In case you’ve lost it or haven’t seen it, attached is a 2024 MAD calendar, created by Scott VK4CZ.
The next opportunity might be the John Moyle Field Day weekend on the 16th/17th March which is the same weekend of the Train & Hobby show at Sandown that a few stations will be operating/displaying at. Whilst I’ve got a family function that weekend, I should be able to sneak out for a few hours on the Saturday arvo. I’ll hopefully have my **** together on the 439 liaison radio front and some slightly better feedlines for my 2.4 & 5.7 have arrived today from VK5 which should improve things slightly by a poofteenth.
To give everyone, including the Gippslanders, a better chance to get amongst it, what time would most people be likely to head out to start? Say 1pm or 2pm until early evening, in case the DX conditions improve in the early evening? Keeping in mind that it’s a bit of a drive for some people to get to their favourite hilltop location. I’ve had a quick look at the 14 day WX forecast and that weekend looks fine, thus far. I’m not sure where I’ll go yet, but likely to be Mt Buninyong, especially if the predicted rayline plots to Mt Tassie look good. I’m guessing, for at least us Westies, we’ll have a few out and about, including west of Bacchus Marsh, west of Geelong, south of Ballarat and possibly the Bellarine Peninsula. I’m guessing that a Horsham station might again be operating from One Tree Hill Ararat. Early evening often seems to be the go looking towards VK5.
Don't forget to post your location on the Contest Radar Contest Radar
According to recent reports, the AREG or Adelaide Radio Experimenters Group and having a radio & electronics sale on Sat 26th October.
I’m quite sure I’ll be going, hopefully for at least a few days, possibly making a week of it. Maybe a few nights in Hahndorf and maybe a few around Glenelg down by the beach. I was going to take along my uWave gear, etc and maybe rattle the cage of a few VK5’s who might be interested in some microwave activity sessions. Is anyone else interested in doing similar??
If anyone is interested in such a road trip with some MAD sessions with the VK5’s, email me direct nikp007@bigpond.com and I’ll get the ball rolling, sort out some accommodation, set up some contacts and a rough programme. My vehicle will be chockas and no spare seats. I was thinking Hahndorf for the first few days as it’s up in the hills and Paul VK5PAS lives in the area I think – it’d be great to have him out for dinner one night. Then maybe a couple of nights around Adelaide somewhere to maybe arrange a dinner with a few local VK5 microwavers one night as well. Plus there’s a few traps around VK5 such as the many wineries…
If you cannot access the forum any more then it could be that your IP range has been blocked as part of an approach to keep out a recent steady stream of Russian hackers.. Unfortunately other valid users might get blocked also but there is little can be done about that.
One Russian hacker did make it through last week, had a post accessable for about 3 hours and posted just once, part in English and part in Russian. Since then, the server access logs have been reviewed and any IP address range seen to be a viable hacker access point has been blocked. This is being reviewed daily and more new address blocks are excluded each time checked.
If you have been blocked then the only way an unblock will occur is if you directly email me your IP address and user name and I will check the user log.
I will NOT unblock IPs that are from VPNs.
If you don't know how to email me then you need to do a bit of research !
Saturday 6th April at St Michael’s College, The Abbey Place, Caboolture.
Hi,
It’s John Saunders (VK4BZ) from the Redcliffe and Districts Radio Club.
This year’s Redfest is doing things a little differently!
Ladies! We are trying to look after the ladies in our lives as well as the ladies on-air with their own callsigns. As such, Redfest 2024 will feature non-radio related tables focussed purely on female interest areas. There will also be a specialty café with proper coffees, cakes, slices and cookies, along with sit-down café tables under the club marquee. Very civilized! ALARA will also have a presence this year to encourage more ladies to take up this great hobby of ours. So, invite the ladies along this year! (My XYL is coming!)
Technical! For those who want to expand their technical knowledge, there will be a demonstration of the ICOM IC-905, the new commercially made microwave transceiver. The Brisbane VHF Group will also be there to do a Tech Talk on microwave propagation.
Prizes! Raffle prizes are always attractive items at Redfest and this year is even better with the ICOM ID-5100A VHF/UHF FM and digital transceiver as the main prize. There will also be minor prizes as well as hourly lucky door draws.
And as usual! Yes, all your favourite stalls full of pre-loved goodies along with our regular commercial sellers will be there too! Did I mention Dougie’s famous bacon and egg rolls? Yep, the BBQ will be running hot as always.
Food available from 8:00am and the gates are open to the bargains from 9:00am. Major prize draw is at 11:00am. Entry is $5.00 and raffle tickets are also $5.00 (can be purchased prior to the day – see the club website).
New amateur radio arrangements have begun
In December 2023, we announced new arrangements for amateur radio, including the upcoming Radiocommunications (Amateur Stations) Class Licence 2023 (the class licence).
The class licence has now commenced. It means qualified amateur operators can operate foundation, standard or advanced amateur stations without needing to apply for an individual licence or pay any fees.
Alongside the class licence, there are new arrangements for qualifications, examination assessors, call signs and overseas visiting amateurs.
Around 180 accredited assessors are ready to conduct and assess amateur radio examinations. We have also opened applications to become an accredited assessor. The Accredited Assessor Guidelines have been updated, providing more detail about the accreditation requirements for applicants from New South Wales.
Find out more
View more information about amateur radio, including:
types of licences
the class licence
qualifications and syllabi
accredited assessors
call signs
operating procedures
fees
overseas reciprocal arrangements
transition arrangements.
Is it possible to detect audio clipping on a sideband signal?
I've just recently obtained a bluetooth headset and adaptor. The bluetooth adaptor connects to my Yaesu FTDX3000. I've found that normal mic gains are far too high, so I've had to wind the mic gain back to about 7 to allow for this. Problem is, how do I know when the audio is clipping? Obviously, I want to get full modulation without clipping. I am feeding into a dummy load and monitoring on a RTL-SDR.com device, but it's hard to see if there is clipping or not.
See attachment. There seems to be lot's of harmonics. I've wound back the mic gain and there is less harmonics, but how do I know if I'm modulating 100%?
I had a chat today with one of the local Gippsland microwave operators whilst I was driving to East Gippsland. It was noted that whilst during many of the MAD arvo sessions lately, that there are a few portable & home stations in Gippsland that are capable up to 10Gigs and are keen for some of us central Vic stations to work. Hopefully they’ll post their location on the Contest Radar… https://contestradar.com/ particularly for those of us operating up on a hill east of the Port Philip Bay. Some of them have a bit of horsepower on most of the uWave bands. I guess some of us, particularly a few of the newer players, that aren’t aware that there’s some good stations in Gippsland to work.
So to share the wealth, point your antennas towards the Traralgon / MtTassie / Orbost / Bairnsdale direction. And with a little bit of lift in conditions, you may be able to stretch the legs of your gear, work some distant uWave stations and put a smile on your dial. Plus don’t forget to take a few pics and/or some video.