SB NEWS @ WW $VK1WIA090531 WIANEWS - May 31 - VK NATIONAL NEWS ALWAYS ENSURE ORIGINAL BID # AND TITLE ARE USED. Packet uploads with thanks to vk7ax Tony ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BEST NEWS YOU'LL GET ALL WEEK Oh... and to contact us with your news because If It Matters To You It Matters To Us! email nationalnews@wia.org.au Please.. write your story as you would expect to hear it being read back do NOT send us links and url's!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes this is the WIANEWS for week commencing May 31 2009 Presented this week by Tim VK2UJ, and some of the VK2WI News team. A special thanks to Television Gladesville – VK2TVG – in West Lane Cove Sydney, for the use of their facilities in the production of the audio for this news bulletin. This Sunday at the VK2WI Dural site, the bi-monthly Trash & Treasure is being conducted during the morning and for those staying on, there is a sausage sandwich BBQ lunch and the Radio Home Brew & Experimenters Group meeting from 1 pm – all a function of Amateur Radio New South Wales. VK2WI News is transmitted twice on Sunday – first at 10 am and again in the evening at 7.30 pm. on frequencies starting at 1845 kHz and extending up to 23 centimetres - except for 17, 15 and 12 metres. The coverage of VK2WI News is enhanced throughout VK2 by the repeaters of many clubs and groups either automatically linked or fed off air with signals taken from HF frequencies. ARNSW is most grateful for the continued support provided by these clubs and groups. The text of VK2WI News is available from Monday evening on the ARNSW web site – www.arnsw.org.au In this weeks VK1WIA news we cover the world and some of the items will be:- VK2 next weekend's Oxley Region field day at Port Macquarie and Paul VK2GX reports for the St. George Amateur Radio Society VK3 has the Eastern Zone Amateur Radio Club Foundation Training next month VK4 has the computer fair in Wide Bay today and the Far North and North Queensland Amateur Radio Gathering next weekend VK5 have their Mt Gambier field day next weekend. In operational news the VK Shires contest commences next week Of special interest there is rescue radio in Townsville – Jim Linton VK3PC talks about apples – the bad ones and Robert Broomhead VK3DN reports on the closure of some ACMA offices. Our thoughts are with those listeners on the VK2 north coast recovering from yet another period of flooding while other areas of the country would love to have some of that water. WIA NEWS On THE Sunday morning during the WIA AGM weekend of activities, the Directors of the WIA met to conduct their second face to face board meeting for 2009. Being the first board meeting following the Annual General Meeting, it was the responsibility of the board to appoint a President and Vice President. It was resolved to re-appointed Michael Owen VK3KI as President and Ewan McLeod VK4ERM Vice President for the forthcoming year. If you’re listening to this WIA news as per usual on your local repeater then it would appear your operators have the new file formats and storage locations down pat. If you notice that your usual outlet for news is "off air" maybe you could ask them to contact nationalnews@wia.org.au and we will let them know about the new ipod automatic system Robert Broomhead has put in place. Actually, everyone should connect to wia.org.au, click "this weeks news broadcast" and follow the prompts to automatically get the text and audio delived. If you are a re-broadcaster If you rebroadcast the weekly WIA news either via simplex or repeater, please note the new mp3 file name format and make sure you download the latest weekly news from the WIA website. Additional information on how to automate downloads with the new filename format is being prepared and will be distributed to re-broadcasters via the re-broadcasters news group over the coming weeks. Please note the old wianews.mp3 filename is not being phased completely, only on the wia.org.au site. A backup will always be available at the age old standby on wiaq.com/ftp site and still in 3 file sizes, 32 64 and 128 versions, "so you don't miss a thing". WIA NEWS will still be sent via the various existing news groups - world wide. HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. VK2 The Oxley region ARC are holding their field day in Port Macquarie next weekend, the 6th and 7th of June. Westlakes ARC have acquired a number of Hi-Band 2 way radios 6 channel crystal locked, marked as TW-35W. The Spec book describes the coverage as 146 to 147 MHz with a band width of 3MHz. The club is seeking a