CCARC NEWS 12-38

CCARC Club News 27/10/2012 | 0

CCARC NEWS 12-38

THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ISSUE No 12-38 28th. October 2012

STOP PRESS

The following information just came in from Doug VK2MDC.

New IRLP node active on the Central Coast – especially useful for those on the Woy Woy Peninsula area:

IRLP node number 6217
RF freq 145.100 with 91.5 Hz CTCSS tone

Reception/operation reports to Doug vk2mdc please.

Remember this is not a repeater, rather a gateway into and out of the IRLP network on the Internet (you wont get a repeater “tail” – you will hear when you connect to or disconnect from a node).

ALSO: Please don’t forget next Saturday (3rd. November) is the next Business meeting starting at 1pm.

“now back to our normal program ….”

In this Issue:

New call signs soon to hit the air on the central coast.
VK2AFY – CQWW SSB contest.
Projects & Development “Show & Tell” meeting.
NSW planning investigation results – BAD – time for more action.
Next club open day.
New club transceiver for portable HF events.

1. New call signs soon to hit the air on the Central Coast.

If you are listening on the bands (HF or VHF) you should soon hear some new call signs on the bands. The ACMA have issued the following new Standard calls to some of our members;

VK2LAX – Rod (ex VK2FVRJ)

VK2PAM – Andrew (ex VK2FHSV)

VK2PPM – Peter (Andrew’s dad – who has jumped straight into the hobby at the Standard level – well done Peter!).

In addition to these Standard call signs, two local amateurs have managed to snatch some of the elusive 2 letter VK2 Advanced Call Signs – these are still awaiting the ACMA to process the changes;

Carlos (VK2KTS) has managed to get VK2TY

and

– yours truly – Ed (VK2ARE) has managed to get VK2JI

so you hear a voice you know, but the call sign doesn’t seem right – one of these could be the reason.

Ed VK2ARE.

2. VK2AFY – CQWW SSB contest.

Karen VK2AKB operating VK2AFY

This Saturday afternoon and early evening we ran up the clubs big station again, this time to make an impact in the CQWW SSB contest. We only ran for about 5 hours but made over 10,000 points. Strangely with this score we won’t come high in the results but we will have the club name and call sign in the tables and the operators, Karen VK2AKB, Peter VK2EHQ, Geoff VK2ZC and myself, have gained some more good contest experience.

The new carpet did help on the acoustics making a much easier task to hear those weak stations calling but the use of headphones improved this even further, allowing operation even when some other people were in the room.

If you missed this opportunity – the next contest will be a portable VHF / UHF one on 24/25th. November.

Ed VK2ARE.

3. Projects & Development “Show & Tell” meeting.

The next projects evening, being the first of the month on the 2nd. of November from 7:30pm will take the format of a display of projects completed or in progress along with some planning for the projects to be started in the next month. As mentioned before if YOU have a project that you have started and it has stumped you or if you have some faulty equipment that you can’t repair, this can be scheduled in to be looked at, to see if any of the experts in the group can help you to get the unit going.

So this is a good meeting to come along to to start to get involved in the projects and development group.

Slated to appear are:

40m QRP SSB transciever (completed).
80m QRP DSB transciever (WIP).
20m QRP SSB transciever (completed) – with digital interface from smart phone.
Switchable 1:1 / 4:1 antenna balun (completed).
Valve Linear amplifier and power supply (completed).

Supporting acts – your projects, completed or not.

Ed VK2ARE.

4. NSW planning investigation results – BAD – time for more action.

As you will hear on the WIA news, the consultations have completed and the revised documents are available to be viewed – here: NSW-Planning-website-page.

There is NO mention what so ever about any clarification as to regulations on masts and towers. Many have asked that Amateur Radio antennas and support structures be exempt – that has not happened, neither is there any standard rules for all councils, so we will continue with different rules from different councils unless we do something about it.

ALL NSW Radio Amateurs should send in their response to this inaction to codes @ planning.nsw.gov.au BEFORE 9th. of November 2012 – how about NOW ? Remember every extra email they receive has the chance of getting this situation resolved. You may use the guidance on the WIA website or not – the key is the volume of emails stating the NSW planning department need to do something!

Ed VK2ARE.

5. Next club open day

As the coming Wednesday is still just in the month of October the next club open day will be the following Wednesday (7th. November) as usual from 10:30am into the afternoon. Come up and operate the club station, give the rooms a spring clean or simply come up for a good chat.

6. New club transceiver for portable HF events.

The CCARC has taken delivery of a brand new ICOM IC-7200 ruggedised HF/6m transceiver this Saturday from Les at ATRC. This purchase was authorised a couple of months ago following problems with equipment used at the ILLW event. it was felt that more modern equipment should be available for events where we hope to attract new members and relying upon club members to provide equipment for these events was unfair on the members especially should any damage to the equipment occur.

Ed VK2ARE.