New Club in Dominica!
the Common Wealth of Dominica has seen the birth of a new club: WARA [ Waitukubuli Amateur Radio Association inc.]
The founding members are J73CI Clem, J73MH John and J73WA Wayne.
The website for the club is at https://warainc.org/ they are also on facebook https://www.facebook.com/WARAInc/ and on the air with a UHF repeater at 444.700 +5.000 tone 103.5
We wish the club good luck and look forward to hearing great things from WARA!
73.
New Repeater LINK UP
Hi all,
The J6 Portable Core Team has successfully set up and linked a UHF repeater on the Island of Saint Lucia. The repeater is at an altitude of 660 meters ASL. The Repeater is on 442.690 with a +5.000 shift and a ctcss tone of 118.8 [ List:
http://j69ds.dageekz.com/ham-info/caribbean-repeaters/ ]
This repeater has pretty good coverage accross the island.
The fun part is that this repeater has a RF link to the Grenada repeater. The Grenada repeater was already the hub for Trinidad, Saint Vincent and Barbados, we have added Saint Lucia to this mix now.
This is a work in progress of course, looking to improve on this as we go. We now need a link to Martinique and/or Dominica.
Any suggestions and comments send to J69DS Frans.
The DMR Repeater has been shifted to 442.530 +5.000 however it is in simplex mode till we have the new duplexer on hand.
73.
New Executive at SKNAARS
Congratulations to the St Kitts and Nevis Amateur Radio operators on their newly elected Executive from us all at CEWN.
From IARU_R2 News:
IARU Region 2 would like to congratulate our Member Society in St. Kitts – Nevis, SKNAARS, for its new executive for 2019-2020. We wish you the biggest suceed.
Front row – left to right, Omar Christopher V44CO, Treasurer; Selwyn “Rusty” Liburd V44RL, President; Jessica St. Luce-Warner V44LW, Secretary; Hugh Mallalieu V44KM Vice President;
Back row – left to right, Kenny Morgan V44MK, Chairman -Technical Committee; Basil Woods V44KBW Immediate Past President and Chairman, Emergency Communications Committee; Erick France V44KK, Chairman Education; and Kenyetta Samuel V44KKS, Assistant Secretary.

ARRL: The K7RA Solar Update
02/01/2019
The past week saw increased solar activity, with average daily sunspot numbers rising from 5.3 to 19.6 and average daily solar flux from 69.8 to 74.5. We haven’t seen such strong activity since the beginning of last summer, when ARLP016 in 2018 reported average daily sunspot number at 22.6 and average daily solar flux at 75.3
Continue reading at Arrl here: http://www.arrl.org/news/the-k7ra-solar-update-562
DARCI new Executive

Sitting from left to right: Rudolph George, Clem James, Eric Cognet, John Christian, and Gordon Royer.
At their Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on January 10 2019, the Dominica Amateur Radio Club Inc. (DARCI) officially elected a new Board of Directors for the 2019-2020 executive years.
The club which was formed on November 28 1962 was conceptualized by the founders’ conviction that Amateur Radio operators (Hams, as they are widely known) should come together under the Motto ‘Drawing All Amateurs Closer’.
DARCI which aims to provide radio communications before, during and after disasters when all other normal means of communications have failed and in peace times, to assist social and other groups requiring radio communications; forms part of the Telecommunications Sub-Committee which is headed by the Commissioner of Police of the Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force.
In September 2017, Hurricane Maria left a trail of destruction and despair in Dominica. Within 24 hours, the impact of this devastation became apparent to a shaken nation; roofs and houses were blown away, power and telephone lines were knocked down, and radio frequencies only gave out static.
No one could use their mobile phone to call or text. Suddenly, there was an urgent need to give and receive information.
In those chilling times before the national radio station resumed broadcasts, and while telecommunication providers grappled to re-establish connectivity, a team from DARCI stepped in to provide information to the rest of the world. DARCI was instrumental in facilitating relief and recovery efforts island-wide, while providing critical information to local and regional authorities, as well as communities.
Thanks to repeater sites, built to withstand heavy winds, local amateur radio operators were able to communicate before, during and after Maria. Once the Emergency Operating Centre (EOC) was established at the Financial Centre in the capital Roseau, ham operators quickly set-up a radio communications centre. With the use of high frequency (HF) radios, the operators were able to relay timely information to the rest of the world on the status of the country, emergency efforts and critical needs.