circuit diagram for the radio mentioned or a similar unit. The hope is to convert these rigs to operate within the 2 metre band using a PLL circuit. Contact Frank VK2FJL Paul VK2GX from St George Amateur Radio Society says their June 3 Monthly Meeting will feature Mark Cheeseman VK2XGK giving a presentation on WICEN in the Victorian Bushfires along with general information. Meeting starts at 7.30 PM Wednesday 3rd June at Kyle Bay Scout Hall. Talk in on Repeater VK2RLE, 146.800 MHz. And, this weekend, in Sydney's north, the Manly-Warringah Radio Society is moving from the Warringah Volunteer Services Centre, to give the State Emergency Services a bit more room to manoeuvre. The club is organising a new permanent home, but for the time being meetings will be held at the Terrey Hills Community Centre, Yulong Road, at Terrey Hills. More details on the club web site at www.mwrs.org.au VK3 Eastern Zone Amateur Radio Club will be conducting a Foundation Training day on Saturday 13 June, with an Assessment event on Sunday 14 June. Venue is the Hazelwood South Hall, Tramway Rd Churchill. Start time 0930 each day. Anyone interested in the training and/or assessment event, please contact the club via email at vk3bez@vk3bez.org Gippsland Gate Radio and Electronics Club's Annual Hamfest is 18 July, Cranbourne Public Hall. Anyone wanting a table should contact the club immediately. VK4 Last weekend 23rd and 24th May the Hodson's Range Repeaters 146.925 and 438.500 plus A.P.R.S. was put into life again. A DXpedition" to Peak Downs National Park set fourth, a massive effort to cart 6 x 20kg batteries, 2 solar panels, 4 rigs, 2 aerials and coax up the hill normally accessible only by helicopter. All went well and about 3pm all the repeaters were in action. This repeater site is linked to the "CHARC" system covering Rockhampton, Springsure, Dysart , the coal fields, Sarina , MacKay, to Aerlie beach. This could very well be the largest repeater link up in Australia. 26th FNNQARG! - 2009 The Far North and North Queensland Amateur Radio Gathering will be held next weekend at Cardwell Village Beachcomber Motel & Tourist Park. If you are on holidays at the time feel free to "pop" in. Invitation to an Eminent Speaker Presentation Thursday June 4th relayed via the IEEE Northern Australia Section and The Townsville Amateur Radio Club Inc. The College of Information, Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering (ITEE) invites you to an Eminent Speaker Presentation by Dr David Skellern, CEO of National ICT Australia (NICTA) on the subject of Recasting the Net: the internet of things and the future of the digital economy to be held on Thursday 4th June from 5.30pm in the Hotel Ibis Townsville. Please RSVP soonest either by telephone to 02 62706548 or email NLenz@engineersaustralia.org.au www.engineersaustralia.org.au COMPUTER FAIR Wide Bay’s first Computer and Technology Fair takes place at the Hervey Bay Great Hall, Beach Road, Pialba, on Sunday 31st May, from 10am to 2pm. This looks like being a real community event with many local organisations and businesses involved including the Hervey Bay Sea Scouts who are putting on a sausage sizzle and using the event as a fund raiser. VK5 Last week as we "went around VK in 80 seconds we heard from Charles VK5HD with his reminder of the south east radio group's annual convention at the Margret street scout hall…just behind the mount Gambier police station. Again if you are in the area call in say hi! VK7 North West Tasmania Amateur Television Group's next general meeting will be held on Saturday 6 June, at 2.00PM. Venue? QTH of Ivan VK7XL. Guest speaker will be Barry VK7FR discussing his experiences as a former ABC News Presenter in Papua New Guinea and many States of Australia. People interested in general information about The North West Tasmania Amateur Television Group, and broadcast information are invited to visit the Club's WIA web Page under VK7 Clubs for links to Club services. GREAT SOUTHERN WINTER HAMFEST A Great Southern winter Ham fest will be held at the Sorell Men's Shed, Station Lane, Sorell SE of Hobart next weekend. If you are interest in being involved and/or helping out email or contact Ken VK7DY for more details or express your interest. VK8 Next meeting of the Darwin amateur radio club will be held on Wednesday 3rd of june at the clubrooms waratah crescent fannie bay at 7pm. A huge auction of all sorts of items mostly radio oriented will be held at the clubrooms on June 13th at 7pm. A famous DARC Barbecue will precede this at 6pm. Get your items in to the club as soon as possible