Today the Rangituhi - Colonial Knob AIS service was restored to service after a failure of the VHF receiver. Coverage from the site has been gradually deteriorating over the last few months.
Last weekend a working bee installed a new VHF marine band antenna at the site. The new antenna is a PD220 Celwave Super Stationmaster with a gain of 5.25 dBd (7.4 dBi) arranged with a 6 degree electrical downtilt.
- John, ZL4JY
AREC has a public facing website AREC Today with general interest stories designed to inform non-amateurs about AREC and what we do. It's also designed to highlight interesting material for key stakeholders, such as the AREC SLA partners including the Rescue Coordination Centre RCCNZ, Police, and NZ SAR.
Meet at the gate from 6:00pm for transport. Only 4 wheel drive vehicles are permitted to travel up, so carpooling will happen on the night. Dress for a mountain top in the roaring 40s at night, which it is Supper will be on site.
Co-ordination will be on 710, DMR and P.25
Date: Thursday 27 November Time: 6:00 pm
Location: Meet at the gate on Raiha Rd, Porirua just north of Farm Rd
For more than 25 years, first analog then P25, the 147.075 MHz (+600 kHz split) repeater has covered the north of Wellington, New Zealand. The original machine was a home made crystal controlled 10W design by Peter ZL2ARW but the site now features a 100W capable Motorola Quantar.
The AREC AGM was held on Thursday 30 October. At the meeting John ZL4JY presented a report on the activity over the past year, summarized below.
Introduction
Most of the Group's AREC activity is in support of SAR and Police, our contribution is set out below. Members have supported neighbouring branches, including a dedicated AREC evening at Titahi Bay Branch 42. The Group continues to assist with the Wellington Wander Search supporting Police searching for missing Alzheimer's suffers.
The Pink Star Walk was held in Wellington for the first time this year, the event is a 10km walk route taking walkers from Frank Kitts Park around the waterfront to Greta Point and back again, with a “family-friendly” 5km option available. Funds raised from the entry fee and sponsorship of the Estee Lauder Companies Pink Star Walk goes into research, including the Wellington Breast Cancer Register which gathers treatment and outcome data on patients throughout the region, rehabilitation for women recovering from mastectomy, and awareness of mammograms for early detection.
Following on from last months DAB update article in Q-Bit come along to hear (and question) one of New Zealand's leading Digital Broadcast Engineers.
Date: Thursday 25 September Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Tawa Community Centre
This months meeting will be A Look at AIS (Automatic Identification System)
The Group has installed an AIS receiver at Colonial Knob and this is providing a large coverage over the busy Cook Straight region.
This month we will look at where AIS came from, its purpose in marine safety, what the latest directions and trends are, and what the future may hold.
An interesting aside in the use of AIS for VHF propagation studies by amateurs, and what is being done in this area in New Zealand
Date: Thursday 31 July Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Tawa Community Centre
