Given the recent advice from the Australian Government and Health Authorities about indoor events need 4 square metres per person, the committee has taken the regretful step of closing the clubrooms until further notice.
This affects the Wednesday afternoon group and the DATV Experimenter’s Night.
As things develop we will keep members in the loop through regular email and broadcast updates.
(73, REAST Committee)
VK7BEN’s 23cm Station with new Yagi
Participants: VK7’s MO, BEN, MA, WLH, TU, ZBX, OO, DM, HRS, KRJ
A great turnout on 23cm today with 10 participants! Many of the people were using their newly constructed yagi antennas built at the workshop at VK7MO’s last week. There was much interest in comparing signals with the new antennas.
By all reports, everyone has seen definite improvements in the receive and transmit signals, with many commenting on being able to hear people they couldn’t before and reports of the strongest signals from people in many months. VK7TU commented that is may also be due to the heavy rain yesterday causing the hills to be wetter and therefore more reflective of the signals.
From L-R VK7’s OO, BEN, ZBX, HRS and HH with their antennas. Photo: VK7MO
While many people enjoyed southern Tasmania’s Hobart Show public holiday, Rex VK7MO played host to a group of amateurs building antennas for 1296Mhz (23cm).
VK7s OO, BEN, ZBX, HRS and HH all attended from early in the morning to build Yagi’s suitable for 23cm. While most were content to built antennas with 18-21 elements, Richard VK7ZBX set himself a challenge in building a 70 (yes 70) element yagi, with a boom length of 6 metres!
The work is not over though, with building to continue on Saturday.
Over the last couple of months there has been a noticeable degradation of the VK7RAD 2m Analogue FM repeater, with increased noise and crackling on the audio, and people requiring more power to get in to the repeater.
Additionally the club had been loaning a Bushcomm SWC-100S Antenna from VK7FAZE for 3 years, but it’s power limitations for non-SSB transmissions meant it was also time for a more permanent antenna to be procured and the loan returned.
A TET Emtron ED-52c was purchased as a replacement multi-band HF antenna and a Diamond X50N and these were installed last weekend, where it was discovered that the Heliax feed line to the repeater antenna was damaged, and it too has been replaced.
All up, a good 3 hours was completing the necessary maintenance and has been well worth it, with many users of the repeater mentioning the improved quality of the signal and Dave VK7DM is also reporting that where he used to need 40 Watts to get into the repeater with a clean signal, he now needs only 1 Watt!.
Thanks to VK7s SD, ZMS, ZBX, ZCR, FPCL and BEN for their assistance on the day with the maintenance work!
The observant will have noticed that our last post was in November 2018. This certainly doesn’t mean that the club has been shut down since then, there has been a lot going on and we just haven’t had time to update you on the website!
That is now changing, and we will be getting you up to date with all the happenings over the coming weeks!
We’re back! – VK7BEN
Today REAST held a Radio and Electronics car boot sale and BBQ as an opportunity for members to sell some things to raise funds for the upcoming Miena Hamfest as well as being an opportunity to acquire some treasure as well.
It was fantastic to see some 16 sellers on site today, having on offer a huge variety of wares including a variety of vintage/classic radios, some more modern radios (there was an IC-7300 and flex SDR gear on offer), along with a variety of accessories such as components, power supplies, microphones and more. The only thing missing were buyers, with sellers trading between themselves for some part. Some real bargains were missed out on!
The BBQ was a huge success, selling out of all the meat on offer and also raising funds for the Association.
It was clear that based on the activity today that Radio and Electronics Car boot sales may have to become a more regular event to encourage more people to come along.
Thanks to everyone involved in this great day!
On Wednesday, REAST repeater officer Damien Styles VK7SD commissioned the new Yaesu DR-1X digital repeater much to the excitement of the gathering of people at the Wednesday evening experimenters group. While the repeater was purchased some time ago, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that frequencies have been allocated by the ACMA for it’s usage.
The Yaesu DR-1X is capable of both analogue and C4FM digital voice and automatically switching between the two modes. Soon an additional module will be acquired to provide DMR, DSTAR and p25 digital voice capabilities.
This repeater is on air right now, with an output frequency 438.675Mhz with a 7Mhz negative offset for the input on 431.675Mhz.
Our repeater officer would be most interested to hear signal reports from you. If you are able to access the repeater, please let Damian know by emailing repeaterofficer@reast.asn.au!
Wow, Rex Moncur VK7MO gave us a four part illustrated presentation on his 18,000km journey on his recent 10GHz Grid Square chasing EME DxPedition. Rex traveled far and wide into VK3, VK5, VK6 and VK8.
Rex started with a short presentation on the VK6 Northern Corridor Radio Group as he was very impressed with this club and the things they get up to. Rex then moved to a tutorial on EME propagation and then moved to his grid tour and get OK1KIR up to over 100 grid squares on 10GHz EME. These grid squares were from the OH, OG and OF grid fields. There were a few interesting and frustrating things that happened along the way but Rex achieved his goal!
REAST Secretary Scott VK7LXX signs sublease with Barry McCann of TMR
Earlier this week members of the REAST Management Committee met with a representative from Tasmanian Maritime radio to sign a long term lease, securing access to the building for ten years, with an additional ten year option.
The signing of the lease ensures that members will be able to enjoy the clubrooms that have been the home of the WIA Tasmanian Division and then REAST for over 25 years.
Particular thanks goes to Barry McCann who has been instrumental in negotiating and securing the lease with the Hobart City Council and ensuring that the interests of REAST members were maintained.
Dear Members,
We have just been advised that due to planned hazard reduction burn being conducted by the Hobart City Council & Tasmania Fire Service, access will be restricted to the upper domain on Wednesday & Thursday, dependant on weather.
In the interests of general safety and member comfort we wish to advise that the REAST clubrooms will be closed on Wednesday 15th March.
We apologise for the short notice and inconvenience this may cause.
Regards
Ben Short
REAST President