Westlakes Amateur Radio Club Inc.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

WESTLAKES NEWS BROADCAST FOR 12TH MAY 2013

What happened at your club yesterday. The club was very busy, the QSL HQ team was busily sorting cards, the radio shack was testing out the donated radio that will be put out to tender, in the library were some of the Committee members doing what’s best - having a good old QSO. What were they talking about, well that would be secret mens business. This is the best part of the day and is when the club meat tray raffle is drawn. In the absence of Col ( VK2YP ) A MYSTERY HAND went into the ticket tumbler and written on the ticket was VK2FDNE. Diane would like to thank the owner of the mystery hand for pulling her ticket out. The club has a large selection of Amateur Radio magazines and PC magazines that need new homes. So next time you are down at the club, grab a hand full and take them home. In the kitchen- Chef Michael was cooking the VK2CCW hamburger - ONLY available from the club on Saturdays ( except meetings days ) so why not come to the club for lunch next Saturday. Reminder that the clubs ONLY FIELD DAY has been set down for Sept 15th so gather up anything that you wish to sell and have a stall on the day. Westlakes BBQ and jelly bean guessing competition will once again be in operation. Contact Barrie if you wish to have a stall. Reminder that you must bring your own table to put your goods on. Andrews Communications will be there so start saving your money. Last night was the 80 meter TRANS TASMAN phone contest. I wonder how many members had late nights or just gave numbers out. The club did not take part in this contest due to the lack of radio operators. Maybe next year. Have you enabled your radio with the CTCSS tone for the clubs repeater? The clubs repeater now requires a 95.1 Hertz tone so you can access it. WICEN is please to announce yet another NEW REPEATER. Yes, this time it is a 70 cm repeater and located at Nelson Bay on a high Hill. Some of you may know of the hill as GAN GAN lookout. The frequency is 439.625 MHz with a negative offset and you will need a CTCSS of 123 Htz. So why not program your radio up and see if you can access it. Reports say it can be access from some areas of Maitland and up into the Kuruah area. Reports are needed so a coverage plan can be obtained. Don't forget about the other 2 meter repeater that WICEN has just installed on the Wattagan Ranges. The frequency that you will need is 147.150 MHz and a CTCSS tone of 123 hertz Australian police maps warning. A continuing problem with GPS and online mapping is that motorists are being given a bum steer. This can be by turning on to a freeway that is not yet operational, taking the shortest suggested route only to find you are on a rough steep fire track, scorching desert-like national park, without warning. Now the police at Colac in the southwest of Victoria are warning that motorists using Google Maps are being sent down Wild Dog Road, which was not designed for traffic. Similar things are happening to GPS users throughout the country, as ordinary motorists and professional delivery drivers ditch the old street directory, or ignore directions, and rely on GPS navigation. Australian breakthrough in solar efficiency Scientists at the University of New South Wales can now greatly increase the efficiency of solar panels and cut their manufacturing cost. The improvement is ahead of their time uses hydrogen atoms to counter defects in silicon cells used in solar panels. The development enables poorer quality silicon to act like high quality wafers, and reduces the cost by at least half. Solar panels have fallen in price by about 65 per cent in two years and more than one million Australian homes have them. European producers predict a further 60 per cent fall in price by 2020, and with new technology being developed we can see why. Radio Australia could give Asia a miss Shortwave broadcasts of news, current affairs and information from Australia to China and Asia generally could end. Like a budget-caused recent close down of Radio Netherlands Worldwide, the greater use the mobile phone and the internet is being blamed. The actual Radio Australia audience in China is difficult to know, but the digital revolution has shrunk shortwave audience in Asia. There is no intention to pull the plug on Radio Australia to PNG, Fiji or the Pacific. On the eve of World War II in 1939, the broadcaster was launched by the Prime Minister Robert Menzies who declared that it was time for Australia to speak for itself. ILLW becomes interesting The battle for the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend leadership, held in August, is tied between Australia and Germany with 40 registrations each, out of more than 220 from 30 nations around the world. The USA