Inspired by Graeme, VK3CDO's inspiring talk about field operation equipment, Peter, VK3TPM joined him for an activity at Mount Macedon on Sunday. The weather was perfect for a day out. We both brought our folding chairs and tables. Peter brought a tent in case the weather turned. Graeme used a very nice MA-12 vertical antenna which was easy to set up and worked well. Peter strung up an end fed but had problems tuning it to either 40 or 20m. Graeme operated a low cost, uSDX QRP radio w...

Barrie, VK3AXK, is looking to downsize his shack and has beautifully built and lovingly restored equipment including a built Drew Diamond AM transmitter and a Drake 2-B receiver. The receiver is fully restored with crystals for the 30, 17m and two short wave bands. The 100Kc xtal calibrator is also fitted.He has full history including photo's, documents and original manual of the receiver. Also more than a hundred pictures of the radio restoration and the transmitter build. Barrie kindly...

At the March meeting of the club at Woodend we had an excellent presentation by Graeme, VK3CDO, who showed a substantial collection of tried and proven gear for field operations. From military grade hoochie, to chairs, tables, stoves, insulated water bottles, portable antennas (both vertical and wire dipoles). Graeme gave some excellent tips on economically re-filling gas bottles, handy containers including ammunition boxes and low cost waterproof cases, a recommended snake bit kit and h...

The Yarra Valley Hamfest was well attended and had plenty of good gear available for purchase (and some for free). As well as looking at all the radios, components and books it was great to catch up old friends from around the hobby.

This week a home made double sideband transmitter by VK3TPM, joined the weekly net. Reports were that the station was strong, very clear but also very wide. The audio bandwidth extends up to about 10KHz (an audio low pass filter is under consideration). The simple transmitter is based on circuits published by VK3YE and VK3XU. The mic amp and mixer was from VK3YE. The three stage power chain is based on one described in Drew Diamond's first book. Other components include a terminat...

Today's meeting at Woodend was an auction of equipment donated from a deceased estate. Now that Joe, VK3MAB, has cast of the shackles of employment he has clearly started a new career as a professional auctioneer. The auction was well attended and fair prices were paid for some very nice gear. There were also some bargains to be had. Treasurer Barry said he missed Lindsay, VK3GX, who was a feature of our last auction.

The Ballarat Hamfest attracted a small but dedicated set of members of the Macedon club. The car park was full and it wasn't hard to spot the ham radio enthusiasts. The day was very warm and quite windy. I picked up a book and some useful components but equipment prices were a little high for me. All up it was an entertaining day and wonderful to catch up with friends for a chat and a sausage on bread. Congratulations to the organisers for a very smooth event.

Absolutely perfect weather for the well attended annual club family picnic day on Mount Macedon. A great turnout, wonderful, friendly conversation and we're already looking forward to next year's event. Thanks to VK3NE for arriving early and holding our prime position.

This week's club meeting was our traditional social event featuring a quiz from Quizmaster Joe who put a wide variety of question to the competing table. Topics included physics, computing, art, geography and astronomy. Once again, the ladies table won hands down. Table 6 was more puzzled than most. This year we had a BBQ which was a great success. This year's event was the best turnout in living memory.

At this month's meeting at Woodend we were honoured to have a presentation from popular ABC TV weather presenter, Paul Higgins, VK3EN. Paul took us on a journey through the history of weather prediction in Australia. The technology used to predict the weather and portray it graphically has changed dramatically over the time Paul has been involved. Starting with simple maps with velcro'd temperature in the days of standard definition TVs through to the era of computer graphics with the...