AREG wishes to thank Kevin VK4UH for his inspiring presentation on Meteor Scatter at the April 2021 general meeting. A copy of the presentation is available via YouTube and Hayden VK7HH’s HamRadioDX channel.
Category Archives: Meetings
Next AREG Meeting: 16th April – Meteor Scatter by Kevin VK4UH
Image thanks to qrz.now
The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group is pleased to announce that we have a special guest speaker this month. (Dr) Kevin Johnston VK4UH will be talking to AREG about Meteor Scatter propagation and how to get started in the mode. Kevin will join AREG members assembled in our club-rooms in Adelaide via video-link from QLD.
Kevin will give us an overview of the astronomy and physics of meteors and their use for making long distance VHF contacts when no other mode of propagation is available. The presentation is aimed towards those with no prior experience of this fascinating mode of communication.
(Dr) Kevin Johnston VK4UH
(Dr) Kevin Johnston VK4UH is a medical doctor and has been licences for 50 years. He has had a try at almost all aspects of amateur radio through those years and is now focusing on long distance microwave operation, EME and Meteor Scatter
The presentation is scheduled to start as close as possible to 7:45pm ACST (1015z or 8:15pm AEST). The venue is the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham. Doors open from 7:30pm.
For the AREG members outside of Adelaide, the session will be also streamed on Zoom.
Virtual visitors will be able to tune in via the “HamRadioDX” YouTube channel thanks to Hayden VK7HH.
Where are the AREG Clubroms?
Next Meeting: 26th March – VK5ARG’s Remote HF Receive Site
The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be held on Friday the 26th of March (delayed a week due to the hall being in use for an Adelaide Fringe event). The club will meet in person at the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham with the doors opening at 7.15pm. The presentation will get underway at 7.45pm ACDT (8.15pm AEDT, 7.15pm QST, 0915 UTC). For members unable to attend in meeting hall in person, there will be a members only Zoom channel available as well. This meeting will not be streamed on Youtube.
The topic of this meeting will be the AREG Remote HF Receive Site – it’s history, what equipment has been installed, and live demos showing how it can be used to supplement your home HF station.
The remote HF receive site is the result of years of incremental improvements, resulting in what is now one of the best performing online HF receivers in the world!
Reminder: AREG Meeting this Friday – D-ATV from a Balloon 30km up!
This is a reminder that this Friday’s AREG meeting will be held at the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham. Doors open at 7.15pm Central summer time with the presentation planned to start at 7.45pm.
Our guest speaker will be Mark VK5QI. He will introduce you to the new Digital ATV payload and what you need to be able to receive and decode it. More information on the presentation is available (here).
Members who can’t attend in person will be able to access the meeting via Zoom (a link will be sent on the members mailing list on Thursday). Non members will be able to watch the Youtube Livestream thanks to Hayden VK7HH and his HamRadio DX channel.
The times are:
- 7.45pm ACDT (SA)
- 8.15pm AEDT (NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS)
- 7.15pm AEST (Queensland)
- 6.45pm ACST (NT)
- 6.15pm AWST (WA)
- 0915Hrs UTC
We hope to see you there!
Next Meeting: 19th February: Live ATV from 30km+ altitude! How to get involved?
Project Horus began in 2010 as the brain child of a group of radio Amateurs here in Adelaide. Now, 11 years later, one of the ideas that has been discussed many times within the group is finally going to be attempted. A flight is tentatively planned for Sunday March 7th that will carry aloft our first ever digital ATV transmitter.
Live ATV from 30km+ altitude!
Adelaide from 100,000ft – Horus 12
How can you get involved?
So that as many people as possible can participate or at least attempt to receive the ATV pictures, the next meeting of AREG on Friday February 19th will feature a presentation and Q&A session with Mark VK5QI. He will take you though everything you need to know about how to receive and decode the ATV signal.
What system are we using?
For the first launch, we are going to use the following transmitter settings:
- Transmit Frequency: 445 MHz
- Modulation: DVB-S, QPSK, r=½ FEC
- Symbol Rate: 1Msps
- Video Resolution: 704×400
This will produce fairly low quality video, but will give the best chance for the payload to be received. Once we understand what the achievable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is for a typical flight, the symbol rate (and image quality) can be increased on future launches.
