| Online
Magazine for November 2001 |
President’s
Message - November/December 2001
As
we approach the end of the year it seems time gets (goes) faster
and faster. Personally I haven’t had much time to do any radio work
of late apart from a bit of reading as I study for the full theory
exam. Work commitments (again!!!) have not allowed me to sit the
exam this year but I hope I can first thing next year.
The Christmas party
is coming up and this is always a popular social event in the clubs
year. It is at Keith’s VK3HSS place and we thank Keith and Shirley,
in advance, for allowing us to use their home. You will find their
address on the Club Membership list. A HUGE raffle will also be
drawn on the day and just a reminder that we are asking members
to bring along something to place in the hamper, and to also buy
tickets. This is not necessarily a fund raising effort, however
we do hope to cover costs and somebody will go home with a lot of
goodies. Next year we may need to look at serious fundraising, if
we make advances in getting our own rooms.
On the subject of new
clubrooms, the building committee has put in a submission to council,
we will have wait and see for the result.
The club is holding
another RDF event down on Philip Island starting out at our holiday
house down there. A BBQ will be available for use but you should
bring all your own food, drinks and something to sit on. See elsewhere
in this magazine for the details.
The committee has decided
that the Australia Day weekend away will be at Marysville. We will
need numbers and a deposit for the caravan park at the meeting on
Friday so consult your diaries and make a booking!
All that remains for
me is to, on behalf of Angela and Rebekah and myself, to wish you
all a happy festive season and to hope that your 2002 is your best
yet.
Cheers for now, Andrew
VK3HFA
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Australia Day Weekend 2002 bookings
required NOW !
Bring your $24.oo deposit
this Friday 16th November General meeting night to book one of only
12 sites remaining at the Marysville Caravan Park for the 2002 Australia
Day Weekend.
Marysville has Great
scenery, Wineries, Lake Mountain, Restaurants, Stevenson Falls,
an amazing Sculpture garden, Cumberland Falls, Coffee shops, Cora
Lynn Falls, The Marysville Country Bakery, The Big Tree, Uncle Fred
and Aunty Val’s Lolly shop and the Cathedral Range State Park.
Marysville is 95km or
2 hours drive from Melbourne CBD via the Maroondah Highway through
Lilydale and Healesville.
Check out www.marysvillecaravanpark.com.au
for information about other attractions in the area and alternative
accommodation such as en-suite cabins that you might like to book
yourself.
To make this weekend
a success we all need to pay our deposits at this Fridays General
Meeting night to secure the sites as Long Weekend accommodation
books up fast.
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RDF Phillip Island
Starting at
First Avenue, Cape Woolamai (cnr Kendall Avenue)
Melways : 534
B8 Date : 24/11/01
Starting time
: 10am (lunch to follow)
The foxes are
the Pavey’s who won last time!
House open for
non fox hunters!!!!
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Christmas Party
December 8th
at the home of Keith and Shirley , Cranbourne North.
BYO Meat/drinks
and a salad and sweet to share (like for the annual dinner – a list
at the general meeting to help cater)
Time advised at
meeting.
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Event
Queue
|
Date / Time
|
Event
|
Details
|
|
Friday 16th November
|
General Meeting
|
Guest Speaker TBA
|
|
Saturday 24th November
|
DF HUNT (by popular demand)
|
At Philip Island – see details this issue
|
|
Saturday 8th December
|
Christmas Party
|
GGREC Christmas Party.
At the Keith and
Shirley’s residence in Cranbourne Nth.
|
|
December
|
No GGREC Meetings
|
Holiday Break
|
|
Australia Day Holiday January 2002
|
Weekend Away at Marrysville
|
See details in this edition. Deposit’s need to be paid at
November General Meeting.
|
Dates in Italics
have changed since the last Event Queue was published.
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ARTHURS SEAT PICNIC
A hardy group
of club members and families journeyed to Arthurs Seat late in October.
It was decided to head to Seawinds looking for shelter. We found
shelter, which was shared with a group celebrating a naming festival.
Ian’s mast was soon
in the air, and a dipole strung across the road. Mike fired up on
2m ssb with a contact to Geelong. Unfortunately HF was very quiet.
Phil fired up 1296, but even though several repeaters were able
to be accessed no contact was had. An enjoyable day.
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3 Element Yagi from Clear Lake Amateur Radio
Club.
(http://www.clarc.org/Articles/uhf.htm)
With another DF
hunt upon us here is another quick yagi design you can try. This
is the design that I showed at DF talk a few months ago.
These antennas are relatively
small, easily constructed from common materials/tools and have surprising
performance. The feed method is greatly simpified by directly soldering
the coax to the driven element. No baluns or gamma matches are used
in this design. This simplified feed uses the structure of the antenna
itself for impedance matching. The spacing of the director and reflector
elements from the driven element directly affects the feed point
impedance of the antenna.
