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VK7AX > BCAST 11.07.19 03:36z 373 Lines 25099 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: VK7 Amateur Radio News 30Jun19
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From: VK7AX@VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC
To : BCAST@WW
Text edition: VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 30 June 2019
(Note.. please remove spaces in email addresses before using)
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Welcome to the end of financial year edition of the VK7 Amateur Radio News for the 30th 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 Ross, VK7ALH
On 14.130 MHz by Mike, VK7FB
On 28.525 MHz by Tony, VK7VKT
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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Congratulations
VK7OB and VK7FMAZ
At the sad occasion of Jack Jordan VK7ILs (SK) funeral Dave OBrien VK7OB mentioned that it was his 70th Birthday later in week. Congratulations Dave!
Then Marilyn mentioned that later in the week also was Dave and Marilyns 50th wedding anniversary.
A huge congratulations to Dave and Marilyn on these .
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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Broadcast News
RAOTC Broadcast for July 2019
As mentioned in the National News, the July bulletin of RAOTC News will go to air on Monday July 1st.
This edition records a silent key and 3 new members; it also makes a correction to information given in the June edition about FT8.
Major items include archived material, one of which deals with the evolution of amateur radio and what the future may hold.
The other deals with the square kilometre array (SKA), a radio telescope expected to have power 50 times greater than the Hubble Telescope; it will serve 5 areas of research.
The final item deals with the evolution of telecommunications and how the land line phone allegedly made us ‘happy and connected.
The assertion is made that in order to understand the possible effects of todays media it is interesting to look at communications history.
In VK7 this broadcast can be heard on the VK7RAA/RTC state wide network at 7:30pm local time on Monday July 1st and at approximately 8:30pm as part of the Spectrum Tasmania Broadcast via the BATC video link or in the Ulverstone area on 445.5MHz DVBT. Details are available on the text edition of this broadcast.
(73, Peter VK7PD)
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WIA Annual Conference 2020
Call for Presentations
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 to 40 minutes in length with 5 to 10 minutes 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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Contest News
VHF/UHF Winter Field Day 2019 – VK7 participation
On the weekend of June 22 and 23 the Australia-wide field day for all amateur frequencies above 50MHz was held. Yes, that date includes the winter solstice, the shortest and potentially one of the coldest days of the year.
The basic idea is to set up in places that allow maximum communication distances to be achieved at frequencies that were once to be considered line-of-sight only.
For VK7 participation it was planned that Richard VK7ZBX and Murray VK7ZMS would set up on Mt Wellington in time for the Field Day start at 11am local time; that plan came undone when it was found that the Mt Wellington Road was closed at The Springs due to snow. While Richard was considering reduced opportunities by setting up on the domain he received word from Hayden VK7HH that the road had been reopened.
So with a maximum temperature of 1 degree forecast Richard made the assent and hurriedly setup his portable station. Meanwhile Murray was diverted elsewhere so was unable to participate.
In the north Peter VK7ZPE and Allen VK7AN set up a station at White Hills near St Leonards; they were equipped to operate on bands: 6 metres, 2 metres, 70cm, 23cm, 13cm, 9cm and 3cm.
At the Mt Barrow Interpretation Centre, Peter VK7KPC maintained a lonely vigil on 6 metres, 2 metres and 70cm.
James VK7JAM and partner Jasmin climbed Mt Direction (the northern one) equipped with radio, battery and dual band Yagi. Although they heard signals they were unsuccessful in making any contacts; there may have been some technical problems. We hope theyll participate in the Spring Field Day.
Thanks to the keenness of amateurs in the Launceston area the other 2 field stations began having local contacts shortly after the 0100 UTC start time. At 0130 a voice contact on 23cm was made from the 2 operators at the White Hills site to Rex VK7MO in Hobart; this was after a 10GHZ contact was abandoned, as it turned out, due to technical difficulties at Rexs end. Further contacts were made to Rex on 2 metres and 70cm.
The northern stations were next able to have voice contacts with Hayden via his remote station on Mt Lloyd on 2 metres SSB. A 23cm contact was abandoned due to transmitter problems at the remote site.
