New Years Presidential Notes
I being this new year as I finished the old one hoping that all club members and families had a safe happy and peaceful Christmastide and indications of a great year to follow. 2003 already, what does it hold for us as individuals and as radio club members? The answer is beyond my crystal ball but I am sure that our attitude to the situations we find ourselves in and wise reaction as a response will see us greet the end of this year with satisfaction.

It is always great to see new call signs within the club families and especially when it’s a young person so I am sure you all join with me in congratulating Ross Jackson in gaining his limited novice ticket at the first attempt. Look for him on the air as VK3HDW. Good on you Ross, watch out you mature novices Ross intends to upgrade very soon.

You will find the 2003 Event Queue in the centre of the magazine, our editor places it there so it is easy for you to detach and affix on the fridge where all the family can keep track of events.

A few events need special mention. Australia Day weekend this year is situated in the Neerim Sth/Ji9nkdivik area, this is less than an hours drive for most members and we hope that those of you that cannot make the whole weekend will consider joining in the events on one day or another. Those who would like to be with us for the meal on the Saturday evening please let Ian Jackson know soon.

The March Labour Day weekend trip is to Hayfield/Sale, at the moment I only have two families registered. Although we are staying at a Sale caravan park the intention is to spend Saturday at the machinery rally at Hayfield and then Sunday in the Gippsland Lakes National Park and perhaps Seaspray for a swim depending on the wx. If the idea appeals please register at the next club meeting.

March will also see the start of the radio classes being headed up by Ian, if you know of any one who is interested in joining these study sessions please put them in touch with Ian soon. Start date is March 17^th.

I know April seems a long way away now but because Easter falls on the third weekend this year we will have to shift our AGM to a different date than would be normal.

So mark your diaries now the AGM of GGREC this year will take place at the clubrooms on Friday April 11^th commencing at 8pm. And as that ad on tv says, Be There.

It seems there may be some interest in another trip to the Flinders Ranges. The most likely time for this would be in the September School Holidays. (19^th Sept – 6^th Oct).

Last time we had a ball, any queries or ideas speak to one of the committee. We will need firm interest by June / July.

I look forward to meeting you all as the year and the activities unfold.

73 Peter VK3VB
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Calendar

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Stupid Amateur Tricks 101
Randy McLain KD5NZH (From the internet)
I hate to tell off on myself but they say that confession is good for the soul.

I have been ham for only about 2 years now but I have already pulled some really stupid tricks. Following are just a few I'm willing to share...

1. Cross band tricks I have an Icom 2800 rig in my truck. As you well know this radio is capable of monitoring 2 bands at the same time.
   
   On several occasions I have answered a call on the wrong band and after repeating my call several times with no answer I actually stopped the truck to check my antenna.
   
   
2. The old sit on the mike trick Once during a Skywarn net I rushed out to my truck to turn on the radio after getting a signal from my pager.
   
   The LED meter showed full strength on the Skywarn repeater frequency but there was no audio! What could be wrong?
   
   I stared dumbly at the radio and turned the volume knob up and down (at this point I think my face probably resembled that of a dear just seconds before a truck runs him down).
   
   Then inspiration hit as I noticed the red transmit light glowing on the face of my rig. I frantically searched for the mike. Yep, right where my brain was...
   
   
3. The old lost power trick After I passed my General exam I purchased a new HF rig. One night I rushed into the shack eager to get on the air.
   
   Anticipation was high as I booted the computer to get my logging program up and running. The sunspot numbers were through the roof and I knew that I was bound to make many new contacts.
   
   I confidently reached up and stabbed the power button on my rig. Nothing happened! WHAT! What could be wrong? It worked great last night! My heart sank, my rig is dead!
   
   I imagined the long wait as the radio was shipped to the far away repair shop and the hours of precious radio time I would lose.
   
   But wait, it could be a fuse! I checked the in line fuses. They were fine. Maybe an internal fuse? I carefully unhooked all my station gear, removed all the covers from the radio, and peered inside the radio.
   
   As I was doing this a nagging thought occurred, did I check the power supply? Well? A quick glance to my right revealed the power supply dumbly sitting on the desk waiting for some idiot to turn its power switch on.

Epilogue: Not listed but guilty all the same... How I learned about working split. Which end of a solder iron gets real hot.

Mobile antennas don't like tree limbs (antenna base Ht. = 5' Tree Limb = 5') How I learned how much feed line to leave loose so rotor can turn antennas full 360 degrees.

While this list is representative of my indiscretions it certainly is not exhaustive. But it has only been 2 years!

I'll check back after 10.
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The hot new technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (USA) this year is--FM radio?
Yup, the humble broadcasting technology, which ceased being a novelty around the time of Woodstock, has re-emerged in several new and potentially significant permutations.

Unused portions of the FM radio spectrum are Microsoft's transmission medium of choice for Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT), the pervasive-data concept the software giant is showing off in the form of gee-whiz wristwatches.

