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Text edition: VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 17th. November 2019
(Note.. please remove spaces in email addresses before using)
VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 17th NOVEMBER 2019
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Welcome to the VK7 Amateur Radio News for the 17th of November 2019. This broadcast is brought to you by VK7WI, and read today
by Rick, VK7RI
This broadcast utilises repeaters around VK7 and the following HF rebroadcast stations:
On 3.670 MHz by Ross, VK7ALH
On 7.140 MHz by Mike, VK7FB
On 14.130 MHz by Any Takers
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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Silent Key
Frank Beech VK7BC
On Wednesday November 14 Frank Beech VK7BC became a silent key. Listeners may remember the report of a working bee at Frank's Q
TH in September when it was stated that he was having mobility problems. That was just one symptom of a long line of health iss
ues that Frank had been fighting, with determination, for many years. We are told the recent work to his antenna system was put
to good use albeit for only a short time.
Frank's career in radio communications goes back to his being an operator in the British Merchant Marine; this led to his membe
rship of the Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society (RNARS) which he maintained until his death. Little wonder Frank was an avid CW
man; he was the recipient of many awards over many years, most of them bearing testimony to his CW skills. His key is silent in
the most literal sense of the word.
A more detailed obituary will be submitted to AR magazine in due course.
I'm sure the amateur radio fraternity will join me in expressing sincere condolences to Frank's wife Paddy and their family.
Vale Frank,
(Peter VK7PD)
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Contest News
VHF/UHF/Microwave Spring Field Day
Hope everybody is just about ready for the Spring Field Day NEXT weekend 23/11 01:00 UTC 24/11 01:00 UTC. There is still time t
o get you portable VHF / UHF station all polished and ready to make many contacts. Maybe it's time to do the final checkout of
your portable spot, to do a final checklist of all the gear you need to take so as not to be remembering the field day badly. I
f youâ€Öre not going portable, then perhaps today or this week is the time to check all the bands and make sure everything is w
orking. Itâ€Ös been a long winter and our winters can be hard on coax and antennas so get those meters out and make sure everyt
hing is tip top.
Frequencies are not set in stone but a good start 6M 50.150 USB or 52.525 FM, 2M 144.150 USB or 146.500 FM, 70cm 432.150 USB or
439.000 FM, 23cm 1296.150 USB or FM, 13cm 2403.150 USB, 9cm 3398.150 USB, 3cm 10,368.150 USB
Hope to hear you on the bands!
(73, Richard vk7zbx)
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QSL News
Report - from Herman VK7HW Manager of the WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
Herman advises that he will deliver cards to Clubs and or QTH's on an opportunity basis. Feedback from Clubs as to which cards
they can receive on behalf of members would be appreciated. Also, unless requested otherwise by those who have mail out arrange
ments, If there are only 1 or 2 cards for a station, Herman intends to hold those cards until there are enough to make a mail
out more cost effective.
If any of you can confirm I am listing SK calls in the email version of the QSL Cards held list or if you have a new callsign p
lease email me so I can update my records.
If you have any questions about QSL Cards being held, Herman can be contacted by email vk7bureau(at)wia.org.au
(73 from Herman VK7HW )
Cards held as at 14 November 2019
AB, ABY, ACN(FOR RT0C), AD, AG, AM, AP
BH, BX
CH
DG, DX (for E7/VK4DX)
EE, EFA
FG, FLAR
GM, GR, GZ
HAH
JB, JJ , JJJ
KK, KRJ
LC, LH, LLJ
MAG, MBD, MHZ
NC, NF, NRF, NSE, NWQ
PRN, PSJ
RN
TCE, TS (for VK9LS), TU
VIP, VR, VZ
WC, WLH
XDM
ZA
VI17AC, VI7COW, VI70HI, VI7JIS, VI7KCD, VI7LER, VI70MI
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH WEST
FURTHER DATV TRANSMISSION UPDATE
The DATV Transmission in Ulverstone is now 1280x720 HIGH DEFINITION using a new professional High Definition Encoder.
The LCN is 100 with channel designation VK7AX Ulverstone
The improvement in definition and clarity of the received signal is very impressive.
Viewers need to ensure the TV used or Set Top Box receiving the ATV transmission is fully compliant with DVB-T MPEG2 High Defin
ition format,
and if using a set top box utilize the HDMI output connection for maximum results.
A suitable set top box is the Strong SRT 5434 which has been tested and works well, noting that a patch to allow it to tune to
the ATV freq. of 445.50 MHz.
needs to be downloaded from strong.
Some older set top boxes which have been tested during the week and ready to go, are the Strong SRT 5405E and the Telefunken TE
L002.