At 0320 UTC up came signals from Richard VK7ZBX from a snow dusted Mt Wellington; he was, by that time, QRV on 2 metres, 70cm and 3cm. Contacts were made on those 3 bands to the operators at White Hills, then on 2 metres and 70cm (his furthest contact) to VK7KPC. More contacts were made on the above 3 bands to stations in and around Hobart.
Richard had planned to be QRV on a total of 7 bands but some technical difficulties and last minute rush restricted this. Despite this he racked up a good points score largely thanks to the 10GHz contacts. Photos have been posted to the VK7AR Facebook page. Thanks to all those who participated.
It is hoped to have greater VK7 participation in the VHF/UHF Spring Field Day scheduled for November 23-24.
See you there,
(Peter, VK7PD)
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News from the North West
Chat and Show Group
The next gathering of the Chat and Show group will be next Saturday 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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YOU ARE LISTENING TO VK7WI AND THIS IS THE VK7
AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
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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
Well here it is, the end of the financial year and for those of us who are required to complete a Tax return it is that time but for the few NTARC members who have yet renewed their 2019 subscription, it is also the day on which we must review the membership register. During the coming week we be will transferring any unfinancial member over to the unfinancial Membership Register. It also means if you have access to the NTARC yahoo site that access will be removed. Sorry about that but our hands are tied by the Club constitution.
If you are one in this category then your attention to this matter is now a priority in the coming days. If you are unsure if you have paid your 2019 Subs then please contact the Treasurer by email treasurer@ntarc.net or the secretary by email at ntarc.emails@gmail.com Please note this is your absolute final reminder.
Roundup of Winter Field Day – It appears no matter how cold it gets some of us just cannot help playing radio out in the bush. One of those is Peter VK7KPC who tells us “last Saturday June 22nd as the sun was rising and the fog was lifting, I ventured out to my ice covered Isuzu. Starting the engine to defrost windows, I proceeded to load batteries, radios, antennas and support tripod. Setting off past the frost covered fields around Evandale I proceeded to the Mt Barrow Interpretation Centre with only a short stop to buy some lunch and a welcome hot coffee.
Parking to make best use of the outside bench seat at the front of the building, station
set-up commenced. The travel case-mounted IC-706 was connected to a battery and a 6 metre output connected to a magna base whip mounted on the vehicle bonnet. Tripod extended and a 2 meter and 70cm horizontal yagi attached. IC-490 was the next to be connected to the dual band yagi, but when turned on following connection to solar charged auxiliary battery, there was a distinct lack of lights, green or otherwise.
Problem traced to one of the inline fuse holders not making good contact with cartridge fuse. Thanks to Gerber, this was temporarily bypassed and lo there was light and sound. Brings to mind the 7Ps, but as a scout I was prepared to adapt and improvise.
Following some liaison via VK7RAA, contact was made with Messrs. VK7PD Peter, VK7ZPE Peter and VK7AN Al just across the valley at White Hills, appropriately named for that morning. 6m contact was marginal due to some issue with IC706 and antenna combination.
Armstrong rotator activated and yagi pointed in appropriate direction to enable 2m SSB contacts with VK7ZPE and VK7AN plus VK7HH down Hobart way. 70cm SSB contacts followed with VK7ZPE and VK7AN plus VK7ZBX Richard somewhere on Mt Wellington, who was also able to reach me on 2m. Later in afternoon a contact was logged with VK7DX Frank at Arthurs Lake.
As it was starting to get a bit cool by this time, and the White Hills expedition had packed up, I decided it was time for me to head home to the warmth of the fire and lasagne (always better on the second day).”
Thanks Peter for that update and yes it was a cold morning to venture outside, hopefully with thick gloves, beanie and extra warm jacket to play radio. I also agree lasagne is always better on the second day.
We now hand over to NTARC President Idris VK7ZIR for his report on the clubs latest technical session, held at the clubrooms at Rocherlea this past Wednesday evening.
Round up of Wednesday 26 June technical – “Ross VK7ALH was assisted with bringing in a heavy radio rack to put on a table.
