Brisbane uWave Activity Day - February 2013

[VK4ADC]

Have we confirmed that the date will be the 24th Feb yet ???

[VK4GHZ]

Have we confirmed that the date will be the 24th Feb yet ???

Yes!!!
24 February
It turns out those who were going to Wyong weren't going to participate anyway, so it became a moot point.

[VK4ADC]

Ok, now that the date is confirmed, I am going to put my hand up for Mt Gravatt Lookout this time around.
I should have 2M FM for liason, 1296, 2403, 3400 all SSB (all bands operating) plus 5760 and hopefully 10368 going for the event.

[VK4OE]

Greetings again to all.

Weather permitting, for this 'event', I'm proposing again to go portable in VK2 to the Border Ranges National Park, at the Brindle Creek Road site, QG61NP. All bands available from 1.3 to 24 GHz.

All on-air liaison 'channels' available, but not mobile 'phone from there. Logger iChat is a possibility when I use the wireless internet dongle with an 850 MHz loop yagi pointed South through the rainforest to somewhere in NSW!

Looking forward to it!

--Doug, VK4OE.

[VK4EA]

I will be active from Kobble Creek, 1.2 to 10 GHz, and 2.4 GHz ATV live via VK4RKC. Output from the ATV repeater is 446.5 MHz (Oceanview), anybody can see it in the Brisbane area.

Looking forward to the day.

Cheers,
VK4EA

[VK4UH]

Looking forward to Microwave activity day on 24th.

I have had no "negative feedback" on operating again from Howell's Knob lookout near Malaeny. If someone else really wants to operate from there please let me know ASAP

The intention is to be on site there by 10:00 ish to allow about an hour to get set up. I'm hoping Phil VK4IIO will be accompanying me.

I hope to have 1296, 2.4, 5.7 and 10 GHz and will be having a run with my new 3.4 system which I only finished boxing up yesterday.

My plea to everyone hoping to participate, along with the usual request to update your portable ID on the logger, is to please give some thought to improving your 2m liaison set up. I will be running a separate radio with an elevated co-linear antenna for 2m FM simplex on 146.500. The usual car mobile radio is just too inconvenient if relying on feeding audio ID signals back for dish aiming etc and a 2m handheld simply wont cut the mustard at the distances we are attempting. Contact with some portable stations was simply too unreliable last time.

Also a suggestion to keep traffic brief (without long "rag-chew" overs) on the day on the Liaison frequency, and plenty of breaks to let others in, so everyone can keep in contact - there will be a lot a stations on.

Looking forward to contacting you on 24th

Kevin VK4UH

[VK4UH]

tEST

[VK4CZ]

RR UR 599 599 BK

Looks like Howell's Knob is all yours KJ!

[VK4UH]

Morning all

Just two weeks to the next VK4 microwave activity day

A suggestion, could we create a list of the stations with proposed gridsquares etc who are planning to operate.

We will then be able to do the preparatory work for bearings and path profiles in advance.

Here is my info for starters

VK4UH/p Howell's Knob MALENY QG63kf
1.2 2.4 3.4 5.7 10 GHz
Liaison 146.500 FM Simplex mobile 0407 799664
Logger while portable "Hopefully - 3G permitting"

Kevin VK4UH

[VK4CZ]

VK4CZ/P Walter Henderson Park, Kobble Creek QG62JR
1.2, 2.4, 10GHz and potentially 24GHz (discussing with Doug next week)
Liaison 146.500FM simplex. Mobile 0407 157 000
Logger access

[VK4UH]

Thanks Scott
Lets hope we get more postings to keep the string alive and visible on the logger
Kevin

[VK4CDI]

GD,
Should be at Gorman's Gap lookout, QG52xi, with 3.4Ghz........

Phil VK4CDI

[VK4UH]

Just over a week to go before the next VK4 Micorwave activity day (Feb 24th)

Looking forward to heaaring you on or, if you are interested in micorwaves, come out to one of the station sites and see the gear in action.

