ACMA in Town! No, we weren’t in trouble, the club’s committee decided to invite a representative from ACMA to address a meeting and tell us the regulatory story from “their side of the fence”. Some publicity had been given to a clamp-down on some low quality equipment (including amateur) entering Australia, which was causing some unwanted interference. Mobile Phone Jammers However, the main jaw dropping part of the presentation was what we were told about illegal hand held units...

During September 2011, MRARC members were made welcome at the newly constructed CFA Gisborne Incident Control Centre located in one of the few multi-story commercial buildings in the town. The ICC is a management facility for fighting large fires within the CFA Region and is a separate operation to that of the local Gisborne CFA Brigade which is located some streets away. Main Operation Area Our tour leader Ian, provided an interesting explanation as to how large fires are managed and ...

It was a cold drizzly day but 20 members and 2 visitors attended and enjoyed a warm venue. Result of the elections: Office bearers: President Joe and Secretary Graeme start the AGM President, Joe VK3MABV/President, Graeme VK3CDOSecretary, Graeme VK3NETreasurer, Barry VK3BRT Ordinary committee members:Peter VK3PRCPeter VK3TPM (Webmaster)Hugo VK3HUGStephen VK3QD(Stephen has since resigned from the committee for personal reasons. We thank Stephen for his previous 3 years on committe...

Club member Peter, VK3TPM, has just received a new SDR radio with a Raspberry Pi as the brains of the box. There will be a presentation about it at the next meeting but, in classic YouTube tradition, here's an unboxing video and a first contact. https://youtu.be/YU5kGLm2_Yg More info on this interesting new radio here.

In the afternoons and evenings, listen out for a new shortwave broadcast station calling itself "Shortwave Australia". Transmitting from a site north of Bendigo, the station can be heard on 2310khz and 4835khz. 4835kHz Good reception here at Drummond, particularly on 4835. Chief Engineer, Dave, notes that reception is quite variable and often 4835 dies at dusk when 2310 might be better. Good reception is often available via the excellent KiwiSDR at Ironstone Range in South Australia...

Graeme VK3NE. From the archives: At the April 2011 meeting, Joe VK3GFA and Graeme VK3NE discussed and answered questions about construction techniques for both VHF and HF antennas. They displayed a range of examples. Some of members present, were aware of the so called “Plumbers Delight” construction, which made use of soldered copper water pipe to make VHF aerials. Joe took this approach one step further and demonstrated his “Electrician’s Delight” which made use of plastic electrical co...

From the archive: At the December 2018 meeting our club President Joe VK3MAB, presented a copy of the Wireless Men and Women at War book to Peter Whitelaw, President of the Woodend RSL who respectfully and gratefully, accepted the book on behalf of the RSL. Joe VK3MAB & Peter Whitelaw. Photo: Pam VK3NK This book was published by the WIA at the time of the ANZAC Centenary and in recognition of the many amateur radio operators who volunteered their services during the World Wars and oth...

The QDX v3 kit arrived yesterday and today I've finished the build. QDX This transceiver is tiny, about the size of a playing card deck. It does FSK modes on four bands: 80, 40, 30 & 20m. Five watt output and a great receiver from what I can see so far. The QDX connects to a computer with a single USB cable that comes up as a sound card and does TS-440 compatible CAT control - so very convenient for possible field use. It can be built for 9 or 12V operation - I went wi...