Evening news 17th of January 2010 Good evening listeners, thank you for tuning in. For emergencies the phone number here at the Dural transmitting site is 02 9651 1489. Our office number is 02 9651 1490. This goes to a message bank when the office is unattended. In an emergency, the Secretary of A.R.N.S.W can be contacted direct on mobile 0400 445 829. Annual General Meeting. The Wireless Institute of Australia New South Wales division will hold its Annual General Meeting on Saturday the 17th of April. This will mean agenda items and nominations will close towards the end of February.   As many members have indicated that they would be able to receive the annual report and associated paperwork by email, please ensure that we have your current email address. The same applies to those who have opted to receive a paper copy. Has your postal address changed in recent times? Any corrections can be left on the office phone message bank on 02 9651 1490 or write to P. O. Box 6044 Dural Delivery Centre. NSW 2158. Or via email to office@arnsw.org.au.        Advised by Tim VK2ZTM Hello listeners, We hope that the New Year has started well for you. Been a bit wet and miserable in some locations but rain most gratefully received irrespective of how it comes. This message is to remind you all that the Annual General Meeting is almost upon us. It is time for you to check your membership status so that you are eligible to put forward motions, to be able to second motions or to propose and second anyone who wishes to run for council. Remember, there is a cut-off date prior to the AGM where motions and expressions of interest to run for council. This date will be notified by the existing council some time soon. The meeting will be held on the 17th of April. All reminders to renew for the months of March, April and May will be posted out in March to give you plenty of time to get up to date. If you are in any way unsure as to your status, you can contact the office by phone on 02 9651 1490 or 0400 445 829 – the mobile number will connect you to the secretary who will pass a message onto the membership officer. Alternatively you can send an email to :- ofice@arnsw.org.au and in the subject line insert “Membership Query” and in the body of the text you only need your callsign and name. Do not leave it till the last minute. Remember there is a cut-off date and membership renewal payments will not be taken on the day of the AGM. It is your responsibility to check your status. Submitted by Norm Partridge VK2TOP W.I.A N.S.W Membership Officer Wyong Field Day Dinner. Amateur Radio New South Wales in conjunction with the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club will be holding the 2010 Dinner at the Wyong Bowling Club on Saturday the 27th of February from 6 pm. The cost is 25 dollars per head. There will also be lucky door prizes up for grabs. For more information or to book please contact the Secretary of Amateur Radio NSW on 0400 445 829. If you are attending please send your money to A.R.N.S.W, PO Box 6044, Dural Delivery Centre NSW 2158. There will be an application form on the WEB Pages soon. It is most important that those wishing to attend make a booking, as we need the numbers to advise the club for catering purposes. Help Amateur Radio New South Wales start the 100 years off to good beginning. Advised by Brian Kelly VK2WBK Secretary A.R.N.S.W. Exams at the Wyong Field Day.   A reminder that various grades of exams for Amateur Radio licenses will be available during the Central Coast Club’s Wyong Field Day on Sunday the 28th of February. Those wishing to undertake an exam are requested to register with the Amateur Radio New South Wales exam personnel by calling the office and leaving a message on 02 9651 1490. Or call the Secretary Brian Kelly, direct on mobile 0400 445 829 or write to A.R.N.S.W P. O. Box 6044 Dural Delivery Centre N.S.W 2158. Pre-registration is essential so that the right number of the various exam papers are available on the day.   Advised by Brian Kelly VK2WBK. Wicen N.S.W A.G.M Dear WICEN Members. The next annual general meeting of WICEN NSW Incorporated is to be held on Sunday the 7th of February 2010. It will be held at A.R.N.S.W, 63 Quarry Road, Dural starting at 2 pm.   The Agenda is as follows.   1. Confirm the minutes of the special general meeting held on 22nd of March 2009. 2. Receive the Treasurer's report for the 2008/9 financial year. 3. Receive the financial statement for the 2008/9 financial year. 4. Elect office bearers and members of the committee   Notes   Seven (7) members or more are required to be present in person to constitute a quorum. If you are unable to attend please consider sending a proxy.   