-------------------------------------------------------------------- WIANEWS for week commencing Aug 09 2009 RENEW OR LOSE! gathering of community broadcasting technologists BOGONG HIGH PLAINS WINTER EXPEDITION aug 15 and 16 is wia remembrance day contest RADIO COULD CHALLENGE BPL FOR ELECTRICAL SYSTEM MONITORING All up and coming in this edition of WIANEWS for week commencing Aug 09 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Timely Reminder A reminder to ensure you pay your license renewal on or before time. Here is Gordon VK4VP:- "ACMA provide a 60 day grace period before the callsign is listed on the web for other amateurs to acquire. Generally they will send out a letter advising that your license has expired as a reminder to renew it. You may have waited a long time to get a particular callsign and it can be gone all too quickly. Put a note on the calendar or in your computer to remind you of the date for renewal and if you hear nothing by that time a check of the website or a phone call to ACMA may prevent losing that cherished callsign." (Gordon VK4VP) CBAA The first formal gathering of Community Broadcasting technologists held in Australia. Technorama 2009 VK3FFFM joins us:- "Skilling and technology support is a major challenge for community broadcasters. Technorama 2009 is the first step, being held from Friday 4th September –Sunday 6th September in Melbourne. Where do I find more information? Download program and registration from www.cbaa.org.au click on Technorama tab at the left Use the CBAA discussion Technorama forums for latest information or to ask questions. All station technologists, engineers, managers, sector suppliers of tech services and equipment. Anyone that contributes to technology decisions, or techs wishing to get involved Australia wide, are invited to attend. Get in Early with your registration." Launch your own personal DIY satellite Planet Earth has entered the age of the Personal Satellite with the introduction of Interorbital’s TubeSat Personal Satellite. This Kit is the low-cost alternative to the CubeSat. And, best of all, the $8000 price of the TubeSat kit actually includes the price of a launch into Low-Earth-Orbit! Launches are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010. Total Price of the TubeSat Kit including a Launch to Orbit is only $8,000! You can read more on the Space Fellowship website http://spacefellowship.com/2009/08/01/interorbital- syatems-tubesat-personal-satellite-kit/ (SouthGate) Big hike to reach remote lighthouse The International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend on the 15th and 16th of August could turn out to be a record year with 355 lighthouses registered so far. Still in the lead on the country tally is Australia on 46, Germany 42, England and the USA around 35 each, and equal pegging on 21 are Argentina, Holland and Sweden. Most Australian lighthouses easily accessible. An exception is the most southerly lighthouse on the mainland which is at Wilsons Promontory Victoria. Adam Shrimpton VK3PHY is set for the 18-kilometre walk to reach the lighthouse carrying a Yaesu FT817 transceiver, dipole, a quarter- wave 20m vertical, 9-metre squid pole, batteries and charger, plus food and warm clothes. He was involved in the Lady Bay Warrnambool Lighthouse last year and says this inspired him to do something out-of-the-ordinary this year. There are still lighthouses available to put on air. Check out the official website www.illw.net for the full list and online registration. How many lighthouses will you contact? (Barry Robinson VK3PV Hello everybody, I'm Bryan VK3HXR with a couple of words about the WIA National News Podcast. That's right _podcast_. A podcast is simply an audio file distributed somewhat automatically via RSS. And 'RSS' is a system where programs query a small summary file on websites rather than you, the user, loading the whole website every time you want to check if there's anything new. Think of it as "email for audio". The software checks every so often in the background and when there's a new episode it downloads it and notifies you it's ready to play. So, why is this so good? Well, just about every web browser, email client and music playing software knows how to download podcasts and if you subscribe to the WIA News Podcast you'll get the _freshest_ news bulletin as soon as it's