Broadcast - 24 October 2021
Last weekend saw the annual JOTA/JOTI event so we begin this week with an update from Peter VK7KPC NTARCs JOTA Coordinator who reports:
“NTARC JOTA/JOTI preparations started to get serious on the Thursday before the event. Idris VK7IR, André VK7ZAB and Stefan VK7ZSB along with Peter VK7KPC descended onto the clubrooms to move some of the boat anchor class of displayed equipment into the main hall.
While there, tables were set up for the JOTI operation, some old pc’s shifted to the garage ready for recycling and Skype pc checked.
After lunch on Friday, tables in clubroom were repositioned, echolinks system checked and VHF and DMR transceivers connected. HF transceiver moved out of shack and into main clubroom area. Mid-afternoon rumours of the southern shut down started and these were confirmed a little later.
Peter had a short trip home to try and promulgate alternate JOTI arrangements for those affected.
He returned at about 5pm to allow access for the Scout people who were setting up the 10 networked pc’s for the JOTI operation.
Saturday morning and thankfully no rain, Tony VK7YBG arrived to set up a test equipment display which would allow scouts to see what their voice looked like. André, Stefan and Stuart VK7FEAT arrived not long after and started preparing the fox hunting equipment and hiding the foxes.
The JOTI team including 9 Venturer scouts arrived about then and fired up their computers. This team were responsible also for hand sanitiser application and other duties as requested.
Brendan VK7VIP, Kevin VK7KJL, Ian VK7IG and Idris arrived during the next hour to complete the operator team. There were homemade sausage rolls for lunch supplied by Kay which were consumed before the noon start time.
We had scouts of various ages on site continuously from noon till 6pm with the last 2 hours fully booked.
After the younger members had left, the Venturers were free to order their pizzas and get ready for a long night of networked computer gaming.
Meanwhile the remaining operators were treated to Tuna Mornay and apple turnovers for dinner again thanks to Kay.
André, Stefan, Tony and Ian returned for 10am start on Sunday. Brendan was given a late start voucher for his good work on Saturday as we only had 1 group booked before noon. He and Lewis VK7IT both arrived in time to help with the full house from 1 to 3 pm.
Kay arrived before the scouts with a container full of scones with jam and cream for the operator team.
On the radio side of operations, HF was a no go, echolink while testing ok with test server seemed to suffer from low rx audio when used with real stations. RAA worked well with North coast station at Paton Park scout camp. DMR was also available.
We had just over 70 through the station, but sadly missed out on 20 Guides visiting due to their activities state wide being curtailed by the lock down.
Operations ceased at 3pm and we were out of there by about 16:30.
The 2 stations down South were also out of action, sadly for the Huonville 7HSD operation with a team of licensed Scout operators.
Thanks to Adam and his team of Venturer scouts for their work over the weekend. Also thanks to the following operators who made contact with the youth at Rocherlea, Ann VK7BYL, Shirley VK7HSC, Harry VK7HXT and Rodney VK7HAM. There may have been others and thanks to them also.
Overall a great weekend.
Peter, VK7KPC”
Thanks Peter for that update it would appear another great JOTA/JOTI. We now hand over to Idris to bring all up to speed on the happenings of Wednesday Tech session at the club room;
“We arrived this evening to find Peter VK7KPC indulging in the low tech activity of mowing the lawn outside our door, making use of the extended hour of light. Onya Peter.
After a successful JOTA/JOTI last weekend, we finished restoring the Clubrooms back to normal before Ross VK7ALH arrived with the TenTec 544, which is his current work in progress. Ross took us through the changes and additions he had made, showed us more modules he had acquired and work yet to be done. Thanks Ross, it’s coming along nicely.
Recently donated to the Club is a New Zealand made Blyth 1 kW AM broadcast transmitter, which was determined to be off frequency by the Regulator, and was replaced by a lower power unit, rather than recalibrate the existing. It is a relatively compact well-built unit, with a massive toroidal power transformer. Our resident Broadcast Engineer Stuart VK7ES was very interested and remarked that he had installed a number of these transmitters during his career. Also from Stuart were three mystery items in the form of three shapes cut from thin coated composite material. After a few wild guesses, it was revealed that they were templates for an air spaced variable capacitor which Stuart is constructing. The final stampings will be of aluminium and Stuart is willing to supply stampings to interested members. Thanks Stuart.
While all this was going on, André VK7ZAB had undertaken to give some soldering tuition to Ross, a visitor and aspiring Technician, who is at present at TAFE taking a music business course. They were ensconced in the Radio Shack for virtually the whole session.
Another varied and interesting evening with plenty of coffee flowing, with Bernie VK7BR’s special sandwiches.
73 Idris VK7ZIR”
UPCOMING EVENTS
TestNet and TECHNET – Wednesday 27th October. TestNet/CW course on 3580 from 7pm till 7.30pm….and a TECHNET on 3567 from 7.30pm till about 8.30pm. Your host for the evening will again be Nic VK7WW.
TECH NIGHT – Wednesday 3rd November at the NTARC Club rooms, 19:30 hours until whenever.
Equine Endurance Event – 13th November. The NTARC Safety Communications Team has been asked to provide safety comms at the Tasmanian State Equine Endurance Championships at Merseylea. The rides will be 160km, 95km and 50 Km. The 160km is a 24 hour ride that starts at 00:00 hours Saturday. We will be providing Base Comms, checkpoints and RFID tracking. We will need additional crew members to handle this event so if you can spare some time on that Saturday why not pop down to Merseylea, a pleasant 1 hour or so drive from Launceston and utilise your radio skills. Please advise if you are able to assist by emailing secretary@ntarc.net or catch up with Idris at a coffee session.
FUTURE EVENTS
Plenty of notice this time. NTARC will be holding a Christmas dinner on Wednesday 15th December. Venue Mowbray Hotel, meet time is 6.00pm. Tables has been booked under the name of NTARC. Menu is a-la-carte and there is plenty of parking at the rear. Please RSVP the secretary at either of these email addresses news@ntarc.net or ypmaxwell@bigpond.com or jot your name down on the sheet next to the sign in register on a Wednesday night session or coffee morning. We will need to confirm final numbers with the Hotel on Tuesday 14th December, so please ensure you get your name on the list before that date. A number of members have already advised notice of attending, obviously eager for another night out.
COFFEE MORNINGS – currently held 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.
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.
Just a friendly reminder, 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, by leaving a gold coin or two, or even a small bank note, in the jar to assist in our on-going operations.
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 me at the following address news@ntarc.net all items to be received no later than 17:00 on the Friday prior to the Broadcast.
Your continued cooperation in this regard will be greatly appreciated.
We will bring you all such contributions next Sunday morning.
73, Yvonne VK7FYMX, Secretary NTARC Inc
