CCARC NEWS 13-06

CCARC Club News 10/02/2013 | 0

THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ISSUE No 13-06 10th. February 2013

In this Issue:

Echolink/IRLP using a Raspberry Pi.
New Project group build.
The “I” in team.
Field Day Meetings.
Broke & fixed.

1. Echolink/IRLP using a Raspberry Pi.

This little computer originally intended only as a teaching aid for schools has a new major Amateur radio use.

GB3LV on a Raspberry
The GB3LV IRLP/Echolink node, located in Enfield, north London, is now powered by a tiny Raspberry Pi computer running a reduced version of Linux Debian and a version 3 IRLP interface.
This reduces the energy and physical footprint of the node dramatically.
This development over the past 3 months, has only been possible because of a great deal of work done by Dave Cameron, VE7LTD.
The link transmitter is a Yaesu FT-7100 (not shown).
The Raspberry Pi computer cost about £25 and needs a PSU (just a phone charger), cables and SD card operating system. The node requires no screen, mouse or keyboard when running.

Tony, G4CJC Node controller GB3LV. (thanks to the Southgate News for this item).

2. New Project group build.

The latest project being kicked off in the Friday night projects group meeting is a remote headed SWR bridge where the sensor is located at the antenna feed point and the metering is remote at ground level enabling you to see not only how well the antenna is actually working in real time but also see how much power you are losing up the feeder coax. The installation is primarily expected to be a temporary one to aid with the set up of a new antenna but if suitably housed could remain as a permanent installation.

Col VK2ZCO is leading this project, please contact Col if you are interested in building along with the group.

Ed VK2JI.

3. The “I” in team.

Forget all this management training rubbish and remember when contesting as part of a team you should aim to perform better than the others because there was always an I in TEAM !

Thanks to Martin Butler M1MRB for this little gem.

4.Field Day Meetings.

As we get closer to the most important event in the club calendar, the CCARC FIELD DAY at Wyong. It is essential that all members attend the upcoming meetings where there they are involved.

Friday 15th. February 19:30 – Field day equipment checking – locate all required equipment and check it is in a working status.

Saturday 16th. February 10:30 – Last field day planning meeting – roles confirmed, time schedules clarified – ALL members to attend this meeting if possible please.

Friday 22nd. February 19:30 – equipment collection from the club rooms for transport to the race course on Saturday.

5. Broke and fixed.

The repair of the APCO25 module in the VK2RAG 439.950MHz repeater is taking longer than was hoped but you can be assured that Ian, VK2HK is working hard to resolve these problems as soon as possible. Feel free to use the repeater in its Analogue mode. This is one of our repeaters with the best coverage, especially up and down the F3.

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.