Next Wednesday will be a fox hunt. 

The fox will transmit on low power from 8pm.  The transmission will be every 2 minutes – 15 seconds on VHF (146.525)  and then 15 seconds on UHF  (432.425)

The fox will also be listening on 690 and if “contestants are taking too long or cant hear the fox, call up and we will increase the length of calls and or the transmit power.  Beware, the power level may randomly increase and decrease anyway!   If we can, a further very low power fox will be hidden somewhere in the same area. At the end, the usual supper at the club.

For those that haven’t been fox hunting before, you can use direction finding equipment if available,  but you can also be quite successful with nothing more than a hand held that has a reasonable S meter.   Hold the handheld horizontal and the signal is strongest at right angles to the signal direction and weakest perpendicular.  Of course, you don’t now if the signal is behind or in front of you.  Last fox hunt, that was all the winner or second place had. 

If you are getting close and need to attenuate the signal, just loosen the antenna so its minimising the coupling.  Again, if you are using your mobile to get an idea of increasing or decreasing signal level, start  by folding the antenna, then take the aerial off altogether, and when very close, you can even remove the antenna from the back of the set if necessary.  

We will run the Zoom as well with the club camera and sound activated and anybody who wants to can run it in the vehicles if they wish.  Don’t forget to watch where you are driving.   The fox will not have his camera on!

The club net roster has been updated until early 2023. Dated information that was on the ‘meetings’ page has been removed also.

Hi there.

Recent changes to the website include the following:

• Updated club net roster to cover the period May – Aug 2022

• Major changes to content in the Repeaters section of the website. New NZART maps have been added along with updates to local Dunedin/Otago repeater information (thanks Terry!) . Additional NZ DMR and Beacon content has been added.

• Club Meetings information has been updated (thanks Terry!)

• Removed Awards menu item from website as there are no active Branch 30 awards running at present. This can be restored at a later date when there are.

• Website software has been updated to the latest versions available.

Hi there.

At the last committee meeting last year, the committee made the initial decision to close the club if Covid went Red.  It has, so while we wait to see how things develop, we are taking the safe way out and closing the club. 

Our Wednesday night meeting will start at 1930 hours, on the 690 repeater.  Then at 2000 hours, we will move to a Zoom meeting – the link has been emailed to club members.

Just a social chat for now, no specific subject as we are still formalising the Wednesday night schedule.

VHF Field Day Feb 12, 13^th 2022

Let us hope for better conditions….PLEASE

Repeaters:

• HWB – Off air – WIP Back on air soon.

• EE122 – The Analogue/Digital repeater is restored.  If it is in the digital mode, you will hear noise on an analogue receiver so it is advisable to have the 141.3 CTCSS enabled on your EE122 analogue channel.

• UHF DMR – now all connected to the network so no longer operating as just a local repeater.  You can now talk to the world.

Topics for 2022 meetings

• Educational: Electronics and RF matters incl Arduino programming, applying design software eg Eagle, KICAD, LT Spice, and EZNEC (now free!)
• PCB Design and construction capability, by 3D printing? & new soldering stations
• Computers IP and IT topics & sessions configuring wireless IP Links and Access Points
• AREC training to widen our capabilities for SAR and related events
• Continuing the development of resilient systems locally and across Otago
• Preparations for the National HF Jock White FD
• Preparations for a 100^th anniversary of the famous first trans globe radio contact
• The 100^th anniversary of Radio Dunedin in public broadcasting
• Plus many topics from our members eg, Welding and welders, Home solar Wanaka, HF Radio, Using FT8, Projects completed or under way, our KRD Site and APRS.
• Design a simple VHF Yagi to allow Home Stations to listen for Wander Track signals

If you would like to help with a presentation, please let TT know. Allan ZL4MD has developed our Zoom capability to allow us to take presentations across the country.

Sunspots return

After the report last year that Solar Cycle 25 might be a fizzer, Ol Sol has been sparking away to its own tune. Dec 2021 sunspots were double the predictions and some big CME’s have occurred. One happened one afternoon in Late Dec and caused about an hour of surging white noise across 6m band.  Keep listening out there, you might miss something.

Six Metre Band

A wonderful opening to Japan and China just before Xmas saw full screens of FT8 traffic for about an hour. (I worked one station with my humble 10 watts). But the Magic Band has been pretty flat since with few contacts and weak beacon sigs.

New Amateur Satellites

From ARRL:  EASAT-2 and Hades Satellites with FM Repeaters Launched

The EASAT-2 and Hades satellites were launched on January13. They both have not yet deployed antennae so sigs are weak. For latest info:  https://www.amsat-ea.org/ .

Please share reception reports with AMSAT-EA:  http://data.amsat-ea.org/ .

EASAT-2 was designed and built by AMSAT-EA and students from the European University of Degrees in Aerospace Engineering in Aircraft and in Telecommunication Systems Engineering.

* EASAT-2 Frequencies: 145.875 MHz uplink, FM voice (no subtone) and FSK 50 bps, AFSK, AX.25, APRS 1,200/2,400 bps. 436.666 MHz downlink, FM voice, CW, FSK 50 bps, FM voice beacon, callsign AM5SAT.

* HADES Frequencies: 145.925 MHz uplink, FM voice (no subtone) and FSK 50 bps, AFSK, AX.25, APRS 1,200/2,400 bps. 436.888 MHz downlink, FM voice, CW FSK 50 bps, SSTV Robot 36, FM voice beacon call sign AM6SAT

But there’s more:

The eight-Satellite TEVEL Mission launched on January 13 on the same SpaceX truck.
The TEVEL mission consists of eight satellites carrying amateur radio FM transponders and were developed by the Herzliya Science Center in Israel.

All eight satellites use the same frequencies, as long as their footprints overlap, and only one FM transponder will be activated at a time. Beacon transmissions will be on 436.400 MHz (9,600 bps BPSK). The uplink frequency of the FM transponders is 145.970 MHz, and the downlink frequency is 436.400 MHz. The satellites were built by eight schools in different parts of Israel. https://amsat-uk.org/2022/01/12/tevel-satellites