has 23, England 18, Argentina 12, Ireland and Scotland 9, Canada, Netherlands and Sweden on 8, Portugal and Puerto Rico 4, while Finland, Poland, Northern Ireland and New Zealand each has 3. They are followed by Belgium, Denmark, Cuba, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and Wales on 3, and single entries from Curacao, Chile, France, Honduras, Italy and Spain. With registrations and countries numbers only at about the half-way mark, but ahead of this time last year, things are really starting to heat up. To register a lighthouse, lightship or marine beacon on August the 17th and 18th of August online, visit the dedicated website www.illw.net From Jim Linton VK3PC First SOTA Summit to Summit contact with VK9/NO-001 Norfolk Island. Congratulations to Wayne VK3WAM who gathered his gear together quickly and headed up to a local summit when he heard that the Norfolk Island VK9NT DXpedition had decided to activate the new SOTA summit today (Thursday), earlier than the originally planned Saturday. Wayne has already posted a blog with pictures describing the action here http://waynemerry.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/activation-of-mt-dandenong-first-summit-2-summit-with-norfolk-island/ Once again well done Wayne From Ed VK2JI. WORLD NEWS: New world record with digital modulation A 24 GHz EME world record of a huge 16,383 km has been made between Tasmania and the Czech Republic. Rex Moncur VK7MO, a multifaceted exponent on microwaves, used with a 1.14 metre dish and 10 watts to contact the radio club OK1KIR using its 4.5 metre dish and 22 watts. While Rex VK7MO had planned the contact for a year, the club is making itself well-known through participation in VHF, UHF, SHF contests and EME from 432 MHz up to 24 GHz, plus earlier setting records. For example, on March 13, 2013, the first VK-OK QSO on 24 GHz and a then EME world 24 GHz distance record of 15,931 km was claimed by Alan Devlin VK3XPD. Rex VK7MO tried last month to make contact with OK1KIR, reporting firstly that he was able to receive the station during JT4F tests. OK1KIR reports having then decoded Rex, but then had a sudden transmitter failure preventing a complete QSO. Finally on Tuesday, April 23, a two-way contact was made setting a new world distance. The contact needed a Moon elevation at least about 15 degrees, a clear sky without clouds on both sides, and the result is a really an exciting EME challenge. Rex VK7MO and Joe Taylor K1JT in man behind the software used have long been friends through a bond with weak signal working. The pair will jointly publish the latest achievement in the DUBUS magazine devoted to VHF and Microwave bands. 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 biscui

Saturday, April 27, 2013

WESTLAKES NEWS BROADCAST FOR APRIL 28TH 2013

Good Morning and welcome to this week's local news broadcast. The drawing of this weeks meat tray went ahead at about 2pm and last weeks winner Warren was not at the club to draw this weeks luck winner. However a ticket was drawn and Congratulations to Alex VK2ZM. Enjoy the meat tray Alex.... Quite a good rollup at the club yesterday where we had a visit from Keith VK2BKF who is downsizing and moving away to Dural. As a result, the club was the recipient of some very nice gear donated by Keith. Great to see you again Keith and thank you. Also Geoff VK2GL arrived with the back of his ute filled with large cartons of all radio related magazines that came from the late VK2BSC. There are AR back to 1955, 73 magazine, Amateur Radio Action etc, Some very good articles amongst these so have a look and take what you want. As usual Michael had his famous hamburgers on the menu and they were well received by the hungry mob lined up to put their order in. Thanks Mike. We are looking for a donation of a set of Car Ramps so we can service the Ride On Mower. If anyone has a set they no longer use they would be most appreciated. Next Saturday is the clubs A.G.M. so if you have the time please attend the club for this meeting. This is where members vote for their club President/Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer and their Committee for the next 12 months. The meeting will commence at 1:30 pm in the library. Last Tuesday sometime someone dropped off 3 VERY heavy fire doors at the club. Thank you Denis VK2XDW for your donation. They will make great Trestle tables... Amateur Radio Antennas and Masts in NSW Date : 19 / 04 / 2013 Author : Roger Harrison - VK2ZRH For all New South Wales amateurs waiting to hear what the NSW planning department is doing about amateur radio antennas and masts, I have some news for you. Last week I had a discussion with one of our contacts in NSW Planning & Infrastructure. There’s some good news and some not so good news. The good news is: NSW amateurs will get pretty much what was wanted. That is – antennas and masts up to 10 metres height will be an exempt development within residential zones R1 to R5. There will be no need for a development application to your local council, or a consent certificate, provided the structure meets a few simple parameters – such as complying with Australian Standard AS 1170, footings to comply with Australian Standard AS 3600, the structure positioned at a specified set-back from the nearest boundary depending on its height, and so on. Because it will be a code within a State-wide Environmental Planning Policy, it cannot be overridden by local councils. We will know more about the detail later, and hope there aren’t too many devils in that detail. You will have to be patient for it to become law – that’s the not so good news. I was informed that, in relation to the planning regulations that affect us (and many other stakeholders as well), the legal branch of the department will be submitting the revisions to the parliamentary counsel – the people who actually draft the legislation – by the end of the second quarter this year. That means June. When the parliamentary counsel completes it work, it will be recommended to the NSW Governor, who will make the legislation, which will then be gazetted some time later this year. However, the legislation will not come into effect for another six weeks after that, to allow time for local councils and other organizations to become familiar with it. Maybe, just maybe, amateurs in NSW will have a Christmas present! Our contact in the planning department said that they had enjoyed the input from the "amateur communications lobby". However, he did say that it would not be productive for you all to continue writing. Further letters to the department, the NSW Minister for Planning, or your local member - even just "thank you" letters - would only necessitate them taking time out to write replies, rather than concentrating on the important work of completing the legislation. If you want to write or email your thanks or comments, send them to WIA President Phil Wait VK2ASD. The Institute will, at the appropriate time, convey everyone’s thanks to the planning department and the minister. I must congratulate and thank everyone – individual amateurs and radio clubs alike – who went to the effort of making a submission during all the phases of the NSW Planning System Review over the past 18 months and also writing to your local members last year. All the effort has paid off. I expect that, in a few years, amateur antennas and masts will rise up across metropolitan and regional suburbia like the quills on a feral echidna! Or, to paraphrase a famous misquote: "Let a thousand antenna masts bloom"! The average Australian Internet speed has fallen in 2012 with it now ranked at 41 out of 98 nations, or a third of top ranked South Korea. On average Australia fell 23 per cent while worldwide it rose five per cent in the latest State of the Internet report by Akamai Technologies, a US-based computing firm. Australian’s had an average connection speed of 4.2 megabits per second, compared to the global average of 12.9 megabits per second. The slip in Australia is high given the progress of the National Broadband Network (NBN) that currently promises to delivers 100 megabits per second by 2021. Worldwide Internet subscribers grew 9.8 per cent in the year. WORLD NEWS: Birthday of Samuel Morse. Samuel Morse, who introduced telegraph communications in the United States, was born 222 years ago today on April 27, 1791 in Charlestown, Massachusetts. On 24th of May 1844, he famously sent the message "What hath God wrought" (quoting Numbers 23:23) by telegraph from Washington D.C to Baltimore. Smartphone becomes a two-way radio. Hailed as the first docking device that turns a smartphone into a traditional multiband hand-held radio, has been revealed by Bricom Solutions. Promised to be available in December, the company claims it wants to bring together the best of both worlds in the communication industry. The Alianza DXB by Bricom Solutions is said to allowing users to seamless communicate with other two way radios. The smartphone gives a multiband feature allows seamless interoperability across VHF and UHF bands. It would be targeted at anyone needing to communicate even when no mobile network is present. Well that's all the news I have this week. This is VK2ATZ. Is there anyone with any late news items? 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 for Call backs... Firstly from Mobile or Portable stations ONLY. Now from Base stations to acknowledge they were listening... Finally from anyone with comments to this mornings news... 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.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

WESTLAKES NEWS BROADCAST FOR APRIL 21ST 2013.

