1999

The Official Op-Abacus Joint Mercury II Report

Twas the night before the exercise and all through the land,
All our CFARS operators were tuning up on the band.
They do this religiously because of their worst fear,
The signal might be less than perfectly clear.
The plan is to practice for the Y2K disaster,
With audio levels louder than your kids ghetto blaster.
They practice all day they practice all night,
They know the importance of doing it right.
Battery, generator AC or DC
The signals reach out from Newfoundland to BC.
The rigs are the best, top of the line Yaesu,
If worst comes to worst an old icom will do.
They piece together their antenna's with great care,
and hoist them up up, up into the air.
If you don't have the heighth of the CN tower
Just crank up the old RF power.
They all sit poised mikes at the ready,
Now tune in the frequency and keep it steady.
The first voice came through in no particular hurry
But Newton you see..was 30 minutes early.
The controller came on--- he called them by name
ATTENTION ALL CFARS OPERATORS ITS THE START OF THE GAME
In came Ben attenna pointing west
That way his signal is sure to be the best.
For the gang in 5 land propagation is no riddle,
Why in Canada you see you just live in the middle.
For Jim and Ed 5/9 is a breeze
Just string the wire atop giant douglas fir trees.
I'm here, I'm here cried Scott at the start of the show,
Sorry fellows I cant't stay it's off to work I must go.
They were lead by 652 whose signal was a bit rough
Why Ken I said having the newest rig isn't always enough.
In came the ex291er,... you know him as Les
Hey guys QSY to X-ray...alpha's a mess.
Next was Michel, did you know he is related to the ROCKET,
He powers his rig with an electric light socket.
Now Gil couldn't get his call sign just right,
He thought it was the TP net he was checking into tonight.
Hello hello can you hear me at all,
Al at the Winnipeg seniors was having a ball.
Next Dean boomed in and gave me a fright
The trick he says is just keep the antenna up-right.
Roy came in with biggest signal yet
Fellows he says I just use an old fishing net.
30 hours later we started to tire,
Bill yells my linears on fire.
Jack says he has to go Qrt for awhile
He no longer can see his radio dial.
For Mike in Red Deer there was snow on the ground,
But when it hit his antenna, it made a hisssing sound.
In Yellowknife they watch the Aura Boreallis
Joe exclaims my butt's one big callous.
Mike reports we have set a record pace,
It's faster than an Indianapolis car race.
Everything is as legal as can be,
651's here headquarters RCMP.
Things ran smooth like a well oiled machine,
My compliments to each member of a really great team.
The exercise was now over the air waves went dead,
It's reported John spent 30 minutes in the head.

The truth of the matter I had lots of fun
Three cheers to you all for a job well done.
And in the new year if things all come to an end
I'll turn on my radio and call an old friend.

CIW 622

It is with sadness that I inform you of the passing of Ken (CIW816). As you all know Ken has been an instrumental part of the success of CFARS. He joined us many years ago and placed hundreds of phone patches, participated in emergency exercises and was always on the frequencies and willing to talk with anyone. Recently Ken was in the hospital and his greatest wish to was get back on the air with his friends on CFARS. He got that wish and was able to join us again and remained active with us up until this week.

Condolences have been passed to Kens family on the behalf of CFARS. Ken will be missed by us all.

KNEE, Kenneth R.G. (V01KH) - Passed away peacefully and suddenly at his.residence in Topsail on Wednesday, July 21, 1999. Predeceased by his father.Stewart; brothers: Clyde and Aubrey. Leaving to mourn, but to cherish his life are his beloved and devoted mother Anne; sisters: Mary Helen and special friend John Green, Marilyn Smith (Don); brothers: Basil (Shirley), Frank (Ruth); nieces and nephews: Carolyn, Sandy, Craig, Scot, Jeff, Michelle, Paul; special friends and care givers: Maxine, Theresa, Patsy, Anne, Annie, Phyllis and Carolyn and a large circle of friends and relatives. Ken was an avid amateur radio operator and provided a great service to our military personnel on duty in foreign countries. He was a loyal member of the C.F.A.R.S. Amateur Radio Service and spent many hours connecting our service men and women overseas to their families at home. Ken will be missed by all. Resting at the James J. Hickey Memorial Funeral Home, Kelligrews. Visiting hours Thursday 2-4 and 7-9 p.m., Friday 10 to 12 noon. Funeral to take place on Friday, July 23, 1999 from St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church, Topsail at 2:00 p.m. Cremation to follow. Interment on Saturday, July 24 at the Anglican Cemetery, Forest Road, St. John`s (Quidi Vidi Lake Entrance). In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. July 22, 1999

Due to the recent retirement of Les Lindstrum from the CF, Ken Halcrow has agreed to pickup the reigns of CFARS Manager. Les is remaining in the Ottawa region for the time being and he will continue to work with Ken to ensure a smooth transition. Ken has been issued callsign CIW652. Welcome aboard Ken, we look forward to working with you.

