NERGNEWS

North East Radio Group IncPO Box 270, Greensborough, VIC 3088

www.nerg.asn.au ABN - 19 340 249 865Incorporated 1985 Victoria Reg No A0006776V

Affiliated with the WIA

WHAT'S ON THIS MONTHMonthly meeting

This month’s NERG Meeting is on at 8PMThursday night, 14th April 2016.

UHF/SHF/EHF evening – PeterVK3QI and Damian VK3KQ will bedescribing and showing their equipmentfor the 3/5/10/24/47 GHz bands. They willalso talk about sourcing bits and pieces.

This looks like being a very interestingevening so if you are interested in thingsmicrowave related come along and find outhow these guys got on the air. Andremember – The Pizzas are back foranother year!

Coffee ClubThursday 26th We have a couple of HF filterkits to build for the VK3CNE station will alsobe discussing the next project – we think thiswill be a remote antenna switch.

Radio Café – Every Thursday afternoonThe VK3CNE station is open to members

and visitors on Thursday afternoons, startingfrom about 2:00pm. If you're interested inhaving a look at various logging programs orwould like to try some of the digital modes orjust work some DX, come along and join in thefun. On meeting nights we will organise asimple dinner so you can have dinner andattend the meeting. Join us and have cuppa, achat and play radio, of course!

A couple of members have used the stationto check out new hardware and also work theVK0EK DXPedition.

April 2016MEETING 7:45 pm Thursday 14th April 2015NERG Lunch group Tuesday 26th April 2016Coffee Club 7:30 pm Thursday 28th April 2016

John Moyle Field Day - 2016

Saturday 19 MarchThe day started 0730hrs Sat morning with 6

starters to battle wind rain and cold, all normalfor Mount Macedon We operated on all bands from 160m to 23cm.Contesting starting at 1330hrs Sat . We had a

couple visitors during the day and an extrahelper on Sunday; many thanks.All bands we slow and not many local

VK3’s,VK2, 5 or 7 ‘s heard.

Sunday 20 MarchMidnight came with drizzle and fog, lights out

and all quite till 0600 Sunday. The morning wascool with no wind and sunshine, more contactswere made.

The Park Ranger called in Sat Morning to sayhello and chat and did the same on Sundaymorning to see if we had won the contest .(HiHi).

The results: Contacts made 186 for a total of1125 points.

Many thanks to all for a great effect and we hada great time and we can improve in the future.All equipment borrowed should have been

returned to their owners; if you still waitingplease let us know and we will rectify thesituation.73

Colin VK3VGB.

NERG NEWS April 2016 Page 1 of 11

Colin VGB & Tony CAB VK3GTS Photo

The Camp VK3GTS Photo

El Presidentee David UQ VK3GTS Photo

Gerhard EWM, David UQ, Ethan, ETC, ColinVGB, Phil GTS & Tony CAB VK3MH Photo

Brendan MH and Phil GTS operating VK3MH Photo

Discounts from Suppliers

Club members can get discounts from twosuppliers:

Altronics. (Australia Wide), Mention you arefrom the North East Radio Group or give ourcustomer no - 64429. Discount will be minus10% up to 45% off depending on the item.(Actual discounts depend on the product typeand quantity purchased). There is No MinimumSpend in store to receive the discount. For on-line or phone Sales there IS a Minimum spend of$25.00 inc GST but NOT including Freight. In thecomments section put “64429” to receive thediscount. http://www.altronics.com.au

Jaycar Electronics stores by mentioning youare from the “North East Radio Group” You needto spend a min $25.00 to receive a 10%discount. http://www.jaycar.com.au/

