QNEWS REPORT FOR WIAQ AGM MARCH 24 2001
31,120 CHECKINS TEXT AND AUDIO THIS YEAR.
These figures are from broadcast 1 to 51 of 51 broadcasts in
year.
RF Audio checkins, total in Council year 11,255
HIGHEST RF CHECK-IN, IN 1 WEEK, WAS THE 18/02/01 = 300
CONNECTS TO WIAQ WEB http://www.wia.org.au/vk4 = 9,540
218 pw auto HTML subs emailed to QNEWS-VK-subscribe@egroups.com
26 pw auto TEXT subs emailed to QNEWS-VK-TEXT@yahoogroups.com
31,120 all modes advised this VK4 Council year, since March 25 2000.
GraHam Kemp VK4BB
QNEWS is broadcast in;
VK2 LISMORE, VK6 PERTH, VK7 N-NW TAS., P29 PORT MORESBY and
several broadcasts throughout year from P29 UKARUMPA and YJ8 VANUATU
and is aired on CB radio in Maryborough and Tasmania, at least one
CB broadcast in year from Sunshine Coast area.
From VK4 BRISBANE on;
1.825, 3.605, 7.118, 10.135, 14.342, 21.175, 28.400, 147.000, 438.525
VK4 REGIONAL
GOLDCOAST, DALBY, SUNSHINE CST, BUNDABERG, ROCKHAMPTON, MACKAY & TOWNSVILLE.
Community FM Radio Stations airing WIAQ promotional tracks and/or shows,
Caboolture Classic Hits 101.5 for Murrumba Communications Group
Dalby 89.9 Community B/casters for Dalby AR Club
Redcliffe 99.7 for Murrumba Communications Group
Rockhampton 98.5 4YOU for RADAR
Townsville 4TTT-FM 103.9 for theTARCinc
in the Amateur Radio News Hour hosted by Alan/VK4PS
Stations transmitting and or conducting callbacks of QNEWS 2000/2001 include
160m VK4BOS Cliff at Upper Caboolture; VK4AIF Ivan, Beachmere;
VK4AI Reg at Clontarf and c/backs by VK4BCF Brian.
80m VK4AFS John, Wavell Heights; VK4EHT Bruce, Ekibin.
40m VK4BGT Paul.
30m VK4PJ Peter, Balmoral; VK4ACG Col, Balmoral.
20m VK4AMV Bruce; VK4MU Theo; VK4FUQ Felix; VK4AJF Adam;
VK4CED Noel.
15m VK4NJQ Peter.
10m VK4NWH Wayne, Woodridge.
2m VK4EWR Ted Boronia Heights callbacks also Kerry VK4JKR
VK4AFS VK4WAG VK4ZMM have been originators
70cm VK4HBP Bill callbacks
VK4AFS VK4NWH have been originators
Gold Coast VK4KD Ken; VK4WAG Maurie; cbax also by VK4JPH Peter
Dalby VK4XT Mike; VK4AOE Margaret
Sunshine Cst VK4ARU Roy; VK4SWC Wayne; cbacks Club Rostered INCLUDE
VK4GZ; VK4BPR; VK4KOP Plus Peter VK4ZPG CB UHF/Ch 9
HF CB Ch 14
Maryborough VK4ZGF Geoff. Plus Gary VK4TGB CB UHF/Ch 14
HF CB Ch 29
Rockhampton VK4DUG Doug; VK4BY Don
Mackay VK4DFD Brian.
Townsville QNEWS on the following frequencies in the
Townsville/Ayr/HomeHill/Thuringowa/Dalrymple/
ChartersTowers/Rollingstone/Ingham areas
HF : 7.118 / 10.138 / 14.341:9 / 21.175 MHz
VHF: 146.100 / 146.700 MHz
UHF: 438.225 / 433.225 / 420.150 MHz
Lismore VK2YGF Phil VK2HE (Mon Nite B/cast)
West Aust. VK6UI
Tasmania VK7's RN/MGW/AX/KVB/AN Monday Nights 7.30 PM Tassie Time.
