HAMLARKS · 2020-01-25 · HAMLARKS October 2019 PAGE 4 . Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd's 1926 Arctic Expedition and the 1928-1930 Antarctic Expedition. Also personal papers on Grenlie

October 2019

7.050

Christchurch Amateur Radio Club

HAMLARKS

Christchurch Amateur Radio Club. NZART Branch 05

HAMLARKS October 2019 PAGE 2

Branch 05 Club re-occurring events MAIN BRANCH MEETING First Wednesday of the month 7.30pm, except January. All visitors welcome. At 5 Idris Road, Fendalton. Branch 05 Website www.chchhamradio.org.nz ACTIVITIES and STUDY NIGHT Every Tuesday 7:30pm at 5 Idris Road, Fendalton. All visitors welcome. DAYTIME MEETING (Branch05) Meet third Thursday of month, 1PM at Branch05 clubrooms. All visitors welcome. COMMITTEE MEETING 1st Monday after branch meeting 7.30pm At 5 Idris Road, Fendalton AREC MEETINGS Normally the 2nd Wednesday of the month 7.30pm. At 5 Idris Road, Fendalton DEADLINE FOR HAMLARKS COPY 11 days before the main branch meeting. WEEKLY CLUB VHF NET Every Sunday 8:00 PM on 145.625MHz repeater if available, otherwise 147.050MHz repeater. OFFICIAL NZART BROADCAST Last Sunday of the month 8:00 PM on 147.050MHz repeater. CW PRACTICE Boyd ZL3LE every Tuesday at 8pm. 3550 kHz. Listen in your shack or come along to Branch 05 clubrooms. Views expressed in "Hamlarks" are not necessarily those of the Editor or of the Committee of the Christchurch Amateur Radio Club. The Editor reserves the right to edit articles submitted for publication for reasons of clarity or length. No part of Hamlarks may be reproduced without the express consent of the Editor.

Speaker for next branch meeting The presenter for October will be our local RSM radio inspector, who will give a talk on “Radio Inspector” type things! (You can see the editor of Hamlarks is well informed!)

http://www.chchhamradio.org.nz/



Secretary Rory’s Ramblings - ZL3HB

Well the shingle has been done at last. Not quite the chip we expected but what was recommended. The fines should wash down over time & leave the chip on top. Carpark looks a lot better for it. But please - no wheel spins etc as want it all to settle down well. And bear in mind the noise level as you leave the club Late at night to keep locals happy. The club also has a new linear & Icom radio. PW1 linear and IC-9100 radio with a number of accessories. There was considerable debate about whether it was necessary and how much use it would get etc. Democracy won the day with no objections in the end!! But we are a radio club after all so hopefully you will get into it. We will need to be aware of the possibility of radio interference to neighbours but that should be manageable with care if it should arise, which I am guessing it won't as will only get intermittent use. The reason for buying that particular linear was that it is plug & play and doesn't require intricate tuning etc so not likely to be damaged by any improper use. We now need to upgrade the aerial system to handle the extra power. See you next meeting Rory ZL3HB

Research help needed - W5KNE I am Bob Winn, W5KNE. I collect old and interesting QSL cards, and research the lives of the operators and expeditions. I contribute QSLs and research to Hamgallery.com. I have a problem with a research project in Christchurch. The material is in a library that requires me to view the material in person. I cannot afford to travel that far any more. I am researching the life of Lloyd Kellog Grenlie, W9TC and W3CXF, Silent Key (1903-1970). He was one of the radio operators with Admiral Byrd's expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic(1927-1930). Both expeditions to Antarctica sailed from New Zealand. The Canterbury Museum in Christchurch has a collection of Grenlies's records, perhaps a lifetime of records. Description of the library collection: Records including radio logbook, telegrams, newspaper clippings and publications, personal papers and ephemera relating to



Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd's 1926 Arctic Expedition and the 1928-1930 Antarctic Expedition. Also personal papers on Grenlie. The dates covered are 1926-1987. Someone else had the records after his death, possibly a relative in New Zealand. Just between you and I a Dr. Lloyd Kellog Grenlie was born in New Zealand in 1930 and died in New Zealand in 1996. A response to my email to the library told me I would have to visit the library. This is a goldmine of info that I cannot access. Is there someone in your club who would be capable and interested of reviewing the records? I would like copies of some pages in the radio log or anything amateur radio related. Looking forward to hearing from you. Bob Winn, W5KNE

Extra meetings for October ZL3TAO Daytime meeting Thursday 17th October at 1pm We have a DVD of Dud Charman’s (G6CJ) Aerial Circus. Bruce has also twisted Rick’s arm and asked for some chocolate biscuits. September Focus meeting Wednesday 25th September The subject is “Contests and Awards”

• VHF Field Day - All bands 6m and up. Saturday 7 December and Sunday 8 December 2019. Is ZL3AC a starter? Who? Where?

