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VK7AX > BCAST 18.02.24 01:50l 525 Lines 24088 Bytes #41 (0) @ WW
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VK7 Amateur Radio News 18Feb24
Text edition:
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VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 18th February 2024
--------------------------------
Welcome to the VK7 Amateur Radio News and this was first broadcast on Sunday the 18th February 2024. At the mike of VK7WI this week is Mike, VK7FB.
On Sunday this broadcast goes out on repeaters all over VK7 and on digital radio - DMR Talk Group 5 and D-Star Reflector 91C by Phil, VK3PG & Ross VK7WP.
We go out on medium and high frequency courtesy of the following rebroadcast stations:
On 1.862 MHz by Justin, VK7TW,
On 3.670 MHz by Garry, VK7JGD,
On 7.140 MHz by Ross, VK7ALH,
On 14.130 MHz by Peter, VK7TPE,
On 28.525 MHz by Tony, VK7VKT.
UHF CB Channel 24 in the Hobart area - Mark VK7FMAC.
You can hear this broadcast again on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RAA in Northern VK7 and VK7RHT in Southern VK7.
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Silent Key
Robert (Bob) Reid VK7ZOR, VK7RF, VK7RD
After a long debilitating illness, Bob VK7RF passed away in Hospital last Monday.
Bob in about 1966 worked at the ABC as a Technical Assistant before being offered a 5 year traineeship as a Technician in Training. Bob held the call VK7ZOR and was active on 6m when Herman had his first QSO with Bob in Oct 1968. Richard recalled that Bob could work ZL on 6m from his QTH at Ferntree when those of us in the city could not hear anything. In 1973 Bob took the call VK7RD and later a second Call VK7RF. When the ABC started up a Radio Club (VK7CB) Bob provided suitable poles from Ferntree to place an antenna at the ABC Training building.
Bob had a varied career and Interests. Among them learning how to fly light aircraft and getting his licence. Riding Motorbikes. Bob was an early starter with optical communications from his QTH at Ferntree and Richard reports that the LF response was poor when using a car headlight to transmit.
Bob was also an avid user of CW and studied for the First Class Commercial Operators Certificate to become a Marine Radio Officer. Richard recalls that Bob and the Late Tom Macha VK7TL studied together and both ended up going to sea. Herman had worked Bob Maritime Mobile on several occasions using both CW and SSB depending on conditions. Sometimes he was on a ship plying the Australian Coast and at other times in the Middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Bob had worked at Wrest Point in IT support , at the University of Tasmania, and another local company where he did workplace safety inspections on RF devices. Another job was being on call to travel to various transmitter sites. Depending on weather, either on his Motor Bike or in a car.
Bob was an experimenter and tried out different antennas and also built equipment. Antenna wise he was keen to build a Hex Beam, he had collected most of the bits. His latest major project was building a Linear from scratch. It was pretty heavy and early on Bob put the frame on Castors. He had already started testing various sections on Dummy Load but was still not happy with the output circuitry. The unit looked pretty neat. There is a lattice tower in the back yard and Bob had a few years ago refurbished a propeller motor that he was going to place at the base of the tower and use it as a rotator for his next project the Hex Beam.
Alas Bob got weaker and was on Oxygen full time and found it was too difficult to keep doing the things he liked. He had been in and out of hospital several times. Bob died in Calvary hospital.
A good friend lost.
Vale Bob.
Herman Westerhof VK7HW & Richard Rogers VK7RO
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WWFF News
2024 New Parks for VK7
101 new WWFF (Worldwide Flora and Fauna) park/reserve reference areas have recently been added to the VK7 directory which now lists over 300 references ready to be activated.
Thanks to those VK7 amateurâ€Ös that sent in suggestions.
As a reminder, all new WWFF reference areas must fall within the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) protected area category system.
