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Come Celebrate with UsThis is a much longer version of an abridged article that is to appear in the January-February edition of The Canadian Amateur (TCA by D. Howard Dickson – VE1DHD.
During the war years of the European campaign from 1939 to 1945, members of the Halifax Amateur Radio Club (HARC) continued to meet monthly, even though radio silence had been imposed and most other clubs temporarily disbanded. During these years, HARC members worked assisting the troops as they prepared and staged for voyages overseas. The HARC was one of the few, and perhaps the only Radio Club in the country, that did not cease operation during the second world war. In fact, the HARC has operated without interruption from its inception in 1933 to the present day, and will be celebrating 75 years of service to the community in 2008.
In addition to the Flea Market and DX Forum, a wide range of activities are being planned for Hams and families alike – golfing, sailing, Halifax harbour tours, fox-hunting, geocaching, barbecues and much more. We hope that you will mark the weekend of Friday, August 22nd through Sunday the 24th, 2008 on your long-range calendars and make plans now to join members of the Halifax Amateur Radio Club for some authentic “Down-East” hospitality. Please plan to come celebrate with us in 2008! Like most Amateur Radio clubs, HARC has had its ups and downs over the years, but in spite of it all, the Club has continued to grow, diversify and prosper over the past 75 years. We have just moved into new facilities at the St. Andrews Community Centre in Halifax.
So, there is plenty to do in Halifax and the surrounding area, but for radio enthusiasts a visit to Baddeck on Cape Breton Island is also a must, as this is the home of the Alexander Graham Bell museum. Keeping in touch on VHF and UHF as you travel around Halifax and the province is very straightforward. The MAVCOM and IRLP linking systems in Nova Scotia are second to none, with repeater coverage over the vast majority of the province from Yarmouth in the south to Dingwall on the Cabot Trail at the northern tip of Cape Breton Island. To get all of the information on repeater operation and linking throughout the Maritimes, be sure to pick up a copy of the Anniversary edition of the Maritime Provinces Amateur Radio Callbook when you attend the Flea Market – just $15.00.
Seabright, Nova Scotia
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During the Second World War, the port of Halifax was closely monitored by German U-boats, but a heavy steel-mesh underwater fence kept them from entering the harbour proper. Halifax was the staging area for convoys heading off across the North Atlantic to Britain during the war and as such, was critical to our country’s war efforts..
The members of the Halifax Amateur Radio Club have been planning for our anniversary celebrations now for at least two years. And, as the big year approaches, members of the Halifax Club are looking forward to hosting colleagues from around the Maritimes and across Canada in August of 2008. Plans are in the works for a Down-East Ham Festival that will include commercial suppliers and a number of special interest speakers and demonstrations. We will also be hosting a very special anniversary version of HARC’s annual DX Forum. At this point, confirmed speakers for 2008 include Jeff Briggs – K1ZM/VY2ZM and Garry Hammond – VE3XN. Jeff has is an American but has a large property – read 160-metre antenna farm – in rural PEI and he will discuss his work replicating Marconi’s first Trans-Atlantic reception of radio signals that was supposed to have occurred in December 1901. Garry is one of Canada’s best know DXers and a regular contributor to TCA. He will be our banquet guest speaker.
Our Club station, a backup station for Emergency Measures Communication in Halifax, contains meeting space, a library, the Brit Fader VE1 QSL Bureau, as well as two complete HF stations, a satellite station, and a VHF and packet station. While the Club’s physical facilities are excellent, our membership represents our true resource base. Two members of the Halifax Club have been recognized nationally for their contributions to our hobby. Brit Fader (VE1FQ) was the first recipient of the Radio Amateur of the Year award when it was established in 1976 by the Canadian Radio Relay League, and in 2003, Bill Elliott (VE1MR) was also recognised by Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) for his outstanding contributions to Amateur Radio. Brit, now a silent key, was a pillar of the Amateur Radio community both locally and nationally. A postal clerk by trade, Brit for many years operated the Incoming VE1 QSL bureau in Halifax single-handed. To honour his memory, HARC has established the Brit Fader Memorial Scholarship Fund. The endowment has now reached over $10,000 and the first Scholarships are to be awarded in 2008.
As one might imagine, with 75 years of activity, there is much history associated with the Halifax Club, as there is with Halifax itself and indeed the Maritimes. There are stories of pirate treasure on Oak Island, a small island off the south-shore near Chester Nova Scotia; tales of rum running during probation, and wonderful stories of Halifax privateers. One of the most famous maritime stories of mutiny on the high seas has both a Ham radio and a Halifax connection. One of the descendants of the infamous Captain William S. Bligh of Bounty fame – also called William (Bill) S. Bligh (VE1BC) – ran a small electronics store in Halifax for many years. Interestingly, Spud Roscoe, a long-standing member of HARC is now the proud holder of the VE1BC call. Spud was the radio officer in 1962 aboard the replica of the Bounty that was built in Lunenburg Nova Scotia for the filming of the MGM movie – Mutiny on the Bounty. Spud wrote a wonderful account in the TCA back in October 1985 of his trip around the Pacific and the Atlantic aboard the Bounty as she did her promotion run for the movie. Spud recently gave a talk to the members of the Halifax Club on his exploits aboard the Bounty and had members totally captivated by his “tall tales” and brushes with world leaders and celebrities. 
Halifax is also known for the great Halifax explosion of December 6th, 1917 that was recently dramatised in a CBC documentary – the Shattered City. Much of north-end Halifax was levelled by the detonation of the high explosives aboard the Mont-Blanc, a French munitions ship that accidentally collided in the narrows of Halifax Harbour with the Imo, a Norwegian cargo ship. Flying debris, fires, and flattened buildings killed more than 2000 people, and over 9,000 were injured, mostly blinded by flying window glass as they watched the ships burn in the harbour. This was the largest man-made explosion until the first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945.
Following the Second World War, radio silence was lifted and the world entered the “Cold-War” period, and Canadian troops were stationed around the world in new peacekeeping roles. In those days before satellite phones and cell phones, and before the advent of the internet, many of our troops stationed overseas and on the high seas kept in touch with family and friends back home in Canada through phone-patch communications that were provided by members of the Halifax Amateur Radio Club (HARC). During the Moose River gold mine disaster in 1936, members of the Halifax Club relayed information on the rescue efforts from the mine site back to Halifax by HF radio. And HARC members continue today to assist with emergency communications. The Club has a formal memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the City of Halifax to assist with emergency communications. The crash of Swiss Air Flight #111 off of Peggy’s Cove on September 2nd of 1998 saw members of HARC playing important roles in providing emergency communication from the forward site at Peggy’s Cove back into Halifax. Likewise, during the unexpected arrival of dozens of commercial planes with thousands of passengers during the 9/11 crisis of 2001, HARC members manned their posts in the EMO Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in Dartmouth for five days, linking the EOC with a dozen or so Receptions Centres that had been established around the city. The Halifax Club has had a long history of service that its members are proud of, and they eagerly participate each year in a variety of public service activities including the Nova Scotia Bike Ride for Multiple Sclerosis, an event that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for MS research and patient services. The Halifax Club also is a regular participant in the annual ARRL Field Day event and has had a long-standing history of success in both the 2-Alpha and more recently the 2-Foxtrot categories.
