Presidents
Comments October 2004.
Has anyone else noticed the strange noises that have invaded
the amateur bands of late. I must
admit that I had not taken much notice of them until my recent
two weeks in Ballarat when these noises seemed to be there
on frequencies I wanted to use. Blame I thought could be laid
at the cable TV system suspended on the power poles across
the road from where I was staying. It sounded a bit like TV
hash and was not always on the same spot, showing some tendency
to slowly drift. In Ballarat the freq's most affected
were 3.539, 3.670, 7.100, 14.116 and around 14.025/14.300
Mhz. It is 2000 Hrs here in Tooradin on Monday night and having
just checked the bands these are the Frequencies I am hearing
the same noise on, 3.525, 3.539, 3.639, 7.050, 14.031 and
14.151 Mhz. The equipment used in Ballarat was an FT100 and
in the shack a TS830s. Answer?
My thanks to Mike Ide
for ably chairing the meeting while I was away. Also
to all those who are continuing to put in valuable time working
on the shack project. I had hoped we would have some
equipment in place by JOTA but that is not to be. If we can
get the plumbing and electrical supply in by Christmas we
will be doing well.
On
JOTA David VK3XMF has been away so no opportunity has taken
place as to what facilities we are expected to supply this
year. This being the case our meeting on the 15th
Oct is the night before JOTA event so please come along with
a view to helping out with Saturdays JOTA arrangements.
Remember to that we have T.T.S. Systems coming to the Oct
meeting who will have the latest top of the range Ten Tec
HF transceiverfor "on air" demonstration. Time to drool !
A reminder too that the final exams for this year will take
place on Sat Nov 6th,
applications must be in by Oct 15th.
A 4WD day has been arranged for Nov 13th details
TBA.
That’s it for this issue as usual 73s
to all. Peter VK3VB.
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The
Inaugural Caravan Trip
After going on a trial holiday with a hired caravan
the decision was made to go out and buy one.
After
some further shopping about, I decided that an A’van
camper similar to the one we hired was the best option for
me. Me being the main problem due
to my height, Marianna was no problem at all, even in pop-top
van’s with their tops down, which really peeved me. The beds
in 90% of caravans are just too short for me, most of the
remaining ones that I did fit into were single beds and that
is not very wife friendly.
After
looking through the trading post for a suitable second hand
caravan, we gave up and decided to buy a new one, as A’van’s
seem to hold their resale value, there was not much advantage
to buying a second hand unit.
Four
months later it finally arrived hot off the end of the assembly
line. In the mean time I had plenty of time to consider what
radio equipment would be appropriate for it. After much thought
nothing short of all band operation would do, including UHF
CB. I had an old Codan flying doctor
radio which I was going to retune and use for HF, then I needed
a set for 2m, 70cm, UHF CB, wow that’s too much equipment
to find a permanent mounting places for, or too much to get
out, set up, then pack up. Due to the lack of table space
in most caravans, you cannot leave much equipment lying around
while you move from cooking, to getting ready for bed etc.
In the end I decided on a Yaesu
FT897, although an Icom IC706 would
also have been suitable. As for antenna’s, I bought a dual
band 2m/70cm whip from G&C comms
for mounting on the roof. For HF I bought a vertical stick
made by the FAMPARC club, that I
planned to mount on the van’s draw bar. The HF vertical has
a number of tapping points up it’s
length that need to be changed as you change bands, meaning
that it needs to be mounted in an easily accessible location,
so the roof was out for this one. Eventually I will add an
antenna tuner and some form of wire antenna’s to the kit,
along with an 8 meter long ‘squid pole’. I was shown one
of those squid poles by Ivan at the clubrooms; they are made
of fiberglass and collapse down
to about a meter long. The only problem with them is that
by the time you get up to their ends, they are quite flimsy,
meaning they can only support a light wire antenna. As most
caravan park lots are quite small, I don’t expect being able
to put up many dipole antennas, hence the vertical sticks.
Eventually I would like to try camping in a state park etc,
where there are a lot less people and much more room to string
things up.
In
the lead up to fathers day, Bunnings
had a special on 240V generators, at $98 for 650W, I could
not resist. But be warned, the output from these cheap 2
stroke units can be somewhat unstable, especially when connecting
and disconnecting large loads, meaning that smaller electronic
devices also connected will die a quick death. I only intend
to run lighting etc from the 240V output; radio gear etc will
be run from a battery charged by the generators 12V output,
supplemented by 2.5A from solar panels.
