March 2017 had been declared the HF Month by our HF Officer. We had an exciting schedule of HF-themed events:
- Sat/Sun 11/12 March 2017 – Contest: RSGB Commonwealth Contest
Patrick Vk2PN has operated from club that weekend. Read report!
- Wed 15-Mar-2017 – Lecture: Digital Signals SDR
Geoff, our hard working president, told us all about Digital Signals SDR.
- Sat/Sun 18/19 Mar-2017 – Contest: John Moyle Field Day
CAMPING CANCELLED due weather!
- Wed 22-Mar-2017 – Informal Lecture: Mobile HF operations in the outback!
Informal talk by Dom, VK2JNA – HF operations on his recent trip to the Red Centre.
- Wed 29-Mar-2017 – 5th Wed: HF Show & Tell
HF Show & Tell with the usual voting for the best piece.
We saw homebrew, unusual commercial radios; QRP and portable radios; Old radios with some valves, a transformerless linear amplifier, etc.
And the winner was Russell with his ??? marine HF … and obviously the story that came with it!
From Tim!
Some people have asked me about the Transworld TW100 transceiver that I brought up for “HF show and Tell” on Wednesday night.
These are a synthesised HF transceiver of 1980s vintage, offers LSB/USB/AM/CW/Data transceiver rated at a very conservative 125 watts from 1.6-30mhz with scanning and a possible 100 programmable channels. They were used in military and commercial operation (often in combination with the Transworld T1000 (a 1kW solid state amplifier) and were made in California. The Company is now Datron: http://www.dtwc.com/
As a really, really strange coincidence the first contact I ever had on my TW100 was on 40m with VK2BLC in Dubbo. And he was also running one of these Transworlds!! Here is his webpage, and you can see (one of) his TW100 in the rack next to his operating position: https://www.qrz.com/db/VK2BLC
I have looked further down his webpage, and see that he must be a “special” type of ham, as he has another TW100 and T1000 combination in his Kombi van. (Although he says that the amplifier only runs 400W to keep within the amateur licencing regulations). That is not too extreme I hear you say – BUT he also tows a trailer with a generator to supply the necessary power while he operates HF mobile (surely he means stationary NOT mobile????)!
The HF Show and Tell night was great fun. My highlights of the night included; Roger’s bullet holes in his receiver story, Jason’s QRP SOTA activation backpack looked great. I loved the Loudenboomer Linear Amplifier – what a great name and Tim’s kit 40m QRP rig. Also later in the night – Jason working VK7 on 40m with club’s old Kenwood TS-520, it still sounds great.
My congratulations to Rusty who was the winner on the night. A well deserved winner with both the wonderful Sailor Marine HF receiver and the best story of the night wrapped around its purchase and BFO crystals. Finally, well done to the committee for organizing a great event and to all who attended and participated. I do enjoy 5th Wednesdays..
73s – Greg – VK2XE