CFARS is please to announce the reactivating of CIW804. John was a former member of CFARS and he has decided to rejoin and help us out with the Halifax region. On behalf of all the CFARS members welcome back John.

CFARS has a requirement for 1 or 2 new members in the Halifax phone area. Anyone interesting in becoming a CFARS member are requested to complete an application here on the website or contact Scott at gunslinger@sympatico.ca

Recently an incident took place where the CFARS frequency list was published on the internet. Now, agreed this information is available to non-CFARS members though other sources; however, management requests that members not distribute the frequency list or detailed callsign list (the one that contains addresses, full names, and phone numbers) to non-members or publish them on the internet.

If members wish to publish things about CFARS on the internet we request that you get approval from CFARS Management before publishing. Non-CFARS members have no requirement for these lists so please do not hand them out. If you are unsure if someone has a requirement or not, please direct them to me and I will make the decision.

As many of you know we have had problems in the past with non-members jamming or interfering with our frequencies. Please be prudent with information passed to you from management. The less people who have our detailed information the less likely something will happen. Thanks.

GALLANT, PETER, J. - Unexpectedly at the Saint John Regional Hospital, on Monday, January 4, 1999. Peter Joseph Gallant, husband of Francina M. (McNamara) Gallant of 102 Colton Brook Road, Quispamsis, N. B. Born in Saint John, N.B. he is the son of Norbert "Norman" and Marieanne "Minnie" (Arsenault) Gallant. Peter was formerly employed with N.B. Power as a planner before retirement due to ill health. He was a member of St. Mark's Church, Quispamsis, and an avid amateur radio enthusiast. His wife Francina is an employee of Cendant at Market Square. Surviving besides his wife, Francina and parents are; one son, Mark P., one daughter, Karen L., both at home, two brothers, Gary J. (Sandra) of Kingston Peninsula, Eddie J. (Ann Marie) of Quispamsis, N.B., two sisters, M. Elsie O'Keeffe of Wells, N.B., M. Elda; Mrs Bernard Ross of Norton, N.B., sister-in-law, Jean Gallant of Saint John, mother-in-law, Phyllis McNamara, sister-in-law, Christine Harrity and her husband Richard, several cousins, nieces and nephews. Peter was predeceased by his brother, Ernest. Resting at Brenan's Funeral Home, 111 Paradise Row (506-634-7424) from where the visiting will be held on Wednesday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Thursday, January 7th, 1999 at 10 a.m. from St. Mark's Church, Quispamsis, N.B. Interment will follow in St. Joseph's Cemetery. Remembrances may be made to the charity of the donor's choice.

Peter was instrumental in the success of CFARS over the past 5 years and he will be missed by us all.

Happy New Year to all CFARS Members. 1998 was a very successful year with CFARS becoming more active then in the previous few years. Indications are that 1999 will be an even more prosperous year seeing CFARS gearing up and preparing for the New Millenium.

A reminder to all CFARS Members that starting this year, on the first net of each month each member will be required to give 3 numbers to the net control station. The number of CFARS stations you have spoken with, the number of phone patches attempted and the number of phone patches completed. These numbers are just to assist the management in keeping track of how much activity there is on the frequencies. Also plans are afoot to start rotating net control stations. This way everyone gets a turn and everyone is comfortable with running the control. More to follow at a later date.

Now that 1998 is over, I request that all members pass to me a record of their activity over the past year. For now I only require your year end numbers, ie how many patches and with whom. However it is requested that you mail in your logs as well. For full information please e-mail me at; gunslinger@sympatico.ca

This site is not an official Department of National Defence web site. DND bears no responsibility for the content or the accuracy of the information presented. Information from this site is not be reprinted without the express permission of CFARS Management.