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Around the Shack LAST MONTHS MEETING Last meeting saw more gear being offered for sale to club members at very cheap prices. A heap of QSL cards were received for distribution; after we took out all those for Chris VK3FY, the few left were handed out. Quite a few were from the VK100WIA celebrations, which WANSARC really got into. Amateur Radio Victoria is now celebrating 100 years and WANSARC will be taking part in the contest with both a portable setup and members operating from home. Keep an ear out for the VK100ARV call sign on all bands. More details to follow once it's all arranged in November.

THE AMATEUR RADIO VICTORIA CENTENARY The centrepiece of the 100th celebration is an operating award. It runs throughout the period August the 1st through to November the 30th. The rules and full details are now available under the Award section of the Amateur Radio Victoria website www.amateurradio.com.au Bonus points are also available for contacts with the Nominated VK100ARV special call sign to be rostered in November. The Amateur Radio Victoria Centenary also involves the world’s first DATV QSO Party emanating from VK3RTV and across the world. While the actual times are not fixed, it’s planned to be over the last weekend of August starting on the Friday evening. On November the 19th and 20th a number of Victorian National Parks will be on air. Wherever you are, don’t miss a chance to join in the celebration. More in coming weeks. ~Jim Linton VK3PC

GREETINGS FROM JAN LYON I would like to say hello to all the members of WANSARC. I hear information about the club from Trevor VK3ATX, and enjoy hearing about club activities as Bill was so active. July 2011 was 12 months since the passing of Bill VK3KBL. Wishing you all the best. ~Jan Lyon

Photo of Bill VK3KBL (SK) and Jan, who is now a resident of Salford Park Retirement Village in Wantirna South.

DATV ON THE CHEAP A cheap DATV system has been developed in the UK. A full article with the project on a single PCB will be in CQTV soon. It revolves around using a TV capture card in a PC. This development has been going on for a while, but it is now really coming to fruition. This will bring DATV to within the realms of possibility of a number of operators at about ¼ the cost of existing systems from Germany. Take a look at http://www.g8ajn.tv/dlindex.html ~Peter Cossins VK3BFG

WANSARC NET 7.30PM TUESDAY NIGHTS

146.450MHz FM LISTEN FOR CLUB CALLSIGN

VK3AWS

JA DX? - NO, ITS LOCAL!!! When I was a kid I thought I got up to some mischief, but my kids are way ahead of me. Recently senior harmonic, Janice VK3FIRE, said that there was an obligation free "information night" at her school about hosting a Japanese overseas student for 2 weeks and that I should go and find all about it. As we already have her cousin here for the last two years studying, I thought we were 'full' of kids. Arriving at the school info night I was handed a booklet and given a handshake and the teacher said "thank you very much for offering your home to one of our sister schools children..." I thought "...I'm doing what now...?" When I opened the booklet here was a list of names of hosting families with their address and email (including mine) and a schedule of classes and places to visit, what our particular home stay liked to eat, what they do at home / school and contact details of her parents in Japan. Apparently a few weeks back someone has decided to forge my signature on a sponsorship form and hand to the school office. Three weeks later a young girl with broken English, but very good manners, was at our house for two weeks. She did not eat much and when watching how much food, especially meat that we eat, really amazed (or is that better described as frighten) her.

Janice VK3FIRE, Michelle VK3FAME and Japanese exchange student Chisato, crossing Kane's Suspension Bridge, Studley Park, after sailing down the Yarra River with the dog. ↑ Captain "Emma" surveying the Yarra in the boat as kids paddle. ↓

Kids "maritime mobile" on the Yarra. ↓

~Mick VK3CH

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Peter Cossins VK3BFG - 10 GHz Homebuilt Amateur Television System

↑ The TX antenna feed close up Peter bought off centre fed dishes from Melbourne Satellites. They are found at http://www.melbournesatellites.com.au/ These are quite cheap. Pointing them at your target however is more involved than a centre fed dish. Peter says that due to the angle of the feed the whole dish either needs to be tilted up or down to find the target that your transmitting to. He says "Pointing the dishes can be quite critical. ... A bit of fun setting up. The way I did it was to bring VK3RTV up on DVB-S , VK3RTV1 to hold the repeater on. I then transmitted on 10.41 GHz monitoring VK3RTV2."

← The rear of the TX dish showing the stand used, anything that will keep the dish steady is a must, especially in strong winds as the dish will catch wind very well and either get moved off target or even fall over.

