VK2XB- Indy - truck mobile missing from APRS

 When I occasionally  look around on APRS, I often spot Indy VK2XB mobile somewhere in his big rig (semi-trailer truck), but I havent had time to look around for past 6months, except for my own travelling between new home  in Yass Valley and back to Sydney and have been doing that each week for a few months.

Anyway, back to VK2XB,  I had a look on APRS to see where he travelling and I noticed he hasnt been on APRS since January. I thought, oh I hope nothing bad happened. I did some searches and spotted an article in March on Brisbane Radio Society but not much else. 

Indy's Home Page  
VK2XB Amateur Radio

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

Wagga Amateur Radio Club (WARC) - new 6metre Repeater on-air VK2RBE

 Wagga Amateur Radio Club (WARC) - new 6metre Repeater on-air VK2RBE  

Just learnt that a new repeater has been commissioned at Mt.Bethungra, near Bethungra, north of Junee,

operating on 53.825  with -1MHz input, no ctcss tone required and it standalone, as of June 2024.

Follow details on the WARC website Repeaters - Wagga Amateur Radio Club

Just thinking about it, I havent done any trips to Young/Cootamundra/Junee/Wagga/Tumut since 2023, hence not tried out this repeater mobile yet.

Since this new 6metre repeater is co-sited with the VK2RBE 2metre repeater on 146.675MHz,  then it is possible it will be accessible from the Hume Highway in the Jugiong-Coolac region for those traversing the Hume Highway with 6metre FM in the mobile, otherwise should be good coverage on the Olympic Highway in Junee-Bethungra-Cootamundra section.

Mudgee trip 10-14 April, 2025

 APRS coverage on 30metres (10.147600 ) for VK2KFJ-15,
accidentally switched off HF APRS for a section, when going up and back.
30metre coverage works very well day and night, most packets  received via VK2MB-6

APRS coverage via phone for VK2KFJ

APRS coverage via 2metres (145.175 MHz)  for VK2KFJ-9,
we can see coverage on 2metres is lacking  from Lithgow to Gulgong

