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The Newsletter of the Wairarapa Branch of NZART June 14

THE WIRE-WRAPPER

WAIRARAPA BRANCH 46

CALLSIGN

ZL2OA

PRESIDENT Neil Richardson

ZL2UN

EDITOR Paul Greenwood

ZL2GRE

BRANCH NET Mondays

(except 2nd Monday in month)

VHF at 20:00 Masterton 680 (in abeyance)

IRLP

NODE 6910 147.175 R

W A I R A R A P A – B r a n c h 4 6 N Z A R T

Committee Members

David Bray ZL2BA President

Kevin Ormond ZL2ORM Vice President

Neil Richardson ZL2UN IPP

Paul London ZL2BEF Secretary

Edwin O’Hara ZL2AHU Treasurer

David Bray ZL2BA AREC Sect Leader

Jeff Sayer ZL4JS Repeater Trustee

Robin Murray ZL2MUR

Robert Lambert ZL2BFY

Paul Greenwood ZL2GRE Newsletter Editor

MEETINGS – Hood Aerodrome 19:30 2nd Monday in the month

Monday 10 June—Nigel Boniface (ZL2GHS) will give a presentation on his recent trip to Africa.

It is hoped that Peter Munn (ZL2LD) will be at this meeting for the presentation of his honor-ary Life Membership.

Formal Business will be followed by an oppor-tunity for members to get to know the mem-bers of the new committee and to have a gen-eral face to face chin-wag

BRANCH 46 AGM

SYNOPSIS OF PROCEEDINGS

PRESENT:

13 members present – Specifically: David Bray (ZL2BA), Colin Coutts (ZL2FC), Warwick Dean (ZL2WJC), Paul Greenwood (ZL2GRE), Eddie Henrard (ZL2BRM), Robert Lambert (ZL2BFY), Steve Lee (ZL2KE), Paul London (ZL2BEF), Kev-in Ormond (ZL2ORM), Neil Richardson (ZL2UN), Dan Rodda (ZL2BDK), Jeff Sayer (ZL4JS), and Murray Taylor (ZL2MLT).

APOLOGIES:

Received from: Messes Nigel Boniface (ZL2GHS) Jason Christensen (ZL2URN), Dave Clarke (ZL2CLA), Edwin O’Hara (ZL2AHU), Gavin McAnulty (ZL2OP) and Robin Murray (ZL2MUR)

MINUTES:

The Minutes for the AGM held on Monday 13th May 2013 have been circulated so be tak-en as read and confirmed

PRESIDENT’S REPORT:

See below

SUBSCRIPTIONS:

The Treasurer Edwin (ZL2AHU) at the May 2014 Committee meeting asked the Chairman to recommended to members attending the

AGM, that this year’s subscriptions remain the same as last year, Members $20.00 and Stu-dents $10.00.

AREC REPORT:

See below

REPEATER TRUSTEE’S REPORT:

Jeff (ZL4JS) gave a verbal report and spoke about the recent installation of the new 680 repeater, and its subsequent improved perfor-mance. When questioned by Steve (2KE) had the aerials been tested serviceable, Jeff (4JS) confirmed that they had, and both appeared operational, although Jeff noted that further testing was needed to confirm that they were not being desensitized by the recent increase in RF power output now allowed by the co-sited Telepaging systems, i.e. 1Kw.

BEACON COORDINATOR’S REPORT:

See Attached. In a verbal update,

Robert (ZL2BFY) spoke of a new fault that had developed since installing the replace trans-ceiver in early May 2014, where the beacon was locked on to the 21MHz part of the spec-trum. In discussions with Steve Lund (K6UM) of the NCDXF it appears this is a known fault and appears inherent to the TS50. Robert


W A I R A R A P A – B r a n c h 4 6 N Z A R T P a g e 2

(2BFY) was advised this fault is likely to occur once a month, and Steve (K6UM) and his group are currently addressing this issue, and will advise a remedy accordingly. It was also noted that the South African Beacon suffers from the same fault. In the meantime, Colin (2FC) visited our Beacon site and cleared the fault by resetting the TS50 unit, i.e. switching the power supply On/Off.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS:

The outgoing President Neil (2UN) vacated the Chair and invit-ed David (2BA) to oversee the election for the office of Presi-dent. David (2BA) declined, and on the invitation of Paul (2BEF), Colin (2FC) accepted and called for nominations for the position of President. The nomination of Neil (2UN) moved by Robert (2BFY) and seconded by Steve (2KE) was declined. A second nomination was called for and was accepted.

