Broadcast - 9 Apr 2023
We begin this week by wishing everyone a happy Easter. If you are travelling please take it easy on the roads and through the many road construction sites. Just take your time and make sure you arrive safely at your destination.
Last Saturday saw a “low key” get-together, to celebrate ten years in the present NTARC Club Rooms, the celebrations were in the form of a BBQ. Thank you to all who registered as this allowed us to more than adequately cater in the cooked food side of things and to all who brought along side dishes.
What an amazing turn out of members, some of whom had to travel for a number of hours, read that as travel through continuing road works. Some of the faces we hadn’t seen since the last BBQ back in pre Covid times. It was an excellent afternoon of catching up and was only interrupted by the fact we also had a General Meeting scheduled after. The meeting agenda was worked through and completed just on an hour, everybody stayed on for drinks, a bite to eat and the continuations of previous discussions started during the anniversary get together.
Wednesday saw the club Technical Night roll around and Peter VK7KPC was once again in the radio room, on air and participating in the slow CW Morse code course run by Nic VK7WW.
Ross VK7ALH came in with a faulty CigWeld multi-process invertor welder. It was discarded as uneconomical to repair, but Ross suspected a problem with some relay operation, so there’s a good chance he may be able to resurrect it. The circuit boards in these machines are usually covered with a white mastic on high voltage joints which can present problems with servicing, and can become conductive with age.
Next, also from Ross was an MFJ Versa Tuner 3 1.5 kW roller inductor antenna matcher. The moving contact for the variable inductance settings was not operating and switching correctly, and was unable to be correctly adjusted using the end stop spring, the spring had no provision for slot adjustment. This was really a design fault, but with judicious use of a jig saw on the case to allow an adjusting tool to enter and a file on the so called adjuster an alignment within fractions of a millimetre was obtainable. Well done Ross.
Finally, from his seemingly inexhaustive collection, a curio in the form of a Mizuho HF/VHF frequency counter, obtained surplus from a Radio Inspectorate somewhere! A very nice example of a Japanese made instrument from a company many had never heard of, but apparently well known for their inventory of RF accessories. An examination of the back panel revealed an antenna socket, and a switch which had been labelled VHF – HF, but the front panel controls only related to HF. A bit of research revealed that the counter was capable of measuring up to 200MHz. Quite confusing really, but thanks Ross.
Idris VK7ZIR brought in a Marconi VHF signal generator TF1064B circa. 1962. It was in relatively good condition but had been sitting in the cupboard for a few years. Once the covers were off, you could see main reason for displaying the unit, it featured a cylinder piston attenuator with a beautifully made brass gear train actuator. One nice piece of history Idris.
Colin VK7ZCF had a replacement LED tube assembly suitable for the older 4 foot florescent light bases. It was quickly disassembled revealing the internal construction of the LED strip, power supply and drivers. Collin then gave us a technical rundown of the different modifications to the base units that are required depending on the replacement LED tube type. This particular model had a very nice outer tubular light diffuser, that when a light was shone down it from one end and all the room lighting was turned off, it gave an excellent impersonation of a Star Wars light sabre, yes I know, but it was just one of those things that had to be tried in the name of science. HiHi
Stuart VK7FEAT brought in his recently constructed “ready to go” portable transceiver set up. Consisting of a padded Pelican lookalike case that featured a Yaesu FT857 transceiver, antenna matching unit, sundry patching cables plus power equipment and still space for a coiled up field antenna. Very neat and functional construction Stuart.
The highlight of the evening came from Justin VK7TW in the form of a live stream from the REAST club rooms in Hobart. Justin covered, and I must say very well, basic design parameter variations and their effect on the final performance characteristics of a Magnetic Loop Antenna. The demo certainly clarified quite a few questions including some we had not even considered.
You could hear the metaphorical pin drop, I don’t think I have ever heard club members that quiet and intent on a Wednesday night. Thank you Justin for the highly informative visual interlude.
Equipment pictures are available on the NTARC website under “Blogs” for this broadcast.
Mug Order - Those members who ordered a personalised club mug, they have arrived and are available for collection at Friday coffee mornings or at the Wednesday bi-weekly club Technical Nights. Special deliveries can be arranged for our far-flung members.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The TestNet and TechNet session - Wednesday the 12th of April. 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.
The Club Technical night - The next session will be on Wednesday 19th 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.
