Broadcast - 12 Feb 2023
We commence this week with a report on the NTARC Annual General Meeting held last Wednesday the 8th of February. The AGM saw an attendance of 23 voting members and 1 visitor.
Extensive reports by the President, Treasurer, each of the club activity leaders and the all-important Auditor’s statement were tabled and each well received by the membership, leaving all with the sense that 2022 had been another good year for NTARC, all the more so considering we are still in COVID times.
The elections saw the return of Idris VK7ZIR as President, Peter VK7KPC as Vice President, André VK7ZAB as Treasurer, Stefan VK7ZSB as Secretary and Roslyn (no call sign) as committee member.
Roger VK7ARN was again re-appointed as our Internal Auditor. A slight change this year saw Yvonne VK7FYMX relinquishing the Position of Public Officer and Stefan VK7ZSB accepting nomination for this position.
All the club activity co-ordinators were again appointed to their respective tasks; Tony VK7YBG as Northern Repeater Officer, David VK7JD continuing his role as Project Manager for Mt Arthur, with both being assisted by Paul VK7KPA and Andrew VK7DW as Assistant Repeater Officers.
Other club activity coordinators agreeing to continue in their roles for 2023 were Peter VK7PD as the Education Officer, Peter VK7KPC as our JOTA/JOTI Coordinator and Roger VK7ARN as our Safety Communications Coordinator.
So there you are folks, you now have the NTARC Committee and Coordinators for 2023. This information is now being prepared for inclusion on the club website by Webmaster Roger VK7ARN.
The business of the meeting proceeded at a good pace, with the agenda completed by 20:15hrs. President Idris therefore brought matters to a close and after a brief break proceeded to open the February General Meeting which was completed by 20:40hours.
This was followed by what else but supper, courtesy of the members bringing a plate and what we had hoped for, “preferably with some edible food on them”. Included is thanks to Bernie VK7BR who temporarily forwent his antenna maintenance activities and ventured into the “Dark Art” of cake baking, it turned out to be an excellent specimen and iced no less.
Thanks go to our stalwart Ros for bringing all the offerings together into a heavily laden supper table that was enjoyed by all in the gathering following the meetings.
It was nice to see a couple of the newest members’ faces at the AGM, probably not the most enthralling of times for them, but the after meeting chatter and get together was a good chance to meet other members, hopefully this made up for it.
At the end of the night when leaving the subject of the “Green Comet” flyby of Earth came up.
Evidently the coloured glow is due to “the diatomic carbon shed in its wake - a type of carbon molecule that absorbs light from the sun before emitting it as a fluorescent green tail”. Thanks Wiki.
Stuart VK7FEAT produced a pre-programmed URL from the site “Heavens-Above”. This gave a set of excellent directions, with constellation, star and planet locations with which to finally pinpoint the comet, unfortunately the sky was not on our side and the evening was decidedly overcast. Pity, as normally there is minimal light pollution in a northerly direction from the Club Rooms. Stuart’s link is included in the text version as there is probably only a few more nights to catch sight of the comet on this pass. Alternatively, as it is orbiting the Sun in an elliptical orbit, just wait another fifty thousand or so years! HiHi
Seriously though the “Heavens-Above” site is also an excellent resource for the location of objects like the International Space Station etc.
Text edition: C/2022 E3 ZTF directions to help location.
2023 Membership fees - It’s that time of the year again and a big thank you to all those members who have paid their 2023 subs. Remember NTARC’s 2023 membership fees are still just $40.00 for a Full voting member and $5 additional for each Family member that the voting member wishes to add to his or her primary membership.
NTARC QSL Cards - A quick note from Andrew, VK7DW.
Thanks to Herman VK7HW for his continued support regarding QSL deliveries.
Following a recent deliver, the following call signs are waiting at the NTARC club rooms for collection.
VK7KPA and VK7LG
Thank you Andrew for the update.
And now for some blatant cross promotion between broadcast articles. If you get a chance check out the “Ice Flower” Slow Scan TV images broadcast by Colin VK7ZCF on the SSTV night. Whether they are natural or “seeded” by human intervention I don’t know but they are pretty cool and worth a look. The link is also guaranteed “Cute Cat” image free. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8grdm9
UPCOMING EVENTS
The TestNet and TechNet session - Wednesday the 15th February. TestNet/CW course on 3.580MHz from 7pm till 7.30pm…. and a TechNet on 3.567MHz from 7.30pm till about 8.30pm. As Nic, VK7WW is unavailable, your host for the evening is to be announced.
Coffee Morning - held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Time is from 10am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all there. We currently have a couple of QSL cards awaiting collection, so why not pop in and check the box and join us for a cuppa and chat.
The Club Technical night - Wednesday 22nd of February. Held at the NTARC Club rooms, 7.30pm until late.
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.
