NZART Headquarters Infoline Issue 215
19-SEPTEMBER-2010
NZART Website: http://www.nzart.org.nz/

Greetings
Welcome to Headquarters-Infoline a twice-monthly bulletin of news from NZART
Headquarters e-mailed directly to Branches, the amateur radio packet
Bulletin Board Service and to others that subscribe through the LINK BELOW
or the NZART Website at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/lists/infolinelist.html

Past and present Infolines can be found at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/infoline/index.html
Where HTML, PDF and DOC formats can be found for the 2010 e-mailed Issues of
Infoline.

In This Issue
*From The Business Manager ZL2TDM
*AREC Report From Christchurch & North Canterbury Sections of AREC
*Get on The Optical Bus
*More HF Sprint Contests After Requests From Participants
*Online Radio Course From DoC (Department of Conservation)
*Frequencies From The Doug Gorman Memorial Frequency Measuring Contest
*A Reminder of NZART Names and Lists
*Did You Know That Exam Candidates Can Join NZART and
Get One Year Free Membership?
*Upcoming Events
*Contest News
==VHF/UHF/SHF Contest Notes
==HF Contests
*General Information For Break-In and HQ Infoline
*Attachment(s) for Branches: NZART Headquarters Infoline 215.doc

*******

From The Business Manager ZL2TDM

Debby Says...

Call For Council and Presidential Nominations

In the next issue of Break In, the Returning Officer Evan Sayer has called
for nominations for Council and Presidential elections. If your branch has
someone who you feel would and could represent not only your local branch,
but the region on Council, please send your nominations addressed to the
"Returning Officer" before the end of December.

Nomination forms can be obtained from me here at HQ.

No Subscription Rebates After 30 November 2010

A reminder that subscription rebates are $15 and in order to be eligible for
this rebate you must pay on or before 30 November 2010.

Talk soon...Debby ZL2TDM

*******

AREC Report From CHRISTCHURCH & NORTH CANTERBURY SECTIONS OF AREC

Christchurch Earthquake 4-SEPT-2010 @ 4.36AM

Updated Saturday 11th September 2010

A substantial earthquake struck Christchurch in the early hours of Saturday,
after the initial shock (7.1) as to what had happened AREC operators came on
the air to establish communications firstly amongst themselves just to see
who had suffered what.

Their first port of call was the immediate needs of ones family to make sure
that all was secure and OK, neighbours met neighbours for the first time in
many cases, being dark and without power one could not see the extent of the
damage.

AREC Base Stations came on the air to monitor nominated frequencies then
called in check-in stations. Our local VHF repeaters were on reduced output
power as they were on back-up power systems, the audible beep on the tail of
the main Christchurch repeater let operators know what its status was,
operators were advised of only essential use of the system to conserve
battery life.

Communication Systems Operating

Christchurch City Civil Defence permanent radio communication systems were
unaffected even though the CDHQ was in the process of being relocated from
the old premises to the new City Councils building, this was established in
the alternative CDHQ in the Art Gallery.

Early on no Area HQ's or Service Centres were activated, as existing
communication systems were available. Later on one or two were activated for
a short time for Refuge centres. At no stage were any requests for technical
assistance.

Many of the FM/AM broadcast stations went off the air for various time
periods then came back on with all the usual DJ hype.

After the initial shock both the standard telephone and cellular systems
became overloaded but after pleas from the media people soon realized what
they were doing, most of these networks stayed intact and operational on
back up power despite several cellular towers leaning.

Credit must go to the high engineering standard of these systems.

Communication Systems used by AREC

All local VHF repeaters remained fully operational,

CHCH 705, Mt Herbert 725, Mt Grey 675 used for chit chat, Cass Peak 5625

UHF National System although the Christchurch port was turned off to
conserve battery life

VHF Simplex 146.475 146.575 for local chit chat

HF 3900 5320/5395 7100 USB Monitored.

Christchurch AREC Comms vehicle (ZK9EAC Civilian Bus) all the above. Used in
the Recovery Phase in conjunction with the Military for 3days.

Christchurch AREC Comms vehicle (ZK9EAD Diahatsu)

SAR VHF Handhelds (ES Band simplex)

The North Canterbury Section were involved with CDEM Comms since the quake
last Saturday by providing operators at Waimak EOC (Rangiora), Kaiapoi
Welfare Centre(Initially at Kaiapoi North School now at the Kaiapoi Rugby
Football Club), Pines-Kairaki Welfare Centre (Pines Beach hall). They have
been rested over the weekend, except that two operators have set up an extra
base at the Kaiapoi Community Centre for the NZ Army. Everyone will be back
on duty Monday. To Date they have completed over 235 duty hours a total of
11 operators involved.