The main requirement for any device intended to be used to receive ATV is that the frequency (in this case 445.50MHz.) can be s
et prior to doing a manual scan.
All transmissions including the regular weekly Amateur Radio Broadcasts including the 'VK7 Amateur Radio News' now employ the n
ew HD encoder.
Anyone interested in ATV in Ulverstone, or looking for a suitable set top box, feel free to contact Tony VK7AX.
See you on DATV!
(73, Tony VK7AX)
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NWTR&TVG Notice Of Meeting
Hello members, I would like to remind you of the next meeting of our club to be held at the Ulverstone Scout Hall, at 2pm on Sa
turday December 7th. This is the last for the year and the last of the decade - oh where has the time gone?
I hope some of you can come and, as usual, your plate of afternoon tea is welcome and I will supply tea and coffee.
The rooms will be open until 6pm if needed for conversation, socialising and afternoon tea, so, be prepared to stay for a chat
and second cuppa, members and visitors alike.
Please note that visitors are always welcome to come to our meeting.
See you there says 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
Our recent spell of very windy weather is continuing here in the North but it didnâ€Öt deter NTARC members from turning up in b
ig mobs for coffee today, Friday. Mind you, it was rowdy at times. Our resident story teller Ebenezer VK7AT was in his usual go
od form but on this occasion, he was ably accompanied by Idris VK7ZIR and Trevor VK7TB. That trio had us all chuckling away at
their many antidotes and tall stories but it was all good fun. Of course, the table was laden with lots of food, even if we can
't be sure all of it was healthy.
One regular stalwart of our morning coffee sessions was notably absent. Ros, who normally opens up the clubrooms for our events
and ensures that the kitchen caters for us all, is presently having a little stint in hospital. We all wish you a speedy recov
ery Ros.
November BBQ and General Meeting.
As mentioned last week, we can now provide you with a rundown on the November BBQ meeting held last Saturday 9 November. Due to
it being a somewhat cool day we had anticipated numbers being reduced and so had set up the lunch in the small meeting room, a
lthough naturally Skywarmer had also been called upon to do his bit and keep those who did attend nice and cosy.
The BBQ commenced at noon and wow, what a great roll up. Far more than we had expected, throwing our seating calculations into
some disarray and so another table had quickly to be set up. Luckily, we have something of a normal tendency to, shall we say,
“generously” cater in the meat department and Saturday was no exception. With the large numbers of attendees came copious d
onations of salads and goodies for the subsequent afternoon tea, so our catering arrangements coped well, without any need to e
mbrace any loaves and fishes technique. Chefs Idris VK7ZIR, Andre VK7ZAB and assistant chef Stefan VK7ZSB (must just about be t
he longest apprenticeship in history Stefan) cooked up a veritable feast of sausages, hamburgers, roo and bacon patties, bacon,
lamb chops and or course onion. The meat was nicely done, neither underdone nor burnt but as at least one of the three bears m
ight say, just right. All was accompanied by a great assortment of salads and hot dishes plus garlic bread, a true feast.
With the BBQ over and washing up done the room was then converted to seat all attending the meeting. Again another good attenda
nce with the meeting commencing on time. The agenda was worked through with discussions relating to some reports. One of the ma
in areas of discussion in general business was setting the membership subscription rates for 2020. The Committee reported that
ongoing costs in relation to the club room eg electricity and other associated expenses, were all increasing, along with our ra
tes increasing on the Mt Arthur site. Unlike previous years, the sponsorship arrangement with the broker having expired, we hav
e now to meet the cost of our insurance cover on the clubrooms, our repeater and beacon sites, together with that on the commun
ications trailer. Coupled with those additional costs, donation receipts from equine endurance events, normally a major source
of income, are likely to reduce as the number of events scheduled by the organisers for the year has declined.
In the face of that outlook, the Committee recommended that we make an increase of $5.00 pa for the full membership fee, the fi
rst increase in 4 years. The meeting unanimously voted to accept that recommendation.
What that means is that a full voting member will now be required to pay $35.00 for 2020, while family membership remains at an
additional $5.00 pp that a member wishes to add to his or her membership. A renewal notice and covering letter will be sent ou
t to all members before the end of the month.
Afternoon tea was a great success with lots of goodies for all to enjoy, some of it weighed down with cream, so not sure how ou
r waistlines will ever stay slim. A thank you to those members that donated salads and hot dishes to share at lunch and a thank
you to those members who donated cakes, scones and other delights for afternoon tea.
Another highlight of the afternoon was a gathering of the repeater team, which held something of a post-winter brainstorming se
ssion later in the afternoon, out of which we are told we can expect something of a 5-year plan to guide future repeater and be
acon work.
