FAMPARC Search

What did you do today ?? Again Famparc is out and about playing and testing.. Daryl vk3hbp Ken vk3mjf Craig vk3ncr Ken came over to Craig's place and we set over to meet with Daryl at a POTA Reserve, Nyora Nature Conservation Reserve AU-0289. In between Nyora and Poowong.. we have worked this park before and although small it has a great take off back to Melbourne.. Nyora Nature Conservation Reserve  AU-0289 Craig managed around 30 stations from vk1, vk2, vk3, vk5, vk7. Using his IC-705 with the Famparc 40M Endfed antenna. Daryl, also managed to contact club members on our club repeater... The club repeater is turning out to be an absolute treat for club members and is getting plenty of use. The POTA contacts were non stop.. who says the bands are dead are simply not using their microphones!!! We were all amazed the amount of contacts pilling up one after another. And all with 10 watts. From there we headed to the for a drink and excellent lunch.. Sorry no pics of the POTA site.. just too busy working stations. And of course we then decided to had to another great radio spot, just out of the tiny town of Loch. This was about a 10 min drive from Poowong.. Did I say how good the weather was !! Pefect! Loch for a Coffee and Cake.. After that a quick drive to another brilliant lookout.. Not a workable POTA park, but still great fun to again play more radio.. Much better than sitting at home watching Netflix! Ken vk3mjf Cape Horn Lookout 220 meters above sea level. We had a heap of fun here.. I worked North Cairns on 20Mtrs... Mobile. And then with Daryl's 2M Beam setup we work the Famparc Repeater with full quieting.. Height is Might! So while we have a few regular members on the air, we then tried SSB, FM, DV (Digital Voice / DStar) Simplex . Cape Horn Lookout Loch All signals and contacts were excellent.. with some members trying modes for the first time. Members Worked: Jerry vk3vce Stanley vk3bot Mick vk3vh Terry vk3bmx Our club vk3ruv repeater is amazing and is a great place for members to congregate. The Digital Voice mode was amazing with absolute no noise and crystal clear. How this for a take off point for radio. So overall.. the clubs Repeater is getting a great workout, plus a few of us used such a wonderful day to get out and play radio.. Perfect for IC-705. Chat soon. Craig vk3ncr

Victorian Senior Card holders can enjoy Victoria with 8 days of free public transport from 5 to 12 October 2025. Free public transport is available to all Victorian Senior Card holders. Jump on public transport for free to visit attractions across Melbourne as well as regional and rural locations. Victorian seniors are also getting cheaper public transport from next year. From 1 January 2026, Victorian seniors myki holders will be able to travel for free on all public transport, every weekend. More Details Here.. Don't forget to take your Radio with you.. Hey it's in the Famparc Calendar.

One of our active members recently purchased a 2mtr Diamond Beam. Daryl vk3hbp is the proud owner, and recently displayed at the club rooms.. We found the antenna to be of very good quality and after some recent testing at a local park, it certainly proved itself, with excellent back to front, and signal enhancement. Our testing showed a vast improvement over an omnidirectional vertical, with increased signal to and from the location back to our club repeater. Our thanks to Daryl for sharing this information with us. You can see some images and video from a recent blog post here . A144S5 Base Station Yagi Beam A144S5 Base Station Yagi Beam 2m five element Yagi style antenna great for high gain directional signal. You can purchase from Elite Communications Qld

For many Famparc members that are lucky enough to own a Icom IC-705. There has been a Firmware update. Download Type Firmware Model name IC-705 Version Version 1.40 Update 2025/08/21 Major changes Changes from Version 1.32 -Improved the importing repeater list.    Supported importing repeater list while retaining the existing order. -Added the ability to select other near repeaters using the dial after entering an access repeater using the Near Repeater Search function on the DR screen. -Improved the Share Pictures function.  -Added the percentage display for the picture data received.  -Added the visibility of the received block.  -Improved so that a beep sounds after finishing the transmission using the DV Fast Data function. -Added an option for the Digital Repeater Set function. -Changed the display unit “m” from less than 1 km to less than 10 km on screens that display distance, such as the GPS position screen. -Supported for microSDXC cards up to 256GB   Formatting on the transceiver is required. TAKE CARE ! Updating your radio is very easy, but... you can damage or brick your radio if you do not follow the procedures as noted on the Icom Firmware page. The writer nor Famparc take any responsibility.. if you are not confident, do not do it. Click Here for the Icom IC-705 Firmware page... Take note of all instructions etc.. Check that the link above is correct for your radio! I updated my IC-705 which took around 5 mins. Thanks to Phillip VK3LRO for this information and notifying me.

