Wellington VHF Group, Inc: Online.

Those who've been keeping an eye on our Events Calendar will have noticed that as per tradition, our January meeting was again a BBQ at Sladden Park.

Members of the group used this opportunity to show off their "divergent ideas of entertainment" (to steal a phrase from ZL2SX). Various things, including rockets, kites, potato guns, motorised surf boards, speed boats, jet skis, have all been seen at WVHFG BBQ's; we were sure there'd be something of interest!

And indeed, we weren't disappointed; it was a lovely sunny afternoon with great folks and some fun to be had.

Crowds of Folks settling in for a BBQ Dinner.

ZL2ABC has an interesting view of 'Maritime Mobile'...

Arrrr me hearties!!! OVER!

Many members of the Group along with their families enjoyed a lovely, warm and sunny Thursday afternoon at the Riverside. thanks to all those who attended and made it a success!

As has become traditional for the Committee of the Wellington VHF Group, the first Committee Meeting of 2010 was held at in the Kapiti/Horowhenua region; this year at Waikawa Beach at the QTH of John ZL2HD.

This is usually preceded by a leisurely stroll along the beach, and this year was no exception:

Wellington VHF Group Committee would like to wish members and friends a Happy New Year and all the best for 2010, while we provide directions :-)

Update: Much fun was had by those in attendance!

A good turnout of Members attended the annual Christmas function on Thursday evening at the Top Taste restaurant in Porirua.

Peter ZL2VK led a brief remembrance tribute for Henry ZL2TUQ, SK. The evening then developed into an owling success with Phil ZL2OWL, a very new member, being presented with a hand-held for his use to gain the necessary 50 contacts before being let loose on the HF bands. A second handheld was passed around, Members creating a pileup for Phil, who between mouthfuls, racked up 23 contacts toward the 50 target. A novel welcome to the Group!

Members enjoyed an excellent meal with Cantonese, Thai, and Singapore specialities accompanied by jovial banter and stories, some of them pretty far-fetched.

Phil ZL2OWL getting tongue-tied with the 23 new calls being logged on day 1 of his new vocation.

An enthusiastic group continued modifying mobile radios, ready for the launch of the 32cm, (900MHz), repeater proposed for our Colonial Knob site.

l to r Peter ZL3TC, Rich ZL2TCU, Tom ZL2TDD, Gavin ZL2TVM (back to camera), Peter ZL2VK, Bruce ZL2ABC, Courtenay, David ZL2SX, John ZL4JY. Also present but not in the photo, John ZL2HD, Dick ZL2TGQ.

The changes included a good cleaning, modifying the VCO, interfacing new microphones and wiring for speakers and DC mains.

Main Meeting – 24th September 7:30pm, Tawa Community Centre

Topic : A new propagation method with Steve Fogerty ZL2ASF
Some will have heard of it – a few will have used it, but probably did not quantify it.
Magnitude? = Huge
Availability? = up to 24 x 7 x 365
Useable from at least LF to HF, and maybe above that
Unusual? = very, and novel!
Provides opportunities for both experimenters and communicators
Steve will challenge your perceptions, and is guaranteed to raise many questions.

Wellington VHF Group were pleased to host Squadron Leader Paul Drysdale RNZAF at their August General Meeting. A brief report on the meeting follows....

We now have a Google Calendar tracking Events @ The Wellington VHF Group.

This has great potential - keep an eye on it for upcoming events and for those who use Gmail (etc) already, you can integrate this into your own Google view.

Preparing for KiwiSAT - report

The KiwiSAT project is progressing closer to a possible launch. Terry ZL2BAC, our KiwiSAT representative, gave a very interesting presentation, including:

Questions & Answers

The sequence of events the KiwiSAT will experience when finally launched.

John ZL4JY will be speaking on digital mobile radio. This is an excIting talk on some of the modern digital standards in use in the mobile radio area, including P.25, Tetra and D-Star.

John promises lots of information, demonstrations and comments on the past, current and future!

The Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting on Thursday 7th May saw a group of Softrock kit owners, and others interested in SMD construction, work on assembly and testing of their kits.

Richard ZL2TCU inspecting his handywork. Image courtesy Dick Greenbank ZL2TGQ

Several items of high-performance test equipment were on hand to check the functioning of the finished articles. Although some of the kits initially delivered varied results, one in particular impressed by achieving a sensitivity level of minus 110dB when run for the first time. This was the first group of 10 kits to be worked on. A further 10 kits have now been ordered for another enthusiastic group, who will have a similar opportunity to check their creations out at a future SpIG meeting.