President’s
Ramblings
Hi everyone,
This is my last ramble as President. In a way it’s
kind of a relief because I have not been around as much as
I would have liked to this year due to one thing or another.
Luckily there are some excellent people on the committee
that have jumped in and filled the hole as required. We are
indeed lucky to have such dedicated people around the place.
I would like to particularly thank Bruno for his outstanding
work, once again, as secretary. Bruno is also not standing
for the committee this year and is scaling back all the things
he has been taking care of (such as JOTA). His input will
be missed but it is time for somebody else to stand up and
have a go! So we need a new president and a new secretary
at the Annual General Meeting coming up. WHY NOT YOU????
On a sad note the passing of Colin Bishop VK3HR recently
will mean we are missing one of our favourite people at future
meetings. Colin was indeed a friend to all as shown by the
turnout of club members at his funeral last week. Our thoughts
are with Bobbie and family at this time.
Thanks everyone for your input into another successful year
for the club. DO consider standing for the committee, we
need new ideas.
Cheers, Andrew VK3HFA
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Silent Key - Colin Bishop VK3HR
Colin Bishop VK3HR passed away recently after a battle with
illness.
Colin was one of those sort of people that was loved by everybody
and always had a smile on his face. It was always a pleasure
to see Colin and his wife, Bobbie, at club meetings and Colin
always had that cheeky grin about something or another.
Colin had many great friends at GGREC as witnessed by the respect
paid to him at his recent funeral, which was indeed a celebration
of his life.
We will miss him and his warmth. Rest in peace, Colin.
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Upcoming Events
|
| Easter Friday 14th |
El’Dorado Caravan |
See Helmut |
| Friday 21st April |
Annual General |
Guide Hall 8pm |
| Monday 24th April |
Committee Meeting |
Handover Club HQ |
| Friday 7th May |
Prac Night |
Club HQ |
| Friday 19th May |
Auction Night |
Guide Hall 8pm |
| July 22nd |
HAMFEST |
Cranbourne Hall |
| October ? |
JOTA |
Guide Hall/Club Shack |
| |
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| Link
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Sci
Fi Quote(s) of the Month
"Your weapons are no match for ours! People of Mars,
surrender!"
" Um, this isn't Mars. This is Earth."
" Earth? Earth-with-nuclear-weapons Earth?"
" Yes." [long pause] "Friend!" - Unknown
" The earth? Oh the earth will be gone in a few seconds...I'm going to blow
it up. It's obstructing my view of Venus." - Marvin the Martian
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Help Wanted
A new club president (OK we might have a volunteer
for that one!), a new club secretary and, new committee
members. Don’t leave it to others, have a go!!!
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Thanks
Thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts on the
passing of Angela’s mum.
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The Philips PRM8040 project
 |
The radios will be ready for pickup at
the Annual General Meeting so bring your cash with you.
As it stands at the moment you will be able to purchase
your nominated amount of radios although this has the
potential to change.
It would appear that all the radios will be sold to
club members. Cheap radios and the club makes a bit
of money, not a bad deal. Thanks to Adam MOC for putting
us on to them, and to Paul TGX for doing all the re-programming. |
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WIA
news
Why not listen to the WIA news each week on the VK3RML repeater. It is on Sunday
nights at 8pm and Wednesday 11am
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Many rivers to cross ...so little time!
Haunted Stream 4wd Trip
On the first few days in
April a number of Club members set forth on a four wheel drive trip to the
Haunted Stream
area, East of Dargo. The trip was over a 5 day period the
group of 13 people in 7 vehicles that covered some of the
most scenic country Victoria has to offer. Included with
the group was Graeme VK3BXG, Andrew VK3HJK David VK3XMF,
Ian VK3BUF & Eric & Hal Jackson, , Jim VK3UFO & son
Chris, Ivan VK3ARV, Helmut VK3DHI and Geoff VK3HGG.
Haunted stream was the centre of attention in the region
for gold mining during the 1880’s
A sked on 80M was held each night with Dianne VK3JDI and
Mike VK3KTO popping up. The track that travels the Haunted
Stream crosses the river some 55 times in a 16km stretch,
which made for some entertaining travel. The trip was a great
success and a good time was had by all.
Would
you pick up this masked man??? VK3HGG
Rubber duckie, rubber duckie….we have ourselves a convoy!!!!
What goes up….must come down again!
Not that way Ivan…...there’s a big ……..oops!
Snoresville...Mrray River
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A night to remember … by Dianne Jackson
Last month, Ian and I hosted a 50th Anniversary dinner for Ian’s parents,
Pauline and Eric. Ten people descended upon us from Brisbane, Corowa, Mohyu,
Phillip Island and Frankston. We accommodated nine people over night.
