CCARC NEWS 15-09
THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
ISSUE No 15-09 20th March 2015
In this Issue:
- March Lecture: Self Assessment of Your Radio Shack’s EMR Compliance
- Wyong Field Day EMR Awareness Presentation PDF
- Solar Eclipse 20th March
- CME impact, major geomagnetic storm
- John Moyle Field Day
- History This Week
- Broke & fixed
- Reminders
1. March Lecture: Self Assessment of Your Radio Shack’s EMR Compliance
The March Lecture will be held on Saturday 28th March 2015, commencing at 1300 hours.
MARCH LECTURE: SELF-ASSESSMENT OF YOUR RADIO SHACKS EMR COMPLIANCE
AIM OF LECTURE: Complete a Declaration of Conformity for Compliance Level 2 & assessment report
Hosted by: K Boskos VK2AKB
EQUIPMENT TO BRING
Laptop with wifi to connect to CCARC’s internet (If possible)
USB stick
VK3UM’s EMR Calculator Program – version 7.12 (as of 1/3/15) (Preferably installed)
http://www.vk3um.com/emr%20calculator.html
Pen and note pad
INFORMATION TO BRING ALONG (some info can be looked up on the internet at the Club)
A copy of your Amateur Radio Licence
For each Transceiver in your shack
Manufacturer and Model
Your transceivers manual (preferably digital version)
NOTE: we will be looking up specifications for
All Tx Frequencies for each transceiver
Emission modes the transceiver is capable of
Power Output for each mode
For each antenna installed
Which transceiver the antenna is connected to
Antenna type and details (you will need the Antenna Gain in dBi)
Antenna height (Distance from ground level to the feed line connection or base, depends on the type of antenna)
Feed line details & length of feed line from back of transmitter to base of antenna
(you will need the losses over manufacturers specified distances/bands )
List of any component that will have an effect on losses
Karen Boskos VK2AKB
Lecture Co-ordinator
2. Wyong Field Day EMR Awareness Presentation PDF
From Rhod VK2TTL
The talk I did at Wyong this year has been posted to our club web site for reading and reference. If you want to review or you could not make it this year, here is a small part of the field day to share with you. This is more about safety to ourselves and those around us.
The council SEPP is also included, ie conditions for antenna & towers etc on residential properties.
Direct link to BMARC tech corner: Tech Corner | Blue Mountains Amateur Radio Club
any q & a after reading, feel free to ask Karen or myself
Thanks Rhod VK2TTL
3. Solar Eclipse 20th March
With the solar eclipse now less than a week away, we should start with an apology.
When we last mentioned the various experiments we said that the UK would experience up to 89 percent totality.
Of course, in Shetland, they will experience 97 percent totality.
Our apologies to all those living there, we really hope that they have a cloudless day for their visual observations.
The RSGB Propagation Studies Committee is keen to make sure that everyone is aware of the activities taking place on the morning of Friday, 20 March.
The partial eclipse starts in the Midlands at about 0825UTC on the 20th and ends at 1041UTC.
Maximum eclipse will be at about 0930UTC.
This is a great opportunity to try some experiments to see how the sun’s ultraviolet output affects our ionosphere and how some radio waves are propagated.
A wide range of experiments are planned and details can be found at http://tinyurl.com/GB2RS-1515.
There will be an RSGB QSO Party on 160, 80 and 40m, using CW and PSK63, as well as experiments using CW skimmers and WSPR.
Other experiments will involve Opera transmissions on 477kHz and beacons. All radio enthusiasts are encouraged to take part.
http://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/gb2rs/headlines/2015/03/13/eclipse-radio-plans-refined/
From Col VK2ZCO
4. CME impact, major geomagnetic storm
The Space Weather site reports a Coronal Mass Ejection hit Earth’s magnetic field on March 17 at approximately 04:30 UT which was earlier than expected
At first, the impact sparked a relatively mild G1-class (Kp=5) geomagnetic storm. Since then, however, the storm has intensified to G4-class (Kp=8), ranking it as the strongest geomagnetic storm of the current solar cycle.
Before sunrise on March 17, bright auroras were sighted over several northern-tier US states including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, the Dakotas and Washington.
“The auroras were insane,” says Marketa Murray who regularly runs a photography workshop on the Arctic Circle. She has seen a lot of auroras. “I have never seen anything like this.”
On Tuesday afternoon the storm was expected to continue for many hours as Earth passed through the turbulent wake of the CME. Stay tuned for updates.
Space Weather
http://spaceweather.com/
5. John Moyle Field Day
Welcome to the John Moyle Memorial Field Day. The next Field Day will be held over the weekend of the 21st-22nd March 2015 and will run from UTC 0100 on the Saturday to 0059 on the Sunday
The contest is run each year in memory of the late john Moyle who was a long term editor of the Wireless Weekly, (- later Radio & Hobbies – later Radio Television & Hobbies) from 1947 until his untimely death in 1960.
He served in the RAAF with distinction and was responsible for a number of innovative solutions to keeping radio and radar equipment working under wartime conditions and difficult working conditions.
The WIA decided that a suitable long term memorial to John Moyle would be a Field Day with a focus on portable or field operation. The contest has been conducted annually ever since.
The rules of the contest have gradually changed over time and are still revised regularly.
The contest is still for portable or field operators, though Home stations can of course take part using a different scoring system.
Though Multiple Operators and club stations are actively encouraged to take part in the contest they are not competing against the single operator stations and in effect there are two separate contests run at the same time. Hence single operator stations take part in their own contest against other single operators.
http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/johnmoyle/
History This Week
A look back at events that made history this week – compiled by the Summerland Amateur Radio Club of Lismore, NSW
Monday, 16 March, 2015
1684 Giovanni Domenico Cassini discovered two moons of Saturn: Tethys and Dione.
1800 Alessandro Volta dated a letter announcing his invention of the voltaic pile to Sir Joseph Banks.
1834 The first U.S. railroad tunnel was completed between Hollidaysburg and Johnstown, PN.
1886 America’s first demonstration of the alternating-current system provided lighting along Main Street at Great Barrington.
1895 The first motion picture shown on a screen was presented by Auguste and Louis Lumière.
1900 Nikola Tesla received a patent for the wireless transmission of electric power.
1926 The first US liquid-fuel rocket flight was launched by Robert Goddard in a field in Auburn, Mass.
1932 The Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia, was opened.
BROKE & FIXED
No items for Broke & Fixed this week – all CCARC infrastructure is operational.
REMINDERS
This section lists important announcements and possibly items from previous CCARC NEWS editions that are still current and may need your input:
Jaycar Tuggerah & Erina will give CCARC members a trade discount – approx 10% on purchases over $25. Make sure you ask for it.
Anyone reading this on the website who is not yet a member of the CCARC, please consider joining by emailing ccarc at ccarc dot org dot au for full details.
For submissions to this newsletter from CCARC club members please email the editor news-editor at ccarc dot org dot au
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.
Dave VK2DLS … News & Publicity Officer …
