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Bulletin 1issued by the Northern P.O. Box 1010
Branches of the Wireless Institute Launceston
of Australia, Tasmanian Division Tas. 7250
May 1977
Vol.7 No.l
Registered at GPO Hobart
for transmission by post Price 40¢
as a periodical. Category B.
MEETINGS
May 10th North West Branch, Lakins Hall, Ulverstone. 8 p.m.
May 13th Northern Branch, Northern Motors Lecture Room
Cnr, York and Wellington St. 8 p.m.
A.0.C.P. CLASSES
Kings Meadows High School, Block B, room 35
May 9th Semi-conductors.
May lé6th Class cancelled due to Brian being in King Island
HMay 24th This i1s a Tuesday night as rooms are not available
June 13th Receiving systems. (on Monday.
} Y.R.C.S. CLASSES
YRCS classes are held every Tuesday (during school terms)
from 4 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. at
Kings Meadows High School, Block B, room 33.
CONTESTS
_
May 15th World Tele-comm. Phone
May 21/22 YL Int'l SSBers, Inc. QSO party
May 22nd Wor ld Tele-comm. CW
e
May 20th Deadline for the June issue of QRM
Page 2 Q R M May 1977
Northern Branch notes by Mac VK7CCC.
The meeting of thz Northern Branch was held on the 15th of
April at ths 3.E.S. rooms, 30 members were present, plus a visitor
Harvey VK7HK from Hobart. Apologies were received from VK7s ZGG,
Lz, TB, NR and ZBY.
Please note n=xt mz2eting place,
13th Northern Motors Lecture room 13th
May Crnr York and Wellington St. May
1977 Launceston 1977
Subject; Pollution control devices on Nissan vehicles,
this should prove to be an interesting lecture.
Mr Bill Love of the Meteorological branch of the Bureau of
Science will be our guest speaker in June. His objective will be
to pass alnng sufficient knowledge to enable YOU to use weather
maps etc. used to forecast Temperature Inversions. Start boning
up on those questions you want answered and then be ready for the
DX ! Thanks is due to our lecture officer Wally VK7ZWX for
arranging the speakers.
Robin VK7RH pass=d along a membership application for
Mark Nightingale, included was abrief rundown on Mark and his
activities, the motion was seconded by Malcolm VK7ZMM. Welcome
to the fold Mark.
Other matters discussed included, lease for clud rooms,
ORM and QSL managers. John VK7JV was voted yet again to QRM
Editor, congratulations John, Col VK7LZ is still our QSL Manager
congratulations to you too Col.
Bill VK7AK invites you to think about the following
motions he intends to raise at the next meeting.
1) That Executive minutes be kept and ratified at the following
Branch meeting.
2) That a publishing committee of three (3) bz formed for the
production of ORM and that the Editor be one of this number.
3) That the buisiness of general Branch meetings not exceed
beyond 9.15 p.m.
Reg VK7KK tells us that the Jaycees are considering a
careers night around May/August provided support is forthcoming.
If you have any ideas, suggestions please contact him.
thats all for now 73 Mac VKTCC
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NORTH WEST BRANCH
The North Western Branch wish to advise members that, at
the next meeting of the Branch at Lakins Hall Ulverstone, on
May 10th, there will be an auction of worthwhile Radio and TV
parts. Also there will be a lecture by an officer of the
Rural Fires Board.
This should be a good meeting
73 Jim Davis VK7NOW (Activities Officer)
May 1977 QR M Page 3
Notes from the North West Branch by Wayne Gibson.
As most members appear to have realisad the March meeting
was the N.W. Branh's Annual General Meeting during which the
election »f office bearers for 1977-78 occurred.
The new office bearers are:
Brian Lord VK7ZBL President
Max Ives VK7MX Vice President
Kirby VK7ZKC Secretary
Max Ives VK7MX Treasurer
Terry Tongs VK7TT Broadcast Coordinator
Jim Davis VK7NOW Activities Coordinator
Graham Rand VK7ZAD Y.R.C.S. Coordinator
Harold Hancock VK7MZ QSL Officer
Beacon & repeater Committee;
VK7AX , VK7ZAQ, VK7ZIE, VK7ZAO, VK7ZAT, W.S.Gibson
The position of Equipment Store Officer has been deleted
Adrian indicated that the effort required to maintain the store
far out weighed its usefulness to members.
W.I.C.E.N. Coordinator, on the suggestion of Bob Simpson
VK72ZJS, was reduced to a sleeper. It appears no one wants to
know about WICEN untill it pulls them out of a pickle.
