Linux Mint upgraded to 22.3

 recently I did the upgrade of my old ASUS laptop from Linux Mint 22.2 to 22.3 successfully.
The upgrade tools get easier to use each time.
As I said in the past, if you got an old PC or Laptop that is too old and slow for MS Windows, then recycle it and install a flavour of Linux on it for a new fast, lease of life.

Interference across 6metre band in Frenchs Forest area,

 Interference across 6metre band in Frenchs Forest, NSW area

Over last couple months the interference has become worse across 6metre band, more noticeable, whilst scanning the 6metre FM repeater segment, I did a sweep from 46-60 Mhz  and found there is wide band signal covering 52.500 to 57 MHz, the signal strength varies from s5 to s9 across that segment.
I suspect it radiating from Northern Beaches Hospital, possibly some piece of medical scanning equipment.
If scan across  the band with a narrow band receiver, it just seems like white noise, but the signal strength meter shows there is something there. 

This happened a few years ago and I tracked it to the hospital.and suddenly it went away.

23cm activity from VK3 this morning 26th January, 2026

 The VK3's having a cracker of a morning on 23cm SSB

Canberra Region and Wagga Region repeaters

 I was just checking out the repeaters for Goulburn and Southern Highlands ARC (GaSHARC) recently, as they have an extensive repeater network  from Yass - Goulburn - High Range, which led me to check out the Canberra and Wagga club's repeaters as we visit Canberra and Junee and also Tumut from time to time.

Both CRARC and WARC  have their own extensive repeater networks which are outlined on their respective websites.

Next time I out Junee way, I'll get to try out the WARC 6metre repeater VK2RBE,
I also noted CRARC still showing their 6metre repeater for Mt.Ginini as planned, so fingers crossed it that it gets finished and commissioned one day

Repeaters - Wagga Amateur Radio Club

Repeaters – CRARC

6metre repeater status in and around Sydney and NSW that I know of, as of 25th January, 2026

  6metre repeater status in and around Sydney and NSW that I know of, as of 25th January, 2026,

53.625 VK2RSN, Mt.Sugarloaf, Newcastle, operational, requires 91.5Hz tone

53.650  VK2RMP, Maddens Plain, Illawarra,  operational, requires 123Hz tone

53.675  VK2RMB, Terrey Hills, off-air

53.700  VK2RGN, Goulburn, off-air

53.725  VK2RAG, Somersby, Central Coast, operational, requires 91.5Hz tone, linked to 23cm rptr

53.800  VK2RCN, Port Macquarie operational

53.825  VK2RBE, Bethungra operational

53.850  VK2RWI, Dural, operational

53.875  VK2RBM, Blue Mtns, operational, requires 91.5Hz tone

52.525  FM Simplex - still plenty activity, particularly Sunday morning after ARNSW broadcast from Dural

P25 TG10700 Activity as of 19th Jan 2026

 P25 TG10700 Activity as of 19th Jan 2026

Goulburn and Southern Highlands Amateur Radio Club - Sunday night 80metre Net

 I discovered  another interesting net, from reading the GaSHARC blog and Facebook pages and noted that they have a 80metre Net held each sunday night starting at 8.30pm local, on 3.615MHz. I had a listen tonight, I had s5 noise floor, so I could hear the Net Controller fine at s9 but the rest of them was difficult copy.

The club also have a set of repeaters across Yass (VK2RYS) - Goulburn (VK2RGN) and High Range (VK2RHR)

I just happened to hear VK2RGN 147.925   in Sydney the other night during a big burst of tropo, there was also VK2RPM 146.700, Bega VK2RFS 146.750 and VK1RGI 146.950 all accessible from Sydney. 

They also have three DMR repeaters, I can see two of them active on the VK-DMR Repeater Dashboard, being VK2RGN and VK2RYS

There is supposed to be APRS iGates at VK2RYS, VK2RGN and VK2RHR but I only see VK2RHR active on APRS.fi. There was also supposed to be a P25 rptr at Yass I thought, as I knew about a Qantar needing a PSU.

Bridging the Highlands: The Goulburn and Southern Highlands Amateur Ra
(20+) Goulburn and Southern Highlands Amateur Radio Society (GASHARS) | Facebook
The Wireless Institute of Australia

WIA VHF/UHF Field Day Contest dates for 2026

 WIA VHF/UHF Field Day Contest dates for 2026

Summer: 1st full weekend of January: 3rd-4th
Times: 0100 UTC Saturday through 0059 UTC Sunday (0400 / 0359 in VK6).

Winter: 3rd weekend of June: 20th-21st
Times: 0100 UTC Saturday through 0059 UTC Sunday (0300 / 0259 in VK6).

Spring: 3rd weekend of September: 19th-20th
Times: 0100 UTC Saturday through 0059 UTC Sunday (0400 / 0359 in VK6).

The Wireless Institute of Australia

VK2MB-6 30metre APRS Gateway Heard List

 

and the last time I used HF APRS was back in April 2025, most traffic via VK2MB-6  VK5ZX-4 and VK5ARG-3 gateways. The big gap in middle due to faulty dc power cable plug on back of FT857D

Upgraded my Linux Mint laptop to 22.2 "Zara"

 I finally upgraded my Linux Mint laptop,  I keep reminding myself to do it, but never get around to it. It has been on 21.3 for quite some time, I doing the patches regularly, but stopping to upgrade is another thing. I upgraded in the recommended steps, 21.3 to 22.0, 22.0 to 22.1, then 22.1 to 22.2 "Zara", each step proceeded with its snapshot for safety. All went well, no side effects or issues detected. The Linux Mint 22.2 built on Ubuntu 24.4 LTS. It works great, nice and fast on my old ASUS N550JK laptop.
This is a great time to remind those about to throw away their old laptop or PC because of Windows 10 now being unsupported, (as of 14th October) that you can recycle those old PC's and laptops giving them another lease on  life by installing a flavour of Linux O/S replacing the old Windows 10.
You have nothing to lose,  Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint to name but a few for you to try. I use mine mainly for browsing, WSJTX and Arduino IDE.