Just wanted to advise about an upcoming VHF/UHF Club Remote Station Project to be established on the south coast of VK6 at Albany.
The project is being coordinated by Southern Electronics Group (SEG), with the aim to increase VHF/UHF contacts across the Great Australian Bight by more amateurs with access to an internet controlled transceiver, via the RemoteHams software for Windows and RCForb for Android devices. (https://www.remotehams.com/)
Icom Australia have very kindly and very generously agreed to the long-term loan of an Icom IC-9700 VHF/UHF all-mode transceiver to SEG to kickstart the project. This will be connected to yagi's on 2m, 70cm & 23cm bands at a coastal location not far from the Albany town centre. Anyone who has worked VK6LD/p before will know the location works fairly well.
Receive capabilities and control of the Albany remote station will be available to all registered users of the RemoteHams. Transmit capabilities and functions will be available to all current financial members of SEG. This means is you could connect to the Albany remote station, tune around, listen for beacons or even your own signal.
All going well, we hope to have the station on air, at least under test by early December 2021. If you know of a good 23cm masthead preamp somewhere in VK for use on the project, please make contact with me.
The SEG VHF/UHF Club Remote Station Project has been made possible by the generous long-term loan of the IC9700 from Icom Australia and the generous contributions by Will VK6UU, Ross Keogh VK3MY from Strictly Ham and Bob Bogle VK6KJ from Leading Edge Electronics in Albany. Thanks to all!
What a great idea, sounds great Rob. Lets hope for some good openings in the coming months. Nice to see the support of Icom also.
Still advocating for a return of the Esperance beacon in some form, as I have for a long time now. Even if its just for the 2 months surrounding the summer solstice to give the guys something else to look for would make a big difference.
Thats great news.
Is there any chance that SEG could takeover the Mt Barker VHF/UHF beacons and get them back on air?
I don't think they are any longer in the sights of the WA VHF group.
(13-10-2021, 06:22 PM)VK6CPU Wrote: Thats great news.
Is there any chance that SEG could takeover the Mt Barker VHF/UHF beacons and get them back on air?
I don't think they are any longer in the sights of the WA VHF group.
Hi Nigel,
I checked the 2M VK6RST beacon (144.564MHz) frequency just now and can’t hear anything 50kms away, but I have a noisy power supply that interferes with my 2M RX, so I’ll have to check next time I drive past the site. The 70cm beacon was causing QRM to the SEG 70cm repeater on the same tower, so had to be switched off, pending better filtering to the beacon and I don’t think the 10GHz equipment is currently installed.
The 2M beacon TX does trip out and can stay offline for periods, as there aren’t many listeners in the coverage area and the beacon status isn’t monitored or able to be reset remotely. SEG members have in the past and continue to assist the WA VHF Group transporting beacon equipment between Mt Barker & Perth, measuring power & VSWR, resetting the beacon and chasing the bugs & insects out of beacon rack. SEG has a focus on repeaters & Allstar nodes, remote stations, APRS and Ham Feast functions. The beacon is owned & licenced by the WA VHF Group and are their bread & butter. With all the other projects/interests by SEG, the WA VHF Group are probably better placed & do a better job on beacons than SEG could hope to be.
Just a quick update to advise the system went live this morning at 0900hrs WST.
Amateurs in Albany & Denmark, both base & mobile, spoke to a number of amateurs who connected in via the RemoteHams software from Perth, regional VK6, country VK2 and Florida USA on 2m & 70cms SSB. The Net lasted for about an hour, with audio & signal reports from the RemoteHams side pleasing.
The system is now available for all amateurs registered on RemoteHams to RX on the IC9700 with full rig controls. Look for VK6SR and Great Australian Bight IC9700. TX capabilities are available to Southern Electronics Group financial members.
Again, much appreciated and big shout out to Icom Australia for the long-term loan of the IC9700 and all the generous supporters of the project to have it on air for the summer DX season.
If you have any questions about the system or how to use it, please post here or email me. (QRZ email details are good)
Just a quick update on the Albany RemoteHams station.
Today I turned the yagis (2m, 70cm & 23cm) towards Perth, hopefully to catch some winter propagation, as the Great Australian Bight path is unlikely again until the end of the year.
We know from 2m APRS and FM repeaters that there is still VHF/UHF propagation over the cooler months, particularly inland, so this will be a good opportunity for VK6 amateurs to face their antennas towards Albany and try for a contact, particularly on the digital modes (WSPR, FT8, etc.). The antennas will be turned back to face the east around late November 2022.
