The
Pres Says…..
How are your eyes? A bit weary like mine after
the RD Contest? I remember last year and it took me a
couple
of days to get
back to a normal routine again. I am writing this in anticipation
of the outcome as the magazine is edited prior to the event.
I gather it went well and all participants had a good time.
We are still not sure of last year’s outcome but it’s
mostly for the experience – not the result.
I was extremely pleased with the attendance at the Village
Green Hotel evening last week. 25 hungry people enjoyed an “eat
all you can” meal and a few drinks afterwards. Looks
like this one was a winner and can be repeated in the future.
Of course the most notable event recently has been our Hamfest.
By now we (the Members) have it down pat but we can always
try to improve it. This year saw our best yet and with Bruno
at the helm, it was a pleasure to be there. It’s a
case of right man, right job. As shown by the Treasurer’s
figures we had more buyers through the door than ever before
plus sellers were still trying to book tables in the week
before the Hamfest. I am sure this puts us up with the “must
attend” Hamfests during the year. The amount of electronic
equipment walking out the door astounded all who took notes.
Well done Bruno and all who helped on the day.
The Club has been lucky enough to obtain a lot (meaning
heaps) of electronic equipment and parts at a very reasonable
price. A storage CRO, VHF Test Set, several power supplies
and an assortment of RF coax connectors are amongst the collection
of gear. After it has been evaluated, the items will be displayed
and available for Member use.
The Club Room is starting to look more like a workshop /
radio shack every day. At least power supplies won’t
be in short supply.
As for upcoming events, don’t forget the working bee
at the Club Room on September 2nd. We need your help please.
OK, I am off to fill in the Government Census paperwork.
Maybe we can compare notes at the meeting.
See you there.
Albert VK3BQO
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Red
Skelton : All men make mistakes, but married
men find out about them sooner.
Milton Berle : We owe a lot to Thomas Edison - if it wasn't for him, we'd be
watching television by candlelight.
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G&C communications
SPECIALIZING IN TWO-WAY RADIO, CAR AUDIO & ALARM
SYSTEMS
AUTHORISED DEALER FOR:
Barrett R.F.D.S – Kenwood – Icom - Gme Electrophone – Uniden
-Yaesu
HF & UHF Amateur, CB & Marine Radios
Receivers, Scanners, GPS & Accessories
Sales – Installation – Repairs
Commercial Two-Way Radio Systems
Visa, Bankcard and Mastercard
Shop 2 207 High St Cranbourne
Shop: 5996-3298 or Mobile: 0417 387 515
Link
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All Band Dipole Antenna
An all band dipole that has low SWR on 80, 40, 30,
20, 15,12 and 10 Metres. Does not need an antenna tuner and
is fed by coaxial cable.
Length
is 41 Metres and fed 8 Metres from one end. Uses a 2 stage
super low loss balun 98.9% efficiency
For more info contact Peter VK3KCG 9770 5321
or go to http://dxantennas.com for more information.
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Editor’s Musings
It’s good to see that so many people actually read
the mag when it is distributed and are happy to pick the
living daylights out of me if I get things wrong! Ok so it
was not the Fiddlers Green so sue me!
Congratulations to all involved in the HAMFEST, it appears
that it was once again a remarkable success. The strength
of any club lies in its members willingness to put in we
are very lucky at GGREC to have plenty of those!
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Why not listen to the WIA news each week on the
VK3RML repeater. It is on Sunday nights at 8pm and Wednesday
11am?
