Fwd: [warg] WARG Activity session - this Saturday 7th, Bayswater

[Dave VK6KV]

Hello VHF Group members,

Some of you may have already seen the below email on WARG's list regarding their first (or at least first-in-a-long-while) Activity Day, which unfortunately clashes with our own regular AD.

I would like to encourage our members, in particular those who are also WARG members, to attend WARG's AD and show our support for another club doing hands on Amateur Radio, especially if you have an interest in how repeaters are set up.

Note that WARG's AD only starts at 1pm, so keen Amateurs could visit WH in the morning and tootle off to Bayswater for the afternoon.

However, if any VHF Group members would still like to attend Wireless Hill on Saturday 7th into the afternoon, I will gladly open the shack, and catch a WARG AD later in the year.

Please indicate by return email (either here on-list, or privately to me) no later than Thursday 5th evening, if you would like to attend Wireless Hill on Mar7th, and if so, whether just the morning, or into the afternoon. This will help me firm up my own plans for the day.

Cheers, Dave VK6KV

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: WARG Secretary <secr...@warg.org.au>
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2026 at 12:21
Subject: [warg] WARG Activity session - this Saturday 7th, Bayswater

Greetings WARG members,

I am pleased to confirm that our first technical Activity session will take place this Saturday, March 7th, at the Bayswater Scout Hall, which is at 1 Milne St in Bayswater, down near the river. 

Start time of 1pm, probably have to wrap up by 4:30, 5pm or so. 

As previously indicated, this date is unfortunately a clash with the Southern Electronics Group's car boot sale down in in Mt Barker, an event which many Amateurs will be travelling south to support. This wasn't deliberate - our date was set a while ago based on key members' availability, and it couldn't easily be moved. We fully understand many people will be prioritising the Mt Barker event, and we wish the SEG every success with that. However, not everyone is able to travel south on the Saturday, and for those still in town, you are welcome to attend our session if interested. This session is intended to be the first of a more regular activity, hopefully no date clashes next month (April 11 or 12 are the planned dates).

Milne St, Bayswater comes off Guildford Rd, just east of Garratt Rd intersection - reasonably accessible from Tonkin / Farmer freeways for those driving, and a couple of k's walk from Meltham or Bayswater train stations if anyone is travelling that way. 

The idea of these activity sessions is to get some useful work done for WARG whilst building and practising our skills and knowledge, and having some fun playing repeaters! Particularly for members who are interested in repeater site / system work but may not have had much experience, there will be WARG leaders there on the day who have extensive experience in Amateur repeaters, and also some with long professional careers in electronics / radio communications. We will have a collection of our personal tools and test equipment, those attending are likewise encouraged to bring along your own tools and test gear to play with, test out etc. 

Ideas for tasks: in no particular order:

Look at how to modify a Yaesu DR-1X repeater for better cooling? The one in VK6RFM keeps cutting out after 30 minutes or so use, Adam VK6XR has verified this. He has found some good ideas for mods to case, extra fans etc which could help?

Trevor VK6MS may have some prep to do for the materials at Tic Hill (VK6RTH) site - we need to renew many of the securing bolts on the towers, plus some other work. (Dates for the site visit are being planned, sometime in March - helpers will be needed, more details TBC).

2m cavity filters - can bring along and go through some of our stocks of VHF 140-170 MHz cavity filters - many of these were donated or purchased as surplus, need to work out which ones are good and worth modifying for 2m, and which have problems and should be disposed or used for parts.

Does anyone have or use equipment like the NanoVNA If so, bring along, be good to compare its performance against professional test equipment, and judge how useful it can be for repeater site measurements. Likewise we can check and verify SWR / power meters and the like.

We have a number of repurposed ex-commercial repeater transceivers - older equipment but potentially still serviceable. We can bring a few of these to test/check and see if viable for 2m / 70cm use?

Members can also bring personal projects if they wish, if it's repeater-related and of interest! Likewise if anyone wants advice or practice with coax cables/connectors we can look at that too.

Also, we are almost out of 'pogo stick' 2m antennas we sell as fundraisers at Hamfest etc - need to build a few more before our junk sale in June and Hamfest in August.  (That is a possible Monday night meeting activity as well..)

We obviously can't do all this in one afternoon, but if there's a few of us and a variety of activities, we can share around - and have plenty of stuff to go on with at next month's session. More ideas are welcome, if there is something of interest, please say.  

Look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday 7th at 1pm, if you can make it! Any questions, please ask.

I am preparing another update with meeting info for next week and the like, that will hopefully be sent tonight or tomorrow.

Regards & 73,

Anthony VK6AXB

Secretary, WARG

On Sat, Feb 14, 2026 at 10:44 PM WARG Secretary <secr...@warg.org.au> wrote:

Greetings WARG members,

I hope everyone is well. Update on a few things:

Firstly, thanks to all at the Peel AR Group (PARG) for again putting on a very successful PARGfest last Saturday, in Mandurah. It was again a very good event, great to catch up with everyone. Thank you to Patrick VK6HK and Colin VK6ACT for assisting with staffing the WARG table. We didn't sell a lot of "junk" in dollar terms - about $40 worth - and received one membership renewal, but it was a good occasion to 'fly the flag' for WARG at one of VK6's main Amateur events. 

Earlier that week, Monday February 2nd was our first meeting for 2025, where we adopted the proposed Calendar of events, as was circulated for comment in the lead up to the meeting. We have thus committed to doing our "junk sale" again in early June, subject to date and venue confirmation. We are also seeking a few volunteers who might like to plan and organise the Junk Sale, if this interests you please say, we are looking to form a 'subcommittee' to run this event. 

We also endorsed the plan to have a regular 'technical activity session' for WARG, at least once per month, with the first one scheduled for Saturday, March 7th. (We know this is a clash with the Southern Electronics' Group swapmeet in Mt Barker, and we understand if people are going to that in preference - however, if you are not heading south, our activity session will be on. We are finalising the venue and will tell everyone soon. The attached meeting Minutes have more information. Welcome also to David VK6MY, who came to the meeting as a visitor and has decided to join WARG.

Some of the 'junk' we offered for sale at PARGfest was recently donated by long-time member Anthony VK6TG - some items he donated are very useful to WARG (UHF cavity filters, power supplies etc) and we have retained those for our stores, offering the rest for sale at our Junk Sale in June. We may also bring some to a meeting prior to June, so members can have first look..

Finally, work is continuing to try and get Hamnet data link to VK6RLM AllStar and DMR going again, and to reinstall the new 23cm repeater at Tic Hill - we appreciate everyone's patience while this is worked out, but it's likely to still be a week or two, due to site considerations, people's time etc.

Regards & 73,

Anthony VK6AXB

Secretary, WARG

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