Date

Event

REAST EOY CELEBRATION BBQ 

Sunday 9th of December saw REAST's End of Year Celebration BBQ. It started with Barry VK7RS reading the VK7 Regional news from the ATV studio on the Domain. Thanks Barry.

We had a few vision callbacks amongst the many other callbacks. The weather was perfect and the rain only started as the last person drove out of the car park around 3:30pm.

The big event at the BBQ was the big antenna draw. REAST was lucky enough to get hold of 13 Moonraker AT318 Autotune Mobile Verticals and the control boxes that accompany them.

Following the testing and rewiring of these we were able to offer nine last Sunday for $200 each. When new, these antennas were selling for over $1,700 each and that was without any wiring!!!

Anyway 26 people put their name into the hat and Richard VK7RO drew nine names out and those lucky people were the recipients of these sturdy mobile autotune antennas.

There was also brisk trade at the trading tables with many Philips 828s, Motorola Syntrexes, CBs, PSUs, cavities and a range of other equipment being sold on the day.

We then went in to the BBQ and a great social time was had by all. I estimate we had about 35 people there enjoying the day.

See you there.

(REAST Committee)

Remote Station Control and Logging

Wednesday the 7th was a fascinating talk by Brian VK7RR on his remotely controllable shack.

Brian’s illustrated talk started with a description of the SteppIR antenna which an automatically adjusting HF beam. The antenna reads the frequency from your transmitter/receiver and adjusts accordingly.

The copper-beryllium strip is driven by a stepper motor to adjust the director and reflector within a fiberglass tube also making the antenna very light.

The antenna covers 40 through 6 meters and on 6 it has two passive elements. You have full control of the settings via the computer control module.

Brian’s aim was to develop a station that could be taken and/or controlled from anywhere via the net to overcome issues like BPL, etc. Brian described his very impressive station which included an FT1000MP Mk V, a navigator digital interface, solid state linear, IC910H, computer with dual monitors, multiple mouses for controlling the cursor and rotator, a NCS audio switcher/controller and software.

Brian then ran through how he had configured the hardware and software to enable remote control and the essential requirements for it to work! Things like a high speed broadband connection, a VOIP package like Skype and Virtual Control software.

Brian then demonstrated the remote control to his station down the hill by adjusting the frequency on the receiver and adjusting the heading on the Steppir antenna and people listened to the audio response coming back through the head phones.

The demonstration included the remote demonstration of the logging program which includes the rx frequency, setup and the beam heading.

This was a very impressive demonstration of state-of-the-art internet technology and equipment and a practical demonstration of its capability. Brian then took questions.

Thanks Brian for a fantastic demonstration.

The night was recorded for replay at a future ATV experimenter’s night.

(Justin VK7TW)

Sewing Circle BBQ -The Wrap

November 4 saw the hosting of the Sewing Circle BBQ by Ken VK7DY and Wendy VK7FWJS at their property at Orielton.

The visitors book tells us that about 80 people attended with around 50 being radio amateurs. The weather was fair with only a few drops of rain during the day.

There was a group of ten who stayed over Saturday night and apparently the bonfire and stories around it were enjoyed by all. The day started with the smell of breakfast on the BBQ and the VK7 broadcast read live by Justin VK7TW from the WICEN trailer. WICEN South was at the BBQ with their impressive cloud buster trailer mounted antenna complete with HF beam and 2m vertical. Rod VK7TRF setup a 4WD area to show winching and four wheel driving equipment.

(picture by VK7FCDW)

(picture by VK7FCDW)

After the broadcast we headed into the homebrew judging with some great entries from a range of amateurs and partners.

Our amateur homebrew judges were Alan VK7ZAR and Rex VK7MO.

Graham VK7F  took out the F-Troop homebrew contest with his computer controlled ATU and the encouragement award went to Chris VK7FCBH for his ATU.

Ron VK7FEAA took out the home brew contest with his range of 13.8VDC power supplies.

There was swift trade at the trading tables with John VK7ZZ and a number of people selling a range of equipment. Ray VK7VKV brought along his impressive complete Yaesu FT301 station.

Shirley VK7HSC was the judge for the female homebrew contest which had 4 to 5 entries. Rod’s XYL took out the award with a beautiful handmade rug and wall hanging.

The Terry Wilson VK7HTW (silent key) was presented to Sam VK7FBMX for services to amateur radio in VK7.

