RAC Ontario Sections Bulletin for February 24, 2024
Official Bulletin Station for Radio Amateurs of Canada with this week’s bulletin.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. Reports of phishing attempts by someone posing as RAC offical.
The Feb 21st phishing attempt falsely states that it originates from “Phil A McBride” and
this is not the case. Radio Amateurs of Canada will never ask you to provide a login
and password in email communication.
To date, there have been no direct successful attacks on the RAC computer system.
We are planning on making available to members the use of complex passwords as well as
Two-Factor Authentication to log in to our website. We will provide additional information
on security updates as they are made.
Here are a few tips on how to avoid email scams:
Don’t trust unsolicited email.
Treat email attachments with caution.
Don’t click links in email messages unless you are confident you know who the sender is.
Install antivirus software and keep it up to date.
Install a personal firewall and keep it up to date.
Configure your email client for security.
Never provide your login and password in response to an email.
In closing, any email claiming to have your @myrac.ca address and password is a scam and
should be deleted. Radio Amateurs of Canada will never ask people to download files from a
third-party site in their email communication. Always check to see if the sender of a suspicious
email has an @rac.ca email address as all RAC officials use @rac.ca.
If you are concerned or suspicious always contact the RAC office before opening any files in
an email message that appears to come from Radio Amateurs of Canada.
— Alan Griffin, RAC MarCom Director
ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST
2. Echolink now has a web interface to operate from a browser
See the following URL for the frequently asked questions.
https://www.echolink.org/faq_webapp.htm
— arrl ares newsletter
3. Sun Erupts With Wildly Powerful Solar Flares
Sseveral X-class flares have erupted from its surface – the most powerful of which was a
jaw-dropping X6.3. That’s the most powerful flare seen for the current solar cycle, and the
most powerful since an X8.2 erupted in 2017.
Although there is no danger to life or infrastructure on Earth, interruptions to HF radio
communications and even blackouts may have ensued on the sunlit side of Earth. The
sunspot region responsible, AR 3590, is rotating towards the center of the Sun’s disk, which
means it may emit a more Earth-directed eruption as it continues to evolve.
Any of the more worrisome effects on Earth are usually produced by a coronal mass ejection,
or CME. X-class flares are the most powerful flares on the scale. At their worst, they can trigger
wide-scale communications blackouts and cause damage to satellites, but both the NOAA and
the UK Met Office report that the most recent flare activity poses no threat to Earth.
Scientists think we are very close to solar maximum right now
Each solar cycle is different, and predicting how they will go is not easy. We’re currently in the
25th solar cycle since counting began. Solar cycle 24 was a pretty quiet, subdued one, and
scientists thought 25 would probably go the same way. However, it has been far stronger than
official forecasts initially predicted. Meanwhile, we have likely not heard the last of AR 3590.
The sunspot region is very magnetically complex, with features that are consistent with a high
likelihood of the reconnection of magnetic field lines. This is the process that unleashes the
torrent of energy and plasma known as a solar flare. And maybe we’ll even get a mild CME,
sending just enough solar particles to generate strong, beautiful aurorae.
— sciencealert.com (Michelle Starr – 23 Feb, 2024)
4. Packet Radio on board the ISS reported active again
From our team members at NASA:
You might want to give a listen on 145.825 as it appears that the D710GA has been
reinstalled and is now active with packet operations.
— ariss website follow ARISS on mastodon https://mastodon.hams.social/@ARISS_Intl
This concludes this week’s bulletin. Does anyone require repeats or clarifications?
Hearing none, This is V_3___ returning the frequency to net control.
Bulletin sent from Official Bulletin Manager VA3PC
RAC Ontario Sections Bulletin for February 24, 2024