← The tilting bracket. The homebrew 10GHz ATV TX, consisting of a Minikits x8 multiplier. ↓

The video and audio signals need to be reduced in amplitude by a factor of 8, thus reducing the deviation out from the 23 cm exciter. After processing by the multiplier (by 8), the final deviation will be correct for amateur operations and reception using a standard satellite receiver. Any noise or other errors in the base band signal or frequency drift in the 23 cm exciter are magnified by the multiplication process.


Inside the frequency multiplier unit and 1 watt PA. The 1 watt PA was extracted (with a hacksaw !!!!!!!) from a commercial microwave link and modified to operate on 10.41 GHz. ↓ Side view of the heat sink. ↓

Black box is an audio mixer for line and microphone levels with an output level 1/8th that required for normal operation at 23cm. ↑ There is also a matched attenuator (75 input impedance) to reduce the video level by a factor of 8. The 1301.25 MHz FM output is then fed to a by 8 multiplier. The levels out of the multiplier at 10.41 GHz will then have the correct deviation for a standard Satellite Receiver. Some tests were done at Mt Dandenong, during May 2007, being a direct two way contact on 10.41 GHz with Rob, VK3KOS. As Rob was in St Albans, VK3RTV was receiving him as well. We monitored his signal direct on 10.41 GHz and also received via VK3RTV. Note the rope lifting the dish tripod stand off the front leg! Depending on your sighting, if you are aiming for a hill you need to lift the dish up, if you're on a hill aiming lower, then the dish will need to lean more forward accordingly. Everything, including the TV, runs off 12 volts (13.8v) perfect when operating portable.

Total cost of Peters 10GHz ATV system (excluding the portable TV) was around $300. VK3RTV2 has an input on either 23cm or 10.41GHz, so you can either go out via VK3RTV, or operate point to point at 10GHz.

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The Power Amplifier Kuhne have power amplifiers for 10GHz that start from 1 watt, going up to 45 watts. I got the 8 watt PA, MKU PA 102 XL.

The Receiver - KU LNC 107A Down Converter

Frequency range (RF) 10000 ... 10700 MHz Frequency range (IF) 1400 ... 2100 MHz LO frequency 8600 MHz LO accuracy @ 18 °C +/- 20 kHz LO frequency stability (0 ... 40 °C) +/- 20 kHz Phase noise @ 100 kHz -105 dBc/Hz Gain typ. 36 dB Noise figure @ 18 °C typ. 1.3 dB, max. 1.5 dB RF input power max. 1 mW Supply voltage +9 ... 18 V DC Current consumption typ. 400 mA Input connector / impedance SMA-female, 50 ohms Output connector / impedance SMA-female, 50 ohms Applications; Digital broadcast systems (DVB-T, DVB-S) COFDM systems using modulation types QPSK, QAM Analog and digital transmission systems

Show me the money... You will need to get items from two suppliers. The BBA 2.5 Base Band Processing unit is obtained from ID - Elektronik found at http://www.id-elektronik.de It costs 187 € posted. The rest is from Kuhne http://www.kuhne-electronic.de/en/ being the MKU ATV 10 B ATV transmitter at 208,40 €, MKU PA 102 XL PA at 850,42 €, Matching Heat sink 22,69 €, Cooling Fan 12,61 and KU LNC 107A Down Converter 440 €. Postage including insurance to Melbourne was 48,33 €. As the total exceeds AUD $1000, GST is payable before it clears customs. Payment options are listed on the downloadable order from on both websites, note these are two separate companies. The advantages are obtaining professional readymade, tested, tunned units. But this comes at a cost. The decision is all yours. With the Australian Dollar in reasonable favourable exchange rate with the Euro (€), it helps. Everything was ordered in July. Two Satellite Dishes were purchased from Melbourne Satellites Bayswater, website at http://www.melbournesatellites.com.au/ The dishes bought are the same as seen in article of Peter Cossins, VK3BFG 10GHz ATV setup. Melbourne Satellites also have portable stands similar to Peter's that I also bought. A dish is $33 and a portable stand is $88 each. One dish will be ATV TX and the other the ATV RX dish. But a single dish could be used by attaching the LNB RX unit or Transmitter as needed. With two dishes I can either go into VK3RTV or have a direct path with the two dishes. As 10GHz needs very accurate line of sight, the risk of QRM to VK3RTV 10GHz input during simplex is virtually a non issue.


