March Meeting – Hermes Lite SDRs by Scott VK2JAX

Update: This presentation was recorded and is available on Youtube.

The next AREG meeting will be held on Friday the 15th of March at the Fulham Community Centre – Phelps Court, Fulham, with doors opening at 7:00 PM, and the presentation kicking off at 7:30 PM. Everyone is welcome!

This month’s presentation will be from Scott VK2JAX, on the Hermes Lite SDR, an open-source and open-hardware direct conversion transceiver.

If you’ve never come along to one of our meetings, we’d love to see you there, all guests are welcome. For our remote members, the meeting will be broadcast via Zoom.

After the talks we’ll all be given an opportunity to have an eyeball QSO among ourselves whilst enjoying a tea or coffee and a biscuit.

73, Mark VK5QI

February Meeting – Club Member Lightning Talks!

The next AREG meeting will be held on Friday the 16th of February at the Fulham Community Centre – Phelps Court, Fulham, with doors opening at 7:00 PM, and the presentation kicking off at 7:30 PM. Everyone is welcome!

This month will see a return of the “Members Lightning Talks” format where members from the floor are invited to step up and give a short 5 minute talk about something that they have been doing or experimenting with.

If you’ve never come along to one of our meetings, we’d love to see you there, all guests are welcome. For our remote members, the meeting will be broadcast via Zoom.

After the talks we’ll all be given an opportunity to have an eyeball QSO among ourselves whilst enjoying a tea or coffee and a biscuit.

73, Mark VK5QI

January Meeting – “Contesting – a 10 year journey, from Foundation to 2×1 call sign” by Andy VK5AKH

The next AREG meeting will be held on Friday the 19th of January at the Fulham Community Centre – Phelps Court, Fulham, with doors opening at 7:00 PM, and the presentation kicking off at 7:30 PM. Everyone is welcome!

This month’s talk is by Andy VK5AKH, titled “Contesting – a 10 year journey, from Foundation to 2×1 call sign”.

A look back on the last 10 years of contesting, from being bitten by the bug as a Foundation Licence holder, to VHF/UHF/Microwave, grid square hopping, to large multi-op stations.

Where to from here, Ideas and thoughts on contesting going forward, then open discussion from the floor.

If you’ve never come along to one of our meetings, we’d love to see you there, all guests are welcome. For our remote members, the meeting will be broadcast via Zoom.

After the talks we’ll all be given an opportunity to have an eyeball QSO among ourselves whilst enjoying a tea or coffee and a biscuit.

73, Mark VK5QI

Next AREG Meeting – “Light Talkers” by Tim VK5ZT

The next AREG meeting will be held on Friday the 17th of November at the Fulham Community Centre – Phelps Court, Fulham, with doors opening at 7:00 PM, and the presentation kicking off at 7:30 PM. Everyone is welcome!

This presentation was recorded, and is available on Youtube below:

 

For AREGs October technical talk Tim Dixon, VK5ZT will be presenting (in person at the hall!) on “Light Talkers” (Optical Communications). Tim’s talk will cover the following topics interspersed with anecdotes about his adventures with the gear…1. Why do this at all?
2. A short history of (amateur) optical communications records with an Aussie focus.
3. Tim’s brief history in optical communications. Travels, international DX etc…
4. Optical propagation and the best options (no, its NOT lasers!).
5. Transmitter and Receiver systems. Simple cheap equipment, really bright LEDs.
6. Test Equipment.
7. Some of Tim’s projects (some a little crazy!)

One of Tim VK5ZT’s “Light Talker” units

If you’ve never come along to one of our meetings, we’d love to see you there, all guests are welcome. For our remote members, the meeting will be broadcast via Zoom.

After the talks we’ll all be given an opportunity to have an eyeball QSO among ourselves whilst enjoying a tea or coffee and a biscuit.

73, Mark VK5QI

Next AREG Meeting – Astrophotography with Scott VK2JAX

The next AREG meeting will be held on Friday the 20th of October at the Fulham Community Centre – Phelps Court, Fulham, with doors opening at 7:00 PM, and the presentation kicking off at 7:30 PM. Everyone is welcome!

