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VK7AX > BCAST 28.02.20 01:57z 390 Lines 23452 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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From: VK7AX@VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC
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Text edition: VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 23 February 2020
(Note.. please remove spaces in email addresses before using)
VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 2020
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Welcome to the VK7 Amateur Radio News for the 16th February 2020. This broadcast is brought to you by VK7WI, and read today by Idris, VK7ZIR.
This broadcast utilises repeaters around VK7 and the following HF rebroadcast stations:
On 3.670 MHz by Garry, VK7JGD
On 7.140 MHz by Ross, VK7ALH
On 14.130 MHz by Mike, VK7FB
On 28.525 MHz by Tony, VK7VKT
On DMR Talk Group 5 and D-Star Reflector 091 by Clayton, VK7ZCR
This broadcast is repeated on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on
repeaters VK7RAA in the North and VK7RTC in the South.
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Call to Action:
Future of Amateur Radio Poll #1
When the foundation license was made available in the mid 2000's a decision was taken at the time to create a 4 letter callsign that would distinctly identify foundation users.
This callsign - colloquially known as a F call has remained in existence from this time.
Recent changes to the License Conditions Determination (LCD) have permitted operators with foundation licenses to operate digital modes.
One of the challenges that has been created is that a number of the digital modes require, by design, a callsign that does not exceed 6 characters.
The current call has 7.
This has resulted in a situation whereby foundation licensees are unable to fully leverage the new license conditions in the manner that was intended by the updates to the LCD.
The WIA predicted this challenge in our joint response to the ACMA LCD consultation process in August 2019.
During the process of developing the joint submission to the ACMA a number of key issues were considered prior to making the recommendations that were made in this submission.
* The purpose of callsigns
* The demonstrated negative social impact associated with the existing F call arrangement e.g. Callsign discrimination
* Changes in technology over the past 15 years
* The social benefit of various options presented
Selection Criteria:
It is the view of the Wireless Institute of Australia that any callsign changes should:
* Permit the use of all digital modes by foundation users
* Conform to the international Amateur Radio Service 6-character callsign format
* Encourage inclusive behaviour within Amateur Radio.
* Be aligned with the WIA's call sign for life vision
* Permit simple implementation without significant cost or new administrative processes
* Present no material impact to other operators quiet enjoyment of the amateur service.
* Scale to support amateurs into the future
This document describes the options that have been presented for resolving this matter and the issues associated with each option contemplated in these terms.
WIA Recommendation:
Having reviewed the available options, there is only one proposed option that achieves a positive outcome across all the above selection criteria. This is Option 1, as described in detail below.
Why: The WIA is of the view that the best balance of objectives is achieved through the removal of all class based callsign allocations (prefixes) for both foundation and other callsigns.
Note 1: The historical reasons for the use of prefixes (Z, Y, F etc.) no longer exist. The information that is embedded in the callsign in terms of license class is readily available through public databases.
Note 2: Option 1 does not imply that a current foundation license holder needs to change their current callsign - it is entirely at the discretion of the individual to retain their existing 7-character F call or not.
Please take a moment to read through the attached PDF information pack which relates to the Foundation Licence Callsign Structure.
All WIA members will be invited to participate in the Poll. Non-WIA members may register to participate in the poll by registering at the following address poll.wia.org.au
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WANTED
Clayton, VK7ZCR is looking for a copy of the Philips TX815 repeater manual.
You can give him a call on 0466 588 193
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QSL NEWS
Report - from Herman VK7HW Manager of the WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
As mentioned over several broadcasts, Herman VK7HW has recently delivered any long stored and unclaimed QSL Cards to the WIA Head Office for archiving.
On checking call signs in Call Books, QRZ.COM and against the ACMA Database, a significant number were not listed in any.
The current list of Cards held is included in the email version of the broadcast.
Please contact Herman if you can assist in delivery of any of the cards in your area.
