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VK7AX > NEWS 28.06.09 07:17l 471 Lines 23618 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: VK7 Regional News Broadcast for 28 June 2009
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From: VK7AX@VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC
To : NEWS@WW
VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 28TH JUNE 2009
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Silent Key Notice
Bernie Burgess VK4IB
I am sad to inform you of the passing of Bernie Burgess VK4IB on the 24th of June at Hervey Bay in Queensland after a long illness.
Bernie started life down here in VK7 and was known by many amateurs here in VK7 and will be sadly missed.
Vale Bernie.
(Kevin VK7BK)
Our sincere condolences go to Kevin and his Family.
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Digital DX News
New Australian 10 GHz, 3 cm Digital Record
Last Tuesday, Rex, VK7MO and Justin, VK7TW ventured up North to Mt Barrow and Dave VK3HZ went to Mt Fatigue in Gippsland to attempt a 10 GHz digital contact over a 325 km path.
The mode used was JT65a which works to around 28 dB below the noise in a normal SSB passband. However, to achieve this performance JT65a uses 64 separate tones spaced just 2.9 Hz apart and requires an extremely stable frequency. To meet the stability requirements at 10 GHz both stations used GPS locked transceivers and transverters.
Transmitter powers were between 7 and 10 watts and dish antennas 65 and 45 cm diameter were used. The antenna power amplifier and transverter we mounted on the roof of a rock hut on Mt Barrow and remoted a few meters to the transceiver and computer in Rex's car below. Justin was on the roof of the hut adjusting the antenna in azimuth and elevation and Rex down below operating.
Almost as soon as the Mt Barrow end was set up SSB signals were copied at up to S6 with very deep and rapid QSB. A change to the digital mode JT65a produced immediate results and a new Australian 10GHz digital record with signal levels peaking at -2 dB giving around 26 dB to spare.
While the contact and new record was completed in a few minutes testing continued for around half an hour with the pleasing result that the difference in frequency was less than one 3 Hz bin for the full period.
This represents a frequency error for both stations of less than 3 parts in 10 to the 10th or 3 parts in ten thousand million. In the case of the oscillator used at the Mt Barrow end this was locked to GPS frequency at Rex's home and maintained frequency over some 4 hours driving over the sometimes rough dirt road up the mountain.
A review of the radiosonde data from Melbourne Airport showed no evidence of ducting high enough to be useful so the contact can be put down to normal tropo-scatter and should be repeatable under normal conditions.
Given that there was some 26 dB to spare there is the opportunity to extend this distance significantly in the future and further tests are planned.
Congratulations to Rex VK7MO and David VK3HZ
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Clubs News
WIA 100 Centenary Celebrations
The following from Ted Thrift the WIA Clubs Coordinator…..
Hello To All Clubs.
The WIA is still negotiating for issue of a special commemorative call sign.
To demonstrate the level of interest, I have been asked to canvas all clubs.
Would your club be interested in having use of the commemorative call sign for a period of (say 3 to 5 days), commencing mid March 2010 through to 31 December 2010?
Although I am not yet able to allocate actual dates, it may be helpful if you could nominate a preferred date.
Your advice to me via email to either address below, not later than Friday 24th July 2009, would be appreciated.
tthrift(AT)iprimus.com.au
Thank You.
(Ted Thrift VK2ARA, WIA Clubs Co-ordinator)
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Repeater News
Brian VK7RR gives a great report and update on recent work on repeaters….
Recently, whilst I was absent in VK4 for an extended period, the Hobart 70cm repeater took a hit which resulted in damage to the PA section and the output power was reduced to very little.
Fortunately the damage was easily repaired and the repeater has now been back in place for 2 weeks without any further problems.
Whilst I had it on the bench, I adjusted the tone level on the transmitter as a number of stations complained that it was too low to use on CTCSS. Anyone wishing to monitor VK7RTC can be assured that the tone level is high enough for them to use tone coded squelch on receive as well as transmit.
Despite having tone squelch on receive, this repeater sometimes suffers from an intermodulation problem between two commercial systems near to it, which results in the transmitter keying up. As one of the commercial systems uses the same tone as us, there is nothing feasible that I can do to reduce the problem. We went to tone squelch many years to avoid this intermod but since the user has changed his tone, we are back to the old problem.