Also fitted to the IC9700 today was a BG7TBL 10MHz OCXO reference module to keep the frequency accurate and stable, which is particularly important for digital modes and the higher bands. Many thanks to Southern Electronics Group member Alan VK3DXE for building & donating the module.
If you’re able to make any contacts to or from the Albany RemoteHams station, please post them to AHRDF for all to see. Anyone can RX on the Albany RemoteHams station with the RemoteHams software and TX capability is enabled for current financial SEG members.
Just a quick update on the Albany RemoteHams station.
Today I turned the yagis (2m, 70cm & 23cm) towards Perth, hopefully to catch some winter propagation, as the Great Australian Bight path is unlikely again until the end of the year.
Thanks for the update Rob and thanks for keeping the station running.
Also thanks to Alan DXE for helping with the module.
And remember, the Bight Path in winter in 'unlikely', but its not impossible as per my own experience. No doubt though much more beneficial to do what you have to beam the antennas toward Perth though at this point in time.
Just a quick update on the Albany RemoteHams station.
Today I turned the yagis (2m, 70cm & 23cm) towards Perth, hopefully to catch some winter propagation, as the Great Australian Bight path is unlikely again until the end of the year.
We know from 2m APRS and FM repeaters that there is still VHF/UHF propagation over the cooler months, particularly inland, so this will be a good opportunity for VK6 amateurs to face their antennas towards Albany and try for a contact, particularly on the digital modes (WSPR, FT8, etc.). The antennas will be turned back to face the east around late November 2022.
Also fitted to the IC9700 today was a BG7TBL 10MHz OCXO
......
Rob…
VK6LD
Thanks for the update Rob.
I'm interested to know what brand (or design, if homebrew) the 23cm yagi is. I'd be keen to build a couple over here, or at least check out prices so we can encourage more people to move away from triband verticals.
Here are a couple of pics of the OCXO in the hope that others who aren't currently GPS locked might part with the 35 bucks to buy one, and then be on frequency and stable. The one that's gone to Albany has both 5v and 12v inputs, to cater for whatever voltage might be available at the site, and will run off a USB port in a pinch.
I'm interested in the BG7TBL 10MHz OCXO. A quick search several sites and prices came up. Can you give me the URL..Would like to fit one to my old IC910. If you like email or ring me.
I'm interested in the BG7TBL 10MHz OCXO. A quick search several sites and prices came up. Can you give me the URL. Would like to fit one to my old IC910. If you like email or ring me.
73's Brian
VK5BC
0417 851 939
I've responded directly to Brian by email, but for the info of others who may be interested, this is the (cheapest that I know of) eBay seller of the OCXO.
Obviously, the OCXO is only going to work directly for rigs that require a 10MHz input (e.g. all those shiny new IC-9700s), so for rigs like the IC-910H, etc. that require an X-Ref or other similar hardware to achieve locking. I'm currently looking at a couple of options to achieve this, but you may find people scrapping radios for parts as they age out, so keep an ear out for them there.
Just a quick update on the Albany RemoteHams station.
Today I turned the yagis (2m, 70cm & 23cm) towards Perth, hopefully to catch some winter propagation, as the Great Australian Bight path is unlikely again until the end of the year.
We know from 2m APRS and FM repeaters that there is still VHF/UHF propagation over the cooler months, particularly inland, so this will be a good opportunity for VK6 amateurs to face their antennas towards Albany and try for a contact, particularly on the digital modes (WSPR, FT8, etc.). The antennas will be turned back to face the east around late November 2022.
Also fitted to the IC9700 today was a BG7TBL 10MHz OCXO
......
Rob…
VK6LD
Thanks for the update Rob.
I'm interested to know what brand (or design, if homebrew) the 23cm yagi is. I'd be keen to build a couple over here, or at least check out prices so we can encourage more people to move away from triband verticals.
Here are a couple of pics of the OCXO in the hope that others who aren't currently GPS locked might part with the 35 bucks to buy one, and then be on frequency and stable. The one that's gone to Albany has both 5v and 12v inputs, to cater for whatever voltage might be available at the site, and will run off a USB port in a pinch.
Hi Alan,
The 23cm antenna is a cheap and cheerful 15 element Kenbotong yagi from China. It was donated by Will VK6UU.
Cheers,
Rob...
Hi All,
Just another quick update to advise that during the week I figured out how to enable CW from RemoteHams to the IC9700 and from within the IC9700.
So now if you select CW mode in RemoteHams, you can use the inbuilt keying in the program or connect up your own key through a USB to serial interface, as Mark VK6QI/VK2KI has done to make CW contacts.
