Hi all you radio active hams
PIC micro course
As discussed at the last meeting the club will be running a PIC course.
Chris, ZS6COG, has secured us a spot at Hoerskool Brandwag (A technical high school in Brakpan) right on Brian’s(ZS6BNM) doorstep.
Francois, ZS6FDX has send Chris a schedule of classes and is just waiting for conformation. Hell or high water, we are going to kick off after the school holiday. Every fortnight, 18h00 to 21h00, Wednesday evenings.
If you are interested in the course please contact Brian or Francois directly. If you are interested in purchasing a PIC Kit 3 programmer and Demo board please contact Marc, ZS6MDH on 083 454 2328 you would need to get R500 to Marc before 25 June(Its on special till then). If you have another programmer you don’t need this one but it is recommended. You can also get the PIC Kit by itelf at any time from Mantech or Avnett Kopp.
The SARL HF Field day
Below is an email from Francois, ZS6FDX regarding the upcoming field day. This will be on the agenda for the next meeting, please bring your ideas with to the meeting.
The SARL HF Field day contest is coming up in the first week in November. Not only do we as a club want to participate, we want to be victorious. We want to win with a landslide and put the Eastranders back where we were for many-many years, at no 1.
OBJECTIVES OF THE CONTEST
The objective of the contest is to make as many as possible contacts over a 24 hour period (12h00 Saturday to 12h00 UTC Sunday).
These contacts will be on all mainstream HF bands. (10, 15, 20, 40, 80 & 160m bands.) The contacts can either be Local (ZS,ZR or ZU) or any other DX entity.
Modes are SSB, CW and DIGITAL.
IDEAS AROUND ANTENNAS
1. We need to set up a rotatable tri-bander (10,15 & 20m) to work those DX stations.
2. We need to set up at least two sets of inverted “V” antennas for 40 & 80 meter or 40/80m trap wire antennas to work the local stations.
Each set will be orientated so that the radiation lobes will best cover the country. It was particular difficult to make good contacts down to the Eastern Cape at the last field day contest.
3. 160m is questionable but maybe a long wire antenna with tuner might do/ 4. Another idea is to have a 40m 1/4 wave vertical with ground planning to work that early bird DX State Side before sunrise.
5. I was also thinking to bring in a Bevarage antenna or two for those weak stations.
IDEAS AROUND OPERATORS AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL We need the set up a team that consist of the following disciplines.
1. Antenna & feed line experts.
2. Propagation prediction experts.
3. QSL manager for the contest. (getting all the contacts together on putting it on computer.) 4. Phone operators 5. Digital modes operators. (PSK31 etc.) 6. CW Operators 7. Contact scout (Hunting for stations on a receiver and giving info through to operators) 8. Then there is a need for people to help establish camp, sort food and beverages, etc..
This is only draft planning. It is something we can all build on. We still need to find a location, any ideas? If you have any ideas on any thing mentioned in this document, want to add something or change something please feel free to contact me. I will do a presentation on where we stand regarding our battle readiness at the next club meeting and also get inputs from you all there.
ZS6FDX de Francois Reyneke.
