Lambton County Radio Club

Basic Ham Radio Course

A team of volunteer Amateur (Ham) Radio Operators from the Lambton County Radio Club will be conducting a Basic Amateur Radio Certification course during the months of February through April of 2010. The course will begin on Saturday, February 27th, 2010 and run for four weekends on alternating Saturdays thereafter. Classes will be held at the Sarnia Police Headquarters, 555 North Christina Street in Sarnia, Ontario.

The course will cover basic electronic and radio theory as well as the basic rules and regulations relating to the Amateur Radio Service in Canada. Students who successfully complete the course will be better prepared to pass their examinations for the Basic Amateur Radio Qualification.

Cost for the course will be $35 for tuition and approximately $45 for a (student-supplied) course textbook. Proceeds from tuition will be used to help defray course administration expenses.

A closed book, written examination session for the Basic Qualification by an official Industry Canada accredited examiner will be conducted as a part of the course during the final class session on Saturday, May 8th, 2010. Candidates who successfully pass this examination will be issued a Basic Certificate of Proficiency in Amateur Radio from Industry Canada along with a Canadian Amateur Radio call sign. There is no additional charge for either the test session or the Basic Certificate once it is earned.

Registration for the course will run from January 11th to February 22nd, 2010. However, the class size is strictly limited, and registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Persons who would like more information on the class or to register can contact the course administrator, Keith Baker, VA3KSF, at 519-481-0153 or via e-mail at:

Additional information about Amateur Radio licensing in Canada is also available on our Licensing Web page.

2009 Field Day

Once again this year, LCRC's 2009 Field Day activities (June 27-28, 2009) was hosted by Gary (VA3PGW) and his charming wife Marg, in Gorman City Park immediately adjacent to their spacious home in Oil City, Ontario.

LCRC ran two stations this year in the 2A Category (emergency power) using the Club's call sign (VE3SAR). As in previous years, our operation in the contest was for "fun" and not necessarily for "points" although a log of contacts was kept for eventual submittal. At last count, well over 1000 contacts were made from our station during the 24 hour event using both phone and CW for a preliminary score in the neighborhood of 1900. Several of our members "burned the midnight oil" by staying up all night, and that effort certainly helped to rack up our score again this year.

Club members and their families enjoyed a Saturday evening supper and Sunday morning breakfast "on the house" with us at the site. As far as we know, nobody went away hungry.

Pictures of our 2009 Field Day activities are shown below. Needless to say, a good time was had by all. And, once again, our sincere thanks to Gary and Marg for their gracious hospitality!

(Click on the thumbnail Field Day 2009 photos shown below for a larger sized picture)

Thanks to Bill (VE3DPG), Frank (VE3FBH) and Keith (VA3KSF) for the GREAT Pictures!

2009 Sarnia Emergency Preparedness Day

Once again, this year's annual Sarnia Emergency Preparedness Day activities were be held on Friday, May 8th, 2009 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the Clearwater Arena, 1400 Wellington Street, in Sarnia. And, once again, LCRC provided a booth and a live HF Radio Station to demonstrate Amateur Radio for the mostly (youthful) attendees.

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Coordinator for Sarnia-Lambton, Bill Hoad (VE3DPG), coordinated the overall event with Tom Reed (VE3UKU), Rick Rule (VE3RYK) and Keith Baker (VA3KSF) manning our booth.

Keith Baker, VA3KSF (Left) and Tom Reed, VE3UKU (Right) take a break from
making HF contacts at this year's Sarnia Emergency Preparedness Day. (Photo by Bill, VE3DPG)

VA3SAR 440 MHz Repeater Relocation

After about a year of assembling and calibrating various purchased and donated repeater parts, antennas, coaxial cables and connectors, UV-stabilized cable tie wraps, lightning arrestors, and back-up batteries (not to mention the able assistance of Sarnia's Fire Department and LOTS of "sweat equity" donated by a number of LCRC members!) on August 26, 2008 the club's VA3SAR 440 MHz repeater was placed back into service.

The repeater, which has been off the air for many months during the move, has now been re-located from its former location at the Enbridge Tank Farm on Indian Road to a new site at the Wellington Street Fire Station.

The repeater operates on 444.55 MHz, with a standard, positive (+) offset and a 123 Hz CTCSS tone required for access. The repeater also sends a 123 Hz CTCSS tone on the output for those who wish to use tone squelch on their radios. The CTCSS tone is not transmitted when the repeater IDs, so those who use this feature will not hear the repeater when it is sending its ID.

The repeater is a Motorola Model MSF 5000 with about 50 Watts of output power feeding a Sinclair Model SLR-310C-4HD 4 bay antenna mounted at the 30 Metre (100 Ft.) level of the Fire Station's communications tower. That's about 713 Ft. above sea level. Feedline is 1/2 inch Andrew Model LDF4-50A Hardline. The repeater is backed up by a battery as well as the Fire Station's standby power. However, when the repeater is operating via the battery, the output power drops to approximately 20 Watts and it sends a short tone at the end of each transmission.

