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VK7 Amateur Radio News 31May20
Text edition: VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR MAY 31 2020
(Note.. please remove spaces in email addresses before using)
VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 31st May 2020
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the VK7 Amateur Radio News for the 31st May 2020. This broadcast is brought to you by VK7WI, and read today by Justi
n, VK7TW.
This broadcast utilises repeaters around VK7 and the following HF rebroadcast stations:
On 3.670 MHz by Mike, VK7FB
On 7.140 MHz by Peter, VK7TPE
On 14.130 MHz by Garry, VK7JGD
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
RAOTC News
RAOTC Broadcast for June 2020
Here is a reminder about the RAOTC broadcast for the 1st of June 2020; thatâÖs tomorrow night for those listening on Sunday.
The first news item provides a history of the Heathkit company of which most radio amateurs would have some knowledge but how m
any of us knew of their aeronautical history? That's right, they once manufactured kits for building light aircraft.
Many old timers would remember the WW2 surplus cathode ray tube, type 5BP1 and the many roles it played for amateur builders. H
ear how it helped lead the way into Heathkit designing electronics kits.
The company sold a huge range of electronics kits through many iterations; this range even included computers. They still survi
ve to this day by providing educational equipment. Alas kits for amateur radio equipment became uneconomical.
Titanic sinking part 2. The final part of this series concentrates mainly on the radio operations of the rescue ship RMS Carpat
hia and its rescue operations following the tragic death of one of the Titanic's radio operators.
The item concludes with details of how the Titanic disaster led to the standardisation of maritime radio procedures.
The third item has the title: The ultimate in power windows". It describes some recent developments in the concept of window g
lass doubling as photovoltaic cell panels.
As usual this will all go to air in VK7 on the first Monday of the month at 7:30pm local time over the VK7RAA/RTC state-wide ne
twork and again at about 8:30pm as a telecast on VK7AX Spectrum Tasmania" via the BATC members' stream and in the Ulverstone a
rea on 445.50MHz DATV.
The date this month is June 1st. Call backs will follow on both networks. Please call in if you are able.
73, Peter VK7PD
----------------------------------------------------------------------
VK7 QSL NEWS
Report - from Herman VK7HW Manager of the WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
The WIA Head Office Bureau is now planning to forward QSL Cards to State managers on a quarterly basis.
Advice has also been received that due to the current situation with the Corona Virus, the office is not fully staffed and it m
ay be some time before we receive any further deliveries.
The current list of Cards held as at 23 May, is in the email version of the broadcast.
Herman will be sending more cards out next week. Thank you VK7KT, VK7AN and NTARC for assisting with distribution in your area.
If you have any questions re QSL cards, please contact Herman by email vk7bureau @ wia.org.au
73, Herman, VK7HW, WIA Manager VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
--------------------------------------------
AA, AAA, AB, AD, AL, AM, AO, AP, AS, ATH, AV
BA, BB, BBW, BM, BP
CH, CJ, CV, CX
DD, DG, DK, DO, DQ, DX, DZ
FALX, FAZZ, FG, FGGT, FJFJ, FLAR, FOTR, FRJG, FTAS
GA, GC, GH, GL, GM, GW, GZ
HCH, HDX, HPD, HRS, HRW, HVK, HZ
IK, IS
JA, JB, JJ, JJJ, JP, JW
KBA, KD, KJ, KRJ, KL, KX
LAZ, LDH, LF, LM, LW
MAG, MBD, MBP, MC, ME, MHZ, MI, ML
NA, NC, NMH, NRF, NSB, NSE, NTE, NWQ
OK
PBD, PSJ, PW
RG
SM, SN, SV
TCE, TED, TK, TS, TU, TX
VAC, VAZ, VH, VKV, VR, VZ
WA, WC, WH, WT, WX
XDM
YAD
ZA, ZCK, ZE, ZJJ, ZM, ZMS, ZT, ZZ
Note - GW and YAD recently listed may have been an error from a previously edited list or may have been accidentally sent out -
sometimes cards really stick together and not noticed. The stations who receive them have in the past returned them to me or m
ailed direct to the correct station.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
News from the North
SOTA/WWFF PARKS GROUP
The SOTA/WWFF parks group at Glebe Gardens is back on track for future meetings and excursions.