If you have any questions re QSL cards, please contact Herman by email vk7bureau @ wia.org.au
73, Herman, VK7HW, WIA Manager VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
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AA, AAA, AB, ABY, AC, AL, AM, AP, AV
BA, BB, BM, BP
CC, CH, CJ, CV, CX
DD, DG, DK, DX
EK
FALX, FAZZ, FG, FGGT, FJFJ, FLAR, FOTR, FTAS
GA, GH, GL, GZ
HCH, HRW, HVK, HZ
IK, IS
JB, JJ, JJJ, JON, JP, JW
KBA, KD, KJ, KK, KRJ, KX
LAZ, LCW, LDH, LF, LH, LM, LW
MAG, MBD, MBP, MD(dm), ME, MHZ, MI, ML
NA, NC, NET, NMH, NRF, NSE, NTE, NWQ,
OK, OR, OT
PAL, PSJ, PW
RG
SV
TCE, TED, TK, TR, TU, TX
VAC, VAZ, VKV, VR, VZ
WA, WC, WT
XDM
YAD
ZA, ZCK, ZE, ZJJ, ZM, ZT, ZX, ZZ
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH WEST
CHAT and SHOW GROUP
Hello to our group.
On March 7th it will be the next group gathering at the Penguin Sports Centre, Ironcliffe Road, Penguin and it will commence at 2pm and is open to local members as well as visitors to our State if in Penguin on that day.
The aim of the group is to create interaction and friendship between operators, whether a club member anywhere or not, from any location. Just a meet and greet day with some other activities supplied by group members. So, if you have anything you would like to show, or you have made or collected something, bring it along, or, if there is a subject you would like to discuss, come along and join us.
I do ask for a small offering of food for afternoon tea from every one and I provide tea and coffee.
So, drop in any time from 2pm until 5pm, though getting there for the start will ensure you are less likely to miss any talks given. The doors do remain open until 6pm if necessary, but drop in until 5 is so that any late arrivals have time to chat.
Cheers from Shirl VK7HSC
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News from the North
SOTA and WWFF Parks and Reserves Group
Meeting times are from 10:30am on Monday and Friday At Glebe Gardens Cafe, 166 Henry St, Launceston.
For more details contact Al on Mobile: 0417 354 410.
(73, Al, VK7AN)
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Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club Incorporated
www.ntarc.net
I must have blinked because another week has passed and it's nearly the end of February already. Life is hectic at present with much mowing on the property to do. The days just seem to quickly fade away and the nights seem to go even quicker, must be a sign I am getting older.
While all that is going on in a blurr, nothing much seems to have happened on the news front, or at least if anything has happened, nobody has let your scribe into the secret. So, after years of trying unsuccessfully to spin straw into gold, we must today accept reality and therefore basically present a rehash of coming events.
We can report though that the coffee session on Friday morning saw a large attendance, with all being once again being well and truly entertained by our Entertainment Officer, Ebenezer VK7AT, who had us in stitches with his many jokes. Morning tea was a rehearsal for the March meeting with healthy wraps and a fruit platter, but we did put out a cake for the sweet toothed ones. It was a great morning tea, thoroughly enjoyed by all and indeed, many complemented us on the fare.
Technical sessions resumed last Wednesday 19th March and so will hand it over to Idris VK7ZIR to give you a rundown of events of the night;
“The evening began with the installation of a vent through the floor for our portable heat pump. It's a cooling only model so it wasn't needed on these cool nights at present, but, another job done.
Peter VK7KPC brought along his Codan portable SSB transceiver model 6924B in its own metal carry container with telescopic whip antenna. It was powered from a very nice Lithium deep cycle 12V 7.5Ah battery, which was amazingly light. The Codan was also set up with an APRS TNC and GPS antenna.
Idris VK7ZIR had two AWA MR6A car phones modified for 6 meters. The covers were off so the large complement of valves could be seen. It has been said that you should not transmit unless the engine was running, such was the current drain on the battery, even though they only put out 10 watts. Power connection was by the dreaded Jones connector and Idris only has one such cable, but was unable to find it. So it was a static display.
