For at least 11 months of every year, for the past 50 years, the Secretary or the Newsletter Editor of Branch 50 NZART (now Wellington Amateur Radio Club Inc) has prepared a newsletter for mailing to members with club news. Most of these newsletters have made it into the club's archives, but sadly a proportion of issues have not been filed. You can now read back in time as all copies of newsletters that we have in our archives have now been loaded on to the website. They have also been backed up on to hard drives and the cloud so that the hard copies cluttering up committee member's garages can be disposed off. It would be great if somebody had the time to write up a history of key events and activities spanning the 50 year period and to make a list of those occupying executive roles in each of the last 50 years. Let Mike ZL1AXG know if you have the time to do the necessary research! It would also be good to fill some of the gaps where we do not have newsletters, particularly missing years (like 2009 and 1999 from recent history). If you have any of the following issues it would be good if you could let Mike ZL1AXG know so they can be scanned: 1965: January, March 1967: January, April. 1969: February 1970: February 1971: July. 1976: January, February, March. 1978: March through October, and December. 1979: All issues. 1980: All issues. 1981: All issues. 1982: All issues. 1983: January to August inclusive. 1989: February. 1990: July. 1997: April. 1998: September. 1999: All issues. If we can't locate the missing issues amongst members, we will need to approach the National Library, as in theory, all issues are kept by the Library. Let Mike know if you can help with follow up with the Library in the event we cannot locate copies amongst members.
Wellington VHF Group was formally formed in August 1970, as a sub group of Wellington Branch 50. This August marks the 50th anniversary of this meeting, where Bill Hamer ZL2CD moved that the Group be formed. According to the latest Q-Bit, the VHF Group is planning to hold a celebration to recognise reaching 50 years this August. They are looking for expressions of interest in the event. They will hold their regular Thursday night meeting on the 27th August and dedicate the evening to short talks on events and projects that the Group has initiated, such as the Wellington Walkie, the UHF National System, Belmont repeater, ATV, various repeaters and other projects, even the DMR National System and the Colonial Knob project. On Saturday evening, 29 August, they plan to hold a dinner as the main social event. If you are keen to participate, the Wellington VHF Group would love to hear from you and if you have ideas to add, they would like to hear from you. Please email the secretary@vhf.nz
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…
Branch 50 NZART participated in the Wellington Maker Faire on 4 November. Some 2500 people passed through the Maker Faire on Sunday 4 November from 10am to 4pm. John ZL2XJ and Bernard ZL2BD with the Branch 50 display at the Maker Faire NZART Inc took an outside area, immediately in front of the entrance to the TSB Arena on Queen's Wharf, to showcase amateur radio. Two local clubs (Branch 50 and Branch 63) were supported by two NZART councillors in promoting amateur radio. Some of the larger team at the Maker Faire 2018 Chatting about the gear ... And making contacts from inside the tent ... A large number of people came by and chatted, including a number of amateur operators. Nineteen contacts will be followed up - primarily people showing an interest in amateur radio or operators who are interested in becoming active again. They will all be put in touch with NZART and their local branch. Those on the stand felt it was successful, and we won a prize for the best presented stand.
