THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

ISSUE No 13-28 24th. August 2013

In this Issue:

1. Soon, we may not be ALONE !
2. Remembrance Day Contest.
3. Lighthouse in the centre of Australia.
4. More activities on Saturdays.
5. Foundation Licence training.
6. Ham radio to be featured in new Harrison Ford film.
7. Comet hits sun – HF conditions affected.
8. VK2RTG coverage area changed.
9. Broke & fixed.
10. Reminders.

1. Soon, we may not be ALONE !

No, I am not talking about aliens – at least not the “outer-space” variety. I am referring to the small group of 700,000 radio amateurs located in a well known country across the pacific.

According to the Amateur Radio Newsline broadcast of August 16th. the FCC are looking at changing the law so that all radio amateurs in the US have to prove understanding of Electro Magnetic Emissions and how to operate safely around them. This is similar to what is already in all Australian licence terms however according to the ARNewsline broadcast the FCC will require ALL people living in a building where a radio station is located to prove understanding of the dangers. While this could be an inconvenience for family homes, where the whole family will require to prove their knowledge, what about apartment blocks? If as ARNewsline reports, all people in the building have to prove knowledge of EMR safety, I would expect this to result in discrimination against radio amateurs forcing them either to leave the hobby or move out of the buildings.

For full details on the FCC proposal, ARNewsline sends it’s listeners to the web site at tinyurl.com/living-with-rf.

Related to the EMR topic, I am glad to report that Karen VK2AKB and her team will be giving a lecture on October 18th. at 19:30 at the club rooms entitled “EMR Awareness”.  ALL  club members should attend this lecture as an understanding of EMR is required irrespective of licence class or the mode or power you are running – YES even if you only use that 2w Chinese or Japanese handy talkie, you still have to be able to explain EMR to the Radio Inspector when he comes knocking at your door. At least here in Australia our families don’t have to explain it as well – at least not yet …..

http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2013C00368

2. Remembrance Day Contest.

1pm last Saturday saw the start of VK2AFYs entry into this years RD contest. Doug VK2MDC organised the CCARC entry and was present for the whole time VK2AFY was on the air. Unfortunately due to local electrical static noise operation proved impossible between 1 and 8am and Doug grabbed some well earned sleep during this time. Despite this enforced break, VK2AFY managed over 330 contacts during the contest on HF SSB and VHF SSB & FM modes.

While it is unlikely VK2AFY will win the contest, this is by far the highest total we have achieved in this contest in recent years. Well done Doug for organising and running this event and welcome to your new role as contests manager for the CCARC.  What will the next contest be ……

3. Lighthouse in the centre of Australia.

4. More activities on Saturdays.

If you take a look at the club calendar, you will see that we have lots of activities planned now on Saturdays. While several members have commented upon their inability to attend evening meetings and a preference to attend the club on Saturdays. The next two monthly lectures are already set as SOTA and EMR awareness and will take place on Saturday afternoons. The Projects and Development meeting has moved from Friday evenings to Saturday mornings (starting TODAY!) and future meetings will have a training component as well as construction. Planned is a presentation of basic use of Oscilloscope and Spectrum analyser tools.

As a special presentation, in addition to the normal monthly club lectures, Don VK2ZCZ and Ian VK2HK will provide a special demonstration on how a spectrum analyser was used to set up the repeater duplexers. This will take place on Saturday August 31st.from 1pm. That’s NEXT WEEK so don’t miss it!

It is hoped that by concentrating club activities into Saturdays, this will not only make it easier for club members to take part but will also attract new club members, especially those who travel from further away.

5. Foundation Licence training.

Chris VK2YY and Mark will be holding a foundation day course and all assessments at MWRS – Terry Hills on the 7th. of September – please let anyone you know who is  looking for AR training or testing that this is an and they should contact Chris – either via email: vk2yy at gmail dot com or via his mobile phone  0428 239 413.

Chris VK2YY

6. Ham Radio to be Featured in New Harrison Ford Film

 A thriller due for release in August stars Harrison Ford (among others) as a technology billionaire who is also a ham radio operator. Amateur radio plays a small role in the film, titled “Paranoia.” It is about efforts by Harrison’s character and a rival businessman played by Gary Oldman to destroy each other, and the story centers on a young tech genius (played by Liam Hemsworth) who gets caught in the middle of their battle. The film debuts on August 16. The official trailer may be found online at <  http://bit.ly/15NsSLM>.

Piece from the Newsroom of CQMagazine.

7. Comet hits sun – HF conditions affected.

Between Monday & Tuesday this week a comet hit our star – The Sun and the resulting CMR meant that HF conditions the following days were negatively affected.

Ed VK2JI

8. VK2RTG coverage area changed.

The CCARC Amateur Television repeater – VK2RTG at Kariong has had one of it’s antennas move to give better cover down onto the Woy Woy peninsula. Doug VK2MDC along with his RD Contest activities last weekend also managed to find time to climb the tower and rotate the bottom one of the four ATV repeater transmit antennas.

Victor VK2BTV would very much appreciate reports on the test transmissions on Monday & Tuesday evenings at 19:30 from those on the peninsula and elsewhere to see if this has been an improvement. The transmitter is on 444.250 Horizontally polarised analogue transmission which can often be received on a standard TV set towards the lower edge of its UHF frequency coverage (Ed. – on my TV this is CH 41 in the analogue TV tuner).

The test transmissions consist of either a relay of the previous weeks “HamNation” Internet TV program from Bob Heil K9EID or recordings of lectures put on at the club rooms by members and guests.

Victor VK2BTV.

9. Broke & fixed.

Thankfully all CCARC infrastructure is currently operational.

10. Reminders.

This section lists important announcements and possibly items from previous CCARC NEWS editions that are still current and may need your input:

No reminders are currently listed.

Anyone reading this on the website who is not yet a member of the CCARC, please consider joining by emailing ccarc @ ccarc.org.au for full details.

For what’s coming up in the next few months at the CCARC, please check the club calendar, accessible from the header on any page on the website.

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