WESTLAKES BROADCAST NEWS FOR 27th APRIL 2014

At the club yesterday there was no meat tray but be assured there will be a meat tray next week. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next Saturday is the clubs ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING and everyone is welcome. The meeting commences at 1330 hrs in the library and will be followed by a feast in the common room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The club will be holding a boot sale on the 10th of MAY commencing at 9am and everyone is invited so please contact the club secretary either by visiting the club or leaving a message on the clubs answering machine. Please remember to bring your own tables and chairs and please take your rubbish home with you. As per the norm, the FAMOUS Westlakes BBQ will be working overtime cooking steaks and sausages for sandwiches, salad will be available, bread and brad rolls, cold and hot drinks. ALL WELCOME. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the WIA. Scanning veins in the human hand could become the biometric measure of choice for authentication when we pay for things or want to unlock devices such as smartphones, an Australian professor says. Thanks to the iPhone 5s and Galaxy S5 smartphones, fingerprint scanners are going mainstream quickly. But how will they fare against vein scanning? According to computer science Professor Willy Susilo of the University of Wollongong, fingerprint scanners are a "gimmick" and iris and vein scanners are likely to trump them. One of the main benefits of vein and iris scanning is that you don't tend to leave behind iris or vein prints, he said. As most vein scanner sensors coming out this year require no physical contact, it means there are no residual biometric patterns that could be copied, preventing fraudulent use. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hard to swallow. 40% of 11 to 16 year olds has suffered some kind of back or neck pain, chiropractors in the UK have found. The use of laptops and tablets is behind a major rise in neck and back pain sufferers amongst young people, a new report has said. Research from the British Chiropractic Association found that being slumped in front electronic devices could be contributing to a rise in muscle and joint problems, especially in teenagers. People working on such devices often sat in a 'hunched' position, leading to strain being put on their backs, the BCA said. In order to ameliorate this, the association has released a number of tips for parents, including encouraging their children to be more active and only to sit for short periods, and teaching them how to sit properly. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OH OH OH Telecommunications company TPG has been fined $400,000 for failing to provide customers with the ability to call triple-zero in an emergency. The Federal Court found TPG contravened the telecommunication laws by failing to ensure its controlled network and facilities gave thousands of home telephone service users access to emergency call services. The court found on 193 occasions between March 15, 2011 and September 21, 2011, TPG failed to give end users access to the emergency call services. It also failed to ensure its networks gave end users 5979 standard telephone calls to emergency services This is the first time that the ACMA has instituted proceedings against a telecommunications provider for contraventions of the termination. This decision is a reminder for all providers that the obligation to give Triple Zero access is of paramount importance,' said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Have you managed to contact VI2ATZ50 yet? VI2ATZ50 will be aired during April at various times from the club shack and also in a portable capacity by allocated club members to give the most exposure to the Amateur population. This call will ONLY be on air for 3 more days. Yes the callsign expires at the end of APRIL.Richard will be using the callsign on 3581 MHz Monday nite from 2000 hrs. Richard will once again be using the callsign this Tuesday night at the club from about 1830 hrs local time on frequency 7150 MHz. Then on Wednesday either Barrie or Dave at 0930 hrs on 7150 MHz will be the last chance to contact the club using the VI2ATZ50 callsign. Requirements to qualify for the Award will be... 1) 5 contacts with VI2ATZ50 2) 3 contacts with VI2ATZ50 and 3 club members 3) 10 contacts with WARC members A station could easily qualify on one of our morning club nets... eg: 10 members on air or VI2ATZ50 controlling a net and required members etc... VI2ATZ50 could visit another club’s net and allow points toward the award. A special QSL Card will forwarded to all stations who make a contact with VI2ATZ50. All operations of the special call MUST keep an accurate log of all contacts so that contacts can be entered in a Master log for award scoring. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANTENNA ROUNDUP: This weeks antenna is the G7FEK MULTIBAND ANTENNA. Advantages of this antenna are - small size 14.100 meters long and 7.4 meters in height. 50 ohm antenna. Multiband operation. An ATU MUST BE USED. Has a low angel of radiation and is easy to construct and set up. This antenna looks like a small version of the Off Centrefed antenna. Using a tree or a 9 meter squid pole or higher the center is fed with openline with spacing greater than 20 mm. ( 450 ohm ladderline ). A counterpoise wire is needed of 9 meters placed under the longer section is all that is needed. The full article is available at www.g7fek.co.uk A great limited space anteena. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And speaking of antennas, John Noack was seen in the club grounds yesterday tuning a stubborn 40 metre dipole, held aloft with a squid pole. There were plenty of helpers including the mosquitoes. As observed from a distance, the antenna and mosquitoes were winning. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the ILLW website for 2015. ILLW stands for International Lightship and lighthouse Weekend.There is only one entrant so far and that is Norah Head Lighthouse registered to VK2ATZ - that's us. Talk about quick of the mark! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Keep an eye on your letterbox or e-mail inbox this coming week. Westlakes May 2014 Magazine will arrive as if by magic. It is a 28-page edition. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REMINDERS: WIA VK Harry Angel Memorial Sprint May 3 Saturday May 2014 - 10:00 -11:46 UTC The Harry Angel Sprint is an annual 80m contest event, first established in 1999, to commemorate the life of Harry Angel VK4HA who at the time of his becoming a Silent Key was the oldest licensed amateur in Australia. The duration of the contest is 106 minutes one minute for each year of Harry's life. The "HA" is open to all grades of licence holder and is particularly suited to operators new to contesting. OPerating frequencies - CW 3500 - 3535 kHz. Phone 3535 - 3665 kHz . ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you have a news item 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 6:00 pm. 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 the biscuit barrel has just been topped up.

