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 […]
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Author: Richard Murnane VK2SKY
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, […]
Camzilla Strikes Again!
One of the joys of the Australian bushland (even in urban areas like Sydney) is the variety of wildlife to be found. We’ve reported before about various critters marauding about the club grounds. Well, it looks like “Camzilla”, one of our local goannas, has struck again (1-Dec-2023)! As one of the club wags put it: […]
October 2023 lecture – Laser Communications
October’s lecture is now available on the Society’s YouTube channel, VK2MB-TV.Free Space Optics (FSO) uses light propagating in free space to wirelessly transmit data for telecommunications. “Free space” means air, outer space, vacuum, or something similar. This lecture by John Cummins highlights some of the engineering challenges in designing and building a commercial laser communications product […]
21-Oct-2023 JOTA!
Well, that’s another JOTA done and dusted. Thanks everyone on the MWRS JOTA team who participated (in callsign order): JOTA was a great team event, although the participating Scout numbers were down a bit, about 60 in total. The Scouts and Guides ventured over from the campsite to the MWRS clubhouse, to get a taste […]
September 2023 lecture – Tim’s Excellent European Adventure
Tim Jensen VK2BT travelled to Germany in June for the 46th International Amatur Radio Exhibition at Friedrichshafen. While he was there, he travelled around Europe visiting museums and other places of interest As well as Friedrichshafen, and the Amateur Radio goodies on display there, Tim will talking about the technological battles from European history, with […]
Aug 2023 – 5th Wed – Radio Scanners
Severe storms over northern Sydney kept many people at home on Wednesday, so there were only a few items on display this time, but those who turned up still enjoyed the evening. The theme for the night was radio scanners. Russell VK2BYN won the Best Story award for his tale about fireworks on the harbour, […]
26-Aug-2023 University Sydney Open Day
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 […]
August 2023 lecture – Amateur Television
Gary Shipton VK2CRJ has been active on Amateur Television (ATV) for half a century, and has seen many technological developments over that time. His talk covers everything from the early analogue days, right through to the latest digital technology, including ATV repeaters and satellites. The lecture is a mixture of theory and practical information to […]
Morsin’ Down the Highway…
How often do any of us get to make contact with a military aircraft…using Morse Code…while hooning down the highway? For most Amateurs, the next time would be the first time. On Friday 18 August 2023, Dom VK2JNA made the contact, though in a slightly unusual way. Dom takes up the story: “I have just […]