Shed Workshop on 6 March: The ZC1 test jig & a replacement vibrator

For anybody who has been around in amateur radio for a while, the ZC1 will be well known. It was developed by Collier and Beale during WW2 for use by the NZ armed forces. As it covered both 80m and 40m, it was highly prized by hams, in an era when commercially made equipment was hard to come by.

On Sunday 6 March 2022 Bernard ZL2BD gave a talk (on Zoom) on a ZCI test jig that he built, and has used to test the working of several ZC1s. The club owns a ZC1 that is for sale to any member interested in purchasing it and was tested using this test jig.

Bernard also demonstrated a replacement vibrator that doesn’t require modification of the ZC1 power supply. He is still working on variants to perfect this.

11 members and visitors joined in on the Zoom session, which was very well received by those attending.

Planning meeting and ZL2 Counsellor visit – 22 February

Our first regular meeting of 2022 was to have taken place on Tuesday 22 February at The Collective Hub, 1/33 Johnsonville Road, Johnsonville.

Given the Omicron outbreak it has been decided to cancel this meeting.

Richard ZL2FY, one of our Central Region counsellors was to have attended. Richard will be invited to attend a meeting later in the year.

Future meetings in March and April will shift to Zoom online meetings.

Combined Branches BBQ – Saturday 29 January 2022

Rather than have our own Branch 50 NZART BBQ this year, the committee decided to join with Branch 74 (Wellington VHF Group) and Branch 69 (Kapiti Branch) at their Combined Branches BBQ.

The Combined BBQ  was held at QE2 Park, Paekakariki on Sat 29th Jan  from 1200pm onwards.    Mike ZL1AXG and Frank ZL2TTS attended the BBQ. There were 14 amateurs and XYLs in attendance.

Wellington City Draft District Plan and “amateur radio configurations”

Sorry, not permitted in Wellington, NZ

The 2021 Wellington Draft District Plan is out for feedback from residents and organisations. Branch 50 NZART will be responding to the draft District Plan, as we have done so in the past. The plan gets updated once every 10 years, so this is our opportunity to make sure that the plan reflects the benefits of amateur radio in our community (e.g. through support for emergency communications) while addressing potential adverse impacts of “amateur radio configurations” on neighbours and the wider community.

A draft submission can be found below. This will be discussed and refined prior to submission (due no later than 14 December 2021). Club members are asked to send suggestions for amendment of the submission to the Committee (committee@zl2wb.com).