At the club yesterday was the annual car boot sale. Not many car boots were open due to the weather which was absolutely terrible. There were about 10 tables selling off various goodies. An estimated 50 - 60 members and visitors were at the club. One visitor was Tim VK4HFO long time friend of Paul VK2HV. On display were brand new screwdriver type HF mobile antennas. Very well constructed and the quality was of a very high standard. Details of the vendor can be obtained from the club secretary if anyone is interested in purchasing one. Michael VK2CCW was busy cooking on the BBQ while Diane VK2FDNE and Penny prepared the salad and bread for the steak and sausage sandwiches. On behalf of the Westlakes Committee we would like to thank everyone who attended and made the day a great success. The weeks lucky meat tray winner was Warren VK2UWP. Yes, you can smile Warren as it is a great prize to take home. Enjoy the meat tray. Also sold out was the clubs Rickety Kate tickets. 1st prize went to Richard VK2FRKO, 2nd prize went to Joe VK2JHB and 3rd prize went to Karen VK2NYL. Congratulations winners and thanks to all members and visitors who bought numbers in the Rickety Kate. Thanks must go to Garry VK2DBI who sold all the tickets. A message from our friends THE A.C.M.A. ACMA advised on Friday that the Licence fee has increased to $73.00 effective immediately. A new 2 metre repeater came on air during the week. It is VK2RWH located on the Sugarloaf Range, west of Newcastle. The frequency is 147.150 MHz with a 600 positive offset. Please note that to access this repeater a CTCSS tone of 123HZ is required. The repeater is operated by WICEN NSW. This item was supplied by Dennis VK2XDW. The ILLW reaches a milestone. The honour of being the 200th registration in the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend in August, goes to the Whitby High Light GB2WHL in England. The special event station GB2WHL, by the Denby Dale Radio Club, is on the North Yorkshire coast near the historic fishing town of Whitby - well known as the place Captain James Cook became a seaman before leading his epic voyages of discovery. Built in 1858 it helped ships avoid the Whitby Rock, close to the harbour entrance. The lighthouse, now on private grounds, is reached with its owner's permission via narrow roads. A special QSL card is available on request. So far there are registrations from 29 countries. To read the guidelines for the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend on August the 17th and 18th or to register online a lighthouse, lightship or maritime beacon, visit the website at illw.net That Item From Jim Linton VK3PC HF radio call gets accident scene help. Recently a mobile radio amateur was in an emergency communications exercise deep in a remote Victorian forest. The drama unfolded as Terry Murphy VK3UP and several others were on a day outing to Mount Disappointment, an hour north of Melbourne. They were accompanied by a crew from 4WD TV, the program with around half a million loyal weekly viewers across Australia and New Zealand. The TV crew was interviewing the vehicle owners when a trail biker arrived to announce that his mate had come off his bike, injured himself and was bleeding profusely. Terry VK3UP drove 7 km down to the accident site where he and a mate performed first aid. There was no mobile phone coverage at the accident scene so Terry set up his mobile transceiver on 40m. He contacted Andrew Davis VK2UH of Yass, New South Wales, who made the phone call to emergency services. Paramedics were transported by Terry VK3UP in his 4WD vehicle. Hours after the accident, the patient was taken to hospital. It will be some time before he can start his new job as a plasterer. AX prefix available on ANZAC Day. The Australian Communications and Media Authority allows radio amateurs to substitute their normal VK callsign prefix with the letters AX every ANZAC Day April 25. Those radio amateurs using AX are strongly encouraged to have a QSL card under their alternate callsign. To help commemorate ANZAC Day, the use of CW and AM is used to keep alive those modes used during World War 1 and 11, the Korean, Malaysian and even in early Vietnam conflicts. The Port Stephens A.R.C. will be once again be operating out of Fort Scratchley next Thursday (ANZAC DAY )from around 1200 onwards until about 3 pm. Give them a call either on 40 or 20 meters. Everyone is welcome to come along. WORLD NEWS: GPS jammers used by taxi drivers. To track of the modern taxi by finding the closest one vacant to a job and for security reasons, cabs are fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. The