CRARC Committee December update email #Committee_update
The CRARC committee meets on-line on the second Wednesday of the month, to discuss the running of CRARC. This email is an outline of items covered and other topics potentially of interest to CRARC members from the November period and is promulgated to keep members aware of what is going on. As we hit the middle of the festive season we wish all members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – hopefully Santa has been nice and filled your Christmas stockings full of radio goodies. Please keep safe and we hope to see / hear you all in the new year.
On Wednesday 27th November 2024, an end of year function was held at the club rooms with a healthy number of members attending the event. Bruce VK1BB ably lead the team in putting on another excellent spread – particular thanks go to Bruce’s wife Mary, daughter Kiera and granddaughter Amelia, Malcom VK1MAL and his wife Gloria who all put in a huge effort to get things arranged for the night – and of course the efforts of multiple members in assisting on the night
As at the December Committee meeting, Club membership continued to fluctuate in line with the variable membership year and is currently at 179 financial members. We understand that there are some who have been experiencing problems with the online renewals – please if we can ask that you contact the membership secretary if you have problems with it. As always, if you have any membership queries or problems, contact Graham on membership@crarc.org.au
CRARC maintains a number of Beacons and Repeaters.
Repeater |
Status |
Comment |
Isaacs 2m Analogue |
Non-operational |
Long term U/S due QRM from adjacent site |
Isaacs 2m D-star |
Operational |
Ongoing packet loss issues due link issues |
Isaacs 2m beacon |
Operational |
|
Isaacs 70cm Analogue |
Operational |
Includes IRLP and Echolink |
Isaacs 70cm DMR |
Operational |
|
Bulls Head 2m Analogue |
Operational |
Rectified with installation of replacement repeater |
Ginini 6m Analogue |
It’s coming! (eventually) |
On hold pending rectification of other issues at site |
Ginini 2m Analogue |
Operational |
|
Ginini 2m APRS |
Non-operational |
Re-booted and working again |
Ginini 70cm Analogue |
Operational |
Intermittent QRM |
Ginini 23cm Beacon |
Operational |
|
Thanks to the efforts of a number of members, the repaired Icom repeater was installed back at Bulls Head and this appears to have restored normal functionality to it – note that it now requires a 91.5Hz tone to access it. The licencing paperwork to change the Ginini 70cm repeater to a 7MHz split has been completed and we hope to make a trip early in the new year which should see the intermittent QRM rectified. The 7MHz split means we will need to reprogramme and retune the repeater as well as a retune of the UHF filter stack which may see some glitches. All other repeaters appear to be running correctly at all other sites, but if you notice any issues with repeater performance, please advise the committee by email.
On the education front, Amanda advises that the first course for 2025 on 18/19th January is open for bookings with places going fast. Note that the education team may also conduct upgrade assessments on the Saturday of the course (pending assessor availability and sufficient lead time to order exams) in addition to out of sessions examinations by arrangement with the education team via education@crarc.org.au
For WICEN, it was again a quiet month with no events supported – however WICEN NSW have asked us to run the comms support for the Memory Walk and Jog event run by Dementia Australia on 23 Feb 2025. It is a very simple event needing only a couple of people at most, so not a huge endeavour. However, the next event on the calendar is the Rally of Canberra on 21-23 March which will be much larger and needs a lot of member assistance for us to be able to deliver the usual high quality support. Phil VK1PL is still looking to pull back from the running of these events and is looking for the right person to take on this role. It does entail a reasonable amount of effort in the 2-3 months leading up to the event including attending a number of meetings with the event organisers to ensure that the communications side of the event is not an after thought. If you are interested in this, please reach out to Phil and discuss what is involved and what you feel you can bring to the party.
QSL cards – after many years of effort John VK1CJ has handed over the running of the VK1 bureau to Steve VK2NSS. A huge thanks must be made to John for his efforts over the decades that he has been performing this role – and of course to Steve for volunteering to take on the role. I understand that there are a significant number of cards recently received, hopefully they will be processed and available at the January meeting.
The CRARC Merchandise shop remains quietly running in the background with a wide selection of T-Shirts, Hoodies, Caps, Polos and Sweaters in both male and female styles. Each T-Shirt, Hoodie, Polo and Sweater can be ordered with the CRARC Logo, your callsign and your name digitally printed over the left breast. Caps can be ordered with the CRARC Logo and your callsign digitally printed on the front. A small commission for each item is paid to CRARC so all purchases support your club. https://merch.crarc.org.au/
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Matt VK1MA