Wellington VHF Group, Inc: Online.

Via the Wellington Thursday Night Curry group I became aware of a goodly supply of workshop equipment likely to be of interest to those with a more practical hands/on bent, currently for sale.

The listings can be viewed on TradeMe. The notice I received included the following:

A friend who is a brilliant inventor and engineer is in his 80s and close to the end of his time with us.

Cheers

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.

Maps of the New Zealand Amateur Radio beacons, digipeaters and repeaters using Google Maps are now avaliable on the VHF Group Website at http://www.vhf.org.nz/maps .
The maps are available as maps embedded into this website, displayed in Googler Maps and as KMZ files that can be displayed using Google Earth or any other software that reads KMZ files.

Colonial Knob 7075 has become, at least temporarily, the first Amateur Radio P25 digital voice repeater in New Zealand! How has this happened? Read on…

The Colonial Knob repeater at 7075 has undergone a comprehensive upgrade and is now Project P25 capable as a result of the failure of the original repeater equipment. Unfortunately this has happened at the same time that on-going repairs to the power line that feeds the Belmont 710 site has meant that there is only sufficient power to maintain the UHF National System facilities at Belmont.

As referenced in the latest Q-Bit, we've got some Promotional materials for the WVHFG Amateur Radio Study guide available.

You can grab these in .doc format in either 2-per-page or 4-per-page formats. Thanks to ZL2AMJ.

The October 2010 Special Interest Group (SIG) night looked at the new Opentracker units that were ordered as the APRS Bulk Purchase. Over $1000 of hardware was delivered to the eager members (or mailed out) and we looked at the hardware build quality, components, SW and configuration options. The cables provided look to be excellent value and well made. The GPS units locked on quickly and held positions even when we tried to block the signal, so are very sensitive.

At the APRS round-table meeting a number of members expressed interest in buying tracker devices, including a suitable GPS. The committee are keen to support this project and are offering to underwrite a bulk purchase of some suitable items.

A number of possible devices were discussed and looked at during the APRS round-table night and the general impression was that the current model of the OpenTracker+ would be most suitable.

A recent Amateur Radio Training Course run by the Tauranga Emergency Communications Group Inc., NZART Branch 88, trialled Wellington VHF Group’s preparatory material and ARX facilities.

Part of the procedure is that each successful candidate receives a message, firstly enabling them to check the accuracy of the certificate that SMART has emailed to them. Then secondly, to assure each new amateur that future assistance with regulatory matters is known to be available. The message from the Examiner to each new radio amateur reads:

This from Peter ZL2VK:

On Saturday, 10th April, 2010, the Belmont repeaters were switched off while work proceeded to remove the old and rusty door from the repeater hut and replace it with a nice new green one.

The old, rusted door.

Attached are some additional photos taken during the recent open day at the new Ngaio repeater site.

Solemn contemplation over a lemonade...	Dick ZL2TGQ declares 'it's all good'
Final Adjustments care of Peter ZL3TC	Official "Opening Ceremony" is completed with Dick ZL2TGQ, President of the Wellington VHF Group, cutting the ribbon.