The list of the new VK7 park/reserves can be found in the WWFF online directory or the WWFFAustralia website and will soon be added to the ParksnPeaks website.
https://www.wwffaustralia.com/
https://www.parksnpeaks.org/
So letâ€Ös dust off the portable gear whilst the weather is still favourable and get amongst these new parks and reserves, I look forward to receiving some logs for upload.
As always, any questions regarding the WWFF program, please donâ€Öt hesitate to ask.
73â€Ös from Andrew (VK7DW)
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Statewide News
QSL Update
Report - from Herman VK7HW Manager of the WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
Herman will be attending the REAST AGM and will have QSL cards with him for those who would like to collect them from there.
If you live near another Amateur and can collect and deliver their cards to their QTH that would be a big help. Let Herman know if you can help.
The current list of cards held as at 16 February 2024 is in the email version of the broadcast.
If Herman is holding card(s) for you and you would like them mailed to you rather than being delivered on an opportunity basis please send me some stamps.
Herman has delivered a number of cards on drive by's to QTH's, to REAST and mailed to various Amateurs who have sent stamps, and last, but not least, to distribution helpers in Burnie care of VK7KT, Launceston NTARC care of VK7DW and SOTA VK7AN. Their help is very much appreciated.
Herman has a copy of the Log File for VK7WIA and he is distributing cards to those who have requested one and Herman has also just received some ALARA Cards for VK7's.
If you have any questions re QSL cards, please contact Herman by email.
73, Herman, VK7HW, WIA Manager VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
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Cards held at 16 February 2023 (Any errors in the listing are Hermans, He sometimes miss culling a call sign)
AAA, AAD, AAH, AAP, AAR, AB, AC, ACE, ACG, ACN, AD, ADE, AED, AG(2014), AGC, AHT, AIR, AJC, AKK, ALZ, AM, ANC, AO, APZ, AS, ATH, AXZ, AY, AZ
BA, BB, BBB, BPV, BT, BYE
CA, CBK, CBR, CEJ, CH/T, CEJ, CJ, CL, CMV, CV, CX
DD, DN, DO, DP, DQ, DY, DZ
EA, EG, EI, EK, ER
FADZ, FALX (alx), FAZZ, FCDW, FCIA, FF, FG, FGGT, FLAR, FPRN, FRJG(RG), FTAS
GA, GEL, GGZ, GM, GOP, GR, GW
HBR, HCH, HDM, HDX, HL, HOB, HRS, HSA, HSD, HSJ, HVK, HZ
ID, IK, IS
JA, JAZ, JCR, JJ, JOK, JP, JW
KAC, KBA, KD, KDO, KI, KJ, KJL, KKR, KL, KO, KRJ
LDH, L J, LL, LLL, LM, LT, LVH, LW
MA, MAG, MBD, MBP, MC, MEL, MET, MHZ, MJ, MRS, MS
NA, NC, ND, NEC, NFI, NIK, NRF, NRT, NSE, NSS, NTE, NVH, NWQ
OB
PAF, PBD, PM, PRN, PSH, PSJ, PSZ, PW
QK
ROY, RJ
SN, STO, SV, SZ
TCE, TED, TK, TL, TO, TS, TUX, TX, TZ
UT,
VA, VAC, VAO, VAZ, VDC, VEK, VH, VR, VTM
WA, WC, WH, WIA, WL, WO, WT, WUU
XDM, XTC, XV, XX
YN
ZA, ZJJ, ZK, ZM, ZT
VI7ALARA Cards for QSO's with VK7's
Note * - There are a few OS cards amongst the ALARA cards for VK7's.
AAE, AC*, ALB
BJ, BO*, BW
CMV
DD*, DG*, DHT, DT
EE**, EK, EV
FKLW, FMI
HAM, HCK*
IAN, ID
JFD, JGD,
KAM, KPC, KT, KW
LA
MAT
NB, NET*
OT
PSJ
RG*
STO
TPE
VKT
WN, WUU
YUM*
ZA, ZGK, ZPE
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Statewide News
Thursday Night SSTV Nets
Another busy net night that saw the following participants, VK7s – DMH, TW, FGGT, EV, ZGK, KT and ZAB all sharing nearly fifty photos, many thinking out side the square. There was some transmission doubling that resulted in different photos north and south.
