The October meeting featured the annual Blackwood Cup. Three entries were received - one each from Bernard ZL2BD, Ted ZL2TB and Mike ZL1AXG. The trophy went to Mike ZL1AXG for his adaptations of the BITX40 transceiver. But voting was very close. Mike will be writing up his BITX40 mods on the Arduino section of this website as time allows.The other projects included:
a 4 way antenna switch (from Bernard ZL2BD) which was beautifully presented (the case was made with 2 aluminium channels and a ). Channel isolation was found to be around 70dB (i.e. excellent) with insertion loss in the fractions of 1dB;
a collection of home brew single lever paddle (from Ted ZL2TB) that use magnetic latching to provide a nice key "feel". Ted has a few for sale as well if anybody is looking for a nice non-iambic paddle.
We held a second construction session for dualband Flowerpot antennas on 3 September from 1pm to 4pm at The Collective Hub, 1/33 Johnsonville Rd. Those who missed out on our Monster Workshop in June, or who had gained their callsign in the July HamCram were able to come away with a VHF/UHF antenna with a lot more gain than the typical handheld rubber ducky antenna. Seven more flowerpot antennas were completed on the day. This brings the total to around 30 flowerpots completed in 2023. Cost was $20 for the kit of parts.
We held a MONSTER shed workshop to construct flowerpot antennas on Sunday 18 June at The Collective Community Hub, 1/33 Johnsonville Rd, . Around 30 people turned out and 22 antennas were built. The event commence dat 1.30pm with an introduction to the build by Bruce ZL2ABC. Teams of 4 to 5 people worked through a number of "stations" in building their antennas. We needed to be out of the building by 4pm, which was rather tight! A special thanks to Bruce's XYL who provided scones and personal service at the tea/coffee zone. This was a special shed workshop for any amateur (or prospective amateur operator) interested in building their own Flowerpot Antenna (see https://vk2zoi.com/articles/dual-band-half-wave-flower-pot/). Members of other Wellington region clubs were welcome to participate in this activity! The cost of the antenna was $20.
13:00 - 15:00 ZOOM meeting due to Omicron: Bernard ZL2BD and Mike ZL1AXG gave a Zoom talk on assembling a basic set of test equipment to support typical operating and antenna and equipment construction projects undertaken by amateur radio operators. This equipment is so very affordable today. The talk discussed relative priorities for purchases, and how to avoid making costly mistakes.
