vk administration: administration newsletter september 2017.pdf · already planning my next...
TRANSCRIPT
September 2017
Editor: Bill Kirkwood #15215 VK1FWBK email: [email protected]
VK Secretary / Administration: Garry Cottle #14151 VK2GAZ email: [email protected]
Administration: Nigel Hardy #9040 ZL2TX email: [email protected] Newsletter Distribution: Derek Dawkins #14125 VK3KX email: [email protected]
FDU Web site: www.fdu.org.au Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1765058520392148/
Recommended FISTS calling frequencies (MHz):
1.808 3.528 7.028 10.118 14.058 18.085 21.058 24.908 28.058
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From the Editor: VK1FWBK Bill #15215
What an honour! My thanks to Garry VK2GAZ #14151 and the other members of FDU Committee for inviting me to take on this task! I have huge feet (no offence Ian) to fill!. A little about me – then on with the important stuff! I only sat for my Amateur (Foundation) Licence in January this year. The main reason I decided to get my licence was to get back into morse code. I
learnt CW 42 years ago in the Royal Australian Air Force… Using one of these!
to use in one of these The Navy Flameproof ( Yes I hear you say -what’s that doing in an Air Force!) RAAF P3B Orioin A9-297
I am a retired (well, semi retired) RAAF Air Electronics Officer and spent my flying career as a radio operator and sensor operator mostly in P3B (pictured) and P3C Orion aircraft. When I joined up in 1975 much of our Communication training centred around CW and I took to it quickly. Unfortunately, just before I was to graduate, CW was removed from the AEO syllabus as it was no longer to be used operationally and I did not get to use it….. until now! All our airborne communication in P3s back then was via voice and Covered Radio Teletype. I also spent a few years teaching military HF communications procedures at the RAAF School of Air Navigation. Anyway, after a very long hiatus away from morse code I found that I
Newsletter of the Australian / New Zealand chapter of the International Morse Preservation Society
September 2017
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September 2017
could still rattle the key – but I am a bit rusty! I am working on it! – If you look me up on QRZ.com you can read all about me in more detail – and more career related photos. But enough of me….. Now I want to talk about your outgoing Editor, Ian ZL2AIM! On behalf of the Committee and every member of FISTS Down Under I wish to extend a very sincere thank you to Ian for his outstanding work as editor of the FISTS Down Under Newsletter. Ian took over as Editor in February, 2016. He first joined FISTS Down Under on 1st January, 2008 and has been a steady contributor to the club newsletter for many years. You will be a hard act to follow Ian! I trust you will continue to patrol the air waves and we can catch up over the radio! Again – many thanks from us all.. This edition of our newsletter has in fact been mostly prepared by Ian – with me taking over before the scheduled time for submission – so I will let Ian introduce, for the time being at least, his final FDU Newsletter! ZL2AIM Ian #9683
Thanks very much to some of our loyal members that have taken the time to put finger to keyboard etc and have included a few photographs that explain their article. Don’t forget, it is YOU that keeps the newsletter of interest to our members. I try my best not to copy and paste from the internet (don’t want to run into copyright problems!), so it is YOUR articles that are a great help to other members of Fists Down Under.
I have been asked on a few occasions if we would be prepared to put advertisements in the newsletter. I am more than happy to accommodate that, provided they are morse related. It can be buy or sell. If selling, please include a quality photograph and description of the article. Please send your advertisements to the editor’s email address above. There is no charge. I would like to take the opportunity to thank those members who have come to the aid of the party by sending me articles for this newsletter. I really appreciate that. ( And your new Editor would really REALLY appreciate you keeping up the flow of interesting articles - !!!!!
Subscriptions: List of members whose subs become due in September and October September: ES1AND, VK6GX, VK7AD, ZL1BLR, ZL2AUJ, ZL2BIT October: FO5MD, VK3CGB, VK3QB, VK4ARC, VK4IL, VK5ATU, ZL2BIL, ZL4IM We ask that you keep an eye out for your callsign in the subs section and treat that as your reminder for you to pay your subs. Our website http://www.fdu.org.au/join_renew.php has all the details for making payments. Don’t forget that if you are paying your subs to include your callsign. Please do not send cash in the post as this causes problems for us in banking.
FISTS would like to thank the following members for their generous donations included with their subscription; George VK2DLF #9052
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September 2017
From our wonderful members! Thank you for these articles – please keep them coming!
PORTABLE OPERATIONS de Michael VK2CCW
For those that just love portable work like I do, and have an FT817 etc, check out this option for protecting your rig. I got one of these the other day from the states. There not exactly real cheap for what they are but a very good protective system for using your rig portable. I’m sure that you could get back packs cheaper on EBay. My next project is to build an efficient battery system for the 817 using lithium batteries in series
parallel. Ten 3.7 volt batteries and a regulator in series should allow you a whole weekends portable work.
