Broadcast - 26 June 2022
This week started off with a chilly and very muddy Equine Endurance Ride. You may remember in last week’s broadcast I mentioned we had two club members, Roger and Peter camping out overnight in the bush at a Check Point, in the cold. Well, they survived, and the following is based on Roger VK7ARNs summary of the event.
NTARC did their stuff at Lebrina, in somewhat difficult circumstances. The ride was organised, unusually, by the State body, the Tasmanian Equine Endurance Riders Association (TEERA), rather than the normal local Ride Organising Committee (ROC). This was to fill a gap in the ride calendar. The people involved did a great job in the circumstances, but we faced a few challenges with early access and with checkpoint placement and order. A very wet forest didn’t help with signal strength either! On the day, challenges were overcome by both technical and manual intervention. Changing from a mobile vertical whip and adapting a 13 element 70 cm beam certainly re-established reliable data communications back to base from a checkpoint with Rosco VK7RC and Idris VK7ZIR doing the experimentation.
Checkpoint numbering turned out to be different on the day, when riders appeared at Checkpoints out of sequence. Riders’ ears may have burned as they were discussed regarding missing a checkpoint, before it became clear the track was not as we’d understood it to be! Back at Ride Base Stuart VK7FEAT used his keyboard skills to get the rider data where it belonged on the spreadsheet.
You pretty much summed the day up Roger, not as we had anticipated but all turned out well.
Thanks to the crew made up of: Peter VK7KPC, Roger VK7ARN, Rosco VK7RC, Lewis VK7IT, Stuart VK7FEAT, Idris VK7ZIR, Andre’ VK7ZAB and Stefan VK7ZSB and thanks to Kay for providing a cake which wasn’t hogged by the chilly Check Point, but shared with all crews, this definitely is our version of “Bush Tucker”, HiHi
A selection of pictures taken on the day are available on the NTARC website under ‘Blogs’.
This also includes Drone video, by Roger, that really sets the bush scene we were all working in and shows how the area has started regrowth and recover after being ravaged by bush fires earlier this year.
The SSTV Net was held Thursday night on repeaters VK7RJG in the North and VK7RAF in the South of the state via the RF link. This allowed for a state wide link-up to happen.
The images came thick and fast and for those who have not decoded any of these SSTV images they are not just boring pictures of call signs going between amateurs, but show a range of eclectic interests and memorabilia which they are using as backgrounds for their call signs.
For those interested the popular PC based software is MMSSTV. For those on a phone or tablet using Android or Apple there are Apps available from their respective stores and work very respectably just holding your device to the radio speaker.
A selection of these SSTV images from the night are available on the NTARC website under ‘Blogs’.
Friday coffee morning saw the usual socialising as well as a range of technical activities. These included an Antenna Tuning Kit being constructed by Kevin VK7KJL. The successful outcome resulted in a working display and is now ready for setup and testing. Also the obligatory hand held programming, complete with driver problems, plus discussions on the upcoming Winter VHF and above Field Day.
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 committee 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. Sorry but it is now too late to put a request in! The order has been placed with the manufacturer and hopefully we will receive the printed goods mid-July. After arrival the final price will be calculated and the Mugs will be available from the club rooms for collection, either on coffee mornings or technical nights. If you have missed the boat on this shipment, I am sure there will be another sailing in the near future.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Club Technical night – Wednesday 29th June. The last for the financial year! Will be held at the NTARC Club rooms, 7.30pm until whenever.
TestNet and TechNet – Wednesday 6th July. TestNet/CW course on 3.580MHz from 7pm till 7.30pm, followed by a TechNet on 3.567MHz from 7.30pm till about 8.30pm. Your host for the evening will again be Nic VK7WW.
Coffee Morning – held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Get warm while you 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, 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 from Stefan, VK7ZSB, Secretary NTARC.