NERG NEWS April 2016 Page 2 of 11

April 2016PLANNED DXPEDITIONS

Start End Entity Callsign

Mar 23 Apr 07 Palestine E44YL

Mar 23 Apr 10 Heard I VK0EK

Mar 24 Apr 12 Togo 5V7D

Mar 29 Apr 02 Gambia C5WP

Mar 29 Apr 04 Laos XW7FG

Mar 29 Apr 11Juan de Nova & Europa

FT4JA

Mar 29 Apr 22 Barbados 8P6DR

Mar 30 Apr 04 Svalbard JW

Apr 05 Apr 09 Spratly Is TBA

Apr 05 Apr 11 East Timor 4W

Apr 05 Apr 17 Maldives 8Q7NT

Apr 09 Apr 10 Market Reef OJ0W

Apr 09 Apr 16 Guernsey GP4BRS

Apr 11 Apr 24 Guyana 8R1A

Apr 12 Apr 19 Cambodia XU7AKC

Apr 12 Apr 19 Jan Mayen JX9JKA

Apr 12 Apr 22 St Vincent J88PI

Apr 13 Apr 18 Palau T88SM

Apr 13 Apr 19 Botswana A25UK

Apr 13 Apr 19 Cambodia XU7AKC

Apr 14 Apr 26 Trinidad & Tobago 9Y

Apr 15 Apr 18 Liechtenstein HB0

Apr 15 Apr 20 Lord Howe I VK9L

Apr 15 Apr 25 Iran EP2A

Apr 16 Apr 21 Mayotte FH

Apr 16 Apr 24 Turks & Caicos VP5

Apr 17 Apr 30 Maldives 8Q7

Apr 19 Apr 25 Samoa 5W0XG

Apr 19 Apr 29 Spratly Is 9M0S

Apr 21 Apr 25 Corsica TK9C

Apr 21 Apr 28 Georgia 4L9PL

Apr 23 Apr 30 Jersey MJ0KUC

Apr 23 May02 Norfolk I VK9NU

Apr 24 May03 Belize V31OK

Apr 24 May10 South Cook Is E51DLD

Apr 26 May06 Ogasawara JD1BOI

Apr 27 May06 Ogasawara JD1BMH

Apr 28 May01 Bahrain A91HI

Thanks to http://www.ng3k.com/misc/adxo.html

Kingman Reef (KH5) Deleted

From the ARRL news The ARRL Awards Committee has voted to delete Kingman Reef (KH5) from the DXCC List, effective March 29, 2016. Kingman Reef will be added to the Deleted Entities List on March 29, 2016. The total number of entities on the List will drop from 340 to 339.

CONTESTS

POISSON D’AVRIL CONTEST 2016On Apr 1, 2016, at 10:04 AM, Doug Grant <dougk1dg@gmail.com> wrote:

MAJOR CHANGES COMING TO POISSON D’AVRIL CONTEST

New overlay categories added, log-checking technologyinvestments, and a new award program

The Poisson d’Avril Contest, one of the highlights of the radiosport calendar, will see some major changes for 2016.

Pd’A Headquarters recently installed a state-of-the-art liquid-nitrogen-cooled server farm and multi-core quantum computers located on a small island off the coast of Maine and a network of real-time SDR receivers scattered around the world with dedicated fiber-optic communication links. Software algorithms provided by Google and the NSA have been enhanced to provide the adjudicators with the tools they need to enforce the rules.

The system is able to track every QSO from every entrant’s log in real-time and correlate the data to the

NERG NEWS April 2016 Page 3 of 11

on-air signals. The system was tested during the VK0EK expedition, where it was actually able to detect QSOs before they happened. The system should provide incontrovertible evidence in most cases of cheating, thereby avoiding the inevitable protests, thousands of individual and class-action lawsuits, and actual name-calling on the CQ-Contest reflector.

Since a few cheaters may still go undetected by the system, the Pd’A is adding new overlay categories to allow entrants to declare their transgressions and savethe Committee time in the DQ process.

They are:

1. Single-operator Overlays:

a) <OVERLAY-CHEATER-EXCESSIVE POWER>

b) <OVERLAY-CHEATER-USED DX CLUSTER AND DID NOT CLAIM>

c) <OVERLAY-CHEATER-USED REMOTE RECEIVERS>

d) <OVERLAY-CHEATER-MULTIOPERATOR>

e) <OVERLAY-CHEATER-ADDED QSOS I DID NOT MAKE>

f) <OVERLAY-CHEATER-I’M NOT TELLING WHAT I DID SEE IF YOU CAN FIND IT>

2. Multi-operator Overlays:

a) <OVERLAY-CHEATER-LOTS AND LOTS OF POWER>

b) <OVERLAY-CHEATER-RUBBER CLOCKING MULTI SINGLE>

c) <OVERLAY-CHEATER-NON-INTERLOCKED INBAND>

d) <OVERLAY-CHEATER-MANY TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER SITES>

According to Pd’A Chairman Doug Grant, K1DG, “While these new technologies and overlay categories should make the adjudication easier for our staff, the scores really don’t matter because I always win and I’m not cheating. I am too busy to operate this year, butI suspect my score from a previous year will be grandfathered in. That’s just the way it is. Have a nice day.”

