WIA VK5 QSL Bureau Sort underway for 2020

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The yearly WIA VK5 QSL Bureau sort for 2020 is now underway. Considering the reduced opportunities to meet in person, this sort will be followed by the once a year mail-out to WIA members of their cards (as included in your WIA membership). It is hoped to send all current VK5 WIA members your QSL cards in the next 4 weeks.

Non-members who are members of a WIA affiliated club should make sure their details have been passed to the VK5 QSL Bureau Manager, Grant VK5GR, via your club secretary so that your cards can be included in the mailing to your club.

If you are not a member of the WIA or an affiliated club, but still want to receive your cards, please email vk5qslbureau@areg.org.au to make suitable arrangements. Cards can be collected in person by arrangement, or can be mailed if a self addressed pre-paid satchel is provided. If you wish to inquire as to whether you have cards waiting you can also contact us at the above address.

Operation of the VK5 WIA Inwards QSL Bureau is carried out on behalf of the WIA by the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group Inc!

If you wish to send outbound cards via the WIA bureau and are a member of the WIA please use the national Outwards bureau address:

WIA Outwards QSL Bureau
PO Box 66
Boolaroo NSW 2284

AREG goes Loopy! HF direction finding loop construction day!

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On the 22nd of August 2020, members of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group met at the QTH of Chris VK5CP for a small hand held magnetic loop construction day. 

The antenna uses the rugged Mini-Kits EME234 Magnetic Loop Antenna module to balance the loop and provide impedance transformation to 50Ω to allow the antenna to feed receivers directly.

Being balanced, these unshielded magnetic loops provide very deep nulls which allow the user to pinpoint sources of interference very accurately.

LDF-450 coaxial cable was used for the loop conductor for improved efficiency and standard plastic plumbing fittings made up the mounting hardware.

Everyone enjoyed success in construction efforts and went home with their own hand held magnetic loop antenna.  A great afternoon was had by all!

Thanks to Chris VK5CP for his hospitality and Jeff VK5AC for BBQ duties..

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AREG AGM 2020 – New Committee

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Friday the 21st of August saw members gather for our first virtual Annual General Meeting . Over 35 members attended online via the Zoom platform. After all of the reports were presented and accepted, all positions were declared vacant and nominations were called.

The results are as follows:

  • President – Matthew VK5ZM
  • Secretary – Mark VK5QI
  • Treasurer – Grant VK5GR
  • Committee
    • Kim VK5FJ
    • Theo VK5IR
    • Steve VK5SFA
    • Jeff VK5AC
    • Darin VK5IX
VK5ZM
VK5ZM
VK5QI
VK5QI
VK5GR
VK5GR

We would like to welcome back our committee for 2020/21! Thanks team for agreeing to continue to lead our radio club.

AREG AGM 2020 – Tomorrow night August 21st 2020

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Folks, as a final reminder for members, the AREG Annual General Meeting, as notified on the members mailing list in June, will be held tomorrow night, Friday August 21st starting at 7.30pm.

While we had hoped to be ready to meet in person, given current conditions the committee has recommended we delay a little longer before re-opening the club rooms. As a result, the AGM will be held on-line via Zoom.

Members are also reminded that it is a members lightning talk night – so if you have a lockdown project you wish to share, put your hand up and give us a 5 minute run down on what you have been up to these past few months.

See all our members online tomorrow night!

July AREG Meeting: HF Pedestrian Mobile with Peter VK3YE

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AREG is pleased to announce that our next guest speaker will be Peter VK3YE who will talk about operating on HF Pedestrian Mobile!

The date: Friday July 17th – 7.30pm ACST

For members, the meeting will again be held via Zoom streaming on the internet. We will again bring a visitors live stream  via YouTube as well. (YouTube Link Here).

AREG June Meeting: 21cm Amateur Radio Astronomy

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The next meeting of the Amateur Radio Experimenter’s Group will be held on Friday June 19th at 7.30pm ACST (1000 UTC). It will be held online due to the COVID-19 large gathering restrictions, which are still in force here in VK5.

AREG Members will be able to participate via Zoom while visitors will be able to watch the stream via Hayden VK7HH’s Ham Radio DX YouTube channel.

21cm Radio Astronomy
by Phil Lock and Bill Cowley

This month, we have as our guest speakers Phil Lock and Bill Cowley, talking about amateur radio astronomy.

Cheaper electronics has created great possibilities for amateur Radio Astronomy.   This talk will describe a local project to receive and map the distribution of 21cm signals from neutral Hydrogen in our galaxy.   We briefly describe the history of  21cm RA and why it’s still of great interest to astronomers.  We outline some challenges over the last few years in assembling a 2m dish with custom feed, electronics and signal processing, then show recent results from our project.

The image above shows recent signals (May 17th) recorded over a 24 hour period for dish elevation of 53 degrees. The signal changes as the antenna points to different parts of the Milky Way.

The AREG committee is also looking to the future and is hoping as the situation continues to improve that we may be able to return to meeting in person by August (our AGM).