Updated CANWARN Schedule

April 5, 2012

Geoff Coulson has issued an updated CANWARN training schedule:
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Folks, lots of new information to pass along including confirmation of some of the training locations and the addition of new training sites. Thanks to generous support from Fanshawe College, our London training will be done in a room on their campus this year. Thanks to the Rama First Nation, our training in the Orillia/Washago/Rama area will be at the Community Room of the MASK Arena on Rama Road (details below). Huron County has also asked to host two training sessions on April 24th. One will be held in the afternoon in Goderich, the second in the evening in Central Huron (Clinton). The Town of Parry Sound is also hosting a session on the afternoon of April 26th with details below. We have also firmed up the locations for the Timmins and Temiskaming Shores training.

We are continuing to work on the training schedule in Northwestern Ontario and I should be able to provide more details on dates and venues in the next training update.
Thanks to those of you who have already sent me an email confirming your interest in a given session. Early indications are that we will likely have one of the best turnouts ever at locations across the province. For those of you who have yet to drop me a note to confirm attendance at a session, please feel free to do so at geoff.coulson@ec.gc.ca

Please find following, the updated list of dates/venues/times for this year’s training as things stand now…

April 11 – 7 PM – Sarnia – Lower Auditorium, Clearwater Arena – 1400 Wellington St.

April 17 – 7 PM – Windsor – Giovanni Caboto Club – 2175 Parent Ave.

April 18 – 7 PM – London – Room T1003, Building T, Fanshawe College, 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd, free parking at any metered spots on campus after 6 PM

April 21 – 9 AM – Hamilton – Nash Auditorium, Wilcox Building, Chedoke Hospital, Sanatorium Road. Free parking available across the street from the auditorium

April 24 – 1:30 PM – Goderich – Goderich Community Centre (Old Arena) 180 McDonald St, Goderich

April 24 – 7 PM – Central Huron (Clinton) – Central Huron Fire Hall, 410 Beech St Central Huron (Clinton)

April 26 – 12:30 PM – Parry Sound – Bobby Orr Centre, 7 Mary Street, Parry Sound

April 28 – 9 AM – Washago/Orillia – Community Room, MASK Arena, 6147 Rama Road (north of Casinorama and south of Airport Road on Rama Road)

April 28 – 9 AM – Ottawa/Nepean – Nepean Sailing Club, 3259 Carling Avenue, Nepean

May 2 – 7 PM – Kitchener – Bingemans Conference Centre, 425 Bingemans Centre Drive

May 5 – 9 AM – Toronto – Environment Canada 4905 Dufferin St

May 8 – 7 PM – Toronto – Environment Canada 4905 Dufferin St

May 10 – 7 PM – Peterborough – Peterborough Public Library, 345 Aylmer St. North

May 16 – 7 PM – Dufferin County – Dufferin County Museum, corner of Hwy 89 and Airport Road in Mulmur

May 26 – 9 AM – Belleville – Belleville Library Conference Room, 254 Pinnacle Street

May 26 – 9 AM – Sudbury/Azilda – Lionel E. Lalonde Centre, 239 Montee Principale, Azilda

May 27 – 1 PM – Espanola – Pinewood Inn, 378 Centre St.

May 27 – 7 PM – Elliot Lake – Renaissance Centre, 20 Veterans Way

May 28 – 7 PM – Sault Ste Marie – Delta Sault Ste Marie, 208 St. Mary’s Drive

May 29 – Timmins – Timmins Inn and Suites, 1800 Riverside Drive

May 30 – Temiskaming Shores – College Boreal, 280 Armstrong St.

May 31 – North Bay – 6:30 PM – North Bay Public Library, 271 Worthington


Hey, did you know… ?

March 24, 2012

Check this out. Very interesting – especially to Hams!

 


CANWARN 2012 Training Schedule – Release 1

March 9, 2012

Hello, everyone, after a winter that wasn’t in many parts of the province, it is time to turn our attention to the renewed possibility of extended stretches of true spring-like weather. Along with milder temperatures and longer days will come the increased chance of severe thunderstorms in Ontario. And so once again, it is time to release the first glance at the upcoming CANWARN storm spotter training sessions. Some work is still required to confirm exact venues in some locations but the dates are provided for planning purposes and the venues will be firmed up in the coming weeks in future releases.
Once again, I thank all of you for being part of this very important program. Your reports in the last year have continued to provide valuable “on-the-ground” information to the Ontario Storm Prediction Centre. This also represents CANWARN’s 25th year in Ontario. It all began in Windsor back in 1987 and we have seen the program grow significantly in the last number of years. So please join us if you can at a training session near you.
As in past years, I would ask you to RSVP me at geoff.coulson@ec.gc.ca to let me know which session you plan on attending so we can get a sense of the numbers of attendees at each location. So here they are, the dates/venues as things stand now. Dates and venues in June for Northwestern Ontario will be forthcoming in future releases.

