THE ORIGINAL  CLUB

The Skywide Amateur Radio Club was founded in 1952.  The only document which survived was the  November 1, 1956 edition of the Skyhook Club Bulletin. This copy was made available by Dave, K1DT, President of the Providence Radio Association in 2019.
 

Bill Dmytrasz VE3DNY (pronounced Dmee-triss), provides some early history of the Skywide Club.

''I was a SWL high school student in 1952, and there I met Alan Smith VE3DNP. We became “Charter Members” of SARC . Both of us are shown in the “1956 Skyhook Sheet 1 membership list.  He is a Silent Key as of  20 May 2019 per TCA Sep/Oct 2019 Issue.

In the early 1950s,  initial meetings to form SARC were held in the home of Orry Castrucci VE3BUD who was also on the membership list, but not at the Statler address shown. We met at his earlier home on Meadowvale Drive, (Bloor St./Royal York Rd. area). Castrucci is honoured as Member of the Month in the  1956 Skyhook Sheet 3, where a new home is also mentioned. No meetings were held at his 1956 Statler Ave address.

By 1954 when I got my ticket, meetings were held in the Mimico Hydro building on Royal York Road, at the junction of Drummond St., just south of St. Leo’s RC Church. That was a two story brick building, maintenance shop/office, with a large room at the front on the second floor. Some years later it was demolished for site re-development and SARC meeting locations changed.

There were two Ladies Night events in my time as a member. The second one was in 1962 and I still have a memento glass ashtray showing the club emblem and VE3DRT (SARC call sign) underneath like the one on webpage. Those events were held at the then Lions Club Arena (next to Gus Ryder Pool) in a second floor banquet room. It’s now a Humber College facility. I was married by then and with obligations, work travel, etc., so let membership lapse and never attended a meeting elsewhere.

Some photos of those early years are posted below."

A lot of amateurs built their own gear in the 1950s. This is the 6 meter station of Bill Dmytrasz VE3DNY circa 1955. Pictured here is the 50 MHz down converter atop the receiver. The 50 MHz transmitter at the left is also home-brew. It consisted of a  829B dual tetrode and had a power input  of around 50 watts to the final.

This was the very first contact made by Bill Dmytrasz VE3DNY.  It was a  DX contact on 50 MHz to Tennessee and was made with the gear pictured in the photo above. Power was fed into a 4 element beam on a 12 foot pole outside bedroom (shack) window.

This QSL card was sent to Bill Dmytrasz VE3DNY from Alan Smith VE3DNP, one of the charter members  of the Skywide Club. Circa 1954.

Bill Dmytrasz VE3DNY at the controls of the Skywide VHF Field Day station in 1956. Although the beer bottles are staged, it does make a statement when the band suddenly goes dead and there are no contacts to be made.

All photos in this table provided by Bill Dmytrasz VE3DNY

This ashtray, from 1963,  was issued to the attendees of the second annual SARC Ladies Night.It is 4 inches in diameter. (Photo by Bill Dmytrasz  VE3DNY)

This  was a club project in 1962 - a  2 meter AM transceiver patterned on the Heathkit 2er . The parts were all laid out on a big bench and the participants took parts out of cardboard boxes and put them in their own box. Jointly,  they studied  how the transceiver  was supposed to be put together. Click on image to enlarge. ( Photo by Phil VE3FAS).

Over the years, the meeting location changed.. Here is a listing of known locations thus far:

* Private residence of Orry Castrucci VE3BUD , 1952  to 1954
* Mimico Hydro (1954 to ?
* Missing a location?
*Etobicoke Civic Centre. The West Mall and Burnhamthorpe Rd.,
* Westway United Church, 8 Templar Drive Etobicoke.
* Seniors  Centre  - north of Norseman/ Islington intersection  (post 2011)
* Before COVID arrived  (March 2020,) informal meetings were held at McDonalds , 2116 Kipling Ave., Etobicoke.
* Videoconferencing meetings commenced on December 3, 2021

At one  time, the club used to have the call sign VE3DRT. It is now assigned to someone else.

This jacket patch was provided to the Skywide Club by Ray Hunter, VE3UR (now a SK) probably around the 1970 to 1971 time frame. These patches were custom ordered locally.   (Image provided by Dana  Shtun)

This photo is from Field Day 1970 or 1971. In use, was the KW Electronics KW2000 SSB transceiver.  Front (L-R) :  Larry VE3CWT (now VE2DO), George VE3EWM Rear: (L-R) Pete VE3DGL Gary VE3ESQ Rick VE3EBK (SK) Dana VE3DSS (VE3DS) The club generator was a converted radial aircraft engine grafted to a generator set and affectionately called “The Moose".

