ATV Notes#24 (2000 News)
Auckland ATV Interest Group (of the Auckland VHF Group inc.) December meeting report
Attended by Tim ZL3VTV, Ian ZL1VFO, Michael ZL1ABS, Ken ZL1TVQ, Kiely
ZL1WPK, Quentin ZL1QF, Andrew ZL2TQV, Ashly ZL1AG, Grant ZL1WTT, Richard
Thompson & Henry ZL1AAN. Apologies from Kevin ZL1OVY, Wayne ZL1UJK, Jerry ZL1RN & Bill
ZL1BRI.
I sold two of the 23cm Yagi aerial kits, this afternoon, to Tim ZL3VTV &
Richard Thompson (no callsign, ex Telecom Tech now American Video Services,
fax 525-2-625 - a great number to have eh!). So only one left available from
the first batch.
Tim ZL3VTV & Ian ZL1VFO climbed on the roof & put up a 23cm Yagi with a
plastic pipe boom & line amp to receive Whitford. The receiver in the
bedroom was plugged into a Wavecom 2.4GHz video-sender to get to the lounge
room TV. The result was great pictures & sound. Signals originating from
ZL1BQ were P4 using ZL3VTV Tim's homebuilt 23cm FMTV RX (only P3 on the Pace
Sat RX). Signals sent through Whitford, by Grant ZL1WTT, were a bit better,
P4.5, up to the same level that I get direct on my set at home watching
615MHz direct. The Whitford 615 MHz receiver may be a little off-tune in the
Summer heat or its' AFC is affected by other high power UHF TV signals,
explaining the difference. We saw taped material (assembling Whitford 2000 &
1999 10 GHz ATV cross-town QSOs) & live camera from Grant ZL1WTT.
A very convincing demonstration of the new repeater & it has inspired a few
more people to get things set up for reception at their own shacks.
Ian ZL1VFO had a video waveform monitor across the Wavecom receiver output.
It was noted that the waveform trace would bounce a lot rhythmically. It was
soon realised that the bouncing was indeed visual CW of the 50.043 MHz
beacon ZL1VHF. It is harder to pick this looking at the TV. So some work on
the filtering, aerial positions or power supplies is needed to eliminate
this effect.
ZL3VTV Tim's homebrewed beer is indeed strong rocket fuel. I had only one
glass of it as I wanted a clear head for driving home later.
It was decided to get a pair of 23cm 15 Watt (or 25 Watt version, if
available) power blocks to make a high power amp for Whitford. Ian ZL1VFO
will get a price to compare with other suppliers' offers. Also an offer of a
built up 23cm ATV receive filter from the UK will be investigated.
Andrew ZL2TQV offered to hold the first ATV meeting of 2001 on January 28th.
NZART FMTAG suggest the use of Vision Carrier 431.2500 MHz & Sound Carrier 436.7496 MHz (with heavy filtering requirements) in place of 443.25 MHz & 448.7496 MHz now that the MED has moved to reduce the NZ Amateur 70cm band to 10MHz, but make 430-440 MHz a Primary allocation for Amateurs.
28 November 2000 - WHITFORD ATV IS ON AIR
The Whitford ATV Extender/Repeater in the Auckland area is now on air.
It primarily receives ZL1BQ channel 39 (50cm) VSB (AMTV) from Nihotupu and transmits on 1248 MHz FMTV (10 Watts). It also has a 1280 MHz FMTV receiver.
Last Sunday, Grant ZL1WTT was transmitting through Whitford 23cm input. By remote switching ZL1BQ's 23cm FMTV receiver (normally 1280 MHz) to the Whitford output (1248 MHz) he was able to be seen P4 (colour & sound) on ZL1BQ channel 39. This is the first station to work through both Auckland ATV repeaters at the same time. This is the reverse to normal path. At some future stage the direction switching may be automated.
This is the result of three years work by the ATV Interest Group (of the Auckland VHF Group inc.)
Further fine tuning & signal level adjusting is anticipated to improve results further. Additional RF filtering is going to be employed at Whitford.
The next monthly meeting of the Auckland ATV Interest Group (of the Auckland VHF Group inc.) is to be held on Sunday afternoon the 10th December at 1pm.
The host for the meeting is Tim ZL3VTV and the location is his house at Pakuranga, Auckland. Callbook address is not correct. All welcome.
