| President | Rob Haddow VE3RXH | president@ovmrc.ca |
Rob Haddow's passion for radio started during his High School days when he built a Heathkit SW717 shortwave receiver in 1983 and he went on to study Electronics Systems Engineering at University. He served as an Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Officer in the Army for 35 years, retiring in 2021.
Rob joined the amateur radio airwaves as VE3RXH in May 2017 and passed his Advanced certificate in January 2019. He has made it his mission to dabble in as many areas of amateur radio as possible and is making great progress so far! He has activated peaks in Canada, the UK and Iceland under the SOTA banner; activated parks in Canada, the US and the UK under the POTA banner; made satellite QSOs; operated APRS including APRS messaging, used digital voice and many of the digital data modes; taken part in the Club’s Field Day activities; managed traffic as the Net Control station for the OVMRC 2m net; homebrewed antennas; supported public service events such as the Canadian Ski Marathon and Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour; worked QRP and is currently learning Morse Code.
Radio-Orienteering or ARDF brings together two of his favourite pastimes, the sport of orienteering and amateur radio. Rob has taken part in the last two US Radio-Orienteering championships and brought home three Bronze medals out of four events in 2023. Rob is involved with the Ottawa ARDF group, the New Hams Ottawa group and put together the hardware and software for the satellite station at Carleton University and used during the 'Youth on the Air' Americas' camp held in July 2023.
Ham radio has plenty more new challenges to offer, so he won’t be stopping his quest anytime soon! Rob has been a member of RAC and the OVMRC since he became a ham. He succeeded Norm Rashleigh as the Club Vice-President in 2023 and became President in 2025.
| Vice-President | Russ Pastuch VE3FSN/VE3YOW | vicepresident@ovmrc.ca |
Russ Pastuch was first licenced as radio amateur by the "Department of Communications" in 1975 with the call sign VE3FSN. He obtained his Advanced Amateur certificate in 1976. Morse code proficiency had to be demonstrated for both qualification levels at 10 and 15 wpm respectively. In those by gone days you lived in fear that “The Radio Inspector” may show up at any time and want to inspect your setup.
Russ was involved in the setting up of the first amateur radio course, while a member of the OVMRC, and continued to participate as a teacher until 1991.
During his 35-year career in the Federal Civil Service, he worked in DND, installing everything from telephone systems to radio equipment to microwave systems to fibre optic links. He then moved to Customs and Border service and installed radio systems there. He ended his career, retiring in 2010 from Corrections, where he installed security, radio and communications systems.
Russ was quite active in his early amateur radio career, serving as President and Technical Adviser for the OVMRC. He also helped set up the VE3TWO repeater, through several iterations, right down to etching PCBs, for the control circuitry., in the basement Family and other obligations got in the way and Russ basically went silent in 1991.
Russ has now decided to actively get back into the hobby, as the kids have left home and things have quieted down. The station equipment consists of an Anytone 578 DMR VHF/UHF triband mobile/base, a TYT VHF/UHF triband handheld, Dentron 4V vertical, a brand new FT-911A and POTA antenna.
Russ is a member of the Radio Amateurs of Canada and Life Member of the ARRL.
| Director at Large | Pat Brewer VE3KJQ | director@ovmrc.ca |
Pat was first licensed as VE3KJQ in 1979, and currently holds an Advanced Certification with 12 WPM Morse Code. He also holds land, sea, and air Restricted Radio Operators Certifications.
Pat is retired after a 35year career with CTV Ottawa as a senior video editor.
His interest in amateur radio started with shortwave listening on his father’s old multiband radio in Toronto. After graduation from Ryerson with a degree in Broadcasting, and a later work transfer to CTV Ottawa, he enrolled in an amateur radio course at Algonquin College, finally getting his amateur certificate in 1979.
QRP operation is Pat’s main activity, as well as participating in local 2 metre nets. Most QRP operation involves contesting from the home station, but also casual portable operation. Pat has DXCC, WAS Triple Play (cw, ssb, and digital), WAS QRP, a WPX award, and several QRP distance awards from QRP Club International.
Pat is a member and Past-President of the OVMRC. He is also a member of the OARC, Ottawa Valley QRP Society, RAC, ARRL, QCWA (Life Member), and the QRP Club International.
| Treasurer | Nicole Boivin VE3GIQ | treasurer@ovmrc.ca |
| Secretary | Donald VA3ZZI | secretary@ovmrc.ca |
Donald was interested in all things electronics in his school years in the 1970’s. He learned about short waves, and amateur radio and became very interested. His first radio was a kit built Radio Shack Science Fair regenerative short wave receiver. This was a 3 transistor radio that the user assembled on an included perf board. He started college before he could master Morse Code that was needed to obtain an amateur radio license at the time.
After graduating from Algonquin College’s 3 year Electronics Technology course Donald went on to a 39 year career working with computer hardware of all kinds. In the 1980’s he began his career by repairing “mini computers” which were considered very high tech at the time. Over the next 4 decades he kept updating his skills by learning and working on the latest computer technology as things rapidly evolved. He worked on many things such as data storage, ethernet, data comm devices, hubs, switches, routers, firewalls, PBX systems, VOIP, firewalls, automotive radio modem systems and a whole lot more,
He took his retirement in early 2020 just a few weeks before COVID appeared on the scene. Today his favourite answer to people looking for help with their computer problems is “Now that I am retired, I don’t touch garbage made by MicroSoft!!”
His interest in amateur radio was renewed in the summer of 2023 when he was given a book titled “Ham Radio for Dummies”. After 4 weeks of studying Canadian amateur licensing material he wrote the exam and obtained the “Basic with Honours” certificate. He became a member of RAC and the OVMRC shortly after.
Donald’s radios are an Icom 7300 set up in the home shack with a 41 foot long wire antenna across the back yard, a 2 meter hand held Baofeng, and for POTA work a Xiegu G90 with ham stick and long wire antennas.
Donald’s long term goal with amateur radio is to be active in retirement and keep learning new things in the world of radios and electronics.
Standing Committee Chairs
| Radio Course and Examiner | Norm Rashleigh VE3LC | club.examiner@ovmrc.ca HOIP CDN# (450) 101890 HOIP US# (557) 102734 |
| Membership | Nicole Boivin VE3GIQ | membership@ovmrc.ca |
| Repeater and Technical | Barry Allison VE3NA | barry.allison@rogers.com |
| Net Radio Operations | Hugo Kneve VE3KTN | ve3ktn@myrac.ca |
| Newsletter Editor | Alan Hotte VA3IAH | editor@ovmrc.ca HOIP CDN# (450) 700729 HOIP US# (557) 102734 |
| Webmaster and Social Media | Adam Bird VA3IRD | web@ovmrc.ca |
| Groups.io Moderator | Michael Babineau VE3WMB |