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VK7AX > NEWS 12.07.10 08:20l 440 Lines 19933 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: VK7 Regional News Broadcast for 11 July 2010
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To : NEWS@WW
VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 11 July 2010
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VK7 EVENTS CALENDAR
A summary of the events across VK7 over the coming months:
NTARC July 14 Presentation on the Magic Band - 6 metres 7:30pm at the Alanvale campus of the Tasmanian Skills Institute Block B.
www.ntarc.net
WICEN South July 16 and 17 Endurance ride Cliftonvale Checkpoints and tracking for 20, 40 and 80km rides. Survey and set up Friday p.m. First riders away 0730 Saturday.
http://tas.wicen.org.au/Diary/coming_events_1.htm
CCARC July 24th July Meeting starting 1.30pm at the Penguin Lions Club Rooms, 19 Ironcliff road, Penguin.
http://www.my-x15.net/ccarc
SMS July 25 Sorell Men's Shed Winter Ham Fest Sorell Men's Shed Station Lane Sorell.
http://www.sorellmensshed.org/
WICEN Nth /NW July 31 - Tasmanian Equine Endurance Riders - Beaconsfield Bash 80 & 40km event - 6.30AM final briefing and start for the comms team and early checkpoints.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wicennorth/
REAST August 4 Homebrew/Construction - Show & Tell Night starts 8pm in the Queen's Domain Clubrooms.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#showandtell
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Northern News
Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club
www.ntarc.net
Those of you waiting for the NTARC meeting this Wednesday evening to see the "magic of six metres" presentation might have to wait just a bit longer. You see, we here at NTARC want to do justice to this complex and unique band of ours with not just one, not even two, but three presenters on the subject. As it turns out, we can't quite get all three persons in the same place at the same time, so it's a presentation that we've decided to hold over until another meeting.
So what will we have instead? There will be a few varied subjects of interest. Phil VK7JJ, never shy of adopting new technology, will be showing off his new iPad; Joe VK7JG will have his Opek HVT400 HF mobile antenna to drool over, and Jason VK7ZJA will chat about electronic & antenna fault finding techniques in a commercial environment and how it differs to the approach that amateurs would use with their own equipment.
The venue for this meeting will be the B block at Alanvale Tas Skills Institute, starting at 7.30pm this coming Wednesday, hope to see you all there.
Ken VK7DY has asked if any NTARC members would like to contribute anything to the up coming Science & Technology winter hamfest at the Sorell Mens Shed on the 25th of July. If you've something that might be of interest to your fellow hams, even if it isn't radio related, contact Ken directly at `the shed'.
Thanks from
(Jason VK7ZJA, NTARC Secretary)
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NORTH WEST News
Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club (CCARC)
CCARC News
http://www.my-x15.net/ccarc
Members are advised that due to clash with other events, the next meeting of the Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club will be held on Saturday July 24th, which is one week earlier than normal. The start time will still be the same as usual, being 1.30pm at the Penguin lions club rooms, 19 Ironcliff road, Penguin.
Tasmanian Equine Endurance Riders
I have a reminder for CCARC members that we have been asked to provide comms support for the Tasmanian Equine Endurance Riders Association, Beaconsfield Bash, on Saturday July 31st. WICEN north members will also be assisting and learning on this event.
Being an 80/40km event, the event start time is 7AM and it will be a 6.30AM final briefing and start for the comms team and early checkpoints.
To facilitate the early start for those attending from the North West, and to avoid travelling in the early hours of the morning, it will be advisable to book accommodation at the Club hotel if you have no other means of accommodation. The event conveniently starts in the block behind the Club hotel and the proprietor has informed me that the Friday is schnitzel night for those wanting a cheap counter meal.
Due to the early start, comms testing will need to done on the preceding Friday afternoon. David VK7DC should arrive around 1.30pm Friday to survey all the checkpoints. Where possible attendees should arrive Friday afternoon and checkout their appointed checkpoints as they are much easier to find in daylight.
International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend
Also coming up soon is the International Lighthouse weekend on August 21st & 22nd. In the north-west we have Keith VK7KW activating Mersey Bluff Lighthouse, and Eric VK7FEJE and Wayne VK7FWAY activating Table Cape lighthouse.
Just after that, early in September we have the use of the VK100WIA callsign for three days and will be operating from the Devonport Maritime Museum. More details about this will be provided closer to the time
Amateur Radio Assessments
Prospective amateurs and amateurs wishing to upgrade can contact the learning facilitator Keith Winkler VK7KW who can help you along the path to a new licence. Contact details are available on the Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club website, which is easily found by a Google search for CCARC Tasmania
Regards from
(David, VK7DC, Secretary, CCARC)
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North West Tasmania Amateur Television Group
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/atvgroup/
Amateur Radio Licence Assessments and Training
Persons in the N/West Area of VK7 interested in Training and Assessments for all classes of Amateur Radio are advised that the Club can provide all these requirements and in addition provision of Facilitators via the Radio and Electronics School if candidates so desire.
