15 Dec 09- 2010
WIA callbook is available to group members at a
reduced fee. Read more... |
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6 Dec 09- Only 6 weeks until the
Expo! The WIA will be attending with their 100th birthday
merchandise. And two new MNCARG kits on show in January. Read more...
Please note- Christmas dinner on the 12th has been cancelled. Next meeting is on the 17th of January. |
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29 Nov 09- November news update. Includes
news on the Expo, a new repeater and a new range of kits coming
soon. Read more... |
28 Nov
09- An interesting article on how to "gain" the best possible
performance from a mobile antenna at VHF and UHF.Read more... |
15 Nov 09- Radio
Expo update. The members
only prize draw is at 11:30. Dont miss out. You have to be there to
win!And introducing- MC Kit, Master of the Microphone! Read more... |
14 Nov 09- Now available! A new Google map of mid north coast amateur
radio and UHF CB repeater stations. Zoom in, pan around and click on the
markers for information.See the map... |
| 11 Nov 09- VK2RCB repeater is on the move. Its now working from a new site. Read more... |
| 9 Nov 09- Radio Expo update. The final exhibitor list... |
1 Nov 09- More home brew projects.Build a 4 to 1 Balun and a 9 to 1 Unun. A what? An Unun! Click the link to find out. |
| 31 Oct 09- News bulletin! News on repeater changes, Expo, Wyong and a members only prize draw. Read more... |
30 Oct 09- AMSAT-VK
will be exhibiting at the Radio
Expo in January,
with live demonstrations of Amateur Radio communication via
satellite.Read more... |
| 30 Oct 09- The November issue of 'Ham-mag' magazine is out now. Join the mailing list to recieve it. |
23 Oct 09- Jaycar
Electronics is to exhibit at the Radio Expo 10 . Read more... |
| 20 Oct09- The November issue of 'World Radio Online' magazine is out now. Download it here... |
19 Oct 09 - The 2009 Scouts Jamboree On
The Air at Griffith Lookout near Dorrigo on 17th & 18th October.See the photos... Read the report... |
16 Oct 09- Jaycar
Electronics is now open in Coffs Harbour. Read more... |
15 Oct
09- Two new MNCARG videos are available on the movies
page. The October monthly
meeting was held at the Coffs Harbour Coastal Patrol radio station. The RVCP crew
gave us a guided tour of the station. Part 1 includes a tour of the radio desk. Part 2 is a talk on what Coastal Patrol does. View part 1 on Youtube View part 2 on Youtube |
12 Oct 09
- Want to know how to track commercial shipping on your
computer? Just like air traffic control do with planes?Read more... |
| 11 Oct 09- The final arrangements for JOTA weekend on 17th & 18th. Read more... |
11 Oct
09- Important information about Digital Audio Broadcasting
in regional areas.Read more... |
| 8 Oct 09- News on the JOTA & Expo. And on our next meeting at Coastal Patrol. |
Our group meeting on Sunday 11th October
will be held
in the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol
building on Beacon Hill in Coffs Harbour. Come
along, meet the operators and see this vital public service radio
station in action.Read more... |
|
6 Oct
09- Jaycar Electronics is coming! Soon, to the
Bailey Centre. Read more... And Dick Smiths Electronics are going! At least the electronic components are. (Good job Jaycar are here) Read more... |
30 Sept
09- Jamboree On The Air is on Sat 17th
& Sun 18th October. MNCARG will be on air with the scouts all
weekend from the campsite at Griffith Lookout near Dorrigo. Everyone is welcome to
visit. Especially if you can help
out.Read more... |
26 Sept
09- Special offer to group members only!
Cheap dual band hand
held radio. Only if you are (or become) a group member. Read more... |
26 Sept 09- The Raytown ARC
of Missourri
run weekly educational lectures covering various amateur radio subjects. They
air on their local 2mtr repeater and via the *MISSOURRI* Echolink
conferece server. They are available for download on the RARC
website. Each is accompanied by a slideshow and are well worth a look. Download them here... |
23 Sept 09- Make yourself a 4:1 Balun for
under $10. Why pay big $$$ to a shop when you can build it yourself?
Read more... |
14 Sept 09-
Construct a rotatable dipole centre mount for the HTV-400 mobile HF
antennas to make a compact portable field antenna. This could be adapted
for any pair of mobile antennas.Read more... |
| 8 Sept 09- September MNCARG news bulletin. Read more... |
A new EchoLink node is on air in Coffs Harbour. Node
VK2CJC-L 475538 is on 145.350MHz.Read the node website for more info. |
2 Sept 09- Gary has a chance to try out
digital commercial broadcast radio.Read more... |
MNCARGs Queensland branch, ie Ray VK4ZW, climbs Flinders
Peak near Ipswitch with Gerard VK4TGL and Tim VK4YEH for a days portable
QRP operation.Read more... See the photos... |
24 Aug 09
- Radio Expo 10 is on the 24th January.
