Every few years the President and the Executive may decide that there is a Club Member who has made an outstanding contribution to the Group.
This year Club President Peter, VK5BE, and the Executive decided that Andrew, VK5KET, was a very worthy candidate for this honour because of his many years of input to the very efficient running of a number of annual events.
Andrew has been the major force behind the running of the Legend of the Lakes Hill Climb for many years as well as the organiser of our involvement with the huge Generations in Jazz Event plus organising events for the kids for J.O.T.A. and J.O.T.I. just to name a few.
Peter is shown presenting a very surprised Andrew with his award Certificate and medallion.
Andrew, VK5KET, receiving his Life Membership Certificate from Club President Peter, VK5BE.
Users would know that about two weeks ago we lost the transmitting link to Mt Benson from the Bluff.
Today, Andrew VK5MAS and I visited the site to identify the cause of the problem. Turned out the transmitter itself was faulty and was outputting a VERY weak signal only just audible 20 metres away.
We had prepared for all eventualities and so had a spare TX on board. A quick swap and all was OK again.
Unfortunately my IFR blew a fuse and so it was not possible to set the audio level to the standard 3kHz deviation for a 1kHz tone. I needed the IFR to monitor the deviation. Consequently it was set by ear and will need to wait for another time once the IFR has been repaired.
In the meantime, the whole repeater system is again functional.
While we were there our power meter was read. We will now be able to pay the proprietor of the site for electricity used.
A few photographs of the presentations made at our 2019 A.G.M.
The Major Award for the night was the 2019 Presidents Award.
Club President Peter,VK5BE, described how, for the past three years, this award has gone to a non-Club Member and how deserving the recipients have been. He then awarded the Presidents Trophy for 2019 to Brian Roberts, VK5VI, who’s huge support of our Groups repeater network has been a very important part it’s efficiency. Brian has supplied parts and equipment and done a lot of construction work on some of the major components of our wonderful system – all without reward or recompense. He is a very worthy recipient.
Club President Peter, VK5BE, (on right) presenting Brian, VK5VI, with the 2019 Presidents Trophy.
Past President Tim, VK5AV, presented Greg, VK5ZGY, with his Life Member Certificate which we forgot to present in 2016.
Club President Peter, VK5BE on the phone to inform Brian, VK5VI, that he has been awarded the President’s Trophy for his outstanding contribution to our terrific repeater network. Brian was mobile with his wife on their way home from Strathalbyn at the time. (Hands free – of course).
Club President Peter, VK5BE, presented the 2019 Roy Goodwin Award for the most outstanding Foundation Licence member to Leith, VK5FLAR, for his long standing commitment to helping the Club in many ways. (Tower climbing and, in particular, his outstanding work in helping to set up the Legend of The Lakes Hill Climb over many years).
Congratulations to our five prospective amateur radio licencees. Following the exams held Sunday 21st July they have all learned of their success. A job well done over three Sundays and their homework completed with the Foundation Manual.
Well done, and a special thanks to Tim VK5AV for his leadership in the program and ably assisted by Tom VK5NFT, Peter VK5BE and John VK5DJ.
John Norman VK3FJSN
Peter Marttinen VK5FPOM
James Mutch VK3FJBM
Kate Farana VK5FKLY
Deanna Summers VK5FDCS
Callsigns have now been confirmed as shown below each photograph. The photos are passport style as submitted to the Australian Marine College, I’m sure we’ll get some better ones later. We know all our members will welcome our new Hams when heard on air.
Deanna and Kate have both been active and it’s great to hear their voices on air. Now we’re waiting for our other new amateurs to get some equipment and aerials up so we can say “G’day”
The repeater problem has been tracked down. Would never have found it on site. We won’t mention how many hours this has taken.
