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VK7AX > BCAST 13.09.20 02:20z 535 Lines 26064 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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VK7 Amateur Radio News 13Sep20
Text edition: VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SEPTEMBER 13 2020
(Note.. please remove spaces in email addresses before using)
VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 13th September 2020
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Welcome to the VK7 Amateur Radio News for the 13th August 2020. This broadcast is brought to you by VK7WI, and read today by Justin, VK7TW.
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 Garry, VK7JGD
On 28.525 MHz by Tony, VK7VKT
On DMR Talk Group 5 and D-Star Reflector 91C 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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VK7NEWS
RD Contest Results
As heard on the WIA National News - congratulations to VK7 for winning the Remembrance Day Contest for the fifth year. A huge thank you to all the VK7's who participated and put in a log.
There was a massive 70% of participants who put in a log and 20% of VK7 amateurs participated. You gotta be happy with that VK7!
Congratulations to Murray VK7ZMS with 1149 points who came first in the single operator phone followed by Justin VK7TW with 1058 points and Richard VK7ZBX with 1056 points.
Congratulations also to Ben VK7BEN with 303 points who came third in the Single Operator QRP section and Anthony VK7FBOC who came third in the Foundation section with 253 points.
Congratulations also to The Cronies+1 team who are Murray VK7ZMS, Richard VK7ZBX and Hayden VK7HH who came first in the team entry and extended their record breaking points score with 2937 points.
Thank you to all who participated in the RD Contest for 2020 and GO VK7!
73, Justin, VK7TW
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GENERAL News
ALARA
ALARA ladies will be meeting for coffee next Wednesday 16th September at 11.00 in Bellerive. Anyone wishing to join us please contact Linda vk7 @ alara.org.au
ALARA grants for females studying for Foundation, Standard or Advanced licences are available. We cover about half your costs. For more details go to the ALARA website at alara.org.au
A reminder that if you entered the ALARA contest at the end of August, it is time to get your log entry in.
Logs must be received by the Contest Manager by 30th September 2020
CONTEST MANAGER: Mrs. Sue Southcott VK5AYL, PO Box 708
Goolwa SA 5214, AUSTRALIA or email to: alaracontest @ wia.org.au
Linda VK7QP, President ALARA
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EVENTS NEWS
Miena QSO Muster.
Saturday October 24th will be the Miena QSO Muster. This one- time event will be held at the Great Lake Community Hall, (same venue as the Ham Fest). As we have all been grounded and not been able to have any meetups, let's all have a great day out at the Great Lake.
This will be an informal day, so, bring along the XYLs, YLs, or partners. In fact, anyone who would enjoy a day out. There will be tea and coffee, scones, and a sausage sizzle provided as part of the "welcome back to Miena day".
Also, if you want to have a car-boot, pre-loved swap-and-go, then please bring along your pre-loved and swap gear.
Doors will be open from 10am till 3 pm. We recommend you go mobile with your radios and we will be monitoring the local UHF repeater, VK7RIN (438.5) for your check-ins along the way. Also, 40 metres will be running.
A gold coin or some plastic stuff donation will help with the heating and scones.
Registration at the door for name tags and hand sanitation and we can take well over 100 people with the restrictions now lifted at this venue. There is plenty of room for distancing.
For further details or any other ideas, please email Ken VK7DY at vk7dyken @ gmail.com.
Hope to see you there.
Ken Sulman VK7DY (Great Lake Community Committee Member)
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D-STAR NEWS
Long-Running International D-Star Net Is On The Move
The long-running KB0ZSG International D-STAR Net is on the move. The net is moving from Reflector 1C to Reflector 91C effective the 13th of September (today). The day and time for the net will remain the same - 7 p.m. Central Time in the U.S. on Sundays.
The net bears the call sign of its founder Connie Ballantyne, now a Silent Key, and it is run by Steve KC9SIO. With the changes happening, it is recommended that hams wanting to connect starting on the 13th update their settings.
Steve said the move became necessary to resolve a problem of having too many hotspots connected to Reflector 1 and 30 at the same time. All are welcomed to Reflector 91C. We are happy they have made the transition.
Clayton VK7ZCR reports that the repeater VK7RCR is back on air and that from Monday 14th September at 10am the world-wide D-STAR Net will be moving to channel 91C and be running out of VK7.
