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- Written by: Rusty Auxier
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Greetings Members , Former Members and Amateur Radio Operators,
I hope this e-mail finds you well and looking forward to springing 2024. As President of the Manitoulin Amateur Radio Club (MARC) I am reaching out and inviting you all to our Annual General meeting of the Club on Sunday 05 May 2024 at 1:00 PM EDT. Via a zoom video conference call meeting. The zoom link and instructions will be sent closer to the actual date of the meeting. The notice has to be sent a month ahead of the meeting . The club has been active, and many good things have happened over the last year which will be reported to the general membership. Along with the club report will be election of the President position along with directors. A full financial report will also be presented. There will be many other topics to discuss also. The zoom format has worked in the past and will give an opportunity for our members and friends to attend from afar.
We are hoping to have a lunch social in Espanola on Saturday 04 May 2024 at 12:00 Noon the day before the AGM meeting on zoom to see each other and socialize that information will be forthcoming shortly please check out our website site at www.ve3rmi.org and our Facebook site for more information on the lunch get together.
Here is the Information:
WHAT: The Annual General Meeting of the Manitoulin Amateur Radio Club Inc.
WHEN: Sunday 05 May 24 at 1:00 PM EDT on Zoom Video Format - Invitation to be sent close to the date.
WHERE: On Zoom video Conference at the comfort at your own home on Desk or Lap Top Computer, Tablet or Cell Phone.
WHY: Update membership on club activities and wellbeing and election of club executive positions and financial report.
HOW: Via zoom format on internet to connect with everyone so that the requirement of travel is not needed.
You do not have to be a member of the club to join us we welcome everyone to come out to lunch or zoom in and learn more about our club. Just a reminder as a non-paid-up member you do not have a vote on club business. We hope to see you there, if anyone has any questions or concerns, please contact me at my information below. On behalf of the Manitoulin Amateur Radio Club Inc. I want to thank you for your past support and hopefully as a future member and continued member of a fast paced and innovative club with all the latest trends of Amateur Radio. I look forward to seeing at our luncheon and AGM meeting on zoom. Hopefully, you can join us.
Thanks
Al
Allan Boyd
VE3AJB
President
Manitoulin Amateur Radio Club Inc.
27 Red Mill Road, P.O. Box 208,
Little Current, Ontario
P0P1K0
(705)-368-2779 (Home)
(705)-869-8284 (Cell)
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- Written by: Rusty Auxier
- Category: General Information
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Glynn VE3PVE has listed a few things for sale; I will put them on the FaceBook page as well!
Click the pages link at the top of the page, then pick swap shop.
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- Written by: Rusty Auxier
- Category: General Information
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Hi guys
Welcome to the new website! There are a few bugs to work out and some blanks to fill in, but it is coming along!
Password requirements for the new website are more strict than the old; they now require at least 12 characters for a password.
If you are having trouble logging in, please let me know by emailing my call @gmail.com.
Thanks
Rusty VE3WVA
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- Written by: Rusty Auxier
- Category: General Information
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DONATE to the Club
The Manitoulin Amateur Radio Club appreciates all the support that the amateur
community has given us over the year as members and in general the donations
we have received. Now that the club has entered the digital information
technology world, we have created a donation page on our website. This makes
things easier if you live afar from the club and wish to donate. We appreciate all
the members paying their dues and others that have donated to the upgrades we
have done to the repeater and equipment. By no means is there any obligation to
donate to the club. This page was created by Rusty VE3WVA as our webmaster
that if someone wished to donate it would be easy to do so. Again, we appreciate
all the support amateurs have given us throughout the years. We look forward to
your participation in club activities and look forward to hearing you on the air.
Happy hamming
Al
Allan Boyd
VE3AJB
President
Manitoulin amateur Radio Club Inc.
Please use this button for DONATIONS to the club ONLY; Not for paying membership dues.
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- Written by: Rusty Auxier
- Category: General Information
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The Manitoulin Amateur Radio Club Inc. (MARC)
was first formed in 1988 when four local amateur radio operators got together and felt that a club involving the hobby would benefit all persons involved. At this time there were only 4 licenced radio amateurs on Manitoulin Island. This area encompasses a large geographical area. Shortly after the club was formed it was felt that a way to keep in touch and communicate locally was required. What was needed was a local VHF radio repeater system on a high tower location to provide mobile and handheld coverage across the Manitoulin Island and North Shore area. At this time a New Horizons grant was obtained because a number of the members of the club were senior citizens. We were able to receive funding and purchased a VHF radio repeater system in 1988.
The club then approached the CBC to obtain permission to place the radio system at their site and the antenna on the tower. Since the CBC are community based organization and the Manitoulin Amateur Radio Club was now able to provide emergency communications to local municipalities and emergency service personnel in times or civil emergency or disaster, permission was granted to install our radio system at the CBC tower site located just outside Little Current and provide for excellent radio communications over a 100 km radius.
The club then organized radio classes for people to obtain their amateur radio license and found that many seniors took advantage of this service and hobby to better their retirement years. Since the start of the club we have run about 8 classes over the last 15 years turning out over 100 licensed radio amateurs and most of them are seniors.
The MARC has approximately 120 members within the club who are spread out over a large geographical area. The club is unique in that we don’t hold monthly meetings at a certain location as some members may drive an hour and a half to get there and during winter months this is very difficult due to weather conditions. The club members keep in touch via the local VHF repeater twice a week to discuss club business and events. Since 1998 we have kept the statistics of the numbers of amateur radio operators that have checked in to these nets. In 1998 we had 2028 check-ins, 1999 we had 2239, 2000 we had 2097, 2001 we had 2123 and in 2002 we had 2290 check-ins into the repeater. In 2020 we had well over 2100 check-ins for the year.
Being that Manitoulin Island is a very large tourist area in Ontario we have many amateur radio operators that travel through the area not only in motor vehicles but vessels as well as we are located in the North Channel in Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. Many tourists have used the MARC repeater to keep in touch with other amateurs and have used the repeater to report many emergencies that the amateurs have come across and were able to report the incidents quickly to the proper authorities using amateur radio and our local repeater system.
The members of the club also perform many hours of community service providing communications for various organizations free of charge for things like community parades, fairs, bike races, and marathons. We have also been included in emergency communications (SEE ATTACHED REPORT) with the Ontario Provincial Police. If the local radio communications go down due to ice storms power failures etc. MARC will turn over our repeater system to police fire or ambulance for them to use as we have emergency back up power. We can also be used as a radio system that has all local agencies connected via amateur radio. In case the telephones lines go down and the police need to contact ambulance, fire, hospital and other agencies the amateurs can provide radios so they can use the local repeater to keep in contact. We also assist the OPP in community safety patrols during events like Halloween and community functions (Letter of support on file).
The MARC is also affiliated with the Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) which is a federal organization working with the Canadian Red Cross in times of disaster and many members of the club are trained including our President who is the co-coordinator for Northern Ontario.
We also work closely with Environment Canada E.C. as CANWARN spotters in case of server weather systems. Using the local repeater we keep in touch via radio having amateurs trained by E.C. in weather watching or tornadoes and server weather systems. We assist and confirm sightings for E.C. See attached report on Canwarn which explains the program.
The repeater system is the main component of the club as we conduct our nets every week on VE3RMI repeater since 1988. The club has expanded systems to include IRLP, Asterisk, and recently D-Star with the VE3RXR Port B and C systems.
The current Club Executive can be found here...the Club Executive