Last week HADARC met at the Hornsby Rifle Club rooms and enjoyed a great night of history and tech. On the history front, Errol VK2BET brought his 1959 log books and showed some great station listening logs. He also displayed a diode in a glass bulb like never seen before. And the fun didn’t stop there. Walter VK2XWB brought bags of parts from the power supply construction and repair that were surplus. There was a feeding frenzy with Steve VK2AAV winning the deep dive award.

Since HADARC’s next meeting is after the ARNSW Trash and Treasure on the 24th of September, it was decided that those that ‘actually’ found real treasure are to bring it along to show it off. I might add there was plenty of treasure this time around. For those that didn’t, or simply missed out, please bring along your latest project and show that off.  

See you there at 8pm in the Mt Colah Community Centre for the main meeting on Tuesday the 26th of September for a great night with fellow amateurs; be they members or not as all amateurs are always more than welcome.

Finally did you know, this Summer is due to be indeed very hot. Prepare your batteries, hand-held radios and potable gear in case we get blackouts or fires. And with hot weather, it’s always nice to head to the beach with a portable setup. How about making plans now and get some friends together in the coming months.

73’s for now

Let’s keep radio active.

Matt / VK2BAI

Next Tuesday, Aug 22nd is HADARC’s main Monthly meeting at Mount Colah. The August meeting is going to be a presentation from our Fox Hunting expert Chris Williams VK2YMW. Chris has been doing radio Fox Hunting for years, especially up at Port Macquarie but elsewhere as well over that time. He has quite often been in the top two spots in this field of endeavour. So come and find out what it’s all about this coming August main meeting at Mt Colah.

Did you know that there are some 14 lighthouses in and around Sydney and wider NSW? Let’s hope this weekend you have managed to fire up your radio and speak to a few of those keen operators out there activating these sites for the International Lighthouse and Lightship weekend.

73’s for now.

Lets keep radio-active!

Matt / VK2BAI

Next Tuesday the 11th July, HADARC will hold its Mid Monthly meeting at Magpies in Waitara. The evening will be a chance to catch up with fellow amateurs and share some of those tall and not so tall radio stories.

It seems there are more & more ways to find helpful information these days and Amateur Radio is no exception. It was interesting to see Audible (books you listen to rather than read) has a No-Fluff Beginner's Guide to Setting Up and Using Your Ham Radio.

It says “Ham radio is a fun hobby that allows you to talk to other ham radio operators locally and around the world. Depending on your license class, ham radio is used for a wide variety of activities. It is also useful in emergencies and search and rescue operations in disaster situations where all communication networks are down. The beauty of ham radio is that it is independent of any resources, whether grid or Internet for operation. Astronauts also communicate with Earth from space with ham radios. There are also multiple amateur radio satellites orbiting around the Earth which can be used for communication even as an entry-level ham radio operator. Packet radio is a digital mode which affords operators to send data through amateur radios just like the Internet.”

So if you have a friend interested in radio and they just want a book read out to them over a PC or Phone, this eBook may be helpful.

We look forward to seeing you at HADARC’s next Tuesdays dinner at Magpies Waitara.

73’s for now

Matt/ VK2BAI

HADARC’s last week “Bring a Valve Evening” was a great success. One valve was so big the table creaked – it was a 4CX10,000, yes that's a lazy 10 kilowatt valve. And there were the 6146’s which now seem rather quaint in comparison. Of course, the 30,000 volt glass sealed capacitor was technically not a valve but impressed anyway. All in all, it was a great evening of trading project ideas and catching up with fellow amateurs.

For the next monthly meeting on the 27th of June, Chris Williams VK2YMW, our new President, has asked those that have bought something on-line, or elsewhere, and have not been happy with the result due to the item not living up to either the hype or working as expected; to bring it along for a 5-minute show and tell. It doesn’t matter what it is, as it doesn’t have to be strictly amateur radio related. If it is too big or heavy, then simply bring a picture or two along on a USB stick, to be projected on the screen.

So come along and join the discussion on the 27th June at Mount Colah club rooms.

Let’s keep radio active!

73’s for now Matt / VK2BAI

At the HADARC AGM, Chris VK2YMW was elected as HADARC’s new President.

Chris has thrown out a challenge for the next HADARC mid monthly. He has called the next meeting “Bring an Interesting Valve Night”. The challenge is to dig deep in the garden shed, or under your bed or in that hidden section of the shack and find 1 or 2 valves that bring back memories or are just interesting.

At the mid monthly we will look at how the values are designed, how they operate and the coding used. We will also have a few manuals to help decode that mystery value you’ve held for years but are unsure what it does.

Did you know that in 1904, British engineer John Ambrose Fleming invented and patented the thermionic valve, the first vacuum tube. With this advance, the age of modern wireless electronics was born.

Please join us at the next mid-monthly experimenters meeting on 13th June at the popular Hornsby Rifle Club.

73 for now, let keep radio-active!

