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This week saw HADARC Members participating in the Great November Recalibrate.

At this session we used top-of-the-line test gear to accurately check Voltage, Current and Resistance. We had nice gear including a Fluke 1664FC meter accurate to 10 milli-ohms and also a Yokogawa CA-11E care of Walter VK2WB as a very accurate way to source voltage. We put our meters to the test and found that our Fluke multi-meters were indeed very accurate but others may round up or round down and are less accurate.

We had a lot of fun using a Power supply from a electronics retailer that had a digital voltage display and used 5 separate Multi-meters to see what voltage each meter read. Yes, all five meters showed different voltages, but three of the well regarded branded meters were indeed very close to one another. In all cases the display on the power supply did not match the 5 multi-meters. It was over stated. When was the last time you checked your own power supply voltages? Its certainly worth the check to make sure it’s still a solid 13.8Volts.

Then we moved to resistance testing of leads. We found poor leads had 1.4 ohms resistance and good leads were close to zero ohms. Please go check your leads today ! Maybe its time to do a re-solder and resolve those losses away prior to Christmas.

All in all it was a good night.

Next monthly meeting HADARC will enter the realm of Aerospace engineering and hear from a real Rocket Scientist. This is truly a unique event where we will hear from Alexander Ryan. Alex is CEO of VXB Aerospace and an experienced Aerospace Engineer. He is in the final stages of his PhD in Aerospace Engineering and Physics at the University of Sydney.

Alex designs electric propulsion systems and has previously developed and tested a small RF plasma thruster. His UHF engineering and plasma skills are cutting edge.

Alex will be presenting where Australia stands in the ever-growing Aerospace Industry.

Please joint as a guest and ask your friends to attend as well. This is a great way to introduce people to radio with a great talk.  

HADARC welcomes Members and guests to attend all its regular meetings.

73’s - Let’s keep radio-active!

Matt / VK2BAI

HADARC President

This week saw HADARC Members participating in the CQ World Wide contest. Peter VK2PX using his event callsign VL2W, took on the contest with enthusiasm. He worked Morocco, Alaska and Point Verde to name a few. Conditions on 20 meters, 15 meters and 10 meters were outstanding and for those who listened or exchanged country numbers, it was a great way to engage in amateur radio.

Have you noticed conditions are improving? Perhaps it’s time to get your antenna just a bit higher or replace that somewhat patchy patch lead.

With thanks to Stephen, VK2KHA and Andrew, VK2TAN HADARC has recently made updates to its Web site. The site now contains many helpful links to amateur radio resources. Resource sections include Antennas, Electronics and even a “Just Interesting” section was added as well. Please have a look at our site and perhaps in your own Club add a section for links to topics that promote Amateur Radio.

Next HADARC meeting is our mid-monthly meeting taking place next Tuesday the 8th November at 8pm. We are calling this meeting the “Great November Recalibrate”. We will have top-of-the-line test gear to accurately check Voltage, Current and Resistance. So bring your analogue or digital multi-meters, wire or other leads and alligator clips and see how lossy cables are or how accurate your test gear is vs precision test gear.

HADARC welcomes Members and guests to attend all its regular meetings.

73’s - Let’s keep radio-active!

Matt / VK2BAI

HADARC President

Due to a late plane fight we had to defer HADARC’s  Rocket Scientist presentation. Alexander Ryan, CEO of VXB Aerospace will now present at our November meeting, so stay tuned for updates as we get closer to the event.

This week we heard from Stephen, VK2KHA who outlined recent updates to the HADARC Web site. The site now contains many helpful links to amateur radio resources. Sections include Antennas, Electronics and even a “Just Interesting” section was added as well. Please have a look at our site and perhaps in your own Club add a section for links to topics that promote Amateur Radio as well.

Also in the meeting we heard from Chris, VK2YMW outlining his recent overseas trip. He showed us the Radio Room of the USS Iowa warship and an amazing presentation showing its massive size and capability. The main conning tower control room armour is 17.3 inches thick – just incredible.

We heard from Matt, VK2BAI on the setup and design of the Hy-Gain AV-640 antenna. This design optimised RF performance by placing coil at the top of the antenna and has 4 levels of capacitive loading hats.

Finally, Rod VK2DAY auctioned off some great gear and perhaps questionable old gear for bargain prices. This was a great way to wrap up a top evening.  

We were pleased to have another new member join HADARC. Welcome to Kevin, VK2VKB.

Next meeting is our mid-monthly meeting taking place on 8th November. We are calling this meeting the “Great November Recalibrate”. We will have top of the line test gear to accurately check Voltage, Current and Resistance. So bring your multi-meters, wire or other leads and alligator clips and see how lossy cables are or how accurate your gear is vs precision test gear.    