The easy job was building the two dishes from the 'kit', both done in 40 minutes. The stands come ready to go with a round built in bubble sprit level, which is a very clever idea. All you need is a Philips head screwdriver and a small shifter. In true amateur radio style I decided to consult the instruction sheet after assembly, all was correct. Just don't tighten the screw into the plastic holder for the feed unit until its ready to go in. It was put in a third of the way,

just so it was not lost! While the stands will do for most places, the "U" brackets will fit most collapsible masts. When 10GHz portable with other persons about, it's a good idea to mount the dish as high as practical to avoid 'cooking' anyone! But the very next day (after they were put together) an email from Peter Cossins arrived informing of a place in The Netherlands that makes dishes with custom feeds. They are at http://www.rfhamdesign.com/ Picture shows the RF Ham Design Centre Fed FPD 1M0 D KIT with the 10GHz feed installed. It is 1 meter wide, 35.7 dB gain, with a beamwidth of 2.3 degrees. The feed can be installed for either vertical or horizontal polarity. A beamwidth of 2.3 degrees will require a very steady mast. A rifle sight would be a good addition to assist in sighting the dish. I decided to get two of these instead, with two custom feeds made and tested for 10.41 GHz, complete with plotted VSWR charts, delivered to VK, costing just shy of AUD $1000 for the two of them. Now we are getting a serious 10GHz TX / RX ATV system! FPD 1M0 D KIT ↓

Anyone needing two brand new 65cm offset dishes.....? (exactly the same dishes as seen in Peter Cossins article on page 4)


Dangers of RF at 10GHz with a Dish Using a Power Gain calculator found on the internet; 8 Watts Power Input with 35dB Gain gives an Output of 35,000 Watts. Also the power from the dish is ERP (Effective Radiated Power) NOT power ..... this parameter is not well understood. There is no more energy from the 8 watt source than before. However compared to 8 watts into a isotropic source, the E and H fields are 36 dB higher due to the beam concentration for a dish. Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency has a standard. The maximum allowable exposures vary with frequency, and are the most stringent around VHF rather than HF or SHF. The standard maximum for 6 minute exposure for RF Workers in Australia is 10 watts/sq metre @10 GHz and 2 watts per square metre for the general public @ 10 GHz. You assume the radiated signal obeys the inverse square law, take the transmitter power and antenna gain and make calculations. The gain is the numerical one, not logarithmic. i.e. 37 dB is 10 . = 5011.

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Calculations based on a gain of 37dB with 8 Watts General Public no closer than 17.86 meters directly in front. RF Worker no closer than 7.9 meters directly in front. The standard is based on a 6 minute exposure and is more tolerant proportionally if the exposure time is less. Exposure at one time does not affect exposure at another time.

8 watt system for the General Public; If the exposure was for 1 minute, the standard would be exceeded if a person was within 7.29 meters for that time. If the exposure was for 10 seconds, the standard would be exceeded if the person was within 2.9 meters for that time. The dish sends out a very narrow beam and the field diminishes quite quickly away from directly in front.

NO WAY do you put your head in front of the dish ...... always work from the back. These are theoretical calculations, actual measurement of filed strength usually shows that the field is less than that calculated. Calculations are worst case scenarios. But 8 watts can be dangerous, need to take care!


Some Facts About Dish Antennas (1) Parabolic or dish antennas are NOT frequency dependant. That is any dish will work to some degree at any frequency. The basic determining factor is, how many wavelengths in diameter is your dish? The more wavelengths the more gain. For instance, an 8ft diameter dish has about 28 dB of gain at 1296MHz, the same dish has 45 dB of gain at 10368 MHz

(2) Dish antennas are NOT all the same shape . Some are very shallow, some are very deep. They all work. Your problem is to determine what you have and to select the proper feed for that particular dish.

(3) Wind loading . This is the one area that you have to watch. There isn’t a yagi made that can match a dish for wind loading. This is the area that will force you to do some trade-offs. Keep in mind that at 80 mph every square ft. of antenna that you have up exhibits about 16 lbs. of force on its mounting structure. i.e. (3ft diameter dish = 113lbs wind load)

(4) Condition. Does your dish have any damage? The higher in frequency you go the more accurate the surface must be. A few dings here and there are nothing to worry about. The things to be aware of are the size of the dent or imperfection and how many there are. Without going into the math, if you have a 4ft dish that has some dime sized dents in it don’t worry. But if that same dish was dropped and is twisted out of shape a couple of inches, try to beat it back into shape or better yet find a better one

(5) Beamwidth. Dish antennas are just like flashlights; they focus the energy to a narrow beam. Let's take the same 8ft dish at 1296 MHz, its beamwidth is 6 degrees. The same dish at 10368 MHz has a beamwidth of about .8 degrees. Pointing can be a problem.

