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| Updated 2009-03-09 |
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Would you like to get to the
Dural events,
but need to use
Public Transport
or just not quite sure how to find us then check out the details HERE |
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Birthday week 2009 - WIA
(NSW Division) trading as ARNSW This week the NSW Division moves into its 99th year. It was on about the 10th of March in 1910 when a gathering of frustrated experimenters met in Sydney at the Hotel Australia to form an Institute to take on the 'authorities' who were not being helpful to those early experimenters. They apparently had a couple of gripes - one was the delay in granting permission by way of a license and the other was the cost of the license - One Pound - . From that meeting grew a Wireless Institute, later to include New South Wales Division in its name when other States formed their own Divisions. The following year - 1911 - Victoria formed a Division of the 'Institute' and in time so did all the other States. The organization has continued and today - as the WIA - has the honour of being the world's oldest national Amateur Radio society. It is two years ahead of the British RSGB and four ahead of the American ARRL national societies. Today the NSW Division has a trading name - Amateur Radio New South Wales - adopted after the change from State based to national membership which the WIA provides as a single country wide function. ARNSW - in a club format - provides State wide membership facilities. Both the former NSW and Victorian Divisions are registered Companies. Other States did not have a Company structure and they operated as associations or organisations. From now on its - in countdown mode - of less than a year to the centenary of the world oldest Amateur Radio Society.
Above is an exerpt from the 8th March 2009 VK2WI
broadcast |
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ARNSW DX expedition. For those interested in DX expeditions and who are current members of ARNSW. We are looking at staging a number of DX trips across Australia over the next 18 months with the intention of setting up HF radio sites over long weekends and a long trip with a four week traveling expedition to a number of destinations as part of the 100 year celebration of WIA (NSW Division). If you want to be part of an expedition or a support site or can assist in some other way please get in touch. These trips will need a team of dedicated people if they are to be successful. If you are an F call, a Full call or somewhere in between then this is the chance of a lifetime. We can’t do it without help so we would be interested to hear from anyone who would like to participate. If you would like to be part of fun then call Beth VK2AO on 0413155531. Advised by Beth Langley VK2AO, Vice President ARNSW
Editors Note. You recently helped us celebrate 50 years
at our Dural site, help us now celebrate the 100 years since our
organisation, the original WIA was formed in 1910. We were renamed WIA
(NSW Division) some years ago when the other state based organizations and
the original Federal Division were formed. We currently trade as and are
generally known as Amateur Radio New South Wales (ARNSW) as a result of
the re-organisation of the state and national structure of Australian
amateur radio clubs and organizations which occurred in 2001. We are still
one of the largest amateur radio organizations in Australia, actively
supporting amateur operators and clubs, especially in those in NSW. Our
station at Dural, owned and operated by WIA(NSW Division), must be one of
the longest running such facilities in Australia. Current updates to
the equipment and antennas will make it "second to none" in the amateur
world. |
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Update - Trash and Treasure event
at Dural on 27th July 2008
Despite the overcast weather we had a good attendance at our Trash and
Treasure event, numerous Boot Sales and Give-away locations also sprung
up. Thanks to Mark VK2XOF for a well run event, it is truly amazing where
all the "stuff" comes from as there is always something of interest. Guys
rumaging around in boxes of valve gear and parts, old rack mounted gear
for scavanging parts out of. This month lots of early electronics
magazines, along with pre-loved test gear. A table of very nice Ham Gear
including some microwave receivers. |
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Update - Trash and Treasure event
at Dural on 25th May 2008
Early in the morning it was cold and the sky very overcast, it looked like
it would be a bit wild up at Dural, but by 9am it had started to clear up
and in fact became a beautiful sunny autumn's day. |
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ARNSW Conference of Clubs and
Mini Field Day at Dural on 25th November 2007
Planning for the Field Day is now
taking shape, we will have a tent (donated by Tim VK2ZTM) for the club
displays, a number of small fete tents for our entrance and raffle
tickets, the hot-dog stand run by Beth VK2AO and the BBQ run by Brian
VK2WBK and/or volunteers. We will bunch a couple of these tents together
for our trade exhibitor. Tables and chairs will be supplied by ARNSW as
before, with plenty of extra chairs for visitors to relax on. Cold drinks
available at the food stalls at "friend of the family" prices. Tim VK2ZTM
will run his usual complimentary tea/coffee and nibbles in the shack along
with guided tours of the shack and operator areas. He (hopefully with some
help) will also handle sales of Foundation License Manuals and Callbooks,
we should have stocks of the new 2008 edition by then. We will also have
some older editions available at a discount price for you cost conscious
people. |
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ARNSW now has a new service from
Sunday 1st July at the VK2WI Dural Site.
