WESTLAKES NEWS FOR THE 28TH OCTOBER 2012

CONDITION OF ENTRY TO WESTLAKES CLUB HOUSE: Westlakes club members and visitors: It is very important that everyone signs the members/visitors book which is in the hallway adjacent the main doorway. This has come about due to requirements made by our Insurance provider. It also helps the club in any insurance claim that a person has made against the club. Lets start the broadcast with good news. Old timer Ted VK2UI was asked to do the honours and draw out of the ticket tumbler this weeks lucky meat tray winner. This weeks lucky meat winner Was Stella again. Well done Greg enjoy the meat tray. Looks like Greg will have to be at the club next week to draw another lucky winner. It was all hands on the new QRP set yesterday. Norm bought in his completed QRP set in and was quickly put on the test equipment supplied by Barry VK2BZ. After a short time the job was done and it was then put to the test in the radio room. Not sure if any on air tests were carried out but reports that I have heard says that they are all good. Richard VK2FRKO also bought in his soon to be finished kit so I guess that in a few weeks the two kits will be on display for members to have a look at. Might have to start up a QRP group and have some fun. Also at the club was Maurie VK2CD with his newly manufactured loop antenna. The loop was constructed out of 20mm copper pipe and formed using a car tyre. The loop was mounted on his ( looked like a beach umbrella handle - does the boss know you have it? ), mounting box for his capacitor and other various HOMEBREW items to make it work. Listen out on future broadcasts as Maurie will be back to give a demonstration of his loop. Congratulations Maurie on keeping home brewing alive. Back from holidays Ally VK2AFD. Hope you had a great holiday. What did he say when he got to the club? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY STORE. Please make a note on your calendar that on the 10th NOVEMBER is a CAR BOOT SALE at the club. This will be FREE so please tell all your friends and spread the word around. Anything that you wish to get rid of bring it along. Your unused items may be someone else’s treasure. The starting time will be 1200 so people who work in the morning will have time to get to the club. There will be a BBQ for anyone who maybe hungry. Remember any items that you bring and don't sell MUST be taken home with you. The club magazine was put together and stapled and will be posted so watch out in your letter box for your copy. The electronic version will appear shortly. The club magazine is always a good read. Got a story that you want published in a future edition? Contact the magazine editor. Westlake's cup entries. Please send in your logs as closing date is fast approaching and either email them to contestmanger@westlakesarc.org.au or post your log to the club post office box which is Box 3001 TERALBA NSW 2284. Closing date is the end of the month. Also at the club today were a number of members giving their brain cells a workout doing the Foundation licence. Chief lecturer Geoff VK2GL was instructing. WORLD NEWS: The Campbell Island DXpedition activation is just a month away and all is on schedule. All the equipment has arrived at the storage facility in Invercargill, New Zealand. Some of the team are already in New Zealand, others will arrive over the next few weeks. There will be a quarantine inspection of all of the gear and then it will be loaded onto the boat that will take the equipment and team down to Campbell Island. It's not to late to vote for which bands and modes you will like to work ZL9HR on – go to www.zl9hr.com to vote and to find out all the details of this major DXpedition. DXpedition data: Location - Campbell Island - IOTA OC-037 - 450 miles south of New Zealand in the Great Southern Ocean. - 15th. most sought after DXCC location in the world (and an amazingly beautiful nature reserve). Dates - 28th. November to 9th. December. Group - Hellenic Amateur Radio Association of Australia with a team of experienced international operators. Call Sign - ZL9HR 100 MHz to 6 GHz Transceiver for $300 ? Forbes reports on Michael Ossmann's latest project, an Open Source transceiver covering 100 MHz to 6 GHz. Although not stated in the article, it is presumed the RF output from the transceiver may only be a few milliwatts. Surprisingly this proposed Open Source transceiver does not use an FPGA and has a low resolution, however, it points to a future of flexible software defined transceivers at a low price point. The National Instruments company Ettus Research, founded by a radio amateur Matt Ettus N2MJI, produces the popular USRP™ family of SDR products which are aimed at the high performance segment of the market. For further information on this transceiver check Google Search engine. COMPUTER NEWS: This week WINDOWS 8 was released in Australia. So if you have a few hundred dollars in which you want to give away, check out the local computer vendors. Also released this month was MAYA . This is a free software and its operating system is Linux. Richard is trying it out on an old pc and so far everything is working well. Just remember to have all your printers and scanners plugged in and turned on before you start upgrading. Linux will find all your parameters and load them for you. Once that is done Linux connects to the web and will download any updates which may have come out. Two of the large car companies are using Linux in their car computers now Well that's all the news I have this week. Do you have a news items that you would like read out on a broadcast? Contact Richard VK2FRKO on email address vk2frko@tpg.com.au or give the item to Richard at the club. Now to wind up. Westlakes Amateur Radio Club Inc. is located in York Street, TERALBA - and is open on Saturday Afternoons from around 12 noon. Also on a Tuesday evening from around 6pm. To make contact at other times, try dialling (02) 49 581588 where an answering service operates. Visitors are alway welcome at the club. We have plenty of tea, coffee, long-life milk, and an interesting selection of biscuits.