Upcoming Events
|
Friday,
August 18th
|
General
Meeting Night |
Guide
Hall 8pm |
| Monday
August 28th |
Committee
Meeting |
Club
HQ |
| Friday
Sept 1st |
Prac
Night |
Club
HQ |
| Saturday
Sept 2nd |
Working
Bee |
Club
HQ |
| Friday
Sept 15th |
General
Meeting Night |
Guide
Hall |
| October ? |
JOTA |
Guide Hall/Club Shack |
| November
4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th |
Melbourne
Cup Weekend |
TRIP
TO MARYBOROUGH |
| |
|
|
| Link
to top of Page |
|
|
NEVER FLATTEN YOUR CAR BATTERY AGAIN
SM155: $162.00, SM155b: $107.00, Postage: $6.00
(10% discount for GGREC members)
The SM155 battery link version is shown here
The SM155b module will automatically activate your communications equipment & 12V
accessories when you start your engine. It will power down your equipment 9 or
90 minutes after your engine is turned off.
The larger SM155 version has a 200Amp contactor to manage the charging of a second
battery for your vehicle. This permits you to jump-start your vehicle at a push
of a button.
Both versions are microprocessor controlled and feature LED function indicators,
manual override controls and chirp morse code status tones when linking and un-linking
to batteries. Full details available at the web site.
12 month warranty
Contact
Alian Electronics on (03) 5625 2545
or visit: alianelectronics.com.au
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GGREC TRIP TO MARYBOROUGH 2006
Melbourne Cup Weekend
November 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th
Things
have been moving on the organisation of this fabulous,
fantastic, fun weekend. Maryborough is only a three hour
drive from Melbourne, so with an early start, you could
easily be there by lunch time on Saturday. Even if you
can only stay for One or Two nights, it will be a lot of
fun.
The Ballarat
BARG Hamfest is scheduled for the same weekend, and it
is only a half hour drive from Maryborough, so this is
something that we can incorporate into the weekend festivities.
SUGGESTED
ITINERARY
|
Date
|
Time
|
Activity
|
|
SAT 4TH
|
MORNING
|
Set up Camp
|
| |
LUNCH
|
BBQ/Picnic lunch at the Caravan Park
|
| |
AFTERNOON
|
Visit Local Tourist Spots
|
| |
DINNER
|
7.30 at the pub across the road from the Caravan Park
|
|
SUN 5TH
|
MORNING
|
Massive Sunday Market in Maryborough or BARG Hamfest
|
| |
AFTERNOON
|
TBA
|
| |
DINNER
|
6.30 Fish and Chips in the Recreation Hall at the Caravan
Park
|
| |
EVENING
|
8.30 Talbot Observatory followed by drinkies at the Pub
|
|
MON 6TH
|
MORNING
|
11.00 Winery Tour of Local Winery
|
| |
AFTERNOON
|
Visit Old Gold Town of Dunolly and Spectacular Look Out
|
| |
DINNER
|
TBA
|
|
TUE 7TH
|
MORNING
|
More Site Seeing
|
| |
AFTERNOON
|
Packing Up and Heading Home
|
We have booked the exclusive use all weekend, of the Recreation Room at the
Caravan Park. This will be a fantastic head quarters for the group to meet,
greet, chat, rendezvous and communicate with each other.
To ensure
you don’t miss out on a site for this brilliant weekend
away, PLEASE call the Maryborough Caravan Park on 5460
4848.
Tell them you are with the Radio Club, and they will ensure that all our sites
are close together.
More on the Maryborough Trip
The Talbot observatory for has been booked for Ssunday 5th Nov. That night
is unfortunately a full moon so the viewing will be degraded but still a good
opportunity to see some planets up close. It is also daylight saving so we
cant go too early. Book your trip now!!!
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Hamfest
report - Bruno VK3BFT
The GGREC 2006 Hamfest has proven to be a huge success.
The number of amateurs calling Dianne Jackson to book tables
increased greatly in the week prior to the event. Unfortunately
we had to turn down some booking requests as all tables had
been booked.
The
day started off at 7:00 AM with great support from the
GGREC members pitching in to get the hall ready before
the sellers arrive.
The
inviting aromas emanating from the kitchen tempted people
to the back door looking for food, hot drinks and a toilet.
I think we need to look at providing breakfast next year
if we can get the volunteers. I was having a bit of trouble
telling people the kitchen wasn’t opened, after they
had traveled hours to get to the hall.