29 October 2000
The October monthly meeting of the Auckland ATV Interest Group (of the Auckland VHF Group inc.) was held on Sunday afternoon the 27th October at 1pm.
The host for the meeting was Ken ZL1TVQ at his house at Mt Roskill, Auckland.
The weather was showers of rain, but that didn't deter the ATVers from Auckland & Hamilton from attending.
Visitors from Hamilton were Bill ZL1BRI, Jerry ZL1RN & Kiely ZL1WPK. Locals were Grant ZL1WTT, Wally ZL1VWM, Ashly ZL1AG, Kevin ZL1OVY, Tim ZL3VTV, Quentin ZL1QF, Ian ZL1VFO & Michael ZL1ABS.
Ashly brought a donated new VCR along (tuner good but heads faulty).
Grant had his version of the Severnside TV Group 18 EL Yagi-Uda beam. Five kits of parts are being gathered to help a few others get ready for transmitting on 23cm to Whitford extender or ZL1BQ Nihotupu.
Bill reported that the faulty DC power connections to the transmitting stages of the ZL1UX repeater in Hamilton have been repaired. Normal service has resumed.
Michael showed a cheap ($150) digital still shot camera he'd just bought.
The aerial pole and cable ducts have been completed at the Whitford Extender site. The aerials are to be installed in the coming weekends, followed by the equipment rack. We're all hoping it will be on air for Christmas 2000.
Thanks to Ken for the tea & buscuits. His shack,workshop & Sat TV gear were very interesting.
24 September 2000
The September meeting of the Auckland ATV Interest Group (of the Auckland VHF Group inc.) was held on Sunday afternoon the 24th September at 1pm.
The host for the meeting was Quentin ZL1QF and the location was Seaview road, Milford on the North Shore of Auckland. A wide selection of homebuilt aerials were on display in the garage. Several projects for repeaters (ATV & Voice) were on the workbench. Ian ZL1VFO demonstrated a new 64 page teletext EPROM for future use in ZL1BQ. Ashly ZL1AG brought a Sony monitor along needing fixing (insufficient Green drive to the tube). Ralph ZL1TBGs' van had Halo aerials for several VHF/UHF bands. His kerosine jet turbine experiments shown on video tape are promising, 19 km/h so far for one litre of fuel per minute. Michael ZL1ABS had a selection of ATV magazines - CQ-TV (BATC), ATVQ & P5. Wayne ZL1UJK sold boards & parts for several more 23cm FM ATV transmitters. Quentins' afternoon tea of hot sausage rolls, biscuits (several types) & coffee was much appreciated.
27 August 2000
The August meeting of the Auckland ATV Interest Group (of the Auckland VHF Group inc.) was held on Sunday afternoon the 27th August at 1pm.
The host for the meeting was Ian ZL1VFO and the location was Willoughby Ave, Highland Park (1/2way between Pakuranga and Howick on the main drag) East side of Auckland.
Wayne ZL1UJK was back from his Australian holiday with news & new items to show us. Michael ZL1ABS had the new CQ-TV 191 magazine from the BATC to show everyone.
Ian ZL1VFO had cheap coaxial relays on offer. 2.4 GHz FMTV reception with video senders was demonstrated. Non-amateur video signals were found on the license-free part of the band. Grant ZL1WTT had his homebuilt 6m to 2m transverter to display. Michael ZL1ABS had video tapes for swap/exchange. Growing use of the Amateur 70cm shared allocation for FM wideband studeo to transmitter radio links was discussed & the unfortunate problems with compatabilitry for 70cm ATV repeater inputs.
Visitors from Hamilton were Bill ZL1BRI, Jerry ZL1RN & Kiely ZL1WPK. Locals were Grant ZL1WTT, Henry ZL1AAN, Wally ZL1VWM, Wayne ZL1UJK, Ashly ZL1AG, Ian ZL1AOX, Kevin ZL1OVY, Tim ZL3VTV, Quentin ZL1QF, Bruce ZL1BLB & Michael ZL1ABS.
Whitford ATV Repeater
One 23cm Aerial is assembled, it now needs weather proofing. Grant ZL1WTT has built several interdigital filters to allow a 23cm FM ATV receiver to operate with a minmum of desense. He has fitted an LM1881n, with low pass filter, to the transmitter modulator to improve the sync performance. Good weather and availability of a team of workers is needed to get the aerials, feedlines & equipment installed at the modified garden shed that is shared with a UHF PRS repeater & a 23cm CW beacon.