SPOT watches, to begin appearing on store shelves late this year from manufacturers such as Fossil and Citizen, will download sports scores, weather reports and other simple data types selected by the consumer.

Data will be beamed by service providers, who will lease carrier capacity from existing FM broadcasters, and watches will automatically retrieve the signals using FM chips built into the watches.

Microsoft is calling the technology DirectBand. Roger Gulrajani, Microsoft's director of marketing for SPOT, said the software giant looked at a number of wireless technologies before settling on FM. "It was really a matter of size and battery life," he said. "When we looked at Wi-Fi, there was just no way we could fit that into a watch...The FM spectrum turned out to be this great, underutilized asset."

FM has the advantage of using infrastructure that's already built and can easily handle the type of tiny, continuous data downloads DirectBand will require.

Instead of retrieving information on demand, SPOT devices will automatically download updated data so that fresh weather reports or news updates are displayed with one click.

"The bandwidth is pretty transparent," Gulrajni said. "To the user, it's blazingly fast, because the weather report is right there when they want to look at it." A few issues remain to be worked out, such as exactly who will pay for and provide services using the DirectBand network that Microsoft is building.

Makers of SPOT devices may provide their own proprietary services, and Microsoft might offer DirectBand services through its MSN Internet. Costs to the consumer are expected to be minimal.

Brian Halla, CEO of National Semiconductor, the chipmaker working with Microsoft to create the components for SPOT devices, says the costs for components and services are low enough that watches and other SPOT items will become impulse buys in a few years. "The watches will be shrink-wrapped in 7-Eleven next to the Altoids, and people will get them for $20 with service," he said.

National is working on designs for several other SPOT devices, including a DirectBand receiver that would fit into the SecureDigital memory slot on handheld computers.

"FM is a great way to go for this kind of connectivity," Halla said. "You get much better access, and most of the network is already there." FM radio was also big news in the automotive pavilion at CES, where Ibiquity Digital was showing off the first car and home receivers to tap into the digital FM spectrum the company is powering.

Radio stations will be able to broadcast digital signals starting this year, using Ibiquity-developed technology that recently received FCC approval, much as television broadcasters have slowly begun offering digital HDTV broadcasts.

The difference is that radio broadcasters will need to spend only about $80,000 for the equipment needed to go digital, compared with the millions a TV station must spend to switch. As a result, Ibiquity CEO Robert Struble expects much faster pickup for digital radio, which offers CD-quality sound and room for a host of ancillary services, such as readouts that offer detailed info on what you are listening to and options for buying CDs by the artist.

"Broadcasters are really picking up on this, because it's a small investment, and there's a real payoff," Struble said. "The biggest challenge for radio is the growing number of distractions people have--CDs, cell phones, all sorts of digital devices for the car--and this gives people more reasons to pay attention to radio."

Ibiquity, which licenses technology to makers of broadcast and receiver equipment, expects that the 300 stations covering two-thirds of the United States will be broadcasting in digital by the end of this year.

The first digital radio car receivers will go on sale in the second quarter of this year, with home units to follow.
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GGREC IRLP/70cm Repeater Project
The GGREC IRLP is on the air! We are only running simplex 439.475MHz at this stage as the repeater is still under construction. Our node number is 6794 and will be on the node list very soon.

Many thanks go to Peter VK2XY for setting up the IRLP software for us. Having set up some 200 IRLP nodes I think he knows what he is doing. Also we have received our call sign VK3RLP for the repeater.

Ian VK3BUF and myself will start on the repeater cabinet later this month and hope to have it completed by early february. Installation of the cabinet at the water tower should be completed by mid february, with the power connection and repeater installed by the end of that month.

I require some Philips FM828 U band parts for the repeater to convert it to 435MHz. The PA driver module MHW710-2 and the RX front end filter. Anyone who knows where I can get the bits please give me a call on 439.475MHz or 144.600MHz.

The IRLP computer has been installed into a 19" rack mount case (see below). With a bit of a push and shove, I was able to get all of the computer to fit inside a Jaycar 3U rack mount case.

I used the back plane off the old computer case to make the mounting of the PC cards easier. After taking about an hour to cut out one of the large holes in the back panel and 6 more to go, I thought there has to be a easier way to do this. Off to the hardware store.

In the power tool section, I finaly got one of the shop assistants to understand what I was wanting to do, he said "Scroll saw". He walked me over to the most expensive one on display (as they do), with a $1000+ price tag.

After 5 minutes of why I should buy this unit, I pointed to the Scroll saw up the far end of the display and asked will that one do the job. After another 5 minutes as to why I should buy the $1000+ and not the $99 one, I bought the $99 scroll saw.

I could justify spending $99 on a power tool that I will only use maybe 5 times a year, but not one over $1000. After getting it home, 45 minutes later I had all 6 remaining holes cut out. I should have got one these years ago!

