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VK7AX > NEWS 06.12.09 12:42l 418 Lines 22643 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: VK7 Regional News Broadcast for 6 December 2009
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VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 6TH DECEMBER 2009
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CCARC starts the Horses at a Gallop
WICEN Tasmania (South) was joined by the Cradle Coast ARC to provide communications and checkpoints for the 2009 Tasmanian Equine Endurance Championship rides held at Sassafras last weekend. This was CCARC's introduction to endurance riding. They were certainly thrown in at the deep end literally.
Though the rides are intended to test the endurance of horses and riders, communications personnel were also under pressure and almost under water! The 160 km ride started at midnight on Friday night and the 93 km ride at 05:00. A mid-day Friday rendezvous at the site led to the Base set up, then locating the checkpoints and systems testing. In theory, that gave a few hours to catch a nap before the start of operations, but the mosquitos had other ideas, so napping was minimal. Just to make it interesting, the mother of all storms hit during the night with heavy downpours, thunder and lightning. At one stage, the Base operators had two radios at full audio and still couldn't hear the messages coming in. Base was set up in a new portable car port which stood up well to the test. Unfortunately, the Base location was allocated, rather than selected, at the bottom of a slope next to a creek. The water found a course through the tent. Even a local frog decided the Base tent was good place to be. Fortunately, all the 240 volt stuff was at the high side and stayed dry. Rearranging the floor sheet edges and a half hour of mopping had things above the water level again.
Checkpoints were suffering too. The log sheets were soggy and the biros wouldn't work! Anyway, all the trials and tribulations were overcome and the job completed successfully. The last checkpoint closed at 19:30 on Saturday after an epic weekend starting, for the southern team, with departure from Snug at 08:00 on Friday and returning there about 23:00 on Saturday with nothing but a couple of cat naps in between. The rear guard were back home by mid-day on Sunday after a solid sleep in camp.
WICEN (South) passes its thanks to the CCARC guys (and a gal) who did a wonderful job. Hopefully they will now be able to look after shorter rides in their neck of the woods in the future. We have certainly come to the conclusion that the longer rides need two shifts to more comfortably cover the time span. The next 160km 24 hour ride will be at St Helens in May 2010. WICEN (South) has asked NTARC and CCARC to come and have a go at that one. CCARC already have some members at the start line for St Helens, ready for another great fun weekend and champing at the bit.
http://tas.wicen.org.au/
http://tas.wicen.org.au/Photo_pages/09teerachamps.html
http://tas.wicen.org.au/Photo_pages/shack.html
(Roger VK7ARN, Secretary WICEN Tasmania (South))
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VK7 EVENTS CALENDAR
A summary of the events across VK7 over the coming months:
REAST December 7 Foundation and Other Licence Assessment session Queen's Domain Clubrooms from 7pm
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#FoundationLicenceCourse
December the 9th is fast approaching, which is of course the date NTARC December 9 - Christmas BBQ at Myrtle Park - Campsite 11.
REAST December 9 ATV experimenter's nights Queen's Domain Clubrooms around 7:30pm.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
NWATVG December 9 - Club's Christmas Dinner at the Bass & Flinders Restaurant, Ulverstone, 6.30 for 7.00pm.
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/atvgroup
WICEN Tasmania (South) Inc December 12 Christmas Lunch and XYL Thank You Riverview Inn, 12:30.
http://tas.wicen.org.au/
REAST December 16, 23 ATV experimenter's nights Queen's Domain Clubrooms around 7:30pm.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
All Hams December 25 St Nic brings you that rig and/or antenna of your dreams
.HIHI.
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VK7 Regional News Broadcast Update
Broadcast Roster Released
The 2010 broadcast roster has been released and is available on the VK7 Regional News web page.
http://reast.asn.au/news.php#roster
If you would like to be involved in re-broadcasting on any band and this means not only where there are blanks appear on the roster then, please contact the VK7 Regional News Coordinator or the rebroadcaster you are listening to this morning.
(Justin, VK7TW, VK7 Regional News Coordinator)
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Northern News
Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club
You've been waiting for it all year, and finally the time has come: NTARC is holding its world-famous Christmas BBQ at Myrtle Park, this Wednesday evening. OK, perhaps it's not world-famous, but its certainly one of the most anticipated events on the Tasmanian amateur radio calendar. Bring your food, bring your fold up chairs, bring your Aerogard even bring your fishing rod. Whatever you do on the evening, a good time is guaranteed.