For many Famparc members that are lucky enough to own a Icom IC-9700. There has been a Firmware update. Download Type Firmware Model name IC-9700 Version Version 1.50 Update 2025/08/21 Major changes Changes from Version 1.44 - Improved the importing repeater list.   Supported importing repeater list while retaining the existing order. - Added the ability to select other near repeaters using the dial after entering an access repeater using the Near Repeater Search function on the DR screen. - Improved the Share Pictures function.   - Added the percentage display for the picture data received.   - Added the visibility of the received block.   - Improved so that a beep sounds after finishing the transmission using the DV Fast Data function. - Added an option for the Digital Repeater Set function. - Supported for SDXC cards up to 256GB    Formatting on the transceiver is required. TAKE CARE ! Updating your radio is very easy, but... you can damage or brick your radio if you do not follow the procedures as noted on the Icom Firmware page. The writer nor Famparc take any responsibility.. if you are not confident, do not do it. Click Here for the Icom IC-9700 Firmware page.. . Take note of all instructions etc.. Check that the link above is correct for your radio!

Another great turn out at our monthly Coffee and Cake Morning at the Roundabout Cafe South Frankston. During the catch up, a handful of us decided to play some radio and test out Daryl's vk3hbp new 2M Beam. So around midday after much coffee and cake, a few went that way and a few went the other way.. So myself, Craig vk3ncr, Stanley vk3bot, Daryl vk3hbp and Greg vk3qsl headed back to my qth in Somerville for some more coffee and to some testing in my backyard with Daryl's 2M Beam. And with the help from Colin vk3cr, via the repeater we found that the beam was a great success. After some testing and chatting, and more cofee... We all decided to head to the Devil Bend Reservoir Park. Again we setup using one of the carpark bollards using Daryl's amazing and very well built 5Mtr alloy mast, with the beam above.. same setup as at my home. And with the help of Colin and Ken vk3mjf, we were very pleased with the outcome, finding far superior than a simple vertical or mobile whip. Devil Bend Reservoir Park Devil Bend Reservoir Park. A few snacks for the boys.. Greg and Daryl deploying the antenna. Daryl vk3hbp Another great asset to the club is the AllStar Node, we could also use an iPhone App to chat via the clubs Repeater vk3ruv, which makes the whole system very versatile. I also had my own Home Node running and after retuning the IC705 to my home simplex frequency, we could also contact the club repeater using the 705 via my home FT7800 on 2Mtrs.. After confirming that the beam worked a treat, I then instructed my home AllStar node to switch the Allstar UKHub network.. Using the 705 via the beam, into my home node, we then spoke to a chap mobile on his way to work from the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man, although part of the British Islands, is not part of the United Kingdom. The Island is a territory for whose international relations the United Kingdom is responsible in international law. Other contacts made via Craig's Mobile 20Mtrs setup, Cairns and New Zealand, as well as 40Mtrs using Stanley's Mobile setup. All in all a very very pleasant and fun day had by the members at FAMPARC. Both at the Coffee and Cake Morning followed some radio play. The Devil Bend Reservoir is an excellent place to test and play radio.. As you can see by the videos there are plenty of tree's tables as well a toilet and parking. However... I would not suggest doing it over a weekend.. You just cant move there. Thanks for all invlolved today... We all had a great time... And it's great for one's mental health. Cheers. Craig vk3ncr

