PARG President’s Report 13 Aug - 14 Oct

“Spring has sprung, the grass has ris’..., I wonder where those birdies is”, and with the warming weather, quite a busy period since my last missive, but first, congratulations to new member Peter Basset Scarfe VK6PBS on getting his license (and his initials for his call!). Welcome also to new member Ken VK6HTI.

During the period there have been several contests including the annual Remembrance Day contest over the weekend of 14/15 Aug which saw Mark VK2KI work 56 CW contacts - mainly on 40, some on 80 and one or two on 20 and then spoiling it all by letting the smoke escape from his TS-50! Whilst on the matter of CW, Tony VK6DQ has continued to provide excellent slow morse practice, which has now been supplemented by weekly on-air slow morse QSOs hosted by Mark VK2KI, with the combined result being that Maurice VK6HLY and Terry VK6TTF have now completed their first CW QSO - well done team! And as it that isn’t enough, and following the success of the inaugural Slow CW Contest, led by Mark (VK2KI) and David (VK6FAAZ) which attracted a number of members and visitors, a Slow CW Pow-Wow in September saw a number of non PARG members join in the fun.

Based on the success of last years ILLW activation to Cape Naturaliste a number of members activated both the North Molle light (Fremantle) and the Guilderton Light north of Perth for the 2021 ILLW.

Paul VK6LL and David VK6FAAZ activated the North Molle light at Fremantle with PARG 1 and attracted many visitors including some from other Perth based radio clubs. Jerry VK6LJC and I activated the Guilderton lighthouse north of Perth with a bewildering array of portable equipment and antennas including an inverted vee 20/40/80 m linked dipole, a 38 m end fed Zep, a vertical squid pole (Perlite homebrew), a horizonal di-pole on squid poles and a vertical screwdriver, which also attracted a number of visitors, including local operator David VK6NRA.  See photos below.

Notwithstanding that conditions were very ordinary, both stations managed to work a number of VK stations including the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse group and in addition some DX including South Africa and Italy, and a great day was had by all. Plans are already in place to activate several more lights including Rottnest Is for the ILLW in 2021.

Terry VK6TTF headed bush again during September and worked a number of members including John VK6FAAJ and Maurice VK6HLY (apologies to those I haven’t mentioned).

TechTalk Tuesdays continued with an enthralling talk by Don VK6DON on his herculean efforts to build mobile ham radio shacks, cunningly disguised as 5 star motorhomes - outstanding!

On the home front, I reached out to, and spent some time with former PARG Life Member Rex Hickling VK6SN; Chris VK6XH stepped up to the plate to assist a local SWL repair his ageing radio, and in recognition of Dr Tony Armstrong’s (posthumous) donation of his radio gear, we reached out to his widow and sent flowers and a letter of thanks. Kevin VK6AB offered PARG members first option on a huge amount of gear from a deceased estate and I for one took advantage along with Paul VK6LL, Maurice VK6HLY, Don VK6DON, Ken VK6HTI and I am sure many others. Not to be outdone, our secretary, David VK6FAAZ did a splendid job of conducting an auction of donated gear which netted the club well in excess of $1000, and as usual we owe our tireless Secretary a vote of thanks.