President: David Bray (ZL2BA)

Colin (2FC) vacated the Chair and returned the running of the AGM over to Neil (ZL2UN)

Vice President: Kevin Ormond (ZL2ORM)

Secretary: Paul London (ZL2BEF)

Treasurer: Edwin O’Hara (ZL2AHU)

Reviewer (Accounts): Colin (ZL2FC)

Committee Members: (1) Robin Murray (ZL2MUR)

(2) Paul Greenwood (ZL2GRE) [Accepted the nomination on the un-derstanding he would be vacating the position in December 2014 upon mov-ing to Wanganui]

(3) Robert Lambert (ZL2BFY)

Repeater Trustees: Jeff Sayer (ZL4JS) and David Bray (ZL2BA)

Beacon Coordinator: Robert Lambert (ZL2BFY)

Newsletter Editor: Paul Greenwood (ZL2GRE) [accepted position until December 2014]

Eddie Henrard (ZL2BRM) [accepted position from December 2014 to May 2015]

Call Sign Trustee: Colin Coutts (ZL2FC)

Awards & QSL Manager: Neil Richardson (ZL2UN)

NOTICE OF MOTION:

One notice of motion was tabled by the members of the 2013/2014 Committee to the AGM requesting the members of Branch 46 consider their recommendation to appoint and pre-sent a Life Membership to David Bray (ZL2BA) and Peter Munn (ZL2LD). On a motion put by Robert (ZL2BFY) and seconded by Paul Greenwood (ZL2GRE) “…That David Bray (ZL2BA) and Peter Munn (ZL2LD) be appointed and presented with Life Membership of Branch 46 of NZART Inc….” was Carried (unanimously)

The outgoing President Neil Richardson (ZL2UN) requested

David Bray (ZL2BA) to come forward and was duly presented with the instruments of his Life Membership, i.e. the Branch Badge and certificate.

Peter Munn to be presented his Life Membership at a meeting covenant to himself.

GENERAL BUSINESS:

Appointment of proxy or proxies to representative Branch 64 at NZART 2014 National Conference.

On the motion put by Warwick Dean (ZL2WJC) and seconded by Robert Lambert (ZL2BFY) “ That David Bray (ZL2BA) be Branch 46’s representative at the June 2014 NZART Confer-ence being held in Blenheim...” was Carried

There being no further general business, the outgoing Presi-dent Neil Richard (ZL2UN) thanked those members for their attendance and closed Branch 64’s AGM and invited the AREC Section Leader, David Bray (ZL2BA) to open the AGM of AREC.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

2013 - 2014

Well, another year has come and gone. I wish to thank the Committee for their hard work over the past twelve months.

Once again it has been another busy year, with a large num-ber of AREC events, the AREC section continues to be very active and an integral part of the Branches activities I will leave it to David ZL2BA to elaborate on the activities and to thank those involved.

We hosted and ran a very successful Conference, a big thanks to the Conference Committee and all those that made them-selves available for various tasks leading up to and during the Conference itself. Without your support this event would nev-er have been able to run, let alone successfully. We even managed a small profit, which was fantastic as for a while break-even was looking a long way off.

In late November 2013 our Club’s aerial mast once again suffered wind damage. Through the additional guying, the resulting damage was restricted to the mast’s base section. A working party of club volunteers in February assisted by An-drew Milligan using a Hiab equipped truck on loan from his employer; Terry O’Brian of Wairarapa Scrap Metal Limited replaced the section. It is pleasing to acknowledge the gener-osity shown by our Wairarapa business houses that make their assets freely available in recognition of our voluntary work to the wider community.

The Jock White Field Day once again failed to get off the ground even after a lot of work from Robin ZL2MUR, remem-ber this is your Club, please either support some of these events or let the Committee know what you want or where we are going wrong.

On a positive note the NZ Amateur Radio Day went well spear-headed by Paul ZL2GRE and assisted by Paul ZL2BEF, and I understand they were visited by Robin ZL2MUR and Murray ZL2MLT, as I was unable to attend I apologise if I have missed anybody out.



The NCDXF beacon has been replaced during the year after suffering some problems, my thanks to our beacon trustee Robert ZL2BFY and to those who assisted him.

The 680 repeater has been replaced, after suffering from problems, as this repeater was over thirty years old and a an important repeater for AREC events and with the Wairarapa Rally looming fast and a large section of that to be run in 680’s footprint it was deemed prudent that replacement be effect-ed quickly, this has now happened, thanks to our repeater trustees Jeff ZL4JS and David ZL2BA and helpers. I also wish to acknowledge the generous assistance from the National AREC in meeting half the cost of this repeater.

We have also had to replace the batteries at the Clubrooms after they suffered the same fate.

A Dual Band VHF/UHF Kenwood D700 has been purchased from the estate of our late member Ian Stewart (ZL2TIS) and is now included in the Club’s inventory to complement the ex-isting radio room equipment.

After all these expenses the Branches finances remain in a healthy position, due to Edwin ZL2AHU keeping a tight rein on the purse strings as you will see in his financial report.

We had some very interesting Branch Meeting nights and I would like to thank those that suggested various topics and to those who put their hand up to show case their talents on a particular subject, as I said they have all been very interesting and show we have a lot of talent amongst the Branch mem-bers.

I would like to thank the committee for their input and work over the past year.