Solution – the audio input transformer had been burnt out. Originally I thought it had just failed but on replacing the transformer the next one also died. The problem was a blob of solder on the socket for the exciter that was shorting the +12V supply to a bridge connection for the input of the audio. Unfortunately it was intermittent. After putting a third transformer in (supplies getting thin) and resoldering the joint to get rid of the surplus solder there was no longer 12V finding its way onto the audio transformer and burning it out
I have rechecked all levels and adjusted powers on the units. The repeater was re-installed on Tuesday 16 July 2019. Audio working fine.
Defunct transformers shown on top of the exciter. The wire is VERY light gauge
The problem socket. +13V red connector above and immediately below the centre tap of the transformer
You’ll note that the map is missing. I’ve been experimenting so that it would become interactive. Unfortunately Google now charges for use of an interactive map although the first $200 worth is free.
I’m looking into it but reluctant to put my credit card to the test. I’m looking at alternatives but as we all know the Google Maps is the best.
Hang in there I’ll see what I can do over the next few weeks. I’m a beginner at WordPress.
Hello and welcome in this post we have Rex VK7MO talks us through the frequency stability issues with the new Icom IC9700 radio and how to go about resolving this issue.
Icom IC-9700 frequency stable? – Tested by Rex VK7MO
A disclaimer about this video:
All tests are easily reproducible with appropriate test gear – This is the 2nd IC-9700 that has been supplied to Rex – All “drift” is still within stability specs of the radio over a 10 degree temperature range (although the spec is over a 70 degree range) – The IC-9700 is a fantastic radio and a great step forward for VHF/UHF enthusiasts – this video is not bagging the radio. The purpose of these tests is to show the real world results and to show that Icom has perhaps missed the mark with not implementing a full 10MHz locked solution for this radio for the purposes of particular digital modes and/or for perhaps driving microwave transverters.
Icom IC 9700 GPS LOCKED! Weak signal review by Rex VK7MO ✅
Yes the Icom IC 9700 has been GPS locked! How? Well Rex VK7MO brings us up to speed on developments, explains the features he enjoys most out of this new radio and the benefits for those wanting to use this rig on Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) moonbounce or other weaker signal digital modes.
Thanks to Rex VK7MO, Hayden VK7HH and Ham Radio DX for providing the videos and hope all you amateur radio viewers welcomed and enjoyed this information.
Sorry for those that are not ICOM Radio enthusiasts we will bring you blogs on the new Yaseu and Kenwood Radios soon.
There has been some much talk about the new Icom IC-9700 I thought I would post this for you. For anyone wanting to find out more on the new Icom IC-9700 please click onto the you-tube video below. I hope you enjoy and once again thank you to Icom America Inc. for providing this video.
Hello from Eric KJ4YZI reporting from Dayton Ham fest with some interesting new Ham gear for us all. Attached a few new items that us hams might be interested in and were not able to make this Ham Fest.
NEW WINDOWS TRANSCEIVER
NEW STATION REMOTE SERVER
HF CLOCK / SAT TRACKER / SOLAR INDEX DISPLAY
Once again thanks to Eric KJ4YZI for his informative information and update on some new ham gear whats available hope you enjoyed just some of the highlights from this three day ham fest.
The Heywood Rally will require us on Saturday 27th April only. It’s an early start at 7:00AM. Peter VK5BE is managing this event.
Communication will be via the Portable repeater which operates on the Willalooka frequency 147.350 (your receiver) and 147.950 (your transmitter). Peter and Colin will have checked out communications the week before (20/4/19) and it is expected that the repeater will cover the required area.
The repeater has a 1 second tail but no beep. It has a 10 minute timeout.
The repeater is running on two antennas – both folded dipoles with the receiver on top so it’s expected that a handheld should get in okay.
The Generations in Jazz event is on from 3,4,5 May. Andrew VK5KET is managing this event. Volunteer times to be advised.
The portable repeater is being placed approximately 1km from the Generations in Jazz site and will provide rock crushing signals to the area. Again the frequencies are 147.350 (listen) and 147.950 (transmit).
