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VK7AX > BCAST 16.12.23 04:00l 447 Lines 22101 Bytes #153 (0) @ WW
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VK7 Amateur Radio News 17Dec23
Text edition:
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VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 17th December 2023
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Welcome and Seasons Greeting from the VK7 Amateur Radio News Team this is the VK7 Amateur Radio News and this was first broadcast on Sunday the 17th December 2023. At the mike of VK7WI this week is Rick, VK7RI.
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 Clayton, VK7ZCR.
We go out on medium and high frequency courtesy of the following rebroadcast stations:
On 1.862 MHz by Graham, VK7GS,
On 3.670 MHz by Garry, VK7JGD,
On 7.140 MHz by Dale, VK7DG,
On 14.130 MHz by Peter, VK7TPE,
On 28.525 MHz by Tony, VK7VKT.
We also go out on UHF CB Channel 24 thanks to Mark VK7FMAC in the Hobart area.
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
Peter Dowd VK7PR
Peter, VK7PR was born in 1936 and raised in Hobart, obtaining a trade as a builder/ carpenter.
He worked for many years as a Trade Teacher at Newtown High and built his own home at Rosny.
Peter was married to Helene, VK7HD. They both went through the regime of novice calls then upgraded in the late 1970's. At that time they moved to Lenah Valley. Peter put up a high tapered pole with a TH6 type beam and the two of them were very active on HF in particular.
They became good friends with Joe VK7JG (SK) and had simplex contacts between Lenah Valley and Launceston on 2 metres until Peter secured permission to use the Tasmanian Fire Service site on Mt. Faulkner and Joe and Brian, VK7RR (his brother in law) built VK7RAF which continues to operate to this day.
When Peter and Helene retired they used a camper van to travel around Australia and frequently could be heard on the Travellers' Net. Ultimately they sold their Tasmanian home and moved to Hervey Bay in Queensland where they again became active on HF.
They also traveled internationally and entertained amateurs from many Countries on their visits out here and welcomed various caravanners whilst living in Tasmania and later, in Queensland.
Ultimately failing health drew them to Launceston where their elder daughter lives. Helene died several years ago.
From then, Peter, who had had several serious medical issues from Hervey Bay time, suffered further deterioration in his health.
He was taken under the wing of Alan VK7AN and Peter VK7PD who assisted him to set up a basic amateur radio station and took him to morning coffee from time to time.
Due to problems with speaking, Peter has not been on air in several years but did use the Launceston repeaters until his health prevented him from continuing.
Peter died peacefully on the 4th December and was farewelled at a service on the 8th December in Launceston.
From Brian VK7RR
Peter was known to Al VK7AN, Peter VK7PD and Ross -VK7LH after many interesting visits regarding ham radio antenna construction and gardening assistance at his Glenara Lakes residence.
Much information was shared with us while visiting from the past as regards the early days in Hobart, including heavy involvement from Helene and himself in The Tas. Devil Award administration and distribution of certificates.
Peter also was an adventurous soul as witnessed by numerous local and overseas friends , mainly through ham radio. Has been known to visit his USA friends regularly and offer relevant help and advice to all situations when requested.
We all shall miss him.
Vale Peter
From Alan VK7AN
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VK7 Amateur Radio News
Seasons Greetings from the VK7 Amateur Radio News Team and we hope you have a safe and happy holiday season and a safe entry into 2024.
A huge thank you to all involved in putting the broadcast on each week, the readers, the rebroadcasters and the callback operators.
Please note the new 2024 VK7 AR News Broadcast Roster is available on the VK7ARNews Groups.IO files area.
73, Justin, VK7TW
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QSL News
Report - from Herman VK7HW Manager of the WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
The current list of cards held as at 15 December is in the email version of the broadcast.