The WIA centenary 2010 call books have arrived, and they're still a bargain at last years price of $25. See the club Treasurer, Ann VK7FYBG at the Christmas BBQ to get your copy.
Joe VK7JG has been busy again, this time building a shiny brand new 70 centimetre repeater for Companion Hill. With the callsign VK7RAL, it can be heard on 439.900 MHz with a standard 5 MHz shift for the input. It can be heard in some surprising places, and from all accounts seems to be working very well indeed. If you do want to test it out, don't forget to give your callsign with your transmission, even if it's just a short carrier to see if the repeater can hear yours.
And lastly, a little hint for anyone who owns a Nagoya NL-770R dual band mobile whip antennae. These neat antennae have a sprung-loaded folding joint in the base, but over time their owners may find that they'll fold over by themselves usually when a truck passes going in the opposite direction. A very quick and easy solution is to use a bit of bare copper wire and jam this in between the two sleeves of this folding joint. This solution has worked well for Jason VK7ZJA, and it should do the trick for others if they're having the same problem too.
Thanks from
(Jason VK7ZJA NTARC Secretary)
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NORTH WEST News
North West Tasmania Amateur Television Group
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/atvgroup/
Club Xmas Dinner
Bookings have been made for the Club's Christmas Dinner which is to be on Wednesday 9th. December at the Bass & Flinders Restaurant, Ulverstone, 6.30 for 7.00PM sit down.
Members and friends will need to advise the Club by Monday 7th. At the latest if they would like to attend so as to finalise the numbers attending with the Restaurant .
Members have been reminded in an email last week, and the need to book if they intend to attend.
This will be a good opportunity to celebrate a very successful year for our Club taking, into account that it has been in operation for only 10 months.
As a Club, we have come a long way during this time and achieved a lot. Why not come along and enjoy the company of others with happy & smiling faces.
As usual all persons are most welcome.
Foundation Licence Assessment Results
Congratulations to Ursula Roos, Graham Anderson, both of Burnie and Andrew Kirkpatrick of Devonport for accomplishing passes at the Theory, Regulations and Practical Assessments held at Ulverstone on Saturday 21st. November.
All 3 have applied for their Foundation Licences and it is hoped it will not be too long before we hear them on air and ask local amateurs to make them feel welcome to the amateur airwaves.
If there are Short Wave Listeners in the N/West area of VK7 interested in becoming an amateur or require more information about the Hobby or training sessions, please contact the Club, contact information included in the text edition of this broadcast or simply Google the `North West Tasmania Amateur Television Group'.
73's until next time
(Tony VK7AX, News Officer NWT-ATV Group)
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Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club (CCARC)
CCARC News
http://www.my-x15.net/ccarc
The Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club and WICEN South combined forces on Friday 26th of November to provide radio support for tracking competitors on the Tasmanian Equine Endurance Riders State Championships at Sassafras.
The event started at midnight Friday and continued through to the late hours of Saturday evening. Mother Nature provided extremes with rain commencing in the early hours of Saturday, followed by more extreme rain and a severe thunderstorm which stuck around 9am Saturday. At one stage the WICEN tent was inundated with ground water flowing off the paddock but luckily all the electricals were positioned above the high water mark After lunch the clouds had thinned and the sun was shining again.
For the event we used a simplex 2metre frequency and comms were good over the all of the stages. The radio traffic was hectic at times with riders coming through some of the check points from several directions. For most of the Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club members it was a new experience, but one that they enjoyed thoroughly and look forward to doing it again should the opportunity arise.
I would like to thank WICEN South for inviting the Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club to assist on this event.
(David, VK7DC, Secretary, CCARC)
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Southern News
WICEN Tasmania (South) Inc
http://tas.wicen.org.au/
WICEN End of Year Lunch
If you were thinking of saying 'Thank you' to your XYL for letting you play radio, how better to do it than by taking her out to lunch.