please. The club has organised a visit to the CVC radio transmitter site at Cox peninsula later in the month of june but if you plan on going you need to be at the meeting on Wednesday night for a talk by alan baker vk8ab about the site. There is also a compulsory safety briefing which needs to be signed off VK2WI NEWS BULLETINS VK2WI News is transmitted twice on Sunday – first at 10 am and again in the evening at 7.30 pm. on frequencies starting at 1845 kHz and extending up to 23 centimetres - except for 17, 15 and 12 metres. The coverage of VK2WI News is enhanced throughout VK2 by the repeaters of many clubs and groups either automatically linked or fed off air with signals taken from HF frequencies. ARNSW is most grateful for the continued support provided by these clubs and groups. The text of VK2WI News is available from Monday evening on the ARNSW web site – www.arnsw.org.au ACMA to close Adelaide and Perth Offices At the Senate Estimates hearing on Monday 25th May, the ACMA advised the Senate committee that it proposes to close the Adelaide and Perth ACMA field offices. For further information please refer to the news item on the WIA website and refer to page 120 of the Hansard document attached to the news item. ABOUT VK2WI RELAYS VK2WI News utilises a 5 MHz frequency for the benefit of manual relaying stations. This has been assigned to 5425 kilohertz in the USB mode. It's callsign is VKE580. We find, particularly during the low parts of the solar cycle, it fills in a gap in the Morning coverage, when absorption means 80 metres has gone, but its too close in for 40 metres. As part of the license conditions for this service, we must take a break for identification every ten minutes. Its no different to what we as Amateurs should do when we have extended transmissions. [IDENT] DISCUSSION POINT with Jim VK3PC Bad apples can make you sick, bad apple operators that is folks. Jim Linton VK3PC checks out a few examples:- A year ago a very enthusiastic mature aged woman obtained her Foundation Licence and began enjoying the hobby very much. Then things went sour, she experienced distasteful harassment from a bad apple. As a result did not renew her licence and is lost to the hobby forever. Another younger YL started off just fine exploring amateur radio until she too was personally affronted, her first approach was to stop using the 2-metre band, but the same thing happened on 40-metres and now rarely uses her station. Don't get it wrong, this is not a gender specific problem, the guys find bad apples are giving them the pip too. A number of club nets are regularly targeted by bad apples and their anti-social behaviour. A friendly simplex net is the latest to suffer, so much so that radio amateurs who have made on air friends, now don't keep in touch via radio but conduct their QSOs on the internet chat system Skype. A sad state of affairs indeed. The ACMA has previously announced it's engaging in a regulatory education and compliance enforcement campaign. It needs support from individual radio amateurs, clubs and licence class instructors. Occasional feedback from the ACMA on its campaign would also be most welcome by the amateur radio community. (Jim Linton VK3PC audio) MANY VKs have made the trip to the annual Dayton Convention in Ohio and this year’s event has just concluded. From Amateur Radio News Line - Jack W8ISH summerizes the weekend; Once you get past the glitz of the new antennas, the radiant radio dials and the latest in ham radio software a world of wonderful and weird artifacts greet you in the outdoor flea market. There you will find acres of classic amateur radio equipment and other special items. One enterprising seller was pushing the latest in used cattle prods. Drop in a couple new batteries and you are all set to zap your way through life. Just past the shirt, jacket and hat tent you could pick up some mighty fine perfume for the lady. They even had deodorant for men. Saturday afternoon rain showers forced hundreds of hams back inside Hara Arena. People stood shoulder to shoulder and wheel to wheel to make their new equipment purchases. Many mobile hams in wheel chairs and on scooters found it difficult to cruise the arena floor. It would have taken a cattle prod to move through the crowd. After standing in line a while to view a new piece of equipment, the crowds continued to grow. Right along with the heat and humidity. Thoughts of returning to the perfume table outside became a good idea after all. Whether you were after an old part for your radio project, something digital and high tech for the ham shack or even