Our call sign is VE1 YO which was the callsign of one of the founding members.At the present time we are located at in the Spicer Building 21 Mt Hope Avenue, Dartmouth, N.S. The hamshack at the club has HF, VHF, UHF, and Packet which is used by the club members mostly for recreational purposes using modes such as SSB, CW, SSTV, PSK31 and other Digital Modes and on demand for Emergency purposes under the umbrella of the Halifax Regional Municipality Emergency Management Organization (EMO).
The Club also has Repeater and Autopatch facilities located at the tower site on Dustan Street, Dartmouth, N.S.
The repeater callsign is:
VE1DAR +147.15, 444.6Mhz Voice
144.91 Mhz Packet
The Club facilities are open every Saturday morning from 9AM to 11PM for coffee and conversation. Everyone is welcome.
Note: Call on 2M upon arrival. VE1YO +147.15 , VE1PSR 147.27
or 490-1450 , or on 147.15+ autopatch autodial *99 .
Our History
The Dartmouth Club was started prior to 1947 and the following is an excerpt published by the Halifax Mail Star on December 8th, 1949 :
The club was started in the early 20's but worked only intermittently until the Second World War brought toan end any hopes of organizing for activities as the use of such radio's was banned.
In 1947 the club was started once more and shortly thereafter its strength reached 30 but because many of its members were service men it has now declined to 17.Officers of the club include President Fred Malcolm (VVESW): Vice-president, Wilf Somers (VElDD): Secretary, George Gilbert: Treasurer, Paul MacDougal (VEl TI).
Contrary to popular belief one does not need an operator’s license to gain membership into the club. According to the constitution: "members shall include any person either male or female expressing an interest in Amateur Radio and wishing to become a member."
Mrs. Fred Malcolm (Beverley Palmeter) is the only registered woman member. Four other women however are listed as club members but do not have their licenses to own and operate their own sets.At present the officers are hoping to get high school students enrolled and to teach them the use of theradios.Any person enrolling has access to the club transmitter (VElDN) located at the residence of the President Fred Malcolm.
The highlight of the years’ work is the Annual Field Day held at Cow Bay in June. During one weekend the members gather with portable equipment and carry on operations under similar conditions that would prevail in the case of a local emergency.
The Dartmouth club has the distinction of once helping the United Nations when that organization was attempting to set up a station in Allouis, France. The Dartmouth club reported to them on how they were"coming in " on this side of the ocean. One of their prize possessions is a letter from the station thanking them for their help."
According to officers of the club amateur radio operators are pledged to help out in any emergencies. They firmly believe that they can be of help to the country. Article VII of the constitution reads: It will be theobject of the club to operate and maintain a club station capable of portable operation in case of emergency.
The club also has hopes to help Dartmouth celebrate its 200th anniversary as they plan to offer their services to the Bicentennial and Old Home Week committee. In their ranks are skilled operators and technicians who could give much help to the celebrations planned for the summer.
According to officers of the club many of the Dartmouth (Hams) when speaking to other amateurs in far off countries tell them of the celebrations planned for the harbor town this summer and help to get the word around.
Sometime in the 60's the Dartmouth Amateur Radio Club disbanded until 1967 when I received my Amateur Radio license and a letter from Ken Hamilton ( VE1AOJ ) regarding a planned meeting of as many Dartmouth hams as we could. Out of this meeting the present club was born.
There have been many presidents over the years including:
Wayne Mills (VE1AGU)
Don Dunnington (VE1AMJ)
there are more which I can't remember at the time of writing this article.
Over the years we met at several locations starting with Oakwood House, then downstairs of Oakwood House, however upstairs installed an alarm system and every time we flashed up a transmitter a police car was knocking at the door so we had to vacate. We also went to Toyota Service Depot for a while, then to Shearwater Naval Base, then to the Fire Station near our present spot. I remember a short stay at Dartmouth Vocational School where Basil ( VE1ATF) was an instructor and arranged a room for us.
In the late 60's a group of club members at coffee discussing the idea of having a repeater here in Dartmouth. I (VE1WZ) had a GE pair Transmitter and Receiver and within one week we had the repeater up and running from my house, after a short period we decided to purchase a new controller , this unit had all the bells and whistles you could want including a Autopatch for making telephone calls from your vehicle, this became very popular with the local ham community although there was some who were not happy with a talking unit, now days all the repeaters are talking units, guess we were ahead of our time.
In the1970's the club had been given the garage at the Albro Lake Naval facility, this only lasted about a year when the government decided to remove the facility. Somewhere in the 80's we were lucky cause the city decided to abandon the Dustan St. site for their tower on Mt. Edward Road and we took the site over and installed tower and moved the repeater ( VEIDAR-VHF) to the site and later installed a 2nd repeater ( VEIDAR-UHF) plus a full working Packet station... I believe if you look closely at the base of the tower you will seemy initials on the cement. In 1983 the club was incorporated under the Registry of Joint Stocks Societies Act.
At last, we found a home at our present sitewhere we have a set-up of a radio system for most every need if required and we act as a backup communications system to HRM EMO.
The systems are checked for working conditions every Saturday plus provincially every "last Tuesday of every month"
John VElWZ
Thanks to Bob Brown ( VE1BFX ) and Leigh Hawkes ( VE1GA) for the assistance to make this possible
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