WESTLAKES NEWS FOR 13 APRIL 2014

This is VI2ATZ50 Portable, the Special Event callsign for Westlakes Amateur Radio Club. This call is being used for the month of APRIL, celebrating the 50th Anniversary since the founding of Westlakes . We start this broadcast with the news of two silent keys. The 1st is Paul Hammond VK2HMV who passed away in Gosford Hospital yesterday. Paul was a long time member of our club and served in various positions in his early association with Westlakes. Paul helped organise and run the daily Maritime net on 14.300 Mhz and was well regarded throughout the pacific area. The second SK is Frank Kentish VK2WH. Frank was also a long time member of the club and was involved in our club nets and was also a regular attendee on Saturdays. With his cheery smile he greeted everyone. Both will be missed. VALE Paul and Frank. The library was a hive of activity with Greg VK2CW selling tickets in the meat tray raffle. Last weeks winner Greg, VK2FGJS was waiting for the call so that he could pull this weeks lucky winner out of the ticket tumbler. When the time came, Greg reached in, selected a ticket and the callsign on the ticket was.... VK2QG. Congratulations Barrie and enjoy the meat tray. Lloyd VK2XAA and Dave VK2RD were busy conducting an Audit of the clubs books to ensure all is in order for the upcoming AGM next month, on Saturday the 3rd May. Keep this date handy and come along to cast your vote for the Committee to see the club through for the next 12 months. Saturday 3rd May is the day 13:30 (1:30 pm) in the Library. Norm VK2KNC was busy repairing a Yaesu SWR/Power meter that had stopped working and ended up on his bench. Some diligent work, and replacement of a couple of components and all was well again. A good bloke to have around is our Norm... Last Sunday, 50 Westlakes club members and visitors gathered at the Cardiff RSL for the clubs 50th birthday luncheon. The food was great and it was good catching up and talking to everyone again. Half way through the luncheon Dave VK2RD ( MC for the dinner ) called for a bit of shush as he had a few presentations to hand out. The following members received a certificate of appreciation for the work that they do in the background to make the club work. The members were... VK2LW, VK2FRKO,VK2CW and Penny, VK2QG,VK2VBF, VK2GL, VK2ZM and VK2KNC ( NOT PRESENT ). Norm was presented with his certificate yesterday. There will be some good photos in the next issue of the clubs magazine. NOTE: Next Sunday being Easter Sunday, there will NOT be a broadcast as the readers and News Team will be away. Our News Editor is heading to Urunga to cover the annual convention and no doubt be on the lookout for any bargains as well. The club will be open as usual for those who cannot stay away. Antenna Discussion: This weeks antenna is the dipole antenna.This is the easiest antenna that an amateur radio operator can build. One of the formulas on the web that is used to calculate the total length of the dipole antenna is 468 divided by the frequency (in MHZ) = length in feet. There are a number measurement converters also available on the web to change feet to meters. The lengths given are only a rough measurement, so by using your VSWR meter or analyzer and usually by shortening each end by the same amount each time you can usually get the VSWR down to 1:5 to 1 or less. The dipole antenna has a 70 Ohm feed point impedence so if you used TV coax you will get a perfect match. If there is enough interest perhaps we could have a dipole building day at the club. There are a few more tricks you can do with a dipole also. Let us know if you are interested. Contact Richard VK2FRKO at the club on Saturdays... VI2ATZ Award: Have you managed to contact VI2ATZ50 yet? VI2ATZ50 is being aired during April at various times from the club shack and also in a portable capacity by allocated club members to give the most exposure to the Amateur population. Requirements to qualify for the Award will be... 1) 5 contacts with VI2ATZ50 2) 3 contacts with VI2ATZ50 and 3 club members 3) 10 contacts with WARC members A special QSL Card will be forwarded to all stations who make a contact with VI2ATZ50. We have already had half a dozen applications for the award. Please note... The award certificates will not be posted until the end of May as we will