Tag: Blackwood Cup

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Blackwood Cup October Meeting

The Blackwood Cup

Three members brought out their homebrew projects to have a go at winning the annual Blackwood Cup. We met at The Collective Hub,  1/33 Johnsonville Rd on Tuesday 18 October from 1pm to 3pm (followed by tea and coffee). The winner this year was George ZL2AG (not for the first time!).

The Blackwood Cup has been fought over since the early 1930s. The most recent winners:

YearWinnerCallsignProject
2021J P MoriartyZl2JPMQRP Magnetic Loop & Autotuner
2020J P MoriartyZL2JPMQRP Antenna Tuner modules
2019R G NewlandsZL2AGArtificial ground system
2018D McNeillZL2AOVuBITx Txcvr & mods
2017M H WoodsZL1AXGBITX40 Txcvr mods

Who will win the cup in 2023? You have 52 weeks to get your project completed!

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18 October Meeting – Blackwood Cup Competition

Blackwood Cup – in its 90th year

Our Sunday 18 October meeting (from 1pm – 3pm) at Waitohi (Johnsonville Community Centre) featured our annual Blackwood Cup competition. This was the 90th year of the cup being awarded, so it has a long history. There were only three entries this year, but the winner as voted by members was John ZL2JPM for his QRP three unit combination.

One of those winners from 1974, Derek ZL2AKS, asked the club to dispose of his equipment, as he is moving out of town to a retirement village and will not be operating on HF any more. Bernard ZL2BD oversaw the sale of this equipment. A list of equipment was sent to members. We celebrate Derek’s long-term commitment (60 years) as a member of the club.

We held a moments silence for Don ZL2BL, who became a Silent Key earlier in the month.

Ian ZL2HUT also gave a presentation on Radio Spectrum Management. Ian explained how the radio spectrum is managed, via various legislation, policies, regulations and rules.  

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Annual Blackwood Cup Competion

At our October 2016 meeting (held on 16 October at the Lutheran Church Hall, King St, Mt Cook in Wellington) we held the annual Blackwood Cup contest for the best homebrew project over the last 12 months

With only one contestant, Doug ZL2AOV, the outcome was pre-determined and Doug was awarded the Cup for his QRP SSB project.  It’s interesting that Doug’s late father Frank (then Z2CD) won the Blackwood Cup back in 1931 with an Emergency Transmitter.

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October Meeting: Blackwood Cup

Blackwood CupIt was Blackwood Cup time again on Wednesday 21 October. Four members brought along home brew projects they had completed over the last 12 months and gave a brief talk on them.   John ZL2HD somewhat surprised himself by winning the competition, and taking away the cup.   Of course the winner gets to go and get the engraving put on the cup base!

John’s construction was a clock inspired by a clock he acquired from the estate of the late Bill Hamer ZL2CD.  However, this one is controlled within microseconds of the real atomic time and sources its time via an arduino and a GPS chip.   In a sign of the times, most of the project time was spent in writing the Arduino “sketch” or program that controls the clock.  Well done John!

The runner up in the competition was Col ZL2COL who produced a rugged lightweight box for his FT857, power supply, tuner and other bits and pieces, including a swivel out light for the portable shack!   This was put to the test on the South Coast at Karori Rock Lighthouse in the International Lighthouse Contest.

Other entries included James ZL2ET application of a Raspberry Pi to a miniature transmitter deployed on WSPR service.  Don’t know what that is?  Then come along to the February meeting to receive a full explanation and to see it demonstrated!

Ted ZL2TB showed us a very well constructed home brew interface between his rig and the sound card in his computer.   No RF in the computer with that one!

The fact that we are still getting a muster of entrants every year means Wellington branch members and still doing some home construction!