If Herman is holding card(s) for you and you would like them mailed rather then being delivered on an opportunity basis please send Herman 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 is now getting cards ready to distribute in the next week and will be sending VK cards to the various States Inwards QSL Bureau. If you want your card direct please send Herman a stamp. As usual Herman is happy to send cards for VK7 amateurs to the regular distribution teams or distribute them on an opportunity basis. Thank you to those who have been in touch requesting a VK7WIA QSL Card
If you have any questions re QSL cards, please contact Herman by email. Apparently there is a hitch in forwarding emails at moment so if you want to contact me by email direct please send to herman(at)ozemail.com.au
73, Herman, VK7HW, WIA Manager VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
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Cards held at 15 December 2023 ( Any errors in the listing are mine, I sometimes miss culling a call sign)
AAA, AAD, AAH, AAP, AAR, AB, ACE, ACG, ACN, AD, ADE, AED, AG(2014), AGC, AHT, AIR, AJC, AKK, ALZ, AM, ANC, AO, AP, APZ, AR, AS, ATH, AXZ, AY, AZ
BA, BB, BPV, BT, BYE
CA, CBK, CBR, CEJ, CJ, CL, CV, CX
DD, DM, DN, DO, 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, GZ
HCH, HCK, HDM, HDX, HOB, HL, HRS, HSA, HSD, HSJ, HZ
IAN, IK, IS
JA, JAZ, JCR, JJ, JOK, JP, JW
KA, KAC, KBA, KD, KDO, KI, KJ, KKR, KL, KO, KRJ
LDH, LL, LLL, LM, LT, LVH
MAG, MBD, MEL, MET, MHZ, MJ, MRS, MS
NA, NC, ND, NEC, NFI, NIK, NRF, NRT, NSE, NTE, NVH, NWQ
OB
PAF, PBD, PM, PRN, PSH, PSJ, PSZ, PW
QK
RG/FRJG, RJ
SN, STO, SV, SZ
TCE, TED, TK, TO, TUX, TX, TZ
UJ
VA, VAC, VAO,VAZ, VDC, VEK, VH, VR, VTM
WA, WC, WH, WIA, WL, WO, WT, WUU
XDM, XV
YN
ZA, ZJJ, ZK, ZM, ZT
VI70MI [2018], VI70HI(op DIANE[2018]), VI75G [2023], VK75FAA
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Contest news
Spring VHF/UHF Field day.
Thanks to all who operated in the Spring VHF and Above Field Day last weekend. Logs must be received by midnight EDST, Monday 30 January 2023.
Only electronic logs in VKCL or Cabrillo format are accepted now (no PDF or Excel, etc), unless some disability necessitates a paper log, which must be submitted as set out in the Rules.
https://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/vhfuhf/
Upload your log files to the Field Day web site via this Link available on the email edition of this broadcast.
https://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/upload/
73, Richard, VK7ZBX
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Statewide News
Thursday Night SSTV Nets
Another busy net night that saw the following participants, VK7s – ZSB, EV, OO, ZGK, TW, KT, ZAB, ZIR and HHS all sharing thirty photos.
The various subjects were:
A Christmas theme – with more of the vintage Dennis fire engine doing a “lolly” run in Launceston
A rescue helicopter, emergency support vehicle, trains, a SkyBus, an SLR5000 car and a Humming Bird
A “Dont Panic” messages, advice for beard wearers and a Penguin book with a fish
Mythical creatures on the shore lines
Acquisitions from the recent NTARC auction. These being an AWA “Forest Phone” that was described in last weeks news and the “Gibson Girl” Lifeboat Radio.
A TNC-Pi hat, Raspberry Pi and handheld setup for decoding APRS data, that was presented on a recent DATV night
An RFID reader used by NTARC for the equine tracking system that also uses a TNC-Pi for the radio link to ride base
A hello from VK7HHS, the Hobart Hacker Space
An update of VK7OOs SSTV website with QR code
More music albums releases in 1973 on black vinyl disk that used an analogue transfer system:
Rick Wakemans “The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth”
“Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield which was the first album to be released on the new Virgin Label
And the Australian group Buffalo with “Volcanic Rock”, showing the alternative artwork
Remember Ken VK7KRJs and Steve VK7OOs 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 Kens 2m SSTV website as an infinitely-scrolling web page or on Steves site that shows the last 300 images or on NTARCs website under blogs and arranged as weekly nets.
