AREG at the Adelaide Maker Faire 2016 – Huge Success

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Mark VK5QI, Kim VK5FJ, Matt VK5ZM and Grant VK5GR at Maker Fare 2016

The Amateur Radio Experimenter’s Group achieved it’s goals of putting amateur radio before the public at the Adelaide Maker Faire 2016 held on November 6th, with a huge amount of interested generated from the stand and the 15 minute presentation given at the event by Mark VK5QI on Project Horus. Those who manned the stand couldn’t be happier with the response, and genuinely hope to hear further from a number of people who have had their interest sparked in the hobby in the near future!

A huge thank you has to go to Kim VK5FJ who coordinated AREG’s presence, as well as to Mark VK5QI who prepared much of the Project Horus material for the stand. A number of other members also spent most of the day there manning the stand promoting Amateur Radio, as well as to those members behind the scenes who helped with preparing publicity handouts and business cards for the event (Scott VK5TST, Gary VK5FGRY and Mark VK5QI). A huge thank you to all of you as well!

AREG certainly hopes to be back at the Maker Faire in 2017!

AREG at the Adelaide Maker Faire TODAY!

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How does the amateur radio service relate to the maker movement you might ask? In many ways, amateur radio is the grandfather of the maker movement. People have been tinkering and experimenting, building their own equipment and radio stations, all in the quest to communicate with each other for well over 120 years!

Today, the range of things within Amateur Radio to get involved in building, designing, inventing or experimenting with is even broader, really only limited by your imagination! 

The following article from Makezine.com in the USA gives you a great introduction to the relationship between the Maker Movement and Amateur Radio.

The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group is today at the Adelaide Maker Faire 2016! Billed as the largest Maker Faire in the southern hemisphere, this is a great opportunity to come and find out more about Amateur Radio!

You can find the event in the grounds of the new Tonsley TAFE campus! AREG will be there from 10am to 4pm. Come and say hello!

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Balloon Launch November 13th: Horus 38 – 10:00am ACDT

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The Amateur Radio ExperimentersIMG_1767-1024 Group is planning another High Altitude Balloon Launch. Designated Horus 38, it will be an internal project team flight carrying payloads specifically for AREG members. Multiple payloads will be included.

UPDATE: Due to the high wind conditions at the launch site, most of the payloads did not make it off the ground (including the video and SSDV payloads). Currently only the LoRa Cutdown payload is in the air. Chase teams are en-route to recover this payload now. 

Live Tracking Links

Flight Track Prediction

The following is the predicted track for the balloon tomorrow. We will be targeting a 5m/s ascent rate, a 30km burst altitude, and 7.5m/s descent rate.

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. It first flew on Horus 37, and after some refinement will be flown again on this flight. Information on this system is available here.

HD Video Camera Payload

We are also going to fly an upward facing and an outward facing camera, and hope to collect images of the balloon expanding and (hopefully) bursting, as well as some HD video imagery similar to what was achieved back on Horus 12. Thanks to Scott VK5TST and Josh VK5JO for the loan of the GoPro Hero3 cameras for this flight.

RTTY Telemetry

The standard RTTY 70cm telemetry payload will be flying as well. Listen out on 434.650MHz USB, 100 baud  ASCII-7N1. You can get involved through capturing telemetry data and relaying it back to the chase team via the Internet (details on how to setup and operate dl-fldigi are available here: ukhas.org.uk/projects:dl-fldigi

Flight Details

Visitors from the Amateur Radio service are welcome to come along to the launch this time (as it is not for a school or other organisation). Launch details at this stage are below, however keep watching the website closer to the time for confirmation and up to date details:

  • When: 13th November (Sunday), approx. 10AM CDT launch time.
  • Where: Mt Barker High School Oval

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AREG at the AHARS Hamfest 6th November

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AREG will again be present at the AHARS Buy’n’Sell event on the 6th of November! This yearly event, is a regular on every Amateur Radio Operator’s calendar in Adelaide and is not to be missed.

Apart from amateurs there will also be commercial retailers of amateur equipment in attendance. This is an ideal opportunity to pick up that new item without the cost of freight.

AREG will have much on offer!

The AREG has been lucky this year and has obtained a large amount of surplus equipment that it will be able to offer to the Amateur Radio community in Adelaide. This will include lengths of LMR400 coax, repeaters and many other components and gadgets which are useful to anyone who constructs anything electronic at home. So, come on down to the AHARS Buy’n’Sell. Doors open at 9.30am!

areg at ahars buy n sell

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AREG going to the Adelaide Maker Faire!

