August Meeting - Young Physicist Tournament 2016

Catherine Pot is a student at Onslow College and has been a member of their Physics Club for a number of years. The club as a team that competes in the Young Physicists Tournaments. Last year we heard how the Onslow team went at the international competition, and this year Catherine has been to Russia with the team to compete.

We are lucky to have Catherine and her father Michael talk to us on the trip and the competition. Catherine will also speak on one of the subjects that was presented.

Van der Pauw - Geometry and the 4 wire resistance measurement

July Meeting - Visit to the new Rescue Coordination Centre

Time changed to 8:00 pm

The RCC has recently been moved and upgraded to support larger mass casualty events or multiple simultaneous searches. Last month we heard about the new beacon receiving and locating systems. Although all beacons sold in New Zealand are GPS equipped, not all beacons in the RCC search area are GPS enabled.

The RCC is key to maritime searches and more and more land searches as the use of personal 

Thanks to Rodney Bracefield for last month's exciting talk and for arranging this month's visit.

June Meeting - The new MEOSAR Satellite system explained

The June meeting will be a talk from Rodney Bracefield the RCC (Rescue Coordination Centre) Operational Support Manager on the MEOSAR Satellite system including the NZ COSPAS SARSAT Earth Station near Rotorua and 406 EPIRB beacon tracking.

http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/news/media-releases-2015/20151029a.asp

Date: 30 June
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Tawa Community Centre

March Meeting - Batteries, Solar (PV) and Electric Vehicles : The end of the Lines Companies?

John Andrews, Senior Energy Analyst at NZX Energy will give a presentation on

The recent Downstream Conference for the electricity and gas retailers and generators covered the possible effects of batteries, PV and EVs on the lines companies, the national grid and electricity retailers and generators. Much information from other markets was presented, but the big question remains- is New Zealand really different? And does NZ have the right model in place to deal with these changes?

The Last Hurrah

In the 1956 novel The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor the veteran, a flawed but great man with many achievements to his credit, falls to the modern usurper with a handsome face but no real ability.  And so on February 16, 2016 an iconic veteran of New Zealand radio transmission, the 696 ft* 2YA mast fell to the enfeebled broadcast service we make do with today.  Welcome to the new age.

November Meeting - Peter Lake ZL2AZ, IARU R3 Director

For the November meeting we are privileged to have Peter Lake ZL2AZ, IARU R3 Director, speak to us about his 10 years as director and the progress that has been made during this time. Peter has recently announced his retirement and this will take effect just before the meeting.

Date: Thursday 26 November
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Tawa Community Centre

SIG for Sept 2015: 19:30, 17th, Mesh users get started night

This month's SIG meeting will cover the use of and services available over the mesh.  James ZL2ET has also created the virtual tunnel to the nodes of Rob ZL1FLY.  This in turn has allowed us to view other sites around the world.

James will outline the VTUN, the services he is hosting at his QTH, and how to use them.

Mike ZL1AXG will show us the services he is hosting and how we can access them.

The highlight is that we hope to be able to use the voice facilities over the mesh and James and Mike are excited to be able to demo this.