THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ISSUE No 13-19 2nd. June 2013

In this Issue:

1. WIA AGM & Conference report.
2. VI103WIA operation from CCARC Kariong.
3. Project Group “Show & Tell” meeting next Friday
4. Computer Tablet purchase tip.
5. Club meeting room to get new carpet.
6. Broke & fixed.
7. Reminders.

1. WIA AGM & Conference report.

Fremantle – the friendly conference

Last weekend I attended the annual WIA AGM and conference, this year it was held in Fremantle West Australia. Apart from one hiccup with transport, the weekend ran like clockwork.

As I haven’t attended earlier conferences I cannot compare with those however I can say that the level of camaraderie and helpfulness both from the organisers and other attendees was exceptional. There was a real feeling of being one group with no barriers. I personally was able to chat with directors – Trent Sampson, VK4TS (Contests) and Ewan McLeod VK4ERM (E-Comms), Philip Adams VK3JNI and Bob Bristow VK6POP  as well as the President, Phil Wait VK2ASD and the Treasurer, John Longayroux VK3PZ. The secretary David Williams VK3RU was not able to be present in Fremantle but attended via Skype for the AGM.  The fact is everyone was approachable and were eager to talk about the WIA and where it is going.

There were 68 members attending the AGM itself, with partners our group at the social events and meals was up around 97 people.

During Phil Wait’s presidents speech in the AGM he covered many areas but what I found of most interest is the restructuring of input into the WIA from being state based to being region based. The regions have yet to be defined and will not be limited by state boundaries – for example one region might be SE Queensland and Northern NSW as they may have similar interests and concerns. It is likely there will be more regions than there were state organisations up until now. This has been announced for some time and is now being implemented. The WIA would like to see more input coming from the affiliated clubs and this will happen through the new affiliated clubs advisory committee however one point raised is that many clubs have less than 50% of their members that are WIA members and this is the number one reason that applications for club grants scheme get excluded when submitted by these clubs.

Paying your dues.

Perhaps you don’t want to be a WIA member but want to support the work that the WIA does for ALL amateurs such as negotiations to our benefit with the ACMA, IARU and ITU? The WIA is looking at setting up a donation scheme where you can donate $30 per year to help with these costs. This will be a pure donation to the WIA – you will not be a WIA member, not be able to vote, not get the AR magazine or anything from the WIA shop at a discount but you will be supporting the WIA in the work they do for all of us.

President’s Commendations.

The president also issued several “Presidents Commendations” to people who have helped the WIA during the last year. I’m sure the full list will be published soon. Congratulations to a CCARC club member, Greg James, VK2GRJ, who received a Presidents Commendation for the work he did in supporting the WIA treasurer with the MYOB program.

Seminars.

The following seminars were presented on the Saturday afternoon;

Keynote presentation on Software Defined Radios by Phil VK6APH

The following presentations were in three streams in different rooms, interestingly these presentations were only 15 minutes long – something we might consider for Wyong Field Day?

Contest Technical College from Trent VK4TS, WIA/RTO from Fred VK3DAC, Getting experimenting from Bob VK6CG, WA repeater group network from Heath VK6TWO & Anthony VK6AXB, Education in AR from Doug VK6DB & Neil VK6BDO, WA VHF Group – Beacons & Propagation from Terry VK6ZLT, What NOT to do in a contest from Trent VK4TS, HF Travelers nets from Bob VK6KW, Antenna Myths from Mark VK6MOA, Summits on the Air from Ron VK3AFW, News west / National news from Onno VK6FLAB & Bob VK6POP.

Other items of note;

The local beacon station also relayed short news items and the WIA national news is also transmitted on a CB channel around the Perth area – an idea I have also heard suggested from a CCARC club member.

National Foundation Troop – Onno, VK6FLAB runs a weekly national net for Foundation class licensees – I would like to suggest all CCARC members who have foundation licenses check this out – it’s on every Saturday at midnight to 1am UTC (currently, that’s 10-11am in NSW) and can be accessed via IRLP (using VK2RAG on 438.075 or VK2MDC’s access point for the Woy Woy area on 145.100) by “dialing up” IRLP node 9558. Alternatively you can access from your computer using Echolink and the node *VK3JED*. Don’t forget to ask Onno how his DXCC is coming along – he is aiming to get the DXCC award under his foundation call before upgrading.

