AREG February Meeting: Operating on 241 GHz

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At our next general meeting, AREG is pleased to present a talk/demo by David VK5KK and Iain VK5ZD who will discuss their experiments on the 241 GHz microwave amateur band. This band is really the final fronteir in microwave amateur radio experimentation, given this is the highest frequency band allocated to the Amateur Service. David and Iain will take you through the gear they developed and also their efforts to set a VK distance record on this band.

To hear and see more, come along to the next general meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group, which will be held on Friday 20th February, starting at 7.30pm. AREG meets at the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham. Doors open at 7.00pm. We hope to see you there!

VK5RWN D*STAR Repeater News – Adelaide

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AREG has been working on upgrading the VK5RWN DSTAR repeater to the new G3 gateway software for several months now. In December last year, we also began training a new administrative team, comprising Charlie VK5VC, Darren VK5ADL, Grant VK5GR and David VK5MDF to continue the work that Ben VK5BB used to do managing the D-Star repeater, and preparing the team for the installation of the new computer.

In early January, Grant, Darren and Charlie made a start on installing the new software. This went smoothly, however as the hot weather arrived, it was decided to leave the old computer in place until the weather cooled down.

Today (Sunday 1st February) Darren and Charlie went to the site and installed the new computer and worked on finishing the configuration. We were able to get the system synchronising with the main trust server with no errors reported. The gateway computer  is now fully operational, allowing remote Hotspot users to log in, as well as supporting connectivity to remote reflectors.

UPDATE: 3rd Feb – the connection with the repeater RP2C controller to the RF side of the site is now working!

The final stage of the upgrade will be the installation of the software to allow it to connect to the XLX reflectors. Once we are happy it is stable to this stage, we will then add this module, which will complete the repeater’s brain transplant.

This has been a substantial learning curve for the team and we are very pleased with our progress. Thanks to all out volunteers for the work they do managing AREG’s digital D*STAR voice repeater site serving the Adelaide metropolitan area.

VK5RWN DSTAR Repeaters

AREG January Foxhunt – a great day out!

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The AREG January saturday foxhunt event was a great success with 4 groups participating in the foot hunt around the south Adelaide parkland wetlands . We had a couple of family teams out there as well. 6 low power 2m (144 MHz) beacons were scattered through the wetlands. All teams managed to find these within about 45 minutes which was a great effort.

One of the groups checking in that they found a fox transmitter

After the foot hunt, we took on the vehicle hunt challenge. Tony VK5AH and company took on the task of hiding the transmitters for this event across the NW suburbs of Adelaide. Three teams set out to find the foxes, two of which were on the 144 MHz band and one on the 439 MHz band. Tony set quite the challenge for us as we couldn’t hear any of the transmitters from the start.

After heading to high ground in North Adelaide, several of the teams caught a weak signal from one of the 144MHz beacons and we were then off north. That beacon was ultimately located near the Dry Creek rail yards. Next was 439 MHz, which took us across to the Port Adelaide Canoe club and finally, we caught a signal from the 2nd 144MHz beacon which lead us to the eastern boundary of the Adelaide Airport.

Fox Beacon 1 – 144 MHz

Fox 2 – 439 MHz hidden inside the polypipe

Fox 3 – buried under brush in a reserve on the east side of Adelaide Airport

The equipment used varies by team. Mark VK5QI has developed a system based around a Kraken Synchronous SDR Time of arrival system which allows his team to track while driving. Most of the others need to stop and take bearings along the way.

VK5QI team with a Kraken TOA Direction Finding System

Here you can see the route taken by the VK5QI time finding these three rather low powered fox transmitters spreadout across Adelaide.

Thanks to everyone who took part. This new Saturday format is something we will consider going forward for foxhunting throughout 2026!

Horus 69 Flight Report

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Project Horus’s 69’th flight was held on the 18th of January 2026, launching from our usual launch site, the Mt Barker High School oval. This flight was a test of a few new and experimental payloads, including our first flight of the new ‘Horus Binary v3’ tracking telemetry mode.

The launch was an easy one, with only light winds at the launch site. It was great to see a few new faces along to see what a high-altitude balloon launch is all about!

The predicted flight path allowed for a fairly relaxed chase, so the chase teams headed off to Tailem Bend for some lunch while waiting for the balloon rise closer to its expected burst altitude. Chasing the flight were Mark VK5QI. Will VK5AHV, Autumn VK5CLD, and Peter VK5APR. We also had Peter VK5KX and Matt VK5ZM set up near Palmer tracking the flight.

