WICEN NEWS

Last updated: 19February2012

News items are placed at the top and gradually work their way down

Hello 2012, We're Back!

The first training session for 2012 was held on February 18th. We had the usual play with the Yaesu portable stations and tested some headphones. It's good to know that if the headphones in the boxes [for which we thank Ron VK4BRG] do fail you can pull out any set of earphones/earbuds that you have with your music equipment. The 3.5mm plug will allow you to get back on the air in some relative quiet and continue your duties.

We also addressed the matter of manpower and the need to redesign our workload. We're trying to think smarter and not work harder. More on that when the documentation is ready.

Next training will be April. We always take the Even months... 2,4,6,8,10.. but then as we near the storm season we slip in November as well.... just to keep you on your toes.

The actual dates will go up on the calendar when it's approved at the upcoming February General meeting.

See you all there.

December Training was all about Risk Management:

The December training was a Risk Management module so that our operators are prepared to go out on site and maintain a safe and fully operational Portable Station.

To prepare rosters for the upcoming Storm Season the WICEN controller is circulating a list so that members record any times they'll be away.

November 2011

We're excited! We've been joined by a terrific group of Hervey Bay amateurs. We held a joint training session which involved theory from the training manuals then we broke into 4 teams and rotated through our practical tasks.

Whilst some set up the stations and sent messages using the Portable Emergency Stations Cases, other operated VK4BW base station monitoring both 2M and 70cm traffic. Another team went outdoors and set about erecting the ENVIS Dipole.

Wicen Controller Rusty VK4JM begins the training process	The attendees broke into teams for outdoor antenna erection
Marg VK4FHAM was team leader for the ENVIS Dipole group. Wade VK4WM & Martin VK4YOI willing participants	And the job is complete... next team please
Back inside for a debrief	6 from Hervey Bay were joined by BARC members for an excellent training day

The debrief after the training brought up some equipment modification and documentation improvements which could be looked at and the 6 Hervey Bay members went home primed with knowledge and a good dose of community spirit.

It's a huge thanks to the BARC facilitators on the day... VK4JRO ran the Base station, Ron VK4BRG and Gail VK4ION the portable stations. Margaret VK4FHAM and Bob VK4UD had the very hot outdoors task of ENVIS Dipole erection. Joe VK4FDJB helped with the outdoors work as well, talk about picking a hot and humid day for training.

Bob VK4UD provided the photos of the day.

October 2011

ON-AIR Training has recommenced for the upcoming Wet Season. Yes, it is that time of the year again and the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) and weather pundits have issued some stern warnings for the months ahead.

The WICEN Members are using the Mt Watalgan 70cm repeater [VK4RBW] to send "exercise only" welfare traffic to brush up on their message handling skills.

JOTA Weekend gave us an opportunity to use the new Portable Emergency Amateur Radio Station on H.F. between Gin Gin and Bundaberg. HF is our back-up mode if the worst case scenario eventuates and we lose repeaters during cyclones or storms.

WICEN is determined that we will have communications over the entire Bundaberg Regional Council area from Winfield in the North to Burrum Heads in the South and out to Childers and Mt Perry. We would rely firstly on our repeater network but then be able to switch to H.F and still communicate over the shorter distances back to the control centres in Bundaberg.

August 2011

August training was back in the training room for some message handling and sending using the new portable stations and the new base station. The WICEN team are becoming proficient at set up and deployment and we're getting ready to begin the storm season training towards the end of the year.

July 2011

The July training was held at QTH VK4ION and included setting up the new Portable Emergency Amateur Radio Stations and then venturing out into the rain to erect the three ENVIS 40M dipoles.

The next and final phase of the training program is the Risk Management course after which the group will be well equipped to handle the new stations to get the most from them and continue to be a valuable resource in an emergency activation.

