REAST hosted a Fox Hunt day on Saturday 6th August 2022.

Even though the weather was a little bleak there were 10 hardy fox hunters who come along.

Fox hunters gathered for a quick briefing before setting off into the bushland of the Queen’s Domain to find the QRP Fox on 2m outputting 15mW.

This was a good training exercise to get fox hunters used to using their directional tape measure yagis and attenuators as they got closer to the fox.

The QRP Fox was eventually found and then the QRP Fox magically disappeared to another location that was in plain sight!

This was behind a metal sign so the signal was somewhat reflected and a little confusing to locate.

Prizes were given for those who found the QRP Fox over the two exercises.

Fox hunters then had a briefing on the DX Fox that had been hidden somewhere in greater Hobart.

This fox was built by Hayden VK7HH and uses a Baofeng handheld putting out 1W driven by an Arduino controller.

Fox Hunters took off in their cars and had been given an hour before hints would be given via Repeater 2.

The BBQ was started so there was hot food for when the fox hunters returned!

One hour came around and the hint of “Eastern Shore” was the hint. Then a little while after that another hint was transmitted being “Kangaroo”.

A final hint was given which was “Kangaroo Bluff” and there were some Fox Hunters who were already at the Kangaroo Bluff Historic Site and locating the fox.

With the DX Fox found everyone came back to the Queen’s Domain for the prize giving ceremony with some great prizes supplied by Hayden VK7HH from Ham Radio DX, thanks Hayden.

The Ham Radio DX video on the day can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeiccuuExOY

We then gathered to consume a yummy hot BBQ lunch thanks to Tony VK7VKT’s culinary skills on the hotplate.

Congratulations to all who won prizes and thanks to Ham Radio DX for sponsoring the DX Fox Hunt prizes.

Planning has commenced for the next one and the ALARAMeet Fox Hunt in November 2023.

Ron Cullen (Callsign TBA) took some “hatcam” videos of the fox hunts that are available at the following links, thanks Ron.

November Presentation

We have been fortunate to be able to secure a presentation from Paul Daniels VK0PD / VK2PAD who gave us an illustrated talk on his experience spending the winter at the Australian Antarctic Division Casey station. Paul started with some background on his interest in radio and Antarctica.

Paul did a site survey once down at Casey and the RF noise was not good but found a location for the antennas and operated from the Hobby Shack. Paul took a IC-7300, an IC-705 and HLA-305 PA and ATX converted SMPSU. Paul built a foot switch from workshop rubbish and showed his operating position in the hobby hut.

Paul showed the weather forecasts in Antarctica and the snow storms/blizzards engulfing and breaking the antenna regularly. It emphasised that there are relentless wind and blizzard conditions that saps your enthusiasm over time.

As the building services supervisor he visited the past radio antenna installation however all the V beams were broken and tower installation was condemned.

He outlined some fun stuff they get up to namely a sauna for 25m then into an ice bath for about 10m – yeah right!

Paul outlined an engineering job he undertook to improve safety and there is constant maintenance that is required to combat the relentless weather and this included some RF engineering work on the tandem delta with the comms tech.

Paul played a video of the first plane coming in along with the fog and it couldn’t land! But then an RAAF C-17A came into the next day and Paul got to come back on a nice big RAAF transport plane – nice!

Paul then took questions.

Do you realise that a job in Australia takes three to ten times longer in Antarctica!

Paul talked about operating radio and the polar flutter and outlined that he was operating radio down there not to make quick contacts but to operate radio and have conversations.

Paul described the size limits for the hardware that you can take down to Antarctica and the need to take down things to keep you busy.

Paul answered some late questions about heading south to work for the AAD and the opportunities that working for the AAD present. He finished with the comment that the AAD is a very supportive organisation to work for.

A huge thank you to Paul for this presentation and to Hayden for liaising with Paul.

There is a recording that is available from the REAST YouTube channel.

73, REAST Committee

Opportunity for Amateur Radio operators to become involved

Being an experienced amateur radio operator gives you some unique experiences, knowledge and skills. Ranging from operating computers & computer control, to integration and interfacing, through to knowing and applying radio transmission theory, radio frequency measurement, design and construction; it is an end-end skill set that is highly valued in many technical circles. 

These are skills that are very valuable to a Community Radio station.

There are over 450 Community Radio stations operating around Australia, including 14 in Tasmania. Most operate through volunteer presenters and technical assistants who give their time and knowledge as a community service to enhance and reflect the diversity within our community. For more information take a look the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) website

https://www.cbaa.org.au/.

Are you interested in taking your hobby of amateur radio to a new level and assisting Community Radio stations in a technical capacity? Contributing your skills, knowledge and experience to assisting organisations that are providing an important service to the community.

Keeping a Community Radio station on the air 24/7/365 is not a small undertaking and involves many different roles and responsibilities. On the technical side there is much computer based work like scheduling audio playout on automation systems, establishing and maintaining computer networks, and building and imaging PCs. It also involves audio, computer and communications interfacing and integration, equipment maintenance and occasionally high power radio frequency engineering work.

Technorama is a national support organisation assisting Community Radio technical volunteers. They run training programs and provide other services and their website is worth a look.

https://technorama.org.au/

If you are interested or just curious then we suggest you get in contact with Jim Parish on email – parish_tas@bigpond.com for more information.

73, REAST, Committee

From the REAST Repeater coordinator we hear an update about the R2 linking.

Please note the new permanent link arrangements between the Domain and Mt Nelson repeaters. VK7RAD 2m repeater on 146.7 is now permanently linked to VK7RDS 70cm repeater on Mt Nelson. 

VK7RDS operates on 439.750MHz with a minus -7MHz input (note the new input frequency of 432.750MHz). No tone is required, however a 141.3Hz tone output is provided for those wanting to mute the tail and ident. 

The VK7RDS repeater provides good coverage over greater Hobart and down to the Kingborough and Channel areas. VK7RDS operates at 50w into a Diamond X-50 vertical, with a permanent 2m gateway to the Domain. We are hopeful this will increase coverage to those that struggle with the Domain. 

For those previously using VK7RDS to monitor 23cms, can now find this temporarily on the Snug Tiers 146.850 repeater courtesy of Brian VK7BW.

Feedback and reports are welcomed.

73, Damien, VK7SD

REAST Repeater Coordinator.

Reg VK7KK and Justin VK7TW – our REAST assessors are proud to announce the release of ten YouTube videos that follow the Foundation Licence Syllabus (Version 10).

These videos were recorded in November 2020 at a REAST Foundation Licence training and assessment day.

They use the slide packs that were developed by Justin and Reg for REAST Foundation Licence Training.

These video are not meant to replace the bimonthly face-to-face sessions however, they provide relevant material covering each area of the syllabus that would assist prospective candidates with training information in a self-paced format.  

Video titles are:

1. Introduction
2. Nature of Amateur Radio
3. Licence Conditions
4. Technical Basics
5. Transmitters & Receivers
6. Transmission Lines & Antennas
7. Propagation
8. Interference
9. Safety
10. Practical

It is recommended that you view these videos along with The Foundation Manual – Your Entry Into Amateur Radio. This manual is produced by the Wireless Institute of Australia and available online (WIA – Foundation Manual) and is available in Hobart (thanks to Clayton VK7ZCR) from the Caltex Service Station – corner of Main Road and Amy St in Moonah, Tasmania for $40 cash.

The WIA also provides an online Foundation Licence assessment tool.

The Foundation Licence Training Playlist can be found in the REAST YouTube Channel.

Enjoy

73, Justin, VK7TW and Reg VK7KK