The balloon ended up bursting at 33.831km altitude, a good 3 km higher than expected! The payloads descended to a landing approximately 20km north-east of Tailem Bend, just off the Karoonda highway. A quick chat to the landowner, and the chase teams were able to drive right up to the landing spot! A big thanks to Wayne Gregory for being so helpful!

Payloads, recovered!

Horus 69 Flight Statistics

Launch Date:2026-01-17T23:26:31Z
Landing Date:2026-01-18T02:04:16Z
Launch Site:-35.07579, 138.85710
Landing Site:-35.13652, 139.62709
Distance Travelled:70 km
Maximum Altitude:33831 m

Horus 69 Flight Path

Horus v3 Payload – HORUS-V3

This was the first Australian flight of the Horus Binary v3 telemetry mode, the latest version of the Horus Binary high-altitude balloon flight tracking system.

The following stations received the Horus v3 telemetry on this flight: BARC_4, VK3APJ, VK5ARG, VK5GA, VK5GA-2, VK5GY, VK5KX-9, VK5KX-i5, VK5QI-1, VK5QI-9, VK5SFA/R, VK5ST-5, VK5ZM

A dashboard showing reception statistics for this payload are here: https://grafana.v2.sondehub.org/goto/BBkF1dIvR?orgId=1

Thanks to everyone that updated their decoding software and had a go at decoding this new format! Based on the success of this flight (and many other flights overseas), Horus v3 will become the primary tracking mode used on future Project Horus flights.

Horus v2 Payload – HORUS-V2

While we will be switching to Horus v3 in the future, this flight still used a Horus v2 payload as the primary tracking payload, and we thank everyone that helped out with tracking on this flight:

BARC_4, VK3APJ, VK3BQ, VK5AKK, VK5AKK-1, VK5ARG, VK5BL, VK5BRL, VK5BTN, VK5CLD-9, VK5CV, VK5DJ, VK5GA, VK5HW, VK5KX-9, VK5LN, VK5MAS, VK5NEX, VK5OCD, VK5QI-9, VK5RA, VK5RM, VK5ST-5, VK5TRM, VK5ZAR, VK5ZM, VK5ZMD, VK5ZRL, VK5ZRL-2, VK5ZRL/2, vk5is

A dashboard for the Horus v2 payload is available here: https://grafana.v2.sondehub.org/goto/szhKJOSvR?orgId=1

Wenet Imagery Payload

The imagery payload on this flight was another experiment with the PiCam v3 autofocus camera, using information gained from flights in the United States that were successful in taking good quality (and importantly, in focus!) imagery. Thanks to the following stations that received imagery from this payload:

  • VK3APJ: 8410 packets (2.05 MB)
  • VK5QI-9: 186131 packets (45.44 MB)
  • VK5KX-9: 238707 packets (58.28 MB)
  • VK5CLD-9: 64276 packets (15.69 MB)
  • VK5IS: 51247 packets (12.51 MB)

A dashboard for the Wenet payload is available here: https://grafana.v2.sondehub.org/goto/A80OJOIvg?orgId=1

Sadly, the dynamics of the payloads on this flight (swinging + spinning) meant that the autofocus algorithm just couldn’t keep up, again resulting in blurry imagery. This is likely the final nail in the coffin for this camera unless we can work out a way of stabilising the payload without adding lots of extra mass. Work has now started on updating the ‘PiCam HQ’ payload (which last flew on Horus 60) up to the Wenet v2 standard, and this will likely fly on the next full launch.

A selection of photos from the payload are shown below:

Next Launch

Our next ‘full size’ launch will likely not be until the weather cools down again in March, and hopefully we’ll be able to finally get the Cross-band repeater in the air. Before then there may be some small launches with just Horus Binary v3 payloads, to assist receiving stations in getting their software updated and tested.

Again, thanks to everyone that participated in the launch, and we hope to see you on the map on our next flight!

 

 

 

REPORT: AREG’s Oceania DX Contest Event 2025 – VL5X on the air! + Winner Multi-Multi OC division

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2025 marked the year that the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group returned to the Oceania DX Contest after taking several years break. The aim was to put VL5X, the club contest call sign back on the air, and give our newer members a chance to participate in a world class contest. As the group does not have current access to a permanent contest grade station, our efforts revolved around building a portable station that was as competitive as possible yet achievable with only a small window for construction.

Planning & Site Selection

The event planning began back in March, when we started looking for suitable sites. Multiple factors played a part, including accessibility, weather destruction risks, operating environment and HF propagation performance. The weather featured highly in these considerations, given the destruction of the station that occurred back in 2022 when a severe storm front blew over the site mid contest, destroying several antennas in the process. The ability to operate multiple 400W transmitting stations in close proximity was also critical to the success, as we were planning a MULTI-MULTI entry – the aim of which being to give as many operating opportunities to as many members as we could during the contest.

