Wellington VHF Group, Inc: Online.

As part of the work for the shift of the BBS from Newlands to our Ngaio site, the Ngaio UHF repeater frequency has been changed from 439.550 MHz to 434.550 MHz.

New Licence: 231999
Frequency : 434.550 MHz

Old Licence : 221215
Cancelled : 439.550 MHz

Please note that the MED have indicated that their name for the site is Kaiwharawhara Hill, and this will appear on the licences. So, the name for this repeater will now be;

455 Kaiwharawhara Hill

The Trustees, (ZL3TC, ZL2SX), would appreciate any signal reports.

The 2009-2010 period has been a very busy time for the Group, and as we approach another Annual General Meeting it is time to report our activities for the past year.

Membership

The number of financial Members has grown steadily during the year as new people have joined, with now 190 in N.Z. plus 5 overseas, making a total of 195.

Radio classes and new members

Emergency Management

Emergency management & local Amateurs

The past two branch meetings have focessed on the role that Amateurs may take in times of emergency. We have hosted two presentations to the VHF Group by Mike Mendonca of Wellington City Council, who is Director of City Operations including Wellington Emergency Management Office (WEMO), and Trevor Farmer of Porirua City Council, who is Manager of Porirua Emergency Management Office (PEMO).

Founding member visits

We were pleased to host Murray ZL1HI at our June branch meeting. Murray was visiting from his QTH on Great Barrier Island, and provided a brief resume of his current amateur radio activities, and his professional radio involvement. Murray is a founding member of the Group, and he was holder of many positions of office in the early days, including President. It was great to catch up and enjoy an evening with Murray.

Two Special Interest Group Activities

This month we celebrate two notable achievements by members, as well as some other activities.

Peter Aikin ZL1TX awarded NZART “Amateur of the Year”

At the NZART Annual General Meeting held recently in Auckland, Peter Aikin ZL1TX was awarded this prestigious award.

Peter is a long-time member of both Wellington VHF Group and Whangarei Amateur Radio Club. His nomination was made jointly by both clubs, in recognition of his stalwart contribution to northern branches and to VHF/UHF, particularly to VHF Convention technical programmes and the National System.

Stimulating topic at April meeting

Digital ATV (DATV) On-Air

At their Group Meeting held on Thursday 25th March, Members were impressed with the inaugural transmission of digital ATV.

This project has now reached the stage where two sets of transmission equipment have been commissioned, one on 1284 MHz and the other on 430MHz. This result comes from the import of modules from a German supplier and a fair bit of work by, in particular, ZL2TAR, ZL2TVM, ZL2TGQ and with advice from ZL2TIQ.

“Bike The Trail” – a public service event

“Bike The Trail” is an easy, scenic, 25km bike ride down the Hutt River trail from Harcourt Park at Brown Owl to Hikoikoi Reserve, Petone. In 2009 over 1500 of the public participated. This year the event was scheduled for Sunday 28 February, which turned out to be an eventful day for a more global reason than a local bike ride.

January Picnic

Our picnic was again held at Sladden Park, adjacent to the Hutt River. Although the day had started out overcast and windy, by mid-afternoon it had changed to blue skies and little wind, followed by a perfect evening.