Please consider becoming and office bearer or committee member. If you would like to know what is involved please contact the secretary.   Office bearers are President, Senior vice-president, junior vice-president, treasurer and secretary.   In addition there are three committee positions.   Nick VK2ZNF is willing to continue as secretary/treasurer if there are no other nominations. Only one of the existing committee members has indicated a willingness to continue.   In the meantime, on behalf of the committee we wish all members and their families a prosperous New year. Regards Nick VK2ZNF Secretary/Treasurer WICEN NSW Incorporated IPS Weekly Solar and Geophysical Report for the 8th to the 14th of January 2010. SUMMARY Dates across the columns are 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 10cm flux 77 82 84 89 93 91 90Fredericksburg Index (Afr) 0 1 2 4 2 4 3 estimatedAustralian Index (Aaus) 1 2 5 8 5 7 4 estimatedT index 5 -6 10 3 1 7 20Solar flare activity was very low on the 8th, 10th, 11th, 13th and 14th; and low on the 9th and the 12th. Geomagnetic activity observed for the Australian region was quiet from the 8th to the 10th, and on the 12th and 14th; and quiet to unsettled on the 11th and the 13th. Southern Australian ionospheric F2 critical frequencies were near predicted on the 8th, 9th, 11th, 13th and 14th; near predicted to 20 per cent enhanced on the 10th; and near predicted to 15 per cent depressed on the 12th. Forecast for the 15th to the 21st of January Solar activity should be low. Geomagnetic activity should see quiet to unsettled conditions. Maximum usable frequencies are expected to be near predicted monthly values. Courtesy of IPS Radio and Space Services Summary by Pat VK2JPA ARNSW Radio Homebrew and Experimenters Group. Next Tuesday night will be the ARNSW Radio Homebrew and Experimenters group monthly radio net. This net is a good opportunity for amateurs interested in home-brewing their own equipment or just experimenting to have a friendly chat with others interested in the same thing. As is now standard the Radio Homebrew and Experimenters group will again run a split net. It will start as usual on the Dural 2 metre repeater, 147.000 MHz with a negative 600KHz offset at 7:30pm. Then at about 8pm the net will switch to 80 metres on 3650 KHz +/- QRM. This should allow those outside the Sydney basin who are interested, to also join in. The next meeting of the Amateur Radio New South Wales Radio Homebrew and Experimenters Group will be held in two weeks time on Sunday the 31st of January after the Trash & Treasure at Dural. The meeting will not be the usual talk by someone, while others listen. Instead it will be a hands on calibration session for test equipment. At the November meeting a number of RF power meter sensor heads were available. For those who purchased the heads and have turned them into a power meter, then this is a good opportunity to test and calibrate them. As well as calibrating the RF power meters, there will also be equipment to test and calibrate CROs, digital frequency meters, and both analog and digital multimeters. Many amateurs have some fairly good pieces of test equipment in their shacks and workshops, but how often do they test them to see how accurate they are. Not often enough. Just because the gear worked 10 years ago does not mean that it is still accurate now. Crystals change frequency with age or sensors have gone out of alignment. Maybe you lent the equipment to someone and they mistreated it, or maybe you bought it a while ago and have never tested it to see how good it is. So if you have some test gear that you want to check out, then bring it along to the Radio Homebrew and Experimenters group meeting in two weeks time. Make sure that you have all the appropriate cables and adaptors if it uses them. As usual, the meeting will start with a show and tell segment, where members of the group can get up and tell others about one of their latest projects or repairs. The meeting will start at about 1pm. All are invited, so if you are interested in homebrewing your own equipment or doing your own repairs, then come along and meet others with a similar interest. See you there, at about 1pm on Sunday the 31st of January, at 63 Quarry Road Dural - after the Trash & Treasure. Advised by Peter O'Connell VK2EMU. Coordinator ARNSW Radio Homebrew and Experimenters Group. ARRL DX news for the 14th of January 2010 SENEGAL, 6W. Peter, HA3AUI is QRV as 6W2SC until March 31 while on holiday. He spends his time at the border between here and Guinea-Bissau. Activity is on 160 to 10 meters using mainly digital modes, with some CW and SSB if requested. QSL direct to home call. LESOTHO, 7P. Art, ZS6BQI is QRV as 7P8BA until January 18. Activity is on 40 to 10 meters using mainly CW and digital