Photos of the July field training exercise:

Misting rain made for a damp day out at Avondale
When it was time to set up the antennas the rain began in ernest	It was time to break out the rain gear and keep working
Bill VK4XZ & Bob VK4UD finish of the guy ropes on the ENVIS 40M dipole	Marg VK4FHAM & Ron VK4BRG expertly erect their project and didn't mind the cold rain... Good practice for the real thing they said
Bill VK4XZ brought along the new WICEN mobile repeater and set it up on battery power	The repeater is quite waterproof in the custom made metal box
The handy antenna is also well protected. We did some testing with UHF handheld's just to prove it worked	OK, just one more chorus of the club song, then it was time to go home

ENVIS Antenna build: [June2011]

The 3 new Dipole antennas are complete and are currently being tested. We're planning field trials in the areas of Gin Gin, South Kolan, Pine Creek & Goodnight Scrub with the intention of building up a reliable map of our capabilities so if you hear us on air... say hello.

We'll be trying each of the repeaters as well as the VHF and UHF Simplex frequencies using the whip antenna then switching over to the HF Dipole for the short distance testing.

Denim pack containing the 40M dipole

Cancel alert: [May2011]

Thanks to all members who responded during our storm season training sessions and for remaining on alert. Now that April has passed and the sea temperatures have dropped we're officially out of our cyclone watch period.

New enclosures for portable stations [Feb2011]

The enclosures are complete and contain all the necessary items to quickly deploy a fully operational WICEN station.... right down to the coax, earth stake, hammer, message forms, stapler and paper clips and much much more.

We realised that fabric cases weren't going to do the job so timber was the only reasonably priced alternative.

The club wishes to thank Mark Sandford for the precision and attention to detail in building exactly what was needed without wasting space or dollars.

The cases measure 740 x 370 x 210mm and weigh 20.5kg when fully loaded as per the photos below - this means they can be carried by all our active members.

LDG Tuner, Yaesu FT-857D and Jetstream Power supply fixed on a lift out panel	The lid detaches and can be used for other purposes
	A fully stocked portable station with everything the operator needs
Rear of the removable panel. Bolts countersunk, no sharps or protrusions	Three finished cases - WICEN is ready to be of service to the community

Specifications for those who need to know such things:

The top and bottom were constructed separately. We wanted the radio equipment on a lift out board which can be used either away from the box or left in the lower section of the box. We need quite a bit of equipment to run a portable station so the bottom had to be big enough to hold everything we use in exercises.

The lid/top detaches for several reasons. It can be used for other purposes (like a tray or for paperwork) and it also allows good airflow around the equipment.

The Sides, fronts and backs are 19mm pine. Top and bottom sheeting is 7mm ply rebated into the edges.
The Transceiver, Tuner and power supply are mounted with small aluminium "L" brackets to 12mm pine.

The equipment panel is easily lifted out via two finger holes in diagonal corners.

The lift out panel is recessed into the lower case so that the lid which is fitted with a sealing strip locks down tightly making the whole box weather and waterproof.
The handle is hardwood dowel with threaded rod attaching the handle to the case with a nyloc nut to hold it on top.
All nuts, bolts etc are flush with the inside so there are no protrusions to catch on equipment or the operator.
Hinges, hasps and staples are brass (only because Bunnings had them on the "specials table")

Using small cable-ties to hold wires and cables and use finger holes to pick up the lift out panel meant we weren't introduction of additional metal to a radio environment and helped keep weight to a minimum.

There are a thousand other things we could have done (money permitting of course)... but we worked to a maximum efficiency, minimum weight, minimum size and minimum dollars equation... and we're very happy with the results on all fronts.
Total cost of the three cases is just over $300 and that included $85 for the Cabots Marine Clear varnish which we coated twice on the inside and sprayed in 4 coats on the outside.

Active Weather Watch extended until End of April

The Bundaberg Regional Council and the Disaster Management group has extended the active watch status until the end of April 2011. This is in response to the ongoing cyclone predictions and warm waters off our coastline.

WICEN members are reminded to maintain their preparedness and keep an eye on emails and this news page.

Training

No February Training has been planned for WICEN members but we will be holding on-air Nets to get everyone back on air and moving around repeaters and WICEN HF frequencies.