Receiving DVB-S Signals – Hardware
The most ideal way to receive signals from this payload is with a dedicated DVB-S receiver like the Minitiouner Express ( https://www.datv-express.com/ ), however it’s also very possible to receive it with Software Defined Radio receiver setups, such as the ubiquitous RTLSDR devices. You will also need a 70cm antenna with some gain, and a low-noise pre-amplifier.
While some DVB-S set-top boxes may tune down to 445 MHz, the very low bit-rates that we will be transmitting from the payload will likely be incompatible with them.
Suggested Software-Defined Radio Receivers
There’s a huge range of SDRs available which are fit-for-purpose in this application, provided you put a low-noise-figure preamp in front of them – ideally one with band-pass filtering. Examples include:
- RTLSDR v3 – https://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/ –
- Airspy Mini – https://www.itead.cc/airspy-mini.html
Mark testing the ATV receive across the bench
More detailed instructions and information will be posted to our website in coming days. Stay tuned!
Meeting Details
The main meeting will be held at the clubrooms, 1 Phelps Court, Fulham at the Fulham Community Centre. Doors will open from 7.15pm (ACDT) with proceedings starting at 7.45pm (ACDT) (0915z). For those unable to attend in person, we will have online options available too!
The meeting on February 19th will also be live streamed on YouTube thanks again to Hayden VK7HH and his HamRadioDX Channel.
For members unable to attend in meeting hall in person, there will be a members only Zoom channel available as well.
Links to these will be posted closer to the date!
January 15th Meeting: Electro-Mechanical Pin-Ball Machine Restoration
The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be held on Friday January 15th. The club will meet in person at the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham with the doors opening at 7.15pm. The presentation will get underway at 7.45pm ACDT (8.15pm AEDT, 7.15pm QST, 0915 UTC).
This month’s topic is a little different, but equally fascinating. We will enter the world of Electro-Mechanical Pin Ball machine restoration thanks to Scott VK2JAX. Scott was talking about his activities during one of the clubs members Zoom round table gatherings, and enough interest was expressed that we decided to bring it to a main meeting to share with everyone!
Scott’s journey started in October 2019 when he was looking through Facebook Marketplace and saw a Pinball machine that was a little worse for wear. He couldnt resist purchasing it, and so began the long task of restoration. In this talk, he will go through the activities so far involved in restoring “Jungle”, an Electro Mechanical (EM) Pinball from 1972.
Topics covered will include
- Why a Pinball for restoration?
- Tools required
- Different parts within a machine
- The Back Box clean up (Stepper units, Score Reels)
- Coin Door
- Bottom Panel (Relay Bank, Score Motor)
You will learn about challenges faced, and the relaxing journey of restoring an EM pinball machine!
In addition to the face to face meeting opportunity, the meeting will also be streamed via Zoom for AREG members around Australia.
Non members will also get a chance to see the show streamed live via Hayden VK7HH’s HamRadioDX Youtube channel! Links for the specific Youtube live stream will be shared a few days before the event.
Keep watching the AREG website for details!
Next AREG Meeting: A Virtual Christmas Party – Friday December 18th
Merry Christmas everyone from the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group!
We have finally made it to the end of 2020 and what an unprecedented year it has been! To draw a line under this year’s events, we are inviting our members to gather online this Friday night for a Christmas Chat on Zoom, hosted by our president, Matt VK5ZM. Bring your glass and share some cheer as we all start planning for 2021.
The Zoom session will open at 7.45pm ACDT (8.15pm AEDT, 7.15pm QST) and will last as long as the merriment prevails!
AREG will resume meeting in person in January and has some events in the wings for the fox hunters as well as a club picnic being planned.
Stay safe everyone and we wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2021!
AREG November Meeting ONLINE: Thanks to Ham Radio DX!
AREG would like to thank Hayden VK7HH for streaming our Friday night (20th November) presentation on FM Radio DXing by Andrew VK5LA to amateurs across the globe via the Ham Radio DX Channel. You can watch the stream here!
Times:
- 7:45pm ACDT (South Australia)
- 7:15pm QST (Queensland)
- 8:15pm AEDT (New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania)
- 6:45pm ACST (Northern Territory)
- 5:15pm AWST (Western Australia)
- 9:15hrs UTC