I forgot to do a write up, or I started but never completed, anyway, I did actually enter the contest, I operated from QF46pu, others who were there or nearby (QF46qu) were VK2CU, VK2DAG, VK2ZIW, VK2ZRH and VK2JDS.
I operated 24hrs segment. Bands used were 6m, 2m, 70cm, 23cm, 9cm, 3cm, 24Ghz, 76Ghz, not sure if we did 122GHz in the contest itself, but we did spend a fair bit of time experimenting with 122Ghz on that weekend across the 3.8km void between hilltops. Also did some 4WDing around the two farms and taste testing some red wines at night following the roast pork cooked in a wood stove.
Overall, it was more of a microwave tuneup get together, than a serious go at contesting.
Sunday, July 28, 2019
3398.100 MHz contact with VK2KYP
on 25th July 2019, whilst I was portable up the back of Porcupine Hill near Jenolan Caves, in QF46xe, I worked Gary VK2KYP firstly on 1296.100 Mhz USB, who was portable at Somersby, (QF56pp) near the FM broadcast tower, across to me portable at Jenolan Cabins, signals were 57, then we followed that contact with a 9cm contact on 3398.100 MHz USB, both of us using GARC 3.4GHz panels, running 100mW each way, the distance was approx 131km, it was exciting for us as we broken the 100km hurdle, even though VK3's have done much better, we thought it significant since we both running QRP and simple panel antennas. Signals were in the order of 50/51, we also tried FM, we could detect and hear each other, but not strong enough for a successful contact.
portable QF46xe
last week was portable & mobile around QF46xe, staying at Jenolan Cabins, I setup a 2/70 vertical on a 2.5metre portable mast, here are some signal strengths for some repeaters I could key up, or simply heard them, as of 22nd July 2019.
146.650 VK2RDX Mt Bindo 60/9
146.675 VK2RUW Knights Hill s5
146.800 VK2RLE Heathcote s9
146.875 VK2RMB Terrey Hills 20/9
147.000 VK2RWI Dural 50/9
147.125 VK2RAG Somersby 50/9
147.200 VK2RCW Gowan s3
147.250 VK2RNS Hosrnsby 10/9
438.350 VK2RHT Chatswood 50/9 (digital)
438.400 VK2RMB Terrey Hills s3 (digital)
438.450 VK2RCF Carlingford 40/9
438.525 VK2RWI Dural s9
438.575 VK2ROT Paddington 10/9
438.600 VK2RWI Dural s6 (digital)
438.725 VK2RMP Maddens Plains s7 (digital)
439.500 VK2RCG city 30/9 (digital)
439.750 VK2RHP Horsley Park 20/9 (digital)
439.800 VK2RCG city 30/9 (DMR)
439.925 VK2RON Hunters Hill s6
439.950 VK2RAG Somersby s7
439.975 VK2RHS Hornsby 10/9
The 23cm repeaters was using a grid pack in vertical polarised position.
1273.100 VK2R?? Sugarloaf tried it but nothing
1273.200 VK2RWC Chatswood 60/9
1273.500 VK2RAG Somersby s3
1273.500 VK2RWI Dural s5
The beacon was received using a grid pack in horizontal polarised position
1296.420 VK2RWI Dural s9
As for 6metre repeaters, I had my quad band FM in the car, I tried the following 6metre repeaters,
53.625 Sugarloaf, 53.650 Maddens Plains, 53.725 Somersby, 53.850 Dural, 53.875 Blue Mtns, received none of them.
I made several contacts on 23cm repeaters over the week. Glad to see people using the 23cm repeaters.