HF 3.595 KHz. VK7AN/RN
VHF Repeaters by VK7AX Ulverstone
CB CH.15 by VK7MGW Burnie
Papua New Guinea
P29KFS Rick Warnett 147:000 POM from 20mtrs
P29 QNEWS:-
==========
Rick Warnett in Port Moresby as P29KFS
We forward the news to a list of P29 amateurs with email facilities.
About 15 are on the list in various parts of the world at the moment,
a few in USA, one in Pakistan another in UK.
As you know we rebroadcast the 20M QNEWS transmission on 147MHz here in
POM with a usual list of 3-4 listeners.
***********************************************************************
CB BROADCAST REPORT - VK4 - MARYBOROUGH:-
========================================
My name is Gary VK4TGB or as on CB Radio it is 622 in Maryborough.
I got into Radio at the age of eight 8 years in 1968 when I
got my first radio and then I was told that I was to young to
become a ham at the time, the age then was 16 to sit.
I haven't been able to put the mic down since.
In 1994 I decided to go for my amateur licence .
I decided in mid 2000 to put QNEWS on the air on the CB Radio...
with a little bit of flack.
The Radios here are FT 2500M 2 meter 1/2 wave ant,
Electrophone tx472s UHF 10 Db vert,
Midlander 6001 27 MHz 1/2 wave station Master.
I down load the News off the QNEWS site on the internet and put
it on to my reel to reel tape player. I use all the parts of the
news even the 4 min warm up so I can balance the sound.
Callbacks are not big but its a hobby.
Yours on Radio and Net VK4TGB / 622 Gary
**************************************************************************
160 METERS:-
===========
QNEWS 160 METRE NEWS RE-BROADCASTERS 13/2/00 (updated 11/02/01)
3 rebroadcasters, VK4AIF Ivan, VK4AI Reg and VK4BOS, Cliff. They have
callbacks supplied each week by VK4BCF Brian.
VK4AIF transmits from Beachmere with a Kenwood TS44OS, 100 Watts to an
Open wire fed 250 foot dipole and has been serving the 'top end gang'
for approximately 11 years and full time rotation for about 6 years.
VK4AI operates from Clontarf again with a TS440S into a full size
160 meter dipole for the same period.
VK4BOS is at Upper Caboolture, 400w from a IC2KL Linear and a Icom 756.
Cliff's antenna is a quarter wave end-fed Marconi driven against the
ground.
All stations take their audio feed from the Brisbane VHF Groups UHF
repeater, and Reg VK4AI also can take the 2 meter uplink audio.
30 METERS:-
==========
Peter VK4PJ backup by VK4ACG Col.
Brisbane 70cm repeater downlink the audio into a 'padded' box (helps
keep out extraneous noise) direct to an ICOM IC745 and it's microphone
input.
RF to a dipole 1-1 lying North - South from the excellant high position
of the VK4PJ QTH.
Reports come from from ZL, VK5, VK7 and the Pacific.
**************************************************************************
15 METERS:-
==========
I am P.W.J.Parsons--VK4NJQ --I take the QNEWS off of
the output plug of whatever 2m set handy,then connect
it to the phone patch in of my faithful TS520S.To
check the 520 output I listen on my Yaesu FT707.The antenna
is a home brew 5el duo band Yagi,3el on 15m and 2el on
10m--using 15m director as reflector for 10m.The
antenna is only up about 25ft-just clearing the roof,
despite this have worked around the world.....Peter
**************************************************************************
DALBY:-
======
Hey it's Sunday 4mts to 9am.... Grab trusty hand held radio, select
Dalby clubs repeater (146.675 Mhz) and hit transmitt button followed by 3
dtmf keys. This simple act by Mike VK4XT enables a link that brings the
news broadcast in from the Brisbane 147.000 Mhz repeater out on 146.675 Mhz
from the Bunya Mts.