(6) Dish size If you Double the size of a dish your gain increases by 6 dB. and vice-versa. Remember 6 dB is 1 “S” unit. This is one decision that you have make, because wind loading, rotator apparatus, and mounting structure come into consideration.

(7) Solid versus Mesh Dishes . Mesh dishes have less wind loading. They are also lighter. The holes must be less than 1/10 of a wavelength in diameter, at the highest operating frequency.

Feeds Feeds are the most difficult and important part of any dish antenna system. You can’t just bolt a horn on the front of a dish reflector and get satisfactory performance. They have to match each other. Ideally the feed should illuminate the dish 10 dB down at the edge from what it is at the centre. You don’t want to under illuminate a dish. Why have a 6ft. reflector when a 4ft. on would do. You are just wasting aluminium. Conversely, you don’t want to over illuminate. You are wasting RF over the edges. Feeds by design have a specific beamwidth, this is what must be taken into consideration when choosing your feed for your dish in question. Other considerations are difficulty of construction, testing etc. Some feeds get pretty wild for a guy with just hand tools.

Placement of the feed unit is like a globe in a torch, it has to be in the right focal point, or it won't be at its full efficiency. This is the main reason, lacking test gear at 10GHz to just order a preconfigured dish set to 10.41GHz.


TRUTH and some MYTH’S About 10 GHz.... 10 GHz Doesn’t go through Tree’s? VERY TRUE, but there are ways of dealing with tree's.. if you're portable, move! 10 GHz doesn't bend around corners? TRUE, but 10 GHz bounces off more things and will work its way around some things. 10 GHz doesn't go far? MYTH, 10 GHz over a near line of site path will travel with similar signal strengths as lower frequencies. Over some 100-300 Km Tropo paths, it may be stronger. 10 GHz Equipment is expensive and hard to get? In real terms, it would probably cost $250- $500 to set up a Transverter. Everything is available off the shelf in Australia. Plenty more on the internet and EBay. 10 GHz Equipment is harder to get going? TRUE it is harder, mainly due to the lack of test equipment, but see further... WHY go to 10 GHz? 10 GHz is a band best described as a band at a spectrum crossroad. It is conveniently below the Satellite DBS (Direct Broadcast Service) band of 12.25 - 12.75 GHz. This means there is a large selection of devices and circuit ideas easily translated to 10 GHz. 10 GHz is also the highest Amateur band that Test equipment (Surplus or otherwise) is commonly available in some quantity. Indeed, locally, we have as good a supply, thanks to DSTO; Telstra and RAAF surplus per capita compared with most parts of the world. Building techniques are specialized, but still within the capabilities of a home workshop. SMD components are small and require some patience. Often, more time is involved in getting set up to build equipment than in the actual building As far as propagation goes, 10 GHz is our highest allocation that doesn’t suffer significant atmospheric absorption problems and still has useful, predictable propagation. As you approach 23 GHz water vapour absorption becomes a severe path attenuator. Propagation at 10 GHz is subject to professional study. The amateur community has, perhaps, collected more data on Tropospheric ducting than any other single group. EME (moon bounce) is achievable with 20 - 50 Watts and a 3-metre dish. This will probably be the upper frequency technological limit for EME for many years. While amateur communications where first achieved on 10 GHz, 50 years ago it is only in the last 25 or so years that technology has enabled more general usage. The first significant step towards easier 10 GHz operation, was the introduction of the Gunn Diode in the seventies. This enabled around 5 - 20 mW of RF to be generated, stable enough to provide Wideband FM communication. Very simple full duplex transceivers could be made using a 30 MHz or even a 100 MHz (e.g. FM tuner) IF. In Europe, Wideband operation was the dominant mode until the late 80’s with the introduction of narrowband equipment. Gunn diodes and newer DRO tuned oscillators are still more than suitable for Wideband applications like 2 - 10 Mbit Data links and FM ATV. Distances covered with such equipment ranged from 120 Km Line Of Sight up to 600 Km with Tropospheric enhancement. The second significant step has been the introduction of Narrowband equipment. The appearance of Gasfets soon enabled the eventual migration of circuitry to Teflon PCB, paralleling the development in Satellite receiver technology. Kuhne and others sell readymade items for 10GHz. Second hand and homebrew are other ways to get on 3cm. We are seeing the first 10 - 40 Watt portable and home stations appearing in VK3 & VK5. Even without propagation, 200 -300 Km’s can be achieved from selected hilltops, and closer in even mobile operation is possible. It is possible to work from Mt William to Mt Dandenong on 10 GHz anytime (270km). And from VK5 it is possible to work from Pt Lincoln (Winters Hill) to Adelaide (275km) in the middle of the day in Winter! Home QTH operation is possible, if you can get above the tree line in the direction of interest. As we are talking about ERP’s of 200 to 1000 Watts, the range under near line of site conditions is similar to 25 Watts into a beam at 2 Metres. The curious effects of propagation at sea level (a tripod in the sand stuff!) is still largely unexplored.. how many other bands can you use 10mW effectively? Real QRP! Openings have been noted where signals have been far stronger on 10 GHz than lower frequencies, due to the peculiar effects of layers less than 30 metres above water.


