Tuesday 16 August – When will the bands be open?

Our regular August monthly meeting, held at The Collective in Johnsonville considered the nature of propagation and tried to answer teh question of “What time of day to look for DX from what direction and on what bands?”.

With magnetic activity increasing on the sun, the DX bands are now open, and they are not subject to the same QRM in the ‘burbs as 80m and 40m.

Mike ZL1AXG discussed how solar activity impacted on DX possibilities, through its impact on the ionosphere. This will be in a presentation  and discussion format.  

Shed Workshop Sunday 7 August

Our shed workshop on 7 August 2022 was focussed on the NanoVNA

We met in Bernard ZL2BD’s garage at 1 Winsley Tce, Churton Park from 1pm. to 3pm concluding with afternoon tea and savouries. Bernard ZL2BD and Mike ZL1AXG covered off a number of topics including:

  • What nano-VNA should I buy?
  • What accessories should also be acquired?
  • How do you use the nano-VNA to measure antenna characteristics (resonance and SWR)?
  • How do I connect the nano-VNA to my computer? Why should I do this?

Youtube Showing: 19 July Meeting

Time: 1pm – 3pm
Location: The Collective Hub, 1/33 Johnsonville Rd, Johnsonville

We will be showing a range of amateur radio Youtube clips including:

  • A presentation by Scott McIntosh on the Sun’s Magnetosphere and his Cycle 25 prediction for a much bigger peak than other forecasters are suggesting
  • A review of the new Yaesu FTDX10
  • Information on the features and construction of the new QRP-Labs QDX digital only transceiver 80-20m

Shed Workshop Sunday 3 July – IC7300 Tips Part 2

iCOM IC7300 Hints and tips – Second session

1pm – 3pm Venue John ZL2XJ QTH

Mike ZL1AXG and John ZL2XJ provided a follow up talk on using the IC7300 covering the remaining topics not covered in the earlier June workshop.

This included more detail on storing settings on the SD-Card and using it to record voice messages for use in contests or to record QSOs.

There was also a further demonstration of software using the USB-B port including logging software.

Tea, coffee and cake followed the workshop with nine participants.