The BBQ then got underway and a good feed was had by all.

Brian VK7KBE then presented the Sewing Machine award to the most lacquatious amateur on the Sewing Circle net which for the coming year is Jerry VK7EE. The award was presented in his absence.

Congratulations to all people who received awards and certificates at the BBQ.

Bill VK7WR gave us a talk on Chas Harrisson VK7CH (SK) one our early VK7 amateurs who started back in the 1929 and continued to operate up to his death in 1998. Chas or Snowy was one of the founding members of the Sewing Circle BBQ.

This was followed by an interesting talk by Bill VK7AAW who hosted many Sewing Circle BBQ’s at his home at Rosie Vanyan.

Bill then drew the winning raffle ticket for the hamper of goodies which was won by Vince VK7VH.

Bill then drew the ticket for the Christmas Ham and the beautiful Huon pine carved trout trophy which was donated by Max VK7KY.

The WICEN raffle was then drawn and Rod VK7TRF won the digital set top box.

Finally there was an auction of some beautifully etched whiskey glasses donated by Dietmar VK7FDIE.

From those I have spoken with it was a great day that was enjoyed by many people.

A big thank you to Ken & Wendy and all the helpers before during and after the day.

There are some great pictures of the day available on the website address that can be found on the email and internet editions of this broadcast.

(Justin, VK7TW & Ken VK7DY)

JOTA/JOTI 2007

This year is the 100th anniversary of Scouting and the 50th Jamboree On The Air.

Internationally, JOTA was extended from the normal 48 hours to 50 hours.

JOTA REPORTS:

A special thank you to Scott VK7HSE who put the JOTA stations locations and callsigns onto the APRS maps during the weekend.

THE LEA:

Groups from the Wellington District held JOTA/JOTI at The Lea Scout Camp. The station was set up and staffed by WICEN VK7 s Chris FCDW John ZZ and Roger ARN and they had a ball pulling each other's legs over the weekend between JOTA groups. It was one long comedy Gang Show. The main action consisted mostly of one word overs. Constant prompting by the operators was the order of the days but, as is usually the case, a few bright stars made it all worth it. One lad told his he had one of these radios with a big round knob that his uncle gave him and he sometimes talked to people on it. Queries about a licence brought a blank stare. Foolishly, we didn't take any WIA leaflets with us! Contacts ranged through a Scout Leader Ham in Vancouver B.C via IRLP, the Brownies down the road in Snug on 2 metres and a couple of US stations via APRS messaging. The station consisted of an Icom 706 on a longwire and a 2 metre rig, which in quiet time was hooked up to APRS with PC display. John VK7ZZ had just returned from China two days prior to JOTA and is preparing for a yacht trip to Antarctica. The rest of the team were happy to give him galley practice and greatly appreciated his efforts, deciding that in future he would be known as VK7SINBAD. The six letter suffix being well suited, whichever way it's read.  

The WICEN Team at The LEA

(73, Roger, VK7ARN)

CLARENCE:

The Saturday afternoon saw Thomas VK7FDAE, Allan VK7FWAG and myself VK7NAW attended Howrah Scout Hall. We had Joeys, Scouts, Guides and Sea Scouts ranging in ages from 5 to 11 years old. They were from Pittwater, Sandford, and Howrah groups.

They spoke to scouts in The Lea and Sandy Bay .We had a fun pack afternoon as the kids one by one spoke on the radio. We were entertained with Erin (see pic below) with her ease at conversation with the other scouts .A real potential amateur.

Erin and Thomas VK7FDAE

(73, Rosanne, VK7NAW)

HARTZ DIVISION:

Hartz Division Guides, made up of the D'Entrecasteaux and Waratah-Geeveston Units set up at the Snug Community Hall located just off the Snug Oval.

Approximately 30 Girl Guides attended the weekend which was dedicated to all things electrical, activities undertaken whilst on camp included Human Battleships using UHF CB to pass on the moves from one end of the beach to the other, small electrical circuits such as light circuits using a battery and globes, buzzer circuits and some solar cell circuits, and of course the main reason for the weekend the 50th Jamboree of the Air (JOTA), activities which saw all attendees gain their Science and Technology Badge.