Of course another way to get on 10GHz with locally available kits is Minikits in South Australia, http://www.minikits.com.au/ You can make up a 23cm ATV kit then multiply the frequency eight times up to 10GHz. This option is much cheaper as well. This is how the unit of Peter Cossins operates up on 10GHz. Peter also says the levels of RF generated are much lower and safer.

10GHz MULTIPLIER KIT From the Minikits Website "The complete multiplier is constructed on a EME171 Universal Microwave board, & has been specifically designed as a local oscillator multiplier for 10GHz transverters, RX converters, or as a multiplier for ATV. A Pipe-cap cavity filter is used to effectively filter out harmonics & oscillator noise allowing Transverter I/F frequencies down to 144MHz to be used. The pipe-cap filter allows the Kit it to be used on frequencies from approximately 8 to 12GHz. The complete Kit includes professional Plated through hole PC boards, & all onboard components. The Kit requires miscellaneous hardware, ( SMA connectors, cable etc ) to complete. Specifications: Output Freq 8000 – 12000MHz ( with 1/2" pipe cap & 16mm bolt supplied ) Input: 2x 4000 to 6000MHz 0dBm Output: +10 to +13dBm Depends on Input frequency & drive level Power supply: +9volts 110mA ( optional 9 volt regulator ) PC Board Size: EME171 64 x 38mm" So now it's a wait for all the gear to turn up from overseas and be assembled; I will try to not cook what's left of my brain (hi)! Hopefully next month's WANSARC News can tell of results of first tests. Both simplex and 10GHz contacts to VK3RTV planned. Pictures and diagrams are copyright their respective owners, Kuhne, ID - Elektronik, Melbourne Satellites and Minikits. ~Mick VK3CH

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International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend 2011 ~ Gabo Island ~ Mick VK3CH At the invitation of Trevor VK3ATX, I was asked to come along to Gabo Island for the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend 2011, along with Dan VK3DWH and Urey VK3ATA. Trevor and Dan had already planned 10 days away with some fishing to be done prior to operating on Gabo Island. But drama occurred when 100km away from Melbourne the car motor decided it wanted a break as well! So that put an end to the fishing plans with the car towed back to Melbourne. A few days later Trevor and Dan left early on Wednesday morning in Mick’s van and made the trip down to Mallacoota. At Mallacoota we all stayed in a Log Cabin, well it had logs stuck on the outside of it. The stove did not work properly, so Trevor grabbed the BBQ plate and made up a small fire and cooked up three steaks outside the door, they tasted really good, washed down with Coopers Ale. Trevor kept warning me about weight restrictions of what could go over to the island by plane, but I brought two extra cases of beer anyway. Not all the beer got to see life on the island… We found a great bakery in Mallacoota and ate lots of nice pies and stocked up on meat for survival on the island. Thursday we waited for the call from Dick the pilot and after lunch, when the weather was alright to fly, we flew over in two lots, Trevor and Dan the first to go.

