In March 2012, the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) announced that it would split its Ontario Section into four new Sections “to create a management model that better communicates with, and represents the interests of, the overall Ontario amateur population.” The new Section boundaries go into effect as of September 1, 2012. On August 8, RAC Chief Field Services Officer Doug Mercer, VO1DTM/VO1DM, announced the new Section boundaries, names and abbreviations (see map below):

Ontario North (ONN)

• All of Northwest Ontario, including Manitoulin Island, Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands, Killarney, the cities of Greater Sudbury and North Bay and Nipissing District.

Ontario East (ONE)

• Algonquin Park, Renfrew, Hastings, Prince Edward, Haliburton, Peterborough and Northhumberland Counties, and the cities and counties to the east.

Greater Toronto Area (GTA)

• The City of Toronto and the Regions of Halton (including the City of Burlington), Peel, York and Durham.

Ontario South (ONS)

• Parry Sound District, the counties of Simcoe, Grey, Bruce, Dufferin, Wellington, the City of Hamilton, the Region of Niagara and the remainder of Southwestern Ontario.

“I am also thrilled to advise that all four Section Manager positions have been filled,” Mercer said. “I will circulate a formal introduction in the weeks to come.”

This new change will affect ARRL contests and Field Day in the following ways:

• For ARRL contests that use ARRL/RAC sections as multipliers -- the November Sweepstakes and the ARRL 160 Meter Contest -- there will be an overall increase of three available multipliers.
• ARRL contests that use US states and Canadian provinces as multipliers -- the ARRL RTTY Roundup, the ARRL International DX Contest and the ARRL 10 Meter Contest -- are unaffected by this change. ARRL VHF+ contests and the IARU HF Championships are also unaffected by this change.
• The first contest to be affected by the RAC administrative change will be the 2012 ARRL November Sweepstakes, which will now require 83 multipliers to achieve a Clean Sweep.
• ARRL Field Day does not use multipliers, but beginning in 2013, Ontario stations will send their new Section abbreviations as part of their exchanges.

According to Mercer, several vendors of logging and contest software have also announced changes, but some will not be effective until January 2013. He advised user to verify with your vendor well in advance of the upcoming contests.  -- Thanks to the RAC for the information