VK Tech Net - Protocol

 The VK Tech Net is run a bit differently to the usual net operation of ham radio operators calling in and going onto a list, to then be called in order to have a say.

Read about the ideas behind the VK Tech Net

This net is run in segments.

Generally like this:

Net Control (NC) will open the net. There will not be a call in.

NC will announce the topic of the Learning Section, and then continue with it.

Learning Section - about some aspect of radio operation or setup. Possibly in response to questions on previous nets. These Learning Sections will also be posted on this website for later reference. Where possible they may be interactive. This section may be run by NC, or there may be another operator that will be announced to run it.

Q+A Section - Technical. Anyone with a technical question they would like answered  (eg. my radio doesn't work. What's wrong?) can call in to ask for help. Others on the net will then be asked if they can offer assistance. NC may also make a suggestion to help resolve the issue. At times, for longer responses, the involved parties will be asked to QSY to continue their "thread". They can then return to the net when finished if they like.

Q+A Section - Antennas. As above.

Info Section. This is the more general section of the net and will work more like a normal net. NC will ask if anyone wants to contribute information about something they are working on, involved in, or planning, about radio that will be useful to other participants. 

The net will be closed when NC decides they have had enough. At this time, NC will conduct a call in, ala WIA broadcast style, of anyone who would like to announce their involvement, whether it be active, or just listening in. There will be no judgement of SWLing. I am sick of snide comments on other nets about those who just want to listen in. 

Let me be clear about the running of this net:

NC WILL decide what is RELEVANT to the ideals of the net, and will MANAGE the nets content. That may mean informing you that your topic is not relevant to the current activity on the net. 

If you don't agree with the NC's decision, remember, you are not obliged to participate in the net.

73 

Cambo

VK Tech Net - beginnings

I had been thinking about starting a net on 80 Metres for a long time. 

Not that there aren't enough nets around, but on the whole they are pretty bland. Just "g'day, nice weather, my sciatica is playing up, 73". 

While I am not against chat or welfare nets, they just don't get my interest. 

I want to talk about Ham Radio. You know, electronics, transmitters, receivers, components, accessories, mobile set-ups, portable operating gear and "go bags", field day how to, modes of operation, and of course, antennas. 

Basically anything and everything technical about ham radio, in the broader sense of the word.

I believe there is just not enough of this information being disseminated (look it up) on the air regularly.

Anyway, a conversation with local ham Steve, VK3ZPG, and subsequent conversations with some recently licensed hams at the club, prompted me to make a decision and kick things off. The net is not a club activity. This is open to all licensed hams that can hear us and want to participate.

I have had a lot of thoughts about the format and how to run it, but ultimately, it's going to be suck it and see. The net will evolve in it's own way.

Will it work? Is the interest there?

My hope is that it will be useful.

Time will tell.

73

Cambo

Radio Blog Marker - kind of like a test point on a circuit board.

Nothing of interest here. I am calling this a Marker post. It's just for me to remember that this is the very next post from the one about the HB9CV 2m antenna in 2015.

Jan 2022. Whew! Almost 7 years. It is amazing how days roll into weeks into months into years. 

I kinda have the work/life excuse, but not really. I have been doing all sorts of ham radio stuff over that period, I just didn't get around to adding it to the blog. 

I think I must have done something of interest to some-one in that time, so I am going to add posts that I will date before this post to match at about the time they happened, but I will be adding them from now on.

Also, the reason I started this blog was really to be "My Diary" of my ham radio pursuits just for me to look back on, so I want to get stuff down while I can remember it. 

Makes a great place to bookmark ham radio sites and blogs I like as well.

Oh yeah. And link to my other websites.

73

Cambo

Neumora Retro Canvas Messenger Bag Small Shoulder Crossbody Bag Travel Sling Bag Shopping Purse for men women (Black small)

Jonon Vintage Military Men Canvas Messenger Bag for 13.3-17" Laptop (Size 17.3", Green)

HB9CV Antenna

I have an S9 noise level on 40 and 80 Metres. It seems to start dropping off near 30 Metres and has disappeared at 20 Metres. It appears to be electrical in nature, as a constant buzz. The source is very local, I am sure. Anyway I wanted to try and DF the source so I did some googling to find out what others use/do. I found some very good resources for tracking RFI. ON4WW has a very good resource and some tips.

From what I found, it appeared a hand held HB9CV 2 element 2M beam might be a good option to couple to my FT-817 and go walkabout of the area to try and track the source of the RFI on 40 meters.

I found a couple of very good sites on how to build a HB9CV for 2M and worked out what I needed.

So I had a look around my "junk" and found that I had everything on hand, and with a beautiful Autumn day in progress, I set to work.

This particular antenna needs a capacitance in series at the feed point, and 9A7PJT (Update: Unfortunately the PA7PJT website no longer exists. Wish I had copied the page.) had a good description of using a 50 ohm coax stub, rather than a variable capacitor, so I elected to use a stub. This worked very well for tuning the antenna by snipping off about half a centimetre of the stub until the SWR was "1 to 1". I say that as I got it to the point the needle didn't move on 146.500 and I got full power output from the FT-817 so I figured it was close enough to tuned and resonant. 

Testing showed it to work very well. I fired it into a local repeater and got full scale on the bar graph on the radio pointing at it. So it had forward gain as the vertical always got a couple of bars less. Pointing it in the opposite direction, the bar graph dropped to about 3 bars, so it's got good Front to Back ratio. It also has some good side lobe nulls, so all in all it works very well. I am really happy with it.

I could also trigger distant repeaters that I couldn't with the vertical antenna.

Only problem I found was that it is so well tuned on 2 Metres that it didn't pick up the HF noise I was trying to DF in the first place. HI!. (In the end I used an AM transistor radio to find the noise source. It was coming from an old industrial shed about 500m away that appeared to have electric motors running all of the time. Update: have moved from that location so no longer an issue.)

Anyway, I have a pretty good 2M portable / fox hunt beam antenna now.

73

Cambo

The full beam. 

The boom after the reflector doesn't affect it so I made it long enough to hold. With only 5 watts, I dont have to worry about insulation, although I will put a handle on it for comfort.

Both elements are driven. This shows the phasing arrangement. The coax stub can be seen mounted on the top side of the boom. The feed coax is mounted underneath.

Testing the home brew hb9cv antenna with a Yaesu  VX-170 handheld.

SOTA: VK3/VC-004 Mt Observation Activation Attempt

SOTA
VK3/VC-004 Mt Observation
18th May, 2013

I decided to try to activate Mt Observation, near Marysville. The summit is actually exactly on the border of the Yarra Ranges National Park and the Yarra State forest, so I figured I could also activate the NP at the same time.

As it hadn't been activated yet, I figured it must be difficult to get to, as there has been a quite high level of summit activation activity in VK3 in 2013.

I was right.