We now hand over to our President Idris VK7ZIR to give us a rundown of the technical session held last Wednesday 13 November -
“Eager attendees were lined up at the door at opening time tonight. Ross VK7ALH showed us the little brother of the Drake MN-
2000 Antenna Matcher from last week an MN-4. A very nice, almost identical but smaller chassis with double shielding like its s
ibling. Looking under the covers, the layout was also the same with scaled down components, as the rating is 400 watts, as oppo
sed to big brother's 2kW. Everything was built to the same high standard. Thanks again Ross.
Andre VK7ZAB was busy making up a programming cable for Norm VK7KTN's Anytone 778 mobile. André used a popular version of the
wiring found on the internet but after looking at the rig's manual he thinks the wiring may need to be crossed over. We will wa
it for result from Norm's programming session.
After getting the WSPR computer and radio working together last week, Peter VK7KPC has been plagued with reports of the compute
r shutting down at approximately 16:00 UTC, or 03:00 local time. The computer was reset on two occasions but the shutdowns were
still happening. This evening, a UPS was installed powering both computer and radio. Some settings in the operating system wer
e changed to stop the Power saving features from activating. Peter also checked for and deactivated any similar applications in
other parts of the operating system. We have our fingers crossed for the next few days. Further report next week to see if Pet
er has any hair left (HiHi).
Idris VK7ZIR was making some patch cables for use in the shack, with lots of helpers.
Peter VK7PD was discussing all things valves with Ross, with some circuit diagrams being drawn on the white-board, and catalogu
es poured over.
Kevin VK7HKN beavered away on his laptop and is expecting another QRP project kit soon. We hope to see the results of its const
ruction.
Colin VK7ZCF showed us a very nice digital LC meter obtained online for a very reasonable price.
Much was being discussed around the centre table including the many uses of the old style rabbit traps, besides catching rabbit
s! Ebenezer VK7AT threw in a few hilarious one liners and we were treated to a very interesting short video clip of a campanolo
gist in action playing a very nice set of bells. A bit of culture for the evening.
Thatâ€Ös all folks.
73 Idris VK7ZIR”
Membership notice as mentioned earlier the 2020 members fees were set at the November meeting. If you have forgotten your memb
ership for 2019 expires on 31 December. Fees for 2020 are a Full voting member $35.00 pa, family member an additional $5.00 per
person for the year. A renewal notice and covering letter will be sent out in coming days to the email address held on file. I
f you have changed your address in the past 12 months probably a good idea to let the Treasurer know.
NTARC Yahoo site if you are wondering what is happening with this site well it is being closed down, a situation forced upon u
s by Yahoo's decision to essentially reduce its groups service to an email-only exchange, with no capability of members being a
ble to either upload or download new files, photos etc. Moreover, the ability to access historic group content will be removed
from a date in December.
All of the NTARC yahoo group content is slowly being transferred across to our club web site. Yes, the web site is still progre
ssing, somewhat slowly but I am told that it is the “members only” section that is causing a few issues. Once that has been
sorted we will then provide financial members a password and access to that section. This area will store all our broadcast ne
ws, minutes of meetings, buy, sell and swap and other related matters. We ask for a bit more patience as we are slowly getting
it there.
Coming events
Technical sessions The next session will be on Wednesday 20 November and will commence at the usual time of 7.30 pm, running t
hrough 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 coffe
e along with biscuits is available for a small gold coin donation.
Equine event final reminder that NTARC Safety Comms Team has been asked to provide safety comms at the State Championships bei
ng held at Sassafras from November 22-24. We will be providing Base Comms, 4 checkpoints and RFID tracking at this event for th
e 160k, 95k, 42k and the 20k ride. The 160k ride commences at 00.00 hours Saturday morning so yep it is a very early start and
all-nighter for us. The 95k ride commences at 05.00 am Saturday morning, followed by the 42k ride at 08.00 hours and hotly on t
heir heels the 20k at 09.00 hours. Both the 160k and 95k rides have been classified as elevated rides, this means riders can re
tire at any leg after 80k or continue on to finish.
As mentioned last week the organisers of this event have recently brought it forward by one week, a decision which has had a sp
iral-on effect, with some of the Comms team who had planned their availability for the original weekend now not being available
to assist. So if you can spare some time during the Saturday why not pop across to Smith & Others Road, Sassafras and relieve
some of the weary team. Our Safety Comms Coordinator Norm would appreciate hearing from you. Norm can be contacted by email at
safetycomms.ntarc @ gmail.com or catch up with him at coffee session.
