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

Right here in Wahroonga NSW, is a significant historic radio site. It is where Guglielmo Marconi and Sir Ernest Fisk made the first wireless communication experiments in 1918. Fisk established the Australian end of the experiment at his home, right in the heartland of HADARC. HADARC is also the holder of the Australian Marconi Day station licence, VK2IMD. This weekend HADARC used the callsign VK2IMD for International Marconi Day at select times. We hope you had a chance to engage in this unique and special global event.

Next Monthly meeting, HADARC will be discussing antenna efficiency and what works well for a range of situations. Bob VK2BMU has kindly agreed to discuss lessons from his deep understanding of the topic. He will provide practical ways to consider home station, mobile or portable station efficiency. The meeting takes place this coming Tuesday at the Mount Colah community centre starting at 8pm. We will also carry over questions from the last talk on DMR where Tony, VK2BTL will provide practical lessons from his own DMR setup.

So joint us at HADARC for another great evening on the 25th April.

73’s for now.

Let’s keep radio active!

Matt/VK2BAI.

This week HADARC held its mid monthly experimenters evening like we do each month. At this meeting we get our hands dirty and look at members projects and helping each other with shack issues.

Over the past many months we have been in discussions to find a larger and more welcoming venue for this practical meeting. This week was the first time we changed location to the Hornsby Rifle Club next to the Mount Wilga Hospital.

And the new venue didn’t disappoint. With warm heating, many comfy lounge chairs and tables to demonstrate projects - it was a great evening at the new and larger venue.

Of note was Steve VK2AAV’s custom designed power supply in its early stages and Bob VK2BMU’s 2meter radio which still had ‘Channel 8’ as a rotary channel repeater for those who remember Dural in the 1970’s.

Going forward, we will be at the Hornsby Rifle Club only for mid monthly meetings and remain at Mount COLAH for the larger monthly meeting.

Next Monthly meeting, HADARC will be discussing antenna efficiency and what works well for a range of situations. We will also carry over questions from the last talk on DMR.

So join us at HADARC for another great evening on the 25th April.

73’s for now. Let’s keep radio active! Matt/VK2BAI.

HADARC held its Monthly meeting on 28th March to over 30 attendees. Rob VK2DIO presented a detailed overview of DMR and how to get it working. Rob explained how voice is converted to data via a CODEC and this data is sent via a MODEM over the air via our transmitter. He went on to describe how DMR is a 4-state FSK modulation operating at 9600 bits per second.

To get on the air you need to register for a DMR ID and Rob explained that is fairly easy but many people forget to do this before buying a DMR radio.

The talk explained that it’s easy to get on DMR if you follow a 1-2-3-4 formula.

1. Get a DMR ID
2. Get a DMR radio
3. Get a DMR CODEPLUG
4. Get on air.

The best way to get a CODEPLUG is to get it from someone who has already set it up for a radio like yours – it saves lots of technical issues between different radios. There were lots of questions and interest in this topic and we will post links on the HADARC web site news for those wanting to find out more.

HADARC Values.

HADARC Members agreed to a set of Values HADARC want to be known for. The Six Values include: Being Considerate, Loyal, Progressive, Friendly, Balanced and finally of Service to the community. Whether via email or on a net or in person, please expect these Values at HADARC.

Mid-Monthly.

The HADARC Mid Monthly meeting is on this Tuesday. This is the first time will relocate to the Rifle Club near Mount Wilga Hospital, Rosamond St Hornsby. If this is the first time at this venue, perhaps organise to come with a fellow Amateur. Please do not come Mount Colah site as no one will be there. So repeating, HADARC will meet this week at the Hornsby Rifle Club hall.

73’s for now.

Let’s keep Radio Active!

Matt VK2BAI, HADARC President.

HADARC held its Monthly meeting on 28th March to over 30 attendees. The Committee decided it would be fun to compare modern and historical radio in the same evening.

Unlocking the Key to Radio.

We all have keys for our cars and use them every day. But imagine if you used your Morse Key every day on the radio!

HADARC Members were asked to bring 2 Morse keys that had not been used for a while or needed a bit of attention. And Members didn’t disappoint. We had a display of Morse Keys from 1930 to 2000’s that fully covered a large table. Members were challenged to key in their name via morse code and feel the different key weights. The display included military, Bakelite, super fancy Kent keys and well as a 2 Vibroplex keys. All I can say is that VK2KHA and VK2BET excelled in their box of keys.

After being “Keyed in“ to the mood of the evening, we looked at the use of Pico Balloons and Amateur Radio. Did you know that in Australia small ratio transmitters are sent up on small hot air balloons to track signals. Its rather interesting. Check the HADARC web site to find out what they are doing and controversially whether one was recently shot down in the USA.

Modern Radio.

We moved from Keys and Balloons to DMR. Rob VK2DIO presented a detailed overview of DMR and how to get it working. Rob explained how voice is converted to data via a CODEC and this data is sent via a MODEM over the air via our transmitter. He went on to describe how DMR is a 4-state FSK modulation operating at 9600 bits per second.

To get on the air you need to register for a DMR ID and Rob explained that is fairly easy but many people forget to do this before buying a DMR radio.

The talk explained that it’s easy to get on DMR if you follow a 1-2-3-4 formula.

• Get a DMR ID
• Get a DMR radio
• Get a DMR CODEPLUG
• Get on air.

The best way to get a CODEPLUG is to get it from someone who has already set it up for a radio like yours – it saves lots of technical issues between different radios. There were lots of questions and interest in this topic. Here are some links for those wishing to find out more:

• RadioID
• IPSC2 VKDMR Dashboard
• IPSC2 VKHOSTPOT Dashboard
• BrandMeister Dashboard

HADARC Values.

Finally, HADARC Members agreed to a set of Values HADARC want to be known for. In 1928, amateur operator Paul Segal penned a set of values that ARRL still uses till today. HADARC discussed in plain language, how we as a Club want to operate. The Six Values include: Being Considerate, Loyal, Progressive, Friendly, Balanced and finally of Service to the community. Please expect these Values as you attend events and engage with people at HADARC.

73’s for now.

Let’s keep Radio Active!

Matt VK2BAI, HADARC President.