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VK7AX > BCAST 21.06.19 07:25z 339 Lines 24545 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: VK7 Amateur Radio News 16Jun19
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From: VK7AX@VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC
To : BCAST@WW
Text edition: VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 16 June 2019
(Note.. please remove spaces in email addresses before using)
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Welcome to the VK7 Amateur Radio News for the 16th of June 2019. This broadcast is brought to you by VK7WI, and read today by Mike, VK7FB.
This broadcast utilises repeaters around VK7 and the following HF rebroadcast stations:
On 3.670 MHz by Garry, VK7JGD
On 7.140 MHz by Mike, VK7FB
On 14.130 MHz by Ross, VK7ALH
On 28.525 MHz by Peter, VK7TPE
On DMR Talk Group 3809, Clayton, VK7ZCR.
This broadcast is repeated on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RTC in the South and VK7RAA in the North.
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Queens Birthday Honours
Joe Gelston VK7JG (SK) OAM
A posthumous OAM has been awarded to Joe Gelston VK7JG (Silent Key) in the 2019 Queens Birthday Honours for services to amateur radio.
Joe was known to many people in amateur radio in Tasmania and around Australia and was a regular at the Gippstech Microwave Weekends
He was known for his endless energy for the hobby and boundless support and assistance for anyone who showed an interest in amateur radio.
His depth of knowledge and skill in radio was immense. His enthusiasm was infectious and he was the driving force behind getting many radio projects started and completed.
Joe touched and/or was involved in the creation and maintenance of almost every amateur radio repeater and beacon in Tasmania.
He also volunteered his time and skills to keep many volunteer organisations radio repeaters on air - notably Tamar Sea Rescue Services.
It is without a doubt that Joe had been to every hill and mountain-top that has a communications facility on it in mainland Tasmania and surrounding islands, usually to fix something!
This dedication to duty saw many repeaters, beacons and communications facility kept on air even when natural disasters and emergencies happened.
Joe appears on the WIA Tasmanian Division Honour Roll as Secretary of the Division in 1975 and his call sign was VK7ZGJ.
Joe was made a Life Member of the National Amateur Radio representative body, the Wireless Institute of Australia in 1993 in recognition of his huge contribution to the hobby of amateur radio.
Joe sadly died on 29th May 2018.
(Written by Justin, VK7TW for the WIA Website)
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ARISS Contacts
ARISS school contact planned for Tasmania, Australia
An International Space Station school contact has been planned for David St-Jacques KG5FYI with participants at King Island District High School, Currie, TAS, Australia.
The event is planned June 19, 2019. It is scheduled to begin at approximately 08:49 UTC, which is 10:49 CEST.
The contact will be a telebridge operated by IK1SLD, located in northern Italy. The downlink signals will be audible in parts of Europe on 145.800 MHz
King Island District High School is located in the Bass Strait off the North West Coast of Tasmania. We cater for approximately 210 students from Kinder to Year 10. Our school is at the heart of our community, we value each student and their family. We have been striving to create resilient, innovative lifelong learners; our school has been on a learning journey with Literacy and Numeracy as our core fundamentals. Our students have the opportunities for on-island and off-island camps from Year 3 and up, we participate in sporting events in mainland Tasmania, we have students from Kinder to Year 10 being able to access specialist Music and Art lessons. We are grateful to have a well resourced MDT room, Computer Lab, kitchen which has then eventuated into a school cafe, which offers cafe style lunches, drinks and monthly dinners to our community giving our students first-hand experience of hospitality. We are also in the process of building our own golf hole to fit in with the islands golfing influx of late.
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station(ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station: NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, JAXA, and CSA. The US Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) provide ARISS special support.
ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crew members on board the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crew members on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science, technology, and learning.
The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organising scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information see the email edition of this broadcast.
www.ariss.org
www.ariss-eu.org
https://www.amsat-on.be/hamtv-summary/.
The event will be web streamed at the address on the email edition of this broadcast and will start about 15 min before AOS.
www.ariotti.com
(73, Gaston Bertels – ON4WF via the Southgate AR News)
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WIA Contest News
VHF/UHF Winter Field Day 2019
Next weekend is the Winter 2019 - VHF/UHF Field Day. That means portable and home operation on bands above 30MHz. The founding principle of the Field Days is to spend time outdoors and have fun, so the Single-band and Four-bands Subsections meets that philosophy and provides a taste of microwave contesting for newbies.