modes. QSL direct to home call. EAST MALAYSIA, 9M6. Members of the new DX group North Borneo Worldwide DXers will be QRV as 9M4STA from the Crocker Range on January 16 and 17. Activity is on several bands and modes. QSL via NI5DX. JUAN FERNANDEZ ISLANDS, CE0. Toshi, JA8BMK will be QRV as CE0Z/home call from January 19 to February 2. Activity will be on 160 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and digital modes. QSL direct to home call. AZORES, CU. A group of Finnish operators will be QRV as CU2KG and CU2KH beginning January 16. This includes being QRV as CR2X in the upcoming CQ World Wide 160 Meter CW contest as well as the upcoming ARRL DX contests. They will be active on all HF bands, including 160 meters, before and after the contests. QSL CR2X and CU2KG via OH2BH and CU2KH via OH8NC. ANGOLA, D2. Vasiliy is QRV as D2QMN on 80 meters and other bands using CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK. QSL via RZ3EC. AUSTRAL ISLANDS, FO. Wulf, DL1AWI, Peter, DL3APO and Mat, DL5XU will be QRV as FO/home calls from Raivavae Island, IOTA OC-114, from January 18 to February 5. Activity will be mainly on 160 to 30 meters using CW, and possibly SSB and RTTY on the other bands as well. QSL to home calls. HUNGARY, HA. Gyuri, HA1CW is QRV with special event station HA2010S for all of 2010 during the 30th LEN European Championship in swimming, diving and other water sports that takes place in Budapest in August. QSL via operator's instructions. GUINEA-BISSAU, J5. Peter, HA3AUI is QRV as J5UAP until March 31 while on holiday. He spends his time between here and Senegal. Activity is on 160 to 10 meters using mainly digital modes, with some CW and SSB if requested. QSL direct to home call. NORWAY, LA. Special event station LM50NRK is QRV during 2010 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of television in Norway. Activity is on the HF bands, including some satellite activity. QSL via LA4FPA. NETHERLANDS, PA. Members of the European PSK Club are QRV with special event callsign PA30EPC until January 30. Activity is on all bands using PSK. QSL via PA4JB. POLAND, SP. Special event station 3Z0FCH is QRV until June 30 in commemoration of the 200th birthday of Polish composer and pianist Fryderyc Chopin. QSL via SP7PAD. EAST KIRIBATI, T32. Don, G3BJ will be QRV as T32BJ from Kiritimati, IOTA OC-024, from January 20 to 26. Activity will be in his spare time. QSL to home call. TURKEY, TA. In addition to two other countries, Istanbul was designated the third European Capital of Culture 2010. Members of the TC Special Wireless Activity Team are QRV with TC2010 prefixes for all of 2010. In addition, special event stations TC2010CCE, TC2010CCA and TC2010CCI are QRV until January 18. QSL via operators' instructions. MACAO, XX9. Georg, DK7LX is QRV as XX9TLX from Coloane Island, IOTA AS-075. He is active on 80 to 10 meters using mainly CW. His length of stay is unknown. QSL to home call. ROMANIA, YO. Special event station YR5EPC is QRV from Transylvania until the end of 2010. QSL via YO6AJI. THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The North American SSB QSO Party, NCCC Sprint CW Ladder, LZ Open CW Contest, Hungarian DX Contest, UK DX RTTY Contest, Feld Hell Sprint are all scheduled for this weekend. The Run for the Bacon QRP CW Contest is scheduled for January 18. Club news. The Mid North Coast Amateur Radio Group. The Mid North Coast Amateur Radio Group wish to invite everyone to the Radio Expo 2010, to be held next Sunday the 24th of January. The location is St Johns Church Hall, Mc Lean Street Coffs Harbour NSW.   It will go ahead rain, hail or shine with the doors opening at 8.30am and closing at 1.30pm. The 20 plus exhibits will include: Commercial traders Equipment sales Disposals Home Brew Display Emergency Services displays Live On Air Demonstrations Group displays Club Displays Kit Sales Test Equipment WIA National ALARA WICEN Satellite comms Digital Shortwave Radio Loop antennas for AM reception Soldering stations for SMD Equipment Historic Radio Display Guessing comp Lucky door prizes Technical trivia quiz All the big brand names of equipment will be on sale at special Radio Expo prices with the BIG Amateur Radio Retailer from Sydney in attendance. There will of course be yummy hot and cold food on sale. All major displays are under cover. Entry is only $5.00 per person with kids under 12 FREE ! There is disabled access, cool ceiling fans, clean amenities and FREE parking around the venue. It is the largest Radio and Communications show between Newcastle and the Gold Coast. For more info go to www.mncarg.org or call 02 6655 2990 Remember Sunday the 24th of January.   