So, the design starts with the feed (driven element) and the elements
are built around it. Typically, a high gain antenna is designed
in the computer, then you try to come up with a matching arrangement
for a 31.9 Ohm feed! For the cost about 0.5 dB of gain, these antennas
make some design compromises for the feed impedance, use an asymmetrical
feed and make trade offs for a very clean pattern. But, they allow
simple measurements, have wide bandwidth, the ability to grow with
the same element spacing AND... you can build these antennas for
$5!!!!
The booms used for these antennas is 1/2" X 3/4" wood. The elements
have been made from silicon bronze welding rod, aluminum rod, hobby
tubing and solid ground wire with no change in performance.
144 MHz. This
antenna is peaked for 144.2 MHz but performance is still good at
146.52 (emergency use only!) Driven element dimensions are L = 38.5"
and H = 1.0" Elements are 1/8" diameter.
|
144 MHz
|
REF
|
DE
|
D1
|
D2
|
|
3 Element
|
Length
Spacing
|
41.00
0.00
|
8.50
|
37.00
20.00
|
|
|
4 Element
|
Length
Spacing
|
42.00
0.00
|
8.50
|
37.50
19.25
|
33.00
40.50
|
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FOR SALE
Icom ICQ7a 2/70cm Handheld
and scanner. Inc speaker mic, handbook. This is current model with
rx past 1.2Ghz. $225
CONTACT VK3VB
OR VK3OZ 03 59983533
Equipment Below from Deceased Estate VK3ZMR
KLM 2m FM
Amp $100
Philips 70cm FM321
mobile $100
Icom IC22a Xtal
2m mobile $100
Dick Smith 25Amp
supply 3-15V $200
Plessey 6mtr MTR8000,
24 channels, remote head, mobile bracket and frequency chart $100
Plessey 70cm MTR8000,
35 channels, remote head, mobile bracket and frequency chart $125
Gutter Mount $10
CONTACT VK3VB
OR VK3OZ 03 59983533
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Have you tried something different with AR
recently?
From time to time we
all tend to find that with other interests and family commitments
our radio activities drop off. With the Christmas Holidays period
approaching here are a few different aspects of the hobby you could
try.
APRS. If you have a
pc capable of running windows, a 2m set with 144.9 and an old packet
TNC/modem you could monitor the APRS activity. This is where stations
around the globe have GPS data fed into there packet systems, sending
co-ordinates that are then plotted onto your screen. You can send
messages to stations as well as view data such as weather station
information.
6m SSB. Why not listen
down the bottom of 6 metres? A dipole of 140cm per leg is all that
is needed to get on air – and this is the right time of the year
for activity.
IRLP. Our node is still
a WIP (work in progress), but listen to 147.000 (-600) repeater
to hear the type of activity we can expect. The Arthur’s Seat 70cm
repeater is now also running as an IRLP node.
UO-14. To get started
on this satellite you can use a 2m ¼ wave for both bands – see January
2001 "Gateway" for frequency details.
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General Meeting Minutes
Date: 19th October
2001 Start time: 8:05 pm.
Location: Guide
Hall Cranbourne Chairperson: Andrew Clinkaberry
Minute Taker:
Bruno Tonizzo
Present: As per
Attendance Sheet.
Visitors and Guests:
Ken Matchette
Apologies: Phil
Pavey VK3YB, Colin Jones VK3NQS, Peter Pavey VK3VB, Bill Jones VK3DQS,
VK3HSA
Correspondence
Received:
AR Magazine October
2001, NERG News October 2001, WANSARC October news letter, EMDRC
October news letter,
FAMPARC September/October
newsletter, Email from WIA re – non-member privileges
Treasurer’s Report:
Read by: Ian Benson
Moved by: Ian Benson Seconded by: Keith Sadler Carried: Yes.
As per Committee
minutes report.
Previous Minutes:
Read by: Andrew Clinkaberry Moved by: Reg Goddard Seconded by: Keith
Sadler Carried: Yes.
New Callsigns:
Nil
Business Arising
from Previous Minutes:
The following
items were discussed.
Keith Sadler –
Why did members that elected to receive their monthly mag by email,
receive it by post?
This month’s copy
contained a new membership list that is not published in this detail
on the web.
Discussion re
– Jota/Joti. Good representation from the Club have elected to assist.
New Business:
Dave Campbell
– City of Casey have called for applications for Community Funding.
Building sub committee
to send in an application.
Ian Jackson displayed
a prototype Tx/Rx for foxhunting in confined places!! Will bring
one to Jota.
Jota / Joti –
Run down of the days events and equipment required.
Jason Jones –
Jason gave a talk on his visit to the VicRoads video surveillance
centre in Camberwell. This would be a great
outing for the Club. Committee to explore.
Next year is the
Club’s 25th Anniversary. All members to provide the committee
with ideas for ways to celebrate this occasion.
Club Events: –
As per Event Queue
Guest Speaker:
- Ken Matchette, QSL Card collection
Next Meeting:
Prac Night November the 2nd, 2001.
November General
Meeting: 16th September 2001. Speaker to be announced.
Meeting Closed:
at approx 9:10 pm.
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