April 11 – 7 PM – Sarnia – Lower Auditorium, Clearwater Arena – 1400 Wellington St.

April 17 – 7 PM – Windsor – Giovanni Caboto Club – 2175 Parent Ave.

April 18 – 7 PM – London – venue to be confirmed shortly

April 21 – 9 AM – Hamilton – Nash Auditorium, Chedoke Hospital, Sanatorium Road. Free parking available across the street from the auditorium

April 28 – 9 AM – Washago/Orillia – venue to be confirmed shortly

April 28 – 9 AM – Ottawa/Nepean – Nepean Sailing Club, 3259 Carling Avenue, Nepean

May 2 – 7 PM – Kitchener – Bingemans Conference Centre, 425 Bingemans Centre Drive

May 5 – 9 AM – Toronto – Environment Canada 4905 Dufferin St

May 8 – 7 PM – Toronto – Environment Canada 4905 Dufferin St

May 10 – 7 PM – Peterborough – Peterborough Public Library, 345 Aylmer St. North

May 16 – 7 PM – Dufferin County – Dufferin County Museum, corner of Hwy 89 and Airport Road in Mulmur

May 26 – 9 AM – Belleville – Belleville Library Conference Room, 254 Pinnacle Street

May 26 – 9 AM – Sudbury/Azilda – Lionel E. Lalonde Centre, 239 Montee Principale, Azilda

May 27 – 1 PM – Espanola – Pinewood Inn, 378 Centre St.

May 27 – 7 PM – Elliot Lake – Renaissance Centre, 20 Veterans Way

May 28 – 7 PM – Sault Ste Marie – Delta Sault Ste Marie, 208 St. Mary’s Drive

May 29 – Timmins – time and venue to be confirmed

May 30 – Temiskaming Shores – time and venue to be confirmed

May 31 – North Bay – 6:30 PM – North Bay Public Library, 271 Worthington

Regards,

Geoff Coulson
Warning Preparedness Meteorologist |
Météorologue de sensibilisation aux conditions menaçantes
Ontario Region Client Services |
Service à la clientèle, Région de l‘Ontario
Environment Canada | Environnement Canada
Goverment of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada
4905 Dufferin St | 4905 rue Dufferin
Toronto, ON M3H 5T4

email: Geoff.Coulson@ec.gc.ca


IRLP Instructions – Update

February 8, 2012

Here is a brief reminder on the proper way to use our IRLP node.

To call a distant IRLP node, first check on the Internet for the node number, if you don’t already know it. This page shows Canadian nodes and their status.

To bring up another IRLP node:

  1. Listen on our repeater to make sure no one is already in QSO.
  2. Announce your call and that you are making an IRLP connection.
  3. While holding down your PTT, key in 2 “number signs” followed by the node number you wish to contact.  E. g.  ##9999  will bring up the IRL test node. IRLP will announce that you are connected.
  4. Once the connection is made and before speaking, listen to the remote machine to make sure you aren’t interrupting an ongoing QSO.
  5. If all is well, press your PTT and begin your QSO.
  6. When you are done, announce that you are closing the link, announce your callsign and log off. This is done by keying in ##73.
  7. That’s it! Have fun.

Note – if you connect to the test node, it will make a short recording of any subsequent transmission, and play it back to you. So speak, release the PTT and wait for a few seconds for the play-back to finish.  To finish, follow item 6 above.


Basic and Advanced Courses for 2012

January 21, 2012

Peel Amateur Radio Club Announces Available Basic and Advanced Courses for 2012

 

WHAT: Course for Advanced License
WHEN: Classes March 3rd and March 10th, 2012 from 8am to 5pm.
WHERE: Classes at Brampton Safe City Offices 16 George St. N in Brampton
WHO Contact Joe Almeida (VA3POR) at kingpin.joe@gmail.com for further details or sign up at http://eepurl.com/iCGjE to receive announcements.

 

The Basic Course has now been filled!  Thanks to all who assisted in getting the word out!