On
a recent trip to Swan Hill, Graeme VK3XTA came back with a
bag of blown up power supplies etc, courtesy of one of these
generators.
As
a test run we spent 2 nights at Cows on Philip
Island. 2m & 70cm went ok, although
I was disappointed in not being able to access our 70 repeater.
On 2m I could only raise Pete VK3VB, Reg VK3UK was received
at S0, but he could not receive me. HF was dead due to me
forgetting to bring the instructions for the HF vertical stick,
I could receive Reg and Pete on 7080, but the SWR was through
the roof due to the antenna’s flying lead being set wrong.
I mucked about with the antenna for a while, eventually giving
up. When I was setting up the Yeasu
rig in the van, I faced the radio away from me to make it
easy to plug in the antenna’s and
12V. However as I pushed the 12V lead in, I accidentally held
in the wrong buttons on the front of the radio, resetting
it totally and loosing all the memory channels that I had
spent so long programming in - especially for this trip!
On the way out of Frankston, Marianna mucked up the PIN code
on our mobile phone too many times, rendering it useless.
So when we got there I rang my parents from a pay phone only
to find that my dad had been run over by a car and was in
Frankston hospital with a broken leg! I was assured he was
coming home any minute now, and not to worry,
so we stayed put. When it came to bed time we realized
some pillows would have been handy, but the biggest off put
for the trip was the fact that driving to Cows and back was
not enough to wear off the new tire rubber ‘whiskers’ meaning
it doesn’t look like it’s ever been anywhere.
I
plan to upload some pictures to my website - I will advise
via an email
Paul
VK3TGX
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WANT
TO GO FOR A ONE-DAY 4WD
DRIVE IN THE HILLS?
On
Saturday the 13th of Nov.
Those who are able and interested can join the group and explore
the Bunyip State Park
Take
a picnic lunch and rendezvous at 9:00 am. out
the front of Gumbuya Park
on the Princes freeway just past Nar
Nar Goon.
If
you don't have a 4wd vehicle, talk to someone that has, and
try to get a spot in a vacant seat. Bring your camera.
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BPL
interference not confined to HF
Measurements
carried out in Japan clearly demonstrate that interference
from a broadband power line (BPL) system generates spurious
RF emissions beyond 300 MHz. BPL injects RF energy along power
lines to provide broadband Internet services into homes and
businesses, but it also leaks radiation as modulated carriers
at intervals of about 1 kHz. The frequencies used are commonly
between 2 MHz and 30 MHz and some proposed systems will extend
this to 80 MHz. As the electricity distribution lines were
never designed to carry RF, they act like an antenna system,
and due to the electricity grid not being perfect, intermodulation
products and harmonics are created too.
Japanese
tests detected higher frequency spurious BPL emissions between
310 MHz and 340 MHz at distances of up to 55 metres from a
BPL-enabled power line. Apart from HF communications, BPL
has the potential to interfere with TV and FM broadcasts,
VHF land mobile operations, aircraft VHF communications, maritime
VHF communications as well as amateur 6m and 2m operation.
Read the Japanese technical report - Roger Harrison VK2ZRH
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The
National WIA and the Clubs - Working Together
The National
WIA board has received many suggestions from visits to clubs
by directors as to how the clubs and the national WIA might
work together more effectively.
Many
clubs have identified the need to establish an information
flow between the clubs and the WIA. To this end work, has
commenced on linking the WIA website to the club web sites
and providing a complete list of the clubs, when they meet
and how to contact them on the National WIA website as well
as in the next issue of the WIA Callbook.
A
link from the WIA web site to the clubs web pages has now
been provided. It can be entered via the link at the top right
hand side of the WIA home page, and is marked "amateur
radio clubs of Australia".
The
WIA does not have a complete and up to date list of all the
clubs and special interest groups. We need your help to complete
this list. If you are a member of a club or special interest
group, take a look at the entry for your club or group on
the WIA web site and let us know as soon as you can any corrections
or additional information we should add to your clubs listing.
All you need to do is send an e-mail to WIA director, Ted
Thrift, VK2ARA at tthrift@iprimus.com.au
listing what changers are needed.
More
initiatives will be released shortly as the board and the
clubs continue to define how best to work together.
From
WIA web site.
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Sale
1. Yaesu
FT211rh. 2 Mtr FM TX/RX
5/45 W. With hand mic, mobile
mount & handbook. VGC $ 250.
Belden coaxType
9913 12.7 Mtrs.
$ 22.
..
9913 10.8 Mtrs
$ 19.
..
8214 26.5 Mtrs
$ 40.
..