146.650 VK2RDX Mt Bindo 60/9
146.675 VK2RUW Knights Hill s5
146.800 VK2RLE Heathcote s9
146.875 VK2RMB Terrey Hills 20/9
147.000 VK2RWI Dural 50/9
147.125 VK2RAG Somersby 50/9
147.200 VK2RCW Gowan s3
147.250 VK2RNS Hosrnsby 10/9
438.350 VK2RHT Chatswood 50/9 (digital)
438.400 VK2RMB Terrey Hills s3 (digital)
438.450 VK2RCF Carlingford 40/9
438.525 VK2RWI Dural s9
438.575 VK2ROT Paddington 10/9
438.600 VK2RWI Dural s6 (digital)
438.725 VK2RMP Maddens Plains s7 (digital)
439.500 VK2RCG city 30/9 (digital)
439.750 VK2RHP Horsley Park 20/9 (digital)
439.800 VK2RCG city 30/9 (DMR)
439.925 VK2RON Hunters Hill s6
439.950 VK2RAG Somersby s7
439.975 VK2RHS Hornsby 10/9
The 23cm repeaters was using a grid pack in vertical polarised position.
1273.100 VK2R?? Sugarloaf tried it but nothing
1273.200 VK2RWC Chatswood 60/9
1273.500 VK2RAG Somersby s3
1273.500 VK2RWI Dural s5
The beacon was received using a grid pack in horizontal polarised position
1296.420 VK2RWI Dural s9
As for 6metre repeaters, I had my quad band FM in the car, I tried the following 6metre repeaters,
53.625 Sugarloaf, 53.650 Maddens Plains, 53.725 Somersby, 53.850 Dural, 53.875 Blue Mtns, received none of them.
I made several contacts on 23cm repeaters over the week. Glad to see people using the 23cm repeaters.
Thursday, July 18, 2019
50 years since Apollo11
looking at the a few key time line entries back in 1969 :
July 16 at 13:32:00 UTC (11:32pm AEST 16th July) - launch of Apollo 11 via the Saturn V AS-506 rocket
July 19 at 17:21:50 UTC (03:21 AM AEST 20th July) - Apollo 11 passed behind the Moon and fired its service propulsion engine to enter lunar orbit.
July 20 at 12:52:00 UTC (10:52pm AEST 20th July) - Aldrin and Armstrong entered Eagle to prepare for lunar descent after 30 orbits of moon.
July 20 at 17:44:00 UTC (03:44am AEST 21st July) - Eagle (LM) separates from Columbia (CM)
July 20 at 20:17:40 UTC (06:17am AEST 21st July) - Eagle lands on moon
July 20 at 23:43 UTC (09:43am AEST 21st July) The two astronauts begin preparations to walk on the Moon
July 21 at 02:39:33 UTC (12:39pm AEST 21st July) - open the hatch
July 21 at 02:51 UTC (12:51pm AEST 21st July) - Armstrong starts descent
July 21 at 02:56:15 UTC (12:51pm AEST 21st July) - Armstrong steps on moon
July 21 at 05:11:13 UTC (03:11pm AEST 21st July) - hatch was closed again
July 21 at 17:54:00 UTC (03:54am AEST 22nd July) - lift off in Eagle's ascent stage
July 21 at 21:35 UTC (07:35am AEST 22nd July) - Eagle docked with Columbia
July 21 at 23:41 UTC (09:41am AEST 22nd July) - jettisoned Eagle into lunar orbit
July 24 at 16:44 UTC (02:44am AEST 24th July) - parachutes deployed
July 24 at 16:51 UTC (02:51am AEST 24th July) - landed in Pacific Ocean
Interesting fact, they used Slow Scan TV (SSTV) from Eagle on the moon, apart from normal TV.
July 16 at 13:32:00 UTC (11:32pm AEST 16th July) - launch of Apollo 11 via the Saturn V AS-506 rocket
July 19 at 17:21:50 UTC (03:21 AM AEST 20th July) - Apollo 11 passed behind the Moon and fired its service propulsion engine to enter lunar orbit.
July 20 at 12:52:00 UTC (10:52pm AEST 20th July) - Aldrin and Armstrong entered Eagle to prepare for lunar descent after 30 orbits of moon.
