Call For Nominations: The Harvey Bell Award

 NOTICE TO ALL YRARC MEMBERS

Each year about this time, the members of our radio club have the opportunity to nominate a member for the Harvey Bell Award by contacting the club secretary no later than May 19th, 2024.

Nominations may be presented by individuals, or may be co-signed by several members. Your nomination should be made in writing or by email to the club secretary Mike Veit VE3BWV, and should include your description, explanation or citation in support of the nominee.

At the January, 1971 meeting of the York North Radio Club, as YRARC was known at the time, the membership established an award in memory of the late Harvey Bell, VE3AFK, of Aurora.

It was the wish of the members that this award be presented annually to a member in good standing with this club, in recognition of substantial achievement involving Amateur Radio, particularly in connection with the York North Radio Club.

The winner would hold the trophy for one year, and would also receive a certificate, or other citation outlining the achievement.

Any club member would be eligible to nominate any other club member for the award. Nominations will be considered by the 2024 Board of Directors at the May 21st meeting.

Harvey Bell died unexpectedly in December of 1970. At that time he was in the process of making his third attempt at keeping the club together and active. He had been a club member for almost ten years, enjoyed the fellowship and the sharing of technical information regarding Amateur Radio. He was especially interested in the Morse Code, and CW operation, but was also very involved with the fairly new SSB technology that was growing with leaps and bounds.

During the late 1960’s activity in the club seemed to wane, and Harvey Bell, along with a couple of other area hams kept up a steady contact with other hams in Newmarket and surroundings. Invitations were sent out on at least three occasions in a an attempt to keep the club active and growing. He had just succeeded, in the fall of 1970, to get the membership back together again, and had turned the leadership over to Frank Rusholme.

His influence and his leadership in club affairs will long be remembered by the Amateurs in this area who knew him personally. In addition to being an active 80-metre DX chaser, Harvey was also involved in RTTY (radio teletype), VHF, and had one of the outstanding stamp collections in the region.

The award, which honours his name, is considered the highest acclaim that the club can give to one of its members.

73,
Chris VE3NRT
President, YRARC

Final Call for Nominations - 2017 Harvey Bell Award

NOTICE TO ALL YRARC MEMBERS

Each year about this time, the members of our radio club have the opportunity to nominate a member by contacting the club secretary no later than May 15th, 2016. Nominations may be presented by individuals, or may be co-signed by several members, to be honoured with this award.

Your nominations should be made in writing or by email to the club secretary David Craig VA3DCY, and should include your description, explanation or citation related to the nominee, and be presented to the

At the January, 1971 meeting of the York North Radio Club, the membership established an award in memory of the late Harvey Bell, VE3AFK, of Aurora.

It was the wish of the members that this award be presented annually to a member in good standing with this club, in recognition of substantial achievement involving Amateur Radio, particularly in connection with the York North Radio Club.

The winner would hold the trophy for one year, and would also receive a certificate, or other citation outlining the achievement.

Any club member would be eligible to nominate any other club member for the award. Nominations will be considered by the 2017 Board of Directors.

Harvey Bell died unexpectedly in December of 1970. At that time he was in the process of making his third attempt at keeping the club together and active. He had been a club member for almost ten years, enjoyed the fellowship and the sharing of technical information regarding Amateur Radio. He was especially interested in the Morse Code, and CW operation, but was also very involved with the fairly new SSB technology that was growing with leaps and bounds. During the late 1960’s activity in the club seemed to wane, and Harvey Bell, along with a couple of other area hams kept up a steady contact with other hams in Newmarket and surroundings. Invitations were sent out on at least three occasions in a an attempt to keep the club active and growing. He had just succeeded, in the fall of 1970, to get the membership back together again, and had turned the leadership over to Frank Rusholme.

His influence and his leadership in club affairs will long be remembered by the Amateurs in this area who knew him personally. In addition to being an active 80 metre DX chaser, Harvey was also involved in RTTY (radio teletype), VHF, and had one of the outstanding stamp collections in the region.

The award, which honours his name, is consider the highest acclaim that the club can give to one of its members.

Call for Nominations: 2016 Harvey Bell Award

NOTICE TO ALL YRARC MEMBERS

Each year about this time, the members of our radio club have the opportunity to nominate a member club secretary no later than June 20th, 2016. Nominations may be presented by individuals, or may be co-signed by several members, to be honoured with this award.

Your nominations should be made in writing or by email to the club secretary David Craig VA3DCY, and should include your description, explanation or citation related to the nominee, and be presented to the

At the January, 1971 meeting of the York North Radio Club, the membership established an award in memory of the late Harvey Bell, VE3AFK, of Aurora.

It was the wish of the members that this award be presented annually to a member in good standing with this club, in recognition of substantial achievement involving Amateur Radio, particularly in connection with the York North Radio Club.

The winner would hold the trophy for one year, and would also receive a certificate, or other citation outlining the achievement.

