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All posts for the month June, 2017

Blackdown Tablelands DSTAR Upgrade

Posted by Alec_VK4AZ on June 11, 2017
Posted in: Uncategorized.

VK4RBD-hut

Blackdown Tablelands DSTAR repeater gets new hut

The DSTAR repeater at Blackdown Tableland has been relocated into a new site hut. This is a great waterproof home for all the gear plus room to spare. The VK4RBD DSTAR repeater is located at 940m above sea level and provides coverage to a large area between Rockhampton and Emerald in Central Queensland
147.6375MHz -600KHz VK4RBD C
VK4RBD-tower VK4RBD-view

Helicopter mission sets DSTAR record

Posted by Alec_VK4AZ on June 11, 2017
Posted in: Uncategorized.

vk4rbmlanded

Australia’s Highest DSTAR Repeater is now operational

439.300MHz -5MHz VK4RBM B

The Blue Mountain repeater site is without any doubt Central
Queensland’s best amateur radio repeater location. Surrounded by
thick tropical rainforest slopes and standing at 1040m, this truly is
a remarkable site.

Having such a picturesque, high elevation site does not come without other
challenges, the main one being access. The answer
is the help of a Jet Ranger helicopter and some superb piloting skills.
Once the weather cleared, we jumped into the chopper and cruised up to
the site. As we approached the site, the tower could be seen poking out above
the thick rainforest. The landing site is a small rocky area with

a tiny patch of grass. As we started to land, the view disappeared and we were
surrounded by trees, then we touched down, unloaded the gear, and the
chopper departed.
We had a short time on site to install the new DSTAR,
APRS, 3G modem and solar regulator. The work was completed in
record time, and the chopper came and picked us up before the clouds
rolled back in.
vk4rbm-tower2-final 20170609_084012

Blue Mountain Site

Our antennas

Our antennas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg_15zSl0io
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drGZmnq0Um0

Check out VK4RBM-3 on aprs.fi

 

Major upgrade at VK3RWN Completed

Posted by Peter Willmott on June 5, 2017
Posted in: G3 Backbone, Victorian News.

Another major upgrade at VK3RWN Mt Dandenong was completed by Richard Hoskin VK3JFK and Peter Willmott VK3TQ. The new Centos OS was installed by Richard VK3JFK , followed by G3 Gateway software. This was done seamlessly and no database reset was required and all registered users saw no change to their usual day to day usage . The G3 Gateway software combined with the new updated and powerful version of Centos will host many new features of the gateway software.  A new upgrade that will be released soon will see the introduction of Icom’s new Terminal and Access Point mode, on the 4100 and ID 51 Plus two Hand Held   As news comes to hand we will notify users of more features that are to be released

Peter modified and installed a new UPS for VK3RWN the UPS will hold power for 30 minutes and then start of shutdown sequence for the repeater in the unlikely event of loss of power. The UPS is connected to the rack server by USB for communications. The existing modem was changed for a commercial ADSL 2 modem. Performance was slightly enhanced but still we await for the NBN.