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Encouraging Amateur Radio Operators

All around the world, governments have allocated portions of the radio frequency spectrum for use by licensed amateur radio operators. These operators, sometimes known by their nickname of ‘Ham Radio’ operators, explore, experiment with, and enjoy the ability of radio waves of varying wavelengths, to permit communication across distances without wires. Port Stephens Amateur Radio Club exists for the purpose of encouraging amateur radio operators within its region to enjoy their hobby, and to advance through the various levels of licensing in order to develop a greater knowledge and ability. The monthly business meeting is usually followed by a talk on some aspect of amateur operations. A great deal of knowledge is also exchanged through the informal conversations over a ‘cuppa’ around the tables after every meeting.

Would you like to become a

licensed amateur radio

operator?

If you would like to explore amateur radio as a hobby, you are welcome to come to the meetings and let people know of your interest. Before you can key your first transmission, you must obtain a licence from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). To receive a license you must pass an exam, but this is not nearly so hard as it might seem. There are three levels of licence, and the entry level is relatively easy. Port Stephens Amateur Radio Club has amongst its members those who are qualified to supervise exams at all three levels. So when you feel ready, you can sit for an exam at the club meeting site.

About Radio Waves

The electromagnetic spectrum

From the 16th through to the 19th century, European researchers explored the relationship between electricity and magnetism. This culminated in the work of Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, who proposed the existence of electromagnetic radiation across a continuum from radio waves at the lower end of the spectrum, to light waves, and then upward to ultraviolet, x-ray and gamma waves at the higher frequency end. Maxwell’s theory about radio waves was confirmed by the work of German professor, Heinrich Hertz, and Italian researcher, Guglielmo Marconi, who developed proof of concept and practical radio transmitters and receivers. It was within that range of electromagnetic radiation known as radio waves that amateur operators found their field of exploration. This covers a rather large field of frequencies and their associated wavelengths.

Transceivers and Antennas

Nowadays, radio transmitters and receivers are generally combined into a single “transceiver”; and the point at which electrical fields either leap out into the world as electromagnetic waves, or where those waves are converted back into electrical current, is known as the antenna. Much work is done exploring sophisticated transceivers and the many different types of antenna that can be constructed.

Propagation of Radio Waves

Radio waves are able to travel beyond line-of-sight by being refracted by a layer of the atmosphere known as the “ionisphere”. At the centre of our Solar System we have a star known as the Sun. The Sun consists of matter, compressed by its own gravity, to the point where nuclear fusion takes place. One consequence of this is that vast loops of magnetically charged matter leap up from the surface of the Sun and sometimes break free as Coronal Mass Ejections. These charged particles collide with the Earth’s atmosphere and create the ionisphere. Experience has shown that the Sun follows an eleven year cycle with respect to this process, so that the ability of radio waves to be refracted by the ionisphere varies with this Solar Cycle.

Behavi

our

of

Radio

Waves

at

Different

Frequencies

Radio waves behave differently at different frequencies. High Frequency waves (HF) can be refracted by the ionisphere. Very High Frequency waves (VHF) may bend to some extent over small obstacles. Ultra High Frequency waves (UHF) are usually limited to line-of-sight, unless relayed by repeaters and other man-made devices, or through unusual atmospheric conditions.

Technotalks

February 2, 2020: Understanding Echolink Grahame VK2FA, from the Hunter Radio Group, will help us to understand Echolink November 3, 2019: Part 2 of Adam VK2YK’s talk on Satellite Communications for the Amateur The talk covered digital modes and their relevance to satellite communications Click on this hyperlink for the Power Point Presentation September 29, 2019: Hotspots vs. Repeaters, What is the difference? John VK2DLP gave us a talk on this subject as we continue to understand the potential of our UHF repeater DMR Hotspots versus Repeaters.pdf Using QRZ.com with Richard VK2FRKO QRZ.com is a site where any amateur radio operator can leave all of his or her information. It now incorporates a log book. The talk/demo will demonstrate how to find the site, navigate around it, and create your own page. Part 1: Satellite Communications for the Amateur with Adam VK2YK Amateur Radio Satellites (PowerPoint Presentation) Voice Satellite Frequencies and Modes (pdf) Fox Operating Guide (pdf) Work FM Satellites (pdf) A Beginner’s Guide to Amateur Radio Satellites (PowerPoint Presentation) Amateur Radio Satellites V1 (PowerPoint Presentation) Contesting with Richard VK2FRKO, A.O. With sunspots at the low of their eleven year cycle, it sometimes seems there are not that many contacts possible across the HF frequency bands. At least until there is a contest on. Then the airwaves come alive with “CQ contest”; that is, people seeking to make as many contacts as possible within a defined period of time. But how can you participate? And what do you need to know to help make this a rewarding experience? Richard, our Club president, is an avid participant in contests and in this talk will explain how it all works. Amateur Radio Digital Voice with John VK2DLP John delivered this talk on 2nd June, 2019, and has inspired a number of Club members to investigate this mode further. Richard has undertaken to investigate the availability of cheap digital transceivers. For those needing a memory aid for John’s talk, his PowerPoint presentation is available here: Amateur Radio Digital Voice (PowerPoint Presentation) Vector Network Analyzers with John VK2DLP John delivered this talk on 1 July, 2018. Some of the illustrative material can be found here: The slide presentation given to the Club on 1 July, 2018. Demonstration of a VNA display at 2 metres wavelength Demonstration of a VNA display at 70 cm wavelength _________________________________ Club members and others may be interested in building their own UHF band antennas to increase their access to our Club’s repeater. Here are some links: Homemade 70cm Colinear Antenna YEZ 70cm Special - Sketch The following resource provides a mass of information to help you build your own UHF Yagi antenna. https://www.w6pql.com/antennas.htm Demonstration of a VNA display for a Low Pass Filter Response “Your RF Cable, the unknown Entity” - Professor Dr Thomas Baier, DG8SAQ The slide presentation in English and in pdf format

