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January 13th saw a number of club members assembling equipment at our chosen operating position atop "The Bluff". Trevor (5NC) and Colin (5DK) lead the charge with Andrew (5KET) following shortly after with the Antenna hardware (see photo later). Tom (5EE) and Colin (5HCF) arrived moments later to assist with the construction work. |
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 5 Element 6m Beam Photo: VK5KET |
The photo to the left shows the 5 element 6m beam anchored by Colin's car. The photo on the right shows 5EE's pole with beams for 2m, 70cm and 23cm. |
 the Beams for 2m, 70cm & 23cm. Photo: VK5KET |
| The antennas were transported on 5KET's vehicle, the large roof rack proving to be an excellent way to transport the 6m, 2m and 70cm beams and the poles. Only one pit stop was required to recover a couple of loose nuts and bolts. 5NC brought his 23cm beam strapped to the roof of his vehicle. |
 With Yagi's still on top Photo: VK5KET |
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Ian VK3FNBL checks out his tucker arrangements in his mighty van while Kevin VK5NKJ checks out the site and the cameraman. Ian is an enthusiastic operator from across the border and attends all club functions and is always willing to help. Kevin and his brother, Bill VK5FWEJ are also regular attenders at club events, enjoy participating and the friendly banter among club members. |
| Trevor (Niv) VK5NC on the mike and Chris VK5MC at the logging computer make a contact on 1296MHz. Trevor is a VHF/UHF/SHF enthusiast and he and col VK5DK are always out and about if there is some DX offering or if a record is to be broken. Chris is our local EME operator and is well known in EME circles. |  |
 Photo: VK5KET |
The operating tent was setup with benches on three sides. An ICOM 706MkIIG was used on 6m (left hand side of tent). It had numerours operators throughout the day. At the back of the tent another ICOM 706MkIIG was used with a linear amplier on 2m. This station also had numerous operators throughout the day and was the jumping off point for contacts on the higher frequencies, contacts migrating up the bands right up to 10GHz. On the right an ICOM 910 was used with a linear on 70cm. This station also had numerous operators thoughout the day depending on what other equipment was in use. Next to the 910 was a Yaesu FT817 with a Transverter for communications on 23cm. VK5NC's Yagi was used on this band. |
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The photo on the right shows the site setup including one of Colin's (VK5DK) dishes setup. This dish had 2.4GHz setup. A Yaesu FT817 was used to provide IF for all the 2.4GHz and above transmissions. Because of the IF frequencies in use 2m operations were not possible while a SHF contact was in progress, but that only helped to provide a short break for the 2m operator. Each station had a laptop with a program that John (VK5DJ) had modified from his Remembrance Day Logger program to suit the VHF field day. With only a minor hiccup on one of the machines, the program worked well and once operators were used to the program, it made logging and cross-referencing much easier. It also allowed the operators to determine quickly if the station could be reworked again or not. This went smoothly when there was a logger helping the operator. |
 Photo: VK5KET |
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The modifications were made late
in the week and worked well. A number of operators commented that the program
made the logging aspect of the field day much easier. Thank you for your efforts
John (VK5DJ) The skill of some of our club members to be able to pull the audio out of the QSB with only their ears was a learning experience for some of the newer members. Club members from previous field days remember that this wasn't the best field day for contacts that they could remember but it also wasn't the worst. Summary: Officially VK5SR operated from approximately 16:00 CDST to 00:00 CDST. Overall VK5SR had:
The following club members attended at some time throughout the day. Colin (VK5DK), Trevor (VK5NC), John (VK5DJ), Tom (VK5EE), Colin (VK5HCF), Tim (VK5AV), Bill (VK5FWEJ), Kevin (VK5NKJ), Chris (VK5MC), Ian (VK3FNBL), Matt (VK5HMW), Andrew (VK5KET) and George (VK5ALS) a visitor to the region, and known to many club members, came for a visit. Overall a good time was had by all. Special mention to Tom (VK5EE) for the work on the BBQ helping to feed the hungry hordes. The population at the station appeared to swell when the barbeque was started because some had a bit of a wait to get their food on. |
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 Photo: VK5KET |
Here is a photo of John (5DJ) operating on 6m. In a short space of time he was able to pull in a number VK4 contacts. | |
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Here is Colin (5DK) operating on 10GHz. It's much later in the day and jackets were required. You can see the 2.4GHz tripod leg in the foreground. Liaison for the contact was provided by Trevor (5NC) on 70cm. Much shouting of signal reports between the operating position and the tent was required to log the contact. |
Photo: VK5KET |
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| Many thanks to all those who contributed time, equipment or effort to VK5SR's VHF Summer Field Day. It was a most enjoyable time for all, and a learning experience for some. Also thanks goes to all the stations that had contacts with VK5SR your participation was much appreciated. Over the day many acquaintances were renewed. |
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It was great to see George VK5ALS ex VK3ALS as a visitor during the field day. George was an active member of the Naracoorte Amateur Radio Club before moving to Adelaide and was a key person in the construction of the 146.650MHz repeater in the 1980s. | |