Featured Items
Field Day 2025 (28-29 June 2025)
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- Category: Public Information
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RAC/ARRL Field Day 2025 is rapidly approaching. Last year, the Society did not participate although some local amateur radio operators may have. Our last station was in 2023, pictured above, two months before the wildfire evacuations. Field Day is an opportunity for local amateur radio operators to become "radioactive" and test and experiment with old and new equipment and try out experiments. It is also a chance to exercise emergency preparedness skills. We are there independent of government and of the regular infrastructure of a modern society. The technology we use is modern but build upon technology that is considered by many to be obsolete. But it is resilient to natural and man-made disasters. We are not dependent on StarLink... Details follow (from ARRL https://www.arrl.org/field-day#rules )
Wildfire Report for Wildfires of 2023
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- Category: Civil Defence
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The After Action Review Northwest Territories 2023 Wildfire Season: Final Report produced by Transitional Solutions Inc. is now available online at: https://www.maca.gov.nt.ca/sites/maca/files/resources/nwt_after-action_review_-_bilingual.pdf . The report is 164 pages. There is significant discussion of the role of the Incident Command System (ICS).
The Society has no comments in respect of this or previous reports. The amateur radio community was active in maintaining radio communications locally and globally for the entire period from about May to October 2023. Local amateur radio operators maintain their stations which are capable of running on emergency power and independent of infrastructure (whether hydro, phone lines, fibre optic cable or satellites). The troposphere is generally always there (and if it is not, well...that would be the end of the Anthropocene epoch). The Society also continued to operate its repeater network based in Yellowknife and Behchokǫ̀ with coverage 40 km outside of Behchokǫ̀ all the way to Tibbet Lake and well into Great Slave Lake (Inner Whalebacks).
Notice of Annual General Meeting
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- Category: Society Governance
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[2025-04-23] In accordance with Part G, section 1 of the Constitution of the Yellowknife Amateur Radio Society, the Executive has announced that the Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held as follows:
- Place: Javaroma on Franklin (50th Avenue) [Nortwestel Tower]
- Time: 0900 h
- Date: Sunday, 6 July 2025
We need a quorum of 3. This is your chance to take a leadership role in the Society.
RAC Will Not Attend Hamvention this Year
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For immediate release | Pour diffusion immédiate
April 8, 2025 | avril 8, 2025
At its meeting on March 27, 2025, the Board of Directors of Radio Amateurs of Canada voted unanimously to cancel RAC’s plans to operate a booth at Hamvention (Dayton) in Xenia, Ohio in May. This decision was not taken lightly and was made with deep regret as our members and volunteers always look forward to attending this significant international event.
Lors de sa réunion du 27 mars 2025, le Conseil d’administration de Radio Amateurs du Canada a voté à l’unanimité l’annulation du projet de RAC de tenir un kiosque à la “Hamvention” (Dayton) organisée en mai à Xenia, en Ohio. Cette décision n’a pas été prise à la légère et a été rendue avec un profond regret, car nos membres et bénévoles ont toujours hâte d’assister à cet important événement international.
The relationship between Canada and the United States has become increasingly strained due to recent trade disputes and tariffs imposed by the US government. Adding to these challenges, controversial remarks from US leaders, including suggestions of Canada becoming the 51st state, have heightened concerns about Canadian sovereignty.
Les relations entre le Canada et les États-Unis sont de plus en plus tendues en raison des récents différends commerciaux et des tarifs douaniers imposés par le gouvernement américain. En plus de ces défis, les remarques controversées faites par divers dirigeants américains, au nombre desquelles les suggestions selon lesquelles le Canada deviendrait le 51e État, ont accru les inquiétudes concernant la souveraineté canadienne.
Voice of America Developments (DOGE Target)
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[Update 2025-06-20] Reuters reports that the US Agency for Global Media, parent agency of VOA, has issued termination notices to 639 staff members. This completes an 85% decrease in VOA's staffing. Staffing has been cut to the statutory minimum of around 81. Reuters is of the view that this effectively terminates VOA as a broadcaster. VOA was established in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda. One may recall that VOA has been in the cross-hairs of Trump since the first Trump presidency in 2017 (see Wiki entry). This follows a decision on May 3, 2025 by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that blocked the previous ruling. On May 6, 2025 One America News (OAN), a far right voice-piece for the Trump administration (even more so than Fox) would provide news coverage for VOA. In June 2025, Wiki reports that several dozen Farsi-speaking staffers were called back to work.
The Yellowknife Amateur Radio Society is concerned about this development and also concerned about the terminated staff. More significantly, the Society is concerned by far right propaganda and VOA being used for the propagation of such propaganda. This is a betrayal of the reason VOA was set up in 1942. All links to VOA will be discontinued on the Society's website.
The Commonwealth
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The Commonwealth of Nations is often referred to as the British Commonwealth or just the Commonwealth. There are 56 member states, most of which are former members of what was known as "the British Empire".
They are connected by language, history and culture. Members include the United Kingdom, the former Dominions of Canada, South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand. They also include British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It is headed by Charles III. The Commonwealth was formalized by the Statute of Westminster in 1931. There are 15 Commonwealth realms, including Canada. There are 36 republics. There are 5 other members that have different monarchs (Brunei, Eswatini, Lesotho and Tonga. {Yes, we have heard of Lesotho}.
Developments in Encryption and the Amateur Radio Service
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There have been developments about the use of encryption and the carrying-out of cryptographic experimentation in the amateur radio service. Two articles follow - 1) a press release from RAC on this subject; and 2) a portion of an article/FAQ by Dave Goodwin VE3KG – RAC Regulatory Affairs Officer.
Read more: Developments in Encryption and the Amateur Radio Service
Report of 2023 Wildfires and Response by YARS
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- Category: Civil Defence
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[2024-06-17] From about May to October 2023 a series of wildfires occurred across the Northwest Territories. The wildfires were wide-spread geographically and coincided with abnormally high temperatures and a major drought. Significant loss of forests occurred as did loss to private property including homes and infrastructure (roads, fibre optic cables, hydro-electrical transmission lines etc.). The community of Enterprise was consumed. Fort Smith, Hay River, Enterprise, Kátł'odeeche First Nation, Yellowknife, Behchokǫ̀ etc. were all evacuated amongst other locations. Fortunately there was no direct loss of life.
WordPerfect on Linux
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- Category: Technical Notes
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Retrofuturism - Anachronistic Technology and HAM Radio
The figure above may seem rather silly. It shows WordPerfect 8.0 for UNIX running - roughly the equivalent of WordPerfect 4.2 for MSDOS - mid to late 1980s. WordPerfect 6.0 for MSDOS is shown running in the DOSBOX, an emulator for MSDOS - late 1990s). Finally WordPerfect X.13 is shown running in a virtual machine that is running Windows 7. All of these are running under Linux Mint 21.x. The laptop on which they are running is an old ASUS X55U, with motherboard manufactured in 2013.