MARCH 2006

SO YOU WANT TO MAKE CONTACT

From the Desk of Terry and Kay

I trust everyone's Christmas was as wonderful as ours - enjoying children, grandchildren, family and friends. Best wishes to you all and I hope the New Year brings you health and happiness.

This will be my last report before the AGM. This year I find myself with many commitments and will not be able to do justice to the position of your "fearless leader" so I will be standing down. The ball is now in your court (i.e all members) to make a contribution to the running of this great club by standing for election. Working on the committee with wonderful people is very enjoyable and, not to mention, rewarding.

Your committee has decided to have a HF Expo (see enclosed brochure) in conjunction with our AGM, to which all radio enthusiasts are invited. This could only be made possible with the sponsorship of the Casino Village and Codan Radios. The seminars will be on Friday and Saturday 21st and 22nd April and will be presented by Codan personnel. We are fortunate to have Peter James from Melbourne lecturing on his newly released Bcon messaging and positioning systems as explained in the newsletter under its own heading.

Codan has offered all those people attending the Expo FREE enabling of the GPS within your radio, which means a saving of $300. This is a very generous offer by Codan and I urge all members to take advantage of this offer.

For all of those who regularly use the sked times, this is old news. However the Broome base is now closed and we have established a new base in WA at Albany at Merv Brough's home. Merv is also an amateur radio enthusiast. Merv is on the WA 5.30 pm sked most nights and is a great help to everyone touring WA. The Albany location is well positioned covering most of the WA, SA and Victoria. Along with the telephone interconnect, we now have an excellent coverage of Australia.

A very special thank you must go to Campbell Cripps-Clark and Wendy who very generously stepped into the breach when both Phil Bell (Secretary) and Kim greenwood (Treasurer) were unable to continue in their positions. Campbell is largely responsible for the healthy position we are in now and we are very much indebted to him for his dedication to the Club.

I take this opportunity to thank all the members who over the last three years have taken positions on the Committee to make this club what it is today - strong, financially sound and with a great social atmosphere. A big thank you must also go to the number of people who have assisted the committee in many ways, eg printing and collating the newsletter, catering for our functions, organising raffles and other money making functions.

Whoever takes over from me will inherit a smooth running and stable club held in the highest respect by industries at large. Although I will be stepping down from the committee, I will be helping with the production of the newsletter and other special project and enjoying the ongoing friendships for the years ahead. Many thanks again everyone for your help.

Keep it turned on.

Terry and Kay.

Codan celebrates 50,000 units of world best antenna

Adelaide, SA, January 16, 2005. Codan Limited, an international leader in supplying sophisticated remote area communications equipment, built its 50,000 th 9350 High Frequency (HF) Radio mobile antenna on January 16, 2006. "This is a special milestone for Codan. Our 9350 antenna is one of the key products in our line of communications equipment and is widely regarded as being the most reliable HF mobile antenna for our market segment globally," said Mike Heard, Managing Director.

Codan's 9350 antenna was released in the '90's and is used for long distance mobile communication from vehicles and boats.

"The antenna is a vital part of a HF Radio station, because it determines whether successful communications can be established," said Mr Heard. "It doesn't matter how good the radio is, without a robust antenna communication will not be achieved."

Since its release, the 9350 antenna has been sold to over 150 countries and is internationally acclaimed for its quality and reliability. The largest users of 9350 antennas include aid and humanitarian organisations, notably major UN agencies and the Red Cross. "The 9350 is so successful because of its robust design and ability to withstand the toughest environments. Its main section is constructed of fibreglass and reinforced nylon mounted on an anti-vibration base."

In Australia recreational four wheel drivers, government and emergency services all use 9350 antennas for their HF communications. "As a testament to the durability of Codan's products, four wheel drive customers often say that they change their vehicles every two years, while the keep their Codan hF Radio system for 10 years. There have also been situations where the 9350 antenna has continued to perform even after being damaged in a car accident."

"We're very proud to have produced 50,000 units of the 9350 antennas and even more pleased that customers hold this product in high esteem," said Mr Heard.

About Codan - Codan is a publicly listed international leader in remote area communications equipment with customers in over 150 countries. It seeks to offer its customers innovative products with the highest standards of performance and reliability, industry best delivery times and unsurpassed service and support. For more information about Codan, please visit the website at www.codan.com.au.

Field Officer's Report

Doesn't the time go fast when you are on the road having fun, trying to keep in touch with our members on their radios, that is, of course, if their radios are switched on. We get many calls into our Base Stations and when we try to call the number back, there is no answer. May I suggest, if you want to check your radio like this, please leave it on for the return call.

As you should know, the club has 2 skeds on 7899 every day at 7.30 am and 4.30 pm in Eastern Australia on Eastern Standard Time and in Western Australia, it's at 5.30 pm (Western Australian time). So if you are on the road, we suggest you have a yarn to other members and learn how to use your radio.