Peter VK7ZPE showed us a Yaesu VX-5R tri-band hand held, very compact and submersible with a Mil Spec rating. Just the thing for use with the recently installed 6m repeater. Peter also described and showed pictures of a RF choke he had made using RG58 coax, coiled inside a length of PVC drain pipe. Very elegant Peter, and completely weather protected.
Discussions ranged from Colin VK7ZCF on radio shack earthing techniques to Bernie VK7BR on collimating radio beams. All interesting stuff.
We also had a quantity of surplus analogue TV studio and RF equipment from WIN TV studios in Kings Meadows for members to pick from. WIN is moving operations into Launceston CBD with smaller premises so had to downsize. Thanks go to WIN Network Engineering Manager Anthony VK2ZTC who was in Tasmania for the job, and contacted us.
That's all for this week.
73 Idris VK7ZIR
Thanks Idris, good news about the installation of the air conditioner and yes, we will be ready for those warmer nights. If the evening temperatures continue dropping at the current rate Skywarmer will most likely be put into action by the end of March. That would be very early, even for any remaining climate change sceptics among us.
2020 Membership renewals - I know that I said several times over recent weeks that I would get final notices out but somehow life just seemed to just get in the way. This week I will redouble efforts to send out a final reminder notice to those who haven't as yet renewed their 2020 membership. Why are we worrying about this? Well, your membership for 2019 expired on 31st December and if you haven't yet renewed, your name now appears on the membership register as an unfinancial member. It will remain as such on that register until renewed or until 30 June, when your name must be removed if your annual subscription remains unpaid at that date.
In the interim, a reminder that NTARC's 2020 membership fees are $35.00 for a Full voting member and $5 additional for each Family member that the voting member wishes to add to his or her primary membership..
Coming events
Technical session - The next session will be on Wednesday 26th February and will commence at the usual time of 7.30 pm, running through to 10.30 pm, at the Club room Archer Street, Rocherlea. Pop in catch up with fellow amateurs, bring along something that you are currently building or just ask questions? You might also be able to answer some from other attendees. That is what the evenings are all about, anything of a technical or near-technical nature, however defined, is fair game. Endless tea and coffee along with biscuits is available for a small gold coin donation.
Shack clearance auction - Saturday 29th February. Final reminder about this event. This event is not only a shack clearance but also a Deceased estate auction. The last day for viewing was Friday 21st March and a few of us will be busy in coming days cataloguing it all and in some cases, determining a reserve to be applied, all in readiness for the forthcoming auction. Viewing on auction day will commence at 10.00 am with the auction to commence at noon. Auctioneer on the day will be Nic VK7BEE.
March general meeting - Saturday 14th will be a BBQ meeting but wait, we will not be having a BBQ but instead we will be having sandwiches, fruit and cheese platters. We thought a change from BBQs would be nice. NTARC will provide all the fare for the lunch which will commence at noon. The cost will be the normal $10.00 per person and this covers your lunch and afternoon tea. The meeting will follow at 2.00pm. As always, we ask for donations of cakes, slices and other delights to share at afternoon tea. For those just attending the meeting and afternoon tea it would be appreciated if you could make a small gold coin or note donation.
Coffee mornings - are normally held every Monday and Friday in the NTARC Club rooms and are now back in full swing. Catch up time is from 10.00 am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all.
Please remember that aside from the good company, freely offered philosophical views, maybe less than expert political analysis, tall tales and funny stories by our Entertainment Officer Ebenezer VK7AT and genuinely good fare on offer, these coffee events are normally a good opportunity to collect your QSL cards. Currently though we have no cards awaiting collection.
As I remind all every week, please demonstrate your appreciation of all the effort that goes into operating the club and its facilities and the other services we provide, by joining us at these sessions, enjoying the company, coffee and the cake and leaving a gold coin or two, or even a small bank note, in the jar to assist in our on-going operations. I don't know of any other venue in Launceston, or further afield for that matter, where you can get endless coffee, tea and eats for a donation of this miniscule amount.
