Category: Meetings

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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.

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Active Magnetic Loops for low-noise receive

Rx only active magnetic loop antennas

On Sunday 7 June Bernard ZL2BD provided us with an onlie Zoom shed workshop talk on active RX magnetic loops. As with all of his presentations, this was well researched and he had experimented with 5 different loops in drawing his conclusions.

A report is available below, and a presentation and commentary will be made available shortly on this website.

Magnetic Loop Antennas in general have encountered a resurgence recently for Amateur Radio. A key attribute that seems to have been rediscovered by many is the small physical size of antennas for the 3.5 – 30 MHz HF bands. This makes them an attractive solution particularly in urban environments where space for antennas is quite restricted. Another important attribute is the improved signal to noise performance on receive compared to larger conventional wire antennas.

Using an Active Mag loop receive-only antenna is another variation of Mag Loops that provides the benefits of a low-noise receiving system without having to meet the stringent low ohms loop and high voltage tuning capacitor that is required for transmitting.

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Active Mag Loop Antennas Explained - 7 June 2020

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Glenn ZL2KZ talks about the Panama Canal

Following general branch news and catch ups from members, our Zoom meeting of Sunday 17 May focussed on a presentation from Glenn ZL2KZ on his trip through the Panama Canal.  He gave us lots of facts and figures about both the old and new locks.

The following snap was taken of our Zoom meeting by John ZL2XJ:

Zoom meeting Sunday 17 May