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DXing Welcome to meteor scatter. As the Earth moves along its orbital path, millions of particles known as meteoroids enter the Earth's atmosphere every day, a small fraction of which have properties useful for point-to-point communication. When these meteors begin to burn up, they create a glowing trail of ionized particles in the E layer of the atmosphere that can persist for up to several seconds. The ionization trails can be very dense and thus used to reflect radio waves. The frequencies that can be reflected by any particular ion trail are determined by the intensity of the ionization created by the meteor, often a function of the initial size of the particle, and are generally between 30MHz and 150MHz. The distance over which communications can be established is determined by the altitude at which the ionisation is created, the location over the surface of the Earth where the meteoroid is falling, the angle of entry into the atmosphere, and the relative locations of the stations attempting to establish communications. Because these ionization trails only exist for fractions of a second to as long as a few seconds, they create only brief windows of opportunity for communications. Here is a snapshot of my contact with Scott VK4CZ on 6m. You can clearly see three different pings over the receiving sequence of 15 seconds. The third ping is a loud, shot gun burst that generated multiple decodes. The two way contact could be completed within a couple of minutes or a bit longer, depending on the meteor shower. If you are already on 6m or 2m then you are ready for MS! Mode: MSK144 is a Minimum Shift Keying FSK signal used for amateur radio meteor-scatter contacts. It transmits 144 bit long packets at a Baud rate of 2000 bps using frequencies 1000 and 2000Hz. It is part of the WSJT-X suite. Where: on 6m band the watering hole for Australian stations is 50.230MHz. Skeds: random calling in morning hours is an option, however you will find more success by announcing your activity at http://www.VKspotter.com Note: VKspotter is not a 'casual' chat room. It is a place where dedicated chasers exchange time relevant information about openings, activities and scheduled skeds. Please join - but for a week or so simply observe until you get a feeling of what is appropriate and what is not. Of course, the group members are welcoming but they are not there to entertain you - or each other - but to watch the band for openings. Think of a business meeting atmosphere. If you join, you will learn a lot just by watching and listening. Meteor scatter is both visual and audio excitement. When a bounced signal is received, it creates a unique 'explosion' on the waterfall, accompanied with a equally unique sound. Once you decode your first MS signals, you will be hooked. See you on meteor scatter! Thanks to John VK3XM

11th May 2024 is the Moorabbin Hamfest. Be early to get a seat on the train! A few Club members including myself are intending to catch the train from the Seaford Railway Station. Meet Seaford Station: The Train leave Seaford Station at 8:03am arriving Moorabbin 8:32am, it's then a very short walk from the station to the venue. train departs Seaford station: 8:03am based on the PT Journey App. See you on the Platform 1. More Details about the Event!

WHAT: MDRC Annual Hamfest WHERE: Kingston City Hall 979-985 Nepean Hwy, Moorabbin VIC 3189 Melways Ref: 77D4 Map: Click Here WHEN: Saturday the 11th of May 2024. The MDRC Annual Hamfest is held in May on a Saturday. The 2024 MDRC Hamfest will be held on Saturday the 11th of May. The MDRC Hamfest is widely renowned as the Biggest Hamfest in Victoria, with a huge turnout each year. Many attendees travel great distances to attend the MDRC Annual Hamfest from Interstate and overseas. In 2024 the MDRC Hamfest will be held at the Kingston City Hall 979-985 Nepean Hwy, Moorabbin VIC 3189. Ticket sales from 9.30am. Doors open at 10.00am 70 car spaces on site and more parking behind shops on Western side of Nepean Hwy. More Here

In this video, I transmit at 5 different power levels, from 100 watts down to 1 watt. I record the audio from a station listening to my signal 250 miles away. You will be surprised how little audible difference can be heard when cutting your power! Thanks to Stanley VK3BOT for sending the video.. thanks mate well done ! CW Version SSB version