Finally
A reminder to all members that if you have any items of news you would like added to our weekly roundup, then please email them to the following address
ntarc.emails @ gmail.com
However, it would be appreciated if any news could be sent no later than 17:00 hours on the Friday prior to broadcast, to allow its timely insertion into the NTARC segment.
That gives all a chance to get the NTARC segment together and off to Hobart in time for collation into the VK7 Broadcast. Your continued cooperation in this regard will be gratefully appreciated.
As always, I look forward to seeing you at Rocherlea.
73, Yvonne VK7FYMX, Secretary NTARC Incorporated
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NEWS FROM THE SOUTH
Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
www.reast.asn.au
REAST Annual General Meeting
The REAST AGM was held last Sunday the 16th February 2020 at the Queen's Domain Clubrooms with a good roll-up. The order of business was efficiently executed with members receiving reports from the officers and ex-officio office bearers. Then the members received and accepted the accounts of the association. The Public Officer then informed the meeting of the nominations received and the following office bearers were duly elected – President Justin VK7TW, Vice-President Hayden VK7HH, Treasurer David VK7FABE, Secretary & Public Officer Tony VK7VKT and Committee Members Larry VK7WLH and Richard VK7ZBX.
The following ex-officio positions were filled - Repeater Officer Damien VK7SD, Education Officer Reg VK7KK, QSL & Awards Officer Herman VK7HW, Clubrooms Officer Paul VK7FPCL and IT Officer Ben VK7BEN. The positions of Historian and Events & Presentations Officer are vacant and so, if you are interested then please approach one of the committee members.
There was a unanimous vote of thanks for the work of the previous committee.
There was a vote take not to externally audit the accounts and Martin VK7GN agreed to stand as internal auditor, thanks Martin.
The AGM closed at 11:35am and we fired up the BBQ for lunch.
(REAST Committee)
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DATV Experimenter's Night Wrap-Up
We had a huge night of experimenting which started in the studio with Rex VK7MO and what is a Radiosonde and what is an ionosonde. Rex even bought along some early examples of radiosondes - they are the ones that trail under a hydrogen balloon and record different atmospheric conditions as they ascend through the atmosphere. This also included a reference in the Bureau of Meterology history which contains a reference to Rex being the radiosonde king back in the 1960 and 70s. Thanks Rex.
Rex and Hayden VK7HH then presented a great powerpoint presentation on a recent 144MHz opening to ZL and the findings for that opening. Using the WSPR beacon from ZL1SIX both Rex and Hayden were able to receive the beacon for over 24 hours. Hepburn showed only a continuous green patch meaning medium intensity tropospheric ducting prediction between VK7 and ZL. The beacon was received by Hayden at his remote site well above 0dB on the WSPR scale. Rex showed a small duct in Auckland and an exceptionally strong duct around 1000m in Hobart from the radiosonde data at each location. Thanks Rex and Hayden.
Ron Cullen then showed his 5.8GHz tracking rig to receive the audio visual and telemetry stream from his radio controlled aircraft. Ron had recently perfected the electronics and mechanics and was using a diversity receiver with both a 5.8GHz patch antenna and a omnidirectional circular polarised clover leaf that he had made. Ron used a very impressive flight simulator to simulate a flight with the plane and the tracking rig followed the simulated plane in the studio. Fantastic work Ron, thanks for the demo and we hope the test flights go to plan.
Larry VK7WLH and Rex, our resident "Time Nuts" talk about Network Time Protocol (NTP) services and the alignment of PC clocks to assist in the weak signal communications modes. Larry show the very impressive time tolerance in the order of 0.005 or 5 millisec for the PC clock. Why do you need this accuracy? Well if you are running the WSJT QRA modes for EME you need better than 1 second out. If you are exactly (0.1 second) on frequency with a WSJT DT of zero, then you will get sync, and if you are waiting on a weak signal - getting sync can be very encouraging. Thanks Larry and Rex.