Today a new frequency has been added
to the VK2WI news line up. It is intended to provide a signal source for
the morning manual relay stations, currently having difficulties with 80
and 40 metres, used by them for rebroadcast. |
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ARNSW held a very successful mini Field Day on Sunday 27th May at the VK2WI Dural Site.
Thank you to all the members and
visitors who helped us celebrate 50 years of transmissions from our VK2WI
facility at Dural last Sunday. Also thanks to the distributors,
organizations and clubs for their exhibits which made the day very
interesting. |
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ARNSW to hold mini Field Day on Sunday 27th May at the VK2WI Dural Site. Our broadcast facility VK2WI turns 50 early in May, to celebrate this event we will extend our Trash and Treasure day at the end of May to include this event. ARNSW extends an invitation to the Amateur Radio community to help us celebrate a half-century of VK2WI broadcasts. So on Sunday 27th May 2007 we will hold a Mini-Field Day at 63 Quarry Rd Dural, our VK2WI broadcast facility. While this certainly won't be another "Wyong" it will be more along the lines of a Coffs Harbour or Westlakes Field day. We are already organizing Commercial exhibitors, there will of course be our Trash and Treasure Sale along with the Homebrew Group meeting in the afternoon. Amateur Radio clubs and organizations are also invited to set up displays relating to their club and any of its special interests such as ATV, microwave or DX. A special invitation to clubs or individuals to set up a display of historic, homebrew or restored radio equipment, these displays could also form part of the Homebrew Group meeting in the afternoon as well, we also welcome anyone wishing to present a technical discussion or demonstration. For all of you with pre-loved "stuff" for sale, plenty of room for car boot sales. We will be setting up a large marquee tent to provide cover regardless of the weather conditions. Tables and chairs will also be provided for exhibitors and visitors along with free lunch and cold drinks on the day to all. As usual tea/coffee and biscuits will be provided by our friendly broadcast staff in the VK2WI shack. As we are still developing the site, the facilities are rather basic at this time, we will provide extra toilet facilities for the comfort of our visitors. Plenty of parking on site or along Quarry Rd itself. Our itinerary for the day is presently,10:30 AM start of trade and club exhibits along with the Trash and Treasure and car boot sales, between midday and 1PM a free lunch and cold drinks (tea and coffee in the shack) followed by the ceremony at the VK2WI shack. Around 2PM the Homebrew Technical Meeting will start and run to about 4PM. The actual number of tents, tables, chairs, food, toilets etc will depend on your response to our invitation. Organizations, clubs and individuals wishing to set up displays should note the cut-off date of Thursday 10th May, finance for the event will be arranged at our Council meeting the next day and orders placed for the necessary equipment the following Monday. The tents and tables will actually be setup on the Saturday so if exhibitors, especially from the country would like to set up or drop off stuff the day before the event, then "sleep over" the Saturday night, they can also stay the Sunday night as well because the tents won't be dismantled till the Monday morning. Dinner will be provided on both evenings to those "sleeping over". Sorry, as mentioned the facilities are still rather basic on site so bring your own gear, though you can sleep in the tents if you wish. Come along, all are welcome, help us celebrate the special day. We are hoping this will be the start of regular Field days at Dural. These events will compliment those held by other NSW clubs far and wide. So that we can get some idea of the numbers attending the event please let us know via the callbacks if you can attend. Exhibitors and clubs or individuals wishing to set up displays, car boot sales or attend the event please contact our office via the details mentioned later in the broadcast. Regards Brian VK2TOX Secretary ARNSW. |
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ARNSW held their latest Trash-n-Treasure
meeting on Sunday 25th March at the VK2WI Dural Site. The skies d  arkened
and it strted raini ng
fairly early so Mark VK2XOF and his team set up some extra cover in front
of the storage shed. Thankfully, Mike VK2KMB also brought along the
makings of a "hoochie" for the picnic table as well. As
you might have guessed as soon as all this was setup, it stopped raining,
at least for a while. Due to a multitude of contributions over the past
few weeks we had plenty of "stuff" looking for new homes. A couple of
members brought aar and trailer loads of "stuff" too and setup much to the
delight of all there. One guy even spread out a tarp covered with stuff
for FREE!!, not much of that went back home.On the left is the FREE !!stuff on the tarp and then John VK2ASU and TED VK2BTF pondering over why John's Antenna Analyser kit works and Ted's does not. Think they will possibly follow that up at the next Homebrew Parramatta meeting. |
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ARNSW will be holding their next Trash-n-Treasure
meeting on Sunday 25th March starting at around
11am, followed by the Homebrew Group meeting after lunch.
