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VK7AX > NEWS 13.07.08 05:54l 632 Lines 21619 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: VK7 Regional News Broadcast for 13 July 2008
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From: VK7AX@VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC
To : NEWS@WW
VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 13TH JULY 2008
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CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF TASMANIA HAM FEST
http://www.qsl.net/charct/
Well its that time again to dust off and get ready for the biannual
Central Highlands of Tasmania Ham Fest which is set down for 10am
Saturday the 6th of December at the community centre at Miena
alongside the Great Lake in central Tassie.
Major traders as in the past have indicated a preparedness to attend
and if past experiences are anything to go by should be a roaring
success.
Entry fee will be $5.00 per person or family and will include entry
in the lucky door prize, and free tea and coffee. Soft drink will be
available at a reasonable cost. Inexpensive BBQ type food will be
available from approx 11.30 am until 1.00pm.
Other opportunities to win prizes will be available on the day.
This year we will be providing some table space for a preloved
equipment sale, with a white board available to advertise any other
equipment for sale without the need to man a site. How we would
envisage that working would be to give a description of the item for
sale and a contact name, call sign and price so that a prospective
purchaser could make contact. A master of ceremonies will be
available to advertise these items through out the day along with
trader specials. Anyone requiring space should contact the
coordinator and register an interest.
The facilities are first class and in the advent of inclement weather
extremely well heated "we can vouch for that after the previous
experience".
Ample car parking is available with the current cost of fuel car
pooling would appear to be a sensible alternative. Whist on the
matter of car pooling some of our younger amateurs should give
consideration if space is available to those amongst us that have an
extra few turns on the coil and who would like to attend but would
find the drive to arduous.
We are also looking for some volunteers to provide a small amount of
time on the day to assist with the running of the event and anyone
who is prepared to assist should please contact the coordinator Dave
VK7KDO on telephone (03)62730642 or mobile 0429 123080 or email:
penstock(AT)tassie.net.au
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#hamfest2008
(Dave, VK7KDO)
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VK7 EVENTS CALENDAR
And a quick reminder of the events and broadcasts across VK7:
REAST – July 17th –Foundation Licence Assessment Night – Domain
clubrooms starting at 7pm.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#FoundationLicenceCourse
NWTARIG – July 26 – General Meeting - Lions Club facility, Show
Ground, West Ulverstone.
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/nwtarig/
Sewing Circle Net – Every day from 5pm on 3.59MHz
http://reast.asn.au/awards.php#sewingnet
CHARCT Quiz Net – Every Thursday night from 8:30pm on 3.585MHz.
http://www.qsl.net/charct/
NWTARIG broadcasts in the South, North and NW during the week. Check
the website for details.
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/spectrum/
REAST – Every Wednesday evening from 7:30pm is the ATV Experimenter's
Night, so, why not come up and see what we get up to. Check the
website for details.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
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NATIONAL ALARA MEET 2008
Ulverstone – 13 & 14 September 2008
The 9th A.L.A.R.A. Meet is happening in September in Ulverstone. This
event also celebrates 33 years of ALARA.
ALARAmeet is a wonderful way to meet other YLs of our organisation
and their OMs are welcome too.
There are already 70-80 people booked from all over the world.
Susan Brain VK7LUV is the coordinator of the Meet and can be
contacted on the email address that can be found on the email and
internet editions of this broadcast.
vk7luv_susan(AT)yahoo.com.au
For those who arrive on the Friday night there is an optional dinner
in Ulverstone. The Saturday morning sees the Meet kick off at the
Bass & Flinders Motor Inn Conference Room, there is lunch then off
the Axeman's hall of fame in Latrobe and finishing off the day with a
Dinner in Ulverstone.
Sunday morning is a visit to the Trowunna Wildlife Park with lunch at
Sheffield and viewing of the murals in the afternoon. The meet
finishes up with dinner Sunday night at the Blue Wren Tea Gardens in
Ulverstone. There are also some optional tours in the North and North
West on Monday for those staying on.
There are a wide range of options to get to Tasmania and for
accommodation and these are outlined on the ALARA Meet website and
Susan will be happy to fill in the details for you. Just contact her.
This is a National Amateur Radio event and past events have seen
visitors from not only Australian states but overseas ALARA visitors.
See you there.
http://au.geocities.com/vk7luv_susan/index.html
http://www.alara.org.au/
(Susan, VK7LUV)
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AIRWAVE PROMULGATION OFFICER REQUIRED
http://reast.asn.au/news.php#rebroadcaster
1). Are you listening to this morning's broadcast on a 2m repeater
around VK7?
2). Do you have an HF transmitter sitting there idle whilst you are
listening to the broadcast?
Well, have we got a great job for you!