uploaded! So if you want to listen to the freshest Amateur Radio news on your MP3 player while you're mowing the lawn, burn it to a CD and listen to it on your way into work or in the background between DX contacts in the wee hours of the morning, the WIA News Podcast is yours, any time you want it. Now the mp3 file _has_ been available for a while and has always been used by the HF, repeater and IRLP broadcasters. If you're involved with putting the news to air, you'll love the new system, especially if you're writing automation scripts. Every episode is now uniquely named with the date in the title and there are commandline podcatchers (like 'hpodder') to make your life easier. No more wondering if the downloaded wianews.mp3 file is the most current one - you'll know it is. So head over to the WIA.org.au website and you find the podcast link on the News Broadcast Page in the News and Events section. And if you're an iTunes user, you'll find it in the Podcast Directory by searching for 'Wireless Institute'. 'hpodder' commandline podcatcher (linux/posix & OSX) http://software.complete.org/software/projects/show/hpodder 'Armangil's' commanline podcatcher (windows, linux/posix & OSX) (requires Ruby) http://podcatcher.rubyforge.org/ ACMA asked to jam radio broadcasts Deliberate jamming has long occurred on the shortwave bands as nations want to deny their citizens access to foreign broadcasts, the practice is now being suggested within Australia, for another reason...Jim Linton VK3PC explains. "Analogue FM radio stations in Victoria's second largest city, Geelong, fear their listeners will be lured to tune into the new digital transmission stations in Melbourne. Grant Broadcasters Pty Ltd which operate two FM stations in Geelong has called on the ACMA to jam the Melbourne signals. This because there will be a considerable delay in extending digital radio to Geelong and other regional areas. The government owned broadcasters ABC and SBS are opposed to their digital signals being denied to Geelong. The ACMA is considering options for the introduction of coverage management systems to stop the fortuitous digital radio coverage. If jamming did go ahead it would need to be funded by broadcasters claiming market protection." (Jim Linton VK3PC) Since that story was filed we have contacted the DAB+ Engineering Committee for CRA and a spokesman said "ACMA will not contemplate such a scheme". HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. VK2 web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news The Next meeting and AGM of Illawarra Amateur Radio Society will be held at Industry World, Off Springhill Road Coniston on Tuesday the 11th of August 2009 at 7.30pm. At this meeting the present committee will stand down and those that wish to stand again will do so. Please consider nominating to become a committee member to assist the club with the good work needed to keep the club rolling along. Please note the Nomination forms are available on their website. www.iars.org.au Membership forms are also available on the website. For those that don’t have internet access please call Tony VK2TS on 0404 839465 and alternate arrangements can be made. The membership fees also help keep twelve repeaters and 3 APRS digipeaters on air. Westlakes club have arranged to have Jeff Johnson VK4XJJ present a talk on his trek across Australia Now listed for Saturday August 22nd in the Westlakes club Library due to a double booking by Jeff for the 29th. Westlakes ARC in conjunction with Port Stephens ARC have registered and will be activating Norah Head Lighthouse over the ILLW 15/16th August operating as VK2ATZ portable. VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ VKC Roundup http://www.police Now until Aug Ten its the Bogong High Plains Winter Expedition, so listen out for NERGs VK3GT, VK3SN & VK3HFI across the HF bands and local VHF/UHF repeaters during their annual cross country expedition Then Thursday 13 August - NERG Annual General Meeting and elections. (Mark VK3BYY North East Radio Group, Briar Hill, Australia). VK5 www.qsl.net/vk5bar/ Hello, this is Jade, VK5FXYL on behalf of the EARC. On the 22nd of August at Mawson Lakes Library we are hosting a meet and greet information demonstration about Amateur radio. There will be active on-air and technical displays. A chance to meet members of the club and ask questions