My cockpit view on takeoff ↑ View from plane as arriving ↑ Trevor straight onto HF ↑ I was flown over next with the spare seat full of additional luggage. Urey drove up and flew across the next day. The ride in the plane was a treat in itself, so small inside the plane. It only took 15 minutes, if that, to get to the island. Trevor kept telling me the risks associated with landing on the island due to the small runway, but our pilot, Dick, has lots of flying experience and only needed half the runway to comfortably land the plane, I reckon Trevor was just trying to stir me up! All the radios gear, masts, tinned food, tools, coax and some wine had been shipped over to the island two weeks prior ready to use once we arrived. Trevor and Dan have done the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend before so were clued up on all items. On arriving on the island it was a mad scramble to get the four loop HF antennas up in time before the daylight was gone. Loop antennas for 80 meters, 40 meters, 30 meters and 20 meters were made up with pre cut wire and big ‘squid-poles’ and aluminium masts. We wanted to get onto the island in the morning but the weather did not allow that. Still with a big effort by all, the four antennas were erected (with the ends of the guy ropes tied to lumps of grass!) and radios setup just as the sun went down. The next job was to get the hot water heater to go, which after much experimentation and effort was lit and working. But a few hours later in the night a big crash was heard and we found one mast had dislodged due to strong winds and the squid pole had broke (or is that better said as shattered) as it struck the solid wall that surrounds the house we were staying in. So it was back outside to survey the damage, but with poor light we decided to fix it the next day. So with nothing else that I could do, Trevor and Dan tried a few contacts and I enjoyed a few hot snags and cold ales into the wee hours. The Signallers Quarters Building is a fantastic old National Trust property that is so solid that you can hardly hear the wind or the roar of the sea outside and was nowhere near as cold as I thought it would be. The sounds of penguins and sea birds could be heard all night but the solid walls muffled it quite a lot. After so much work the day before I did not get out of bed until 10am and after a hot shower, we wandered about the island. There is a lot of history to the island, as you would expect. There is a lot of wildlife as well, with seals, pelicans and penguins, yet the place is so peaceful, definitely recommended if the pace of Melbourne life is driving you nuts… While taking some photos the plane was heard and Urey had arrived, bringing with him four packets of bacon at my prior request! The construction and craftsmanship of everything here is amazing but it has to withstand the wild sea environment it’s in. All the stone used was from the island with a quarry nearby. It would have been sheer bloody hard work back then to build solid structures all in the mercy of the elements without all the machinery we take for granted today. Power for the whole island is provided by three diesel generators that are cycled in service on a rotational basis. The lighthouse power also has a battery bank that is constantly trickle charged, so if there are issues with the generators, the light and essential communications to the mainland will still function.

Battery room for lighthouse ↑ Generators that power entire island ↑ Local residents take a stroll ↑


I walked half the length of the island, passing a storeroom and workshop and a small garden along the way. There are monuments to lives lost due to shipwrecks near the island. Trevor said there was a seal sleeping on the beach and that I should go and photograph it, but after climbing down the embankment and dodging sea water it was just a rock; Trevor sat on the hill laughing, he knew it was a rock all along as he has been here before. The present day lighthouse is the third one that was built. After a lunch of honey soy chicken wings, Trevor, Dan and Urey made repairs to the broken antenna using junk PVC tube pipe to ‘splint’ the break. I started to write up all the happenings for the club newsletter, but ended up enjoying a few more ales instead… After the antenna repairs in the cold (the weather can change from brilliant sunshine to misty rain within 20 minutes at times) dinner was scotch fillet steaks. Island DX tours are hard work!

Pictures left to right ~ Rusty anchor sits in front of the BOM weather station hut. Middle shot is the sign at the entrance to the lighthouse, not sure how many people would get to read it, no vandals out here. End shot is Gabo Lighthouse. Dan VK3DWH flying the plane (hi) ↓ Sign found on toilet ↓ Gabo Island Airfield ↓

I have often chased rare stations, but it’s different when you are the rare station. I had to deal with a few pile ups on air, but I found people are quite patient to work the lighthouse stations. Dealing with a computer log took some getting used to, but it comes to you and you get a system going. Apart from some slow QSB, signals were a delight to copy with no interference at all; I wish I had these conditions back at home – not likely at my place. No QRM from other humans either! With four operators there is enough time to work DX and have a break, but the temptation of clod ales in the fridge during ‘break time’ meant my breaks were overly long… Stone Monument on Gabo Island ↓ The main light keepers and assistant keepers residence ↓

Out of interest I tried tuning up the 40 meter delta loop with the auto tuner on 1850kHz (160 meters) and got 1:1.3 VSWR! A call had two stations worked in the first 10 minutes with 5/9 reports! I handed the microphone to Trevor, who later said it was his first ever contact on 160 meters. The weather for the weekend was very good, other stations were complaining of wind and cold, we had sweeping clear views of a calm ocean and a slight breeze. On the last day I even got a little sunburnt, never wore my jacket once...


