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Visit by Regional Councillor to Wellington

This is your chance to meet one of our new NZART regional councillors: Dan Vandenberg ZL2DRV.

Dan Vandenberg ZL2DRV

Councillors Central District

Phillip Dodds ZL4XYZ
Benjamin Isaacs ZL2BCI
Daniel Vandenberg ZL2DRV

The time and venue have now been confirmed for Tuesday 10th September  2019 at 19:30 at the Branch 42 club rooms.

There will be a talk in on the club repeater on 6750 if you are lost.

Branch 42 street address can ben found here:  http://www.nzart.org.nz/contact/branches/42/

The issues that have been flagged for discussion include:

  • New members – the problem with getting younger people into the hobby
  • would council consider having live broadcasts of their meetings again?
  • Will our subscriptions increase in the near future?
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August 2019 Meeting – Favourite amateur radio books

Members brought along their favourite amateur radio book or books and talked about them.

Ten members turned out to our Sunday 18 August meeting at Mike ZL1AXG’s QTH. To kick off the meeting we watched a Youtube video about the HAARP experimental ionospheric research centre in Alaska. Then each ember talked to their favourite amateur radio book.

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Shed Workshop 4 August

Bernard talking about fake transistors, discovered during prototyping of the Active Antenna Kit

Bernard ZL2BD and John ZL2XJ launched the first of a pair of shed workshops covering the construction of an active antenna.

Bernard discussed why amateur operators should be interested in active antennas, the basic design elements that underpin the electronics, and the nature of the kit construction that members will be undertaking.

The designs all incorporate a FET followed by a bipolar transistor. They must transfer the very high impedance of a short whip antenna to the 50 ohm input of a typical receiver. They may also include filtering to reduce broadcast interference (BCI). They are fed using 12v over the coax, so they require a filtering system to separate RF from DC back in the shack.

We will meet on 1 September from 2pm -4pm since it will be Father’s Day and some may want to go out to lunch with family. We will be constructing our devices, so members will need to bring a soldering iron. The kits will be provided free of charge to members. If you didn’t attend the first session, please contact one of the committee to confirm you are coming to be sure we have sufficient kits available.

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Active Whip Antennas Explained

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Upcoming regional events

  1. Saturday 27 July 9am start – Branch 42 Used Equipment Sale – Onepoto Speed Boat Club (Onepoto Road). For more information contact ZL2ABC (Bruce Packer)  zl2abc@gmail.com  or by phone to 04 938 7147.
  2. Saturday 3 August 2019: 9.30am – noon – Winter DV Talk by John ZL2TWS Start Time: 10:30 am (clubrooms open 9:30 am – morning tea/coffee at 10:00 am). At Upper Hutt Clubrooms Branch 63, Park Street, Upper Hutt.A registration fee of $5.00 applies to cover expenses. Please register with mark@foxtrot.co.nz Finishes no later than 12:00 pm. Learn about D-Star G3 Plus2 and ircDDB variants followed by a demonstrations of BlueDV for D-Star, DMR and Yaesu System Fusion (YSF). Instant D-STAR registration available on the day for new users of Peanut or BlueDV. The talk will then continue about Hotspots and Dashboards. Following the session many of the group will have lunch at the Cosmopolitan Club (pay your own way).
  3. Regional Councillor Meet Up at Branch 42 Clubrooms in Titahi Bay – Date and time to be confirmed – The combined regional meeting will be on either Tuesday 10 September or Wednesday 11 September. Both ZL2 councillors are expected to be present.