This puts VK7 well and truly on the world-wide D-STAR map!
73 VK7ZCR
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QSL NEWS
Report - from Herman VK7HW Manager of the WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
The current list of Cards held as at 28 August 2020, is in the email version of the broadcast.
The list includes a listing of callsigns for cards received 16 July.
Some of these cards have already been mailed out and/or delivered on an opportunity basis.
If you received your callsign in recent years and see it in the list would you please email Herman advising him of the date you acquired the Call as he has some cards from years back and is finding some of those operators are new as the original owner is no longer active or Silent Key.
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
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All Cards held as at 28 August 2020
AA, AAA, AB, ACN, AD, AIR, AL, AM, AO, AS, ATH, AU, AV
BA, BB, BBW, BM, BO, BP, BPV
CEJ, CH, CJ, CV, CX
DD, DG, DO, DQ, DX, DZ
EG
FALX, FAZZ, FG, FGGT, FJFJ, FLAR, FOTR, FRJG, FTAS
GA, GC, GG, GH, GL, GM, GZ
HCH, HPD, HRS, HRW, HSJ, HVK, HZ
IK, IS
JA, JB, JP, JW
KBA, KD, KI, KJ, KL, KO, KRJ, KT, KX
LAZ, LCW, LDH, LM, LW
MAG, MBD, MBP, MC, ME, MHZ, MI, ML, MO
NA, NC, NMH, NRF, NSB, NSE, NTE, NWQ
OK, OR
PBD, PSJ, PW
RG, ROY
SN, SV
TCE, TED, TK, TS, TX
VAC, VAZ, VH, VKV, VR, VZ
WA, WC, WT, WX
XDM
YN
ZA, ZJJ, ZM, ZT
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH
SOTA/WWFF PARKS GROUP
The Summits On The Air/World Wide Flora and Fauna parks group is now meeting twice weekly – Mondays and Fridays 10.30AM till 12.00 at the Glebe Gardens Cafe, Henry Street, Launceston.
For more information contact Al on 0417 354 410.
73, Al, VK7AN
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Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club Incorporated
www.ntarc.net
The major news item today is that this past week NTARC resumed its Tech Night sessions at the clubrooms, after a very long lay-off due to Covid-19 restrictions. We will shortly bring you a report on just how that went.
Although the intent was that these nights alternate with the on-air 80M TechNets that have been their substitute over the autumn and winter months, it seems you just can't suppress good ideas. In the event, some of our interstate participants and some of our less local members appeared on air at the normal TechNet and Tech Test times, so our intrepid net controller Nic VK7WW, formerly VK7BEE, did what any worthy exponent of his craft would do and conducted the nets for them. So, as a result, today we will also shortly bring you a report from Nic.
Somehow I suspect that this will prove the usual pattern, so maybe we ought just embrace it and adjust our planning accordingly. Mind you, apart from ensuring that the clubroom antennas are intact and ensuring that Discord is connected, there could be a slight complication over just who gets to use the club call of VK7TAZ on TechNights. I'm sure those nimble minds in the club can sort out that issue?
Enough of the introduction and editorial already, as they may say in the Bronx. By the time this news goes to air the NTARC Safety Comms team will be recuperating from the event held yesterday Saturday 12 September at the Perry's property, tractor on the pole site, at Sassafras. Hopefully we can give you a run down next week as to happenings there, the second equine endurance event since their resumption.
Now, as foreshadowed, we hand over to Idris VK7ZIR for a run down on the first Tech session held at the Club room last Wednesday 9 September;
The NTARC Technical Sessions recommenced on the 9th of September at the Rocherlea Clubrooms. Attendance was very good with 14 members and 1 visitor. We welcomed Tony VK7ZTT, a local amateur from way back, known to members from previous occupations in the telecommunications and IT industries. We had our sign in book for recording of attendance with times in and out, and attention was paid to social distancing requirements and room limitations. Our kitchen is only permitted 2 people at a time so there was a queue for coffee!
Our star Show and Tell was Ross VK7ALH, who never disappoints, bringing not one, but 3 Yaesu FT101s in different variants. Ross has restored these radios to working order and conducted a very informative discussion about each one with regard to bringing them back to life.