In a related action, the Pd’A Committee announced that it will no longer be printing and mailing certificates for the event. “Since most major contest sponsors have adopted the downloadable certificate model, we’llgo along with the trend. But we’re taking it one step further. We will be auctioning off our leftover inventory of blank certificates on eBay so you can print your certificate on genuine Pd’A certificate stock, which comes 500 sheets to a roll. Proceeds from the sales

will be donated to the Save Kingman Reef Fund and sponsoring a Youth Team at WRTC2018 (both competitors under 60 years of age) ”.

JIDX CW Contest0700Z, Apr 9 to 1300Z, Apr 10

PODXS 070 Club PSK 31 Flavors Contest

1000Z, Apr 9 to 0400Z, Apr 10

QRP ARCI Spring QSO Party

1200Z, Apr 9 to 2359Z, Apr 10

Yuri Gagarin International DX Contest

2100Z, Apr 9 to 2100Z, Apr 10

International Vintage Contest HF

1200Z-1800Z, Apr 10

Holyland DX Contest2100Z, Apr 15 to 2100Z,Apr 16

ES Open HF Championship

0500Z-0559Z, Apr 16 and 0600Z-0659Z, Apr 16 and 0700Z-0759Z, Apr 16 and 0800Z-0859Z, Apr 16

Worked All Provinces of China DX Contest

0600Z, Apr 16 to 0559Z,Apr 17

YU DX Contest2100Z, Apr 16 to 0500Z,Apr 17 and 0900Z-1700Z, Apr 17

WAB 3.5/7/14 MHz Data Modes

1200Z-1400Z, Apr 17 and 1800Z-2000Z, Apr 17

10-10 Int. Spring Contest, Digital

0001Z, Apr 23 to 2359Z,Apr 24

SP DX RTTY Contest1200Z, Apr 23 to 1200Z,Apr 24

Helvetia Contest1300Z, Apr 23 to 1259Z,Apr 24

BARTG Sprint 75 1700Z-2100Z, Apr 24

Russian WW MultiMode Contest

1200Z, Apr 30 to 1159Z,May 1

Many thanks tohttp://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/contestcal.html

NERG NEWS April 2016 Page 4 of 11

An EFHW for QRPPortable

By Paul McMahon VK3DIP

On the lookout for a simple portable antennafor HF use I came across an article in February2016 Radcom (the RSGB equivalent ofAmateur Radio Magazine) by PA1ZP in whichhe described a multiband end fed half waveantenna that sounded just what I was after.

The idea of feeding a half-wave antenna at oneend rather than in the middle is not new, in factit probably predates the now much morecommon centre feeding arrangement. Themost common examples of it today areprobably the 2M or otherwise J Pole. The basicidea is that because it is a half wave you don’tneed to worry about having a ground plane, orlarge mat of radials to get high efficiency. Thereis some debate about exactly how groundindependent the end fed half wave (or EFHWfor short) really is but there is no question thatthe idea works reasonably well.

The main requirement for end feeding ormatching to a half wave is to have somethingthat goes from the lower impedance ofsomething like coax to the nominally very highimpedance on the end of a resonant half-wave.Typically, something like a parallel resonantcircuit is used to provide the high impedance,tapped at some point near the earth end for thelow impedance input. This could be a one turncoil like the classic ringo ranger, or the quarter-wave stub of a J Pole. The problem with thissort of match however is that it really onlyworks at one frequency, so difficult to get amultiband thing going.

The idea shown by PA1ZP (which looks like itwas borrowed from a commercial design) is touse a broadband transformer rather than atuned circuit. Basically the impedance ratio of atransformer equals the turns ratio squared sothat a transformer with a 1:2 turns ratioprovides a 1:4 impedance ratio, which in this1:4 case would equate to 50Ω in giving 4x50 or200Ω out. Now the impedance at the end of a

resonant half wave is much higher than 200Ω sowe need more than a 1:2 turns ratio. Whilethere is considerable variance betweenmodelling results for half waves depending onsurrounds, wire thickness etc. typical resultscome out between about 1.5KΩ to 6KΩ.Shooting for about the geometric midpoint ofthis range gives a target of about 3KΩ, which isnear enough to 3.2KΩ which we can get from50Ω with a 1:64 impedance ratio which worksout nicely to a 1:8 turns ratio. Strangely enoughthat is the ratio (strictly 2:16 but that is the sameas 1:8) that PA1ZP specifies.