Currently now meeting twice weekly - Mondays and Fridays 10.30-12.00 midday at Glebe Gardens Cafe ,Boland Street Launceston. Fo
r more information contact Al on 0417354410.
73, Al, VK7AN
-----------------------------------------------
Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club Incorporated
www.ntarc.net
Here we are again, at the last day of the month and according to some at least, winter commences tomorrow 1 June. Of course, ot
her and possibly more classically educated pundits argue that it doesn't commence until the shortest day of the year, around 22
June if memory serves. In either event though, it continues for 3 long and cold months. So, if you haven't got your woolly gea
r out, the electric blanket on and your heater going then maybe it's time to turn them on and rug up against the cold. That sai
d and not mentioning any names but I suspect that I will still see some members of the club wandering around in short sleeves a
nd shorts as they tough it out.
My memory turns to those far off days of early childhood, with the family spending evenings in front of the blazing woodfire he
arth in the Southern Highlands of country New South Wales, listening to the radiogram which provided both our entertainment and
a degree of back warming too, thanks to its all valve line-up. Perhaps the more lasting recollections though are of that comfo
rting smell of warming varnish and of course the equally warm but very bassy sound it produced from its large cabinet, far tall
er than myself at the time. I also now recall an audible and constant 50 hz mains hum but that went unnoticed in those now very
far-off days, well before stereo hifi and at least several decades before FM broadcasting made its appearance.
Enough of the nostalgia. With June commencing, we are getting closer to that hopefully magic date of the 15th when we roll back
to stage 2 restrictions. That stage will allow gatherings of up to 20 people to meet indoors, so with some luck and careful pl
anning, we may be able to reopen the clubrooms for coffee mornings not long after that. We will keep you posted via this weekly
Broadcast segment as we move forward towards that happy day but an email will also be sent out to all members from the Preside
nt, advising of our proposed re-entry into club activities. While we need to wait and see what is actually possible under the a
mended emergency regulations, I suspect we will need to reflect the Government's approach of a staggered restart.
As for your scribe, I have nothing newsworthy to report from the home front this week but thankfully I have received an item of
news from Peter VK7KPC on his adventures when attempting to engineer the Tuesday night rebroadcast last week. Of course, we al
so have the weekly update from Nic VK7BEE on how the Wednesday Tech net and Discord sessions are going.
So I will first hand over to Peter VK7KPC,
Last Tuesday night, Peter VK7KPC attempted doing the news rebroadcast on the VK7RAA network.
He arranged with one of our other Peter's, VK7PD to ride shotgun over the attempt.
This was a good move as his DTMF transmission to set the repeater in broadcast mode fell on deaf ears and on second attempt dec
oding was incorrect.
Peter VK7PD was then called on to do the setup, which as usual was all ok.
After a quick check on modulation levels, the rebroadcast was commenced on time at 2000 local time.
Both national and local segments were transmitted satisfactorily and 10 stations participated in the callback including Gary VK
6GC via an internet linking system. Reception reports were ok so half the setup is satisfactory.
Again thanks Peter VK7PD for putting the repeater back to normal following callbacks. Peter VK7KPC thinks the DTMF problem may
be due to timing of the tones from his pc.
So standby for another member to join the broadcast team hopefully in the not too distant future.
Regards
Peter, VK7KPC
Thanks Peter. What would the club do without its full quota of Peters? - Lord knows, although the OM has occasionally been hear
d to express the fear that one day we may peter out.
Now let's hear from Nic VK7BEE, our Net Coordinator, with a run down on last Wednesday 27th May Tech Net session: "Signals toni
ght on the Tech Net were "AS SMOOTH AS SILK" says Nic.
