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VK7AX > BCAST 26.09.21 04:29z 408 Lines 23306 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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VK7 Amateur Radio News 26Sep21
Text edition:
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VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 26th September 2021
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Welcome to the VK7 Amateur Radio News for the 26th September 2021. Your reader this week is Mike, VK7FB.
This broadcast goes out on repeaters all over VK7 and on digital radio - DMR Talk Group 5 and D-Star Reflector 91C by Clayton VK7ZCR.
We also go out on medium and high frequency courtesy of the following rebroadcast stations:
On 1.865 MHz by Graham VK7GS
On 3.670 MHz by Dale, VK7DG
On 7.140 MHz by Peter, VKTPE
On 14.130 MHz by Ross, VK7ALH and
On 28.525 MHz by Garry, VK7JGD
You can hear this broadcast again on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RAA in Northern VK7 and VK7RTC in Southern VK7.
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Congratulations
Nicole VK7FNJS
A little bird has told the VK7 AR News Team that Nicole Sweeney tied the knot yesterday!
Congratulations to Nicole, her partner and the Sweeney’s, including proud father Michael, VK7MRS.
73, AR News Team
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Contest News
Oceania DX Contest
The Oceania DX Contest is happening on 2nd of October at 0600 UTC to 3rd of October at 0600 UTC for SSB and the same times on 9th and 10th of October for CW.
For more information take a look at the website.
https://www.oceaniadxcontest.com/
There are multipliers for each prefix in Oceania and also different points for each band, creating opportunities for high scores for a few contacts.
This is also a great opportunity to increase your DXCC countries contact list, as all the stations have their beams pointed to Oceania.
73, Catherine, VK7GH
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Contest News
ALARA Contest
The 41st Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Association (ALARA) contest was held last weekend and logs are due with the Contest Manager by the 30th of September 2021.
For more details please take a look at the ALARA website.
http://www.alara.org.au/index.html
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Thank You
DMR Rebroadcast - 19 Sept 2021
One of the interesting aspects of digital voice modes is that anyone with a net connection can enable a digital broadcast to happen anywhere in the world.
A good example of this was last week’s DMR/DSTAR rebroadcast that was made by Phil VK3PG and Roger VK3KYY.
A huge thank you to Phil and Roger for stepping in for Clayton VK7ZCR who was unable to do the rebroadcast last week.
There were some technical challenges but some of the broadcast went out and some callbacks were received.
73, Roger, VK3KYY
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH WEST
North West Tasmania Amateur Radio Club
Bi Monthly Meeting
On Saturday 18th September, the Club held its Bi-Monthly meeting. The members were delighted to have two presenters. Peter VK7PD, who once again travelled through atrocious winter weather to attend from Launceston, and Club Member Dave, VK7DC.
Peter had brought along some 10 GHz equipment and accessories and explained their purpose and how it all operated. Dave brought along and demonstrated a 2m Magnetic loop he had made to locate a local interference, and showed its direction finding capabilities.
We also had Greg, an ex VK2 amateur, bring boxes of electronic components and parts that he no longer needed, as he is no longer actively building. With only a few members still building projects, we have arranged to have the items given to our Northern VK7 comrades who are busy repairing or constructing equipment.
A motion was moved at the meeting with a unanimous vote, that contrary to a prior agreement that Scouts would make a contribution to the antenna upgrades at Paton Park, the Club will fund the total cost of $360. Part of the club's objects and purpose is to promote and foster amateur radio, and it allows Scouts to use the facility and direct their funds to other activities.
Owen, VK7MOO, who had just obtained his F Call attended, and Club members enjoyed a scrumptious afternoon tea with a lot of social and technical chats occurring.
73, Eric VK7EV, News Officer
North West Tasmania Amateur Radio Club
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Club Outing to Sheffield Steam and Heritage Centre
The outing to Sheffield Steam and Heritage Centre is on Saturday 2nd October. BBQ facilities are available, prices are reasonable and we expect to have a great day playing trains with Graham VK7GS, who will be the train driver for the day.