For more information regarding these facilities, please contact the Club's Learning Organizer Tony VK7AX, or the Club. Contact details can be found on the Club Web Site or the WIA site under VK7 Clubs.,
73's until next time
(Tony VK7AX, News Officer NWTATVG)
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Southern News
Sorell Men's Shed Winter Ham Fest
The Sorell Men's Shed will be holding a winter Ham Fest Science and Technology day on Sunday the 25th of July.
There will be:
- Science and Technology displays,
- Wind turbines and charging systems,
- Home Brew competition,
- Antenna Construction workshops,
- VK7SMS Station will be on air,
- Show and Tell Table,
- Pre loved items for sale- Swap or Trade,
- Trade Table.
- Fresh Sausage making demonstration with Cabana Sausages, and Bratwurst. Why not try your hand at linking sausages. There will be a smoking sausages at home demonstration with tasting after the demonstration.
Gold coin donation with all proceeds going to Sorell Men's Shed.
Enquiries for the great day call or email ken(AT)sorellmensshed.org
http://www.sorellmensshed.org/
(Ken, VK7DY)
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WICEN South Invitation
Next Saturday 17th July will see a Southern Tasmanian Endurance Riders (STER) event at Clifton Vale, only a short drive from Hobart's Northern suburbs. Why not come out and see why we keep doing these events? There are at least two checkpoints accessible by ordinary car and all you need is a pen and 2m tone capable radio. We can even lend you one for the day. If you want to bring some jelly beans to hand out to the passing riders, you'll go home with an even warmer inner glow from appreciative comments. If you eat them all yourself, you'll go home with different inner feelings!
The Clifton Vale property is on a terrific piece of mixed farming and forestry country 14 km along the Clifton Vale road from the Midlands Highway at Dysart. Just turn left almost at the top of the hill out of Bagdad. There will be signs.
Even better, come out on Friday afternoon and explore the country while we set up Base and survey the course. STER will run a basic BBQ all weekend with food/drink for sale. Hamburgers, chicken burgers & sausages in bread, egg & bacon rolls, cold & hot drink & chocolates will be available. Plenty of room for camping etc. at Base, or, if you want to be more adventurous, you might chose to camp at a Checkpoint and have a lie in on Saturday morning, so long as you're up and about before the clippity cloppers approach your location.
If you're not sure this is for you, just drop in next Saturday 17th July, see what it's all about and why we keep going back for more.
Further details and a Google map can be found on the email and internet editions of this broadcast.
http://tas.wicen.org.au/Diary/coming_events_1.htm
(Roger VK7ARN, Secretary WICEN Tasmania (South))
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Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
http://reast.asn.au/
July Presentation
Constructor's Night Optical Transceivers Abound
As a result of last Wednesday evenings event there are now 20 more optical transceivers in Southern Tasmania and even two on their way to VK5 for a science fair!
It was fantastic night with a full house of constructors all eager to get into building their transceivers. We even had a few guests along in young Sam who is Patrick VK7FPJB's cousin and dare I say it
.. young Sean who came along with Ben VK7BEN.
All the kits that were started on the night were finished and we got them all working and tested. Mike VK7MJ brought along his test transmitter and Justin VK7TW brought along his big optical transceiver to send and receive a signal along with a range of lenses both traditional and fresnel and reflectors to demonstrate how the lens or reflector provides gain and increases the distance that can be worked.
From the feedback it was wonderful night and we will certainly be planning another for next year.
We will be putting all the details on the REAST website for anyone who would like to build and experiment with one of these optical transceivers.
A great big thank you to all the others who came along and brought their soldering irons and tools for others to use and helped many of the constructors and especially Mike VK7MJ who came along with his test transmitter.
Thanks again to all who came along and made the night a great success.
At the August show and tell night I would like to see these transceivers mounted in boxes with lenses and long distances worked
.HIHI.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#constructornight
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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Licence Examinations
If you are interested in sitting an amateur radio assessment and this can be for any of the assessments then contact Reg VK7KK on 0417 391 607, or email on regemm(AT)ozemail.com.au.
(73, Reg VK7KK, REAST Education Officer and Assessor)
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ATV Experimenters Night
We get back underway with our ATV nights next Wednesday night with some interesting show and tell and for the video presentation we will be a fascinating talk by Dave Brown ZL3FJ on Time and Frequency.
This video runs through the concepts of time and frequency and shows the technology from the start to the current time and frequency standards.
So, for those interested we get underway on Wednesday the 14th around 7:30pm and we broadcast on 444.25MHz analog ATV which is just below SBS on the UHF TV band.
Hope to see you along.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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Contest News
Waitakere Sprints
The FISTS mailing list reminds us that the NZ Waitakere Sprints are nearly with us again.
The Papakura Radio Club inc. is pleased to provide the rules for the Waitakere Sprints 2010 The Sprints will be the same at previously held, the Phone Sprint will be on the last Saturday in July and the CW Sprint will be on the first Saturday in August.