Raw packets from VK2KFJ-15 on 30metres

2025-04-14 13:53:39 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S3Y5,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N0dp{DR/'">?}!w@*!|3
2025-04-14 13:54:46 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S4S0,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N1PpHaR/'">/}!w<U!|3
2025-04-14 13:56:48 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S3R9,qAO,VK2MB-6:`N2Xo>jR/'">$}!w1-!|3
2025-04-14 13:57:01 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S3R5,qAO,VK2OL-10:`N2eo\DR/'">$}TT3 on 30m!wp:!|3
2025-04-14 13:57:34 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2Y6,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N2~p*"R/'"=P}!wDo!|3
2025-04-14 13:58:07 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2V7,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N33p hR/'"=J}!wJ,!|3
2025-04-14 13:58:48 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2X3,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N3]pg:R/'"=m}!wm[!|3
2025-04-14 13:59:13 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S3P1,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N3yoRxR/'"=P}!w`F!|3
2025-04-14 13:59:18 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2Y9,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N3~o CR/'"=W}TT3 on 30m!wBt!|3
2025-04-14 14:00:04 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2W6,qAO,VK2MB-6:`N4=oHhR/'"=a}!wd\!|3
2025-04-14 14:00:12 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2W6,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N4Eo]*R/'"=U}!wi`!|3
2025-04-14 14:01:19 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2Y8,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N5!nI)R/'">(}TT3 on 30m!w,)!|3
2025-04-14 14:01:24 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2Y7,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N5%nHKR/'">0}!w-A!|3
2025-04-14 14:01:38 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2Y1,qAO,VK2MB-6:`N5.nfqR/'">@}!wDj!|3
2025-04-14 14:02:00 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2Y0,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N5Ao :R/'">Z}!wk=!|3
2025-04-14 14:03:24 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2R5,qAO,VK2MB-6:`N5,op:R/'">*}!wjd!|3
2025-04-14 14:04:07 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2Q8,qAO,VK2OL-10:`N5Sp?$R/'"=E}!wz'!|3
2025-04-14 14:04:42 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2R7,qAO,VK2OL-10:`N6&ppgR/'"<j}!w#8!|3
2025-04-14 14:05:20 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2Q6,qAO,VK2OL-10:`N6Xp ER/'"<S}!wmq!|3
2025-04-14 14:06:33 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S1V8,qAO,VK2MB-6:`N7Cp>IR/'";m}!wXI!|3
2025-04-14 14:08:02 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S0Y4,qAO,VK2OL-10:`N8?p*pR/'";G}TT3 on 30m!wm5!|3
2025-04-14 14:10:04 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S0U2,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N9`p4NR/'";(}!w#]!|3
2025-04-14 14:12:55 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3R9Y3,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N;Jo+2R/'":m}!wXL!|3
2025-04-14 14:13:59 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S0Q9,qAO,VK2OL-10:`N;klRbR/'":O}!w>4!|3
2025-04-14 14:19:01 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S0Q9,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N;kl <0x1c>R/'":Q}TT3 on 30m!w<c!|3
2025-04-14 14:20:00 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S0Q9,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N;jlTwR/'":S}!w<n!|3
2025-04-14 14:20:16 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S0Q8,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N;ilf!R/'":N}!w8E!|3
2025-04-14 14:20:27 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S0Q6,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N;jlzzR/'":N}!w)L!|3
2025-04-14 14:21:23 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S0Q7,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N<Mpg8R/'":7}!w_$!|3
2025-04-14 14:21:42 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S0S2,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N<gpz{R/'":#}!wib!|3
2025-04-14 14:24:22 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S0Y2,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N>sp>xR/'"9Z}!wLm!|3
2025-04-14 14:26:22 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S0Y6,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`N@epS8R/'"94}!w*d!|3
2025-04-14 14:26:48 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S1Q7,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NA<0x1f>p\zR/'"97}!w.0!|3
2025-04-14 14:27:01 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S1Q5,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NA/opYR/'"9I}!wPV!|3
2025-04-14 14:27:53 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S1Q9,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NA_oqdR/'":0}!w[L!|3
2025-04-14 14:28:58 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S1X6,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NAqogCR/'"9B}TT3 on 30m!w"^!|3
2025-04-14 14:34:36 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2R6,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NA<0x7f>l <0x1c>R/'"8u}!wA$!|3
2025-04-14 14:39:35 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2R6,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NA<0x7f>l <0x1c>R/'"8r}!wJ&!|3
2025-04-14 14:41:01 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2R6,qAO,VK2OL-10:`NA~lU5R/'"8q}!w?H!|3
2025-04-14 14:41:36 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2S9,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NA}ogUR/'"8^}!w:j!|3
2025-04-14 14:41:54 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2U2,qAO,VK2OL-10:`NB<0x1d>m{'R/'"88}!wD*!|3
2025-04-14 14:42:00 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2U0,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NB!nfHR/'"8*}TT3 on 30m!wVM!|3
2025-04-14 14:42:13 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2T5,qAO,VK2OL-10:`NB(miWR/'"7p}!w__!|3
2025-04-14 14:42:19 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2T1,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NB)nfCR/'"7n}!wZI!|3
2025-04-14 14:42:43 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2T0,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NB8n40R/'"7M}!wS&!|3
