Working bee at Mt Richmond

1/5/23 – Peter VK5BE and Nick travelled to Mount Richmond to install the newly constructed steel work on the bunker wall that will support the 4 solar panels.

Firstly, an off-set support frame was attached to the bunker wall, then a tilting solar panel mounting frame was attached. The frame tilts to the optimum positions for maximum efficiency for either summer or winter.

During the next site visit, it is hoped the 4 solar panels will be mounted and cabled into the hut.

Nick hard at work welding up the frames

Low antenna at VK5RSE Mt Graham Repeater

The VK5RSE repeater is currently running on a low antenna – about one metre above the hut. In addition it is below the height of two nearby buildings in the direction of Mt Gambier and Millicent. Signals will be down. It may still be OK towards Kingston and Naracoorte.

This is an experiment to check if the clicks appearing on transmissions into the 2 metre repeater are a result of antenna fault. We also know that the SWR is very high (4:1) and the antenna analyser is coming up with some strange readings. The bottom line is that we’ll need to replace the main antenna. For the moment this temporary setup will confirm the clicks are coming from the main antenna.

I have had to reduce the power out of the repeater to prevent the desense resulting from having an antenna within 4 metres of the repeater.

John VK5DJ : repeater coordinator

Coffee mornings a success

The SERG Thursday morning “Coffee Club” continues to grow and grow with 11 members this week enjoying some social chat. Was great to see Dale VK5DA and Gary VK5JR join us for the first time.By chance, we all watched the tracking on our big screen of a weather balloon from the Airport on the club’s new balloon tracker that was configured by Andrew VK5MAS. Join us every Thursday at 10am at the Clubrooms.
(Photo by Peter VK5BE)

Trevor Niven’s funeral

Trevor Niven VK5NC (22nd January 1944 -17th February 2023)

Trevor with the Ross Hull Trophy

Trevor had many friends around Australia. His funeral service in Perth WA will be live streamed on the 27th February at 10:25AM, (W.A. time), on the following link.

Click here for funeral service

A recording of the service will be available for 90 days using the same link for those who were unable to view the live stream.

Note 10:25AM WA time is 12:55PM SAST and 1:25PM EST

The download is the Silent Key Report to WIA – Amateur Radio Magazine prepared by Chris VK5MC

Mt Richmond Paint Working Bee

Here are some notes from Peter. But first a big thank you to Nick and Peter for their work on Wednesday 15/2/23

Nick and I went down to Mount Richmond and completed the following :

  • Removed the rust from the hut.
  • Applied cold galv primer to any bare metal areas.
  • Spray painted the first of 2 coats in Heritage Green.
  • Obtained details and measurements of the proposed repeater installation.
  • Gathered info to build a frame to support the solar panels.
  • Took numerous photos.

Since arriving home, I have received a phone call from Tim VK3TIM thanking SERG for today’s work. He has become very supportive of the project and is now offering more support. I have received his permission to hold the keys to the site until the project is complete.
Tim is offering to get an arborist to the site to remove some trees that may cause some shading to the panels.
The equipment rack was measured up today, and unfortunately the blue cabinet is too tall to fit into the hut. Therefore, the mini-rack that I built, (which is at the Clubrooms) will now be pressed into service, but a new solar control panel will need to be built. I have Tim’s permission to mount it on the wall above the repeater rack.
Today I spoke with Andrew VK5VKC, who will ask his boss if we can borrow a 15m cherry picker, as the mono-pole is 12m high and we may be able to do our own antenna work. This activity has been pre-approved by Tim VK3TIM.

Mt Richmond home to VK3RSW with its new face

Weeds at Mt Graham

Things are a little overgrown at Mt Graham. Technicians take their lives in their hands when they visit, not to mention other parts while climbing over the barb wire. The sacrifices of people who work on repeaters.

Access to VK5RSE repeater and beacons

Gil VK5FGIL

We are sad to advise that Gil has passed on. His funeral service will be held graveside at the Millicent Cemetery on Monday 12th September 2022 at 11:00AM.

Gil was a regular for the Sunday broadcast and enjoyed listening and connecting with his SERG friends.

Rest in peace Gilbert.

Update moon rocket

It appears that the next launch window will be on Friday 2/9/22 at or about 12:45pm (All ET USA time about 13 hours behind us). There were various problems that caused the delay, the main one being that they could not cool the rocket engines enough – keep in mind they are fed hydrogen at extremely low temperatures (about -253 deg C) enough to rattle our teeth!

Will keep people posted on updated schedules as soon as they become available. This may mean that when the rocket finally reaches the moon it may or may not be in a favourable position for us to hear the orbiter and the lander. Fingers crossed.

President’s Awards 2021-2022

Each year our President presents two awards at the AGM.

The Foundation Roy Goodwin Award this year was presented to Deanna Summers VK5FDCS for her work with our Convention, her skills in managing our TV presentations for the Hill Climb and her support for car rallies.

President Peter presents the Roy Goodwin Plaque to Deanna VK5FCLS

The President’s award is presented to a person who has provided outstanding service to the Club for some time. This year it was presented to Sandy Walshaw (XYL of David VK5HDW) for her support for our Convention. Sandy has for some time been our organiser and chef for the Annual Convention. Everyone who has attended the Convention will know of the Sunday night Convention Dinner. Her apple crumble is a special highlight. The three course meal is one of the significant events for the Convention and without her the dinner may not happen. The club is deeply indebted to Sandy for her contributions. Thanks Sandy.

President Peter presents the President’s Award to Sandy Walshaw

Japanese moon orbiter and lander

I’ve been contacted by Wataru Torii of the JAXA Ham Radio Club regarding the OMOTENASHI project which plans to launch a moon orbiter and lander late August for arrival at the moon in early September. Wataru Torii works at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The landing device is very small and the entire system orbiter and lander is only 6U CubeSat dimensions.

The issue they face is that earlier launches were planned such that their agency would be able to hear the devices when the lander was due to reach the moon’s surface. Unfortunately the launch date has been put off several times and is now due for 29/8/22. It may land on the moon on 4/9/22 at 2:45UTC to 3:30UTC at which time it will not be visible from Japan so they are hoping to enlist the support of Australian and New Zealand amateurs to record and monitor the orbiter and lander. As the landing may be quite hard they are especially interested in loss of signal and any recordings prior to this, preferably from SDRs for the frequency range 437.31 (orbiter) and 437.41 (the lander). They are using PSK31.


All the details are available on their website:
https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/omotenashi/JHRCweb/jhrc.html
Timings and our window is all dependent on the launch being on the 29th of August.

Reasonably good satellite systems should be able to hear the 1W signals. If you are interested in helping send me an email (john at vk5dj dot com) and I’ll send you the contact address for Wataru.

John
VK5DJ