The Train runs from 11am till 4pm and rides last 30 minutes. Families are welcome. It will be BYO food and drink, although some food and drinks are available on site.
Kirsty, Social Coordinator
North West Tasmania Amateur Radio Club
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH
SOTA/WWFF PARKS GROUP
The Summits On The Air/World Wide Flora and Fauna parks group is now meeting twice weekly – Mondays and Fridays 10.30AM till 12.00 at the Glebe Gardens Cafe, Henry Street, Launceston.
For more information contact Al on 0417 354 410.
73, Al, VK7AN
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Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club Incorporated
www.ntarc.net
Sitting at my desk writing the news, the wind is howling outside, trees are swaying and a number of limbs have come down. Snow is forecast in certain regions down to 100 metres and they call it Spring!
Considering the weather on Friday was horrendous in the north we had an exceptional good attendance at coffee. Thankfully Ros had arrived early and had the fire going, urn on and goodies on the table with sausage rolls in the oven heating up. Lots of chatter about all and sundry with the TV turned on keeping us all informed of the events of COVID on the mainland. We are truly lucky in this State not to have any cases so lets hope it stays that way, but as always, a reminder to all to please sign in on arrival, preferably by using the QR code Check in TAS app. Also, please remember to use the hand sanitizer after you have signed in and before joining others at the tables.
A few NTARC members travelled to Pyengana in the north east of the State on Friday to assist Wicen Tasmania (South) Inc in the equine endurance ride event held yesterday. Here’s hoping they packed their warm clothing, I suspect they will appreciate the warmth of their homes and beds tonight.
Final reminder that numbers need to be finalised for our social dinner gathering on Tuesday 28th September so if you are planning to attend could you please email the secretary on the email address noted in the future events notice regarding this outing.
Last Wednesday was tech night at the club so we now hand over to Idris VK7ZIR to provide you all with a rundown of the evening’s happenings;
“Quite a mixed bag at our Tech Session tonight. Ross VK7ALH made it a TenTec evening with three examples of the marque he has in his collection. The first two, a Model 544 and a Corsair 2, were in various states of repair. Previous owners had attempted repairs and given up, so Ross had set to work. The covers were off and the modular construction could be seen. Unfortunately modules had been lost, or discarded from both radios and Ross had to scour the Internet and even go dumpster diving to replace them. He now has a full complement of the units to effect repairs. We shall look forward to the results. The last radio, fully functional, is an Argonaut 5, relatively recent and more compact that the previous examples. Very nicely presented. As usual, Ross gave us a comprehensive run down of the faults and remedies. Thanks Ross.
Peter VK7KPC showed off his very nice Bird Termaline dummy load, being used to fault find in our radio shack. Nice acquisition Peter.
Now we have a non-amateur project which is very different, but none the less fascinating in its ingenuity and construction. This was a COVID-19 inspired project built by André VK7ZAB which caused much interest and he tells us: “a friend, Colin Price, known by a few of the club members, lives in Sydney and works in the TV sports industry. With the cutbacks and lockdowns he has been spending more time at home so he got a puppy dog for company. Dog Augie is growing and Colin is resuming shift work and doesn’t want to leave the back door open. So André got volunteered to build an automatic pet door for him. Shouldn’t be too hard! The pet door is a vertically sliding panel covering a cut out in the apartment’s back door and moved by a linear actuator. André showed off the resultant controller box and the full schematic drawing. All that was required was an Arduino Uno micro controller with screw terminal breakout shield. A few logic inputs from switches for manual control. A DC to DC converter power supply module. A relay module for motor controls and to release the solenoid in the lock. The lock had a micro switch to show its state so required a logic input to the Arduino. It also had two reed switches to show the position of the door panel. Also an input for the trigger data from the RFID reader, which detects the tag on the dog. Then to change motor speed, a power MOSFET module is required which is driven from a Pulse Width Modulated output from the Arduino. Then to prevent the door being a guillotine, a Hall Effect current sensor module is required to indicate the motor has stalled and needs reversing. The current sensor has a voltage output which is read by one of the Arduino Analog to Digital Converters. And finally a Real Time Clock module to time stamp a log of door activations to show Augie’s activity. It ended up being a fully packed enclosure!ö
Thanks Andre’, an amazing achievement and quite a demonstration of circuit design and software development which went with it. Just goes to show that Radio Amateurs are just as good at things not radio related!
