Category: News

The North Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club was recognized for its contribution of time and talents in providing the communications for the Tour de l’Alberta held last July,  at  a brunch sponsored by the Edmonton Bicycle and Touring Club on November 25 at the Executive Royal Inn in Edmonton.

“This event owes a great deal of its success to the services provided by these volunteers.”  said Dan Boonstra, co-ordinator of the Tour de l’Alberta bicycle event which this year attracted over 1,300 participants.

The Radio Club coordinated all communicatons between the base and each of the ten rest stops throughout the counties of Westlock and Sturgeon.  Volunteers were stationed at each location and managed all requests for rider pickups, food transfers, supplies delivery, and first aid.  A motorcycle sweep, a roving operator and base personnel were also provided.

This is the fourth year of NCAARC involvement.  We look forward to participating in the next Tour de l’Alberta which will be held July 21,2013.

Below are some pictures of the event.

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Below is a message from Dave Gervais who spent many hours organizing everything to allow us to provide support for this event. Thanks to all who helped out and a special thanks to Dave for all the hard work. Below you will also find a gallery of photos from the day of the event courtesy of Steve Pedersen.

Hello,

On behalf of NCAARC, I wish to thank each and everyone for volunteering your time for last weekend’s Tour de l’Alberta event. The tour was a great success, thanks to all of you. All traffic was handled quickly and very professionally. The person announcing each event made a point to give credit to NCAARC for doing the radio communications; this was wonderful promotion for our radio club.

Members who participated were: Tom Lauder – VE6PTL; Al Roth – VE6ALR; Ernie Clintberg – VE6EC; Dave Cope – VE6AVJ; Denis Coolican – VE6AQ; Garry Bukowiecki – VA6GB; Hans Kruse – VE6HBA; John Heppleston – VE6HEP; Bart Vinkenborg – VE6VB; Lyle Moulton – VE6EMF; Paul Gervais – VE6PGA; Stephen Johnson – VE6CYR; Lorne Hawrelak – VE7BB; Dennis Lukawesky – VE6DI; Neil Smith – VE6AZA; Adrien Timmer – VE6AMT ; Norm Dust – VE6NHD; Steve Pedersen – VE6STE, and Dave Gervais – VE6KD.

Later this fall there will be an appreciation brunch for all volunteers. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

73
Dave
VE6KD

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After a lot of dedicated and hard work from our trailer committee – Dave (VE6KD), Gary (VA6GB), Hans (VE6HBA), and Steve (VE6STE) the trailer has arrived in Morinville from the builder in the US. The trailer is not quite complete at this point as the vendor still has some tweaks and minor installations to perform. The vendor hopes to have their portion of the build completed by next week.

Once the club has taken possession of the trailer we can begin to install the radio equipment and start adding what we need to make it a fully functional communications trailer. Some equipment for the trailer will be purchased from the funding received from AGLC for the recent Casino. This will include the decals and additional radio equipment.

The vendor has requested that we do not visit their yard to take a look at the trailer as our visits will pull them away from their work and delay the delivery. Please do not show up at the yard to take a look at the trailer. Steve has taken some pictures of the overall trailer which are in the gallery below.

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NCAARC will be partnering again to provide radio communication during the Tour de l’Alberta on Sunday, July 22, 2012. The event starts off at the Town of Morinville (minutes north of St. Albert). This is Alberta’s largest single day recreational bicycle ride including distances of 20 km, 50 km, 100 km, or 180 km. The event also has a 5 km Kids Mini-Tour!

Radio communication during the event plays a critical role in the success and safety of each participant. Volunteering for this event is really good practice for how you might respond in an emergency as there are opportunities that give operators really good practical field experience. Your time and efforts will be appreciated and rewarded. On the day of the event, there will be food and drink supplied for you.

We are in need of volunteer radio operators to help make this event a success and you don’t need to be a NCAARC member to participate. There will be numerous positions that will need filling including: Command Post; Stationary Check Points, and Roving.
Check out the area maps:

20 KM Route
50 KM Route
100 KM Route
180 KM Route

Communication information will be posted as we get closer to the event date. For more information on the Tour de l’Alberta, visit their website at http://www.tourdalberta.ca.

To register as a radio volunteer for the ride, please contact Dave GERVAIS (VE6KD) via Email or call him directly at (780) 939-2938.