With our new Famparc Repeater now officially on the air, you may want to think about purchasing a new Mobile Rig for your vehicle or shack. Icom ID-5100 2M/70cm & DStar Transceiver The club is a good start to look for a pre-loved FM Rigs for either car or home use, as the club often has them for sale from owners that have no need for them or perhaps from a deceased estate, however if you looking for a new rig, listed below are a good selection from the trusted brand Icom.. Note: Famparc is not affiliated with the sellers listed below and does not earn any profit from sales. This is merely an effort by the club to help facilitate the purchase of a Transceiver for connecting to the club repeater. Our club's repeater functions solely on the 2M band, allowing you to use a Mono Band Rig. However, given our location near Melbourne, which provides access to a wide range of both 2M and 70CM repeaters, you might want to consider buying a Dual Band Rig. Below are screen products from: Click on the image to visit the site. Note: Specification & Prices are subject to change, please check with the dealer before purchasing. Graham & Amy Brennan from G&C Communications will offer a discount if you mention the Famparc Club, the discount varies from radio to radio. Dual Band (2M / 70CM) ID-5100A Dual-band radio with DStar. The IC7100 has 2M/70CM and 6M and HF and DStar You have to check out the price on this one!! It's a bargain.. IC-2730A This is a brand new version just out from Icom. IC-2730B MONO Band (2M) An excellent budget entry level rig for 2M only. IC-V3500 2M FM Now that we have our new repeater, pick up a new rig and join the local conversation with fellow Famparc members. Remember, our weekly Tuesday Famparc Net takes place via our new repeater. So, get your gear and start chatting. Want to see other brands? Drop a comment below.

REMINDER! VERY IMPORTANT!! Thanks to John VK3JDD who brought this to my attention. Rather than try and explain this on this blog, Hayden VK7HH has done a video. In brief, if you do not setup an account with the ACMA Assist portal and do not Reconfirm your Amateur Radio callsign/license, after five years, your callsign will be surrender AUTOMATICALLY. ACMA ASSIST PORTAL HERE. I advise you to watch this video, and !! setup an account via the ACMA ASSIST PORTAL , and reconfirm your callsign. I have completed all of this and reconfirmed my callsign, which now needs to be done again in April 2030. Thanks to online calendars and reminders, my Apple Calendar will notify me in early April 2030 to reconfirm my callsign. So, start this now. If you haven't done it yet, you have 4 years to complete it. A big shoutout to Hayden for making this video! Craig, vk3ncr

