We need six people to man the barbeque, take and fill orders, and so on.  We operate from about 8:30 am to 3pm on the day, however you wouldn’t necessarily need to be there the whole time.

If you can spare some time on the 29 November, please let our illustrious Secretary and sausage coordinator Maeva Bennett VK2HUG know on 4297 6065 (email to Maeva is not working at the moment due to a nasty electrical storm last week).  It would be great to get some fresh faces involved.

Hope to see you there!

Neil VK2VNJ for Maeva VK2HUG

As in past years, the Illawarra Amateur Radio Society and the Blue Mountains Amateur Radio Club, will again be manning the Point Perpendicular Lighthouse at Jervis Bay to celebrate this historic event.    The unmanned solar light will be switched off and the ‘old’ original light will again be lit by our friends from Lighthouses of Australia, 

From it’s 93 metre vantage point atop the cliff face at Jervis Bay, the 1,200,000 candle power beam of the Point Perpendicular light will again be seen for 42 kilometres.  This is only the third time the light has been lit since it’s decommissioning 1993 when the new smaller solar powered light was commissioned.  The volunteers from Lighthouses of Australia work tirelessly throughout the year in the preservation of the historic lights dotting the Australian coastline. 

The IARS will be manning all bands from 160 through to 23cm.  Listen for us around the call channels or use the Coast Link Repeater System for liaison, we’ll be using and listening out for the club callsign, VK2AMW on:-  146.650 MHz south to Bateman’s Bay, 146.975 MHz in the Nowra /Southern Highlands area, and 146.850 MHz in the Wollongong / Sydney area.   IRLP node 6018 and Echolink Node 325276 will also be in operation onsite.   The station will be manned around the clock for the event.

If you would like to visit the historic lighthouse and take up the very rare opportunity to actually see the light in operation, or visit the IARS station and see how radio communications are carried out around the world, follow these directions to the lighthouse .   Day trip visitors are very welcome, bring the family and have a good day out.   If you would like to register to stay overnight at the station you need to attend the IARS meeting on Tuesday evening at 7.30pm at Industry World Visitors Centre, Springhill Road, Coniston to register or contact the Secretary or Assistant Secretary.  There are strictly limited places overnight.  Remember this meeting is also our AGM, support your club attend the AGM.  

Further information:- secretary

To register your club or station for the ILLW event, or to see what other lighthouses are involved this year, follow this link to the Official International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend web site.

The Illawarra Amateur Radio Society sincerley thanks the Department of Defence for the use of the Point Perpendicular facilities for this important international event. The Royal Australian Navy are the custodians of the Point Perpendicular Light and do a sterling job in the preservation of this important historic building.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Cheers, Tony VK2TS

To find Blackbutt Reserve, Blackbutt (a Wollongong southern suburb) follow the directions below.

 Travel along Shellharbour Road to Woodlands Drive, then travel along Woodlands Drive to the T intersection and turn left into Blackbutt Way.  Follow the road into the reserve to the right past the water reservoir to the car parking area.   Follow the IARS signs that are sign posted on power poles along the way.  See Link below for Map to location.

 Start time 09:30 Hrs, Lunch 12 Midday, Mini Auction starting at 1pm.

Map to Blackbutt Reserve for IARS

The workshop will again be held in the premises of Rivers Solar Pty Ltd at 4 Mineral Road, Oak Flats, NSW.  We thank VK2TSB for the use of his facilities once again.  The start time for the workshop will be 10am.  

The project this week is the “Differential Time of Arrival – Radio Direction Finding Fox Hunt Unit”.  All amateur’s and prospective amateurs are welcome.   You don’t need to be a member of the IAR’s club to attend this workshop.   The workshop will be tailored for both experienced kit builders and those that have never picked up a soldering iron before.  

The workshop has been prepared by our inhouse project expert Paul, VK2FE.

There will be a sausage sizzle for lunch at a friend of the family price, as well as soft drinks.

There will be kits of parts available for sale at cost price of $30.00.  The IARS will subsidise the cost of kits for financial club members.  The price to Financial club members will be $22.00.   No thongs or open footwear will be allowed.  All tools will be provided, bring you own along if you wish. 

You will need to book for the workshop, please call or text your details to 0405 444 644 or email the following address.  technical_workshop

Come along and have a fun time, and go home with a working project.  Courtesy of the Illawarra Amateur Radio Society, the progressive amateur radio club.

The following is an extract of the notification release by the club.

Valê

 Howard Booth, VK2AMD.

Howard Booth, VK2AMD, passed away last Sunday afternoon 25th May 2008, at the age of 100.  Howard was the Inaugural President of the first radio club in Wollongong, in those days known as “The Wollongong Amateur Radio Club”.

Howard received his Australian licence, under the callsign VK2AMD, in September 1948. Being born in
Leeds, England he was also licenced as U.K. callsign G2AS, Howard held both licences until his passing.   Howard and his family lived in Ocean St Windang.  Howard turned 100 years old on the 6th  March this year making him one of the oldest amateur operator’s on the bands in Australia.