The dtmf command connects audio and ptt links from the on site receiver
to the repeater transmitter and disables all timers.
The ident timer is set to auto-ident every 10 minutes.
The usual repeater input frequency is still active for voice overs,
emergency use, and further commands to turn the link off.
A carrier drop counter on the 147.000 Mhz receiver will automatically
disable the link and restore timers if normal dtmf control is lost.....
...... or someone forgets!!!
The Mon evening news rebroadcast on the Clubs 438.700 mhz repeater is done
in a similar way. As the UHF repeater link has been designed to allow
further distribution of the news no normal audio or idents are transmitted.
Most of the remote control features were built into these solar powered
repeaters by Mike vk4xt some 10 to 14 years ago. The current newslink
setup was added about 12 months ago also by Mike.
Callbacks on the VHF repeater are taken by Margaret vk4aoe on Sun, and on
the UHF repeater by Mike vk4xt on Mon nights.
********************************************************************************
SUNSHINE COAST:-
===============
Wayne Cook VK4SWC and Len VK4ALF use QNEWS off 438.525 to cross band
onto our 2mx repeater on 146.850 and Roy VK4ARU uses the feed off 147.000
in Brisbane to do the QNEWS re-bcast.
Up until lately it has been rebroadcast mainly by Roy but Len and myself
are trying to share the responsibility.
Thanks De VK4SWC Wayne
**************************************************************************
BUNDABERG / WIDE BAY:-
=====================
I have been taking the full Q-NEWS from the Dalby link to the
Bundy UHF repeater and receiving it here on UHF and retransmit
it on Vhf back to the Bundy repeater where it goes into the
linked chain of repeaters up to Rockhampton. Towns and cities
serviced include from Gympie----Maryborough---Hervey Bay----
Miriam Vale----Gladstone-----Yepoon-----Rockhampton----and
many areas East and West.
(VK4ZGF Geoffrey Campbell Nelson gcnel0@bigpond.com
*************************************************************************
ROCKHAMPTON:-
============
Don Wilschefski
Transmission of the news in Rockhampton is currently handled by
Don VK4BY with Doug VK4DUG acting as back up.
Coverage Area
The area covered by the news transmission is the area covered by the
Rockhampton VHF repeater. The repeater is located on Mount Archer near
Rockhampton. The repeater coverage extends approximately 100 kilometres
from Rockhampton to the north, south, west and to the coast in the east.
Yeppoon and Emu Park coverage is included
Both of the transmitting set ups are similar.
Here is a description of Don VK4BY's set up and procedure:
Downloading the News Files
The news files are downloaded from the WIAQ ftp site using Netscape and
an internet connection via a telephone line. A local Rockhampton ISP is
used.
Four files are normally downloaded:
Introduction.RM
Segment1.RM
Segment2.RM
Segment3.RM
The files normally take about half an hour to download using a V34 28.8k
modem. The download is normally done on Saturday or Sunday mornings.
(Does this person really have a life !)
Other Files Used
Two other files are used to play the news:
Rocky.RA This file is a four minute introduction to amateur radio,
the Rockhampton area amateur radio frequencies, club meeting
times etc. This is played before the news.
VK4BY.RA This file is used for station identification.
It announces the club callsign, operator callsign,
location and band used.
Playing the News Files in Rockhampton
The program Real Jukebox is used to play the news files.
This program allows sequential playing of a number of audio files.
It was originally intended to play music ! The playlist function
allows setting up a sequence of files.
To play the news the sequence is as follows:
Rocky.RA
Introduction.RM
VK4BY.RA
Segment1.RM
VK4BY.RA
Segment2.RM
VK4BY.RA
Segment3.RM
VK4BY.RA
Real Jukebox will play all of the above files in the sequence shown
without breaks.
The computer used is a Pentium II 350 MHz.
The files take up about 6Mb of hard disk space.
A basic sound card is used to output the audio.
The audio is fed via shielded audio cables to a HiFi stereo amplifier.
