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VK7AX  > BCAST    26.05.19 13:00z 300 Lines 21656 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 12202_VK7AX
Read: GUEST
Subj: VK7 Amateur Radio News 12May19
Path: HB9ON<IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<IW0QNL<VE2PKT<ZL2BAU<VK4TUB<VK7AX
Sent: 190526/1246Z @:VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC #:12202 [Ulverstone] $:12202_VK7AX
From: VK7AX@VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC
To  : BCAST@WW


Text edition: VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST

FOR SUNDAY 12 May 2019

(Note.. please remove spaces in email addresses before using)


VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST FOR SUNDAY 12 May 2019

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Welcome to the YL / Mothers day edition of the VK7 Amateur Radio News for the 12th of May 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 Ross, VK7ALH

On 7.140 MHz by Justin, VK7TW

On 14.130 MHz by any takers?

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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GENERAL NEWS
VKFF New Park Additions for Tasmania

Reminder that during April, a number of new parks were added to the WWFF (World Wide Flora & Fauna) parks program throughout Tasmania. There's never been a better time to get started with park activations. In total, 43 new parks were added including conservation areas, recreation areas and nature reserves.

There are now 142 parks to activate throughout the state, so no matter where you live, there is likely to be something in your local area.

To find out more, please visit the WWFF Australia website that can be found on the email edition of this broadcast.

www.wwffaustralia.com

To make an enquiry, please contact Jonathan VK7JON the Tasmania Representative. Jonathan's email address appears on the VKFF Team page of the website.

(73, Jonathan, VK7JON)
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QSL News
VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau News

Herman has received another 1.8Kg of cards late on Friday and cards will be sorting over the weekend.

There will be a listing of callsigns in next weekâ€Ös broadcast.

(73 de Herman VK7HW Manager WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau)
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News from the North West
Chat & Show Group

A Great afternoon at the Chat & Show on Saturday 4th May organised by Shirley VK7HSC at the Penguin Sports Centre. Terry VK7JAI brought along two homemade Grid Dip Oscillatorsâ€Ö he built, one up to 6M and the other VHF/UHF, these were both made by Terry from an article in the 1955 Radio Television & Hobby Magazine. Terry gave us an interesting presentation and demonstration of the units, thanks Terry.

Les VK7OT brought along a 20M loop he had made, that everyone was also keen to check out. The unit has a vacuum capacitor allowing the unit to operate at high power and encouraged some of us to look into building our own loops. A lovely afternoon tea was enjoyed by those attending, and we look forward to the next Chat & Show, so if you have an interesting radio, project, or equipment you would like to show, feel free to bring it to the next bi-monthly Chat & Show. And thanks to Les and Tanya for attending and bringing the loop. Photos can be seen on the VK7Amateur Radio Facebook page and a link can be found on the email version of this broadcast. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1472093859714691/ 

(73, Eric, VK7EV)
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NWTR&TVG.
Special Meeting And General Meeting

Prior to the general meeting on June 1st at 2pm there is to be a special meeting in relation to membership rules. If not received, the notice of special meeting will be in your email shortly. Please take the time to read it and print it if you need to bring it to the meeting.

The general meeting of our club will follow on June 1st at the Scout Hall at Ulverstone immediately after. As usual we ask for a small plate for afternoon tea please. Friends are welcome to attend our meeting if they would like to.

I will be providing tea and coffee as usual.

Please remember June 1st at the Scout Hall Ulverstone at 2pm.

Looking forward to seeing everyone.

73 Shirl VK7HSC, President, NWTR&TVG
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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

We begin this week by wishing all the mothers among our listeners and all our mother members a Happy Motherâ€Ös Day.

Once again the NTARC news segment this week is coming from our temporary QTH on board T.S.M.V Tanda. The weather today is far from brilliant. We have rain and the outside temperature is 13. Looking around the cove many of the houses have their fires burning so obviously the locals reckon the seasonal change has arrived. Mind you, living aboard in wet weather with three dogs can be rather trying, especially when one of them is a 43 kg lab. If he believes a toilet trip ashore is indicated, it can be harrowing at times, so Iâ€Öm happy to leave that task to the OM.

Anyway, onto the news.

The May BBQ meeting was held yesterday and hopefully I will be able to provide you with a report in next weekâ€Ös news.

Repeater news - our Northern Repeater Officer Tony VK7YBG has provided an update in relation to the Mt Arthur working bee held Saturday 27 April so we will now hand over to Tony.

“Although it was a chilly start to the walk we all set off to the repeater site, making good time and only saw a little ice on the way, good considering the snowfall from the previous day. Our first-time walkers Peter Sulzberger and Tabitha Eagling got to see what a scenic place Mt Arthur can be.

Once on site we did some site maintenance that consisted of repairing a rope guy line, cleaning up some of the rubbish, a couple of program changes on one of the Digital repeaters and setting up the spare DR-1 for local Fusion (C4FM) operation. All site checks were good with batteries, wind generator and all repeaters operational.