about Amateur radio. Bring your friends, bring your family, bring your neighbours. This is a chance to learn about a fantastic hobby. Starts at 10 in the morning and finishs at 4pm. We look forward to seeing you there. VK7 local area news :- http://reast.asn.au/news.php vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com The VK7 stations that are currently registered for lighthouse participation are: Winston VK7EM who will be operating from Mersey Bluff Lighthouse and is number AU0040. Wayne VK7FWAY and Eric VK7FEJE who will be operating from Table Cape Light is number AU0039. Bill VK7MX, Duncan VK7FLAK and XYL VK7FYMX will be operating from Low Head Lighthouse which is number AU0048. Gavin VK7VTX will be operating on Flinders Island at the Pot Boil Channel lighthouse which is number AU0062 and IOTA number OC-195, and, John VK7ZZ will be operating from Cape Bruny Lighthouse which is number AU0005. Make sure you give these stations a special call if you here them during the weekend and make sure you get a number from them in the all important RD! EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO www.hamcollege.com.au Summerland, Lismore Region are running a Foundation course over the RD weekend., 15 & 16 August at a cost of $20 plus text book and exam fee. Advanced Theory course will be 22/23 & 29/30 August. The four day course $50 plus text book and exam fee. WIA exam fees are currently $35 for under 18 years or $67 for adults. Contact Duncan vk2dlr@sarc.org.au Phone 66281337 Tassies Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club (CCARC) The CCARC has welcomed new members Peter VK7LCW and Chris VK7KEE . Members are advised that the next meeting will be a "social meeting" on the 29th of August. It is anticipated that dey will have a guest speaker providing a session on radio controlled model aeroplanes. The Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club offers full assessments to its members, and to any other person who are interested in upgrading their Amateur Qualifications or sitting any other of the Licence Exams. Details may be obtained from Keith Winkler VK7KW on telephone 6428 2185 or email winklerkw@hotmail.com http://my-x15.net/ccarc/ INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA. CHINA NOW AT 90000 HAMS Ham radio is growing in China. According to the Chinese Radio Sports Association which oversees licensing for hobbyists in the world's most populous country, some 90,000 of the worlds radio amateurs live in are in that nation and the number has been steadily growing in recent years. This, despite mobile phones and the Internet becoming commonplace in nearly all of the country. US SENATE WANTS TO KNOW WHAT SPECTRUM IS IN USE The United States Senate Commerce Committee wants Congress to get an inventory of how the nation's spectrum is being used and managed. To accomplish this the committee has passed a measure backed by Communications Subcommittee Chairman to have the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration report to Congress how much spectrum is used in each band and how. This includes what portions require a license for use and what portions allow unlicensed use. RADIO COULD CHALLENGE BPL FOR ELECTRICAL SYSTEM MONITORING FM subcarriers on broadcast stations also called SCA channels could challenge BPL in the area of power grid monitoring. Jerry Gaul KE7GGV speaking on Amateur Radio Newsline said: B-P-L should watch out, here comes S-C-A. e-Radio and Direct Energy announce that they are partnering with manufacturers of smart grid devices such as thermostats, in-home displays, load controls and appliances to use broadcast RF as a way to monitor power consumption needs. Using FM subcarriers leased from radio stations, e-Radio transmits the notifications to the home-based receivers across a municipality or utility service area that results in significantly reduced peak energy demand. The technology can also intervene on the consumer's behalf, cycling off appliances for set periods of time during peak periods. WEIRD AND WONDERFUL Ever wondered how the French Call Sign system is derived? according the call sign QSO'd: F1 is an old call issued for only 144 MHz and up but allowed in the HF bands since 2003. F2 (two letter suffix) in an old call sign issued between the 1950 and 1955's F3 (two letter suffix) is an old call sign issued between