2025-04-14 14:42:49 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2S8,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NB:mq<0x1d>R/'"7J}!wcm!|3
2025-04-14 14:42:54 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2T1,qAO,VK2OL-10:`NB<nIcR/'"7K}TT3 on 30m!w*c!|3
2025-04-14 14:43:06 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2T9,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NBAn]8R/'"79}!wY.!|3
2025-04-14 14:43:12 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2T9,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NBEnfYR/'"7+}!w:f!|3
2025-04-14 14:43:39 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2U5,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NBdo{@R/'"6Y}!w)m!|3
2025-04-14 14:46:20 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S2Y0,qAO,VK2OL-10:`ND^o]!R/'"5S}!wM4!|3
2025-04-14 14:50:26 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S4S0,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NFMnq<0x1d>R/'"4O}!wmy!|3
2025-04-14 14:53:52 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S5R8,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NGcoI.R/'"4*}!wW&!|3
2025-04-14 14:56:30 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S5Y4,qAO,VK2OL-10:`NI'm*NR/'"4+}!w>p!|3
2025-04-14 14:57:01 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S5X6,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NI.m+&R/'"40}!wmB!|3
2025-04-14 14:59:49 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S6R9,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NJUo]"R/'"42}!w,C!|3
2025-04-14 15:02:52 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S6V7,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NL^o5 R/'"41}!wVg!|3
2025-04-14 15:05:21 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S7P3,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NMMo]DR/'"4/}TT3 on 30m!wts!|3
2025-04-14 15:06:43 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S7V8,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NN mpuR/'"4.}!w06!|3
2025-04-14 15:07:25 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S7U5,qAO,VK2OL-10:`NN=mg>R/'"4+}!w=[!|3
2025-04-14 15:10:18 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S8X8,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NO]oS8R/'"44}!w18!|3
2025-04-14 15:12:29 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S9U9,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NP]p]'R/'"45}!w@X!|3
2025-04-14 15:15:23 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3S9W8,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NQboI2R/'"4K}!w_:!|3
2025-04-14 15:17:21 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T0V2,qAO,VK2OL-10:`NRgoIVR/'"4I}!wfn!|3
2025-04-14 15:21:59 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T1T1,qAO,VK2OL-10:`NS=n?HR/'"4R}!wRc!|3
2025-04-14 15:28:53 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T2Y1,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NT'pIUR/'"4T}!wbX!|3
2025-04-14 15:31:47 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T3Y8,qAO,VK2MB-6:`NTYoIWR/'"4f}!wl&!|3
2025-04-14 15:35:31 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T6S3,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NV:q]!R/'"4X}!w{@!|3
2025-04-14 15:36:36 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T6Q9,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`NWCpzcR/'"4n}!wXz!|3
2025-04-14 15:38:24 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T5W6,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`OY)qRjR/'"5$}!w[p!|3
2025-04-14 15:39:01 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T5X6,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`OYmqRiR/'"4p}TT3 on 30m!wPB!|3
2025-04-14 15:42:34 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T5X3,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`O]Jn *R/'"4b}!wwA!|3
2025-04-14 15:46:28 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T6X3,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`O_}m\UR/'"4T}!wna!|3
2025-04-14 15:47:11 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T6V9,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`O`&p*2R/'"4S}TT3 on 30m!w_0!|3
2025-04-14 15:50:10 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T5S7,qAO,VK2MB-6:`O`6oR5R/'"4o}!wyw!|3
2025-04-14 15:50:18 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T5S2,qAO,VK2OL-10:`O`=ofVR/'"4i}!w@C!|3
2025-04-14 15:51:19 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T4Y9,qAO,VK2OL-10:`O`to\2R/'"50}!wsl!|3
2025-04-14 15:54:20 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T3Y6,qAO,VK2MB-6:`Oa=o>GR/'"5h}!wOd!|3
2025-04-14 15:54:42 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T3X3,qAO,VK2OL-10:`OaLnpnR/'"5e}!w0{!|3
2025-04-14 15:56:39 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T3U7,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`O&<0x1f>o KR/'"5_}!w["!|3
2025-04-14 15:58:19 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T3Q4,qAO,VK2MB-6:`O&>nf%R/'"5j}TT3 on 30m!w-J!|3
2025-04-14 15:59:41 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T2U5,qAO,VK2MB-6:`O&OofIR/'"5d}!w#X!|3
2025-04-14 16:00:15 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T2T2,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`O'<0x1c>pzjR/'"5V}!wBj!|3
2025-04-14 16:01:02 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T2U7,qAO,VK2MB-6:`O'`p\jR/'"5w}!wp"!|3
2025-04-14 16:01:36 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T2T3,qAO,VK2MB-6:`O(+pHGR/'"5v}!wDV!|3
2025-04-14 16:03:33 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T2P4,qAO,VK2MB-6:`O(gmHxR/'"6*}!wcJ!|3
2025-04-14 16:03:39 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T2P7,qAO,VK5ARG-3:`O(inSSR/'"6)}!w@N!|3
2025-04-14 16:06:44 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T3X1,qAO,VK2MB-6:`O)7o5_R/'"5l}TT3 on 30m!wvr!|3
2025-04-14 16:08:50 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T4R7,qAO,VK2MB-6:`O)2m5#R/'"5p}!wx_!|3
2025-04-14 16:10:43 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T4S7,qAO,VK2OL-10:`O)um AR/'"5F}!wMr!|3
2025-04-14 16:11:03 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T4R6,qAO,VK2MB-6:`O)|nRiR/'"5A}!w;<!|3
2025-04-14 16:11:35 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T4R1,qAO,VK2OL-10:`O*,l{ER/'"5E}!wFE!|3
2025-04-14 16:11:53 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T4R8,qAO,VK2MB-6:`O*-mIsR/'"5J}!wc7!|3
2025-04-14 16:16:54 AEST: VK2KFJ-15>S3T4S2,qAO,VK2MB-6:`O*+l <0x1c>R/'"5K}!w&H!|3