taking in new found knowledge in one of the many forums, you will have to agree, there's nothing in the world like the Dayton Hamvention. We hope to see you there again. Next weekend on a smaller scale, we have field days at Mt. Gambier in VK5, and Port Macquarie in VK2. Last week Charles VK5HD reminded you about the south east radio group's annual convention. In case you missed the details it will be held in the Margaret Street scout hall – its just behind the Mount Gambier police station (so be on your best behaviour). If you are in the area call in and say hi. Like all activities - they need your support. Over on the VK2 Mid North Coast - the Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club will have their two day event next weekend and JohnVK2KC invites you to Port Macquarie; On the 6th and 7th June, we will be holding our annual Field Days, this is the 34th year this event has been held and the venue as usual will be the Sea Scouts Hall, Buller Street Port Macquarie. Now for some finer details: On Saturday 6th the hall will be open for registrations at 12:30pm but there will be no sales or displays on that day. However the fox hunts will still be held on both days. Saturday’s foxhunts: 1pm – 2 metre mobile Fox hunt, 2pm – 80 metre Pedestrian Fox Hunt, 3pm - 2 metre talk in. At 5:30pm we adjourn to the Port City Bowling Club in Owen Street for a smorgasbord dinner, this is an “all you can eat” seafood night plus other meals as well, user pays of course! The program for Sunday: 8:00am - hall opens for trade and second hand sales setup. 8:30am - to 9:00 am all band scramble. 9:00am - Field day officially opens with registrations 10:00am – 80 metre mobile fox hunt 11:00am – 40 metre Pedestrian fox hunt Std Transistor Radio NO DF Mods or Attachments 11:30am - BBQ lunch begins - pay as you eat! 1:30pm – 2 metre Mobile Fox Hunt 2:30pm – 2 metre Pedestrian Fox Hunt 3:30pm – Presentation of all competition prizes and Fox hunt trophies. Entry fee is a mere $5 per person. Free coffee/tea and biscuits on both days. Lucky door prizes, guessing competitions, with quality prizes, Trade displays and sales, second hand sales. We will have on display our newly commissioned Mobile Communications Van, this is the result of many hours of work by the club members, the van boasts HF, VHF and UHF transmitting capabilities and is totally portable. Enjoy and support the Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club on the Long weekend 6th and 7th June in beautiful Port Macquarie. Enquiries to John McLean VK2KC phone 0417 946 220 INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the worldwide sources of the WIA. ROAD TOLL A member of the Oldham Amateur Radio Club in the UK has been killed and another seriously injured following a collision on the M61 motorway last Sunday. Announcing the tragic news, the club's president said: "It is my sad duty to inform you that our Chairman, Ian Firby G7VCG and our Treasurer Peter Rushton G7PMZ were involved in a serious road accident on Sunday 24 May. The incident which occurred on the M61 near Bolton at lunchtime meant that tragically Peter died at the scene and Ian suffered injuries serious enough for him to be taken to Hospital by Air Ambulance." (southgate) Smart Metering won't cause problems for amateur radio The UK Government has announced that it wishes to press ahead with plans for Smart Metering, with full implementation by 2020. This was a policy announcement that had been long expected. It was not a shot out of the blue for the RSGB and the EMC committee. Whilst the method of remote reading of the millions of meters has not yet been finally decided, it is most likely that it will make use of established technology; any immediate alarm is unwarranted, since in this case it really means Power Line Signalling or PLS. Power Line Signalling has been around for over 100 years and is widely used for the control of street lighting, the switching of tariff rates and control of the power grid. In particular, it uses very low data rates and a frequency below 150 kHz. It is not the same as broadband power line technology, which uses frequencies between 4MHz and 26.5MHz. Honour for wind up radio inventor The BBC reports that the inventor of the wind-up radio Trevor Baylis is to be presented with an Honorary Doctorate by Northampton University. His wind-up radio made communications available to people across Africa without access to electricity and won a BBC Design Award. Trevor Bayliss is an Honorary member of the RSGB. NINE YEAR OLD AWARDED THE WORKED ALL ZS Melinda Mynhardt, ZU6MM, a young lady