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VK7AX > NEWS 08.09.08 05:37l 650 Lines 23779 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER 2008
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National ALARA Meet 2008
Ulverstone – 13 & 14 September 2008
The 9th A.L.A.R.A. Meet is happening next weekend in Ulverstone and your VK7
Regional News Coordinator will be there gathering much material for
future broadcasts.
This is a National Amateur Radio event happening right here in Tasmania and
the event also celebrates 33 years of ALARA.
ALARAmeet is a wonderful way to meet other YLs of our organisation and their
off course OMs and families are welcome too.
There are already over 80 people booked from all over the place with a large
contingent from the main land and New Zealand.
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 There are also some optional tours in the North and North West on
Monday for those staying on.
See you there.
http://au.geocities.com/vk7luv_susan/index.html
http://www.alara.org.au/
(Susan, VK7LUV)
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VK7 Repeater GOOGLE Version
Roger VK7ARN has setup a Google version of the VK7 Amateur Repeater map. Roger
comments that it won't replace the other web/pdf versions because of limitations
where multiple repeaters are on one site. Zooming obscures all but the top
layer icon.
There is a link to the new map that can be found on the email and internet
editions of this broadcast.
http://tas.wicen.org.au/SOPs/Google_Rpt_Map.htm
Zoom in and click on an icon for details. Others I've seen include the repeater
owner details which could be added. One concern I have is that locations are
detailed after zooming.
There is no more information than is available on the ACMA RadCom site.
Feedback appreciated.
(Roger, VK7ARN)
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VK7 EVENTS CALENDAR
And a quick reminder of the events and broadcasts across VK7:
NTARC – September 10 - DSL telephony technology and HF Antennae by Jason VK7ZJA
& Allen VK7AN – Alanvale TAFE Block B - 7:30pm
ALARA – September 13&14 – National ALARA Meet in Ulverstone Tasmania.
http://au.geocities.com/vk7luv_susan/index.html
RD LOGS DUE – 15th September 2008.
VK7 HAMFEST – December 6th – Central Highlands of Tasmania Hamfest – Miena –
starts 10am.
http://www.qsl.net/charct/
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NORTHWEST NEWS
North West Tasmanian Amateur Radio Interest Group
A proposal from a recent meeting of NWTARIG was the suggestion of forming
a Radio Experimenters and Social Group within the Club .
The first of these meetings took place last Saturday 23 August ,
with 9 amateurs, and 3 partners attending.
Here is a report of that meeting by convener Vernon VK7TVF.
"On Saturday the 23rd August 2008 the Radio Experimenters and Social Group
held its first meeting at the Blue Wren Tea Gardens on 225 Penguin Road
Ulverstone, a nice sunny venue which I am sure was enjoyed by all.
The following was decided from the meeting:-
(i) To make up a roster for visits to each members home (Saturday afternoon)
for coffee and chat etc. These will be on a 2 weekly basis.
(ii) That Social outings ( Weekend BB Q's, evenings out at Restaurants etc.
The time, date and venue will be discussed at the bimonthly NWTARIG meetings.
(iii) A list of people who would be interested in face to face glass room
study for Amateur License upgrades be obtained and if enough people express
an interest a teaching system will be set up to assist them.
(iv) A coffee shop meeting system to be set up and the venue will be rotated
between different towns between Devonport and Wynyard. The date time and
location to be decided from one meeting to the next.
(v) That group workshops be undertaken from time to time by members covering
what ever topic is of interest to the members.
(vi) That a membership list be setup and made available to all members.
The meeting ended around 12 noon.
The next meeting is set for Saturday the 6th September 2008 and it was decided
by the group to meet again at the Blue Wren Tearooms.
Vernon French (VK7TVF)."
The second of these meetings took place yesterday.
We will have a report on this in next weeks broadcast.
HELP WITH JOTA.
JOTA 2008 is not far away, October 17/18 & 19.
Assistance is again required this year with the Camps at Paton Park Ulverstone
and Camp Boomerang at Port Sorell.
If members in the N/West can help out, please contact the Club and I'm sure you
will be welcomed with open arms.
73's until next week
(Tony VK7AX, President NWTARIG)
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NORTHERN NEWS
Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club News
http://www.wia.org.au/clubs/vk7/NorthernTasmaniaAmateurRadioClub/
If you're a regular Monday or Friday coffee morning attendee, come along to the
site of the old Hunga Munga café on Monday morning to discuss some ideas for
what you'd like to do in the future for these informal gatherings.
You can still get your fix of coffee at the café, and still find familiar faces
to say hello to, so come along and share your ideas on what you'd like to see happen.