the 30's and 40's F4 is an old FA1 or a regular without CW on 144 until 2003 and on HF after 2003. (A licence without CW allows only automatic CW, not manual) F5 is a regular full licence of the 1950s (with a two letter suffix), or an old FB1 (with a three letter suffix) or a regular full licence from 99 to 2003 F6 with a three letter suffix is a regular full licence from between 1968 and 1998. F7 with a two letter suffix, was issued to an NATO member ham in France between 1949 and 1967 F8 is and old licence from pre WW2 (with a two letter suffix) or an old FB1, with CW certificate (with a three letter suffix), of a new ham with a full CW licence issued after 2003. F0xxx call signs (with three letter suffixes) are novice licences for phone only on 144, 10 watts. F2, F3 or F9 are old call signs reissued to full new licensees just after WW2. An F8Kxx licence is issued to a Radio Club. Some National Ham Associations have call signs as follows: F6PTT - the National Postmen’s Association. F8UFT - the Union Française des Telegraphistes. F8AFH - the French national Association for Blind or Disabled Hams, It is worthwhile knowing that the old F2, F3, F9 licences never had a 3 letter suffix. For the overseas French territories, it's the same mess. Need some more information? Write to f5nql@)aol.com Maurice has an interesting and extensive personal profile on www.qrz.com OPERATIONAL NEWS - Hello I'm Peter Harding VK4OD the RD Contest Manage. Next Saturday is the 15th August, and that heralds in this years RD Contest. I have a VERY special line up of special Guest Speakers, due to the line up this year, we will present an extended broadcast that will run for 30 Minutes, and as Prior to the Contest commencing we will present this years Opening Speech, we such it will commence at 07:30 utc, and NOT at 07:45 as in the past. So we would ask that any of the club stations that would normally air the address, that their Broadcast officers be made aware of the time change. Following on from Last week where Lt Chris Megaw on Active Service in East Timor spoke about the WWII Radio Operator in Timor Here now is Justin VK7TWwith some more on that story. "World War II saw the need for skilled radio people to operate and maintain defence radio equipment. Amateurs filled this need and many helped in the creation of a communications infrastructure for the Australian Defence Forces. One such person was Signalman Max Loveless VK7ML SK. He was an amateur before WWII and became involved as a signals operator with "Sparrowforce" on Dutch Timor with the AIF. Members of the 2/2nd Australian Independent Company, fortress signals section and members of 8th Division Signals, pooled their resources to build a set capable of raising Darwin. After many trials and much revision a radio was devised from pieces of other sets and from parts scrounged among the troops or stolen from the enemy and on the 20th April 1942, Darwin was made aware that the Australians in Timor were alive and well. The bulk of the work was undertaken by Signallers Max Loveless and Keith Richards, assisted by Jack Sargent and John Donovan. The set was affectionately named "Winnie the War Winner" after Winston Churchill and after several days of answering some personal questions Darwin was convinced of the authenticity of the signals, and was able to arrange for much-needed supplies to be delivered to the isolated troops. A wonderful story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I’m Justin VKTW." http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/winnie.asp Please be sure to post or Email your logs as soon as possible before the closing date. In all cases, logs must be received by last mail on Monday 15th September, 2009. Late entries will not be eligible. Electronically sent logs will be returned with a courtesy note, also Snail Mail will be returned unopened. See you in the contest. Let me introduce myself, I am Lesley, VK5HLS, the new ALARA Contest Manager. I am looking forward to hearing lots of you, YL'S and OM'S on the air during the last weekend of August Saturday August 29 to Sunday 30th at 0600 UTC Saturday until 1159 UTC Sunday - that is 0600 utc Saturday August 29th until 1159 utc Sunday August 30th. The rules of the contest are on the alara website: www.alara.org.au; in your August AR and also in your last Alara newsletter. No excuses for not getting on the air and having a go. I look forward to speaking with some of you on the radio waves and then being inundated with logs before the 30th September." 