The theme was “your Pride and Joy”:
A father with his young daughter, son opening Christmas presents and a happy mother
A young Queen Elizabeth and sister Margaret
Pets – a rooster & chickens, a chimpanzee, horses and a cat, but no dogs!
Furniture polish, dish washing products and brands of beers
These names on a retail building, a commercial lobster boat and a caravan services business
The title of music albums from Charley Pride, Lioness, Stevie Ray Vaughan and a guitar tab music book
A band called “Rockyâ€Ös Pride and Joy” from Adelaide
The name of an autobiography by George Adamson, about the sixty years that he devoted to the lions in Kenya
Prototype, a Fantasy game by Boss Fight
A submarine named after a local war hero
A functioning HF magnetic loop antenna up in the air and then sadly itâ€Ös lying on the ground in pieces
A fire brigadeâ€Ös Bedford truck, a Mitsubishi racing 4x4, a 1963 EJ Holden and a Fiat 500 station wagon
other subjects like a river barge named “Black Adder”
Breast cancer survivors participating in the “Dragon Boat” racing at Lake Barrington, last weekend
Remember Ken VK7KRJâ€Ös and Steve VK7OOâ€Ös fully automatic 24/7 monitoring sites that allows anyone who has sent an SSTV picture the ability to check them on their pages almost immediately, any time, both South and North Tasmania.
Also if you missed the net there are archives of all SSTV nights. These photos can be seen on Kenâ€Ös and Steveâ€Ös SSTV websites or on NTARCâ€Ös website under blogs and arranged as weekly nets.
Have a rest, next weekâ€Ös net has no theme.
https://vk7oo.tasme.com/vhfsstv
https://sstv.vk7krj.com/scrolling%20web%20gallery.html
https://www.ntarc.net/blogs
73 from Andreâ€Ö VK7ZAB
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH WEST
North West Tasmania Amateur Radio Club.
Dragon Boat Races
On Saturday the 10th of February, NWTARC was invited to provide radio comms for the Dragon Boat races held at the Lake Barrington International rowing course, near Sheffield NW Tasmania.
The Nipples on Ripples Regatta for 2024. The event centres around men and women who are survivors of breast cancer, and to bring awareness of the disease to the general public, through the survivorâ€Ös racing Dragon boats.
Tassie put on awesome weather, and the location is beautiful and world renown. We provided radio comms at control, the marshaling area, finish, and to the start and rescue boats.
The event is totally run by volunteers who did an awesome job, and we all got on like a house on fire. The participants were from all the eastern states, and South Australia and Tasmania. Half way through the event, they held the flowers on the water ceremony, where flowers were scattered on the lake in memory of those that had passed away from cancer, and 4 Dragon Boats encircled the flowers an emotional reality of this disease.
We were impressed with the elderly committee that ran the event and provided us lunch. Apparently, they were impressed by our club, as we have been invited to assist in 2025.
An awesome day, for a great cause and being able to show our support. We met some lovely survivors upbeat and moving on, certainly gave you a reality check, on how minor some of our worries are.
Thank you to Andrew VK7XR, who for many years has donated his professional PA system and music for the event, asked if we could assist with comms. On the day. Ross VK7WP, Roger VK7ARN, Eric VK7EV, Club member Kirsty and Dave VK7DC volunteered to assist on the day.
Photos of the day can be viewed on VK7 Amateur radio Facebook page.
73, Eric, VK7EV
News Officer, NWTARC
--------------------------------
NEWS FROM THE NORTH
SOTA/WWFF PARKS GROUP
The Summits On The Air/World Wide Flora and Fauna parks group meets twice weekly – Mondays and Fridays 10.30AM till 12.00 at the Glebe Gardens Cafe, Henry Street, Launceston.
For more information contact Al on 0417 354 410.