July 20 at 17:44:00 UTC (03:44am AEST 21st July) - Eagle (LM) separates from Columbia (CM)
July 20 at 20:17:40 UTC (06:17am AEST 21st July) - Eagle lands on moon
July 20 at 23:43 UTC (09:43am AEST 21st July) The two astronauts begin preparations to walk on the Moon
July 21 at 02:39:33 UTC (12:39pm AEST 21st July) - open the hatch
July 21 at 02:51 UTC (12:51pm AEST 21st July) - Armstrong starts descent
July 21 at 02:56:15 UTC (12:51pm AEST 21st July) - Armstrong steps on moon
July 21 at 05:11:13 UTC (03:11pm AEST 21st July) - hatch was closed again
July 21 at 17:54:00 UTC (03:54am AEST 22nd July) - lift off in Eagle's ascent stage
July 21 at 21:35 UTC (07:35am AEST 22nd July) - Eagle docked with Columbia
July 21 at 23:41 UTC (09:41am AEST 22nd July) - jettisoned Eagle into lunar orbit
July 24 at 16:44 UTC (02:44am AEST 24th July) - parachutes deployed
July 24 at 16:51 UTC (02:51am AEST 24th July) - landed in Pacific Ocean
Interesting fact, they used Slow Scan TV (SSTV) from Eagle on the moon, apart from normal TV.
GippsTech 2019 post mortem
I went to GippsTech 2019 last weekend, drove down Friday, left home at 5.30am, met up with others collectively at different stages of trip, had breakfast with Steve VK2XDE, Garry VK2KYP and Roger VK2ZRH at Maccas Exceter, then continued on to Canberra, where Lindsay VK2AMV, Bob VK2AOR, Brad VK2NMZ met us at a servo in Hume, continued on to Cooma with Dave VK2JDS and Gary VK2GLJ and Rex VK2AZG close behind, we did rendevous in Cooma, bumped into VK2QV on his way to ski fields. Then we travelled in convoy of 5 cars through to Morwell via Nimmitabel, Bombala, stopping for lunch at Cann River, we kept in touch car to car on 2metre simplex, as well as doing some HF on 40metres. Weather was pretty wet crossing VK3 to Morwell.
Met up with everyone else at Morwell Friday night, then at the conference on Saturday. Some great lectures again, 10GHZ EME, reference locking rigs, GPDSO stability and locking Grid Square accuracy for portable operation, the VK5 Road Trip to VK3,1,2,4. Saturday night dinner and Sunday morning continuation of lectures. Sunday was still raining so we could not do the usual microwave party on local hills after lunch, so we retired to local pub for drinks and dinner.
Monday morning left at 5am for trip home, very windy and raining, 4 cars travelling together again, breakie at Maccas Bairnsdale, morning tea at Cann River, weather fined up crossing border into VK2, lunch in Canberra before we split off heading to our respective QTH's.
Overall, 12 hours travelling Sydney to Morwell, about 10 hours actual driving.
Can't wait to do it again next year.
http://www.vk3bez.org/gippstech.html
Met up with everyone else at Morwell Friday night, then at the conference on Saturday. Some great lectures again, 10GHZ EME, reference locking rigs, GPDSO stability and locking Grid Square accuracy for portable operation, the VK5 Road Trip to VK3,1,2,4. Saturday night dinner and Sunday morning continuation of lectures. Sunday was still raining so we could not do the usual microwave party on local hills after lunch, so we retired to local pub for drinks and dinner.
Monday morning left at 5am for trip home, very windy and raining, 4 cars travelling together again, breakie at Maccas Bairnsdale, morning tea at Cann River, weather fined up crossing border into VK2, lunch in Canberra before we split off heading to our respective QTH's.
Overall, 12 hours travelling Sydney to Morwell, about 10 hours actual driving.
Can't wait to do it again next year.
http://www.vk3bez.org/gippstech.html
Sunday, June 9, 2019
latest ramblings
what's been happening lately ?
WIA AGM was in Sydney this year, couple weeks ago,
GippsTech registration announced, you can register your attendance now.
http://vk3bez.org/gippstech.html
VKspotter site now active, its the replacement to VKlogger.com which has been retired,
https://www.vkspotter.com/
Central Coast ARC VK2RAG 6metre repeater back on air, it re-appeared again a couple days ago,
Illawarra ARC VK2RMP 6metre repeater still dead,
VK2RWI 6metre repeater still alive and well.