Easter 2001
Next Easter, the Whangarei Branch of NZART are going host the Technology Convention. Several ATVers plan to attend. The Auckland ATV Interest Group has enough spare equipment and aerials to put a temporary, low power (2 Watts average) ATV repeater (output channel 39 UHF 615.35 MHz VSB, Inputs 443.25 MHz AM & 1280 MHz FM) into operation for the Easter weekend. It is hoped that this would lead to a group of Whangarei Amateurs forming, to construct a permanent ATV Repeater on the channel 39 UHF allocation.
July 2000
The July meeting attended the Whangarei Club sale on Saturday the 29th of July. A get together with our fellow Whangarei Amateur Radio operator (& VLF expert), Bruce ZL1WB & Peter ZL1TVP took place. The Heritage Park offered some interesting exhibits to look at after the sale. It was pleasant to find that Whangarei is free of graffiti & enjoys lower gasoline prices due to proximity of the Marsden Point refinery.
June 2000
The June meeting was held on Sunday the 25th of June, 1pm at Wally ZL1VWMs house, Ponsonby. The newly acquired Philips PM5580 IF Generator had its' first power applied since its' refurbishment by Michael ZL1ABS. Wayne ZL1UJK has it now for testing and construction of a stereo sound IF system (including crystal locked pilot tones) to accompany it. Wally ZL1VWM was an excellent host (helped by his wife Kim & his mother) with a big spread of food & drinks of several kinds on hand during the afternoon. Ian ZL1VFO was up to his elbows in Wallys' Matchline TV and successfully found a poor solder joint in the pincushion correction circuit. The set later gave a good account of the performance of Wayne ZL1UJKs new Philips VR999 SVHS Multistandard VCR. Henry ZL1AAN showed his 23cm FM ATV TX, now with the PLL board fitted & operational. He has cornered the market in a nice style of black & white painted boxes. He sold surplus ones to those present with a small donation going to the ATV repeater funds. He has ordered four 23cm loop Yagi-Uda kitsets (less boom) from Directive Systems in the USA. Bruce ZL1BLB received a couple more used AA batteries for his large collection. We think he is going for his "BXCC" (Batteries of the World Century Club). Ashly ZL1AG presented his proposal for a non-profit public use studio and ATV transmission service for community groups using the channel 39 allocation. There were no objections to his putting suitable material on air. Ashly is investigating retuning a used piece of UHF TV transmitter equipment capable of the maximum allowed power output for Amateur operators. Ken ZL1OVY, a recent arrival in Auckland, has had 70cm ATV experience in Canada. He is interested in the 23cm work that is being done here. Michael ZL1ABS had assorted surplus items for disposal with donations to the ATV funds being accepted. Quentin ZL1QF showed the new 23cm panel aerial (8 half waves in horizontal broadside mode) for the Whitford ATV Extender transmitter. Tim ZL3VTV collected the rebuilt 6 metre beacon vertical aerial from Wally ZL1VWM. MED web pages were studied to see what new changes, spectrum sales and proposed frequency reassignments the ministry is thinking of. Wally is keeping a close watch as the MED web pages have been noted to change their content without notice. Representations through NZART, MPs & Ministers are being made to preserve the free public use of frequency spectrum that is amateur radio. A meeting with NZART officers is planned. Some tinkering with a 1 inch reel to reel video tape machine in Wally's garage was done, but the power supply fault wasn't solved. Also attended today were: Ken ZL1TVQ, Dennis ZL1UET, Scott ZL1UWQ, Grant ZL1WTT & George ZL1GYM.
Members from the NZRDXL Waipu Dxpedition looked in at the ATV meeting. They were, John West, John Watson, Malcolm Homes. All were amused at the seeing the ATV group in operation at their monthly meeting. BATC "CQ-TV" magazines were read with interest. The latest ATVQ is still in the post. WN VHF Group inc. Q-Bit was noted to have reprinted the proposed USA Amateur Radio Spectrum protection act.
Items of vintage B&W gear seen in the recent "40 years of TV One" production were noted, with the comment that some of these are now in ATV operators' hands.
