Branch 50 (Wellington) NZART – Known as the Wellington Amateur Radio Club
We had seven HamCram participants in our June 2024 HamCram, and six passed the examination. Please welcome on the air the following new operators and members of Branch 50 NZART:
Eben ZL2EF provided an insightful introduction to morse code at our June 2024 regular meeting. He gave us t he history of morse code (known in amateur radio circles as “CW” or “Continuous Wave”), and pointers on how to learn the code – both for speed and for real world amateur communications. He also demonstrated his QRP CW transceiver and a range of different types of keys. Thanks also to George ZL2AG for bringing along his collection of “bugs” (mechanical automated keys).
Some key websites he referenced:
https://morsecode.ninja/ (Kurt Zoglemann)
https://cwops.org/cw-academy/ (CW Ops Academy)
https://longislandcwclub.org/ (Long Island CW club)
http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html (Slow Speed “Contest”)
Meshtastic is software that runs on very affordable and tiny LoRa devices to provide texting services that can travel long distances at 915MHz. A presentation on Meshtastic was given at the May 2024 meeting of the Wellignton Amateur Radio Club. The presentation is available for download here.
Wellington Amateur Radio Club (ZL2WB) is excited to share that our new multi-mode digital repeater is live!
This repeater gives amateur operators in the region the ability to use digital networks without a hotspot and provides another form of communication not only in the region but across Aotearoa and the World! As the repeater is connected to the internet, those who are out of range but have a MMDVM hotspot will be able to talk with those using the repeater if you’re on the same talkgroup.
Our repeater is currently located in Newlands and is available for any licenced amateur to use; we encourage you to do so if you are within range. Remember to set up your DMR ID.
The repeater is currently set up for DMR using the Brandmeister and FreeDMR Networks, and also for D-Star users. Over time, we will continue to review the available networks, and we are happy to hear feedback on which networks you would like to see or have available on the repeater.
For more information on how to use each network, timeslot and dynamic talkgroup settings, which networks are currently available, the repeater status, and the repeater dashboard, you can visit the repeater tab on this site.
