Broadcast - 15 Sept 2024
Last technical night Colin VK7ZCF, brought in an assortment of items from his new 3D printer, this time Colin brought in an example of their use. Firstly a 23 element 1296 MHz Yagi antenna. All element mountings were 3D printed, even the folded dipole driven element mounting and housing for the matching coaxial cable was 3D printed. The main boom was a 1.8 metre length of round plastic garden stake. All the element mounting modules could be slid onto the boom and were a friction fit. This certainly allowed visualisation as everything stayed in place when the Yagi was being handled. Once Colin has settled on the exact positions that he has calculated then the mountings can be secured in place by the tightening of nylon type bolts. This will turn out to be an excellent field or hand held Yagi. It will be interesting to receive feedback from Colin after it has clocked up a few hours of field use.
Colin’s second offering was a plastic case with fitted lid that held a selection of his RF connector adaptors, all safely held and easily identified in eighteen individual pockets. But before you ask, yes, it had also been completely 3D printed. They really have turned out well. One comment was, “does it come in different colours”…… but what is wrong with “battleship grey”, I say!
I must admit Colin’s 3D printer and printings certainly have seeded quite a few discussions with many about the purchasing of a 3D printer.
In preparation for a Zombie Apocalypse or hopefully for much sooner use as a portable rig power pack Peter VK7ZPE, brought in his recently purchased “Kings” brand Power Pack model: GP30. This is a compact 3 kilogram portable power pack based on a 24 Amp hour Lithium Iron Phosphate battery and is available at a local hardware store. It has a complement of USB and Type-C sockets that can supply various voltages and currents for a sundry of electronic items. Also included are two 12 Volt cigarette lighter sockets each capable of over 100 Watts, I doubt if nowadays they are actually meant for an electric cigarette lighter, whatever that is, hihi. These are more than capable of running a small fridge, lighting, laptops and tablets or even a Transceiver with a moderate output power.
To be even more useful one entire end is devoted to an inbuilt general illumination LED light. The white light is also switchable to amber colour mode which will hopefully minimises the attraction of insects. The portable power pack can be recharged from a DC supply within the range from 12 to 24 Volts. The overall package is supplied with a soft carry case for protection and ease of transport.
Let us know how it performs during portable field applications.
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 8.30 pm. Your host for the evening is Nic VK7WW.
Club Room Technical night session - The next session will be on Wednesday the 25th September and will commence at the usual time of 6.30 pm at the Club Room Archer Street, Rocherlea.
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.
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.