The next monthly meeting will have some technical presentations made, including
a talk on some HF antennae designs by Al VK7AN.
So mark your calendars for 10th September, 7.30 at Alanvale TAFE and we hope
to see you there.
Al, VK7AN and John VK7CEJ have been having some fun in the 80 metre DX window
this week, working hams in New York City, with nothing more elaborate than 150
watts SSB and a G5RV wire antenna.
Likewise, Jason VK7ZJA has been having some fun exploring the virtues of compact
receive-only loop antennae for 160 metres and has had some interesting results,
even in the middle of the day.
This is one of the most attractive aspects of ham radio – there's so many different
facets of the hobby that you can tinker and play with to your hearts content.
From VLF to microwaves and optic communications, whether you're an operator,
designer & home brewer, or just in it for the social contact, amateur radio has
so much variety to offer.
If you're listening to this and wondering "how do I get into amateur radio?"
then a great place to start is by contacting your local amateur radio club.
For NTARC, you can contact Al on 0417 354 410 to have a chat about what amateur
radio is all about, and maybe arrange to come along to one of our Foundation
Licence training courses.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ntarc/
Thanks from Jason VK7ZJA
NTARC Secretary
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Southern News
Maatsuyker Island Soon to Have DX Capable Hams
Roger VK7ARN passed on that Tad, VK2LNX and XYL Sue who is also an amateur
will be the next caretakers on Maatsuyker Island.
Tad takes up the story…."We both have amateur radio licences and we are
planning to take some equipment with us in order to operate from the island."
Tad is just putting the finishing touches to a Elecraft K3 and a G5RV is
being packed along with a VHF FT7800.
Stay tuned for more once Tad and Sue have completed their Parks and Wildlife
training course after arriving next Thursday, September 11th.
(Roger, VK7ARN)
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Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
Notice of Special General Meeting
The Committee wish to advise that on the October presentation night,
Wednesday October 1st (AT) 8pm, a Special General Meeting will be held prior
to the presentation.
The purpose for the SGM is to change the rules of REAST to create a new
Membership Category of "Life Membership" and the procedure as to how a life
membership is granted.
Formal wording of clauses will follow in next week's broadcast.
All Financial members of REAST are encouraged to attend this meeting to
make their vote count.
(Ben VK7BEN, on behalf of the REAST Committee)
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Saturday Afternoon at the Clubrooms
Looking for something to do on a Saturday afternoon?
Got a spare couple of hours up your sleeve and would like to have a chat?
Frank VK7FINF and Tony VK7FTCL along with several others are meeting at the
clubrooms on the domain each Saturday afternoon.
It's a very informal meeting where over a cuppa the guys and gals talk
about anything and everything comms and technology related, from the latest
wiz bang radio that has been advertised to an old relic of a camera that
someone has dug out of the cupboard as well as everything else in between.
We all know its great fun to play with your new toy in the shack, but why
not bring it along and have a good old chat and a cuppa, as well as a brag
about your new toy.
We kick off around 1pm and generally head for home by 4pm.
For more info contact toneman(AT)bigpond.com ,
we would love to see you and your toys there!
Cheers and 73 from
(Tony VK7FTCL)
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Clubroom Officer Vacancy
REAST is looking for a new clubrooms officer so, if you are interested in
becoming more involved in club REAST then please contact me.
This is the type of role that lends itself to being shared by multiple people.
If interested then please give Clayton a call on 61050446
(Clayton, VK7ZCR, REAST President)
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REAST September Presentation
Firstly is was great to see Peter VK7KPC at the presentation.
Peter was down in the South doing some installation work for his employer
Air Services Australia and he was able to fill in some of the gaps in
knowledge about the technology and what is running at Hobart Airport.
Thanks Peter.
Rex VK7MO gave two impressive illustrated talks firstly on GPS Disciplined
Oscillators and then on Aircraft Enhancement using the Kenetic Avionics
ADSB Receiver.
The first talk was from one of Rex's GippsTech talks and outlined how he
has GPS locked his ICOM IC-910H using GPS unit, phase locked loop and what
he is able to use the now very stable transceiver for.
Many of the weak signal modes use very low bandwidth modes in the order of
1mHz that need the transmitter and receiver to be very stable and accurate
in relation to frequency.
A GPS disciplined oscillator provides a very stable and accurate frequency
source to lock your oscillator and get an accuracy of 1Hz at 1296MHz.
Rex then went onto his second presentation which was about aircraft
enhancement. When you are head on with a aircraft you get diffraction past
the aircraft and due to the diffraction patter more energy becomes available
behind the aircraft which can enhance the signal.
