----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BEST NEWS YOU'LL GET ALL WEEK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WIANEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING NOV 08 2009. 4U1AIDS - Awareness about HIV/AIDS through Amateur Radio Sorell Men's Shed - Tasmania Day Celebration A real eye-opener for the IT industry TRANSPARENT CLOCKS FOR PC DESKTOP. Bass Strait crossed with Light off Clouds GB0AD - Armistice Day The Swedish Amateur Radio Society announces Marconi Nobel 100 Award. ALL UP AND COMING IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING NOV 08 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4U1AIDS - Awareness about HIV/AIDS through Amateur Radio Started on December 1st, 1988, the aim of "World AIDS Day" is to raise money, increase awareness, fight prejudice and improve education. "World AIDS Day" is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that much still needs to be done. A special amateur radio station will be operating at UNAIDS HQ in Geneva, Switzerland, from December 1-7th, 2009, with the special event callsign 4U1AIDS. They invite people to observe the "World AIDS Day" and demonstrate global HIV awareness. International World Aids Day 2009 Amateur Radio Certificate: Those amateur radio stations which have a radio contact with 4U1AIDS on any 3 amateur radio bands, will awarded a special commemorative certificate “World AIDS Day Award”. Amateur radio stations that have radio contact with 4U1AIDS on 5 amateur radio bands will be awarded a special commemorative UNAIDS pennant. For each radio contact with 4U1AIDS, a special QSL card will be sent. Amateur Radio 4U1AIDS WEB site: http://www.DX-World.com/4u1aids New non line-of-sight optical communications distance record of 288km has been set with a one-way transmission between VK7 and VK3. The night-time contact saw Joe VK7JG assisted by Paul VK7KPG fire up a narrow beamwidth 60 Luxeon LED transmitter to scatter red light off the clouds. The possibility of bridging Bass Strait by optical communications using weak signal technology now been proven with a distance of 288km. More information on this story can be found in the text editions of this bulletin in "Special Interest Group News". HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. VK1 vk1 local news email broadcast@vk1.wia.ampr.org and ask for subscription. The Australian War Memorial Canberra invites you to join them Wednesday 11 November at 10.15 am to commemorate those men and women who fought and died for Australia in all wars and armed conflict. CRARC monthly meeting is the annual Christmas Party / Trash and Treasure. The meeting will be held at the Mt Mugga Scout hall Wednesday 25 November. VK2 web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news Westlakes ARC are holding competitions to measure the relative efficiency of member constructed vertical aerials. The competition to be held 14th November will measure the efficiency of member constructed vertical whip aerials. The best aerial at 40 metres and the best aerial at 80 metres will be determined by measurement. A plaque will be awarded to each winner. First transmission is to be at 1.00pm on Saturday 14 November at First St Marmong Point past Teralba Sailing Club and near the large Public jetty. The measuring station will be ”line of sight” across the water at Warners Bay. Adjudicator at Marmong Point will be VK2BAR John and at Warners Bay VK2BZ Barry. (Westlakes) VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ VKC Roundup http://www.police The Yarra Valley Amateur Radio Group conducts weekly technical training broadcasts on Thursdays at 14::00 hours local time on the clubs repeater VK3RYV which you can find by tuning to 146.725 MHz. On occasions the broadcast is also repeated after the club 80m net on a Thursday evening 20.30 EADST dependant upon band noise and QRM Listener reports are always welcome and may be sent to Yarra Valley Amateur Radio Broadcast group via email to broadcast@yarravalley.ar.org.au Radio Amateurs in the Macedon Ranges area of Victoria, are being called to form a new Amateur radio club. The Macedon & District Amateur Radio club is almost up and going, and it has been decided that several informal meetings will be held at different radio amateurs homes over the next few months, and if all goes to plan, the club will form. At this stage more than enough interest to start and a suitable long term venue is being sought. Each interim meeting will have a guest speaker with a topic to suit all radio amateurs and foundation licensees will be most welcome. It is envisaged the first meeting will be in late November, so if your interested in going along to meetings and helping to build this dynamic club give Peter, VK3TQ a call on 0434 623 423 or you can email him vk3tq@wia.org.au Those who have already contacted Peter need not reply Mark this on your calendar now! The major radio event in Victoria returns to the Kyneton Racecourse, only an hour from Melbourne, Ballarat and Bendigo, on Sunday the 14th of February. The Centre Victoria RadioFest No. 3 will build of the major success of its predecessor events held in 2007 and 2008 that they're still talking about. The major commercial traders have signed up giving it their strong endorsement. Bookings