THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ISSUE No 13-29 31st. August 2013

What’s on at the CCARC in the upcoming week?

In this Issue of CCARC NEWS:

1. Last Chance to get the free version of Ham Radio Deluxe software.
2. Will it? Wont it? SOTA in VK2.
3. A full day of activities at the club.
4. Test equipment sought.
5. Broke & fixed.
6. Reminders – CCARC ATV coverage area changes.

1. Last chance to get the free version of Ham Radio Deluxe.

For a long time considered the premier rig control software for Windows PCs, adding remote control and RTTY, PSK and other digital modes to a rig, the “HRD” software was bought from the original developer about 2 years ago and soon will ONLY be available as a purchasable product. Currently the last of the version 5 code is available from the new companies website but as of tomorrow it will no longer be possible to download this. So unless you want to have to search the Internet for another copy (with the risk of it being infected) you should grab your copy TODAY.

Here is the piece from Southgate News:

The free version of the popular amateur radio software HRD will no longer be available for download from HRD Software LLC after August 31

All 5.x files will be removed from the server on September 1, 2013.
You may host these files on your server or have them on a CD, but you may NOT charge for the CD or the access to your server.

HRD can be downloaded from
http://www.hrdsoftwarellc.com/downloads/archives.html

Southgate News.

2. Will it Wont it – SOTA in VK2?

After some months of work by about a dozen people including CCARC club members Rod, VK2LAX and myself (Ed VK2JI), the VK2 regional lists of proposed hilltops for inclusion in the Summits on the Air (SOTA) scheme were sent in at the end of August to the award’s management team in the UK. The expectation was that it would take around three months before the data could be verified, corrected and accepted. Once accepted, this would mean that operating portable amateur radio from the top of any of these approved peaks would give points in the award scheme to both those on the hill top and those working them.

This last week on Thursday we heard that there is a possibility that the “association” of VK2 may be approved in time to go live on September 1st (tomorrow as this edition of CCARC NEWS is published). The reason for the shorter time required is the quality of the data in the submission.

As I am writing this on Friday morning, we do not as yet have confirmation of activation of VK2 on September 1st, it’s “touch and go”. If we miss the September 1st date, it will most likely be an October 1st. start as the management team always try to start new associations on the first of a month.

SOTA does not have any specifically defined frequencies however here in Australia you’ll find the most activity on 40m SSB starting around 7.090MHz and if busy 5KHz steps up or down from this frequency. So start at 7.090 and look down as far as 7.075 and up as far as 7.115MHz. Alternatively click on “spots” on the SOTA website at www.sota.org.uk and see if anyone has found a SOTA activator that you may be able to hear. The other frequencies used are 146.500 FM (the FM simplex calling frequency) and 14.342 SSB on 20m. Good hunting (or “chasing” as it’s called in SOTA circles).

What is SOTA? If you don’t know – or if you do know and want to get involved, the CCARC monthly lecture at 13:00 on Saturday 14th. of September at the club room in Kariong is on Summits on the Air (SOTA) by the VK2 – Hunter Region (covers Central Coast as well) manager – yours truly – Ed VK2JI. (all are very welcome – CCARC members or not).

Ed VK2JI.

3. A busy day of activities at the club today.

4. Test equipment sought.

Dougie is looking for test equipment if any club member has any gear not in use;

• Spectrum Analyser
• Single Channel CRO 10-60MHz (or better)
• VHF/UHF Frequency counter – anything, ideally capable of up to 2 GHz.

If you have any of these available please contact Doug VK2MDC on 0434 942 305 or via email to: douglascrowhurst @ gmail.com

Doug VK2MDC

5. Broke & fixed.

The computer network switch (or rather its switched mode power pack) located at the front of the lecture room was found last weekend to be creating an awful level of RF noise. This switch has now been replaced.

6. Reminders.

This section lists important announcements and possibly items from previous CCARC NEWS editions that are still current and may need your input:

VK2RTG coverage area tests.

Phase 2 – The CCARC Amateur Television repeater – VK2RTG at Kariong having had one of it’s antennas moved to give better coverage to the South (Woy Woy Peninsula) and tests not showing any great improvement, we have had the antenna that was moved returned to its old position. Victor VK2BTV would very much appreciate reports on the current coverage area to ensure all is back as before. You can help by trying to receive the test transmissions on Monday & Tuesday evenings at 19:30. The transmitter is on 444.250 with a horizontally polarised analogue transmission which can often be received on a standard TV set towards the lower edge of its UHF frequency coverage (Ed. – on my TV this is near CH 16 in the analogue TV tuner).

 Not a CCARC member yet ?

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.

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.

Please follow and like us: