Broadcast - 26 Mar 2023
Wednesday Tech Night at the club rooms saw another mixed bag of items brought in by club members.
Peter VK7KPC was once again in the radio room using his newish Xiegu transceiver, model CS108G to participate in the TestNet/CW course run by Nic VK7WW. The difference this time was Peter had managed to source a replacement colour LCD screen for the Xiegu and had installed it, much nicer to use when you don’t have to guess quite so much. He also brought along the rest of this portable kit combination contained in two Pelican look alike padded cases. The contents were soon disgorged onto the table and consisted of a WA-4 Windom 7, 14, 28 and 50Mhz, off centre fed dipole Antenna kit, an ATU100 antenna matcher, a very interesting portable SWR meter made by Alex Nersesian K6VHF, the size of a box of matches, it has four LEDs to give a “greater than” SWR value and of course his small 20 Watt HF SSB CW Xiegu transceiver. Peter even managed to squeeze in a Morse code key and patch leads. An excellent compact self-contained setup for portable use Peter.
Andre’ VK7ZAB brought in an interesting piece of equipment, whilst not specifically intended for amateur radio it was a piece of top grade RF equipment. The unit was manufactured in Lithuania by Teltonika, model RUTXR1 and was indeed a piece of “Enterprise Grade” equipment. On the RF side of things the unit can provide main and standby data links on the 3G and/or 4G mobile networks, it comes with two suitable Yagi antennas that independently feed two mobile phone transceivers. The “mobile data” then feeds into an internal router plus Wi-Fi access point, the whole units reliability can then be increased by using the two independent 12 Volt power supplies. All this packaged in a single rack unit case, which exhibits an excellent standard of construction and finish. It is intended for use where a high speed and ultra-reliable data connection is required. In this case the unit provides the data backbone for a continuously streaming audio feed for a local Launceston AM band broadcast station. It’s not that long ago the broadcast audio would have been via a 600 Ohm balanced programme line provided by the PMG.
Now to jump from the 1 Meg AM broadcast band to the 23cm Amateur band.
Colin VK7ZCF showed us his “just” constructed 1270MHz, nine element, vertical coaxial collinear antenna, complete with PVC protective tube incorporating a very nicely turned nylon type material base to locate and secure the overall assembly. Nice soldering Colin, I am assuming this it to couple with Colin’s recently acquired 23cm band 2W Transverter from SG Laboratories in Bulgaria. This antenna certainly generated a great amount of discussion which continued on again at Friday coffee morning.
Another great evening that ended much later than planned and this time with a bang, well not actually a bang but that didn’t stop smoke coming out of one of the 30 Amp desk top 12 Volt linear power supplies that was being used for testing a transceiver! However at this point Idris VK7ZIR made the equipment safe and decided it was time to “call it a night”, it’s an investigation as to where the smoke escaped from and the repairs that are needed that will have to wait for another night!
As usual pictures of items from the evening are available on the NTARC website under “Blogs” for this broadcast.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The TestNet and TechNet session - Wednesday the 29th of March. 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 be Nic VK7WW.
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. Why not pop in and join us for a cuppa there is endless tea and coffee along with biscuits available for a donation.
10th Anniversary of Club Rooms BBQ - Saturday 1st of April at midday. Held at the NTARC Club Rooms. A “low key” get together, to celebrate ten years in the NTARC Club Rooms, will be in the form of a BBQ. Free for club members and family that register prior to the BBQ or otherwise a donation of $10 on the day would be appreciated. Register at the club rooms or by e-mail to the Secretary, as these attendance numbers will assist with catering requirements. Sausages, burgers both vegan and meat will be provided, donations of side salads, cakes, slices etc. would be appreciated. Should you decide to stay, the General Meeting will commence at 14:00 (2pm) which will then be followed by light refreshments. Thank you to those that have already registered.
Club General Meeting - Saturday 1st of April at 2.00pm. Held at the NTARC Club Room, Rocherlea Scout Hall, Archer Street, Rocherlea. If you have items you would like added to the agenda please email the secretary at: secretary@ntarc.net no later than Friday the 31st of March.
The Club Technical night - The next session will be on Wednesday 5th of April and will commence at the usual time of 7.30 pm, running through to about 10.30 pm, at the Club room Archer Street, Rocherlea.
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.
