Category Archives: Meetings

AREG March Meeting: Space Weather and Ionospheric Prediction

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The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group is proud to announce our guest lecturer for our March general meeting is David Neudegg, Principal Space & Radio Scientist, Space Weather Services (Australian Federal Govt). David formerly worked for the Ionospheric Prediction Service before that agency was reconstituted inside of the Bureau of Meteorology.

David brings a wealth of knowledge about the ionosphere and how it works and will provide a fascinating insight into how it’s behavioral predictions relate to people’s real world experiences when using HF radio communications.

Meeting Details

The meeting will be held on Friday March 17th at the Reedbeds Community Centre, off Phelps Court in Fulham. Doors will open at 7.45pm, with the presentation beginning at 8.00pm.

Visitors are most welcome! We hope to see you there!

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Next Meeting: How to track Project Horus Balloons!

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The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be held on Friday February 17th, starting at 7.45pm.

This month, Matthew VK5ZM will be showing everyone how they can get involved in telemetry tracking during a Project Horus balloon flight. Matt will explain the basic equipment any amateur can use to receive and decode the RTTY telemetry from the balloon.He will also discuss the value to the project team you can bring by taking the time to decode the telemetry for us, as every frame collected and relayed to the Internet is added to the data being used by the recovery teams seeking to retrieve the payloads at the end of every flight.

The next launch that you can then try out your new skills is the following weekend, so this is very timely! Horus 43 which is being flown for Rostrevor College is planned to launch Sunday February 26th at 10.00am.

The presentation will be followed by a business meeting. Visitors are most welcome to attend! Come on down and find out this and many other aspects of the activities being undertaken by the AREG!

You will find the club at the Reedbeds Community Centre, off Phelps Crt, Fulham.

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Next Meeting: 20th Jan – Radio Beginner Series: The art of QSLing

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During 2017, the AREG is planning a set of presentations to be known as the “Radio Beginner Series”. The intention is that every 4 months, the evening will be dedicated to something simple, but which any beginner starting out may not have been exposed to before. Ideal for foundation licensees, but also equally applicable to old hands trying out a new aspect of the hobby that they haven’t engaged with before.

The Art of QSL Cards and Confirmations

This month, the topic of sending and receiving QSL cards will be introduced, including all of the ways that you can achieve confirmation of your contacts, particularly if you are chasing awards. The talk will cover things like:

  • QSL card design – what to put on your cards
  • Ways of sending physical cards
    • Bureau
    • Direct – IRCs and “Green Stamps”
    • via QSL Managers
  • How to get electronic confirmation
    • ARRL’s Logbook of the World
    • eQSL.cc
    • ClubLog Log Matching & OQRS QSL Request Services
  • How do you manage Multiple Logs on these services?

The doors will open at 7.45pm, with meeting starting at 8.00pm. After the main presentation, tea coffee and supper is available followed by a general meeting. Hope to see you there!

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Next Meeting: Friday Nov 25th: Live Balloon Imaging System

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Note: Changed meeting week this month – 4th Friday (not the normal 3rd)

SSDV Experimental Payload – ‘Wenet’

Mark VK5QI and David VK5DGR have been working on a slow scan digital image payload for the balloon system which transmits at 115kbit/s on a new downlink channel. This system makes uses of the UKHAS SSDV server to stitch together images from packets uploaded by multiple receivers. You can read more about the system on Mark VK5QI’s blog.

Unlike analog SSTV, SSDV sends down compressed JPEG images via some form of data link. Written by Philip Heron, the SSDV software converts a JPEG image into a set of packets which can be transmitted via a radio link and then re-assembled on the ground. Unlike regular JPEG images, if a packet is lost, SSDV will still produce a full image, albeit with some portions missing.

Wenet RX software running within a Ubuntu Virtual Machine

At the meeting Mark and David will give you an insight into how it works. This system will be demonstrated in the field as well during coming Horus flights.