The work was hindered a little by the drop in temperature while there, with Stuart observing an arrival temp of 2 degrees and -4 degrees by the time we were leaving.

Thanks go to all volunteers for their hard work and tolerance of the chilly working conditions.

Volunteers on the day were, Peter Sulzberger VK7SP, Peter Dowde VK7PD, Peter Feltham VK7ZPE (the pun of the day was we were having a Three Peter Maintainence trip), Colin Fuller VK7ZCF, André Bochenek VK7ZAB, Stuart Kinkade VK7FEAT and Tabitha Eagling (no callsign…..Yet……).

Regards, Tony Eagling VK7YBG, NTARC Northern Repeater Officerâ€

Many thanks Tony for that update, sounds like the weather wasnâ€Öt the greatest but nice to see you had a good roll up of helpers.

Technical session roundup – these sessions are now back in full swing and so we will hand over to Idris for the weekly update

“Wednesday 8 May was a wet and cool night, but that didnâ€Öt deter our enthusiastic members with coats and beanies from attending. The fire was warm and the coffee was flowing.

Continuing on from last week, Ross VK7ALH had delved into the Club archives and found three issues of Radio, TV and Hobbies, with information and schematics for his Geloso VFO experiment. More developments to come.

Peter VK7KPC showed us his recently arrived reference 10MHz OCXO kit with a metal clad module from Morion, containing the crystal and oven to be mounted on an accompanying circuit board. The specifications are better than some Standard References!

Bernie VK7BR was discussing his new found drive motor, a precision two phase 135 Hz unit.

Simon VK7FSRM was having computer problems, and found a bad RAM module. Installing a replacement fixed everything. He has now loaded good old Windows 7, and is ready to program radios. Good job Simon.

Stuart VK7FEAT had his home brew UHF quad antenna and is considering modifications so that it can be folded flat for field trips.

Kevin VK7KJL disappeared into the radio shack to have a listen around the bands.

Peter VK7PD was having discussions with Stefan VK7ZSB about transceiver remote control, and also with Idris VK7ZIR about the construction of 70cm and 23cm masthead preamps for the Club station.

Paul VK7KPA brought along his latest project. This will be a part of the “Internet of Thingsâ€. Launceston was the first city in Australia to switch-on the “Next Generation of the Internet†by rolling out LoRaWAN technology.

Paul has built 2 nodes each consisting of a small waterproof enclosure, a couple of sensors, a microcontroller with a LoRa board, 915MHz vertical antenna, solar panel and Lithium battery. The system is so efficient, a small 100mm square solar panel will provide enough charge even on a cloudy day. The other unit is a LoRaWAN gateway in another waterproof enclose, this time using Power-over-Ethernet for easy installation. This is based on a Raspberry Pi with a LoRa HAT. Paul is due to install the system for his customer to monitor subterranean water pressure, so we will look forward to hearing of his results.

Until next week….â€

Thanks Idris for that update. These nights are continuing to be a very popular feature of club life and is good to see that even the cold weather doesnâ€Öt slow down attendance.
Coming events

Technical sessions – next session, Wednesday 15 May 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.

Equine event – our first event of the year is fast approaching. NTARC has been asked to provide safety comms at the Lockhart Challenge to be held at Lebrina on Saturday 25 May. This event is being hosted by the North East Equine Endurance Club. This is a one day ride and we will be providing Safety Comms for the 80, 40 and 20 km events. As this is close to Launceston why not consider coming along and assisting a Community organisation, while utilising your radio skills. Our Safety Communications Coordinator Norm VK7KTN would appreciate hearing from you. Norm can be contacted by email safetycomms.ntarc@gmail.com

LATE Breaking News NTARC Safety Communications have been asked to provide safety communications for an additional equine endurance event, the Jill Sheehan Memorial Ride on the 8th of June at Sassafras, involving 40Km and 80Km day rides. If you would like to assist at this event then please contact Norm at the above email address; more assistance is always appreciated.

Mug Order – yes, we are talking about the white mugs for drinking out of, those that have our club logo on one side, personalized with your name and call sign on the other. We are definitely placing another order so if you would like one then please see André at coffee mornings or at the technical night. Alternatively, email him at treasurer@ntarc.net

QSL cards delivery – Herman VK7HW has advised he is intending to drop into the NTARC club rooms on Friday 17 May to deliver some QSL cards as per the list published in the text version of this broadcast. So it may be a good idea for you to drop in on that day and see if you have any cards awaiting collection.

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. As noted above, we are expecting a delivery on Friday 17 May.

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 donâ€Öt 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, while I am absent on holiday, 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 insertion into the NTARC segment. There are very real difficulties in compiling the weekly news contribution when away from home QTH, not that there arenâ€Öt when at home. In the field though, they are much more demanding. During my absence therefore, the reality must be that if I do not receive contributions by 17:00, I will be obliged to simply insert a note that no report has been received on that particular item before the cut off. I trust that this will be understood.