For AREGs October technical talk Scott, VK2JAX will be presenting a talk via Zoom covering the basics of astrophotography. Topics covered will include
– What are the types of Astrophotography
– What is a good beginning camera
– What type of Telescope do I need
– What type of mounts work best
– How to capture and do basic processing of images.

The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, as captured by the Tamworth Astronomy and Science Centre Hewitt Camera

This talk will be presented from the Tamworth Astronomy and Science Centre (weather permitting) and will include live demonstrations of their premiere instrument – the Hewitt Camera.

If you’ve never come along to one of our meetings, we’d love to see you there, all guests are welcome. For our remote members, the meeting will be broadcast via Zoom.

After the talks we’ll all be given an opportunity to have an eyeball QSO among ourselves whilst enjoying a tea or coffee and a biscuit.

73, Mark VK5QI

Next AREG Meeting: Stuart VK5STU – “An Overview of SAGRN Services, Technology and Operations”

The next AREG meeting will be held on Friday the 16th of June at the Fulham Community Centre – Phelps Court, Fulham.

A helicopter assisting with installation of antennas on a SAGRN tower.

This months presentation will be from Stuart VK5STU, talking about the SA Government Radio Network (SAGRN). Stuart will be covering the 5 services within the SAGRN and go through the technology employed across these services as well as coverage design and engineering considerations. He will also talk about how the network is operated and managed, and the challenges faced during major incidents.

Doors open at 7.15pm and the presentation kicks off at 7.45. Everyone is welcome to attend. If you’ve never come along to one of our meetings, we’d love to see you there, all guests are welcome. For our remote members, the meeting will be broadcast via Zoom.

After the talks we’ll all be given an opportunity to have an eyeball QSO among ourselves whilst enjoying a tea or coffee and a biscuit.

73, Mark VK5QI

Next AREG Meeting: Paul VK5PAS – Portable Operations on Troubridge Island

The next AREG meeting will be held on Friday the 19th of May at the Fulham Community Centre – Phelps Court, Fulham.

Unfortunately Paul is unavailable to give the talk at this meeting. Instead Grant VK5GR will be presenting on RTTY contesting. Thanks to Grant for agreeing to present on such short notice!

This months presentation will be from Paul Simmonds VK5PAS, on the recent Troubridge Island DXpedition. Paul will talk about how the expedition was planned, what antennas and equipment they used on the island, and discuss the results of the expedition and lessons learned.

Doors open at 7.15pm and the presentation kicks off at 7.45. Everyone is welcome to attend. If you’ve never come along to one of our meetings, we’d love to see you there, all guests are welcome. For our remote members, the meeting will be broadcast via Zoom, and we’ll try and get a recording of the talk for later upload to Youtube.

After the talks we’ll all be given an opportunity to have an eyeball QSO among ourselves whilst enjoying a tea or coffee and a biscuit.

73, Mark VK5QI

Next AREG Meeting: Bob VK5FO – Coaxial Stub Filters – Friday 21st April

Update: This presentation was recorded, and is now available on Youtube.

The next AREG meeting will be held on Friday the 21st of April at the Fulham Community Centre – Phelps Court, Fulham.

This months presentation will be from Bob Phillips VK5FO, on the topic “Using Quarter Wave Coaxial Stubs as Notch Filters”. Bob will cover off the basic theory and characteristics of coax stub filters, demonstrate how to construct and tune them using a NanoVNA, and discuss their practical use-cases.

Doors open at 7.15pm and the presentation kicks off at 7.45. Everyone is welcome to attend. If you’ve never come along to one of our meetings, we’d love to see you there, all guests are welcome. For our remote members, the meeting will be broadcast via Zoom!

After the talks we’ll all be given an opportunity to have an eyeball QSO among ourselves whilst enjoying a tea or coffee and a biscuit.

73, Mark VK5QI