Icom IC-2820H Replacement GPS Antenna

i happened to come across a second hand Icom IC-2820H Deathstar radio recently at a very good price and purchased it for the shack/one of the cars. BUT… it was missing the GPS antenna to allow DPRS (aprs for Dstar) and other positioning functions this radio offers. The GPS unit is supplied with the UT-123 Dstar…

Spring VHF/UHF Field Day 2014 VK3ER

As normal, the EMDRC club station VK3ER/P headed to our normal contest location at Mclaughlins Lookout in the wombat state forest for the SpringVHF/UHF field day 2014. The team for Spring consisted of our normal operators. Peter, Mike Jonas and Jack, we had help from Greg and Michael, and I was able to assist for for the…

Sota Activation – VK3/VC-032 (Handbrake Turn Hill)

Named in honour of Andrew VK3ARR and his handbrake turns and Scandinavian flicks**. This is now known as handbrake turn hill. ** Andrew didn’t actually undertake such monouvers, just longed for a BDA Ford escort sideways. The EMDRC club field day site is around 5km from this previously unnamed summit, and with me being so…

Summer VHF/UHF Field Day 2014

Last weekend, I assisted EMDRC in the summer VHF/UHF Field day contest 2014. We headed to the normal location of McLaughlin Lookout in the wombat state forest around 80km west of Melbourne. I started work early on the friday, and managed to head up mid afternoon. I arrived around mid afternoon, with others having turned up…

Radio Mobile Prediction Software

A nifty freeware bit of (windows) software for hams and other radio people is called “Radio Mobile”. This tool allows you to simulate and map predicted coverage of your location using terrain and clutter data and maps expected coverage into google maps. The windows version requires you to source the terrain and clutter data (easy…

Spring VHF/UHF Field Day 2013

This year, I assisted the VK3ER/p (EMDRC) team comprising of Peter – VK3QI, Jack – VK3WWW, Mike VK3AVV and Jonas VK3VF in participating in the Spring 2013 VHF/UHF Field Day. The club has been a very active competitor in this contest over the years, and we have a very good spot at Mclaughlins Lookout near Blackwood…

Baofeng UV-5RE

Ticket Green D43, Green D43, as i quickly check my tickets, I won.. EMDRC club has a raffle each meeting, 3 tickets for $5 with a good selection of items raffled throughout the year typically around the $50 mark. My Prize this time, a cheap and cheerful Baofeng UV-5RE hand held, pre programmed and ham band…

EMDRC / VK3 Microwave Day 2013

On Sunday 10th November EMDRC hosted the 2nd annual VK3 / Microwave test and tune day at the club’s rooms located in Burwood. The format this year included the normal field testing of TX and RX systems, from 1.3GHz, 2.4GHz, 3.4GHz, 5.4GHz, 10GHz and 47GHz, but also feature a special visitor from Tasmania , Rex VK7MO and…

10GHz EME VK3BQ – W5LUA Texas

Today at the EMDRC microwave day, rex, vk7mo had a 10GHz EME (earth-Moon-Earth) station setup to work Al, w5lua in Texas. Rex runs the 90cm dish and 50watts running the WSJT software and using a new mode JT4F. After Rex made his initial contact with Al, a lot of those who were part of the…

FT817ND – My New QRP Rig.

I have just acquired a second hand Yaesu FT817ND for portable operation, microwave radio driving and camping holidays and I also plan to start to participate in SOTA activations. More posts to come as I explore this nifty little radio and the Z-match ATU i acquired in the bundle, as well as some useful SOTA…