It is good to hear a number of stations using this repeater, although more are very welcome.
An upgrade of the antenna has been in the pipeline now for many months, but still awaits major site upgrading which we hope to do in the early Spring. This will involve the replacement of the original antenna, now some 26 years old, with a new stainless steel one. I hope it lasts as long. Tower work can only be done from a crane so I am aiming to do this with the commercial upgrade, to save cost.
In the meantime, VK7RAF and VK7RIN are performing exceedingly well and without any problems, touch wood. Don't forget that you can useVK7RAF to talk to Launceston, using the link to VK7RAB. All it takes is a transmit tone of 141.3hz, whereas for round town it requires 123 hz. Similarly, when in range of VK7RAB, you can use it to talk back to Hobart, using the same tone. It is surprising that this link does not get more use.
As a sign of how well the Barren Tier repeater is going, it was recently used to make emergency communications by two operators who also happened to be amateurs, when a commercial system at that site, was unable to cut the mustard.
(73, Brian, VK7RR)
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VK7 EVENTS CALENDAR
A summary of the events across VK7 over the coming months:
REAST – June 30 – Advanced & Standard examination session 7:30 pm in the Queens Domain Clubrooms.
http://reast.asn.au/amateurradio.php#exams
REAST – July 1 - Global ALE HF Link network demonstration and talk by Harvey VK7TED – Queens Domain clubrooms – 8pm.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#GlobalALEHFLink
REAST – July 8, 15, 22 & 29 – ATV Experimenter's Group Queen's Domain Clubroom Studios from 7:30pm
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
NWRESG – July 11 - North West Radio and Experimenters Social Group gathers at the Blue Wren cafe at Lonah at 10.15 am
http://www.my-x15.net/ccarc
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NORTH WEST News
Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club (CCARC) News
http://www.my-x15.net/ccarc
The North West Radio and Experimenters Social Group were invited to a morning of refreshments and areoplane inspection at the Wynyard Aero Club facilties last Saturday the 20th of June. The event was well attended with 20 adults, 4 children and 3 dogs attending.
The weather was cold but kind and several attendees were taken for a joy flight around the Wynyard area. Members were also given a close up viewing of the Aero club members aircraft although there were no demonstrations of the Bazooka Parachute systems fitted to some of the aircraft.
The event was such a success that plans are under way for a repeat event later in the year when the weather is warmer. It has been suggested to make it a barbecue event and allow more time, as the 2 hours allotted was just not enough.
I would like to thank the Wynyard Aero club for the kind invitation and making us so welcome and Eric VK7FEJE for co-ordinating the event.
Members, other amateurs and even non amateurs are reminded that notification of the experimenters group social activities are listed on the home page of the Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club's website and the address can be found on the email and internet editions of this broadcast
http://my-x15.net/ccarc/
and all are welcome to attend. So if you are interested in radio make it a point to come along to the next gathering of the North West Radio and Experimenters Social Group, which will be held at the Blue Wren cafe at Lonah on Saturday the 11th of July at 10.15 am
(David Cleland, VK7DC, Secretary, CCARC)
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NW Broadcasts
Winston VK7EM lets us know that he put the WIA National News and the Regional Bulletin out on 80m. at 9.00PM last Tuesday evening along with the VK7RMD relay.
The band that night was particularly poor with noise and poor propagation.
He will be running the WIA News on 80m for another two weeks or so at that time and see what the reaction is.
Please call back and let Winston know if you listened.
(73, Winston, VK7EM)
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North West Tasmania Amateur Television Group
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/atvgroup
Repeater Licences now issued.
Applications for the Club's Repeater site have finally been approved and the associated Licences issued.
Repeaters at the Gawler site will be operating with the Callsign VK7RTV.
Frequencies of the devices will be advised in the near future as they are progressively brought into operation.
It is expected that the 6M. Repeater should be operating in the next few days, as soon as the crystals arrive.
Modification work is continuing on the Diplexer Cavities for 2 Metres and as soon as this is complete and the performance tested, the two metre repeater is expected to be operational shortly after.
