AREG February Meeting

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The next meeting of the AREG will be held on Friday DCP_6746 - CopyFebruary 20th at the Reedbeds Community Centre, Henley Beach South, starting at 7.45pm (location details are available via the contact us page).

The topic this evening will be “Cellular Communications Systems” presented by Grant Willis, VK5GR, and will take a look at the history and evolution of cellular networks in Australia from the early VHF party line system through to today’s modern 4G LTE 300Mbit/s networks. Both the history and technology will be discussed. Hope to see you there!

VK5RSB 6m Repeater – Down Again

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VK5RSB 6m_2The VK5RSB 6m repeater is once again off the air.  We suspect that the temporary antenna has failed, most likely taking the power amplifier with it again.

The AREG is currently looking to buy a new commercially made co-linear 6m antenna, we have received quotes to replace the antenna for A$500.

The AREG would welcome any donations to the antenna replacement by regular users/contributors.  There’s a donate button on the front page of our website, simply place “VK5RSB 6m” in the relevant field when prompted to let us know what the donation is for.

Those users that have already donated we offer our thanks !   Without your support this repeater would be off air for a much longer period.

D-Star DVAP & Dongles

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d-star-logo-350The AREG is happy to report that the recent issues with D-Star DVAP and Dongles accessing and using VK5RWN has been resolved.

The issue turned out to be the Internet router config, which was blocking some necessary ports that weren’t identified at the time of cut over.

Thanks to Bob, Michael & Ben from the AREG D-Star team for resolving the issue.

73, Matthew VK5ZM

AREG January 2015 General Meeting

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Happy new year and welcome to 2015.

This post is just a reminder to members and visitors that the next AREG general meeting will be this coming Friday the 16th of January starting at 7:45pm.   Details of where the AREG meet can be found in the “contact us” section of the website.

This month we have the first business meeting of 2015.   As is usual of this time of year at the first meeting we will have a lot to discuss and plan for the coming months, especially since there was no December meeting.

The business meeting will be followed by coffee and cake.

We hope to see you there.

73, Matthew VK5ZM

VK5RWN – Service Restored

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LcK75XpcaNow that the bush fires in Adelaide are over and vehicular access to the repeater site has recommenced, the VK5RWN D-Star services have been restored.   All ports are operational and the wireless internet link re-established.  Further changes to the internet configuration are planned in coming months.  We thank the D-Star users for their patience while services were disrupted.

73, Matthew VK5ZM

VK5RWN – Adelaide Bush Fires

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AUSTRALIA-ADELAIDE HILL-BUSHFIRE

Due to the bush fires in the Adelaide hills mains power to the VK5RWN repeater has been lost.   As of Tuesday the 6th of January the repeater sites 300Ah backup battery system has run out of power.

The bush fire has passed within 2kms to the north of the repeater site, for which we are thankful.  Access to the repeater site is currently restricted due to road closures and the proximity of the fire ground.

Until the damage to the power infrastructure can be restored and road closures removed the VK5RWN D-Star system will be unavailable.

We thank you for your patience as we wait for the VK5RWN service to be restored.  Our thoughts and best wishes go to those people who have lost property and homes in these recent fires.

73, Matthew VK5ZM

VK5RWN, D-STAR in Adelaide, update-2

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d-star-logo-350As was previously forecast in earlier posts, AREG has now installed and tested the secure Wireless link to the VK5RWN site. This means internet connectivity to the VK5RWN computer server is now independent of the Telstra phone line to the site.

As a consequence of these changes,  IP addresses have changed which have affected a number of links on various D-STAR web pages. These are in the process of being updated.

One of these links is the VK5RWN Registration page link at the bottom of the http://www.dstar.org.au/registration.htm page, which currently does not work!

However, access is available for anyone wishing to register on VK5RWN or for existing registered users to access their registration details.

Access to the VK5RWN Registration page is via, https://dstar.areg.org.au/Dstar.do

The rest of the operation of VK5RWN has been tested and is believed to be operating correctly with all connectivity to the D-STAR world in place.

If anyone experiences any problems with access to VK5RWN system, or have any questions regarding the operation of VK5RWN, you may contact the VK5RWN D-STAR Administrator, Ben VK5BB at, vk5bb@wia.org.au

As further changes to VK5RWN occur, more information will be provided by both the Local VK5 Broadcast medium and the AREG website.

73, Ben VK5BB

VK5RSB 6 metre repeater update

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The 6 metre repeater, VK5RSB 6 (53.750 MHz) at Summertown, has now been serviced, the RF transmit power amplifier has been repaired, the receiver checked for specifications and the repeater has now been re-installed (23/12/2014) at its site with a replacement temporary 5/8w antenna and is now back on air for general use.

The high power PA is back on line with the system now putting 40 watts into the antenna, as a against the previous 15 watts from the PA driver.

VK5RSB 6m_2

Many thanks must go to Adrian VK5ZBR and Rod VK5UDX for their efforts and work to get the VK5RSB 6 metre repeater back on line.

73, Ben VK5BB