WESTLAKES AMATEUR RADIO CLUB Inc.
Weekly Broadcast 21st February 2010.
This is a summary of news and events for Amateur Radio Operators on behalf of Westlakes Amateur Radio Club Inc.
The Broadcast can be heard at 09.00 hrs Each Sunday on 146.775 MHz and is followed by the VK1WIA news. There is a replay on 80 metres Sunday morning and again at 19.00 hrs courtesy Warren VK2UWP. Tune to 3.565 +-.
Pies and sausage rolls were the pick of the menu yesterday as Gloria was away celebrating her Dad's 80th.
An application for membership was presented yesterday by Richard Armstrong who hails from Marylands. Richard this application will be tended at the March meeting.
Richard, due to the absence of last weeks meat tray winner VK2FULL was asked to draw the winning ticket, making VK2GL well pleased. Trust you remembered to take it home this time Geoff
Port Stevens ARC are celebrating their 2nd Anniversary today with a BBQ at Henderson Park commencing 09.00. All are welcome BYO. Contact Di, VK2FDNE for further details.

Dave VK2RD ably assisted by Norm VK2KNC gave a very interesting and informative talk on the various digital modes being used by the amateur fraternity. It was pleasing to see the library so well attended for the first of what we hope will be an ongoing series of interesting lectures.
No one told me that it was to be R rated.

Mark your calendar for the following Westlakes events..
Lectures Library:-
March 20 Follow up lecture on Linux by Marcel VK2FMDB.
April 17 TBC. Video presentation of the 1996 Dx-pedition to Peter1 Island
Antartica. Courtesy Oscar K1 IYD

Project days Activity Room:-
February 27 (next Saturday) Constructing simple Foxhunt antennas. Col VK2YP and VK2FJL
March 27 Assembly of a Signal Injector probe Les Smith
April 24 TBC. Assembly of an AF-RF Signal Tracer Les Smith
May 29 TBC. Demo of above projects
June 26 TBC. Members Radio “FIX it DAY” bring in your suspect rig.
Members are requested to suggest possible future projects that may be of interest.

To celebrate 100 years of Amateur Radio Dennis VK2XDW is organizing a dinner for all local amateurs and their partners. The response will determine the location and cost. The proposed date is Thursday 11th March 2010.
Contact Dennis 0407 101 811 A.S.A.P.

We announce last week that shortly a sub audible tone of 91.5Hz will be required to access Westlakes repeater VK2RTZ what was omitted was that for a time a tone of 123Hz may also allow access.
Tone generating kits will be made available for those who have transceivers not fitted with his option. These kits, plus installation if required will be made available to members at a reasonable cost.

International and National News..

MOBILE OPERATORS BEWARE
The following comes from the JARL (Japanese Amateur Radio League) website.
A timely warning, perhaps, for all VK amateurs who must operate "mobile".
It could soon happen here.
"An amendment to the Road Traffic Act has taken effect on November 1, 1999
banning the use of hand held communication equipment (including amateur radio hand held transceivers) while driving. Also the Act says "should not look at car navigation systems (including "display" of amateur radio equipment) for a long period of time."

