Broadcast - 3 August 2025
Firstly, as promised, we will start off with a quick update of the Equine Endurance ride held at Santarena Park, Scottsdale last weekend.
The communications trailer was delivered and set up in the main grounds on Friday morning, quickly followed by the portable 2 Metre repeater and antenna located at a nearby farm shed on a section of very well elevated land. The afternoon saw the remainder of the crew arriving and soon departing again to familiarise themselves with the location of their Check Points, followed by testing their voice communications back to Ride Base. No electronic tracking was employed so everything relied on 2 Metre voice communications.
Most of our contingency stayed the night at base camp or checkpoints in campervans and tents with the exception of three who departed for Launceston, returning as four helpers early Saturday morning. Drawn back by the smell of mouth-watering egg and bacon rolls from the cafeteria and of course the call of duty.
Ride Base was manned by VK7s Andre’ ZAB, Fran FRN and Stuart ES with Idris ZIR, Tony ZTT, Ken KKV, Justin TW, Randall VWK and Stefan ZSB, covering the three ride Check Points.
It’s winter, so by 6 am the weather had deteriorated rapidly and we were soon experiencing heavy rain accompanied with ferocious wind gusts. Unfortunately Randall and Justin copped extensive damage to their vehicle awnings, but before you say “They should have guyed them!” …. yes both awnings were fully guyed and double staked to the ground. Stakes were ripped out and one was found nearly twenty meters away from their camp area! It’s no wonder the horse riders were complaining about the strong headwind, hihi.
Operationally the day went smoothly without any horse or rider mishaps. By midday the sun was coming out and the clouds had mostly dissipated and thankfully we were back to a gentle breeze. This made for a pleasant return journey for our southern helpers, Justin and Randall, later in the afternoon. Thanks to all for the assistance given.
At the last club room technical night Eric VK7ZPE brought in a kit for upgrading the frequency stability of his Icom IC9700. Hopefully all necessary parts are included as this will help Eric as he works his way through the instructions. The first module is an external reference oscillator. The second module is installed internally within the 9700 and does not require any soldering or modification to internal circuitry. This “T” shaped module sits over the internal main oscillator and disciplines or accurately holds its frequency.
Colin VK7ZCF, is also heading down the same path with his 9700 but he opted for the Leo Bodner low jitter GPS locked Reference Oscillator module with dual output ports, one port for this 9700 project and the second port for any 450 Hz to 800 MHz signal generator that he might need in the future.
Colin also displayed a number of SSTV images that he captured, at short notice, earlier last month. They were part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station or ARISS Slow Scan TV event that was commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo / Soyuz flights. Colin managed to capture few orbital passes when they were transmitting. Like Richard VK7ZBX, Colin’s most successful captures were of images one and twelve of the sequence. Like anything you can only decode what is being transmitted.
Please note - The hands-on Toroid Test & Measurement presentation by Trevor VK7TB has been postponed to a date yet to be fixed. We are waiting on the oscilloscope manufacturer’s proprietary software, to allow for external video output to a large monitor, so all present can easily watch the action. Watch this space.
As always pictures will be available on the NTARC Web site under “Blogs” for this broadcast. NTARC Blogs
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.
Unlocking the Secrets of Toroids! Presentation postponed to a date to be advised.
NTARC General Meeting - Saturday 9th. June at 2:00 pm. Held at Rocherlea Scout Hall, Archer Street, Rocherlea. If you have items you would like added to the agenda please email the secretary at: secretary@ntarc.net no later than Friday the 8th June.
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
