At the Presidents Keyboard - August 2003.
The Sun is the dynamo of life on this planet Earth. Even as early as 200 BC the Chinese were studying its movements and effects on life here noting the sunspot activity visible on its surface. It was Galileo in 1611 AD using the newly invented telescope who reported the Sun was a dynamic evolving body. Being some 150,000,000 Kms from the earth and with a radius of 696,000 Kms. Its emissions light our days and supply our warmth its sunspots and magnetic storms both enhance and interrupt our worlds communications. As with most other bodies in the solar system the Sun rotates but this is not uniform over its surface.

At its equator the rotation is once every 27 days, but near the poles it takes 31 days. You are probably asking why on earth I am bringing this info to your notice. The reason being that at the class exams on Monday last I am told one question asked for the rotation time of the sun, I hope the answer sheet takes into account the variation that occurs. I am left wondering whether the students were sitting for an exam in radio or perhaps astronomy.

The Hamfest. I am pleased to report that the day was both enjoyable and profitable in all respects. Canvassing both sellers and buyers the comments I heard were positive. I would like to thank all who lent a hand on the day for a good effort. We were fortunate to have a hard working sub committee the fruits of whose efforts are clear to see in the way things happened on the day. Therefore our sincere thanks to Albert VK3BQO, Keith VK3VKS, Graham VK3KCS, & Ian VK3KSZ, well organized guys Friday the 1^st Aug we joined in a good bye party for Keith VK3VKS and XYL Shirley, by the time you read this they should be ensconced in a new home in Darwin. Keith has promised to keep in touch via IRLP so keep a ear out on VK3RLP. We wish them every success in their move.

All our upcoming activities are in the event queue so keep up to date. Some things to note Mr Michael Owen VK3KI a WIA rep to the recent ITU conference will be speaker at our October meeting, one not to miss. We still need input for Australia/Labour/Easter activiteis.Well that’s enough from me CU on Air ???

73s Peter VK3VB
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Horse Trials & Tribulations
A talk by Ian Jackson VK3BUF

In the 1980’S the GGREC provided communications for several horse endurance rides in Victoria’s mountain areas

This Friday Night – Re-Live The Thrills And Excitement As We Examine Our Involvement In These Events Through Pictures, Posters, Maps, Slides, Anecdotes And Other Damming Evidence.

The Rubicon Ranges, Strathbogie Ranges And Hills Around Myrtleford – All Were Venues For The Arduous Event That Saw Over A Hundred Horses Attempt A 160km Ride In 24 Hours.

Could The Operators Handle The Pressure?

Learn about all this and more on this friday night!

LEFT:

One of our highly trained checkpoint operators, Phil VK3YB, eagerly awaiting his next important message to arrive at Mt. Buggeree.

BELOW:

Dianne & Lynn operating the database at the ‘nerve centre’ of operations
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IRLP Ideas
Monitoring the VK-IRLP users email group has turned up some ideas for IRLP usage, like putting club nets, WIA division broadcasts, etc up on irlp reflectors for all to listen to.

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Hi All

Anyone ever mentioned this one before...........?

I reckon a few more of the Clubs around Oz with nets on repeaters that have
IRLP connectivity, could do themselves a favour and connect to a reflector
sub channel for theirs. Good promotion for their Club and area, and from
what I gather most of the reflector owners would be stoked to get some
activity on their machines. Good stuff for the listeners too.

..... John VK2BUI

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Or how about something more visual ?

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FYI - Our Club has a SSTV Net on Monday's from 1930 - 2100+ on our linked

Rptr system.
There is a co-ordinator & everyone sends one picture at a time....it's good fun.
Is this the sort of thing we'd chuck on a reflector sub-channel?....

Rob - VK2MT
6010

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Hi All,
Our linked VHF Rptrs (affectionately called "Coastlink") which are
across our Node relay the VK2 Broadcast on Sunday mornings & evening.
(This is via the Dural link using automatic relaying with CTCSS.) It
would be a simple matter to connect to a Ref Sub Chl at 0945 & 1915 to
send out the relay to IRLP world. (What wouldn't be simple would be
for me to remember every week though!.....)

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If club members are interested, a minor change can be made to our IRLP box so these broadcasts etc can be run thru VK3RLP for all to listen to - a kind of replacement for the long gone MDRC broadcasts, so interesed members can keep up with what is going on around this country.
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Will Rogers
Will Rogers, who died in a plane crash with Wylie Post in  1935, was probably the greatest political sage the United States has ever  known.  Enjoy the following quotes----

1. Never slap a man who's  chewing tobacco.

2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.

3. There  are 2 theories to arguing with a woman...neither works.

4. Never miss a  good chance to shut up.

5. Always drink upstream from the herd.

6. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

7. The quickest  way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in
your pocket.

8. There are three kinds of men; The ones  that learn by reading.  The few
who learn by  observation.  The rest of them have to pee on the  electric fence.

9. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of  that comes from bad
judgment.