It was an AR7 receiver rack in very good condition. There were three modules in the rack, the receiver itself, a loudspeaker module and at the top, a power supply. These receivers and their matching transmitters were made during WW2 and after in Australia and deployed in many air bases and airports around the country. Trevor VK7TB and Ross gave us a potted history of the AR7, also used at airports in a civilian role after the war. They were manufactured by several companies including AWA. This particular example bore the logo of Kingsley Radio of Melbourne. Trevor recalled seeing large quantities of them at Launceston Airport. They had pluggable modules for different bands in the HF spectrum. We asked our retired Air Services technician Peter VK7KPC about them at Launceston, but they were before his time there.
Simon VK7FSRM used his computer skills to resurrect two retro desktop computers for a new life. Thanks Simon.
Colin VK7ZCF brought in his new Ukrainian antenna analyser to show. It has a range up to 1400 MHz and a very nice instrument. He was able to analyse the Clubs 1296MHz ring Yagi, and the results showed it to be somewhat off frequency. Another job for the next working bee!
And speaking of bees, Nick VK7BEE will be adding the aforementioned AR7 rack to his Radio Museum. The matching transmitter is known to be in the state somewhere, the search is still on.
Peter VK2MPK has recovered from the Tassy Lurgy and was there for the night with some updates regarding the Cattle Hill windfarm logistics.
Peter VK7KPC and Andrew VK7DW were beavering away over a laptop entering data into the logger program for the recent Winter VHF/UHF Field Day. Heres hoping we get a good rating for VK7.
Peter also showed us on his laptop, plots of real-time aircraft movements received on his home brewed 1090 MHz ADS-B antenna.
Idris VK7ZIR brought some more free books, and Simon was seen staggering out with a pile at the end of the evening. Happy reading.
Many other discussions were going on with everyone keeping warm and lubricated with coffee and tea.
Thats all folks, see you next week.
73 Idris VK7ZIR”
Thank you Idris and it sounds like all had a very enjoyable evening and talking about keeping warm our new heater should arrive hopefully next week then it will be a case of waiting for the man to install.
Coming events
Technical sessions – The next session will be on Wednesday 3 July 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.
July BBQ meeting – Saturday 13 July. But it will be a non BBQ event. Instead we will be having soup and sandwiches. Sandwiches will be catered for by Subway and we ask for volunteers to provide pots of homemade soup. So if you are able to assist with the soup production it would be appreciated if you could advise me by email at either of the following addresses
ypmaxwell @ bigpond.com or ntarc.emails @ gmail.com
or let me know at coffee sessions as to what you will be bringing. Otherwise we could end up with 4 or more pots of pumpkin soup, which would no doubt be all nice but a variety of soups would be better. As usual the cost will be $10.00 pp to cover lunch and afternoon tea. The lunch will commence at noon and the meeting will follow on at 14:30 hours. We will be having this lunch and meeting in the big hall and if Hearth Vader hasnt been installed there the open fire will be going. As usual the meeting will be followed by afternoon tea.
Social non meeting dinner – Wednesday 28 August. Venue The Commercial Hotel, corner Cimitiere and George Street Launceston. Meet time 6.30 pm for 7.00 pm dinner. A la carte menu. If you are planning to attend could you please email me at either of the following addresses ypmaxwell@bigpond.com or ntarc.emails@gmail.com or let me know at coffee sessions.
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. This week the Internet has been up and down somewhat spasmodically but on the whole performing better than has been, must have been the complaint call to our provider. Im sure they will hear from me often and the annoying thing is we are located approximately 14 kms south of Perth and deemed beyond the supposedly magical maximum 11 kms distance from the nearest fixed wireless tower, despite the flat terrain, so we have no choice but 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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YOU ARE LISTENING TO VK7WI AND THIS IS THE VK7
AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
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NEWS FROM THE SOUTH
Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
www.reast.asn.au
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
July Presentation
This Wednesday night - July 3rd REAST will be holding a GPS Disciplined Oscillator Forum from 7:30pm.
This forum will be led by Rex VK7MO and Justin VK7TW who will be bringing along a broad range of GPSDOs and run through the positives and negatives of the various models.
