Month: June 2020

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Sunday 5 July: Hive Makerspace introduction and Demo by John ZL2XJ of the Nano-VNA

The programme for the afternoon meeting (1pm – 3pm at the Waitohi – Johnsonville Library) involved:

1] HIVE makerspace introduction and demonstration

Tūhura HIVE is the makerspace and sound studio, located on the lower ground floor of Johnsonville Library at the Waitohi Community Hub. It has facilities for:

  • 3D printing
  • 3D scanning
  • Laser cutting
  • Audio recording studio

One of the Makerspace Specialists gave a 30 minute introduction and discussion about the facilities available for Branch 50 member use.

The talk / walkthrough include a look over what is available in the Hive, A discussion of the objectives of the space, and some preliminary discussion on how we could use the space / get involved (either individually or as a group). This could be a good recruiting gdround for younger people interested in electronics.

The laser cutter, the 3D printers and possibly the 3D scanner (for replicating parts) would be of most interest to members.

2] For the second part of the afternoon John ZL2XJ gave a short talk / demonstration of the NanoVNA and the associated PC software tool to test filters and antennas.

The workshop finished at 2.45pm and several of us retired upstairs to Common Ground Café.

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Meeting at Waitohi (Johnsonville Library) – 21 June

A Special Meeting to amend club rules in light of Covid-19 and the phasing out of cheques by major banks was scheduled for Sunday 21 June from 1pm – 3pm. This was the first face-to-face meeting since Covid-19 set NZ back in 2020.

Details of the amendments to our rules were sent to members in advance. Club members accepted the proposed changes proposed to the Rules, which can be found on this website under Club Business.

The special meeting was followed by our regular monthly meeting where Frank ZL2TTS spoke to a Powerpoint presentation on HF propagation.  Frank is one of our most active DXers and he discussed key considerations in successfully making DX contacts at the bottom of the solar cycle based on propagation via the ionosphere.

This was also the first time we have met at Waitohi Hub – in the maker space meeting rooms.  A number of members met in the cafe afterwards for coffee and snacks.