Broadcast - 18 June 2023
Last Wednesday was Club Technical Night and with it came an interesting cross section of technologies, with some old and new offerings.
It was good to see Stuart VK7ES and Fran taking advantage of the new 6:30 opening time, the roaring fire was particularly appreciated on this miserable night. Promisingly, at the end of the evening they were seen leaving with a copy of “Your Entry Into Amateur Radio”, fingers crossed for another potential budding amateur in the making.
Andre, VK7ZAB brought along an Icom R8500 communications receiver that covers up to 2 GHz. He has been decoding digital modes and finding the radio’s frequency drift over the day is wider than the decode window for 1296MHz. This unit has the standard simple crystal oscillator but Icom did have on option for a High Stability Oven based module. Searching on the web Andre’ found and purchased a cheaper alternative to the factory offering. Covers where soon off and shielding plates removed to reveal the PLL PCB with a simple crystal and the overlay marking the location for the optional module. The night was a bit busy and he will finish the upgrade next Tech session.
Nice to see Steven VK7SME, from REAST turning up for another Technical Night. Maybe we weren’t all that bad the previous tech night, good to see him again. At least this time he didn’t bring the horrendous weather from down south with him again. Hi-hi
Peter, VK7KPC arrived with another military radio from his extensive collection. A Plessey built Wireless Set type B47 manufactured in 1959. This one was more specifically meant for vehicle mounting, not really “portable” more “luggable”! You soon realise why the carry handles are very substantial. It originally came with remote harnesses, control units and two No31 MANPACKs, this is the standard 24V DC version with an approximately 70 Watt standby power consumption! The intended vehicle to install it in was an Austin K9, one ton, 4 x 4 truck. Peter has been collecting all the parts for the setup and even managed to obtain a “Simulator Aerial Tuning” module. This unit mimics an antenna but is a dummy load in disguise. The trainee operator still has to go through the tuning / peaking procedure that he or she would have to undertake in the field with an actual antenna connected. Peter managed to obtain most of the interconnecting cables but I noticed he still had to manufacture a couple of rather thick multi conductor cables with mil. spec multi pin connectors each end, good job terminating they blend in well Peter. Even the thin rubber noise excluders on the handpiece and headphones are not perished but in surprisingly good condition. He is even using the original vehicle slide mount attached to a polished wood panel to display the set up. The FM transceiver covers from 39 to 56 MHz band and will undoubtedly be demonstrated on the 6 metre amateur band when in use. The other lucky find was a very good condition operator’s manual, detailing the equipment, interconnection and typical mounting in the rear load space of the truck. Almost the full set, only thing now is to keep eyes peeled for a suitable Austin K9 truck going cheap! Hi-hi.
This will be part of setup for NW Tasmanian WIA Centenary Open Day later this month. If it ends up as a working display you might even hear Peter on the 6 Metre band.
In a broadcast last month I mentioned that back in 2016 Bill, VK7MX and Kevin, VK7HKN gave a presentation on the phenomenon of the BITX HF transceiver building block, a phenomenon which was sweeping the homebrew and QRP worlds. Pronounced as “Bye-tex” as this came from the bi-directional amplifier that is the heart of the original modules.
Well true to his word Bernie, VK7BR brought in his original BITX40 - HF unit that he made soon after the original presentation by Bill and Kevin. It is a 40 meter SSB transceiver module kit based on a single PCB transceiver and as Bernie’s was a slightly later version it incorporated digital control via an Arduino Nano based VFO combined with LCD frequency readout. This version also exhibited better frequency stability. In this incarnation you use headphones to listen, an electret microphone built on an RCA plug to talk into and the transmit button is mounted on the front panel. In true amateur form it was constructed in a repurposed old Dick Smith Power Supply Unit case. The transceiver still looks in good condition and Bernie is going to bring the external power supply in next tech night and put it through its paces, hopefully it still powers up.
An excellent night and as usual the equipment picture are available on the NTARC Web site under “Blogs” for this broadcast. Now back to the house keeping.
NTARC QSL CARDS
Thanks to Herman for his continued support regarding QSL deliveries.
QSL cards for the following call signs are waiting at the NTARC club rooms for collection.
VK7KPA, VK7AT, VK7ZR and VK7GC.
Thank you Andrew VK7DW, NTARC QSL Card Manager.
While we are on the subject of Andrew, following his riveting presentation on the GreenCube Satellite, he has managed to complete a number of QSOs with the other side of the world. This was accomplished using the satellites delay message delivery system. This is where a message that he uplinks will be transmitted at a time determined by Andrew, by which time hopefully the satellites orbit is visible over the country or area that he is aiming the QSO for. The receiving station goes through the same procedure of sending a delayed transmission message to the satellite which hopefully will be transmitted when the satellite is again visible to Andrew and so on.
Many thanks to Andrew’s son Martin for his assistance in helping to calculate the number of seconds delay required for the number of hours transmission delay needed, well done Martin.
Last Saturday saw the club’s general meeting for June held at the club rooms. Two important items to update club members on are:
Firstly the Club Technical night sessions held every second Wednesday night will now start an hour earlier. Doors will open at 18:30 instead of the current 19:30, this will continue during the winter months.
Hopefully it will provide more flexibility for those of us that live out of town and have to travel back at the conclusion of the evening, often in inclement weather. This also applies to those of us that settle down comfortably after tea for an hour or two and find it hard to go back out into the cold, hi-hi.
Secondly the Midyear Social Evening will be held on Wednesday the 12th of July. This will be in place of the usual “Club Technical night”. The venue is most likely going to be the Park Hotel in Invermay. Venue and time will be confirmed soon. Those who wish to attend please register the number of places required to the Secretary or on the registration sheet at the club rooms.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The TestNet and TechNet session - Wednesday the 21st of 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 be Nic VK7WW.
Coffee Morning - held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Time is from 10am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all there. Why not pop in and join us for a cuppa, there is endless tea and coffee along with biscuits available for a donation. This is an excellent opportunity to collect your QSL cards.
The Club Technical night - The next session will be on Wednesday the 28th of June and will commence at the new winter time of 6.30 pm. That’s a one hour earlier start and running through to about 10.00 pm, at the Club room Archer Street, Rocherlea.
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@ntarc.net all items to be received no later than 5pm on the Friday prior to the Broadcast.
That’s all folks,
73 from Stefan, VK7ZSB, Secretary NTARC.