73, Al, VK7AN
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Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club Incorporated
www.ntarc.net
This week saw the release of the Australia Day Contest results for 2024. Congratulations to NTARC member Peter VK7KPC who was awarded “Second place”, Australia wide in the Single Operator CW section. Well done to the only other “VK7” I could see, Peter using the special prefix AX7STO who came in in the top 12 for Single Operator - Digital section.
Looks like propagation conditions must have been favourable for the North and North West of the state that weekend. Well done fellows.
Link to WIA page is in the text version of the broadcast.
https://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/australiaday/
The only other notable happening this week was the NTARC Annual General Meeting held last Wednesday the 14th of February. The AGM saw a good attendance of voting members. Extensive reports were presented by the President and Treasurer, followed by each of the club activity leaders and the all-important Auditorâ€Ös statement. All were tabled and each was well received by the membership.
The elections saw the return of Idris VK7ZIR as President, Peter VK7KPC as Vice President, André VK7ZAB as Treasurer, Stefan VK7ZSB as Secretary and Roslyn as committee member.
Roger VK7ARN was again re-appointed as our Internal Auditor and Stefan continuing in the position of Public Officer.
All the club activity co-ordinators were again appointed to their respective tasks; Tony VK7YBG as Northern Repeater Officer, David VK7JD continuing his role as Project Manager for Mt Arthur, with both being assisted by Paul VK7KPA and Andrew VK7DW as Assistant Repeater Officers.
Other club activity coordinators agreeing to continue in their roles for 2024 were Peter VK7PD as the Education Officer, Peter VK7KPC as our JOTA/JOTI Coordinator, Andrew VK7DW QSL manager and Roger VK7ARN as our Safety Communications Coordinator.
So there you are folks, you now have the NTARC Committee and Coordinators for 2024.
This was followed by the bi-monthly General Meeting…… then what else but supper, courtesy of members bringing a plate. Thanks go to our stalwart Ros for bringing all the offerings together into a laden supper table that was enjoyed by all in the gathering following the meetings.
Finally a Discord addition. Phil VK7ZPD has set up a discord page that is dedicated to Slow Scan TV or SSTV. Can be used for any SSTV experimentation. Eminently suitable for the State-wide SSTV experimentation on Thursday nights. The page is simply called “sstv-2024” it will give participants the ability to discuss problems or supply information on the images sent. An excellent idea Phil, so if you are experimenting or participating in the SSTV nights and donâ€Öt have access to NTARC Discord, please send me an e-mail at secretary@ntarc.net and I will pass it on.
As always pictures, will be available on the NTARC Web site under “Blogs” for this broadcast.
https://www.ntarc.net/blogs
UPCOMING EVENTS
TestNet and TechNet session - Every Wednesday, TestNet/CW course on 3.580MHz from 7pm till 7.30pm…. and a TechNet on 3.567MHz from 7.30pm till about 8.30pm. Your host for the evening will be Nic VK7WW.
Coffee Morning - held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Time is from 10am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all there. So why not pop in and join us for a cuppa, there is endless tea and coffee along with biscuits available for a donation.
Club Room Technical night session - The next session will be on Wednesday the 28th of February and will commence at the usual time of 6.30 pm, running through to about 10 pm, at the Club room Archer Street, Rocherlea.
Finally - A reminder to all members that if you have any items of news you would like added to our weekly roundup, no matter how trivial, then please email them to the Secretary at the following address news(at)ntarc.net all items to be received no later than 5pm on the Friday prior to the Broadcast.
Thatâ€Ös all folks,
73 from Stefan, VK7ZSB, Secretary NTARC Inc.
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NEWS FROM THE SOUTH
Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
https://www.reast.asn.au/
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
https://www.youtube.com/reasthobart/
REAST AGM & SGM
Annual General and Special General Meetings
Will be held in the Queens Domain clubrooms TODAY - February 18th 2024 from 1pm and will be preceded by a free sausage sizzle from 12 noon.
