Amateur radio classes in August 2019 at Tawa

The Group is holding amateur radio classes this August.  They will be 1,15 and 22 August at Tawa Community Centre, 7:30-9:00 PM.

The material to be used is available on this site at this link.  You will need to print at least the questions with answers, Book 5 (60 pages).

The material you need to know is Book 2 (131 pages).

We are looking to have these available for people, please contact us if you cannot arrange to get them printed your self.

 

 

Bernard ZL2BD talks on small magnetic loop antennas

Bernard presented on small magnetic loop antennas at the June meeting.  Bernard has been working on these for many years, and the main message was -They work very well but must be made very carefully and you need to accept a number of limitations.

The main limitation is the very small bandwidth, followed by the high level of care required in designing and making them.  A key issue is loop resistance. Bernard makes his loops from 1 inch copper pipe and to reduce the resistance from the joins, uses 4 x 90 deg angles, carefully silver soldered. His loop is a square!

June 2019 Main Meeting - Loop Antennas with Bernard ZL2BD

Bernard is well known for his work with HF loop antennas and has many years of designing, building and evaluating these interesting (and somewhat rare) variant.

 Bernard's recent talks at other local branches have had very good reviews and some members asked if he could speak at our monthly meeting, which Bernard has offered.  This was also following a loop building session at his QTH where models were build and tested.

Please come along on Thursday 27 June to hear Bernard's talk.  

 

March Meeting - 1/4 Wave Stub Filters

The feature series in the last three month’s of Q Bit has been about using 1/4 wave stubs for filters. To follow this up, the author is going to provide an overview of the theory and a short practical demonstration of stub filters.

Doug ZL2TAR has plenty of professional and practical experience with designing and implementing 1/4 wave filters to meet the requirements of closely located antennas and site that may suffer from interference.

January Meeting- Combined Branches BBQ at Kapiti

Hello and Happy New Year!

Our only meeting this month is a BBQ with the Kapiti Branch on Saturday 25 January from midday.  We will be at QEII park picnic area 7 and entry is via Wellington Road, Paekakariki. (access from Paekakariki  and you will need to bring everything- even shade and a seat! There is plenty of space and last year was a lovely afternoon.  If you can bring a BBQ to cook on (gas only), please do so if you don't have one, I'm sure you can share space on one.  

Prohibiting illegal use of two way radios

Prohibiting illegal use of two way radios

The RSM Compliance team are working on a Prohibition Notice to limit the import and illegal use of a range of low end two way radios. 

There are a variety of these radios on the market, like Baofeng, Pofung and Woxun for example. They allow users to programme their own frequency from the front panel or via a USB cable.  Although designed for the Amateur Radio Operator, these radios in the wrong hands have been attributed to malicious calls on police, forestry and rail frequencies.