Amateur Radio Station VE3CWM

(VE3 Cold War Museum)

Located in the Emergency Radio Room on the 400 level, VE3CWM recreates the amateur radio facility which operated from 1982 through to the end of the bunker's active military service in 1994, under the call sign VE3GOC (Government of Canada). Amateur radio offers a vital emergency communications capability for keeping in touch with otherwise isolated communities during times of emergency. Radio systems operating on short-wave continue to provide medium to long range communications when telephone lines, satellite ground stations and cellular base stations are destroyed by enemy action or natural disasters. The Diefenbunker's amateur radio station was equipped with VHF and HF equipment for local and long range emergency communications.

Antennas are connected via a number of coax hard-lines resurrected from the military service days and extending to ground level 25 ft. above the Emergency Radio Room. The original antennas were removed when the bunker was decommissioned and the cable connections cut off at ground level. One our first activities was locating useable antenna connections by matching the residual above ground stubs to a group of cables terminated in a panel above the suspended ceiling of the radio room. Most of the cables run to the base of the 180 ft. tower, which now provides a handy anchor for some of VE3CWM's antennas. Hugh Pett VE3FFL initiated the cable location exercise and was instrumental in establishing VE3CWM, ably assisted by Brian VE3UU.

The left hand bays of the blue rack in the picture below house a Yaesu FT-902 DM HF transceiver complete with monitor scope, phone patch, and Dentron antenna tuner; all of these being original bunker hardware. A Yaesu FL 2100B linear amplifier was recently added, bringing the HF radio complement very close to its VE3GOC configuration. The right hand bay houses one of the Pye VHF transceivers that were used typically for local communications with emergency centers in Arnprior, Carleton Place and Perth. Also in this bay are mounted a 2 M FM transceiver and a Collins 2050 communications receiver. The grey rack on the left houses a RCA AR88 receiver.

Projects

Other projects involve the acquisition and restoration of representative cold war era receivers and transmitters for display in the "Transmitter Room", adjacent to the Emergency Radio Room on the 400 level. Shown here is a collection of Hammrlund SP-600, Racal RA-17, Collins 2050 and other receivers representing the equipment that provided the mainstay of the bunker's listening capability over its operational lifetime. In fact, in order to disguise the primary function of the bunker during its construction phase, the bunker was referred to in offical communications as the "receiver building".

We have also acquired several Marconi TH-41 5 kW HF transmitters in addition to several AN/FRT-502 VHF transmitters which, although not original bunker equipment, are typical of the HF and VHF communications equipment in use on the Dew and Pinetree Lines during the bunker's early operational period. The BC-610 Transmitter and National NC-2-40D receiver are examples of WWII communications equipment still in widespread use during the early days of the bunker's operational life.


BC610, NC2-40D
TH-41 RF Deck
VE3UU and the AN/FRT 502's

 

Antennas

VE3CWM antennas are located above the bunker with a clear "take-off" in most directions from the well elevated site, and include the following:

Clearly we have plenty of potential for improving the antenna situation and we plan to make much better use of the tower, particularly for low band DX and VHF antennas. However the tower is also used for a variety of commercial VHF and microwave services, and we do have to maintain electromagnetic compatibility with these operations (they bring in useful tower rental revenue!). During the 2009 RAC Winter Contest, VE3CWM hosted the Ottawa Amateur Radio Clubs's contest station, and for this we erected a temporary 80 m sloping dipole and a 20 m wire dipole, both supported from the tower.

We are always looking for enthusiastic volunteers to help with operating, maintaining and upgrading VE3CWM. Contact the Diefenbunker administration or Nick VE3OWV on 613 832 4462 (nshepherd@storm.ca) or Brian VE3UU on 613 839 1810 (Brian@ve3uu.com). For comments on the contents of this web page please contact Nick.