Emails with all AGM/SGM material have been sent to all members.
Zoom is available for members who cannot attend in person - if you would like to zoom into the AGM/SGM then please email the secretary(at)reast.asn.au.
See you there.
73, REAST Committee
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March Presentation
Space Junk and Amateur Radio
REASTâ€Ös March presentation night will be a fascinating presentation from Mars Buttfield-Addison who is a pHd candidate with UTAS and CSIRO.
Marsâ€Ö speciality is tracking Space Junk and Tasmania has a special role in this endeavour and amateur radio can play a part in this too.
It will be held on Wednesday night the 6th March 2024 from 7:30pm in the Queens Domain Clubrooms and it will also go out on DVB/T RF and via the REAST YouTube Channel streaming service.
This should be a great night, see you there.
73, REAST Committee
--------------------------------
April Presentation - Save the Date
The History of UTC and the Leap Second
REASTâ€Ös April presentation night will be a fascinating presentation from Peter Pokorny VK2EMR.
This will be a humorous presentation about how universal coordinated time (UTC) came into existence and why we need Leap Seconds.
There will also be a very timely update from WRC â€Ö23 on Leap Seconds as well.
Peter attended the World Radio Conference 2023 with Dale Hughes and is a well verses in the ITU and WRC behemoth as he has been involved many years due to his professional maritime background.
It will be held on Wednesday night the 3rd April 2024 from 7:30pm in the Queens Domain Clubrooms and it will also go out on DVB/T RF and via the REAST YouTube Channel streaming service.
This should be a great night, see you there.
73, REAST Committee
--------------------------------
DATV Experimenter's Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4BkbyQ9NrY
Last Wednesday night we enjoyed a presentation that outlined a world first!
Rex Moncur VK7MO gave us a presentation on his lightning scatter contacts on 2m (1 QSO) and 23cm (3 QSO). These contacts were made with Brody VK3MAP. These contacts took place during the significant storms that lashed VK3, VK2 and VK5. There were over 544,000 lightning strikes recorded and Brody noted some pings on the WSJT waterfall during 23cm experiments. Rex and Brody moved to the meteor scatter mode - MSK144 and VK7MO had 20 decodes and VK3MAP had approximately 40 decodes.
Rex looked into records on the internet and found two documenting similar phenomena - the first from F6AGR receiving and enhanced 432MHz Beacon and ZS6BTE receiving an enhanced TV station signal off lightning scatter.
Congratulations to Rex VK7MO and Brody VK3MAP.
Tony VK7XTC showed us his Field Day Power Distribution Box and his laptop charger DC to DC converter and Justin VK7TW showed the inside of the Cambridge Instruments precision potentiometer.
This week is all about radiation and a deep demonstration of the RADIACODE 103 Radiation Detector - which includes a radiation detector, dosimeter and spectrometer in the same handheld device. So if you can safely bring your radiation sources with you to the clubrooms then bring them along and we will measure and see where the radiation comes from. See you there or on the stream.
https://www.reast.asn.au/news-events/live-stream/
https://www.reast.asn.au/special-interest-groups/amateur-tv/
https://www.youtube.com/c/ReastHobart/
We stream the nights on the REAST YouTube streaming channel and we also go out on RF - DVB-T 7MHz Standard Definition on 445.5MHz. So, if you have a TV, Set-top box or USB DTV Dongle that you can tune and scan 445.5MHz and you can see the Queens Domain, then you have a good chance of receiving the DATV Experimenter's Night Signal. Look out for VK7OTC.
73, Justin, VK7TW
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Training and Assessments
Our next REAST training and assessment day is next Saturday 24th February 2024 and bookings are closed for this session. If you would like to book for the next session - Saturday 27th April then please let Reg Emmett VK7KK REAST Learning Organiser know by phoning 0417 391 607 or via the REAST Website Contact Form.
https://www.reast.asn.au/contact/online-contact-form/
Check out the REAST Foundation Licence Training Videos that can be found on the REAST YouTube Training and Assessment playlist.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsnsP_zjw831mdC6sY4XqavRUY-53ZWUn
73, Reg, VK7KK
--------------------------------
Regular VK7 gatherings and events over the coming months:
Regular gatherings:
Sewing Circle Net – Daily on 3.640MHz commences at 6:30pm ADST.
