CCARC NEWS 12-18

Posted on 13/05/2012 by news-editor

CCARC NEWS 12-18

 THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ISSUE No 12-18   13th. May 2012

In this Issue:

  1. World Telecommunications Day – AX prefix can be used.
  2. Lecture Night this coming Friday – Yagi antenna design from Victor VK2BTV.
  3. Learn about the club’s new linear amplifier.

1. World Telecommunications Day – AX prefix can be used.

It’s not long since ANZAC day but we’re already at the next opportunity to change our call signs from VK to AX for the day. The next opportunity will be Australia Day 2013, so why not go on the air using your AX call sign this coming Thursday? No special application to the ACMA is required, they have authorised this change for those who wish to, on three days each year – Australia, ANZAC and World Telecommunications day. Simply change the VK in your callsign to AX, for example VK2ARE becomes AX2ARE.

2. Lecture Night – Friday – Yagi antenna design from Victor VK2BTV.

Following Victor’s coverage area check for the VK2RTG repeater last weekend, several members are considering building 70cm antennas to be able to receive the regular test transmissions on Monday and Tuesday evenings (from 19:30), so it is advantageous that Victor, VK2BTV was already booked in by Karen, VK2AKB (CCARC Lecture coordinator) to give the club a lecture on Yagi Antenna design, this coming Friday (18th. May). Come early to get a good parking and seating spot, this lecture promises to be well attended.

3. Learn how to operate the clubs new kilowatt linear amplifier.

The clubs linear amplifier may only be operated by those who have undergone training on the correct way to tune it. This is essential if this expensive piece of equipment is not to be damaged. So please contact Chris VK2YY, Jim VK2LC or myself Ed VK2ARE to take the 5 minute training session. Reminder instructions are on the wall above the HF station operating position for use after the training.

Please also note that those without an Advanced licence can only operate the station at the increased power with a club member holding an Advanced call sign in direct attendance, with the station legally operating under their control and responsibility.

CCARC online links

Upcoming events of interest to the CCARC

For what’s coming up in the next few months at the CCARC, please check the club calendar.

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CCARC NEWS EDITION 12-17

Posted on 05/05/2012 by news-editor

CCARC NEWS 12-17

 THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ISSUE No 12-17   5th. May 2012

In this Issue:

  1. The air is full of  RF on the Central Coast this weekend.
  2. Change of night for Project Group meeting.
  3. Learn all about Yagi antennas.

1. The air is full of RF on the Central Coast this weekend.

ATV coverage tests

  Victor VK2BTV is conducting mobile reception tests of the VK2RTG ATV repeater at Kariong this weekend. He has covered the North Wyong area today (Saturday) and moves to the South of the Central Coast tomorrow (Sunday), starting at Woy Woy and then heading North. He is equipped with a simple TV antenna and a 4m mast that he will set up at various points on his journey to measure how well transmissions from the (currently analogue) ATV repeater can be received. If you wish to contact Victor during his tests, his call back frequency is 147.450 FM simplex. Why not give Victor a call when he’s in your area to ask him to check your site (and I’m sure a warm drink and a piece of cake would go down well as well!).

VK2AFY 1KW PEP

The clubs new ACOM 1000A Linear Amp has arrived and has been “warming up the ether” today (Saturday 5th. May). The linear combined with the tri-bander beam at its increased height has been putting out one of the strongest signals in NSW on 10 metres and thumping it out as well with the OCF dipole on the lower bands. This is a high quality piece of equipment that must be tuned correctly not only to produce the cleanest, strongest signal but also to protect the equipment from damage. Jim VK2LC was giving training to those members present today. Please remember the 1KW PEP output power can only be used on the bands and in one case part of a band, specified by the ACMA in their test conditions. An Advanced licensee must at all times be in control of the station. That does not mean however that Standard and Foundation members cannot operate the linear under supervision from an Advanced call holder. This is another improvement to the clubs radio shack equipment following the addition of the Kenwood TS-590S last year and the ICOM IC-910H VHF/UHF “super-rig” last month.