The PA1ZP setup is diagrammed in Figure 1. Hedescribes two antennas (both using the sametransformer) a 3 band (40m, 20m, and 10m) 12-Metre-long version and a 5 band (80m, 40m,20m, 15m, 10m) 23-Metre-long one. In my caseI had a 10m squid pole which I figured couldprovide an antenna support with the 12Metre bitof wire draped off it, but the thought of having toget 23Metres of wire in the air without a friendlytree put me off going for the 5 band version, atleast strait away. I will however build one ofthese at a later date as it only requires a bitmore wire and another loading coil.

Figure 1- PA1ZP EFHW

The 150pF capacitor on the input side of thetransformer is to optimise its frequencyresponse at the upper end of the HF range ie. at10m. The radiator lengths are only shown asapproximate as they depend very much onexactly what size wire, with what sort ofcovering you end up using. Thicker wire withmore plastic covering will be shorter, cleanthinner wire will end up longer. The basic idea isthat the coil acts as a loading coil for an offcentre loaded half wave for 40m (3 Band) and80m (5 Band), and as a choke for the higherfrequencies, basically isolating the top sectionfrom the lower one. With the top section isolated

NERG NEWS April 2016 Page 5 of 11

the longer wire below the loading coil isbasically a half wave at 20m in the 3 band caseand 40m in the 5 band case. This half wave atsay 20m acts as a full wave at 10m (3 Bandcase) to give the third band with a similarharmonic setup in the 5 band case.

In my case I made the 35uH coil using a100mm section of 22mm outer diameter whiteplastic plumbing pipe, with 67 turns of 0.75mmdiameter enamelled copper wire close woundover a 50mm section of the pipe. There are alarge number of different combinations of turns,wire diameter, former diameter etc. that youcould use to make 35uH. I used what Ihappened to have to hand, and an onlineinductance calculator to come up with thesevalues. As far as I can see what you use forthis shouldn’t make too much difference. Ifound one example on line where he had useda moulded (i.e. thing that looks like a resistor)35uH choke, with very fine wire and thetransformer using a small T50-43 core built intoa PL259 outer! And he seemed to think itworked fine. Obviously the smaller core wouldonly deal with lower powers, he claimed acouple of watts, versus the 50 Watts claimedby PA1ZP for the FT140-43 core.

Figure 2- 3Band Loading Coil

As you can see in Figure 2 I finished the coil offby poking the wire ends through a couple ofholes drilled in the pipe, and attaching themwith solder lugs to a couple of brass bolts thatalso serve to connect the radiator wires.

In my case I just used some standard plasticcovered hook-up wire bought in a tangled lumpat a hamfest for the radiators.

The building of the transformer took the mosttime. As you can see in Figure 3 I used a smallwhite water resistant housing similar to a JaycarHB-6212 with screw banana connectors for theantenna wire and earth connections, and a BNCsocket for the coax.

Figure 3 - Transformer box

The toroid is wound as shown in Figure 4. Thefirst two turns in common between the primaryand secondary are bi-filar wound to ensure goodcoupling (fancy term for twisted together), andafter the first seven turns after the common firsttwo, the winding crosses to the opposite side ofthe toroid for the final seven turns. This is just sothat the end of the windings comes out on thediagonally opposite side of the core to thecommon start of the windings. If you didn’t do itthis way, and you wound the turns evenlyspaced around the core, the start would end upnext to the finish. Apart from making it harder tofit into the box, this would also place the start(earth) in close proximity to the high voltage end(antenna) with possible arcing resulting.

NERG NEWS April 2016 Page 6 of 11

Figure 4- Toroid windings

The inside of the box can be seen in Figure 5.At this point the windings of the toroid havebeen soldered to the various connectors, andthe toroid secured to the box with a liberalamount of hot melt glue. The capacitor had notbeen mounted yet but you can see where itgoes between the BNC inner and commonearth point.

Figure 5- Inside box before capacitor

You would see I labelled this earth connectoron the outside of the box as “counterpoise”which is just another of those posh antennaterms, in this case just meaning “not very good

earth”. In my case the counterpoise is about 1metre of wire ending in a three-inch nail used asa mini stake to hold the whole assembledantenna in place when erected.

Tune up of the 3 band antenna was a breeze. Ithrew some rope over a tree branch in thebackyard and worked out a simple pulleysystem to lower and raise the antenna as Ichopped off bits. As per the theory above, thefirst step was to adjust the longer section forresonance at in this case 20m (14.1MHz). Asexpected changing the length of the longersection only had a very small effect on the 40mresonance. It did effect the 10m one but I foundthat in my case getting the 20m point spot onresulted in an acceptable 10m frequency. Once20m was correct, the shorter wire length abovethe coil was adjusted for the correct 40mfrequency, and again as expected thisadjustment had virtually no effect on the 20mand 10m resonances.

