Author Archives: VK5GR

Next Meeting: Chasing DX (or how to work 3Y0Z)

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Welcome to 2018!

The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group Monthly Meetings are starting up again with one of our Beginners Series  of talks, but this one will have a twist. We will be running it as a panel discussion with the topic “HF Operating Etiquette – How to Work 3Y0Z”, and wish to invite all of the active DX chasers and HF operators in the room to share their collective thoughts on what to do and what not to do when chasing HF DX in general.

The aim is to spread the collective knowledge about how to get through those piles for that special ATNO (All Time New One) like the Bouvet Island DXPedition (#2 on the most wanted list). Topics will be guided by moderators and will include HF operating etiquette, how to work HF split, how, when and where to call in a pileup, what to consider propagation wise and much more.

We will have a live scribe taking down all of the best ideas and will post them here after the meeting for future reference.

Where and when is the meeting?

Friday January 19th – 7.45pm (for an 8.00pm start)
Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham.

Visitors are most welcome to come and participate in the evening. We hope to see you there!

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Adelaide Rally using VK5RSA / VK5RSB Repeaters

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WICEN has approached AREG to help with their communications nets during the Adelaide Rally this year on the 7th,8th and 9th of December. For the most part, WICEN will use the VK5RHO Ansteys 2-meter repeater (146.850) but for 2 other stages they are requesting to use the VK5RSA 70cm repeater (438.025). AREG is very supportive of this type of use of the club repeater assets and so naturally has agreed.

The times and stages are:

  • Thursday – Old Norton Summit (approx 2:30pm till 5:30pm)
  • Saturday – Norton Summit (approx 12:30am till 5:00pm)

WICEN may also require access to Summertown VK5RSB (439.900) as a possible backup for a Saturday afternoon stage.

WICEN’s role is backup communications and radio traffic should be minimal.

Amateurs who hear the rally traffic on these repeaters are asked to give WICEN priority access during the event. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated!

High Altitude Ballooning: Willunga HS Supported by Project Horus

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The Willunga High School is planning to launch a high altitude balloon, planned for this Thursday, the 7th of December. Launch time will be around 10:30 AM ACST. This flight is being carried out by the teachers at Willunga High School.

While not a direct Project Horus Flight, it is being supported by the Project Horus team with tracking payloads, recovery services and telemetry feeds. Amateur Radio operators from across the state are invited to contribute to the telemetry collection activities which will use the same Internet resources as Project Horus does.

Flight Predictions

The predictions are a bit variable – there is a weather change coming through Thursday & Friday which are throwing things out. As of Sunday 3rd December’s model the balloon is landing somewhere near Ki-Ki, but this is expected to change. If the predictions change markedly, the launch may be rescheduled to Friday.

Target burst altitude is 30km, but depending on predictions the flight may be cut-down early to ensure a safe recovery.

The radio payloads on this launch are currently planned to be:

  • RTTY Telemetry – 434.650 MHz
  • Cutdown / Mission Control payload – 431.650 MHz
  • Wenet Imagery on 441.200 MHz

As usual, assistance with tracking is greatly appreciated.
Information on tracking the RTTY payload is available here: https://ukhas.org.uk/guides:tracking_guide

Live tracking of the flight will be available on the HabHub Tracker: https://tracker.habhub.org/#!mc=-34.8,139.0&mz=9

Finally, if we can get enough packets down from the Wenet payload, live imagery will appear here: http://ssdv.habhub.org/VK5ARG

More news as we get closer to the day!

AREG Christmas Dinner Meeting – Friday 15th December

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The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenter’s Group will be held on Friday December 15th. This is our Christmas Dinner meeting which will be held at the club meeting hall in the Fulham Community Centre, 1 Phelps Court, Fulham. Doors will open from 5.30pm with dinner planned for 6.30pm.

All are welcome to attend, AREG members, their families as well as our regular meeting visitors! To participate in dinner all you need to do is to indicate your attendance and the number of people (so we can get the catering right) on the form below. The cost will be less than $20/head (exact price TBA). The money will be collected at the door. The dinner will be Roast Chicken and Summer Salads, condiments and Desert arranged by our (almost) famous catering division.(Special dietary requirements can be catered for on request)

We would love to see you all for Christmas! 73 from the AREG Committee…

Clubrooms location

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November Meeting – Off Site Visit Planned

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The November meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be a technology site visit. This means that the normal meeting at the Fulham Community Centre will not be run this month.