2. Change of night for Project Group meeting.

It has been decided to move the project group meeting from the current Tuesday evening slot to Friday evenings in between the standard business and lecture evenings. This will mean that the club rooms will be open every Friday evening and every Saturday from now on. This change has been made as currently there is limited activity from the project group, with a couple still finishing off their Genesis SDRs and no new projects started as yet. If project activity increases the meeting can move back to Tuesday or indeed have the Tuesday night as well as the interspersed Friday night meetings.

To be clear, the next Project Group meeting will be next Friday the 11th. of May from 19:30 at the club rooms. There will be no project Group meeting this Tuesday, the 8th. of May.

3. Learn all about Yagi antennas.

Victor features again in this edition of CCARC NEWS as he is giving the lecture this month on the design of Yagi antennas. The lecture will be as usual on the third Friday of the month – hence 18th. May at the club rooms at Kariong starting at 19:30. This promises to be an interesting lecture with lots of questions answered, so come along early to get a good seat.

 

CCARC online links

Upcoming events of interest to the CCARC

For what’s coming up in the next few months at the CCARC, please check the club calendar, accessible from the header on any page on the website

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CCARC NEWS Edition 12-16

Posted on 28/04/2012 by news-editor

CCARC NEWS 12-16

 THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ISSUE No 12-16   28th. April 2012

In this Issue:

  1. Sale items from Dave VK2JDH
  2. CCARC Interactive – Please submit your topics for Wednesday night discussions
  3. Reminder: Use of club call sign and logging requirements.
  4. Email addresses on web pages.
  5. Club QSL cards sought.
  6. CCARC business meeting this coming Friday 4th. May.

1. Sale items from Dave VK2JDH

From Dave VK2JDH:

Shack clearout
I’m moving so selling some of the stuff I am not taking with me or prefer not to ship. Pickup is from Narara. Can demonstrate working at pickup time. Photos available for some of the gear. Email vk2jdh @ hotmail.com (without spaces) for more info.

ICOM IC 701 , Hand Mike, PS701  Power supply,  RC3 Remote control. User Manual, Service Manual.  Has the usual 701 issues , Band change sometimes sticks and need the occasional contact cleaner, Up to a couple of hundred Hz off frequency on LSB ( or could be USB can’t remember, not fixable as a previous owner waxed the crystal oscillator slugs ). $200

Kenwood MC 85 desk mike $70

Kenwood TH-D7A Dual band APRS hand held with BC-19 drop in charger with 12V lead (no plugpack) 1 PB39 NiMh battery Good, 1 NiCad needs repacking, User manual (original) Service Manual. $350

Phillips FM 900 2M Remote head , has Gosford , Newcastle and  Sydney Repeater and simplex frequencies. $50

Phillips FM91 70cm local head 10 Channels has Gosford , Newcastle and  Sydney Repeater and simplex frequencies. $50

Tokyo HL-30U 25W  70cm power amp with preamp , original box, manual Mounting bracket. $100.

Tokyo HL-160V 160W 2M power amp with pre-amp $220

Jumbo HP-45U 70cm power amp 40W or so. $60

2. CCARC Interactive – Topics for this Wednesday’s net

As stated in the last CCARC NEWS John  VK2FJKH is happy to set a discussion topic in the weekly CCARC Wednesday night nets. Do you have a topic that you’d like to discuss with fellow amateurs on the club net? Well, here’s your chance to set up one of the topics for discussion for the Wednesday  club net on May 2nd. (or later ones) Send your suggestions to  netmaster  @ ccarc.org.au (without the spaces).  This is also the email address that will be monitored during the Net, starting at 8pm on the clubs 2m repeater, VK2RAG on 146.725MHz. So for those only listening, this is a way to give some feedback, or corrections to what is being said!

Emails are especially welcome from SWLs or those without equipment to transmit, any one that can receive and is interested in Amateur Radio on the Central Coast of NSW, is very welcome to send your suggestions in and if suitable to go on air they will be brought up for discussion.