Some excellent local contacts were made and over the weekend everybody at the camp had the chance to talk on the radio at least twice, some of the girls being through as many as five or six times, this prompted the introduction of the VK7GGA inaugural "Chatterbox Award", this was awarded in the categories of Most Improved, Confident Operator, Confidence and the Chatterbox Winner

WICEN VK7s MBD and FREK provided the necessary equipment and skills to operate the VK7GGA station from the hall utilising a Icom IC207 for local 2m work and a Icom IC706 feeding a long wire pointed approx 30deg East of north through an IC AH4 tuner. Whilst there were some some promising early morning contacts in VK3 unfortunately as the day progressed some local interference ruled out further daytime HF contacts, this was all forgiven with the timely arrival in the evening of the VK7MBD magic touch and within 10 minutes of starting to spin the 706's VFO he had picked up an excellent VK2 station operating from the Blue Mountains on 40m, the girls all got a chance to speak to fellow guides from the Springwood Winmalee Guide unit a QSO which continued for over an hour.

Wendy Thomson, District Guide Leader for the Channel District has asked that all amateurs are thanked for their patience with the repeaters being tied up at various times and assistance to all groups in the region as this was the first time that Channel have done JOTA for a long time and the Guides really enjoyed themselves. She has also invited MBD and FREK back for next year with promises extracted from them for a bigger and better station to accommodate the proposed bigger and better camp.

(73, Scott, VK7FREK)

BLACKMANS BAY:

Rod, VK7TRF, Mark, VK7FMDF, Gary VK7JGD and Justin VK7TW manned the station throughout the weekend with scouts, cubs and joeys in attendance from Kingston and Blackmans Bay.

IRLP and two HF stations were working other JOTA stations throughout mainly VK. Justin and Gary setup the light communications boxes across the car park Saturday night and the cubs in attendance talked with each other via 474TeraHz (red light) which was a bit of a highlight over the weekend.

Blackmans Bay Cubs communicating over light.

(73, Justin, VK7TW)

NextG Network

We saw a fascinating talk given to about 30 people by Andrew Burt a Technology Specialist read Wireless Engineer from Telstra on the NextG Wireless network. Andrew designs, optimises and fault finds all mobile services in Tasmania. This covers about 400 bases of different technology.

Andrew started by describing the three different mobile phone streams – analogue or AMPS, GSM, CDMA. Then headed descriptions of the underlying technology, firstly frequency division time multiple access or FDMA (AMPS) then into Time Division Multiple Access or TDMA which is what GSM uses and then into Code Division Multiple Access or CDMA. Andrew described how CDMA works and some of the limitations then went into Wideband CDMA or what is marketed as the NextG network. It operates on the 850, 1,900 and 2,100MHz bands with 5MHz bandwidth. It uses orthogonal variable spreading factor channelisation codes and this spreads the information across the spectrum to reduce the power density and the spreading code is used to unspread the information back into a usable signal. The modulation methods vary from 8PSK/16QAM/64QAM and it can supply data rates upto 14.4Mbps downlink and 1.9Mbps uplink.

The Telstra choice of 850MHz provides a uniquely penetrating service where as the higher frequencies do not have the range or ability to recevie a signal with certain locations due to the shorter wavelengths. NextG currently has a 200km range and with the soon to be released Telstra Rural phone these distances will be realised. Due to the way CDMA works all the transmitters and receviers are on exactly the same frequency and 1500 times a second the basestation is adjusting the transmit power in both the base station and the handset to maintain the same signal to interference ratio (SIR level).

Andrew then went through the features available in Wideband CDMA with things like handset’s rake receviers that automatically deal with multipathing, the soft and softer handovers where handsets are talking to multiple base stations and the operator is unaware of any transfer or provision of service. Andrew then took us through the WCDMA architecture and outlined what goes on behind the scenes in the mobile environment.

Andrew finished off with the issues they are dealing with currently with the NextG network. You need to get the right phone for the right job. This includes getting the right antenna for the applications it is being used for ie. City or rural usage.

There were many interesting questions taken from the floor and the group thanked Andrew for a fascinating talk and presentation.

Thanks Andrew, I think we are much the wiser about the new network Telstra is rolling out and have a better understanding of the issues.

The presentation was videoed for an ATV night in the near future.

Hacking HF - Linux for Amateur Radio

Have you heard about Linux? That freeware version of Unix that is competing with Windoze these days?

We had a great turn-up and Ben VK7BEN started by taking the group through his vast experience with computers and Linux.