The radio is fed from a plug into the head phone socket.
This choice of connection is more for convenience than quality reasons.
The audio connection could have been fed directly from the sound card to
the radio interface.
Radio Interface
A radio interface box is used to control the audio and the radio.
This box is a plastic box measuring 150x80x50mm. It has the following
components:
Audio level control using a potentiometer on the box.
Isolation transformer using a 600/600 ohm telephone transformer
scavenged from a modem. This isolates the computer earths from the radio
earths.
Switch to select whether audio comes from the microphone or the computer.
PTT switch to key the radio.
Microphone and preamplifier to allow voice operation.
555 timer to cause the radio PTT to drop out for 0.3 seconds every
2 minutes. This resets the repeater timer and stops the repeater timing out.
9 volt battery to power the timer.
A second radio circuit is fitted to allow use of a second radio if required.
(i.e.. potentiometer, PTT control etc)
Spaghetti junction of wires and parts.
The radio interface is connected to the radio via a 5 pin DIN plug and
multicore shielded cable.
Radio in Rockhampton
The radio is a Phillips FM92. Two were purchased from the WIAQ disposal
by the Rockhampton and District Amateur Radio Club. The EPROM was
modified to allow local repeater operation on channel 99 using 1 watt of
power instead of the normal 25 watts.
The radio was further modified to allow connection of the radio interface
box via the 5 pin DIN socket on the back of the remote head for the radio.
A collinear aerial on the roof provides the radiation.
The repeater used is located on Mt Archer. This is about 5 kilometres from
the transmitter.
Repeater
The repeater uses a Phillips 828 radio and has performed well for over
ten years. Thermal shut down started to occur after about thirty minutes
of continuous operation. To alleviate this problem Doug VK4DUG fitted a
temperature controlled fan to the radio heat sink. This allowed continuous
operation of the repeater.
Transmitter Monitoring
To monitor the transmission a scanner is used that can monitor the
repeater uplink and downlink. To reduce the received signal the aerial
used is normally a 70cm collinear. This can receive the uplink and
repeater output without de-sensing the receiver too badly.
A home made deviation meter is fitted to the scanner so that audio
levels can be set correctly.
Procedure
To re-transmit the news the following is required to be done:
Check that the Real Jukebox play list is set up correctly and that all
audio files will play. (sometimes we receive RA, or RM files)
Switch the radio to transmit with computer audio feed via the HiFi
amplifier.
Monitor the transmitted deviation while playing the warm up file.
Levels are set in four places i.e.. Real Jukebox volume, computer mixer
volume, HiFi amplifier volume, and re-transmit level control.
Adjust as necessary without exceeding any levels in individual components.
Sit back and wait about 35 minutes for the news to end, monitoring the
process at all times. (Its amazing what you can get done in this time)
At the end switch off the PTT control on the radio interface,and switch
the audio to microphone. This allows normal microphone operation.
Turn off the scanner to prevent audio feedback.
Things that Can go Wrong (and have gone wrong!)
My ISP falls over on a Friday night and is not returned until Monday.
Real Jukebox locks up occasionally and needs a computer re-boot.
(like one minute before the news is due to start)
A mute can be set on the computer audio mixer control and stops audio
getting out of the computer.
The scanner audio output can be left connected to the sound card input.
This produces some interesting feedback.
The scanner locks up occasionally has to be switched off to reset.
(Regards, Don VK4BY)
*************************************************************************
MACKAY:-
=======
Here I use the RA files to broadcast the News via our local repeater
VK4RMK on 147 MHz situated on Black Mountain at Farleigh a few Klms on the
highway north of Mackay.
I usually take the files down on Friday about midday as this is when
I seem to get the best file transfer rate. (about 4.00 KB/s)
I use a Yaesu FT-767 GX for the broadcast and only need to use a couple of
watts output as we live only a couple of kilometres from the repeater site.
