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VK7AX > NEWS 04.05.09 08:21l 694 Lines 24046 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 3RD MAy 2009
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A special greeting goes out to the crews on Targa Tasmania.
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Men's Sheds
The common theme in all Sheds is about men feeling useful and
contributing again to their communities, learning or sharing their
skills and making friends.
Men's Sheds are fast being recognized as vital, viable places to
accommodate these needs and provide relaxed, happy creative spaces
for men of all ages to enjoy.
The Growing Problems with men's health, isolation loneliness and
depression are looming as major health issues. Men's Sheds can play a
significant and practical role in addressing these.
Activities within the Men's Shed are many and varied and may include:
Woodwork, Metalwork, Restoration of old cars, machinery and relics
from the past for placement in the Museum, Electronics, Amateur Radio,
Alterative energy and Gardening to name a few.
Having Fun, sharing, show and tell, it's great way to get yourself
back on track.
The Sorell Men's Shed and Heritage Museum is where skilled and unskilled
men can share time with each other, or just sit around the wood heater,
enjoying a cuppa and swapping yarns.
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Great Southern Winter Hamfest
Sorell Men's Shed Event "Community Project"
A Great Southern winter Ham fest will be held at the Sorell Men's Shed,
Station Lane, Sorell.
It will be on the first weekend in June which will be June 6th and 7th
and will be a 2 day event.
Saturday starting at 9am there will be workshops including, bookings
are now being taken for the special work shop activities.
Antenna Construction, winding baluns.
Make a wire dipole and tune it.
Calculate and build a 2m Yagi.
Field strength radiation pattern measuring. of your 2m or 70 cm Antennas.
Learn how to align a Satellite dish and tune in free to air TV also NASA
live feeds on the big dish.
Optical communications workshop with Mike Groth VK7MJ - see it working
and make a contact via 474 THz. (no licence required.)
These are just some of the activities planed
On Saturday Night the Men's Shed station - VK7SMS will be conducting an
on air award from 6pm till 12pm on HF,VHF and UHF.
One contact will qualify for the worked the Sorell Men's Shed Award.
Sunday will be a show and tell day with trade and pre-loved tables,
home brew competition and awards for first, second and third.
There will be a BBQ lunch and a few raffles.
All proceeds will go to the Men's Shed.
There will be camping and toilet facilities on site for those who want
to bring their campers and trucks down for the weekend.
More info as time draws near so, start making your plans to be in the
South for this great event.
If you are interest in being involved and/or helping out.
Please email or contact Ken VK7DY for more details or express your
interest in being involved.
windmill(AT)southcom.com.au
http://www.sorellmensshed.org/
(Ken, VK7DY, SMS Coordinator)
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VK7 EVENTS CALENDAR
A summary of the events across VK7 over the coming months:
REAST May 6th Presentation on Landline Telegraphy 8pm
Queen's Domain Clubrooms.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#duplexlandline
WICEN Tasmania (South) Inc May 9th Meeting - 9:30am
- Kingston Library Meeting Room
http://tas.wicen.org.au/
RESG May 9th Radio Experimenters and Social Group gathering at
the Blue Wren Tea Gardens Ulverstone 10.30am
NTARC May 13th - Royal Flying Doctor Service depot
Launceston Airport at 7:30pm with Ian VK7KIH.
REAST May 13, 20 & 27th ATV Experimenter's Nights
7:30pm Queens Domain Club rooms.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
NWT-ATVG June 6th - General Meeting and discussion on radio history.
WMBD June 27th World Moon Bounce Day celebrating the Echoes of
Apollo 40th Anniversary of the first Moon landing.
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Non-Commercial For Sale & Wanteds
16mm Film to DVD Conversion Facility Wanted
Peter Dowd VK7PD is looking for someone with the equipment to transfer
some short historically significant 16mm films from Bevan VK7CX to DVD.
These films are of the VK7 1965 Hamfest at Campbelltown, it features
many characters including Tom Allen.
Unfortunately Bevan's cine-conversion setup has suffered a camera failure.
So, Peter is looking for anyone who may be able to help out with this
cine conversion task.
Peter is also converting some 35mm slides and Ό inch open reel tapes of
some 1970's historical radio material.
Peter can be contacted on Phone: 6331 7761.
73,
(Peter VK7PD)
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NORTHERN NEWS
Northern Tasmania Amateur Radio Club
Alf Traeger pioneered the use of cheap to produce, rugged and reliable
HF transmitters for use with the Royal Flying Doctor Service
and if you
come along to the next NTARC meeting at the special time of 6.30pm at
Launceston Airports RFDS depot on Wednesday night 13th of May, you'll
get to see one of these historic and life-saving one-watt wonders.
There will be a sandwich and cake light dinner available for a donation
of $2, courtesy of Ann VK7FYBG.
