25 brave souls embarked on the great pilgrimage to Kiki Gardens in Vernon, BC for the annual NORAC Christmas dinner — fueled by holiday cheer, questionable navigation apps, and the promise of free non-alcoholic beverages.
As usual, the conversation was lively—but in true HAM radio spirit, politics were strictly off the menu (alongside pineapple on pizza and talk about antenna lengths). The food did not disappoint: beef, pork, chicken, and seafood so good, even the vegetarians were taking notes.
Our freshly minted president, Howard, demonstrated excellent delegation skills by promptly handing off emcee duties to our former president, Ritche—proof that leadership is really about knowing when to pass the mic. Ritche, ever the pro, kept things rolling smoother than a well-tuned transmitter.
The evening’s grand finale was the announcement of the HOTY (Ham Of The Year). This year’s well-deserved honoree was none other than Colin Parkes, VA7EEH/VA7ZFG—congratulations, Colin! May your signals always be strong and your SWR always low.
And now, your official club reminder: start hydrating and stretching early, folks, because next year’s NORAC Christmas Dinner promises to test not only your appetites but your waistband resilience. We expect bigger laughs, taller stories, and possibly a record number of prizes. Stay tuned on 146.880 MHz (FM, -0.6 offset, 123.0 Hz tone) for updates—and maybe a training schedule.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!!
73 de VE7MHX
Michal
JOTA/JOTI 2025
This year, over 200 Scouts and Leaders gathered together in the Joe Rich area for the annual JOTA/JOTI (Jamboree on the Air/Jamboree on the Internet). This weekend's world wide event, held every year on the third week of October, is the largest digital and radio event for Scouting, promoting friendship and global citizenship. Once again, Howard PWF, Lorne LWK and Mike KPZ volunteered to help with the Ham radio demonstration. Unfortunately Mike had to leave early for a medical situation so Lorne LWK stepped in to help with HF. Howard, as in previous years, tuned into C4FM making contacts as far away Great Britain and Alaska. This years connection to the C4FM node on Okanagan Mountain worked flawlessly thanks to Fred from OCARC. The highlights for Lorne on HF was contacting the Battleship Missouri on 17m stationed at Pearl Harbour and chatting with a couple on a SOTA mountain top in Northern California. The weather was so so but the food was great and fun was had all.
223 Red Lion Squadron Royal Canadian Air Cadets
In October, NORAC was contacted by the Air Cadets asking for a demonstration for those Cadets interested in obtaining their Ham Radio license. On December 4th 2025, Howard PWF and Colin EEH set up a number of antennas and radios up at the DND G20 building in Vernon. The building is a large metal structure, so to help with making contacts, Colin set up his cool DX Commander outside. Fortunately, it wasn't too cold. There were approximately 50 Cadets in attendance. Topics covered were various types of radios and antennas. NVIS was also discussed for military applications. Hopefully this will spark lots of interest in the hobby.
There are numerous free online magazines covering amateur radio that I enjoy. Here are a couple:-
SWR Magazine is a general interest ham radio magazine covering a broad range of topics at a high level. It's published from the Caribbean region and available in both English and Spanish. Sign up for free at this web address https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeNvfE0Q26iq-ZwzQ6ccsmhFvDJJiZ4ognUNw6FL75W-8K1ig/viewform?usp=header or search for the news entry on QRZ.COM
The Communicator is a well respected ham radio magazine published by BC's Surrey Amateur Radio Communications Society. It includes both general interest and in-depth technical articles. You can subscribe at this web address https://www.ve7sar.net/communicator
Are you a member of the RAC as well as NORAC? If you are, remember you get a discount at the Radio Society of Great Britain bookstore! It has a wide variety of books on ham radio - both on current topics and the history of radio. The bookstore link is https://www.rsgbshop.org/ and you can find the discount code in a small ad in any recent copy of the RAC's The Canadian Amateur magazine.
Enjoy ... 73 VA7RLX
Late September 2025 Mike VE7KPZ and Jane VE7WWJ were offroading just south of Golden BC. On the must see list was the Jubilee fire lookout atop the 1680m Jubilee Mountain.
The road to access the mountaintop lookout was in great shape but included some extremely large water bars. Of course this was nothing for Mike and Jane's Unimog, affectionately named Ellie.
Once at the summit, camp was set up, dinner cooked and eaten, and then off to bed.
The next morning Mike looked in the SOTA Goat app on his phone and found that Jubilee Mountain was in fact in the SOTA system, ready to be activated for the first time. A recent SOTA mapping update of the VE7/CP region by Paul VA6MPM Mower had added the peak with designation VE7/CP-087. Thanks Paul!
While Jane (and Tao the dog) slept in, Mike climbed the lookout tower and setup his station. For this activation he would employ his QRP Labs QMX feeding an EFHW wire antenna hung from the lookout's railing. iFTX on Mike's phone would facilitate FT8 QSOs with 11 stations across North America on the 20m band.
As the sun rose above the Eastern side of the Rocky Mountain trench, Mike had to stop operating for a bit to take some photos (only one phone to either operate with or take photos with). He then continued on as there were quite the number of chasers still waiting for QSOs.
While drive-up summits aren't really the preferred way to activate SOTA, for those with mobility issues (and a good 4x4 vehicle) summits like these are a great option. You only need to walk a short distance from your vehicle up the lookout tower or over to the viewpoint bench for some great operating positions inside the summit activation zone. Visit this one.
It was fun,
73,
Mike VE7KPZ with Jane VE7WWJ, Tao the dog and Ellie the Unimog