73's until next time
(Tony VK7AX, President and News Officer NWT-ATV Group)
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Southern News
Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
July Presentation
As heard in some previous broadcasts Harvey VK7TED has been experimenting with setup his radio to take part in the Global ALE HF Link network.
The Global ALE HF Network is the first time a ham radio net has ever functioned continuously on all 8 major HF bands simultaneously 24/7/365.
The main purpose is Emergency / Relief Communications, and the focus is to provide a framework to help the various Emcomm and relief organisations of the world inter-operate better with each other on HF.
All ham operators are welcome and invited to participate in the net on the air at any hour of the day or night, for normal QSOs and messages, soundings, or priority Emcomm use.
Harvey VK7TED has setup his IC706Gmk2 and it is happily scanning the 14MHz digital frequencies and beaconing every hour and Harvey has agreed to give us a talk on his experimentation and a demonstration.
This should be a great night.
See you there next Wednesday night at 8pm in the Queen's Domain Clubrooms.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#GlobalALEHFLink
http://hflink.com/
http://hflink.com/software/
(REAST Committee)
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REAST Education and Training
On this Tuesday the 30th June there will be another examination session for the Advanced and Standard licenses at 7:30 pm in the Queens Domain Clubrooms.
Please let Reg VK7KK know as soon as possible if you are interested in attending.
The next foundation training and practical assessment session will be in November please let Reg know if you are interested.
Not enough people have indicated an interest in participating in a Standard training course starting around the end of June.
We'll look at alternatives to helping those interested
Contact Reg VK7KK for more information 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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REAST ATV Experimenters Night
Last Wednesday night was another cram-packed night of experimenting and video presentations.
Justin VK7TW took the audience through a range of show and tell starting with some interesting patents found by Richard VK7RO. These patents covered many of the antenna designs that we have grown to know and love….HIHI.
The a description of an interesting device to make the determination of the height of towers from the ground easy. Thanks to Alan Ford VK2DRR in Prac Wireless of January 2009 he describes using a simple protractor and string along with some tangent tables to determine the height of a tower or tree simply by knowing the distance from the tower and the angle of top of the tower.
Continuing with our celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing Justin went through a book that was put out by the Hearld and Sun paper at the time of the moon landing and showed many photos from the book.
The new ATV studio design was then shown to the ATV viewers and Justin read a couple of pages from Signor Marconi's Magic Box that described New York in 1902 when all this new fangled technology was very exciting. As part of the description Justin showed a picture of Marconi's new magnetic detector and as if by magic Rex VK7MO appeared in the studio with his Marconi Wireless magnetic detector and described where it has come from and how it worked.
Rex then went on to describe the 10GHz digital record that was set the day before, thanks Rex.
Our main presentation was a re-run of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon walk with six NASA videos on the mission and the moon walk from 1967.
In a fortnight we get back underway and we will have some special ATV presentations with video of the 10GHz Digital DX record attempt and maybe even some video of the Echoes of Apollo – World Moon Bounce Day activity at the Mt Pleasant observatory along with the third and final hour of the three one hour presentations on the HPSDR project by Phil Harman VK6APH.
http://www.tapr.org/kits_merc.html
See you in a fortnight's time around 7:30pm for another great night of ATV and experimenting.
See you there.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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DX News
Interesting DX Opportunities
FIJI, 3D2. JA1NLX will be QRV as 3D2YA from Mana Island, IOTA OC-121, from June 29 to July 3. Activity will be on 80 to 10 meters using CW and RTTY. QSL to home call.
NETHERLANDS, PA. Several operators from Limburg will be QRV using special event call PA123OLS from June 29 to July 12 from the ''Oud Limburgs Schuttersfeest, an annual marksmen's festival. Activity will be on all HF bands using CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK. QSL via bureau.
BRAZIL, PY. Orlando, PT2TJ will be QRV as PX8M from Maiau Island, IOTA SA-041, from July 3 to 8. This includes being active from the Sao Joao Lighthouse, ARLHS BRA-093. QSL via PT2OP.
GREECE, SV. Special event call SY2O will be QRV from June 27 to 29 during the Olympus Marathon, an annual run on Mount Olympus. QSL direct via SV2FLQ.
