Are you interested in getting involved with Parks on the Air and enjoying the great outdoors while playing radio? Are you looking for tips on portable operation? Are you interested in learning how to design, build and test your own wire antennas or coils?
If you’ve said yes to any of the three questions above, you’re in for a treat!
Marty Nelson of Mad Dog Coils fame will be giving a presentation on parks on the air , portable operating, and antenna building, at the Rochedale Scouts Hall in Rochedale on the 27th of July at ~12 noon. Pop the date on your calendars and come join us for an afternoon of knowledge sharing and great conversations.
Feel free to share this around with anyone who might be interested
]]>Congratulations to Mark Connolly, Raphael Cendrillon and Chris Thomas on passing their Foundation and Practical exams. A special mention to Michael VK4MWL for successfully delivering his first exam session as accredited facilitator!
On Thursday 23 May, Renato VK4TNT is planning a Zoom talk on solar activity and how it affects radio communication. He expects to show a potential sun ejection that may cause more interference in the near future. Renato’s photos of space objects and Sun ejection are world class and he expects to share his screen. This will be a not to be missed talk.
Another successful silo activation was held on 18 May24 by Michael VK4MWL, Michael VK4MGO, Praj VK4MPB and Guerino VK4GUE. Next Silo will be another attempt at Milton when park is not busy.
Next fox hunt is on 15 June. More details soon…
The annual general meeting is scheduled for Thursday 4 July 2024.
]]>Our Les is still in hospital with no change so far and any updates we receive I will pass on directly to you.
Following is news on some of the activities we got up to this time
There wasn’t really any stuff of use for the present day radio buff but members had a pick over it and what is left will end up in the Ewaste recycling store very soon.
Big thanks go to Norm. Noel and Rod for collecting it. Even if we didn’t get much out of it we helped out a fellow ham gone Silent Key.
This was quickly installed and fitted out with the 70cm repeater and cavities resplendent with brand new high quality cables and looks the part like it should have always been there. Very Neat indeed.
Leigh updated members Retevis radios with a contact plug that displays senders details on the LCD screen, and even got my malfunctioning radio going again, Yahoo!
Plans are in place for you to bring your 70cm Tait to reprogram it with the new VK4RMC frequencies and tone, so if like come along and get your radio updated.
BARC advertising was mentioned at Teleconference for future events, I got the mothballed BARC advertising out for a look and first (vinyl) is just bin-worthy.
The second is cloth based with just our name on it and is quite usable.
Thrid needs a little trim and edit to make it more presentable and usable.
However briefly mentioned there are merits for printing up business card size BARC promo with our contact details all over it.
Please if you can check out the new Mt Cootha (VK4RMC) repeater frequencies and test it this week for on Wednesday night we will try it out see net details.
Les Neilson. VK4LEZ
BARC President
Ray Parrinder a long time member and steam engine punk head attended today to say hello, He is now in a retirement home and away from his beloved steam locos and radios so his daughters brought him to the club for a visit and he wants to come back in a few weeks at our last Saturday for the year.
Jim Kelly was there as well and good to see him again and hopefully in the near future I will help him raise up a new antenna so he can get on the regular club nets again
Glenn Dunstan VK4DU the President of RASA joined us on Saturday for our meeting, gave us a quick overview of RASA and Amateur Radio.
The RASA web site is: https://vkradioamateurs.org/
We also discussed again the need to get internet into the shack asap, and that is under way currently so expect some more news this week.
We have already requested a frequency pair for the new DMR repeater. Glenn said it might be advantageous for us to suggest a pair that the Allocation Officer can look at so if you have some suggestions please forward to me ASAP.
Les Neilson. VK4LEZ
BARC President
Glen VK4PK demonstrated another analogue digital hybrid radio that uses the world wide PABX system to transfer signals around the globe - very interesting.
Glen will share with members his interface/node in the future so you will get to know how it works first hand Stand by for more news soon and yes it will be on the next Zoom meeting agenda as there is much to talk about
The Internet connection, is a sticking point as to how we get it to perform better for all the tasks and projects we want it to discussed a few viable options for going forward and will keep you posted on outcomes and ideas before we make the leap.