 
Of interest are some surviving documents.

Skyhook Bulletin March-April 2002
SARC Member Listing 2011
Skyhook Bulletin Autumn 2011
 

A milestone - December 3, 2021. This is a screen snap of a Zoom meeting held by the newly resurrected Skywide Amateur Radio Club. Click on image to enlarge. (Provided by Gary Zakaib,  VA3GDZ) )

Friday February 18, 2022 was a milestone day when the Skywide club held its first over-the-air net after its resurrection. A total of 12 members signed in.

May 14, 2022 - The Skywide Amateur Radio Club held its first BBQ at Marie Curtis Park in Etobicoke. The weather was perfect! Click on image to enlarge. (Photo by Gary VA3GDZ)

2022/06/06 - Temporary Executive install for the President , V-P, Secretary and Treasurer positions.  The Skywide Club is resurrected as of this date.  Formal election to follow.
2022/07/25 -  Per the AGM, the old Skywide club was dissolved.
2022/07/28 - New Executive elected.

President - Tom Stefanac
Vice President - Ken Baine
Treasurer - Carlos Rivera
Secretary - Glenn Wilson
Technical Director - Jerry Proc
Repeater Committee: TBA

2022/09/02 - New bank account opened for the club.
 

September 11/2022 - The Skywide ARS held its second BBQ at Marie Curtiss Park in Etobicoke. There were 22 people in attendance.  The attendees  were thrilled to see a simple kite holding up a long wire antenna which was used to make HF contacts. More photos of the event are available on the club's private Google drive.

REPEATER CORRECTIVE MAINTENANCE

On Saturday November 4  2022, VE3SKY was visited by the SARC Repeater Committee. Tom Stefanac, SARC President,  files this report on what was done.

"As many of you are aware, the repeater was difficult to receive in many parts of the city despite hearing everyone quite well. It appears that the linear amplifier that was previously used to drive the system was in effect, not functioning. This means the repeater was sending 5 watts of effective power into the amplifier and less than 1 watt was leaving the antenna (we believe it may be  have been closer to 200 milliwatts). As a result, the amplifier has been removed and the club will work to repair the unit for future use.Great technical assistance was provided by by Mark Scola VA3HES and Andrew VE3GTU.

There was also an in-line RX amplifier. This amplifier had a nominal effect with the repeater on the lower power setting and suffered desensitization on the mid power setting. As a result through testing, it was concluded that the in-line RX amplifier could not operate with increased power and had to be removed.

The repeater is now operating at the mid-power setting (20 watts measured) and the effective power making it to the antenna is estimated to be 10 watts after line loss - Andrew did thorough testing.

Joao kindly donated a 600 VA UPC/APS that we have installed and is functioning perfectly. We discussed a few items with our friends at the Nortown club and Mark kindly cleaned the construction dust from their repeater as well. I purchased and donated a new 4m long 12-3 SOOW wire and ends which feeds the UPS/APC."
 

This is how the repeaters looked after the concrete dust was cleaned up.VE3SKY is at the top. VE3NOR is at the bottom. Click on image to enlarge. ( Photo by Tom Stefanac) Additional  photos of the Novermber 5/22 site visit can be found here.

This is the view of the Toronto skyline as seen from atop the building that hosts the repeater site. This view is south by south-east. Click on image to enlarge.

DECEMBER 11/2022

The newly resurrected Skywide ARC held its first Christmas dinner at the Canadiana Restaurant in Etobicoke. Also  celebrated was the club's 70th anniversary year.

Club members along with their spouses. Click on photo to enlarge. (Photo by Tom Stefanac)

Its not too often one sees a radio tower on a cake. (Photo by Tom Stefanac)

DECEMBER 12/22

First face-to-face meeting of the new club occurred at the Etobicoke Civic Center. It was a hybrid meeting with three members being on a Microsoft Teams call and around 6 members who were physically present. After business was concluded, Tom Stefanac gave a presentation on amateur  radio digital modes.

DECEMBER 19/22

The Skywide ARC now has a presence on the  Mastodon,easio  and Reddit.com  social media  platforms. That's in addition to the being on Twitter.

https://mastodon.radio/@VE3SKY
https://www.reddit.com/user/SkywideARC/

JANUARY 28/23

Winter Field Day was held in Col Samuel Smith Park. More photos here.
 

Winter Field Day tent with the antenna farm behind it.   (Photo by Jerry Proc)

Tom Stefanac, VA3VWX is setting up one of the stations in a heated tent. (Photo by Jerry Proc)

FOX HUNTIBG IN TORONTO - April 23/23