The North Canty AREC Section has the township of Kaipoi in its area which
was badly hit also Communications here are on established permanent radio
networks for Civil defence.

Just a few statistics from Sat 4th to Sat 11th there have been 388 seismic
shocks recorded ranging from 3.0 to 5.4. Sat 4th 93 Sun 5th 98 Mon 6th 80
Tue 7th 47 Wed 8th 40 Thurs 9th 19 Fri 10th 11

Aftershocks are still being felt throughout Canterbury on an hourly basis
and it is wearying to say the least

North Canterbury AREC Operators

Colin ZL3COL, Rob ZL3RO, Don ZL3DMC, Tony ZL3HAM, Denise ZL3HI, Bev ZL3OV,
Barrie ZL3UC, David ZL3AI and Geoff ZL3QR.

Plus ever forgiving XYL's

CHCH AREC Operators

Dudley ZL3GG Section Leader, Jeni ZL3TCG, Barry ZL3ACU, Barry ZL3TNQ, Jeremy
ZL3RT, Gareth ZL3VP Area Manager, Geoff ZL3PX, Alan ZL3GX, David ZL2IC,
Richard ZL4FZ, Steve ZL2UCX, Rob ZL3RX and Greg ZL3IX.

Plus ever forgiving XYL,s If I have missed someones name please let me know

Acknowledgements

To our Families,

To AREC Management,

NZART and

To all those who have offered assistance and support in any way

THANKYOU

Geoff Chapman ZL3PX ZK6EXA

Assistant National Director AREC NZ

Christchurch

*******

Get on the Optical Bus

IBM's light-powered links overcome the greatest speed bump in
supercomputing: interconnect bandwidth

Sad but true: About three-quarters of the time, your computer processor is
doing nothing more than waiting for data—the cybernetic equivalent of
twiddling one's thumbs. It doesn't matter whether you've got the latest
processor, surrounded it with high-speed RAM, or lovingly hot-rodded your
system with the latest in liquid cooling. Your speed is primarily set not by
the processing power you have but by the connections that stand between that
processor and the data it needs.

The problem is that data transfer is accomplished by the movement of an
electronic signal along old-fashioned copper wires—the same basic phenomenon
that a century and a half ago carried news of the U.S. Civil War over
telegraph lines. It's time we saw the light—literally—and stopped shackling
ourselves to electrons moving along copper conductors....

Please see links below for full article:

http://tinyurl.com/2djb296

http://preview.tinyurl.com/2djb296

73 de ZL1GWE John, NZART IARU Monitoring Service Coordinator

*******

More HF Sprint Contests After Requests From Participants

Following the running of another successful Waitakere Sprint contests some
participants have requested additional sprint contests be held during the
year. Papakura Radio Club who have organised the Waitakere Sprint for the
past three years are adding the following Sprint Contests to the Contest
Calendar. November will be the Papakura Sprint, February the Summer Sprint
and in May the Tasman Sprint series so the calendar will look like this.

Name Waitakere Sprint Contests
Phone Last Saturday night in July
CW First Saturday night in August

Name Papakura Sprint Contests
Phone First Saturday night in November
CW Second Saturday night in November

Name Summer Sprint Contests
Phone First Saturday night in February
CW Second Saturday night in February

Name Tasman Sprint Contests
Phone Second Saturday night in May
CW Third Saturday night in May



All sprints will run under the same rules and are open to all Australian,
New Zealand and Pacific Island stations.

Operators are to record as many contacts as possible from within the total
group of participating stations.

Each sprint is just one hour duration 9.00 – 10.00 UTC

One category… no weighting or juggling… the high score wins.

Certificates issued to top 6 places.

The results will also be sorted into callsign prefix areas of operating for
area comparison showing highest VK1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and ZL1,2,3,4 etc.

Full rules will be provided for each Sprint and be added to the Papakura
Radio Clubs web site… search ‘ZL1VK’.

If you would like notice of a forthcoming sprint emailed to yourself, send
an email to with ‘sprints’ in the subject line.

David ZL1DK

*******

Online Radio Course From DoC (Department of Conservation)

This course is not a detailed technical course but an excellent introduction
to the practical use of radio equipment used in communication.

The course relates to the frequencies and equipment used by DoC.

A person, after studying the courses, would be well versed in the practical
use of radio equipment.

The course is made up of four modules:

* Module 1 - describes the principles of VHF radio

* Module 2 - covers the use of handheld radios

* Module 3 - explains how to use mobile and base radios

* Module 4 - describes how to set up portable repeater units.

The course is designed for people who use DOC’s radio network, including:
DOC staff, Volunteers, Members of community groups and contractors.