Peter VK7PD brought a kit to build, as an inaugural technical activity. Many different discussions were occurring around the room, carrying on from the 80m Tech Net which will be on again next week. It was intended that we would run a Discord session at the Clubhouse for anyone who couldn't make it that evening, but alas, Murphy was in attendance and it was not a success. He didn't sign the book either!
This will be rectified for the next session as mentioned in Nic VK7WW's report.
More is planned for the next one, with Ebenezer VK7AT promising some new funny stories he has been saving up. A very enjoyable evening for all.
73, Idris VK7ZIR
Thanks Idris. Now over to Nic VK7WW;
9th September 2020 Pseudo TechNet Report! From VK7Whisky Whisky!
Oh Dear, habits are hard to break, I know there was no official net this week, but I did check with Idris, our president of NTARC, to see if it would be okay to run a sort of "standby" or "reduced net". So I did!
The trouble with now running a net every two weeks - that now alternates with the technical meetings that have started at the club rooms on a Wednesday night - is that I have to get into the "swing of it".
(A bit like putting the bins out every two weeks - mind you I did once have to phone the council, to ask why they hadn't collected our bins onetime - only to be politely reminded that I had somehow slipped a week and got the date wrong.) Ha! Anyway....
Before the TechNet, VK7WhiskyWhisky (now ex VK7BEE) hosted a "pseudo TestNet" on 3.580 at 7pm.
Two stations called in: Phil VK7ZPD and Paul VK7KPA.
They then joined the "pseudo TechNet" for NTARC on 3.567 MHz LSB at 19:00 local time.
Nic, VK7WW, ran the net under the NTARC callsign VK7TAZ. The HF net had a total of 3 stations; and, 80m conditions were excellent!
VK7ZPD Phil discussed how he was documenting the way to assemble a 23cm Yagi, to be able to assist others. He also is becoming interested in satellite communications.
VK7KPA Paul tried different power levels and was very pleased with the results - doing this at the same time as keeping an eye on hosting the Internet Discord Channel.
...and "tail-end Charlie" VK7NSS Malcom called in as Nic was closing the net to say goodnight!
Paul - VK7KPA hosted Discord, with 7 members logged-in.
Photos on Discord included:
- Nic VK7WW's home-brew HF Antenna Switch-box and circuit.
- link to a TED Podcast about Amateur Radio and leadership.
- An article from a Roger VK3KYY, of a Teardown of a GPS Jammer - perhaps suitable for re-purposing and use on 23 cms as a transmitter?
- Roger's VK3KYY's completed kit of an automatic antenna matching unit - which works beautifully, and his beautifully made antenna loading coil, which he made using his laser cutter, along with pictures of his cutter and discussions of his upgrade to a QRO Laser!
- Peter VK7PD posted more details of optical communications experiments and,
- Phil VK7ZPD posted photos of his 250w dummy load.
A short but sweet net, but left a couple of problems to be solved...
1. No transmissions from the NTARC Clubrooms, due to antenna issues...and
2. No connection to Discord....and those of us on Discord so wanted to see what was happening at the Clubrooms, of a technical nature.
Consequently, there was much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and foaming at the mouth....but after regaining our composure, having had a "Bex and a good lie down" - we are assured that these issues will be fixed soon.
Thanks again for those who took part, listened-in, and those who visited the Clubrooms at Rocherlea.
73 Nic VK7WW (now ex VK7BEE) on behalf of VK7TAZ, the Official Callsign of the Northern Tasmania Amateur Radio Club. Looking forward to catching up next week!
Thanks Nic for your usual comprehensive report.
Future events
Fortnightly TechNet - 16th September. Nic VK7WW will once again be in the chair hosting a “TestNet” on 3.580 MHz at 19:00 local time, with the TechNet for NTARC following on 3.567 MHz at 19:30 local time. Paul VK7KPA will be hosting the accompanying Discord session on the net.
Fortnightly Tech Night - Wednesday 23rd September at the NTARC Club rooms 19:30 hours until whenever. Continuous tea and coffee, although a gold coin donation for the evening would be appreciated. The Discord on-line session that normally accompanies the TechNet 80 metre event will also be alive, Murphy permitting, to allow members who cannot be present in person to continue their participation via that medium.
