VKS 737

I will be joining you soon Wayne, Just awaiting for my new NGT.

Cheers

Welcome aboard Wayne - I'm a volunteer base operator, but that aside, I wouldn't be without my HF - I could easily have a Satphone, but the HF would still be there too - the big advantage for me is "tapping into the network / community". If you get into strife at any stage, its easy to get a base station up on air - and then members on the side will usually chime in with offers of assistance if nearby. Works for me as communications tool and a potential lifeline ! ........and, by the way, we VKS737 staff don't bag Satphones ..... its the travellers choice, and rightly so.

I have played with them before when I played soldiers, but I was impressed when we went out west to meet up with some guys, around the same time as the Explore mob were heading for Birdsville.
Anyway, we got caught in rain and no one was going anywhere. One of the guys that we got stuck with had a HF set, so he got on the radio and through the base station, found out that guys in out group were all over central Aus, all going about as far as we wern't.
Sat phones are great provided you know who you are calling, HF you can potentially reach 100's of listeners at one time which can be a huge saving on phone bills.

Wayne,

I'd feel a bit naked without the HF. As well as VKS, its nice to occasionally tune into ABC news/weather or listen to the football. I also subscribe to a radio telephone network, negating the need for a satphone. For me, its the best of both worlds.

I also have a SuperRod antenna, (9 metre extendable pole) which pretty much allows me an excellent transmission no matter what the conditions. It also doubles as an emergency antenna, should I wipe out the autotune in a rollover or whatever.

Cheers
Phil

I have just spent 12 months going round OZ, got a HF + vks for the trip, called in every day + the Kids beat me to it most times. A big benefit was to here of great spots somewhere else then tryed to locate them on the map & go there my self. I was planninfg to sell mine when I got home but not now, even thinking of being a VKS base station Operator.

Probably the best move one could make is to join VKS737 whilst travelling our great country,and converse with fellow travellers,so good luck with it Wayne, hope to talk to you one day.

Good on you Wayne. We've got both a HF and satphone and love the flexibility that both systems give us. Our 8 week trip up north year was the first test for both systems for us and both worked well.. We particularly liked tuning into the VKS737 skeds and catching up on ABC news, weather etc. Very handy.

:o) Melissa

Hi Wayne,

I carry both.

I've had a HF for a couple of years - I've had a few actually. I was a comms tech in a former life and I've played and horse traded a bit over the past few years. I've just upgraded to an NGT from a 9323 and wouldn't be without the HF.

I also have a Satphone but it rarely comes out - it got a bit of use on the Canning Trip for general phone calls to keep in touch with families back home (7 guys who all left their families at home for a month) and I did use it on my trip last month but not much. I use VKS737 regularly - daily - when on trips and use Radtel for phone calls rather than the satphone if the call's going to be longer as it's half the price.

Toward the end of the trip on the homeward leg last week, I was coming through Beverford near Swan Hill on Monday. I could hear a coversation - the Newcastle base half anyway - and it was clear a member was in the High Country in Vic with a 14 year old girl with a broken leg after a motorcycle accident.

A few bases had been tried on Ch. 2 as it turns out but the member wasn't having much luck.

I popped up on air, explained to Newcastle & Alice Springs (who were mid sched) that I was an Ambo, knew the area where the caller was and got them to get him to drop down to Ch. 1.

Once down on Ch. 1 I had a clear copy. Got some details re: injuries, speed of accident, conscious state etc. Made sure appropriate first aid had been given then rang our Morwell comms centre and while on the phone to them and on the radio to the member I coordinated a rendezvous with a road ambulance out of Bairnsdale at Dargo.

It was all over in a matter of a few or ten minutes.

It turns out the member was in at Talbotville on a 4wd club trip (twas cup weekend so it would have been a bit busy in there) & when the girl came off the bike and broke her leg someone came to the club group hoping someone in the club had a satphone or HF.

I stayed in regular communication over the next few hours with our Operations Centre and then left a message on the message system via Newcastle base for the member to let him know his patient had successfully rendezvoused with the ambulance and had been conveyed to hospital.

I've talked to him on the phone since we both got home and made acquaintences which was really good.

The good thing about the HF is you never know who's out there to help, but someone usually is - be it a base operator or a fellow member or six.

And then you can also use it to listen to the cricket or the footy or just for a bit of company when you need it for that too. A satphone won't do that.

Can't be beat in my book. I'll also carry the satphone but I won' t be without the HF or VKS737.

Dave (Victor 632)

Hi Wayne

We'll be listening out for you......

Also, I'm confident that providing your antenna is mounted correctly (VEB Nbr 5)and your vehicle is registered in NSW you would not have any problem interstate.

You only need to meet the registration requirements for the State in which it is registered.

Regards
B,J,&T

Hi Wayne. In another reply, Phil mentioned a 9 metre super rod antenna as a back up. With any of the "short" mobile antennas, radiation efficiency is quite poor, thus the longer the better. I have found with both amateur & VKS operations that extending the antenna length with a length of copper wire makes a huge improvement on both transmitting & receiving. My setup uses a Codan 8528 and a 9350 auto tune antenna. As long as the length of wire is less than a quarter wave length long, then the 9350 will tune it. To hold the extra wire up, I use a Giant Squid Pole (fiberglass light weight telescopic rod - available in sizes 6 - 9 metres). The wire can just clip onto the wire whip or be held by the antenna spring. The wire does not have to be straight, or vertical. There will be a slight directionality in the direction of the end of the wire. Further improvement may be achieved with a quarter wave ground radial or counterpoise - simply lying on the ground.
Care should always be taken with persons around the antenna whilst transmitting due to electromagnetic radiation (EMR). To comply with ACMA regulations, any "additional" antenna should be completely portable.

Channel 1 - 5455KHz, 56 metre band, 1/4 wave = 14 metres
Channel 2 - 8022KHz, 37 metre band, 1/4 wave = 9.4 metres
Channel 3 - 11612KHz, 25 metre band, 1/4 wave = 6.45 metres
Channel 4 - 14977KHz, 20 meter band, 1/4 wave = 5 metres
Channel 5 - 3995KHz, 75 metre band, 1/4 wave = 18.7 metres
These calculations can be made by dividing 300 by the frequency in MHz - 3995KHz = 3.995MHz. These are free space measurements, for our purposes, easier tuning will be obtained by shortenning them by about 5%. The height of the end of the wire above the ground will also effect tuning - can make things harder if you are trying to make a resonnant antenna system rather than using a tuner.

On the question of Tony's fridge. If it is causing wide band interference, then is some part of the fridge is generating the interference and then it is possibly being radiated by external sources acting as an antenna. Try earthing the fridge & decoupling the power cable using a ferrite rod. Also make sure that the radio is well earthed & try further decoupling of the radio power, antenna (control & coax cables), speaker & microphone cables. It is possible that the interference is being picked up directy by the radio & not comming in from the antenna! Other things to try is to power the fridge by a completely independant power source.

Hope that this information is of some help. I have found that doing a beacon selcal is handy to judge the best channel of operation at a particular time / place etc.
Cheers, Tony, VKS737 Victor 5715, VZU494

Phil Where did you get the superrod antenna We have had so much trouble with our autotune (nonTune) that a spare would be handy Ours doesn,t tune on any vks freq now and been repaired twice in 5years

bev

Hopefully i will have mine (Barrett 250) by next break - What sort of vehicle do you have? As I amlloking for places to put stuff. I drove a 100 with the box under the passeger sear but i am unsureif there is room in my 80