Program Enrichment

Forward thinking: What's on for 2022?

• What would we like to achieve by November 2022?
• Future of Radio Scouting expo night at VicJam
• Discussion was held about Program, Support, and Training ideas for 2022. Further detail to be circulated in the New Year.
• It was noted that we would like to be proactive rather than reactive with our youth program delivery.

VicJam

• Subcommittee meeting was held on Sunday 24th October
• VicJam antenna mast guy ropes - how many are required? Murray needs to order materials soon.
  • Only Luke's masts require guy ropes, discussion to be held offline.
• Amateur Radio station location has been moved:
  • The shed has been surrendered on the basis of shelter and suitable room being provided for the antenna farm, etc.
  • Area of approx 50m x 50m but no buildings
  • 6m x 6m marquee being provided but will need more cover
  • Call for other tents (that are sealable)
• ARISS - International Space Station cross
  • ARISS have agreed to the COVID management plan and the activity can go ahead from their perspective.
  • Six week, two week, one week COVID updates to be provided to ARISS
  • Mark Black, Director Entertainment, has advised that the stage will be available for ten minutes for ARISS contact
  • The cross is to be run from the main stage
    • If there is a clash with a significant performance we can pre-record and display on the main state on the next night.
• Philip has been in contact with Kitty at Icom who advised that equipment is available. Both parties are understanding of the requirements on each side. A list of equipment has been provided to Philip. If Icom has power supplies available they will provide, otherwise we use appropriate supplies/batteries.
• Would like to have working bees/training sessions over coming weeks to training multiple people on each set of gear.
• Luke/Philip: liaise offline regarding coax requirements.

Next subcommittee meeting details to be advised. Discussion is ongoing on the VicJam Amateur Radio Slack channel.

VicJam Notes have been moved to the VicJam meeting. Summary reports and key external action items only will be provided in the SRESU meeting agenda and minutes.

Additional Business

• Email reflector: please observe requests for direct replies to ensure that these replies do not get lost in the group traffic.

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Meeting Closed: 9.34pm

Next Meeting: Tuesday 14th December 2021 - Dinner at the Wheelers Hill Hotel, details TBC by email

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Appendix 1

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Scout Radio & Electronics Service Unit

Finance Report - November Meeting

Prepared Monday 8th November 2021

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Account Balances

Account	Balance on Monday 8th November 2021
Cheque Account	$2,893.75
Savings Account	$7,437.76

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Outstanding Items

• Awaiting payment for ScoutHike invoice ($1,682.50)
• Awaiting payment for SPOT hire invoice, 1st Bannockburn, May 2021 ($50.00)
• Awaiting payment for VK3SCM, Mafeking Amateur Radio Group
• Awaiting payment for VK3RMP, Mafeking Rover Park
• Awaiting payment for JOTA Badge from Rudy Ruthirakumar ($2.00)
• Awaiting payment for JOTA Badges from Madeline Crichton ($40.00)
• Reimburse duplicate payment to Philip Adams ($135.00)
• Reimburse callsign component of JOTA payment to Murray Taylor ($55.00)
• Reimburse sresu.asn.au domain name expenses 2021/22 to Andy King ($32.99)

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Savings Account (013599 268169069)

Date	Description	Debit	Credit	Balance
12 Oct '21	Opening Balance			$7,437.63
29 Oct '21	Interest		$0.13	$7,437.76
8 Nov '21	Closing Balance			$7,437.76

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Cheque Account (013599 268166933)

Date	Description	Debit	Credit	Balance
11 Oct '21	Opening Balance			$2,180.75
11 Oct '21	Don Ripper 100 JOTA Badges + Postage + Callsign VK3SCD (12 Months)		$263.00	$2,443.75
11 Oct '21	Peter Robinson 3 JOTA Badges + Postage		$14.00	$2,457.75
13 Oct '21	Daniel Gutsell 10 JOTA Badges		$20.00	$2,477.75
13 Oct '21	Greg Parsons 6 JOTA Badges + Postage		$20.00	$2,497.75
13 Oct '21	Murray Taylor 1 JOTA Badge + Callsign 12 Months (Callsign component paid in error, $55.00 to be refunded)		$57.00	$2,554.75
18 Oct '21	Karl Donald 3 JOTA Badges		$6.00	$2,560.75
18 Oct '21	David Timms 45 JOTA Badges + Postage		$98.00	$2,658.75
26 Oct '21	Francisco Rojo 20 JOTA Badges + Postage		$48.00	$2,706.75
26 Oct '21	1st Mt Evelyn Scout Group 20 JOTA Badges + Postage		$48.00	$2,754.75
4 Nov '21	Philip Adams Course Fee for Marine Course - David Bryar (Duplicate payment, $135.00 to be refunded)		$135.00	$2,889.75
7 Nov '21	Andy King 2 JOTA Badges		$4.00	$2,893.75
8 Nov '21	Closing Balance			$2,893.75