Thanks for the News Graham,
Regards, Brian VK4KBS
colem@orion-online.com.au
********************************************************************************
TOWNSVILLE:-
===========
QNEWS in Townsville - 2001.
how the best ham news you will ever hear gets to air in the magic
magnetic north.
Note: This article must be reproduced in full.
It may not be reproduced partially unless authorised by the author.
Note: This article has been put together in response to a request by
the WIAQ News Editor for information on how QNEWS gets to air
on the various bands. The article endeavours to show how the
QNEWS signals get to air on 20metres and how they are retransmitted
in the Townsville Region.
Now on with the show...
The QNEWS Rebroadcast system is a super-dedicated group of
amateur radio operators all sharing at least one common goal,
to keep their fellow hams well informed!
In the Townsville/Thuringowa region there are at least 5 rebroadcasters
taking turns to retransmit the QNEWS to air on the local repeaters
sourcing the programme either from HF Radio or computer RealAudio files.
I will attempt to shed light of day on
- how the QNEWS is produced
- how the QNEWS gets to distribution
- how the QNEWS gets up north
- how the QNEWS gets to air locally
- the Callbacks
pretty involved already isn't it?
- how the QNEWS is produced
at the time of drafting this document, QNEWS is being produced
by that dynamo of walking softly, GraHam/VK4BB at the studios of
4TAB-FM. GraHam collates all the latest news on Wednesday afternoon
from packet bulletins, faxes, letters, telephone calls and e-mails
and gets them ready into a short-form script, leaving room for
any late-breaking news.
By Thursday afternoon GraHam is standing in front of his favourite
Maestro console reading out the items, timing as he goes to make
sure that the latest items haven't pushed the QNEWS past the 30-40
minute timeframe. The program is stored on mini-disk complete with
pre-recorded program links and then transferred to two master tapes
by 4TAB-FM technicians.
- how the QNEWS gets to distribution
lets now centre on the fate of the two master tapes!
Master Tape One gets delivered to the VK4AFS QTH. John/VK4AFS uses
the tape on most Sunday mornings to provide the primary Brisbane
program feed onto the Brisbane VHF Voice Repeater VK4RBN.
He also uses the previous weeks tape on Sunday evening to transmit
the Brisbane Dejavu QNEWS edition on 3605.4kHz.
Other stations use the morning feed to rebroadcast the QNEWS most Sundays
on various frequencies.
Master Tape Two gets delivered to either the VK4JPH or VK4WAG QTH.
Peter/VK4JPH and Maurie/VK4WAG take it in turn to encode the
taped programme into digital RealAudio format for posting on the
WIAQ website. Other stations either live-stream the RealAudio files
to air or download and play the files locally to air on each Sunday.
Maurie/VK4WAG uses the files to provide the primary Brisbane
programme feed when John/VK4AFS has the occasional Sunday off.
- how the QNEWS gets up north to Townsville
Currently there are 5 rebroadcasters assigned ex-officio status by
the local Townsville Amateur Radio Club (Inc). Those rebroadcasters
are..
David/VK4KIX, Don/VK4MC, Gavin/VK4ZZ, Bob/VK4AAH and Bob/VK4WJ.
Other operators such as Felix/VK4FUQ and Roger/VK4CD also make
themselves available if all the other rebroadcasters are out of
town participating in communication support activities.
The main way the northern rebroadcasters get their programme
is via the 20metre HF transmission from Brisbane.
The transmission is picked up on the uplink from VK4AFS
(or from VK4RBN or VK4RGC if the uplink is missing) by the
WIAQ 2OM Primary Rebroadcaster Bruce/VK4AMV.
Bruce employs 300 to 400 watts of output power into a beam antenna.
This transmission is received on a regular basis in the Northern Territory,
Western Australia, New Zealand, Cape York and Torres Strait, Papua New Guinea,
and South Pacific islands. VK4AMV's transmission is even copied well in
the Philippines and in Japan. Other stations help out occasionally if
Bruce is indisposed but cant match the beefiness of signal that
Bruce can put to air!