I have been told that it is hard to get on the air. May I suggest you put in a "breaker" as soon as they stop talking, and I am sure you will get on the air and be able to have a talk. May I also be so rude as to say "Please keep your calls short" so more members can use the system. Please teach others how to use their radios so we can all get to know more of our members.

We wish to advise that our Broome base has been moved to Albany WA and our member Merv Brough is the operator on 8825 nd the phone number is 08 9844 1018. So to all our members travelling in the west, please give him a call and I am sure he will welcome the call to just have a chat and also to help if you are in trouble.

As I have said before, we are a dealer in radios and all our members should be on the lookout for new members to help us sell new and second hand radios for the benefit of our club. We need your help in this and if you know anyone who is thinking of, or talking about wanting to purchase a radio, please give me a call as we have them in stock and are ready to supply their needs.

We will be at the CMCA Rally at Mt Gambier in March. If you know anyone interested in radios, please tell them to look us up on the HF Radio Stand and come to the seminar that I give at all the rallies on the use of radios.

Don't forget our BBQ which we have on the Sunday when you will be able to meet up with and get to know other members of the Club.

I have been listening on the sked times and note that when we listen, we often only hear one side of the conversation, and don't know whom they are talking to. If a member would like to get a message to the party that cannot be heard, may I suggest that you always finish off by saying the following....

This is 1077 clearing with 9724 and standing by.

When we were on our travels south, there were many times I would have liked to know who was on the air and the selcall number would have been enough for me to make contact via a message through the member that I could hear loud and clear.

If I don't meet you on our travels, I'll see you all at Casino Village on April 19 which will be something BIG for our club. You will read all about it in this magazine.

Regards to all - Ray Lawson, Field Officer.

Albany Base on Air

As you receive this newsletter, our new HF Base in WA will be on air, maybe only with a makeshift aerial, but we have a new home for our HF in WA and we are now licensed with Canberra. The shaft for the new one pole aerial that has made this base possible has already arrived and we now only await the arrival of the hi-tech attachment from Peter Leonard of Lencom Antennas in South Australia to complete the new aerial. Merv Brough is our new base operator. He has been a member of the HF Club for over a year now and is an enthusiastic user of our frequencies. We wish him all the best. The Talk times in WA are Channel 56 at 5.30 pm local time and Channel 54 at 5.45 pm local time. If you are travelling in WA, have a listen and maybe have a word to Merv, who will be on air at those times whenever possible. Our thanks and good luck Merv.

Peter Leonard has been a faithful, long time supporter of our Club and with his help we have covered many aspects of HF radio operating. The Codan aerials that many of us use were designed by Peter and he is also responsible for having designed many of the aerials and antennas used in the much wider field of aviation. If you ever meet Peter, please take the opportunity to express the thanks of our club members to him. Without him, many of us would not be radio operators today. Thank you Peter from the HF Radio Club.

Final Journey for Doug Owens (Selcall No 1487)

Doug passed away on February 22, whilst doing what he loved best, motorhoming. He was a member of the Highway Wanderers at the 1998 CMCA Roma Rally and after finding a radio user in Lightning Ridge and Doug had a chat with him, he was hooked and arranged to buy the radio off him. He became a HF Radio Club member. He was always a great promoter of our club and being a Western Australian, was invaluable in demonstrating how the radios work across Australia, always willing to assist Ross, from our old Booral Base trying to find (locate) members in the area. He will be missed.

Using the Camps Australia Wide book GPS co-ordinates with your Garmin 2610

Quite a few club members own Garmin GPS units with the auto routing capabilities. These units can only have co-ordinates entered in degrees, minutes and decimal minutes format. Reference book Camps Australia Wide 3 (CAW).

The CAW books have GPS co-ordinates in the Degrees Minutes and Seconds format. Before you can effectively use these, they must be converted to DM.M format. Failure to do so will result in your way points being up to 600 metres out. This may not be a problem if you are driving a large motorhome on a highway, looking for your favourite rest area but should you be looking for a small campsite in the bush somewhere, it could be important.

As an example, the map shows two way points at Bretti Reserve, a spot well known to a lot of members. Using Oziexplorer, way point number 1 was programmed in the DMS format. These co-ordinates were taken out of CAW3, NSW site no 310 - 31 47 29S 151 54 56E.

The program was then configures to the DM.M format (the same as used in the 2610). These co-ordinates were re-entered as DM.M 31 47.29 S 151 54.56E. The error becomes obvious. Distance between way points was measured to be 688 metres.

Anyone heading north going to Bretti relying on way point number 2, (the incorrect one), could easily miss the turnoff and have a 10 k drive up a very steep hill before being able to turn around. I know of two people who have missed this turnoff, without even relying on a GPS to get them there.

The chart solves this problem. Once you have your co-ordinates taken out of the CAW books, note the seconds, then refer to the chart. Using the Bretti co-ordinates as an example, they would now read 37 47.483S 151 54.933E, ie 29 seconds converts to .483 minutes and 56 seconds converts to .933 minutes. This is the format required by the 2610.

