Avrac

In 1993, 35 hams met at the King George V hall on Duckworth Street, St. Johns to discuss the formation of a new local club. The club would be independent and get as close as it could to the pure fun of being hams: talking about ham radio gear, playing with gear and starting up some involvement in the community with public service and emergency comm... unications.Around that time, there was a serious fire on Harvey Road in St. Johns. The local Canadian Red Cross tried to provide basic assistance to 100 evacuees, but it had to use runners to and from their headquarters, as the charity had no communications. After the fire experience, Red Cross recruited amateur radio operators to help in St. Johns as many other outlets do across North America. The Red Cross asked us if we would be willing to provide emergency communications. They would provide us with a place to meet, install a radio shack and even throw in some coffee. After furiously debating this (for about 20 seconds) AVRAC said YES! Saying yes more than fulfilled any desire we had to get into public service communications. AVRAC has participated in numerous exercises with the Red Cross and many call-outs for fires, charity runs and walks, etc. Some of our hams are very active in the Red Cross and have international emergency experience. Every year, at the Royal St. Johns Regatta we do communications for the Red Cross lost and found for missing children. This is a huge annual event and involves our members in extensive contact with and service to the public. With our experience and reputation, we have expanded our horizons in emergency communications. The City of St. Johns has written us into its emergency plan and we have Amateur VHF and UHF as well as commercial VHF capabilities at the Citys Emergency Operations Center (Callsign: VO1EOC) located in the central fire station. We were also instrumental in the formation of the first active ARES group in the province. AVRAC holds monthly meetings to discuss the latest activities and events, as well as emergency ...Read More