Author Archives: Bob Evans
SONRA Dinner Meeting – March 13th, 2023
In Person Meeting
Where:
Montana’s80 Kenmount Rd
St. John’s
When:
Monday, March 13th, 2023 at 6pmSee you there!
VO1AA – TELEGRAFIA.IT QSO December 19, 2020
Telegrafia.it, an Italian amateur radio telegraphy club, contacted SONRA to QSO with VO1AA to commemorate Marconi’s achievement on December 12, 1901. It was arranged for December 19, 2020 at 11:00 Newfoundland time on the 20M band.
Contact was established first between IK3SSO Mauro and VO1DM Doug on SSB. VO1HP Frank then took the seat at Signal Hill and QSOed with Mauro and IZ3NVQ Luca, both in Venezia, Italy on CW. After switching back to SSB proceeding were concluded with the desire to make this an annual event on December 12th.
Telegrafia.it team manager is IZ3GVL Corrado, who arranged the QSO but was not received at Signal Hill.
A recording was made that can be viewed here:
VO1AA Signal Hill Station Upgrade
Parks Canada Cabot Tower Refurbishment
Parks Canada has been doing major work at National Historic Sites. At Signal Hill these projects have included:
- removing and replacing the underground electrical line going up Signal Hill
- Cabot Tower electrical infrastructure upgrades, which replaced obsolete transfers that resulted in noise dropping from S9 to S1-S3
- Cabot Tower roof replacement
VO1AA Upgrades
Thanks to Tarheel Antennas who gave us special pricing on a model M100A-HP motorized high power HF antenna. This was installed on the new roof and grounded to the roof flashing. New control and feed lines were run into the station.
Thanks to ICOM Canada for their generous donation of an ICOM IC-7610.
Thanks to the club members who showed up for several work parties to “git ‘er done!” We have a station to be proud of.
Rigger Safety – VO1BT Procedure Changes Due To New Weather Radar
A new, more powerful, weather radar has been built to replace an existing one at Holyrood.
RF Hazard signs have been placed on the two towers at VO1BT. The rf radiation levels are safe at ground level but can exceed acceptable limits while climbing.
Click for a picture of the warning signs: Tower RF Hazard Sign 36h x 24w VER201809A
Before climbing the tower contact the number on the sign so that the weather radar may be made safe. Advance notice is required and a Call Before You Climb procedure must be followed as laid out on the left side of the following document: 20181206 – CBYC Procedure V1.0
The RF energy at ground level is safe. The exposure risk is only when entering the path of the radar antenna beam. The hazard begins at 304 MSL.
Basic Online Amateur Radio Course – November 2020
SONRA will be offering a Basic Online Amateur Radio Course from 8pm to 10:30pm every Tuesday and Thursday starting November 3, culminating with the final exam on December 1, 2020.
The cost is $100 and includes all course materials, the final exam and a one year SONRA membership. RAC also offers a free one year membership to newly licensed amateurs.
To obtain more information or to register click on the instructor/examiner Chris Hillier.
VO1BLR Birchy Lake (Deer Lake) Repeater Now On Linked System
The VO1BLR Birchy Lake (Deer Lake) 2m repeater is now linked to the island-wide repeater system!
You can find it on 146.640- in the area.
As of posting, tests had not been done west towards Corner Brook, but in the other direction, it is confirmed excellent coverage west of Springdale Junction, all the way to Deer Lake airport.
Special thanks to VO1AJD and and VO2JAS who are hosting the Allstar node, and thanks to everyone who has contributed to help extend the coverage of the island-wide NL link! The more coverage it has, the more beneficial it is.
See the full repeater list and map on the Repeaters page.
New Portugal Cove-St. Phillip’s Linked Repeater Active
Thanks to VO1IDX, and those who helped acquire and set up the equipment, there’s a new 2m repeater active in Portugal Cove-St. Phillip’s. It is connected to the island-wide linked repeater system. We’ve now added it to our repeater list and map page.
Callsign: VO1ICE
Frequency: 146.640 MHZ
Offset: -0.600
Linked Echolink Node: 566468
Enjoy! Thanks to all who continue to contribute to ham radio in Newfoundland!