10. If you're ridin' ahead of the herd,  take a look back every now and then
to make sure it's still there.

11. Lettin' the cat out of the bag is a whole lot  easier'n puttin' it back.

12. AND FINALLY: After eating an entire bull,  a mountain lion felt so good
he started roaring.  He kept it up until a hunter came along  and shot him...
The moral  When you're full of bull, keep your mouth  shut.

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About Growing Older
First, Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying  about your age
and start bragging about it.

Second, The older  we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.
 
Third,  Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people
to know  "why" I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads  weren't paved.

Fourth, When you are dissatisfied and would like  to go back to youth, think
of Algebra.

Fifth,  I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.

Sixth, One of the many things no one tells you about aging is  that it is
such a nice change from being young.

Seventh, One  must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.

Eighth, Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

Ninth, Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks,  it was
called witchcraft. Today it's called golf.

And  finally, If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything
to  laugh at when you are old.

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Beer Hormones
Courtesy VKIRLP users group email.

Gentleman, something to be concerned about. See Report below.....

Yesterday, CSIRO scientists released results that suggested that men should take a look at their beer consumption, considering the results of a recent analysis that revealed the presence of female hormones in beer. The theory is that drinking beer makes men turn into women.

To test the finding, 100 men were fed 6 pints of beer each. It was then observed that 100% of the men gained weight, talked excessively without making sense, became
overly emotional, couldn't drive, failed to think rationally, argued over nothing and refused to apologize when wrong.

No further testing is planned............

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Fratelli’s restaraunt
This time it was my turn to pick a place to go out to, Me and the misses have been to this place several times in the past, so I thought it would make a slight change of pace to the pubs nights. We had found their prices quite acceptable in the past, almost half those of a ‘Lone Star’ steak house, also in Frankston that has now gone bust - I wonder why? (pity, they were a good eat)

When we arrived, we had a little disagreement with the manager, it looks like he had stretched his resources a little, and there was another party of 30 coming in at 8:00 and he had a fond hope that we would be done by then, exit early saving his bacon.

Normally they can seat people in an outside eating area, however in the middle of winter on a wet night that just was not going to happen, anyway they soon had things sorted and that was the end of that.

(However it did make for some colourful Italian from Marianna )

I had the fisherman’s basket, one of the more expensive meals on offer, of course someone had to make the comment that it could not be the fisherman’s basket, because it was not in a basket - talk about fussy!

As usual, to keep up my image as a pain with the camera, I took the odd picture - I wouldn’t want to disappoint anyone now would I. Anyway, if you would like a look, point your web browser to -

http://www.users.bigpond.com/pastubbs/Fratelli/default.htm

Failing that, they will end up at the club on a CD, just ask - especially if you are after an image to get a print from.

No PC or printer, no problem, just take the CD to a camera shop (Teds, etc) and they will print a selection for you on proper photo paper (not inkjet paper), mind you, at $1 they ought to be good.

It has been suggested that we go back to the Cardinia hotel for a future pub night (where we held the 25^th year celebrations) for a future event - Peter? suggested we give it a go when the warmer months come about.

If you have any suggestions, don’t hold back, put your hand up at the next meeting.

Paul VK3TGX

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GGREC IRLP/70cm Repeater Project
John VK3XJW
This month I will be finishing off the controller that I designed for the repeater, before it is installed in the cabinet. This controller will provide the repeater with some interesting features not normally provided by the standard repeater controller.

Most repeater controllers just provide CW ident and timing for PTT timeout. To change the time between idents or the PTT timeout length, the controller IC has to be re-programmed. This means travelling to the repeater site, with a laptop computer and IC programmer, removing the controller IC and reprogramming it. So you could say goodbye to a good part of a day depending on how much travelling you have to do.

With this repeater controller I can change all of its functions locally at the site, by selecting the functions with the three buttons on the front of the repeater or remotely from my QTH via the IRLP radio link. By running a small software program on my computer, which is connected to the IRLP link radio, I can change the following function on the repeater remotely. Ident time, PTT timeout length, Cooling fan on temperature, Cooling fan off temperature, CTCSS encode enable/disable, CTCSS decode enable/disable, VSWR alarm level, battery low alarm level and DTMF signal strength meter enable/disable.

Some other interesting features of the repeater are DTMF signal strength meter and voice ident. By sending DTMF ‘20’ to the repeater, a pre-recorded voice will return a signal strength reading in ‘S’ points of your signal to the repeater. There is also a pre-recorded voice ident. (Note these features are disabled until the controller is completed).

The antennas for the repeater and beacons are ready to be mounted on the mast that will be assembled at my QTH before installation at the repeater site in a few weeks.

Well that’s it for now. 73s John

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Goodbye bar codes

There could be some very invasive uses of these techniques if merchants use the tracking technology to spy on their customers after purchase.

-- Marc Rotenberg, Electronic Privacy Information Center

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Razor blades and medicines packaged with pinpoint-sized computer chips and tiny antennae to send retailers and manufacturers a wealth of information about the products -- and those who buy them -- will start appearing in grocery stores and pharmacies this year.

Within two decades, the minuscule transmitters are expected to replace the familiar product bar codes, and retailers are already envisioning the conveniences the new technology, called "radio frequency identification," will bring -- even as others are raising privacy concerns.