It turns out that 2m is about the ideal frequency and you can experience
gains in the order of 20-30dB. Optimal distance is about the 500-700km range.
Rex then went on the demonstrate the Kenetics Avionics ADS-B virtual aircraft
radar receiver that picks up the 1090MHz GPS transponder that most commercial
aircraft now have installed.
On queue an aircraft flying between Melbourne and Hobart came into view at
about the 180nm distance and the doppler shift pattern of the accurate 1kHz
tone being transmitted by VK3II was evident.
Even the Doppler zigzag was evident when the plane did its autopilot correction
around Devonport for it's run into Hobart.
Rex went to a great deal of trouble to setup his portable yagi and equipment
for the live demonstration so, many thanks to Rex it was a fascinating talk,
thanks Rex.
http://www.kinetic-avionics.co.uk/
http://home.exetel.com.au/dwsmith/radiosites/PP_and_RSD.html
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#aircraftenhancement
(REAST Committee)
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ATV Experimenters Night
ATV night get back underway this Wednesday night from around 7:30pm and we
will have a full program of interviews and maybe even a repeat of the
presentation by VK7MO last week on GPS Disciplined Oscillators and Aircraft
Enhancement.
How do you receive ATV on an ATV night well, ATV goes out on 444.25MHz –
just below SBS on the UHF TV Band.
If you have an antenna pointed somewhere toward the Domain why not try tuning
down the low end of the UHF TV band and give us a call on what you are seeing
and hearing.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
(Justin, VK7TW)
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BPL News
IEC/CISPR Threatens Radio Services by a Planned 18 dB Relaxation of PLT
Disturbance Limits.
Karl Fischer DJ5IL lets us know that this week sees a very important vote by
the Special International Committee on Radio Interference of the International
Electrotechnical Commission IEC or CISPR-22 international working group in
Berlin on September 8-9, 2008.
A PLT Project Team (PT) was formed in 2005 to produce an amendment to CISPR
22 to cover special requirements for PLT equipment and its first Committee Draft
(CD) was issued in February 2008.
However, the comments of 23 IEC members National Committees (NC) and the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) showed insufficient support for the selected
approach as only 6 NCs supported the draft: Belgium, France, Israel, Italy,
Spain and Switzerland.
Interestingly, the major European PLT technology providers, developers and
manufacturers reside in 5 of these 6 countries.
8 NCs strongly opposed the draft - Australia, Austria, Cyprus, Denmark,
Finland, South Africa, Sweden and the United States of America -
and some well-founded comments revealed its true purpose: to camouflage an
intended 18 dB relaxation of the present PLT disturbance limits by
introducing a revised method of measurement with an estimated Longitudinal
Conversion Loss (LCL) of 24 dB in contrast to 6 dB in CISPR 22:2005.
For the measurement of disturbance an Impedance Stabilization Network (ISN)
is needed, which provides a known port termination impedance and a measurement
port.
The ISN is used to measure the common mode disturbances and it is built to
mimic a network with a certain LCL value, which is the ratio of differential
mode signal injected into a network to common mode signal resulting from the
network imbalance.
A higher value indicates a higher symmetry of the network and hence less
common mode signals and less radiation.
An ISN with LCL = 24dB would mimic an almost perfectly symmetric network
and effectively yield an 18 dB relaxation of the present limits,
but as many NCs noted this value is unrealistically high and not
representative for real power networks.
Additional unrealistic presumptions inherent to the proposed method would
even further increase the effective relaxation.
This substantial relaxation would seriously threaten radio services operating
on shortwave, especially the broadcasting and amateur radio service which
already suffer from ever increasing interference.
Without doubt PLT is a dirty technology which pollutes the electromagnetic
wave spectrum as a precious and limited natural resource,
simply because the mains is neither intended nor suited for carrying broadband
HF signals. Thus relaxing PLT disturbance limits is like relaxing justified
and necessary air pollution limits just because an industrial lobby calls
for it.
For more information take a look at the Karl's website which can be found at
the link on the email and internet editions of this broadcast.
http://cq-cq.eu/cispr22
(Karl Fischer DJ5IL)
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Space News
Amateur Astronomers See Perseids Hit the Moon
There's more than one way to watch a meteor shower.
The Science(AT)NASA website last week demonstrated another way to see meteors
crashing in to the moon.
On August 9th, a pair of amateur astronomers on opposite sides of the
United States did it the new way. With the Perseid meteor shower just
underway, they fixed their cameras on the Moon and watched meteoroids slam
into the lunar surface. Silent explosions equivalent to ~100 lbs of TNT
produced flashes of light visible a quarter of a million miles away on Earth.
It was a good night for "lunar Perseids."