3. Reminder – use of club call sign and logging requirements.

One difference between a club licence and an individuals licence is that every contact made when using a club call sign MUST be logged, irrespective of band or power. EVERY transmission has to be entered in the log and made available to the ACMA inspectors upon request.

This applies to all three of the club call signs VK2AFY, VK2EH & VK2WFD. Log books for each of these call signs are available in the shack at Kariong.

4. Email addresses on webpages

I have had a query, why I don’t simply write email addresses as they should be rather than typing “dot” where a “.” belongs or “at” in place of “@”. I do this to protect the email owners. Unfortunately there are software “robot” programs on the Internet that scan for email addresses which then can be used  to either send spam emails from or to. In either case it causes grief for the email address owner. In this edition I have changed my method to simply adding a space before and after the “@” which is a little easier on the eye and has the same effect of not providing a valid email address to the Internet robot program.

5. CCARC QSL cards.

As those of you looking at the website may have noticed, Greg VK2NGE, our webmaster has installed a very nice feature at the top right of the webpage, displaying QSL cards from stations that we have worked. I am now looking for more of the QSL cards received by any of the club stations, to scan in and add to the website. Do any of the members please know where these are. I am not referring to the collections kindly donated to the club by some members (some now SK), rather the one received for contacts with VK2AFY, VK2EH or VK2WFD.

  6. Club business meeting next Friday 4th. May at the club rooms.

Please don’t forget, it’s time for the next business meeting this coming Friday at 7:30pm at the club rooms in Kariong. Guests as always, are very welcome.

CCARC online links

Upcoming events of interest to the CCARC

For what’s coming up in the next few months at the CCARC, please check the club calendar, accessible from the header on any page on the website

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CCARC NEWS Edition 12-15

Posted on 21/04/2012 by news-editor

CCARC NEWS 12-15

 THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ISSUE No 12-15   21st. April 2012

In this Issue:

  1. 6m Midland 91.5Hz mod
  2. CCARC Interactive – Topics for Wednesday night discussions
  3. Reminder: Use of AX call sign on Anzac day.

1. 6m Midland 91.5Hz CTCSS modification

Can those club members who are currently modifying the Midland transceivers for use with the new VK2RAG 6m repeater please contact Don, VK2ZCZ for details on how to obtain an updated Z-273 EPROM module to allow the rigs to run with the 91.5Hz CTCSS tone required for the repeater. Don has created ten of the EPROMs and is willing to help you install the new chip by using swop over units at the club either on a Saturday or Tuesday evening meeting.

Please contact Don as soon as possible if you require one (or more) of these updated EPROMs.

2. CCARC Interactive – Topics for Wednesday’s nets

Do you have a topic that you’d like to discuss with fellow amateurs on the club net? Well, here’s your chance to set up one of the topics for discussion for the Wednesday  club net on May 2nd. Send your suggestions to  netmaster at ccarc dot org dot au.  This is also the email address that will be monitored during the Net on May 2nd, starting at 8pm on the clubs 2m repeater, VK2RAG on 146.725MHz. So for those only listening, this is a way to give some feedback, or corrections to what is being said!

Give it a try, let’s see how this goes! Emails are especially welcome from SWLs or those without equipment to transmit, any one that can receive and is interested in Amateur Radio on the Central Coast of NSW, is very welcome to send your suggestions in and if suitable to go on air they will be brought up for discussion.

3. Reminder – use of AX call sign prefix this coming Wednesday 25th. April.

ANZAC day is one of three occasions in the year (World Telecommunications Day and Australia Day being the other two) where all Australian Radio Amateurs are allowed to change the start of their call sign from VK to AX. So for example VK2ARE can become AX2ARE for the day. This is an optional change, you don’t have to change your call sign for the day.