↑ The 2011 Gabo Island crew; Trevor VK3ATX, Mick VK3CH, Dan VK3HDX and Urey VK3ATA

Urey and Dan working 80 & 40 mx ↓ Trevor on 7.080 ↓ Gabo Island Louts ↓

Thanks go to Leo the caretaker on Gabo Island, Col, Mallacoota City to Surf Transport, Mallacoota Bakery with their fantastic pies, Dick our pilot, Mallacoota Air services and Phil from Parks Victoria. Thanks also to Rod, VK3FAB for updating the website. Trevor, VK3ATX, has his own dedicated website with more photos and ILLW results that can be found at http://vk3atx.net

VK3CH Garlic Chicken Wings ↑ ↓ Surrounded by nature, peaceful clean air with the calm roar of the sea...


Delta Loop antennae at the Signallers Quarters at Gabo Island ↑

The view of Gabo Island taken from the plane as we were coming in to land ↓

Many thanks to Trevor for the invitation, a truly unique experience; the QSL cards are already arriving in the mail. ~Mick VK3CH


VK100ARV ~ ATV QSO Party ~ A World first for Digital Television

The World’s First DATV QSO Party held by VK3RTV and around the world via the streaming media portal of the British Amateur Television Club occurred on the last weekend in August and started on the Friday evening. Organiser Peter Cossins VK3BFG said it was most fitting that the event is part of the Amateur Radio Victoria Centenary which runs from August 1 through to November 30. Peter has been with the amateur television scene through its black and white days, to colour imagery and more recently has, with the help of others, the digitisation of VK3RTV. Peter VK3BFG said, “Major funding of VK3RTV from Amateur Radio Victoria and $1000 from the WIA Club Grants program enabled it to be digitised well ahead of time, and renewed interest throughout the expanded coverage area." The DATV QSO Party celebrated the 100th the anniversary of Amateur Radio Victoria. VK3RTV was linked up with the Amateur Television Network of California via Don Hill KE6BXT. The QSO Party has been organised by Peter Cossins VK3BFG as control station and will include the Amateur Television Network of California and the British Amateur Television Club (BATC). Peter VK3BFG said that 8pm (AEST) Friday the 26th was quite good timing to kick off the two-day event as part of the Amateur Radio Victoria celebration of its centenary. Contacts included VK7TW (Hobart), VK7EM (Penguin), VK3CE (Bendigo) and VK4XRL (Brisbane). Their video came via Skype which was put on DVB-S to VK3RTV2. Melbourne stations responded via VK3RTV1. VK3BCU is in Thailand, Skype-linked. Saturday the 27th of August at 1pm (AEST) was a link up with Don Hill KE6BXT in California and also connected with the W6ATN ATV Repeater. As on Friday, VK3BFG took the Skype feed through to VK3RTV2. Anyone anywhere in the world could watch the proceedings via the BATC streaming website http://www.batc.tv/ (AEST is plus 10 hours UTC). The proceedings arranged by Peter Cossins, VK3BFG were; For Melbourne stations, liaison via VK3RML, so all stations knew what was going on. For interstate and international stations liaison was Peter Cossins VK3BFG via Skype. Come up with a short show and tell of self/activities, probably up to 5 – 10 minutes in the first instance. After that we went around the loop again, just like a normal net QSO. Peter transmitted continually on VK3RTV2, bringing in interstate and overseas stations via Skype. Melbourne stations will transmitted on VK3RTV1. Stations watched VK3RTV1, VK3RTV2 and we also had the BATC stream dependent on their locations/facilities. On Friday night 7.45 – 8 PM Melbourne time; Established what Melbourne stations able to participate via VK3RML Established contact with VK7TW ... patch through to VK3RTV2 for show and tell. Called in first Melbourne ATV station for show and tell. Established contact with VK4XRL .... patch through to VK3RTV2 for show and tell. Called in 2nd Melbourne ATV station for show and tell. Established contact with VK7EM .... patch through to VK3RTV2 for show and tell. Called in 3rd Melbourne station for show and tell. Established contact with VK3BCU (Thailand) .... patch through to VK3RTV2 for show and tell. Called in remaining Melbourne stations for show and tell Then went around the loop again for those wishing to participate. Saturday 12.30 PM Melbourne time; Established contact with KE6BXT. Established Melbourne stations able to participate via VK3RML Called in stations alternatively from each end to participate similarly as Friday night.

On Friday about 20+ stations checked in and put up video and the NET continued around, very aptly run by Peter VK3BFG with streaming video on the BATC website. Saturday saw a similar show, but when VK3CH made mention that he was going portable in the park, others must have decided to do likewise and we had a few operating out in open spaces around Melbourne, with nice weather for the whole show going from lunchtime to about mid afternoon.