One of the new rules driver's must observe is that "he/she must not use the
radio communication equipment e.g. portable telephone while driving. This "radio communication equipment" means the equipment which cannot transmit or receive a message without holding a part or a whole of the equipment in hand. This includes handy type transceiver which is held in hand when transmitting or receiving a message.
On the other hand, this rule is not applied to the use of the hands free equipment for the amateur radio operation and the so-called mounted type mobile transceiver which is fixed to the car.
The next rule the driver must obey is that "he/she must not watch the picture on the picture display equipment." This rule prohibits continued observation of pictures from the picture display equipment such as car navigation system and car television.
It is permissible to use the car navigation system in the usual way, but it is prohibited to see the picture display equipment continuously while the car is in motion to input information for route leading to the destination.
"The picture display equipment" in the above paragraph includes not only the car navigation system or the colour television, but the liquid crystal display equipment frequently used for recent radio equipment which provide information such as radio frequency, SWR, ALT and RS. Therefore, while the car is running, it is against the rule to see the picture of the display equipment continuously to change frequency
or to tune the antenna, or to see the picture of the display equipment continuously to send or receive data by packet communication or to read information in letters of the portable telephone.
For the person who violates the above rule and as a result
incurs a traffic risk on the road, the penal servitude of up to 3 months, or a fine not exceeding 50,000 yen will be applied.
The purpose of the revision of the rules at this time is to clarify by law the responsibility of the driver to cope with the rapid increase of traffic accidents due to the remarkable popularization of the car navigation system.
It is our earnest request that every radio amateur will enjoy mobile operation in consideration of safe driving by using hands free equipment or a mounted type transceiver for the vehicle while driving."
Well how about that? Go mobile without hands free and check the LCD display on your 2 metre radio for frequency, SWR, etc and you are up for 50k Yen and/or 3 months in the clink. Plus, you cannot look too long at the display.
Has an "eyes free" amateur radio yet been invented?
Thanks Greg VK2CW for that article.
Smart-home" technology that allows people to control household appliances via their mobile phone or other gadgets is being shown off in Germany.
The EU-funded i2home project is aimed at giving greater independence and freedom to older and disabled people.
It uses so-called "middleware" to allow heating, air conditioning, lighting, and other gadgets to be controlled by a user's chosen interface.
The researchers worked with various groups in order to match the technology to their needs, including Alzheimer's patients, blind and partially-sighted people and young people with cognitive impairments.
The technology has been installed in a mocked-up kitchen.
This platform requires all appliances in the home to be networked together.
The middleware sits between the home appliances and a controlling device, such as a mobile phone, and allows them to communicate.
So far the group has tested touch screens, mobile phones running the Windows Mobile and Android platforms, speech input and output devices and an ordinary domestic TV set with a simplified remote control.
The researches say that i2home demonstrates that technology - that has traditionally been regarded as too complex for many mainstream users - can be made usable and enjoyable for older and disabled people.
In addition, because the middleware has been built to open standards, it means that anyone can use the underlying code to build their own user interface for a device to control networked appliances.

The anticipated increase in electric powered cars has seen San Francisco adopt a new building code requiring all new buildings to be wired for electric car chargers. The release this year of the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf are promising a new ere in motoring that by 2020 could account for 10% of vehicle sales.
While urban planners want to be ahead of the game with on tap power the electricity companies are looking at it from a different perspective.
Will their ageing supply grid cope with an increased demand or go into overload?
Topping up an electric car battery from an ordinary supply source can take eight hours while the better option will be specialised rapid charging stations.
UK police drone grounded
Police on Merseyside have had to ground their new drone over concerns it was being used illegally without a licence.
Merseyside Police said they had been unaware they required a licence to fly the remote control helicopter, “Air Robot”, which is fitted with CCTV.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it needed to be consulted over any use of the drones, that can fly up to 400ft and reach speeds of 30mph.
The force's drone was used last week to catch a car thief in thick undergrowth.

All unmanned aircraft, not just ones that weigh 15lb (7kg) or more, now have to be licensed to conduct aerial surveillance work after the law changed at the start of the year.
The CAA said any breach in regulations, which came into force on 1 January 2010, would be "treated seriously".
A Merseyside Police spokesman said: "Since the force has known of the change in regulations all Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) flights have been suspended and will remain so until the appropriate licence has been granted."

Speaking of aircraft….
Aviators have Morse code all tied up
How? Well you might ask.
Well it's a neck tie that has the code printed on it. Presumably pilots can check their tie if they're a bit rusty on the code and want to verify what beacon they're receiving. These beacons transmit a two to five letter callsigns at 5-words per minute.
Lets hope that coffee stains do not obliterate too many dits and dahs.

If you want to learn what is happening at your club in the coming week join the group each Saturday at 8am for the EZB net on 146.775 MHz

Early risers are reminded to tune to 3.588MHz each Saturday mornings at 6am for the Stone the Crows net.

That concluded Westlakes segment of this week news.

To find out more about Westlakes Amateur Radio Club, or Amateur Radio in
general, leave a message on our 24 hour voice mail box on 02 49-581588. Please
wait for instructions before leaving your message. All correspondence should be
addressed to The Secretary, Box 3001, Teralba, NSW, 2284 or email: secretary@westlakesarc.org.au
Further information is available on our website at www.westlakesarc.org.au
Westlakes Amateur Radio Club is located in York Street, Teralba and is open for business on Saturday from 12:00 midday and from approximately 6.00pm Tuesdays Call in and say Hello.....Tea and Coffee are always on!
Amateur Radio is a great hobby become active and enjoy it.
And remember Walk Tall. De VK2FJL