The usual discussions and good cheer reverberated around the Club rooms with our Discord session in the background with Nic VK7WW Net controller and his slow Morse school. Very popular with mainland VKs. Good onya Nic.
Until next time,
73, Idris VK7ZIRö
Thanks Idris, sounds like the night was very entertaining. Electronic doggy doors eh? I could do with one of those but as our biggest dog is a very large Labrador it would need a sizeable entrance for him, so it might be easier to simply automate the existing standard back door. Mind you, Hamish has been known to try to take himself out of a doggy door sized to suit a Jack Russell but managed only to get his head out and was stuck for some hours. The doggy door was never the same after his extraction.
UPCOMING EVENTS
SOCIAL OUTING – Wednesday 29th September Commercial Hotel, cnr George and Cimitiere Streets. Meet time will be 6.00 pm and the table has been booked under the name of NTARC. Menu is a-la-carte, with quite an extensive choice and is reasonably priced. It can be viewed on their website. Please RSVP the secretary at either of these email addresses news(at)ntarc.net or ypmaxwell(at)bigpond.com by Tuesday 28th lunch time as numbers will need to be confirmed on that afternoon.. Thank you to all those members who have already advised notice of attending.
SLOW MORSE COURSE – Wednesday 29th September. Your host and teacher is Nic VK7WW. Frequencies and times are the same as were used by Nic for the previous TestNet and TechNet. And if you have forgotten what they were, here they are, 1900 hrs to 1930 hrs on 3.580 MHz and then at 1930hours through to about 2030 on 3.567MHz.
So why not tune in and give it a try. For those who may want some extra help, this website is reported as being very good. www.morsecodeclassnet.com/
TECH NIGHT – Wednesday 6th October at the NTARC Club rooms, 19:30 hours until whenever.
October General meeting - Saturday 9th October. Meeting to commence at 14:00 hours (2.00pm).
JOTA/JOTI 2021 – takes place from 15th to 17th October. Setting up will happen after coffee session Friday 15th. , Peter has lined up a number of events that will be taking place at the Rocherlea Scout Hall, commencing on Saturday 16th at noon and will run through until 8.00pm with the possibility of the Venturers attending after 8.00pm. Sunday 17th October will see groups arriving from 10.00am up to 3.00pm. Plan is they will visit for about 2 hours and the breakdown will see them spend half an hour utilising radio, this will be followed by half an hour on the Internet and a further half an hour outside locating those elusive foxes. Some Skype and JOTI TV will be thrown into the mix, plus 10 minutes being allowed for cleaning up between activities. Also on offer will be how to make a morse code trainer and this activity doesn’t require any soldering, so hopefully the first aid kit won’t need to be opened.
If anyone can assist on Saturday and Sunday, Peter would love to hear from you. He can be contacted by email; dodd.pc@bigpond.com or mobile 0408 805 086.
COFFEE MORNINGS – currently held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Catch up time is from 10.00 am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all.
These coffee events represent a good opportunity to collect your QSL cards. We currently have cards awaiting collection, so why not pop in and check the QSL box and join us for a cuppa and chat.
Just a friendly reminder, please demonstrate your appreciation of all the effort that goes into operating the club, its facilities and the other services we provide, especially in these abnormal and very trying times, enjoying the company, coffee, biscuits and cake, by leaving a gold coin or two, or even a small bank note, in the jar to assist in our on-going operations.
FINALLY – A reminder to all members that if you have any items of news you would like added to our weekly roundup, no matter how trivial, then please email me at the following address news(at)ntarc.net all items to be received no later than 17:00 on the Friday prior to the Broadcast.
