NEWS and NOTICES
News Items from the March 2013 Committee Meeting - 3 March 2013
Kaimai: National System transmitter was replaced in
early February due to low power out.
New Site: Progress
on a site to cover Waihi and Whangmata is stalled at present, due to
proposed reconstruction at the site.
70cm Band Plan Review: the Group
will make a submission to this review.
Annual General
Meeting: to be held on 24th March at 1.30pm, at the Matamata
Anglican Church Lounge.
Group 50th
Anniversary: this is to be celebrated in conjunction with the
AGM.
Te Puke Annual "Junk Sale" - 25 February 2013
Annual
“Junk SALE”, Saturday March 2nd 2013, Paengaroa Community Hall, Old
Coach Road, Paengaroa. (GPS Coordinates: 37.49S
176.24E)
Venue open from 06.30am, Sale time 10.00am - $20.00 for a 1.8m Long
table, $25.00 on the day - $12.00 for ½ a Table, $15.00 on the day.
Main Raffle: 1 Only Icom ID-31A UHF Digital Transceiver with D-Star.
WARO meets at 10.30am - Overnight parking for Motorhome’s - SEE MORE HERE
Sunday Night
News & Net -
7 December 2012
The
Net will be in recess from Sunday, 23 December, 2012 to Sunday, 13
January, 2012 inclusive. It will therefore resume again on Sunday, 20
January, 2013. Seasons greetings from the Waikato VHF Group.
New Maungakawa Repeater - 26 November 2012
The
new Maungakawa repeater has now been connected to the Te Uku - Te
Weraiti part of the WaiPlenty network. This also makes the IRLP node
operational through the Maungakawa repeater. We would appreciate any
comments on coverage from Maungakawa being sent to branch.81@nzart.org.nz
New Maunagakawa Repeater operational - 21 November 2012
The
new Maunagakawa repeater on 145.575 MHz is now operational in a
stand-alone condition. Once proved to be operating satisfactorily, it
will be linked to the 'WaiPlenty' network within the next week.
News Items from July 2012 Committee meeting - 29 July 2012
New Site:
The new repeater for Maungakawa and link to Te Uku is progressing.
Funding: To
be applied for to purchase new equipment for the Waihi/Whangamata
repeater site and link to Te Weraiti.
Beacons:
The 70cm beacon will be relocated after the Maungakawa site is
completed.
Silver Fern Rally:
The "WaiPlenty" system and the IRLP node could be used for the Rally
during November 10~17, 2012.
Membership:
This has declined slightly, but licencing costs have gone up.
Therefore, if more members can not be recruited, or more sponsorship
obtained, then serious consideration will have to be given to reducing
the number of repeaters to match the funds available.
IRLP: The
hardware for this system is gradually being updated, but it is hoped
that this process will not effect its operation.
News
Items from Apr 2012 Committee meeting - 29 April 2012
New Site:
Maungakawa - another application for funding has been made. If
succesfull, site could be operational later in the year and will be
linked to the WaiPlenty network at Te Uku.
New Site:
Progress is being made in locating a suitable site to give 2m coverage
of Waihi and Whangamata. It is proposed that it be linked to the
WaiPlenty network at Te Weraiti.
Club Accounts
Reviewer: A new reviewer for the Groups accounts has been
appointed.
NZART
Conference: Remits were discussed and a delegate appointed.
Silver Fern Rally:
Approval has been given for the WaiPlenty network and IRLP to be used
for the Silver Fern Rally event, 10 -17 November, 2012. Members will be
given more detailed nearer the time.
Beacons:
At a date yet to be determined, the beacons will be moving from the
Hamilton Telephone Exchange to the Branch 12 club rooms. This has been
brought about by access difficulties to the Exchange due to security
requirements.
Website:
A slideshow of some National System sites has been added to the website.
Sunday Night News & Net - 11 Dec 2011
The
Net will be in recess from Sunday, 25 December, 2011 to Sunday, 8
January, 2012. It will therefore resume again on Sunday, 15 January,
2012. Seasons greetings from the Waikato VHF Group.
News Items from
Oct 2011 Committee meeting - 30 Oct 2011
Site
Reconstruction: A site is still being investigated for the
extension of the 2m "WaiPlenty Network" to the Waihi/Whangmata area.
National System:
New node installed by Mercury Bay, Branch 85, operational at Opito Bay.
Funding:
We are waiting on the outcome of an application to the WEL Trust for
funds to complete the extension of the 2m "WaiPlenty Network" to
Maungakawa, north east of Huntly.
Old Group Records:
These are to be offerred to the Hamilton Public Library, in the first
instance, for archiving.
Beacons: 2m
beacon is operational again from the Hamilton telephone exchanges. A
new site is being investigated for the 70cm beacon.
Meetings:
Numerous meeting ideas were put forward.
Equipment Sale - 11 Sep 2011
Western Suburbs Radio Club,
Used Equipment Sale, is being held Saturday, 8
October, 2011,
at the Rosebank Road primary School, 217 Rosebank Road, Avondale. The
sale starts at 9am and closes at 12 noon. There is an entry fee of
$2.00 payable by all visitors. Cafeteria with hot sausages, biscuits,
tea or coffee available on site. Plenty of parking available.