JOTA/JOTI 2020 - Scouts Tas JOTA/JOTI Coordinator, Peter VK7KPC advises that all things being equal, JOTA/JOTI will still be happening this year on weekend 17-18 Oct. We will provide more information on this event as it comes to hand.
Coffee mornings - currently every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Catch up time is from 10.00 am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all.
Please remember that aside from the good company, freely offered philosophical views, maybe less than expert political analysis, tall tales, funny stories and genuinely good fare on offer, these coffee events in the past have been normally a good opportunity to collect your QSL cards. Currently we have a few cards awaiting collection from past deliveries.
As I remind all each week, please demonstrate your appreciation of all the effort that goes into operating the club, its facilities and the other services we provide, especially in these abnormal and very trying times, enjoying the company, coffee, biscuits and cake and leaving a gold coin or two, or even a small bank note, in the jar to assist in our on-going operations.
Once again though, this must be all from NTARC for this week. Please bear with us as we attempt to bring club life back to normal, while balancing the need for continuing caution and with all complying with the social distancing requirements.
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 then please email them to either of the following addresses
ntarc.emails @ gmail.com
Please note that it would be appreciated if any items for the weekly news could be sent in Times New Roman, 12 pt Font format.
For some time to come, with the exception of the occasional club emailed newsletter, the weekly broadcast news segment will continue as 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.
We will bring you all such contributions next Sunday morning.
73, Yvonne VK7FYMX, Secretary NTARC Inc
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NEWS FROM THE SOUTH
WICEN Tas (South) - Free BBQ
https://wicentas.org/
Have you ever thought of getting involved in WICEN Tas (South) activities and wondered how?
WICEN get involved in all sorts of activities like:
* Safety Checkpoints for Equine Endurance Events
* Safety Checkpoints for Community Events like Run the Bridge, Dementia Walk, etc
* Communications for Motor Sports event like Targa and Subaru Safari
* Radio Operators for Tasmania Fire Service in times a severe bushfire emergency
* Jamboree on the Air and Scout and Guiding activities like the Ernest Clark Trophy events
As well as adhoc events and activities where our portable and mobile radio operation skills are utilised and tested.
We are a small and dedicated group who combine our love of radio with our our love of helping community organisations.
If you think this type of activity could be for you then we are holding a free BBQ up on the Queen's Domain on Sunday 27th September from Noon.
This aims to give interested people a chance to see some of the
equipment we use, activities we get up to and talk with those people involved.
You don't even need a radio as we can usually pair you with an
experienced operator.
Why not come up and have a snag or two and see what WICEN gets up to on Sunday 27th September from Noon.
Hope to see you there.
73, WICEN Tas (South).
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Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
https://www.reast.asn.au/
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
https://www.youtube.com/reasthobart/
REAST Training News
Congratulations
We send our congratulations to our recent successful amateur radio assessment candidates.
Anthony was VK7FBOC who has upgraded to VK7LAG.
Paul who is VK7EME
Wolfgang who is VK7WHS
Darren who is VK7DAZ
We look forward to hearing these new callsigns on the air.
As a reminder, REAST's next Foundation Licence Training and Assessment session is on Saturday 3rd October 2020.
If you are thinking of coming along then grab your copy of the Foundation Licence Manual from the Caltex Service Station on the corner of Amy St and Main Rd, Moonah for $35 cash and please let Reg VK7KK know you will be coming along by phoning 0417 391 607 or email assessor @ reast.asn.au ASAP.
73, Reg, VK7KK & Justin VK7TW
----------------------------------------
October REAST Presentation Night
Our REAST Presentation Night for October will see Steve, VK7OO taking us through his obsession with SSTV and SSTVCAMs and his experiences during his 13 year journey.
Covering the challenge of keeping a SSTVCAM operating, observations about propagation, receiving SSTV from space unattended and just what's involved in operating a SSTV CAM.
Steve will also discuss his success building a PEX-AL-PEX magnetic loop just for SSTV on 14.230. This presentation will feature actual images from the 120,000 plus images Steve has received over that 13 years.
We also will be broadcasting this presentation on 445.5 MHz DVB-T in the Hobart area and we will be streaming on the REAST YouTube Channel -
https://www.reast.asn.au/news-events/live-stream/
This should be a fascinating presentation. Hope to see you there.