Time to start planning. Read more... See photos of last year... See movie of last year... |
| 19 Aug 09- August news update. Read it here... |
Gary
shows us how to build a neat power pack for our portable QRP treks. Read all about it here... |
| 9 Aug 09- The September group meeting previously scheduled for the 6th, has been changed to the 20th. Read more... |
|
7 Aug 09- CTCSS
repeater access tone information
MNCARG does not currently plan to change the CTCSS repeater access tone frequency. The new WIA recommended frequency of 91.5Hz is not a mandatory requirement. Read more here... |
4 Aug
09- Gary reviews the popular Opek SWR-6 VHF/UHF SWR meter and runs through the calibration
proceedure.Read more... |
3 Aug
09- The International Lighthouse & Lightship
Weekend is on 15/16th
Aug.Check the website to read more and see the list of activated sites. Important note- The ILLW is run by the Ayr Amateur Radio Group. The website is run by Kevin VK2CE. This is the only official website! Beware of others who attempt to run co-events and claim to be the ILLWs organisers. |
1 Aug
09- Band plan news. The WIA
have released the band plan for the new 2200m
(136KHz) band. See it here...
More band plan news. The WIA have announced that the 'standard' repeater access CTCSS tone is to change from 123Hz to 91.5Hz. We have no plans to change the MNCARG repeater access tones at present. Should they change, you'll read about it here. |
| 30 July 09- VK2RCB 146.750 repeater has been moved to a temporary site in Coffs Harbour until the reciever desensing issue is resolved. The desensing is caused by high power broadcast stations which share the Bruxner repeater site. VK2RCB is also now transmitting a 123Hz CTCSS subtone on its output. Read more here. More information when its available. |
27 July
09- Read a review of a
commonly available 30 Amp power supply unit. Its seen under many
names but currently supplied as a DSE Q1760Read more... |
| 25 July 09- The August issue of 'World Radio Online' magazine is out now. Download it here... |
23 July
09-
The Summerland ARC annual
SARCfest is on the 9th
August
at their clubhouse at 414 Richmond Hill Rd, Richmond
Hill, near Lismore. This August is SARCs 50th anniversary, so wear a party
hat. Gate opens at 8am. |
|
22 July 09- The FCC continue to push for
BPL. After the FCC were embarressed by the ARRL releasing the now infamous
‘redaction’ of documents
that showed how the FCC covered up
information showing BPL caused interference, the FCC unbelievably
still want BPL to
go ahead unaltered! Read more... |
15 July 09- Gary tracks down yet another new
scource of radio interference. As technology moves on, more and more
innocuous devices manage to become RF radiators. What next?Read all about it... |
11 July
09- The MNCARG has been listed on
the Australian
Association of CB Radio Operators website
as a "CB friendly" group. ACBRO is the national representative society
for CBers and is to CB what the WIA is to ham radio. Thanks
to Pas (ACBRO26) for the chance to link our two progressive radio
organisations. See our listing... |
|
10 July 09- The UK callbook is now available
free on the web. Download it here before the RSGB get it stopped. |
6 July 09- At last we have some solar activity. After
months of waiting in silence, solar cycle 24 produces a sunspot.See the Xray chart... See SOLARCYCLE24.com for more info. |
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|
 Progress report on the group QRP project to build MKARS80 QRP SSB transcievers. At least one is on the
air, with more to follow soon. An 80mtr band QRP net may result.See the photos... |
1 July
09-
Happy Birthday WIA
The Wireless Institute of Australia marks it centenary next year. A year long succession of celebrations called "WIA100" is planned. Our Radio Expo on the 24th January is the first major amateur radio event of 2010 and the MNCARG is honoured to kick off WIA100. This year we have VIP guests and special events to mark the occassion. More info will be announced nearer the event. So watch this space. Read more... |
|
29
June 09- A big step forward in
the fight against BPL. The courts say the FCC covered up information
about BPL causing interference. Read more and see a ARRL video presentation... |
27 June
09- News bulletin . Antenna analiser - kit
sales - High school FM - new yagi kit coming - cheap HF whips - Radio
Expo 10 - and moreRead it all here... |
17 June
09- Website news. If you
have updated your browser to Internet Explorer 8,
you will notice some items on this page no longer line up
properly. To correct this, click the "Compatibility View" button. It
looks like a torn sheet of paper. Between the URL and the Refresh
button. I'll work to get the site in line with IE8, hopefully before
Microsoft produce yet another round of non-retro compatable
software. |
 10 June 09-
The Oxley Region ARC annual field day was on
Sunday 7th
June in Port Macquarie.MNCARG attended. Read more... See the photos... |
| 3 June 09- ACMA announce they are to expand UHF CBRS to 60 channels. Read more... |
|
1 June 09- First
news
update
of June. Including news that- Dick Smith Electronics is to stop supplying electronic components. So from now on it'll be mail order when you need that diode or resistor! Read more... |
22 May 09-
Flood report. VK2RMG 438.125MHz repeater
is now on battery backup power due to a mains power failure.
