So what do I get for my $50?

This is a great question. After all, $50 is $50. It’s a dinner out with the XYL. It’s a new battery for the handi-talkie. It’s a new multi-meter.

So what happens to my $50 once I send in my Radio Amateurs of Canada membership? Okay I get the magazine. The Canadian Amateur is a 76-page glossy magazine that comes every two months. The Section News pages alone provide a window into the amount of amateur radio activity happening across Canada. If you’re reading the Section News, you know that ham radio is alive and well across the country.

So what’s my $50 buying me?

(And before I begin, forgive me for any omissions but let me know by email if I neglected your favourite RAC activity.)

Here’s a short list (in no particular order):

• RAC volunteers provides liaison with government agencies
• RAC represents Canadian amateur interests with government and industry leaders
• RAC is the Canadian voting member society registered with the International Amateur Radio Union
• RAC, through its Field Organization of eight sections provides public and emergency services to the citizens of Canada
• RAC runs the Amateur Radio Emergency Service which is one of the most active branches of the organization
  
• RAC through the National Traffic System provides a communications and training service
• RAC disseminates information vital to Canadian amateurs through the Official Bulletin Service
• RAC runs the Official Observer Service to encourage the traditional high standards of operating by all Canadian amateurs
• RAC, under its Field Services, operates the Regional Amateur Radio Alert Network (RARAN)
• RAC maintains a Members’ Only Section on the RAC website
• RAC’s Public Service Honour Roll identifies and acknowledges the great work done by so many volunteers on our behalf
• RAC sponsors a series of RAC operating awards for various contests and activities
• RAC has been granted authority by the ARRL to check qualifications of candidates for DXCC
• RAC’s band-planning committee coordinates the development of national band plans
• RAC maintains the database of Canadian amateurs
• RAC maintains a series of free Internet-based member services
• RAC’s Canadian Amateur Radio Advisory Board is a joint committee of RAC members and staff of the Radio Regulatory Branch of Industry Canada
• RAC offers an insurance program for its members and affiliated clubs
• RAC has negotiated a special license plate for amateur radio operators in Ontario
• RAC volunteers operate the RAC QSL Bureau (This service alone repays many times some member’s membership costs.)
• RAC maintains a list of some 3,500 Canadian Silent Keys
• RAC has an online catalogue of RAC (and ARES) promotional pamphlets suitable for download in PDF format
• RAC sponsors the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame
• RAC established the RAC Affiliated Club Program
• RAC’s Canada Day and Winter Contests are popular on-air annual events
• RAC sponsors the RAC Radio Amateur of the Year award
• RAC maintains an online introduction to amateur radio for non hams

And there’s a ton of really worthwhile activities that I may have missed like The Canadian Defence of Amateur Radio Fund and an online list of events, fleamarkets and hamfests. There’s information about the very popular Scouts and the Jamboree On The Air annual event. Here’s a page of links for the VHF, UHF, Microwave and Moonbounce operators. There’s the always busy RAC Store. And the vital-to-our-future Youth Education Program. And finally, to give the ladies the last mention, the YL Page.

So is that all my $50 gets me? Nope. Your $50 makes you eligible to volunteer and help grow the amateur radio community in Canada.

To paraphrase John Kennedy’s famous quote: “Ask not what your RAC can do for you…“