About Manotick Amateur Radio Group & VE3RIX

History of M.A.R.G.

The Rideau Township village of Manotick, which is located about 20 KMs south of Ottawa along the picturesque Rideau waterway was founded in 1854 by Moss Dickinson. The first industry there was a grain mill (now a museum), built on the western shore of the river. The name "Manotick" is an Indian word meaning "island in the river", the island being the one that lies between the grain mill and the eastern shore.

Manotick celebrated it's 125th birthday in June 1984. The township decided to celebrate the event in a big way, and planned many activities for the first Saturday in June. This has since become an annual affair, known as "Dickinson Day" While plans were being made for that first big event, a few of the local radio amateurs (Bill VE3GPR, Gord VE3KKL and John VE3HRJ) discussed how they might help celebrate the event, and they decided to ask the Department of Communications for a special callsign prefix to commemorate the occasion. D.O.C. obligingly assigned the prefix XL3 to Manotick area radio amateurs for the period of June 1st to 10th, 1984. Next, special QSL cards were ordered, and the P.O. Box 73 was obtained (what luck!).

With the participation of many of the local radio amateurs, a special event station was set up, using the call sign XL3HRJ. That first Dickinson Day went very well for all. More than 40 amateurs visited the special event station and many visitors stopped by the amateur radio display that was set up not far from the old grain mill.

The idea of forming some sort of local radio club came up often that day, and before you knew it, our inaugural meeting took place just 3 months later. We decided on the name Manotick Amateur Radio Group, and our first leader was Dave, VE3GEA (later VE3TS), who was one of the imports from nearby Osgoode Township. We attracted over 30 members that first year, and obtained the club callsign VE3AIR for field days and special events, (we still hold that callsign today).

In 1986 the group installed an open repeater southwest of Manotick to serve the area of Ottawa in the north and the New York State border in the south. At that time, one of our charter members (Dave VE3IX), had recently become a silent key, and we petitioned D.O.C. for a repeater callsign in his memory. D.O.C. policy prevented us from getting Dave's call but we came close when we were assigned VE3RIX. The repeater's output frequency is 145.450 Mhz negative offset, and covers Ottawa and the surrounding area.

Since the inception of the Manotick Amateur Radio Group, we have been involved in providing safety communications for several annual events, including the April's Jock River white water canoe race, the Manotick 10KM Fun Run in late summer, and various parades throughout the township. The Group has participated in many field days and often host a special events station, using VE3AIR, at the annual July fair that is held in the nearby village of Kars. In 1992, the Group hosted the Canada 125 contest, as we advertised in the TCA magazine. A special 3 colour commemorative certificate was designed by Bill VE3GPR and sent to those stations who applied for the award.

As posted in The Canadian Amateur Club Corner column by Dave VE3TS, and Bill VE3GPR - September 1993

Membership Info & Mailing Address

Membership is open to all licensed radio amateurs. Dues are $10 annually per person, or $15 per family due at the start of each calendar year. If you would like to support our club, simply send a cheque for the applicable amount to the below address:

Manotick Amateur Radio Group
c/o Mike Myers
2858 Prince of Wales Drive
Nepean, Ontario
K2C 3H1

Please be sure to provide the following info along with your payment, you may also wish to send an e-mail to the club president with this information.

• Name
• Call Sign
• Address
• Telephone Number
• Email address
• Qualifications
• Interests

Additionally, you are welcome to join us at one of our meetings or events where you can join and meet the other members.

Executive Team

• President: Mike - VA3MPM (Send E-mail)
• Vice President: Darrell - VA3RDC (Send E-mail)
• Treasurer: Bob - VA3SX (va3sx@rac.ca)
• Secretary: Darin - VE3OIJ (yet.another.squid@gmail.com)

Technical Team

• Repeater: Mike - VA3MPM (Send E-mail)
• Repeater: Sean - VE3HXP
• Website: Brian - VA3DXV (Send E-mail)
• Accredited Examiner: Mike - VA3MPM (Send E-mail)