Broadcast - 3 December 2023
First off, a quick catch up on the last couple of Club Technical nights that have been carried over.
Andrew, VK7DW turned up with a handful of, what we initially thought were QSL cards, however they were pictures! He had been lucky enough to decode SSTV images during test transmissions from the International Space Station earlier in November.
Back in September the Service Module experienced component failure with the SSTV system. It was initially tested in early October and I quote from the ARISS web site “there were some odd behaviour by the radio so the test has been suspended”.
The November tests appear to verify that the replacement hardware was now functioning correctly.
As with orbital passes they don’t always work into your daily schedule nicely but Andrew armed with handheld, antenna and decode software on his smartphone managed some excellent images. ISS images are transmitted on 145.800 MHz and in the typical PD120 format. Thanks for the images and update Andrew.
Ross, VK7ALH had a “work in Progress” with him, in the form of a 1KW input Linear Amplifier that was working…. except it was only putting out about 250 Watt. That’s about half the output power one would expect from the four MOSFET output devices. The main heatsink is mounted internally on the side of the case with ventilation grills on the bottom and top. All protection fuses were intact and voltages were present. On further investigation Ross had found that a pair of output FETs located at one end had indeed failed. Probably the best explanation is that part of the top ventilation grill was accidentally covered and the pair of FETs located below had over heated and “cooked”. Needless to say the protection fuses were saved. Hihi
A couple of replacement devices and hopefully another job off his bench.
Peter, VK7KPC brought along some of his post auction spoils that he was successfully bid for at the resent NTARC auction. The card box contained many interesting goodies. A well-presented QRP 80M SSB transceiver kit called ‘Tiny Tim’ from Walford Electronics, UK. A home-brew QRP CW Transmitter / Beacon for the 160m and 80m bands. Plus tucked away at the bottom of the box was a very neat Drew Diamond, VK3XU HF three band CW Transmitter. I have a funny feeling that some of these items will probably be tested during the upcoming Wednesday night TestNet and TechNet sessions.
Andre’, VK7ZAB brought along an early Christmas present in the form of a 5W five band Digi-modes HF transceiver. This is from QRP-Labs, a model QDX and is the same size as a Raspberry Pi 3. This kit has all the SMD or surface mounts components factory assembled on the single PCB, only “through hole” components to worry about.
The transmitter doesn’t use SSB modulation, only single tone FSK and covers the popular WSJT-X, JS8call and some FL-digi modes like RTTY and Olivia. It can be built to operate off either 9V or 12V DC and the transmitter is an efficient balanced Class D push-pull Power amplifier. As there is no SSB modulation there is no carrier or side tones to suppress and therefore only requires a simple Low Pass Filter on the output. The receiver is an SDR or Software Defined Radio using the embedded 24bit sound card. There is only a single USB cable to the controlling PC, Laptop or Raspberry Pi and if these are setup with VNC then it could be controlled from a smart phone or remotely.
This unit will not do CW but there is another newer version, the QMX that includes CW.
This should keep Andre’ busy over the Christmas break. The link is in the text version of the broadcast. http://shop.qrp-labs.com
As always equipment pictures are available on the NTARC Web site under “Blogs” for this broadcast.
NTARC Auction Hosting – Well as I said last week the “Shack Clear-out Auction” is all over bar the shouting. The weather held off fairly well but we decided not to risk things by putting up the refreshment gazeebo. There was just under two hundred Lots and over three hundred items making up the Lots.
Nic VK7WW was the auctioneer for the day and he maintained a breakneck speed churning through the programme, quite literally “the quick and the dead” with only a short refreshment interlude about mid-day.
There was very “robust” bidding on some of the sought after Lots and some unbelievable bargains to be had on other Lots.
Thank you to everybody that helped swell the number of lots to be auctioned and to the buyers that bid for the items. Thank you to all members that helped with the hall set up and the displaying of all the items ready for auctioning. A huge thank you to Nic for his enthusiastic auctioneering, you certainly made the event lively and engaging.
Now the dust has settled all that remains is to package up the remaining mainland successful bits and shipping them off to Victoria and South Australia to eagerly awaiting amateurs.
End of Year Club Celebration – is this Wednesday night the 6th of December. To be held at the Iron Horse Bar and Grill located at 468 Westbury Rd, Prospect Vale, Launceston. We will be in a quiet function room at the rear of the dining area. Tables have been booked under the name of NTARC and the Menu is a-la-carte. We will be arriving at 6pm for a 6:30 meal.
You can still book in, it’s not too late, just be quick and e-mail the secretary at secretary@ntarc.net. We will need to confirm final numbers with the Iron Horse by Tuesday night.
A link to the Iron Horse location and menu information is available in the text version of this broadcast.
Just for information, the main access to the restaurant is via a wheel chair and climbing friendly gentle ramp.
Club membership renewal - It’s that time of the year again - All club members should receive an e-mail with instructions on renewing their membership for 2024 soon. For those that we don’t have an e-mail address for, you should receive a letter and renewal form send via snail mail.
Now back to the house keeping.
UPCOMING EVENTS
End of Year Club Celebration – is this Wednesday night, the 6th of December at Iron Horse Bar and Grill.
The TestNet and TechNet session – Every Wednesday, 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.
Club General Meeting – Wednesday 13th December. Held at the NTARC Club Room, Rocherlea Scout Hall, Archer Street, Rocherlea. Meeting commences at 7:30pm.
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. So why not pop in and join us for a cuppa, there is endless tea and coffee along with biscuits available for a donation.
The Club Technical night – Is now in recess and will be resuming in January at a date to be announced.
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 Inc.
