The IARS will once again be running a fund-raising BBQ at Bunnings in Warrawong. This is the big one! Bunnings has allowed us to have (drum roll…) Sunday 23 December. According to Bunnings, this is one of their biggest days of the year, and we will raise much more than your typical Bunnings fund-raising BBQ.

Of course, this means we’ll be really busy!!  Clearly, we will need lots of helpers.  Even if you can only set aside part of the day, every little bit of assistance will be a big benefit to the club.

Contact Phil VK2EMD (mobile: 0437 773061) right now to volunteer! He is organising this one, and the more members help out, the better. If you normally don’t put your hand up for this kind of thing, this is the one to make an exception for. Your club needs you!

We have a new location for the monthly meetings of the IARS.  It is the Coniston Community Centre, 26 Bridge Street, Coniston. See the Monthly Meeting page for a map and directions.

We have had to make this change because the Figtree Bowling Club could no longer make the meeting area on their premises available to us.

You will find the Coniston Community Centre an excellent venue. There is plenty of room, a kitchen where coffee can be made, toilets, and even a place to store the IARS library (hurray!).

AND!

The annual IARS Christmas feed is on again, catered again by Tony’s Chicken shop.  This will be the perfect opportunity to get a look at our new venue, and share your passion for amateur radio with other club members. Bring your friends and family.  It should be a great evening.

Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Coniston Community Centre

Hope to see you there!

Members, don’t forget that the IARS will be running a fund-raising BBQ at Bunnings in Warrawong tomorrow, Saturday, 3 November.  Turn up, and buy a sausage or three!  Bring your friends and relatives!

If you possible can, we can use some extra help running the BBQ.  Even if it is only for a few hours, the help would be very welcome.  You know you want to! Plus, you will be contributing to the on-going well-being of your club.

Hi All, the club has a new venue. The next meeting of the IARS will occur on Tuesday the 13th of November 2012 commencing at 7.30pm. It will be held at the new venue which is Coniston Community Hall on Bridge Street Coniston. It is between Coniston Railway station and the Bridge Theatre. Please note the meetings have returned to the second Tuesday of the month (except for January) from this meeting.

Cheers

The following members have been elected to office positions for the Illawarra Amateur Radio Society for the 2012 – 2013 financial year.

President                       Tony Stone                  VK2TS

Vice President               Rob McKnight               VK2MT

Secretary                      Ross Masterson           VK2VVV

Treasurer                      John Lawer                  VK2EJL

Committee

John Bennett              VK2AAL

Neil Justerson            VK2VNJ

Bob Bunting                VK2NRB

Phil Howchin              VK2EMD

SPECIAL   OFFER

For Sale:-   VK2AMW Constructed J-Pole 2 metre / 70cm Base Antenna.

The Illawarra Amateur Radio Society have constructed a high quality dual band base antenna.  The antenna has provided remarkable results and the Society has produce surplus antennas that are now offered for sale on a first come first serve basis.

This antenna provides continuous coverage of the 2 metre (144 – 148MHz) and 70cm (430 – 450MHz) bands.  The antenna has a low SWR (less than 1.5:1) over both bands and forms an ideal aerial system for dual band transceivers.    It features a single feed point via a stud mount SO239 socket. It has excellent DX properties and will out- perform many theoretically better antenna systems.     The antenna is a dual “J pole” design, and has a common driven element for both bands. It does not require a ground plane for operation.  This structure exhibits better gain than a quarter wave ground plane and about the same gain as a half wave dipole. Viewed from the top, the radiation pattern is omnidirectional. The vertical plane radiation is parallel to the ground (zero angle of radiation) giving good local coverage. In this antenna, the feed is at the current point of the quarter wave stub, providing a low impedance that can be easily matched to the coaxial feeder.      All the aluminum alloy used in the antenna is grade 6060 which has excellent weathering characteristics.   The resonator rods are secured with 304 grade stainless steel nuts and washers, and this allows minor adjustments to be made in the lengths of the elements.    In turn this allows for minor adjustment with the SWR and bandwidth centre to optimise performance at a selected frequency.     The design is based on an article which originally appeared in CQ magazine (1987).

