WESTLAKES AMATEUR RADIO CLUB Inc.
Weekly Broadcast 14th March 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 +-.
We begin with news of a Silent Key Members of the Port Stephens ARC were saddened to learn of the passing on the 26th January 2010 of Bill Neil VK2KWN . I believe Bill was actively involved in the training program for the club. He will be sadly missed
Vale Bill Neil VK2KWN

Westlakes March meeting was held yesterday where a very pleasing number of members attended.
Among matters discussed were the acceptance of three applications for membership. Richard Armstrong who since filling out his application has passed his Foundation exam and is now VK2FRMA. and Col Cuneo who intends along with Richard to sit for their Standard licence. We wish them every success
Past member Michael Mihailovic VK2OZ has reapplied. All three applications were approved by the meeting. Congratulations, We trust that your association with Westlakes ARC will be an enjoyable one.

Geoff VK2GL enjoyed his recent tasty meat tray win so much that he accepted the prize again this week courtesy of last week multiple winner Greg VK2CW..

In past years March must have been a very productive month. Yesterday those member in attendance celebrated multiple March birthday’s, in excess of five members were honoured with a very nice chocolate cake courtesy of Gloria. Happy Birthday to all.
VK2ZG, I was advised not to mention to you that the cake was filled with ice cream. But why lie. Pity you were not there Norm, however rest easy as Allan ate your share.

Mark your calendar for the following Westlakes events..
Lectures Library:-
March 20 next Saturday 13.30 Follow up lecture on Linux by Marcel VK2FMDB.
April 17. 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.
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..
Lip reading mobile promises end to noisy phone calls
Technology that could see an end to the bane of many commuters - people talking loudly on their mobile phones - has been shown off by researchers.
The prototype device could allow people to conduct silent phone conversations.
The technology measures the tiny electrical signals produced by muscles used when someone speaks.
The device can record these pulses even when a person does not audibly utter any words and use them to generate synthesised speech in another handset.
"I was taking the train and the person sitting next to me was constantly chatting and I thought 'I need to change this'," Professor Tanja Shultz of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology told BBC News.
"We call it silent communication."
The device, on show at the Cebit electronics fair in Germany, relies on a technique called electromyography which detects the electrical signals from muscles. It is commonly used to diagnose certain diseases, including those that involve nerve damage.
The prototype that is on display in Germany uses nine electrodes that are stuck to a user's face.
These capture the electrical potentials that result from you moving your articulatory muscles," explained Professor Shultz. "Those are the muscles that you need in order to produce speech."
The electrical pulses are then passed to a device which records and amplifies them before transmitting the signal via Bluetooth to a laptop.
There, software translates the signals into text, which can then be spoken by a synthesiser.
In the future, said Professor Shultz, the technology could be packed in a mobile phone for instantaneous communication.

Nanometre 'fuses' for high-performance batteries
Minuscule tubes coated with a chemical fuel can act as a power source with 100 times more electrical power by weight than conventional batteries.
As these nano-scale "fuses" burn, they drive an electrical current along their length at staggering speeds.
The never-before-seen phenomenon could lead to a raft of energy applications.
Researchers reporting in Nature Materials say that unlike normal batteries, the nanotubes never lose their stored energy if left to sit.
The team, led by Michael Strano of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, coated their nanotubes - cylinders just billionths of a metre across - with a chemical fuel known as cyclo trimethylene trinitramine.
"One property that nanotubes have is that they conduct heat very, very well along their length, up to a hundred times faster than in metals," Dr Strano told BBC News.
"We asked what would happen if you perform a chemical reaction near one of these, and the first thing we found is the nanotube will guide the reaction, accelerating it up to 10,000 times."
The team used a laser or an electric spark to set off the reaction in a bundle of coated carbon nanotubes, filming the results using a high-speed camera.
But they also found that, through a mechanism that is still poorly understood, the process creates a useful voltage - a phenomenon they have dubbed "thermopower waves".
Their nanotube bundles carry, gram for gram, up to 100 times as much energy as a standard lithium-ion battery.
Since just a tiny amount of energy is needed to start the reaction before it becomes self-sustaining, Dr Strano says it could be initiated in a small device with the energy in the push of a finger.
And unlike standard batteries, the stored energy would not leak away over time, and requires none of the toxic, non-renewable metals in many batteries.

Back to the local scene

Classes for the Standard licence will be held Saturday afternoons at Westlakes ARC’s classroom commencing April 10 at 13.00 hrs. As it is proposed to keep the classes to 10 candidates I’m advised that following a great response that there is room for just one more.
Persons wishing to study for either Standard or Advanced class licence are asked
To contact the Secretary ASAP.

Last week mention was made of the Lighthouse weekend 21/22 August and the fact that Westlakes have booked a cottage. Interested members wishing to book accommodation for the weekend are asked to contact Barry VK2CXA

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