During the formation of the amateur radio club, Howard told of building the clubs transmitter and receiver at his place of work, which was HG Palmer’s Electrical and Radio Store.  Here, Howard was able to obtain the parts required for the transmitter.  It consisted of two 807 valves, in push-pull configuration in the final. The transmitter was built over a period of about 24 hours.  It was of course, crystal controlled with the crystals being ground from watch glasses.   Howard said “the parts of the original transmitter cost us about ten bob”! ($­­­1.00).  When asked about the crystal being ground from watch glasses, he replied, “That’s just how it was done in those days”.

The original transceiver operated on 40 metres, and later, when a doubler stage was added it could operate on 20 metres.  Latter further modifications were made to allow access to the 80 metre band.

It’s a sad time for the present Illawarra Amateur Radio Club, with their sixtieth birthday celebrations only a month away.   Without the strong guidance of Howard in the early days the present prosperous club would no doubt be a very different organisation than it is today.

The Executive Committee, and the membership of the Illawarra Amateur Radio Society express their deepest sympathy to the members of Howards’ surviving family.

Farewell friend.

Valê

Howard Booth, VK2AMD, Silent Key.

This workshop is open to all amateurs and interested persons.  You don’t need to be a member of the Illawarra Amateur Radio Society to attend.

The workshop will commence at 10am and finish around 2pm.  It will be held at Unit 2 / 4 Mineral Road, Oak Flats.   This is the workshop of Rivers Solar.   We thank Steve VK2TSB for the use of his workshop facilities.

The workshop will include a tutorial on soldering techniques, electronic component identification, kit construction, and the practical construction of a tape measure antenna for fox hunting.

There will be a sausage sizzle for lunch, at a “friend of the family” price.

All parts required for the workshop will be provided on the day.   All tools required will be provided.   Please wear shoes,  no thongs or open style footwear will be allowed.

The cost of the kit of parts is still being worked out, but it should be less than $10

People must register for the workshop.  there are a number of ways to register:

• Use this email address
• Email, phone or contact the Secretary Steve VK2TSB or Assistant Secretary Ross VK2VVV
• Phone VK2VVV (02) 9605 5555

Information on using the call sign is available in this document. If you wish to take advantage of the call sign you will need to make sure you are on the roster, as described.

In addition, here is a Excel-based call log spreadsheet to use with VI2AMW60.

Have fun!

The workshops will be held on a Sunday over the next month or two.  The workshop will start with a safety briefing, a description of the project, a study of the circuit so we all understand what we are about to construct, a tutorial on correct soldering techniques, a tutorial on electronic component identification, and then the construction of the project.  At the end of the day you will be able to walk away from the session with a working project.  The workshops will be tailored for both entry level participants and seasoned constructors alike.   The first project will be a ‘tape measure antenna’.  The Second project a ‘differential time of arrival radio direction finding unit’ and the third will be a CTCSS tone decoder to fit into an amateur rig to allow access to repeaters using sub tones.  Further projects will be announced at the conclusion of these workshops.

The cost of attending the workshop is free.  There will be kits of parts to buy at the workshops so you don’t have to bring any parts.  The kits will be very economical.  All tools will be provided, or you can bring your own.  We will also have a sausage sizzle for lunch on the day, with the sausage sanga’s and cold drinks available for a ‘friend of the family price’.  Support the club by buying your lunch here.  The exact date and price of the first kit is be published after the May club meeting.  

You will have to register to attend the workshop.  You can do this by sending an email to technical_workshop or attending the IARS club meeting on Tuesday May 13^th.    The workshops are open to all amateurs whether you are a member of the Illawarra Amateur Radio Society or not.  

Please direct any enquiries to the email address above. 

Well…. the big day is almost upon us. D-star day that is! Tentative frequencies have been allocated, and the repeaters programmed, we are presently waiting on ACMA confirmation. The frequencies will be (pending approval):-

Band: 23cm, Mode: DD (Digital Data)
Rptr TX: 1298.500MHz
Rptr RX: 1298.500MHz Simplex

Band: 23cm, Mode: DV (Digital Voice)
Rptr TX: 1273.950MHz
Rptr RX: 1293.950MHz (Offset: + 20 MHz)

Band: 70cm, Mode: DV (Digital Voice)
Rptr TX: 439.7500MHz
Rptr RX: 434.7500MHz (Offset: – 5 MHz)

Band: 2m, Mode: DV (Digital Voice)
Rptr TX: 146.7625MHz
Rptr RX: 146.1625MHz (Offset: – 600kHz)

Repeater callsign: VK2RDS (pending approval)

Neil VK2VNJ reports the gateway server hardware has been checked out at his home QTH, and awaits the D-Star gateway software and internet connection at the repeater site before it can be installed and activated. (Thanks to Shaun VK2HCO for donating the server hardware.)

Test transmissions will occur over the next fortnight. Stay tuned for details of test dates.

Once the D-Star repeaters are commissioned, there will be a D-Star information session held, come along and have a look at the D-Star radios, listen to the clarity, and have a QSO over the network.

The D-Star committee has been working tirelessly to provide you with a world class amateur radio service. We appreciate the support from all the members of the Illawarra Amateur Radio Society, and thank Icom Australia, The W.I.A., and the A.C.M.A. for their involvement in this project.