Author: Col Huon

Our secretary Col, VK5HCF, sent James VK3FJBM an email to see how he was getting on in Horsham with all the Covid19 surrounding us all.

Here is his reply.

“Hi Col,

Thanks for your email! 🙂
Yes, the COVID situation has definitely thrown a spanner in the works this year.I’ve been just treading water with the workload in …………(deleted)………………. as we have transitioned to and from Remote Learning twice now.However, if there is a positive in all this it has been the few extra moments I have gotten to play AR over the past 6 months.
I have invested in a couple of projects.
One has been the purchase a Yaesu 857-D unit, associated Automatic Antenna Tuner and a 10mtr squid pole as a Portable HF setup.Through this setup, I have been able to perform some HF and SSTV contacts.Must say I’m not sure if I will ever enjoy the ‘noise’ of HF compared to 2/70.
The other project has been setting up a Digital Repeater for the Horsham area.I’ve purchased a very nice outdoor cabinet for the project, got power and 4G Internet-connected, programmed up some Repeater Builder boards and a Motorola MTR unit.I’ve worked with City Council and got a contract for me to use an un-used (previously Ambos) tower which has a bunch on antenna’s on it perfect for AR.Through some inspiration from reading VK5DJ’s blog, I have programmed up a temperature sensor on a Raspberry Pi to automatically turn the cabinet’s inbuilt fan kit on/off as required.Hopefully, this will be completed in the next fortnight and I can put together a blog post about it.I have attached a couple of pictures of the cabinet, the repeater is yet to be installed and some cabling to be tidied up yet.
I wish that the restrictions to travel into SA were lifted so I could help out with SERG’s upcoming events, but I’m not sure that is going to happen anytime soon.Even if we have no cases in Regional Vic.
Hope you are also going well and enjoying some sunny days.
Thank You again for the email Col, it made my day!Also thanks to both yourself and other members of SERG for making me feel welcome at events.Without SERG, AR would not be a hobby of mine.
See you soon.
Cheers,James Mutch

Soon to be VK3JBM!😄 “

It was good of James to fill us in on what he has been up to, and by the sound of it, he has been very busy trying to stimulate activity in the Horsham Area. He is hoping to stand for office at the Horsham Club’s upcoming A.G.M. and, if successful, trying to generate some enthusiasm and activity into their Group. We wish him luck and thank him for the very nice email.

Yesterday President Peter, VK5BE, travelled to Kingston and while there he called in to see Tony, VK5ZAI and Jill.

The purpose of Peter’s visit was to present Tony with a congratulatory card from all of us Club Members on his being invested as a Member of The Order of Australia Medal in The Queens Birthday Honours List for his exceptional contribution to A.R.I.S.S. and N.A.S.A. and for his promotion of the hobby of Amateur Radio to Australia at large.

Well done Tony.

 Friday 1st. May 2020 at 7.30 p.m. sharp.

Please have a look at this article from the A.B.C. first.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-04/australias-first-moon-bounce-schocked-us-experts/11339552

Once you have read that one open this file.

and the follow up by reading this one.

Jeanne Socrates, (77), is the oldest female to circumnavigate the World solo, (Unassisted).

This event will be a most interesting one and we urge you to tell your friends and buy tickets for this opportunity to follow her adventure and possibly meet her after the presentation.

 

Three of our Members have spent nearly eight hours up at the Clubrooms this week replacing and tuning the eighty and forty metre dipoles for the Club Station.

 

A fault in the co-axial cable proved very elusive but was finally tracked to a lack of contact between the earth braid and the little metal collar that bears up against the connector to complete the earth contact. Once located it was fixed by removing a little of the outer sheath and soldering the braid to the collar. This made it behave properly.

The team then started on the laborious process of analysing the antennas, lowering them to adjust the length, raise them again to full height and retest the s.w.r.

This took quite a while to get right and accounted for most of the time spent.

Because of the location of the tie off points for the support ropes this was a very tedious job as the mounting points must be kept at a height where passing children, (and others), who may have a streak of sabotage in them can drop our antennas as the Club is located next to a Primary School and alongside the Mt. Gambier Community Garden. Barbed wire also presents a hazard as the tie off points at one end are on top of a security fence surrounding the Community Garden which is part of the Old Gaol Complex.