Any club member would be eligible to nominate any other club member for the award. Nominations will be considered by the 2016 Board of Directors.

Harvey Bell died unexpectedly in December of 1970. At that time he was in the process of making his third attempt at keeping the club together and active. He had been a club member for almost ten years, enjoyed the fellowship and the sharing of technical information regarding Amateur Radio. He was especially interested in the Morse Code, and CW operation, but was also very involved with the fairly new SSB technology that was growing with leaps and bounds. During the late 1960’s activity in the club seemed to wane, and Harvey Bell, along with a couple of other area hams kept up a steady contact with other hams in Newmarket and surroundings. Invitations were sent out on at least three occasions in a an attempt to keep the club active and growing. He had just succeeded, in the fall of 1970, to get the membership back together again, and had turned the leadership over to Frank Rusholme.

His influence and his leadership in club affairs will long be remembered by the Amateurs in this area who knew him personally. In addition to being an active 80 metre DX chaser, Harvey was also involved in RTTY (radio teletype), VHF, and had one of the outstanding stamp collections in the region.

The award, which honours his name, is consider the highest acclaim that the club can give to one of its members.

The 1958 ARRL Convention (Ontario Chapter)

First announced in the April 1958 edition of QST magazine, this convention was held on October 18th in Hamilton, Ontario, at the Connaught Hotel (now a condominium development, pictured below) at 112 King St. East. Admission was $5 including the banquet, which featured a guest speaker. Contact for the event was Bob Parry, VE3DJE (no longer listed as the owner of that call). Bob is listed in the convention register along with his wife Vivian. It's unfortunate that QST didn't report on the actual conventions, so there aren't any pictures or write-ups on the happenings there.



In the same year the ARRL National Convention was in Washington, DC. It looked like an interesting program with tours of the White House, The Naval Research Laboratory, the Pentagon and a Nike Installation, the Voice of America, the Capitol, the Smithsonian, and the Arlington Cemetery. The amateur radio program included sessions on VHF, Mobile, TVI, RACES, Antennas, Contests, Code, RTTY, DX. A Wouff Hong Ceremony was held as well. The registration fee was $5, although the banquets, including the Hiram Percy Maxim memorial banquet ($6.50) were extra.

A night in the Sheraton Park Hotel was $7.50 to $14. The "parlor suites" were $17.50 to $22.00. That same year, the Sheraton Park Hotel also hosted the 3rd Annual AFA Jet Age Conference, the 2nd National Conference on Aviation Education, and the American Helicopter Society 14th Annual Annual National Forum. The Cold War was at its peak. Less than two years later, John F. Kennedy said "The enemy is lean and hungry and the United States is the only strong sentinel at the gate" at that same hotel.

The convention was organized by a consortium of 15 radio clubs in the Washington area. That's an impressive degree of cooperation!

Our club's own meeting register, dating from 1963 to 1969 matches the convention register in only one respect - that Harvey Bell VE3AFK, a prominent figure in club history, is listed in both. Neither Frank Preuten VE3FEP nor Jim Spence VE3BBX (SK), who attended the 1957 Convention in Toronto and also appear in the club register, weren't there in 1958. Fred Hammond, VE3HC was there in 1958 but not in '57.

Harvey Bell's QSL from 1964

Part of the club archive that Bob VE3WY presented to the board was a QSL card from our own Harvey Bell, VE3AFK (SK) to Tony Loftus, VE3FRK (SK). The most important award that the club gives out (more or less) annually is named after him.

The date? Sunday, November 29, 1964. Lyndon B. Johnson was President of the USA, Lester B. Pearson was Prime Minister of Canada, and "Baby Love" by the Supremes was the #1 song in the US and the UK. Expectations of DX must have been low at the time as his card shows the time as EST. I didn't move to Ontario until 1967 but daylight savings time was certainly in place by then. It must have been confusing.

We also have a guest book for meetings of the York North Amateur Radio Club (our former name) from Wednesday, April 10, 1963 to Tuesday, October 14th, 1969. Both Harvey VE3AFK and Tony (no call at the time) were present at that first meeting held at the QTH of R. Cronk VE3EED SK. Harvey was not at at the January 22, 1964 meeting but it is the first meeting where Tony's call sign appears, although Doug VE3VS (formerly VE3CWO) was there. Tony must have got his call sign sometime after January 8th.



His transmitter is listed as a Johnson Viking, which came in several models. There is also a handwritten note on the left hand side written sideways which mentions a new (Hallicrafters) HT44 transmitter and a Drake 2B receiver.

This picture is of a Viking Ranger. According to the Hammond Museum web page the Ranger put out the 75 watts mentioned on the QSL.



His R 1155 receiver was manufactured for the larger British aircraft like the Lancaster Bomber and the Short Sunderland by several manufacturers. It is the top unit in the next picture.



The back of the card shows that VE3FRK lived very close to our current meeting hall and the postage at the time was a mere 5 cents, no postal code was needed, and the mail was delivered right to your door!