We operated the club for a few hours in the RAC Winter Contest this December.

Our goal this year was to operate the club call sign of VE7DB for a few hours in the RAC Winter contest and generally have an excuse to chat about ham radio. So five of gathered at Eric's home on Saturday at 11AM to activate the club. We had a fun time chatting about various radio related items and watching Ralph do all the work. He did such a good job and the rest of us were enjoying each other's company so well that we kept Ralph at the radio for the whole time!

Ralph brought his key and got Eric's Icom 7000 doing CW for the first time. It performed well and was the mode Ralph made the majority of the QSO's in. During our short operating period we (or should I say Ralph) made 40 contacts in 7 provinces. The rest of us discussed many issues and solved all their related problems including global warming and world hunger. So we are now ready to take on some real challenges such as getting our repeater to hear better and finding a permanent location for our club.

It was felt by all that our event was a success and something we would like to do on a regular basis. Perhaps next July for the Canada Day contest we can meet again, maybe even in a more interesting location and see if we can't help Ralph to make even more contacts! Thanks Ralph for a great job and setting a good example!