A broad agenda for the forum will include -
· What is a GPSDO and how does it work?
· When is a GPSDO used and what benefits does it bring?
· Not all GPSDOs are the same.
· Where can you get more information about GPSDOs?
· Who are those Time Nuts?
If you have a GPSDO then bring it along and tell people about what you use it for and your experience with it.
We will have some interesting research around the very topical locking of the ICOM IC-9700 to share.
The session will be streamed on the REAST Facebook and YouTube Channels and will be recorded.
We look forward to seeing you along.
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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REAST August Presentation
Save the date
We are fortunate to have Ian Macintosh along again to give us a presentation and demonstration of Oculus Rift Virtual Reality (VR) technology.
Last time Ian gave us a presentation he had build his own Notebook computer and that was a fascinating talk.
Ian is back on August 7th from 7:30pm with a presentation and demonstration of Oculus Rift Virtual Reality technology.
See you or should I say your virtual presence would be appreciated….HIHI!
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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REAST Foundation Training Day
The next Foundation Training day is scheduled for Saturday 13 July. Assessments will also take place on this day and other Amateur levels can also be accommodated.
Training days are scheduled every 2 months.
Contact Reg VK7KK at assessor @ reast.asn.au, 0417 391 607 if you wish to register.
(73, Reg, VK7KK)
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DATV Experimenter's Night Wrap-Up
It was cold outside but toasty warm in the clubrooms.
There was a hardy band of experimenters who braved the cold to come along and do exactly that – experiment!
We cranked up the DATV Studio with streaming and RF pumping out. We ran our new intro and identifications videos that feature many of the past experimenter nights with a great voice over from Marls VK7FTAS.
The first guest in the studio was Ben VK7BEN who gave us a promo of the antenna day that occurred yesterday, Ben and anchor Justin VK7TW went through the kits and the format of the day. Thanks Ben.
We moved to the final closing of Dark Mofo with pictures from Justin on the parade and burning of the ohgh ohgh – which this year was a Swift Parrot.
Justin then did a quick announcement and review of the newly released RaspberryPi Model 4 that has just been released, this unit is very impressive and bordering on rivalling a desktop PC in a single board computer starting at US$55!
Warren VK7WN then bought along an interesting arduino snake kit that is sold at workshops at Jaycar for Nerd Perks subscribers. This kit was very well priced and the workshops were free! Warren took the audience through the kit and format of the workshop. Then Warren took the audience through a recent Margate Tip shop purchase a very nice Grid Dip Oscillator that was in immaculate condition. This prompted a discussion that lead to the forth Wednesday night the 24th July becoming a Grid Dip Oscillator night, thanks Warren.
The videos on the night included SDR Academy - John Melton, G0ORX/N6LYT: An update on OpenHPSDR software for Linux, new ARRL promo video and many other videos.
And now for an announcement of a special DATV Experimenters Night presentation by Steve VK7OO on July 17th from 7:30pm. Titled the Hobart City Integrated Parking System – Steve has been given permission to take the audience through a technical outline of the City of Hobart's new Integrated Parking System - much more than mere meters.
Please note we have been asked not to broadcast or streaming this presentation and so you will need to come along!
We get back underway in a fortnights time from 7:30pm in the Queen's Domain clubrooms.
https://www.reast.asn.au/special-interest-groups/amateur-tv/
Hope to 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- July 3rd - GPS Disciplined Oscillator Forum Queens Domain Clubrooms from 7:30pm
NW Coast – July 6 - Chat and Show group from 2pm at the Penguin Sport Centre Ironcliffe Road Penguin
NTARC – July 13 – BBQ Meeting from Noon and meeting from 2pm – Clubrooms Archer St Rocherlea
REAST – August 7 – Oculus Rift and Virtual Reality Demonstrations with Ian Macintosh – Queens Domain clubrooms from 7:30pm
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A reminder to those people rostered for next weeks broadcast:
Newsreader: VK7TW
Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and NWTR&TVG
80m: VK7TPE
40m: VK7JGD
20m: VK7ALH
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.
You have been listening to or just missed VK7WI, 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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