Category Archives: Meetings

** Meeting Date Change ** February 14th – “So you Bought a VNA, Now what?”

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The latest must have gadget in any Amateur Radio station has got to be the range of new “Mini-VNA” devices taking the market by storm. Now touted as the ultimate replacement for the humble VSWR meter or antenna analyser, and at a fraction of the price, have you succumbed and bought one too?

More importantly, do you know what to do with it?

Steve VK5SFA will attempt to answer the question “So you bought a VNA, now what?” at the next AREG Meeting – to be held on Friday February 14th. Steve will demo the NanoVNA that he purchased for sub AUD $100 and provide some practical examples of how you can use this technology in your ham shack!

The meeting will be held at the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham on Friday February 14th (note this is one week early due to the hall being booked for a Festival Fringe show the following week). Doors open at 7.15pm with proceedings getting underway at 7.45pm.

All members and visitors are most welcome! Come down to the AREG and say hello!

AREG Next Meeting January 17th – Members Lightning Talks

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Welcome to 2020!

The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be held on Friday January 17th. This month will see a return of the popular “Members Lightning Talks” format where members from the floor are invited to step up and give a short 5 minutes  talk about something that they have been doing or experimenting with.

We are sure over the summer break that people have been tinkering away, so here is an ideal opportunity to share with everyone ideas for things they too might like to try!

The club meets at the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Crt Fulham. The doors will open at 7.15pm with the business meeting commencing at 7.45pm. The lightning talks will begin straight after the business meeting is finished and should be finished by 8.30pm. Afterwards supper will be served and members can gather to discuss what has been going on in their corner of Amateur Radio.

Visitors are most welcome. We look forward to seeing you all there!

 

AREG Christmas Meeting – A35JT DXpedition

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The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be held on Friday December 13th. Doors will open for members and visitors at 7.15pm. The main presentation will be given by the A35JT DXpedition team comprising Grant VK5GR, Andrew VK5AKH, Olgierd VK5XDX and Steve VK5SFA who last month completed a 14 month DXpedition project culminating in the 2 week activation of Tonga in the South Pacific.

AREG members are also invited to attend the club Christmas Dinner which starts at 6.00pm. Details have been sent to members via the club email reflector.

The club meets at the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham.

We hope to see you there!

 

The 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge – Next AREG Meeting 15th November!

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The Flinders University Automotive Solar Team, and their Solar Car

The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenter’s Group will be held on Friday November the 15th. This month’s presentation is “The 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge”, by Kim VK5FJ.

Kim will discuss the event, what is involved in building a solar car, getting a team together, the trials and tribulations of qualifying, and then finally the “race”. This year after a number of subtle but technically challenging rule changes, teams also had to deal with some particular difficult weather conditions. Come along to see why it is more than just a design and engineering challenge!

AREG meets at the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham. Doors open at 7.15pm with the meeting starting at 7.45pm sharp. Visitors are most welcome!

Morse Code for Beginners – Next AREG Meeting 18th October

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CW Pileup

The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenter’s Group will be held on Friday October the 18th. This month’s presentation is “Morse Code (CW) for Beginners“, by Chris VK5SA, and Theo VK5IR. Chris will discuss tips and tricks for working DXpeditions and other rare DX stations, and Theo will talk on improving your receive speed.

AREG meets at the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham. Doors open at 7.15pm with the meeting starting at 7.45pm sharp. Visitors are most welcome!

How to Home Brew a 20-6m HexBeam for HF – Next AREG Meeting

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The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenter’s Group will be held on Friday September 20th. The presentation tonight will be given by Theo VK5IR who will take us through what he has learned as he has set to home brewing his 20-6m HexBeam antenna. The HexBeam antenna design is well known to many in AREG but Theo is the first in the club to home brew one. This could kick off a whole new round of antenna construction experimentation at the club!

AREG meets at the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham. Doors open at 7.15pm with the meeting starting at 7.45pm sharp. Visitors are most welcome!

AREG Annual General Meeting – Friday August 16th 7.45pm

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The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group Inc will hold it’s Annual General Meeting on Friday August 16th, at the Fulham Community Centre, Phelps Court, Fulham, starting at 7.45pm.

The AGM will recap the year that was for AREG with the presentation of the reports by the committee. All positions will then be declared vacant, and the election of the office bearers and committee will be held.

After the AGM, refreshments will be served and there will be ample opportunity to socialise and talk about the exciting year ahead!

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

Next AREG Meeting: RF Transformers – Theory into Practice – July 19th

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The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be held on Friday July 19th. Doors open at 7.15pm with the presentations starting from 7.45pm.

AREG is very pleased to announce that our guest speaker for the evening is Neil Abraham VK5KA.

Neil has a lifetime’s experience designing RF transformers (among many other things) for a prominent  commercial HF radio manufacturer here in South Australia. In this presentation, Neil will open a window into the world of RF transformers and impedance matching, showing how they can be used in your every day amateur radio station experiments.

Neil says the following about his presentation:

  • I am not going to cover every thing there is to know about RF transformers.
  • I hope to give you enough info so you can design and make your own transformers.
  • I am going to limit this to transformers that are used  to help match HF antennas and feed lines.

If ever you have experimented or had a desire to experiment with designing your own antennas, invariably at some point you will face the issue of how to match that antenna to your transmitter. This presentation will be a great introduction to this most useful aspect of the radio art-form.

Visitors are most welcome! Following Neil’s talk, there will be a short business meeting, followed by tea, coffee and cake and a chance to talk about your own antenna matching challenges with Neil. We hope to see you at the club!

Where do we meet?

AREG meetings at the Fulham Community Centre (formerly known as the Reedbeds Community Centre), on Phelps Court in Fulham.