You can do this in the safe company of other amateurs all doing the same thing, or just plain celebrating, at the RIVERVIEW INN at Lower Sandy Bay next Saturday the 12th of December. 12:00 for 12:30
The WICEN South group have booked the Inn for sole use so you are assured of pleasant company. Harmonics are welcome, as are non-licensed radio enthusiasts. Any amateurs visiting from the North and Northwest are equally invited.
RSVP to any WICEN South members, or Rod VK7TRF, on 0417314425, QTHR Callbook, Emails via WIA address.
http://tas.wicen.org.au/
(Rod, VK7TRF)
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Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
2010 Centenary Callbooks
REAST has received it's order of 2010 W.I.A. Centenary Call Books.
If you would like a copy then please put your name on the white board at the club rooms or come along next Wednesday night and Gavin VK7HGO will have copies for purchase.
(73, Gavin, VK7HGO, REAST President)
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Education and Training
Reg VK7KK, the REAST Learning Organiser reminds us that the next REAST assessment session is tomorrow - Monday the 7th December from 7pm.
For information - Reg can be contacted on 0417 391 607 or email: assessor(AT)reat.asn.au
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#FoundationLicenceCourse
(73, Reg, VK7KK)
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Saturday Afternoon Groups
Next Saturday is the UAE or the Ultimate Aviation Experience on 12th December where we will be visiting the Tower, Rotorlift Rescue, Fire and Rescue and the Australian Federal Police.
For more info or to lock in one of the last spots contact Tony VK7FTCL at toneman(AT)bigpond.com or call 0418136596.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#SatArvoGroup
(73 Tony VK7FTCL and the Saturday Afternoon Group)
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ATV Experimenters Night
ATV Nights get back under way this Wednesday December 9th from around 7:30pm.
We will be putting the ATV studio back together so, if you would like to learn how it all works, the next few ATV night would be a great learning experience.
Hope to see you along.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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Technology News
New radar tracks drama of ionosphere
One hundred kilometres above the earth is a region so full of drama that eighteen radar transmitters are trained on it twenty-fours hours a day.
These transmitters send out high frequency radio waves from around the world to pick up evidence of storms in space, plasma irregularities, stray electrical currents, solar winds and fierce magnetic forces.
All of these atmospheric effects can wreak havoc with the systems that govern our global infrastructure.
Physicists and engineers at La Trobe University are part of the international consortium of universities dedicated to the task of tracking this drama of the ionosphere. They recently received a $450,000 ARC Linkage Infrastructure grant with the University of Newcastle and the University of Adelaide for a nineteenth radar installation.
`This will be the first fully digital system,' says Principal Investigator, La Trobe's Dr Roman Makarevich, who is Australia's representative at the regular scientific meetings called to discuss the project.
The new radar will be installed at Buckland Park, Adelaide where it will join two other bases one on Bruny Island south of Tasmania and the other in Invercargill, New Zealand collectively known as TIGER (Tasman International Geospace Environment Radar).
La Trobe physicists and electronic engineers led by Emeritus Professor Peter Dyson and Professor John Devlin have played a major role for more than a decade in building and operating these southern hemisphere bases. TIGER3 will increase the coverage in the region from the Southern Ocean and Antarctica to include Victoria, Tasmania and the south island of New Zealand.
Most of the ionosphere is now covered, Dr Makarevich says, with each installation operating in a cone measuring over four million square kilometres on the earth's surface, an area greater than those of countries like India or Argentina.
The transmitted radio waves travel thousands of kilometres from their source until they encounter an irregularity in the atmosphere when they return to the receiver.
The aim is to improve ionospheric forecasting and, ultimately, provide realtime corrections for equipment dependent on signals passing through the region.
Professor Dyson, a foundation member of the La Trobe Space Physics Group, says the Federal Government has recognised the importance of this and other areas of space science in its recent budget.
For more information take a look at the link on the email and internet editions of this broadcast.
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/features/20091409-19745.html
(Science Alert Mailing List)
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Technology News Shorts
Radio keeps mine assets on track
Black Box Control and RF Innovations have developed a system allowing vehicle tracking and telemetry in remote areas. The result is suitable for asset monitoring and tracking within pockets of interest or in areas with limited telecommunications coverage.
The system has been installed on 16 haul trucks at the Koolyanobbing iron ore mine site in Western Australia. Each truck has a Black Box in-vehicle recorder monitoring unit and an RF Innovations radio modem on board.
