Welcome to the N/West Tas. Radio & TV Group News Page
VK7 Regional News - (Text Version)
(as broadcast on VK7 Regional News)
SUNDAY 10th. June 2018
North West Tas. Radio & TV Group (NWTR&TVG)
http://www.vk7ax.id.au/atvgroup
Text edition: VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 10 June 2018
(Note.. please remove spaces in email addresses before using)
VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST FOR SUNDAY 10 June 2018
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Welcome to the VK7 Regional News for the 10th June 2018. This broadcast is
brought to you by VK7WI, and read today by Peter, VK7PD.
This broadcast utilises repeaters around VK7 and the following HF rebroadcast
stations:
On 3.670 MHz by Justin, VK7TW
On 7.140 MHz by Richard, VK7RO
On 14.130 MHz by Peter, VK7TPE and
On 28.525 MHz by Gary, VK7JGD
This broadcast is repeated on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RTC in the
South and VK7RAA in the North.
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A Fitting Tribute to Joe, VK7JG, Silent Key
Last Monday 4th June, a service was held in Launceston to celebrate the life of
Joe Gelston, VK7JG. I heard someone say that there were 300 people at the
service, and I don’t think that would be an exaggeration.
Joe's grandaughter Eveey, placed some symbols of his life on a lectern and spoke
to their meaning. It was very moving.
His brother, Gerard, told some wonderful stories of Joe and his early life and
of their many trips through the outback of Australia. Again, very moving, and at
times very entertaining.
Peter, VK7PD outlined Joe's career in electronics and in particular his
contribution to amateur radio in Tasmania and his achievements on the world
front of VHF and UHF experimentation.
Son Chris then gave a humorous cameo on a day in the life of Joe. It was so well
done that it should have been recorded for posterity! It certainly helped to
lighten the feelings of those present, and was a wonderful and fitting tribute
to the man who will be greatly missed by all those who knew him.
The tribute closed to one of Joe's favourites, the music of Enya and "Only Time"
Vale Joe
Mike, VK7FB
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QSL News
INWARDS QSL BUREAU NEWS
The current list of QSL cards held by the WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau is
published in the email version of the broadcast.
If your call sign is listed, please contact Herman to advise him whether you
want your cards or not.
Email to vk7bureau @ wia.org.au
If you do want your cards, let Herman know and he can make arrangements for
delivery.
Any cards held after the Miena Hamfest for which no delivery arrangements have
been made will be destroyed.
So please send Herman an email advising him what to do with your cards. If you
want Herman to mail them regularly, please send Herman some postage stamps or a
larger self addressed stamped envelope. While Herman does deliver cards on an
opportunity basis, if you want Herman to mail them it will be at your cost.
WIA Members are entitled to have one free mail out per year.
Mail out arrangements for those who have contacted Herman will continue.