(ARRL DX Mailing List)
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Technology News
Light emitting wallpaper a step closer
Agfa Materials, Philips Research, and Holst Centre, an open-innovation initiative by IMEC (Belgium) and TNO (The Netherlands) demonstrated the world's first large-area flexible OLED tile.
The result, eliminates costly material and lithography process steps. It is therefore a significant improvement towards low-cost, high volume and large-area manufacturing of flexible OLED lighting.
For OLED lighting to become producible at low cost, simple system design and compatibility with roll-to-roll processing are a must. To achieve low cost, elimination of transparent conductive oxides as the high-conductive and transparent anode layer is the preferred way to go.
Thanks to Agfa's high-conductive transparent polymer OrgaconTM, the solution has six orders better conductivity than its predecessor and the Holst Centre has produced a homogeneous white OLED tile of 12x12cm2.
However, there are still some current distribution issues that are being worked through. The technical details will be presented during the SPIE Optics and Photonics Conference in San Diego in August 2009.
More info can be found at the link on the email and internet editions of this broadcast.
http://www.holstcentre.com/
http://www.elektor.com/news/light-emitting-wallpaper-a-step-closer.977731.lynkx?utm_source=UK&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news
(Sourced from the Elektor Website)
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ACMA News
Most Australians satisfied with communications services
A new Australian Communications and Media Authority report, Australian Consumer Satisfaction with Communications Services, has confirmed that while most Australians are satisfied with their communications services, they are also becoming more likely to switch providers or make complaints if dissatisfied.
The report reveals that, overall, Australians are especially satisfied with traditional, fixed-line phone services. Among small to medium enterprises satisfaction levels come close to 90 per cent.
ACMA will continue to monitor Australian consumer satisfaction levels into the future.
Take a look at the links on the email and internet editions of this broadcast for more information.
Report: http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311644
http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD..PC/pc=PC_311777
(ACMA Media Release 71 of 2009)
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Humour TO Finish
Security Alert Level Raised
The British are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats in Islamabad and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved."
Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." Brits have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorised from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666.
The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.
It's not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."
Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .
Americans meanwhile are carrying out pre-emptive strikes, on all of their allies, just in case.
And at a local level...
New Zealand has also raised its security levels - from "baaa" to "BAAAA!". New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is "Shut, I hope Australia will come end riscue us". In the event of invasion, New Zealanders will be asked to gather together in a strategic defensive position called "Bondi".
Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be right, mate". Three more escalation levels remain, "Crikey!', "I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend" and "The barbie is cancelled". There has not been a situation yet that has warranted the use of the final escalation level.
http://www.scanningtasmania.org/
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=611870
(Sourced from the Scanning Tasmania Website via Jason VK7ZJA and Gavin VK7HGO and originally from you guessed it….the net…HIHI)
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Web & Email Edition Extra Bits!!
Sun Porting OpenSolaris to ARM Chips
http://www.elektor.com/news/sun-porting-opensolaris-to-arm-chips.991563.lynkx?utm_source=UK&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news
UHF Radio Modem Boasts 50km
http://www.elektor.com/news/uhf-radio-modem-boasts-a-range-of-50-km.991554.lynkx?utm_source=UK&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news
High Power LED Production House
http://www.enfis.com/
Camera Flash Experiment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMNn5_OeNT0&feature=channel
VK3NM's Youtube of VK3AML's Mechanical TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ST9E8oEkpI&feature=channel_page
Satellite TV Information
http://www.lyngsat.com/
Satellite Products Retailer
http://www.melbournesatellites.com.au/
The ringed planet's moon video
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8113627.stm
The following links are courtesy of CG Commuicator:
- Free electric power, or so it is claimed. If you buy their set of do-it-yourself plans for this perpetual motion gizmo, we have a bridge to sell you: http://www.magniwork.com/?hop=ninings
- Be careful where you stash your cash: http://tinyurl.com/MilMattress
- The High Point Lookout Tower on Palomar Mountain swings back into service, staffed by volunteers: http://www.socalfirelookouts.org/page23.html
- The NTSC sunset we thought would never come. A beautiful picture from Roger Knipp: http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/wilson_ss.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
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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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