Armidale & District Amateur Radio Club
ABN 66 142 315 938
VK2RAD
146.725Mhz Echo Link Node 872907
438.650Mhz (-7Mhz)

Sausage Roll Saturday at the Club House

Well it was a day of light rain and drizzle for our region so just the right weather for some warm sausage rolls. We had a good roll up of members turn up despite the weather. There was myself Rick VK4HF and Brian VK2BLP, Richard VK2EIK, Steve VK2SL, Maurie VK2MOZ, Angus VK2IY and Phill VK2AFX.

Richard brought in his little Elecraft K2 transceiver and laptop and a Home Brew rig interface to connect the radio to the laptop. He then proceeded to demonstrate the advantages of some digital modes like WSPR, JT-65 and  a morse decoder CW Skimmer. It's amazing just how less than 5 watts can get you to the other side of the globe via these modes. Then Steve brought in his "Shack in a Box" portable radio, a Yaesu FT-817ND with internal battery pack... 160m -70cm and up to 5 watts out. Steve also showed off his little QRP Antenna Tuner that he assembled himself and made a very fine job of it indeed.

Thanks guys for bringing along the gear and showing us all how well it worked and give us a first hand look at other modes of operation. A very interesting day at the club indeed.

Richard VK2EIK brought his K2 along. So light, it weighs next to nothing	Richard took us through the mountain of features of the K2
WSPR is a great tool to see what bands are open to where	Steve VK2SLQRV all HF Bands as well as 6m, 2m & 70cm complete with tuner
Steve's Classy QRP Antenna Tuner. Big Tick there Steve	All hooked up to the antenna & "Tooned" in