Planning for the dinner started way back in December, with
the suggestion that we had plenty of room for a party.
We purchased new trestle tables, borrowed some red table
covers, improvised a large Lazy Susan for the centre of the
table and re arranged all our kitchen and office chairs.
In order to minimize my own efforts, we decided to have
the party catered. Our local Chinese restaurant came to the
rescue with a delicious, three course banquet.
The table was decorated in red and gold, with serviettes
shaped into lotus flowers and chocolate hearts wrapped in
gold foil, in the centre. Small gold heart shaped confetti
was strewn across the table for a final finishing touch.
To make the whole occasion a little bit more special, we
all got dressed up in our most spectacular frocks.
Eric gave a heartfelt speech and then we all sat down to
a fantastic meal, a very tasty anniversary cake and both
Pauline and Eric finished the night with some ballroom dancing.
Pauline and Eric still have enough energy to cut a cake…...
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Need to learn more about radio?
Fred Swainston's New updated "Radio Theory Handbook" will
be available
very shortly.
The book has been printed and arrangements for distribution are being made.
So when your Foundation licensees are asking what’s next …. ? Or if
you are a standard licensee and want to upgrade to Advanced status and take advantage
of bands like 30m then Fred’s book is for you.
Radio Theory Handbook has always been the choice of texts for FAMPARC Classes
and I thoroughly recommend this book for all people wishing to obtain their Standard
or Advanced Amateur Operators Certificate of Proficency
When more information on the book comes to hand i.e. “Where to get it” I
will send it
Peter Willmott VK3TQ Class Co-Ordinator FAMPARC
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Hamfest - Moorabbin
Saturday - May 19th
The Moorabbin & District Radio Club have much
pleasure in inviting you to participate in
VK3’s BIGGEST ANNUAL HAMFEST
Snacks and hot food will be available.
ENTRY ONLY $6.00
Location - BRENTWOOD SECONDARY COLLEGE Watsons Road, Glen Waverley.
Melways Reference 71 D7 (Enter via Heath Street.)
(Doors Open 10am – entry tickets on sale prior)
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Way UP the Creek with a paddle…..
Red Cross Murray River Canoe Marathon 2005 (Graeme VK3BXG)
Day 2 finished in the Millewa State forest about 8Km south
of Moroco West on the NSW side of the border and that afternoon
we all moved camp to Echuca to the football oval.
Day 3, and after “Morning has Broken” I went
back and rested for a couple more hours because I was on
HQ (VK3AWI) for the day – plenty of help, it was already
set up and all I had to do was walk about twenty meters from
my tent.
Today the course for the canoeists was from Picnic Point,
(about 10 Km east of Mathoura) to Echuca and all went well.
With three of us and sometime four at ‘AWI we were
able to swap around HF VHF and even take time out. But unlike
other check points ‘AWI stays on all day and unlike
the other check points which are closed when the Water Safety
Officer boat is approaching the next checkpoint down stream, ‘AWI
must stay on until the last person has returned to camp.
Day4-“Morning has Broken” failed to play – vandals
got in during the night and cut the cables! Some in Wicen
nevertheless had set alarm clocks and alerted others so relatively
soon everyone was ready. Day 4 for me was at “Start” Echuca
not far from our camp site and HQ so 2mx was more than adequate
and also gave good coverage to Alpha and again with Cherrie
as my runner (despite her blistered feet) there was little
to do for a while but to sit by the river and have muesli
for breakfast and watch the start.
For the canoeists Day 4 is a short day finishing at Torrumbarry
with only three land check points A,B, and C for the day.
Meanwhile the camp moves from Echuca to Cohuna and during
the course of the day so does ‘AWI and sets up on the
football oval there. The day is getting hotter and by early
afternoon we measure 43C and 8% humidity in the shade of
our gazebo. Later that afternoon we lost another YL to the
heat and she ended up in hospital.
Communications from ‘AWI Cohuna back to the finish
at Torrumbarry has always been notoriously difficult but
this year we had the luxury of a 2mx repeater at Torrumbarry
and this proved to be a beneficial alternative to all check
points on Day 4. Day 4 ended when Wicen came to the rescue
and soldered up the cut cables for the public address van.
There is more for next month,…...Ed.
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2 Metre Radios
The Philips PRM8040 project
Well I think I have all but finished programming the Philips PRM8040’s
Here are a few “notes” about them.
When they are turned on, they look at their configuration,
and if the head has been swapped, re-programmed etc, the
head will come up saying it is “updating radio”.
This will take about 30 seconds, this should not re-occur
unless changes are made.
Some of the first radio’s I programmed were not “tested” with
the head they ended up with, so you should see this once only.
The odd radio when first powered up will also think it has
had some “calls”, just press the “que” button,
and then you should see an option to erase these “calls”.