The end results are shown in the followingReturn Loss plots which translate to very goodVSWR across each of the three bands. I mustadmit that these are taken at the end of 10meters of RG174 coax, so the losses in thecoax may be making these look better than theyare, but as this is how I intend to use theantenna I think that is fair.

73 Paul VK3DIP.

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Remote Station

Remember this is now available to members,you will need:

• An Advanced or Standard Licence. (Foundation Licensees can receive only.)

• A windows computer with sound card connected to a speaker and a microphone. A PC headset is ideal.

• OR an android tablet or phone and are prepared to pay for the app (less than $20)

• Download the client from RemoteHams.com install it on your machine and register with RemoteHams.com using your callsign

• The NERG station is currently known as “VK3GG test” Connect to it and request “club” membership and TX capability. Then wait until your membership is approved and away you go!

• Transmit Usage privileges will only be available to financial NERG members with VK callsigns.

EDITORIAL

This has been a great month for DX operatorswith the Heard Island DXPedition getting on theair and a number of club members getting inthe log. Then there were DXPeditions to anumber of spots including Palestine, TheGambia, Svalbard, El Salvador, French Guianaand Juan de Nova. Heard and Jan de Novawill be on the air till next weekend.

The NERG dispatched a team to MountMacedon for the John Moyle Memorial FieldDay and there is a report in this issue. Thanks

to Ethan for organising this and to Colin forcollating the report.

Radio Café is stumbling along, so if you wouldlike to operate a bit on HF or would like to try outsome new modes or see what it's like to have areasonable HF antenna then come along on aThursday afternoon and have a play with theNERG station. There will be someone there till8:00pm each Thursday for the next couple ofmonths and if you let Greg know you are cominghe will make sure you get fed if you comearound dinner time. You will be thrown outaround 8:00 pm as that's when the classes ormeetings start!!

Prolific Paul VK3DIP has provided anotherinteresting article, this time on portableantennas, thanks again Paul, Great job.

73 Greg VK3VT

Margherita Pizza ph 9434 4980

89 Main Road, Lower Plenty, Vic 3093web www.margherita.com.au

Margherita's Still Sponsor the NERG andprovide the excellent suppers that we havecome to enjoy. Order your next Pizza dinnerfrom them and tell them you appreciate theirsupport of the club.

NERG NEWS ARTICLESThe NERG is always happy to receive news,

articles, and member’s wanted or for saleadvertisements for inclusion in the newsletter.Please contact the editor at news{at}nerg.asn.au

THE NERGThe NERG Inc. Reg No A0006776V

http://nerg.asn.au The North East Radio Group,

NERG NEWS April 2016 Page 10 of 11

Inc. is an amateur radio club devoted toencouraging members and others to enjoy thehobby of amateur radio. It tries not to hang onceremony and endless reporting but ratherparticipate in the fun aspects of this fascinatinghobby.

WEB SITESThe NERG is on Facebook – A group has

been established and can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/nergamateur/Members are encouraged to join this group

WEB Sites: http:// www. nerg.asn.au andhttp://www.qsl.net/vk3rmh

MEMBERSHIP FEES (due in August): Full: $30 Family: $40

Concession: $20 Send to: NERG Treasurer,PO box 270, Greensborough, Vic., 3088

COMMITTEEPresident David VK3UQ

Vice President Greg VK3VT

Secretary John VK3XD

Treasurer Margie VK3VOJ

Committee Members

Chris VK3AOF

Chris VK3AWG

Matthew VK3BKT

Grant VK3GWS

Ethan VK3ETC

Mark VK3BYY

Colin VK3VGB

Peter VK3DU

Don VK3KDT

MEETINGSMain Meeting: 2nd Thursday of each month at

7.45 PM (not Dec & Jan) Coffee Shop nights:4th Thursday each month. Briar Hill CommunityHall, 126 Mountain View Road, Briar Hill (NearSherbourne Road intersection) Melway map ref21-C3

NETSNERG NETS run on 146.575 MHz FM Simplex

(8.30 – 9.30 pm Thursdays). Please join thediscussions. Also used as a general Netfrequency.

NERG NEWS April 2016 Page 11 of 11