Broadcast - 5 June 2022
A quick round up of the previous week’s NTARC happenings. Firstly, the Technical Night at the club rooms on Wednesday evening saw a hardy cohort braving the cold weather. For a brief rundown it is over to Idris.
“Our Wednesday night Session started with the arrival of Peter VK7KPC who quickly had the urns on and the fire burning. Normally he would settled himself in the radio shack to participate in the co-occurring Test Net and Tech Net being hosted by Nic VK7WW, but not tonight. He withdrew to the “chilly” main hall! Later he was found ensconced in the midst of Military radio memorabilia. Starting with PRC-74 and PRC-64 transceivers and an assortment of Morse code keys, from desk top operated units, keys integrated into transceivers, plus various keys which strapped onto your thigh for operation. There was a long-wire antenna for 80 Metres attached to the PRC-74, which was draped and wound its way around the hall, and was tuned to the Test Net frequency, which was well underway. The antenna wire came stored on a standard military issue 8mm metal film spool, from back in the days when there were 8mm film movie cameras.
The reason for Peter’s set up? He was contributing to the REAST - DATV experimenter’s night, which was going live to air in Hobart and streaming on the REAST - YouTube channel.
And you guessed it, Peter’s speciality was military Morse code keys. All went well, with the rest of us watching the stream from the warmth of the heated club room. While on a military theme Ross brought in some old, as in “black and white” photos of some portable, well maybe transportable would be a better description, 2GHz microwave links. Consisting of what appeared to be two quick erecting towers of about five metres, each with a two metre or so dish, one for send and receive the other receive only, combining for space diversity reception. Plus one large truck full of Collins equipment. A far cry from what is assumed to be used with the technology of today.
Idris VK7ZIR, brought in an antique valve tester from the 1940’s, made in Australia by Paton Electrical, Ross VK7ALH has taken this one under his wing as it is in need of some restoration. His other item was a Japanese Broadcast and HF communications receiver in excellent condition, made by Electronic Industry Limited (EIL) type HCR-62 from the 1950’s. As usual a very enjoyable evening.”
Thank you Idris for the update, we almost felt guilty knowing Peter’s presentation was being conducted in a particularly icy cold scout hall. I am not sure how many words or maybe letters per minute he could key at under these conditions? HiHi.
The other notable event happened on Thursday night. With Peter, VK7PD’s input this is a brief summary as to why all those strange noises were heard on the VK7RJG FM repeater.
Those of you who regularly listen to the VK7 Broadcasts would have noticed that there has been a slow scan TV group operating in the Hobart area for some time via the Queens Domain Repeater VK7RAD. This all happened at the suggestion of Richard, VK7ZBX.
The question arose: why not form a northern SSTV group and use the underutilised repeater VK7RJG?
So on Thursday June 2nd five northern amateurs formed a net, sending SSTV over VK7RJG (438.55MHz FM). After some teething problems, all exchanged high quality pictures. Participants were: Andrew, VK7DW, Phil VK7ZPD, Collin VK7ZCF, Graham VK7KT and Peter VK7PD. Images were also viewed by Michael VK7MD in Burnie. VK7RAA was used as a liaison channel. Phil has also set up an SSTV thread on the NTARC Discord page; it includes a screen grab of some of the Thursday night’s activities. He has suggested incorporating SSTV into the Wednesday night Tech Net and showing it at the NTARC Clubrooms.
The net started at 7:30pm local time. The intention is to hold an SSTV net every Thursday night and when VK7RAF is repaired, the Hobart Group has offered to migrate to it so northern amateurs can exchange pictures with southern members via the link to VK7RJG.
The advantage of SSTV is it can transmit high quality still pictures over a voice channel. Any station equipped for digital modes such as FT8 can use SSTV by simply downloading free software such as MMSSTV. So keep listening and hopefully watching. These SSTV images should be available on the NTARC website under ‘Blogs’ shortly. I personally had no trouble decoding and viewing images on my iPad using ‘CQ SSTV’ which is available from the Apple App Store. I simply held the iPad close to the speaker of my handheld receiver while decoding the images.
Now to the Miena Hamfest in November. Are there any NTARC members that would be willing to donate time on the day or for preparation of the upcoming Miena Hamfest? Please, PLEASE! contact the secretary or any board member and make yourself known. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated by all amateurs for this worthwhile event.
Mug Order - yes, we are talking about the white mugs for drinking out of, those that have our club logo on one side, personalised with your name and call sign on the other. We are placing another order so if you would like one then please see André at coffee mornings or at the technical night. Those members who have already requested a mug, please email secretary@ntarc.net to confirm order, and anyone else who wants one please specify what name is to be printed above the call sign. The final price will be about $12 depending on eventual quantity ordered.
UPCOMING EVENTS
TestNet and TechNet – Wednesday 8th June. 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.
The next Club Technical night – Wednesday 15th June will be a presentation by Malcolm White. Past CEO of TasTAFE and currently Chair of Governance at The Royal Flying Doctor Service, he was a licensed amateur at an early age, and is also an aficionado of CW. The presentation will be on 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. All NTARC and non-club members are welcome to come along. This presentation will commence about 20:00.
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.
