M.A.R.S - Manawatu Amateur Radio Soc

April 2011

Club Rooms

The club room extension is now in progress to extend the storage room to the full length of the building. With a larger and longer storage area, the ever-increasing clutter in the main meeting room can be moved to the larger store room. This will help make the main meeting room more appealing for visitors. There are also ideas on getting the plaques up to date and even updating the decor.

Contests

For the last year or three there has been a core group of Branch 20 Members taking part in the VHF field day, and heading up to the top of the Ruahines. I would like to invite some discussion of ideas on what we can do to make this contest go forward. Also, is this the only VHF contest we should be involved in?

Travel

This month will see me away again to the large island in the west for two weeks: this time to both Sydney and Melbourne. Also, my free time when I am home on weekends has me in Wellington where Paula is managing the renovation project (and providing a lot of the manpower) for our house in Mana. This means that the erection of the dual-band base antenna here at Potts Road will need to wait at least another six weeks. The signal from 7125 to our home here suffers from a lot of fading (QSB) although it is generally workable with the SlimJim. Reception should be an S point or three better with the new antenna (when I can get it up).

Sheriff

Please read Stu’s comments in the newsletter regarding the pirate, and provide Stu with as much useful feedback as you can manage.

Cheers
Richie – ZL2KP / VK2IAX