WESTLAKES NEWS FOR SETPTEMBER 29TH 2013

Yesterday's meat tray. Who won? None other than Ted VK2UI... AGAIN... Enjoy Ted. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Next weekend is the Oceania DX contest and the Club is mounting an entry. Op’s are needed for a spot shift during the weekend. This is a 48 hour event so if you can help out please contact Alan VK2JED. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Maurie VK2CD was busy at the club finishing off the installation of the emergency exit doors. Only problem was that during the Field day weekend clean up, all the weatherboard pieces that Maurie had hidden for use on the wall were tossed out. A full clean up HI... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Barry VK2BZ and Dave VK2RD were busy installing the paper towel dispenser above the wash basin. Thanks to Jamie VK2YCJ for the donation of the unit. The fire extinguisher that was near the store has been relocated to the entry to the Toilets / was room area. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Echolink error. The Westlakes Echolink number shown in our monthly magazine has been wrong. In fact it's been wrong for years.If you have tried to access Echolink on the club's 146.775 repeater without success, now you know why. The correct number is 356838. A correction has been made in the October Monthly Magazine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaking of the October Magazine, The paper black and white version has been posted early this morning at my local Post Office and should appear in letter boxes tomorrow morning. The electric, all-colour version of the magazine which most members receive, will be sent via the magic of the Internet later today. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking a little further ahead, there will be another Boot Sale held at Westlakes on Saturday 9 November. This is a free event to the sellers and also a free "sausage sizzle" will be provided for all who attend. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Please remember to check the "for sale" board when visiting Westlakes. It is in the common room. There are always bargains listed there which are often snapped up before they can be advertised in our magazine. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Coming events. October is going to be a busy month. The Monthly Meeting will be held on Saturday 12th which is a week later than usual because of the long weekend. Then on 19th October we have a demonstration and lecture by Norm VK2KNC. It is all about Software Defined Radios and it starts at 1pm in the library. Aso over that weekend, 19th and 20th October is JOTA and JOTI. It will be the 56th year for JOTA and the 17th year for JOTI. Finally on Saturday 26th October, Foundation and licence upgrade examinations will be be held at Westlakes and that will be an all-day affair. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Antenna matters. Did you know that your 40 meter dipole will work very well on 15 meters. By using the 3rd harmonic e.g. 21.250MHz divided by 3 = 7.083 MHz. So if your 40 meter dipole is resonant at 7.080 MHz then your antenna will work on 15 meters. Some of the other antennas on other bands also work in that manner. Try it out sometime. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Richard VK2FRKO advises that on the APRS.FI ( http://aprs.fi ) program you can see MARINE RESCUE vessels. So why not check it and follow the white vessels around. -------------------------------------------------------------------- A little news from VK6. VI6WA100 a special event callsign will be used to celebrate the centenary of organised Amateur Radio in Western Australia. In October 1913, the Perth Radio Club (name changed to WIA VK6 Division a few years later) held its first meeting. The call VI6WA100 will be on air from next Wednesday October 1st untill the end of the year. Yes, there is a Special Event QSL card on offer to all who make a contact. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ACMA proposes regulations changes. The Australian Communications and Media Authority has announced a set of changes to the Amateur Licence Condition Determinations (Regulations). Each are important but relatively minor in nature. As anticipated holders of the Advanced Licence have added to their available bands, 135.7 kHz to 137.8 kHz. That low frequency band was allocated by the World Radiocommunications Conference in 2007 but is not yet included in the LCD. Currently those wanting to use the band must apply for a licence variation and pay a fee. The amendment will enable Advanced category stations, under their amateur callsign, access to the LF band with a power of up to 1 watt pX EIRP and any emission mode with a bandwidth of no greater than 2.1 kHz. This will be on a Secondary basis that amateur stations do not cause interference to other radio services that have Primary status on that spectrum. The amendments also concern changes to the station identification arrangements for overseas radio amateurs in Australia for short-term holidays or business visits. Visiting radio amateurs will need to identify by putting VK in front of their home callsign, which is more consistent with the practice used overseas for visitor licensing arrangements.The use of an alternative repeater access control is proposed to better manage situations that may result in an amateur station accessing a repeater for which they are not authorised to transmit on the repeater output frequency.The ACMA is also to provide through the amendments some clarity on third part traffic messages. It will receive written comments on the changes up until 1 November 2010. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Componets: Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. has released the 330 µF-capacitance EIA 1210 size as another addition to the company's high-end product group of high-capacity multilayer ceramic capacitors. The company has improved the capacitance by more than 50% in the same size capacitor. The large capacitance 330 µF super high-end product claims to be the first of its kind in the world. The product is used to smooth the output and ensure the stable operation in power supplies. The applications for these power supplies include industrial equipment such as surveillance cameras and broadcast equipment, as well as PCs and servers, and all-in-one printers. Production will commence from September 2013 onward at a production rate of one million units per month. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well that's all the news I have this week. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 6:00pm. To make contact at other times, try dialling (02) 49 581588 where an answering service operates. Visitors are always welcome at the club. We have plenty of tea, coffee, long-life milk, a good Canteen and a dwindling, but interesting selection of biscuits. Thank you for listening. We hope that you can all join us again next Sunday.