The recorder provides the source data required to understand its location (via GPS), processes the telemetry data and manages the communications link. The VHF Crescendo data radios are being used for the communications link back to its central location.
The software allows the data from the central site to be examined from anywhere in the world through an internet connection.
Features such as automatic recovery requests and forward error correction ensure total data reliability and make the radios suitable for use in RF-noisy environments such as a mine site.
Online: www.rfinnovations.com.au
http://www.radiocomms.com.au
(Sourced from the Radio Comms Ezine)
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Continuing with Technology News Shorts
..
Maths builds better machines
Advanced mathematical modelling is significantly improving the performance of unit operations used in the mineral processing industry.
CSIRO researchers working through the Minerals Down Under Flagship have used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling to examine the flow patterns within unit operations such as fluidised beds, hydrocyclones, flotation cells, settling tanks, thickeners and gravity separation devices.
Information generated by the models can then be used to optimise the unit operation, or to improve equipment design.
Multi-metals business, Nyrstar, used CFD modelling to identify the cause of brick degradation in a roaster dome at its Tasmanian zinc smelter.
The technique was then used to examine a range of possible solutions, giving the company confidence in its selection of a final solution.
Dr Phil Schwarz from the Minerals Down Under Flagship said "Having this understanding means we are able to optimise processes and equipment mathematically, which means there's less of a need to construct expensive pilot plants."
For more information take a look at the links on the email and internet editions of this broadcast.
http://www.csiro.au/news/Improving-unit-processes-in-minerals-industry.html
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20090412-20347.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencealert-latestnews+%28ScienceAlert-Latest+Stories%29
(Sourced from the Science Alert Mailing List)
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Web & Email Edition Extra Bits!!
Daily Space News:
http://echoesofapollo.com/space-news/
Wheelchair Radio for the Disabled
http://www.radiocomms.com.au/news/37385--Wheelchair-radio-for-the-disabled
Why being stuck in a sand trap on Mars is so interesting
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/02dec_troy.htm?list1098418
Light Pollution a thing of the past for Astronomers
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/3172/technique-revolutionise-our-view-stars
HD Bionic Eye Implant
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Eye-Patients-Fitted-With-Artifical-Lens-That-Allows-Them-To-See-In-High-Definition/Article/200912115485724?lpos=UK_News_Carousel_Region_2&lid=ARTICLE_15485724_Eye_Patients_Fitted_With_Artifical_Lens_That_Allows_Them_To_See_In_High_Definition_
Size isn't everything but it makes for a small PC!
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/03/compulabs-fit-pc2i-is-extra-tiny-ready-for-windows-7/
Google wants to unclog the DNS network
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10408624-264.html?tag=rtcol;inTheNewsNow
The following links are courtesy of the ABC Science Mailing List:
What does a broadcast engineer actually do - Natalie Biady makes sure you can always watch ABC TV. Watch Ace Day Jobs to find out how this natural problem solver became a broadcast engineer.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/729199/957242/14488/0/
Next-Generation Solar Cells - Scientists have worked out how to make printable solar cells more efficient by stacking them on top of each other:
http://abcmail.net.au/t/729199/957242/14489/0/
== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ==
The last quarter Moon is Wednesday December 9. In the morning, Mars is readily visible in the eastern sky. Red Mars is now the constellation of Leo. Mars is a distinct gibbous disk in a small telescope, and becomes bigger and brighter during the week in the lead up to opposition in January. On Monday December 7 the Moon is close to Mars, then on Tuesday December 8 the Moon is close to the bright star Regulus. Saturn is visible low in the morning sky between the bright stars Regulus and Spica. On Thursday December 10 the crescent Moon is close to Saturn. Mercury can be seen above the south-western horizon between half an hour to an hour after sunset. This week it moves into the 'teapot' of Sagittarius, on Thursday December 10 it is very close to the star Lambda Sagittarii, the 'lid' of the teapot. Jupiter is easily seen as the brightest object in the western evening sky and its moons are readily visible in binoculars or a small telescope.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/729199/957242/11560/0/
Do you have some interesting internet 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
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: VK7RS
160m: VK7DM
80m: VK7ZK
40m: VK7TW
20m: VK7AR
10m: VK7ZGK
UHF CB: VK7HGO
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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