Author Archives: Mark Bastin

AUGUST TECHDAY&MEETINGs

G’Day from WA RG…

The NEXT now semi-monthly WARG Tech Day… will be held on Sunday coming, 2nd Aug. From 09:30H at NCRG Clubrooms “Ham Heaven”, aka the “Neil Penfold State Amateur Radio Centre“. Located on Gnangarra Rd. 1st Exit (un-signposted) to the East past the Tonkin Hwy. (Easy to miss if you don’t know to be looking.) Inside the grounds of Whiteman State Park.

While the Start time is 09:30 as Newswest is Airing… WARG should be there for a goodly number of hours; so come up and say hi… learn something about repeaters. And we thank the good people of the NCRG for hosting us on the day. (Previous Tech Days have been held with the WA VHF Group at Wireless Hill Park, and WARGs first one at 1st Bayswater Sea Scout Hall on the Swan River east of Garratt Road Bridge).

ALSO but not Least: The Next WARG monthly meeting shall be held on Monday 3rd, the night after… (this coming Monday). Doors will open at 1900ish for a 1930 start… at 1st Pelican Point Sea Scout Hall, #12 Australia II Drv. in Crawley.

Check this website under the Members Section for the Link to the Online meeting details, IF coming to the meeting is inconvenient. (But you will miss out on the Tea, Coffee and other Refreshments in the Galley).

It is rumored that Andrew VK6SWR who is the current serving B.A.L. for ScoutsWA’s Branch Radio and Electronics Team, will be in attendance to discuss Scout Radio and JOTA/JOTI. We look forward to hearing from him.

A reminder that the NEXT but one meeting, (ie Sept. 7th) will feature Mitch VK6XB with a talk on remote RF DF in Perth a little err QRM hunting project of his.

And to end this update: A quick reminder that on Perth Repeater VK6RLM 146.750 (Ch.3) and on the ALLSTAR Linked VK6HUBs, every Sunday Morning, at 1030H after the Callbacks on VK6RAP for the Sunday Morning Newswest Broadcast, is the WARG Technical & General Net.

Dad Joke: You’ve heard of an Embarrassment of Pandas, a Parliament of Owls, etc… how about:
A Group of Radio Amateurs are collectively call a Net? I don’t know… just a thought. Catch you at a meeting, or on the T&G Net. 73s from WARG, VK6RRG.

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December Social Event

The 2nd of December Meeting… has been REPLACED!

MONDAY 2nd December 2024
Time 1830-2100 / 6:30pm – 9pm
(NOTE WELL ONE HOUR EARLIER)
Cost $0 NIX NILL NADA — WHAT?

Yes! Come to the WARG XMAS Dinner… Snaggers and Meat.
As well as Cool Drinks & Tea or Coffee (if you prefer) and
Christine’s (XYL of 6XB) famous cup cakes.
All available… for FREE!

Bring yourself, Bring a Plate to Share if you like… Where….?!?

Come one, come all… WARG Membership, not required, but is still
only $25 a year, and if you use or have an interest in Repeaters in
WA we do encourage you to join.

#12 Australia II Drive, Crawley… all the way to the end, sharp left!

You Can’t Log-in to this one online… it’s BE THERE, or be ?

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November Meeting 2024

It is just about time for the November Meeting of WARG. It will be the 1st Monday, as the 4th of November is not a Public Holiday in Perth.

When: This Coming Monday the 4th November, 2024.

Location: 1st Pelican Point Sea Scout Hall… 12 Australia II Drive, Crawley. Turn sharp left at the very end of the drive.

Doors: Open ~7pm for a 7:30pm Start.

Tea, Coffee & Refreshments… e.g. Monte Carlo or Tim Tams etc. Available for Gold Coin Donation. (The money goes to cover the costs).

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WARG NEWS for the 6th of October… won’t be on NEWSWEST… still not got email sorted… Grrrr!

Hello… from WARG… The next meeting… will be Anthony’s Talk on Repeater Cavities.

Also… of note for WARG Members, we’ve had a request from the 1st Amelia Heights Scout Group… who have done JOTI for a number of years… to see if we (WARG) can be of assistance in helping them to do JOTA as well…

JOTA/JOTI (Jamboree on the Air / Jamboree on the Internet) is an annual world-wide Scout and Guide event, and the JOTA part started in 1958 making this year the 67th one…

It is held annually the third full weekend in October. Making this the 18th-20th. (Well we would be asked to do Sat and Sun… so… 19th and 20th for us)

Here’s a link to learn more about JOTA, from the World Scouting website.

What would WARG be asked to do… well… provide, the shebang… ops, rigs and antennas… come to the meeting and let’s talk about who and what WARG can do for them. Also… listen to the WARG News link below, where I talk a little on the request.


Here is the link to this weeks recording of WARG NEWS… but yeah, nope… email is still failing (I’ve asked for help from M$ – yeah not holding my breath) and I couldn’t make the mid-day Friday deadline to get it down to Clinton… So… please click on this link “http://www.ucc.asn.au/~bastin_mp/2024-10-06-wargnews.mp3” to listen.