We need rebroadcasters on 80 and 40mx who can be anywhere in VK7, and
HF CB operators in Hobart.
Once a month, all you do is patch your 2mx to your HF transceiver or
HF CB rig and we can even supply a patch box if necessary.
On HF CB and 80mx you rebroadcast the WIA National and VK7 Regional
News broadcasts and on 40m you rebroadcast only the VK7 Regional News.
Then take some call backs to see who was listening and report these
back to the newsreader.
It is that simple and we can help you through each step of the
process and even do a trial rebroadcast to see if it is for you.
If you are interested then please contact me on email:
justingc(AT)ozemail.com.au or on 6223 1351.
Hope to hear from you.
(Justin, VK7TW, VK7 News and Broadcast Coordinator)
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NORTH WEST NEWS
North West Tasmania Amateur Radio Interest Group
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/nwtarig/
The next General Meeting of NWTARIG is scheduled for Saturday 26th.
July at the usual Venue of the Lions Club facility, Show Ground, West
Ulverstone, commencing around 2.00 PM.
Justin VK7TW and Rex VK7MO have offered to provide a presentation of
their experiments with Over The Horizon Optical Communications
following the meeting. This will be the same presentation that Justin
and Rex recently presented to GippsTech.
Rex and Justin will also be bringing some of the equipment used in
the experimentation along to show.
So fellow members and amateurs in the North West lets make this
worthwhile for Justin and Rex by attending this very interesting
presentation.
Why not ask your friends to accompany you.
As usual everyone is welcome to attend.
73's until next time... Tony VK7AX President, NWTARIG
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NORTHERN NEWS
Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club News
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ntarc/
It was great to see so many people enjoying the BBQ meeting night on
Wednesday, at the Mount Barrow interpretation centre. The fires
crackled, food and drink abound and of course good like-minded
company sharing stories and tales of adventures past ensured the
evening was declared a huge success. Even the worst of the weather
held off until after most had gone home.
The August meeting for NTARC will be another dinner meeting at
Tranquillity Gardens, West Tamar Highway, just north of the Tamar
Island reserve. The special guest speaker will be Professor Nigel
Forteath. The evening promises to be a fascinating one. If you
would like to attend, let Al VK7AN know as we will need to get some
attendance numbers together for the night.
Also, a timely reminder to all amateurs that you should educate your
family, friends and visitors about `unattended operation' of amateur
radio station equipment in your home. Certainly don't discourage
your family and friends from taking an interest in your hobby, but do
point out that they should only operate your radio equipment while
under your direct supervision as a `second operator'. Who knows,
they could be a new amateur radio operator in the making?
Thanks from Jason VK7ZJA
NTARC Secretary
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SOUTHERN NEWS
Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
Southern JOTA 2008 Help
Due to a clash of events this year the WICEN South team will be
involved with an Endurance Ride for most of the weekend.
I am after people to help out with this year's JOTA which is a very
special event this year marking 100 Years of Scouting in Australia.
If you would like to be part of this special event please let me know
ASAP so we can get it all set up. Yes, it is 4 months away, but you
know how time gets away with us.
Contact me on phone 62724437 or mobile 0407 724 431 or on repeater
2/5 or VK7RAF.
(Gavin, VK7HGO, REAST Vice President & JOTA Co-ordinator)
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REAST August Presentation
August 6th at 8pm will be a fascinating presentation of the system
that Danny VK7HDM maintains. It includes many of the amateur radio
packet and networking applications like TNOS, Xrouter, DXSpider and
of course packet BBS’ and packet radio.
Dxspider is a Dx spotter system that people can log into and share
DX information, TNOS is a tcpip over radio and internet and it allows
AX25, Telnet, FTP, WWW, Converse, SMTP and POP3 connections using the
ampr.org addresses. Xrouter is along the same lines but has a nice chat
server you can use and the packet BBS store and forward mail system.
There will be a discussion about how to connect from the internet and
how to connect via the AX25 RF side, what you can do on my wormhole
gateway system to and from the Internet and where it can take you.
See you there.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ARDigitalStyle
(73, Danny, VK7HDM)
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REAST Education & Training
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#TrainingCourses
Last Monday night was the third instalment of our Foundation license
training course. The assessment has been scheduled for Thursday the
17th July starting at 7pm.
If you are wanting to sit the Foundation Licence assessment and you
haven't let Ian VK7QF know then please contact him ASAP.
The night will be 30minutes of written assessment and then into the
practical assessment.
See you there.
And remember, Foundation Licence Manuals and CD's are available for
purchase at McCann's Model World in Elizabeth St. Hobart at $20.
(Only the first edition is available at this stage).
(Ian VK7QF, REAST Assessor)
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ATV Experimenters Night
Last week's ATV night was another standard licence training night for
those potential standard licensees, as the ATV transmitter is
undergoing some much needed TLC.
