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: […]
Nov 2023 – 5th Wed – Computer based gear or projects
“Bring out your Raspberry Pi’s, computer or microcontroller based projects that are related to our fine hobby” said the invite! There is a special prize for the people’s choice award this month, kindly donated by our member The book “Raspberry Pi for radio amateurs” published by Elektor Electronics. https://www.elektor.com/raspberry-pi-for-radio-amateurs Phil VK2BDF presented his room temperature controller, based […]
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 […]
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 […]
Sat 18-Nov-2023 – Summer prep working bee
Several members came to the club to prepare the clubhouse and grounds for fire season. The group managed to: Thank you Richard VK2SKY, Leo VK2LEO, Mal VK2TMF and Samuel, Phil VK2XPL, Geoff VK2TGO
Message of good news over the radio (1987)
Society member Jim Kimpton G4WAO came across an old newspaper browsing some photos on an ageing iPad. It was the JOTA of 1987, the year of the hurricane in southern England, when Jim was living in Chichester then and was with the local club. Jim had forgotten about the event but thought it might be […]
Dom @ Mount Corree (ACT) 25-Oct-2023
Dom VK2JNA was heading up to Mt Corree (in The Beast) Wed evening 25 Oct with a couple of ACT ham mates, Peter VK1PHR & Mick VK1MIK to enjoy the drive up & hang & play some radio, 40m in background while driving and up there. A great time had by all. We met at Duffy Shops […]
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 […]
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: […]
David Pilley VK2AYD – Silent Key
VK2AYD passed away 19-Sep-2023. David was a president of the club many years ago and the real gentleman on the air. A keen C.W. contester, he loved his Kenwood TS870 back in the day and represented Australia at the World Radio Sport Team Championship probably about 20 years ago (~2003). Amateur Radio New South Wales’ […]
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 […]