Neil Richardson (ZL2UN)

President

AREC SECTION LEADER’S REPORT

2013 - 2014

Another year has passed with a variety of activities.

These included the following:

31/5/2013 - A 22-year old hunter went looking for his dog that he had lost the weekend before around the Jumbo Hut and failed to return that night. After teams were dispatched into the hills, he was located by helicopter safe and well and airlifted out. - (6 hours)

9/6/2013 - Daggs Road. A four-year-old girl who went missing from a farm near Masterton was found by a neighbour just before a large search and rescue team set out to look for her. - (8 Hours)

25/6/2013 - Search for man last seen in the Castlepoint area around Castlerock. Body located by Helicopter next morning once winds had dropped at base of Castlerock. - (3 Hours)

27/7/2013 - Recover Body of 64 year old after he had a heart attack while out hunting on quad bike. - (4·5 Hours)

5/10/2013 - Provided communications for results and safety

messages for the Annual Rally Wairarapa held to the north and east of Masterton with 9 stages. - (111·5 Hours)

6/1/2014 - Search for Swimmer who failed to surface after swimming near popular swimming hole. Body located next day by Police divers. - (3 Hours)

9/1/2014 - Annual Castlepoint Fishing competition held over 2 days. - (51 Hours)

24/1/2014 - Annual Holdsworth-Jumbo Trail race up to Mt Holdsworth across to Jumbo and back out to Holdsworth Lodge. - (129 Hours)

26/1/2014 - Search for 93 Year old female from Met Life Care facility. Last seen at 14·30 hours heading out of property on Zimmer frame. 9 Teams and Helicopter searched through to 01·00 hours, then resumed at 06·00 hours in morning. Miss-ing person located in neighbouring property in back shed, all okay. Resident unaware that she was there. - (19 Hours)

26/1/2014 - Annual Shaft & Wheels Horse & Cart event. - (20 Hours)

7/2/2014 - Provided communications for Annual Superfish held at Castlepoint. No fishing due to bad weather. - (41 Hours)

14/2/2014 - Provided communications for Annual Ngawi Big 3 Fishing Competition. 3 days of fishing. - (146·5 Hours)

8/3/2014 - Annual SAREX held in the Tararua ranges which included marshalling a Mountain run on the Saturday then continued onto Sunday for the SAREX. (Still waiting total hours from those involved)

I have included man hours to show how much time goes into some of these events.

I would like to thank all those people who gave up their valua-ble time to help with these events and look forward to your help in the coming year.

Events still to come this year include the Annual Rally Wairarapa 2014 to be held on the 28th June 2014.

On Sunday the 25th May 2014, there will be a training day at the Solway Showgrounds for those that indicated that they wish to participate in using the tracking gear for the Wandatrak system.

If you would like to get involved with AREC as a base radio operator or going out in the field in a vehicle or into the hills, please let me know as any help would be most grateful.

David Bray ZL2BA/ZK8EJ

AREC Section Leader Branch 46

ZL6B NCDXF INTERNATIONAL BEACON

DX BEACON REPORT

2013 - 2014

I have pleasure in presenting this report to Wairarapa Ama-teur Radio Club Inc.



TOWER STRAIGHTENING

For those who haven’t seen it before here are a couple of pictures of the club antenna tower after the storm earlier this year and then again after it was straightened and re-guyed.

Really just to add a bit of colour to an otherwise informative but pictorially dull newsletter.

This year the Beacon has had a problem. In August Colin ZL2FC forwarded to me an email from NCDXF reporting that the beacon was not sending the full sequence on all bands, a further email from NCDXF suggested some tests to isolate the problem. Colin and myself went to the beacon site and car-ried out the requested tests.

During the testing process I touched the Pinex ceiling above which the Beacon equipment is installed, and to my dismay a hole appeared in the very very wet ceiling. We managed to locate the probable leek in the roof but could not do anything about it at that time, other than informing the property own-er.

The following weekend Warwick ZL2WJC and I again visited the woolshed, to confirm some tests from the previous visit, and replace the damaged ceiling; we also hammered in a nail thought to be the cause of the water leek problem.

After the first visit, I reported to the Tech guy of NCDXF, Steve Lund (K6UM) on the tests we had made. He diagnosed the problem and told us to leave the beacon running as it was better to have it with a fault, rather than not at all. He then proceeded to acquire another TS50 transceiver and carried out a modification to prevent the same problem occurring.

In due course he sent it to me, and Warwick accompanied me to swap the transceivers over on the 12th April.

The unserviceable TS50 beacon has now been returned to NCDXF for them to repair, and retain as a spare.

My thanks to Colin ZL2FC and Warwick ZL2WJC for their assis-tance.

The fault is thought to be a faulty track on the low pass filter board causing fluctuating power output.

An Invoice will be sent to NZART to reimburse Branch 46 for the cost of the TS50’s return freight.

I move the adoption of this report

Robert Lambert (ZL2BFY )

Beacon Trustee

Documents

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