One thing about the ATV Party was the fact it forced me to finally get everything running off 12 volts, which only came about just hours before I was to go on air portable, a mad rush but all went off successfully, but I did break a fingernail!

ARV 100 Year Logo ↑ Peter's opening address ↑ VK7OTC crew ↑ Lots of other stations came on, a full article will no doubt appear on Amateur Radio Victoria website and in AR magazine.


More stations on Friday's NET. Trevor, Mick, Ian and Mark at the Rotunda 6 Bundoora Park on Saturday afternoon. ↓

Some of the day's events at Bundoora Park, ATV and ancillary gear all running of 12 / 24 volts battery supply. The entire system only needing 6 amps to run everything. With 55 ampere hour batteries this gives 9.1 hours continuous live ATV.

Saturdays ATV Party saw another group of stations around Melbourne and USA stations liked up via Skype via VK3BFG. Apart from a few audio glitches everything went off well with all stations giving a brief talk about themselves like the night before.

↑ Receiving 12 volt TV hidden by crates with ATV TX in van ATV TX only running at half power getting into VK3RTV1 ↑

Congratulations to Amateur Radio Victoria on 100 years and to Peter VK3BFG for organising the ATV QSO Party. ~Mick VK3CH


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WANSARC VK3AWS

PRESIDENT: Graeme McDiarmid VK3NE [email protected] SECRETARY: Mark Stephenson VK3PI Telephone: 0425 768 320 [email protected] All correspondence to be addressed to the SECRETARY: PO Box 336, RESERVOIR 3073

WANSARC CLUB PROFILE History The Western and Northern Suburbs Amateur Radio Club (WANSARC) was first formed in 1969 and since then has served the needs and interests of amateur radio operators, short wave listeners and those interested in hobby radio and electronics. The club is not gender specific, having both female and male members. Members come from all walks of life with a mix of experience, young and mature, novice and technical. The most important aspect of the club is the willingness of all members to share their knowledge for the benefit of others. Members mainly reside in the west and north of Melbourne; however membership is encouraged from all interested. WANSARC is an affiliated club of The Wireless Institute of Australia.

Meetings Meetings held at the Ern Rose Memorial Pavilion, SEAVER GROVE, RESERVOIR (Melway Map 18 D5) on the 1st Friday of each month (excluding January) commencing at 7.30pm local time. Talk in on 146.450MHz FM—call club station VK3AWS.

Benefits Free technology and related presentations, sponsored construction activities, discounted (and sometimes free) equipment, network of likeminded radio and electronics enthusiasts, excellent club facilities and environment plus an informative monthly newsletter for members to post articles, news, classifieds for all radio, test equipment, etc, featuring Amateur Radio news from WANSARC, WIA, ACMA, Melbourne Clubs, VK and Worldwide.

Club Nets 146.450MHz FM each Tuesday evening commencing 7.30pm local time.

Website: www.wansarc.org.au Postal: WANSARC PO Box 336 RESERVOIR 3073

A proud tradition of supporting hobby radio and electronics enthusiasts since 1969

All editors’ comments and other opinions in submitted articles may not always represent the opinions of the committee or the members of WANSARC, but are published in the spirit in which they were submitted; in any case anything stated is to promote interest and active discussion on club activities and the promotion of Amateur Radio in general. Contributions to WANSARC are always welcome from any part of the world. Email attachments of Word™, Plain Text, Excel™, PDF™ and JPG are all acceptable. You can either post material to the Post Office Box address at the top of this page, or email your submission to the editor direct at [email protected] Email attachments not to exceed 5 Mb in file size. Attachments of (or thought to be) executable code or virulently affected emails will not be opened. Other persons or radio clubs may edit or copy out such as they like from the magazine but a reference to WANSARC is appreciated, except copyrighted (©) material or as otherwise indicated. Other articles that are credited to outside sources should be asked for their permission if they are used. While we strive to be accurate, no responsibility taken for errors, omissions, or other perceived deficiencies, in respect of information contained in technical or other articles. Any dates, times and locations given for upcoming events should always be checked with a reliable source closer to the event – coming up on the WANSARC Tuesday evening NET on 146.450 MHz starting at 07:30 pm Local is recommended to discuss and confirm information and any dates. The club website has current information on planned events and scheduled meeting dates. WANSARC News written with Word™ 2007, published with Adobe Acrobat™ 10.

vk s - western & northern suburbs amateur radio club - the … · 2013-03-22 · article with...

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