Ben then took the group through a brief history of Unix the multi-tasking operating system that started its life in the 1970s in Bell labs along with the history of the general public licence software community called GNU. Couple this together with Linus Torvalds in the early 90s and the result was Linux a freeware UNIX operating system.

The group was then taken through the installation of the Ubuntu version of Linux and showed us how easy it is.

The next part of the presentation was Harv's Ham Shack CD-Rom. This cd-rom has a live version of Knoppix which is a cutdown version of Unix that will happily run from the CD. This means that you do not have to go through the pain of installing Linux on your PC but you can still have the experience of Unix.

There are also many Ham shack applications that are included on the CD-Rom as well. 

Ben then took the group through some of the applications on the CD and showed their usefulness in the shack.

There were free copies of the Linux "Ham Shack" live CD available for members along with information about Linux.

This was an excellent presentation and hopefully gave members a look at Linux and what it is all about.

Thanks Ben for a great presentation.  

(Justin, VK7TW)

The Latest and Greatest in Process Electronics

Our August meeting was a fascinating talk by Mike VK7DMH who took us on a journey of discovery about process control and the associated electronics. Mike is an instrumentation engineer who works for W.A.Cromarty & Co.

Mike started as an aircraft instrument technician and moved into industrial instrumentation gaining extensive overseas including the Saudi Arabian oil fields.

Mike started with the industrial revolution and steam boilers and what was needed to control boilers. This lead to the development of a control rooms with valves and facsimile gauges. This was found to be a less than safe arrangement and the industry developed with pneumatic control gear where temperatures, pressures, etc were all converted to a 3 to 15psi range of air pressure. This allowed the control systems to be isolated from the elements being measured and improving safety. These arrangements were all very mechanical and today signals are no longer pneumatic but most operate on a 4 to 20mA current range. 4mA means you have a live zero which allows for the indication of a fault condition and the systems are current limited to 22mA. The systems run on 24v and at 22mA this cannot create a spark therefore is safe in a flammable environment.

These days the currents have superimposed on them an FSK signal which is used to configure and interrogate the devices. The device can be anything from valves, sensors or indicators and they are all able to be connected via various buss systems back to a central controlling computer.

Mike brought along a number of sensors that work from both radar (24Ghz) and ultrasonics (36kHz) and the control electronics to interrogate these devices in a real-time environment. Mike took us through on the big screen the Plics configuration software. Mike had a couple of 24GHz radar detector/sensor and showed the device parameters and how you control and configure the devices. The software enables you to blank out false echos from the radar device which enables the device to be configured for the particular environment and this can be done in-situ. Once the configuration has been completed the software loads it into the device and it will operate in that mode until it is reconfigured.

One of the applications that Mike took the group through was the tide levels in Launceston under the bridges. Originally it was an ultrasonic detector and in storm conditions the sensors did not work. Mike has replaced theses with radar sensors with excellent results. In Finland, they have experimented with using a long wave guide on radar devices to measure red hot coals from a furnace which previously could not be measured. At Norske Skog at Boyer they have experimented with a wide horn 24GHz radar (at 1mW they can get up to 75m) detector inside the paper pulp tanks and measure the dried pulp to regulate the auger feed out of the bottom of the tank.

Mike then went through three term controllers – PID (proportional, integral and derivative) which compare an incoming current to a reference current and produce a proportional current. Mike demonstrated this control concept with his model aircraft plastic film hot iron which is controlled by a pseudo PID controller which takes into account the hysteresis of heating and cooling by measuring the gain of the system and compensating for the swings through time-proportional control. The PID controller takes into account the gain and response speed of the system and adjusts accordingly. It uses the derivative or alternate phase of the system to compensate and give close to steady state.

These days most processes are controlled through a PC screen with application blocks that are connected to the devices via controller networks. We had some great real-world input from Dale 7DG who is the engineer at National Foods and showed us through the milk processing plant last year. Mike & Dale took us through the auto tune trials and tribulations and cascaded controllers and some of the idiosyncrasies of starting a plant up. Mike took us through speed controller methods and Dale outlined the milk fat sensors using the IR beams. Mike finished up by outlining pressure sensors in tanks and their short falls with changes in density. Fermentation vessels are a particular problem except for a wire that sends a pulse down the wire and time domain reflectometry to tell where the liquid level. In the petrochemical industry they use a waveguide in the tank to measure the levels.

