CRARC Committee September – October update email #Committee_update

The CRARC committee meets on-line on the second Wednesday of the month, to discuss the running of CRARC. This email is an outline of items covered and other topics potentially of interest to CRARC members from the September/October period and is promulgated to keep members aware of what is going on.

Tonight (16^th October 2024) we have a very interesting topic being covered on tonight’s tech night. For those who are interested or even just curious about what is involved in SMD soldering there will be an opportunity to practice or at least watch others have a go with a number of test kits on offer. See the emails from Graeme VK1IO about the pre-reqs and further instructions.

On Wednesday 23^rd October 2024, the CRARC monthly general meeting will be held at the club rooms, with a presentation on Ionosondes being provided by Glen VK1XX. Glen has significant experience and expertise in this field having been heavily involved in a recent upgrade to a significant ionosonde system and will be able to answer probably any questions about the systems in use.

As at the October Committee meeting, Club membership continued to slowly creep upwards again with the numbers currently at 191 financial members.  As always, if you have any membership queries, contact Graham on membership@crarc.org.au

CRARC maintains a number of Beacons and Repeaters.

We continue to experience intermittent QRM to the Bulls Head 2m and Ginini 70cm repeaters with resolution of these issues hopefully getting closer with the Bulls Head permanent repeater hopefully reinstalled in the next month. We are still awaiting the licencing change to change the Ginini 70cm repeater to a 7MHz split so once we have this and can identify a window of opportunity to make a site visit. As retuning of both the repeater and multiple filters will be required, this may take more than one visit to achieve. The Ginini 6m repeater plan is progressing with hardware on soak test and equipment layouts being planned. We don’t have a firm ETA, but hope to have it completed and installed this summer. Repeaters appear to be running correctly at all other sites, but if you notice any issues with repeater performance, please advise the committee by email.

On the education front, the education team have been particularly busy of late. In addition to the scheduled September course, an out of session course was also conducted for the ANU solar race team to assist them with safety communications in next years race. Here is hoping that they also catch the broader radio bug and learn to enjoy the other aspects of the hobby. Note that the education team may also conduct upgrade assessments on the Saturday of the course (pending assessor availability and sufficient lead time to order exams) in addition to out of sessions examinations by arrangement with the education team via education@crarc.org.au

Amanda VK1WX has advised that after 24 years that it is time to take a step back from the physical delivery and organisation of the courses, however we are very thankful that Amanda will be continuing in the role as our Education Officer to keep the high level aspects ticking over. I think a huge thanks is due to Amanda for the incredible efforts put in by Amanda to drive the education front for VK1 (and quite a few outside of our area). Who knows how many of the current amateurs have Amanda to thank (or blame 😊) for their entry into this great hobby of ours.

For WICEN, what is normally the busy period in the calendar is remarkably quiet due to event cancellations – we have unfortunately lost a number of our traditional long term events due to a number of them experiencing difficulties in organising and conducting their events. We did however support the annual Brookvale Horse Endurance event in early October which was very successfully run – albeit we had to scrape and scratch to find sufficient WICEN volunteers. We also loaned some equipment for a couple of other events where the mobile phone network does not provide reliable comms (ANU Inward Bound and the Rocky Trail bike ride. Whilst I understand that the Brookvale event fell over a long weekend with many competing activities, can I ask that members please consider assisting with even just one WICEN activity each year.

The CRARC Merchandise shop is now available with a wide selection of T-Shirts, Hoodies, Caps, Polos and Sweaters in both male and female styles. Each T-Shirt, Hoodie, Polo and Sweater can be ordered with the CRARC Logo, your callsign and your name digitally printed over the left breast.  Caps can be ordered with the CRARC Logo and your callsign digitally printed on the front.  A small commission for each item is paid to CRARC so all purchases support your club. https://merch.crarc.org.au/

Matt VK1MA

For the CRARC Committee