The antennas are limited stock, so don’t delay in placing your order.   If you were buying this antenna on the commercial market you would expect to pay well over a hundred dollars.

TO place an order email :-

Notice of Annual General Meeting 2012

The Illawarra Amateur Radio Society .

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Illawarra Amateur Radio Society (Incorporated) will be held on Wednesday 8th August 2012.  The meeting will be held at the Northern Meeting Room, Figtree R.S.L. Bowling Club, 120 The Avenue, Figtree, NSW, 2500.  The meeting will commence immediately following the closing of the August General meeting of the society.   The August General Meeting will commence at 19:30Hrs.

All financial members will receive a copy of the Annual Report by email prior to the meeting.

Members with special delivery requirements will receive their copies by post.  There will be limited quantities of printed  annual reports at the meeting for any member that may have missed their delivered copy.

Dining facilities are available at  the Figgy Bowlo prior to the meeting if you wish to partake in a pre meeting meal and chin wag.   Please allow an hour before the meeting for a meal.   There will be no guest speaker at this meeting due to the time requirements of the AGM.

Attached to this notice are links to the following documents.  Items that are not highlighted are still being finalised, please check back soon for their update.

• Nomination Form 2012
• Membership Form 2012 c
• AGM Agenda 2012
• Proxy Vote Form 2012
• Notice of AGM IARS 2012
• President’s Report 2012
• IARS Illawarra Secretary Report AGM 2012
• Treasurer’s Report for Year ending 30th June, 2012
• Repeater Report AGM 2012
• Web Library Report 2012
• QSL Manager Report 2012

Membership renewals are now due, members are requested to renew their membership at the earliest convenience, and complete a membership renewal form.  Membership fees are presently $25.00 for full membership and $20.00 for concessional membership.  Members must be financial to nominate for, or be nominated for, a position on the management committee.   Members must also be financial to vote at the or participate in the AGM.  Non members may attend and observe the AGM.

If your not able to attend the AGM you may appoint a proxy on your behalf.

The next meeting of the IARS Inc. will occur on Wednesday the 11th of July 2012 at 7.30pm. The venue is our new home Figtree RSL Bowling Club located at “The Avenue” Figtree.

This meeting will feature a presentation by Ian VK2IAN on his state of the art Flex 3000 SDR Radio. This will be a very interesting meeting, don’t miss it.

Cheers

Tony
VK2TS

Don’t forget the next meeting of the Illawarra Amateur Radio Society Inc. will take place at Figtree RSL Bowling Club at 7.30pm on Wednesday the 13th of June 2012.

This month we are very fortunate to have Owen Duffy VK1OD as our guest speaker. Owen talk will be titled “Baluns in Antenna Systems”.

Thanks Owen for coming down to entertain us all. Anyone who has witnessed a talk by Owen will no doubt advise you not to miss this meeting.

Don’t forget the food is very good at the bistro and you may wish to come down a bit earlier for a good meal before the meeting.

See you all there.

The society wishes to advise the Coast Link repeater network will undergo major changes in the near future.   There will be a sub audible tone fitted to the VK2RMP(146.850MHz) Maddens Plains repeater. This has become a necessity due to many intermods and mixes that have occurred on this very busy commercial radio site.

Following this the VK2RRR repeater on trial at Razorback Range will be added to the coast link network.  Then a new repeater added to the network at Jervis Bay.  The site for this repeater has been secured and the licensing process is currently underway.  Once the Jervis Bay repeater is operational the existing repeater at Mount Boyne VK2RBT (146.675MHz) near Ulludulla will be decommissioned and relocated to a, yet to be determined site south of Bateman’s Bay.  This has been necessary due to the high cost of the NSW government land tax that has recently been invoked at the site.  Finally there will be an antenna change at the Saddleback / Knights Hill sites to provide fill in coverage at some known black spots along the coastal strip.

At the conclusion of the project there will be continuous coverage on the Coast Link 2 metre network for over 300 Kilometers, from the Central Coast region North of Sydney, right though to Narooma in the South.