Broadcast - 8 May 2022
We begin this week by wishing all the mothers among our listeners and all our mother members a Happy Mother’s Day. As this is written on Friday, hopefully by Sunday the harsh weather in the south of the state has eased off or preferably stopped and there has been minimal damage caused by the storms.
Now a quick round up of the previous week’s happenings. The Technical Night at the club rooms on Wednesday evening saw nearly twenty people braving the cold weather. For a brief rundown it is over to Idris.
“Our Wednesday night Session contained a veritable banquet of technical items for those braving the cold to feast their eyes on. The advance guard Peter VK7KPC had arrived and, once he had done his Duty by lighting the fire and turning the urns on, had settled himself in the radio shack to participate in the co-occurring Test Net and Tech Net being hosted by Nic VK7WW. To do this, he had brought along a modified Codan Type 6801 Mk 2 SSB transceiver. Peter had built up an American DDS kit as a VFO with a LCD frequency display, and injected the output in place of one of the Codan’s crystals to enable that selector position to be tuned over a range. A very neat unit and with the cover removed, revealed a unique feature, namely a three quarter inch Whitworth steel nut attached to the oscillator crystal as a thermal mass to provide some temperature stability. Not only that, but the front panel boasted a 3D printed tuning knob with a finger turner. Well done Peter.
Colin VK7ZCF had scored well in an online auction, and showed us a very nice Panduit model LS3E cable label hand held printer in a nice case with accessories and extra labels.
Idris VK7ZIR brought in a SDR module with a frequency range of 0.1 to 2,000MHz. Connected to a computer running the manufacturer’s software via USB, many actions are available. The software is excellent and most importantly it’s free. Idris also demonstrated the latest Windows incarnation, Windows eleven, which for most aspects is a real improvement over Windows 10, particularly the User Interface.
Next is Ross VK7ALH with his usual interesting selection. Another of his Dentron Linear amplifiers, which he has left at the Club-rooms for anyone to inspect. For those who like the Eddystone marque, here was a short wave radio model EC10, in beautiful condition, powered by D size batteries in a rear compartment. The type of radio which would not look out of place on a mantelpiece in a living room. Ross intends to install a mains power supply in the battery compartment. We will no doubt see the result at a later date. He had just acquired a home-brew antenna matcher from a recent sale, which was very well built with what looked like military grade components including a very nice roller inductor. Thanks Ross.
Our new power distribution and monitoring unit was on display before being installed on Mt. Arthur Repeater site to enable disconnection of power remotely to anything misbehaving and keeping an eye on current and voltage levels via the network from anywhere.
Stuart VK7FEAT had some interesting high current DC circuit breakers for his vehicle which were IP67 rated. He also showed a crystal oven he had found in one of his many boxes, made by GEC with an octal base, powered by 6 or 12 volts. Thanks also for splitting firewood for us, Stuart.
Before winding up, thanks must go to Jill, sister of David VK7YY, who supplied the most delicious sandwiches, as she has done on many occasions, and to Bernie VK7BR who is back on deck after convalescence and brought his delectable sandwiches too. So no one went home hungry and had to prepare a plate of food. All were satisfied in every way from an enjoyable evening.
73, Idris VK7ZIR”
Thank you Idris, it was excellent to see such a cross section of equipment brought along. Not every item being a transmitter, receiver or antenna, but never the less all parts that when combined make for a working and usable communications installation and station. Even Collin’s humble Panduit label maker, the once “Industry gold standard” in cable labelling has its part to play, now be truthful, who hasn’t at some time had to re-identify which actual antenna goes to the connector that is in your hand?
Thank you to those at the club room working bee last Saturday. Jobs ranged from repairing, cleaning, gardening and building works. Well done Brendan VK7VIP, Stuart VK7FEAT, Ros, Norm VK7KTN, Lorraine, Bernie VK7BR, Idris VK7ZIR, Andre’ VK&ZAB and Stefan VK7ZSB.
Also last weekend Tony VK7YBG, saw a possible break in the weather and quickly organised a party to climb Mt. Arthur to visit VK7RAA on Sunday. This resulted in the re-installation of the repaired DMR antenna and wind generator. Thanks go to Tony, Peter VK7SP, Rosco VK7RC and Andre’ VK7ZAB for their somewhat slippery climb up and back again.
UPCOMING EVENTS
TestNet and TechNet – Wednesday 11th May. TestNet/CW course on 3.580MHz from 7pm till 7.30pm….and a TechNet on 3.567MHz from 7.30pm till about 8.30pm. Your host for the evening will again be Nic VK7WW.
Club Tech night – Wednesday 18th May. Held at the NTARC Club rooms, 7.30pm until whenever.
Malcolm White Presentation – 15th June about 20:00 Apart from being a licensed amateur at an early age, and a CW aficionado, the major topic is to be his association with Ray Naughton VK3ATN at the time of Ray’s pioneering Earth Moon Earth (EME) achievements in the 1960s on the 2 metre band.
Coffee Morning – held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Catch up time is from 10am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all there. 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.
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 5pm on the Friday prior to the Broadcast.
That’s all folks,
73’s from Stefan, VK7ZSB, Secretary NTARC inc.