A very big “Thank you” goes out to Tom, VK5EE, Owen, VK5HOS and Trevor, VK5NC for their patience and persistence.

CLUB PATRON BREAKS AUSTRALIAN 3.4 Ghz DISTANCE RECORD.

South East Radio Group Club former President and Club Patron Kevin, VK4UH, has broken the Australian 3.4 Ghz distance record.
On Saturday 23rd. November 2019 Kevin completed a two way qso with Stephen, ZL1TPH, portable who was in Cape Reinga in New Zealand which set a new Australian 3.4 Ghz record.
We understand that Kevin was operating from his front verandah.

A video of the event can be found here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enJqzjWOlXM&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1R1VHLv12REJK03AQRDzUwx-9O-xbxsSucs5DW7spKaNNGKy0sHynP7wI


Our congratulations to Kevin.
An outstanding effort.
We wish he was still here but appreciate that he would probably not have been able to do this from Mt. Gambier.

Once again we were extremely lucky.

The weather turned out perfectly.

The site was excellent. (Thank you John, VK5DJ)

The company was, as usual, fabulous.

A great time was had by all.

Many thanks to Chris, VK5MC, and the Millicent Rotary Club for providing an extra BBQ and the transporting of it to and from.

A number of our VK3 Members made the effort and travelled quite a distance to join us – namely Ian, VK3DNQ and wife Helen, (Coddrington. Vic), John, VK3FJSN, (Hamilton side of Casterton, Vic.) John, VK3FJET, (Portland).

It was also great to see Millicent Member Gilbert, VK5FGIL, as we rarely catch up with him.

Tom, VK5EE, set up his portable station and a few contacts were made on 40 metres much to the interest of all present.

John, VK3FJET, had a problem with his two metre rig in the car. It appeared to be stone deaf. A number of Club Members had a crack at finding the problem until Tom, VK5EE, suddenly realised that it was the power supply for John’s reversing camera that was obliterating all signals. He unplugged it from the cigarette lighter and the problem disappeared. Well done Tom,

Here are a few pictures from the very enjoyable day.

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I have to apologise, as I was supposed to have taken a Group photo but, you guessed it, I forgot. (However, no one reminded me either.)

See map on other post “Christmas Barbeque”

A HUGE “Thank you” to Andrew, VK5KET Representative for SERG for the Hill Climb Event, for another well organised and run event from SERG Members.

Well what a weekend three days Friday Saturday and Sunday of racing and another well done job by SERG members assisting SEAC (South East Automobile Club) in this years event. 140 approximately competing competitor’s this year in very ordinary weather conditions.

Prior to the race day there is a lot of work involved setting up leading up to this event from dedicated Serg members, about 5 days in getting cables out and testing many things from red lights to cameras. Serg has been involved with this event since it started 14 years ago and our primary role is providing communication along the course back to race control. The other service that the club provides is live video footage to various large monitors located around the course for the spectators.

The course is 1.45 kilometers of up hill and winding bends and speed reached of up to on some sections of 180 kilometers Hour plus.
Start line at top of the image and finishing at the bottom

To see what is it like to run up the hill well then take a ride with these drivers to experience the thrill.

Here are a few pic’s from the weekend.

And to show you what people from out of town think of this event well check this out, Well Done SERG and SEAC Volunteers.

Please note that, by popular consent, the 2019 South East Radio Group Annual Christmas BBQ will take place at Lake McIntyre on the outskirts of Millicent on SUNDAY 8th. of December commencing at 11.30 a.m.

Toilets, undercover shelter, a gas fired BBQ, and attractive surroundings supplied.

Please B.Y.O. food and drink, chairs etc.

This is always a very pleasant gathering and we invite ALL Amateurs and their families to attend.

PLEASE NOTE:

It has been agreed that we will arrange another family style get together to be held over the border in Victoria sometime early in the New Year so that we can share some time with our, (now), significant VK3 Membership. All VK3 Amateurs are welcome to attend regardless of S.E.R.G. Membership status.