I made up a front label, put it all together and it looks great! (Top- Completed with top cover removed. Bottom left- top view with no drives. Mid right- rear panel of computer. Bottom right- front panel with label attached before installation.)

73s John VK3XJW
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New Years Eve 2002

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I assembled it carefully and anxiously awaited the weekend when I could place it atop my 30 foot push up pole. In the meantime, I purchased a rotor from Radio Shack so that I could finally become a true DXer.

Short of having an amplifier, I moved up two notches (in my mind) in the world of ham radio. Well, I put the antenna up and immediately I noticed the difference in my ability to hear and contact stations.

Alas, after a couple of months, I decided to be sure that the connections were all still tight and so I lowered it to check. Oddly enough, I noticed that a couple of the traps were not facing the same direction.

Well, (easy enough) I turned them around and raised the MA5B back to its glorious height of 30 feet. I did not have opportunity to get on the radio for almost two weeks after that and when I did, my Kenwood TS-570dg began to have a noticeably more difficult time of tuning the antenna.

I borrowed an antenna analyzer from a fellow ham and found that the swr was above 10 to 1 on all bands except a part of 17 meters. I then contacted Cushcraft and after several conversations with Ed Hammond , he sent me a new matching network. I wearily installed it and lo and behold, no change.

After climbing down from the roof for the 50th time, I retired to consult the MA5B assembly booklet ONE MORE time. What?! The traps are supposed to have the arrows pointing OUT???!!! Shazam! I didn't know what difference that would make, but at this point, I would have tried anything.

I reversed all the traps and the swr is now below 2:1 on all five bands. The TS-570 tunes all bands easily and am I pleased.

All of this could have been averted if I had just read the instructions more carefully. But, I did get a needed lesson.

Thanks to several of my fellow hams, K5GQ, N1LN, WA5MLT who daily gave me encouragement and especially Ed Hammond with Cushcraft who took the time to help me.

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2.4GHz STEREO AUDIO VIDEO TRANSMITTER / RECEIVER KIT

This kit contains K171C & K171D modules and includes PCBs and all on-board components (10mW Maximum legal power).

These PCB's house voltage regulators and RCA connectors on the receiver only. We are looking at doing a bulk buy on 2.4 Ghz transmitter and receiver kits.

Currently the kits are priced at $99.00 but we hope to get a bulk discount if enough people are interested. So far we have 8 people interested in the buy up.

We will be making up antennas and power amplifiers down the track, (most likely as a club project) Peter VK3KCG -Email VK3KCG@AMSAT.ORG if you are interested..

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VK5 Portable…?

10 years ago members of the GGREC went on a 12 day round trip through the Flinders Ranges. Suggestion has been made to do a similar quest in September (school holidays) of this Year.

Anyone Interested?

Names and numbers are as yet, not important. If you think you could be interested contact one of the committee members
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GGREC General Meeting Minutes – 15 November 2002
Date: 15/11/02 Start time: 8:02pm.
Location: Big red brick building next to the Cranbourne race track
Chairperson: Peter VK3VB Minute Taker: Ian VK3BUF
Present: All on the list that was passed around
Visitors and Guests: Nil Apologies: Nareé, Andrew HFA
Correspondence Received: Mags from other Clubs, ACA letter re 70cm license
Treas Rpt: Read by: BUF, Moved: Ian BUF, Seconded by: Reg VK3UK Carried: Yes.
Prev Minutes: Circulated by: Gateway, Moved: 2nd:
Business Arising from Previous Minutes:

• Christmas Hamper, filling up ok
• Booking of Cranbourne hall Applic forms yet to arrive for Hamfest sale
• AOCP class –confirm venue with KCS
• Australia Day deposits needed tonight.
• DF Hunt cancelled 22^nd of Feb considered
• French island trip was arduous but ok, All hills were uphill only.

New Business:

• RSL meal at Cranbourne put name in book tonight if interested.
• Prac night on Dec 6 – BYO takeaway dinner.
• BUF to deliver BBQ
• Club to provide tea, coffee & some munchies.
• VI3BJA – fill in book for callsign usage
• Exams on Nov 30, 6 starters
• Club Shack project – options discussed, more investigation to be made with council.
• JOTA certificates of appreciation distributed to operators by Guides, vote of thanks given to Bruno for his efforts.

Meeting closed at 8:55pm

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Other Jan 2003 Articles
New Years Presidential Notes - Jan 2003

Calendar

Stupid Amateur Tricks 101 - Jan 2003

Hot new technology at Consumer Electronics Show this year is--FM radio? - Jan 2003

GGREC IRLP/70cm Repeater Project -Jan 2003

New Years Eve 2002 - Jan 2003

Read the Directions, Stupid! - Jan 2003

2.4GHz Stereo Audio Video Transmitter / Receiver Kit - Jan 2003

VK5 Portable - Jan 2003

General Meeting Minutes