73, Lesley VK5HLS SPECIAL EVENT CALLS, 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 OZ 1658 ROS 350th anniversary of the Treaty of Roskilde Till Dec 31 VARIOUS SM STATIONS USING 1658 (Treaty of Roskilde) Till Dec 31 VI 2 SRC 50 Summerland Clubs 50th Anniversary (VK2) Till Aug 31 VP 9 400 /home call 400th Anniversary of Bermuda Till Dec 31 VR 2009 EAG The 5th East Asian Games Hong Kong Till Dec 31 YL 90 AIR 90yrs of Latvian Air Force Till Dec 31 Spanish Grand Prix - special callsigns. The Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix will take place in Valencia. Look for special callsigns to be active until August 23rd: AM5FUV (Op Juan, EC5BZR), AO5FUV (Op Pepe, EA5UB), AN5FUV (Op Vincent, EB5GGB), EG5FUV (Op Jose, EA5FL) and EH5FUV (Op Nando, EA5GVZ). A special award will be issued to those who will make at last 3 QSO's with 3 different stations. QSL Manager will be Jose, EA5FL direct or bureau. Further information can be found at QRZ.com GB111, ENGLAND (Special Event). Viv, G4PLY, will activate special event station GB111HP on the air during the month of August. This is a tribute to Harry Patch (GB9ØWWI) who sadly passed away on Saturday, July 25th, 5 weeks after celebrating his 111th birthday. He was the oldest surviving combatant living in the UK who fought in World War I. QSL via G4PLY, direct or by the Bureau. DX GOES TO TWITTER GB7MBC, one of Europe's busiest DX Clusters, is now on the Twitter social networking system. Postings provide such things as DX news, contests news and solar information. To follow GB7MBC on Twitter, just go to twitter.com/GB7MBC and add it to your list of 'tweets' you follow. With the growing popularity of ham radio on Twitter its very likely that lots of other activities like radio club bulletins and the like will be soon showing up there as tweets as well. Maybe even a synopses of important National News stories will show up sometime soon. If your a Twitter interested in doing this contact nationalnews@wia.org.au More information on Twitter is at www dot twitter dot com. INTRUDER WATCH - ENFORCEMENT ZONE Region III IARUMS Coordinator B.L.Manohar (Arasu) VU2UR r3msc_iaru@rediffmail.com IARUMS NETS Friday 0730 UTC 7.065.5 with VK4CEU David. REPEATER PROBLEMS CONTINUE IN THE UK Malicious interference and other firms of on the air abuse are still plaguing repeaters in London, England. Because of this at least one system is considering some drastic action with support of government regulators. Jeramy Boot, G4NJH, says Repeater users in the London area will be aware that abuse continues to mar the network with a minority making it unpleasant for those who simply wish to enjoy the hobby. The East London 2m repeater, GB3EL, has been suffering from abuse recently and the Keeper has instigated a curfew between the 6pm and 6am to reduce the instances of abuse. This action has proven effective in the past and the RSGB Emerging Technologies Committee and Ofcom support the Keeper's actions. The ETCC encourages proactive measures by all Keepers to manage their repeaters in accordance with the terms of their NoVs. Users are especially asked to consider their own actions and not to react when abuse is heard, as this is just what abusers are hoping will happen. The Term NOV used in that report stands for Notice of Variation to a UK ham license that permits one to put up a repeater. Unlike the United States where anyone install a temporary repeater to replace one that's gone dark to fight user abuse, in the UK it's the national society that holds all of the repeater operators licenses. An individual who decides to put one up without it being licensed could wind up doing some serious time in the old gray bar hotel. MEDIA WATCH www.wiaq.com/admin/uploads/weeklytally.rtf www.cq-amateur-radio.com/WorldRadio.html Amateur Radio Previews August 2009 Nip down to your newsagent and get the August issue of Amateur Radio. It’s already out, sharp on the first of the month. Look for the dramatic photo of a huge 26 metre dish on the front cover. That’s 85 feet if you are still tuned to imperial measure, which is far wider than most residential blocks. EME stands for earth-moon-earth, and there is a dedicated group of amateurs