Branch 50 at Wellington's first Maker Faire

On 1 March from 12 noon -3pm we met over a light lunch at Mike ZL1AXG's QTH. The Branch 50 NZART Committee ordered in a light finger-food lunch (savouries and sandwiches) as we were hosting Branch 74 for a combined branches event. Disappointingly, only two guests showed up ... they were our guest speaker for the workshop, and one Branch 74 member! Mike noted that the year had not got off to a good start with few turning up for the combined branches BBQ organised by Kapiti Branch. It appears many amateurs simply don't want to come out any more to events. However, complacency may well spell the end of amateur radio as we know it. Member attendances at most branches appear to be plummeting, even those that still have 100+ members on their books. Things are getting tougher for ham radio, with suburban QRM often sending the meter over s9 on the low bands, the sunspot cycle likely to be at its worst for some years, and Councils getting tougher in their district plans on amateur antennas (see the recent decision by Kapiti District Council). It is likely that something radical will be required to breathe new life into…

The first meeting of the new Branch 50 (Wellington) NZART kicked off Wednesday 18 April at our regular meeting location (Lutheran Church Hall in King St, Mt Cook) with a report back from the first committee meeting of the new committee. Ideas for meetings through calendar 2018 were discussed with positive feedback to all proposed themes. Now the committee has to get to and arrange all of these items! Members also agreed to the sale of the club rig (IC7410), purchased in 2014. A discussion at a subsequent meeting will determine whether or not this equipment should be replaced. This will also determine what happens to other related station equipment (such as a 12v power supply and tuner). Bernard ZL2BD had planned to give an intro to the Shed Workshops. Unfortunately, Bernard was sick, so Mike ZL1AXG gave a bit of a taster session for the first of the upcoming shed workshops. The first topic will be on antenna matching. Please do come to the inaugural Shed Workshop at 1pm on Sunday 27 April at Bernard's QTH (1 Winsley Tce, Churton Park). No need to bring anything. Just yourself. Mike ZL1AXG gave a brief talk about some of his recent…

Field day operations At our May WARC meeting on Wednesday 18 May we were given a presentation on how the Patea/South Taranaki branch has approached NZART Jock White Field Day over the last 53 years. Glenn Kingston ZL2KZ, one of our own WARC members, has travelled north each year (with just one or two exceptions, such as when his XYL came down with a high fever) to assist with Field Day operations in South Taranaki. Glenn showed photos of two Field Day sites used over the last 50 years. For some time now, the South Taranaki branch has based their Field Day activities at a primary school located along the sea coast north of Patea. A 60' aluminium tower (sourced by a member who worked at the Motonui synthfuel plant) is stored on site. This is erected each year using a local farm tractor or RV as available. This skyhook allows for an 80m folded dipole antenna to be mounted at near a quarter wavelength above ground. A 40m antenna is mounted lower down the mast. More recently a secret weapon in the form of a vertical incidence 3 element 40 metre yagi pointed skyward has been added to the line up of antennas. The yagi has deployed knowledge provided by another WARC member…