End of year Christmas break up function - This year we will be having our Christmas event on Wednesday 11 December. This would
be our normal meeting night but as usual for this time of the year we forego a meeting and party instead. This year we will be
partying-away, so to speak, as a venue has been booked. It will be held at the Commercial Hotel, George Street, Launceston. Mee
t time 6.30 for 7.00 pm but for those workers you can always arrive earlier and get comfortable before the happy crowd arrives.
This is the venue at which we held our mid-year dinner and those that attended really enjoyed it. So please note that diary. A
list of attendees has already commenced and that register can be found next the club sign in book. So if you have decided you
will be attending please note your name or names on that list.
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 com
pany, freely offered philosophical views, maybe less than expert political analysis, tall tales and genuinely good fare on offe
r, these coffee events are normally a good opportunity to collect your QSL cards. Currently we have no cards awaiting collectio
n. 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 l
eaving a gold coin or two, or even a small bank note, in the jar to assist in our on-going operations. I donâ€Öt know of any ot
her venue in Launceston, or further afield for that matter, where you can get endless coffee, tea and eats for a donation of th
is 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, inclu
ding frantically arranging other connections when our NBN fails, which is quite often. Your continued cooperation in this regar
d will be gratefully appreciated and do much to lower my blood pressure.
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/
REAST 6m Repeater Replacement
Two weeks ago saw the replacement of the VK7RAD 6m Domain repeater. The existing Philips 814 was removed from service by Damien
VK7SD and replaced with a modified Unilab KL70. This was previously a mid-band unit that we converted down to 6m. Reports so f
ar have shown a solid improvement. The repeater is accessible on 53.825MHz with a negative 1 MHz input. No input tone is requir
ed, however the repeater will output a 141.3Hz tone. Thanks to Alan VK7KAJ for the donation of the repeater and to Hayden VK7HH
for his assistance with the transmitter modifications.
73, Damien, VK7SD
REAST Repeater Coordinator
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SOUND ARTISTS ON THE AIR
REAST sound artists in residence, Sisters Akousmatica, are excited to let everyone know that they have been successful in recei
ving a Narrowband FM broadcast license and will be on air on 97.1MHz FM from the Moonah Community Centre each Thursday to Satur
day from 10am to 3pm between the dates of November 21 and December 14, with a special opening broadcast at 6pm on the 21st Nove
mber.
Phillipa and Julia are very keen to hear from anyone who may be interested in being interviewed on-air and this can be on any s
ubject. If you think you are able to be interviewed, email them at the highly appropriate email address of radioqueens@sistersa
kousmatica.org
More information can be found in the text edition of the broadcast
Ben, VK7BEN
http://www.sistersakousmatica.org/moonah-community-radio/
http://mixlr.com/sistersakousmatica/
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DATV Experimenter's Night
Firstly we apologise for the lack of sound on the streaming last last Wednesday night.
We had a full program in the DATV Studio. We started with guest - Larry VK7WLH who took us through his recent learnings about t
he NanoVNA. Including the sweeping of a 70cm ground plane antenna in the studio. Larry also talked about the Ublox M8 module he
has been experimenting with for locking his PC. Thanks Larry.
We then had Kim VK7KB who talked us through the work that AA Radio was doing installing radio consoles in each Antarctic base a
nd Kingston that enable them to effectely conect anything to anything. Thanks Kim.
We showed a short video of the transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun as captured by one of NASAâ€Ös Helios satellites.
Our videos included VK7HH review of the RigPi MFJ-1234, the TX Factor - Episode 24 and a couple of video by Joe Smith on the Na
noVNA, a beginners guide to the Vector Network Analyzer, Using the NanoVNA to Measure Antenna SWR and Resonance and the NanoVNA
, Viewer Questions and Answers.
We get back underway 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 tu
ne 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/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC64To_tq1E7PfK1pqtX_vRw/
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
(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:
WICEN (South) Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th November – Support for Scouts - Sir Ernest Clark Trophy - Oatlands
NTARC - Equine event Sassafras from November 22 to 24
NWTRandTVG - Next meeting 2pm on Saturday December 7th
NTARC - Christmas event on Wednesday 11 December
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A reminder to those people rostered for next weekâ€Ös broadcast:
Newsreader: VK7TW
Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and NWTR&TVG
80m: VK7TW
40m: VK7ALH
20m: VK7TPE
10m: VK7JGD
DMR: Talk Group 5 and
D-Star: Reflector 091 VK7ZCR
-------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------
That concludes our VK7 Amateur Radio News Broadcast for this week.
You have been listening to or have 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 Rick, VK7RI.
(Posted to the packet network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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