Your continued cooperation in this regard will be greatly appreciated.
We will bring you all such contributions next Sunday morning.
73, Yvonne VK7FYMX, Secretary NTARC Inc
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NEWS FROM THE SOUTH
Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
https://www.reast.asn.au/
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
https://www.youtube.com/reasthobart/
October Presentation
Military Radio and Antennas
On Sunday 3rd October from 12 noon REAST are having a BYO BBQ lunch and then a presentation and demonstration on military radios and antennas.
This presentation and demonstrations are being given by Peter VK7KPC and Kim VK7KB who are both avid collectors of military radios.
We thank Peter and Kim for agreeing to give us this presentation.
See you at the Queens Domain clubrooms after the broadcast on October 3rd.
https://fb.me/e/GXWUdLJY
73, REAST Committee
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November Presentation
Digital Voice Hotspots
REAST's November presentation will be about Digital Voice (DV) hotspots with a focus on pi-star and openspot3.
A huge thank you to our resident DV hotspot expert Scott VK7HSE who has agreed to give us the presentation.
All you need is a hotspot and internet connection and you can use your DV handheld anywhere and get access to your favourite talkgroups on your favourite DV mode - DMR, DSTAR, Fusion or P25.
They are particularly good in Aged Care facilities where you can set one up and be able to operate amateur radio without having to find space for large antennas.
Happening on Wednesday 3rd November from 7:30pm in the Queens Domain clubrooms.
See you there.
https://fb.me/e/O0kLI5pg
73, REAST Committee
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Training and Assessments
REAST’s next Foundation Licence course and all licence assessment day is on Saturday the 27th November 2021 from 9am to 3pm.
If you are thinking of coming along then please let Reg Emmett VK7KK REAST Learning Organiser know ASAP that you will be coming along by phoning 0417 391 607 or email assessor(at)reast.asn.au.
Check out the REAST Foundation Licence Training Videos that can be found on the REAST YouTube Training and Assessment playlist.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsnsP_zjw831mdC6sY4XqavRUY-53ZWUn
Checkout the REAST Facebook page events for further details.
https://www.facebook.com/events/718404075716863/
73, Reg, VK7KK
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DATV Experimenter's Night
We started the night with Justin VK7TW and Rex VK7MO who went through the latest Amateur Radio magazine which is focused on an Antarctic Theme with the lead article by Rex as the Director of the Australian Antarctic Division from 1988 to 1998.
Rex took the audience through his article including Heard Island, meteor scatter and EME contacts with Macca, some history including our clubrooms prior use, the Antarctic Treaty, some great pictures of buildings in Antarctica, the great ocean conveyor belt, the Madrid Protocol and the politics around that protocol.
Rex finished up with Murphy's law and some additional photos that didn't make it into the article. These were a broken gear from the Ice Bird, three very smashed up helicopters in the Nella Dan hold, two very broken rubber coupling from the Aurora Australis and the Nella Dan on the rocks at Macca. Thanks Rex.
Justin went through the remaining articles in AR Magazine along with a studio full of ex-AAD personnel with various recollections.
Richard VK7ZBX then joined us and described the experiments he did with the German 10GHz beacon and his new 1.8m 10GHz dish. Thanks Richard.
Justin then showed the insides of a Pan Tilt and Zoom camera that was faulty, and the way that the connections are made using small slip ring devices, stepper motors and positioning optics.
We then had a short update on the 3.4GHz experiments using Mt Wellington as a passive reflector with Alan VK7KAJ, Richard and Justin. These were promising and with better antennas it certainly appears to be possible to use Mt Wellington.
There was a promo of REAST Merchandise that arrived that evening.
We finished with a reminder of the future presentations.
A recording of the night is available on the REAST YouTube Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRo9VerIKs4
This week at the DATV Experimenter’s night we will have more interesting electronics, the 70th anniversary of CSIRAC, Tinnitus, PTZ mania, Low Key Magazines and much more. See you then.