The Sprints are of one-hour duration on 80m, and are open to all licensed amateurs in ZL, VK and Oceania call areas.
Object of the Sprints
The operator's basic goal in the sprints is to make as many contacts as possible, without duplication, during an hour of operation on a single band. Any contact with ZL, VK or Oceania stations on 80m during the contest period can be counted, but a station may be claimed only once.
2010 Contest Periods
The phone section runs from 1000 to 1100 UTC, on Saturday 31st July and the CW section runs from 1000 to 1100 UTC, on Saturday 7th August.
The frequencies for phone are 3.550 to 3.700 and for the CW section 3.500 to 3.550 may be used.
Enjoy yourself with this 1 hour contest.
The rule can be found at the address on the email and internet editions of this broadcast:
http://www.qsl.net/zl1vk/PRCClubActivityPage/WaitakereSprintPage/waitakeresprint.html
(Regards, David ZL1DK via the FISTS Mailing List)
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SPACE News
Solar Sail Project
Still on a light theme the following was sent through by Tom VK7TL and is a fascinating look at a project where light is being used to move very small satellites through space.
The Planetary Society is building a spacecraft that will sail on sunlight alone by the end of 2010. The new solar sail project, boosted by a one-million-dollar anonymous donation, is the beginning of an innovative program that will launch three separate spacecraft over the course of several years.
The program starts with LightSail-1, which will demonstrate that sunlight can propel a spacecraft in Earth orbit. LightSail 2 and 3, more ambitious and aim to reach farther into space.
Sailing on light pressure (from lasers rather than sunlight) is the only known technology that might carry out practical interstellar flight, helping pave our way to the stars. The project also has many practical applications that include:
Monitoring the Sun for solar storms, providing stable Earth observation platforms, and exploring our solar system without carrying heavy propellants.
The solar sail propulsion is simple in concept. Light photons bounce onto a mirror-like aluminized Mylar sail. As each photon hits, its momentum is transmitted to the spacecraft.
Photons have no mass but lots of energy, so a solar sail space probe requires no onboard fuel. The force acts continuously, meaning a solar sail can eventually reach speeds five to ten times greater than any chemical rocket.
Russia, the U.S. and the European Space Agency all started solar sail missions and technology programs but cut them back when money got tight. Japan, we are happy to say, is now moving ahead to develop an innovative solar sail and solar-powered ion drive hybrid.
This technology also opens up many new possibilities for piggyback launching into Earth orbit, which is desperately needed since launch vehicles have been a hindrance preventing solar sail flight. We're considering several launch possibilities and will select the most reliable one that matches our schedule and final orbit choice best.
For more information on this fascinating project take a look at the link on the email and internet editions of this broadcast.
http://planetary.org/programs/projects/solar_sailing/
(Sourced from the Planetary Society website via Tom VK7TL)
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Technology News
Vuvuzela Silencer in LABVIEW
While many websites have suggested solutions to silencing or at least reducing the constant drone of vuvuzelas during Word Cup Soccer games, none have offered much in the way of a solution you can use at home. Now Simon Hogg, a LABVIEW product manager has published an application that detects the fundamental frequency of the vuvuzelas (around 233 Hz) and applies a notch filter to it and as many harmonics as you specify. The end result reportedly is a significant reduction in the annoying background noise without too much interruption of the commentary and other audio.
Hardware-wise you will need to insert your computer in the audio signal flow. If your TV has an audio output, connect that to your sound card's line in, then connect your sound card output to however you want to listen to the game (speakers or headphones).
In Simon's setup, the game output is streamed to an old PC and the audio output to a laptop, which applies the filter and then outputs to headphones.
All resources needed to implement the filter are available at the web page the address of which is listed on the email and web edition of this news.
More info:
http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-12151
(Sourced from the Elektor eZine Website)
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Web & Email Edition Extra Bits! !
This week the web links are sourced from the Geek News Central Mailing List:
26 Hour Solar Flight!
iOS 4 and the API Calls.
Telescopic Eye approved.
50 Mbps in the Air!
Digital Emily.
The Last Shuttle Tank.
Ford Sync Do not Disturb!
iPhone 4 Fire!
Twitter can get you Fired!
Mobile YouTube.
Top 10 iPad Apps for Summer.
Gmail Rich Text Signatures.
Big Brother is here to help.
Pirate Bay user accounts exposed.
Asteroid Dust?
Shuttle Layoffs.
NVIDIA playing hardball with Intel?
Windows 7 and 64bit Computing.
Get your $16.00 Comcast Settlement Payment.
3 Patches on Tuesday.
City Supported Internet map.
Time Warner wins small lawsuit battle.
Yes Sir may I have another (RIAA).
Firefox 4 Look and Feel.
Cracking the Code.
Texting Bill is not your only worry!
Don't describe a Patent or risk Lawsuit.
Best Buy backs down on Firing YouTube Video creator.
Hollywood and their funny math.
Can Homeland Security take your domain name?
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: VK7TW
80m: VK7JGD
40m: VK7RO
20m: VK7IL
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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