This week there is an apology from Ken as there were no photos available. After a power failure the PC doing the decoding failed to restart the appropriate software.
As an idea, I suggest next week we have a Christmas or holiday themed net.
https://vk7oo.tasme.com/vhfsstv
https://sstv.vk7krj.com/scrolling%20web%20gallery.html
https://www.ntarc.net/blogs
73 from Andre VK7ZAB
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH WEST
NWTARC Christmas Luncheon
Our Club members held our Clubs Christmas Luncheon at the Lighthouse Hotel on Saturday 9th December.
Those that attended enjoyed a delicious lunch, a few needed doggie bags to take home, I must admit the dessert was scrumptious.
There was lively chat was had during the meal, on a variety of subjects.
We had a surprise visit from Bill VK3CWF and his wife Sue, who have been touring Tassie the last two weeks.
Besides enjoying our glorious scenery. Bill got to activate Mt Claude summit during the Spring VHF/UHF field day, and the Cradle Mountain summit both using a Handheld.
It was an enjoyable afternoon
Eric, VK7EV, News Officer, NWTARC
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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
To continue the ongoing theme of auction acquisition, here is one more. Peter VK7KPC acquired a Tiny Tim 3.5 MHz SSB transceiver kit. It was designed by Tim Walford G3PC and presented as a project article in the long running and still published English magazine Practical Wireless, back in July 1993.
It was no longer a kit when Peter bid for it at the auction but a made up main board and front panel minus a case. Peter has since successfully modified and re-calibrated the unit to display and function on the slightly different Australian 80 metre band.
As last Wednesday was the final official TestNet session for the year, Peter took the opportunity of trying the Tiny Tim transceiver out prior to the Clubs General Meeting. It was an atrocious night as far as weather, lightning and noise crashes were concerned but Peter successfully managed a couple of QSOs with the Net. The recovered audio was excellent regardless of the fact it was indeed a tiny transceiver. Peter was able to make contact with the Net host Nic VK7WW, who just happens to be the original builder of the kit, presumably sometime late last century. At least Nic now knows it is still fully functional and now has the wooden case it deserved to finally finish the project. Nice work Peter, good to see kits finally finished.
Nic VK7WW passed on to me a bit of information he receive from one of his friends in Western Australia, Steve VK6VZ and is a good indication that one of the bands have certainly started to open up.
Steve was involved in a multi-person QSO last week on the 10 metre band, 29.030MHz AM. It was between himself in Western Australia and John G3YPZ, Howarth GW3TMP, Andy G4OJY and Glenn G8NOF in the United Kingdom.
During the 35 minute QSO signals in both directions were received at readability 5 and S9+10dB levels. John and Howarth were both using old Heathkit DX-100s for transmitting and RCA AR-88s for receiving.
For information the Heathkit DX-100 Transmitter is Circa 1950s and the AR-88 Receiver is Circa 1940s.
I believe John is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a Panda Cub transmitter from Nic. If all goes well this will add another Circa 1950s rig to the next QSO, fingers crossed.
One observation from Steve was: “you can clearly hear the phase distortion on my signals and the rolling QSB so typical of AM signals on 10m – which totally takes me back to my teenage years and having loads of fun listening on my old HRO MX in the 1969/70 sunspot peak, using a dipole in the house loft.”
If you get a chance have a listen to the QSO and a look at the magnificent old RCA AR-88 that John was using and was adjusting during the QSO. The video will be available on the NTARC website under “Notices”, but only for the next few of weeks.
For the last few years Phil VK7ZPD, has been making the off air HF audio from the weekly TestNet and TechNet sessions available on the club Discord channel. This has proven very popular and I personally find it invaluable.
Phil suggested going one step further by trialing the same option for the weekly Sunday morning state wide broadcasts. He is currently making the audio from VK7RAA 2 Metre repeater available on the clubs Discord channel. So far the streaming of the broadcast is working very successfully, with some mainlanders as well as locals listening on the Discord channel. Phil will keep trialing this medium for the foreseeable future to gauge support. Thank you Phil, I have listened and it works well, this gives people one more option if a rig is not handy or in range.
