July chin wag

The programme for the afternoon meeting (1pm - 3pm at the Waitohi - Johnsonville Library) involved: 1] HIVE makerspace introduction and demonstration Tūhura HIVE is the makerspace and sound studio, located on the lower ground floor of Johnsonville Library at the Waitohi Community Hub. It has facilities for: One of the Makerspace Specialists gave a 30 minute introduction and discussion about the facilities available for Branch 50 member use. The talk / walkthrough include a look over what is available in the Hive, A discussion of the objectives of the space, and some preliminary discussion on how we could use the space / get involved (either individually or as a group). This could be a good recruiting gdround for younger people interested in electronics. The laser cutter, the 3D printers and possibly the 3D scanner (for replicating parts) would be of most interest to members. 2] For the second part of the afternoon John ZL2XJ gave a short talk / demonstration of the NanoVNA and the associated PC software tool to test filters and antennas. The workshop finished at 2.45pm and several of us retired upstairs to Common Ground Café.

Bernard ZL2BD gave a talk on how to safely switch between RX and TX antennas on your rig and demonstrated the circuit (which is probably not suitable for break-in keying). This circuit would allow us to use our active antenna or mag loop antenna on RX and our standard antenna on TX. The MFJ unit above is an alternative approach. He also demonstrated a simple phasing circuit that works with two RX antennas to reduce noise levels or to peak a signal. Steering of a two antenna array throughout 360 degree is possible. Two active antennas can be used, or in fact, any two antennas spaced less than 1/4 wavelength apart can be steered (on RX) to reduce unwanted noise and maximise forward gain. The following articles relate to the workshop: [wpdm_package id='3982'] [wpdm_package id='3984']

At the Branch 50 event held at Mike ZL1AXG's QTH on Sunday 21 July, Mike gave a presentation about sunspots - what they are and how sunspots impact on the ionosphere - and therefore on HF propagation, what the next cycle may hold, and their possible impacts on climate. [wpdm_package id='3898'] [wpdm_package id='3900']