HADARC welcomes Members and guests to attend all its meetings.  

73’s - Let’s keep radio-active.

Matt / VK2BAI

HADARC President

This week, HADARC members plugged in their soldering irons and made up some 1:1 Baluns. It was impressive to see VK2XWB’s efforts were rewarded after testing his balun to 30Mhz and having an SWR of 1.2:1 – nice work Walter.

Rod VK2DAY has always been influential, but this time he has taken HADARC’s next event to Galactic levels. Yes, Rod has secured an influential Rocket Scientist for the Monthly meeting on 25th October, starting at 8pm at Mount Colah.

Alexander Ryan is CEO of VXB Aerospace and an experienced Aerospace Engineer. He is in the final stages of his PhD in Aerospace Engineering and Physics at the University of Sydney.

Alex designs electric propulsion systems. Has previously developed and tested a small rf plasma thruster. His UHF engineering and simulation of plasma skills are cutting edge.

Alex will be presenting where Australia stands in the ever-growing Aerospace Industry.

Don't miss this unique event where HADARC Members are invited to bring a guest or friends who have an interest in Science, Rockets and Radio! 

Let’s keep radio-active.

Matt / VK2BAI

HADARC President

HADARC held its Monthly meeting on Tuesday 27th September. And what a great night it was. Carmel VK2CAR presented the largest Low Frequency coil we have ever seen. It is used to detect underwater objects and stands over 3.8 meters tall and over 1.5 meters wide.

We were privileged to hear David Burger VK2CZ explain the different antenna modelling software packages available and how he has used them to optimise his Beams and other antennas. It was impressive to hear about the trade-offs between SWR vs Gain vs Noise, and you can’t have perfection on all three at once. Despite the challenges of a torrential downpour mid presentation, David’s session and expertise was well received.

HADARC was pleased to have a new member join the club and also have a visitor attend with a strong interest in obtaining a Foundation licence. It’s great to see the new WIA foundation manual hot of the press to aid new members.

At next mid-monthly experimenters meeting, bring your soldering iron, solder and pliers. We will be helping club members build balun kits and also having a look at how they perform using a restored BC-221 Frequency Meter.

Have you noticed how good the DX conditions have been on 20 meters? Club member Jack VK2PCH was heard working Italy, England and Bosnia just this week. Local conditions have been noisy so turn on your noise blanker and join one of our nets. HADARC runs weekly nets on 147.250 Monday’s, 3.6085 Wednesday’s and 7.106 Friday’s.

73’s for now - Let’s keep Radio Active !

Matt VK2BAI

HADARC is excited to announce that for its next monthly meeting, which is next Tuesday night at 8pm, our key note speaker will be David Burger, VK2CZ. David will speaking on “Professional Antenna Modelling” and show us how to use software from his deep experience in designing and building antennas. David is a Senior Life Member of the IEEE and has been a ham for 50 years. This will be a great evening to ask lots of questions and perhaps seek ideas for putting up that new antenna, all ready for summer time use.

For those who purchased and are making the popular Balun kits, please follow the instructions carefully, especially winding the toroid. If you have not had a chance to collect your kit, they will be available at the Club meeting this Tuesday night. Please bring the exact cash to cover what you ordered. If you forgot what is due, please email the President using the HADARC web site inquiry section.

Have you noticed how good the conditions have been on 40 meters? It's a good time to join a net, or just stop by and say hello. Perhaps turn on a radio that has not been used from a while and warm up those tubes and caps. HADARC runs weekly nets on 147.250 Monday’s, 3.6085 Wednesday’s and 7.106 Friday’s.

73’s for now - Let’s keep Radio Active !

Matt VK2BAI

President, HADARC.

Last week HADARC held a social dinner at Magpies. There were record level attendees and many great radio stories were told. Stuart VK2BMX showed his new HF vertical and Carmel VK2CAR displayed a new loading coil she had developed. We handed out many baluns kits with enthusiasm high to build these kits ready for summer operations. In the case you did not collect your kit, they will be available at next Monthly meeting.  Please bring the exact amount of cash to cover your order.

HADARC is excited to announce that for its next monthly meeting, our key note speaker will be David Burger, VK2CZ. David will speaking on “Professional Antenna Modelling” and show us how to use software from his deep experience in designing and building antennas. David is a Senior Life Member of the IEEE and has been a ham for 50 years. This will be a great evening to ask lots of questions and perhaps seek ideas for putting up that new antenna, all ready for summer time use.

Did you know there was a secretive CSIRO Radio Telescope at Hornsby between 1947 to 1952. They used yagi’s, rhombics and broad side arrays to study solar bursts. Hornsby has a long radio history. So, why not be part of the history and join one of our weekly nets. HADARC weekly nets are on 147.250 Monday’s, 3.6085 Wednesday’s and 7.106 Friday’s.