Mike finished up by commenting that Radar is exciting area of instrumentation and it has enabled many other applications for measurement. But reminded us that there is no such thing as an instrument that does everything!

Thanks Mike for giving us your time, it was fascinating.

Remembrance Day Contest Info Night

The RD is Australia's most popular contest and it runs this year on August 11 & 12, 2007.

The night will cover a bit of history, the new (and old) rules, and even run through on the big screen the logging programs available to make logging contacts really easy.

The night is focused on the F-calls and getting them more involved in the world of contesting.

Come along and see what contesting is all about RD style.

Presentation can be found here.

Refer to: http://www.wia.org.au/contests/rd/index.php
for more information.

Independence Day - Mid Winter DIY FEAST

This was a great night led by our ex-officio butcher and culinary expert - Ken VK7DY.

Ken took us through many of the butcher's "trick's of the trade" and showed us many things you can do with a leg of lamb, chooks and the humble mince meat!

Ken started with how to cut up a leg of lamb and get the prime cuts we pay so much for.

What can we do with a leg of lamb??

We then used these cuts to make lamb kebabs along with some onion, mushrooms, capsicum and celery. We had a great production line going.

Many hands on the kebab production line

Whilst the kebabs cooked we moved to what we could do with chicken. The first was bocconini with chicken wings and Ken made it look all so easy, de-boning chook wings was the challenge!!  

Bocconcini production line

The next was stuffed drumsticks with garlic butter and stuffing. Then with a complete chook in front of Ken VK7DY, Denise VK7FDKM, Chris VK7FCDW and Justin VK7TW, Ken took them  through cutting up the complete chook to make chicken Maryland, schnitzel, Kievs and steaks.

Apprentice butchers at work...NOT!

There was a brick on the demo table and Ken described it as the best tenderizer you could get and proceeded to demonstrate on a chicken steak which was crumbed and became a chicken schnitzel.

Tenderizing ala brick style

The crumbing line!!

We then went on to chicken schnitzels, chicken Kievs and steaks.

The schnitzel guru!

The next gourmet delight was skinless sausages and the competition was on between Denise, Chris and Justin to make the best skinless sausage. Secret herbs and spices, sausage meat, mince all went together and was rolled into sausages. The adjudicator was Reg, 7KK and following some fierce competition on the hotplate the tasting resulted in the lemongrass seasoned sausages made (by accident) by Justin as the winner! Fortunately Chris brought along some Mylanta for afterwards HIHI!!

We had a team preparing each dish, another team cooking fiercely on the BBQ and at the end we had another team washing up all under the expert guidance of Ken. Great teamwork!

Thanks to all who helped out and it just goes to show what you can do with a few loaves and fishes, whoops, no that's another story. But, seriously we spent $56 on meat and fed well over 20 people and still had food left over!

This was a great night and it proved for all assembled many of the things you can do with meat and chicken to make all those expensive cuts and dishes for a fraction of the cost.

Thanks to Ken for sharing his knowledge and skill with us and I think everyone went away having eaten their fill!

A very generous donation was made to the club of a 2.4m C band satellite TV dish and mounting pole. Gary VK7JGD and Ken VK7DY unassembled and transported the dish to the domain, thanks guys.

Justin VK7TW welded up a frame using the mounting pole and 23 June was set as the date to assemble and align.

We had a great roll up on the day which started with the group dyna bolting the frame to the concrete slab. Thanks to Steve VK7XOR for the use of his heavy duty hammer drill for this task.

Dish stand mounted

Ken VK7DY then took the group through a quick tutorial on satellite dishes and the differences in the LNB/LNCs, polarisation and common things that go wrong with them!

Ken. VK7DY sat dish tutorial

Colourful spectators!

Some final adjustments on the LNB

Following the final adjustments and setup on the ground the dish was lifted into place. Many hands make light work was definitely the right adage!

Many hands make light work of getting the dish onto the stand

Final adjustments in elevation and azimuth

Ken showed two methods of adjustment with an audible analogue meter adjustment and then with a digital alignment box that has all the bells and whistles!

Steve, VK7XOR doing his Atlas impression!!

Ken then took the group through plugging in a decoder and setting the decoder up for the various transponders on the Optus B3 satellite. There are many free to air channels on this dish and we sampled a few including Russian and Greek channels.

The end result - satellite TV loud and clear (well in Greek!!!)

Thanks to all who helped out on the day. REAST now has another piece of equipment to play with, train on and have some fun with.