Membership

Holding on to a passion

There is an old story about a man who was watching his camp fire one night. The fire was burning well, but every now and then an ember would be expelled from the fire with a crackling sound. The man watched the expelled ember, and soon saw it lose its heat. But the remaining embers remained in the fire and helped to inflame each other so that the fire kept burning. A similar things occurs with our passion for our hobbies. On our own, we can soon lose our enthusiasm. In the company of other amateurs we bounce off each other and keep the passion alive.

Port Stephens Amateur Radio Club

Port Stephens Amateur Radio Club exists to create the second experience described above. We meet together on the first Sunday of every month at 10 :30 am, and also make on-air contact in the intervals between those dates. We learn from each other, and our on-air routines, once an occasion for anxietty, become second-nature.

Joining the Club

If you feel that you would like to become a member of Port Stephens Amateur Radio Club, simply ask for an application form. There is an annual membership fee of $25 per year. Once you have completed the form, hand it in with the fee to one of our office bearers and your application will be put before the next business meeting.

The Club’s Constitution and it’s

Standard Operating Procedures

are available as pdf documents

here:

Constitution

SOPs

Membership Application Form

Rogues Gallery

Our Executive Officers …

Our club president is Richard Osborne. Richard is well-know for his community service which has been recognised by the bestowal of an Order of Australia Medal. Our club Secretary is John Proctor. By way of introduction to the wider community, … John was raised in Canada. In school he developed a keen interest in electronics and ham radio and pursued a career in electrical engineering. (B.Sc.E.E.-Queen’s University, Ontario). Beginning with his work in R & D with Bell Northern Research Digital Equipment Corporation, John worked with many companies in Technical, Sales, Marketing and Corporate Management. He retired as Managing Director of Black Box Network Services in 2004, but continues to work in retirement, contracting in marine radio and on-site computer support. John migrated to Australia in 1977 to escape the snow and ice of Canada. He worked his way up the amateur radio license levels to become “Full Call” in 1979. John also developed an interest in sailing in his time with the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve, and has passed his Certificate III Master IV (Master of a vessel <35M). Our club treasurer is Leigh Aanensen. Leigh has served admirably as club Secretary for many years and has now accepted election as Club Treasurer.

… and additional Committee Members

Learning and Licensing

… and the rest of the crew

Mike VK2TNT

Charlie VK2CLH

Paul - Callsign pending

Contesting and Awards

Welcome to the world of contesting! This covers an area where amateur radio operators use their knowledge and skills to make numerous on-air contacts in challenging situations. Some contests for 2021 are listed below. • The Russ Hull Memorial VHF/UHF Contest will be held throughout January, 2021. It is held in memory of the pioneering research done by the late Ross Hull into tropospheric propagation in the higher bands and the development of equipment and techniques for such bands. The aim of the contest is to encourage and reward achievements in DXing in these bands. For more information, see the following webpage on the website of the Wireless Institute of Australia. The Ross Hull Contest • John Moyle Field Day 20-21st March. Club usually takes part in this contest. • Harry Angel Saturday May 1st 1000 - 1146 UTC This is a good little contest to take part in. • TransTasman 16th July 160 80 40 plus Digital modes. 1800 to 0000 local time. • Remembrance Day 14th and 15th August. CW SSB RTTY No WARC bands allowed. VK ZL and P29

Have You Heard About World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio?

Adam, VK2YK, went on an expedition to an island by kayak. Then, out of a small bag of tricks, he pulled out the components of a radio system and began to make contact as part of the World Wide Flora & Fauna (WWFF) contest. You can see Adam in action in the short YouTube video made by VK2MRX. Click on the Play arrow in the graphic below. For more in formation on World Wide Flora and Fauna in amateur radio, check out the following links: http://wwff.co/ https://www.wwffaustralia.com/index.html

To get HF predictions from VOACAP you will need one of the following browsers: • Mozilla • Firefox • Google Chrome • Microsoft Edge

•

(Microsoft Explorer is not supported)

VOACAP HF Online Predictions An online manual is provided on their website.

