Wyong Field Day - 25 Feb 2018

[VK4ADC]

Do you know what will you be doing at 8:30am on Sunday the 25th. of February 2018?

 Well for a great number of amateurs itll be queueing at the gates to get into the improved facilities at the Wyong Racecourse for the Central Coast ARCs 60th Field day!

 Ive already told you about some of the lectures and demonstrations.
 One I forgot to include is the VHF/UHF and weak signal groups annual meeting which has been a constant attraction at the field day for many years. This group s meeting presents the latest happenings in this area of amateur radio for the enthusiasts and for new people to the hobby.  Roger Harrison  VK2ZRH will convene the group at 11 Oclock.  Roger is an authority in this field and has many published articles to his credit.

 Ive just heard that the drone demonstration from Phaser Computers, which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago will be with "first person view" drones, meaning the pilot on the ground can see what the drone sees. This promises to be a very popular demonstration again in 2018.

 Traders and exhibitors are being distributed details of the event at the moment and if you are a trader who would like to attend the field day and take advantage of our new upgraded facilities please contact the CCARC via the field day website at http://www.fieldday.org.au

 That is also where everyone can find details of the event.

  (VK2AOR)

From text edition for NOV 26  2017 - VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA : http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/wianews/

Also in MP3 edition of news available at: http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2017-11-26.mp3

[VK4ADC]

The WYONG Lecture & Workshop list for 25 Feb 2018


Topics-in-a_nutshell
The Topics-in-a-Nutshell will be in the VIP ROOM on the second floor near the Bistro.

Workshops
Workshops will be in the Public Bar/Bistro on the ground floor.

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Topics in a nutshell
 
09:15 – 09:30
The crystal set explored
Brian Clarke VK2GCE
Are crystal sets simple or complex? They were there at the beginning of radio-telephony and they’re still alive and kicking strongly today. But there is a strangely hidden story about why they work at all. And it’s not in the crystal! 
 Brian will take you through some of the ins and outs of this long-enduring design. There will be some simple construction ideas as well as some hints on improving performance. The chances are you have most of the components already to hand to make your own. 
 Some of these hints may well be valuable for other radio set designs, eg, LF, VLF and ELF. 
 Bring along your own crystal set, and tell us about it: what worked for you, and what got in the way. Alternately, bring a photo and a circuit diagram in electronic form so we can see it in Technicolor on the big Cinerama screen – an image or two on a USB stick will be just fine.
 
09:30 – 10:00
FreeDV – New modes
David Rowe
FreeDV is Digital Voice for HF radio. You can run FreeDV using a free GUI application that allows any SSB radio to be used for low bit rate digital voice.
Two new modes will be presented in this talk:
FreeDV 700D uses a 700 bit/s speech codec, combined with a powerful FEC code and new modem specially designed for HF digital voice.  The result is better performance than SSB on low SNR channels.
FreeDV 2000 is a wideband audio mode that encodes 8 kHz of audio bandwidth in just 2000 Hz of RF bandwidth.  It represents a totally new approach to PTT radio.
 
10:00 – 10:30
Standard Beam approach
Ray Robinson VK2NO
Last year Ray presented Standard Beam Approach (Receiver ).
This Year Ray talks about the ATB transmitter.  This is a WW2 transmitter normally used in aircraft with the ARB receiver.  It produces 20 Watts AM. It is quite rare.
This one is believed to have been flown across the Pacific  from the USA in 1943 when Australia purchased 18 Catalina flying boats.
 
10:30 – 11:00
Operating Quadcopters
Rhys Evans – Phaser computers
In this lecture we will outline the operation of drones, construction, costs and rules.  An explanation of the control  of these devices and the use of FPV ( First Person View)using goggles, a laptop computer and radio controls.  Rhys will have a stall selling drones, associated equipment and computer components.
 
11:00 – 11:30

The VHF/UHF weak signal group meeting
Roger Harrison VK2ZRH
The VHF/UHF weak signal group meeting.  If you are interested in QRP/weak signal operations please come along.
 
11:30 – 12:00
TFT colour touch screens for single board computers
Bob Mutton VK2ZRM
Smarten up your latest project with a colour, TFT touch screen.  Bob will give a presentation  on TFT  Touch Screen Technology, and a” show and tell”, of several TFT touch screen projects.
 
12:00 – 12:30
FT8 Digital mode
Karen Boskos VK2AKB
The new digital mode called FT8 has taken over the HF bands in popularity. The amazing part is, an FT8 transmission’s total occupied bandwidth is 50 Hertz. This allows dozens of stations to operate in one allocated spot per band, that takes up less bandwidth than a SSB transmission. The lecture will describe FT8, how to get started, the software and general setup.
 
12:30 – 13:00
Space weather services
Phillip Maher – Space weather services
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology  – Space Weather Services (SWS) operates a Vertical Incidence Sounding ionosonde network with stations located around the Australian mainland as well as Niue Island, Cocos Island and the Australian Antarctic regions.  Currently on loan to SWS is an Oblique Incidence Sounding (OIS) receiver from the Australian Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG). The Digital Oblique Receiver System (DORS) can scan up to 9 separate oblique HF radio paths delivering high cadence rate ionograms and true height profiles. This presentation explores two key areas of research here at SWS 1) the benefits of combining both the VIS and OIS data for Real Time Ionospheric Model (RTIM) improvement and 2) Use of the WSPRnet database for validation of both the RTIM and the effects on HF propagation during short wave fadeout

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Workshops
08:30 – 09:30
Operating satellites – Live Demo.
Bob Hudson VK2AOR
Live Demo of operating satellites outside on the grass when 5 satellites will be passing across the sky about 15 minutes apart.
 
09:00 – 09:30
What do you do with a superseded /discarded microwave oven?
Col Hodgson VK2ZCO
A quick description  on converting a microwave transformer to a Spot Welder. Some measured performance data included.
A few words on the basic theory and practice of Resistance Welding.
Followed by an audience “hands on” session welding some basic wire strutters and inspection of some examples (antennae and models).
 
09:30 – 10:00
Update on what LEO satellites are working and an evaluation of their performance.
Bob Hudson VK2AOR
Bob looks at the simple way to work FM satellites (Easysats)  and SSB satellites.
Check out his workshop on building simple IOIO antenna  on a piece of conduit for hand held antenna  and radio. How to adapt a smart phone for tracking.  Practical operations using full duplex radio or 2 non duplex radios.
 
10:30 – 11:00
JOTA 2018 planning session
Karl Humphreys
Everyone that is involved in the Scouts JOTA 2018 please come along and help shape a successful JOTA 2018 operation.