8214 14.2 Mtrs
$ 25.
..
8214 18 Mtrs
$ 28.
1 ATV Transmitter (Think on 444 Mhz)
$ 75.
1
70 cm Power Amp (2C39A Final) Offers ?
1
Leson Desk Mic Mod TW 232
$ 30.
5/8 Wave 2 Mtr Mobile whip. $ 10.
1/4 Wave .. .. Mobile
Whip. $
3 Home Brew Power supplies Fused and Metered 2 @ 5 Amp
and 1 @ 10 Amp Offers.
Will
be on view at October meeting.
Owner
going into retirement village and going QRT. contact Peter VK3VB
5998 3533.
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Europe considers Foundation Licence concept
A
new entry level licence is being seriously considered by Europe
based on the British Foundation licence that was introduced
in 2002. The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) has been
able to provide an example of how such entry point licensing
can work and this has captured the attention of other European
radio societies. Several countries in Europe
have been considering the introduction of a new licence to
make amateur radio more attractive, but most believe it is
essential for it to be achieved through the common CEPT (Conference
of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations) licence
system rather than nation by nation.
A
meeting of European national radio societies has concluded
that a future CEPT Foundation Licence must have a substantial
access to HF, as well as VHF and UHF to show newcomers all
aspects of amateur radio.
All
operating modes - phone and data, should be encouraged by
the licence. The intention would be to get newcomers involved
quickly to build up their interest. Progression from entry
to full licence is a main objective. The next step is to explore
the issue informally with the CEPT and for the European radio
societies to discuss it further at their next meeting.
The
proposed Australian Foundation Licence to be introduced in
2005 is out of step and unlikely to qualify for CEPT recognition
because the ACA has decided to restrict it to voice and hand-keyed
Morse code only. The ACA is also watching overseas developments
closely and may still yet be convinced that an all mode Foundation
Licence is vital for the future of amateur radio in Australia, while also achieving
international licence harmony.
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JOTA
time again
The 47th annual
Jamboree on the Air will be held on 16-17 October putting
members of both the scouting and girls movements on the amateur
bands. Australia's Governor General, Major-General Michael
Jeffery in his role as Chief Scout, will broadcast a special
message via amateur radio on Saturday 16 October at 1pm AEST.
There is expected to be an increase this year in the use by
JOTA stations of IRLP and ECHOLINK that will certainly provide
contacts particularly when HF propagation is not good.
From
WIA web site.
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Important
Amateur Radio Issues Being Discussed At Meetings in Geneva
The long journey
to the next World Radiocommunications
Conference (WRC 07)has started with a meeting of the Working Party 8A of the
Radiocommunications Study Groups of the ITU from September 6th to 15th,
with two important amateur radio questions under discussion.
The
first is an IARU proposal for a new amateur band from 135.7-137.8
kHz. This proposal is moving forward well, and it appears
that there will be support for a new world wide allocation
at the next World Radio Conference in 2007.
The
second is a proposal from the short wave broadcasting community
for up to 850 KHz more spectrum between 4 and 10 MHz. If approved,
the spectrum would have to be given up by other users, namely
the fixed service, the mobile service, the amateur radio service
and the radio navigation service. None of these are interested
in giving up spectrum. The discussions are well along, but
there is no solution in sight.
For
both of the above items, amateurs from Canada,
the USA, the UK,
and Japan
are actively participating. Amateurs from many other countries
are also present but active in other areas.
Later
in September, and during much of October, these same issues,
as well as matters related to BPL, will be discussed by other
groups with different points of view.
In
all of these meetings, Ken Pulfer
VE3PU will be attending on behalf of the IARU, and will also
be a member of the Canadian delegation. He has agreed to provide
the RAC web site with news reports as the meetings progress.
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Tasmanian Divisional Meeting Confirms Moves Towards The National WIA
The
special general meeting held on Sunday, September 19 at Ross
to resolve the future of the Tasmanian Division ratified the
VK7 council recommendations. The meeting passed the special
resolutions to apply for dissolution of the Division, and
to pass the surplus funds to National WIA after deregistration
is effected. The Divisional council
was duly authorised to dissolve the Branches. The process
will now be administrative, to finalise the financial side
of the wind up, and within a month apply to Corporate Affairs
for deregistration.
Two
new clubs have been formed to take the place of the Northern
and
Southern
Branches. These are respectively Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio and Electronics
Group, and Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
Inc. It is expected that a new club to be formed in the North West of the state in the next twelve months.
Both of the new clubs will apply to affiliate with the National
WIA.
