Broadcast - 21 July 2024
Last Wednesday’s Technical Night certainly brought with it an eclectic selection of equipment.
Ross VK7ALH, brought in a valve tester model TVT made by University Graham Instruments Pty Ltd Sydney. Much smaller and more portable than the AVO 2 style of tester. In fact fairly similar in size to the Paton Electric VCT-V valve tester which was part of Lionel VK7ZLB’s AVO and Valve Tester presentation a couple of weeks ago. Ross’ unit covers a wide variety of valves and is in excellent condition with no signs of corrosion on the case or front panel. One thing that is annoying is that even the company’s operational instruction booklet or circuit diagrams do not specify any dates! So the nearest I can assume is circa 1960. This was another excellent example of equipment to compliment Lionel’s earlier presentation. It is amazing what you find when digging for information, for example: according to Electronics Today International, September 1986 edition, University Graham Instruments and Paton Electric combined 1986 and became University Paton Instruments (UPI). I wonder if that’s why I thought there was a similarity between these two testers.
Lionel VK7ZLB brought in a three position co-axial antenna switch sold under the name of “Workman CX-3”. As an added feature apart from three possible antenna switch positions it also came with an “OFF” or open circuit position! The specifications rate it to 1000 Watts and good to 30 MHz, have a look at the pictures and we will let you be the judge, HiHi. On a positive note it did have pretty good grade panel mount SO239 connectors, a solid machined aluminium knob for antenna selection, and a case that had no sharp edges to cut yourself on, what more could one ask for. Thank you Lionel for a glimpse into the “cost-effective-world”.
Peter VK7KPC brought in an antique cell and battery tester……. Destined to eventually bolster Lionel’s collection, this little handheld tester was manufactured by Master Instruments Sydney, circa 1960.
This model MBT-11 has a full metal enclosure that is finished in the classic black crinkle finish of its time.
With its ten position rotary selector it can measure cells and batteries up to 150 Volts. But more importantly you also have the ability to select an internal load, an external load or no load to apply to the cells and batteries when making a voltage measurement, this is a very neat and functional feature. It is certainly going to a good home.
Thanks also to Peter for bringing along his Raspberry Pi 400, installing it and managing to download a suitable Linux version of Discord and getting everything working on the clubs large monitor. We can now retire the laptop that had its Liquid Crystal Display completely destroyed courtesy of the club room break in a while ago. This will certainly simplify accessing Discord and YouTube streams.
There have been quite a few requests as to whether the club rooms would be opening up to watch the REAST presentation on “My Life in the Lighthouse Service” with Mike VK7FB. The 7th of August is not a normal Wednesday Technical Night but seeing who the presenter is going to be and the topic to be covered, it’s a no brainer! Club room doors will be open by 7:00 pm and at 7:30 mobile phones will be put on silent and we will cross to the live presentation on the REAST YouTube channel. So rather than sit at home watching, feel free to come along and watch it on a large screen TV, in a distraction and stress free environment. See you there.
Now for a quick “Stop Press” that came in via snail mail.
On a congratulatory note, it is nice to see a VK7 call sign in the recent edition of Lo-Key, “The Journal of the VK QRP Club”. It was in relation to the QRP Hours 80 metre contest held in April this year. Peter VK7KPC featured in the CW mode and obtained an equal second place, with contacts being made into VK3 and VK5. Evidently conditions were very poor with background noise floors of S7 to S9 in some areas. Peter used his “in the process of being refurbished” Racal Syncal on low power into an MFJ 80m end-fed antenna for the competition. Considering all contacts were QRP, well done Peter. Unfortunately I believe this one doesn’t come with a certificate.
As always, pictures will be available on the NTARC Web site under “Blogs” for this broadcast. NTARC Blogs
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 check the QSL cards 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 31st July and will commence at the usual time of 6.30 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.