73’s for now - Let’s keep Radio Active !

Matt VK2BAI

President, HADARC.

At last week’s HADARC Monthly meeting, a presentation was given by Matt VK2BAI outlining the 4 priority areas for the Club. The areas are: Community Focus, Member Engagement, Radio Disciplines and Practical Impact. Together these are called ‘HADARC 100’ and we aim, in time, to have 100 members.

Carmel VK2CAR presented on new sea wave technology that generates sustainable power as well as the new eBit-X SDR transceiver. Tony, VK2BTL presented on his success with his Moonraker vertical HF Antenna system.

Finally, Steve VK2AAV presented on “The Magic of MOSFETS”. Steve went into the theory, showed the spec sheets and then displayed some practical circuits. These devices are everywhere, so as a Club we wanted to know how to best use them. Did you know a MOSFET can be turned on with about 50 nano amps? Now that is small. Based on Steve’s presentation, we are looking at how we can make some practical MOSFET circuits in the coming months.    

Based on the very successful Balun Business evening, we now have 14 Baluns that will be constructed in the coming months. We appreciate the ARNSW support from Al VK2OK to create such enthusiasm.

Have your tried our recent Echolink upgrade to VK2RNS repeater on 147.250? HADARC would appreciate any feedback. Thanks in advance.

Next HADARC mid monthly-meeting will be a social at Magpies in Waitara starting at 6:00pm for dinner. We look forward to telling many radio and project stories over dinner. Please come along, meet the members and join a relaxed social evening.

HADARC run nets every week on 147.250 Monday’s, 3.6085 Wednesday’s and 7.106 Friday’s.

73’s  - Let’s keep Radio Active !

Matt VK2BAI

President, HADARC.

The 46 year History of HADARC was presented by Barry VK2AAB, Tony VK2BTL and Chris VK2YMW. HADARC has a great story to tell and is growing members almost every meeting. Just this meeting we had 3 new member join the club.

Dennis VK2PMI recited what is likely to be the first Radio Poetry just for HADARC.  

Carmel VK2CAR recounted the evolution of Floppy Disks and presented new and “intelligent road tiles”. Just amazing.

Matt VK2BAI presented the B-24 Bomber radio comms and of note was the 150 kilowatt pulse radar. We displayed an original BC-348-R receiver from the very B-24 bomber.

Next monthly meeting, Steve VK2AAV will be presenting on “The Magic of MOSFETS” and how to tame these great devices.   

Future Directions

HADARC and its Management Committee has recently developed growth plans to take the Club forward. Next meeting we will present the new direction. Radio has a strong future and the interest levels in the community remain high.

HADARC welcomes you as a member or a visitor to join us for another top evening for Radio Amateurs.

HADARC runs nets every week on 147.250 Monday’s, 3.6085 Wednesday’s and 7.106 Friday’s.

The History of HADARC

Coming up this month is The History of HADARC by Barry White VK2AAB, Tony LaMacchia VK2BTL and Chris Williams VK2YMW. This should be a great walk down memory lane for some, and a riveting history of HADARC and Amateur Radio in Sydney over the past 46 years.

HADARC Radio Poetry

Is there such a thing as Radio Poetry? In our Membership, HADARC has skilled professionals across many industries that aren’t just technical. But when you join engineering, radio, and prose together, you end up with Radio Poetry. This will be a first! Hear directly from acclaimed poet Dennis Robson VK2PMI whom has written a special poem just for HADARC.

B-24 Liberator Radio Comms

Australia has one of the few surviving B-24 Liberator planes in the world. And it holds some incredible comms gear, radios, transmitters, radar and more. We will hear from Matthew Ayres VK2BAI about the B-24 radio equipment and how advanced it was for its day and surprisingly how advanced it remains even to today’s standards.

The Trans-Tasman Low-Band Contest is once again on the 3rd Saturday in July which is Saturday the 16th of July between 8:00 UTC and 14:00 UTC this year. Two amateurs with either one or two radios have a good chance of getting a place in this contest, going by last years results. So, grab a mate, a radio, and a bottle of wine, and have a go this year. As they say: good luck in the contest!

Rules for the contest can be found on the WIA’s website.

It is membership renewal time and HADARC annual membership is excellent value at only $30. It is great to be part of the Amateur Radio community and trade our stories, our insights and read about the diverse ways each of us use our passion in the pages of QUA.

To make sure HADARC remains viable, please complete a renewal form and either e-mail the completed form to hadarc@hadarc.org.au and do a bank transfer to the HADARC account, or bring the form and your cash to the next meeting.