Members will be in for an eye opening time looking and learning about some modern communications technology used among our community every day. Members who wish to attend the site visit will find the details on the internal club email reflector.

Unfortunately for our regular visitors, due to the security restrictions required by our hosts, this meeting has to be closed to financial members only.

We will return to our regular program in December with the AREG Christmas Party!

 

Fantastic Response to AREG at Maker Faire

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The AREG team participated in the Adelaide Maker Faire with a great result last Sunday. Lots of technologies relating to Amateur Radio, showing the creative mind how much opportunity there is to get in and make things that can then be used to communicate with were on display. Interests ranged from making antennas to electronic systems construction and mechanical design and assembly through to software programming. Lots of interest was shown and many cards with contact details handed out. We hope to see some new interest come in through the door of the club as a result!

Some of the highlights included a Software Defined Radio demonstration (which was a huge hit with children in particular). Also on display was  a Satellite Tracking / Balloon Tracking Open source project which demonstrated mechanical, electrical and open source software design aspects of Amateur Radio.

The Project Horus high altitude balloon project was well represented. The Horus team displayed many aspects of the tracking and telemetry systems developed and used by the project team. The display included a demonstration balloon setup hovering above the stand carrying the Wenet imaging payload which broadcast pictures of Maker Faire back to the receiving setup on the table.

Radio direction finding was another popular hands on activity, including 2m, and 70cm sniffer equipment and beacons hidden around the venue. The sniffers were constantly out and about being used, often by the younger generation, as they experienced the fun of the chase looking for the hidden transmitters. Once they understood the tone to signal relationship they were off racing to be first to find the beacon!

Other examples of making things on display included two antenna construction projects, one showing a 6m magnetic loop antennas and the other a portable HF antenna able to be transported on an airline to remote island paradises all to play amateur radio with.

Throughout the day we had a steady stream of visitors, including many amateurs who had come to Maker Faire to take a look at what else was on!

Finally we must thank Kim VK5FJ who led the team and to all of our volunteers who came and helped man the AREG stand including (in no particular order) VK5DGR, VK5CP, VK5ZM, VK5IX, VK5BB, VK5GR, VK5QI, VK5XFG, VK5SFA and VK5TST, plus our visitors from the club VK5FOLG, VK5NAL, VK5FSAW. The team did a great job of promoting Amateur Radio to the Maker community! Thanks for your help.

AREG at Adelaide Maker Faire 2017 – Update!

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AREG will again have a stand at the Adelaide Maker Faire on this weekend. The faire runs from 10am to 4pm this Sunday, at the Tonsley Innovation hub in Adelaide’s SE suburbs. The AREG team are planning on showcasing a raft of things that link making and building with Amateur Radio.

AREG is stand number 76!

What will AREG be doing?

 If you have ever wanted to find out more about our Project Horus high altitude balloon program, or radio direction finding, satellite tracking, home built magnetic loop antenna construction and much more then this is an ideal opportunity to come and talk to the club members about some of their regular activities and how they are always “Making Things” within the hobby of Amateur Radio.

One of the new projects on display will be the satellite tracker based on an earlier project by Joe VK3YSP and Julie VK3FOWL from SARCnet in Victoria. As an open source project, AREG members have been adapting it to track balloons based on the received GPS telemetry from our payloads.

 

So why not come on down! We would love to see you there. On site we hope to have a handheld listening on 439.025. We would also love to make QSOs with people on the VK5RSB 6m repeater (53.75MHz / 52.75MHz) which we will be accessing using a magnetic loop antenna from the site.

AREG going to Maker Faire!

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After a hugely successful event last year, AREG will again have a stand at the Adelaide Maker Faire, being held next Sunday 5th of November from 10am – 4pm at the Tonsley Innovation Precinct, 1284 Main South Rd, Clovelly Park.

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The club will be promoting many different ways that Amateur Radio involves making things, and will have promotional material on how to get involved in Amateur Radio available.