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Appendix 2

Activities: Details for upcoming activities

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1st Sandringham Cub Unit - Thursday 18th November

• Lead: Karl
• Assist: Murray, Kent, Kevin (available if required)
• Fox hunt and radio activity night
• A park away from the hall is available and a suitable location for a fox hunt
• 14 Cubs

Activity details:

+ Brief explanation of radio and fox hunting
+ Fox Hunting wide game

Original request:

Interested in finding out more about activities for Cubs, possibly a fox hunting activity.

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1st Sandringham Scout Unit (Alexander Donald, Scout) - Monday 22nd November

• Lead: Murray
• Assist: Karl, Luke
• RadioActiv8 test run
• Request is for a more STEM-based activity - what is radio? how does radio work?

Original request:

Hello My name is Alexander and I have been allocated a night to plan and run for this term for the Scouts. My dad has been learning about radios and the electronics. I am interested the other Scouts learning more about how they work with signals and using them to talk to people in other countries or states because we use mobile phones but dont really know how they work. I am also thinking that we could make a easy radio and play a morse code game. The night my leaders have given me to plan and lead is 23rd of august from 7pm to 9pm Are you able to help me organise this night please Alexander

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4th Brunswick Cub Unit - Thursday 25th November, 6.30pm

• Lead: Murray
• Assist: Kent, Luke
• Approx. 40 Cubs
  • Trying to have as many outdoor activities as possible in case of density limits indoors.
• Murray has arranged Michael Barrett (VK3EMB) as an external contact.

Calls for assistance:

• 2 extra fox hunting sniffers, if possible
• SSTV (Andy will prepare an activity and equipment but is unavailable on the night)
• Additional volunteers to assist

Activity details:

+ Fox Hunting
+ Amateur Radio Station (with external operator)
+ Slow Scan TV (SSTV)
+ Noughts and Crosses and/or similar phonetics activities (can be run by Cub Leaders)
+ Running around with handhelds

Original request:

Activity night at 4th Brunswick on Thursday 19 August - commencing from 1830.

4th Brunswick have a 40-strong Cub pack ... Brian - I would like to borrow at least two more foxhunt sniffers, and would like to have 2-3 more team members on hand, with activities.

I hope to have 4 off ISM band HT units with me for them to try message passing, but if someone else can provide some indoor activities (andy Image transmission?, anyone phonetic nought/crosses etc? ) to create some rotations.

I might be able to establish an external operator to 'have a chat' with the Cubs on 2m.

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Boroondara District Cubs STEM Day (Sue Keks) - Sunday 5th December

• Lead: Murray
• Assist: Neil, Kent, Alli
• Frog Hollow Park, Fordham Avenue, Camberwell
• Event is outdoors however there is a hall that could be available depending on other activity bases

Activity details:

6 to 8 rotational activity bases of around 30 to 45 minutes each.

Possible activities:
+ Fox Hunting
+ Phonetic Alphabet Activities (noughts and crosses, hangman, etc.)
+ Handheld radio message passing
+ Possible amateur radio station/portable rig running too

Original request:

We're having an activity day for the District cubs, very much along the STEM lines, and the cubs have specifically asked for fox hunting! Can I also ask what the electronics kit building would involve - costs, time required, facilities required (eg indoor/ outside under a marquee), whether we could cycle 150 cubs through? Now that I've seen it on the list, I'm curious! (Had been thinking of cubs moving round bases of somewhere around 30-45 mins each) PS that's 1st Balwyn (my home pack) with Murray Taylor in the photo!!

Appendix 3

Activities: Dates not set

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1st Upwey Scout Unit (Tim Allchin)

• Lead: Kevin & family
• Assist: Dan
• Nothing further has been heard from the group regarding a pre-JOTA activity.
• Contact the group again in 2022 to see how we can assist with program delivery.

Original request:

Thanks for all your work! We would like to have a radio night at our hall on Thursday 2nd or 9th September this year. We have had a number of these nights over the years as our introduction to JOTA which we have attended for many years. These nights have generally been a series of rotational activities including fox hunting, radio battleships, mast erection and talking over a short wave radio. We start opening parade at 7.30 but arrive at 6.45-7pm to setup and finish with closing parade at 9.20. There is generally a window of 90 minutes for the rotations.

