Broadcast - 24 August 2025
SAVE THE DATE - Saturday 20 September.
Mowbray Hotel - 11.30 am.
Kevin VK7HKN will be 70 on the 20 September 2025.
To help him celebrate, you are invited to have lunch with him on Saturday, 20 September at the Mowbray Hotel. Lunch will be at own expense. Please, no presents, as your presence will be more than enough and we are hoping to keep it quiet so it will be a surprise for him.
It is important that numbers are confirmed, so please contact Lyn VK7FROG either by telephone 0408 549 634 or email norrislyn@gmail.com by Sunday 7 September.
Looking forward to seeing you there - VK7FROG – Lyn.
Thanks Lyn, this is certainly a special occasion and I hope that many of us that have known Kevin over the years will try our hardest to be there for this great surprise. Lyn’s telephone number once again was 0408 549 634.
And now for something completely different - word has it that one of our members, who will remain anonymous, has gone back to basics. Nic VK7WW is grinding his own plug in quartz crystal, well not from scratch but trying his hand at shifting the resonant frequency, of a commercially made one, higher to something closer to what he requires. From my memory of watching the process, it was achieved by the use of wet and dry 1000 grade sanding paper, using it dry and laying it rough side up on a very flat surface like the protective glass screen from an old television set. The crystal is drawn across the sanding paper in a figure eight pattern, while judiciously using light finger pressure and rotating the crystal ninety degrees every couple of dozen figure eight laps to even out any finger pressure irregularities. Then re assemble the crystal into mountings and compare its new frequency to the original tested reference frequency. Then repeat the previous grind and test process again and again and again….. until hopefully the desired frequency is achieved.
A perfect example of less is more, and in this case less quartz crystal is a higher resonant frequency. Hope you take a few pictures along the way and let us know how things turn out for you Nic.
Now from the last technical night, Colin VK7ZCF brought in his latest acquisition, a brand new Icom IC-705. It came complete with a well-padded black carry bag, not the back-pack that is quite commonly seen, but more like an older style camera or video conventional bag. While fitting very snugly into the bag and definitely being safe, it still allows easy access to the front panel antenna socket. For the demonstration it was complete with a suitable 2 Metre “whip” antenna plugged in. With the extra capacity of an external Lithium battery located within the bag, the 705’s available power output is upped by a couple of watts, making the bag combination good to go with near instant operational deployment. After Colin’s rather nice and much higher powered back-pack rig construction earlier this year there definitely does seem to be a portable theme happening. Thanks Colin.
As requested by members…. Yes! NTARC club rooms will be opening up to watch the REAST “How to use your NanoVNA” presentation on Wednesday the 10th of September. Doors will be open by 7:00 pm, with the live REAST - YouTube channel on line by 7:30 pm. See you there.
Now last but certainly not least, Peter, ex VK7KPC achieved a third place in the VK Shires Contest held in June this year. It was in the Single Operator 10 Watt All Mode section. This may have been the last of his VK7 place getting for Tasmania as Peter is now officially VK5KDO. However NTARC will still claim his certificates in the club members “Brag Folder”. Well done Peter, we shall await your next certificate as a VK5.
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.
Club Room Technical night - The next session will be on Wednesday the 3rd of September and will commence at the usual time of 6.30 pm at the Club Room Archer Street, Rocherlea.
Special Club Room night session- Wednesday the 10th. September, live stream of REAST “How to use your NanoVNA”, doors open at 7:00 pm.
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
