WESTLAKES NEWS BROADCAST FOR APRIL 7TH 2013

It was the clubs meeting day yesterday and a good number of members attended it. In the absense of President Steve, Vice President Geoff took the chair and was assisted by Dave VK2RD who had the Treasurers report as Greg was away. The club insurance for the building was reduced by at least $500 by switching to another insurer, extra exits were spoken about and Geoff is going to do a costing on them. Projects - Norm VK2KNC spoke on a number of new projects that he will introduce to the club in the next few months, Morrie VK2CD will do a demonstration of his magnetic loop antenna soon. Two new membership applications were accepted and they were John Shroder and Fred Farrer. Welcome aboard. After the meeting the drawing of the meat tray took place. Leonie VK2FHRK was at the club and she reached into the ticket tumbler and pulled out another female radio operator. Yes, it was Diane VK2FDNE. How did this happen? Congratulations Diane - enjoy the meat tray. After the meeting Chris prepared a feast for everyone present. On behalf of the members yesterday thanks Chris for a job well done. At the club yesterday was Leigh VK2KAL/VK2KY after his extended stay in the John Hunter Hospital last year as well as this year. Welcome back Leigh. A number of members have put there hands up to take up positions as Examiners and Testers with the WIA. They are waiting on Police checks before they can be accepted by the WIA. Please remember the clubs car boot sale on the 20th April commencing at 12 midday. Got something to sell - can be anything BUT REMEMBER what ever you don't sell you must take back home. Russell VK2VK is looking for a couple of 886A mercury rectifiers for a project he is doing or rebuilding. If you can assist please contact the club or Russell. Now this is very important information for everyone that users VK2RTZ repeater 146.775 MHz. To gain access you will need to have the 91.5 CTCSS tone programmed into your radio. If you don't have this tone you will not be able to use it. This has come about due to the increasing incidence of interference that has been interfering and locking up the repeater. Now those members and non members who have older radios and require TONE BOARDS the club is about to order and obtain circuit boards and parts to make these boards as kits. If you would like to order one of these tone board kits please register your name with a committee member. The cost of the kit is unknown at this stage. The Hunter group also have kits for tone boards and the cost of the boards were around $15.00. I will get in touch with the Hunter Group and see how many boards they have and an updated price. Remember no 91.5 tone no repeater access to 146.775 MHz. UP FOR TENDER - 2 AIRCRAFT RECEIVERS: The club has obtained 2 Watkins-Johnson which are rack mounted and cover the frequency range 20MHz - 300MHz. These are fully transistorized and are built to military specs. The condition is unknown at this stage but will be tested. The tender will be for the pair of receivers and anyone interested should write to the club and place their bid in an envelope. Tenders will close at the clubs A.G.M. meeting. Also up for tender are 2 HP frequency counters. The 1st is a 516B 100MHZ and the 2nd 0-500 MHz measures Period and frequency. Has a module in it. Once again the condition is unknown but we have been told they worked. Once again tenders must be in writing addressed to the club with your bid. The lawns at the club were once again mowed. If you would like to help please give your name to a committee member. I am sure some of you could spend an hour helping your fellow club members mow the lawns. WORLD NEWS: Best Handheld Radios. Bill Carmichael has launched a website to provide information on the latest handheld technology, product reviews, and articles from radio enthusiasts globally on their own best handheld radio . The Quad-Band Yaesu VX-8DR and the Yaesu FT-60R Dualband Handheld are among the radios featured on the site. Best Handheld Radios http://www.besthandheldradios.com/ HOW ARE YOU AT DOING CW? French CW Society - Special Event. Look for special event callsign TM28UFT to be active during the 28th annual meeting of the French CW Society, the Union Francaise des Telegraphistes UFT, which will be held in Panazol, Région Limousin, Centre France, between April 7-21st. Activity will be on the HF bands and possibly more, for this CW only operation. QSL Manager is Bernard, F9IE. All QSOs will be confirmed by the Bureau. SWL QSL cards should go also via the French Bureau. After the operation and before you QSL, please check your QSO online at the UFT Web site www.uft.net. However, those who would like to have a direct card, should ask for it not before July 15th, to Bernard, F9IE, (QRZ.com address is correct). In such a case, don't forget SAE and 1 valid IRC or 2 USDs. ARE YOU CHASING A BIT OF DX? Samoa DXpedition A team of 15 German amateur radio operators will be active as 5W0M from Le Lagoto between April 4-18th. Activity will be on 80-6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY plus 2 meter EME. They plan to have four stations active simultaneously on the air with amp and various antennas. QSL via DL4SVA, direct or by the Bureau. QSL EME QSOs via DL9MS. A OQRS will be available for QSL requests for Bureau QSLs or direct cards. A Web page is available at: http://5w0m.hkmann.de Fall in UK amateur radio exams. The February 16 RSGB board proceedings report the number of exam entrants was 17% lower than the same period last year. The proceedings also say a proposal had been submitted to the Warwick Business School for an MBA project to review the Society's branding. Is the same thing happening in Australia? We have higher Examination fees and the cost of licences have rising again. Are we a dying hobby? I hope not. The Buzz - Electric car and 52MHz. Peter Ellis VK1PE has found a story that may have a hidden threat for 6 metres, in Japan and potentially elsewhere. From "What's new in Electronics" magazine for March/April 2013, comes this story. Conventional battery-based electric vehicles are not popular with drivers because of drawbacks that mostly stem from the need to store large batteries on-board cars, so there are strong demands for alternative means of powering electric cars. In a novel approach, Takashi Ohira at Toyohashi University of Technology and colleagues are developing an innovative method for powering EVs that drastically reduces the number of batteries. The approach exploits the steel belt usually embedded in rubber tyres. The steel belt collects power excited from a pair of electrodes buried beneath the road surface. And, since the steel belt is electrically insulated by the rubber tread, the researchers used a displacement current at high frequency to penetrate from underground to the steel belt. The researchers constructed a 1/32 scale electric vehicle to prove their concept. The car moved successfully with a power penetration efficiency exceeding 75% at... 52MHz. This is the world's first demonstration of electric power transfer via the car wheel to the vehicle. So, will the frequency scale, too? Up, to 1.664GHz; or, down, to 1.625MHz. Or, will it just stay on 6 metres? For National Radio News, Peter Ellis VK1PE BPL gets home entertainment application: Broadband over powerlines (BPL) is now being claimed as the way to go for multi-room audio systems and superior than existing wireless solutions. At the prestigious CeBIT trade show for information and telecommunications technology in Hannover Germany (3-8 March), a product has been launched by Arkados and devolo AG that is called a dLAN Audio World. It is an in-house BPL HomePlug based system that extends music throughout a building via the mains power wiring. Arkados and devolo AG claim their product delivers a ‘longer range and more reliable quality-of-service than any other wireless solutions in the market’. It transfers digital music directly from an iPod, internet radio, computer of any sources and connects it up to four rooms. One of the world’s suppliers of BPL products, devolo, has teamed up with chip maker Arkados to create the new product they claim is the solution offering ‘whole-house music that sounds great’. Arkados has also commended US President Barack Obama and the Congress for ear-marking $4.5 billion towards smart grid technology and $7.3 billion to expand broadband into rural or under-served communities. The company claims to have already done the required research and development to enable it to deliver smart grid (including smart meters) and rural BPL broadband systems. IBM which is in partnership with International Broadband Electric Communications is also vying for a slice of the US Government’s economic stimulus package to also roll out BPL into rural communities. 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 from around 11:00 am. 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, a good Canteen and an interesting selection of biscuits. Handle every Stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or play with it, Pee on it and walk away