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VK7AX > BCAST 04.06.22 02:30z 446 Lines 24020 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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VK7 Amateur Radio News 05Jun22
Text edition:
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VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 5th June 2022
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Welcome to the VK7 Amateur Radio News for the 5th June May 2022. At the mike of VK7WI this week is Idris, VK7ZIR.
This broadcast goes out on repeaters all over VK7 and on digital radio - DMR Talk Group 5 and D-Star Reflector 91C by Clayton VK7ZCR.
We go out on medium and high frequency courtesy of the following rebroadcast stations:
On 1.862 MHz by Graham, VK7GS
On 3.670 MHz by Dale, VK7DG
On 7.140 MHz by Peter, VK7TPE
On 14.130 MHz by Ross, VK7ALH and
On 28.525 MHz by Garry, VK7JGD
We also go out on UHF CB Channel 15 thanks to Mark VK7FMAC in the Hobart area.
You can hear this broadcast again on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RAA in Northern VK7 and VK7RAD in Southern VK7.
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RAOTC News
Monthly Broadcast for June
This is a reminder about the RAOTC broadcast for Monday the 6th of June 2022 over 3 of the VK7 repeater networks; thatâ€Ös tomorrow night if you are listening on Sunday.
Ian VK3JS announced that this will be his last official broadcast reading for the RAOTC.
Ian subtitled this monthâ€Ös offering as: “Something Old, Something Newâ€.
Alexander von Humboldt is sometimes regarded as one of the forgotten men of science; he was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist and explorer. He traveled extensively in South America and Russia. Humboldtâ€Ös magnum opus was the 5 volume ‘Kosmosâ€Ö. He explained the interconnectedness of all the worldâ€Ös properties and life forms.
He is said to have heavily influenced the thinking of the young Charles Darwin.
The second article describes discoveries made by Australian archaeologists in the Middle East. Satellite images reveal ancient ‘super highwaysâ€Ö that traverse the Arabian Peninsula, connecting oases and pastures. According to evidence, they were made by bronze age Arabians around 4500 years ago.
What is light? The final article examines early ideas by Newton and Huygens, then onto studies of electricity and magnetism and the relationship between the two conducted by the likes of Maxwell and Faraday.
Listen at 8 pm Monday, local time, over the VK7RAA network in the north, VK7RAD in the Hobart area or at about 8:30pm as a telecast on VK7AX ‘Spectrum Tasmaniaâ€Ö via the BATC membersâ€Ö stream or in the Ulverstone area on 445.50MHz DATV. Audio feed is available on VK7RDR, 439.775MHz, Dazzler Range.
The date again is June 6th. Call backs will follow on both networks. Please call in if you are able. Call back statistics are sent to the RAOTC broadcast committee.
If you miss the off-air broadcasts you can listen to the audio file on the RAOTC website.
https://www.raotc.org.au/
73, Peter VK7PD
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VK7 HamFest News
Biennial Miena Hamfest
The Miena Hamfest 2022 is being held on Saturday the 19th November.
It will be held at the very well appointed (and heated) Great Lake Community Hall at Miena in the central highlands of Tasmania.
We have all amateur radio clubs in VK7 involved in the organising group to promote this as the pre-eminent biennial VK7 Hamfest.
Do you have ideas to make the Hamfest an even better event? Would you like to see something in particular at the Hamfest - let us know at vk7arnews(at)gmail.com.
We are talking with many suppliers to try and get them down and bring lots of goodies! There will also be pre-loved tables available.
BBQ lunch will also be available for purchase and a raffle with some very nice prizes will also be on offer.
Mark it in your diary and make it a day out in the highlands.
More details as they come to hand.
73, Hamfest Organising Group.
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QSL News
Report - from Herman VK7HW Manager of the WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
The current list of QSL Cards held as at 27 May 2022 is in the email version of the broadcast.
Herman was recently asked what the standard size of a QSL card should be.
Amateurs are asked to keep the size of QSL cards to a single 'page' within the ITU guidelines of 140mm x 90mm .