We considered various sites and how they would perform from a terrain and antenna height perspective.

We also studied propagation charts so we could plan which bands we should be looking at and when. We aimed to enter the contest as well equipped as we could.

Final Location

Our final location was chosen because it could achieve our propagation objectives, as well as comfortably housing the contest crew. One of our members owns a home atop Willunga Hill, which in the end is where we chose to play!

Equipment Plan

Antennas & Filters/Combiners

80m Band 1/4 wave vertical DK9IP Design – mounted on an 18m Spiderbeam pole

40m Band 4-square Phased Array – designed by Oly VK5XDX

20-10m Portable HexBeam – MW0JZE design on a 10m Spiderbeam Aluminium Tower

20-10m Spiderbeam (3el on 20/15m and 4el on 10m) on a 10m Spiderbeam HD Aluminium Mast

Our secret weapon was our set of VA6AM Filter Combiners for 20-10m which allowed us to run 3 stations on the one antenna.

VA6AM High Power Bandpass Filter / Combiner set

The Team

None of this gear achieves much without an operator team. We had a great turnout from the membership, with 13 operators taking turns running the station for the 24hrs of the contest. A huge thanks to VK5AKH, VK5CIA, VK5EDY, VK5FR, VK5GLD, VK5GR, VK5IR, VK5KT, VK5MN, VK5QI, VK5XDX, VK5ZM and VK5ZQV. We also had construction help additionally from VK5SFA, and site support thanks to VK5ABG.

VK5GLD
VK5XDX
VK5KT & VK5EDY
VK5GR & VK5MN
VK5FR
VK5QI
VK5GR & VK5ZM
VK5CIA & VK5QI
VK5KT & VK5AKH

The Result

So what did we achieve? From AREG’s perspective, we achieved our best ever score in the OCDX contest since we first participated in  2012. Our raw score was over 1.9 million points. This was despite what turned into some of the worst SSB contesting ionospheric conditions we have ever encountered. Much of Sunday’s daylight hours were lost due to extremely high absorption, leaving us calling often into dead bands for only 1-2 QSOs an hour. Its a credit to the team’s determination and perseverance to have scored so well.

In the end, the effort was worthwhile, with VL5X victorious in the Multi-Multi category for 2025. We just managed to hold off  the team from T32AZ on Kiribati to retain first place in our category this year even after count-backs for scoring errors. A very happy outcome for our return to this event after a 3 year hiatus.

Thanks must go to the entire team who was involved in this activity. It was great to see so many AREG members get involved in what was a really great fun weekend!

AREG Adelaide Foxhunt Events: Saturday Jan 31st at 2pm

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UPDATE: The next AREG foxhunt event will now be held on Saturday January 31st starting at 2.00pm. The date change is due to the weather forecast predicting 40+ deg Celcius on the original date of Saturday 24th.

Fox hunting, or Amateur Radio Direction Finding as it is more properly known, is an event where radio amateurs gather together to track down the location of a hidden transmitter using radio direction finding techniques. Foxhunts can take several forms, including on foot and from a vehicle over a wider area.

For this event, we will cater for both kinds of activity – with a 5 transmitter foot based hunt firstly held around the wetlands in the Adelaide South Parklands, followed by a three stage vehicle hunt across metropolitan Adelaide.

The event is open to everyone. For those without vehicle based equipment, you can still come and try some on foot hunting around the Adelaide South Park Lands before the multi-leg metropolitan hunt gets underway (we will have some equipment available to borrow for this part of the event).

While the activity is running, we will be listening and liaising on the linked repeater system via either the CBD 438.025 MHz or Summertown 439.900 MHz repeaters. It is intended to wrap up hunting activities by ~5.30pm and then pick somewhere close to the final fox locations to gather for dinner.

For more information email vk5arg@areg.org.au.

River Paddling Marathon 200 – 2026 members planning workshop – Friday January 16th

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To all members who participate with AREG in the yearly River Paddling Marathon 200 event held each June long weekend, please be advised that we are holding a planning workshop to kick off 2026 this coming Friday, January 16th, starting from 7.30pm at the club rooms located at Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham.

Canoe’s ready to start the 100km version of the Marathon

This workshop is open to AREG members who have participated in the past, or who are interested in taking part in 2026. This will be an interactive discussion session where we will be reviewing what happened in past years, and where we will discuss ways of improving the event and how AREG executes the communications requirements that go with it.