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The Amateur Radio Experimenter’s Group is going to mount a display at the Adelaide Maker Faire this year. This will be a huge opportunity to promote Amateur Radio to School and University age people and their parents as a fun challenging activity to get your collective creative juices flowing in.

Members are currently in the process of constructing our display. If you want to get involved, contact Kim VK5FJ who is coordinating the event for the club

 

AREG Members Help out! Thanks from VK5GR

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Being a member of a radio club has many advantages. Once of the not so obvious is when it comes time to engage in some mast construction. Grant VK5GR discovered just how helpful fellow club members were prepared to be today when over 10 members volunteered for the “Olympic Concrete Wheelbarrow Pouring Tryouts” at his QTH as the footings were finally poured for his new tilt over tower.

Having had the hole dug with an auger the day before, assistance came from many directions within the club, from a member welding up additional leveling steel-work for the base to the concrete laying relay team and the concrete finishing team who helped put the final touches on what in about 4 weeks will become a new HexBeam HF station.

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Digging the hole

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Pouring the Concrete

Membership of the club put Grant in touch will all of these helpers. So why not give it some thought. There is more to being a member of your local radio club than just attending meetings and using the club repeater systems

Thanks to VK5FDEN, VK5SA, VK5ZM, VK5BB, VK5FJ, VK5IX, VK5KX, VK5JG, VK5TST, VK5FGRY and VK5FSAW for all of your help and support. It is very much appreciated!

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

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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

Report: AREG Participation in OCDX SSB Contest

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Oceania DX Contest VK5ARG Field Day station Cancelled

Despite the weather, AREG members still made sure that the club call-sign VK5ARG was heard on the bands for the Oceania DX Contest, albeit from the QTH of one of our members and not from the planned portable operation. The unprecedented weather system that rolled through South Australia in the days before the contest, coupled with the storms that arrived Sunday meant that the field day activation simply wasn’t possible this year.

Courtesy Bureau of Meteorology

Courtesy Bureau of Meteorology

Relocation to the Murray Mallee activated as plan C

In order to get VK5ARG on the air, a hasty retreat was made to the Murray Mallee where Chris VK5CP has his remote station. There we had access to two stations covering 20-10m and 40-10m respectively. On the Friday afternoon we also erected a temporary antenna to give us access to 80m and 160m for the contest!

Getting ready to raise the 80/160m dipoles from the top of the cliff (Photo courtesy VK5MTM)

Getting ready to raise the 80/160m dipoles from the top of the cliff (Photo courtesy VK5MTM)

Most of the crew who planned to activate Para Wirra Park made the journey out to the Mallee and so we were able to man 3 stations when required. Those who participated were:

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The contest itself was also hard going. The sun and the ionosphere did not cooperate well. This was reflected in the score achieved. At one point during the contest the T-Index map looked like this:

T-Index Map during the OCDX Contest 2016 (courtesy BOM Space Weather Division)

T-Index Map during the OCDX Contest 2016 (courtesy BOM Space Weather Division)

It made for some peculiar propagation. 15m was open for a time when no contacts could be had on 20m during the day on Sunday. At night, we also had some great signals on 80m including contacts to the US West coast and the Mariana Islands. 40m however was our standout band, having extended openings to the USA Saturday evening and to Europe Sunday early morning.

Conclusion

Campfire during OCDX 2016 (Photo Courtesy VK5MTM)

Campfire during OCDX 2016 (Photo Courtesy VK5MTM)

Overall, a great time was had despite the difficult propagation. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

The final score achieved was:

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A very special thanks must be expressed to Chris VK5CP who bailed us out when the weather threatened to scuttle our participation completely. Thanks also goes to all of the contest organizing committee, band captains, operators and support crew who did make the trek out to the Murray Mallee to operate and support VK5ARG, including: VK5AKH, VK5ZM, VK5XFG, VK5GR, VK5MTM, VK5KX, VK5QI, VK5IX, VK5FGRY, VK5FSAW and last but not least VK5CP!

Thanks also goes to everyone who worked very hard preparing the station over the preceding 3 months. Don’t fear, your efforts have not been in vain as a suitable activation of the park will be planned in the near future (so that all of the work can be put to the test).

Till next year! 73s de VK5ARG!