Welcome to the
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The next meeting of the
Rideau Lakes ARC will be held February
16th, 2012 in the Kilmarnock Room, of
the Smiths Falls Community Health
Centre in Smiths Falls. |
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The
28th Annual Smiths Falls Flea market |
Based in Smiths Falls, Ontario, the Rideau Lakes Amateur Radio Club Inc. has members throughout the Region, and is active in amateur radio and public-service activities in the area. The Club Station Callsign is VE3SFR.
The first organized amateur activity in the area arose in 1977 with the founding of the Rideau Lakes Repeater Association, which was established to build and install the repeater VE3RLR in Smiths Falls. The objective of the repeater was to cover the area between Ottawa and Kingston that repeaters in those centers could not reach, and also to serve boaters and cottagers in the central Rideau Canal System area.
In 1982, co-incident with the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Rideau Canal, the idea arose to have a special events station set up to advertise the occasion and promote amateur radio activity. To this end, in January of that year several amateurs from around Eastern Ontario gathered to form the Smiths Falls Amateur Radio Club. Permission was subsequently obtained for the station to be installed at the Detached Locks in Smiths Falls under the callsign VE3SFR. Permission was also granted for the use of the special callsign CZ3SFR, for a two week period. Later, due to dwindling resources, the Rideau Lakes Repeater Association amalgamated with the Smiths Falls Amateur Radio Club. In 1995, the club name was changed to the Rideau Lakes Amateur Radio Club and in July 1996 the Club was incorporated under the laws of Ontario as a non-profit charitable organization.
Photo of members at the February 2007 meeting, celebrating the 30th anniversary of our repeater, VE3RLR, and the 25th anniversary of the Club.
Voice Repeater
VE3RLR
In 2009
the club had to relocate the repeater due to
the closure of its previous home for over 25
years, the Rideau Regional Centre.
Fortunately with the help of the Town of
Smiths Falls, a new home was found in the
Works Department Garage. To see some
photographs of the work done, go here.
In July
2010, a rigger was hired to climb the tower
and add two more antennas as well as check
some exisiting connectors. Check out the
pictures here.
In
March 2011, a new repeater was placed on line
replacing the old repeater that had been in
service for more than 30 years.
The new equipment is a Motorola MSR2000
system. Hopefully this will provide more
reliable service.
Currently
(March 2011) the regular Motorola controller
system is providing control of the repeater,
but is limited to a simple CW IDer, with no
courtesy tone. A NHRC 3+ Controller is
being configured and will hopefully take over
duties as the controller shortly.
ECHOLINK NODE
VE3RLR
is also linked to an Echolink NODE . Access to
the NODE is open. Pressing * on your
keypad (while holding the PTT) will cause the
NODE to announce itself and provide it's
status. Simply press the NODE number of
the NODE you wish to connect to. (NODE
numbers can be found on the Echolink
website.)
Echolink
uses the Internet to connect stations
together. As a result some delay may
occur so please allow a few seconds before
talking at the start of each transmission.
After
having a conversation with a station on
Echolink, don't forget to terminate the
connection by sending #.
The NODE number for the
VE3RLR-R NODE is 525543.
The Echolink NODE is
also equipped with Echoproducer
software. This software provides
Weather, Time of Day and other Special Club
Annoucements.
APRS DIGI and Packet BBS
The club operates an APRS
digipeater, VA3RLR, on 144.390 MHz.
[ More Information on Packet Facilities]
Club Meetings:
July and August. If you would like to attend, please join us at the Smiths Falls Community Health Centre, Kilmarnock Room at 7:30 PM.
Club Membership
Dues
Club Executive:
The club
operating year is from July 1 to June 30.
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-The Executive of the Rideau Lakes Amateur Radio Club - |
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2010-2011 |
2011-2012 |
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| President: | Richard Burroughs | VE3CDO | Richard Burroughs | VE3CDO |
| Vice-President: | Mike Ligeza | VE3UIL | Mike Ligeza |
VE3UIL |
| Secretary: | Art Childerhose | VE3CGD | Art Childerhose |
VE3CGD |
| Treasurer: | Bud Kern | VE3CAE | Bud Kern | VE3CAE |
Members of the RLARC
Links
to Amateur Radio and other Sites
Space for this site is provided
through the courtesy of
VE3UIL,
Smiths Falls, Ontario.
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