Broadcast - 28 April 2024
Last broadcast I reported that, “This certainly has been a very quiet week as far as anything of a newsworthy nature goes”. It turns out that I probably shouldn’t have said that! Before the broadcast went to air our club rooms suffer a break-in.
Early in the morning when Ros arrived and entered by the main door she was greeted by a sea of white powder, covering everything, with sunlight streaming in through where the window once resided. The window was no more, not just a broken pane of glass but a completely destroyed and removed window frame as well. Externally the window security screen was bent out of the way and a large number of bricks had parted company with the wall under both the rear windows. After the police visit and the ascertaining of the damage the priority was to secure the rather substantial hole in the wall. A quick visit to a local hardware supplier, a few hours of enthusiastic carpentry and the window opening was framed with 4 by 2 inch timbers and double lined with a couple of 8 by 4 feet sheets of plywood. Stuart VK7FEAT, Tony VK7ZTT, Ian VK7IH and Jacob, a helpful Rover Scout, showcased impressive woodworking skills, and our club room was once again secure - thanks, fellows!
Now, let’s discuss how we fared during the break-in. Fortunately, the contents of the radio room remained untouched - the door and lock withstood the force of an axe until the intruders gave up or lost interest. None of our radios or radio equipment were damaged or stolen, including our collection of vintage radios.
However, we did suffer losses elsewhere. One laptop display, a couple of monitors, a large TV used by the Scouts for Zoom meetings, and a sizable projection screen are no longer usable or salvageable.
Cleaning up proved to be quite a task. It took several days of solid work to sweep, vacuum, and swab up the residue from half a dozen discharged dry powder fire extinguishers. That powder seems to infiltrate every nook and cranny.
At least the main club room was once again usable for our Tech Night session on Wednesday. We’ll continue with the rest of our activities as planned.
Speaking of the Club Technical night Ross VK7ALH brought in an original Yaesu FT-ONE that he has been working on. This model first appeared in 1981 and this one is still in excellent condition. There are signs of it having undergone a few mods over the years, with the most obvious being the conversion to DC operation only. The manufactured weight came in at 17 Kg, even though there is no longer a mains transformer it still remains a substantial unit.
There is extensive use of large chassis mounted edge connectors throughout, this allows all printed circuit boards to be removed easily and re-inserted again using the guides and push seated into the edge connectors. The Random Access Memory requires backup or a holding voltage to maintain its programmed content, this is accomplished by three “AA” cells in a holder. Luckily Ross also had circuit diagrams and took us through his reasoning and testing to isolate the fault to the Automatic Level Control (ALC) section and most likely down to one particular device. We await the results after the new FET arrives, thanks Ross.
Lionel VK7ZLB brought in a battery compartment from a circa 1970 Amalgamated Wireless Australia or AWA for short, F240 manual Distortion and Noise measurement set. The item being a battery compartment might give you some hint as to what follows…. Yes it still did contain six “C” cells and yes they probably had been in situ since last century. I will call them Duracell Alkaline lookalikes to avoid any trouble, but need I say any more? Lionel is in for a long stint of corrosion removal and restoration. Luckily the battery enclosure is made from very sturdy plastic and the enclosure terminals appear to be in surprisingly good condition, obviously AWA used some decent quality materials, way back when Australia manufactured equipment!
As always, pictures will be available on the NTARC Web site under “Blogs” for this broadcast.
UPCOMING EVENTS
TestNet and TechNet session - Every Wednesday, TestNet/CW course on 3.580MHz from 7 pm till 7.30 pm, then a TechNet on 3.567MHz from 7.30 pm till about 8.30 pm. Your host for the evening will be Nic VK7WW.
Coffee Morning - held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Time is from 10 am 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.
Club Room Technical night session - The next session will be on Wednesday the 8th May and will commence at the usual time of 6.30 pm, running through to about 9 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 5 pm on the Friday prior to the Broadcast.
That’s all folks,
73, Stefan VK7ZSB, Secretary NTARC Inc.