World Amateur Radio Day Every April 18, radio amateurs worldwide take to the airwaves in celebration of World Amateur Radio Day. It was on this day in 1925 that the International Amateur Radio Union was formed in Paris. Amateur Radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short wave spectrum — far from being a wasteland — could support worldwide propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, Amateur Radio was “in grave danger of being pushed aside,” the IARU’s history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to support Amateur Radio worldwide. Just two years later, at the International Radiotelegraph Conference, Amateur Radio gained the allocations still recognized today — 160, 80, 40, 20, and 10 meters.  Since its founding, the IARU has worked tirelessly to defend and expand the frequency allocations for Amateur Radio. Thanks to the support of enlightened administrations in every part of the globe, radio amateurs are now able to experiment and communicate in frequency bands strategically located throughout the radio spectrum. From the 25 countries that formed the IARU in 1925, the IARU has grown to include 160 member-societies in three regions. IARU Region 1 includes Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Northern Asia. Region 2 covers the Americas, and Region 3 is comprised of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific island nations, and most of Asia. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has recognized the IARU as representing the interests of Amateur Radio. Today, Amateur Radio is more popular than ever, with more than 3,000,000 licensed operators! World Amateur Radio Day is the day when IARU Member-Societies can show our capabilities to the public and enjoy global friendship with other Amateurs worldwide. World Amateur Radio Day 2024 IARU is very pleased to announce the theme of: “A Century of Connections: Celebrating 100 years of Amateur Radio Innovation, Community, and Advocacy”. IARU celebrates its centenary in 2025. Since its founding in Paris, France, IARU has worked tirelessly to promote innovation in amateur radio and to encourage the growth of the service in communities throughout the world. IARU has represented the Amateur Services at international and regional regulatory bodies by relying on our volunteers who come from many countries and communities. IARU has been a sector member of the ITU since 1932 and the work of our volunteers has continued since that date with unmatched success, as was highlighted with the accomplishments at WRC-23. Leading up to our centenary year, we should take time to reflect on the remarkable achievements of radio amateurs over the last 100 years. While the Amateur Services have been in operation for over a century, 1924 was the first year that intercontinental amateur communication became more or less commonplace. Since that time radio amateurs have made unparalleled advances in technology related to the Amateur Services that play a critical role today in sustaining world-wide communications and allow us to respond to global emergencies. World Amateur Radio Day is an opportunity to reflect on our achievements since 1924. We should celebrate our diverse community and the advances and innovations we have made as we look forward to celebrating the IARU centenary next year. Material supplied by : https://www.iaru.org/on-the-air/world-amateur-radio-day/ And.. YouTubers.

4:1 CLUB BALUN After meeting with Richard vk3txd, Richard, presented a new lightweight 100 Watt 4:1 Balun for use with a Off Center Fed Antenna. The club will be selling (Taking orders) for these trick light weight 4:1 Baluns. Club Member Price $65.00 (Payable to the club) ORDERING If you are keen on the new 4:1 Balun for the OCF. Please email the club vk3frcweb@gmail.com Once an order is taken, your OCF will be built with you callsign on the orange faceplate. Delivery time around 3 weeks. (Subject to parts supply) PAYMENT You can either pay at the club rooms or direct deposit via our bank details. NAB, Frankston BSB: 083-253 Acct No: 03-683-3688 When making payment, please make note that is for the Famparc 4:1 Balun. FACEPLATE With your Callsign Printed on the Orange Label. (Below) FROM RICHARD VK3TXD This efficient 4:1 balun handles 100W SSB with ease. It is a 2 core Guanella (current) 4:1 balun ideal for OCF antennas. Soon after I was licensed I settled on the OCF antenna. I built and tested my own 4:1 baluns and used them for years. The box I used was less than great though. Recently at the electronics store I found a much more suitable box then decided to try to fit the balun into it. It has flanges that can be use to suspend it, and has a sealing gasket (I would silastic 3 sides of the box if mounting outside permanently though). I left it outside for 2 weeks, it certainly got some rain and on inspection it was dry inside. After much effort designing and 3D printing a sled to mount to cores onto, I found it made a really nice balun. VNA tests indicate it has around 0.1dB of loss from 160m to 10m into a matched (200 ohm) load. SWR tests with a 200 ohm resistor show it is 1:1 for most of HF, rising slightly at 10m to around 1.2:1, which is pretty good. There are also “balance” tests which shows if it is suitable for use on an OCF (not all baluns pass this test). See this website https://owenduffy.net/blog/?p=17389 – and it passed these with ease. Building The OCF Antenna I decided to cut an 80m antenna as I wanted to do the 80m Thursday night quiz at the high end of 80m. Being an OCF, the 2 arms are of different length. There are many many options – I stuck with the old 1/3 and 2/3 lengths. If you want a 40/20 version then just divide the above lengths by 2. So I used one arm 27m long, the other 13.5m long. This needs pruning, (I’ve not got around to doing that) it is too long being resonant around 3.5mHz rather than a little higher up where I wanted it. The SWR where it is resonant is excellent. I mounted it on a 7m high squid pole (so not very high at all) and near my house which may well have been interacting with the antenna. My MFJ-269 analyzer showed; I was concerned this was too good thinking there was a lot of loss making the SWR better. So I repeated the VNA loss tests, nope, the loss really is very low. On air it worked very well. I put 100W into it, without a tuner, using my FT897D and it was happy. Like I said, it needs some pruning to bring it closer to mid-band. For another day! BUILDING A OCF Our clubs website has a page dedicated to the Off Centre Antenna (OCF) Click Here Comments: I have been using OCF antennas for many years, and also use a 80M OCF antenna at home for many years.. For those that are not sure about the OCF, one main advantage is it's ability to use it as a Multi Band Antenna.. for example a 80M OCF will work on 80M, 40, 20, 15, 10. Very versatile. Cheers. Craig vk3ncr