 

CCARC online links

Upcoming events of interest to the CCARC

For what’s coming up in the next few months at the CCARC, please check the club calendar, accessible from the header on any page on the website

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CCARC NEWS Issue 12-14

Posted on 15/04/2012 by news-editor

CCARC NEWS 12-14

 THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ISSUE No 12-14   15th. April 2012

In this Issue:

  1. QRP contest report.
  2. Wednesday meetings – Winter Schedule.
  3. New web section – upcoming events.
  4. Use of AX call sign on Anzac day.

1. QRP “hours” contest 14th. April – report.

So how many members took part? I didn’t manage to work any CCARC club members but this may be due to propagation, which was quite variable. If you did take part and are emailing your entry in, please copy me (Ed VK2ARE – news-editor at ccarc.org.au) on your entry, so that I can include you in the club table. Even if you only had a few contacts (like me) please send your entry in, in any case.

Here is my entry report:

Hi Mike,

Thanks for organising the contest. This was my first attempt in a QRP contest and even though I did not work many stations, it showed me that I need to look at the receive side, to see what I can improve.

The set-up here is a Kenwood TS-2000 set back to 5W output, to a trapped wire dipole covering 80/40/20 & 15m at 1.5m above the house roof, so about 7m AGL, which will be about 8m ASL.

I was using an RF-Clipper speech processor from DF4ZS but I’m not sure if it helped my audio readability or not. I need to do more tests. The other thing I need to do is connect the antenna cable directly to the TS-2000 in any future QRP contests as at present it goes through an antenna switch, a power meter and then through a small linear amp (turned off of course) before it gets to the rig, all of these connectors will lose a little signal along the way.

I’m happy to have worked QRP stations in VK1 and VK4 but of course distance doesn’t matter in this contest as its one point per contact. You may want to consider changing that rule as at the moment those living in heavily populated areas have a distinct advantage. All in all however it was a fun contest and I even managed to have three “pile-ups” with multiple people calling me. Conditions seemed very variable almost from minute to minute! A station that was very weak when they called me suddenly came up two S-points and unfortunately the opposite happened on a couple of occasions as well, meaning I missed a couple of possible contacts.

OK, so here’s my short log of contacts,

Section: SSB.
Station name: VK2ARE – Ed Durrant.
Location information – Woy Woy on the Central Coast QF56PL
Start UTC     End UTC       all sign    Report Sent    Report received
11:01            11:03            VK1MDP        55001                59001
11:04            11:05            VK2ACD        56002                59001
11:05            11:06            VK2IG            56003                56001
11:11            11:12            VK2UH          57004                57003
11:35            11:36            VK2ASU        59005                59011
11:40            11:42            VK4ZW         56006                54005
11:43            11:45            VK2IR           59007                59002
11:50            11:51            VK2AAV      59008                59004

Total points  8.

–
73 Ed VK2ARE

2. Wednesday social meetings during the winter months.

Bob VK2PEP wishes to inform all members that during the winter months (April – September), he will only be opening up the club rooms on the first Wednesday of the month, not every second week as has been the case up until now. As always check the club calendar on this website (http://www.ccarc.org.au/wp/calendar/ or via the link at the top of all club website pages) for the most up to date information on club events.

3. New section on website – upcoming events.

To make it easier to see upcoming events that are of interest to the club members, I have created a new post on the website that I will update as time goes by. I will mention items such as this editions item number 4 below which will also be in the list however for an overview it’s going to be easiest to go to the list. The list will contain events that may be of interest to club members, not just what is in the club calendar.

To check the list, click the following link to go to the post: http://www.ccarc.org.au/wp/?p=43706

4. Use of AX prefix on ANZAC day – April 25th.

ANZAC day is one of three occasions in the year (World Telecommunications Day and Australia Day being the other two) where all Australian Radio Amateurs are allowed to change the start of their call sign from VK to AX. So for example VK2ARE can become AX2ARE for the day. This is an optional change, you don’t have to change your call sign for the day.

CCARC online links:

http://www.ccarc.org.au/wp/?p=43682

For what’s coming up in the next few months at the CCARC, please check the club calendar, accessible from the header on any page on the website.

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