ARNSW Dural Facilities

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Amateur Radio New South Wales provides a number of facilities to support our members and the broader Amateur Radio community.

VK2RWI Repeaters

From our Dural site, the repeaters reach a large part of the greater Sydney area. All VK2RWI repeaters are open access; no CTCSS tone is required for access.

However the VHF (6 and 2 Metre) Repeaters transmit a 91.5Hz CTCSS tone, for users that wish to use tone muting on their receivers. We have found this is effective in reducing the 'birdies' many mobile users hear on VHF around the Sydney area.


Band Output Frequency Input Frequency Notes
6 Metres 53.850 MHz 52.850 MHz
2 Metres 147.000 MHz 146.400 MHz
70 Centimetres 438.525 MHz 433.525 MHz
70cm DMR 438.600 MHz 433.600 MHz
23 Centimetres 1273.5 MHz 1293.5 MHz Standby antenna - reduced coverage

VK2RSY Beacons

The beacons identify in Morse with VK2RSY QF56MH (the Maidenhead locator for the site) at approximately 40 second intervals.

Beacons serve a couple of major functions. One is as an indicator of propagation, to see if there is a path between an observer and the location or region of the transmitter. The other major function is in the local service area, where the constant signal of a beacon can be used as a reference for antenna or equipment performance and comparison.


Band Frequency Mode Power Antenna Notes
10m 28.262 MHz CW 25W Halfwave Dipole (1)
6 m 50.289 MHz CW 20W Halfwave Dipole (1)
2 m 144.420 MHz CW 20W 2 bay Horizontally Polarized Crossed Dipoles (1)
70 cm 432.420 MHz CW 20W 2 bay Horizontally Polarised omni directional Crossed Dipole array (2)
23 cm 1296.420 MHz CW 20W Alford Slot, Horizontally Polarized currently off air - antenna upgrade (2)
NOTES:
1. Turned off during the morning and evening Sunday news bulletins to enable call back reception on that band.
2. Remains on air during the news bulletins.

There are no beacons at Dural currently operating on frequencies higher than 23 cm. We do have the licenses and would be interested in hearing from anybody who would like to work on a project for one or more of these microwave bands. If there is an interest please contact us.

VK2WI Automated Morse Transmissions

The automated Morse practice transmission operates using the call sign VK2WI in the 80 metre band on 3699kHz (note 1). This also serves as a band condition indicator. Transmit power is 35 watts into a half wave dipole, 10 metres high.

The content of the transmissions is generated by a programmable controller. Originally this unit had storage of 1100 words which lasted a bit over 2 hours. This has now been extended to over 3700 words which will take almost 8 hours to cycle through allowing more variation in the transmissions. Transmission speeds also are cycled through to give listeners a variety of different combinations of speed and text.

A PDF file containing some of the current text, VK2WI_Morsetext3.pdf is available for downloading. The content of this file is actually very interesting as it details the development of the Dural facility itself.

Thanks to Les VK2KYJ for development of the Morse Generator.

Signal Reports

If you would like to send us a reception report (on your QSL Card or in writing) to our postal address at:
            ARNSW
            PO Box 6044
            Dural Delivery Centre NSW 2158
Please endorse the envelope with "BEACON REPORT".
Email reports can be submitted via callbacks@arnsw.org.au with "Beacon Report" in the subject header.

A QSL card is available to exchange for written reports [cards] received for VK2RSY/VK2WI beacons. Mail to our Dural PO Box address.