Quansheng has given many hams an affordable handheld for 2 metres with
the TG25AT, and its 70 centimetre sister the TG45AT. Bill VK7MX hints
that Quanshengs next handheld, the TG-UV, will be even better.
This time they've come out with a dual band radio, with PC programming
capabilities, built-in sub-tone and a lithium ion battery, and all this
comes at less than twice the price of it's single-band grandparents.
We'll hopefully get our hands on one and wring out some real-world
impressions of how well they go on air.
Thanks from
(Jason VK7ZJA, NTARC Secretary)
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NORTH WEST News
North West Tasmanian Amateur Radio Interest Group
Mt Duncan repeater noise problems
On Thursday 30th Joe VK7JG arrived in Penguin soon after 8.00AM
specifically to visit the Mount Duncan Repeater site of VK7RMD.
Along with Wayne VK7FWAY and Winston VK7EM, he made fast work of the
climb, considering he was carrying his quite heavy 'test set'.
The first test he did was to check the condition of the cavities and
reported them to be in good order and not responsible for the noise
problem. Then he measured the receiver sensitivity, and found that to
be normal.
Attention turned to the antenna system. As found previously, any
slight shake of the mast brought on severe noise in the received audio.
Joe has advised to use separate antennas for reception and transmission,
reducing the likelihood of noise reaching the receiver from corroded guys
and fittings near the transmit antenna.
Wayne spotted a length of pipe laying in the bush so this was retrieved
and will be used to support a second antenna.
A further trip will be organised in the near future to install a second
antenna.
Many thanks go to Joe for his visit and expert advice and to Winston and
Wayne for their support..
(David Cleland, VK7DC, Secretary, NWTARIG)
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Radio Experimenters and Social Group
The Radio Experimenters and Social Group had a successful ANZAC day
Coffee Meeting at the FUCHSIA FANTASY TEA ROOMS at Lillico.
12 members attended and a new member was signed up to the club.
We extend a worm welcome to Peter Turner and look forward to his company
at future Club Meetings.
The next Social gathering has been arranged to be held at the Blue Wren
Tea Gardens situated at 225 Penguin Road Ulverstone on Saturday the 9th.
May 2009 for the usual 10.15 to 10.30am start.
All are welcome to come along and enjoy a mug of coffee and cake along
with inspirational conversation Hi Hi.
From
(Vernon French, VK7VF, Coordinator)
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Southern News
Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
REAST's May Presentation
This Wednesday night, May 6th our historian Richard VK7RO will be
presenting a talk on -
Landline Telegraphy or "How to Send Signals Both Ways At Once"!
Many of you may have seen last year the ABC TV special A wire through
the Heart which traced the history around Charles Todd putting a
telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin. This was a fascinating
historical look at landline telegraphy that connected Australia to the
rest of the world.
Richard will give a presentation using his vast historical knowledge
and skill on how Landline Telegraphy work and how they send signals
both ways at once.
This should be a fascinating and humorous talk by our leading historian
and avid CW operator.
As Richard commented
it will be "A little bit of technical history".
See you there.
(REAST Committee)
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#duplexlandline
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Education and Training
If you would like to participate in a future training and/or assessment
and it could be for any assessment (foundation, standard, advanced or
practical) then let Reg VK7KK know on mobile: 0417 391 607 or
email: regemm(AT)ozemail.com.au
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#FoundationLicenceCourse
(Reg, VK7KK, REAST Education Officer and Assessor)
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ATV Experimenters Night
Last Wednesday night saw another great roll-up even though it was an
icy reminder that Winter was just around the corner.
We went out on both analog 70cm and digital 23cm ATV and started with
a presentation with some interesting technical books from the library
of Jack Weatherall who is Ben VK7BEN's grandfather. Many in the club
may remember Jack who worked in the ABC and other organisations.
Justin VK7TW took the viewing and listening audience through some other
hints and tips on toroidal transformers and inductors along with the
close up camera to show the great little freeware application to
calculate all the parameters for a toroidal inductor.
An outline of the WIA AGM weekend which is happening on this weekend
in Churchill in VK3 and a quick look at the latest DUBUS magazine which
featured a 241GHz transverter that has been constructed by a German amateur.
Justin finished up with an interesting show and tell item he picked up
recently from the resource tip shop. A Flux-Gate compass which is used
as a heading indicator on a yacht autopilot system.
The fluxgate compass is a device that enables you to get an electronic
compass heading no matter what inclination the compass is at. There is
a series of electro-magnets that contain the suspended magnetic compass
material and the microprocessors calculates a three dimensional magnetic
flux picture of the compass to provide a heading no matter what angle
the container is at and transmits this electronically to the autopilot
system which makes the necessary adjustments to maintain the correct
heading. A very interesting device.
The evening finished up with another Mitchell and Kenyon look at Sports
and Life in Edwardian England thanks to Mike Groth VK7MJ.