Discussion of ATV activity in other parts of ZL & VK took place. It was realized that not much up to date information was available & that some email, letters & phone calls should be made. Any ATV operators reading these notes are invited to send messages to ZL1ABS (packet or email) or to the Auckland ATV email list: [email protected] about their local activities.
May 2000
The May meeting, on Saturday the 13th of May, was held at the annual Cambridge Radio Club Market Day. The location was the Cambridge Town Hall. The sale began at 10am, but Aucklanders had to leave home at 7.30 am to arrive by "opening time". Wayne ZL1UJK and Michael ZL1ABS had a table in the main hall. It was be a good chance to meet up with other ATVers and radio hams from all over the top half of New Zealand, like Syd ZL2TE & company from New Plymouth. Many items were bought and sold at the Market day, ranging from vintage radios & parts to the latest computer & radio technology. Plenty of bargins were found. It's THE oportunity to stock up on parts for those Winter season electronic projects. The entire Auckland VHF Group Inc.Trading Table stock was in attendance. With sales of donated items from ATVers such as Bruce ZL1BLB & Quentin ZL1QF, the ATV repeater funds are a bit bigger. After the sale Jerry ZL1RN & Kiely ZL1WPK opened up the Hamilton clubrooms to show off the re-organised ZL1UX ATV repeater. It is much tidier in the rack cabinet now. Some loaned power supplies were returned to Wayne ZL1UJK. A social chat with a few drinks and a snack (fish & chips) rounded off a great day out.
April 2000
The April meeting, on Sunday the 30th of April, was held at the Auckland VHF Group clubrooms. It began after 1pm, so everyone had time for lunch before leaving for the meeting. It was a good chance to help each other with 23cm band FMTV transmitter projects that many of us are working on. Henry ZL1AANs transmitter is quite advanced. Michael ZL1ABS had help from Grant ZL1WTT to get his 23cm exciter board up and going in the band. A recently purchased Philips 38.9 MHz VSB IF generator unit was displayed. Once refurbished and converted for stereo audio, it will be a good back up unit for the ZL1BQ ATV repeater.
March 2000
The meeting, at the end of March, was a field trip to Hamilton to meet with Jerry ZL1RN and four other ATV operators based in Hamilton. Lack of transport limited the Aucklanders to just Wayne ZL1UJK and Michael ZL1ABS. Some new 70cm ATV transmitters are comming on air in Hamilton. The recently updated Teletext pages for ZL1UX look very good. Ian ZL1VFO and Grant ZL1WTT have done great things using the graphics mode. The 615 MHz Alford Slot aerial has yet to be re-installed. A new equipment cabinet has been assembled at Jerrys' shack, it has tidied up the ATV quipment in his shack.
February 2000
The February meeting at Michael ZL1ABS house went well in that all the regular Auckland ATVers attended and helped with the replacement of rusty guy wires on Michaels' tilt over mast. A quanity of surplus microwave equipment was brought in for disposal. Servicing for rwo items of faulty ex-professonal video test equipment was arranged. Henry ZL1AAN showed the progress he is making with his 23cm FMTV transmitter. Wayne ZL1UJK has plenty of printed circuit boards for current projects.
Auckland VHF Groups' Home page for meeting information, repeater station information and lots more.
Links to other New Zealand sites on the Web
Amateur Radio in New Zealand
Auckland VHF Radio Group Inc.
Quentin ZL1QFs'Auckland VHF Group Spectrum magazine Pages
Whangarei Amateur Radio Club
Auckland Amateur Television info page
Hamilton Amateur Television info page
Christchurch ATV Repeater pictures
Christchurch ATV Group Home page
Auckland ATV old News reports for 1999
Auckland ATV old News reports for 2001
Auckland ATV old News reports for 2002
Auckland ATV old News reports for 2003
Auckland ATV old News reports for 2004
Current Auckland ATV News reports
Murry ZL1BPU Fuzzy modes page
North Shore BR29 NZART home page
Kevin ZL1OVY's Ham page
APRS New Zealand Home page ZL1AMW (Amateur Position Reporting System)
Back to Michaels' Home page
Amateur Radio is a longtime hobby of mine. My New Zealand Amateur radio callsign is ZL1ABS. The Auckland VHF Group Inc. is my local Amateur Radio club. I am the current Vice-President. More club information is available from : [email protected] ,the club secretary.
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