The
sellers were let in a bit earlier than advertised to speed
things up a bit. I think that worked well as it avoided
the rush to unload and set up the tables. The rear car
park would have been gridlocked if we’d waited until
the official time.
I was
surprised at the amount of good quality amateur radios
and equipment that was on sale, and also surprised to hear
that a huge amount of it had been sold on the day. I was
too preoccupied with how the event was running to stop
and look for things to buy.
All the
members that came to help on the day did a fantastic job.
I would be reproducing the membership list if I had to
mention everyone that came along. What impressed me the
most was that anything that needed to be done was done
without question, even though it may have inconvenienced
the person that was asked to do it.
I knew
we had a record attendance when Helmut called me to say
that we had sold out of food and run out of milk and sugar.
An additional 48 sausages were purchased and they were
soon sold out as well. Luckily it was the end and the demand
had all but dried up, so we decided to close the kitchen.
At 1:30
PM we decided to announce that the door prize was about
to be drawn and were advised that the sellers had not received
a door prize ticket. This may have been a catastrophe but
for the good planning by Albert. You see, we had handed
out and sold off all 400 door prize tickets that we had
printed. Luckily, Albert had thrown a printer into the
back of his wagon “just in case” and we were
able to print out more door prize tickets for the sellers.
First
prize, a hand held GPS unit, went to Clifford VK3FMAU.
Second prize, a desk lamp / magnifying glass, went to David
Russell VK3 XDR. Third prize, the Drew Diamond construction
book went to Bruce Parnell. Fourth prize, a TTS Systems
construction kit and assorted items that were donated on
the day went to Dan Hasllett VK3DWH.
Apart
from one minor dispute between buyer and seller, that ended
amicably, the day was a huge success.
The GGREC
Club members that contributed to the success should all
be proud of themselves as I only heard praise for the professional
way that the day was run and how the sellers were looked
after (except for the hungry punters in the morning).
And
now for JOTA……..
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This Months Challenge
Not too many (nobody!) guessed last months challenge
, even I got it wrong and I knew who it was!!!! Sorry
Peter….ooops… I mean Steve.
Have
a go at this months picture. No it’s not me or anybody
that looks like me. And another clue it’s not the
newly initiated pom in our midst. So are you going to change
your callsign to VK3POM?????
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Happy Birthday to you……..
Three birthdays on the club database this month, some younger than others (or
is that some more mature than the rest???) :
Stephen
Harding, Naree Ide and Ross Jackson. Hope all your wishes
come true and that Mike opens his wallet!
Not listed?
We don’t know then, please tell us!!! Let the Treasurer
know…...
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The Golden Days of Radio….
We continue the fascinating adventures of Gold Rush Jim
(VK3UFO)...hey didn’t somebody name a radio
station after your story title?????
War wounds
Back at camp that evening (goldless - again!) Suzy
asks; "What's that
big dark stain on the leg of your jeans?". "Probably blood from when
I had to fight off the giant man eating spider of Cemetery Gully" I reply,
hoping to regain some male pride. "I think it is blood", she says "take
your jeans off". "Really darling" I reply "it's not even
six o'clock, do control yourself". Despite my protests off come the jeans
and, sure enough, it is blood - lots of it along with three very fat leeches
of which even a divorce lawyer would be proud. I thought I felt a tickle on
my leg when digging for that really big nugget (the horseshoe) in a particularly
deep damp section of Cemetery Gully. I'm astonished my leg has any blood left
given how fat the leeches are and the amount soaked into my jeans - I'm sure
my left leg seems thinner than my right but Suzy says I'm just looking for
sympathy; it's alright for her she hasn't nearly died from blood loss!
Time
for a shower
One of the simple pleasures of camping is my daily shower. I fill a bucket
with water and hang it over the fire until it reaches the right temperature.
(NB. Do not try this with a plastic bucket - my tests prove, conclusively,
it won't work). With the addition of a battery operated pump and a shower rose
tied to a tree branch a delicious shower awaits. On those days I'm feeling
particularly decadent I have a two bucket shower - luxury!
