Don’t throw out those bread bag clips

Posted on July 1, 2023 by Editor

An idea pinched from Richard, VK3LRJ, to identify coax cables when you have multiple antennas. The little tags that hold bread bags closed can be clipped on to RG58 coax and used to label the antenna. Do you have a brilliant tip that others haven't thought of? Let us know!

Coffee at Gisborne 5th July

Posted on June 21, 2023July 5, 2023 by Editor

The next in-person event is the coffee morning at the Gisborne CFA. 10am on Wednesday 5th July. The July meeting will be a buy and sell meeting combined with a show and tell session. Bring along any items you have for sale.Bring along the latest project you have been working on or your latest purchase you think other club members will be interested in. While Joe was quite impressed with VK3TPM's coil winding, others were critical of the performance of the filter. Dates to remember:2...

QRP on the club 80m net with tiny transceiver

Posted on June 21, 2023June 21, 2023 by Editor

In the city 80m is a very noisy band but here in regional Victoria the situation is much better. The club's regular Wednesday night 80m net on 3685kHz attracts a good group of stations mostly running 100W or perhaps more. Signals are generally very good (except when our wires come down due to strong wind or bird attack). At the start of February I saw and ordered an amazingly small 10 band 5W transceiver from QRPver called the Minion. I am sympathetic to the wartime disruption in Ukraine but...

Meeting report: Metalwork and a visit from the WIA

Posted on June 18, 2023June 18, 2023 by Editor

The June club meeting at Woodend was very well attended. Ralph, VK3ZZC, gave a passionate presentation on successful metalwork for the radio amateur. He gave tips on improving precision and showed a great collection of tools he uses including many he's made himself. Ralph made the case that a precision of +- 0.1mm is required for even amateur construction if nuts and bolts are to be used effectively. He talked about only drilling after "bluing" the metal surface, marking with a scribe an...

Meeting at Woodend, Saturday 17th June

Posted on June 13, 2023 by Editor

Metal work for the Australian Radio Amateur – Upcoming talk by VK3ZZC At the next club meeting at 10am, Saturday, June 17, we are delighted to welcome prolific home brew builder Ralph, VK3ZZC who will share lessons from his long experience of metalworking at home. If you have the urge to construct your own ham equipment then at some stage you will be required to perform some simple metalworking operations. In the old days this activity was&nbsp...

Coffee Morning, 7 June, Gisborne

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Editor

Hi Everyone, This Wednesday is the coffee morning at the Gisborne CFA meeting room. Time: 1000 Hrs.Venue: CFA meeting room, Cnr of Robertson and Goode Street, Gisborne. Some members may have lunch afterwards at one of the Gisborne cafes. All welcome. Don't forget the Wednesday club nets, 8 pm on the Mt Macedon repeater: 147.250 and 8:30pm on 80M:3.685MHz. Regards,Graeme McDiarmid VK3NE,Secretary, MRARC.

Metal work for the Australian Radio Amateur – Upcoming talk by VK3ZZC

Posted on June 1, 2023June 1, 2023 by Editor

At the next club meeting at 10am, Saturday, June 17, we are delighted to welcome prolific home brew builder Ralph, VK3ZZC who will share lessons from his long experience of metalworking at home. If you have the urge to construct your own ham equipment then at some stage you will be required to perform some simple metalworking operations. In the old days this activity was called "chassis bashing" when all things radio were mounted on an aluminium or tin plate steel chassis. Making the lar...

Inside the palace with Ross Gairn

Posted on May 11, 2023May 24, 2023 by Editor

Ross Gairn with The Queen Saturday's MRARC meeting was a memorable one as we had a guest speaker, Ross Gairn, who worked in the Royal Household. You might well ask how does an Aussie get to work for the Queen? Ross explained the rigorous interview process. In light of the recent coronation celebrations in London, with the precision timing, immaculately attired participants and amazing procedures, our speaker gave us his account of the years he worked for both the late Queen and Prince Phi...

Coffee morning Wed May 3, 10am

Posted on May 1, 2023May 1, 2023 by Editor

Hi Everybody, Next Wednesday is the club coffee morning. Tim: 10amVenue: Gisborne CFA meeting room. All are invited to lunch at one of the nearby cafes afterwards. Regards,Graeme VK3NE.

Timing systems for car and horse racing

Posted on April 15, 2023April 15, 2023 by Editor

At this month's meeting, Barry Theodore, VK3BRT, gave a fascinating talk about his experiences building systems to automatically time laps of cars in races and also horse races. As a young teenager, Barry used to enjoy going to car races. Later, when he was working with computers, and watching drag racing at Calder, the race stopped due to computer problems. This led to an opportunity to help with the timing system and the start of a long association with this sort of technology. Cars...