Following tis unforgettable period, amateur (ham) radio operators were credited for going on air within hours and providing a vital link to the outside world. They were instrumental in getting word out to the humanitarian actors and communities about the crisis on the island and helped to coordinate evacuations and rescues, access to emergency medical services, water and food, and much more.
Newly appointed President Roger Blanchard upon his instatement thanked those who have contributed to the longevity of the club throughout the years and implored to his members to remain committed in advancing amateur radio in Dominica and the Dominica Amateur Radio Club Incorporated in particular.
Supplementary to the induction of the president other members instated to the Board of Directors for the 2019-2020 year were Vice President Clement Pierre-Louis; Secretary Hilkiah Lavinier; Treasurer Gordon Royer; Assistant Secretary/Treasurer Gilbert George; Anniversary chairperson Eric Cognet; Fund raising chairperson Rudolph George; Education chairperson John Christian; Operation & Maintenance chairperson Clement James and Field day chairperson Earl Williams.
The Club continues to educate the general public on Amateur Radio through its education programme and through training new and prospective Hams, some of which include, the former Minister ·or Agriculture – Mr. Lloyd Pascal; Former Commissioner of Police – Mr. Mathias Lestrade; Former Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr. Clement Pierre-Louis; Superintendent of the Public Works Division – Mr. Oliver St. John; Director of the Dominica Red Cross – Mrs. Kathleen Pinard. Byrne; former Mayor of the city of Roseau – Mrs. Bernadine Dinnard-Williams; Dominica Association of Disabled People, among others.
Most of the above mentioned persons have already received their Amateur Radio licenses.
DARCI holds its general membership meetings on the second Thursday of every month at 5pm at its club site at the Canefield East housing scheme. Members and visitors alike are invited.
Submitted by J73CC John.
DARCI Easy Net
The DARCI, the Dominica Amateur Radio Club, has started a new daily net on their UHF / VHF repeater network: The DARCI Easy Net.
This net will start every evening at 7PM. The net will cede to the Caribbean IRLP net on Tuesdays.
Access to the net is mainly via the UHF repeater on 442.100 (+5.000 tone 103.5) also via the Au Gens link on 146.640 (-0.600 tone 103.5), it can also be joined via EchoLink node 948514 (J73Z)
DARCI is looking forward to hearing your participation to this net!
The DARCI also runs a Early Morning Rush hour Net on the same repeater all weekdays at 7:30 AM
73 de Hilkiah J73HGL
FM and FG Emergency Frequencies
FM5EB Dominique [ADRASEC] has announced new frequencies that will be used for EmComms for the islands of Martinque [FM] and Guadeloupe [FG]:
> 80m 3.825 Mhz
> 40m 7.165 Mhz
> 20m 14.132 Mhz
The two changes were the 80 and 40 meter frequencies to have them fall within Region 2 bandplan
DARCI Field Day Update!
A Disaster Plan by J73WA
UPDATED 2018 07 17
J73WA, Wayne, an operator whom we all know to be very much in to being prepared for just about anything out there has yet again rendered a great service to us fellow operators. Wayne has put together a very comprehensive Disaster Plan for Amateur Operators. He saw Family and Community plans are all over but nothing specific to the Amateur Radio community. He started off using the CDEMA family plan and expanded on it with all the relevant stuff for Amateur Radio Ops, put it all together in a nice format that is easy to follow and understand.
The File can be found under Net Control/Amateur Radio Disaster plan, also under the Net Control/Files page or just following this link:
Thank you Wayne, the effort is appreciated.
UPDATE:
As an addition to the above mentioned file Wayne [J73WA] has also created a Saphir Simpson Scale reference file.
It will help us understand the level of preparation we must make based on the severity of the storm
the file can be downloaded right here: Saphir Simpson Scale
73 Admin
DARCI Field Day 2018
Dominica Amateur Radio Club Inc [DARCI] will be having a Field Day exercise tomorrow Saturday 23rd June, 2018. The group will meet in Roseau and go to Marigot where they will setup for the day.
They will be active on VHF/UHF and on HF. On VHF UHF will be on the local repeater of 442.100 +5 tone 103.5 and HF they will be on 80 meters 3.800 Mhz Lsb, on 40 meters 7.210 Mhz Lsb and on 20 meters 14.200 Mhz USB.
They will be on air from Marigot from 8:30 am, look and listen out for them. Call them let them know they are getting out!
The CEWN wishes the DARCI a successful Field Day 2018!
Edit: Also active on DMR TalkGroup 969 [Dmr Caribbean]
73