supply and use of a GPS jamming device has been outlawed in Australia since 2004. Certain intelligence received by the ACMA indicated the illegal devices may be in use by some drivers to block signals. An initial investigation was held in Melbourne. Then in a joint initative called Operation Signal, the ACMA joined with the Victorian Taxi Directorate at the Melbourne Airport taxi holding yard to re-educate drivers about the unlawfulness of GPS jammers. ACMA field staff were armed with fact sheets and a spectrum analyser, where they spoke to drivers. The information given out was well received, with drivers engaging in conversation and asking questions. The operation was a success and hundreds of taxi drivers should now know that GPS jammers are prohibited. Google makes a bold prediction. Everyone will be online by the year 2020, according to search engine Google that has 2 million connected to the Internet and other 5 billion in the next decade. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt reveals that for every person on the net there are two without it. The International Telecommunication Union figures had about 38 per cent of the world's population is using the Internet in some way. Google supports a not-for-profit group Geeks Without Frontiers, that donates computers and related wireless access technology to poor areas. Its currently helping to bring WiFi access to parts of Mexico, Central America and Africa. Google rarely makes predictions that they know won't come true. Time will tell whether it is wrong in 2020. Well that's all the news we 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.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

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

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

WESTLAKES BROADCAST FOR SUNDAY 30TH DECEMBER 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 off with the meat tray winner. Les VK2RJ was summoned to dig deep into the ticket tumbler and select a winning ticket. Another regular winner this time - Alex VK2ZM. It was smiles all around from Alex. Congratulations Alex no more meat trays for you this year and enjoy the meat tray. The activity room busy again with Norm assisting Richard finish off his 40 QRP before the end of the year. On went the soldering iron and a few components changed and finally a sound came from the speaker. It was Dave VK2RD calling from the radio room calling CQ. Yes, the radio was spot on frequency. With limited test gear, a frequency meter and a multimeter Norm VK2KNC pressed on and tuned the set up with some help from Herb VK2ZVF. Then it was off to the radio room to do some further testing and repairs. Finally the microphone produced a sound. This is VK2CW testing. Yep the microphone went dead. What did you do Greg? After some modifying to the microphone we had voices on the other end. A big thank you to Norm, who can say that he built 2 kits. Richard has tested the radio at home and made 2 contacts- one to John VK2PBC in Tea Gardens and another to Peter VK2GFE at Stuartsville. A 5/9 signal was received by Peter and John. The set just needs a few more adjustments and then watch out guys the QRP contest will commence. Just to top it off Richard made a contact with UT3XX Roman who gave me a 5/1 - 5/2. Roman also had a homebrew set but was running 2 KW into a 2 element quad. Michael was busy in the canteen cooking up hamburgers- what else would Ham operators eat. They were absolutely delicious Michael. Job well done. Higher power trial. The WIA lobbied the ACMA earlier this year for a high power trial up to one-kilowatt with 230 holders of the Advance Licences having paid the fee to take part. The 18-month trial began in March 2012 and is due to end next August, allows the ACMA and the WIA to evaluate any impacts before considering a long term arrangement. It confines the use of higher power to approved notice of licence variation applicants on the 80m band including the DX window, 7000 to 7100 kHz, and the entire 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m bands. Some radio amateurs located in defined areas were excluded at the time as they were being used on a trial basis by other sensitive radio communication technologies. The ACMA has previously balked at suggestions that higher power be permitted on the grounds of the interference potential. However a lifting from 500w to 1,000w for radio amateurs in New Zealand saw the matter being revisited by the ACMA. Successful applicants may be required by the ACMA to demonstrate compliance with the relevant exposure to radiation standard, and