Wellington VHF Group, Inc: Online.

Last months meeting at Sladden Park was a great success thanks to John ZL2HD getting the gate keys so we could get to our favourite spot, and Bruce ZL2ABC providing the BBQ and a wind-break (his van) to stop the fresh northerly breeze. We had a great time. We ate. We drank (very lightly). We talked. Some flew kites. One flew a model helicopter. We looked at mobile installations and fibre-optic cable. We flashed up a thermet. One was mucking about in a boat. Others played with bows and arrows. But mostly we ate and talked. It was another great social gathering enjoyed by all.

Happy New Year and welcome back to the Wellington VHF Group. This year promises to be an interesting and exciting time.

The Wellington VHF Group would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family all the very best for the Holiday Season. Here's to much more fun in the radio world in 2009!

Hey all,
For those who noticed the site was down for a coupla days this week, good news! The last outage was the catalyst to finally get services for vhf.org.nz moved onto a newer, more stable (and more accessible) system. So hopefully things will be fairly solid for a while at least :-) Apologies for the inconvenience (again)..

An interesting point for consideration in Amateur circles; perhaps more in the HF space but definately a subject to be wary of.

George Boorer ZL3PN was recently featured in the Otago Daily Times commenting on his experiences with an energy saving lightbulb.

What do you think? Is Halogen the answer? Should incandescent bulbs be retained on sale (perhaps more expensively) as a useful alternative for some situations? Or do the energy savers need a complete rethink?

Mark Foster ZL1VMF is interested in your thoughts. Please use the Contact Us link to send him your feedback. Also vote on the Poll he has on his site and then keep an eye on it for what others think....

This was a weekend SAREX designed to test comms on the South Coast, as well as the ability of the teams to handle the conditions! And with the "10 Year Storm" going on, it was a test.

A lot of work had gone in over the week before to get the new cross band repeaters built, as you would have read in Q-Bit. These were installed on Mt Misery on the Saturday morning. The base was set up and the teams dispatched.
We did a HF radio test with a Pulsar, and learnt a few things about getting wet.

The exercise was great fun and valuable. Thanks to the team for an interesting weekend, and most of us got a ride in a police 4x4 up into project Westwind, which should have been called project blasting freezing southerly!. Just think of the teams that spent the night out on the coast...Good idea to be a ham in the AREC team at base.

73

John ZL2HD

One of the new cross-band repeaters on display at the July General Meeting of the Wellinton VHF Group. Image by ZL1VMF.

Hi Guys,
Server had a brief loss of service today. I suspect there's something malicious at work here- a spammer or somesuch - but thanks to a headsup from a Group member the problem was quickly identified and services restored. We will be monitoring the situation going forward.
Don't forget to check BlakJak Administrivia for updates regarding the condition of the server, if you're interested.

Whilst in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA on business, a QSO on a local 2M repeater with some friendly locals indicated that the regular monthly meeting of the Virginia Beach Amateur Radio Club was due to be held that week at a venue only a few miles from where I was staying.

As you will see from my last entry, power to Belmont was disconnected due to the significant fire hazard posed by trees touching the 11kV power lines.

I am pleased to inform you that unless extenuating circumstances present themselves a permanent power line corridor will be cut through the trees tomorrow (Thursday). If all goes to plan power should be able to be reconnected by the weekend.

Brian Fearnley
President
Wellington VHF Group Inc

There may be some disruption to Belmont services over the next week.

A number of trees have grown up into the 11kV supply line to the Belmont site and present a significant forest-fire hazard to the landlord's forest. As such the power has been disconnected. Until the power can be restored it will be attempted to run reduced services on a combination of batteries and a mobile generator.