There are sections covering portable operation single or multiple operator (8 or 24 hour operation), home operation (8 or 24 hour operation) or rover station (8 or 24 hour operation).
There are a number of sub-sections that you can operate in as well. The two hour rework period remains.
It runs from 0100 UTC Saturday 22 June 2019 to 0059 UTC Sunday 23 June - In VK6 the contest runs from 0400 UTC Saturday 22 June 2019 to 0359 UTC Sunday 23 June 2019.
This year it is distance based scoring only.
A valid contact involves the exchange of an RS/RST report, a serial number and your six character maidenhead locator.
Why not get someone returning or new to the hobby involved in the your weekend activities.
Full details are available at the VHF UHF Field Day webpage on the WIA website.
http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/vhfuhf/
(sourced from the WIA Website)
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WIA Annual Conference 2020
Call for Presentations
Last weekend at the WIA Annual Conference in Sydney it was announced that the 2020 WIA Annual Conference will be held in Hobart on the 8-10 May 2020.
The theme is Antarctic Gateway and so the tours and visits during the weekend all revolving around Antarctica and Radio.
This is a request for anyone who would be prepared to give a presentation on the Saturday afternoon on any aspect of amateur radio, Antarctica, radio, electronics, experimentation or all of the above.
The presentations slots are 30-40m in length with 5-10m of questions at the end or throughout the presentation.
If you have a topic and or presentation or just an idea for one then please contact Justin VK7TW at
vk7tw @ wia.org.au to discuss.
Look forward to hearing from you.
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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YOU ARE LISTENING TO VK7WI AND THIS IS THE VK7
AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
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News from the North West
Chat and Show Group
The next gathering of the Chat and Show group will be on July 6th at 2pm at the Penguin Sport Centre Ironcliffe Road Penguin, drop in is from 2pm until 5pm.
It is a not club event and is open to all radio enthusiasts from anywhere. The only commitment is the request of a small plate for afternoon tea. Shirley VK7HSC will be supplying Tea and Coffee.
If you have anything you would like to show us that you have built or building bring it, things you have collected also of interest as well, and any questions or discussion will be welcome, there may be a short presentation this time but not confirmed yet.
Hope to see you there.
(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
Here we are again, another week has flown by and I am back at home QTH. No surprises, the weather in the State has been rather cool with lots of rain since my return, not really something I wanted when I arrived back, to be confronted by front lawns that better resemble cereal crops in high summer. Whatever happened to the old experience where grass growth stopped with the arrival of the colder months? Lots of mowing and outside work is now required to make amends for my two months absence but I guess it will get done, somehow.
We begin this week with a roundup of the Equine event held last Sunday at Sassafras. This was the Jill Sheehan Memorial Ride and the report is courtesy of Norm VK7KTN, the NTARC Safety Communications Coordinator
“The “Rain God” was kind to us after our soaking at Lebrina a fortnight ago with fine weather for the whole weekend.
The Australian Endurance Riders Association (AERA) electronic timing was used for all riders and there were 2 checkpoints for the event. One checkpoint known as “10/25” due to the track markers at this location, and the “Gun Club” given its proximity to the Pistol, Clay Pigeon and Rifle Ranges.
We deployed a Scanner at the “Gun Club” checkpoint. This checkpoint was used by all riders, some multiple times. A very busy location on a “T” junction with riders looping in and out of the check point. The “10/25” checkpoint was only used for the first leg of the 80 Km ride. At the closure of the check point, its crew of Stefan VK7ZSB and Roger VK7ARN then joined the other crew at the “Gun Club” checkpoint to provide further assistance.
Base Operations utilises software developed by our Programmer Peter VK7SP. This software enables us to get the final list of entries via a CSV file from the Ride Secretary. We used this at Lebrina with great success and it saved lots of data entry into our Ride Management Software. As we aware not all goes to plan though and we struck a problem at Sassafras when we tried to import the file. This resulted in an emergency call to Peter who was attending a Birthday Party in Switzerland, yes Peter is NTARCs longest distance member but is always on standby if required on these events. With the assistance from “Whats App” and Team Viewer, Peter was able to determine that a software change of the AERA system had resulted in the order of the columns being changed. A rearrangement of the input file was carried out and normal service was resumed. Our thanks to Peter for his help and also our thanks to modern technology.