The
evening had turned a little cooler and a light wind arisen,
never mind, the water was ready, my soap, towel and fresh
clothes prepared. Anyway the blood from my fight with the
giant man eating spid... errrr... leeches had to be washed
away. I strip off and switch the shower pump on; hmmmmm
the wind seems to have strengthened a little and it's suddenly
turned rather cool. I notice Suzy having a fit of barely
suppressed schoolgirl giggles; "Very funny!" I
admonish her "it's just the cool of the evening and
a perfectly normal response". The warm water starts
to run and I luxuriate in it's flow as I lather my hair
with shampoo. It is well known that gum trees will drop
branches without warning and it's a perfectly normal desire
for a young tree not to be the odd tree out. Unfortunately
it was this moment when my tree choose to establish it's
credentials as 'one of the gums' by dropping the branch
to which I had attached the shower at my feet knocking
over the bucket of shower water in the process. For reasons
which escaped me, as I stood naked looking like an advertisement
for soap suds, Suzy seemed to find the situation hilarious.
The
aftermath
OK, so maybe gold isn't that easy to find but I'm not downhearted and will
be out to the deepest bush again before you can say “horseshoe" continuing
my search for the yellow metal.
However
I am a little concerned about Suzy; with me gone for some
hours each day prospecting it can't be too much fun for
her waiting around camp by herself so I suggested she may
prefer to stay home on the next trip but she would have
none of it insisting she wouldn't miss one under any circumstances,
she's a trooper, I think....
To be
continued....
Jim
Francis, VK3UFO
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Peter
Pavey Honoured by GGREC
At the last General Meeting it was unanimously decided
to honour the memory of Peter Pavey (VK3VB - SK) by naming
our club rooms after him.
Peter
was instrumental in organising, cajoling, pushing for,
participating in building and sundry other words ending
in ing” in order for the club to have the fine building
that we have now. Whilst Peter would not want us to downplay
the contributions of every other member involved, this
tribute is a fitting one for a fine club member and past
president.
The committee
is working on the exact wording to be used let them know
if you have any ideas. We will have some more on this,
and about Peter, in the next issue.
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THE WICKED WINCH OF THE EAST
By Ian Jackson 3BUF
Recently several members of the GGREC purchased new brake-winches
to replace the basic winch assemblies on their radio towers.
Most of these were for the two-stage, tiltover ‘Nally’ radio
towers which use two winches. Why do this’ you may
ask? Or more to the point, if you don’t ask, then there’s
no reason to read this article.
The Original winch assemblies on the Nally towers were a
very basic 1:1 ratio pawl & ratchet assem
bly. Pretty much like what you would see on the village well
in an African Foreign Correspondent documentary. When you
wind it up you get a clack-clack of the pawl riding over
the ratchet. If you let go of the handle, the pawl locks
into the ratchet and the winch cable remains in a safe state.
All sweet if you are winching ‘up’ the mast (or
bucket). The fun starts when the tower is being lowered,
(it’s ok to stop thinking about buckets now) because
you must use one hand to hold the safety pawl back, while
unwinding the winch handle with only one hand. This can be
very heavy indeed. If your one hand should slip from the
handle during this process, you have a runaway tower. The
top stage drops like a pile driver, the handle spins out
of control, breaking whatever bones it can. When the tower
bottoms out, your multi-hundred dollar antenna rotator crumples
like a Styrofoam burger container under the front tyre of
a Hummer (with the burger still inside!). Approximately 2.7
seconds later the sky rains aluminium from what was your
antenna system. There are words that would be spoken following
this chain of events which gentle ears should not hear and
my spellchecker cannot deal with. Fortunately this has not
happened to me, but it is a spectre that does haunt us all.
There is a solution. Enter the ‘Brake Winch! (insert
mental image here of a hand whisking away a violet silken
handkerchief from something on a pedestal that could be a
brake winch) The popular brake winch has two advantages.