It is pleasing to note the number of new names in the
above list, but disappointing to report that most were elected
unopposed.
Port Sorell Field Day, was held on 27th February. Once
again good weather and a fair turn out of members, XYL's, YL's
and harmonics produced a successful field day.
The annual (win it any way) "Cricket Match'" was played
and won by the Northern Branch. A new Trophy constructed by
Graham was presented to the Northern Branch. Thanks from all
members to Graham for his towering effort to produce this
relevant Trophy.
It would seem that the Port Sorell foxes are a very old
and cunning lot, one was located hiding among the hounds,
several hunters received a severe licking. But not to be caught
the fox laid a false trail out onto the river mud flats and went
to ground. A well concealed den in the opposite direction was
revealed to the frustrated hounds by Graham. The necessity of a
field strength meter for fox hunting was clearly demonstrated.
One party of hounds combed the scrub around the fox for over
half an hour without results.
Seen/Heard. No doubt before long some unusual signals will
be heard from one Ulverstone QTH, if the discussions and
glorified typewriter hard ware noted are any indication.
How do you spell '"see que" Tony ?
73 Wayne
Page 4 May 1977
Letter to the Editor QRM
Now that the tumult and shouting has died away from the
Anual Divisional Dinner, may I use some of your valuable space
to ask a few searching questions. From sundry enquiries I
understand that attendance left a lot to be desired. Has
anybody tried to find out WHY ?
To start the ball rolling I will state why I haven't
attended one for several years, even in our own town. I regard
the Anual Dinner as a yearly opportunity to get together,
have a feed (unimportant) and to talk and listen and exchange
experiences, discuss radio etc. To select a venue for the
purpose and then drown out all hope of conversation with 50
to 100 Watts of so-called music, or jungle drums as I call it,
the whole exercise is a farce.
Why is it regarded so necessary to accompany a dinner
with this racket ? I have heard more than one complaint.
Across the table conversation is impossible, even to the next
door neighbour is a trial so I ask again WHY ? Are we animals
that have to be herded into a corner by convention ? It is
high time that members spoke their mind and adopted sane ideas,
acceptable by the majority. I have many times suggested a quiet
dinner but have been outvoted by many who do not attend anyway,
so I protect my hearing and stay away. In our hobby we hear
plenty of loudspeaker noise and most of it is preferable to so
called modern music, but at least we can turn it down.
I have spoken. How about you ?
Max VK7MX
Northern Branch Officers elected for the year 1977-78 are;
President ......ccc0c.. Ed Hewens VK7HE
Vice President ........ Brian Yeoman VK7ZBY
Vice President ..<:... . Robin Harwood VK7RH
Secretary ceoecsecsccees John McCulloch VK7CCC
TreasureY siscscsosess Peter Dowde VK7PD
Equipment Store Officer Mike Wilson VK7ZWW
Editor ............... John van Staveren VK7JV
Wally Morphett VK72ZWX
QSL Manager .......... Col Wright VK7LZ
Auditor Bruce Proverbs
Refreshments Officers Malcolm Weldon VK7ZMM
David Chadderton
WICEN Co-ordinator ... Ed Hewens VK7HE
Two new offices thought necessary for the Branch are,
Education Co-ordinator Brian Yeoman
Publicity Officers .... John Doolan
David Chadderton
May 1977 O R M Page 5
DX notes by Col VK7LZ.
March and April have been months of surprises and
contrasts, during the 2nd half of March 28MHz sometimes had
more signals on it then any other band, although most were JA's
there were also a few other goodies to be found: on the 10th
of April JA, W, UA@g, VE, XE, KC6SK and 9M6MU were all worked by
local VK7's. This and the news from Zurich advising rising
sun spot numbers must bring a feeling of optimism to DX hunters.
On 7, 14 and 21 MHz fairly good DX can be worked at
times and DXpeditions seem to be on the increase, at present
we have ZL30G/C on Chatham Island on 14 MHz SSB and VK9ZM is
very active from Willis Island. The Cocos Island TI9 DXpedition
ended up a flop, from on the air reports only one operator
ended up going, he could not speak English and the whole
operation was a one day affair.
KA1IOW operated from Iwo Jima from the 2nd April and VK7HL
has heard reports from W land that a move has been made to have
it re-classified into new country status again.
CEZAE Easter Island often appears in the Pacific DX net
and also operates on 7MHz CW around 0630Z. Other interesting
DXpedition type call signs heard recently are:
AX4AAU/ Lord Howe Island
DK6XR,/ OHf
VK4FJ/ Lord Howe Island
4Z4TT/ VR1
JW2CF on Svalbard is still coming through on 14MHz SSB and
was heard on the 14th April at 1200Z, sigs were 5/7.
