“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”, goes the motto of the United States Postal Service. The same could be said of the Manly-Warringah Radio Society. Well, we don’t deliver mail , but last night (27-Nov-2024) we did experience some minor […]
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Author: Richard Murnane
July 2024 lecture: VK2MB KiwiSDR
If you haven’t yet tried the Society’s KiwiSDR receiver, you’re in for a treat. We’ve “customised ours for Australian conditions” so you’ll find features there that you won’t find on other web SDR receivers. This lecture by Richard VK2SKY explores everything from basic use to some of the lesser-known functions, and reveals many handy shortcuts to […]
18-Jun-2024 Frenchs Forest Cubs’ visit
In between JOTA events, the club hosts visits from local Scouting groups. This evening, we had a visit from Frenchs Forest Cubs. 13 Cubs in all descended on the clubhouse, and were treated to some radio activities. Des VK2TGJ ran the “build a station” activity (one of our JOTA staples). The challenge is to put […]
May 2024 lecture – Quantum Key Distribution
In secure encrypted communications, one of the most important ideas is that the encryption key contains all the protection of the whole system. But what happens if the system isn’t already secure…if it is brand new (unkeyed), or the key is already compromised? Even public-key cryptosystems like RSA encryption suffer from this problem: how do the initial […]
Club members support CREST at 2024 Convict 100 event in St Albans
This weekend, 4-5 May 2024, St Albans just north of the Hawkesbury River is again hosting the Convict 100 mountain biking event. Our friends at CREST are again providing safety communications, and spent last weekend and yesterday (Friday 3 May 2024) setting up repeaters and other gear along the course. Of course, the multi-talented Manly-Warringah […]
April 2024 lecture – ADX Transceiver
Watch the video at https://youtu.be/cG4vHLs39iU. For our April lecture, Richard Hinsley VK2ARH/W5ARH talked about the ADX (the Arduino Digital Transceiver) and the buildathon program he ran in 2023 for the Cowtown Amateur Radio Club in Forth Worth, Texas. His presentation includes a live demonstration of the transceiver. Update, March 2025: Richard has updated the Constuction […]
March 2024 lecture – Views of the Past
The March 2024 lecture, Views of the Past, is now up on the VK2MB-TV YouTube channel. Rod Miller VK2ZZM delves into history, how it sometimes gets manipulated for political reasons, and how evidence can be misinterpreted due to cognitive biases. Rod is the author of the book, “Lost Women of Rabaul”, which was adapted into […]
13-Apr-2024 Working Bee
Saturday was a perfect day for doing some antenna work and other maintenance: sunny, not too warm, and with the predicted rain showers choosing to fall elsewhere. Just as well, as we had a lot of jobs to get through! The team managed to get through nearly all of the work items, but a couple […]
VK2MB/p on air for John Moyle Field Day 2024
Members of the Society once again headed south to Culburra Beach NSW to participate in the annual John Moyle Memorial Field Day Contest on 16-17 March. The JMFD team comprised: A Lesson Learned… One of the first rule of portable operation is: before you leave home, thoroughly check that all gear is in good working […]
February 2024 lecture – HMAS Vampire Project
Colin VK2JCC leads of team of Amateurs, including several MWRS members, who operate the Special Event Station VK2VMP from HMAS Vampire’s HF Communication Centre, and who talk to visitors about the ship and about Amateur Radio. The Vampire is moored at the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour in Sydney. Watch Colin’s lecture at […]
The Kiwi has Landed!
Listen to our new KiwiSDR at http://websdr.mwrs.org.au:8073, and watch the July 2024 lecture, VK2MB KiwiSDR Secrets to learn how to use it. It’s been a long wait, but the Society is back in the webSDR business! For those who have never used one, a webSDR is a web-connected Software Defined Radio, accessible from anywhere on […]
January 2024 Lecture – using LTSpice
For this month’s lecture, on 17 January 2024, Clifford VK2CLF speaks on the topic, Using LTSpice to Simulate Oscillators and Filters. LTSpice (also known as SwitcherCAD) is software provided free by Analog Devices which has a competent version of the Spice simulation engine behind an easy-to-use interface that allows drawing and simulating almost any kind […]
November 2023 lecture – Underwater explosions
Underwater Explosions, or How to Sink a Submarine, is now available on the club’s YouTube channel.The Society’s resident explosives expert, Mike VK2MDP, talks about how underwater testing is used to measure the energy output of explosives. The science upon which this is based, comes from military research on how to sink a submarine. Mike has […]
2023 Christmas Net
The 40m band was a bit cranky at 9am this morning, with thunderstorms to the southwest and north, so plenty of static about. A few stations popped up on the club’s 2m repeater as well. A couple of stations missed the RF sched, or were inaudible, but checked in via email afterwards. As an experiment, […]
The French Atlantic Affair
You won’t find too many novels that include a passage like this: Yes, Dr. Berlin, but what do you hams talk about? Is what they usually said to him, and he’d realize then that they’d never understand, and he’d change the subject. But sometimes, though rarely, he’d come across someone who really dug his hobby, […]