Life
Membership - 4 Sep 2011
At the
General meeting today, Russell Richardson (ZL1RWR) was unanimously
elected a life member of the Group.
WaiPlenty
- 2m Network - 4 Sep 2011
At
the General meeting today, it was agreed, after some discussion, that
the new 2m network, would be called the "WaiPlenty Network.
Optimal Repeater for Hamilton - 2 August
2011
With
the recent changes made to the repeaters around the Waikato, it has
been noted that some mobiles operating in the Hamilton area are still
using '695 MHz. They will probably find if they use Te Uku '5675 (with
-600KHz split) that they will experience better access to the new
linked network.
New Repeater on National System - Mercury Bay '480 - 2 August 2011
A
new extension to the National System is now operating from a site
overlooking Opito Bay on the eastern Coromandel peninsula. Mercury Bay
'480 transmits on 434.800 MHz, and to access it, you need to transmit
to the repeater on 439.800 MHz. With no viable radio path from
this eastern Coromandel site to an existing National System ULS
(Kaimai, or Brynderwyn), it operates as an extension off Edgecumbe
‘9975 174km away, hence the inverted frequencies.
News Items from
July 2011 Committee meeting - 1 August 2011
Site
Reconstruction: Approval has been
given to site equipment at Maungakawa. Te Weraiti and Te Uku have been
linked and are working satifactorily
Linked Network:A possible name of “WaiBop
Network” is being proposed for the eventual 4 repeater linked system.
We welcome your feed-back?
Raglan/Te Uku Site:
The site at Te Uku is to be known as Te Uku and not Raglan
Funding: An
application is to be made for funding for equipment for the Maungakawa
site
Review of Inc.
Societies: A note about this will be in the Newsletter
Meetings Ideas:
The committee is still looking for meeting topics and possible guest
speakers
Repeater Linking - 22 June 2011
On
the 22 June the '6950 Te Weraiti and '5675 Te Uku were linked after the
installation of the Linking Matrix at Te Uku. For those amateurs in the
Hamilton, Cambridge, Raglan and Ngaruawahia areas, '5675 Te Uku is the
repeater to use.
Hamilton Branch 12 -
2011 Market Day - 6
June 2011
The
Hamilton, Branch 12 Market Day is to be held on Saturday, 13th August,
at the Waikato Table Tennis Club, Edgecumbe Street, Hamilton. Further
details can be found HERE on the Branch
12 website
146.950 Mhz Repeater - 24 May 2011
The
146.950 Mhz repeater on Mt. Te Aroha was turned off at around 12.45pm
to day and all equipment removed from the premises. This brought to a
close 37 years of 2-metre repeater service from Mt. Te Aroha. Almost
immediately the 146.950 Mhz equipment on Te Weraiti was activated as
the replacement for the Te Aroha site. It will be a few days before the
IRLP node is restored to '6950 (on a temporary basis) as the radio
equipment has to be modified. Any problems or coverage issues can be reported
to - branch.81@nzart.org.nz
CHANGES to Waikato/Bay of Plenty 2m Repeater - 23 May 2011
From
around midday on 24 May the 146.950 Mhz Te Aroha repeater will be
turned off permanently. A short while later the 146.950 Mhz repeater on
Te Weraiti will be activated. This will also mean that the IRLP node
will not be available for about a week, due to equipment having to be
modified. When the IRLP node comes back on, it will be on 146.950 Mhz
Te Weraiti until such time as the link is established between Te
Weraiti and Te Uku, when it will be transferred to 145.675 Te Uku. The
IRLP node will then be available on both repeaters. See further details
below.
EXTENSION to the NATIONAL SYSTEM - 8 May 2011
An
extension to the National System is proposed for the Mercury Bay area.
The node is to be located at Opito Bay, accessing Mt Edgecumbe, a
distance of 173km across the Bay of Plenty, as this is the only viable
path. All other paths were found to be too lossy. The proposed
frequency for the terminal at Opito Bay is 434.800 MHz.
CHANGES to 695, TE AROHA - 8 May 2011
Due
to the requirement to vacate the Kordia site on Mt. Te Aroha, the
146.950 MHz repeater will be turned off late May, 2011. After it is
turned off, the new 146.950 MHz repeater on Te Weraiti
will be turned on. There maybe a short period when neither is on the
air. The IRLP node will continue to operate on Te Weraiti '695, on a
temporary basis, but could be off for about seven days, due to the
radio equipment having to be reprogrammed.
It will be
approximately 4 weeks before Te Weraiti '695 can be linked to Te Uku
'5675, due to some of the equipment, ex Te Aroha, requiring
modification. When Te Weraiti '695 and Te Uku '5675 are linked, the
6549 IRLP node will be connected to Te Uku '5675 permanently.
A drawing of the proposed 2m network for the Waikato and Bay of Plenty
can be seen HERE.
For updates on the latest situation, keep tuned into the Waikato VHF
news and Net at 8:45pm on a Sunday evening.
Kiwisat
All the latest news and information on
Kiwisat, can be found on their website at:- www.kiwisat.org.nz
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