What are the various membership levels?
There are three primary membership levels new RAC members should consider first.
The e-TCA Membership is the base level, that provides the standard benefits of being a RAC member: digital downloads of The Canadian Amateur magazine, an @myrac.ca email address, voting rights for RAC Director elections in your province, and possible liability insurance coverage (please see our insurance page for more information about this).
The Paper TCA Membership is identical to the e-TCA with one important exception: in addition to digital downloads of the magazine, you will receive a paper copy of TCA mailed to you as each new issue is released. All other benefits remain the same.
The Maple Leaf Operator Membership is a method of direct sponsorship of RAC operations. It has all the benefits of Paper TCA Membership, but lists your name and call sign in every issue of TCA magazine as one of the MLO Sponsors.
Beyond these three membership levels are a few specialized levels. These levels each have the same benefits as the e-TCA Membership.
Youth Membership is available for any operator under the age of 18.
Blind Membership is available for any operator who is visually impaired.
Family Membership is available for any operator who is a family member of an operator who already has one of the three memberships above.
Representatives of libraries or museums who wish to purchase just a subscription to TCA magazine for their collections should select the Library/Museum Membership.
How can I purchase or renew my membership?
There are three primary ways to pay for membership with the Radio Amateurs of Canada.
Online:
When renewing online it is important to first log in to your RAC account. Once you have, you can click on the “Renewal Area” link in your membership menu.
Once on the renewal page, select the membership level you wish from the drop-down menu, and fill in the payment and address information on that page. You will receive an email confirmation after payment has been processed.
Please note: if you intend to renew multiple accounts at once, it is usually preferable to call the office and renew using that method, described below.
Phone:
Renewals can be done quickly and easily by calling in to the RAC head office and requesting a membership renewal from the RAC Office Manager. The office number is 1-877-273-8304, and the office hours are 10 am to 4 pm, Eastern Time, every weekday.
You will have to provide credit card information over the phone to the Office Manager in order to process the renewal, and will receive verbal confirmation of your membership renewal once the process is completed. Receipts of the purchase are available on request.
Phone renewals are recommended when you have multiple accounts to renew at once (such as a single primary and then additional family accounts), or when you wish to renew for multiple years with a single payment.
Mail:
A renewal payment can be made at any time by sending a cheque or money order for the appropriate amount to the RAC head office. The mailing address is as follows:
720 Belfast Road, Suite 217
Ottawa, ON
K1G 0Z5
CA
Printable order forms are available on our membership renewals page, which can be optionally included with any lettermail payments.
Other Common Questions
First and most important: if your question is not answered here, or not answered to your satisfaction, please contact the RAC Office Manager by email or by phone (1-877-273-8304).
Email forwarding with the @myrac.ca email address
Email forwarding must be manually set up by the RAC Chief Information and Technology Officer. Please contact the RAC office if you would like to set up email forwarding or change the email forwarding destination.
Issues logging into the RAC Website
If you are having issues with your account password, you request a password reset on the login page. Please enter the username or email associated with your account to receive a link via email to reset your password.
If the password reset does not work, or you do not receive the email at all, there may be several causes:
- The email on file may be incorrectly entered or missing
- The username provided may be incorrect
- Your membership may be expired, in which case your account is inactive
In all of these cases, if the password reset does not grant access to your account, please contact the RAC office through phone or email for assistance.
Membership without Call Signs
In order to more effectively organize the accounts of operators who join the Radio Amateurs of Canada, we ask that all new members use their current primary call sign as their username for the RAC website.
If you do not yet have a call sign or are not yet a certified Amateur Radio operator, you can still join Radio Amateurs of Canada using a username of your choice. You may be contacted by the RAC office to confirm your current lack of a call sign. Should you receive one in the future, please contact the RAC office so we can add that information to your account.
Renewing for Multiple Years
All membership renewals by default are for one year. If members wish to renew for multiple years for convenience, RAC accepts payments for up to three years at once. In these cases, we ask that you renew via calling the RAC office, or by sending in a cheque for an appropriate amount with the number of years specified in the memo field. Multiple years cannot be selected when using the online payment system.
Recurring Memberships
For individuals who intend a long-term duration of support for RAC, it is possible to make any membership purchased through the RAC website recurring by selecting this option on checkout.
A recurring membership has no set expiry date. Instead, your payment information is stored by RAC’s partnered payment processor Stripe and you will be charged the same amount annually in perpetuity until you decide to cancel your RAC membership. This can be done at any time through your User Profile or by contacting the RAC office.
Due to the additional security concerns of having payment information stored, recurring memberships must be set up using our online payment system to allow Stripe to store the information, and cannot be set up via phone or mail. Please feel free to contact the RAC office with any questions.