The RAC Canada 150 Award is a celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday since Confederation in 1867. The Award is issued for contacting the RAC stations between July 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017. We are now in the final few days of the Canada 150 Celebrations and we hope you are enjoying taking part in this celebration. We are hoping to get all of RAC stations on the air for the RAC Canada Winter Contest on December 30. A list of scheduled operators as of Friday, December 29 is provided below.
RAC Stations Schedule (as of December 29, 2017)
Volunteers are needed to activate the 14 RAC stations for the RAC Canada 150 Award. The following schedule is as of December 29, 2017 and new volunteers will be added as the names are submitted. For more information visit https://www.rac.ca/rac150/
VA2RAC – André Perron, VE2ZT, will operate VA2RAC on various band from 80m to 6m until December 30. Gilles Renucci, VE2TZT, will be operating VA2RAC during the RAC Canada Winter Contest on December 30.
VE1RAC – Bob Schofield, VE1RSM, Fred Archibald, VE1FA, Helen Archibald, VA1YL and Scott Nichols, VE1OP, will activate VE1RAC for the rest of 2017.
VA3RAC – Neil Macklem, VE3SST, will activate VA3RAC from 5 pm on Tuesday, December 26 until 6 pm on Friday, December 29. The Ottawa Amateur Radio Club will operate as VA3RAC from the “Diefenbunker”, Canada’s Cold War Museum for the RAC Canada Winter Contest on Saturday, December 30 and will also activate VA3RAC on New Year’s Eve, December 31 to close out the year. For more information visit: https://www.oarc.net/
VE4RAC – Cary Rubenfeld, VE4EA, assisted by other Winnipeg Amateurs, will be operating as VE4RAC until the end of the year.
VE5RAC – Bj Madsen, VE5FX, is operating as VE5RAC on 20m SSB during the year. The Sask-Alta Radio Club, VE5RI, in Lloydminster, will be activating VE5RAC during the RAC Canada Winter Contest on December 30.
VE6RAC – Gord Kosmenko, VE6SV, will operate from from December 11 until December 31.
VE7RAC – Fred Orsetti, VE7IO, has organized the following volunteers to operate the VE7RAC call sign for the rest of the year: Doug Pichette, VA7DP, Gabor Horvath, VE7JH, Al McNeil, VA7QQ, John Mackay, VE7RB, Al Ross, VE7WJ, Jim Smith, VE7FO, Rebecca Kimoto, VA7BEC, Koji Kimoto, VA7KO, Brian Summers, VE7JKZ, John White, VA7JW, John Schouten, VE7TI and Fred Orsetti, VE7IO. A schedule is provided below.
VE8RAC – Gerry St Amand, VE8GER, has been operating regularly from his cabin near Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. He will be activating VE8RAC from November 15 until December 31, with the exception of the RAC Canada Winter Contest. Chris Cameron, VE8WD, is currently scheduled to operate VE8RAC in the RAC Canada Winter Contest.
VE9RAC – Jean-Paul Leblanc, VE9BK and Marcel Leblanc, VE9ML will be activating VE9RAC for the rest of the year. Andy McLellan, VE9DX, is also operating as VE9RAC on digital modes only.
VO1RAC – Boyd Snow, VO1DI, RAC NL Section Manager, organized several RAC members across Newfoundland to activate VO1RAC – as shown in the list of completed operations provided below – and he will be operating VO1RAC from December 24-31 to close out the year.
VO2RAC – Chris Allingham, VE3FU/VO2AC, who will be operating a remote station in Goose Bay from Ontario, will be operating as VO2RAC for the rest of the year.
VY0RAC – Mike Shouldice, VY0CF, will operate VY0RAC until December 31.
VY1RAC – David Musselwhite, VY1XY, will operate VY1RAC in the RAC Canada Winter Contest on December 30. A schedule of VY1RAC operations is provided below.
VY2RAC – Greg McCormick, VY2MP, Ron Huybers, VY2HR and Ken McCormick, VY2RU, will continue to activate VY2RAC through the end of 2017.
VE7RAC schedule: updated December 23, 2017
VY1RAC schedule: updated December 29, 2017
The best way to keep tabs on the activations will probably be by watching the DX Cluster (e.g., dxsummit.fi).
RAC Canada Winter Contest: December 30
We are hoping to get all of RAC stations on the air for the RAC Canada Winter Contest on December 30. Below is a list of scheduled operators as of Tuesday, December 23. At this time, we do not have names for VO2RAC or VY2RAC but we are looking for volunteers.
VA2RAC: VE2TZT will be operating as VA2RAC.
VA3RAC: The Ottawa Amateur Radio club will operate as VA3RAC from the “Diefenbunker”, Canada’s Cold War Museum.
VE1RAC: VE1RSM, VE1FA and VA1YL will operate as VE1RAC.