Statewide SSTV Net - held every Thursday night via the North/South Link on VK7RAF/VK7RJG from 7:30pm. In the North and North West - VK7RJG on 438.55 -7MHz and in the South - VK7RAF (146.650 -600kHz) CTCSS tone 141.3Hz to link RAF North-South.
State-wide – MICROWAVE QSO Party – following the Sunday broadcast call-back on 1296.15 MHz FM. One group in the greater Hobart area and another in the greater Launceston area.
Then North-south digital contacts on 1296.2MHz using Q65-60B.
Stations in the Launceston area transmitting on the odd minute. Southern stations on the even minute.
SOTA/WWFF Group – Meeting Mondays and Fridays 10.30-12.00 midday at Glebe Gardens Cafe, Henry St, Launceston.
NTARC - TestNet and TechNet sessions every Wednesday night. TestNet/CW course on 3.580MHz from 7pm till 7.30pm…. and a TechNet on 3.567MHz from 7.30pm till about 8.30pm
NTARC Coffee Mornings held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Time is from 10am to noon in the Rocherlea Clubrooms.
NTARC - Club Technical nights - Wednesday the 28th February and will commence at 6.30 pm through to about 10.00 pm, at the Club room Archer Street, Rocherlea.
NW VK7 – Wednesday from 8:00pm local – NW Tassie Amateur Repeater Group Net on VK7RMD
NW VK7 - Thursday commencing at 8:30pm local - N.W. Tassie 2m DX Net 144.190 USB
NW SSTV Nights - Monday 26th February - hosted by Eric VK7EV from 7:30pm using VK7RMD 70cm repeater on Mt Duncan on the 4th Monday in the Month.
Events:
REAST - February 18, 2024 - Free BBQ from Noon and Annual General and Special General Meeting from 1pm at Queens Domain Clubrooms
REAST - March 6, 2024 - Space Junk and Amateur Radio with Mars Buttfield-Addison - from 7:30pm in Queens Domain clubrooms.
REAST - April 3, 2024 - History of UTC and the Leap Second with Peter Pokorny VK2EMR - from 7:30pm in the Queens Domain clubrooms.
--------------------------------
A reminder to those people rostered for next weekâ€Ös broadcast:
Newsreader: VK7ZIR
Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and in the NW thanks to N W T A R C, West Coast Radio Group, Cradle Coast Radio Amateur Radio Club, VK7AX, VK7JH and VK7DC
160m: VK7GS
80m: Any Takers
40m: VK7TPE
20m: VK7ALH
10m: VK7JGD
UHFCB24: VK7FMAC
DMR: Talk Group 5 and D-Star: Reflector 91C VK7ZCR
--------------------------------
You can hear this broadcast again on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RAA in Northern VK7 and VK7RHT in the South.
A huge thank you to all people and organisations that assisted with this broadcast.
--------------------------------
That concludes our VK7 Amateur Radio News Broadcast for this week.
You have been listening to or have just missed VK7WI. Next week the National WIA news can be heard at 0900 followed by the VK7 Amateur Radio News around 0930 hours.
Items for the broadcast can be emailed to vk7arnews(at)gmail.com
Further information about the broadcast can be found at the VK7 Amateur Radio News Groups.IO Group.
https://groups.io/g/vk7arnews
The deadline for items is 21:00 on Friday prior to the Sunday of the broadcast.
Callbacks will be taken on the frequency to which you are listening. Relay stations will use their own callsigns during the callback.
On behalf of the VK7 Amateur Radio News Team, 73 and stay safe from Mike, VK7FB.
--------------------------------------------------------------
(Posted to the packet network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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