Wellington VHF Group, Inc: Online.

“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.

The VHF Group was again asked to support the safety arrangements of this event by providing Radio Marshalls for fourteen stations throughout the course. Planning started early, led by Mark ZL1VMF our coordinator, and this year included a meeting with the Resilience Trust, who were to provide the first-aid response. It was decided that we would provide an additional Marshall to travel in their first-response vehicle, to improve co-ordination.

Our team assembled in the car-park of Melling railway station at 0800, to receive a briefing from Mark ZL1VMF, and were issued with their hi-viz safety jerkins. Thanks to our generous sponsor these are emblazoned with VHF Group and Amateur Radio Communication labels, good for publicity purposes!

No sooner was the briefing completed at 0820, and Marshalls on their way to the various course stations, when Civil Defence advised the organisers that they would not be able to use Hikoikoi Reserve as the finish of the event. This was due to risk associated with the tsunami warning resulting from the severe earthquake earlier in Chile. Hikoikoi is situated at the mouth of the Hutt River, almost at sea level.

The organisers quickly reverted to their contingency plan to run only the top half course from Brown Owl to Stokes Valley. The original plan effectively offered two courses, the shorter 12km Stokes Valley to Hikoikoi, and the full 25km Brown Owl to Hikoikoi. Included in the original arrangement was a fleet of trucks to ferry riders and their bikes back to their point-of-origin after the party (free BBQ, music) at the finish.

The contingency plan included re-deploying the trucks to Stokes Valley to take starters from there up to Brown Owl, to enable all starters to get a ride. This of course meant that all participants would now travel the Brown Owl to Stokes Valley sector.

Using our 710 repeater, Mark ZL1VMF soon had the Marshalls re-deployed, and Rick ZL2TVY, our Base Marshall, had the roll-call on 710 repeater complete before the start time.

The event went well, with 1400 participants. The usual bumps and scrapes generally only required sticking–plaster and a re-assuring word. Only one serious injury required the attendance of an ambulance. This incident was capably handled by Ross ZL2UAC, at Marshall Station Four. Our 710 repeater provided generally good coverage of the course, although a few difficult areas will be investigated for the future.

A big thank you to those who gave their time for this event. First of all Mark ZL1VMF our able coordinator, plus Radio Marshalls: Bruce ZL2ABC, Rob ZL2WAL, John ZL2AST, Dick ZL2TGQ, Ross ZL2UAC, Peter ZL3TJ, Robin ZL4TRS, Phil ZL2OWL, Randall ZL2RJP, Andy ZL2ADR, Paul ZL2UGR, Richard ZL2AJC, Rick ZL2TVY, and Tom ZL2TDD. We look forward to an opportunity to contribute to our community again at the 2011 event.

Windy Belmont

Wellington has a sometimes unworthy reputation for being a little breezy. Some who are well aware of the vagaries of our weather are our Trustees who look after our hilltop sites.

The following chart was sent to me by Peter ZL3TC, Belmont Trustee, and shows the extreme wind at Belmont on one occasion early in March. 44 m/s is equivalent to 158.4 km/hr. Summer weather?

Special Interest Group (SPIG)

The members of this sub-group fluctuate from time-to-time, depending on what particular facet of our hobby is in vogue, and what projects are underway. For example recent activities have included linear power amplifiers for ATV, and software defined radio.

Currently the group is working toward extending our 900 MHz activity, with a repeater and several base and handheld stations. Thanks to John ZL4JY, for devising the hardware and software modifications, we were able to get several mobile rigs of USA origin converted to our frequency allocation. The pictures show a rig on the simplex calling frequency, along with a simple test antenna.

At a recent meeting the following members worked on the modifications: John ZL4JY, Peter ZL2VK, Tom ZL2TDD, Peter ZL3TC, Courtenay, Gavin ZL2TVM, and Dick ZL2TGQ.

Thanks to those who have carried out the hardware modifications, and those who have brought test equipment to enable these to be modified and tested.

The next step in this project is to install the repeater at our Colonial Knob site.

New Study Guide and Test papers delivered

The Group has produced a print run of Study Guide booklets for our own courses and also for other clubs and branches. As part of this an initial quantity of 20 set packs of Study Guides has been delivered to Tauranga Emergency Communications Group, Branch 88, for their upcoming courses.

In addition a candidate for the Amateur exam has been using these materials for study at Lower Hutt Branch. It is pleasing to hear from Lower Hutt that this candidate has now passed the exam, and has received his new callsign.

Your committee has commissioned an overhaul for part of our website, to improve the access to the services we offer for Study, Examination, Certificate and Callsigns.

Maintenance continues apace

Your Trustees have been very active with the spells of fine weather occuring. Peter ZL3TC reports that a replacement pole has been delivered to Hawkins Hill ready for installation one windless day.

In addition, several tasks have been completed at Belmont, including installation of ladder racking cable trays on the tower, and the ATV and 710 feeders have been re-instated, and just need re-connection, once again, awaiting a windless, dry day.

Special thanks to those who look after our hilltop sites.