who bounce their signals off our big natural satellite to communicate around the globe. Two of these EME buffs are Rex Moncur VK7MO and Justin Giles-Clark VK7TW, and if you turn to page 22 you can read all about some of their recent achievements. Yes, they were using that monster dish shown on the front cover, and only three milli-watts of transmitter power – what a difference a bit of antenna gain makes!! And there are more big-dish colour photos inside the back cover. Just imagine a group of school kids in Switzerland chatting to Doug McArthur VK3UM in Victoria, but via a transmission path of 750,000 kilometres – yes, by bouncing the signal off the moon. This was on sideband voice, and Doug was using his 8.6 metre dish on 23 centi-metres (that’s about 1,296 Megahertz) and around 500 watts of transmitter power. The kids called Doug “the man in the moon”, but he seems not to mind too much. Read his account of this most successful adventure on page 24, and see “Doug’s dish” pictured inside the back cover. Check the Editorial, too. Contests are great fun, and there are plenty of them coming up this month and next. Make sure you are up to speed on the rules by reading pages 42 to 46. Peter Harding VK4OD has a full coverage for the Remembrance Day Contest and there is also the ALARA Contest plus the Westlakes Cup. Plus the regular Contests column, courtesy of Craig Edwards VK8PDX who is now in Alice Springs, on page 41. (Tom Potter VK3UBS) 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 NEW FISTS DOWNUNDER MEMBER Fists are proudly announcing their latest new member, VK3KS-Mavis #14110. Last month FISTS featured the exceptional achievement of Mavis Stafford VK3KS, CW operator, who recently celebrated completing 70 years as a radio amateur. The suggestion was made that, in recognition of this outstanding achievement, FISTS should invite Mavis to be an honorary member of FISTS Down Under. Delighted they are that she has accepted. Mavis’s career is covered in last month’s FISTS Down Under. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DIGITAL Australian Coordinator for TCPIP domains is Indy vk2xb@wia.org.au W1AW BULLETINS TO ADD DIGITAL Word that the ARRL's W1AW bulletin station will add new digital modes to its transmitting schedule in mid-August. This following a survey of listeners who say that they want the digital transmissions. On August 17th W1AW will replace its AMTOR and ASCII transmissions with PSK31 and MFSK16, respectively. RTTY will continue to be the first digital mode used in the transmission schedule. The frequencies used by W1AW for all its digital transmissions will remain the same. The W1AW operating schedule complete with times and frequencies can be found on the ARRLWeb page . arrl.org/w1aw.html#w1awsked (ARRL) 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 THE PERSEIDS ARE COMING Earth is entering a stream of dusty debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, the source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Although the shower will not peak until 11 and 12 August, the show is already under way. We are just on the outskirts of the debris stream now. If you go out at night and watch the sky, you will probably only see a few Perseids per hour. According to Science at NASA, the Earth passes through the densest part of the debris stream sometime on 12 August when dozens of meteors can be seen per hour. Perseids can appear in any part of the sky, their tails all pointing back to the shower's radiant in the Perseus constellation. For radio amateurs, meteor showers provide increased opportunities for meteor scatter communication. Since 2000, several digital modes implemented by computer programs have replaced voice and Morse code communications in popularity. The most popular program is "Weak Signal Communication, by K1JT" (WSJT) which offers specific digital protocols optimised for meteor scatter, ionospheric scatter, EME at VHF/UHF, as well as HF sky wave propagation. The programme can decode fraction-of-a-second signals reflected from ionised meteor trails and steady signals 10 dB below the audible threshold. (sarl) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- MILITARY Government recognises work of Bletchley Park veterans The UK Government has decided to recognise the vital contribution made by members of the Government Code and Cipher School at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. Surviving military and civilian veterans who served at Bletchley Park and its outstations during the Second World War are eligible for a commemorative badge. The award of the commemorative badge is a fitting recognition of the vital role played by the Government Code and Cipher School during the war. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO SCOUTING http://www.scouts.com.au http://www.scout.org/jota http://www.international.scouts.com.au CALLING FREQUENCIES Please QSY off the calling frequency after establishing communication. Australian voice calling frequencies: 3.650, 7.090, 14.190, 21.190, 28.590, 52.160 World CW calling frequencies: 3.570, 7.030, 14.060, 18.080, 21.140, 24.910, 28.180, 50.160 World voice calling frequencies: 3.690 & 3.940 MHz, 7.090 & 7.190, 14.290, 18.140, 21.360, 24.960, 28.390, 50.160 Calling frequencies for Slow Scan TV (SSTV): 3.630, 7.033, 14.227 Calling Frequencies for PSK31 14.070 North West Tasmania Amateur Television Group has as one of their goals to assist with communications and AR Promotion at the forthcoming JOTA/JOTI in OCT. 2009, initial arrangements and contact has been made with District Commissioners, Scout Leaders and Groups in the North West to have a more structured approach to this year's events. A meeting will be convened within the next few days to begin coordinating what is hoped to be a successful event this year. (Tony VK7AX, News Officer NWT-ATV Group) THE LOWDOWN COLUMN INCLUDING PRECISION BEACON TRANSMISSIONS Join the DownUnder LF Group's Mailing List: http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/lofexp/ Subscribe: lofexp-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.au BEACONS www.qsl.net/zl1bpu/micro/Precision FCC Expands ARRL's 500 kHz Experimental License: On July 28, the FCC approved a modification that expands the ARRL's 500 kHz experimental license WD2XSH. According to Experiment Coordinator Fritz Raab, W1FR, the expansion allows for more frequencies, more stations and portable operations. "We can now operate between 495-510 kHz," Raab said. "We will not be using 500 kHz itself so as to ensure that there is no conflict with the heritage stations on that frequency. (arrl) SOCIAL SCENE 2009 International Telecommunication Union's Telecom World 2009. August 9 SARCFEST from 0800K at the Clubrooms, Richmond Hill. August 22 vk2 Blue Mountains Amateur Radio Club's Winterfest 18 Simeon Road, Orchard Hills. SEPT 12 VK4 Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio club Sunfest, The Woombye School of Arts Blackall Street Woombye. SEP 13 VK5 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest 9:30am. Goodwood Community Centre, Rosa St Goodwood. SEP 18-20 VK4 North Queensland Amateur Radio Convention, James Cook University, Douglas Campus. Surf to theTARCinc website http://www.tarc.org.au for event and registration information SEP 25 - 27 VK4 The Central Highland Amateur Radio Club Annual General Meeting at Camp Fairbairn near Emerald. OCT 11 VK3 Shepparton and District Amateur Radio Club’s communications and display day (Hamfest), St Augustine’s Hall Orr Street Shepparton. OCT 12 - 16 ZL 14th IARU R3 Conference Christchurch 12 ? 16 October 2009. Details at www.christchurch.org.nz/ The Region 3 Web Site: www.jarl.or.jp/iaru-r3/ Oct 31 - Nov 1 Qld Sunshine Coast’s October Camp Catch-up Maidenwell Observatory Brisbane valley west of Yarraman. NOV 1 VK2 Westlakes Amateur Radio Club's "Westlakes Field Day". 2010 JAN 24 VK2 Mid North Coast Amateur Radio Group's Radio Expo 2010 8.30am St Johns Church Hall, Mc Lean Street Coffs Harbour. FEBRUARY 14 VK3 WIA 100 Centre Victoria RadioFest No. 3. FEBRUARY 28 Wyong Field Day, Wyong Race Course. APRIL 2 VK3 Midland Amateur Radio Club's Radio, Electronic & Astronomy Expo. Venue to be advised. JUNE 5 VK2 Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club's 35th Annual Field Day. 2012 JAN 23-FEB 17 YEAR 2012 World Radio Conference WRC-11 Geneva 23rd January TO 17th February 2012 MAY 4-7 2012 VK5 YL International 2012 Australia (vk5tmc@bigpond.com) REWIND - A LOOK BACK IN HISTORY (Will McGhie VK6UU is WIA National Historian) Please think of the environment before printing this email ===================================================================== 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.