73, REAST Committee
--------------------------------
DATV Experimenter's Night
Working from the Shack - Interview
Last Wednesday night we were privileged to have Cedric VK7CL back by popular demand for Episode Two of his fascinating stories from radio, teaching, sailing and many other topics.
This is part of the REAST Working from the Shack interview series that happens on the second Wednesday night of each month.
In this interview Cedric covered the role that HF radio plays in respect to Safety at Sea and why HF radio is mandatory for all Category One sailing races. Cedric also covered the installation of HF radio in modern yachts and some of the issues getting a ground plane connection.
Cedric was on the TYA Offshore Sub Committee and outlined his work on that committee over 15 years. Cedric then related a very funny story about transporting a large mud crab from Tasmania to Queensland where his language took another route to him and the issues that ensued.
Cedric then told a very moving story of Two bottles of Green Ale or how to have a lot of patience and lessons his Father taught him. The introduction of electronic calculators at Geilston Bay High School was the next fascinating story whilst Cedric was teaching advanced mathematics. Cedric then related a wonderful story about how teachers measure success and this involved two pilots - one boat and one plane and two Rhode Scholars.
The next story involved the movements of a yacht called the Otago which should have been named the "Ought to go" which turned into the "Should have Went" then ended with being called the "Finally Went"! This was followed by a wonderful early computer story and then about Cedric buying into a steam locomotive and actually made a profit from the
venture and he managed to actually drive the H2 Locomotive for a short distance. There were many green with envy in the Audience including this author!
Cedric finished off with his volunteer work for the RYCT and the Sydney Hobart race radio relays and his interesting introduction to REAST and the connection with sailing. He also outlined his involvement with WICEN and portable radio and the many events he has attended and operated radio at.
A huge thank you to Cedric and Janet for sharing their wonderful life stories.
--------------------------------------
This week's DATV Experimenter's Night
This Wednesday night we get back underway with our usual DATV Experimenter's nights in our COVID-Safe clubrooms. We will have the next instalment of the NanoVNA and another interesting function. There will be some interesting learnings about the frequency stability of the new ICOM IC-705 and lots more.
So, why not come up to the Queens Domain clubrooms and see what we get up to. If it is too cold to make it up to the Domain why not take a look on RF or the YouTube Streaming channel and we will be taking questions via Repeater Two (146.700), DMR Talk Group 3807 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 Dongle 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 Experimenter's Night Signal.
Look out for VK7OTC. We also stream the nights on the REAST YouTube channel.
https://www.reast.asn.au/news-events/live-stream/
https://www.reast.asn.au/special-interest-groups/amateur-tv/
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
https://www.youtube.com/reasthobart/
73, Justin, VK7TW
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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, Henry St, Launceston.
NWTR&TVG - Club meetings cancelled till further notice.
NTARC - Coffee mornings - Fridays 1000 to 1200 NTARC Club Rooms.
NTARC - Technical Sessions and Tech Net on alternate Wednesdays starting with Technical session at the Clubrooms on 9th September and Tech Net on 16th September
REAST - MICROWAVE QSO Party - following after the Sunday broadcast on 1296.15 MHz FM.
REAST - WAGS - Wednesday Afternoon Group meet in the Queens Domain Clubrooms from 12 noon.
REAST - DATV Experimenter's Nights from 7:30pm live in the club rooms on DVBT RF and YouTube Streaming
Sewing Circle Net - Daily commences at 17:00 on 3.640 MHz.
Events:
WICEN - 27 September from Noon - Come along as see what WICEN gets up to - Free BBQ up on the Queen's Domain
REAST - 7 October - SSTV Webcams and Magnetic Loop Antennas with VK7OO and VK7MAG - Queens Domain Clubrooms from 7:30pm
Miena QSO Muster - Saturday 24 October 10am to 3pm - Great Lake Community Hall.
---------------------------------
A reminder to those people rostered for next week's broadcast:
Newsreader: VK7ZIR
Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and Spectrum Tasmania
80m: VK7JGD
40m: VK7ALH
20m: VK7FB
10m: VK7VKT
DMR: Talk Group 5 and
D-Star: Reflector 91C 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 around 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.
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(Posted to the packet network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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