That web site address again www.mncarg.org   News supplied by Gary Ryan VK2ZKT President MNCARG Inc on behalf of the members Waverley Amateur Radio Society. This month's meeting of the Waverley club will be held on January the 20th and will feature a presentation on "Using an Oscilloscope in the Shack" by Eric, VK2VE. This will be of particular interest to those who have recently acquired one of these instruments through the club. The clubhouse has a harbour side location in the Scout Hall at Vickery Avenue, Rose Bay with easy parking and is always open on the first Saturday afternoon of each month for a variety of activities or just a rag chew with all welcome to drop in. The next occasion will be on February the 6th. In addition members often open the clubhouse on Tuesdays for a morning and afternoon working bee. Casual visitors should check on the Paddington repeater as to whether anyone is there. Club members are again planning to operate portable from Centennial Park on Australia Day (January 26th) in the same location as last year. Arrangements have be circulated to members by email. Training weekends provide the opportunity for those new to amateur radio to obtain a foundation licence over a single weekend and for others to be examined for higher grades. The next course is planned for February 13 and 14. Anyone interested in attending, whether a member or not, should email the club at "education at vk2bv dot org". Information, including details of the club's location and its 2010 calendar of events, can be found on its regularly updated website at vk2bv.org or call Simon, VK2UA, on 02 9328 7141. Advised by Simon Buxton, VK2UA Publicity Officer The Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club Inc. The next meeting of the Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club, will be the Friday night gathering at 7pm this Friday, the 22nd of January 2010 in the SES Building in Central Road, Port Macquarie. Last Saturday the club conducted training and assessments in Port Macquarie for both Foundation and Standard Amateur Radio Licences. All six candidates were successful. Congratulations. We look forward to hearing some new call signs on air soon. It is planned to conduct further training and assessments in February as additional candidates have already made bookings. Please contact the club via PO Box 712 Port Macquarie NSW 2444 if you are interested in attending the February or later Foundation Licence or Standard Licence training courses in Port Macquarie. Users are reminded that the VK2RPM UHF repeater on 438.525 MHz requires a 123 Hertz CTCSS sub audible tone to be transmitted in order to access the repeater. The UHF repeater is co-sited with the VK2RPM 146.7 MHz 2 metre repeater at Middle Brother Mountain. Visitors are always made very welcome at the club’s monthly general meetings at 2pm on the first Saturday of each month, and at the Friday night gathering at 7pm on the evening of the fourth Friday of each month. The venue for all these meetings is the SES Building in Central Road, Port Macquarie. For more information about the Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club, please visit the club’s website at www.orarc.org The website contains a photo gallery and the club information including the January 2010 issue of the bimonthly newsletter, “Oxtales”. Submitted by Henry Lundell, VK2ZHE on behalf of the Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club Inc. Summary of coming events. January Summer VHF-UHF Field Day continues today. Waverley meeting on the 20th. Oxley region gathering on the 22nd. Coffs Harbour Radio Expo on the 24th. Trash & Treasure and Homebrew at Dural on the 31st. February Orange & District meeting on the 5th. WICEN New South Wales A.G.M on the 7th. Hornsby Mid-Monthly meeting on the 9th. Waverley training and exams on the 13th & 14th. Hornsby meeting on the 23rd. Central Coast Centenary dinner at Wyong on the 27th. Central Coast Centenary Field Day at Wyong on the 28th. March Summerland Car boot sale on the 28th. April W.I.A New South Wales division A.G.M on the 17th. International Marconi day on the 24th. Submitting news items Please get your news submissions in by the Friday night preceding the broadcast. Please specify if you want the item to run for more than one week. It may not be necessary for items to run continuously as all events will be included in the summary of coming events. Submission of news items should be sent to news@arnsw.org.au Broadcast roster Next week the 24th of January, the announcer in the morning will be Beth VK2AO with Richard VK2SKY as engineer. For the evening broadcast we will have Peter VK2EMU as announcer and Andrew VK2XAG as engineering support. That concludes our evening news. All the best from the broadcast team at VK2WI. Have a great week. Thank you for listening.