Club membership renewal - Its that time of the year again - All club members should have received an e-mail with instructions on renewing their membership for 2024. For those that have not received a renewal please e-mail the secretary(at)ntarc.net This will allow us to update your e-mail address as there has been a large number of changes this year due to some internet providers divesting themselves of the bother of hosting e-mail.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The TestNet and TechNet session – is officially in recess. However, have a listen as there may still be ongoing activities on a Wednesday night on 3.567MHz.
The Club Technical night session - is in recess until January.
The Friday Coffee Morning – is in recess until January.
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.
Thats 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/
DATV Experimenter's Night
https://youtube.com/live/2j24R5naD5c
Justin VK7TW started the evening presentation with a few screen grabs that showed why the 6 metre band is called the magic band.
We then took a look at the Kenwood MAT-100 Automatic Antenna Tuning Unit which Justin picked up at a local auction house. The Kenwood TRC-70 SSB Radio Telephone and the ATU was the auction lot and Justin was interested in the MAT-100 ATU. We took a look inside the ATU and went through the features of the ATU specifications.
We then looked at the TNC-Pi on a RaspberryPi, screen, keyboard, 2m handheld running the APRS application - YAAC which stands for Yet Another APRS Client by Andrew Pavlin KA2DDO.
http://www.aprs.org/
https://www.ka2ddo.org/
https://www.ka2ddo.org/ka2ddo/APRS-for-PhilMont.ppt
We ran through applications for APRS and Justin zoomed around the Hobart map using the OpenStreetMap to display where stations are currently beaconing from.
We went through the configuration of YAAC using the configuration wizard. During the presentation Andrew VK7HPC messaged through an APRS message to the TNC-Pi with the message "Will the live demo gods allow this" - A great demonstration of the functionality.
We then went into Speaker / Microphone Configurations which are a little more challenging to use them for external applications like an APRS TNC. Justin showed a speaker/mic ICOM HM-46 then showed the ICOM IC-2GAT handheld circuit diagram showing the PTT and Microphone are accessed on the same pin.
This week's show will be showing more interesting historical and contemporary amateur radio equipment plus more. See you there or on the stream.
We are holding the DATV Experimenters nights through the holiday period and therefore we will be streaming the nights on the REAST YouTube channel.
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 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
Congratulations to our last two candidates who undertook assessments a couple of weeks ago and were both successful in upgrading.
Our next REAST training and assessment day will be on the 24th February 2024.
If you are thinking of booking for training or assessment next year please let Reg Emmett VK7KK REAST Learning Organiser know ASAP 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
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Regular VK7 gatherings and events over the coming months:
Regular gatherings:
Sewing Circle Net – Daily on 3.640MHz commences at 5:00pm 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 session in recess until January 2024.
NTARC Coffee Morning - in recess until January 2024.
NTARC - Club Technical nights - in recess until January 2024.
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 22nd of January 2024 - hosted by Eric VK7EV from 7:30pm using VK7RMD 70cm repeater on Mt Duncan on the 4th Monday in the Month.
Events:
WorldWide - December 25 - The rig and antenna of your dreams is sitting under the Christmas Tree - DX propagation is perfect and you have all the time in the world to play amateur radio! Dream on and happy holidays!
REAST - February 7, 2024 - Presentation on the Surf Life Saving Tasmania Radio Network with Greg Bird - 7:30pm Queens Domain Clubrooms
REAST - February 18, 2024 - Annual General and Special General Meeting and BBQ - Starts 11am at Queens Domain Clubrooms
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A reminder to those people rostered for next weeks broadcast:
Newsreader: VK7TW
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: VK7TPE
40m: VK7ALH
20m: VK7JGD
10m: VK7DG
UHFCB24: VK7FMAC
DMR: Talk Group 5 and D-Star: Reflector 91C VK7ZCR
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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.
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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, seasons greetings and stay safe from Rick, VK7RI.
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(Posted to the packet network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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