The NTARC communications trailer is well equipped for our events but at Sassafras we do not have access to 240V mains power, so we depend on a generator for essential equipment operations. André and Idris have built in backup equipment in the trailer. This was tested when the Honda generator got thirsty. A quick refill of the Honda and all systems were recovered.
One of the features that competitors and their teams use is the live data displays in the vicinity of the Comms Trailer and we use the awning on the trailer to protect this valuable equipment. This makes life easier for the Base Crew, as competitors support teams are able to review the data to see where their horse and rider is located. In days past, without the live data display, such questions had to be fielded by the Base Crew operators, and at times unwelcome distraction from their attending to their primary tasks within Base.
Once again the Base Crew greatly appreciated the warmth of the diesel heater, while those manning checkpoints utilised their fire pots.
A special thank you to the following crew that gave up their time on the long weekend, André VK7ZAB. Stefan VK7ZSB, Idris VK7ZIR, Rick VK7RI, Peter VK7KPC, Roger VK7ARN, Norm VK7KTN, Lorraine (ncs) and long distance member Peter VK7SP.”
Thanks Norm for that update and thank you to all the crew. Great to hear you had a good weekend weather wise. That certainly makes life more comfortable when out in the bush waiting on those horses and riders.
Round up of June General meeting – which was held last Wednesday 12 June. With winter now with us the decision to move the meeting into our smaller room proved a good plan. Numbers attending are always down during the colder months. No doubt about it, the weather is certainly a factor in keeping folk indoors in the evenings. Still, with Hearth Vader burning brightly and the new carpet on the floor, it was a notably much warmer and a cosier atmosphere than we have experienced at recent winter evening meetings.
The meeting commenced at 19:33 hours and the agenda was quickly worked through, such that the meeting proper drew to a close at 20:05 hours. If my maths are correct that was a total time of 32 minutes, although members then proceeded into general chitchat discussion etc. while supper was readied. The minutes will be written up in coming days and placed on the yahoo site. I have been told our website is getting close to handover and once that has happened, the new members only section will be updated with all past news and minutes for the year. Once we reach that happy state, notification will be sent to members giving them their access.
Final reminder 2019 Membership renewal fees – yes, that time is rapidly approaching for those few members that have not as yet renewed their 2019 membership. You only have till the 30 June. If your subs have not been paid by then your name must be removed from the NTARC Membership register and if you have access to the NTARC yahoo site that access will be removed. If you are in that boat and still wish to retain your membership then your payment may be made in cash or cheque at a twice-weekly coffee morning, Wednesday technical session or by cheque to the club at PO Box 275 Launceston 7250. Alternatively you may pay by direct deposit. The NTARC bank account details are:
BSB: 633-000 Bendigo Bank, Account: 120432687
If paying by direct deposit, please quote your callsign or name as the payee identifier, so our Treasurer can link your payment to your membership and issue you with a receipt. If you have forgotten, the yearly subscription fee is $30.00 for a full voting member.
Coming events
Technical sessions – The next session will be on Wednesday 19 June and will commence at the usual time of 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm 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 is fair game. Endless tea and coffee along with biscuits is available for a small gold coin donation.
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YOU ARE LISTENING TO VK7WI AND THIS IS THE VK7
AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
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Coffee mornings – A reminder that our twice-weekly coffee sessions are normally held every Monday and Friday commencing at 10.00 am and running through till about noon or longer if members want to linger longer.
Please remember that aside from the good company, freely offered philosophical views, maybe less than expert political analysis, tall tales and genuinely good fare on offer, these coffee events are normally a good opportunity to collect your QSL cards but currently we have no cards awaiting collection.
Please demonstrate your appreciation of all the effort that goes into operating the club and its facilities and 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 dont know of any other venue in Launceston 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 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.