We've already had Q5 signal reports using a 5 Watt HT from the Discovery Oil Field in Oil Springs and from a basement in Corunna...so watch out for DX!

(Click on the VA3SAR 440 MHz Repeater Relocation photos shown below for a larger sized picture)

Thanks to Bill (VE3DPG), and Keith (VA3KSF) for the great photos!

Special Event Station VA3OIL

2008 markes the 150th anniversary of the first commercial oil well in North America. The location, as many of you know, is at the Oil Museum of Canada in Oil Springs, Ontario. Oil Springs is located just south of our 2008 Oil City, Ontario, Field Day site on Oil Heritage Road.

On Saturday, August 9, 2008 there were "Main Street" events in Oil Springs featuring bands, entertainment, historical vehicles, period costumes and dignitaries that was a "must-see" procession that congregated at the Oil Museum for anniversary declarations.

AND WE WERE THERE AS WELL! The Lambton County Radio Club ran a special event station using our new club call sign VA3OIL. We operated on (or near) 7.240 and 14.240 MHz as well as on various local 2m repeaters from 9:00 AM to around 4:00 PM EDT (just before the storms chased us away!).

QST, CQ, TCA and HFRADIO.net were all advised of the event and our participation in it. Over 100 contacts were made with stations as far away as Germany on HF and over 30 contacts were made on VHF. We operated in the Oil and Gas building on the west side of the property using a large simulated (wooden) oil derrick to support our 80-10 Metre G5RV (HF) antenna.

Canadians who contacted our station are invited to QSL with an SASE to VA3KSF. U.S. stations can QSL with an SASE to KB1SF, 3560 Pine Grove #488, Port Huron, MI 48060.

(Click on the VA3OIL Special Event Station photos shown below for a larger sized picture)

Thanks to Bill (VE3DPG), and Keith (VA3KSF) for the great photos!

2008 Field Day

LCRC's 2008 Field Day activities (June 28-29, 2008) were hosted by Gary (VA3PGW) and his charming wife Marg, in Gorman City Park immediately adjacent to their spacious home in Oil City, Ontario.

LCRC ran a single station in the 1A Category (emergency power) using the Club's call sign (VE3SAR) and TS-450S transceiver. As in previous years, our operation in the contest was for "fun" and not necessarily for "points" although a log of contacts was once again kept for eventual submittal. Over 500 contacts were made from our station during the 24 hour event using both phone and CW for a preliminary score of close to 600. Several of our members "burned the midnight oil" by staying up all night, and that effort certainly helped to rack up our score this year

LCRC's resident culinary artists Doug (VE3JGR) and Tom (VE3UKU) provided us with Saturday night supper and Sunday morning breakfast. Their tasty offerings were supplemented by a wide array of salads and desserts by the wonderfully talented ladies in our group. Needless to say, everyone departed the premises carrying a few extra pounds around their middles!

Over 45 members, guests, spouses and other family members stopped by and visited our station throughout the weekend. We also had visits from Lambton County and Township elected officials who were most interested in how Amateur Radio could assist them in emergencies.

Once again this year, a fun time was had by all.

(Click on the 2008 Field Day photos shown below for a larger sized picture)

Once again, our sincere thanks to Gary and Marg for their gracious hospitality!

If anyone has photos to share of our 2008 Field Day event, please forward them to our Webmaster at:

2007 Field Day

LCRC's 2007 Field Day activities (June 23-24, 2007) were once again hosted by Bill Vandenhoven (VE3WIG) in the spacious back yard of his home in Marthaville, Ontario.

LCRC ran a single station in the 1A Category (emergency power) using the Club's call sign (VE3SAR) and TS-450S transceiver. Operation in the contest was for "fun" and not necessarily for "points" although a log of contacts was kept for eventual submittal. Nearly 300 contacts were made from our station during the event using both phone and CW for a preliminary score of close to 400.

Once again, Bill and his lovely lady Marg provided a big pot of chili for supper on Saturday evening while our other wonderful ladies treated us to a wide array of salads and desserts. Needless to say, if you went away hungry, it was your own fault!

Also, once again, for Sunday morning "breakfast", Doug (VE3JGR) and Bill (VE3WIG) demonstrated their outstanding culinary prowess by cooking bacon and eggs for those present for Sunday morning's operation while Marg made up a huge bowl of home fries for all.

Over 30 members, guests, spouses and other family members stopped by and visited our station throughout the weekend. Needless to say, a fun time was had by all.

(Click on the 2007 Field Day photos shown below for a larger sized picture)

Once again, our sincere thanks to Bill and Marg for their gracious hospitality!

(And to Keith, Marg and Tom for the photos!)

2m and 440 MHz Repeaters

The Lambton County Radio Club maintains two repeater systems for use by all licensed Radio Amateurs.

The main 2m (145.37 (-) MHz ) repeater site is located on top of the St. Joseph's Health Centre in Sarnia. While no tone is currently being used on the repeater input, a sub-audible tone of 123.0 Hz is sent on the output.

The main 440 MHz (444.55 (+) MHz) repeater is located at the Wellington Street Fire Station in Sarnia. It also requires a 123.0 Hz sub-audible tone on the repeater input.