of 9 has received her very own Worked All ZS award. Melinda has most definitely put out a challenge to her seniors to work towards achieving their WAZS. NOW FOR A LITTLE HISTORY It is now just over nine months to the centenary of the WIA we have today – it all stated on a Thursday afternoon – the 11 th March 1910 – in the smoking room of the Hotel Australia in Sydney. A meeting of concerned experimenters over the treatment they were getting from the authorities. Many Amateurs have paid a visit to the Kurrajong Radio Museum, run by Ian VK2ZIO. We have recorded a series of interviews with Ian, about the museum and its exhibits. These have been played on VK2WI news bulletins, and you can find an excerpt from one of these in this week’s audio edition of the VK1WIA National News. We hope to bring you more of these in the future. PODCAST THIS! The WIA Weekly News is Now Available On iTunes. The WIA Weekly news broadcast has relaunched itself into the world of Podcasting. You can now subscribe to the mp3 file via the RSS link on the WIA news page with your favorite podcatcher software or you may choose to subscribe to the weekly broadcast via Apples iTunes application now subscribing is really easy just click on the link; http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=317446175 But wait there is more! We also offer you the option of subscribing to the text edition of our news service via your favorite RSS reader software. For those users of Mozilla Firefox web browser or recent versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, using your web browser simply click this link www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews.xml to subscribe. And you may have noticed that the WIA News page on the WIA website has been updated. The name of the weekly MP3 file has been updated to incorporate the date of each weeks broadcast. This means we can now offer you the option of listening to the mp3 file or reading the text edition of any news broadcast, current or previous. The last two weeks broadcasts are already available on the WIA website. If you rebroadcast the be aware of the new mp3 file name format and make sure you download the latest weekly news from the WIA website. Additional information on how to automate downloads with the new filename format is being prepared and will be distributed to re-broadcasters via the wiabroadcasters@yahoogroups.com news group over the coming weeks. VK2WI BEACONS AND REPEATERS At the VK2WI Dural site – besides the broadcast network - Amateur Radio New South Wales operates the VK2RWI repeaters from 6 metres through to 23 centimetres and provides the beacons which identify as VK2RSY from 10 metres through to 23 cms. The 6 metre and 23 cm beacons last year got new purpose built transmitters and this year the 2 metre and 70 cm service was restored with new transmitters. Reports are most welcome. Finally the 80 metre morse training transmitter on 3699 kilhertz also got a new transmitter last year. This service has about 3700 words in storage which it provides almost 24/7 – except at broadcast times – at a range of speeds from 5 to 15 words per minute. All these transmitters were purpose built by station engineer Mark VK2XOF. ARNSW MORSE TRAINING SESSIONS Another service to the Amateur faternity provided by ARNSW is the long running 80 metre morse training session provided in the past by a range of operators. These days it is once a week on Thursday at 8 pm on 3550 kilohertz from Ross VK2ER at Orange. Earlier this year we lost Alan VK2ADB when he became a SK. Ross would like some help with the service to provide additional nights. Can you help ?? Give him a call on Thursday night at the end of the session when he takes callbacks. QNEWS WORKBENCH the nuts and volts report - (Measure twice - Cut once!) INSTANT CHARGE BATTERY A new form of battery is being developed with what's being called instant charging. Amateur Radio NewsLine's Jeff Clark, K8JAC, reports that researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have announced that they have developed a new form of Lithium Ion battery. One that could discharge and recharge in seconds rather than hours. Gerbrand Ceder is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. Along with his graduate student he discovered a way to build LiON batteries with a performance level more like that of Ultra Capacitors. These are caps that store less energy but can store and release it very quickly. If commercialized, this new breed of LiON battery would allow future hybrid cars to rapidly recharge. It could also lead to improvements in portable two