IC-7300Mk2, IC-7760, ID-5200A preview & the Hourglass Loop Antenna

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A terrific presentation from Icom business Development manager Dan Hill. The new IC-7300Mk2 was covered in great detail with a demonstration unit on hand. The original IC-7300 has sold in excess of 100,000 units and the new version has some important improvements in both performance and connectivity. An IC-7760 was shown and demonstrated receiving an IQ recording of a 40m band during a contest. David, VK3KR, showed a new home brew portable antenna for 2m described in QST i...
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Special Icom presentation – Meeting at Woodend Saturday 21st March 10am

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Our next meeting at the Woodend RSL on Saturday 21st of March will feature Dan Hill from Icom who will show and discuss the IC-7760 and IC-7300 Mk2. Dan is a Business Development Manager at Icom Australia. He has a fascinating background in commercial radio with experience on both sides of the microphone including both technical and music direction roles. The IC-7300 is the top selling amateur radio probably of all time. This update will be of great interest to anyone who has the ...
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SDR Overview, Meshcore & AI coding for ham radio

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A well-attended and engaging meeting today at Woodend. Joe, VK3MAB, gave a detailed overview of the state of the art in low cost SDR reception. He showed a variety of client software including SDR#, SDR++, and many others. Excellent HF recordings were played as well as DMR recordings of airport workers who can be heard from Joe's place. He demonstrated reception of 433MHz devices including a garage door remote. A UHF FM transmitter was demodulated. A fascinating a wide-ranging pr...
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Meeting at Woodend RSL, Saturday 21 February

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Hello everyone, This Saturday is the next club meeting from 10am at the Woodend RSL. A mix of short form topics are planned: Joe will talk about SDR receivers Graeme & Peter & Richard will show off Meshcore Peter will talk about the FreeDV C port done by his friend Claude (code) Also, I think we'll hold a brief special general meeting to confirm changes to the committee positions. Regards,Peter, VK3TPM,Acting Secretary, MRARC.
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Good turnout at Gisborne coffee morning

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A good turnout and a lovely day for the coffee morning at Gisborne. Due to extreme fire conditions we weren't able to access our normal venue of the CFA building. Ron had the bright idea of simply dropping the name of John, VK3JCB at the near-by SES and that got us in the door there. Very kind of them. We had an animated discussion, solving world problems as always. Peter, VK3TPM, brought a new (to him) Xiegu X6200 radio which seems like an excellent portable radio with built-in ba...
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Coffee Morning at Gisborne CFA on Wednesday Feb 4

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Hi Everybody, This Wednesday is the MRARC coffee morning at the Gisborne CFA meeting room. Time:  10am,Venue: Gisborne CFA meeting room cnr of Goode and Robertson Street, Gisborne..Enter via front door in Robertson Street. Note: It's possible that we won't be able to use the CFA due to fire fighting activity. If that's the case please go to the cafe where we normally have lunch (sorry I can't remember the name of it). All welcome to meet and lunch afterward at one of the local ...
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MRARC at Ballarat Hamfest 2026

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Well guess what? The tour force of MRARC attended the fest. JoeVK3MAB, BarryVK3BRT, JohnVK3JCB, Ron VK3ZJ, PeterVK3 PRC, PeterVK3RV, Peter B, JohnVK3IC, EricVK3ED, CraigVK3CDN, Geoff VK3MGM. The day started with breakfast at the Big M at Ballan. The second wave arrive at the ham fest at 10.00am. Crew assemble ready to hunt for the best deals and buying what was on offer at the various tables. Everyone did at least three rounds around the tables looking for that elusive bargain. Lot...
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Radio Active Picnic Day

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After all the recent fires and flooding rains around the state it was a perfect day for the club's annual picnic day at Days Picnic Area on Lions Head Road, Hesket. The turnout was excellent with many members, including some who often don't make it to meetings. What was particularly striking was all the radio gear and antennas that were set up. There were end feds, squid poles, ground mounted verticals and even a loop antenna. Unfortunately band conditions where not terribly good but a f...
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