Mobile regional NSW

 just to promote a couple places visited when doing our country trips,

We stopped into a Round About Bakery at Wyalong (NSW) for afternoon coffee and lunch and cake, very nice.

They also have stores in Temora and Forbes.

and  picked up a delicious fruit cake at the Narrandera Bakery (NSW), a beautiful moist fruit cake

and of course good coffee and cakes for afternoon tea.

VK2XB truck mobile aprs

 

I mentioned some time ago about two truckers I see on APRS, one of them is Ian "Indy" VK2XB ,

here is a video from VK2XB and a magazine article

Radios in "new" (to me) Truck! New job - new truck! (youtube.com)

Meet the truckie who 'yabbers' to cosmonauts (bigrigs.com.au)

Re-purposing Dyson 56v (50v) lithium pack as a 12v 20A/hr pack

 Recently,  Dave VK2JDS directed me to build a 12v 20/A/hr lithium pack for amateur radio use for portable use when lugging microwave equipment up to a mountain top for DX. We used a discarded Dyson vacuum cleaner 56v lithium pack,  because Dyson use high quality 18650 cells, so it is only the BMS boards that fails, therefore you can repurpose and reconfigure the lithium cells as a  high current 12v pack with a bit of careful plastic cutting, and a bit of snip and solder of battery tags in the right places, plus adding a new cheap BMS controller board from Ebay, plus remove and discard the temperature sensing boards as shown.

The pics show the original pack, plus the cell pack removed and a chopped up cell pack which can be resoldered  in parallel to provide 12v at 20A/hr, once separated you left with four single cells for other projects, and 4 x 12v cell blocks to solder in parallel,  keep all ground points soldered, then all 3.7v points soldered in parallel, then all 7v points all soldered together, then all 12v points soldered together, then when ready you solder the 0v, 4v, 7v and 12v points of the new BMS board to the cells, trying to do this earlier in the soldering phase can damage the new BMS board. Check at each step that you still measuring the expected voltage at each parallel point, ie. 3.7v,, 7v and 12v, otherwise you could end up with sparks and smoke. 

BECAREFUL not to short out any opposing contacts, as you will get big sparks and smoke. When finished, add a circuit breaker or inline fuse, then tape it up and place in a suitable sized plastic jiffy box as your portable 12v 20V/hr rechargeable battery supply.