On December 21, 2020, Charles MacDonald (VA3CPY) delivered this Annual Report:

January

  • The passing of Doug Leach, VE3XK.
  • Effort at clarifying the Non-profit status of WCARC got underway.
  • Transfer of the the Club email list to groups.io because of the expected closure of Yahoo groups.

March

  • March meeting cancelled because of Lockdown.
  • Trying to find a suitable meeting space prior to COVID lock down. Fringewood Community Center will no longer be our meeting venue. Either the Kanata Recreation Complex or the Kanata Seniors Centre will be chosen for our meeting location.

April

  • The continuance of monthly meetings via the Zoom conferencing platform.
  • Cancellation of participation in the June VHF contest due to COVID pandemic.

June

  • Robert (VE3BE) applied Club ID stickers on all Club assets located in the Boltwood observatory.
  • The longer term plan is to move all Club assets in storage to the Diefenbunker.
  • Charles MacDonald (VA3CPY) stepped forward to occupy the President’s position. As he is the only candidate, he is elected by acclamation as the Club’s 2020/2021 President.

August

  • The board has noticed, likely due to the pandemic, that nobody has volunteered to organize the September VHF Contest. Moreover, it is anticipated that there would insufficient participation. Thus there will be no Club participation in the 2020 September VHF contest.
  • Wayne (VE3CZO) took over management of the Club-owned test equipment loaning process.
  • Bert (VE2ZAZ): Confirmed having submitted the Ontario non-for-profit status update forms by mail.
  • Bert (VE2ZAZ): Mesh Networking activity is currently low in the Ottawa/Gatineau area.

The following was added by the Vice President at the meeting:

  • Since losing the Sobey’s meeting room back in 2019, we had been meeting at the Fringewood Community Center as a temporary location, with the goal of making the Kanata Recreation Complex our permanent meeting location. With the pandemic unfolding, all meeting room bookings were cancelled.
  • Meeting via video platforms initially proved to be challenging, but we have managed to adapt the meeting flow and presentations to a more suitable format for remote meetings.

The following was added by the Secretary after the meeting:

The Club’s 6m, 2m, 1.25m and 70cm beacons continued to operate from the Boltwood home in Stittsville. The 70cm beacon was taken off the air for a couple of months due to a defective RF connector. Robert (VE3BE) fixed the issue and returned the beacon to full operation.

The Club had a full schedule of interesting presentations. Many of them are available on the Club’s web site.

  • Steven Harrison - The Renfrew/Almonte Amateur Radio Emergency Services.
  • Norm Rashleigh (VE3LC) - His electric vehicle, and the state of the EV market and the technologies.
  • Bryan Rawlings (VE3QN) - Reported back on the WRC-19 conference.
  • Clayton Smith (VE3IRR) - BSides Ottawa 2019 Radio Challenges (SDR receiving and processing competition).
  • Rich Ferch (VE3KI) - The FT8 digital mode, its history and its future.
  • Ray Perrin (VE3FN) - Introduction to VHF/UHF Weak-Signal Activity.
  • Bert (VE2ZAZ) - A brief overview on Fiber Optics Communications.
  • Lawrence (VA3IQ) - SO2R (Single Operator 2 Radios).
  • Mike (VE3MKX) - Weather Observing and Recording.
  • Lawrence (VA3IQ) - Security and the digital amateur, and why I should care about information security.

Attendance at this year’s meetings was comparable to last year, averaging around 15:

  • January: 16
  • February: 10
  • March: -
  • April: 17
  • May: 18
  • June: 14
  • July: 19
  • August: 12
  • September: 15
  • October: 17
  • November: 14
  • December: 15

Membership was a bit lower than last year but comparable to prior years, with 25 regular members and three life members.