73, Justin, VK7TW

Optical Extravaganza Night

Our June meeting was a great night of optical history, optical show and tell and practical calibration.

In fact, the clubrooms were so full of optical transceivers and test equipment with four transceivers, five separate transmitters, one dedicated receiver and six pieces of optical test equipment with calibrated transmitters and receivers that there was hardly any room for the people attending...HIHI.

REAST clubrooms full of optical transceivers and test equipment, in fact almost no room for people...HIHI!

Mike VK7MJ our optical guru initially took us through a brief history of optical communications which started back with Alexander Graham Bell who patented the Photo-phone back in 1880s.

Mike took us through the various developments prior to the development of electronics as we know it, through the use of different types of lamps from incandescents, arc, vapour and into lasers and ending in LEDs and finally the recent development of the Luxeon.

Mike, VK7MJ with light theory 101

Mike then did a quick theory lesson and explanation of the various measurements of light and light intensity.

We then headed into a show and tell of the optical equipment that was present starting with Mike who had three versions of transceivers present, Rex, VK7MO who had two types of transmitters and Justin VK7TW who had a transceiver and separate transmitter and a receiver.

Mike, VK7MJ with the show and tell

Rex, VK7MO then did a short presentation on his recent near vertical cloud bounce tests and showed some interesting charts of the noise versus bounced signal.

Rex, VK7MO with cloud bounce charts

We then rugged up and headed out into the cold night and Mike setup the calibrated transmitter and receiver about 86metres down the clubhouse drive way.

The optical test equipment

We progressively moved through the transceivers, transmitters and receivers to test their relative powers and sensitivities.

One of Rex's transmitters under test - adjustments in progress!

The Results:

Transmitters:
VK7MO optical bench 30.6 dBW 1150 W/sterad
VK7MO 30 Luxeon 21.2 dBW 130 W/sterad

VK7TW transceiver 30.4 dBW 1110 W/sterad
VK7TW theatre flood 11.6 dBW 14 W/sterad

VK7MJ small box 26 dBW 400 W/sterad
VK7MJ large box 31.6 dBW 1450 W/sterad
VK7MJ Chopper 33.8 dBW 2400 W/sterad

Receiver sensitivities:
VK7MJ small box -86 dBW/m² 2.5 nW/m²
VK7MJ large box -93 dBW/m² 500pW/m²
VK7TW transceiver -93 dBW/m² 500 pW/m²
VK7TW dish receiver -93 dBW/m² 500 pW/m²

That familiar warm red Luxeon glow!

All in all a fantastic hands on night and I got some great comments from all those who cam along.

73, Justin, VK7TW 

Justin VK7TW, did a presentation for the afternoon group and repeat performance and started with a demonstration on the big screen of designing a PCB using ExpressSCH(ematic) then using that to design a PCB and check the schematic against the PCB to ensure it was valid.

Justin then moved to explain the different PCB manufacturing methods that are currently available to the hobbyist and then demonstrated the Press-n-Peel method using iron plastic film that has the design photocopied or laser printed onto the film.

The copper was cleaned and the design ironed onto the copper. This was then etched using Ammonium Persulphate and then cleaned ready for drilling.

Throughout the presentation Justin went through the variations and outlined the traps for "young players" in the field. 

Drilling was next and the drill sizes and drilling methods were explained.

Justin made a 10 thou tracked fine PCB in the afternoon session all the way through to the drilling stage. 

Justin then made another 10 thou tracked PCB in evening session to prove repeatability of the method.

PCB made in afternoon session

PCB made in evening session

Justin has made the handout available for anyone looking to produce their own PCBs.

4 April 2007 2000 (08:00pm)

Amateur TV - 1930's Style

Our April presentation was given by Rex, VK7MO to the afternoon and evening group about his OM Len, VK3LN SK and his amateur TV experiments from around the 1930s.

Rex started with some of the historical items he brought along – a Sanabria disk which is the heart of a 45 line interlaced television disk with three groups of 15 lenses that a neon tube was projected through onto a screen. Rex also showed a 105 line 1940’s camera using an Iconoscope with small 2 inch CRT screen that Len had built.

Rex also brought along a very early 1909 - Marconi magnetic detector which is an interesting clockwork driven device used up to the 1916 mainly on shipping in preference to a cats whisker.