I look forward to hearing from you
(73 de Herman VK7HW, Manager, WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau)
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------------------ EMAIL EDITION ONLY ----------------------
VK7 WIA QSL Bureau Cards held as at 2 Jun 2018
AA, AAP, AB, AC, ACW, AD, AG, AK, AKX, AM, AO(ZL2IO), AOB, AP, AQZ, ARG, ATE,
AV, AWD, AZ
BAT(4?), BBB, BBC, BC, BDW, BIM, BJ, BJT, BLK, BMX, BO, BOGR, BP, BPV, BRY, BT,
BXE, BZ
CAV, CAW, CC, CE, CF, CGT, CH, CIW, CJ, CK, CL, CM, CMD, CN, CO, COW, CRY, CT,
CU, CVF, CWD, CWE, CWW, CZ
DC, DD, DFG, DG, DH, DI, DNC, DO, DQ, DSB, DW, DX, VK0DX, DZ, DZV
EE, EEN, EF, EGN, EL, EPF, VK0ERZ, EW, EY
FALX, FAZZ, FD, FF (for PJ2/K3NK), FG, FGT, FGGT, FJ, FJFJ, FJG, FJIH, FM, FMMM,
FMPD, FMPR, FOC, FOTR, FPPLF, FPRN, FQ, FR, FRG, FRGJ, FRJ, FRJG, FRRT, FTAS,
FW, FZT
GA, GB, GJ, GK, GL, GM, GN, GT, GU, GZ
HAL, HC, HCH, HCK, HDA, HDM, HM, HVK, HZ
IB, IF, IK, IO, IR, IS, ISL, IW
JAZ, JB, JCR, JKZ, JON, JP, JQ, JX
KA, KD, KDO, KDP, KG, KJ, KN, KO, KPC, KOB, KT, KV, KX, KZ
LA, LAZ, LCM, LDK, LE, LH, LKD, LKN, LM, LP, LTD, LTT, LW, LXG, LZ, L70217
MAG, MAT, MAV, MBD, MEL, MG, MHS, MHZ, MI, ML, MN, MS, MTX, MWT, MXB, MY
NA, NAW, NBP, NCE, ND, NDA, NE, NEC, NEK, NET, NF, NHG, NIK, NIT, NJB, NJR, NM,
NMH, NN, NNT, NQ, NRF, NRR, NS, NSA, NSB, NSE, NST, NTE, NWQ, NWT
OB, OT, OH, OK, OR, OUN, OZ
PAS, PBD, PL, PRN, PSJ, PT, PTR, PW
QI, QP
RB, RC, RF, RG, , VI70RGH, RM, RO, ROC, ROY
SD, SGN, SI, SJK, SKB, SMK, SMPR, SNE, SR, SSD, STQ, SV, SZ
TAS, TCE, TI, TJK, TK, TL, TNW, TR, TS, TU, TZ
UJ, URJ, UZ
VAZ, VC, VDL, VEK, VER, VET, VF, VIP, VKT, VQ, VR, VTX, VV, VVV, VXU, VZ
WA, WB, WC, WCN, WFZ, WJ, WN, WO, WDX or WOX, WT, WW, WWY
X (a JA7 on 26Nov16 1008UTC), XJM, XM, XT, XX, XXR, XYZ, XZ
YP, YT, YUM
ZB, ZCK, ZE/ZX, ZG, ZGK, ZGX, ZM, ZN, ZO, ZP, ZV, ZZ
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EVENT NEWS
Reminder VK7 Hamfest
The VK7 Hamfest will be held at the Miena Community Centre on Saturday 17th
November this year. Background plans are in progress, there will be more
information to come. If you wish to discuss the event, Dani can be reached
at VK7FREQ@gmail.com.
I look forward to seeing you there!
(73, Dani, VK7FREQ)
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News from the North West
North West Tas. Radio & TV Group (NWTR&TVG)
http://www.vk7ax.id.au/atvgroup/
Brief Meeting Report
The Club General Meeting on Saturday 2nd. June held at the new Venue, Leven
Scout Headquarters, was very well attended.
Visitors were Peter VK7PC, John VK7FJFD and Kay, Peter VK7BP, Peter VK7RN, Errol
Bramich, and most importantly two new Foundation License recipients Georgi
VK7FGJL and Rhys VK7FORD.
Due to many students acquiring new foundation calls, much discussion took place
on the introduction of a "Students Grade" membership to the Club. It was
resolved that investigation into introducing this new grade of membership to the
Club be further investigated giving particular regards to the legal
responsibility required such as working with children, Police Checks etc.
(Student grade being 18 Years or under).
Much discussion took place on JOTA 2018 in October with the possibility of JOTA
Activity being jointly run from both Paton Park and Leven Scout Headquarters in
Alexander Road.
The Club thanks Peter VK7KPC for his suggestions and input in relation to
conducting JOTA in the Leven District.
Licenses for all the participants in the recent Foundation License Assessments
have been advised that their Licenses are now available... So we ask that you
welcome our new amateurs to our bands in the usual way.