this is expected to happen in February. Just a reminder that club membership fees are now due. Please send your payments either to the club P O Box c/- of the secretary or bring them to the club in person on Saturdays. Not a member of Westlakes A.R.C. now is the time to join. Our next club meeting will be in February on the 2nd 2013 commencing at 1:30 pm. Everyone welcome. The clubs next public activity will be Australia Day at Spears Point Park on the 26th January 2013. Everyone is welcome - just bring your chairs with you and anything that you want to eat. Be there around 0845am. Activation of Mawson in Antarctica. Leaving soon on board the ice breaker Aurora Australis for the Australian Antarctic Territory station at Mawson is Craig Hayhow VK6JJJ, who will become VK0JJJ. He lands on February the 10th, planning to soon after install the 6m beacon VK0RTM and test the propagation on that band. The main HF rig is a FlexRadio Flex-5000A coupled to an amplifier and feeding a terminated sloping triangle antenna. On 6m it will be at 400 watts from Mawson thanks to a power amplifier from Steve Gregory VK3ZAZ, who is also the QSL manager, and radiated by a 5-element yagi. The amateur satellites on 2m and 70cm are to be accessed using a crossed duo-bander. During the next 12 months Craig VK0JJJ is in Antarctica to work and amateur radio is his leisure time activity. New MF band. Following the World Radio Conference in 2012, the frequency band 472 kHz to 479 kHz (630 Metres) will formally be available to radio amateurs in many countries from January 1, 2013. The latest announcement comes from the Australian Communications and Media Authority that Advanced Licence holders generally get access to the band on a secondary basis. As a result of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) at WRC12, the radiated power by amateur service stations is 1w pX EIRP, however due to their distance from some countries administrations including Australian, can use up to 5w pX EIRP with a maximum bandwidth of 2.1 kHz. Although available on a secondary basis to radio amateurs in all ITU regions, as a compromise many countries are not going to allow any amateur service access to the band. Within Australia there are exclusion zones at the Exmouth and Timor regions, where amateur radio use is not permitted due to the existence of aeronautical non-directional beacons used for local navigation at airports. The ITU case included that ground wave propagation in the under-used spectrum results in reliable communication over medium and large ranges, and is not dependent upon the ionosphere. It makes an ideal spot for radio amateurs to study anomalous propagation. The new medium frequency allocation takes formal effect in Australia on January 1, 2013, although several countries have already allocated it domestically. As a prelude to a secondary allocation at WRC12, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand, United Kingdom plus parts of Europe, the USA and some others allowed temporary use or experimental operations on nearby frequencies. WRC12 also re-allocated the original 500 kHz frequency, at the bottom edge of the AM broadcasting band which used previously as an international CW distress frequency, back to exclusive maritime mobile use for new navigation systems. Asia-Pacific gets Chinese GPS alternative. China has launched its own satellite called BeiDou (Big Dipper constellation in Chinese) to challenge the predominate Global Position System (GPS) that comes from the USA. The nation has come a long way since its first satellite was launched in 2000 and three years later was trialled for traffic control, weather forecasting and disaster relief work. The new system is to give initially an alternative to the Asia Pacific region which includes Australia, and the multi-million dollar project will service a global audience with its navigation, positioning, timing and other services by 2020. BeiDou does have some teething problems and currently less accurate, with GPS having 30 satellites orbiting earth compared to BeiDou with 15 at a moment and more after 2014. It was a challenger to GPS amid Chinese fears of a withdrawal of the valuable guidance and positioning system, particularly for its military during a conflict. This was China’s latest venture into space, hoping to build its own space station and land on the moon by the end of the decade. The GPS highly used worldwide and time will tell whether the Chinese home-grown product can gain much of the market outside its own country.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Broadcast News for December 16th 2012.

