May - June 2023
May - June 2023
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Editorial
VK90AR
VK90AR: pretty soon, you’ll hear people on-air using this call sign. Call them. Details will be on the website and the weekly broadcasts. See our QSL front on page 13.
Prompted by emails from a PubComm team member earlier this year, I investigated artificial intelligence (AI), specifically ChatGPT, which has been much in the media.
Is ChatGPT a name or an acronym? Huh! ChatGPT, stands for – Chat Generative Pre-train Transformer. It’s software that enables users to ask questions using conversational, or natural, language – written or spoken.
The ‘language model’ used is based on what we’re told is ‘transformer’ architecture. This generates answers based on user questions or problems posed. It converts responses from one form to another, hence transformer. The software is setup beforehand to be “more sensitive to the answers,” apparently modifying the messages generated to make them understandable to users.
I asked Phil Wait VK2ASD to look into AI in amateur radio. His efforts returned some interesting results, posing more questions than the answers he got. The conundrums are covered in my Op Ed piece following his article. Just as we committed to the articles on ChatGPT, Google launched its rival chatbot, Bard!
Repairing things
One of our articles on this subject, at page 49, discusses the concept of a “right-to-repair” in Australia, which would enable consumers to repair their own products, either themselves or through a third-party repairer, and require manufacturers to provide access to repair manuals, diagnostic tools, and software locks.
The article explores the issues from a manufacturer’s perspective, including concerns about intellectual property, product safety, warranty rights, the cost of new products, and the feasibility of repairing certain products. The article notes the benefits of sustainability in extending the lifespan of products and reducing waste, but questions whether enforcing a right-to-repair would make a real difference or simply increase the cost of new products for no real benefit.
The above two paragraphs were written by ChatGPT, with minor edits! I have to ask myself: how long before I’m muscled out of my job by a chatbot? I’m comforted, knowing that the chatbot did not pick up that the right-to-repair is actually covered by two articles.
400 watt ATU follow-up
Lou VK3AQZ’s ATU featured in Issues 1 and 2 this year generated keen interest. However, it should be appreciated that an ATU handling the VK ‘legal limit’ of 400 watts PEP needs to have components capable of working under conditions where the voltages and currents encountered well exceed that for a 100 watt tuner.
Never mind resistive loads, get a little reactance in there, such as with an antenna, and conditions for loss in the tuner components, and other matters, can quickly get out of whack. Lou has provided us with a follow-up article covering the issues, scheduled for Issue 4.
Spectrum Horizons
Correspondent David Minchin VK5KK has been subject to medical interventions to restore his vitals. When he’s over it, he promises to return with more from the technological bleeding edge.
Table Of Contents
General
 WestNews - Will McGhie VK6UU
AI, amateur radio and ChatGPT - Phil Wait VK2ASD
AI, ChatGPT and the challenge of change - Roger Harrison VK2ZRH
Centenary of The Trans-Pacific Tests - Part 1 - Peter Wolfenden VK3RV
Parochialism makes for good history in VK7! - Richard Rogers VK7RO
Manly-Warringah Radio Society – surfing the airwaves since 1923 - Richard Murnane VK2SKY
Book Review – War Diaries: A Radio Amateur in Kyiv - Richard Murnane VK2SKY
Technical
Your first test bench - Andy Keir VK2AAK
A 13.6 V/30 A power supply for all occasions - Lou Destafano VK3AQZ
Here’s why we still don’t have the ‘right to repair’- Leanne Wiseman & John Gertsakis
Right to repair – a manufacturer’s perspective - Phil Wait VK2ASD
Collins S-line conservation and conversion – Job 3 - Phil Fitzherbert VK3FF
Page Last Updated: Wednesday, 24 May 2023 at 21:07 hours by Webmaster
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