If you have any questions re QSL cards, please contact Herman by email vk7bureau(at)wia.org.au
73, Herman, VK7HW, WIA Manager VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
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VK7 Inwards QSL Cards held as at 27 May 2022
A, AAA, AAB, AB, ACN, AD, AG, AIR, AL, AM, AO, AP, APZ, AS, ATH, AV
BA, BB, BEN, BM, BPV, BT, BYE
CJ, CL, CV, CX
DG, DM, DN, DO, DQ, DZ
EE, EG, ER
FALX, FAZZ, FCIA, FG, FGGT, FJFJ, FLAR, FRJG(RG), FTAS
GA, GC, GM, GR, GZ
HCH, HDM, HOB, HL, HRS, HSA, HSJ, HVK, HZ
IAN, IK, IS
JA, JCR, JJ, JJJ, JOK, JP, JW
KBA, KD, KDO, KJ, KKR, KL(KI ?), KO, KR
LAZ, LDH, LLL, LM, LT, LTD, LVH
MAG, MAT, MBD, MET, MHZ, MS
NA, NC, NRF, NSB, NSE, NTE, NWQ
OB
PBD, PRN, PSJ, PW
QK
RG(FRJG), ROY
SN, SV
TCE, TED, TK, TU
UT
VA, VAC, VAZ, VDC, VH, VR, VZ
WA, WC, WIA, WT
XDM, XTC
YN
ZA, ZM, ZT, ZX, ZZ
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH
SOTA/WWFF PARKS GROUP
The Summits On The Air/World Wide Flora and Fauna parks group meets 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
A quick round up of the previous weekâ€Ös NTARC happenings. Firstly, the Technical Night at the club rooms on Wednesday evening saw a hardy cohort braving the cold weather. For a brief rundown it is over to Idris.
“Our Wednesday night Session started with the arrival of Peter VK7KPC who quickly had the urns on and the fire burning. Normally he would settled himself in the radio shack to participate in the co-occurring Test Net and Tech Net being hosted by Nic VK7WW, but not tonight. He withdrew to the “chilly†main hall! Later he was found ensconced in the midst of Military radio memorabilia. Starting with PRC-74 and PRC-64 transceivers and an assortment of Morse code keys, from desk top operated units, keys integrated into transceivers, plus various keys which strapped onto your thigh for operation. There was a long-wire antenna for 80 Metres attached to the PRC-74, which was draped and wound its way around the hall, and was tuned to the Test Net frequency, which was well underway. The antenna wire came stored on a standard military issue 8mm metal film spool, from back in the days when there were 8mm film movie cameras.
The reason for Peterâ€Ös set up? He was contributing to the REAST - DATV experimenterâ€Ös night, which was going live to air in Hobart and streaming on the REAST - YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/MdxK8oxlSis
And you guessed it, Peterâ€Ös speciality was military Morse code keys. All went well, with the rest of us watching the stream from the warmth of the heated club room. While on a military theme Ross brought in some old, as in “black and white†photos of some portable, well maybe transportable would be a better description, 2GHz microwave links. Consisting of what appeared to be two quick erecting towers of about five metres, each with a two metre or so dish, one for send and receive the other receive only, combining for space diversity reception. Plus one large truck full of Collins equipment. A far cry from what is assumed to be used with the technology of today.
Idris VK7ZIR, brought in an antique valve tester from the 1940â€Ös, made in Australia by Paton Electrical, Ross VK7ALH has taken this one under his wing as it is in need of some restoration. His other item was a Japanese Broadcast and HF communications receiver in excellent condition, made by Electronic Industry Limited (EIL) type HCR-62 from the 1950â€Ös. As usual a very enjoyable evening.â€
Thank you Idris for the update, we almost felt guilty knowing Peterâ€Ös presentation was being conducted in a particularly icy cold scout hall. I am not sure how many words or maybe letters per minute he could key at under these conditions? HiHi.
The other notable event happened on Thursday night. With Peter, VK7PDâ€Ös input this is a brief summary as to why all those strange noises were heard on the VK7RJG FM repeater.
Those of you who regularly listen to the VK7 Broadcasts would have noticed that there has been a slow scan TV group operating in the Hobart area for some time via the Queens Domain Repeater VK7RAD. This all happened at the suggestion of Richard, VK7ZBX.