Hello Members, On my 2025 Wish List is a club Repeater, and now it's here... There's still a lot of work to be done. Note: This is a year long project to learn and have this repeater running for our club. UPDATE 3RD JAN 2025 Today (Friday, January 3rd, 2025), a group of us went to the Moorabbin Club to pick up our Club Repeater and Cavities. We are thrilled to implement our own club Repeater, which is a fantastic project for everyone to learn not only how a repeater functions but also how it is assembled. A few items that are required are: Power Supply (Done - Sort of) Power Supply Cable (Done) Programming Cable (Done) I believe we have other required components at the club: Coax and Coax Connectors, Antenna. I will utilize this blog page to showcase the build project. Club Repeater Donated by Moorabbin & District Radio Club Inc Club 2Mtr Cavities / Duplexers More fun to come... Cheers.... Craig vk3ncr THANK YOU! On behalf of Famparc and its numerous members, I would like to express gratitude to the Moorabbin & District Radio Club Inc for their generous donation of the aforementioned hardware. https://mdrc.org.au UPDATE 6TH JAN 2025 After collecting the hardware, I dropped it off at the club rooms on Saturday 4th Jan 2025. Everyone looked to be very impressed by the hardware and are excited in this new club project. A while back I managed to find and download many PDF for the MX800 Repeater, as well as the Windows Software to program it. With the amazing knowledge of Rakshit VK3DHR, he managed to get the software running on a PC at the club rooms. On Saturday I emailed to companies that I understand offer asssitance and parts for the repeater. I sent a request for the Power Cable, as it is quite unique. I will also make enquires for the programming cable. That's about it at the moment. Issues we face: Most of us within the club have either none or little experience in setting up a VHF Repeater, that includes me. Issues : Procurer Power Cable (DONE) Procure or make Comms Cable to communicate with Repeater to setup. (DONE) Setup Repeater (DONE - SORT OF) Find a suitable set of frequencies Re-Tune Cavities once we work out how to setup Repeater Looking for a clear Duplex Repeater Frequency. The one I looked at was 147.950/147.350, however I was told by Ken from Moorabbin Club that these frequencies are close to 500 watt Pages which are near by. The Cavities that we have, have been tuned for the Moorabbin Clubs own local repeater. The new frequencies I am looking at are: 147.275 147.875 Which is used by Repeater VK3RMP Caveat North Central Vic. If we find these frequencies perhaps suitable, we then need to setup the Repeater, and also get the Cavity Filters tuned for those frequencies. Summary : Find a suitable Frequencies. UPDATE 7TH JAN 2025 I have received a quote for the Power Cable and Comms Cable and requested a invoice so we can pay for the items. The quote was approved by the Committee. The supplier is Spectra Engineering WA. I am researching available and perhaps potential Frequencies for our Repeater. So far... 146.875 146.275 No go! 146.775 146.175 Possibility 147.025 147.625 147.200 147.800 147.275 147.875 If you would like to suggest a frequency, or check the above, feel free.. Please Post below. UPDATE 10TH JAN 2025 The Repeater Power and Serial Comms Cable have arrived.. We will begin doing to testing on Saturday 11th Jan. Look out! there could be blue smoke escaping LOL UPDATE 11TH JAN 2025 A fun morning at the club rooms with both Colin and myself learning and playing around with the Repeater. Now that we have the new Power Cable and Serial Comms Cable, we plug it into power and to our surprise it fired up. I then installed the programming software on our old PC near the fridge, and managed to get the software to talk to the repeater. After a while searching for a password so we could properly log into the repeater, Rakshit turned up and got stuck in to getting the software to adjust frequencies etc. After lots of fun and learning, we managed to use our radios to test the operation of the repeater and to our relief it looks to be working ok. Lots more steps to go yet. Colin was also playing around with the cavities. These will need to be changed to another frequency group. I think the next step is to connect the repeater to the Cavities and continue testing and learning. UPDATE 15TH JAN 2025 During the Wednesday at the club rooms, I managed to find some cables and connectors to be able to connect the Cavities to the Repeater unit, After some frustration trying to find the parts, I connected the Cavities to the Repeater and Cavities to the Diamond X200 Antenna above the front door of the club. Did some testing using my hand held.. So far looks to be working fine. Rakshit did do an amazing job of programming the repeater last Saturday which not only included setting frequencies of the Repeater for the Cavities frequencies, but also setting the power output, 91.5 Hz CTCSS, and to my surprise the Repeater Ident. The next step is to make or procure some better coax patch leads between the Repeater, Cavities and Antenna. I believe based on the sockets on both the Repeater and Cavities, this is what leads we require. After further research concerning Coax, I received this reply from a fellow Repeater Builders. Update Concerning what Coax to use: "As the author of the Repeater Builder website - please don't use RG213, RG58 or LMR type cables in duplex service.  Use double-shielded - silver plated cables everywhere possible.  RG214, RG400, and RG142 are excellent choices.  Please don't be tempted to use LMR400 or similar tinned braid over aluminum foil construction cable.  