The radios have the ability to sel-call each other, so that
when you return to the car etc, you will see a message saying
you have been called. I have not programmed in this option.
The heads have a “memory key” slot in them,
this is a propriety Philips thing, they have been priced
at $30 – Probably not worth worrying about.
Many of the radio’s had been modified with an extra
connector hanging out on a length of speaker wire from a
notch that had been “melted” (butchered) into
the case, this connector is a white 2 pin unit, identical
to the one’s used for the speaker, after hearing a “not
very smart” comment from a club member, I started removing
this mod before someone blew up their radio. There is probably
the odd one in the first batch I have not removed. If yours
has one, open up the radio and snip it off before the smoke
gets out.
These radio’s were built in the Philips factory for
12.5KHz channel spacing, and don’t really like seeing
deviation over 3.5 KHz. Normally a 12.5KHz channel radio
will not see anything over 2 KHz, however some amateur sets
when pushed can hit 5KHz. The only real cure for this is
to change the crystal filter from a 12.5KHz unit to a 25KHz
one. – Oh well, what do you expect for $40. If there
is enough interest, we could get a pile of them from HyQ,
etc.
Unfortunately I will probably not be at the next club meeting,
you can try and give us a call on 7.070MHz, but his will
have to be before the meeting as the band tends to die after
9:00, but give it a go anyway – use the bands or lose
them.
Paul VK3TGX
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General Meeting Minutes
Date: 17th March 2006
Start time: 09:15 PM.
Location: Guide Hall Cranbourne.
Chairperson: Bruno Tonizzo VK3BFT
Minute Taker: Albert Hubbard VK3BQO
Present: As per attendance sheet.
Visitors and Guests: Dave TTS Systems & his wife.
Apologies: Steve & Maria, Ian & Di Jackson, Bill
VK3DOU, Bill, VK3DQS, Colin VK3HR & Bobbie Bishop, Grahame
VK3YCG & Susan Brown, Judy Robertson, Graeme Brown VK3BXG.
Correspondence Received:
Various email enquiries, EMDRC Magazine, MDRC magazine NERG
magazine, Receipt from Cranbourne Guides for hall hire.
Correspondence Sent:
Letter of thanks was sent to Peter Pavey for putting together
the two 25th anniversary QSL card albums.
Treasurer’s Report:
Income : $120.00 Expenditure : $431.45 Balance : $1463.41
plus $2368.76
Read by: Mike Ide, VK3KTO Moved by: Helmut Inhoven, VK3DHI
Seconded by: Russ White VK3MWR Carried: Yes
New Call signs - Nil
Previous Minutes: As printed in the March 2006 GATEWAY magazine.
Read by: Bruno Tonizzo VK3BFT Moved by: Russ White VK3MWR
Seconded by: Reg Goddard VK3UK Carried: Yes
Business Arising from Previous Minutes:
Mid Year Dinner – Think of a venue please.
2M Radios – Thank must go to Adam VK3MOC for his efforts
in letting the Club know about the radios and to Paul Stubbs
for programming them.
Thanks went to Peter Pavey for his work in placing all the
25th anniversary QSL cards into photo albums.
Working Bee tomorrow. Members were asked to come along to
help relocate the wire antenna support pole.
Fox Hunt on the 8th April is to go ahead.
Albert, VK3BQO is to arrange nominations for the AGM.
New Business:
Bruno Tonizzo VK3BFT moved a motion to sell off the surplus
building materials from the Club shack. It was seconded by
Russ White VK3MWR and was passed unanimously.
Members will be sent their annual membership renewals.
Auction Night in May at the GM for Club members to auction
off their unwanted items.
Albert Hubbard spoke about the 70cm Repeater. Testing to
start from Albert’s home QTH in the next few days.
“
Club Licence IDs”. The “Club ID” will contain
the vital elements of a members Amateur Radio Licence along
with the member’s photo, in a credit sized laminated
card. A nominal fee will be charged as a fund raising initiative.
The members were willing to support this scheme.
Dave Campbell mentioned that we need to set up some HF schedules
for the 4WD trip later in March.
Tonight’s guest speaker is Dave from TTS systems (held
before the GM).
Meeting Closed at around 10:00 PM.
Next Committee Meeting: Monday 27th March 2006, at the Club
Rooms starting at 8:00pm.
Next Prac Night: Friday 7th April 2006.
Next General Meeting & Annual General Meeting: 21st April
2006
Next Committee Meeting: Monday 24th April 2006, at the Club
Rooms starting at 8:00pm
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WANTED URGENTLY
1 X JOTA REPRESENTATIVE
SEVERAL X HAMFEST VOLUNTEERS
1000’S OF ARTICLES FOR THIS MAGAZINE
Thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts on the passing
of Angela’s mum.
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