Board Members
Garvin Cole, VE6GFC, President. Garvin has been a licensed amateur since 2017 and has been active in all aspects of the hobby on the HF, VHF and UHF bands. He came to Calgary in 2021 in retirement. His career spanned sales, marketing and operations of high tech companies in the telecommunications, inter-networking and security spaces. Throughout his career he has serviced clients and built partnerships in both the Canadian and US markets. Garvin has always been involved and volunteered in community interests. These interests ranged from sport related to an active position within the board of directors for the Canadian charity Youth Flight Canada during its beginnings. His pursuit to expand his knowledge grew with his involvement in the mission of the society.
Wally Gardiner BA, B. Ed, VE6BGL, Vice President. Wally has been a licensed Amateur since 1977 and built the first VHF repeater in High River in the early 1980’s. He has worked in electronics maintenance and repair of RF devices, and technology instruction as well as being the Electronics lab supervisor at University of Alberta. He was part of the team that designed the Electronics curriculum for both the Province of Prince Edward Island and the Province of Alberta. He is a Fellow of the Nortel National Institute and winner of the Hilroy Prize for educational innovation. He was CEO of Gardiner Computer Consulting Inc, that designed and sold numerous custom interfaces and led the production of software for point of sale, heavy equipment dispatch management and security monitoring. Wally is a frequent contributor to a number of Amateur related periodicals and holds a Class A operator certificate.
Martin Alcock, M. Sc, MIEE VE6VH, Secretary and Chief Technology Officer. Martin has been a licensed amateur since 1977 and is the chief technology officer for the society. He completed the build out of the AREDN network in Alberta, Eastern BC and Montana and the deployment of the Meshphone PBX and servers, and has built several 900 MHz repeaters, developed digital linking software, and is also the founder of the IP400 project. His repeater work was published in CQ Amateur Radio in 2016, and he has been recognized by local Amateur clubs with two merit awards. He brings his professional experience of a 45 year career in mobile radio, cellular telephony, VLSI and FPGA design, as well as OFDM based data radios and cable modems to his project work, to advance the society into the digital age. He holds a Class A operator certificate.
Jerry Spring, B. Sc, VE6TL. Jerry has been a licenced amateur since 1973, and has enjoyed a 36 year career as a geophysicist until he retired in 2016. In 2004 he rediscovered the hobby and has been active in DXing, contesting, restoring vintage radios, microcontroller projects, digital communications, solar physics and propagation. He was also one of the first to adopt the AREDN network, and install a 5.7GHz link. Jerry has authored many articles and has been published in TCA, QST, QEX, Nuts and Volts, and also has a humourous side in his publication “Hogwash for Hamsters“. Jerry teaches basic and advanced amateur courses, and runs a website to help new amateurs achieve their goals. He holds a Class A operator certificate.
Greg Chabassol, VA6GAC, Director. Greg served in the military as a radio operator, and brings his expertise in managing traffic and messages to the society. He was recently licensed and holds a class “B’ certificate with honours. Greg was a founding member of the society.
Meetings
The board meets quarterly to ensure proper governance of the Society. The last meeting was held on June 4th in Calgary. Minutes of the meeting are available to members on request.
The next board meeting will be held in September of this year, and the Annual General meeting will be held in November, dates to be confirmed. Meetings for 2026 are planned for January, April, July and September.