Anyone using hand held type GPS units should not have a problem as these should be able to be configured to accept the three types of lat/long co-ordinates as well as UTM.

No reference has been made to the other auto-routing GPS units that are on the market as I haven't had any experience with them.

Thanks go to Stan Ashlin for his input on this subject (he owns a 2610) and for providing the conversion chart.

Acknowledgement and thanks also go to Philip Procter for permission to use co-ordinates out of CAW as references for this article.

I place no restrictions on this article and anyone wishing to use it as the basis for a lecture etc on GPS units are free to do so.

Happy navigating - Frank Sleep

Calendar for 2006

The following are some of the events and deadlines which are planned for the next twelve months or so (there is scope for much more of course - so ???

Reminder - AGM of HF radio Club

3 pm - April 22, 2006

At the club house, CMCA (CAsino Village) Ltd
69 light street, casino 2470

Nominations for the positions of president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and committee members

Nominations will be accepted from the floor at the actual meeting. Those nominated must have agreed to be nominated.

DUNEDOO BUSH POETRY FESTIVAL - APRIL 6 TO 9, 2006

HARTWOOD EASTER WEEKEND - APRIL 14, 15, 16, 2006
Details in last issue of News Over the Airwaves

Secretary's Report

We have been on a very steep learning curve but are gradually getting there!

Most of the Club's forms and mail merges have been updated with Campbell's help. We hope everyone agrees with the small changes that have been made.

New members can expect to receive their membership card and all other necessary information within one week of us receiving their application from our Casino PO Box to their nominated address.

The site of our new base in Albany is well advanced. The IPC 500 Telephone INterconnect and phone line are installed, the application for the licences are in the the ACMA and the antenna is expected very soon. Many thanks to Merv Brough and Kim Rhodes for all their help getting this project up and running.

We have cross checked Telephone Interconnect Numbers (TIC) across all bases and have found a few missing from some of our bases. So "TIC checking" is the next project for us on our travels around (what an excuse to travel). Campbell will be consulted as to who has paid for the use of TIC numbers.

Nominations for the committee are few and far between. Closing date for nominations was February 11 and only one has been received for a committee member. Therefore according to our constitution, Mr Bob Locking is appointed as a committee member for the next 12 months. Nominations for President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and two committee members, to fill vacant positions will be accepted from the floor at the AGM on April 22, 2006 at Casino Village.

Albany base has been approved contact details will be on the front page of the March Sellcall list.

Ron Hanley, Club Secretary.

Treasurer's Report

The audited financial statement for the financial year (10 months actually) ended January 31, 2006 is being prepared by our auditors, Mulherin & Schier of Casino and will be distributed to those attending the Annual GEneral Meeting in Casino on April 22, 2006. Prior to audit, approximate figures (generally to the nearest hundred dollars) for income and expenditure will indicate some major items in the financial year just finished. For simplicity, only the nett profit or expenditure eg for socials and raffles is shown.

The combined balance in the bank accounts at year end (after allowing for unpresented cheques etc) is just over $12,000. This includes $8,700 of members' advances for the telephone interconnect (TIC). The overall financial status of the club has to take into account assets and liabilities. The final figures will appear less than last year, not only because of the loss described below but because the TIC advances (above) will, I believe,be included as liabilities in the balance sheet.

While the books show that expenses for the period exceeded income by some $4,400, much of this loss is attributable to the payment of some of the debts accumulated over the last three years as a consequence of our President purchasing, on behalf of the Club, equipment and consumables that the Club itself could not then afford. The club has now reimbursed Terry Childs $8,083.00 for sundry operating expenses associated with the production of the newsletter (it still has to pay him for the printer and other capital items such as base facilities, over $9,000).

The main items of income are fees for membership (~$5,000) and joining (~$900), also profit from social events and raffles totalling ~$800.

Expenditure can be roughly classified as either administrative or for provision of services (to meet the aims and objects of the Club). The main administration costs are ~$1300 for telephone and a total of less than $1,000 for postage (non newsletter), office supplies and accountancy services. Depreciation is estimated as ~$2,200 and insurance cost ~$1100.

Provision of services included ~$9,200 for the newsletter printing and postage (it is estimated that about half was incurred in previous years), ACMQ licences for the bases (~$4,600) and equipment for the bases (~$1,000, apart from what the club still owes Terry Childs).

TIC operation (nett members' deposits, payments for calls and telephone company charges) has not been included in the income or services listed above. However despite some gaps in the availability of one or other bases, usage has been disappointingly light - not even paying for line rental let alone amortisation of the equipment at each of the bases.

Campbell Cripps Clark
Treasurer.

Which National Park???

We found these letter boxes, somewhere in NSW, made out of old LPG cylinders, within a couple of kilometres of each other - must have been a local competition. They are on the sealed road to a National Park, which is 24 kilometres as the crow flies from a town with two syllables.

Clues - first syllable - something created from timber.
Second syllable - a place you cross a river or creek.

Answer in next newsletter.