The DMR repeater is getting its legs early with offers of assistance with paired frequencies and repeater gear etc, and would be criminal to deny it an early existence as we had gazetted it to next year, Oh Dear.
We are starting to refurbish the shack with some improvement to the tower mast end.
Bob VK4BXI has supplied the 70cm cavities for the 70cm repeater and they do work we tested.
Very soon we will remove the desk and tool gear and place the book case on the wall horizontally underneath that we will place a Ikea 8 cube unit as storage and use it as a work bench top.
The new cavities will be installed beside the current server cabinet on a shelving unit supplied by Ashley VH4ASH temporarily to get it working. However it would be advantageous to have another server cabinet ready for all our future projects which are multiplying.
We are looking for a new server rack to compliment our old one. Do you know of any going to waste? It is a 19 in standard rack at full height. We would like a free one :) or at least low cost.
Leigh Hall VK4LAH confirms our old 70cm repeater does use an ident program and it is transmitted in CW he knows this because he has heard it transmitted.
The 2M repeater has an I-Dent program and it is transmitted in voice. At this time if there is an ongoing QSO, it will take precedence over the QSO or as others have coined it, stomp on their transmission.
It may be down to firmware as there is no menu item to change it will keep you posted. PS has it worked previously by co-voicing on transmission in the recent past?
Was too windy again to drop the mast but I got the wire pulley installed and ready to use, now to get the other end up the tower mast ASAP.
Clean up of storage rooms planned for late October and/or early Nov. We will tackle the blue room storage room and remove everything to tables to sort out what we really have.
We will endeavor to keep what we will use and dispose of firstly to members and the remainder to junk to recyclers and out of our hair.
It has been in their several years and needs going over for currency. If possible I would like to complete both rooms on the same day which means we have a lot of electronic and radio parts in the other shed to accommodate for the future of the club so more talking before we get there for ideas to plan for it and we should assign individuals to look after certain gear and parts.
Volunteers needed.
Les Neilson. VK4LEZ
BARC President
Firstly the 70cm repeater was to test our equipment to see if any of that is faulty or not. Once this is established we can look further afield.
Well we did find a couple of faults that do have the potential to cause problems
Exciting isn’t it and I am looking forward to the real issue revealing itself in time so we can make plans to eradicate or silence it from our repeaters.
Leigh and Laurence cooperated on a presentation for members to show to load up your first code plug or config files we have decided to use Laurence file going forward as the standard BARC loading file.
Then using the software program to understand what you have in there and how your radio finds them and how to save the latest version some tips of adding talk groups.
The DMR Easy Guide is still in production and will include some screen grabs from today’s presentation and yes we will put it up on the BARC website too.
Ashley Roll VK4ASH provided the following you tube explaining wave behaviour in a really cool mechanical analogue. Introduces all the concepts we use in radio, but visually. So enjoy at your leisure:
Renato VK4TNT has also supplied a document on how 5G technology works which was distributed to club members by email.
Les Neilson. VK4LEZ
BARC President
As Queensland’s COVID-19 restrictions are eased, we have decided to start meeting again. We will be looking to follow the Scouts lead on social distancing rules.
Les, our president will take us through the requirements when we arrive. We will also need to maintain attendance records to assist with contact tracing for COVID-19.
Wednesday 9th September net will move to 2M for at least this week as we will probably have the diplexer out for testing this week will give you an update on Thursday night net
The first edition how to for Dummies is available
As this is our first draft it will be edited and finalised and once that is done it will by published on BARC Website in pdf form
We have cleaned up the shack, rearranged the furniture and installed an additional server cabinet and house the 70cm repeater securely in
Our Monday night club DMR net was also a good one where we got to discuss other DMR activities with around 11 participants joining in the Net
Saturday Meetings include current projects in progress and catching up with members and their radios
Remember it’s your club or hobby so get active and turn your radio on
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