From The Editor of The TRI - BANDER Ray King, VE3GRK

As submitted and told by Ralph Barnes, VE3PBR

( Ralph VE3PBR is now a silent key but we thought it would be nice to share some of his stories with you.)

Now think back to December the 25th 2001. What were you doing (?). You could have been un-wrapping that Yaesu FT817 that your YL got you for Christmas (dream on!).

Well Ralph, VE3PBR spent a very different Christmas day. Ralph was listening out for his friend Herman, VE3LX from Thunder Bay , on 20m. At approx. 2200Z on 14147MHz he intercepted two stations, VE9MM and VK6VU, attempting to communicate with a maritime mobile station who was acting as a relay station for a French vessel, a 46’ catamaran bearing the name ‘Tian’, heading for the Island of Martinique in the Atlantic Ocean under good sea and weather conditions.

On board were five occupants including a 27 year old woman, Maya Bouchet. On Dec 24th, Maya who was a few weeks pregnant at the time suffered a miscarriage and had lost approx. 2 litres of blood. She was in a distressed state and the crew was seeking medical advice via their marine VHF equipment.

The Tian’s call for help was heard by a Vancouver registered vessel the ‘Harmony II’, which was 15 nautical miles away. The Captain, Peter Paget, VE0MPB was on route to the Panama Canal returning to BC after a 3 year trip of the south seas in and around New Zealand.

Peter kept in contact with the Tian via marine VHF and put out a call for medical assistance via HF on the US Bands for assistance but to no avail, so he then moved down to the Canadian portion and was heard by the aforementioned VE9MM and VK6VU.

However they passed on the responsibility of handling the QSO to Ralph as he was capable of receiving and being heard very well by Peter.

At 2225Z - Peter advised the crew of the Tian to monitor the HF frequency that he was using which had been moved to 14144MHz due to QRM.

In the meantime Ralph attempted to find (on Christmas Day!) some form of medical advice by contacting first ‘911’ who advised him to call ‘Ontario Triage’ (1-866-397-0000). They said they could not give advice to third parties relying to a ‘victim’ - the victim had to call them. He was then referred to ‘ Kingston General Hospital ’ (613-548-3232) who passed the buck on to ‘Trenton Coastguard Search & Rescue’ (1-800-965-7262). The Duty Officer advised Ralph to contact a ham - Herb Hilgenberg, VE3LML (also VP9LM in Bermuda) from Burlington (905-681-7114). At last some real help was forthcoming - well it has to be if a ham gets involved!

Now Herb is well known for many years amongst the Maritime community as a provider of valuable weather information and as a contact on the marine band at 12359MHz handling and passing messages (he has a licence to operate the maritime bands). Herb told Ralph to get in touch with a Dr. Ernie Meyer, VE3EGM (905-274-5389) who has given emergency medical advice on air via the Mississauga Maritime Mobile Net on 14312MHz, however he was unavailable. Herb then called on Don, VE3HGN.

At 2315Z - Don, VE3HGN contacted, via 80m, Dr. George Neeson, VE3BDM from Brockville who came to 14144MHz and suggested patient care to Peter, VE0MPB on board the Harmony II - That advice was “to rest, keep warm, take lots and lots of fluids with salt and/or sugar”. The patient it would appear started to recover from the shock/panic and calmed down as a result of monitoring the attempts being made on her behalf and reassurance from Dr. George Neeson, VE3BDM.

At 2330Z - Herb called Ralph to advise that he had made contact with Peter VE0MPB and that he was taking over. At which point Ralph dropped out.

Finally, The US Coast Guard in San Juan , Puerto Rico were called to be at the ready when the Tian called in.

At 0200Z Dec 26 - Canadian Coast Guard Trenton, Duty Officer Dana Watling phoned Ralph to check on the progress and thanked him and The Canadian Amateurs for the fine service that they provided.

Someone at CHUC FM got hold of this story as it was heard by Burton VE3KFF amongst others and soon Ralph could not keep his Christmas Day activities quiet!

I had the opportunity to speak to Herb on the phone whilst visiting Ralph to get this story.

I asked Herb what procedures one should follow in a case like this and he suggested that you call the coast guard or get in touch with him. He had nothing but praise for Ralph’s efforts - well done Ralph and to all the other Canadian hams mentioned here - what a great team!

Thanks for a great Christmas Day story - 73’s Ray King, VE3GRK.

( Feb.23/07)

What every Ham should have is easy access to Canadian Ham Data base , Cancall is the answer to making the information useable. Cancall converts the file into a database, making it easy to quickly find and display results...(Feb11/07)

Check it out here

by Eric Olsen VE3GGO

The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals (RCCS) were instrumental in training hundreds of wireless personnel across Canada in WW2. They provided important communications in several theatres of war. Without proper communications you do not win battles.

This story is about one of their Signallers or Signalmen, a young 19 year old from the Montreal area name Bob McGee. Bob was posted with RCCS to Germany after the war with the peace keeping forces. When a bit of leave came along, he rented a car and took off to fulfill a dream visiting Switzerland and the mighty Alps.

Regretably there was a car crash and this young fellow was seriously injured with a severed spine. Many long stays in hospitals in Europe ensued and eventually he was returned to Canada and admitted to a long term care facility in Sherbrooke, QC just south of Montreal.

The local RCCS rallied around and installed a complete amateur radio station with exterior "hard wires" so as to avoid interfering with the hospital's electrical systems into Bob's room where he was confined to bed. They then aided him in obtaining his amateur license and he was issued the call VE2DNH ( darned nice hobby ) is what Bob smilingly says.

Now several years have gone by.. he is now 61.. and he has enjoyed several thousand thrilling contacts on the air in this marvellous hobby even though he has little use of his arms and legs and requires daily shots of morphine for pain.

I hooked up with Bob one evening a few years ago on the Sandbox Net, 7063.5, 6.30-8.30 p.m. daily 365 days a year.When he briefly told us the above story, I asked him if he might have fun seeking VEs across Canada for the CANADIAN PROVINCES AWARD also known as Candians Talking to Canadians. When he said an enthusiastic "sure ", I mailed him an information package as our club has done to over a thousand VEs from coast to coast to coast. His only problem would be logging the contacts, but he said he would record them on a tape recorder and mail in the tape for attestation. A couple of years go by and I meet Bob again on the SANDBOX NET. In answer to my enquiry, he regrets that it was a difficult task recording these QSOs even though he was remaining active on the air. My reply was what an Canadian ham would say; " Forget the tape recording. We know you have made more than enough VE contacts to earn the 300 points necessary for the GOLD Award. " Therefore, the club computer under the expert guidance of Larry VE3LGH and his lovely BMW (beautiful married woman .... better than XYL? ) Vicky, punched out the GOLD Award on their computer beautifully inscribed with this tribute: "Let it be known Bob McGee, VE2DNH is being honoured by his peers in the Canadian amateur radio fraternity for an excellent operating endeavour, contacting by radio several amateur radio stations in various Canadian provinces earning 300 points. "

We are proud to have Bob as a member of this coast to coast Canadian fraternity.

Heritage Amateur Radio Club Cobourg/Port Hope On.

Awards Chairman Eric Olsen VE3GGO

( Feb.3/07)

Here is a link to the ARRL Emergency Radio web site "When all else fails Amateur Radio Works "getting the message through for your family and community.   Click Here  (Feb.3/07)