VE4RAC: The Radiosport Manitoba group will operate as VE4RAC.
VE5RAC: The Sask-Alta Radio Club in Lloydminster will operate as VE5RAC.
VE6RAC: VE6SV will operate as VE6RAC.
VE7RAC: A multi-operator team will operate as VE7RAC from VE7IO’s station.
VE8RAC: VE8WD will operate as VE8RAC.
VE9RAC: VE9ML and VE9BK will operate as VE9RAC.
VO1RAC: VO1DI will operate as VO1RAC.
VY0RAC: VY0CF will operate as VY0RAC.
VY1RAC: VY1XY will operate as VY1RAC.
For more information on the RAC Canada 150 Award and how to volunteer to activate a RAC station please visit https://www.rac.ca/rac150/ and https://www.rac.ca/volunteers-needed-to-activate-for-rac-canada-150-award/
Completed Operations:
Thank you for volunteering and for participating in the RAC Canada 150 Award:
VA2RAC – Jean Charron, VE2JCW, operated on July 21-26. Gilles Renucci, VE2TZT, operated from August 17-28. André Perron, VE2ZT, will operate every weekend from the beginning of September until the end of December on various band from 80m to 6m.
VA3RAC – John Leonardelli, VE3IPS, operated on July 29-30; Dennis Rule, VE3BF, operated on August 6-11; Rob Noakes, VE3PCP, Carson Morton, VA3OSO and Fred Gibson, VE3KHQ, operated on Saturday, August 12 for International Youth Day; and Steve Edwards, VA3TPS, operated from August 15 to 18 and August 21 to 25. Robert Vanderminnen, VA3RMV, operated from September 8 to September 10 mostly in the evenings. Kevin Clements, VE3RCN/VA3OR, operated from September 11 to September 15 as follows: “80m through 70cm including WARC bands limited to a max of 100w. Modes: CW (by fist), SSB, RTTY, JT65a, FT8 and SSTV. SO-50 satellite QSOs will be conducted during daylight hours, weather (and other duties) permitting from grid FN02. May also try AO-85”. Tom Haavisto, VE3CX, activated the VA3RAC call sign for the CQWW RTTY Contest on September 23 and September 24 as a single op, all band, high power effort. Steve McEdwards, VA3TPS, operated from October 11 to 15 and Rob Noakes, VE3PCP, operate from October 20 to October 22 for the Scouts’ Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA). Richard Ferch, VE3KI, operate as VA3RAC in the ARRL CW Sweepstakes contest from November 4 to November 6. Denis Rule, VE3BF, operated VA3RAC from November 6 until November 24. Rob Noakes, VE3PCP, operated VA3RAC from Friday, December 1 at 5 pm until Sunday, December 3. Denis Rule, VE3BF, operated from Sunday, December 3 to Thursday, December 7. Rob Noakes, VE3PCP, operated from Friday, December 8 at 5 pm until Sunday, December 10 and from Friday, December 15 at 6 pm until Sunday, December 17. Denis Rule, VE3BF, operated from Monday, December 18 to Thursday, December 21. Jeremy Jones, VA3ZTF, operated from Thursday, December 21 at 5 pm until Tuesday, December 26 at 5 pm.
VE1RAC – Scott Nichols, VE1OP, of North Sydney, Cape Breton, operated from August 7 to 31. Bob Schofield, VE1RSM, operated from September 1 to September 30. Len Morgan, VE9MY, Russ Hemphill, VE9FI, Linda Friars, VE9GLF and Patricia, VE9DZ, operated VE1RAC from October 6 to October 15 from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.
VE4RAC – Cary Rubenfeld, VE4EA, operated VE4RAC in the NAQP CW contest on August 5-6 and after the contest on August 13; Jessy Blanchette, VE4JBB, operated on August 15; John Romanec, VE4VJR, operated on August 16-18; and Don Menzies, VE4DFM, operated on August 18. Cary Rubenfeld, VE4EA and Richard Ferch, VE4AEO/VE3KI, operated from August 23 to September 1, joined by Jessy, VE4JBB, on September 1. Cary, VE4EA, operated as VE4RAC again from September 16-23. Cary, VE4EA, has been Elmering (an Amateur term for mentoring) several Amateurs in the Winnipeg area including Jessy, John and Don, and will be lining up other operations from Winnipeg amateurs in the future.
VE5RAC – Saskatchewan Section Manager, Summer Hartzfeld, VE5SDH, activated the VE5RAC call sign on Saturday, August 5 for the North American QSO Party contest from Saturday at noon to midnight. It was a CW operation. Summer also operated as VE5RAC during the CQ WW CW contest on November 25-26.