This course is free and online at:

http://tinyurl.com/29xnb3e

Extractions from the course would be valuable for people taking amateur
radio classes.

Jamie Pye ZL2NN

*******

Results of the 2010 Waitakere Sprints. Also at:

http://tinyurl.com/2cvhuu4

The following are results for the 2010 Waitakere Sprints series.

Phone CW
VK4ZD 48 1st VK ZL1ALZ 26 1st ZL1
VK4QS 47 2nd VK VK4SN 26 1st VK
VK4SN 45 3rd VK VK3IO 26 2nd VK
VK2ACD 44 ZL1AJY 25
VK4VW 43 ZL2AGY 24 1st ZL2
VK3IO 42 ZL2AUA/ZL1 22
ZL1FAV 40 1st ZL1 ZL2JU 21
VK4GH 39 VK7GN 21 3rd VK
ZL1AJY 39 ZL1VD/ZL2 20
ZL1ALZ 39 ZL4IG 19 1st ZL4
ZL1BYZ 39 ZL1DK 19
ZL1DK 39 ZL2BIT 18
ZL1SWW 39 ZL2AOH 17
VK3BTV 32 ZL4IM 14
ZL4RMF 31 1st ZL4 ZL1BYZ 14
ZL1REY 30 VK8AV 14
VK7JGD 27 VK3OZ 12
ZL1VD/ZL2 24 1st ZL2 ZL4KJ 9
ZL4IG 24 ZL1FAV 9
VK4ATH 23 VK2PN 6
ZL3GL 23 1st ZL3
ZL4IM 23
VK3ZPF 21
ZL1SK 21
ZL1VRR 20
ZL2BIT 20
ZL1AKY 19
VK2VVV 17
ZL4KJ 15
ZL1ALK 14
ZL1IJ 14
ZL1AOX 12
VK3DYL 10
Thanks to all who participated in this year's Waitakere Sprint series.

Some logs listed were sent in as Check Logs but I like to acknowledge all
participants and have included all logs received, one from an operator who
was entertaining guests but managed to sneak out and give some numbers.

These are all appreciated and add to the fun for the rest of us.

David ZL1DK

*******

Frequencies From The Doug Gorman Memorial Frequency Measuring Contest

Here are the five frequencies for the NZART Doug Gorman Memorial Frequency
Measuring Contest.

Calibration Frequency: 3895.000000 kHz

Frequency 1: 3899.942011 kHz

Frequency 2: 3890.100100 kHz

Frequency 3: 3897.099785 kHz

Frequency 4: 3893.599292 kHz

Frequency 5: 3894.351144 kHz

There is still some more work to do before provisional results for
competitors can be published. Stay 'tuned'.

John ZL4JY

Shifting the decimal point from the values given above we get:

3899942.011 Hz or 3899942011 mHz

3890100.100 Hz or 3890100100 mHz

3897099.785 Hz or 3897099785 mHz

3893599.292 Hz or 3893599292 mHz

3894351.144 Hz or 3894351144 mHz

where mHz is millihertz. Yes the frequencies are given to one-thousand-part
of a hertz.(ED)

*******

A Reminder of NZART Names and Lists

nameatnzartdotorgdotnz

Names a
6M, ADVERTMANAGER, ALO, AREC, ARPROMO, AWARDS, BREAK-IN,
BREAKIN, CALLBOOK, CALLSIGNS, CONTEST, DIGITAL, EDITOR,
EMAIL, EMC, EXAM, EXAMS, FMTAG, HAMADS, HQ, IARU, INFOLINEEDITOR,
LEGAL, MORSE, MORSEMAN, MS, MS2 , NZART, NZART.HQ,
NZARTHQ, OFFICERLIAISON, POSTMASTER, PROMO, QANDA,
RADIATION, RECIPROCAL, TRUST and WEBMASTER.

nameatlistsdotnzartdotorgdotnz

Please note the addition of the word LISTS after the AT

Lists a
COUNCIL, COUNCILPLUSHQ and OFFICERS

*******

Did You Know That Exam Candidates Can Join NZART and
Get One Year Free Membership?

For details see the last section of the Radio 4A Form at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/exam/exampro....html#examproc

*******
Upcoming Events

Western Suburbs RC NZART Branch 03 Used Equipment Sale
Western Suburbs RC NZART Branch 03 Used Equipment Sale
will be 9th October 2010 at the
Rosebank Rd Primary School
217 Rosebank Rd
Avondale Auckland.
73 ian zl1rca

*******

2010 Silverfern Rally 14-20 Nov 2010
http://www.nzart.org.nz/html/2010/02.html#feb03

*******

New Zealand Amateur Radio Day

Purpose

The purpose of the New Zealand Amateur Radio Day is to promote our hobby to
the public so that some may be encouraged to join the local club, take on
classes and become amateur radio operators.