These make noise in duplex service - as in a repeater." Update Concerning Connectors: Rg214 crimp N connectors, be careful with modern T connectors, some of the cheap units have a spring that makes the connection from the leg inner conductor to the cross (top of the T) inner conductor. At 2m and 70cm this spring can act as an inductor, this has been known to cause issues with the tuning of the system. The old T connectors have a straight soldered connection inside! Cheers Stu VK4SDD. Update Concerning Antenna's: Also don't use a dual band antenna, I tried using a diamond as a test antenna for a 2m repeater and the desense was huge, swapping to a 2m only antenna, the desense disappeared. Don't know why there was a problem, did not really want to waste time on it. I found the Diamond F23H Monoband antenna for 2M could be a solution for this. Strictly ham show them on his website. https://www.strictlyham.com.au/diamond-f23h Small update.. After some basic testing and reviewing the many Repeater Frequencies, I think setting the Repeater and Cavities to : 146.775 146.175 As the closest repeater at these freq.s is as above. A good distance away. Of course this all depends on the ACMA. UPDATE 17TH JAN 2025 After much research and help from fellow Famaprc Members, the 3 Repeater to Cavitiy Cables have been ordered from https://www.eyou.com.au These cables are built using RG400 Coax which was suggested as above. I could not get a cable made with N Type to SO239, so we need a Gender Changer which will be for the cable that connects the Cavity to Antenna. A Website for working out Line of Site for RF Propagation. RF Line-of-Sight The RF Line-of-Sight tool allows users to easily drag-and-drop locations and obtain point-to-point line-of-sight information anywhere using Google Maps. This map is useful in planning and troubleshooting cellular networks for IIoT / SCADA monitoring applications . SCADACore’s Industry 4.0 solutions include true 3D HMI / Digital Twin and Web HMI that works over the web. This free online tool takes antenna height and the topographical formations of the earth to calculate the line-of-sight of a radio path. Note that buildings and other obstructions is not taken into consideration when calculating line-of-sight using this tool. https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/ UPDATE 20TH JAN 2025 Our ordered Patch leads have arrived as of Monday Morning.. With amazing service from https://www.eyou.com.au I found a brilliant video from W6NBC on Youtube concerning Cavity / Duplex devices for repeaters. John talks about an article that he has produced which I have also created a link below. The Cavity Duplexer Book Anyone interested in our clubs 2M Repeater Project Build, I suggest you watch this excellent video by John W6NBC.. Our thanks to John Portune W6NBC for both the article and video. UPDATE 25TH feb 2025 Our Some of our very clever Famparc Members have been working on the Repeater duing February.. The Repeater itself looks to be working just fine, however we are facing issues with, we believe is the Cavities (Duplexers), having.a high SWR and lack of filtering. We are trying different Antenna' using one for receive and one for transmit to see if this helps.. However if the Cavities are not up to thr task, there are two options, give up on the project, or find another set of more suitable cavities. Perhaps even make some. The Repeater on the test bench and Cavities (Duplexers) connected. The Repeater is currently in test mode operating with very low power and with compromised antenna(s). Set your Radio to Receive on: 146.775 Set your Radio to Transmit on: 146.175 With a CTCSS Tone of 88.5 hz UPDATE 7TH APRIL 2025 It's been a while since an update... Colin vk3cr is the best person to update the project, however at the moment Colin is away so I will put my 5 cents worth. Colin and others have been doing much testing, and to our disappointment the Cavities that came with the Repeater just are not up to the task. Colin did come across a chap in W.A with a setup of Cavities, but after some testing, they were also not up to it. So.. although the repeater is working in test mode and very well I must say, and without any cavities, (Well done Colin).. The receive sensitivity is not the best, so any weak signals into the repeater are being drowned by the repeaters own output. So.. we need a good set of 2M Repeater Cavities (Duplexers).. Paperwork: Ian has the ACMA paperwork in hand working also corresponding with the WIA to procure a Repeater License. UPDATE 20th June 2025 We are all very please to announce that through the amazing help of the many members involved with the club Repeater Project, that it is now licensed and operational. However, due to hard limitation at the moment, the repeater has only very marginal coverage. We are researching more efficient Cavities, and antennas.. Yes we will ned to spend more money on this project.. So if anyone reading this, and know of some 2M Cavities and or Monoband Repeater Antennas etc.. please drop us a email. We are looking at some new 2M Cavities from a company ZCG down Gippsland way. If purchased these Cavity Filters will be tuned to the Repeaters input/output frequencies. However we do need a better array of antenna's. I have also been talking to Greg VK3FG in WA who is a Repeater Technician and has offered to assist with our build. Greg's Handy work.. not bad.. around 5 Repeaters from just a 30 member club. Repeater Details:   VK3RUV (The repeater's callsign dedicated to our late member Bruce VK3UV)   Callsign: VK3RUV: ​ Repeater Receive Freq.: 146.025 Mhz (Set this as your radios Transmit Freq.) ​ Repeater Transmit Freq.: 146.625 Mhz (Set this as your radios receive Freq.) ​ CTCSS Tone: 88.5 hz (This is needed to be able to open the repeater) Club Repeater Page So feel free to contact us via our new Repeater... I'm sure someone from the club will be listening. UPDATE 30th June 2025 We We have excellent progress on our clubs Repeater VK3RUV, with the recent help of both Greg in WA, and Gavin in Tyabb Vic.. As a club we must all thank Gavin and his wonderful help... Gerard dropped off our Cavities last Saturday 28th June, and to our amazement, he managed to re-tune our supplied set and also include more Cavites and Filters to further enhance the filtering. I understand that we now have around 80db of separation between the input and output freq.s. And with all this, he would not accept any payment. So thank you Gavin for your amazing effort. New Updated Cavities installed. Check out these bad boys! UPDATE 17th July 2025 Yes another update... With the addition of the new and additional Cavities, the repeater is working very well using the single Dual Band Temporary Antenna. A big addition is the Repeater being connected to the AllStar Network. The AllStar Node No. is 66111 , so if you have your own node or using an App, you can connect to the node above. This is still in test mode until we receive more hardware. Another recent purchase is our new Mono-band 2M antenna, although not yet connected, we expect it to further improve is footprint. Especially once the antenna is mounted at the top of our Radio Antenna Tower. More to come.. That's it for now.. Cheers.. Craig. vk3ncr Any suggestions please make comment below.