Len was a tailor by trade and did a trip to USA in 1935 and visited many amateur in the US and was even given a photoelectric tube and television from an amateur and brought it back to Australia.

In the late 1930 he built a non-interlaced TV with 2’6” receive and transmit disks on a common shaft which eliminated sync problems. It was apparently trialled on 7MHz and it’s success was debatable.

During WWII he became a radar technician with the RAAF and Len told a funny story about disputing the RAAF training session with his amateur experience. In the 1940 he constructed a large 4 element 20 metre beam up 72feet in the air which ended up crashing down in the late 1940s and was reconstructed and the tower survived up until the 1990s.

Len demonstrated closed circuit TV with Rex’s Mum as the film star and a press campaign ensued to get the PMG to allow the transmission on the air waves of TV signals.

The WIA in Melbourne put on a display in the Exhibition Buildings for a regular hobbies fair in the 1950s and the WIA occupied the full stage with an enormous demonstration of amateur radio and TV and this attracted hundreds of people interested in seeing this new thing called TV.

An experimental licence was issued by the PMG to enable amateurs to transmit TV over the airwaves.

Rex’s talk concluded at 1950 when his OM, Len received the WIA Mercury award for his achievements.

Rex then went onto a second talk about his and Justin, VK7TW’s experiments in optical cloud bounce which was covered earlier in the broadcast.

This was a fascinating talk, thanks a million Rex.

24/25 March 2007

Model Makers and Collectors Fair 2007

The biyearly hobbies fair took on the weekend of the 24/25 March 2007 at the Derwent Entertainment Centre.

A big thank you to the all who helped out with the REAST stand at the biennial Model Makers and Collectors Exhibition at the Derwent Entertainment Centre last weekend. We had 18 people involved throughout the weekend setting up, manning the stand and packing up on the Sunday afternoon.

The stand may have only been about 4metres square but we managed to fit:

A working APRS station displaying APRS enabled station around the state, a working SSTV station transmitting and receiving slow scan pictures all weekend (and thanks to those stations who helped with this), demonstrations of IRLP and Echolink, and a working HF and VHF mobile station.

Throughout the weekend we had the RSGB & ARRL promo DVDs running (with permission), we had working optical transceivers which allowed the public to talk over light and this proved to be very popular, we had a try your hand at morse computer setup, VK7JK was constructing a range of projects during the weekend and this was displayed on the big screen and we had our BPL virtual tour DVD running throughout the weekend letting the public know the issues we are currently dealing with.

All in all an extreme colour and movement experience for the public showing them what AR is all about.

We sold three foundation licence manuals, gave out about 70 "Calling CQ" brochures with club details on them, we gave out about 50 AR magazines, we gained one new club member and a renewal so, we had a great weekend.

I would also like to thank the WIA National office for assisting us with AR magazines, AR brochures and Foundation licence manuals.

(73, Justin, VK7TW)

18 March 2007 1030 (10:30am)

MEET THE VOICE

The "Meet The Voice" get together and BBQ was an outstanding success socially and I thank those attending for their friendliness and participation.

Attendees at the "Meet the Voice" Gathering

For some it started earlier than anticipated with 12 plus arriving on the Saturday afternoon including 5 from the Big Island and a very pleasant evening was had to start off proceedings a little early at the Caravan Park.

The day started with registration around 10 am followed by a short discussion group on BPL which was well received and thanks to Justin VK7TW for his leadership and then the BBQ lunch.

Discussion Group (photo by VK7AY)

The theme of the day was of course "MEET THE VOICE" and like many others I found it exciting to place faces to so many call signs hera over time but never met in person  to now. Thank you one and all.

It was pleasing to  be able to welcome  7 mainlanders representing VK6, VK3 and VK1 who all spoke highly of the open and friendly reception they received.

Relaxing at the MTV (photo by VK7AY)

The "Active Antenna" donated by David and Claureen Wilson from Tyab Victoria, VK3 JKY and VK3KMB  was won by Stephen Phillips VK3JY of Melbourne and from the registrations received we were able to donate around $150 to the repeater groups.  Your registration fee will be working for you.

May be we will return to Ross again next year "watch this space" for news.

Thanks to all who assisted in preparation and on the day you made it so easy to arrange.

The Sewing Circle Net is YOUR Net 5pm to 6pm daily 365 days a year, come and visit some time on 3590, but please use your microphone we know many of you listen, come on become active we need your knowledge and participation.