way radio as well as new consumer and industrial products. BUT it will be some time before a battery like this is available commercially. SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2009 JUN 6 - 8 WORKED ALL VK SHIRES LONG WEEKEND CONTEST JUN 20 - 21 MUSEUMS WEEKEND PART a JUN 27 - 28 MUSEUMS WEEKEND PART b JUL 04 NZART MEMORIAL CONTEST 80M AUG 15 - 16 WIA Remembrance Day Contest AUG 15 - 16 ILLW Running till Dec 31 2009 is the 4th CQ DX Marathon SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2010 March 21-22 John Moyle Field Day COMPETITION TO CELEBRATE THE NEW 40 METRE SEGMENT WHEN IT IS LEGALISED The Boland Amateur Radio Club in South Africa is arranging a competition to celebrate the expansion of the 40 metre band when it is finally announced. It will be held on the first Sunday following the publication of the Government Gazette. The Boland competition will be open to all radio amateurs in Southern Africa only in the new SSB Contest segment 7.130 - 7.200 kHz. VK SHIRES The VK Shires contest gets underway next weekend and many of the contest clubs are getting ready to get up and going.. The categories you can compete in are varied - foundations are catered for with there own category as well as multi operator stations Every one should be able to have a bit of fun in this contest.. remember you can work a shire on both SSB and CW so the most important thing to do on each band is make sure you grab all the multipliers before settling down to a CQ or run Frequency. Those lucky enough to have two VFOs could be calling on a spot frequency and scanning the band on VFO 2 for other mults. BEACON DX AND NET ADVICE hf nets ON the net, www.timroberts-vk4yeh.id.au/ GB 40 WAB 40th anniversary of the WAB Till Dec 31 HG 160 FNY Commemorates 1848 attack on Hungary that prompted their independence. until July 31 International Museums Weekend(s) 20 and 21 plus 27 and June 28 OZ 1658 ROS 350th anniversary of the Treaty of Roskilde Till Dec 31 VARIOUS SM STATIONS USING 1658 (Treaty of Roskilde) Till Dec 31 CANADA, VE. In celebration of the 50 years since the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, Canadian amateurs can use special callsign prefixes XL, XM, XN, and XO until May 31 VP 9 400 /home call 400th Anniversary of Bermuda Till Dec 31 WORK ALL RADIO ARCALA NETWORK STATIONS AT ONCE You now have an opportunity to contact all Radio Arcala network stations at once: OH8X, Finland; CU2X, Azores and TC4X, Turkey. This weekend, during 2009 WPX CW Contest, Pasi, OH6UM will command OH8X while CU2X will be piloted by Toni, OH2UA and TC4X by Pertti, OH2PM. All as single operators. You may also hear Martti, OH2BH active as CU2KG from his new residence in Ribeira Grande, Northern Azores May 25 through June 1. Also, new Portuguese regulations will become effective on June 1 and this is the last run for the CU2X callsign. WORLDWIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- CW FISTS Club - East Asia www.feacw.net FISTS Club - Australasia www.fistsdownunder.org FISTS Club - UK & Europe www.fists.co.uk FISTS Club - Americas www.fists.org Redcliffe run a CW net, conducted by John VK4BZ, on 3.535MHz. Not all those participating are in the Redcliffe district. Luke VK3HJ, located in central Victoria, is a consistent regular and they have some others from around Brisbane who “drop in”. Those amateurs participating are making great progress in both their sending and receiving of Morse. The format of the morse practice is that it starts at 9, 11 and 13wpm, then follows up with a round-robin CW QSO, all on 3535 Thursdays at 8:30pm. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DIGITAL Australian Coordinator for TCPIP domains is Indy vk2xb@wia.org.au MULTIPSK 4.14 released A new version of the popular data modes software MULTIPSK has been released. Patrick F6CTE says the new release of MultiPSK (4.14) is on his Web site http://f6cte.free.fr Multispk associated to Clock are freeware programs but with functions submitted to a licence (by user key). WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER AMSAT-VK UNOFFICIAL HF Net. 2nd Sunday each month. April through October 1000 UTC 3.685 MHz November through March 0900 UTC 7.068 MHz Design a Satellite Eduweb have designed an interactive education game for young people called 'Design a Satellite' It is in the Engineering and Technology section of their website and can be seen at the web address shown in this weeks text editions of the news. www.eduweb.com/portfolio/designsatellite/ WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR OLD-TIMERS http://www.raotc.org.au OLD