Club News

NEXT MEETING - 23 August 2011:

Bob Mutton VK2ZRM had to postpone his talk scheduled for the July meeting and now brings it to us this month. Bob will give a presentation on microprocessors, how they work, how they are programmed and how they can be used in amateur radio projects. Bob will also be bringing several of his microprocessor projects along for a "Show and tell" including his latest project, an SWR / Power Meter that measures forward and reverse power, calculates VSWR and displays this on an LCD display.

31st ALARA Contest Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 August 2011.

Dot VK2DB would like to invite you to participate in the 31st ALARA Contest being held on the last week-end of August. The ALARA contest is known as the friendly contest where the object is: YLs work everyone and OMs and Club Stations work YLs only and bonus points are made by contacting ALARA members.

It is a 20 hour contest held over two 10 hour periods from 0400 to 1359 UTC Saturday 27 August and from 0400 to 1359 UTC on Sunday 28 August. All licensed operators throughout the world are invited to participate and it is also open to SWLs. Bands are 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m.

The rules are at:- 31st ALARA Contest Rules

VK2RNS CTCSS Tone Change.

The CTCSS tone on the output of the VK2RNS repeater has been changed from 123 Hz to 91.5 Hz. This change has been made to harmonise our repeater with the national band plan. 91.5 Hz will be the CTCSS tone to be used on the Chatswood repeater when this is commissioned.

For most members, the change will present no problem as most modern rigs can readily re-program the CTCSS tone through the front panel (or microphone) buttons. However, some older rigs may have tone squelch implemented using an add-on CTCSS board with either on-board programming (links or switches) or a fixed tone determined by a combination of discrete resistors and capacitors which will have to be replaced to select a different tone.

If you will have any difficulties implementing this change please contact the Committee as we may be able to provide technical support to assist you with board changes or, if necessary, reprogramming your rig.

Be aware that the original source of interference (carrier leakage from the Optus cable TV network) no longer exists now that cable TV providers have switched from analogue to digital transmissions, so a simple solution is to disable CTCSS (for the VK2RNS repeater). Simply put, CTCSS is now not (generally) needed; however, as a service to others who, for one reason or another, may still experience interference from other sources, a tone will continue to be provided on the VK2RNS output to allow tone squelch to be used if desired.

NEXT FOUNDATION LICENCE COURSE

HADARC regularly runs Foundation, Standard and Advanced Amateur Licence Courses. Contact the Education team via the web form for the next course date or with other education related queries.

HADARC Name Badges

If you have ordered your Name Badge, and as yet have not collected it, these are now available from Dot VK2DB at $5.50 each. Dot is still taking further orders and if you haven't yet ordered a badge (and want one) contact Dot as soon as possible.