Firstly, it usually has a gear reduction which makes it easier
to wind up and down. You will no longer need that well oiled
and bare-chested rower from a Cleopatran river barge to crank
the tower for you. (unless of course you enjoy having him
around) Secondly it has an inertial brake. You can un-wind
the winch safely and let go at any time without dire repercussions.
Now we get to the good bit. First buy your winches. You
will need a winch in the 260 to 300kg range like the Jarrett
F18230 brake winch, or the Rig-mate BRWH270 from Nobles rigging
supplies in Dandenong. They are around $80-$90 each. Many
of the GGREC members purchased the 500kg BRWHB500 version
which is a larger, heavier winch. After some experiments
with both winches, I preferred the smaller BRWH270 because
of the shorter winch handle which did not clash with the
tower and better cable departure angle from the spool.
The first stage was to secure the tower, un-wind all the
cable from the old drum and grind off the old winch assembly.
The second stage was to drill the 10mm holes in the steel
adapter plates. These plates were standard 110 x 10mm flat
stock cut to size by a local steel merchant. It was much
easier to pre-drill the plates in the drill press than to
do it on the pole. The plates were then welded into position,
tidied up with a grinder and sprayed with undercoat. The
plate was 400mm long for the vertical lift winch and 150mm
long for the tiltover winch. The vertical welds can be a
bit of fun to get right, but remember that the worst welding
job will still be better than the best duct-tape and garden
twine job you can do.
To prevent unwanted angst and loss of enjoyment to life,
I highly recommend not wearing your favourite polyester house
slippers during the grinding and welding phases. Of course
you will then lose a great talking point around the coffee
table when your guests ask why your white socks can be seen
in a kind of reverse-Dalmatian style through your dark blue
slippers. (Before you know it department stores will want
to sell pre-welded slippers alongside their pre-washed, pre-holed
denim products. Be a trendsetter!)
When attaching the winches to the plates, use 10mm x 30mm
stainless bolts, with matching washers and nuts. The stainless
bolts have a higher tensile strength than equivalent mild
steel ones, and of course they will not rust. The difference
in cost is minimal. In fact, check the integrity of your
winch cable during this upgrade. Remember the mantra: If
it’s brown, tear it down. If it’s clear, have
no fear. On my tower I found some corrosion on the tiltover
cable where it passed through the lower pulley. I replaced
it with some 6mm dia stainless cable and stainless wire rope
clamps.
To keep the winches looking pretty, you may want to cover
them with a bag or something. On the vertical lift winch,
tie a bit of rope or scrap cable around the wire above the
cover, so that when the water runs down the vertical cable,
it will drip off the scrap wire before entering the cover
and wetting the cable on the reel all the time.
I usually use a counterweight on the rear of the tower to
make life a bit easier. It is a slab of steel with a removable
mounting hook. With the weight in place a three year old
kid could work the winch. Mind you, that same three year
old may find it awkward to drag the 60 kilo slab of steel
into position, and he would also need a decent box to stand
on to reach the handle, but all of these difficulties could
be overcome with a little thought.
In the final pic Dianne VK3JDI is working the winch with
ease. A bit of the 20M 4 element monobander can be seen in
the background. Also present is a very small cow, which appears
to be trying hard to avoiding being crushed by the counterweight.
For the experiment I tried tilting the tower over without
the counterweight and it did this with ease. Maximum strain
was well within the winch specs and it held the load easily.
The 5:1 gear reduction makes quite a difference to managing
the load.
It is a good thing that the new winches can be operated
quickly, because while the tower is tilted, my antenna for
the wireless broadband internet antenna points to the ground,
instead of to the base 5km away. Hence a couple of teenage
kids have to entertain themselves while the tower is being
serviced.
Also visible at the base of the tower are some 90mm, 45º pvc
bends where all the coax cables enter the tower slab. They
all come up through the concrete floor of the house some
metres away. The 3 bends keep water out of the conduit, but
can be pulled apart if the need arises to add more cables
in the future.