Noise on 70cm. Repeater VK7RDR (Dazzler Range)
Listeners and users of VK7RDR 70cm will be aware of the intermittent noise
plaguing this repeater, particularly over several weeks recently, and that it
has not gone unnoticed.
Arrangements are underway to investigate the source of the noise when the site
is next visited which is a scheduled fuel run in 2-3 weeks time. We will keep
users updated on any results of these investigations as they come to
hand.
73 until next time
Tony VK7AX - News Officer NWTR&TVG
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Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club Incorporated
It appears we are now well into our winter. Spare a thought for those NTARC
members who attended the State Championship Equine event at Sassafras on Friday
8 and Saturday 9 June. This event was held over 24 hours with the commencement
time of 00:00 hours for the 160 km event, followed by the 95 km elevator event
at 04:00 hours early Saturday morning and followed up with the 40km ride
commencing at 10.00 am Saturday. NTARC provided Safety comms and checkpoints at
base camp at Smith & Others Road Sassafras and 3 checkpoints in the surrounding
region. We hope to provide you with a full report in next week’s news.
Final reminder for 2018 membership renewals – just a friendly but surely final
reminder to those members who have not as yet renewed their 2018 membership
fees. You have until 30 June to renew. If you have not done so by that date your
name must be removed from the NTARC membership register. If you have access to
the NTARC yahoo site your name will also be removed. You still have a number of
coffee sessions between now and then so why not pop along and have a cuppa and
renew your subs.
Wednesday Tech night 6 June - the Tech Session hummed with activity this week.
Continuing on from last week, Peter VK7PD had the interface ready to connect our
TS 590 transceiver to the station computer. Before this happened, he installed a
high stability crystal oscillator module (TXCO) into the radio. The interface
cables were then connected and, after some testing and port swapping, the
software was talking to the radio and we were seeing a proper waterfall display.
Ross VK7ALH brought an old marine radio module along, originally from the Lady
Gillian. It had a built-in generator producing 800 volts for the PA. There were
two empty sockets for the finals which needed two 807 valves. Idris VK7ZIR had a
spare pair which fitted perfectly. Ross is now looking to get the whole radio
fired up, which will make a good Show and Tell for another night.
Colin VK7ZCF brought along his notebook and programming kit. He and James
VK7FJAM worked on programming several radios using the CHIRP and Zastone
software.
Kevin VK7KJL had set up yet another computer for configuring, not for himself,
but for another member to use. He will be continuing with this next week.
Meanwhile Stefan VK7ZSB had withdrawn to the workshop to construct some cables
to be used at the Equine Endurance State Championships being held at Sassafras
this weekend.
Stuart VK7FEAT had laid the fire and it was going nicely driving out the cold
night air. He then turned his attention to sifting through a large bag of
electronic magazines recently donated to the Club. He was ably assisted by
Bernie VK7BH and Ebenezer VK7AT with John VK7FJFD looking on.
There was a lot of WSPRing going on with Peter VK7KPC firing up his WSPR station
and Peter VK7PD registering the Club station with the WSPRnet site. At the end
of the evening, we were still waiting for an email with the username and
password to arrive. More to do next session.
Coming events
Technical sessions –. No technical session will be held this coming week, due to
the fact that our June General Meeting is to be held on Wednesday evening. Our
technical sessions will resume on Wednesday 20 June from 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm, at
the Club room Archer Street, Rocherlea.
A reminder that the club has taken delivery of a very extensive donation of
through-hole componentry, including 240,000 resistors, along with capacitors of
all types and sizes. I hear the capacitor count may well exceed the resistor
total! If you are looking for some components for that upcoming or in-progress
project, why not drop along to a coffee morning and make your requirements known
June general meeting – this will be an evening meeting and will be held on
Wednesday 13 June. Meeting to commence at 19:30 hours (7.30 pm). Followed by a
Show and Tell so give it some thought between now and then and bring something
along to share and talk about with others. Supper will of course follow on. The
fire will be lit as usual in the main hall and I’m sure the comfort level will
be greatly assisted by the recent addition of doors to the various sub-rooms and
the new curtains organised by Ros. If you haven’t seen these and other recent
improvements then these are added reasons for you to attend the meeting.