Congratulations to the incoming committee!

Matt Ayres VK2BAI is our new President, Rob Dolphin VK2DIO continues as Vice-President, Stuart Walker VK2BMX is our new Secretary, Andrew McNamara VK2TAN continues as Treasurer, and the remaining two Committee positions are filled by Steve Wright VK2KHA and Rod Gamble VK2DAY.

With Covid restrictions eased, HADARC 40m Portable operations have recommenced.

Stephen VK2KHA and Carmel VK2CAR were the first to jump at the opportunity to again set up Portable.

This is a regular event organised by Colin VK2JCC (of course, using his military manpack Clansman.)

Congratulations to the incoming committee! Rod Gamble VK2DAY is the new President, Rob Dolphin VK2DIO is Vice-President, Stephen Stebbing VK2AAV returns as Secretary, Andrew McNamara VK2TAN continues as Treasurer, and the remaining two Committee positions are filled by Colin Christie VK2JCC and Matt Ayres VK2BAI.

It is with great sadness that we share the news that John Bishop VK2ZOI (VK2BK), President of Hornsby And Districts Amateur Radio Club (HADARC), became a silent key in the early hours of Friday, 29th January 2021.

For more information, please click HERE.

It is with great sadness we record that George Archibald VK2BGU became a Silent Key on Tuesday 17 March 2020.

George was very active on our weekly 2m, 80m and 40m nets; always a bright, cheery voice but unfortunately, after suffering a stroke and heart attack earlier this year, his health quickly deteriorated over the past few months and he had to enter care.

George was an amateur for many years, a life-long interest that started with a run-in with the Radio Inspector when he was 12 years old. He was looking for a local club and joined HADARC in July 2006 on the recommendation of Keith VK2AXN (SK). At the time he joined HADARC George was retired but kept himself busy as a volunteer bus driver for a local retirement village - a job he only recently gave up when he decided it was time to surrendered his bus driving licence; however, driving the bus was obviously something he enjoyed and we often listened to many entertaining bus-driving stories on our nets. He was a regular on the Old Timer's Net and Col's net and his other interests included vintage radio and restoring old valve radio sets.

We will miss his voice on air.

A service to celebrate George's life will be held on Monday 23 March at 11.00 am at the Carlingford Baptist Church, Corner Pennant Hills Road & Alamein Avenue, Carlingford.

Sadly we record Ralph became SK on 2 December at age 91.

Ralph joined our Club in August 1983 shortly after having gained his novice callsign VK2PEJ. He was very active in the Club, giving talks, organising Field Day excursions, was co-instrumental in starting the 80m HF Net and was the nominal custodian of the VK2MA callsign for many years.

Even as a novice operator, he was a very active HF DX chaser and went in many contests. Both as an operator and a project builder, he obviously enjoyed the hobby. In April 1994, Ralph upgraded to 'full-call' level and gained his VK2IRP callsign which only recently he surrendered because of his health.

It was always a pleasure to swap stories and have a chat with Ralph and the ranks of amateur radio have lost a treasured stalwart.

It is with deep sadness we record that Brian Robertson VK2BRO became a Silent Key on 10 August.

Brian had been a long term member and was a regular attender at meetings. Unfortunately, about ten years ago he was diagnosed with cancer and because his health rapidly deteriorated in the last six months he became unable to make the drive to Mount Colah from his QTH in Carlingford. In his work-life, he was involved in the television industry but again due to the developing cancer, he had to retire earlier than he would have liked due to his health issues.

We didn't hear Brian on air much but he liked to listen and regularly monitored Club nets and was always interested in what Club members were doing as well as their projects which were described in QUA.

Brian passed away peacefully in his sleep and we will miss his cheery voice and presence at our meetings.

It is with much sadness we record John Howard APM VK2AMH became SK on Monday 16 July 2018 after a period of prolonged health and mobility problems. He was aged 88.

John was born 16 June 1930 at Muswellbrook, NSW. His father was a Superintendent of Police and John followed his father into the NSW Police Force. He became involved with the police radio communications system and played a significant part in structuring police radio into all service vehicles. He was promoted to Executive Chief Superintendent in 1984 and was awarded the Australian Police Medal in 1990, retiring from the Police Force that year.

As a radio amateur, he was first licensed as VK2AHM in 1955 when living at Earlwood, later changing his Callsign to VK2AMH. A long-time member of HADARC, John was also very active in WICEN and for a period after his retirement, had served as the State Coordinator and as WICEN NSW President.

John was a JP and regularly volunteered his time at the Hornsby Shire Library to members of the public requiring the services of a JP.

A great man, always able to provide sound advice when asked, a man who will be missed.