The Almonte Amateur radio club held its fourth annual banquet at the Almonte Branch of Royal Canadian Legion on Saturday January 11th. Thirty eight people attended comprising club members and other “hams” from the local area. Robin Webb, club president said, ‘each year our banquets get better and members and friends look forward to gathering at this special event’.
A highlight of the evening, and back by popular demand, was a presentation by Ed Carew and Kenneth Charron of the Mississippi Radio Control Club who brought along a number of model aircraft and described the technology on how the models operated and are flown. The culmination of the presentation was the flying of two small helicopters in the banquet room, one being smaller than your hand.
A number of organizations sponsored the event by supplying door prizes and thanks go to Icom Canada for providing one of their latest amateur radio products. Local sponsors included Absolute Massage Therapy; the Superior Restaurant, Equator Coffee Roasters and Baker Bob’s.
Special thanks to the Ladies Auxiliary of the Almonte Royal Canadian Legion for catering the event.
Apart from being involved in the hobby amateur radio the volunteers of the club provide supplementary communications in the Lanark County area in the event of an emergency that may affect the usual communication infrastructure such as the local telephone system and cell phones. In addition the club provides communication services for local community events.
In association with the Almonte General Hospital an Emergency Operations Centre has been established there to support emergency communications for the hospital and the municipality.
Club information may be found at almontearclub.ca.