As always I look forward to seeing you at Rocherlea but not for some weeks.

(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/
Reast Antenna Build Day

REAST is planning an antenna build day in the not too distant future (more on that in the next couple of weeks). We're hoping that the day will be a great opportunity for members and non-members to get together in a shared learning environment and be able to walk away with an antenna they can go home and plug in and start using. With test equipment available you'll be able to dabble with a dipole, fidget with a fractal or alter an end fed!

Speaking of end feds there will be a limited number of ready-to-assemble antenna kits for sale for those who would like a project to walk away with.

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

If you are interested in pre-ordering a kit, and guaranteeing availability please contact Ben VK7BEN by email at 

	vk7ben @ wia.org.au

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DATV Experimenter's Night

Last Wednesday night saw a great roll-up and many activities happening.

Ron Cullen was working and unfortunately repairing one of hhis azimuth and elevation camera mounts that had suffered from a hard landing up at Mathinna over the Easter weekend. This mount enables the first person viewer to look around the sky and the camera on the plane following the movement. This enables a view from wing-tip to wing-tip. On ya Ron.

Rex VK7MO and Larry VK7WLH were deep in conversation and thumbing through the IC-9700 manuals for commands to configure the unit for standard repeater use. Who says amateurs dont use the manual….HIHI.

Ben VK7BEN and Justin VK7TW reached a milestone in the DATV studio with streaming configured and tested from the DATV studio. We now stream the DATV nights on the REAST YouTube channel so these can be watched anywhere.

The presentations we broadcast included VK7HH on FT4, Rex VK7MO on the IC-9700 and last weekâ€Ös Antarctic Atmospheric Research presentation. Ben and Justin also checked the microphone and audio levels and these are adequate but need some attention in the longer term.

We also broadcast 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.

https://www.reast.asn.au/special-interest-groups/amateur-tv/

John VK7FJPA had his laptop with him and a SDR Dongle and TV rabbit ear antennas and was able to decode the DVB-T signal. John then headed home to Goodwood to see if he could received the signal from there. On ya John.

Justin VK7TW bought along his recently completed 10GHz EME Azimuth and Elevation rig along with the freshly installed optical encoders that now provide feedback to the K3NG GPS controlled rotator controller.

We get back under way this Wednesday night with a full DATV studio program see you there Wednesday May 15th from 7:30pm and we will be taking callbacks on Repeater 2.

See you there.

(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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TECHNICAL ARTICLES
DAM fine way to boost radio signals

Engineering researchers have demonstrated that a longstanding theoretical method called direct antenna modulation (DAM) has real-world utility for boosting the quality of radio signals when transmitting at high data rates. The finding has applications in fields such as military communications.

“You can always improve signal quality by using a larger antenna, but thatâ€Ös simply not practical for many wavelengths,†said Jacob Adams, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at North Carolina (NC) State University and senior author of a paper on the work.

“For example, antennas operating in the high frequency range â€ö 3 to 30 MHz â€ö would be 5 m long or longer. Weâ€Öve shown that DAM can improve signal quality dramatically when using much smaller antennas. How much smaller can vary, but weâ€Öve demonstrated the concept using antennas one-third the size of a conventional antenna for a given wavelength.â€

The DAM concept has been around for more than 50 years, and is essentially the idea that storing and releasing energy from the antenna at the right moments can reduce the amount of distortion in the resulting signal.

However, researchers had not previously done a thorough comparison of conventional antennas to DAM antennas when transmitting at high frequencies.

Adams and his team used antennas that were just under 1 m long to transmit at 27 MHz, and found stark differences in performance between the DAM transmitter and a conventional one.

“We focused on frequencies that are practical for communications technologies that operate beyond the line of sight but that are also typically limited by large antennas,†Adams said. “And we found the DAM signal was still viable at data transmission rates where transmissions from the conventional antenna were simply indecipherable.

“We think this demonstrates the viability of DAM for use in practical technologies,†he added. “We are currently working on ways to further improve the power handling of DAM devices and to offer more flexibility in terms of the types of modulations that can be generated with DAM.â€

The teamâ€Ös paper, ‘Pulse Characteristics of a Direct Antenna Modulation Transmitterâ€Ö, has been published in the open-access journal IEEE Access. The work was done with support from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program.

http://news.ncsu.edu/2019/04/new-study-demonstrates-radio-signal-benefits-from-decades-old-theory/

(Sourced from the Critical Comms Web E-zine)
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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:

NWTR&TVG – 1 June - Special and General Meeting - Ulverstone Scout Hall from 2:00pm
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A reminder to those people rostered for next weekâ€Ös broadcast:

Newsreader: VK7PD

Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and NWTR&TVG

80m: VK7JGD

40m: VK7ALH

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.

-------------------------------------------------------------

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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