Yesterday was Westlakes A.R.C.'s Christmas Frolic at the club and around 40 members including their wives were in attendance. The BBQ was fired up around 1100 by Michael vk2ccw who did an excellent job feeding everyone. Thanks Michael, will you be free again next year to cook. Various members were there taking pictures with their cameras and tablets so we should be getting some great pics for the club magazine. Life Member Peter Sturt ( VK2ZTV ) and his wife were also there. After lunch the darts competition commenced with everyone having 2 goes to obtain the highest score in total. There were some pretty shocking shooters I tell you. The winning Female was Sonya and the winning male was Alley VK2AFZ. Congratulations to the both of you. Now Greg VK2CW was going around trying to flog off tickets for someone to win a ham. After Greg has sold as many tickets as he could a draw took place. The winning ticket was none other than Steve VK2LW. Looks like everyone missed out again. Now the regen receiver was judged by Peter VK2ZTV after checking the receivers out carefully, testing to see if they all worked etc etc a decision was made. The 1st place went to David Lawerence VK2PIRATE, 2nd place went to Ken VK2KJ, and 3rd place went to Greg VK2CW. A 4th prize went to Geoff VK2GL in the category of Honary winner ??? Congratulations everyone for taking the time to build this great receiver. Garry VK2DBI was out there also selling Rickety Kate tickets for a chance for someone to win some money. When all tickets were sold the draw for 3 winners took place. 3rd place went to Karen VK2NYL, ( this prize was a bit dodgy ) but Garry won 2nd prize and 1st prize went to Herb. Congratulations winners. A great day was had by all and thanks to the organisers as this was a great day. Wonder what we will do next year. Just a reminder that club membership fees are now due. Please send your payments either to the club P O Box c/- of the secretary or bring them to the club in person on Saturdays. Not a member of Westlakes A.R.C. now is the time to join. Our next club meeting will be in February on the 2nd 2013. Everyone welcome. The clubs next project is the 40 metre QRP set made by OZQRP. Norm VK2KNC has already completed his kit and it works fantastic. 3 kits have been ordered by other members of the club. Now wait for the 40 meter QRP westlakes contest. VK NEWS: A slim key for pedestrian mobile CW. Operating CW when pedestrian mobile can be tricky so Peter Parker VK3YE devised this portable Morse key. A super slim key for pedestrian mobile CW. Also great for portable use as it's so cheap to make. Parts needed are as follows: * thin strip of PC board material * momentary pushbutton normally open switch * lead to plug * plug to suit transceiver I'll mention something you should definitely avoid doing and demonstrate the key in use making HF pedestrian mobile contacts. Watch the Youtube video by Peter Paker VK2YE. WORLD NEWS: Barcode inventor dies. The co-creator of the ubiquitous barcode, Norman Joseph Woodland, has died aged 91. He and a classmate Bernard Silver created a thin and thick line system in the 1940s. The only code Woodland knew was the Morse code learnt from the Boy Scouts. One day he drew Morse code dots and dashes as he sat on a sandy beach and traced a series of parallel lines. Woodland and Silver submitted their patent in 1949 for a code patterned on concentric circles. The idea was patented. When the patent expired in the 1960s, IBM where Woodland was working, tweaked the design into the one we recognise today. He joined IBM in 1951 wanting to develop the barcode, but it was not for two decades when lasers made it possible to read the code readily. Then IBM developed a bar-code-reading laser scanner system in response to a demand from grocers wanting to automate and cut costs. IBM promoted a rectangular barcode that led to a standard for universal product code technology. The first item scanned was a packet of chewing gum in an Ohio supermarket in 1974. It is now on millions of everyday devices worldwide. Woodland and Silver were both last year inducted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame. Bernard Silver died in 1963. End of the portable cassette player. The consumer electronics giant Sony has announced that after 33-years it will next month stop making the iconic tape cassette player. However it will continue to sell blank cassettes, tape decks, and boom boxes with cassette support for the foreseeable future. Sony sold its first cassette tapes in 1966 along with its first cassette tape recorder. Consumers caught on to the new medium, particularly those bent on live recording with a device that has a high audio quality. The popularity of the cassette began to fall off in the 1980s with the arrival of the CDs, MiniDisc, and MP3 players giving bigger storage, faster and improved recordings. Sony is also discontinuing its Walkman DVD players due to low sales, with consumers turning to smartphones, tablets, and MP3 players for of digital music. The play-only Sony Walkman had its day but it was now time for it to retire as newer technology has taken over. ZL9HR delights DX chasing radio amateurs. The Hellenic Amateur Radio Association of Australia scored 42,922 contacts during its recent two week DXpedition to Campbell Island. After a delay at sea reaching their destination, ZL9HR with its ten operators activated the remote, uninhabited, subantarctic island of New Zealand on all bands from 160m through to 10m. In the period from 0425z on December 1 through to the last on December 12 at 1604z the team contacted 15,487 unique callsigns. On the popular 20m band were 13,899 QSOs. Breaking that down we find in CW it had 7,530 contacts working 118 DX entities, while for SSB it had fever contacts at 5,821 but more countries on 123. A ClubLog may be found at: http://www.campbell2012.com/index.php/log 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. 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 always welcome at the club. We have plenty of tea, coffee, long-life milk, and an interesting selection of biscuits.