Blackwood Cup Winner 2025

Our October Branch meeting was held on Tuesday 19 October from 1pm at The Collective Community Hub,  1/33 Johnsonville Rd. We normally meet on a Sunday, but we needed to find a venue that would allow the appropriate physical distancing. A Tuesday slot was available in the larger space at The Collective Community Hub. The meeting featured our annual competition for the Blackwood Cup. There were only two entrants this year, a QRP magnetic loop controller (entered by John ZL2JPM) and the simplest possible morse code practice device (entered by George ZL2AG). John took out the prize for the second year running. Congratulations! In addition Mike ZL1AXG gave a presentation on "Selecting a portable shortwave receiver" and demonstrated his recent purchase of a Tecsun PL-330 receiver. Tea, coffee and biscuits were available as usual following the meeting. [wpdm_package id='4841']

Blackwood Cup - in its 90th year Our Sunday 18 October meeting (from 1pm - 3pm) at Waitohi (Johnsonville Community Centre) featured our annual Blackwood Cup competition. This was the 90th year of the cup being awarded, so it has a long history. There were only three entries this year, but the winner as voted by members was John ZL2JPM for his QRP three unit combination. One of those winners from 1974, Derek ZL2AKS, asked the club to dispose of his equipment, as he is moving out of town to a retirement village and will not be operating on HF any more. Bernard ZL2BD oversaw the sale of this equipment. A list of equipment was sent to members. We celebrate Derek's long-term commitment (60 years) as a member of the club. We held a moments silence for Don ZL2BL, who became a Silent Key earlier in the month. Ian ZL2HUT also gave a presentation on Radio Spectrum Management. Ian explained how the radio spectrum is managed, via various legislation, policies, regulations and rules.  

Our regular meeting in September 2019 (at Mike ZL1AXG QTH) was the opportunity for members to bring out their home construction projects to be judged in the annual Blackwood Cup competition. The right to hold the cup has been contested since 1930 (won that year by ZL2BC)! There were three entries in 2019: George ZL2AG – Artificial RF Ground Unit. George explained that Trevor ZL2AKW being on the thirteenth floor of a building needed to remove the noise from nearby audio speakers. He explained how the unit was constructed, how it operated, etc. supported with some written papers. Mike ZL1AXG – Control Console. Mike talked about easier control of the transceiver by the unit he had constructed. The unit sits between the microphone and transceiver. The unit has 5 push buttons and 1 switch. With the press on one button, it can select a CW or Voice Keyer function depending on the mode used. The fourth button replaces the PTT button on the microphone. Bernard ZL2BD – Station T/R Switch and Phasing Unit for Receive Antennas. Bernard talked about the first unit including how protection is provided from RF on Transmit going to the Receive Active Antennas. Bernard then explained…