AmateurRadio.com

Dave Goodwin, VE3KG, RAC Regulatory Affairs Officer at the Radio Amateurs of Canada, has just posted the results of the 2022 RAC Survey on their website. It was my honor to work with RAC to analyze the data and draft the technical report. The executive team at RAC is a delight to work with: they just want to get the best answer from the data. That’s what every organization should desire so that effective policy can be made. That is why I volunteered a considerable amount of my time to work with this team.

The map above depicts amateurs in the current Canadian database of certifications (licenses), regardless of when it was granted. Thus, there are likely many Silent Keys represented in the map. But it is the universe that must be the starting point. They are quite spatially concentrated, no? But they are no doubt conversely as diverse as hams are in other countries as well. This means we must have solid, reliable data in order to make the optimal policy recommendations on their behalf. RAC takes this mission to heart.

The issues surrounding call signs in Canada is the focus of the 2022 RAC Survey. I invite you to use the links above to take a look, or even a careful reading, of the technical report. Dave Goodwin put a good Canadian spin on my Americanized spelling and offered questions that help any statistician improve a draft report. Otherwise, David and Phil McBryde VA3QR, RAC President, left the analysis to me, a professional survey researcher and statistician.

The Regulatory Team at RAC consists of Dave Goodwin, VE3KG, Paul Coverdale, VE3ICV, Bryan Rawlings, VE3QN, Glenn MacDonell, VE3XRA, Richard Ferch, VE3KI and Serge Bertuzzo, VA3SB. They have done great work here! I look forward to other collaborations with RAC. You can find out more about this team’s efforts on behalf of amateur radio in Canada at their YouTube presentation embedded below.

And, oh, I just renewed my RAC membership for 2023! I encourage you to do the same.

Episode #116 Audio (Listen now!):

This week in the heart-pounding, blood-stopping episode of Linux in the Ham Shack, our intrepid hosts discuss a variety of topics from call sign look-up databases to Ubuntu, freeware collaboration suites to mobile computing, and QRP kits to hosted developer platforms. As if that were not enough, there’s music, banter, a cameo by Wil Wheaton and a rocking good time. What more could you possible want?

73 de The LHS Guys

Radio Amateurs of Canada is the national amateur radio organization here in Canada. It has just had its annual general meeting and coming out from this is a call for transformation. Peter of the RAC blog has sent me a link to the important news and I thought I would pass it on, as I know I have a few Canadian readers of my blog.

I am not going to comment here on what I have read, but will think about it and probably send my thoughts and ideas to RAC. Take a look at the proposal and if you want, send your thoughts to either RAC or post them here, it would be good to have an open discussion.  If you are not a Canadian please still take a look at the details, as other national organizations may be heading in a similar direction, or have faced similar issues.

If you have thoughts and opinions on what you want from a national amateur radio organization please make a comment.