Amateur Radio

I have a 1/4 piece of aluminum plate that has PL 259 sockets attached, screwed to the wall on standoffs above the radio gear. All the aerials are terminated on it and it has integral lighting arrestees as well the aforementioned shorting plugs. An addition, the Zepp long wire is separately terminated to the shorting switch in the ATU.

The various radios have a PL 259 cable attached that I screw into the termination plate when I want to use that radio. I have seen the devastation of lightning strikes on radio gear and never want to go through that again. Total destruction of the radio.

In addition, I have a separate earth stake for termination of the earths from all radios. This alone made a noticeable difference to the noise level on HF.







Don't follow me, I do stupid things.

their Amateur radio examination, accreditation, and callsign allocation Deed of Arrangement with the
ACMA. This arrangement expires at the end of the year and the ACMA has announced that they will
bring Amateur Radio administration back in-house. Many questions remain over exactly how the
ACMA will operate. Some details have been released and more to come.
What's all that got to do with you? The old AMC administered accreditation system will cease at the
end of the year. Realistically, any exams need to be held no later than November so that the AMC
has time to process them and clear the decks before the December / January holidays. If things run
smoothly then the new ACMA will be up and running just after New Year. However; past experience
suggests that there may be a delay of months before the new system is working.
SARC Education is asking that anyone who wishes to sit for an exam; with or without SARC
Education training should tell us now. Send an e-mail to vk2src@gmail.com with your contact details
and the course and exam you'd like to do. Your e-mail must reach SARC no later than 30th June.
No guarantees, but SARC Education will look at the amount of interest and see what we can do.
We're already committed to running a Foundation course and exam very soon. Have a think and let
us know. Counting on a course and / or an exam in early 2024 could lead to disappointment.
de Duncan VK2DLR

As soon as I can find a suitable box that's big enough, I'll assemble my lightning arrestors to go below the window before going through my window pass-through.

With dipoles, I plan to mount them to the pulley in the picture above, should I go for 2 separate ones for the 40/80m or just settle for a "dual band" one?
I know the dual-band will prob give me a higher SWR overall.

Looking at a multi-band vertical aerial for HF.

Any hams had experiences with them ? Tuning up, losses etc ?

I suspect the noise levels on a vertical may be a little less than horizontal types.

Looking at this one by MFJ.

www.strictlyham.com.au/browse-by-type/antennas/h-f-verticals/mfj-enterprises-mfj-2990

Strictly Ham is at least in Australia (Victoria), and I have a couple of bits of MFJ test gear and its been reliable and long lasting.





Those who see the madness for what it is have only one escape: go to ground, fade from public view, become self-reliant and weather the coming storm in the nooks and crannies where cause and effect, skeptical inquiry, humility, prudence and thrift can still be nurtured.

Saw them, but over $300 more.



"If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself" - George Orwell

Checking my comms setup again and discovered the Icom 2 m set has low audio for some reason. Plugged in an external speaker and it was now audible, but not loud. Seems as if there's a issue inside, but the external speaker will do for now. Also, testing out the new repeater on the Mallanganee range (147.050 + offest, 123 hz cctss tone), and its coverage is pretty good, well into the highlands, Armadale etc, as well as the coast, and up into Qld. There may well be a case for linking it to the Parrots Nest repeater. Well done SARC another victory. Any ham ops around, give it a try. I'm listening most times I'm in the shack.

How are you gonna contact your people WTSHTF and all internet, mobiles and probably landlines go down ? Even if you just outfit everyone with a UHF handheld and give a few lessons on use will put you miles ahead of the pack when it all falls over. et to the local UHF repeater, usually maintained by the local SES, so see them if you don't know the channel its on.

When I was working a good hour and half from home, I carried a BHB and pushbike in the ute as well as a handheld UHF CB radio, and my troops knew how to use the base station in the shack. Getting home is priority no 1 WTSHTF.





Reality is a thing of the past.

For testing your transmitter, having a friend at a remote location is the best way to see if your signal is making the trip, but, that's a bit inconvenient if its overseas, or interstate, so there is a network of SDR (Software defined radio) around. These are basically a black box, attached to a computer and the web. You access the site, sometimes using a login which can be your call sign, and then you have access to a radio that you can tune to almost any ham frequency.

Practical upshot of that is that you can transmit from your location and hear what your signal is like at the remote point, with an obvious delay due to the net. Pretty cool, and there are stations all around the world, not just Australia that you can choose from, although some are running clunky software, its a great way to tell if your new aerial is actually working or not.

The link below lists a few of them, and you don't need to be a ham to use them, its interesting to listen to other stations from outside your area.

rx-tx.info/table-sdr-points?title=&type=All&country=All&order=field_country_name&sort=asc&page=0

In my case, my aerial works great at 160 m, and 80 meters, but anything above that is not good, so its too long.

I am investigating other alternatives, as I don't want to take it down 'cause its a great receive aerial being over 160 meters long.

My Kenwood ATU can have 3 antenna inputs, both direct and tuned, along with a dummy load, so I can use up to 3 different aerials with the Yaesu FT901.

Researching the various incarnations of the G5RV type, plus maybe a multi-band vertical.

Back to playing, time to try the 80 meter vertical I have and see how it performs.





Their 'Build back better' means whats here must be destroyed first. The economic system is relatively 'free' at present, but it is a small step to can cash, collapse it, and make a new system based on blockchain, that can be totally monitored. Cash will be declared 'illegal' and jail or even capital punishment instituted for those opposing the new system, hording cash, trying to outsmart the system, or opposing those in power.

Found the issue with my Zepp, a crook connection at the aerial itself. So seeing as I have to take it apart to repair it, I'm gonna install a 9:1 balun in line to get a better match to the new radio transceiver. Hope to get some time to rummage through the gear and find a suitable toroid, but Jaycar has some for about $7 that seem OK. Ive got enough enameled winding wire, and it will be installed inside at the patch panel, so no waterproofing needed.

m0ukd.com/homebrew/baluns-and-ununs/91-magnetic-longwire-balun-unun/

Luckily, the ground is very short, less than 2 meters an straight into the soil under the window of the radio room. Otherwise counterpoises may have been needed.

Its a Saturday project.




We started the meeting with two alternative plans, and now we have narrowed it down to eight !

Hi Joey, Yeh, we should start a weekly check in