About VE6DOK
VE6DOK is the educational side of the VE6CV station in Lethbridge, Alberta: a free learning site for operators who want to understand not just what works in radio, but why.
The station behind the site
VE6DOK is run by Gary Wheeler, VE6CV. Gary was first licensed in 1995, and his original callsign was VE6DOK. He later upgraded to the two-letter call VE6CV, and when he put up his first repeater, the VE6DOK call moved to the repeater, where it still lives.
Over the years the station has grown to include more repeaters, an APRS iGate and an air-quality monitoring station, each with its own callsign.
The callsigns you’ll hear
- VE6CV: Gary’s own on-air callsign.
- VE6DOK: the Lethbridge repeater on 442.075 MHz (+5 MHz offset, no tone), FM and Wires-X, and the name of this site.
- VE6YQL: the APRS iGate, passing local APRS packets to the internet.
- VA6YQL: the air-quality monitoring station.
- VE6JIM: a DMR repeater, coming soon.
On the air and online
- Net control, Maritime Mobile Service Network: Gary is a net control station for the MMSN on 14.300 MHz (20 m), which keeps track of boaters and travellers and handles their traffic. See mmsn.org.
- ISED Accredited Examiner: Gary gives amateur radio exams and can arrange them in the Lethbridge area. See Getting Your Licence.
- Mobile HF Ham Radio Operators: a Facebook group of about 2,400 members for operators running HF from vehicles, RVs and the field. Join the group.
- Lethbridge and area Weather Watchers: Gary’s Facebook group for local weather observations, the community side of West Lethbridge Weather. Join the group.
What this site is built to do
Many amateur radio resources are either too simple to help in real-world operation, or so technical that practical operators struggle to apply them. VE6DOK aims for the middle: readable enough that a beginner can move forward, and deep enough that an experienced operator still finds something new.
It treats radio, feedline, antenna, grounding, noise, propagation and operating habits as connected parts of one system. So instead of stopping at “your SWR is fine,” it asks whether the antenna is actually radiating, whether the band suits the job, and whether the noise is the real problem.
Where to start
- New to radio? Start with What Is Amateur Radio? and Getting Your Licence.
- Already licensed? Check PropMap, then the Antennas section.
- Want to be ready when things fail? See Preparedness.
VE6DOK is part of the Lethbridge network, alongside West Lethbridge Weather and Lethbridge Weather, and is powered by Dok-Tor Harddrive Inc.
Last updated October 2026.