(Don, VK7AY Sewing Circle Net Co-ordinator)

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SEWING CIRCLE NET HISTORY

We now believe we have tangible evidence of the origins of the Net in it's infancy back as far as 1962 we would like further information from old logs that may be out there, may be you father, granddad, uncle or other relation or friend's logs are in the attic, how about giving them a dust and search for further information.

In due course it is hope to produce a booklet for distribution to any one interested, but for now we want further information.

The name "SEWING CIRCLE " came I believe from the wife of an early net follower suggesting that they sounded like a group of women at a sewing meeting as women of the day were want to do. This may not have been at the early days of the net and so the information we want may not be listed as sewing circle, but the net has in all it's time been held on 3590 daily between 5 & 6 PM. 

Please help.

Information may be sent to Vince VK7VH or Don VK7AY at dvcster@gmail.com.

(73, Don, VK7AY)

14 March 2007 at 2000 (8pm)

History of Radio Control

Firstly it was great to see John, VK6ZN/7 back in the state along with his bus, welcome back John. Also it was great to see Peter VK7TAZ and his XYL, Fiona along for the evening talk along with many other regulars.

Mike Hawkins, VK7DMH gave both the Wednesday afternoon and evening group an illustrated talk on history of radio control. Mike is a passionate radio controlled aircraft builder and brought along a range of historic and modern RC equipment including one of his latest model aircraft.

Mike took the groups through the development of the concept of radio control starting with purely on/off AM carrier systems all the way through to the modern (well 1950’s concept) pulsed proportional designs which are used today where pulses of particular width (1.5mS) are used to drive servos on the aircraft to control throttle, ailerons, rudder, etc in a proportional fashion dependent on the width of the pulses being generated by the controller and transmitted via RF to the receiver in the aircraft and to the servos.

Mike surrounded by past and present RC equipment.

Mike even showed some articles on the latest 2.4GHz spread spectrum RC equipment that is currently available. None of the changing the crystal in these sets, its negotiates a range of frequencies prior to starting.

Mike has done extensive research into the history of RC and took his audience back through time with articles that documented the progress that RC for military applications and as a hobby and surprise, surprise there are many hams involved in the early stages of RC development.

Would you believe that one of the earliest records of RC is back in the late 1800s with a remotely controlled submarine that looks much like a enclosed bathtub with antennas!

Mike finished up by demonstrated the latest toy in an infrared controlled miniature helicopter that actually flies!

Some of the early RC equipment Mike is restoring.

Thanks a million Mike, it was a very informative and well presented talk.

11 February 2007 1100 (11am)

Annual General Meeting

AGM Report

Sunday 11 Feb – the Regatta Day long weekend saw the REAST AGM and BBQ. We were a little unsure about how many we would get along considering it was the long weekend and the regatta and Wooden Boat Festival was on. However we were pleasantly surprised.

We started the day with the WIA and VK7 Regional News Broadcasts coming from the Queens Domain ATV studio thanks to Ken VK7DY who organised the originating of the broadcast on both R2 and ATV. The Regional News was jointly read by Ian VK7IR and Sam VK7FBMX who did a great job and pictures can be seen on the website.

The AGM got underway at 11am with 40 people attending including Bill VK7MX and son Duncan VK7FLAK attending from the North. It was great to see you guys again.

We eventually got through the reports and held the elections for office bearers. We had the ballot for the two committee member positions and the success nominees were Gavin O’Shea VK7HGO and Ken Sulman VK7DY. The other office holder for 2007 are Justin Giles-Clark VK7TW as President, Clayton Reading VK7ZCR for Vice-President, Danny Moss VK7HDM for Secretary and Scott Thomson VK7FREK for Treasurer.

We were fortunate that all our ex-officio office holders all agreed to stand for another year and a full list is available on the contacts page of this website.

Roger VK7ARN our WICEN Coordinator presented certificates in appreciation of the efforts of amateurs in the recent WICEN activation for the Kellevie fires.

The special resolution for the change to Rule 13 was discussed and passed unanimously. This will greatly reduce the cost of notifying members of general meetings and further improve our ability to communicate with members.

We then headed into BBQ and most people stayed and enjoyed a snag and the social aspect of the hobby and the weather was perfect.

I must personally thank all people who helped out in the club in 2006 and look forward to working with you again to further improve and expand REAST.

73, Justin, VK7TW (President)