The MWRS team and Phil VK2APL’s students (in orange). Photo by VK2EXT

The University of Sydney held its annual open day on the 26th, hoping to entice a new crop of students to pursue their higher education there. There was something of a carnival atmosphere to the event, with most faculties having a light-hearted element to their displays, such as LEGO tables and fairy floss offerings somehow tying into their academic content!

“What do you mean ‘high SWR’????”

The School of Electrical and Information Engineering once again featured the club’s Amateur Radio station, VI100MB portable, with the theme of Amateur Radio in Emergencies, a topical one this year given the fire situation in the Northern Hemisphere.

Nick VK2FS, supervised by Zara VK2ZYP, talks with Rod VK2ZZM while assembled onlookers pray for the safe return of 40m band propagation.

We had two IC-7300s and two IC-705s on display, a well as mobile (IC-800) and hand-held VHF/UHF radios. The main antenna was a 10m squid pole with a wire taped to it and an antenna tuner and radials at the bottom. Initially SWR was up and down, but that was soon sorted out. VK2SKY also brought a Lusya Pac-12 multiband vertical aka JPC-12 to show how portable a field antenna can be (it collapses down to about A4 paper size).

Getting FT8 up and running

The entire station (except the external video monitor) was powered by a slim 12V/100AH LiFePO4 battery topped up by a folding solar panel array.

Phil VK2APL and Zara VK2ZYP

We had a couple of demonstrations running throughout the day. Mike VK2MDP was on FT8 much of the time, and while the mode doesn’t easily allow conventional contacts (get JS8Call running next time!) the signal did get out and VI100MB was heard overseas:

10m offered some good coverage on the digital modes

Voice mode did not fare quite so well, with the station being surrounded by buildings and electrical noise. Nick VK2FS had a QSO with Rod VK2ZZM in Crookwell, but it was hard work fishing him out of the noise at times. We also chatted to Leo VK2LEO on 2m (also heard on 40m), and Peter VK5DMR via the DMR repeater at Governor Phillip Tower.

Summary of the display

Richard VK2SKY sent Winlink email to Yves over in Rhodes, via the VK4LM gateway from 1100km away, with the IC705 running just 5W. It was a struggle with all the local QRM, but the message got through.

Phil VK2APL doing his sales pitch for the School of Electrical and Information Engineering

The roll-out for the day was:

  • VK2APL Phil and his students, Binglei Lou, Jingyi Li, Xueyuan Liu, and Wenjie Zhou
  • VK2CLF Clifford
  • VK2EAH Andy
  • VK2EXT/G4EXT Jules
  • VK2FS Nick
  • VK2HX Chris
  • VK2JPK Phil
  • VK2MDP Mike
  • VK2SKY Richard
  • VK2ZYP Zara

More photos can be found on Phil VK2APL’s blog, Life, the Universe and Fishing.