Africa has not been much in the news, VKJ7CH heard
FR7ZL/T on CW, 14.020MHz but missed out due to QRN which world
wide is giving trouble on 14MHz these days. 5U7AG came up on
the Pacific DX net on the 15th April but was only 5/2 both here
and in VK3, bad mannered breakers were again a problem. FR7NF
was worked here on 14MHz CW on the lst April and gave his QTH
as St.Denis, Reunion Island however Reunion call signs have in
the past had either A or Z as their first letter in the call
so he must go into the doubtful category.
A plea from our QOSL manager VK7CH, send as many cards as
you can to him for countries such as JA, W etc, the larger
number of cards cuts down operating costs and allows the bureau
to show a profit, just another way to cut inflation, for other
comments on this subject and its causes and cures reference can
be made to statements etc. by such authorities as Messrs Fraser,
Hawke and Whitlam.
Saturday 16th April, 4 hours of listening produced the
following on 14 MHZ SSB, 9J2GJ 5/5, ZE6JS 5/6, ZE2JK 3/3, ZS4PB
5/6, ZS4MG 4/5, zSlou 5/5, ZSI1CTF 4/5, VR3AK 5/8, ZL3DG/C 5/7,
VR4DH 5/5, ZS6IW 5/6, 7X4MD 5/9, TI2JV 5/8, GW4NZ 5/8, Ve's,
W's and other Europeans. The Africans were short path.
QSL info on Page 6
Page 6 QR M May 1977
VHF notes by Joe VK7JG.
With little activity there is not much to write about.
My last 6m sporadic E contact was with Phil VK2ZZY on 18-2-'77
the opening lasted about 10 minutes. We had a good inversion
to Gipsland on 21-2-'77, Mike VK3ZQV was worked on both 6 and
2m. Last night (24-4-'77) the VK2WI beacon was S3 for some
time but no stations were heard.
Don't forget the mid-winter openings as they can provide
some good DX contacts.
I have nothing to report on the bottom end of 2 metres
as I have not been active.
Once again don't forget that 206 and A07 are still
operating and provide VHF contacts everyday. One new station
of interest is KC4AAA at an American base at the South Pole,
there are several operators using the call sign and have been
worked several times by Col VK7LZ and Peter VK7PF. Other stations
worked via the satellites in two evenings included ZL1TAX, VKG6HK,
VK4ZAQ, VK2ZON and VKB8ZJW who was heard but not worked.
73 till next month Joe
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kxhhkkk
DX notes cont. from Page 5
QSL information
AX4AAU via VK4UA CE@AE via WA3HUP
DK6XR /OH@F via DK6XR FO8DP, Box 2441 Papeete
JWOWT wvia LASNM KA1IWO via W7BUN
VK@KH via VK5WV ZF1MA via VE3BWY
ZP5PX Box 512 Asuncion Paraguay.
ZL30G/C C/o Radio Station, Chatham Islands.
4Z4TT/VR1 P.0O. Box 22572 Tel Aviv Israel.
9M6MU Box 210, Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia.
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SUBSCRIPTICNS
Subs to the Northern Branches are now due, if you are
going to attend the next meeting you can pay the Treasurer there.
Northern Branch members who are not going to the meeting please
send your $2.50 to P.O. Box 1010 Launceston with your name, call
and address.
The Education Co-ordinator, Brian VK7ZBY is wondering if there
is sufficient interest in Novice License Classes to run over a
period of 3 months. If you or someone you know are interested
contact Brian Phone 918218,
FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE
Pye base station converted to 6 metres 52.525 also 6 mstre
converter. contact Ed VK7HE 43 Faulkner Rd. Phone 391863
May 1977 QR M Page 7
Regulated screen supply. by Peter Dowde VK7PD
An R.F. power tetrode employed as a linear amplifier
normally requires a well regulated screen supply. If a suitable
power transformer is available which delivers just the right
voltage, this may be good enough. As such is usually not the
case for the home constructor, other measures have to be
adopted.
Among the many alternatives, one obvious answer is to
start off with a higher than desired voltage dropped through
a resistor and shunt regulated with V.R. tubes. I use the
plural as more than one is often required to realise the
required voltage.
This method has been well proven since quite early days
of radio but is not always convenient and allows no easy
means of voltage adjustment.
