As I wrote last month, October is going to be extra busy! It’s a pity the Northland – North Shore Contest on Monday October 5th will clash with our general meeting. I have told the Whangarei club of this unfortunate scheduling, and asked that next year they try and avoid the 1st Monday in the month.

Last month Dr. Charles Bradfield, ZL1CNB gave an excellent talk illustrated with plenty of pictures and some short video clips of the drama that developed when the family yacht, the Carenza, lost its mast in heavy seas some 375km north of North Cape on July 1st. He gave us many very practical tips on what to do when a disaster like this occurs, and he described vividly the feelings of the family when, having been rescued by the French Naval Ship La Glorieuse, the search and rescue authority directed that the boat be scuttled to prevent it beco-ming a hazard to shipping. Many thanks Charles for an excellent talk and presentation.

On the topic of our next general meeting – our guest speaker in Oc-tober will be Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.  Jim takes a keen interest in free-to-air satellite television. On Monday October 5th he will demonstrate some of the programs available, as well as tell us about hardware options for dish and LNB down converters. This will be a live demonstration of Freeview as well as some of the other satellite TV services which can be received here on the North Shore. Please come and give Jim a warm welcome.
The next event of note is the National Disaster Awareness week which runs from October 12 to October 16. North Shore Civil Defence is keen that we participate and I’ll have more detail for you at the October meeting. 

During the same week, we also have another evening for the Jumbo Challenge Indoor Bowls on Wednesday October 14th. Can I have some volunteers to make up one or two teams this time around? 

This is followed immediately by JOTA at Camp Maynard over the weekend of October 17 to 18, and finally to round out the month is our 75th Anniversary Luncheon on Saturday October 31. 

Following a visit to Camp Maynard, by Julian ZL1ABX, Alan ZL1AUW and Jim ZL1BP we are now in a good position to plan the radio activities for that weekend. We need to set up on Saturday morning with HF, VHF and UHF antennas.  Anyone wanting to come and help will be most welcome. We will be erecting a long wire antenna for 80m and 40m operation, plus a rotatable dipole covering 10 through 20m. We will also have aerials for VHF (local repeaters and IRLP operation through the 670 repeater) and UHF (National System con-tacts). There will be a HF/VHF/UHF radio base and activities using hand held radios. A simple electronic construction project will be possible if we have enough volunteers to help out, so please let me know if you are available.

Remember to keep Saturday October 31 free for the Branch 75th Anniversary Celebration. This will be a luncheon at the Stanley Point Bowling Club rooms, and the Spit Roast Catering Company will be providing an excellent selection of food to enjoy. After the meal, there will be time for chatting and reminiscing. Alan ZL1AUW has tried to organise a visit to the places the Club has met over its 75 years of existence, but so far has not had too much success from the current owners of the properties. We may instead have to settle for a photographic presentation of the locations. Jim ZL1BP is doing the invitations, which should go out in the mail early October.

   Vaughan ZL1TGC