The next meeting of WARG is Monday the 7th, next Monday… 1st Pelican Point Sea Scouts Hall, Camp Cornwell, 12 Australia II Drive… Doors open 7pm for a 7:30pm start..

Tea, Coffee and Refreshments available and plenty of time to eyeball both before and after the meeting.

Click on the photo to get directions from google maps:https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pelican+Point+Sea+Scout+Group/@-31.9861311,115.8265281,15z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x2a32a4950db38731:0xaa5e5ef0eea2320c!8m2!3d-31.9861311!4d115.8265281!16s%2Fg%2F11b63bdb48?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTAwMi4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

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Heads up for the October Meeting of WARG

The NEXT meeting of the West Australian Repeater Group will be on Monday the 7th of October… and will be held at the 1st Pelican Point Sea Scout Hall located at 12 Australia II Drive in Crawley. Just around the corner from MATILDA BAY & just a stone’s throw away from The University of Western Australia.

With Doors Opening around 1900H for a meeting Start Time of approx. 1930H.

Tea, Coffee, and Refreshments are available for the usual Gold Coin Donation.

At the meeting Anthony VK6AXB has put up his hand to give a talk and practical demonstration.

The topic, is roughly…
Repeater Cavities: The Who, What, Where, Why, & When – (With particular note of fact that we need to convert a stock pile of VHF commercial cavities that we have, for use on 2m Repeaters – a great learning opportunity for any amateurs wanting to gain some new experiences) .

HISTORICAL PHOTO: 11 sets of WARG Cavities on lawn at a former QTH of one time life member of WARG, Gillian “Jill” Weaver VK6YL now SK.

73’s from WARG VK6RRG.

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Report on Cables & Connectors Activity from the September 2024 Meeting of WARG

The meeting was held on Sept 2nd and was reasonably attended with several apologies and some missing folk probably experiencing “life happening”. The meeting was held, it had its usual parts, correspon-dence, treasurer’s report, promotions and socials report, and the Technical discussion and report. The meeting closed at 21:20 and we then had a little thing we called the Cables and Connectors Activity…

Whilst the number of folk who stayed after the meeting did dwindle over time, this is clearly only to be expected.

First up was a bit of Hi-End tech on the measuring of return loss on coax. There was a show and tell on how to use the equipment and how to get the return on unknown coax… with a second bit in and out of line… and then do the math in you head. Ray VK6ZRW and Anthony VK6AXB both had different bits of tech and then afterwards… the connectors section was done…

I only have a couple of shots from the night, and it is from the tail end with Anthony taking Adam VK6XR through how to connect a BNC (or did Adam have the N type?) to some thick double shielded coax. Two patch cables were needed by Colin VK6ACT for use soon…

Anthony VK6AXB is showing Adam VK6XR the ropes, err coax...
Anthony spent some time showing us all how to get fiddly with the coax and some of his tips on how to use the tools and how not to cut all the way through, Adam took the opportunity to get some hands-on experience.

Adam VK6XR trying to debraid the end of a future patch cord for application of a connector.
Adam was later heard afterwards thanking Anthony for the opportunity and that he had learned a lot and part of that was that he still in regards to connectors, has a lot to learn.

Yes… getting fiddly with the stuff and making it yourself, as opposed to just buying finished product off the shelf or from the net… (actually –not– accusing anyone of any thing here.) is to begin with not 100% so easy… it’s a learning thing.

So much information was exchanged in the activity… much learned and many tips shared… but you had to be there.

I locked up, at a couple of minutes to midnight.

WARG will continue to do Lectures and Activity nights in forthcoming months. Like they say… Be there, or be square!

73’s from WARG VK6RRG.

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Next W.A.R.G. Meeting – This Monday 02-09-2024!

The NEXT meeting of WARG, is on Monday the 2nd September.



This meeting will be BACK at the home of 1st Pelican Point Sea Scouts. Camp Cornwall all the way down the end of Australia II Drv. Then take a Sharp left into the car park instantly before the dead end.



For your GPS: #12 Australia II Drive, Crawley.

Doors Open around 7pm for a 7:30pm Start. There will be Tea, Coffee and refreshments, usually but not always limited to biscuits, for a gold coin donation to keep the supplies of things coming…



There is always plenty of time both before and after the meeting to meet in person with your radio buddies and make an Audio Frequency contact… 😉
[ See what I did there :p ]

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July Meeting of WARG

The 1st Monday of July approaches – it’s the 1st July.

The next monthly meeting of the West Australian Repeater Group is on Monday the 1st of July and will be held at the 1st Midland Scout hall at #10 Helen Street in Bellevue.

Doors open around 7pm for a 7:30pm start; Tea Coffee and Refreshments are available at a Gold Coin Donation as always.

Following are some
Unpolished, QUICK and DIRTY Graphics.

The hall is accessible via Perth’s Arterial Roads with reasonable speed…

Once in Bellevue… there’s 12 bays out front, roadside parking and a couple of bays out back. Parking didn’t seem to be an issue for the March meeting and sale.

Leaving the Roe heading North is easy, Southbound, not quite so simple – but choose a way and it won’t take long.

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