ROC(M) Marine Radio Course

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I completed teaching the ROC(M) course 02 March to the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue – RCM-SAR – group in Sicamous.  Twenty one took and passed the course that is provided by the Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons.  We are coming closer to providing monitoring on Channel 16 for boaters on the Shuswap and Mara Lakes with VHF radios in their boats.  While cell phone service is improving on the lake, cell phone batteries can die and a cell phone call is only to one person whereas a distress call on a VHF radio is heard by all listening.  All the more reason to put a VHF radio in your boat.

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1983: Early Reception of Shuttle: newspaper article by Hans VE7BOD

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OWEN GARRIOT W5LFL, SPACE-SHUTTLE COLUMBIA. “The whole family went outside on December 1, 1983 at approximately 6:30 local time to look in to the clear night sky to see if we could spot the Space-Shuttle Columbia. Being an amateur radio operator or (commonly known as a Ham) I took my 2 meter FM handheld transceiver with me. And to my surprise, heard somebody calling, “This is W5LFL in the Space-Shuttle Columbia calling the West Coast of North America.” My wife standing a little further away said, “who’s that ham driving around Salmon Arm?” Now this resulted in some head-shaking and lecturing by the ham operator standing next to her.

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Silent Key – Doug Gray VE7DNG

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We are sad to announce that Doug Gray became a Silent Key on Monday, February 11, 2013 while in Palliative Care in Bastion after a long illness. There will be no formal service, but Doug’s wife Shirley has indicated that in a few weeks, there will be a small gathering of radio amateurs who have known Doug well. We will keep you informed.

1979: Silent Key Ed Ginger VE7BYN

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The first Silent Key reference found in our records was a Notice of a Memorial Service being held in April 1979 for Ed Ginger VE7BYN.  Of special note is that the VE7BYN call is now presently held by Rick Ginger who relocated to his home town of Sicamous many years later, giving up his American call upon completion of the  2005 Basic Qualification Course run by SARC.