[RSM] RAC Canada Day -- K3KU

[Tom Haavisto]

Thanks for the report - great stuff!

Callsigns in Canada are different than in the U.S.

When you pass the Amateur (or Advanced), you will be issued a call with a 3
letter suffix.  After five years, AND you have your Advanced, you can
request a 2 letter call (a call with a 2 letter suffix).  And therein lies
the problem: We only have two prefixes available - VE, and more recently
(20-30 years?), VA prefix.  There is far more demand for 2 letter calls
than are currently available.  A person can only hold one 2 letter call
(yes - there are historical exceptions), and 2 letter calls are no longer
issued to clubs.

Getting a 2 letter call is... an issue.  When a person passes, the family
can claim the call within a 1 year period.  After that, it becomes
available, and is posted on the ISED site at midnight.  One needs to check
the web site, and send a fax, requesting the call.  First come, first
served.  It is a crazy process.  Needless to say, when a 2 letter call
comes up in Ontario, it WILL be reissued.

As I found, VE3CX was first issued in Port Arthur in the 1930's, and he was
a founding member of the Lakehead Amateur Radio Club.  It must have went
elsewhere/I don't know the history, but I received it in 1984.  Getting it
was... a crazy story in itself.


Getting more prefixes opened up takes an act of Parliament., but like in
the U.S., getting low priority stuff passed through the Federal government
is FAR easier said than done.

Having part of ONN become part of MB would solve a lot of problems, and had
been suggested.  NOT likely to happen.  Getting all available prefixes
available seems easy compared to what THAT would take.   This part of the
world is (sometimes) referred to as "VE3 and a half", and gets a few
laughs.  There is a LOT packed into that sentiment.

Tom - VE3CX



On Sun, Jul 14, 2019 at 10:24 PM Art Boyars <artboyars at gmail.com> wrote:

> I enjoyed the heck out of this contest.  Even a modest modest station can
> generate a lot of fun in North American contests, and I still get a thrill
> from working Canadians.  That's a vestige of my Novice days.  On April 26,
> 1961, at 8:22 AM EST, KN3OAE, 75W crystal controlled on 7188 Kc/s, worked
> his first DX -- VE3RN, Lee, in Willowdale, Ont.  (The call appears to have
> been reissued.) I still have that old log book, and I remember that
> exciting morning.
>
> I posted my main report (long, but it is the short version) on
> 3830scores.com:
>
> https://www.3830scores.com/showrumor.php?arg=jUaezliyqqqi0
>
> Here are a few highlights and some RSM-specific comments.
>
> From the posted claimed scores, I might have reached my secret goal of
> sneaking into the highest outside-Canada SOLP score. It looks like BIC beat
> superior antennas and skills.  It also appears that no one else was trying
> very hard in SOLP.
>
> Of 496 claimed QSOs, 20 were "RAC" stations, 234 were plain Canadians, and
> 242 were outside Canada. That is, 51% Canada, which is what it's all about.
>
> I had expected more activity on phone than on CW, and tried to push phone.
> The numbers show little success except on 15M (where I could not generate
> much activity anyhow).  If I had looked at results from previous years I
> might not have been so surprised by the poor results on 160M and 80M.  I
> could not even get VE3CX on CW.
>
> Westward propagation from Maryland seemed down (long struggle not to work
> VE7RAC on 40M SSB).  The "short skip" on 20/15/10 brought lots of eastern
> Canada, but no MB that I recall.
>
> Manitobans worked:
>
> VX4WARC  -- answered my CQ on 40M CW early on, and I got them on 20M CW
> later on; I psyched out that this was another of Cary's admirable
> educational operations.
>
> VE4VT-- got thru his pileup on 20M SSB; I thought I had worked him also on
> 40M, but NIL; if Ed is not VE4RAC, then who is?
>
> VE4YH -- answered my CQ on 20M SSB; TU OM, and hope to meet you some day.
>
> I heard no other MB, though somebody down here did report hearing VE4RAC,
> and Cary has told me it was Kelly.
>
> Other RSM worked were VE3CX (seven QSOs on 80M thru 15M) and VE3RUA (40M CW
> and SSB, and 20M CW).  Since ONN does not count in this contest, may I
> please count them for MB?
>
> Already looking forward to next year.  Happy Canada Day!
>
> 73, Art K3KU/VE4VTR
>
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