Expired milk reported

A grocery store clerk will know immediately when the milk on the shelf has expired, for example, and replace it before a customer can choose it. Stores could quickly pull from the shelves tainted and damaged products that are recalled or have expired, especially important in health care items.

"It would help you manage your inventory a lot better," says Todd Andrews, spokesman for the Rhode Island-based CVS pharmacy chain that will soon test the chips and antennae on its prescription medicines.

CVS's 4,000 stores fill millions of prescriptions each year but many customers forget to pick them up.

"If you could utilize RFID technology to tell you that a prescription is in the waiting bin, maybe the product could say: 'I've been here 10 days and I haven't been picked up yet.' Then, you could call the patient," Andrews says.

The technology builds upon the UPC (Uniform Product Code) symbol and bar codes that, when read by a scanner, enable manufacturers and retailers to keep up with their prices and inventories. A computer chip smaller than the head of an ant and a thin antenna attached to a bottle, box, can or package will alert retailers and suppliers when a product is taken off a store shelf or moved out of a warehouse. A radio signal is beamed to an electronic reader, which then delivers a message to a computer in the store or factory.

Retailers fund research

CVS, Procter & Gamble and The Gillette Co. are among the 100 retailers and manufacturers that have put up a total of $15 million for research on the new tags at the Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Other Auto-ID labs at the University of Cambridge in England, Adelaide University in Australia, Keio University in Japan and USG-ETH in Switzerland are also working on the technology.

Radio frequency identification technology is not new. The tiny chips and small antennae already are familiar to workers equipped with security cards that, when waived in front of a receiver, unlock the doors to their offices or relay information about the bearer to a guard.

The technology's potential for sending retailers and others information about consumers is already raising privacy concerns, however.

Potential for spying

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of a watchdog organization, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said retailers should be required to disable the tags before a consumer leaves a store.

"Simply stated, I don't think most people want their clothes spying on them," Rotenberg said.

Researchers developing RFID tags for products so far have focused on the supply chain and limited the range at which a product could be detected. Once their use becomes universal the cost of the tags could be as little as a nickel each, they say.

Sanjay Sarma, the lead researcher at the Auto-ID Center in Massachusetts, says that by adding more functions to the chip, installing a battery and attaching a longer antenna, a receiver far away could read all the information on a chip, including its exact location.

Alerting consumers, marketers

Homes equipped with receiver-readers could alert consumers when they are running low on orange juice or their prescription for heart medicine is about to expire. Hooked up to a national network like the Internet, the at-home devices could also provide details to marketers about a family's eating and hygienic habits.

Sarma acknowledges that gigantic privacy concerns the technology raises, saying one way to address them would be letting consumers disable the chips once they leave a checkout counter.

"Any technology can be abused and we've got to be prepared, be watchful for the abuse," Sarma said.

Ron Margulis, a spokesman for the National Grocers Association, said the privacy concerns are far outweighed by the benefits of RFID. Retailers, he said, could respond much more quickly to product recalls and prevent people from becoming ill from tainted products.

"You do give up a bit of privacy but the benefit could be that you live," said Margulis.

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2003 Hamfest
It looks like our Hamfest has been well received with several stall holders wanting to come back next year. It kind of reminded me of the Ballarat hamfest

My day started with the mad packing of the car, it was a pity I could not start setting up my table the night before as was done in the guide hall. Oh well better pack the car well as I was planning to bring the other half with me so that I could escape from my table and have a wander around and see what was happening.

Thing started out bad when I arrived with Peter asking me for money to pay for Marianna’s attendance, I thought he was joking, so I gave him the heave ho!

Five foot inside the hall and Marianna was grabbed by the kitchen crew, dressed up like a chef and put to work, so much for my stall assistant. I will have to make do with a quick look around before the general public is allowed in. Unfortunately some of the items on my table were not mine, and were valued at over $100, if one of these should walk, there goes my days takings. So any moves away from the table to take photo’s etc were limited to viewing distances of my table. It was a pity that I could not get up on the stage to grab a photo or two of the various prizes being presented, however I did notice Ian was up there with his camera snapping away. The bloke on the next table to me saw my efforts and was quick to give me his email address so I could send his pictures to him.

As I did with my previous photo’s, I have put them up on my ISP’s web site as a web page for club members (and others) to view, just point your browser to

http://www.users.bigpond.com/pastubbs/2003_hamfest/default.htm

One buyer bought a video camera from me, however after paying, he unscrewed the lens then dropped the leftovers back on the table and walked! Unfortunately I was unable to sell the leftovers - after all, what is the use of a camera with no lens, even if the price is only $1 (going for a ‘double’ sale was a bit ‘greedy’)

At the end of the day my wallet was somewhat thicker, so I must have had some success for my efforts. (Marianna liked the extra room in the car)

My major achievement was moving a Sun workstation complete with 19inch mono monitor and external hard drives for $50, hope they enjoy it.

Unfortunately, the next day I discovered I had forgotten two largish plastic boxes of goodies, oh well. - maybe I should get a towbar and trailer for next year.

Paul VK3TGX