The question arose: why not form a northern SSTV group and use the underutilised repeater VK7RJG?
So on Thursday June 2nd five northern amateurs formed a net, sending SSTV over VK7RJG (438.55MHz FM). After some teething problems, all exchanged high quality pictures. Participants were: Andrew, VK7DW, Phil VK7ZPD, Collin VK7ZCF, Graham VK7KT and Peter VK7PD. Images were also viewed by Michael VK7MD in Burnie. VK7RAA was used as a liaison channel. Phil has also set up an SSTV thread on the NTARC Discord page; it includes a screen grab of some of the Thursday nightâ€Ös activities. He has suggested incorporating SSTV into the Wednesday night Tech Net and showing it at the NTARC Clubrooms.
The net started at 7:30pm local time. The intention is to hold an SSTV net every Thursday night and when VK7RAF is repaired, the Hobart Group has offered to migrate to it so northern amateurs can exchange pictures with southern members via the link to VK7RJG.
The advantage of SSTV is it can transmit high quality still pictures over a voice channel. Any station equipped for digital modes such as FT8 can use SSTV by simply downloading free software such as MMSSTV. So keep listening and hopefully watching. These SSTV images should be available on the NTARC website under ‘Blogsâ€Ö shortly. I personally had no trouble decoding and viewing images on my iPad using ‘CQ SSTVâ€Ö which is available from the Apple App Store. I simply held the iPad close to the speaker of my handheld receiver while decoding the images.
Now to the Miena Hamfest in November. Are there any NTARC members that would be willing to donate time on the day or for preparation of the upcoming Miena Hamfest? Please, PLEASE! contact the secretary or any board member and make yourself known. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated by all amateurs for this worthwhile event.
Mug Order - yes, we are talking about the white mugs for drinking out of, those that have our club logo on one side, personalised with your name and call sign on the other. We are placing another order so if you would like one then please see André at coffee mornings or at the technical night. Those members who have already requested a mug, please email secretary(at)ntarc.net to confirm order, and anyone else who wants one please specify what name is to be printed above the call sign. The final price will be about $12 depending on eventual quantity ordered.
UPCOMING EVENTS
TestNet and TechNet – Wednesday 8th June. TestNet/CW course on 3.580MHz from 7pm till 7.30pm….and a TechNet on 3.567MHz from 7.30pm till about 8.30pm. Your host for the evening will again be Nic VK7WW.
The next Club Technical night – Wednesday 15th June will be a presentation by Malcolm White. Past CEO of TasTAFE and currently Chair of Governance at The Royal Flying Doctor Service, he was a licensed amateur at an early age, and is also an aficionado of CW. The presentation will be on his association with Ray Naughton VK3ATN, at the time of Rayâ€Ös pioneering Earth Moon Earth (EME) achievements in the 1960s on the 2 metre band. All NTARC and non-club members are welcome to come along. This presentation will commence about 20:00.
Coffee Morning – held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Catch up time is from 10am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all there. These coffee events represent a good opportunity to collect your QSL cards. We currently have cards awaiting collection, so why not pop in and check the QSL box and join us for a cuppa and chat.
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 the Secretary at the following address news(at)ntarc.net all items to be received no later than 5pm on the Friday prior to the Broadcast.
Thatâ€Ös all folks,
73â€Ös from Stefan, VK7ZSB, Secretary NTARC inc.
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NEWS FROM THE SOUTH
Repeater News - VK7RAF Update
Several weeks ago the Mt. Falkner repeater site north of Hobart was hit by lightning which took out the high voltage transformer nearby and put most of the radio equipment there off the air. This included VK7RAF.
It is a little difficult for me to get to the site to repair it since I moved to Queensland, so two Hobart amateurs have offered to go up and carry out the repairs. It had been hoped that this would have occurred a couple of weeks back but with a bit of luck by the time you hear this item the repairs will have been carried out. Whilst there is an old saying that if you want a job done, ask a busy man, sometimes people have higher priorities than fixing an amateur repeater so this job has had to wait in line for an appropriate time.
The power supply that we use is an expensive commercial type with lots of protection. We have had several incidents in the past of lightning taking our system off the air and it has usually only required the power supply to be reset. However a spare supply is in Hobart, just in case.