TIMERS Members and friends of the Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club Australia are reminded that the next news and information broadcast will take place on the first Monday of the Month. using the RAOTC callsign of VK3OTN. 10.00 am Victorian time on 7.060 and 3.650 MHz plus 1.843 MHz AM, and 145.700. On 14.150 MHz at 01.00 UTC beaming north and 02:00 UTC west from Melbourne For those not yet retired, 8.30 PM Victorian time tune 80 mtrs 3.650 MHz With the objective to maintain interest and good fellowship among those who qualify for membership, full membership of the RAOTC is available to any person who has held, or has been qualified to hold, an Amateur Licence for a minimum of 25 years. Associate membership is available to any person who has held, or has been qualified to hold, an Amateur Licence for a minimum of 10 years. Associate members are entitled to all the privileges of Full Membership except the right to vote or to hold office. Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club P.O. Box 107 Mentone Vic 3194 www.raotc.org.au Phone : 03 9579 5600 WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RESCUE RADIO EMERGENCY FREQUENCIES ALL REGIONS 21.360 - 18.160 - 14.300 - 7.060 - 3.760 MHz. REGION 2 TRY ALSO 3.985 - 7.240 - 7.290 Hams getting ready for more smoking rubber Next weekend some Townsville Radio Amateurs will be helping out with time control and safety communications for the Mount Stuart Tarmac Rally Sprint and getting their fix of the smell of burning rubber and the sound of revving engines. However the operators had to do some homework first and on Saturday 30th May attended the event briefing held at the Mt Stuart Road Start Line at 1pm. Here they were fully briefed on their expected roles and the intricacies behind the organisation of this major auto sports event. Now the operators are bursting at the bit to go and be useful whilst playing with radios in the field with auto racing ! Meantime Regional Communications Support Co-ordinator Blue VK4FBLU has put out the call for support for other events happening in the not too distant future. THE SOCIAL SCENE June 5 - 8 VK4 FNNQARG at Cardwell Village Beachcomber Resort. June 6-7 South East Radio Group Convention Margret Street Scout Hall in Mount Gambier behind the Police Station. June 7 Oxley Region Amateur Radio Clubs 34th annual field day at the Sea Scouts Hall in Buller Street Port Macquarie. July 11 - 12 VK3 GippsTech 2009, the technical conference with a VHF, UHF & microwave focus. VK1WIA – HEARD ACROSS AUSTRALIA Each week Graham VK4BB collects as many check in numbers as he can get to see the reach of the VK1WIA news service. The annual figures run from one AGM to the next and just in the combination of downloads and checkins totalled 107 059 made up of 62 289 down loads and 44 770 checkins. TOTAL READS - DOWNLOADS AND CHECKINS TOTALED 107059 TOTAL RF CHECKINS REPORTED = 44770 13367 = VK2, Just over half of these were reported through the VK2WI News network. 8537 = VK4 6633 = VK6 5760 = VK5 5537 = VK7 4400 = VK3 1093 = VK8 554 = VK1 ============================================================================= WIANews - we've reported...YOU decide. Societies and Club News Letter Editors can EXCHANGE a feed prior to the actual broadcast date, e-mail nationalnews@wia.org.au Call-backs follow the RF editions, but also for text readers you may lodge a quick reply to let us know you read it, who knows, you might even get a "cheerio call". Thanks to to our dedicated band of broadcast volunteers who utilize their time and equipment in bringing you this weekly broadcast. The purpose of "WIANews" is to rapidly provide news of interest to active amateurs residing in Australia and the globe. We strongly encourage membership in the Wireless Institute of Australia and participation in the activities of local clubs. Opinions expressed in "WIANews" are those of the writers who submit material and do not necessarily reflect those of the rebroadcasters, nor the National WIA, but are broadcast in the spirit in which they were submitted. Material may be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form, a credit to WIANews wouldn't go astray... Compiled by VK4BB on behalf of the National WIA with this week additional material by ARNSW; Tim VK2UJ, and some of the VK2WI News team. ***************************************************************************** - NEWS POSTING TO PACKET - Courtesy Tony VK7AX VK7AX(AT)VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC ***************************************************************************** /ex