Working bee – As our last working bee was so successful and we still have more
things to do, guess what? We are planning another working bee. This one has been
scheduled for Saturday 30th June to continue the jobs we didn’t get finished at
the last bee.
We will have a BBQ for the attendees, so mark your calendars. If we can get as
many members as the last time, we’ll soon get things done. To keep us in the
working mood, we will light both fires as the weather is now rather cool. For
those who may draw the rooftop short straws it may get decidedly chilly, so
better wear your thermals if you are likely to be offered one of those roles.
Worth the effort though, as Trevor was again showing all interested his plots of
the rapidly improving performance of the club’s vertical multiband antenna at
coffee on Friday. A little more work on the groundplane radial elements should
see it working on all bands in a stellar fashion.
Coffee mornings – are held every Monday and Friday in the NTARC Club rooms.
Catch up time is from 10.00 am to noon. Tomorrow, Monday 11 June we will be
open even though it is a public holiday for the Queen’s birthday. This gives our
working members a chance to pop in and catch up with the latest.
Please remember that aside from the good company, freely offered philosophical
views, maybe less than expert political analysis, tall tales and genuinely good
fare on offer, these coffee events are normally a good opportunity to collect
your QSL cards it appears we have no cards awaiting collection.
Please demonstrate your appreciation of all the effort that goes into operating
the club and its facilities and other services we provide by joining us at these
sessions, enjoying the company, coffee and the cake and leaving a gold coin or
two, or even a small bank note, in the jar to assist in our on-going operations.
Finally
As always I look forward to seeing you all at Rocherlea. A reminder to all
members that if you have any items of news you would like added to the weekly
roundup, then please email me at either of the following addresses
ypmaxwell @ bigpond.com or ntarc.emails @ gmail.com
73, Yvonne VK7FYMX, Secretary
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SOUTHERN NEWS
Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania Incorporated.
https://www.reast.asn.au/
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
Presentation Night
This Wednesday night 13th June from 7:30pm there will be a summary presentation
on the WIA Licence Condition Determination Submission that is about to go out
for final comments to the amateur community. This feedback will be in the form
of a survey that will go out very soon.
This presentation will be a sneak preview of the LCD submission that was put
together by the WIA Spectrum Strategy Committee. The committee used the results
of three surveys sent out in 2017 to create the submission. The response to the
surveys was excellent.
Come along with your questions.
See you at 7:30pm in the Queens Domain clubrooms.
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
Impromptu Experimenters Night
Last Wednesday night was an impromptu Experimenter's night. Richard VK7ZBX
brought along a very nice 500W NEC power amplifier that was sourced locally. The
cover on the unit was quickly removed and the insides laid bare. It consists of
six active devices that are paralleled up to provide the 500W output. It is in
the UHF band and could possibly be used as a 70cm PA with suitable
modifications.
Justin VK7TW and Sean VK7FAZE started to remove equipment from the 19" rack
units. This will enable an inventory to be taken and sorting performed to
determine what equipment will be used and what equipment will be sold off. A
huge thank you to Sean who has been able to source two large flat screen TVs
that will form a replacement for the TV in the Main room and one for the DATV
studio. This screen will display multiple image feeds instead of needing
multiple monitors.
Paul Pruss sporting a new callsign - VK7FPCL brought along Tom VK7NTK's FT7 that
he had got working and plugged it into the club station antenna to test it.
There was lots of talk and coffee and reminiscing about the vintage and surplus
equipment that is accumulating in the clubrooms.
The Experimenter's nights get back underway in a fortnight - see you then.
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
REAST Foundation Training
The next assessment day will be 3rd Saturday of June and then every second
month. That is February, April, June, August, October and December. Check out
the REAST Website or Facebook page for events.
The next one is on 16 June 2018 and contact Reg on email assessor @ reast.asn.au
or phone mobile 0417 391 607 if you wish to participate.
