Broadcast - 16 November 2025
KEN CLARK VK7KKV (SK)
It was with great sadness that we were informed that Ken Clark VK7KKV had passed on the morning of the 11th November 2025.
Ken originally came from Winnaleah and later moved to Scottsdale where he obtained his amateur licence in the 1970s and has been a member of NTARC for over nineteen years.
He was a staunch volunteer in the State Emergency Service and manned the local ambulance as a stand in paramedic and driver for the greater Scottsdale area.
Ken was involved in Equine Endurance ride safety communications going back well over a decade. In fact Ken and Rick VK7RI set up the original Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for NTARC rider tracking. This spread sheet is still being used today as the Graphical User Interface for safety logging. He participated in two National Tom Quilty Gold Cup events when they were hosted in Tasmania in 2018 and 2025.
Ken was very good with his hands, and constructed, from scratch, a dual axel caravan which was a fifth wheeler on his flat tray vehicle. This combination could often be seen at Petal Point doing what he loved, camping. He even had a full size domestic, attachable, Aussat-BMac dish for receiving satellite television when out camping. Not to mention the six metre crank up mast attached to the rear of the caravan that he could place his amateur antennas onto.
Luckily for Ken his QTH had an excellent North facing radio path just right for an amateur. He even automated a Raspberry Pi system, using ADSB telemetry that notified him of any aeroplanes approaching Bridport airport, so he could duck out there and have a look if the type interested him.
Ken also became involved with the Scottsdale RSL. Later in life he took on the construction of a diorama of ‘The Forgotten War”, a display which depicts the battle of Kapyong in the 1951 Korean War. This also involved an Arduino microcontroller to illuminate areas of the diorama and play the relevant voice over as the battle unfolded. Ken was very proud of his contribution to the memory of Australian soldiers who were involved. It is located at the Scottsdale RSL Military Museum and is well worth a visit.
The Diorama and other photos can be seen on the NTARC Web site under “Blogs” for this broadcast. NTARC Blogs
I don’t think the irony of his death falling on Remembrance Day, the eleventh of the eleventh, would have been lost on Ken, I think he would have had a chuckle.
We have lost a fine man, a good friend and a gentle mentor. His knowledge and valuable contribution to our club was well recognised.
Vale Ken VK7KKV now Silent Key.
From the NTARC Committee.
NTARC News for Sunday Broadcast – 16th November 2025
Last club room technical night we had the next instalment in a series of technical presentations by Lionel VK7ZLB. It continued on from his previous session on circulators, rat-race or hybrid ring couplers.
This session covered Directional Couplers. Lionel had an excellent example of a Chinese directional coupler good to about 800 MHz. The external enclosure has been cast from an aluminium alloy with the external “N” connector seat locations machined flat. Some other versions are machined using a Computer Numerical Control or CNC router from a block of aluminium. With the lid off and much finger pointing from Lionel, it was very intuitive as to how the unit would work. Main features were two aluminium bars running parallel the length of the enclosure, one terminating at each end onto an “N” type connector. This one is the pass-through for the Radio Frequency signal, in this model up to 300 Watts. The second bar was shorter than the first, one end terminated on the side of the case onto another “N” with its other end terminating onto a surface mount resistor. This one was used for the isolated coupling output of the RF signal, 20 dB reduced. All RF bars were suspended and held firmly between insulator rods. On the long side of the case is a threaded drilling, with a covered grub screw that applied pressure, through an insulator, to adjust the air gap between the coupler bars. This varies the amount of coupling and the level of the RF signal picked off, in this case calibrated to minus 20 dB on the output. This is clearly visible as the yellow insulator coming in from the side in the pictures.
As a picture is worth a thousand words, check out the pictures on the NTARC Web site under “Blogs” for this broadcast. NTARC Blogs
The take home information from this session was:
The most significant function of directional couplers are that they enable you to measure or monitor the signals without interfering with the main signal path, too much.
This equates to good electrical isolation between ports but the common earthing may need to be taken into account.
Their passive characteristics mean that they do not need any power to operate, and most couplers have wide frequency ranges, which means that they can be used in a variety of different applications.
Directional couplers can be small-footprint, low-profile devices. Microstrip or Stripline types are particularly compact, so they can be incorporated into PCBs that go into RF modules.
Thank you Lionel for another informative and hands on presentation.
If you ordered a white mug for drinking out of, those that have our club logo on one side, personalised with your name and call sign on the other, well they have arrived. Currently being held at the Rocherlea club rooms and available for collection on a Wednesday club technical night or a Friday morning tea. For those unable to collect in person please email secretary@ntarc.net, I am sure we will be able to arrange something. Even in the current economic climate the final price came in, yet again, at $12.
A reminder for the NTARC Christmas dinner that is now less than a month away, it will be on Thursday the 4th of December. As we have received a number of requests we are trialling a change from the usual Wednesday to a Thursday evening as this may be more manageable for members. Due to popular requests it will be held at the Iron Horse Bar and Grill located at 468 Westbury Rd, Prospect Vale. Check your calendar! If you are free and wish to attend, now is the time to mark the date and RSVP to the secretary at: secretary@ntarc.net or jot your name and number of places required on the registration sheet next to the sign-in register at the club rooms.
UPCOMING EVENTS
On Air Test and Technical Net session - Every Wednesday, Test-Net and CW course on 3.580 MHz from 7 pm, then a Technical Net on 3.567 MHz from 7.30 pm till 8.30 pm. Your host for the evening is Nic VK7WW.
Club Room Technical night - The next session will be Wednesday the 26th of November and will commence at the usual time of 6.30 pm at the Club Room Archer Street, Rocherlea.
Coffee Morning - Held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Time is from 10 am to noon.
Finally – If you have any items of news please email them to the Secretary at the following address news@ntarc.net all items to be received no later than 5 pm on the Friday prior to the Broadcast.
That’s all folks,
73, Stefan VK7ZSB.