When all else fails, amateur radio gets through! Read more... |
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News
Flash!
A rare sighting of the Yamba Foam Monster. Photos sent in by Steve VK2ZVG. View here |
21 May 09
- More news on the QRP kit project, Oxley Region ARC field
day, kit sales, the planned 6mtr band repeater and
VK2RCB 146.750MHz Coffs
repeater.Read it here. |
18 May 09- VK2RCB 146.750MHz repeater news.More filter and antenna improvements have been carried out. See the photos and read more here... |
 On
UHF CB. Reports on PLO03, VMF04 and FRA05 repeaters.
Ch3 is coming back, ch4 is doing well and where has ch5 gone? Read more... |
|
16 May 09- New
Amateur Band in Australia !! The 135.7 to 137.8KHz amateur band will soon be available to VK stations. The ACMA have told the WIA that they have been to busy to alter the LCD to allow all advanced license holders access to the band. But... they are not to busy to vary our licenses individually to allow LF access. For a fee of $41 each. The WIA have not announced anything yet. But a draft bandplan has been drawn up. Read more... |
7 May 09- Are you interested in building a 80mtr SSB QRP transciever kit? Never built a radio before? Why not join in a group project? Read more here and here and here. |
| 3 May 09- VK2RCB 146.750MHz repeater has been moved to its hilltop location at Bruxner Park. The repeater is not achieving full coverage as there is still work to be carried out on the filters due to problems caused by an adjacent broadcast station. This will be addressed next week. |
| 28 Apr 09- More progress with VK2RCB 146.750 repeater. The filters tested OK. Read more... (link includes other group news) |
20 Apr
09- VK2RCB
146.750MHz repeater news.
The new bandpass filter is here.Read More... |
14 Apr
09- Proposed CB radio nets on 27MHz ch25 LSB. And UHF ch4 repeater. Open to
everyone. No license. Cheap radios. Quiet bands. Why aren't we using them?Read more here and here |
Anyone interested in competing in the VK/ZL Trans Tasman contests on 9th May and 13th June? Or the QRP Day contest on the 7th Aug? Possibly
portable from Griffith Lookout? Email if you areRead more here and here |
 12 Apr 09
- Urunga Radio Convention
concluded today.Read a report from Gary VK2ZKT See the photos - Watch the movie |
11 Apr 09
- The membership prize draw for the
Digitech Digital Multimeter took place today at Urunga Convention. Carol VK2FCSR picked a name
from the hat. The meter goes to John
VK2AHR from Yamba. Fortunately another Yamba resident,
Steve VK2ZVG was present and is able to deliver the meter.
Congratulations John! |
 4 Apr 09-
Urunga Convention is still on! Despite the venue being under floodwater on 31st March & 1st
April, the convention committee have confirmed the event will go ahead as
planned on 11th &
12th April.Read more... MNCARG will be attending with kits for sale, including the new Ozi-beam 2m yagi and news and information about our group. Read more... |
 Group Meeting CancelledDue to severe flooding on 31st March causing extensive damage throughout the region, the group meeting on 5th April has been cancelled. Next meeting will be on 3rd May at Mylestom Bowling Club. Read report from Gary VK2ZKT Read SES report - Read Government statement See photos of Coffs - See photos of Urunga See photos of Bellingen |
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3 Apr 09- The Ozi-Beam kit is now available. Order yours on the kits page, or get one at the Urunga Radio Convention on 11th & 12th April. |
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1
Apr 09- New Ham Alert
! Congratulations to Paul VK2FPAD on his new callsign. Welcome to the bands Paul. |
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30 Mar 09- Do
energy
saving
lightbulbs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) cause RF polution? Read more... |
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25 Mar
09- VK2RCB 146.750MHz repeater
news. The new Band Pass filter is due to arrive in the
first week of April. The delay is due to the Victorian Bush Fires.
The emergency services lost dozens of radio sites in the fire and
RFI have
been working 24/7 installing new equipment to restore services to the
area. |
| 12 Mar 09- More news on VK2RCB 146.750MHz repeater. The noise problem has been traced... Read more... |
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7 Mar 09
-VK2RCB 146.750MHz repeater
antennas are now installed on the tower at
Bruxner Park repeater site. Read more... See the photos |
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