Starting off this week at 19:00 on the QRP frequency of 3.580 MHz saw five stations calling in, trying out AM. Nic VK7BEE with
12watt using a Panda Cub 807, Kevin VK7HKN with 1watt, Kerry VK7PAK, Mark VK7KMA with 20watts from an IC725 and Ross VK7ALH pum
ping out 2.5watts from a TenTec Argonaut.
Now to the Tech Net on 3.567 MHz LSB with Net controller Nic VK7BEE using the NTARC call sign VK7TAZ.
The net had 10 stations. Conditions were good with low noise, but it seems that ground wave propagation was poor. Several stati
ons couldn't hear each other until conditions improved as the net continued; then, all stations could hear each other. Such are
"The mysteries of the ether!"
Discord online communications was again used simultaneously, hosted by Paul VK7KPA.
Twelve VK7s joined Discord, some also on the TechNet at the same time, sharing pics and information whilst on-air. Bill VK7MX j
oined in from Newlands Arm in VK3.
Peter VK7PD contacted Nic before the TechNet with his apologies. He was participating in a âVirtual Visitâ with Justin VK7T
W on the REAST YouTube channel at the same time, with a fascinating narrative of his early life with amateur radio and up to th
e present. Many of us in the North watched the presentation after the Net.
Nic VK7BEE spoke about the WIA page looking at options for the 60m band, learning CW, and the use of an electrostatic shielded
loop antenna. This is advantageous in the suburbs to reduce QRM by receiving on the loop, and transmitting on a wire antenna.
Kevin VK7HKN mentioned how he had added a BD139 transistor as a PA, to one of his flea powered CW transmitters!
Ross VK7ALH told us how he had Swans and Drakes in his "chook house", promising to get a Heathkit station on-air for next week
.
Our Mr Satellite, Andrew VK7DW explained how he uses an Apple PC with the MAC Doppler application to find his satellites, and h
ow the signals were so strong on one satellite, that he used his 2m/70cm vertical on the roof, and had a great SSB contact with
a VK5.
Peter VK7KPC is getting gear ready for the next Field Day including a 2 metre amplifier.
Poor James VK7JAM was all set up, but had radio failure. So he came up on Discord. Keep trying James!
Idris VK7ZIR called in with a very strong signal running 30 to 50 watts with and without the antenna matching unit in-line. No
noticeable change in signal strength, but his power levels varied. Thanks to André VK7ZAB who had tweaked the IC7000 for optim
al performance.
Peter VK7ZPE described his inverted âLâ antenna, 8 meter vertical and 20 meter horizontal used with an Icom AH4 matching un
it and his IC7300.
Graham VK7KT at Burnie reported bad ground wave propagation and Kerry VK7PAK with his IC7400 at St Leonards called in to give r
eports. He was using several internet SDRs to compare signals.
Next week, before the net, as several people have expressed an interest in learning CW, Nic will start a very simple and very s
low "Morse and Talk" session at 7pm on 3.580 MHz.
It's all very well to know all the CW characters, but you also need to know the way to make a contact, the protocol. Nic has pr
epared some information on this. If you would like a copy, please email vk7bee @ gmail.com
73 Nic VK7BEE
Once again, this must be all from NTARC for this week. As we have been saying for the past month or more, take care and if you
don't need to go out, stay home and read, listen to music, get on the radio and talk to the world or warm up that soldering iro
n and get on with those projects.
Above all though, please keep well and keep as watchful an eye on the wellbeing of your immediate circle as is possible in the
circumstances.
Finally
A reminder to all members that if you have any items of news you would like added to our weekly roundup, no matter how trivial
- it is always good to have something new with which to entertain the troops - then please email them to either of the followin
g
addresses ntarc.emails @ gmail.com or ypmaxwell @ bigpond.com
For some time to come, the weekly news will become the medium for informing all about happenings, or lack thereof, in the local
amateur radio world. It would be appreciated if any news, no matter how insignificant, 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. Your
continued cooperation in this regard will be gratefully appreciated.