Well, that’s it…Time to wind up this article.
(or down as the case may be) Replacing a winch may seem like
(and possibly is) a fairly nerdy way to spend a weekend,
but if you make it easier to access your antennas, then you’re
more likely to experiment with them. Also, on a stormy night
you can ring up your loved ones from the hotel bar and get
them to crank your antenna down for you - the ultimate test
of a relationship.
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HONORARY member
It was great to see Bobbie Bishop inducted at our last meeting
as the very first HONORARY member of GGREC. Colin would be
chuffed.
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Meeting Minutes
Date: 21st July 2006
Start time: 08:00 PM.
Location: Guide Hall Cranbourne.
Chairperson: Albert Hubbard VK3BQO
Minute Taker: Phil Pavey VK3YB
Present:
As per attendance sheet.
Visitors and Guests: Brian Smith VK3NBS, Harold (vk callsign coming soon!),
Richard
Apologies: Adam Scott VK3MOC, Ron Robertson VK3EXJ, Geoff Williams VK3ZGW,
Graeme Brown VK3BXG
Albert
opened meeting with a dedication to Peter Pavey VK3VB who
became silent key on July 1st, followed by a minutes silence
Correspondence Received:
AR magazine, Acknowledgement from WIA regarding grant, MDRC Magazine, Letter
from SES. Letter from MDRC regarding passing of Peter Pavey VK3VB
Correspondence Sent: Nil tabled.
Treasurer’s Report: as tabled
Income : As tabled
Read by: Mike Ide, VK3KTO Moved by: Helmut Inhoven VK3DHI Seconded by: Ian
Jackson VK3BUF Carried: Yes
New Call signs - Nil
Previous Minutes: As printed in the March 2006 GATEWAY magazine.
Read
by: Albert Hubbard VK3BQO Moved by: Max Seconded by: Jenny
Goddard
Carried: Yes
Business
Arising from Previous Minutes:
Mid Year Dinner was a success
Phil Pavey summarised clubs application to WIA for funding for reverse cycle
units
Bruno
updated on JOTA plans. Looks like we will be needed from
1pm-6pm and will be using VK3GGC callsign 70cm
Repeater is still going strong. John Whittingham has PC
to set up so IRLP can be moved to new repeater
Hamfest is tomorrow. Please come along and help. .Raffle
prizes – 1st
is GPS, 2nd Magnifying tool for soldering, 3rd Drew Diamond book.
Albert displayed a smaller winch that is available, but cautioned that it may
not be suitable for tilting a heavy tower.
Club ID cards are now available. See Mike if you want one.
RD Contest is on 12/13th August starts at 6pm and finishes at 5:59pm. This
was a great event last year so see if you can help.
Dianne Jackson will coordinate 30th anniversary dinner for 2007.
Maryborough cup day trip. Please ring and book into the caravan park. The more
that attend the more fun we will all have!
New
Business:
Steve VK3EGD moved to name the club rooms in honour of Peter Pavey. Committee
to work on idea’s for how best to name and display this. Seconded by
Russell VK3MWR. Carried
Bobby Bishop was presented with honorary membership to the club.
Bruno explained the difficulties we are having getting power company to read
meter since locks were changed.
Russell VK3MWR moved that the surplus GPS equipment be sold on the club table
at white elephant. Seconded by Albert VK3BQO. Carried
Antenna working bee on 2nd of September. Look for more details!
We are looking for a small 19 inch rack. See Albert if you can source one.
Pub night at the village green on 5th of August.
Guest Speaker was postponed.
Meeting Closed at around 09:45 PM.
Next Committee Meeting: Monday 26th June 2006, at the Club Rooms starting at
8:00pm.
Next Prac Night: Friday 1st September 2006.
Next General Meeting 17th August 2006
Next Committee Meeting: Monday 28th August 2006, at the Club Rooms starting
at 8:00pm
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