Contact

The Secretary, Port Stephens Amateur

Radio Club

PO Box 3O13 Lemon Tree Passage NSW 2319 Secretary: John Proctor Email: secretary@portstephensarc.org Also Treasurer: Leigh Aanensen Email: treasurer@portstephensarc.org President: Richard Osborne O.A.M. Email: president@portstephensarc.org Education Coordinator: Leigh Aanensen education@portstephensarc.org Webmaster: Greg Crawford Email: webmaster@portstephensarc.org

Notes on driving there

The Port Stephens Amateur Radio Club now meets at the Covid-19 safe location of the Lemon Tree Passage Bowling Club at 10:30 am on the first Sunday of every month. “Club LemonTree” can be found using the map on their website. It’s simple. Coming in along Lemon Tree Passage Road, turn right immediately after the Lemon Tree Passage Motel. See here: Club Lemon Tree

The Club’s UHF Analogue and Digital Repeaters There have been some exciting developments in our Repeater Project. After the establishment of our initial UHF analogue repeater on Gan Gan Hill, we discovered that our licence conditions permit the operation of a second repeater. Project leader, VK2DLP – John, suggested a second repeater operating in a Digital Mobile Radio mode and this move was endorsed by the Club. If you simply want to jump to the frequencies and tones necessary to operate the repeaters, click here: Table of Frequencies and Codes. Digital Mobile Radio, (hereafter summarised as DMR), can operate in similar way to the analogue repeater, linking operators within physical range of the repeater. However, DMR also offers the ability to speak to other operators all around the world through predefined Internet links of many repeaters. Operators can choose the scope of these Internet links by configuring the channels in their transceivers. Consequently, someone operating on a handheld transceiver near the Club’s DMR repeater at Nelson Bay, NSW Australia, can speak to other operators within the State, within the nation, or around the world, depending on the way they have configured channels in their digital transceiver. Members of our Club are currently learning how to do this by importing into their transceivers “code plugs”, which have channels already set up for this purpose. Our digital repeater can also operate in analogue mode. However, when digital transmissions are flowing through the repeater, the analogue function is locked out. After some discussion, it was decided to continue to use the original analogue repeater for our Tuesday night nets (7:30- 8:30 pm). Getting the repeater antenna up or “Climbing a Stairway to Heaven” Clearly, the height and radiation pattern of a repeater’s antenna will affect its performance. The UHF analogue repeater’s antenna is an omni-directional vertical folded dipole which sits at a height of approximately 167 metres above sea level and has “unity gain”. This means its radiation lobe resembles a donut and is more effective at reaching transceivers which are close to and below it. The UHF digital repeater’s antenna is an omni-directional vertical co-linear with 9dBd gain. This means that its radiation pattern is concentrated into a flatter plane than the unity gain antenna used for the original analogue repeater. Thanks to the assistance of Gencom, we were able to have this antenna mounted by a licensed rigger high atop the tower on Gan Gan Hill. Consequently, the Club’s 9 dBd antenna for the digital repeater is mounted at a height of 169 metres above sea level. The adjacent photo shows the rigger ascending the tower. Signal Reports While theoretically the 9 dBd antenna should not perform as well as the unity gain antenna for those close to and below the antenna, signal reports so far suggest reception is fine in those locations. Long distance reports are very pleasing as well. Club member VK2FMET – Alan has been busy testing range and expressing it graphically below. Signal reports should be sent to Alan at alan@meta.com.au

Analogue Repeater Transmits On Receives On Tone Repeater Setting 439.7 MHz 434.7 MHz Your Transceiver Setting 434.7 439.7 91.5 Tx only Digital Repeater Transmits On Receives On Colour Code Repeater Setting 438.825 431.825 1 Your Transceiver Setting 431.825 438.825 1

Table of Frequencies and Codes Note that transmit and receive frequencies of your transceiver are the opposite of those of the repeater; and that no CTCSS tones are to be used when operating a digital channel.

Check your success in connecting with the temporary dashboard for VK DMR http://43.245.72.66/ipsc/index.html If you would like to know more about DMR, the following is a link to a guide by John S. Burningham, D.I.T (W2XAB/WQON496) AmAAmateur Radio Guide to DMR

VK2RUM (Newcastle) Transmits On Receives On Colour Code Repeater Setting 438.625 431.625 1 Your Transceiver Setting 431.625 438.625 1 VK2RNC (Newcastle) Transmits On Receives On Colour Code Repeater Setting 438.675 433.675 1 Your Transceiver Setting 433.675 438.675 1 VK2RGL (Great Lakes) Transmits On Receives On Colour Code Repeater Setting 439.775 434.775 1 Your Transceiver Setting 434.775 439.775 1

VK2ROJ (Nelson Bay)