World Super Bikes from Spain this weekend, watched a couple races.
Fixed my internet at home, damned ADSL was so flakey, one minute it 6Mbps, then drops below 1Mbps, the speedtest graphs looked like a saw-tooth pattern, it was internal cabling problem, bypassed it all, now I getting 10Mbps down consistently, the old 600ohm transmission line just wasn't behaving itself.
WIA AGM was in Sydney this year, couple weeks ago,
GippsTech registration announced, you can register your attendance now.
http://vk3bez.org/gippstech.html
VKspotter site now active, its the replacement to VKlogger.com which has been retired,
https://www.vkspotter.com/
Central Coast ARC VK2RAG 6metre repeater back on air, it re-appeared again a couple days ago,
Illawarra ARC VK2RMP 6metre repeater still dead,
VK2RWI 6metre repeater still alive and well.
World Super Bikes from Spain this weekend, watched a couple races.
Fixed my internet at home, damned ADSL was so flakey, one minute it 6Mbps, then drops below 1Mbps, the speedtest graphs looked like a saw-tooth pattern, it was internal cabling problem, bypassed it all, now I getting 10Mbps down consistently, the old 600ohm transmission line just wasn't behaving itself.
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Where are they now ?
I was at work talking with work colleague, we side tracked onto projects we had done many years ago, got on subject on mailers and terminal programs, I remembered Bmailer (Bdale's messy mailer), I thought whatever happened to those packet radio guys from early 1980's.
I recalled some names and decided to look them up:
Bdale Garbee KB0G - still working and active.
Phil Karn KA9Q - wow, Phil is retired
Brian Kantor WB6CYT - still active with AMPRNET
Doug Lockhart VE7APU - sadly Doug became silent key in Sept 2017, age 76.
Hank Magnuski KA6M - amazing I just discovered Hank involved in Gammafax. Our company sold and integrated their gear with our software back in the 90's, small world.
Stu Beal VE3MWM - possibly silent key
Dave Borden K8MMO - he move to central west USA, I guessing he retired
Paul Rinaldo W4RI - looks to have retired a while ago.
a lot of very intelligent people, successful in their careers and heavily contributed to the hobby.
I recalled some names and decided to look them up:
Bdale Garbee KB0G - still working and active.
Phil Karn KA9Q - wow, Phil is retired
Brian Kantor WB6CYT - still active with AMPRNET
Doug Lockhart VE7APU - sadly Doug became silent key in Sept 2017, age 76.
Hank Magnuski KA6M - amazing I just discovered Hank involved in Gammafax. Our company sold and integrated their gear with our software back in the 90's, small world.
Stu Beal VE3MWM - possibly silent key
Dave Borden K8MMO - he move to central west USA, I guessing he retired
Paul Rinaldo W4RI - looks to have retired a while ago.
a lot of very intelligent people, successful in their careers and heavily contributed to the hobby.
Monday, March 25, 2019
post mortem for John Moyle Field Day Contest 2019
the plan was to go to Mt.Lambie to operate the contest from, however, the weather was a let down, as it rained all the way from Sydney to Lithgow and onto Mt.Lambie. In fact the whole of Mt.Lambie was engulfed by low cloud, as were any hills around Lithgow area. So a plan of action was required, checking the BOM radar it was showing it as raining in Bathurst, that meant the alternative plan of going to Mt.Panorama was out of the question. We noted that no rain showing on the radar to the north, ie. up to Ilford, Rylestone area. Started driving towards Ilford, as we progressed the weather improved, by time reaching Ilford it was mostly sunny, the road was dry. Once at Ilford, turned onto the Sofala road and headed along looking for a high location suitable for VHF and above, particularly for microwave bands.
Found a high spot just a few kilometres north of Sofala, about 860 metres ASL, QF46ux, an all open hilltop, setup off the road, then noticed the wind was suddenly increasing, by time we were ready to make contest contacts, the wind became so strong it was knocking over equipment and trying to blow away out portable gazebo. Meanwhile, over on another mountain to the south west, Dave VK2JDS and Matt VK2DAG were now getting wet from a rain squall and had to pack up all their equipment.
