Our Official “Grand Opening” Announcement

Good day,

I am very pleased to announce the formation of a new Amateur Radio club in Nova Scotia!

The Annapolis Valley Amateur Radio Club (AVARC) is an informal association of Hams. We have no constitution, bylaws or membership dues at present.  Instead, we keep members up to date on developments and news of interest through our website and Facebook page, and periodically gather to participate in club activities such as Field Day, or to assist members.  Although it is primarily for Amateurs in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, membership is open to anyone interested in the art, science and magic of radio.

Among other topics, we promote DX’ing, contesting, weak signal VHF operating, digital modes, and public service.   Education is one of our primary concerns, both to expand our own knowledge and to help those who want to become Amateurs.  We have dedicated a section of our web page to a series of presentations covering the entire Basic Qualification curriculum.  Additional presentations on different aspects of Ham Radio will be added in due time.  We believe that there is far more to Amateur Radio than just Two Meter FM repeaters!

We are also very conscious of the valuable role that Amateurs can play in times of emergency.  To that end we emphasize our ability to set up portable stations such as during Field Day, and developing the skills to pass information in a crisp, efficient and professional manner.

Our web page can be found at http://avarc.ca.  If you would like to be added to our e-mail list, or if you want to become an Amateur Radio operator, please use the “Contact Us” tab.

We are also on Facebook.  Look for Annapolis Valley Amateur Radio Operators.

Thank you and 73,
Doug McComber
VE1FAL
Webmaster

Field Day 2016 Wrap Up

Hello everyone,

Well, that was one heck of an excellent weekend! Thanks so much to all those who participated and assisted in making Field Day 2016 a huge success!

We had two objectives for Field Day. The first was to practice those skills necessary to operate in an emergency – deploy to a remote location, set up effective stations without relying on commercial power, and make QSOs in an efficient manner. The second was to have a fun and interesting weekend. I can safely say that BOTH these objectives were met quite handily!

The setup crew started at 0830, and by noon had two towers in the air, complete with triband Yagis and inverted V antennas. The tents were easily set up, and by 1500 we had two stations in operation and a field galley set up. The logging software worked well, and our local network had very strong signals, thanks to our helical antennas – we probably could have separated our stations by 2 km and still maintained the network!

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