[soapbox on]
WIAQ Councillors and News Editors take note: The 20metre transmission
is the widest ranging, most copied transmission of all the QNEWS services
(including internet based services) and neglect of personnel involved in
providing the feed will mean the degrading or demise of the
divisional news service!
[soapbox off]
Stations in the Townsville region receive this signal best of all
the HF transmissions but also keep track of conditions on other
available HF bands in case there are fadeouts on 20m.
As a backup the RealAudio files from the WIAQ web site are downloaded
and available locally for instant transmission should the HF signals
become too degraded to rebroadcast. The RealAudio files are also used
for the local Dejavu edition on Sunday evening.
- how the QNEWS gets to air locally in Townsville
Here is a sample of how the Townsville rebroadcasters retransmit
the sound from the south....
VK4KIX:
David employs a number of HF wire antennae connected to his HF transceiver
to receive the signal from Brisbane into his station in suburban Annandale.
The QNEWS signal is coupled to a VHF transmitter via a variety of
control systems David is currently experimenting with.
The VHF transmission is sent via home brew j-pole to the VK4RAT VHF
repeater at Mount Stuart and then received by listeners in the region.
David also uses a VHF receiver to monitor his transmission through
VK4RAT to ensure best quality.
VK4MC:
Don deploys his tower mounted 20m beam or his 80m full wave horizontal loop
connected to one of several HF receivers to receive the signal from
Brisbane into his station in rural Bluewater.
The QNEWS signal is coupled to one of several VHF transmitters via
a home brew control system.
The transmission is sent either via VHF yagi or j-pole to the VK4RAT VHF
repeater at Mount Stuart and then received by listeners in the region.
Don also uses a VHF receiver or scanner to monitor his transmission
through VK4RAT to ensure best quality.
VK4ZZ:
Gavin is able to source the QNEWS program either from HF or via the
RealAudio files. When a natural disaster is on the boil he can also
use the RealAudio files to make a locally available master tape which
can be played on portable equipment as the need arises.
For HF source, signals are received via longwire antennae into either
a Kenwood R1000 or STC-Marine R800A HF receiver at Gavin's station
in suburban Vincent.
For RealAudio source, files are played on a dedicated computer, and
decoded by soundcard.
Either source is fed into a mixing panel and then into a graphic
equaliser and audio amplifier. Amplified audio is then fed into
studio speakers. Audio is sampled from the speaker lines into
home brew control and coupling systems systems and then sent to a
number of transmitters.
The VHF transmitter is connected to a home brew j-pole and signals
are sent via VK4RAT VHF Voice Repeater to listeners in the region.
The UHF transmitter is connected to a double vertical bay of folded
dipoles and signals are sent via VK4RAT UHF Voice Repeater to listeners
in the region.
Gavin uses a scanner to monitor both repeaters for best output quality.
- The Callbacks in Townsville
All rebroadcasters of QNEWS in the region initiate a callback session
at the end of the news transmission as required by Australian Amateur
Radio Operating Conditions. An initial session to set up the call-in
order is undertaken and then each station takes a turn to call in
with signal reports and news of any happenings locally. This turn thing
is different to how most callback nets are run with the net controller
calling in each station in turn. The callbacks in the Townsville region
are done with minimal net controller action and gives each station
experience in maintaining a callback list and aids training in traffic
handling.
One of the group, normally your QNEWS correspondent, maintains
a list of who is on net and pertinent comments made and this record
is archived as the club station log. This record is also sent south
to the QNEWS news editor along with news snippets on a weekly basis
for inclusion in further QNEWS transmissions.
So there you have it. A lot of hams dedicating a part of each week
to provide an amateur radio news service of excellence.
After reading this I hope you will gain vast appreciation next time
you listen to the 'Q', wherever you are.
Cheers fm Gavin/VK4ZZ
QNEWS North Queensland Correspondent and
Publicity Officer 2001, theTARCinc.
**************************************************************************