not be doing a print run till all applications are in. A cost of $5:00 should accompany the application to offset the cost of printing and postage. As a club member please promote this award in your general QSO’s. They only need to work 10 members to qualify as well. We would like to acknowledge the effort of Paul VK2HV for his promotion and activation of the special call. Paul has been active for an average of 10 hours a day on 10 and 15 metres on SSB & CW. He now has a helper in the form of Paul VK2BPL doing CW on most available bands. Thanks guy’s... Much appreciated. REMINDERS: WIA VK Harry Angel Memorial Sprint May 3 Saturday May 2014 - 10:00 -11:46 UTC The Harry Angel Sprint is an annual 80m contest event, first established in 1999, to commemorate the life of Harry Angel VK4HA who at the time of his becoming a Silent Key was the oldest licensed amateur in Australia. The duration of the contest is 106 minutes one minute for each year of Harry's life. The "HA" is open to all grades of licence holder and is particularly suited to operators new to contesting. Operating frequencies - CW 3500 - 3535 kHz. Phone 3535 - 3665 kHz . HARAOA Anzac Day - Bare Island – AX2CL: The Hellenic Amateur Radio Association of Australia is manning a special event station using the callsign AX2CL at Bare Island NSW over the Anzac Day weekend 25th-26th April 2014. Keep an ear out or check the clusters for activity. Upcoming event: This is an upcoming day out in June submitted by Norm VK2KNC... ABC TOUR. Tour inside the Sydney home of the ABC. Your tour will include a visit to one of 2 digital television production studios, an on air radio station, a new studio and a control room. Rub shoulders with some of the countries most respected journalists, radio and television personalities. This is a fantastic trip for all ages. FRIDAY 13TH JUNE DEPARTS 06:30 AM COST $48.00 PER PERSON. More details in upcoming weeks. or see Norm at the club. Do you have a news item 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. 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 6:00 pm. To make contact at other times, try dialling (02) 49 581588 where an answering service operates. Please note... we only check the answering service on Saturdays, so, be patient if you want a return call. Visitors are always welcome at the club. We have plenty of tea, coffee, long-life milk, a good Canteen and an interesting selection of biscuits.

WESTLAKES NEWS FOR THE 6th APRIL 2014 from VI2ATZ50

Once again in the library Greg VK2CW was busy selling tickets for the clubs meat raffle. Now Les VK2RJ was ready and just needed the nod from the chief spinner so that he could select this weeks winner. Remember everyone who buys a ticket has a chance to win the meat tray. The nod was given and Les reached in and in his hand was the ticket with the callsign VK2FGJS. Congratulations Greg and enjoy the meat tray. NEW MEMBERS THIS MONTH: Ron VK3MRH Dennis VK2HHA Brenton VK3CM. On behalf of the Committee and club members, welcome to Westlakes. Pleased to have you aboard. RICKETTY KATE RESULTS: Yesterday Herb (VK2ZVF) advised that all tickets in the Ricketty Kate Draw were sold and that meant that it would drawn at yesterdays meeting. This was done and the winners were. 3rd prize of $10 went to Ian McLaren, 2nd Prize $20 Dave to VK2RD and 1st Prize $50 to Russell VK2VK. Congratulations and don't spend all your money at once. Also happening in the library was the clubs General monthly meeting which was attended by some 28 members which was good to see. The next meeting will be the AGM on the 5th May and nominations have been called for from the floor. See Barrie VK2QG for a nomination form. VISITORS TO THE CLUB: Well yesterday Gloria and Keith VK2PKT arrived to pay us a visit. It was great to see you both and don't keep it so long until the next visit. Keith started a Facebook page called AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS. He posts Westlakes news there every week. Dave VK2RD also is an administrator and posts regular news there as well. In the activity room Norm (VK2KNC) was fixing Barrie's manual MFJ ATU. An hour later and the tuner was up and running. Thanks Norm for your assistance. Club Magazine: Have heard great feedback from various members and I am sure that if you passed a copy to a fellow club