BF337
BF338
+300V Bgfl 200-260V
e 0-25mA
]: .001
all resistors %W
heat sinks fitted to
50K both transistors
The circuit shown above takes advantage of high voltage
transistors which are cheap and easily available now. It was
built specifically for a QQE06/40 linear amplifier and affords
the luxury of variable output and provides good current
regulation over the range specified. If better regulation over
a wider range is required the regulator transistor could be
made a Darlington pair. The 68K resistor could then be increased
in value without ill effect. A 7 lug tag strip was used for
the assembly.
FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE
Eico 723, three band (80, 40, 20) transceiver modified as
per A.R. in very good condition and going order $130
Several old power supplies, radios etc. take away FREE
Mike Wilson VK7ZWW, 11 George Town RAd.
Page 8 QR M May 1977
Relay Switching for Linear Amplifiers, by Peter VK7PD
When connecting a high power final to a transceiver it
is normally desirable to provide R/T switching of same in
tandem with that of the TRX i.e. the microphone P.T.T. contacts.
Where the TRX employs solid state switching, this may not
be so straightforward, espscially where the final uses relay
switching as is common in valve amplifiers.
It is undesirable to feed the relay supply down the
P.T.T. circuit of the transceiver and if this is simply blocked
by a diode in series with the TRX P.T.T. lead, the voltage drop
across same upsets the operation of the TRX.
One way around this is to employ a detector amplifier
which responds to carrier leakage from the TX. However this
practise (apart from anything else) seems a bit risky when
one is using a F.E.T. pre-amplifier in the receive circuit.
+ 1o-16YVY
Fig 1
Ic 502
One alternative is shown in Fig.l. The P.T.T. lead to the
microphone has to be broken so the P.T.T. switch now operates
relays A and B (2 relays are normally desirable in the interest
of input and output isolation). A spare contact on relay B
completes a circuit for the TRX R/T function.
Although this works well, it assumes that a spare relay
contact is available. However it will not operate from the
CW/Tune switch on the TRX so special arrangements would be
necessary for sending CW through the power amplifier.
Another alternative shown in FIG.2 (on the next page)
overcomes these disadvantages. It does not require breaking
the P.T.T. line.
As the TRX P.T.T. line stands at about 9V on receive
this puts a reverse bias on D3 thus ensuring this external
circuit has no effect on the TRX operation.
May 1977 QR M Page 9
+
/0-16 V
DiopFs INqQiIg
REsisToARS //z W
Fig. 2
icSo2
The bypass C, ferite bead and shielded wire are recommended
in the interest of R.F. suppression. The relays (which could
be connected in series if convenient) will operate when either
P.T.T. is pressed or when the SSB/CW switch is thrown to the
CW position.
Components are cheap and available from the Northern
Branch equipment store. The circuit was assembled on a 7 lug
tagstrip.
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HINTS AND KINKS, by Ed VK7HE
Black oxidized finish for iron; Instrument parts, screws,
and other items of iron and steel can be coloured evenly by
black oxidizing. To make the solution for this purpose dissolve
copper nitrate loz., in water 4oz.. First clean the work and
heat it with a blow torch or over a gas burner to a low heat
and immediately dip it into the solution. A green oxidized
coating of copper will form on the surface. To turn this black
hold the work over the burner and carefully heat it until the
desired depth of shade has produced.
Aluminium ?22?2; When you wish to determine if a piece of
metal is actually aluminium or another type of metal with a
similar appearance, try this easy test. First make a 40%
solution of household lye in water, being sure to use a glass
container. Then file or cut a few chips from the stock in
question and drop them into the solution. If the chips produce
a vigorous reaction and disappear in a few seconds the metal
is aluminium. use caution when using this solution and
disposing of it.
Je& T GUNN PTY. LTD.
50 BRISBANE ST. LAUNCESTON
Telephone 222 51
DOMESTIC & BUILDERS HARDWARE
MARINE & PLUMBING SUPPLIES
PAINT & TOOLS
SEDDON PRESS
35a GRANVILLE ST. LAUNCESTON 7250
Telephone 31 61 91
FOR ALL YOUR PRINTING
BUSINESS AND PERSONAL
QSL CARDS
NORWINDS
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS
SPECTALISING IN MOTOR REWINDING AND ASSOCIATED WORK
27 SUNCREST PLACE, RAVENSWOOD
TELEPHONE 391515
Atho! Lawes Electrics
135 HOBART ROAD, KINGS MEADOWS, PHONE 444710
FOR ALL ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES, SPECIALISTS IN,
HI-FI SOUND SYSTEMS
CAR RADIO AND STEREO
SEE US FOR A BETTER DEAL, WE SERVICE ALL WE SELL.