SMART 2019 and starting to get prepared for this year's event on April 27th. A new page has been set up for this years event on our website. https://www.westcumb.ca/s-m-a-r-t-2019
System Fusion was also discussed as many club members and amateurs throughout the Maritimes are getting into this mode.
Final fittings for club shirts took place and Kevin Burke VE1KEV will now take this to Carter's Cresting . Please bring your 30 dollars to the next club meeting to pick up your shirt.
Dave Harris VE1DEH won the 50/50 and turned his winnings over to the bursary fund. Thanks Dave.

This month's brunch will be held on Saturday Jan.12th at Patterson's in Sackville.

Next club meeting will be February 7th, 2019.

From Jim VE1JBL

Here are a couple of pictures from the Christmas Pot Luck Supper held on Wednesday night. There were 18 in attendance this year. Regrets from Dana Rushton VE1VOX, Pravin Varma VE9PKV, Rob Ireland VE9KM and due to an accident on the TCA blocking traffic Terry Craig VE9TER and Bill Durant VE9JMP returned home.
There was no meeting so everything will be carried over till the January meeting on the 3rd.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

From Kevin VE1KEV

At the last club meeting in November it was brought up about getting golf shirts made up for club members. If interested in having a shirt contact Kevin Burke VE1KEV at ve1kev1@ns.sympatico.ca or phone 902-694-9202
Kevin will be bringing a selection of sizes to the Pot Luck Supper in December. If you are interested in a shirt come to the supper and try a shirt on so you can get the right size. Hopefully the shirts will be ready for the January 2019 meeting.

From Amanda Marlin & Amelia Moore EOS  Eco-Energy Inc.

Dear Mike, Jim and Bob,
Attached is our summary of the evaluations from the ham radio workshop. Lots of good feedback and some suggestions for next time.


 

EOS Amateur Radio Workshop

Amelia Moore, EOS Eco-Energy

October 24, 2018


EOS and the WestCumb Amateur Radio Club hosted an evening workshop on October 22, 2018 at the Sackville Legion. More than 40 participants attended, 16 of which filled out evaluation forms.  Participants included a local Scout troupe and their leaders but they had to leave early and did not fill in evaluations.

13 of the 16 evaluations rated the content of the talk, venue/location, speaker, date/time, and price a 4 or 5. When asked how much participants knew about ham radio before the event compared to after, 11 participants stated that they now knew more than when they arrived, with other participants stating that they were already quite knowledgeable about ham radio. Many stated that they were very unlikely to engage with ham radio before this workshop, but likely would now.

When asked what participants found most interesting about the workshop, many were interested in ham radio being used for weather warning and for emergency response. One participant found “collaboration between various organizations to collect and use of information during weather events and other emergencies” the most interesting. Others enjoyed the radio display and videos of the radios in action. Another participant said that this was a new topic they hadn’t thought of before and found all the information interesting.

When asked how they planned to use what they learned today, several participants said they would consider pursuing their amateur radio license. Others said they would further research the topic online or join their local ham radio club and look into getting more involved. One participant was curious about the costs required to get into ham radio and another was curious to learn more about software-defined radios.

When asked about how this workshop impacted their stress around climate change 6 participants said they felt more at ease knowing that this system existed and they better understood the emergency procedures. Another participant noted that they “didn’t know so many volunteers contributed” and that made him feel more at ease. Other participants said that his stress about climate change had stayed the same.

Participants heard about this workshop through word of mouth (6), the EOS newsletter (4), Facebook (4), radio(3), local newspaper, and posters.

Finally, other suggestions for workshops that EOS could offer included information about emergency go-bags, conservation focused workshops or urban planning and design.

Thanks to Amelia Moore for the photos.

Sept. 7th, 2017

The first meeting of the WestCumb ARC was held on Thursday evening Sept.6th at the ED Fullerton building in Upper Nappan.

There were sixteen members attending with two guest.

First was the annual meeting and all members of the executive have returned for another year. Kevin Burke VE1KEV President, Mike Masters VE1ZB Vice-President, Ron Bickle VE1BIC Secretary and Jim Langille VE1JBL Treasurer.

A motion was made to permanently moved the club meetings to the first Thursday of each month due to a conflict with the county meetings. Motion carried. The dues for the year will remain the same and can be found on the website under Club Dues. 

The regular meeting followed the annual meeting and the hot topic for the evening was the report from Mike Johnson VE1MWJ of happenings from the Oxford sinkhole. Mike showed us several videos taken by the county drone showing different angles not seen from television video. The county is still following activity and Mike will give us updates and more video at the next meeting in October.

Mike also informed us that the county has purchased five new radios, antennas and power supplies to be installed in fire halls and other places throughout the county during the upcoming year. He has also received three more simplex repeaters to go along with the one we already purchased in the past year. At this time two of the repeaters will be permantly installed at locations around the county and the other two will be mobile stations to be activated when needed. He is still planning for a simplex exercise for the club in the upcoming year.

Robert Mannette VE1RMJ has purchased 16 amateur radio manuals from Coax Publishing in Ontario on behalf of the club for amateurs wanting to upgrade from basic to advanced license and people around the area wishing to learn and become amateur radio operators. These books are for sale from the club at $46.00 for either the basic or advanced book. Contact Robert Mannette  VE1RMJ at ve1rmj@gmail.com if you wish to purchase a book. Six books were sold after the meeting last night.

Member Bob Tuttle VE1DR brought a new member to the meeting last night. Terry Duncan VE1AS was introduced before the meeting. Terry and his wife Susan who is also a ham VA1SIS have recently moved here from Ontario.

WELCOME to the area and the club Terry and Susan.


50/50 was won by new member Terry VE1AS. 

The first club brunch of the new year will be held on September 22nd at Patterson's in Sackville NB beginning at 11am. Come early for a good seat.

The WestCumb ARC 2 Meter Net will begin another new season on Monday September 10th at 8pm. Hope to hear many of you on there to support our local club net. Also a reminder to renew your club dues ASAP.

The next club meeting will be held October 4th at 7pm.  

June 23rd, 2018

The WestCumb ARC participated again in this year's Cross Border Challenge. This is the tenth anniversary for the event and the club has taken part each year providing communications. There were 46 messages exchanged throughout the day.
This is the last club event until the September annual meeting. Everyone have a wonderful summer and see you then.
Thanks to Ron Bickle VE1BIC for the photo.
L to R: Ron Bickle VE1BIC, Jim Langille VE1JBL, Bob Tuttle VE1DR, Ron Blue VE1BBB, Peter Hebb VE1SM and Kevin Burke VE1KEV. Missing from photo, Mike Johnson VE1MWJ.

June 8th, 2018

There was a good turnout at the final club meeting of the WestCumb ARC for 2017-18. Twenty Nine members and family arrived to first take in the annual members apperiation barbecue put on by the executive to thank the members for their support over the year. Hamburgers and hot dogs were presented with soft drinks.

After the meal the meeting was brought to order and most of the short meeting talked about the upcoming YMCA Cross Border Race on June 23rd. If interested in helping provide communications for this contact Kevin Burke VE1KEV at 902-694-9202.

After a Q&A on the MESH network the club voted to purchase a couple of units to tour around the county this summer to see where they will work. Robert Mannette VE1RMJ will be looking after this. 

Hope everyone has a great summer and hope to see you in the fall at our annual meeting on Sept.6th, 2018.

Thanks to Robert VE1RMJ for the photos.