News 24.03.2019
Users of VK2RAG are probably wondering why it stopped a few days ago; the simple story is that during summer the site is solar-powered, but due to inclement weather it ran out of sunlight and hence battery power. Normal service was restored as soon as humanly possible, and the Club thanks its hard-working Repeater team.
The next business meeting will be Saturday fortnight 6th April, and a member will be bringing a box of free stuff surplus to his requirements.
Members with GPS receivers may like to check them the following day, as the system will “roll over” at 0000 GPS time (this is not the same as the leap second adjustment); cheaper receivers may go berserk, and the more inferior ones will already have. It is completely coincidental that this is also the end of Daylight Saving.
Please note that due to Easter, there will be no lecture on 20th April.
All meetings of the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club are held at the Club rooms in Dandaloo St, Kariong, just past the fire station. Meetings start at 1pm, preceded by the famous sausage sizzle run by master chef Steve VK2SKC, from noon. The Club rooms are accessible by bus, with a stop just opposite Dandaloo St, serviced by the route 34 bus from Gosford railway station every hour. The Club rooms are usually open from 10.30 am on Saturday, for general chit-chat and access to the Club workshop and library; the Club also conducts Foundation training on an as-required basis, and a new course is coming up soon.
The Club relays VK2WI News broadcasts every Sunday morning and evening. Callbacks are taken after the morning news only, on the Somersby 6 and 2m repeaters VK2RAG on 53.725 and 146.725 MHz respectively; please note that both repeaters require the standard sub-audible tone of 91.5 Hz.
The Club also runs a mixed-mode repeater VK2RAG on 439.950 MHz, which is connected to the P25 network; a 91.5 Hz tone is required for analogue access, and is highly recommended for receiving (unless you like listening to digital noise).
There is a net held every Thursday on the 2m repeater VK2RAG on 146.725, starting at 8pm; all members are encouraged to join (especially if Club news for the ARNSW broadcast is involved). There is also an experimental HF net on 80m, but it is difficult to find a free frequency so it will be announced on the VHF net. Club news is happily accepted at “publicity@ccarc.org.au”, preferably by 12 noon on Friday. Listeners may “join” the net by email to “netmaster@ccarc.org.au” and their comments will be read out.
The Club also has a Facebook page: just look for “centralcoastarc”, so be sure to “like” it to receive further updates. There is also a Twitter account on @ccarclub, and a YouTube channel of the weekly streaming world-wide news via several modes which is proving to be quite popular, especially with Amateurs both interstate and overseas (yes, really)!
Further information about the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club can be found on the web site www.ccarc.org.au.
— Dave VK2KFU, Publicity Officer, Central Coast Amateur Radio Club