73 de Brian VK7RR/4
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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/
June Presentation Night -
Marine Scientific Electronics - An Insight
https://fb.me/e/4BX30lsCH
Our June presentation night will be held on June 22nd 2022.
It will focus on marine and scientific electronics and many of the techniques used in this fascinating area.
Our presenter is Kim Brigg VK7KB from the Australian Antarctic Division.
Kim will bring with him many pieces of equipment that have been created at the AAD for many of the experiments the Division has undertaken over the years.
The presentation will get underway at 7:30pm in the Queens Domain clubrooms.
See you there.
73, REAST Committee
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Re-broadcasts on VK7RAD
Whilst VK7RTC is out of action Harry VK7HXT has volunteered to put the Sunday broadcast - rebroadcasts on a Tuesday night at 8pm and the RAOTC broadcast on the first Monday night of the month at 8pm on VK7RAD. Harry looks forward to your callbacks.
73 Harry VK7HXT
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Training and Assessments
REASTâ€Ös next Foundation Licence training and all licence assessment day is next Saturday the 23rd July 2022.
If you are thinking of coming along then please let Reg Emmett VK7KK REAST Learning Organiser know by phoning 0417 391 607 or email assessor(at)reast.asn.au.
Check out the REAST Foundation Licence Training Videos that can be found on the REAST YouTube Training and Assessment playlist.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsnsP_zjw831mdC6sY4XqavRUY-53ZWUn
And checkout the REAST Facebook page events for further details.
https://fb.me/e/1YiYqV2wC
73, Reg, VK7KK
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DATV Experimenter's Night
https://fb.me/e/2suL6uBUE
We started the night with Garry VK7JGD who took us through the features of the Yaesu FT-897. This is the 100 watt version of the FT-817 with built in batteries, DSP and a range of other features. Built from 2002-2016 - the model on show was from 2007. HF, VHF & UHF coverage.
To charge the NiMH batteries a charger is required and plugs into the DC power cord and into the battery socket. On batteries the transmitter drops to 20W maximum.
Garry has done a range of repairs to his FT-897 including the replacement of the front panel electronics due to the display lines issue and the replacement of the three IF filters. Justin VK7TW also went through the repair of his including the replacement of the EEPROM and the CPU to resolve the memory issue.
Garry then took the audience through the after-market meter that mimics the meter in the radio in a large analog radio. Garry went through some of the common configuration elements on the FT-897 including the extended menu features, colour display, ABC programmable buttons and more. Garry then went through some questions from viewers.
Huge thanks to Garry. We will get Garry back in a future DATV night to continue his FT-897 configuration presentation.
We then moved to a zoom session with Peter VK7KPC in Launceston in the NTARC clubrooms. This was part of our Occasional Series on Notable Morse Code Keys - Peter showed five Military leg mounted Morse code keys. These included:
- No. 9 and Peter demonstrated it strapped to his leg.
- From Peter's PRC-74 Set a J-45 mounted on a leg strap and Peter demo'ed the key
- Clansman Radio 1960's vintage key leg mounted key
- PRC-F1 Australian 1970-80s vintage key and
- Peter showed the PRC-64 HF radio with a key built into the radio front panel.
Then Justin showed three leg mounted Morse code keys from his collection. A No.9 - Z.A 0937 similar to Peterâ€Ös first key, a ZA 29007 with a strange four pin socket/plug that switches the transmitter and the carrier and an American - J-45 (J-37 copy) - Military KY-116/U in original packaging.
Thanks to Peter for being on our DATV night and bringing along his transceivers and morse keys.
Justin then outlined some of the interesting WSPR stations he has recently received using the new small 160m vertical antenna:
AG0X at 15319km -25 WSPR contact and W1CK at 12843km -27 WSPR contact.
Justin then quickly showed a Galena Crystal that will feature in next week's program.
We finished by reminding our audience of next weekâ€Ös show which will include an interview with Warren VK7WN/VK0WN from Casey Station, a review of AR Magazine and a crystal Radio using the Galena crystal.
https://youtu.be/MdxK8oxlSis
Why not come up and see what we get up to.
