ZL2WB

October 22, 2018November 5, 2018

Branch 50 at Wellington’s first Maker Faire

Branch 50 NZART participated in the Wellington Maker Faire on 4 November. Some 2500 people passed through the Maker Faire on Sunday 4 November from 10am to 4pm.

John ZL2XJ and Bernard ZL2BD with the Branch 50 display at the Maker Faire

NZART Inc took an outside area, immediately in front of the entrance to the TSB Arena on Queen’s Wharf, to showcase amateur radio. Two local clubs (Branch 50 and Branch 63) were supported by two NZART councillors in promoting amateur radio.

Some of the larger team at the Maker Faire 2018

Chatting about the gear …

And making contacts from inside the tent …

A large number of people came by and chatted, including a number of amateur operators. Nineteen contacts will be followed up – primarily people showing an interest in amateur radio or operators who are interested in becoming active again. They will all be put in touch with NZART and their local branch. Those on the stand felt it was successful, and we won a prize for the best presented stand.

September 23, 2018October 22, 2018

Blackwood Cup Contest -17 October club meeting

This year there were three entries in the Blackwood Cup contested at the October meeting ( Wednesday 17 October) at the Lutheran Church Hall, King St, Mt Cook, Wellington.

Bernard ZL2BD showed off a couple of SWR meters. One of these covered both HF (using a standard pair of toroids in a bridge circuit) and VHF/UHF (using a stripline circuit). Bernard separates the sensor components from the metering components so that the bridge can be located somewhere remotely as required.

Mike ZL1AXG showed off his completed “Hiland” 0-30v 0-2A power supply and talked about a couple of the glitches he uncovered. Occasionally when turning the unit on, the supply will not move off zero volts. This is thought to be a function of the slightly different specs for the op amps, which were substituted. The other fault is in the cheap $2.70 Aliexpress digital volt/ammeter. The ammeter reports double the actual current!

Doug ZL2AOV talked to his uBITx transceiver and an extensive range of modifications, including built in battery, VOX and S-meter.

The Blackwood Cup moves on from Mike ZL1AXG’s shack to Doug ZL2AOV’s shack, as he was declared the winner by Malcolm ZL2UDF.

September 23, 2018October 22, 2018

Summer series #1 Shed Workshops – 7 October

Over the summer we are having informal shed workshops. No set topic, but all are welcome to come along, preferably (but optionally) with your soldering iron and a project to work on. That might be a uBITx transceiver, a magnetic loop antenna, a power supply, an arduino nano keyer project, or whatever takes your fancy. There are eight magnetic loops under construction for a start!

#1 in the summer series kicked off at Bernard’s QTH, 1 Winsley Terrace, Churton Park, from 1pm – 3pm, on Sunday 7 October 2018. Eight turned up, with George ZL2AG and Don ZL2BD talking about their regenerative and super-regenerative receivers.

September 15, 2018September 23, 2018