The Defence of Amateur Radio Fund (DARF) is pleased to announce a $10,000 donation from a ham who wishes to remain anonymous. This is the largest single amount donated to the trust fund in recent years. In making his donation, the donor noted that he based the amount on the on the projected costs to support the travel and living expenses for the upcoming World Radio Conference in Geneva in November 2015.
“This was a completely unexpected and an amazingly generous show of support for the future of amateur radio in Canada and the world,” said George Gorsline VE3YV, RAC International Affairs Officer. “International Telecommunications Union World Radio Conferences are held every three or four years. Participation is very expensive, requiring almost a month’s stay in Geneva, one of the world’s most expensive cities.” RAC President Geoff Bawden, VE4BAW adds: “I’d like to shake his hand and put him on the cover of TCA. This is extraordinary and shows the level of support and confidence in RAC to work with IC and internationally ensure the future of amateur radio.”
The DARF Trust was established in 1992 to support travel expenses associated with a RAC representative at World Radio Conferences and related preparatory meetings to defend existing bands and work toward new amateur frequency allocations. Canada is one of a small number of countries where a radio amateur is part of the official delegation. While Industry Canada (IC) is very supportive of having a RAC representative as part of Canada’s WRC delegation to work on amateur matters, it does not provide any funding.
This donation will be used to defray the travel and accommodation costs of the RAC Representative, currently, Bryan Rawlings VE3QN. For the past three years, Canada has been in the forefront of the bid to gain a new amateur band at 60m. All current 60m operations have been authorized by various individual countries as domestic use. Should a new allocation be approved at WRC15, the result would be to create a new amateur 60m amateur band.
George Gorsline VE3YV
RAC International Affairs Officer