WESTLAKES NEWS FOR 13TH JULY 2014

In the library was the drawing of the this weeks meat tray winner. Last weeks winner Norm VK2KNC ( sporting his big smile ) reached in and selected a ticket from the ticket tumbler. In his hand when it finally came out of the barrel.... Greg. Yes Greg Smith Junior ( VK2FGJS ) Congratulations Greg, enjoy the meat tray and don't forget to be here next week. In the activity room, Norm and Michael were working on a new project which will be made available to build in the next few weeks. Listen on further broadcasts for when the this kit ( a noise bridge ) will become available. Also in the activity room was Marcel ( VK2HAQ ) assisting Tony fixing his computers. Not sure of what the problem was. Maybe Marcel can comeback in call backs and let us know. What a great attendance from members at the club yesterday. There were virtually no parking spots left and so many areas of activity inside. Thanks to the helpers in the QSL Buro, assisting Alex to reduce the pile of inwards cards. And a big thank you to Herb, VK2ZVF for getting in and doing what the Council should have done - Clean up the dumped rubbish at the end of the classroom. Great job guys... The Secretary is taking orders for club “T” shirts. If you require a T shirt or you wish to purchase another please contact Barrie VK2QG. Name badges can also be ordered through Barrie and the price of a name badge is about $10. Please include a stamped addressed envelope when ordering. The log periodic beam antenna needs some TLC. We need to get the antenna off the tower and onto the ground when routine maintenance can be done. Anyone listening know someone with a 50 ft cherry picker we can use for the right price? Or does someone have any other ideas on how to lower the antenna to the ground. Welcome to the bands and the hobby of Amateur Radio to Luke, VK2FALA and John VK2FALE. They had their Handhelds at the club yesterday to be programmed, ready for call backs this morning. Congratulations Gents... Enjoy.. At the club yesterday were all these little radios called Baofeng wandering around. They were all programmed to speak English not Engrish/chinese. These are a great little radio. Check them out on the web. SPY V SPY A new ground station will be built at the Australian spy base near Geraldton in Western Australia (VK6) to dramatically upgrade access to next-generation military satellite communications for US and Australian troops across the globe. The move will provide a major boost to the war fighting capabilities of both countries, deepen the ANZUS Alliance and improve the rapid sharing of intelligence. Australians in emergency situations could soon be using Triple Zero in a whole new way, with Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull announcing a review into the system and how it could be better used to take advantage of modern mobile technologies. "Communications technology continues to advance, presenting new and exciting opportunities to improve the existing voice arrangements as well as new ways for telecommunications users to access assistance," Turnbull said. "New services such as the Emergency + Smartphone App, which displays the phone's GPS coordinates for the caller to read out to the emergency operator, is a great example of how modern technology can be used to improve the Triple Zero service." Australia's emergency phone line service can currently only be reached via a voice call. USA extends its ILLW lead The registered marine navigation sites in the United States of America for next month's International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend now stands at 61 - ahead of Australia and Germany both with 56, followed by England on 26. The US tally is buoyed by 14 never-before-activated structures, and Australia has 4 virgin lighthouses this year. Spain and Germany also have first-timers. Lightships to join the fun-event so far are in England, Finland, Germany, Netherlands and the USA. No matter where you are there's plenty to contacts to be made and some issue special QSL cards. In the Americas registrations come from Barbados, Canada, Chile, Curacao, Falkland Islands, Honduras, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Uruguay. In greater Europe there's Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales. The Asian region so far Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand have registered. Others come from sea-going nations include South Africa and New Zealand. Among the loyal original 1998 entries seen today is Scotland's stone-built Barns Ness Lighthouse that began in 1901. During World War II it was machine-gunned yet sustained no damage. One of many in 39 countries eagerly looking for contacts is Alan Waye VK5PBZ at the Port Germein Lighthouse. He will be active on both days using HF, D-STAR and also expects to be very popular on the IRLP node 6865. Each registration from has a history to tell. Simple guidelines or online registration for the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend on August the 16th and 17th are on the website www.illw.net The Westlakes team will once again be at Norah Head Lighthouse getting there on Friday afternoon and leaving around 1100 on Sunday morning. Tea and coffee will be available for anyone wishing to make day visits. Last year Richard setup 2 antennas - an off-centre fed dipole and a Tilted terminated folded dipole. Both antennas worked extremely well. Listen for us on the 15th,16th,and 17 of August. The club will also be doing the Sunday broadcast from the Lighthouse. Reminder to ALL MEMBERS: Westlakes annual field day will be held on the 14th September 2014 in the club grounds. Have a look through your equipment and see what you are not using or better still look in you garage and see what is taking up valuable space. Perhaps you would like to donate it to the club. What the club does NOT EXCEPT - CRT computer monitors, video players, old TVs of the CRT type. Remember to bring your own tables and a chair to sit on and you must take away ALL your own rubbish as the club WILL NOT be getting a skip. If your are interested in a stall please contact the club secretary Barrie VK2QG for further details. So Sunday the 14th September at the club grounds and entry is FREE... Be there... Possible good news: Panasonic announced that they will scrap production of Plasma TVs, now Samsung have made a similar announcement - 'Samsung is to stop producing plasma televisions (PDP TVs) by 30 November'. It said falling demand meant it would instead focus on producing curved and ultra-high-definition (UHD) TVs. "This is very good news for the HF spectrum, but will not reduce efforts to improve emission standards for frequencies below 30MHz. The existing standards are based on conducted emissions at the connection ports of the apparatus - pressure has been building for many years now to have radiated emission test. This will be an important step forward with so many new devices/ apparatus polluting the HF spectrum. Don’t forget the club 40 metre nets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays commencing at 0930 hrs, on 7.150 Mhz. Please call in and discuss any topic that you wish to bring up. We have many experts on any discussion. Also, the EZBEE net at 0800 am every Saturday morning on 146.775 where we discuss what is happening at the club that day. And for the early risers we can’t forget the Stone the Crows net on 80 metres, 3.588 Mhz at 0600 am 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. 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 always welcome at the club. We have plenty of tea, coffee, long-life milk, a good Canteen and an interesting selection of biscuits.