Residing as we do in a rural location and despite what the company or Government might claim, our NBN service is very poor. At 14 kms south of Perth, we are deemed beyond the supposedly magical maximum 11 kms distance from the nearest fixed wireless tower, so we have to rely on the NBN satellite, parked somewhere over New Guinea. This brings its own difficulties, particularly in poor weather. Getting the NTARC segment to the boys in Hobart in time can often be problematic, so the earlier cut-off gives everybody involved a little breathing space. Your continued co-operation will therefore be gratefully appreciated.
As always I look forward to seeing you at Rocherlea.
73, Yvonne, VK7FYMX Secretary NTARC Inc.
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NEWS FROM THE SOUTH
Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
www.reast.asn.au
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
DMR Presentation
If you are interested in DMR radio there will be a Presentation today from 10:30am after the Broadcast in the Queens Domain clubrooms.
Bring along your GD77 to get the new code plug with new talk groups.
(73, Clayton, VK7ZCR)
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June Presentation Wrap-Up
Even the cold and wet night didnt keep people away from the fantastic presentation done by Ron Cullen on Radio Control Technology.
Ron started with a quick hello to his family who live all over Australia and in Dublin as the presentation was streamed to the internet. This was a milestone for the new DATV studio as it is the first presentation to be streamed through the studio. Reports on the streaming were good. Ron moved to drone, RC and battery safety with some interesting videos. Then there was a quick review of his last presentation back in 2017 and the some of the learnings since then.
Ron then went on to the new technology he has been playing with. The new controller for fixed wing aircraft, the new antennas for 5.8GHz AV work. A description of how all the modules hang together and the programming along with the many interesting functions.
Ron then took us through a demonstration of two of his aircraft and the First Person View functionality. Ron finished off with some videos he has taken testing the functionality.
There were many questions and these were expertly answered.
A huge thank you to Ron for his presentation and constant experimentation.
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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REAST Antenna Build Day
Saturday June 29th from 10am - 3pm - book this one in your diary as this will be REAST Antenna building day! Whether you want to dabble with a dipole, fidget with a fractal or alter an end fed, come and do it up at the REAST Clubrooms, where you will have access to tools and testing equipment to make sure that when you hit the transmit button your signal gets heard, rather than go up in smoke (quite literally with bad SWR!).
While you are more than welcome to bring up your own antenna project to work on and test with the available analysers which are capable of anything between 100KHz to 600Mhz, Ben VK7BEN has also prepared some antenna kits that are easy to make and fantastic starter projects that you can then modify and experiment further with.
The Two kits available are:
An end-fed half wave antenna that can be used on 40-20-15m will cost $35
A VHF/UHF handheld Moxon antenna for working LEO Satellites will cost $25
Each kit takes around 1-2 hours to assemble and test, so why not bring up some lunch and put together an antenna that you can start using as soon as you are done.
If you are interested in pre-ordering a kit, and guaranteeing availability please contact Ben VK7BEN by email at
vk7ben @ wia.org.au.
If you are building kits please be aware that there will be only limited tools available at the clubrooms, and you are strongly encouraged to bring your own. Ben will advise kit builders of what tools they will need on the day a bit closer to the time.
(73, Ben, VK7BEN)
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DATV Experimenter's Night Wrap-Up
We get back underway with our DATV Experimenter's Nights this Wednesday night from 7:30pm.
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 to 445.5MHz and do a scan for a DVB-T signal 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/
See 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 Afternoon Group meets from Noon and the Experimenters Nights from 1930 in the Queens Domain clubrooms.
REAST – MICROWAVE QSO Party – following after the Sunday broadcast on 1296.15 MHz FM.
Events:
REAST – June 16 – DMR Presentation and Codeplug updating – Queens Domain clubrooms from 10:30am
REAST - June 29 - Antenna building day from 10am – 3pm - Queens Domain Clubrooms
NW Coast – July 6 - Chat and Show group from 2pm at the Penguin Sport Centre Ironcliffe Road Penguin
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A reminder to those people rostered for next weeks broadcast and please note the changes to the roster:
Newsreader: VK7RI
Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and NWTR&TVG
80m: VK7ALH
40m: VK7TW
20m: Any Takers
10m: VK7VKT
DMR: Talk Group 3809 VK7ZCR
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This broadcast is repeated on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RTC in the South and VK7RAA in the North.
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.
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 Mike, VK7FB.
(Posted to the packet network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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