I had 23cm transceiver scanning, I kept hearing a very weak female voice, looks to be a automated ident, kept trying to catch which frequency but eventually got it, so this good news, confirmed VK2RTZ is alive and still working. This is Peter VK2ZTV's baby.
VK2RTZ in QF57SC 1273.100000 REP 51
Dear WSJT-X Users,
found that I can key and hear myself noise free via the parrot repeater, as per my VKSpotter entry
VK2RMP in QF55LR1296.850000 
53
VK2TDN in QF56ME1294.000000 FM 51
VK2RWC in QF56OE1273.200000 59
Made contact with VK2JDS at QF46pu, height 920mASL from my location on HorseshoeBend Rd, near Edith, QF46xe at 1340m ASL, on 1296.100 SSB and also FM, signals rcvd varied from s0 from a handheld, to 30/9 for 8w into 5m diam dish with ic-910, Dave also tested loop yagi and a gridpack about s9, distance between us was 95.6km
I was using ic-910 into a gridpack antenna, portable..
Later testing operational 23cm FM Analogue repeaters worked today:
1273.200 / 1293.200 VK2RWC at Chatswood 40/9 from Porcupine Hill, QF46xeon recent trip I found Mallanganee Lookout, it is just off the Bruxner Highway, near Mallanganee, which is west of Casino, NSW. The Grid location is QG61JC, it is just over 400m ASL, not real high, compared to say the New England plateau, but what attracted me to this site is that it is easily accessible from the highway via short dirt track for normal car. the top is almost clear of trees, it is a mountain so relatively unobstructed. I came across this site about 20 years ago and found it great for accessing distant repeaters, hence it could be useful for a VHF/UHF Contest, without having to fight with trees.
the Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania Inc (REAST) is holding an event on the Amateur Radio calendar – the Tassie Ham Radio Conference & Expo to be held in Hobart at the University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay Campus on Saturday, 5th and Sunday 6th November, 2022 in Hobart, Tasmania (VK7).
If you have the opportunity to take a vehicle across to Tasmania via the Spirit of Tasmania from Melbourne, then do it, do the conference weekend and take a week to do a drive around Tasmania (and don't forget your radios), I have done the drive tour around Tasmania and it is definitely worth it !! The VK7 VHF/UHF repeaters are located in excellent sites and give great coverage across Tasmania. Plenty of accessible mountains across Tasmania to take weak signal gear and work DX back to the mainland.
visiting Surfers Paradise again, last visit was around 20th-22nd March 2020 just as Covid was ramping up.
I brought my scanner, listening on 146.700 VK4RGC Springbrook belonging to the GCARC and there is 438.100 VK4RZA also at Springbrook, hearing it ident in CW regularly, it is linked to 70cm rptrs at Brisbane and Sunshine Coast.
Hearing 147.225 VK4RGX, located at Springbrook, which is linked to 146.650 VK4RMC Mt.Cootha, Brisbane which I can also hear. Also 146.875 is active.
the GCARC have their morning net at 8am, certainly seems a lot more activity here on Gold Coast than there is back in Sydney, the rptrs here are quite active day and night. On past visits it seemed very quiet when I brought 2m/70cm hheld, I think it was probably my cheap Baofeng desensed by local RF.
And Microwave band, they have 23cm rptrs up here too. I wish I had brought my ic910 now.
Dear WSJT-X and MAP65 Users,
We are pleased to announce that Release Candidate WSJT-X 2.6.0-rc1 is ready for download by beta testers.TYT MD380 DMR handheld radio update
I have not edited my codeplug for MD380 since Sept 2020, I needed to make sure it up to date in firmware, since my unit is old vocoder then it is 3.20 which is still current and I still using CPS Programmer v1.41
Quite a few changes in VK-DMR talkgroups, several new TG's, and some old TG's removed
Gone are D-Star gateways TG541 and 542. Pacific 153 also gone.
Some new ones I am interested in and that I have added are TG50589 for Fusion Repeaters gateway.
TG530 for ZL.
Also TG1910 for ARNSW DMR rptrs.
and some of the State based TG's such as 8/2 for VK2 Sydney and west. 8/3 for VK1-Goulburn-Yass and 8/8 for Central Coast-Hunter Region.
VK Trans-Tasman Contest is on 16th July 2022
RD Contest is on 13th August 2022
These are the remaining two WIA VHF/UHF/SHF Field Day Contests for 2022.
Winter 2022 - 0200 UTC Saturday 25 through 0159 UTC Sunday 26 June (0400 / 0359 in VK6). Spring 2022 - 0100 UTC Saturday 26 through 0059 UTC Sunday 27 November (0400 / 0359 in VK6).
the full WIA 2022 Contest Calendar is here :