It was great to see many come along especially Lloyd VK7FLDJ who is
an harmonic of Alan VK7KAJ one our new learning facilitators.
This Wednesday night will be another standard licence training
session so, want to learn something? Maybe you are looking to
upgrade, or just want a refresher on some of the theory, regulations
or practical. Then come along and join in.
See you there.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
(Justin, VK7TW)
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WIRELESS LAN NEWS
YAHBPRA – Yet Another Home-Brew Parabolic Reflector Antenna
Peter, KA1AXY comments on the CG Communicator mailing list that he
built one of these antennas WLAN antennas to get a bit of extra
distance from a PC to the access point on a 2.4 GHz WiFi link and
found it worked remarkably well.
Peter used two "foamcore" parabolic templates, some pieces of
foamcore as spacers and a piece of aluminum foil stretched over the
templates.
The whole thing slid over the antenna of a USB WiFi adapter and the
received signal strength went from one bar to five.
It is a similar idea the putting an aluminium foil parabolic
reflector behind the short verticals that poke out the back of the
WLAN access points.
Peter comments that sometimes close enough is good enough.
The freeantennas.com website is worth a look as it has a host of
antenna designs.
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/
http://tinyurl.com/5wem4l
(Peter, KA1AXY via the CG Communicator Mailing List)
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SPACE NEWS
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Uses Soil Probe And Swiss Scope
Last Thursday NASA reported that the Phoenix Mars Lander has touched
Martian soil with a fork-like probe for the first time and begun
using a microscope that examines shapes of tiny particles by touching
them.
Phoenix's robotic arm pushed the fork-like probe's four spikes into
undisturbed soil Tuesday as a validation test of the insertion
procedure. The prongs of this thermal and electrical conductivity
probe are about 1.5 centimetres long. The science team will use the
probe tool to assess how easily heat and electricity move through the
soil from one spike to another. Such measurements can provide
information about frozen or unfrozen water in the soil.
If the probe is held in the air it can provide an assessments of
water vapor in the atmosphere which it has been doing since the May
25 landing.
Phoenix also has returned the first image from its atomic force
microscope. This Swiss-made microscope builds an image of the surface
of a particle by sensing it with a sharp tip at the end of a spring,
all microfabricated from a sliver of silicon. The sensor rides up and
down following the contour of the surface, providing information
about the target's shape.
The atomic force microscope can provide details of soil-particle
shapes as small as about 100 nanometers, less than one-hundredth the
width of a human hair. This is about 20 times smaller than what can
be resolved with Phoenix's optical microscope, which has provided
much higher-magnification imaging than anything seen on Mars
previously.
With these developments in the past two days, the spacecraft has put
to use all the capabilities of its Microscopy, Electrochemistry and
Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, suite of instruments.
Meanwhile, the Phoenix team is checking for the best method to gather
a sample of Martian ice to analyze using the lander's Thermal and
Evolved-Gas Analyzer, which heats samples and identifies vapors from
them.
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/07_10_pr.php
(NASA Phoenix Website)
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BPL NEWS
VK7 BPL Videos Still Popular
At last check the three VK7 BPL videos had clocked up in excess of
37,000 viewing and many pages of comments from interested viewers.
The original video filmed in Mt Nelson alone has been viewed well
over 19,000 times and the count just keeps increasing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdcY0Eetvsw - Mt Nelson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gsxpya3CnQ - North Hobart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7DfdxjRkpU - RU ready for BPL?
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Battery charger controller supports multiple chemistries
The following summary is sourced to the Elektor website and outlines
a newly released integrated circuit by Linear Technology Corp that
takes care of fast charging many of the very new battery technologies
as well as the older SLA batteries.
It is a fast-charge, 4A high-efficiency switch-mode battery charger
controller for multiple battery chemistries. Minimising power
dissipation without compromising board space, the multi-chemistry
LTC4009 supports Li-ion/polymer, NiMH, NiCd and sealed lead-acid
battery chemistries in multi-cell configurations. It operates from
input voltages up to 28V and is intended for applications such as
portable computers, portable instruments, and battery backup systems.
According to the company, AC-adapter current limiting maximises the
charge rate for a given input power level, allowing the end product
to operate while the battery is charging without complex load
management algorithms.
Final float voltage accuracy is specified at ±0.5%, and the charge
current is programmable with an accuracy of ±4%. The switch mode
technology operates at a frequency of 550kHz which allows the use of
smaller inductors and capacitors.
For safety and autonomous charge control, the IC includes battery
over-voltage protection, reverse charge current protection, charge
current monitoring, soft start, ac adapter present indication, and
current limit indication.