At the moment the first Check-Around-NET is being organised and times and procedures will be confirmed to members by email

What we're up to at the moment [Feb2011]

Well you know the new portable radios are programmed and ready to roll and now it's time to make the robust cases so our portable stations can go anywhere that's required.

Seeing the floodboats up close and personal this past month  has influenced the construction somewhat  – our gear MUST be easily ‘thrown’ into a floodboat for transport to say Gin Gin, or Childers and be able to take the rain and 'spritzing' as they're exposed to the elements during transportation.

The construction of timber enclosures is underway thanks to Mark & Chuck

A production line cutting, routing the pieces and jigs to hold pieces while they're drilled and screwed

Sanding and finishing the edges [note the OH&S provision for Beard]

Fill the edges and knotty spots & fit hardware

Partitions and handles

And begin the process of sealing them

The pine is quite lightweight but sturdy

Bundaberg Floods 2010

Well isn’t it funny how things work out…. We were planning an emergency exercise to make sure all community/disaster /recovery groups were up to speed and it was postponed… then the flood happened!
Nothing like learning from a real emergency.

We weren’t activated during the floods as the power and communications remained intact in most places…. Centres – not individual homes, of course.

As you can imagine there were debrief sessions as each organisation looked to see what they did well and what let them down. Out of those sessions has come a realization that WICEN could have been used at Gin Gin for a couple of day so that's been taken on board by the Emergency Management teams.

2010 WICEN OPEN DAY

Saturday December 4th was the day to throw open the doors to WICEN and invite club members and interested public to come and see what we do.

It was also a day to open those boxes and set up the portable stations.

We had 21 attendees on the day and everyone went away with a better understanding of what WICEN Bundaberg can do. We are hoping to attract at least 6 new members in the new year and we're throwing our support behind the Hervey Bay folk who attended the open day as they begin to rebuild their WICEN group.

We've had some wild and wet weather but on the day it cleared enough so we could venture outside to erect the new E.N.V.I.S. Dipole. We're building three of these Dipoles, one for each portable station so that we are truly mobile and able to fully utilize the new tri-band Transceivers. For more info on the HF antenna check out the ENVIS Dipole pages.

** Thanks to VK4UD for the photos taken at the open day

2010 has been a big year for the Bundaberg WICEN group

First came the new repeater site... but we didn't stop there.......upgrading equipment was the next task.

We successfully applied for a grant for capital equipment and would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Queensland Government who provided funds through the Gambling Community Benefit Fund.

Our aim was to build three new portable (suitcase) stations with tri-band transceivers and also upgrade the base station at VK4BW and we decided on Yaesu equipment.

Each portable station consists of;

Yaesu FT-857D Tri band Transceiver; Jetstream JTPS28 Power Supply; LDG YT-100 Antenna Tuner; Dual band VHF/UHF whip with magnetic base; E.N.V.I.S. HF dipole and ancillary cables, connectors & tools.

The base station is a Yaesu FT-897D with Jetstream JTPS28 power supply and an additional item to round out the base station - a new ARCOM RC210 controller.

MAY 2010

The Bundaberg Amateur Radio Club sponsors of the WICEN group and they began year by building a new 70cm repeater VK4RBW on Mt Watalgan.

Operating on 439.775MHz the project was funded in part by the Bundaberg Regional Council in recognition of the Club and WICEN's preparedness to provide emergency communications in times of natural disaster.

When Local Government's were amalgamated in 2008 our area of responsibility increased significantly and we recognised the need to improve our equipment and footprints if we were to remain a viable resource for Council and retain our place in the Disaster Management Plan for the area. This is a link to the webpage dedicated to the new repeater at the Mt Watalgan site.

The club has other repeater sites within the region. These include Mt Goonaneman VK4RBU and in Bundaberg VK4RBG on Sloping Hummock and together with the new Mt Watalgan site WICEN has the necessary backbone to communicate over the entire Bundaberg Regional Council region.

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