It is with deep regret we notify you all of the passing of one of the legends of Amateur Radio.. Ron Hanel VK3AHR . Ron ran the 7100 Australian Ham Radio Net on 7100 Khz for many years. He was well respected and loved by all. VALE Ron VK3AHR (previously VK3MRH) More details to follow.. Your passing is sadly missed by all. Craig vk3ncr

Call it what you want... Since we now possess our own repeater, let's make use of it. We all know that our regular Famparc Net takes place every Tuesday night at 8pm through the new repeater, VK3RUV. Well... A few of us have been heading down to our Ham Shack each night around 8pm to check who's on the air. This isn't a strict net, so you might not hear anyone, or you might hear a few of us. Go ahead and give it a shot. Turn on your 2Mtr Rig, tune it to VK3RUV, and make a call at 8pm each evening. WHEN: Each Night 8PM WHERE: VK3RUV Club Repeater WHAT: Chat about anything you want to! Clean up ya desk ! FAMPARC 2M CLUB REPEATER ​​​​ Repeater Details:   VK3RUV (The repeater's callsign is dedicated to our late member Bruce VK3UV)   Callsign: VK3RUV ​ Repeater Receive Freq.: 146.025 Mhz (Set this as your radios Transmit Freq.) ​  Repeater Transmit Freq.: 146.625 Mhz (Set this as your radios receive Freq.) ​​ CTCSS Tone: 88.5 hz (This is needed to be able to open the repeater) ​

Following excellent efforts by our club member Rakshit vk3dhr in researching and sourcing a 3D printer for the club, and after a recent club meeting where the decision to proceed with the purchase of a new printer was made. Whoooo Hooooo End result the club purchased a: Bambu Lab P1P 3D Printer Product Features: Set up in 15 minutes High-speed 3D printing with up to 20000 mm/s² acceleration Upgradeable and customizable flexibility Compatible with AMS for multi-color printing State-of-the-art electronics Rakshit had it setup in no time a was printing some simple Amateur Radio projects. We also have an area on our clubs website files area for 3D Printer Projects. Yet to be decided, but any members wishing to print a small project there will be a small $5.00 fee. Many projects files can be download from: https://www.thingiverse.com