Time

From 1000-1200 hours local time annually on the 3rd Saturday of January...

Full information can be found at:

http://www.nzart.org.nz/html/2010/05-news.html#aug06

*******
UPPER HUTT NZART Conference 2011 - Pre-registration

Details can be found at:
Conference-2011-pre-registration-form.pdf

*******
Contest News

VHF/UHF/SHF Contest Notes

The next contest is the MICROWAVE CONTEST, all bands 614 MHz and up, on
Saturday the 2 and Sunday the 3 of OCTOBER 2010. The operating times a
Saturday 1700 to 2300 NZT and Sunday 0700 to 1300 NZT.

The rules are available at: http://www.vhf.org.nz/VHF-UHF-SHF-ContestRules
Logs should be sent within two weeks, to:
with Contest Log in the subject line,
or by post to:
Contest Manager, Wellington VHF Group, P.O. Box 12-259, Thorndon, Wellington
Wellington VHF Group Website http://www.vhf.org.nz

====
HF Contests

VHF/UHF/SHF Contest Microwave Contest 2/3-Oct To Rules »

Oceania All Bands SSB 02-OCT-2010 To Rules »

Oceania All Bands CW 09-OCT-2010 To Rules »

Straight Key Night (First Sunday in November) 07-NOV-2010 Rules »

Boat Anchor Sprint 13-NOV-2010 Rules »

VHF/UHF/SHF Contest VHF/UHF/SHF Field Day 04/05-Dec-2010 To Rules »

Kiwi Digital Modes Group Twin Sprint Contest 04/05-Dec-2010 To Rules »

Contests 2011

VHF/UHF/SHF Contest DX Weekend 06/07-FEB-2011 To Rules »

For contests not mentioned here and for a list of contests that have ZL
participation in, please see the NZART Web Contest page at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/contests/index.html

*******
General Information For Break-In and HQ Infoline

Break-In - From the Break-In Editor John ZL3IB

a.. Closing Date Reminder: Copy for the NOVEMBER/DECEMBER issue of
Break-In closes on 10-NOVEMBER-2010.

b.. Document File Format: Please do not send copy for publication as Word
2007.docx files; they cannot be processed. Please send in Word 2003 (or
earlier).doc or *.rtf file format.

c.. Early receipt of copy is much appreciated.

d.. Break-In Contents Index from 1947 can be found at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/breakin/index/index.html

e.. To search the COMPLETE CONTENTS from 1947, use the page menu entry of:
"Search all index pages up to Jan 2010 HTML 435 kB" Found on the "Index for
Break-In Volumes 20 to 82" page. All the yearly pages have been combined
into one page for your convenience.
http://www.nzart.org.nz/breakin/index/all-bi-index.html 433 kB
Contact Infoline Editor, if copy of articles are wanted, at:


f.. Copy for the AREC Break-In Column - From Geoff ZL3QR: The
close-of-copy date is the 03-NOVEMBER-2010 for articles for publication in
the AREC COLUMN OF BREAK-IN. Photos, if available, to be on a separate
floppy or CD (with captions), posted DIRECTLY TO US Call Book address. All
other material can go to e-mail:
or .

====

The WIA Weekly News Bulletin and The ARRL Letter can be found at:
WIA Weekly News Bulletin:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/html/2010/wia-weekly-news.html
ARRL Letter:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/html/2010/arrl-weekly-news.html

These are updated weekly, normally p.m. Friday.

====

Subscribe to and Un-Subscribe From Infoline


Please go to web at:

http://www.nzart.org.nz/lists/infolinelist.html

====

Dates for Official Broadcast (OB) and Head Quarter's Infoline
OBs FOR 2010
28-FEB 28-MAR 25-APR 30-MAY 06-JUN 27-JUN
25-JUL 29-AUG 26-SEP 31-OCT 28-NOV 19-DEC

*Next NZART Official Broadcast is on 26-SEPTEMBER-2010*

*Next HQ-Infoline e-mailed on SUNDAY 03-OCTOBER-2010*

INFOLINE 2010 SUNDAY
17-JAN 07-FEB 21-FEB 07-MAR 21-MAR 04-APR 18-APR 09-MAY 23-MAY
13-JUN 27-JUN 04-JUL 18-JUL 08-AUG 22-AUG 05-SEP 19-SEP
03-OCT 17-OCT 07-NOV 21-NOV 05-DEC 19-DEC

Infoline on the web http://www.nzart.org.nz/infoline/
Regards, Jamie Pye ZL2NN, Editor