All in all another great night of experimenting.
We get back underway with out ATV Experimenter's nights in a
fortnight's time.
See you then.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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ACMA News
ACMA calls for comment on Five Year Spectrum Outlook at RadComms09
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has invited industry
feedback on its Five Year Spectrum Outlook 2009-2013, as part of its
commitment to keep the five-year snapshot of radiocommunications
priority issues current.
The General Manager of ACMA's Inputs to Industry Division, Giles Tanner,
said in a speech to ACMA's RadComms09 conference on 29 April, there were
some emerging pressure-points that might warrant inclusion in the next
iteration of the Outlook.
Mr Tanner invited submitters to consider what should be ACMA's spectrum
planning priorities once it has finished the planning phase of its
current review of the 400 MHz band. `For example, some parties in the
400 MHz review have suggested we should take a closer look at the band
380 - 400 MHz to see if it is being used in a way that delivers the
maximum social benefit. I would be proposing to reflect this in the next
Outlook as something ACMA will look at as soon as resources allow,' he said
`Similarly the 800 MHz land mobile and fixed service bands: should a review
of these bands, perhaps encompassing a change of use of some of the spectrum,
become a priority?
Mr Tanner identified the task of ensuring sufficient spectrum for wireless
access services as a perennial challenge, driven by the expected
burgeoning of demand for broadband data services over the longer-term.
`Is there potential for reviewing the remaining apparatus-licensed
segments of the 3.4-3.6 GHz band to ensure they are being used for their
highest value use?' he asked.
Mr Tanner said his comments were not intended to constrain submitters to
these areas.
`By asking you, the industry, the kinds of hard questions we ask ourselves,
it is our hope to develop the five-year Spectrum Outlook further as the
site for meaningful discussion and debate around ACMA's longer-term
priorities,' he said.
The purpose of the Five-year Spectrum Outlook 20092013 is to provide
transparency for industry about the pressures on spectrum and the likely
directions of ACMA's spectrum management work in the short and medium term,
and to foster dialogue with stakeholders about emerging pressures for
change to existing spectrum access arrangements.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority released the Five Year
Spectrum Outlook 2009 2013 on 31 March this year.
http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311686
Submissions and comments for the next update of the Five Year Spectrum
Outlook are due with ACMA by 31 August 2009, with release of the updated
Spectrum Outlook expected on 1 January 2010.
http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311712
(ACMA Media Release 50/2009)
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Satellite News
APRS Satellite Fleet Expansion Planned
Writing from the US Naval Academy Satellite Development Lab this
week Bob, WB4APR reported on new satellites with the same APRS packet
relay as PCSAT and the ISS that are in the works.
Bob said their design will use the new Byonics all-on-a-board Packet
TNC/Radio/Telemetry system. This makes it possible to build a packet
satellite out of a single 3.4" square board and 5 NiCd batteries and
that is all you need for a tiny APRS satellite.
Bob said, "We are ordering a bunch of them on the APRS Space Channel
of 145.825 MHz and hope to encourage other schools and universities
to consider including one of these packet transponders in their
missions. If we can get up to a dozen of these in space, we will have
almost global coverage 24 hours a day from anywhere on the planet!"
These systems are still under development. No launch dates have been
announced at this time.
(Sourced from the AMSAT Mailing list via Bob, WB4APR)
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SPACE News
New Gamma-Ray Burst Smashes Cosmic Distance Record
NASA's Swift satellite and an international team of astronomers have
found a gamma-ray burst from a star that died when the universe was
a mere 630 million years old which is only five percent of its present
age. The event, dubbed GRB 090423, is the most distant cosmic explosion
ever seen.
"The incredible distance to this burst exceeded our greatest
expectations -- it was a true blast from the past," says Swift lead
scientist Neil Gehrels at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
The burst occurred at 3:55 a.m. EDT on April 23rd. Swift quickly
pinpointed the explosion, allowing telescopes on Earth to target
the burst before its afterglow faded away. Astronomers working
in Chile and the Canary Islands independently measured the
explosion's redshift. It was 8.2, smashing the previous record
of 6.7 set by an explosion in September 2008. A redshift of 8.2
corresponds to a distance of 13.035 billion light years.
"We're seeing the demise of a star -- and probably the birth of a
black hole -- in one of the universe's earliest stellar generations,
" says Derek Fox at Pennsylvania State University.
Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous explosions in the Universe.
Most occur when massive stars run out of nuclear fuel. As their
cores collapse into a black hole or neutron star, jets of matter
punch through the star and blast into space. There, they strike
gas previously shed by the star and heat it, which generates
short-lived afterglows in many wavelengths.
"It's an incredible find," say Guido Chincarini from the
University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy. "What makes it even better is
that a telescope named after Galileo made this measurement during
the year in which we celebrate the 400th anniversary of Galileo's
first astronomical use of the telescope."