Meeting Time

The clubrooms will be opened from 7.45pm with the presentation starting at 8.00pm. Visitors are most welcome! You will find us here:

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Next Meeting: 28th October – Digital 70cm ATV

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NOTE: CHANGED WEEK THIS MONTH – 4th Friday – 28th October

The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be held on Friday October 28th, at the Reedbeds Community Hall, Fulham in Adelaide. The meeting time has been moved back one week in October and November this year due to the availability of the hall.

Digital Amateur Television on 446.5MHz

pm5544_with_non-pal_signals-cqatv

Steve Adler, VK5SFA will be giving a presentation of his experiments this year setting up a DVB-T ATV transmitter on the 70cm band. The discussion will include how others can get involved in these experiments, including how to receive the 446.5MHz Digital TV signals.

The system that Steve is experimenting with is using the same modulation standards as the main broadcasters. This means that at least some current TV sets can directly tune to the channel, while for others, the purchase of a cheap set top box from one of several retailers (for <$100) will get you access to Steve’s signal.

So why not come along and find out all about digital ATV?

The hall will be open from 7.45pm with the meeting starting at 8.00pm. Visitors are most welcome

Next AREG Meeting: Microwave Equipment and Operation

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The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will feature an introduction to Microwave Amateur Microwave Equipment and Communications, presented by guest lecturer, Iain Crawford VK5ZD. Iain will be talking about the gear he uses and some of the basic operating tips involved.  This will provide the ideal opportunity to whet your appetite for these bands just as the sunspot cycle draws to a minimum on HF, and coincidentally right before the VHF/UHF contest season!

http://www.vk5zd.com/Images/Blog/IMGP4702.JPG

http://www.vk5zd.com/Images/Blog/IMGP4702.JPG

Iain has been experimenting with these modes for many years, and has constructed transverters for 23cm, 13cm, 9cm, 6cm and 3cm.

The meeting will be held at the Reedbeds Community Hall, Phelps Court, Fulham on Friday 16th September. Doors will open at 7.45pm with the presentation starting at 8.00pm.

After the talk, there will be coffee and cake and an opportunity to socialise with fellow amateur radio enthusiasts, followed by a short AREG business meeting.

All amateur radio operators and people with just an interest in radio in general are welcome to attend! We hope to see you there!

Next Meeting: August 19th – HF Digital Modes for Beginners

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The next general meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be held on Friday August 19th. Doors open 7.45pm with the meeting starting at 8.00pm.

The topic for the evening will be “Introducing Digital Modes on HF – how to get started – from a beginner who just has”. I will be taking you through what can be achieved on a fairly modest HF station using digital modes, including what software you can use, what hardware you need and what some of the more “exotic” modes are that you can play with on HF digital, including:

Feld-Hell-decode

Feld Hellschreiber Signals on 20m

  • RTTY
  • PSK31/63/125
  • MFSK16
  • Olivia
  • Contestia
  • Hellschrieber
  • JT65/JT9 and WSJT
  • SSTV
MFSK16-VK2YQA-with-images-2

MFSK16 from VK2YQA/4 on 20m

I will also discuss calling techniques, frequencies and contesting on HF as well as logging on rig integration.

I don’t profess to be an expert on these modes either – this is all relatively new (apart from RTTY) to me too (despite being licensed since the 1980s) as until March this year I had never had my own HF station. Having said that, even with a modest 100W station I have managed to work 62 countries using a variety of these modes, even in the relatively poor conditions on HF that we have seen over the last 6 months.

sstv-MMSSTV Program

MMSSTV Software

VK4LHD on 14230kHz SSTV
VK3OHM on 7171kHz SSTV
VK3OHM on 7171kHz SSTV

SSTV Pictures on 40 and 20m.

After the presentation there will be a light supper followed by the monthly business meeting.

VK2YQA/4 MFSK16 Picture from QLD on 30m

VK2YQA/4 MFSK16 Picture from QLD on 30m

Welcome to the AREG Committee for 2016/17

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The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group held it’s Annual General Meeting last night, Friday July 15th. At the meeting, all positions were declared vacant and Chris VK5CP presided over the process of selecting a new committee for the forthcoming year.

Nominations were received and in the absence of any competition, the following people were elected to the committee for 2016/17″

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Welcome to the new members on the committee in Kim and Theo!