CCARC NEWS 12-47

CCARC Club News 30/12/2012 | 0

CCARC NEWS 12-47

THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ISSUE No 12-47 30th. December 2012

In this Issue:

Projects Group – Show & Tell meeting 4th. Jan.
First club rooms open day of 2013 – 2nd. Jan.
Looking backwards, looking forwards.
Central Coast award closed.
Broke and fixed.

1. Projects Group – Show & Tell meeting 4th. Jan.

Next Friday (4th. January) being the first project & development meeting of the month, will again be a catch up on how current projects have gone. It’ll be good to compare the frequency counters to see any differences between them. With the frequency counter kits finished, it’s also time to chose the next project for the group to take on. A lot of talk has been around antennas but if you want to give your input, you’ll need to be at the meeting so that the suggestion can be discussed. As an extra addition to the show and tell, Graham, VK2FDWC will be bringing along his self made speaker cabinet and I’ll be giving a very short presentation on a different way to use the Rigexpert AA-30 Antenna Analyser, not just to check whether an antenna is at resonance.

Ed VK2JI.

2. First club rooms open day of 2013 – 2nd. Jan.

This coming Wednesday, the 2nd. of January 2013 sees the club rooms open from about 10:30 for all members who wish to meet and take advantage of the facilities.

Reminder: There is no business meeting in January, the next business meeting will be on February 2nd.

Ed VK2JI.

3. Looking backwards, looking forwards.

2012 has seen quite a few actions at the club. Whether it be construction or renovation of the Somersby and Kariong locations, the addition of various up to date repeater and radio gear or taking part actively in events. Sadly we have lost some members due to them going SK or for other reasons but we have also gained some new and returning members. The projects group is going from strength to strength with several construction projects finished and demonstrated. The club is getting better known to the wider AR community through pieces in the WIA and ARNSW news channels, more use of our web site as well as participation in contests and other on-air events.

Several actions are already being planned for 2013, the major one being our Field Day in Wyong in February, this year joined by a mini contest university the day before. We plan to take part in VHF-UHF and HF contests as well as the Lighthouse weekend and of course JOTA. Further renovations and equipment upgrades will happen in the club rooms in Kariong to make this an even better facility for members.

If you are setting your resolutions for 2013, why not make one of them to come and visit the club meetings more often whether the usual Saturday meet-up, the Friday night projects meetings, the monthly lecture night or the once a month open day – you will be made welcome. As usual check the calendar for all the details.

Ed VK2JI.

4. Central Coast award closed.

There were no entries to the Central Coast Award, hence there will be no award certificate presentations at the Wyong Field Day.

5. Broke and fixed.

A short update on current issues in the CCARC technical infrastructure.

This week, we have a “broken & fixed”;

Earlier in the week the D-Star link became inoperative from Somersby. Both the 2m and 70cm channels of the VK2RAG D-Star repeater were unable to connect to other nodes and ran only in “stand-alone” mode. As of Friday 28th. December, the Internet link was restored and the D-Star system fully operational again.

There is no ETA at present for a resolution of the Internet connectivity issues at Kariong which still exist.

Ed VK2JI.

Anyone reading this on the website who is not yet a member of the CCARC, please consider joining by emailing ccarc @ ccarc.org.au for full details. We currently have no joining fee and the annual membership fee is A$30.00.