73, Yvonne VK7FYMX, Secretary NTARC Inc
------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS FROM THE SOUTH
Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
https://www.reast.asn.au/
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
Club Virtual Gathering - DSTAR Feast
REAST Virtual Club Presentation - June 2020 - DSTAR
A huge thank you to Scott VK7HSE and Clayton VK7ZCR who are our DSTAR aficionados who have agreed to give us an online presenta
tion on DSTAR for our whole of club Virtual Meeting this Wednesday 3rd June 2020 from 7:30pm.
This presentation idea has come from the many ICOM IC-9700 owners who have DSTAR built into their radios and an interest in usi
ng it with the repeaters around Tasmania.
A rough agenda of what will be covered is:
Introduction
Short history
Registering
Availability in Hobart - repeaters, etc
Equipment - handhelds, mobiles, base stations (including the 9700)
Traps for young (and not so young) players
Questions
The presentation is expected to run for about an hour.
Bring along your DSTAR questions and queries for Scott & Clayton.
Details of the zoom session address will be emailed to club members shortly.
We hope to see you on the Zoom session.
73, REAST Committee.
------------------------------------------------------------------
DATV Experimenter's Night - Working from the Shack #7
Last Wednesday evening saw an online interview with Peter VK7PD from Launceston. Peter took the audience through his early year
s growing up in Lonnie and his curiosity with how things worked. He was introduced to Crystal sets early and was influenced by
a number of amateurs who helped Peter with his curiosity. Peter setup a magneto phone system around houses in the district much
to the envy of other kids in the neighbourhood.
Peter earned the title of "Professor" whilst at school and manage to get a job with a local radio repair shop where many employ
ees where working toward their amateur licence. Peter eventually got his Z call with the callsign VK7ZPD in 1965 and then upgra
ded to VK7PD.
His interest in radio lead to an invitation to teach at the local TAFE college and study at University to obtain teaching quali
fications and Peter taught at TAFE from 1993 through until his retirement in 2012.
Peter built many rigs he used and obtained a Yaesu FT-100 which he still has. He has many projects on the go mostly involving U
HF/Microwave equipment. Peter participates in many field days and showed slides of this involvement.
Peter's amateur radio inspirations include many from his early radio repair days, TAFE, Joe Gelston VK7JG SK and Rex Moncur VK7
MO
A huge thank you to Peter for his time and sharing his amateur radio journey.
This week we have a rest as it is the whole of club virtual gathering but the week after we have an interview with Peter VK7KPC
from the North. Peter has recently retired from Air Services Australia as an RF Engineer and has a lifelong involvement with S
couts and JOTA along with being a avid collector of Military Radios. So, another one not to be missed.
We get underway on Wednesday 10th June from 7:30pm and we will be taking questions via Repeater Two (146.700), DMR Talkgroup 38
07 and the Youtube Chat channel.
And a reminder that we go out on RF on 445.5MHz DVB-T 7MHz Standard Definition. So, if you have a TV, Set-top box or USB DTV Do
ngle that you can tune and scan 445.5MHz and you can see the Queens Domain, then you have a good chance of receiving the DATV E
xperimenter'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/
See you in a fortnight's time with the DATV Experimenter's "Working from the Shack" Night #9 from 7:30pm this Wednesday 10th of
June.
73, Justin, VK7TW
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TECHNICAL ARTICLES
Tasmania Uni ramps up space tracking capability
Partners with European Space Agency.
The University of Tasmania is preparing to play a greater role in the exploration and use of space with upgrades to its optical
observatory.
The university is set to augment its space tracking capabilities thanks to a funding agreement with the Australian Space Agency
that was formalised in November last year.
Part of the new capability will be established with the installation of two antennae at the university's Greenhill Observatory,
70km north of Hobart at Bisdee Tier.