The
Southern Tasmanian Association has agreed to host the records
of theDivision and other historical documents, as it has storage
facilities. As the old Branches were formerly dependent on
the Division to supply a number of services some seed funding
has been necessary to make sure that they will be financially
viable. This has the effect of reducing the surplus payable
to National, but members felt that in the long term it will
ensure the strength and continuity of the clubs and ultimately
of the WIA in Tasmania.
Phil
Corby, Tasmanian Divisional president reported he was personally
pleased
to see at the meeting many who have been long time members
and supporters of the "Institute" as the Tasmanian
Division was usually called. He added that he felt that this
show of support augers well for the future for the National
WIA.
From WIA web site.
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BBC
Expresses Concern Over BPL Rollout
and it's Potential Interference to Digital Broadcasting
Fears for
New Digital Radio System
By Chris McWhinnie
BBC Monitoring in Amsterdam
Plans
to offer the internet using mains electricity cables could
cause so much interference that new digital radio stations
could be obliterated, a broadcasting conference has been told.
The warning came from Peter Senger,
the chair of the Digital Radio Mondiale
(DRM) at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam.
DRM is a standard agreed by world broadcasters for a completely
new short wave radio system.
The
new internet power line distribution system has been evaluated
by engineers, including the BBC, and has been found to affect
short wave in particular. Short wave is mainly used to broadcast
internationally and the AM bands have been used since radio
first started in the 1920s. The DRM system uses existing AM
broadcast frequencies to deliver near-FM quality digital sound.
It uses compression to squeeze clear digital sound into the
narrow radio channels that currently carry crackly analogue
signals.
The
DRM technology has the potential to make digital radio available
in places that Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) radio or even
FM will probably never reach. As for the hardware required
to hear these stations, there will be a new consumer DRM radio
in the shops by Christmas 2005 and a tiny PC-only DRM set
is already on sale.
DRM
is not being used by many radio stations yet. However a number
of radio stations have seen the potential for new cross-border
radio stations. A Germany-based music station is believed
to be in the planning stages. BBC World Service and its counterparts
abroad already have some regular DRM programmes and are backing
the system.
DRM is being seriously considered in many countries where
the FM radio band is full. China
sees DRM as the answer to pushing digital radio across its
vast territory.
The
UK is not planning to use
DRM for domestic radio. The UK has pinned its digital hopes instead on DAB,
which offers stations like BBC 1Xtra, 6 Music, Oneword and Core. More digital radios have been sold in the
UK
than any other country.
Switching-off
analogue FM and AM may take years and making millions of much-loved
analogue radio sets useless will no doubt be controversial.
If
power line internet transmission is introduced, then international
broadcasting on shortwave may also be consigned to history
due to the interference from data travelling over mains electricity
cables.
Story
from BBC NEWS:
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LF
band for VK likely by 2008
The International
Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is continuing to push for a new
low frequency amateur band from 135.7-137.8 kHz. The allocation
is on the agenda for the World Radiocommunications Conference in 2007, although it is already
available as a secondary allocation in 25 countries including
all of Europe, Canada,
the United States and New Zealand.
The
Wireless Institute of Australia first requested
an LF band two decades ago when VK radio amateurs, using Scientific
Licences, were engaged in pioneering experimentation on lower
frequency spectrum. The WIA has been unsuccessful so far in
achieving an Australian allocation. The ACA over the past
decade has had 'reasons' for not giving making the band available
as a secondary allocation. One of these was that it could
have regional implications.
Another
barrier was concern about Long Wave broadcasters in the northern
hemisphere, and then doubt over the possible future use of
the spectrum by another radio service. The ACA also wanted
to see that the band had IARU support, which it now certainly
does, and its latest position is that it notes that the matter
will be discussed at the WRC07.
The
end result is that when the LF band is adopted at WRC07, plus
the time it takes to amend the Australian Radio Frequency
Spectrum Plan, VK radio amateurs should get the band by 2008.
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Exclusion
zone for 70cm band in Victoria
The bottom
half of the 70 centimetre band is no longer available for
amateur radio in most of Victoria as the result of a new exclusion zone
that has just become law through an amendment to the Amateur
Licence Conditions.
The
ACA has prohibited amateur radio activity on the 420-430 MHz
band within Victoria in an area of up to a 250 kilometre radius of the Melbourne
General Post Office. That band will now be used for a new
state-of-the-art digital radio system to replace the current
analogue systems of the Victoria Police, Metropolitan Ambulance
Service and Metropolitan Fire Brigade.
From
WIA web site