"I love watching meteor showers this way," says George Varros, who recorded
this impact from his home in Mt. Airy, Maryland:
The flash, which lit up a nighttime patch of Mare Nubium (the Sea of Clouds),
was a bit dimmer than 7th magnitude--"an easy target for my 8-inch telescope
and low-light digital video camera."
Hours later, another Perseid struck, on the western shore of Oceanus
Procellarum (the Ocean of Storms).
This time it was Robert Spellman of Azusa, California, who caught the flash.
"It's exciting to witness these explosions in real time," he says.
"I used a 10-inch telescope and an off-the-shelf Supercircuits video camera."
Rob Suggs of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office has reviewed the data.
"They look real to me," he says. "The flashes appear in multiple video frames
and the light curves are similar to other lunar meteors we've recorded
in the past."
Suggs would know. Along with colleague Bill Cooke, he leads a team at the
Marshall Space Flight Center that has recorded more than 100 lunar explosions
since 2005. "We monitor lunar meteors in support of NASA's return to the Moon,"
Suggs says. "The Moon has no atmosphere to protect the surface, so meteoroids
crash right into the ground. Our program aims to measure how often that happens
and answer the question, what are the risks to astronauts?"
NASA's official lunar meteor observatories are located in Alabama and Georgia.
Both were off-line on August 9th, so the NASA team didn't see how many Perseids
were hitting the Moon that night.
"This shows how amateur astronomers can contribute to our research,"
points out Suggs. "We can't observe the Moon 24-7 from our corner of the USA.
Clouds, sunlight, the phase of the Moon—all these factors limit our
opportunities.
A global network of amateur astronomers monitoring the Moon could, however,
approach full coverage."
Ready for meteor watching--the new way? NASA offers a FAQ and telescope tips
to help you get started. Good hunting!
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/02sep_lunarperseids.htm?list1098418
(Author was Dr Tony Phillips and it was sourced from the
Science(AT)NASA mailing list)
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SCIENCE News
Astronaut Blasts Off on Coast-to-Coast Bike Ride to Educate Kids
Continuing with the space theme….the following summary is from an Wired.com
article by Dave Banks.
John Herrington has taken in the earth from a view that few of us will
every see.
He spent 13 days in space as part of STS-113, a trip on Endeavor to the
International Space Station in late 2002.
It was a flight that included nearly 20 hours of space walks for the
Mission Specialist.
Now, "I want to see the earth from a different perspective,"
said Herrington. It will definitely be different.
The former astronaut (and geekdad of two) is on a 4,000 mile bike ride,
beginning in Cape Flattery, on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, and will
travel through 10 US states before reaching his destination of
Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The solo coast-to-coast ride will include numerous stops to speak at
schools and offer inspiration and encouragement to kids, especially in
the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Herrington plans to use his ride as a platform for getting kids excited
about learning. Topics he plans to discuss include:
Science:
- Weather, wind velocity, ground and air speed, relative motion
Technology:
- Getting power to electronics (i.e. batteries, solar)
- Global Positioning System (GPS)
Engineering:
- Velocity and torque
- Mass and weight
Math:
- Basic math
- Geometry, trigonometry and physics
For kids not on the route, Herrington's lessons and thoughts can still
be followed online. His bike is equipped with a laptop, broadband phone,
GPS and digital camera. He has even setup a blog.
Herrington hopes to motivate kids to pursue math and sciences.
By failing to challenge ourselves with more difficult missions,
"we're going to see a serious shift in our technological lead in
the world,"
His progress can be tracked via Google Earth.
http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2008/08/astronaut-blast.html
(Sourced from Wired.com website)
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Web & Email Edition Extra Bits!!
SMeter.net
http://www.smeter.net/
Freeware Statistics Packages and Applications
http://freestatistics.altervista.org/en/stat.php
Poormans Metal Detector
http://www.i-trixx.com/uk/index.php?do=ezine&ed=080903_14801
Rubiks Clock – Remember them?
http://www.perpetualkid.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2762
TasTel – Rebadged as community telco – remember BPL!!
http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=24705
Why are most space objects smooth??
http://abcmail.net.au/t/245225/957242/4943/0/
Southern Sky Watch
http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm
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?
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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
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Finally today, a reminder to those people rostered for next week's
broadcasts:
Newsreader: VK7FB
160m: VK7DM
80m: VK7EM
40m: VK7RO
20m: VK7PP
10m: VK7ZGK
UHF CB: VK7HGO
HF CB: VK7FTAZ
Thanks to all people and organisations who assisted with this broadcast.
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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
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- NEWS POSTING TO PACKET -
Courtesy Tony VK7AX VK7AX(AT)VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC
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