 Social events at the conference.

The social side of the event was second to none. From the first evening’s welcome meal and visit to Wireless Hill through the official dinner on Saturday evening with a very interesting presentation from the Western Australia chief scientist covering research that is underway in WA as well as the Square Kilometer Array.

Saturday also saw a full partner programme with visits to a winery, a chocolate factory and and a fashionable shopping centre – the feedback from the partners was very positive.

Sunday was a full day of sightseeing covering the heritage listed Fremantle Prison, The Maritime Museum, a nice lunch overlooking the harbour and The Shipwreck Museum (where the Peel Amateur Radio Group were operating the VI103WIA special event station from a very well equipped trailer on the lawn).

Sunday evening was for me the highlight of the weekend – a visit to the Neil Penfold State Amateur Radio Centre. This site is a dream for radio amateurs with at least 5 towers that I counted all with large beams from 40m to 70cm and two fully equipped contest stations along with a small Morse key and classic radio museum, two fully equipped workshops, a repeater room, a TV lounge room and kitchen. Food here was catered in the form of a carvery. It has become a standard of this weekend, that the food supplied was always of the highest quality and this was no exception.

So now all to wait for is the official announcement of the location for next years WIA AGM & Convention – rumour has it, it could be in S.E. VK4.

Here are some “snap shots” from the event and activities:

[nggallery id=15]  [nggallery id=16]

Ed VK2JI

2. VI103WIA operation from CCARC Kariong.

While I and the other AGM attendees were in the AGM, attending seminars and enjoying a nice evening meal and after dinner talk, the radio waves were a-buzz with stations trying to work VI103WIA which was being run by a few select radio groups around Australia, our own CCARC being one of those.

Thanks goes to Doug VK2MDC for running the station all Saturday afternoon and into the late evening with help from Andrew VK2PAM and Glen VK2GEM. I’m sure a lot of VK and foreign stations are very thankful for the work put in by Doug and team. Well Done Doug!

Ed VK2JI.

3.Project Group “Show & Tell” meeting next Friday.

Every couple of months The Project & development group like to show what they have recently constructed to the rest of the club members in the hope that this might spur some of you on to get back into constructing (as we all know you have constructed circuits in the past).

Next Friday (June 7th.) from 19:30 there will be two presentations – one from Jim VK2LC presenting the 23cm amplifier and tx/rx circuitry that he has recently build and Col VK2ZCO will show the two tone oscillator he has build – it’s the one described in the June edition of AR magazine – so you can’t get any more current than that!

So why not come along on Friday night and see these two completed (or almost completed) construction projects.

Ed VK2JI

4. Computer Tablet purchase tip.

For anyone considering a change from a PC to a tablet, the specification of the 10″ Andriod 4.1 (Jelly Bean) tablet that ALDI have on offer on Wednesday next week may be worth consideration. It’s not cheap at $250 but for what it contains that’s a very fair price with “big name” competitors similar units costing almost twice as much. Check it out at:

Ed VK2JI.

5.Club meeting room to get new carpet.

 Following the short WICEN meeting next Saturday at 2pm, help is needed from all present, to remove all furniture out of the room so that the old carpet can be removed and a new one laid in the following few days. As many people as possible should then attend the club on Friday 14th. of June to put all the furniture back in time for the Field Day meeting the following day.

Bob VK2PEP.

6. Broke & fixed.

No items for Broke & Fixed this week – all CCARC infrastructure is operational.

Ed VK2JI

7. Reminders.

This new section will list items from previous CCARC NEWS that are still current and may need your input:

1. CCARC-NEWS 13-11 Club Raffle – Digital TV set  (If you haven’t got your tickets yet please hurry as the drawing will take place  NEXT SATURDAY   at the club).
2. CCARC-NEWS 13-10 New club member sales page open for business – as stated when set up – if it is found that this service is not needed it will be removed from the web site – we are fast approaching decision time.

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.

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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