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Sunday, May 9, 2010

Westlakes ARC Sunday News 9th May 2010

Good morning this is VK2ATZ and a happy Mothers'Day to all the mums who may belistening. Here is a summary of news and events for Amateur Radio Operators brought to you by Westlakes Amateur Radio Club Inc.
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The first item today is news of two SILENT KEYS - VK2FMT and VK2FPAC.
We regret to announce the passing in February of Tony Skerrett VK2FMT. Tony was a club member for many years and although handicapped from polio, he was a weekly contributor to Westlakes HF nets. He was 63 years old. Also, Paul Caban VK2FPAC passed away in hopital last week. Paul was not a Westlakes member but he regularly joined the club's mid-week SSTV and RTTY nets and he was a well-known amateur in the Newcastle area. The funeral service will be tomorrow, Monday, at Pettigrew Funeral Parlours, 3 Harris Street Wallsend at 2 pm. A moments pause please in memory of Tony Skerret VK2FMT and Paul Caban VK2FPAC. Thank you.
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Yesterday, the 46th Annual General Meeting of Westlakes Amateur Radio Club Inc. was held in the club Library, Teralba. It was standing room only for some - the others bagged a seat early.
The election of officers saw a few changes. Retiring were our President and life member, Frank VK2FJL, as he is moving to Lithgow, and Keith VK2PKT whose change in employment prevents his attendance at meetings. Incoming we have a new President in the form of Geoff VK2EO, and a new Secretary, BarrieVK2CXA. Also, joining the committee yesterday was Diane VK2FDNE. All other positions are as before. All reports were accepted and the audited financial statement showed that the club had a record financial year with turnover in excess of $23,000.

Our canteen managress, Gloria, was absent in Orange for Mothers Day, but the task of presenting lunch and the usual post-AGM aternoon tea, was capably filled By Barry VK2BZ, Dianne VK2FDNE, and Penny Smith. Well done the three of you.
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The meat tray. It was a good one too for the AGM - I can attest to that -and 121 tickets went into the barrel and that's a record. Frank VK2FJW, the winner two weeks ago, drew the winning one and it belonged to the ticket seller on the day, Penny Smith. ___________________________________________________
Congratulations to Mal Fletcher who dropped a letter during the week. Last Monday he was VK2FVON, come Friday, he was VK2VON. Well done Mal - we undertand a new club badge has been ordered.
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The club is about to purchase a number of Fred Swainston's popular Radio Theory Handbook. This is the 5th edition which has been completely revised and comes with a CD. The members of our current theory class will want a copy and if any others are interested please advise the Secretary but be quick. Westlakes will obtain the books at a reduced rate and the order will be placed this week.
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The future of 7ocm for Australian amateurs was revealed by the ACMA this week - or was it? The following message comes from Ivy VK3IVY and she says: "The ACMA has now released the document "The way ahead - Decisions and implementation options for the 400 MHz band" It's about how the ACMA wishes to reallocate the 400MHz band. As our 70cm band runs from 420-450MHz (with existing restrictions in Perth and Melbourne in the 420-430MHz section.) VK3IVY goes on to say, "In a nutshell, we will lose 420-430MHz. There will be no changes for 430-440MHz. But for 440-450, from what I can tell from an initial reading of this paper, there will be no changes for us." The document in full is on the ACMA website where it states the following "Arrangements for the radiolocation and amateur services are outside the scope of this plan." It all seems rather vague, So hopefully, there will be no changes for 440-450MHz.
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That concludes Westlakes segment of this week news.

If you want to learn what is happening at your club in the coming week join the group each Saturdayat 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.

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

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