Spring 2011 CANWARN Training Schedule Published

March 22, 2011

Geoff Coulson of Environment Canada has announced the Spring 2011 CANWARN training schedule. His email is posted below:
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Hello to everyone and welcome to Spring 2011. While the weather won’t be very spring-like in the coming days, it is again time to let everyone know of the dates/venues for this year’s CANWARN storm spotter training. 2010 had its share of damaging spring and summer storms that had two significant events…the nocturnal tornadoes and downbursts of June 6 in Southern Essex County (Leamington/Harrow) and the Midland and Washago tornadoes of June 23.  Training sessions will again be held across the province and in some locations for the first time as we try to expand the number of watchers in Central and Northeastern Ontario.  Randy Mawson will again be doing the training in the Southwest, I’ll do the venues in Southcentral Ontario, Peter Kimbell will handle the East and Northeast and Serge Besner will be doing the training in Northwestern Ontario.

Please feel free to pass these dates/venues along to others you think may be interested in coming out for the training.  As in previous years, Randy, Peter, Serge and myself will be looking forward to renewing ties with long-time volunteers and welcoming those who are coming out to the training for the first time.  As I have stated a number of times over the last few years, CANWARN volunteers continue to be an integral part of Environment Canada’s severe weather watch/warning program.  I’d like to thank those of you who sent in timely observations of severe weather last season and to those of you who sent or phoned in observations of fog, freezing precipitation and snow accumulations during this past winter.  All of these observations are gratefully received by the operational forecasters in the Ontario Storm Prediction Centre.

So without further delay, please find below the dates/venues that have been confirmed so far.  Additional dates/venues for Eastern, Northeastern and Northwestern Ontario will be added in coming updates.  I’d request again this year if you could RSVP to me which session you plan on attending so I can get a rough ideas for numbers at each venue.  Once again, thank you for being part of the CANWARN program and for helping to keep your local communities aware of severe weather.

On a final note, over the years a few people have approached me to hold a Toronto training session during a weekday evening since they can’t make Saturday mornings.  The main Toronto session will be on Saturday, May 7th but if there is sufficient response to me about an evening session in Toronto as well, I have tentatively set aside Wednesday, May 18th at 7 PM here at our headquarters at 4905 Dufferin St.  I will confirm if this Toronto evening session is a go in later training updates.

  • April 12th – 7 PM – Sarnia – Kinsmen Centre Oakroom Room 656 Lakeshore Road
  • April 13th – 7 PM – London – 4 Points Sheraton Hotel 1150 Wellington Road
  • April 16th – 9 AM – Hamilton – Nash Auditorium Wilcox Building Chedoke Hospital on Sanatorium Road (free parking available across from the Wilcox building)
  • April 18th – 7 PM – Leamington – Kinsmen Recreational Complex 249 Sherk St (parking lot access off of Ellison St.)
  • April 27th – 7 PM – Kitchener – Bingemans Conference Centre – Ballroom E – 425 Bingemans Centre Drive
  • April 30th – 9 AM – Orillia/Rama – Rama Community Hall 5896 Rama Road (across the street from CasinoRama)
  • May 5th – 7 PM – Peterborough – Peterborough Public Library (boardroom on lower level) 345 Aylmer St. North
  • May 7th – 9 AM – Toronto – Environment Canada Headquarters 4905 Dufferin St.
  • May 7th – 9 AM – Ottawa – Nepean Sailing Club – 3259 Carling Ave. Nepean
  • May 12th – 7 PM – Dufferin County – Dufferin County Museum at the corner of Highway 89 and Airport Road
  • May 14th – 9 AM – Renfrew – venue to be determined
  • May 28th – 9 AM – Sudbury – Lionel E. Lalonde Centre 239 Montee Principale in Azilda (15 km west of Sudbury)
  • May 29th – 1 PM – Espanola – Pinewood Inn 378 Centre St
  • May 30th – 7 PM – Sault Ste. Marie – Venue to be determined
  • May 31st – 7 PM – Timmins – Venue to be determined
  • June 1st – Timiscaming Shores – time/venue to be determined
  • June 2nd – 7 PM – North Bay – OPP Communications Centre – 877 Gormanville Road
  • June 13th – 7 PM – Thunder Bay – McIntyre Building Rm. 195, Confederation College, corner of William and Edward Streets
  • Other Northwestern Ontario venues (Fort Frances/Emo, Kenora, Dryden)…training to take place June 14 to 17…exact dates and venues to be determined.

Regards,

Geoff Coulson
Warning Preparedness Meteorologist |
Météorologue de sensibilisation aux conditions menaçantes
Ontario Region Client Services |
Service à la clientèle, Région de l’Ontario
Environment Canada | Environnement Canada
Goverment of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada
4905 Dufferin St | 4905 rue Dufferin
Toronto, ON M3H 5T4

Geoff.Coulson@ec.gc.ca
Telephone | Téléphone 416-739-4466
Facsimile | Télécopieur 416-739-4603
Website | Site Web www.weatheroffice.gc.ca


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