Check the website address on the email and internet editions of this
broadcast for more information.
http://www.elektor.com/news/battery-charger-controller-supports-
multiple.591114.lynkx
(Elektor Website)
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VHF AND ABOVE
GippsTech Wrap-Up
The following is sourced to the VK-VHF Mailing list and was written
by Roger Harrison VK2ZRH.
Another GippsTech Conference, and again, another stimulating weekend
in company with around 100 other keen attendees.
It was all so good this year, it's hard to pick the 'stand outs'.
However, I did find the presentation/s on "Locking our rigs to GPS
references" (VK3HZ, VK3SO, VK3II and VK7MO) intriguing as well as
instructive. I had to chuckle at the IC-706 solution - simple,
effective and *obvious* (when revealed) - the audience was led up the
garden path by the prior presenters and then we wuz mugged with the
two turns of wire poked in a hole in the oscillator cover and a lead
out a hole in the back of the rig!
Also, the "Non-line-of-sight Optical Propagation" presentation (VK7MO
and VK7TW) was a cracker ! It had the classic mix of a little
science, a little engineering, a little self-deprecating humour and
have-a-go experimentation in 'true amateur spirit'. I've no doubt
they'll crack the Bass Strait contact, but EME will be rather harder
and take longer.
To follow up, I read my copy of the 2007 Conference Proceedings on
the XPT back to Sydney Sunday night. Aaahh - aspirations of an
improved workshop, more spare time, some of those goodies from the
GippsTech traders, and, and . . . sigh.
It's encouraging to see themes carrying through from previous
GippsTech Conferences: like VK2AES's cavity-backed dish feeds (for
23cm last year - 13cm and 9cm this year); EME subjects; PLL
oscillators for microwave; internet tools for the VHF-UHFer; filters
and so on.
To dispel the impression the conference is largely oriented
towards "plumbing", VK1DSH's presentation this year on DSP with Atmel
AVR processors set the cat amongst that flock of pigeons.
I gave the 2007 Conference 9 out of 10. This year, it's another 9 out
of 10 (on the basis that there must be room for slight improvement
somewhere).
I'll be back (as some famous person said).
http://www.vk3bez.org/gippstech.htm
(73, Roger Harrison VK2ZRH)
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WEB & EMAIL EDITION EXTRA BITS!!
Free Ham Radio and SWL Tool Bar (Thanks to VK7HGO)
http://www.haminfobar.co.uk/
Cool animation with music:
http://www.electricoyster.com/electric3d/index.html
Create your own fireworks display with sound.
http://www.fireworkspop.com/liberty.htm
(Two links above courtesy of CG Communicator)
How do you Lug your Radio Gear?
http://www.radioworld.com/pages/s.0164/t.10655.html
Urban Dictionary
http://www.urbandictionary.com/
Side Walk Astronomers
http://www.sidewalkastronomers.us/
How Stuff Works
http://www.howstuffworks.com/
Do you have some interesting amateur related sites you have some
across in the last week – send them in to justingc(AT)ozemail.com.au
VK7 Virtual BPL Tours Update
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdcY0Eetvsw - Mt Nelson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gsxpya3CnQ - North Hobart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7DfdxjRkpU - RU ready for BPL?
----------------------------------------------------------
If you are interested in becoming an amateur radio operator or
upgrading your licence then we suggest you contact your local club
for details and/or take a look at what the Radio and Electronics
School has to offer. They have a range of courses that can be
delivered through a variety of methods.
They can be found at: www.radioelectronicschool.com
----------------------------------------------------------
Finally today, a reminder to those people rostered for next week's
broadcasts:
Newsreader: VK7RS
160m: VK7DM
80m: VK7ZK
40m: VK7TW
20m: VK7IL
10m: VK7ZGK
UHF CB: VK7ZCR
HF CB: VK7TED
Thanks to all people and organisations who assisted with this
broadcast.
----------------------------------------------------------
THAT CONCLUDES OUR VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST FOR THIS WEEK.
YOU HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO OR JUST MISSED VK7WI. NEXT WEEK THE
NATIONAL WIA NEWS CAN BE HEARD AT 0900 FOLLOWED BY THE VK7 REGIONAL
NEWS AT 0930 HOURS.
DETAILS TO SEND NEWS FOR THIS BROADCAST CAN BE FOUND AT REAST.ASN.AU
AND THE DEADLINE FOR ITEMS IS 21:00 ON FRIDAY PRIOR TO THE SUNDAY OF
THE BROADCAST.
VK7 Regional Broadcast & News Coordinator
Justin Giles-Clark, VK7TW
-----------------------------------------
**************************************************
- NEWS POSTING TO PACKET -
Courtesy Tony VK7AX VK7AX(AT)VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC
**************************************************
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