Broadcast - 27 Oct 2024
Last weekend saw what has now become a very familiar event in NTARC’s yearly calendar. For as long as I can remember, this two day event has been organised and co-ordinated by Peter VK7KPC. So who better is there to give us a quick rundown on last weekend’s happenings, over to you Peter;
“Well JOTA is over for another year.
Sadly numbers at Rocherlea were down with visits from five Scout Groups, but many only had a few members attend. Girl Guides did not attend again.
On the bright side, those that did attend had fun and many seemed very interested in the activities. Thanks again to Northern Area Rover crew for running JOTI activity. No luck on HF, but the link to VK7RMD was fine. Had a few Echolink contacts and Skype worked well.
Thanks to Idris VK7ZIR, Andre VK7ZAB, Stefan VK7ZSB, Tony VK7YBG, Ian VK7IG, Stuart VK7ES and Fran, Ian VK7IH, Kevin VK7KJL and Colin VK7ZCF.
Thanks from Peter VK7KPC, JOTA Co-ordinator.”
Thank you Peter for the update on another successful JOTA/JOTI weekend. It was excellent to see so many NTARC members giving up their time to help with this long running scouting event.
The Committee would like to thank everybody who helped at the club rooms, and those home stations that took the time to respond to CQ JOTA calls, when there were no scouts available. Thank you Shirley VK7HSC and Rick VK7HBR and anyone we may have missed. Also to Ross VK7ALH for scanning the HF bands for CQ’s even though the bands weren’t in the mood to co-operate.
While we are on the subject of JOTA, at last Wednesdays Technical Club night Stuart VK7ES showed us his home made Spark Gap Morse Code sender and receiver. He had constructed it for last weekends JOTA to demonstrate Morse code equipment and its operation to the participating children and carers. Stuart tried to convey a low tech feel by using readily available scrap parts like PVC pipe off cuts for coil formers, a very buzzy old relay as a sounder and some vintage Bakelite headphones. All being mounted on two independently movable base boards of scrap ply wood. The shiny silver Morse keyer did look rather nice, but evidently even that was adorned with a Bunnings replacement wooden drawer knob.
For full technical disclosure we did try running a TinySA, spectrum analyser, alongside the set up. There was very clearly discernible “Hash” up past 1GHz every time it was keyed on….. need I say more!
Peter VK7KPC, now no longer in his JOTA mode, was able to turn back into a regular amateur. He brought along and demonstrated his “Mini-Kits” low pass transmitter filters that he had assembled and only just recently mounted into a small aluminium enclosure. This kit was designed for the 40 and 80 meter bands which are selectable by the front panel three position toggle switch, the centre position being off. Intended for portable use, it incorporated a rechargeable 12 Volt 0.8 Amp Hour Lead acid battery to power the in circuit coil switching relays. Using his FG-01 YouKits Antenna Analyser, Peter showed us some respectable frequency versus attenuation curves to prove the filter’s functioning.
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 6th November 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.