A Plea again for all participant to put their details and locations into the logger, BEFORE THE DAY, for reporting and dish aiming purposes.

Also please give some thought to improving your Liaison Station and antenna. Most it seems will be monitoring 146.500 FM Simplex (Vertical Polarisation)
Just a handheld with 1 watt will not be adequate I'm afraid! and remember "No Ragchewing" on the liason channel, keep it short and leave plent of gaps to let others in.

Kevin VK4UH/P

[VK4UH]

Just over a week to go before the next VK4 Micorwave activity day (Feb 24th)

Looking forward to heaaring you on or, if you are interested in micorwaves, come out to one of the station sites and see the gear in action.

A Plea again for all participant to put their details and locations into the logger, BEFORE THE DAY, for reporting and dish aiming purposes.

Also please give some thought to improving your Liaison Station and antenna. Most it seems will be monitoring 146.500 FM Simplex (Vertical Polarisation)
Just a handheld with 1 watt will not be adequate I'm afraid! and remember "No Ragchewing" on the liason channel, keep it short and leave plent of gaps to let others in.

Kevin VK4UH/P

[VK4CZ]

Peter,

With the Activity Day just over a week off, it's got me thinking about what schedule/approach are you proposing to the day - progressing band by band, or will it be station by station?

Having observed (listened in on) the last Activity Day, and with a few more stations on air and a little more wide spread, we'll need to be kept 'in line' one way or the other!

Caught up with Doug VK4OE this morning and now have the 3-in-1 box (144MHz, 2.4 & 10GHz) and 24GHz. Plus my own 1.2GHz.

Looking forward to being part of this!

[VK4GHZ]

...Having observed (listened in on) the last Activity Day, and with a few more stations on air and a little more wide spread, we'll need to be kept 'in line' one way or the other!

Personally, I reckon it's more efficient to work one station at a time.
You can concentrate on dish bearing etc, even more so as you go higher and higher in frequency.

These are a relaxed casual event, not some mad rush to earn points ASAP like a WIA Field Day, so there is time is soak up the moment and enjoy playing on the microwave bands.
Once your done working all the common bands you have, then invite other stations on 2m or the microwave iChat.
No need to run around like some chook with it's head cut off!
That's the way I will be approaching it anyway.

[VK4GHZ]

Activity Day Video

If there is enough interest, I can produce another video, but it will require contributions from others.
It gets boring real quick looking at just one station in isolation!

As per above, these are a casual event, so there is plenty of time to record and document what we are doing - no mad rush at all.

If there is more than one person on-site, then it becomes very easy to have the "other" person hold the camera.
If you're running solo, use a tripod, so you can get on with making contacts and showing us your setup.

So we can improve the quality of these (and therefore general appeal), I can prepare some simple "shooting with editing in mind" notes for you.
It requires a slightly different mindset than shooting some bloody awful wobble-cam thing for Australia's Funniest Home Videos.

Just about any digital camera these days will shoot video, and your smart phone will too.
Preferred format is 1920x1080 MP4, but 1280x720 MPEG2 is fine as well.

It ain't hard, nor be a big interruption to making contacts.
Many others enjoy watching what we get up to, and it often encourages others to actually give it a go themselves!
(You can always publish your own video as well, but it would be more interesting to see things from a combined perspective.)

Contact me directly if you would like to help out in contributing to making a group video, and I'll send you some shooting notes so that some aspects can be coordinated better than last time.

[VK4CZ]

I'll have the GoPro on hand!

[VK4GHZ]

I'll have the GoPro on hand!

Two camera capability Scotty with the iPhone as well.

[VK4EA]

I have taken delivery of a full HD camcorder, so between Scott and myself I'm sure we can capture some decent footage, with plenty of cut aways.

Listen out on 146.500 MHz simplex, make sure you have a decent antenna for liaison.

Personally I'd like to keep my dishes pointing in one direction and work up the spectrum with the one station, but open to suggestions for a schedule. As long as it's a fun day I couldn't care less how it works

Looks like a rainy weekend, perfect opportunity to get everything ready

Cheers,
Peter