interstate the editor wouldn't object. This is a quality magazine. Now today is Westlakes 50th Birthday luncheon at the Cardiff R.S.L. Club. Those who are going will meet there at 11:00 for 12:00 all you can eat lunch. For those who cannot be there, those who are going will certainly eat your share. V12ATZ50 NEWS TO DATE FROM VK2RD. The special callsign to celebrate 50 years of the foundation of Westlakes was aired for the first time last Wednesday morning on our regular 40 metre net on 7.150 at 09:30. We logged 11 contacts during the net and a further number when Barrie VK2QG visited the Albury Wodonga 10:30 net on 7.055. Again on Friday and another 12 contacts plus some worked WARC Members for award points. Keith VK2PKT was first in with his award application, Hand delivering to Dave VK2RD at the club yesterday. Well done Keith. Richard VK2FRKO was on 80 & 40 metres last night and Michael VK2CCW will be on 80 and 40 this evening. So all in all a pleasing result so far. Have you managed to contact VI2ATZ50 yet? VI2ATZ50 will be aired during April at various times from the club shack and also in a portable capacity by allocated club members to give the most exposure to the Amateur population. Requirements to qualify for the Award will be... 1) 5 contacts with VI2ATZ50 2) 3 contacts with VI2ATZ50 and 3 club members 3) 10 contacts with WARC members A station could easily qualify on one of our morning club nets... eg: 10 members on air or VI2ATZ50 controlling a net and required members etc... VI2ATZ50 could visit another club’s net and allow points toward the award. A special QSL Card will forwarded to all stations who make a contact with VI2ATZ50. All operations of the special call MUST keep an accurate log of all contacts so that contacts can be entered in a Master log for award scoring. Please use UTC time if possible. The roster is almost done for operators wishing to either work from the club house or from their QTH. Can you help? I am sure Dave can find a spot for you on the roster. Naturally see Dave at the club or email him at vk2rd@exemail.com.au PLAY TIME: This week, A Multiband HF antenna for those of you that want to try something different is called the WFL - Wideband Folded Loop antenna. Features All band 1.8 - 30 MHz. Length 7.5 metres( good for confined spaces/small back yards), average VSWR is 1:7-1. Antenna will handle 200 watts PEP.USUALLY no ATU required. 50 Ohm impedence. This is NOT a DX antenna. The link to this is http://www.thiecom.de/ftp/rfsystems/wfl/wfl-info-e.pdf There is a lot of information on the web re this antenna. INTERFERENCE: Iranian radar invades the 10m band: The propagation on the higher bands begins to show the first signs of recovery, a bit ‘like the arrival of spring. There are some Interesting DX stations giving out QSO’S on the 10mtr band, even on 29 MHz FM. Unfortunately, on 10 mtrs there is a troublesome intruder signal. For several days there have been several reports from colleagues about a variable frequency carrier received on 10 mtrs in non-equal intervals of time and period. The signal in Southern Italy on the Adriatic coast, is arriving sometimes even more than 59 +20 db occupying almost the entire usable bandwidth for phone, from 28.400 to 28.600 MHz.The immediate evidence of this conjecture we had by referring to the latest bulletin of the IARU R1 Monitoring System, well managed by Wolfgang DK2OM and Peter HB9CET. The report (available for download in PDF) dated March 20 indicates precisely the intrusive presence of a radar by Iranian origin. So if you are getting interference on 10 metres this could well be the source. REMINDERS: WIA VK Harry Angel Memorial Sprint May 3 Saturday May 2014 - 10:00 -11:46 UTC The Harry Angel Sprint is an annual 80m contest event, first established in 1999, to commemorate the life of Harry Angel VK4HA who at the time of his becoming a Silent Key was the oldest licensed amateur in Australia. The duration of the contest is 106 minutes one minute for each year of Harry's life. The "HA" is open to all grades of licence holder and is particularly suited to operators new to contesting. Operating frequencies - CW 3500 - 3535 kHz. Phone 3535 - 3665 kHz . Station ID... VI2ATZ50/P 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 6:00 pm. 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.