The second activation of VI0ANZAC at Casey Station

VI0ANZAC

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 24 / 11 / 2015
Author : Fred Swainston – VK3DAC

After duties involved with the landing of the giant RAAF C17 Globemaster supply aircraft, VI0ANZAC was activated on Sunday November 22, from 0205 to 0447 UTC.

Doug VK0DMV saw the largest aircraft to land in Antarctic touch down and begin to unloaded, before heading off the put VI0ANZAC on air for the second time – his earlier WIA ANZAC 100 program session was in August.

During the time VI0ANZAC worked 68 stations mostly in VK.  Propagation was interesting.  On 20m at the start of the activation Doug was receiving good reports into VK5, in particular from the radio amateurs around Mt Gambier.  About 30 minutes later the VK7’s and VK3’s kicked in.  All the time the signals were getting stronger.  He then proceeded to have VK2‘s and some VK4’s.  Only one VK6 was worked, and several in the Pacific Islands.

Doug changed to 15m for the last 30 minutes of the activation and made a further 15 contacts.  Based in the contacts made it appears that the antenna used was somewhat directional.  He experienced high noise levels again in this activation.  This transceiver has an output of 50 watts and considering the distances the, result is great.

eQSL and QSL cards via the Bureau will be sent for all contacts made.  Doug VK0DMV has agreed to be one of the guest speakers at the WIA 2016 AGM on Norfolk Island, with pictures and first-hand accounts of his Antarctic exploits

ANZAC Commemorations – Last Hurrah!

VI4ANZAC QSL

From the WIA Club Liaison, via Email (note the email has been tersified for the web):

My email today is regarding the “Last Hurrah” for the ANZAC Commemorations, between December 12th & 20th.  I have been asked by the WIA to lower the curtain in VI4ANZAC here in Queensland.  I have agreed, and set up a Team to work it over the said period.

Being ex NAVY myself, I have chosen to concentrate this operation on the forgotten ANZAC’s of the RANBT.  These were the men of the Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train, “Sailors in Khaki” who served at Kangaroo Beach, Suvla Bay.  They are virtually unknown and pretty much forgotten in the ANZAC narrative.  But these men were in fact the last Australians to leave the Gallipoli Peninsule.

As such a special and unique QSL card has been made available in hardcopy, only for the VI4ANZAC operations from Dec12th to 20th.  I have attached a small promotional below on these men, and the website at qrz.com has more pics and details.

This has been on the WIA News, but to go to the website is quite something else, and many will be unaware of the special QSL card we are offering.

Fundamentally I would like everyone to get onboard for the last ANZAC Commemorations throughout Australia.  But if you can assist me with this Bulk email and feel free to send the attachment Fred, as this is what we will be about in Queensland.

The RAN hold the Honour of being First In & Last Out for the Dardanelles/Gallipoli Campaign.  You may have seen or heard or even worked VI4AE2 that I ran in honour of the Australian Submarine HMAS AE2 back in April this year for 5 days.

The Marconi 1.5kW Field Set
The Marconi 1.5kW Field Set

See also:
VI4ANZAC
Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train
December 12th — 20th 2015

A rare opportunity will present itself between December 12th & 20th 2015 for those wishing to work a very special entity of the Wireless Institute of Australia’s ANZAC Commemoration program.  Yes you may have heard of it, and even worked VI4ANZAC during the past 8 months of operations.  This curtain closing event will focus on the Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train.  As such, for the first time in the commemorations, there will be a special RANBT QSL card in honour of these forgotten Anzacs.

These Sailors in Khaki served as engineers, and often as Wireless Operators, at Kangaroo Beach, Suvla Bay, with the British Army from August 7th to December 20th 1915.  They were in fact the last Australians off of the Gallipoli Peninsula, after the British had left from Suvla Bay on December 20th 1915.  The RANBT was the most decorated unit in the Royal Australian Navy with 20 awards throughout their service on Gallipoli and in the desert.

You can find out all the details, frequencies and times of our special VI4ANZAC operations here. We look forward to working you one and all during December 2015.

Best 73
Team Leader
MIKE CHARTERIS
VK4QS
VK4XQM (Special Spark station call sign)

2016 Club Calendars Now Available!

ORARC 2016 Calendar

Henry VK2ZHE writes:

The ORARC 2016 calendars are now available for a mere $2 each.  The calendar is a “must have” for the shack.  There is a photo of each of our members so you can instantly put a face to their callsigns.  Never miss a meeting.  The dates of the club meetings and the 2016 Field Day are clearly marked on the calendar.  All the information that you will need to set your radio to access the club’s repeaters is listed as well.  The calendars will be available at the club’s Christmas Party at Settlement Point Reserve on Saturday the 5th of December 2015, and at subsequent club meetings and events.

Bring your $2 to the Christmas Party!

Website Updates

Website

Hello All,

There have been several tweaks and additions to the ORARC website!

For those who hadn’t noticed, all editions of Oxtales shy of the 90s have been available for your viewing pleasure on the Oxtales page for a little over 6 weeks now (as noted in the last edition of Oxtales itself).  I have, however, just completed the laborious task of finishing off the 90s uploads and links, so the collection is now complete!  Go back to the future here!

Much gnashing of teeth has also been involved in getting comments to display in-line below articles on the home page, but to the relief of my dentist and wallet I have succeed (sort of) in getting this working.  I am a PHP programming genius! (not really).

I say ‘sort of’ because I think the comment system wording is a little unclear.  If an article has no comments on it, you’ll see this under the post itself:

Uncommented PostClick ‘Leave a reply’, enter your comment and your response will soon appear (after it’s been moderated if it’s your first post, or immediately if you’ve commented before).

An article that has already been commented on, though, looks like this:

Commented PostThe imperfect bit (in my humble opinion) is that clicking the reply button in the bottom right of the above image will reply to the comment that’s been left (so in this case you’d be replying to Bruce VK2HOT’s comment) – not make a new comment on the article itself.  If you want to comment on the article itself you need to click where it says ‘1 Reply’ (top right of the image) and fill out the form.

You can differentiate between who you’re replying to, as it does tell you:

Reply to Article
Commenting on an article.
Replying to an existing comment (Bruce, VK2HOT in this case).
Replying to an existing comment (Bruce, VK2HOT in this case).

 

Here’s how it looks in practice:

Commented ThreadThe top post is Bruce’s comment (well done too Bruce!) – the next (indented) post is my reply to Bruce’s comment and the bottom post is a new comment regarding the article (and is therefore not indented).  Leaving a new comment on the above article would require you to click on the ‘3 replies’ at the very top right of the image.  This should be familiar to anyone who’s worked with threaded discussion systems (once you get around the crappy wording).

Clear?  Not really?  Clearer?  Hopefully…  I think this may need some context and may become clear as you give it a try…

I hope with the comments now being displayed in-line instead of hidden on the post’s dedicated page (which no one ever visits), we’ll get a little more interaction on the site.  So, please, get commenting! 🙂

History of Electronics in Australia

Via ARVIC, original post here.

An online documentary about electronics in Australia over the past 50 years is a good start at recording history, but it has further development possibilities.

Called “State of Electronics” it has interviews of some industry professionals.  Starting in the telegraphy era, then the Lee De Forest’s ‘triode’ development, radio broadcasting and later television.  Transistors transformed things to ‘solid state’, followed by integrated circuits, miniaturisation and the ‘space race’ of the late 60’s and 70’s.

The digital era is all around us now, but it began with electronic calculators, computers and microcontrollers.  Whether you want a look at history, or may like to contribute information, then visit www.stateofelectronics.com or visit their YouTube channel here.