We will be streaming 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/
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.youtube.com/c/ReastHobart/
73, Justin, VK7TW
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Technology News
Homebrew Radio Telescope Bags Pulsar
When one mulls the possibility of detecting pulsars, to the degree that one does, thoughts turn to large dish antennas and rack upon rack of sensitive receivers, filters, and digital signal processors. But thereâ€Ös more than one way to catch the regular radio bursts from these celestial beacons, and if you know what youâ€Öre doing, a small satellite dish and an RTL-SDR dongle will suffice.
Granted, Job Geheniau has had a lot of experience exploring the radio universe. His website has a long list of observations and accomplishments achieved using his “JRTâ€, or “Jobâ€Ös Radio Telescope.†The instrument looks like a homebrewerâ€Ös dream, with a 1.9-m satellite TV dish and precision azimuth-elevation rotator. Behind the feedhorn are a pair of low-noise amplifiers and bandpass filters to massage the 1,420 MHz signal thatâ€Ös commonly used for radio astronomy, plus a Nooelec Smart SDR dongle and an Airspy Mini. Everything is run via remote control, as the interference is much lower with the antenna situated at his familyâ€Ös farm, 50 km distant from his home in The Hague.
As for the pulsar, bloodlessly named PSR B0329+54, itâ€Ös a 5-million-year-old neutron star located in the constellation of Camelopardalis, about 3,500 light-years away. Itâ€Ös a well-characterized pulsar and pulses at a regular 0.71452 seconds, but itâ€Ös generally observed with much, much larger antennas. Jobâ€Ös write-up of the observation contains a lot of detail on the methods and software he used, and while the data is far from clear to the casual observer, it sure seems like he bagged it.
Weâ€Öve seen quite a few DIY radio astronomy projects before, both large and small, but this one really impresses with what it accomplished.
https://hackaday.com/2022/05/25/homebrew-radio-telescope-bags-pulsar/
Written by Dan Maloney for Hack-A-Day Web e-zine.
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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.
NTARC – Friday coffee session – Rocherlea clubrooms Launceston from 10:00am
NTARC TestNet and TECHNET – Wednesday 8th June - TestNet/CW course on 3580 from 7pm till 7.30pm….and a TECHNET on 3567 from 7.30pm till about 8.30pm.
NW VK7 – Wednesday from 2000 local – NW Tassie Amateur Repeater Group Net on VK7RMD
NW VK7 - Thursday commencing at 09:30 UTC (20:30 local) - N.W. Tassie 2m DX Net 144.190 USB (upper sideband).
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 Experimenterâ€Ös Nights from 7:30pm live in the club rooms also on DVBT RF and YouTube Streaming
Sewing Circle Net – Daily on 3.640 MHz commences at 5:00pm AEST.
Events:
NTARC - 4 June - Club General Meeting at the Rocherlea Scout Hall, Archer Street, Rocherlea from 2pm.
NTARC - 15 June from 8pm - Malcolm White Presentation on Ray Naughton VK3ATN 1960â€Ös Earth Moon Earth (EME) achievements. Scout Hall, Archer St Rocherlea.
REAST - 22 June - Marine Scientific Electronics with Kim Briggs VK7KB - from 7:30pm in the Queens Domain Clubrooms.
VK7 - 19 November - VK7 Miena Hamfest - Great Lake Community Hall at Miena from 10am.
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A reminder to those people rostered for next weekâ€Ös broadcast:
Newsreader: VK7FB
Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and in the NW thanks to N W T A R C, West Coast Radio Group, Cradle Coast Radio Amateur Radio Club, VK7AX, and VK7DC
160m: VK7GS
80m: VK7TPE
40m: VK7ALH
20m: VK7JGD
10m: VK7DG
UHFCB15: VK7FMAC
DMR: Talk Group 5 and D-Star: Reflector 91C VK7ZCR
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You can hear this broadcast again on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RAA in Northern VK7 and VK7RAD in Southern VK7.
A huge thank you 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(at)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.
On behalf of the VK7 Amateur Radio News Team we hope you have a great day, 73 and stay safe from Idris, VK7ZIR.
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(Posted to the packet network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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