On the 13th of May 2024 myself, Stan VK3BOT and Craig, VK3NCR propose a radio and camping trip to The Poplars Campground, Loch Valley Rd via Noojee. I am going on the Monday 13th May , returning home on the Saturday. Depending on Weather Conditions! WHEN: (updated new date) 13Th May for a Week Pending Weather WHERE: The Poplars Campground, Loch Valley Rd via Noojee (See Map Here) Click Here for more information on the camp ground. Club Members are invited to join us. The campground is accessible by two wheel drive and can be done on less than a tank of fuel. The campground has drop pit toilets. There is a river running around one side. There are loads of trees to hang antennas from. There is also a gazebo type structure to shelter in. I am taking two radios. I want to put in some learning time on my Icom IC-705 and play with antennas. So, if you would like to play radio, eat bad food, breath campfire smoke and generally have a relaxing good time, please do join us. Make it a day trip or stay as many days as you like. Regards, Stanley J. Mitchell Location Map PHONE RECEPTION: Telstra only and that’s patchy at best. 4G one bar dropping to 3G.

The Islands On The Air program (IOTA) is an amateur radio activity program designed to encourage operations from island locations.  It was created in 1964 by Geoff Watts who was a leading English short wave listener.  It was taken on by the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) in 1985. The team has agreed that if you are located in Oceania, South America, or Africa, we will accept your call at any time, regardless of which specific region we are calling. Dates of operation   14th April 2024 - 21st April 2024. Islands On The Air (IOTA) Flinders Island OC-261 World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) Investigator Important Bird Area VKFF-0175 For more information Click Here Thanks to Roy VK3GB for the information.

Famparc will be holding another Amateur Radio Foundation Course. MAY 2024. (Exact date tbc) Mani (Foundation Course Organiser) has asked me to post that we are expecting to run an Amateur Radio Foundation Course in May. Date to be confirmed. DETAILS: SATURDAY: We expect the course would start 9:30 am thru to around 4pm, with a 30 min break around midday on the Saturday. There would also be small breaks during the day. SUNDAY: Sunday (10:am) would be a revision of the previous day to allow for students to further examine areas of the Foundation Syllabus that may be a little confusing. We expect this to take around 2 hours.. Following the above, the practical and theory exams will then take place. These times may change depending on the students attending the class. Please allow a full day Saturday and most of the Sunday. INTERESTED? If you are interested, the club is seeking numbers to gauge the interests for both courses. WEBPAGE: Please use the Foundation Licence Course page on the Famparc website. Click here. There is a form at the bottom of the page where you can select what Course you are interested in.

It is with great sadness that I announce the recent passing of Mrs Gloria Seabridge, loved and cherished wife of our club member Roy Seabridge. Gloria passed away peacefully on March 17th. This will come to all of us as a great shock, and our hearts and thoughts are with Roy at this time of grief. We wish Roy and the ones close to him the very best during this terrible time.

What a great weekend at the Train and Hobby Show 2024, Sandown Racecourse. Mani 3IR, Craig 3NCR, Robert 3NFL, Ken 3MJF attended the show. From what was seen, the show was a great success for the organisers. The club managed to sell 6 Foundation books, as well as much interest in our hobby and club. The day can be very demanding so I thank all the work and effort that the chaps put in on both the setting up and promoting the club and hobby. Thanks You! A special thanks goes to Robert VK3NFL, for such enthusiasm! Well done Robert! We managed to setup 40M HF, DStar, AllStar and DMR, as well as FM via local repeaters. Saturday we found that HF 40M was ok and managed to make a few contacts, even though our antenna system was very basic. Using Kens 2M/70cm Whip on our Squid Pole, we could access many of the local repeaters. Sunday for HF was terrible because of massive interference from what we believe was generators being used for the car racing. DStar allowed us to demonstrate connections to many countries around the world to the amazement of spectators. All in all a terrific day. Enjoy my video I have put together.. Cheers. Craig vk3ncr

Hello Members, Yep.. this is for you to download, Print & Display... As mentioned at our recent Monthly meeting, a way of getting new members to our club is to promote... We chatted about using a Club Flyer and attaching to your local Supermarket, Sports Hall, or any Community Poster Board in your area. I posted this one this morning at Hastings Pelican Park Recreation Centre. They were more than happy to allow me to place our flyer. This can be done at most if not all Supermarket's etc.. Below is a PDF for you to download, print and display.. Sample of the Flyer. For those of you that are not able to print this file.. Feel free to grab a few of these at the club. It's easy.. we all need to go to the Supermarket! Thanks !!! Craig vk3ncr