Wellington VHF Group, Inc: Online.

Over 30 Members plus 2 visitors were treated to a show-and-tell on the topic of digital radio, presented jointly by Aaron Olphert of Kordia, and Tony Philp-Wright of Capital Communications. Imagery and More below...

ZL2WAL demonstrates his abilities with Surface Mount Soldering!

The SIG meeting on Thursday was an unqualified success with a large turnout. For many, it was a start towards using Surface Mount Technology and there were members who managed to impart their experience very well.

Many of the kits from Tim, ZL2RST, were built and in some cases, debugged. A variety of test equipment was available ranging from frequency counter, a rubidium standard, oscilloscope and a spectrum analyser. Thanks to Tim for showing us the way, Gavin for the PCB and everyone who brought tools, test equipment and other items of interest.

This Thursday (5 March) is the March SIG, and we will be building the 10MHz reference oscillator kit as described in Q-Bit. We have a kitset supplied by Tim ZL2RST that will be available on the night, as well as power, soldering irons, freq counter and a spectrum analyser to see the output. Plenty of hands will be available to help, and if you have not done surface mount device (SMD) work before there will be boards and components to learn on.

The meeting will be at the Tawa Community Centre, in the AREC room. Supper will be provided, and we will be there from 7:30pm.

Thursday 4th Dec 2008 was the Annual Christmas Meeting at Ricks QTH. Rick is a great host and with the addition of Peter's Chillie we ate and drank in style! Fancy coffees and plenty of food! Thanks again Rick.

In the tradition of the Annual Meeting at Rick's, a white board session was lead by Brian looking at what the Group should achieve for the next 12 months.

Rob has documented this and it will be published soon. But in summary, sorry if it is not 100% correct:

January Meetings!- very social and a focus on the outdoors.

22nd January - Q-Bit assembly.
Volunteers welcome, contact Gavin ZL2TVM.

29th January - BBQ at Sladden Park.
Bring food to cook on the Barbeque, something to drink and a sun hat! We should have a couple of boats, kites, spud guns, and more - so bring along your Christmas toys to show off.

February 2009 - More outdoors meetings! Get you 2m and 70cm beams out!

5th February - No SIG this month.
This is a long weekend so no meeting planned.

12th February - Committee Meeting.
Tawa Community Centre.

19th February - Q-Bit assembly.
Volunteers welcome, contact Gavin ZL2TVM.

26th February - Main Meeting: Foxhunt around Tawa
Prepare to find the hidden transmitters!
There is a prize and great fame for the winner!

Sorry for the relatively late notice.. but as tonight is the last Thursday of the month, the Wellington VHF Group is holding its Monthly General Meeting Tonight at its venue in Tawa. More information on our regular meetings can be found here.

Tonight's presentation is on LandSAR Communications. Bryan, ZL2BRF will be presenting on various aspects of LandSAR communications in the region.

All are welcome to join us at the Tawa Community Centre at 1930hrs tonight.

The Annual General Meeting of the Wellington VHF Group was held last night, 31 October 2008; this was held immediately after the General Meeting and prior to the Special General Meeting previously referenced, and the AREC AGM.

Among the items of note:

The Committee of the Wellington VHF Group provide notice of a Special General Meeting of the Group, for the purpose of changing the Group’s Constitution regarding the appointment of Life Members to the Group.

This Special General Meeting is to be held during the 2008 Annual General Meeting of the Group, to be held on Thursday 30 October 2008 at the Tawa Community Centre.

The ONTRACK National Train Control Centre at the Wellington Railway Station communicates with the locomotive drivers out on the track using a VHF radio network. This month we were fortunate to have John Skilton, Manager Signals and Telecommunications Engineering at ONTRACK, and Stu Lusty from Kordia, speak to us about the upgrade of this train control VHF radio system and the new technologies that are being employed. An interesting and informative evening followed.

Image courtesy ZL2KG

Doug Ingham ZL2TAR, well known broadcast engineer, speaker and author, delivered on promises to both inform and entertain on the subject of High Definition TV. It's true - you definately don’t want to race out and buy any HDTV gear until you’ve heard Doug’s presentation.

Doug's presentation was very informative, answering a range of sometimes hairy questions from the floor ranging from 'Which one should I buy?' through to discussion on Freeview and the differences between PAL, NTSC, CYMK vs RGB.

Doug ZL2TAR enlightens his audience, who are watching with great intent.