This lead us to the decision of packing up and go look at other potential mountain tops for future contests and microwave field days. One spot was up on the Old Ilford Road, QF46vx, this road runs along a ridgeline, all well above 1,000 metres ASL, better than the location we stopped at on the Sofala Rd. We will keep this location in mind for future events. Another potential area was at Wattle Flat QF46uu. we travelled back to Bathurst, then headed east, detouring up through sunny Corner and Dark Corner looking for potential high locations. A really good spot is at a farm at corner of W.Mitchell rd and Dark Corner Rd. (QF46wp). This might worth stopping and asking if we could use their paddock.
After returning to highway, we passed Mt.Lambie, it was still shrouded in low cloud. We proceeded onto Lithgow, purchasing some dinner and heading up to Hassans Walls lookout to check this as a potential site. Aft this heading up the Chifley Rd, stopped at Dargan next to railway line, could hear 439.700 repeater from Nelson Bay, also the Somersby 6m, 2m & 70cm repeaters are all 60/9 signals even though it pouring rain and sitting in cloud. It poured rain all the way back to Sydney.
Note: in this picture, you can see the ridgeline in the background of Old Ilford Rd.
Found a high spot just a few kilometres north of Sofala, about 860 metres ASL, QF46ux, an all open hilltop, setup off the road, then noticed the wind was suddenly increasing, by time we were ready to make contest contacts, the wind became so strong it was knocking over equipment and trying to blow away out portable gazebo. Meanwhile, over on another mountain to the south west, Dave VK2JDS and Matt VK2DAG were now getting wet from a rain squall and had to pack up all their equipment.
This lead us to the decision of packing up and go look at other potential mountain tops for future contests and microwave field days. One spot was up on the Old Ilford Road, QF46vx, this road runs along a ridgeline, all well above 1,000 metres ASL, better than the location we stopped at on the Sofala Rd. We will keep this location in mind for future events. Another potential area was at Wattle Flat QF46uu. we travelled back to Bathurst, then headed east, detouring up through sunny Corner and Dark Corner looking for potential high locations. A really good spot is at a farm at corner of W.Mitchell rd and Dark Corner Rd. (QF46wp). This might worth stopping and asking if we could use their paddock.
After returning to highway, we passed Mt.Lambie, it was still shrouded in low cloud. We proceeded onto Lithgow, purchasing some dinner and heading up to Hassans Walls lookout to check this as a potential site. Aft this heading up the Chifley Rd, stopped at Dargan next to railway line, could hear 439.700 repeater from Nelson Bay, also the Somersby 6m, 2m & 70cm repeaters are all 60/9 signals even though it pouring rain and sitting in cloud. It poured rain all the way back to Sydney.
Monday, March 11, 2019
John Moyle Field Day Contest 2019
next weekend is the John Moyle Field Day Contest on starting 0100z Saturday 16th March, running 24 hours to 0059z Sunday 17th March, contest operates across all bands and is focused on promoting field portable activity, but contest open to anyone.
I am going portable again to Mt.Lambie QF46xm 1300m ASL
primarily to operate 2metres and above, (2m, 70cm, 23cm, 9cm and 3cm)
but also taking HF and 50MHz
This occasion will be first time to take 10GHz gear.
Contest rules for 2019 are here :
JMFD 2019 contest rules
I am going portable again to Mt.Lambie QF46xm 1300m ASL
primarily to operate 2metres and above, (2m, 70cm, 23cm, 9cm and 3cm)
but also taking HF and 50MHz
This occasion will be first time to take 10GHz gear.
Contest rules for 2019 are here :
JMFD 2019 contest rules
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Sydney Amateur Radio Ferry Contest - Sunday 10th March 2019
it is on again this year, the fourth time for this contest.
https://vk2bv.org/sydney-amateur-radio-ferry-contest-2019/ferry-contest-rules-scoring/
https://vk2bv.org/sydney-amateur-radio-ferry-contest-2019/ferry-contest-rules-scoring/
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