Both events at the
Dural transmitting site -
63 Quarry Rd Dural. |
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ARNSW will be holding their next Trash-n-Treasure
meeting on Sunday 28th January starting at around
11am, followed by the Homebrew Group meeting after lunch. |
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ARNSW Trash and Treasure event at Dural on 24th September, 2006 The Trash and Treasure got off to a good start with a big pile of pre-loved communications equipment, modems and power supplies. which was donated to us by a large communications company. Buyers were advised no reasonable price refused and that the majority of it had to go before we opened the doors to the normal Trash and Treasure supplies. The large crowd attending happily complied and the pile disappeared quite rapidly, a small sedan was seen to struggle away from the site with not one but four 19” full size racks in or on it, hope it got home ok. We then opened the shed and buyers rummaged amongst the modules, parts and partially dismantled equipment, most seemed to find something useful. Meantime visitors checked out the Transmitter building and availed themselves of the free tea/coffee and nibblies laid out by Tim VK2ZTM. Close to midday Brian VK2TOX got his sausage-ina-roll , salads and cool drinks ready for the hungry visitors. It was quite hot and windy on site but cooled down a bit towards the afternoon. For those who availed themselves of our new transport arrangements to the Dural site, we hope it worked for you and look forward to seeing you at our next Dural meeting.
ARNSW will be holding their next Trash-n-Treasure
meeting on Sunday 24th September starting at around
11am, followed by the Homebrew Group meeting after lunch. Both events at the
Dural transmitting site
Along with our Disposals sales from the “shed” there are usually some car
boot or trailer sales of pre-loved stuff. Plenty of good stuff to bargain
for. Check out the Radio Room and listen to the broadcast in progress. Free
coffee and Tea in the shack. Best of all meet up with and chat to a lot of
the operators you hear on air. Ian VK2ZIO is usually there from the
Kurrajong Radio Museum with something special to display. Then for lunch our
usual sausage-ina-roll BBQ with cold drinks for a “friend of the family
price”, is the place to go. We are always on the lookout for equipment and parts for our disposal sales. If you have any old gear lying around at home, the office or factory that you think may be of interest to Hams to scavenge for parts for their projects, then please bring it along and we will be happy to re-cycle it for you. Parts and old gear are usually accepted as donations to our disposal sales, however you can turn collectable or newer used Ham equipment into ready cash by contacting our Disposals Officer at the office or by email. We have three or four “ by tender ” Disposal sales a year at which we can sell this gear. Larger gear or quantities of equipment can be picked up by our disposals officers by arrangement. A small commission on the sales helps finance the ARNSW member services. These pick ups particularly apply to Hams or Experimenters who are either deceased or no longer able to participate in this hobby. Don’t send the stuff to the tip or let it sit there going to waste, let us re-cycle it for you. This also helps to ensure that Ham gear continues to be used by Licenced Operators. All the above obviously applies in general to the Sydney area bounded by say Newcastle, Katoomba and Wollongong. Outside this area contact us anyway and we will happily put you in touch with a Club in your area that can dispose of the equipment or parts for you. |
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ARNSW Radio Veterans
Group meeting September 21st, 2006 Some feedback
to the office, or during the callbacks, would be much appreciated. |
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Some feedback
to the office, or during the callbacks, would be much appreciated. |
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was a great success with lots of regular and some new faces attending. Got off to a good start around 10:30 for the Dural “stuff” and a little later for a couple of guys with trailers full of gear looking for a good home. Everything from microwave modules to ex-PC power supplies. We do have a couple of large dishes looking for a good home. After the initial frenzy a final swing through the shed and the trailers just to make sure you did not miss that important bit, check out the pile of ex PC monitors and cases, then a break for lunch. Judging by the consumption of the sausage-ina-roll and drinks the BBQ was well appreciated, as was the complimentary coffee, tea, biscuits and cheese pieces available in the radio shack. Wouldn’t want anyone to go hungry. Afterwards a well attended Homebrew meeting which we will report on later in this bulletin. By the way, a couple
of weeks before the next Trash and Treasure listen to this broadcast for
details on getting to Dural by public transport, along with our arrangements
to pick you up from the bus stop and get you home again. This arrangement
was prompted by a suggestion from Steven Pall VK2PS. |
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Reports that the June meeting was very interesting. Ric Havyatt VK2PH showed his collection of Morse keys and another member who had recently returned from overseas showed photos via his laptop of various amateur stations in the UK and also of historic airplanes. At the July meeting, Ric VK2PH showed a collection of crystal detectors. The Group now has its
regular meetings on the third Thursday of the month at the :
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ARNSW Groups and Events