• Jock White Field Day - preparations are starting. October Focus meeting Wednesday 23rd October The topic is HF101 “HF for beginners”. If you have some questions or want some tips on setting up your HF station come along and get advice from our experienced members. There will also be some advice on HF operating. We may also have some HF rigs available to purchase or borrow.



Branch meeting presentation report - ZL3CATH

Despite the drizzly rain and generally cold conditions, some 30 folks made the effort to attend the Branch 05 club meeting where Nikki Reece the station manager at FM 96.9 gave her talk. Plains FM has been broadcasting in Christchurch and throughout the surrounding Canterbury district since the 29th of February 1988. Nikki Reece started with the station the following year. That means the radio station has only had five birthdays, although Nikki’s been there since 1989 and she’s had 20

birthdays. (Think about that for a moment folks !) Originally they started out using Revox reel-to-reel tape decks, record turntables and “Carts” (cartridges), using an old donated 18 channel analogue sound mixing desk. Now, well into the digital age, they use a ProSound 12 channel digital system with AKG microphones. Their main recording engineer is Peter Rattray who uses Adobe Audition editing software, for their pre-recorded items. The building they’re in was previously an old foundry and was in the midst of a major internal re-fit during the time of the February 2011 Earthquake. Fortunately some work had already been completed, but they were still forced out of the building for five weeks. During those difficult post-quake days, Christchurch’s non-English speaking migrant and refugee communities were particularly disadvantaged. NZ On Air does provide some funding towards programming in Languages Other Than English and enabling refugees, and women to get their voices, songs and stories on the air. There is also some other fundraising the station does to supplement that. Plains FM in Christchurch is one of a loose confederation of 12 Community Access radio stations stretching the length of New Zealand. NZ On Air funding guidelines require a minimum potential audience pool



of 50,000 population, so that does limit those stations to the main centres and several of the provincial cities.

In the 2018 Access Sector Review, (a government led survey and audit) it was found that they were indeed “valuable, unique and delivering bespoke programming” very much as the community needed. Moving with the times, Plains FM is now available on the smartphone App as Access Internet Radio, both stored podcasts and Livestream. Plains FM also likes to get out into the community and record locals, so have several pieces of modern kit. The Reeloop S-podpro plugs into any computer’s USB and allows quality audio to be recorded easily. Plus they have a new tiny recorder used in conjunction with a lapel mic the Tascam DR 10 L can record squillions of hours of audio (well heaps, anyway) onto a memory card and its rechargeable battery lasts for yonks. Listener numbers are hard to calculate exactly although the website does count podcast and livestreams accessed. In all, over one hundred different radio programs are produced in 16 languages. They are then shared across other Community Access radio stations NZ-wide. Plains FM livestream and podcasts totalls 500,000 downloads or accesses annually. The most popular programmes in the April to June 2019 period were the Alcoholics Anonymous at 58,000 with the Nepalese language programme coming in distant second at some 4,900. A new project since the Canterbury Earthquakes has been to pre-record a bunch of emergency announcements in various languages. Stored as computer audio files, these are going to be shared with other radio stations, for use in the event of future major emergencies. Transmitting from Sugarloaf with one kilowatt, but allowing for antenna gain making about 4kw equivalent, they can usually be heard from Ashburton to Waipara. Despite limited finances, Plains FM does well to service the needs of those Cantabrians who might otherwise not have access to radio resources. Catherine ZL3CATH



EastFest 19th and 20th October

It will be held in Methven at the Mount Hutt Memorial Hall Theaterette on Saturday and Sunday 19th and 20th October, at 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Saturday and 9:00am to 12:00noon Sunday. We plan to have a varied programme of presentations pertaining to Ham Radio. Methven has a varied range of accommodation for those who wish to stay for the weekend. We plan to organise an evening meal for those who would like to join us on Saturday evening. If anyone would like to do a presentation at this event, please contact me. The theaterette has good audio-visual facilities with a large screen, computer connection capabilities and internet connection available. We plan to provide HF and VHF/UHF antennas as well. A door charge of $10.00 to cover venue hire. For catering purposes, can those who would like to join us for a meal on Saturday night please let me know. Regards, Jim Nelson ZL3ND, President Ashburton Branch 01. Phone- 0272893833 E-mail -Jim.Nelson (at) kinect.co.nz

Outstanding subs ZL3TAO There are still quite a few with subs outstanding - all the committee have a list of those outstanding - give one of them a call or email Peter ([email protected]) if you are not sure.