Matt VK2BAI

The HADARC Monthly meeting opened with the raw sound of an electric guitar solo. People looked around wondering if they had joined the right club or not. The video we saw looked at valve amplifiers and how a valve works in practice. Under a high magnification microscope a tube was slowly pulled apart from the glass, then the screens and grids all the way to each physical element that constructs a tube. We looked at how the air is removed from the envelope by the process of burning barium on the getter cups. All in all, it was really interesting and one Club Member Jill, said she had tried to build her own Tube diode. That indeed is impressive.

We then moved the to the AGM. Matthew VK2BAI stepped down as current President to make way for new ideas in the Club. Chris VK2YMW was elected as HADARC’s new President with Rod VK2DIO as Vice President. All Committee roles where filled including Rod VK2DAY, Steve VK2KHA (secretary), Andrew VK2TAN (treasurer) and Steve VK2AAV.

The back table had such good bargains, some 50 kits of battery new connectors disappeared into members hands like magic.

It was a fun night and HADARC also signed up a new member.

Please join us at the next mid-monthly meeting in 2 weeks at the Hornsby Rifle Club with the popular experimenters evening.

73 for now, let keep radio-active!

Matt VK2BAI

Next week on Tuesday will be HADARC’s monthly meeting which will be held at the Mount Colah Community Centre starting at 8pm.

This is a great chance to catch up with friends and grab a few bargains at the back table. At this meeting we will hear about Valve construction, have open floor questions about our project and also run the annual AGM.

At the AGM, all paid up members have the opportunity to vote for the HADARC Committee and related Club roles. Apart from reviewing the past year, please come along and set the Club up for the next exciting year ahead.

Did you know that a Field strength meter is actually a simple receiver. The RF signal is detected and fed to a microammeter, which is often scaled in dB. What is interesting in older field strength meters is that they need no power to or Coax cable connections to operate whatsoever. So have a look in your shack and see if one of your SWR bridges has a Field Strength setting and if it does, add a short antenna (say 15cm) to watch your SSB transmission on the meter without even connecting it to your antenna system. Let us know if you tried this simple experiment!

73’s for now

Lets keep Radio Active,

Matt VK2BAI

This week was HADARC’s mid monthly meeting. We have moved mid-monthly meetings to the Hornsby Rifle Club which has easier access and easier parking. In fact, the warm heaters and comfier chairs means our radio catch-ups are better than ever.

This week we decided to compare older and newer hand held radios. And the team didn’t disappoint, from those 1970’s clunkers to the latest state of the art handhelds shows just how far handhelds have come over the decades. I really enjoyed hearing one story from Rod VK2DAY who’s handheld withstood a fall from the roof without flinching at all. Some of the older tech was indeed well built. Many of our older radios just need a battery refurb, so why not replace a dead battery with a lithium or similar cell to get it going again. If you’re not using and old handheld, perhaps give it to someone in your own club to help get them on air.

Did you know where Ohms law came from? Well George Ohm was a German physicist born in 1789. He was also a professor of mathematics. Its just incredible his work is still used today. What a legend!

73’s for now

Lets keep Radio Active,

Matt VK2BAI

Last week was the monthly meeting for HADARC. The key note speaker was Bob VK2BMU who outlined the merits of antenna plots, directionality and the trade-offs between size, gain and bandwidth. It’s not possible to optimise all three so choose two to get best antenna results.

This week it’s time to update your calendars for the HADARC mid monthly taking place on Tuesday 9th May. The meeting will take place at the Hornsby Rifle Club in Rosamond St Hornsby. There is ample parking and this night will be all about handheld radios. There’s a catch though. You need to bring the oldest handheld you have as well as the newest handheld you have. We will test access to repeaters and demo any special features from old to new.

So join us at HADARC on the 9th May.

Finally, did you know that Litz wire is a particular type of multistrand wire used in electronics to carry alternating current at radio frequencies. The wire is designed to reduce the skin effect losses in conductors used at frequencies up to about 1 MHz.

73’s for now.

Let’s keep radio-active!

Matt /VK2BAI

This week was the monthly meeting for HADARC. We started the evening looking at oscillator stability and ran a live experiment. We tracked frequency as we turned on an oscillator and frequency counter. Each 10 seconds we plotted the frequency. It took 3 minutes to stabilise. So when you power up your rigs, especially the older ones, give them a small amount of time to settle into their best operation.

Following on from the many questions from last talk on DMR, we heard a recap from Rob VK2DIO who did a great summary. Carmel them outlined Droidstar and new ways to link into DMR sites. Finally, Tony VK2BTL outlined his own station setup and helpful lessons.

The key note speaker was Bob VK2BMU who outlined the merits of antenna plots, directionality and the trade-offs between size, gain and bandwidth. It’s not possible to optimise all three so choose two to get best antenna results.

Finally, a special thanks is made to Walter VK2XWB who recently donated a new cordless PA system to HADARC.

73’s for now.

Let’s keep radio-active!

Matt /VK2BAI