A 7m antenna will provide support for a broad range of satellites and operations from the observatory, while a second dish betw
een two and three metres in size will support Australian-made nanosatellites.
Nanosatellites, often in the form of small, modular "cubesats" about the size of a loaf of bread, are used by academics and in
dustry to monitor space, the environment and Earth's upper atmosphere due to the relatively low cost of production and launch o
f such small devices.
Professor Simon Ellingson, acting Dean of the School of Natural Sciences, said the university expects to announce the contract
with the antennae manufacturer âwithin a matter of weeks".
"The schedule of installation is uncertain with the current COVID-19 lockdown, but we expect to install the antennae later this
year."
The Greenhill Observatory houses a 1.3 metre optical telescope whose original primary mirror is currently being replaced after
an optical flaw was discovered that prevented it from being used to its full sensitivity.
Despite the setback, the Greenhill Observatory has contributed to studies of Pluto's atmosphere and the discovery of Earth-like
planets orbiting other stars since being commissioned in 2013.
Greenhill is one of five observatories run by the university, the others being radio telescopes at Cambridge, Ceduna in South A
ustralia, Yarragadee in Western Australia, and Katherine in Northern Territory.
With Greenhill's new mirror and augmented antenna array, the university is set to support the European Space Agency's Jupiter I
cy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission scheduled for mid-2022.
Researchers at the university led by Dr Guifré Molera Calvés are already in the process of of crunching the data from a joint
exercise with the European VLNI network of telescopes in February that tracked the position of NASA's Mars Insight lander.
The observations aimed to determine the measurements of the red planet's rotation and nutation (variation in the tilt of its ax
is), and to study the liquid content of its core.
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/tasmania-uni-ramps-up-space-tracking-capability-548589
(Written by Matt Johnson and sourced from the ITNews Web E-zine)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite News
AO-27 Returns from the Dead
A number of amateurs have reported that the FM repeater of AO-27 has been active for brief intervals in recent weeks. When comm
anded on by control operators, the transponder is active for about two minutes before reverting to telemetry transmissions only
.
Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, remarks that AO-27 wasn't originally intended to be an FM satellite. It lacks the audio filtering nor
mally seen with an FM receiver, since its uplink receiver was going to be used for data.
With the lack of audio filtering on the uplink receiver, AO-27 was used for tests with D-Star radios.
The Wayback Machine has captures of the former ao27.org web site, detailing how those tests were done. Two radios were used for
those D-Star QSOs, one for uplink and the other for downlink).
Many are hopeful that control stations will eventually be able to recover the satellite sufficiently to provide more regular op
eration. In the meantime, if you hear the satellite active, make your contacts quickly!
(Sourced from the AMSAT News Service thanks Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Regular VK7 gatherings and events over the coming months:
Regular gatherings:
SOTA/WWFF Group - Meeting Mondays and Fridays 10.30-12.00 midday at Glebe Gardens Cafe ,Boland Street Launceston.
NWTR&TVG - Club meetings cancelled till further notice.
NTARC - Club meetings cancelled till further notice.
REAST - Clubrooms are closed until further notice.
REAST - MICROWAVE QSO Party - following after the Sunday broadcast on 1296.15 MHz FM.
REAST - DATV Experimenter's Nights - Working from the Shack Series from 7:30pm on RF and Streaming
NTARC - Technical Net - Wednesdays 3.567 MHz LSB at 7:30pm local time
Events:
REAST - 3 June - DSTAR Club Virtual (ZOOM) Gathering from 7:30pm
Sewing Circle Net - commences at 17:00 on 3.640 MHz.
VK7HH - "Ham Radio DX" YouTube channel any time
REAST - YouTube channel for heaps of great videos
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A reminder to those people rostered for next week's broadcast:
Newsreader: VK7RI
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 VK7WI. Next week the National WIA news can be heard at 0900 followed by the VK7 Amateur Radio News a
round 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 Justin, VK7TW
--------------------------------------------------------------
(Posted to the packet network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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