Check out the site www.portablezero.com
73 de Michael VK2CCW oooooOOOOOooooo
My First SOTA Activation - by Chris VK1CT #9057
Having thought about taking part as a SOTA activator for a long time, I
recently got around to activating my first SOTA summit, which took place
on Saturday 10 June 2017 at 0315z. My QTH was Mt McDonald (reference
VK1/AC-048) 788m ASL near the Cotter Dam, about 20km SW of
Canberra CBD. It was quite an easy 2km walk to the summit along a well-
defined bush track and fire trail.
I set up my Elecraft K1 with 5Ah SLA battery and end-fed half wave (EFHW) antenna on
40m. The antenna was supported by a fibreglass telescopic pole and the end was tied to a
tree branch. I made a total of 13 CW contacts with VK stations (including some FISTS
members) and one ZL in just over an hour. It was a most enjoyable afternoon and I was
already planning my next expedition during the walk back to the car.
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September 2017
Left: antenna tuner and squid pole. Right: Mt. MacDonald
On the following Saturday, I activated the summit at Bullen Range VK1/AC-033 at an
elevation of 925m ASL. It was a 5km walk to the summit, with an ascent of 300m. I made a
few local contacts on 2m FM and then went over to 40m CW where I had a mini pileup.
Elecraft K1, 5Ah SLA battery and Palm Pico paddles.
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September 2017
When things quietened down, David VK3FGE #9088 called me and we had a chat for about
ten minutes. By this time my hands were starting to turn blue from the cold and it was time to
head back down the trail. The K1 with 5 watts output and EFHW combination again
performed very well. Next time I will take a warmer jacket and gloves!
The pictures above and below are taken of Chris VK1CT at the Bullen Range Nature
Reserve.
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September 2017
From our FDU Founder Ralph ZL2AOH
Lovely to hear from our FDU founder Ralph ZL2AOH who sent us this link to an interesting
way of sending morse. “Interesting Morse Project”
http://makezine.com/projects/use-raspberry-pi-modern-day-
telegraph/?utm_source=MakeNewsletter+20170711&utm_medium=email&utm_c
ontent=button&utm_campaign=newsletter
Whilst writing of Ralph, he has posted on to me two books about Bletchley Park which he in
turn got from Ken ZL2AIH. I am happy to post them on to other FDU members who hopefully
will pass them on again! The books are “The Secret Life of Bletchley Park” and “The Secret
Lives of Codebreakers” both by Sinclair McKay. You can contact me (Ian) at ZL2AIM email:
[email protected] should you wish to borrow these books.
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Young English Radio Amateur Completes the
Wainwrights on the Air Challenge
Twelve-year-old Lauren Richardson, M6HLR -- one of the youngest hams in England completed the
Wainwrights on the Air Challenge on August 1. The Challenge is an ambitious activity that involves
climbing all 214 of the Cumbrian Wainwright fells -- hills and mountains, described in A.
Wainwright's seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells (1955-66) -- and transmitting from
each summit. She completed the entire endeavour in about 2 years, hiking with her parents.
Lauren was the subject of a BBC Look North TV program,
which was shot as she had just one more to go. She told the
BBC, "When I was a kid, I actually thought it was like
having an invisible string between the two radios, but it's
really interesting because you can get all way round the
world just with an antenna and sending signals." She said the
experience gave her the opportunity to see all the types of
weather the Lake District can offer, but that "it's just lovely,
whatever the weather."
The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) congratulated
Lauren on her accomplishment, noting that she is the
youngest person to have met the Wainwright Challenge. "She
is a great advocate for Amateur Radio and an enthusiastic
role model for encouraging others of her age to get
involved," RSGB said.
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Lauren Richardson, M6HLR, as she
appeared on a recent BBC TV magazine
broadcast.
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September 2017
Key Of The Month
Not sure if this has been done before. I will kick it off and invite readers to send me a photo of their
favourite CW key. No prizes, no competition – just a chance for us to see what other members use,
and if there is a story behind it. You may be after information on your key. . I will present ‘Key Of The
Month’. Here is mine (after stripping it down cleaning and polishing). I purchased this key via Ebay
very recently – (part of a growing collection of mostly straight keys). As the seller was not completely
sure it was a Kent I sent photos (prior to bidding) to Kent-Engineers (UK but with factory located in
Germany now). The business owner, Robert Kent, confirmed that it is indeed a Kent (despite no
branding) and that it is over 30 years old. The arm of current model Kent straight key is flipped over
the other way – but this is in original configuration and of course it has a striking resemblance to the
FISTS logo! These older keys came with solid silver contacts. If you bought one of their keys today
the contacts are silver-plated. Having learnt all my CW using the Navy Flameproof (which I do use
still), I just love the feel and weight of this key! It won’t be my last!!!! Now , tell us about your
favourite key. Depending on your responses I will publish one or two each month…
Lockheed Neptune (RAAF 10 Squadron)