On Sunday Juy 22nd members of the Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association and the Coast Emergency Communications Association combined to provide race and emergency communication for the annual bath tub race.  The race course covers 36 miles, had over 30 entrants and lasted just over one hour.  Weather conditions went from sunny and mild to windy with rain and a thunderstorm.

Amateurs were posted at the start and finish lines as well as various locations along the course. In addition amateurs manned a second net control station on Gabriola Island. This second net control station allowed radio coverage of the complete course.  Information as to tub location and status, escort vessel location and general course conditions was provided. In addition frequencies remained available for emergency traffic.

Nanaimo  Amateur Radio Association also hosted a special event station  VE7TUB.

Photo’s of the event:

The flagship of the bath tub fleet. Reportedly the worlds largest bath tub !

Two of the competitors as they head into the first check point

Entrance Island light station. One of the check points where an amateur  station was set up. Members were flown by chopper out to the station.

A check point on Gabriola Island handled VHF Marine, vhf and uhf traffic in addition to spotting duties.

Special Event station VE7TUB has been active for many years on bath tub weekend.

A busy weekend for amateurs, but well worth all the effort put forth.

The next monthly CECA meeting will be held on Thursday August  23rd 2012.  There will be no meeting in July.

VE7TUB will again be operating as a special event station during this years bath tub weekend in Nanaimo. This station is operated by the Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association.  The station will be avtive on 14.265 +- from 0900 PDT Saturday July 21 until 1500 PDT Sunday July 22, 2012. For more information go to   http://qrz.com/ and query VE7TUB

In addition to operating this special event station members of the Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association and the Coast Emergency Communications Association provide safety and emergency communications during the race. Members are posted at various location ( light houses,on shore and various vessels) in order to ensure timely and accurate information is available to race control.

All in all a fun weekend.

Emergency Management British Columbia  central region’s Provincial Regional Emergency Operations Center (PREOC) amateur radio station was activated from 08:00 Hrs. until 17:00 Hrs. On June 26,27,28, and 29. Emergency Management BC (EMBC) asked Provincial Emergency Communications Service (PERCS) volunteers to man the station encase of a loss of communications from the Shuswap Lake area and to monitor for any information reported on amateur frequencies re the flash floods in the Sicamous area, generally  high water, and high stream flows in the region.

Other than a power outage at the PREOC, which the UPS and back up generator took care of flawlessly and a short visit from our premier and two local MLAs the activation was rather uneventful.

The following PRECS volunteers participated in the activation. VE7s EFL, EHE, TGV, RY, WWW and VA7s AIR and SPA.