(73, Reg, VK7KK)
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Technical Article
The ACMA is currently consulting on proposals to convert commercial radio
stations 7BU in Burnie and 7AD in Devonport from AM to FM.
To allow the Queenstown commercial radio licensee to provide a second FM service
in addition to 7XS.
To allow the Scottsdale 7SD commercial radio service to simulcast in FM—the
service will continue to be available on the existing AM frequency.
To make other minor changes to the technical specifications of services in the
above areas, as well as in Hobart and Launceston.
These changes will be implemented by a variation to the licence area plans (LAPs)
for Burnie, Devonport, Queenstown, Scottsdale, Launceston and Hobart. The
changes are described in detail in the consultation paper, which is available
for download in the table above.
Issue for comment
The ACMA welcomes comments from interested stakeholders on the issues raised in
the consultation paper or any other issues relevant to the LAP variations as
proposed.
While we don’t consider that the proposals in Burnie, Devonport and Queenstown
raise any specific issues for consultation, we welcome general feedback on our
preliminary views for these LAPs.
We are seeking to ascertain industry and community views on the Scottsdale
proposal, which will allow the Scottsdale commercial licensee to simulcast its
7SD AM transmission in FM. Our preliminary view is that to avoid unacceptable
coverage loss the licensee must maintain the AM transmission. We have obtained a
written assurance from Grant Broadcasters that it is willing to maintain the AM
transmission, and that it has no current plans to switch off the AM in the
future.
https://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/changes-to-radio-services-in-tasmania
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Fast fact to finish
It would take light 100,000 years to travel from one end of the Milky Way galaxy
to the other.
https://www.factslides.com/s-Science
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Regular VK7 gatherings and events over the coming months:
Regular gatherings:
SOTA Group – Monday and Friday Coffee Sessions from 10:30am at Glebe Gardens
Cafe 166 Henry St, Launceston
NTARC - Monday and Friday Coffee Sessions from 10am in clubrooms and technical
sessions – Wednesdays from 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm Archer Street, Rocherlea,
Launceston.
REAST – Wednesday Afternoon Group meets from Noon then the Experimenters Night
from 7:30pm in the Queens Domain clubrooms, Hobart.
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
REAST – MICROWAVE QSO Party – following after the Sunday broadcast on 1296.1MHz
FM.
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Events:
NTARC – 13 June - General meeting followed by Show Tell Session from 7.30 pm in
clubrooms Archer St Rocherlea.
REAST – 16 June – Foundation Training Day – Queens Domain Clubrooms from 9am –
Contact Reg VK7KK for more details.
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
VK7 – 17 November – Miena Hamfest – Miena Community Hall
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If you are interested in becoming an amateur radio operator or upgrading your
licence then we suggest you contact your local club for details and/or take a
look at what the Radio and Electronics School has to offer. They have a range of
courses that can be delivered through a variety of methods.
They can be found at: www.res.net.au
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A reminder to those people rostered for next week’s broadcasts:
Newsreader: VK7FB
Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and NWTR&TVG
80m: Volunteer required
40m: Volunteer required
20m: VK7IL
10m: VK7TPE
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This broadcast is repeated on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RTC in the
South and VK7RAA in the North.
Thanks to all people and organisations that assisted with this broadcast.
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That concludes our VK7 Regional News Broadcast for this week.
Next week the National WIA news can be heard at 0900 followed by the VK7
Regional News at 0930 hours.
Items for the broadcast can be emailed to vk7arnews @ gmail.com
Please note all, this is now the address for news items for the VK7 Regional
News.
Further information about the broadcast can be found at the VK7 Regional News
Yahoo Group.
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/vk7regionalnews/info
The deadline for items is 21:00 on Friday prior to the Sunday of the broadcast.
VK7WI is now closing but will reopen shortly for callbacks and relay reports.
Callbacks will be taken on the frequency to which you are listening.
Relay stations will use their own callsigns during the callback.
From the VK7 Regional News, it is 73 from Peter, VK7PD
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