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/28apr_grbsmash.htm?list1098418
(Edited by Dr. Tony Phillips from the Science (AT) NASA Mailing List)
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Contest News
CW Makes a Come Back
Here's a real surprise for those who think that Morse Code is dead
or dying. It is reported that the number of Morse Code ("CW") logs
submitted for the 2008 CQ World Wide DX Contest exceeded the number
of voice ("SSB") logs for the first time in more than 20 years.
A total of 5013 SSB logs and 5272 CW logs were submitted.
(Sourced from CG Communicator and Amateur Radio Newsline)
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CONTEST NEWS
Is there a difference between a Contest and a Sprint???
The following opinion was found in the FISTs Down Under Newsletter
and appeared on the UK FISTS discussion group and was expressed by
David VK3DBD about CW contests.
Is there a difference between a Sprint and a Contest?? - Personally
I would not enter any sort of contest that required me to sit at a
radio for say 24 hrs sending out "CQ test" and replying with
"599 73 etc". It would be worse than sitting by the motorway and
collecting car numbers.
David comments "I'll have a go in a contest and give a few stations
points and sometimes I throw in an odd comment, like name or QTH or
ask a question. That can bring surprising results too."
Some just promptly ignore and call CQ, others will reply with a
brief greeting and info: after all if there is no real pile up,
why not?
The modern methods of sending variable info by hand and often pressing
a computer keyboard shortcut to send a high speed "599 TU" is hardly
a skill.
Contests certainly produce activity on the bands, shows that the oft
quoted "poor propagation" is not that bad.
But I for one decry the fact that activity on a weekend, say with a
contest taking over most of the bands is an affront to those who can
only operate during weekends and do not want to contest. This does
not mean I am anti-contest, each unto his own, but like religion,
individuals can believe what they like -as long as they don't preach
to me! Contests apart, sending too fast is undoubtedly a way to lose
possible contacts, a CQ at say 18-20 wpm will usually bring results
whereas one at 25 wpm may not.
So as they say at the end of the WIA News We've reported You Decide!
www.fistsdownunder.org
(David VK3DBD, via the FISTs DownUnder Newsletter May 2009)
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Web & Email Edition Extra Bits!!
Who said you couldn't train a cat to send CW? (Thanks to 7BEN)
http://laughingsquid.com/halp-serious-cat-sends-sos/
Tow Truck Light Shows (Thanks to 7BEN)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR98mK0beQs
OMG Don't look if faint hearted
http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks2.htm
Who said CW was Dead??? (Courtesy of www.hornucopia.com):
AGCW QRP/QRP Party 1300Z-1900Z, May 1 10-10 Int.
Spring Contest, CW 0001Z, May 2 to 2359Z, May 3
7th Call Area QSO Party 1300Z, CW & SSB May 2 to 0700Z, May 3
Indiana QSO Party CW & SSB 1600Z, May 2 to 0400Z, May 3
ARI International DX Contest CW,SSB & RTTY 2000Z, May 2 to 2000Z,
May 3
New England QSO Party CW & SSB 2000Z, May 2 to 2400Z, May 3
EUCW Fraternizing CW QSO Party 1000Z, May 9 to 2000Z, May 10
CQ-M International DX Contest CW & SSB 1200Z, May 9 to 1159Z, May 10
FISTS Spring Sprint 1700Z-2100Z, May 9
His Maj. King of Spain Contest, CW 1200Z, May 16 to 1200Z, May 17
Manchester Mineira All America CW Contest 1500Z, May 16 to 2359Z,
May 17
Run for the Bacon QRP Contest 0100Z-0300Z, May 18 MI
QRP Memorial Day CW Sprint 2300Z, May 24 to 0300Z, May 25
CQ WW WPX Contest, CW 0000Z, May 30 to 2400Z, May 31
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British Amateur Television Club Streaming to Net:
http://batc.tv/
British Amateur Television Club:
http://www.batc.org.uk/
On Screen Display Units
http://www.blackboxcamera.com/pic-osd/pic-osd.htm
The following links are sourced to CG Communicator:
Ten incredible pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope:
http://cph-theory.persiangig.com/2031-ehubblepics.htm
Watch as the International Space Station comes together a module at
a time in this neat animation (this is neat):
http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm
Teleconferencing robots. This is neat:
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/video?id=961
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
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VK7 Regional News Group Email Addresses
Post message: vk7regionalnews(AT)yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: vk7regionalnews-subscribe(AT)yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: vk7regionalnews-unsubscribe(AT)yahoogroups.com
List owner: vk7regionalnews-owner(AT)yahoogroups.com
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: VK7IR
160m: VK7DM
80m: VK7TW
40m: VK7RO
20m: VK7AR
10m: VK7ZGK
UHF CB: VK7ZCR
HF CB: VK7TED
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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