A well attended auction of mostly donated equipment was held at this month's meeting. A wide variety of gear was on sale, ranging from modern transceivers to what can only be described as "collector's items". Peter, VK3RV, did an excellent job as auctioneer. VK3RV explaining the value of an antenna switch with "UHF" connectors assisted by VK3NE While most items sold quickly and at good value prices, some items were passed in and there were negotiations to take place. VK3GX in t...

This Sunday the Ballarat Radio Fest returned and was bigger than ever. Lots of gear was on sale and prices seemed quite reasonable. Beautiful older equipment was also on offer. Many components and connectors were available. Warm congratulations to the organisers for a very professionally run day. We think that at least nine Macedon Ranges Amateur Radio club members were present and took away gifts presumably for Valentine's day (that's right isn't it?).

Beautiful weather for a well attended club family day. Starting at 10am and extending into the afternoon, members, partners and friends enjoyed a very friendly outing where we chatted and mingled in a lovely environment. Despite recent cool weather, the sun was intense and some of us chased the shade from nearby trees (which would make fine supports for antennas). It was great to meet some of the women in our lives and new member Richard, VK3LRJ, met people he's only ever talked t...

Tonight's regular 80m club net was good with strong signals but quite a bit of electrical storm noise. At the end of the net, VK3TPM suggested we try switching to FM. Most of us had never tried FM on HF and we were pleasantly surprised at how good it can sound. There were some problems with, what we thought, was over deviating. Dave, VK3ASE, had joined the net and he's done extensive experiments with FM on HF. Dave explained that what might sound like over deviation can in fact be noise or p...