The annual post-Christmas trip to the Victorian High Country was kicked off by Andy VK2EAH and Geoff VK2WA, with Dom VK2JNA in hot pursuit. Dom caught up by Jindabyne and we headed down the Barry Way. We paused at Ingeegoodbee to take in the first scenic lookout: After a quick swim in the fast-flowing (and […]
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Category: Technical Stuff
70cm coverage test for ATV
MWRS hosted a test for the Sydney ATV group, as they have lost their Lawson repeater and are trying to find another site. The initial test used a 9dBd 6-element Yagi, pointed SSW, and 20W FM. FM was used for convenience (equipment is easy to access). The Yagi was located on our tower, below the […]
Building an outdoor ADS-B receiver
Article by Simon Mitchell – VK2YU Overview The aim of this project was to build an ADS-B receiver using the popular PiAware implementation (created by FlightAware). The installation and configuration of PiAware is very well documented so I will not elaborate on this in this text only to point interested people to FlightAware’s PiAware URL: […]
A Tape Measure Tactical Antenna for Airband
There are plenty of amateur tactical aerials available on the market for 2m and 70cm but I couldn’t find an airband one. I decided to cook one up, but couldn’t find any recipes. I wanted an end-fed half-wave (EFHW) tuned for 125.000 to 127.000 Mhz. We use many flower pots aerials, rubber duckies and quarter […]
VHF portable operation with range
Portable VHF/2m operations can often be a challenge when range is required: Here is a simple and economical portable set-up providing you do not have to run into the bush. Except from the length of the RG58 cable, all the components were picked up from the local council clean-up! The aerial is a ground independent […]
Lectures Online – Something Old, Something New…
Two lectures have been uploaded to VK2MB-TV today. One lecture sat unnoticed on an SD card since it was recorded in February 2022. Sorry about the delay, but better late than never! David VK2CZ did a presentation on Antenna modelling software for Radio Amateurs. The “New” one is last month’s lecture by Zara VK2ZYP, on […]
Another walk in the park
Several members of the club (Carmel VK2CAR, Colin VK2JCC, and Richard VK2SKY) were active portable at Rofe Park in Hornsby Heights today, 17 March. The aim this time was to call in to the Westlakes Amateur Radio Club net (Mon/Wed/Fri at 9.30am on 7115kHz), just for the fun of it. The Westlakes folks were happy […]
The Case of the Elusive Stinger: Repairing a Terlin Outbacker
The Australian Terlin Outbacker antenna has been a stalwart of HF mobile communications since time immemorial. It’s a sturdy, adaptable, vertical antenna that can cover the entire HF spectrum by plugging a flying lead into one one of a number of sockets depending on the band of operation. It also has an adjustable top section, […]
Australian Space Weather Alert System
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Space Weather Services seems to have updated its front page recently, to provide a basic propagation dashboard in a more easily digestible format. Also check out the handy Australian Space Weather Alert System guide, which explains the Alert System in more detail. All the old favourites, such as the HF Systems […]
Carmel VK2CAR’s WIA award
Congratulations to Society member Carmel VK2CAR, who picked up the Technical Award in the WIA’s 2020-21 Publications Committee Awards, for her article, “Clothesline wire makes easy ‘multi-band’ antenna”. The article appeared in the WIA’s Amateur Radio magazine, issue 3 for 2020. The award is for an article judged by the Committee to be the best […]
VK2YU Home brew M0MCX DX Commander
Home brew “DX Commander” 7m antenna – November 2021 … Australian date & time Firstly, this build is a copy of a commercial antenna so ALL credit to the design and effort of the idea all goes to the designer: Callum McCormick, M0MCX https://www.m0mcx.co.uk The original build information is here https://www.m0mcx.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/DXC-Rapide-User-Guide.pdf Note there are several […]
New 30m HF APRS Igate
Good news for HF APRS users: a new receive-only Igate (Internet Gateway) is being tested at the clubhouse. Using the callsign VK2MB-6, the gateway is currently connected to the main club HF rig and TH-6 antenna, beaming west, but will eventually be coupled to a CODAN 7004 crystal locked receiver with its own single band […]
WICEN FEBEX2 exercise at VK2MB, 9-10 Jan 2021
The weekend of the 9th and 10th of January was WICEN’s FEBEX-2 communications exercise. A year since the catastrophic NSW bushfires, and with COVID locking down everything since, WICEN felt the need to get members active in sharpening their message passing skills, trying out any new portable gear, and experimenting with new modes. It was […]
FT-897 Suburban QTHenator
(and an exploration into local noise sources) After moving out of a tiny unit into a house I finally had the opportunity to throw a bit of wire into some trees and connect it to my radio. Easy interstate contacts were now available, but there was something nearby making obnoxious noise every 60kHz on HF: […]
VHF Elevated Feed Ground Independent Antenna Base
I’ve got many VHF aerials with a 5/16″ 26TPI fitting. They are typically only good on a car (middle of the roof!?!). They are difficult to use at field days. I’ve used mounts with radials before but the radials became a hazard or annoyance. I decided to build a VHF Elevated Feed Ground Independent Aerial […]