Amateur Radio December 2010
Delivery expected from December 3
Editorial
Season’s greetings
Another year is drawing to a close. Officially, the end of December marks the end of the WIA Centenary year. We plan to publish a summary of all the activities early next year. I am sure that we will continue to have more articles submitted of a historical nature.
With the needed emphasis on history this year, together with the large number of contributions on that theme, we now have a large backlog of articles to publish. We will be doing our best to reduce the delays in the future between the acceptance of an article and its appearance inside the magazine. I thank authors for their patience to date.
I am looking forward to a couple of weeks leave, during which I intend to work on many of my long list of radio projects. Number one task will be to get the tower and antennas back up.
I trust that all have a happy and safe festive season. Perhaps we may meet on-air in the New Year...
End of an era
This issue will mark the end of a long association between the WIA and Newsletters Unlimited (NU) – our publishing house since the start of 1999.
In reality, NU is a husband and wife team: John and Gillian (Gill) Nieman. Over the past 16 months or so, most of the work has been undertaken by John. Until then Gill was the key person responsible for the assembly of the majority of the magazine until John took over when Gill decided that it was time to embark upon postgraduate studies.
When I started in the role of Editor five years ago, both John and Gill were very welcoming and helped guide me into a production system with which we could all work. Along the way, we have made many changes which have resulted in, I believe, a more attractive finished product.
Perhaps the most significant of these changes came early this year. On the WIA side, we imposed a new design concept from an independent designer. Together, NU and the Publications Committee sorted out the wrinkles over the first couple of issues with the new design. At about the same time, NU proposed a new printer, together with a different paper. The net result is the magazine you are now reading.
Like many relationships, we have had some bumps along the way. However, goodwill has prevailed on both sides so that we have improved our magazine while containing our budget.
The WIA has decided, partly following a pre-retirement indication from NU, that it was time to move to a new production house. I will advise readers of the details in the first issue of 2011.
As a result, NU and WIA are working on the production of this issue and on a smooth handover to the new contractor during a busy period.
John and Gill, thank you very much for all your work, guidance and goodwill.
Cheers,
Peter VK3PF
Cover photo
Are you planning to attend the WIA 2011 AGM in May? If so, you will have time to explore Wangi Falls in the Litchfield National Park during the tour on Sunday.
Photo courtesy of Tourism NT.
Table Of Contents
GENERAL
WIA Annual Conference
Election of Directors — Call for Nominations
WICEN bridges the gap Roger Nichols VK7ARN
WIA President visits Rockhampton Les Unwin VK4VIL
Gridsquare Standings at 15 October 2010
VK9NA 2011 Get your gear ready for mid January The VK9NA team
TECHNICAL
A matching system for two 23 cm antennas Peter Cossins VK3BFG
Building a 50 ohm 150 watt RF dummy load Roderick Wall VK3YC
A simple wire separating technique for coaxial cable Dr Hank Prunckun VK5JAZ
The best band for optical DX Paul Edwards VK7ZAS
Homebrewing without the headache? Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and Ross Pittard VK3CE
Metal work at home Jim Tregellas VK5JST
Plus all the usual Club news and columns
WIA Annual Conference
WIA
The preliminary program and details of one accommodation option are list in this issue. The details are released early, as next year’s AGM is to be held in Darwin, hosted by the Darwin ARC. Thsi should allow all interested to explore their options and to book early, including any leave you need to get there.
WICEN bridges the gap
Roger Nichols VK7ARN
The author is an active and enthusiastic supporter of WICEN in southern Tasmania, and wastes no opportunity to promote either the emergency service, or amateur radio in general, whenever he can.
Thus, for a very ‘public’ event, like a fun run, WICEN was heavily involved, providing the communications framework for the event, but not missing the chance to promote their own cause, in a sensible and discrete way.
Metal work at home
Jim Tregellas VK5JST
Here is another article from one of Australia’s best known and respected amateur radio authors.
In this article he details how to prepare for and undertake the metal working aspect of a project, for efficiency, cost, quality and, last but by no means least, safety reasons.
Home builders will find this article very informative, and helpful in the practical sense, for their own home build projects.
In addition, we have the latest version of Foundation Corner on a related theme:
Homebrewing without the headache?
Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and Ross Pittard VK3CE
The authors discuss the requirements of successful homebrewing, and particularly the art of soldering (properly, that is!) and how to select a range of tools capable of covering a comprehensive range of homebrewing challenges in the average amateur’s workshop.
An old topic for most amateurs, but never without interest, discussion and the need to acknowledge the changes that technology has cast among us.
Good common sense reading for old and new amateur alike.
Building a 50 ohm 150 watt RF dummy load
Roderick Wall VK3YC
The author explains the reason for his need of a suitable dummy load in his shack, and then proceeds to explain how to go about formulating a design, and then building a unit to suit those needs.
Whilst not a complicated home building exercise, the author does go to some effort to produce a piece of equipment of quite high quality, and capable of comfortably meeting all his design parameters.
This may well be a useful project for many of our readers.
Advertisers Index
 63 ATN
7 ATRC
55 Av-com
14 Centre Victoria Radiofest
31 Com-an-tena
63 Cookson (Jackson Bros)
63 Hamak Electrical Industries
OBC Icom
17 Jaycar
28 Mid North Coast ARC
15 TET-Emtron
63 Tower
13 TTS
IFC Vertex Standard (Yaesu)
63 VKHam
Fly WIA Bookshop
24 Yarra Valley ARG
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Page Last Updated: Tuesday 30 November 2010 at 14:27 hours
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