Next HamCram – ZL3MD We are looking for new HamCram students, for 2nd / 3rd November. Spread the word!

mailto:[email protected]



SSTV on the FM satellites - Murray ZL3MH

Hi All, Robin ZL3TCM organized a AO-91 and AO-92 SSTV day on Saturday 14th of September. These satellites are good but I and most others have trouble with deep fades. The SSTV mode chosen was Robot 24 160 by 120 and Robot 36 320 by 240. Robot 24 is the fastest speed for a colour picture but Robot 36 with another 12 seconds has 4 times the

picture quality ie definition than Robot 24. Robin hopes to organize another SSTV day around Christmas time. I would like to thank the other uses for putting up with the strange sounding noises on the satellite. Testing in ZL can be done on the eastern passes as there is very little activity over the Pacific Ocean. With automatic control of the Doppler and may be the antennas clashes with the software can be a major

problem. Most properly the easiest way is to use the Microphone and speaker sockets like it used to be done with isolation transformers and optocoupler and relay control of a separate computer. Better still is to have a third computer just to receive the down link SSTV Picture. The above is what I am working too as I have an array of old computers.

MMSSTV does not require a fast computer or much memory. I use an FT847 with CAT control but it will all work I think with one computer on



SSB but when the rigs on FM a different plug is used. (designed for packet radio on FM ). For Transmitting this time I used a speaker off the computer sound card, held it up to the FT847 Microphone and keying it manually. Which is not ideal but it works. Some pictures received in ZL, ZL3MH Murray, ZL3TCM Robin, ZL3GAV Gavin. Stations in VK, VK2EVB Peter, VK4EM Merv, VK1DSH Dale and many others listening.

Hamads FOR SALE 3 aerials for sale, if anyone wants to make me an offer 1x VHF aerial (with 3 elements), 2x UHF (12 element aerials) Phone Ron Godkin (ZL3TO) 3589481 For Sale ICOM 5100A Dual Band VHF/UHF D-Star Mobile or Base . Touch Screen GPS etc. and Bluetooth module included. 1 year old surplus to requirements . Original box and in as new condition. Never been used mobile. $675 ono Contact John ZL3ADF Ph 03 352-6323 Wanted HP 5328A frequency counter power supply. These units were sold around the late 80’s most of them ex air force and were popular at the time. I need a power supply board for mine. So either a complete unit that may be not working in other areas but have a good power supply. So if you have one that you are not using or would like to dispose of at a sensible price to both please contact me. John ZL3ADF Ph 03 352-6323 or 021 186-5667



This is a reminder that the HF bands will again be alive with DX signals from Oceania during the next OCDX contest on the first two weekends of October 2019. The PHONE section of the contest runs from 08:00z on 5th October to 08:00z on 6th October, and the CW section at the same times on the following weekend (12th and 13th October).

Minutes of the Branch 05 meeting Christchurch Amateur Radio club meeting 4th September 2019 Apologies ZL2IC, ZL3QC, ZL3AHL, ZL3MJS, ZL4FZ, ZL3DO. Moved to accept by ZL3TAO Carried Apologies - Nicky from Plains FM our speaker for the evening. Minutes of August meeting moved to accept by Rory ZL3HB, seconded Alan ZL3BWG. Carried. Reports AREC All quiet with no events. Repeaters 705 still has some QRM but not too bad. Second combiner is being silver plated. QSL Bureau No new cards Tuesday night 40+ attending so all well. Band report Most bands a bit dead 6m also quiet General business Shingle – coming tomorrow so a working bee on Saturday AM to spread. Email from W5KNE wanting someone to approach museum re some early Antarctic expedition communications. Dave ZL3FJ to follow up. The committee has decided to purchase the Icom PW1 linear. The IC-9100 was returned as unable to make a decision on the extra $1000. Then Paul ZL3PTR moved “that the club buy the Icom IC-9100 an accessories for $3000”, seconded Dave Zl3DRC. Carried unanimously. VHF activity hour on 10th August had 4 logs submitted. Prizes to Rob ZL3RX, Kelvin ZL3KB, John ZL3RB & Cath ZL3CATH. Meeting closed 7.47 PM Then Nicky from Plains FM gave a very interesting talk on this local community radio station.





From P.O.Box 1733, Christchurch, New Zealand

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HAMLARKS · 2020-01-25 · HAMLARKS October 2019 PAGE 4 . Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd's 1926 Arctic Expedition and the 1928-1930 Antarctic Expedition. Also personal papers on Grenlie