July 2026 Buildathon

It all started with a survey on the projects members would like to undertake in 2026. A lecture in June explained to all what would be involved in building the projects that scored. A register sheet was then shared with the club members: 29 people ordered 45 kits, 15 people registered for the assisted buildathon held the club’s facilities.

Thanks to assistance from Colin VK2JCC, Richard VK2ARH managed to put together a total of 50 kits (20 Morse Decoders, 25 NTP Clocks, 5 Retro VFO’s) which with kits already assembled and posted/distributed brings to around 60 kits for this years projects. Great to see. Kits were available for collection at the Buildathon, and also at next club meeting for people not able to be at the Buildathon on the day.

Kick off was at 9:00am on Saturday morning 18th July. Tea and Coffee were available along with drinks from the fridge, and BBQ lunch. Many visitors came along and dropped in to the event.

Not that it was a race, but Jason VK2VCO was the first to complete the build and test his kit, the Hamfist multi-channel Morse decoder. He seemed to be pleased with the result:

The first draft of the new software manual for the Clock from Mark KD5RXT was received few days before the event and is now available for download from Richard VK2ARH’s NTP Clock GitHub repository.

MC: Richard VK2ARH

Cook: Malcolm VK2TMF

Builders:

• Brian   VK2AXE
• Colin    VK2JCC
• Greg    VK2XE
• Jason          VK2VCO
• John     VK2JOS
• Leo      VK2LEO
• Nicholas          VK2MYK
• Nick     VK2FS
• Nigel   VK2NB
• Phil      VK2JPK
• Sam     VK2AJQ
• Simon  VK2YU
• Yu        VK2VCU

Visitors:

• Dom VK2JNA
• Geoff VK2WA
• Bob VK2RL
• Jeff VK2MZZ
• probably others …

Afterwards, Greg VK2XE and Nick VK2FS fired up the club station to participate in the Trans-Tasman Low-Band Contest.

Many thanks for Richard VK2ARH for orchestrating the buildathon, to Richard, Dom, Mal, and Phil (JPK) for the photos, Jeff VK2MZZ for the Trans-Tasman Contest video clip, and everyone else who supported the event.

Post event comments/feedback

From Richard VK2ARH

It was a fun day – if not long for those who pushed on into the late afternoon / evening working on their projects. I was so pleased to see folks walking away with a working project – very gratifying. A big vote of thanks to everyone who assisted especially Mal for bringing the BBQ lunch together, Dom VK2JNA & Geoff VK2WA for establishing and tending the fire and everyone else who chipped in to make the day a success.

The remaining kits which have not yet been picked up (and for which no postal arrangements have been made) will be available for collection at this Wednesday’s meeting, please make the effort to collect your kits so that I don’t have to carry them backwards and forwards for weeks. I have noted those who will be away for a few more weeks and I’m happy to hold onto the kits for those who have contacted me.

Thanks also to Yves VK2AUJ and Richard VK2SKY for the great job promoting and producing the web site update – it helps to spread the word and encourage club participation.

If anyone has any specific questions or concerns – please don’t hesitate to reach out – I will also try and have my computer along at next week’s meeting for anyone that wants assistance uploading firmware.

More information from Richard VK2ARH:

• Buildathon lecture part 1: Hamfist Morse decoder and Richard’s demo of the unit.
• Buildathon lecture part 2: Updated NTP Clock with GPS
• Richard’s Github repository for these projects for manuals, schematics, and Gerber files for PCB fabrication