We then had a quick review of the Summer VHF/UHF field day results with Richard VK7ZBX and Rex VK7MO. We went through the results and VK7 participation. It was still a little disappointing to see that there were 37 VK7 who participated however there was only 20 logs put into the contest manager! We went through Justin VK7TW's error log to see what you can learn for future field days and the message was check check check that the grid locator for both ends of the contact is correct. We also took a look at Justin's recently built 23cm Preamplifier. Thanks Richard and Rex.
Justin then did a promo for the new Tecsun Radio Australia website and the fact that Tecsun Australia are selling the Chinese Xiegu G90 amateur transceiver covering 160-10m with 20w and is an SDR transceiver.
It was great to see Jet VK7FJET who came along with some cable goodies which very rapidly disappeared into attendees, thanks Jet.
Reminder that these night are streamed and the stream is recorded and made available straight after the night on the REAST Hobart YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0WR_lQuNP8
We get back underway this week with more projects including the 23cm power-up projects and many many more. Do you have a project you contemplating, doing, completed or otherwise, bring it along and brag about it!
We go out on RF on 445.5MHz DVB-T 7MHz Standard Definition. So, if you have a TV, Set-top box or USB DTV Dongle that you can tune and scan 445.5MHz and you can see the Queens Domain, then you have a good chance of receiving the DATV Experimenter's Night Signal. Look out for VK7OTC. We also stream the nights on the REAST YouTube channel and Facebook.
https://www.reast.asn.au/special-interest-groups/amateur-tv/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC64To_tq1E7PfK1pqtX_vRw/
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
We get underway with the DATV Experimenter's Night from 7:30pm.
We look forward to seeing you there.
73, Justin, VK7TW
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Regular VK7 gatherings and events over the coming months:
Regular gatherings:
SOTA Group - Monday and Friday Coffee Sessions from 10:30am at Glebe Gardens Cafe 166 Henry St, Launceston
NTARC - Monday and Friday Coffee Sessions from 10am, Technical Sessions on Wednesdays from 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm in the clubrooms Archer Street, Rocherlea, Launceston.
REAST - Wednesday Night Experimenters Group from 1930 in the Queens Domain clubrooms.
REAST - MICROWAVE QSO Party - following after the Sunday broadcast on 1296.15 MHz FM.
Events:
NTARC - February 29 - Shack clearance auction – viewing from 10am then Auction from 12 noon. Rocherlea Clubrooms.
NW Chat and Show Group - March 7 - Penguin Sports Centre, Ironcliffe Road, Penguin from 2pm
WIA - 21st-22nd March 2020 - John Moyle Memorial Field Day from UTC 0100 on the Saturday to 0059 on the Sunday.
http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/johnmoyle/
NTARC - Saturday March 14 - General meeting at Rocherlea Clubrooms.
Meet the Voice - 22 March at Ross Recreational Ground
http://meetthevoice.org/meet-the-voice
WIA - Annual Conference weekend of 8-10 May 2020
https://www.wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/2020agm/
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A reminder to those people rostered for next week's broadcast:
Newsreader: VK7FB
Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and Spectrum Tasmania
80m: VK7TPE
40m: VK7JGD
20m: VK7ALH
10m: VK7VKT
DMR: Talk Group 5 and
D-Star: Reflector 091 VK7ZCR
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This broadcast is repeated on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RAA in the North and VK7RTC in the South.
Thanks to all people and organisations that assisted with this broadcast.
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That concludes our VK7 Amateur Radio News Broadcast for this week.
You have been listening to VK7WI or have just missed. Next week the National WIA news can be heard at 0900 followed by the VK7 Amateur Radio News at 0930 hours.
Items for the broadcast can be emailed to vk7arnews @ gmail.com
Further information about the broadcast can be found at the VK7 Amateur Radio News Groups.IO Group.
https://groups.io/g/vk7arnews
The deadline for items is 21:00 on Friday prior to the Sunday of the broadcast.
VK7WI is now closing but will reopen shortly for callbacks and relay reports. Callbacks will be taken on the frequency to which you are listening. Relay stations will use their own callsigns during the callback.
From the VK7 Amateur Radio News, it is 73 from Idris, VK7ZIR.
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(Posted to the packet network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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