Hi All,
Over the last couple of weeks we have had reports of  intermod
interference on the tail of our 70 cm repeater, most likely from a
commercial trunking system, most probably the SAGRN about 3km away.
To alleviate the problem we have replaced the duplexer, added an
isolator to the transmitter output, and invoked tone access to the
receiver using the standard tone frequency of 91.5Hz.
The delay in taking action to fix the intermod problem was due to the
time to purchase the isolator. We regret the inconvenience so far and
would like to hear reports of the transmission quality after the fix.
We would also ask that you pass on any further issues to us.
Cheers
Graham Kimber VK5GM
President NERC

Steve entertained us with a presentations of the in’s and outs of Digital Amateur Television. He went to a significant effort setting up his transmitter and showing the block stages of equipment. A lot of detail was given about the importance of filters due to being allocated only 1Mhz below the commercial frequencies. Steve is keen to get more amateurs involved even if receiving only, (this can be done with a cheap Laser set top box and manually tuning it to 445.5Mhz). A really huge thankyou to Steve for an entertaining and informative evening.

Steve has provided a list of topics that would be useful to study up on if you are interested in Amateur TV:

• DVB-t (Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial)
• Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (COFDM)
• QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) 
• QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation)
• MER (Modulation Error Ratio)
• FEC (Forward Error Correction)
• Guard Interval
• Carriers (2K & 8K)
• PID (Packet Identifier)
• LCN (Logical Channel Numbers)

Paul regaled us with some of the complicated problems he has dealt with in the past regarding earthing not being done correctly. There were quite a few interesting questions put forward and many of us came away with ideas to improve our homes or shacks.

I wish to thank our members for a great turn out. It’s good to see the numbers so good.

Paul has provided some literature available to download to assist you in your endeavors.

These can be now found on this site at: https://northeastradioclub.org.au/useful-links/

Last night at the AGM a change of Membership fees was proposed and passed.

This year all fees will be increasing by $5 on top of the current fee structure.

Full Membership $35

Concession and Student Membership $25

As before, if you pay before September there will be a $5 discount reducing the figures above.

It had been discussed at committee level and was decided:

We are no longer going to charge the $3 door fees for our meetings, so if you are a regular attendee you will be saving a considerable amount.

It was also a way to reduce the work load on our beloved Treasurer, not having to count and balance and bank all the change.

The door fees have been suspended for 12 months and will be evaluated for club impact prior to the next AGM.

For those who can’t get to evening events, we have potential plans to overcome this so stay tuned.

Regards

Graham Kimber

VK5GM

President

Last night was the 2025 AGM.

A special thankyou for Tony Green VK5FBIC for organising and hosting the event, also for the effort Tony has put into the North East Radio Club Committee in the role of Treasurer and then President for the last 2 years. He will remain a valuable resource for the club.

Announcing the new Committee:

President Graham Kimber VK5GM

Vice President Mick Hope VK5MCH

Secretary Brian Roberts VK5VI

Treasurer David Fisk VK5MDF

Committee:

Les Dicker VK5KLD

Trevor Quick VK5ATQ

Bob Wake VK5AK

Gary Nichols VK5SIX

David Sienniak VK5KFC

I want to thank Brian and David for their executive roles and years of continued service to the club and how could I forget the beloved characters Trevor and Les for their years of service in the background.

It is Bob’s second year on the committee, he has quietly been there supporting the club in the background for many years.

Now for our new committee members, I am thankful I could talk them into coming on board and look forward to their contribution and with working with them.

Brian Roberts VK5VI received a Life Time Membership award for his service to the Club and Amateur Radio. He has presented many technical lectures, involved in the linked repeater system as well as the club repeater VK5RHO 2m and 70cm. He has been a great mentor to myself. 

David VK5KFC recently upgraded to a Standard Licence so big congratulation.

Also the Perpetual Trophy was awarded to Paul VK5PH for his contribution to Amateur Radio, well done Paul.

The repeater team has finally overcome some teething problems with transmitters and we are ready to go. Our first segment is set in the diary for the last Sunday of each month with the inaugural transmission being Sunday the 27th April at 3.30pm. We are talking about the achievements of Guglielmo Marconi and his contributions to radio communication.

We are please to announce the we can now order our merchandise online. There are 2 options to pay, Direct Deposit and in person at the Club.

When you submit the form the Treasurer will receive a copy (if you select Direct Deposit he will forward the bank details) and a copy will go the the Ordering Officer (VK5GM).

We look forward to seeing more people wearing the Club Logo