We get underway from 7:30pm in the Queen’s Domain clubrooms.
Keep an eye on the REAST Facebook Events for more details. Why not come up to the Queens Domain COVID-safe clubrooms and see what we get up to.
And a reminder that 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.
https://www.reast.asn.au/news-events/live-stream/
https://www.reast.asn.au/special-interest-groups/amateur-tv/
https://www.youtube.com/c/ReastHobart/
73, Justin, VK7TW
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International Silent Key News
Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair dies aged 81
Sir Clive Sinclair died at home last Thursday morning, after battling a long illness. Sinclair invented a pocket calculator but was best known for popularising the home computer, bringing it to British high-street stores at relatively affordable prices.
He left school at 17 and worked for four years as a technical journalist to raise funds to found Sinclair Radionics. He then became the man behind the Sinclair Spectrum and the first computer, the Sinclair ZX-81, to retail for under a hundred dollars.
Many modern-day titans of the games industry got their start on one of his ZX models. For a certain generation of gamer, the computer of choice was either the ZX Spectrum 48K or its rival, the Commodore 64.
Sir Clive Sinclair, Rest in Peace.
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2021/september/home-computing-pioneer-sir-clive-sinclair-dies-aged-81.htm
Sourced from the IRTS via Southgate AR News
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Regular VK7 gatherings and events over the coming months:
Regular gatherings:
SOTA/WWFF Group – Meeting Mondays and Fridays 10.30-12.00 midday at Glebe Gardens Cafe, Henry St, Launceston.
NTARC – Friday coffee session – Rocherlea clubrooms Launceston from 10:00am
NTARC - Tech Night sessions Wednesday 22nd September - Rocherlea clubrooms Launceston
NTARC - Slow Morse Training Wednesday 22nd September on Tech Net Frequencies
NW VK7 – Wednesday from 2000 local – NW Tassie Amateur Repeater Group Net on VK7RMD
NW VK7 - Thursday commencing at 10:30 UTC (20:30 local) - N.W. Tassie 2m DX Net 144.190 USB (upper sideband).
REAST – MICROWAVE QSO Party – following after the Sunday broadcast on 1296.15 MHz FM.
REAST – WAGS – Wednesday Afternoon Group meet in the Queens Domain Clubrooms from 12 noon.
REAST – DATV Experimenter’s Nights from 7:30pm live in the club rooms also on DVBT RF and YouTube Streaming
Sewing Circle Net – Daily on 3.640 MHz commences at 5:00pm.
Events:
N W T A R C - 2 October - Club outing to Sheffield Steam and Heritage Centre with BBQ - Let the committee know ASAP if going.
REAST - 3 October - Military Radios presentation and demonstration with VK7KPC and VK7KB with BYO BBQ - Queens Domain clubrooms starts 12 noon with the BBQ.
NTARC - 9 October - General meeting from 2.00pm at Rocherlea clubrooms.
JOTA/JOTI 2021 – 15-17 October worldwide.
REAST - 16 October - Open Day - Queens Domain Clubrooms
REAST - 3 November - Digital Hotspots Presentation with VK7HSE - Queens Domain clubrooms from 7:30pm
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A reminder to those people rostered for next week’s broadcast:
Newsreader: VK7PD
Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and in the NW thanks to N W T A R C, West Coast Radio Group, Cradle Coast Radio Amateur Radio Club, VK7AX, and VK7DC
160m: VK7GS
80m: VK7TPE
40m: VK7ALH
20m: VK7JGD
10m: VK7DG
DMR: Talk Group 5 and D-Star: Reflector 91C VK7ZCR
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You can hear this broadcast again on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RAA in Northern VK7 and VK7RTC in Southern VK7.
A huge thank you 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. Next week the National WIA news can be heard at 0900 followed by the VK7 Amateur Radio News around 0930 hours.
Items for the broadcast can be emailed to vk7arnews(at)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.
On behalf of the VK7 Amateur Radio News Team it’s 73 from Mike, VK7FB.
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(Posted to the packet network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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