Moreland Darebin District Joeys Day (Phillip Bailey)

• Lead: Neil
• Assist: Andy, Alli, Luke, Kevin
• The activity date is up in the air pending lockdowns, restrictions, and event size limits.
• Neil will contact them to discuss the idea of running an activity of the size originally requested in 2022.
• No date was discussed due to VicJam planning and commitments. Revisit at the start of 2022.

Previous details (Neil Wilson):

After a brief email introducing myself/ the unit - Phil from 1st Reservoir Joeys indicated that they'd had significant interest in this activity at a district level and would like to run it as a Radio Unit Come and Try day for their district, which has 12 Joey mobs.

Their preference is for it to happen on a Sunday in term 4 preferably a Sunday in the back end of November/ start of December.

I indicated that from our perspective term 4 is likely to be reasonably busy with JOTA, VicJam prep and other activities so we would need to consider it at our next team meeting and get back to him with some potential dates.

From the previous list of activities I'm thinking it would be best set up as a series of bases with patrols rotating between them. From our list, potential activities for this age group could be:

Activity ideas:

 + Using conductive play dough to build simple circuits
 + Playing games such as battleships or hangman with a twist by using the Phonetic Alphabet and learning some simple radio procedures along the way
 + Building a simple skill tester and using it to compete against others
 + Fox hunting - patrols of hounds hunting out hidden radio transmitters using sniffers (specialised radio receivers coupled with a directional antenna to sniff out a signal).
 + Teaching component identification and using circuit building blocks to create simple circuits.
 + Potentially an SSTV activity - trial run for VicJam activity

Appendix 4

Legana Street Break-in Report

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A call was made to VicPol on Sunday, 31 October 2021 at approximately 7:55am to report a man viewed to be standing behind the Legana Street hall at a window near the Scout Radio Electronics Team storage room. Arriving at the scene at 8:08am, police discovered the break in and boarded up the broken window by the outside using square headed screws to prevent further access.

A call was received by myself from a VicPol Constable who is also a member of Scouting, reporting that items have been discovered in two pelican cases full of radio-related equipment. The Constable sent photos of the equipment via SMS and it was clearly Scout property. The Constable was sent the asset register to confirm the serial numbers. That afternoon, myself and Andy King collected the equipment from Oakleigh Police Station.

On 1 November, I met with the Crime Scene Team from VicPol and opened up the Legana Street hall to allow fingerprinting and photos to be collected by the Police, with Jon McGregor (Executive Manager, Scouts Victoria) also present.

Once the site was released of its crime scene status, I was joined by Sarah Thom, Andy King, Matthew Cengia and Kent Cochran. Radios and signifiant assets were removed from the chaotic room, and serial numbers were crossreferenced with our asset manager. It appears that most items were accounted for, with the exception of items unreturned from ScoutHike, namely, the commercial Motorola radios, many of which were reportedly still with Peter Chaplin. We will require confirmation of the radios in Peter's possession prior to completing our Damage Report.

It appears that on the whole, no significant items were taken and not recovered. We have accounted for all Amateur Radios, though many of our handhelds were damaged during the packing of items into the instrument cases. Appropriate claims will be made to recover the value of these items where applicable.

As items were being checked and returned in a tidy fashion, the room was further secured by drilling lock holes into the compactus rail, and windows boarded up from the inside to prevent further incursions.

In his time present, Jon McGregor confirmed that expedited action is required to secure the building, install a security system, and that working solutions for all tenants will be achieved as soon as possible.

All gear of significant use and value is currently stored at my premises until the current building is assuredly secured to prevent further loss. This is known to both Sarah Thom (State Commissioner - STEM) and also to Jon McGregor, among others. Equipment remains available for use for VicJam, and appears that minimal damage for our significant assets has been managed.

Signifcant damage summary (preliminary):

Item	Damage Summary	Notes	Replacement Value	Comments	Current QTH
Icom IC7000	Tuner control cable	Plastic sheath cut, exposing wire	~$50 - $100?	Requires replacement	VK3BYR
Icom IC2A	Physical damage, missing antenna		$200		VK3BYR
GME TX4400	Physical damage		$500		VK3BYR
Uniden CB	Physical damage, broken antenna		$250		VK3BYR
Wouxun KG-UVD1	Missing antenna, damaged battery case		$250	Replacement required	VK3BYR
DOSS Power Supply	Cable damage	Potential internal damage	$400	Replacement required for safety considerations	VK3BYR

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Luke Byrnes
State Leader - Communications Technologies
0412 002 345
luke.byrnes@scoutsvictoria.com.au