VE6RAC – David Gervais, VE6KD, operated the VE6RAC station from September 4 to September 17. Patrick Piedmont, VE6PIE, operated as VE6RAC from October 20 to October 22.Members of the Calgary Amateur Radio Association operated the Association’s club station VE6AO under the VE6RAC call sign from November 3 to November 17. Hubert Johnson, VE6AMY, operated VE6RAC from November 18 to December 3. Hans Mausolf, VE6TK, operated as VE6RAC in the CQ Worldwide CW Contest on November 25 and November 26 and for the ARRL 160 Meter Contest from 2200Z December 1 to 1600Z December 3. David Gervais, VE6KD, operated from December 4 to December 10.
VE7RAC – Fred Orsetti, VE7IO, organized the following volunteers to operate the VE7RAC call sign during the year: Doug Pichette, VA7DP, Gabor Horvath, VE7JH, Al McNeil, VA7QQ, John Mackay, VE7RB, Al Ross, VE7WJ, Jim Smith, VE7FO, Rebecca Kimoto, VA7BEC, Koji Kimoto, VA7KO, Brian Summers, VE7JKZ, John White, VA7JW, John Schouten, VE7TI and Fred Orsetti, VE7IO. VE7FO, VA7GI and VA7NF operated VE7FO’s station as VE7RAC during the Worked All Europe DX (RTTY) Contest from November 10-11.
VE8RAC – Gerry St Amand, VE8GER, operated from his cabin near Inuvik in the Northwest Territories from August 17 until August 24 and September 1 to September 4. VE8GER also operated as VE8RAC in October and from November 15 until the end of the year, with the exception of the Canada Winter Contest.
VE9RAC – FYI, as part of their ongoing operations Marcel and Jean-Paul also operated as a Multi-2 in the NAQP CW contest on August 5-6. Andy McLellan, VE9DX, operated in FT8 from September 23 to October 3.
VO1RAC – Doug Mercer, VO1DM, operated from August 1-5, Frank Davis, VO1HP, from August 6-12, and Boyd Snow, VO1DI, operated from August 16-19 and again from September 21-23. Max Powell, VO1VR, operated from September 10 to September 16. Chris Hillier, VO1IDX, operated from September 24 to 30. Boyd Snow, VO1DI, RAC NL Section Manager, organized several RAC members across Newfoundland to activate VO1RAC from October to the end of the year. The operators and schedule were as follows: Carl Milley, VO1UL from October 1-7; Chris McGonigle, VO1TX, from October 8-14; Loren Butler, VO1OE, from October 15-21; George Hopkins, VO1EGH, from October 22-28; and Joe Earles, VO1BQ, from October 29 to November 4; Barry Harris, VO1NC, from November 5-11; Ross Trickett, VO1ROS, from November 12-18; and Frank Davis, VO1HP, from November 19-25. Max Powell, VO1VR, operated from November 26 to December 2. Ken Tucker, VO1KVT, operated from December 3-9. Dave Parsons, VO1COD, operated VO1RAC from December 10-16. Chris Hillier, VO1IDX, operated from December 17-23.
VO2RAC – Chris Allingham, VO2AC, in CW, operated as follows: August 25 to September 4; September 22; October 7-8; November 4-6; and November 13. Nazaire Simon, VO2NS, operated in SSB and digital modes from September 1 to December 17.
VY0RAC – Pierre Fogal, VE3KBT, operated from Eureka, Nunavut on July 12-23. Michael Shouldice, VY0CF, operated from September 17 until September 30 from Rankin Inlet. Alex Tikhomirov, VE1RUS and Pierre Fogal, Pierre, VE3KTB, operated again from Eureka, Nunavut from October 17 to November 10. Mike Shouldice, VY0CF, once again operated from November 10 to November 30.
VY1RAC – Gerry Hull, VE1RM, operating the station of VY1JA, activated VY1RAC on CW and Digital modes from August 16 to September 4 and again in CW and SSB on December 16. David Musselwhite, VY1XY, in PSK31, September 22 to December 14; Allen Wootton, VY1KX, operated VY1RAC mainly in CW from October 16 to December 11. Bob Melanson, VY1MB, operated as VY1RAC in SSB from September 7 to October 10, on November 29 and from December 7-15. David Musselwhite, VY1XY, operated from December 17 to December 23.
VY2RAC – RAC Director Phil McBride, VA3QR, operated from Cavendish, Prince Edward Island from August 13 to August 19 on Sunday, August 13 on 40m, 60m and 80m SSB. Len Morgan, VE9MY, Russ Hemphill, VE9FI, Linda Friars, VE9GLF and Patricia Targonski, VE9DZ, activated VY2RAC while visiting Prince Edward Island.
For more information on the RAC Canada 150 Award and how to volunteer to activate a RAC station please visit https://www.rac.ca/rac150/ and https://www.rac.ca/volunteers-needed-to-activate-for-rac-canada-150-award/