WESTLAKES AMATEUR RADIO CLUB Inc.
Weekly Broadcast 28th 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 +-.

Today marks one of the Amateur radio highlights of the year. Wyong Field day. This event is hosted by the Central Coast ARC and as usual it is shaping up to be another great day. The QSL bureau will be in operation throughout the day located at the Westlakes ARC stand.
Due to material being unavailable only part of the proposed antenna construction was conducted yesterday. The discussion was held in the Library as the Activity room is still awaiting a clean up.
Members are asked to keep their cool a little longer as the installation of the replacement air conditioning unit for the Common room is planned for next Saturday.
Persons wishing to study for either Standard or Advanced class licence are asked to contact the Secretary ASAP. Come on you Foundation calls here is your chance to study for your upgrade under expert tutoring. As advised classes will be held Saturday afternoons at Westlakes ARC’s classroom

This weeks meat tray was won initially by John VK2BAR who requested it be redrawn, making Col VK2YP extremely pleased that he did so. For once it paid to be second .

The March issue of Westlakes Magazine will be assemble and made ready for posting next Saturday 6th March. As advised nomination forms for Executive and Committee will be included. These positions will be filled during the May 8 AGM.


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:-
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.
Another event which it is hoped will gain a good response is the CQ repeater contest 1st to 7th May. Open to all VK’s, all you need is the ability to access UHF/VHF repeaters. The rules can be found on the club’s website.

International and National News..
Swansea company builds homes from recycled plastic
Old TV sets, wiring cases and general household waste are being turned into what a Swansea-based company hopes will be the "house of the future".
Affresol has developed technology to build low carbon houses from plastic and minerals extracted from recycled rubbish.
The firm developed a material called Thermo Poly Rock (TPR) from recycled plastics and minerals for use as a structural building product.
Affresol managing director Ian McPherson said TPR was stronger and lighter than concrete, waterproof, fire retardant, did not rot and had excellent insulation properties.
The company estimated the life of the houses at more than 60 years and said the TPR elements were recyclable at the end of that period.
He said: "Every country in the world has issues with waste and we now have an opportunity to turn waste into an enduring housing resource that is 100% recyclable."

Ocean robot 'plans experiments'
Scientists in the US are using an underwater vehicle that can "plan its own experiments" on the seafloor.
The "Gulper AUV" is programmed to look for the information that scientists want and plan its own route, avoiding hazardous currents and obstacles.
The research team described this advance at the Ocean Sciences meeting in Portland.
The group explained how it could "train" the robot to bring the best science back to the surface.
Thom Maughan from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in California was one of the engineers on the project.
He explained how the automatic underwater vehicle (AUV) used a piece of software called "T rex", which operates in a similar way to the software used to control Nasa's Mars Exploration Rovers - helping them to avoid obstacles on the surface of the Red Planet.
One main difference between the two pieces of software is that for the Mars rovers, the software ran in the control centre on Earth. With this marine vehicle, it runs onboard the robotic vehicle.
"You can tell it what to do before you put it in the water," Dr Maughan said.
Researchers at MBARI used the Gulper AUV to monitor potentially harmful algal blooms.
Kim Fulton-Bennett from MBARI explained: "We used to send out a ship for a full day every few weeks to manually take these measurements. Now we just take the AUV outside the harbour and send it on its way.
"About 24 hours later, it comes back, we hoist it on board, and download the data."

'Tuned' images from Esa's Smos water mission
The first fully calibrated images from the European Space Agency's Smos satellite have now been released.
The spacecraft's new pictures show swathes of Scandinavia, Australia and the Amazon.
The maps record the amount of moisture held in soils and of the quantity of salts dissolved in seawater.
The mission's data is expected to have wide uses and should improve weather forecasts and warnings of extreme events, such as floods.
Smos was launched on 2 November. It carries a single instrument - an interferometric radiometer called Miras. Some eight metres across, it has the look of helicopter rotor blades.
Miras measures changes in the wetness of the land and in the salinity of ocean water by observing variations in the natural microwave emission coming up off the surface of the planet.
One key problem scientists have been grappling with is interference. Although the L-band (21cm) spectrum in which Smos operates is supposed to be protected, the team has discovered many spurious signals, particularly over China, western Russia and parts of Europe.
The satellite is expected to help improve short and medium-term weather forecasts, and also have practical applications in areas such as agriculture and water resource management.
The satellite is part of Esa's Earth Explorer programme - eight spacecraft that will acquire data on issues of pressing environmental concern.
The first - a gravity satellite called Goce - launched in early 2009. The third in the series is called Cryosat-2 and will launch in the coming weeks.
It will assess the state of the world's ice cover.


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.
De VK2FJL