Amateur Radio December 2007
7 December 2007
Editorial
Season’s Greetings
The members of the Publications Committee (PubCom) wish everyone a safe and happy festive season. The past year has been busy, yet it seems as if the last Christmas/New Year season was only a short time ago.
As we head toward the end of this year, many amateurs’ minds turn to the performance of their station, especially those interested in VHF, UHF and microwave bands, as summer will hopefully bring with it enhanced propagation. Of course, do not forget the Ross Hull Memorial Contest, commencing Boxing Day and running for approximately three weeks, and the Summer VHF/UHF Field Day Contest on the last weekend of the Ross Hull.
Callbook 2009
“What is he doing?” I hear you say – “the 2009 Callbook? The 2008 volume has only just been published!” Well yes, but publications such as the Callbook take considerable planning.
PubCom would welcome constructive feedback on the 2008 Callbook, so that we can plan ahead for the 2009 volume. Design of the 2009 Callbook will start in March, so we need your comments soon. We are seriously considering is to have a single central database for much of the information published in the Callbook, as such a database would hopefully eliminate potential errors by a contributor sending in the wrong version of the information. Of course, some information will always be out of date in such a printed publication – callsigns will change, club committee members change because an AGM occurs between the closing date for the Callbook and its actual release date. This is part of modern life, but we believe that many prefer to have a printed resource to needing to refer to the Internet on a regular basis, where information might be expected to be able to be kept up to date.
In addition to comments on the Callbook, PubCom hereby calls for Expressions of Interest for persons willing to be part of an editorial subcommittee to assist the Callbook Editor in preparing the 2009 Callbook. Some members of this subcommittee might be located close to Melbourne, but with modern communication methods such as email, this is not a necessary prerequisite. We would particularly interested to find a person to oversee the design and production of the master CD version of the Callbook. Anyone interested can in participating can forward their written Expression of Interest to the Secretary of PubCom, Ernie Walls VK3FM. Ernie can be contacted via email at armag@wia.org.au or by mail via the WIA office.
Photographs for covers
We always welcome the submission of good quality photographs for consideration for publication in AR, the cover the Callbook or any other publication that we might consider. Readers are reminded of the hints for photographs that were published in the Editorial in the August 2007 issue of AR.
“Over to you” contributions
I do welcome your “Letters to the Editor”, which we publish under the “Over to you” banner. Of course, I exercise my right as Editor to publish or not – but if space is available, I usually publish.
I have received several contributions of the past months regarding BPL or PLC communications. Given that we have a WIA Working Party monitoring BPL activity in Australia, I believe that we do not gain much by publishing such letters in AR. I would urge all readers concerned about the real and future potential impacts of BPL technology deployment to lobby their local Federal politicians, especially as many may be new following the election. Political pressure is one way in which we may influence decisions.
No January issue
As has been the practise for the past couple of years, there will be no separate January issue of AR – it will be combined with the February issue. We plan to have it into our distribution system in late January.
Have a safe holiday season.
73
Peter VK3KAI
Table Of Contents
GENERAL
 USA-CA: working all 3077 counties, Cliff Bilston VK3CB
The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications
Peter Hughes VK6HU honoured on JOTA weekend, Bob Bristow VK6POP
ARISS presentation to Salt Creek Primary School, Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI
TECHNICAL
A simple superhet receiver for 160 metres, Drew Diamond VK3XU
A 160 metre power amplifier using a single low cost MOSFET, Leigh Brown VK3TOQ
HF antenna ‘realities’, Felix Scerri VK4FUQ
Putting metal radios into plastic cars, Warren Stirling VK3XSW
A Class-E CW transmitter for 1.8 MHz with VFO and QSK, Drew Diamond VK3XU
Microwaves 2: The 23 cm band and transverter topology, Peter Freeman VK3KAI
Plus all the usual columns
Finding satellite information
In the AMSAT column Bill Magnussen VK3JT describes how to find information about the various amateur satellites.
A 160 metre power amplifier using a single low cost MOSFET
Leigh Brown VK3TOQ describes how to construct a low-cost efficient amplifier for the 160 m band.
Advertisers Index
Australian Enterprise Industrial (One Man Tower)
Andrews Communications Systems
ATN Antennas
Av-com
Com-an-tena
G & C Communications
Hamak Electrical Industries (RM Products Italy)
Icom
Jackson Brothers (Components)
Jenlex - filters
KVK Antennas
Newtek Electronics (Amidon Ferromagnetic Cores)
TET-Emtron antennas
TTS Systems Communications Equipment
Vertex Standard - Yaesu
Page Last Updated: Saturday 2 February 2008 at 14:49 hours
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