are now open for second-hand sales spaces - tables or car boots. A warm invitation is extended to all clubs and groups to be part of the popular Club Corner. A program of interesting activities will be announced in coming months, making it another not to miss event. For more information visit the website www.radiofest.amateurradio.com.au See you at the Centre Victoria RadioFest on the 14th of February. I'm Bruce Lees VK3FFF and you're listening to VK1WIA. VK7 local area news :- http://reast.asn.au/news.php vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Sorell Men's Shed - Tasmania Day Celebration Today, Sunday November 8 is Tasmania Day and the Sorell Men's Shed are hosting a focus on Science Tasmania Day Celebration Open Day and there will be many things happening at the shed throughout the day. Started 9am. Wood working, metal bending and welding demonstrations. Science demonstrations by VK7MO, 7TW and 7MJ to name a few. The VK7SMS station will be on the air. Old farm Machinery and Pre - loved items Check out the website on the email and internet editions of this Wireless Institute of Australia broadcast for more details as they come to hand. www.sorellmensshed.org (Ken VK7DY, SMS Coordinator) ACMA NEWS The Australian Communications and Media Authority has released a discussion paper proposing the release of spectrum in the 5.9 GHz band to permit the introduction of intelligent transport systems (ITS) for road users in Australia. The ACMA is proposing that spectrum would be allocated on a shared basis with incumbent services. ‘Intelligent transport systems offer the potential for significant benefits to the Australian community as a whole,’ said Chris Cheah, Acting Chair of the ACMA. ITS technologies use dedicated short range communications (DSRC) to transfer real-time information over short distances between in-vehicle mobile radio units and roadside units, and can be used for a wide range of applications. ‘The deployment of ITS could reduce road crashes, including those that result in fatalities. It could also decrease congestion, which would result not only in savings arising from time lost to delay and vehicle operating costs; but reduce costs associated with air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,’ said Mr Cheah. ACMA hopes that the release of a discussion paper will enable informed debate among stakeholders. (Media contact: Donald Robertson, Media Manager). EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO www.hamcollege.com.au STANDARD LICENSE & REGS COURSE & EXAM IN NORTHERN NSW. Proposed dates for the next Standard License Course are - 27-28 Feb - Theory weekend. 6- 7 March - Theory & Exam. 13-14 March - Regs & Exam. Contact Duncan VK2DLR 02 66281337 ARK's Academy candidate peter VK3FGNM realized a lifelong ambition when he passed his regulations examination and completed the qualifications for his Standard license, Peter has been interested in Amateur Radio since he was a boy building crystal sets and other electronic kits and now having just qualified for the aged pension is looking forward to getting onto the HF bands with his upgraded license , Peter has requested the callsign of VK3PJS, well done Peter. ARISSat-1 is a small satellite which will be launched from the International Space Station next year. Gaston Bertels, ON4WF the ARISS Chairman has said that the ARISSat-1 Team wishes to include a memory stick of files prepared by students on board the satellite. Catch is he needs it by NEXT Sunday, November 15th. This could be a jpg or pdf of things a student has prepared such as a paper or a study done on a science, technology, engineering or math topic, a drawing of a space craft or a schematic, a photo of a class doing a hands-on activity -- that type of thing. Having the student's work be a part of ARISSat means the student is a part of the satellite project and along for the spacewalk and deployment of ARISSat-1. Please send files to aa4kn@amsat.org cc to: gaston.bertels@skynet.be A real eye-opener for the IT industry An interesting article in Computerworld is certain to get some in the field of Information Technology thinking seriously about amateur radio. The headline is ‘Want to bone up on wireless tech? Try ham radio’. The article centres on John Hays K7VE, an IT Manager in Washington who devotes most of his spare time to help develop a communications system designed to integrate portable two-way radios with the global telephone network. He hopes to create a failure-proof voice communications infrastructure that can immediately connect first responders with the outside world, even when their own mobile cell phones are put out of service during an emergency. The article points out that being a radio amateur he has access to abundant spectrum resources in which to engage his passion for research and wireless experimentation. John K7VE attributes his ability to engage in such research would not be possible without being part of the amateur radio community. The article quotes him saying: ‘For IT professionals, ham radio can foster skills that are translatable into real-world wireless and wired networking applications.’ His hobby and profession have long been linked. With ham radio experimentation in the 1970s and 80s involving TCP/IP over the AX.25 protocol gave him an understanding of networking protocols and the use of wireless applications. The American Radio Relay League Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP was invited to comment and he did so in fine style. The article even includes information about ham licensing and a few sample theory test questions. If you know someone working in the IT industry who is not a radio amateur – then please send them a copy of the Computerworld article and give them all the support and encouragement to become a member of the amateur radio community. (Computerworld: http://tinyurl.com/ComputerWorldHamRadio) I’m Jim Linton VK3PC and you’re listening to VK1WIA. INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA. FCC experts visiting New Zealand to present seminar on spectrum allocation methods and auctions. The NZ Ministry of Economic Development welcomes William Sharkey and Mark Bykowsky, Senior Economists at the Office of Strategic Planning of the Federal Communications Commission, USA, as they present a seminar on Current Research in Spectrum Allocation Issues and Auctions. This will be one of the activities to be carried out in November 2009 during their visit to New Zealand as part of a research initiative led by Fernando Beltran, Information Systems and Operations Management Department, University of Auckland Business School. The purpose of this event is to share knowledge amongst participants about emerging research and best-practice for spectrum regulation of different uses. (MED release) Thailand's 7MHz expansion gets the go-ahead. HS0ZDJ reports NTC, the National Telecommunications Council, has approved the R.A.S.T. request for the expansion of the 7-MHz for amateur radio on a primary basis in Thailand from 7.0-7.1 to 7.0-7.2 MHz. This became effective Friday November 6th, 2009. (sourced to southgate) THE BPL WAR: A BIG WIN IN SWEDEN Telecommunications regulators in Sweden have withdrawn certain Broadband over Powerline or Powerline Transmission Internet access equipment from the public marketplace. A recent C-E-P-T Electronic Communications Committee report notes that the Swedish regulator ordered the sale of such gear to cease because some BPL gear pollutes the radio spectrum. Mention of the Swedish action in withdrawing the equipment appears in the Report from the Working Group Spectrum Engineering Bordeaux, 07 11 September 2009. It gives the reasons behind the decision to impose these latest anti RF interference standards on BPL service in that nation. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the newsroom in Los Angeles. You can read the report in its entirety at www.ero.dk/37D6714E-27DF-42D7-AF4B-D790B0083183?frames=no& KB2GSD PERSONAL PAPERS GO TO HIS COLLEGE The estate of the late Water Cronkite, KB2GSD, has made public. The retired CBS newsman has bequeathed his college alma mater what amounts to a treasure trove of papers and memorabilia chronicling his career. Cronklite dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1935 as a junior. Instead, he decided to pursue a career in the news business but the broadcasting legend never abandoned his Texas-based educational roots. According to his last will and testament now on file at Manhattan Surrogate’s Court, KB2GSD bequeathed his personal papers to the university. This is really a process that actually started before his death on July 17 but will now end with the release of materials he had held onto at his office and homes in Manhattan and on Martha’s Vineyard. After becoming a television anchor, Cronkite returned often to campus as a lecturer and lent his announcing skills to the university as the narrator of ads that are still used at athletic events and to promote Longhorn accomplishments. OLD LOGS NEEDED TO STUDY THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY Researchers at the University of Wisconsin and Miami University of Ohio are seeking copies of amateur station logs from 1913 through 1927. This, in hopes they may offer insights into the relationship between individuals' work and leisure activities, technology, and their social networks of the era. Phil Kim is an Assistant Professor at the Wisconsin School of Business. He notes that diaries, letters, QSL cards and station logs can contain valuable insights into the link between an individual's occupation, hobbies and friends. Kim notes that early in amateur radio history, thousands of ham radio enthusiasts were licensed by the government to comply with the Radio Act of 1912. At that time and due to newly enacted rules, that those early hams began to more carefully document the new communications era. In an effort to uncover new information about approaches to work and leisure time and the development of social networks, Kim and other researchers are comparing early ham licensing records from the Department of Commerce with detailed information in amateur operators' station logs. If you happen to have an old ham station log from that period that you would like to see included in the study, please contact Steve Johnston, WD8DAS, via e-mail to johnson at wpr dot net OPERATIONAL NEWS - ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2009 NOV 1 ZL STRAIGHT KEY NIGHT NOV 28 - 29 VK SPRING VHF-UHF FIELD DAY NOV 28 - 29 CQ WORLD WIDE CW SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2010 PACC contest 2010 the 2nd full weekend in February. http://pacc.veron.nl Any Questions, email: contestmanager@dutchpacc.com (PACC contest management team) March 21-22 John Moyle Field Day The Swedish Amateur Radio Society has announced the Marconi Nobel 100 Award. European stations outside Sweden must work, or Short Wave Listeners must hear, ten different SI stations between 9 November and 10 December 2009. SM stations may use the prefix SI and there will be several anniversary calls on the air, SI0GM to SI7GM. Each station counts once per band. The fee for the award is 5 euro or 5 US dollars. Full details can be found on the internet at www.awardmanager.se click on the Union Jack flag. (rsgb) RD RESULTS Following several enquires Peter, VK4OD, the RD Contest Manager has placed all of the results from this years contest on wia.org.au Select the members Area Select Contests Select The Remembrance Day page scroll halfway down and you will find the complete listings by category order. For WIA National News I’m Mellisa Bullock VK4FMEL 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 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 Vancouver Olympics Amateur Radio Group celebrate Olympic Winter Games and Paralympics, British Columbia in February/March 2010. VG7V: Oct 1,2009, until Nov 30, 2009, VG7W: Dec 1,2009, until Jan 31, 2010, VG7G: Feb 1,2010, until Mar 31, 2010. KL7JR reports that plans are underway for the activation of Jacquot Island before and during ARRL's December 11th to the 13th Ten Meter Contest. Listen out for VY1RST to concentrate on 10 meters for the contest and 14.260 for non-contest activities. QSL via KL7JR at his Callbook address. A team of operators will be on the air from Arturo Prat-Greenwich Island in the South Shetland archipelago between January 10th to the 24th of 2010. Their callsign will be XR9JA. Activity will be on 160-6 meters using CW, SSB,PSK31 and AO-51 satellite. QSL via CE5JA. ZS10WCS - all through November, members of the North West Amateur Radio Club in South Africa are operating the 2010 World Cup Soccer special event station. zs10wcs will be on the air over weekends as propagation conditions allow. CT1DRB, is active as T6AG from Afghanistan for the next 6 months CW only. QSL via EA3GHZ direct. N1EMC and N1IW and will be active as T30KI and T30IW, respectively from Western Kiribati between November 10th and the 16th. Activity on HF plus 6 meters as conditions permit using SSB and CW. QSL via N1EMC. (Above from arnewsline and various sources) BROADCAST MONITORING SWL AND SCANNER NEWS aus_scanner@yahoogroups.com http://www.scanaustralia.bigpondhosting.com www.scanvictoria.com www.tinyurl.com/BITS-026 (A receiver located in NY USA) SOUTH AFRICAN AMATEUR RADIO MIRROR FREQUENCY CHANGE The 16 metre band frequency for the Sunday morning transmission of Amateur Radio Mirror International has changed to 17 860 kHz. Reception re-ports are invited. For all UTC times e-mail armi@sarl.org.za First issue of Monitoring Matters The initial test issue of the new Monitoring-Matters E-zine is now available. It contains news, views and features but this issue is only a taste of what is to come in the future. Read this initial test issue of Monitoring-Matters at monitoring-matters.com INTRUDER WATCH - ENFORCEMENT ZONE Region III IARUMS Coordinator Peter Young VK3MV VK IARUMS reflector email to subscribe intruders@wia.org.au VK Coordinators for I.A.R.U.M.S. ? IARUMS NETS Friday 0730 UTC 7.065.5 with VK4CEU David. Amateur exclusive frequencies where any non-amateur signal is definitely an intruder. Amateur HF Spectrum world wide 7.050 to 7.100 14.000 to 14.250 14.250 to 14.350 No broadcasters 21.000 to 21.450 24.890 to 24.990 28.000 to 29.700 ENFORCEMENT ZONE - WITH A DIFFERENCE. ON-STAR USES RADIO TO END PURSUIT For the first time since it was created, the On-Star highway safety system pioneered by General Motors has been used to bring an end to a high speed pursuit. Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, has the details: It all took place when the victim identified as Jose Ruiz, of California, was sitting in his Tahoe in a lighted parking lot about 3 a.m. This, while his cousin was talking on a cell phone in the passenger seat. Out of the corner of his eye, Ruiz says that he saw a man walking toward him. The man allegedly pointed a sawn-off shotgun at Ruiz and ordered both men to get out of the Tahoe and empty their pockets. Ruiz's cousin at first refused, but Ruiz told him to obey, knowing that OnStar could find the stolen truck with the built-in global positioning system. The cousin relented and the man sped off in the truck. Ruiz then ran toward a nearby pay telephone to call police. As luck would have it he spotted a sheriff's deputy on her break who in turn notified the Visalia police. Officers quickly contacted OnStar and got Ruiz's permission to find the vehicle. Police spotted it a few miles away. As officers made a U-turn to pursue it, the Tahoe sped off at a high speed. At about the same time, police dispatchers told the pursuing officers that OnStar was about to disable the stolen vehicle by radio command. It did, the Tahoe rolled to a halt, and the robber was quickly captured without any injuries except maybe to the alleged robbers pride. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The bottom line. Technology may soon make it very unattractive to try to steal a car if the thief knows that there is a 1 in 2 chance that he will be caught by radio remote control. UNLICENSED UK BROADCASTER GETS BANNED FROM ROOFTOPS The British may have stumbled on a unique solution to keep pirate broadcasters off the air. Don't let them have outdoor antennas. Don Carlson, KQ6FM, of ARNewsLine says an unlicensed broadcaster has been banned from every roof top in London, England. This, after he pleaded guilty to installing pirate radio equipment on a tower in the city. According to a report on UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom website, Kieran O’Sullivan received the anti-social behaviour order following a successful prosecution by the regulatory agency. He also received an 18 week custodial sentence suspended for 12 months, a three month curfew, a £1,200 fine, and had his radio equipment seized. Ofcom worked with Camden Council and police to secure the prosecution following complaints from residents about Freeze FM operating from estates in Hampstead. Neighbours had complained about pirate radio operators using roof tops to install equipment, which caused a nuisance to residents and damaged property. Also in OFCOM news Late in the evening on 15th October, a team of enforcement officers from Ofcom, assisted by Humberside Police, apprehended an individual in the Hull region on suspicion of illegally transmitting on the region's amateur radio bands. Equipment was seized during the operation and Ofcom is continuing its investigations. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ARDF WIA ARDF COORDINATOR VK3WWW Jack vk3www@alphalink.com.au http://users.mackay.net.au/~ron/ http://www.homingin.com http://www.ardf.org.au Croatian Amateur Radio Association (HRS) gladly invites you to participate at the 15th World ARDF Championships that will take place in Croatia, Opatija, from 13th till 18th September 2010. More information about this event please find in the Bulletin No. 0. We hope that ARDF competitors from all over the world will enjoy in a beautiful landscapes of Croatia - from Opatija, which is situated at the Adriatic Coast to the green forests of Gorski Kotar region. The 15th World ARDF Championships Website : www.ardf2010.com (73, Championships Organizing Committee) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER SUMBANDILLASAT DESIGNATED AS SO-67 Amateur Radio Newsline say the recently launched South African SumbandilaSat has now been designated as SO-67. AMSAT's OSCAR Number Coordinator Bill Tynan, W3XO, made the designation shortly after receiving an e-mail from the secretary South Africa AMSAT requesting that an OSCAR number be allocated to their new ham radio bird. As previously reported, the amateur radio payload on SumbandilaSat was developed by South Africa AMSAT and incorporated by the University of Stellenbosch into the main payload. The ham radio payload was officially coordinated through the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel with an uplink of 145.880 MHz and a downlink of 435.350 MHz. F-M transponder on SumbandilaSat activates up on 145.875 MHz and down 435.345 CTCSS tone of 233.6 Hz is needed to access this F-M repeater in the sky. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- INTERNET --- THE HAMS DOMAIN TRANSPARENT CLOCKS FOR PC DESKTOP. Having a need to watch 4 time zones? This FREE clock has no borders, background, junk or ads etc and can be moved anywhere on screen, is editable, flexible and adjustable. Google DS Clock 2.3 or Topmost Clock both are said to be fully editable. (Summerland News) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- MILITARY GB0AD - Armistice Day The callsign GB0AD is to commemorate Armistice Day on November 11th 2009. Aberdare & District Amateur Radio Society will be on air from Aberdare, Wales (IOTA EU-005, WLOTA LH 0453), with the callsign on November 6th, Saturday 7th, Sunday 8th (Remembrance Sunday) and Thursday November 11th on most bands bands dependent on conditions. QSL manager is 2W0XTP either direct or via the RSGB bureau KØV - Veterans Day Special Event Station Special event station KØV will be on-the-air on Saturday November 7 UTC and on Veterans Day Wednesday November 11. The Emporia Amateur Radio Society will be operating the KØV station from a site adjacent to the Emporia All Veterans Memorial in Kansas. 14.268, 7.262 and 3.920, +/- 20 KHz. A special QSL card will be available. qsl.net/emporiaars/Veterans%20Day%20Special%20Event%20Station.html (SOUTHGATE) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- OPTICS Australian Optical DX Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Optical_DX/ 288km NLOS Optical Record Set Bass Strait crossed with Light off Clouds On the night of October 27th 2009, Rex VK7MO and Joe VK7JG assisted by Paul VK7KPG set a new one way NLOS Optical record of 288km across Bass Strait using red (624nm - 474THz) light scattered of the clouds. Rex was on Mt Liptrap (~150m) in South Gippsland in VK3 using his APDbased receiver of KA7EOI design and Joe & Paul were on Mt Horror (~660m) in NE VK7 using a 60 x 3watt Luxeon LED transmitter. To make the contact possible they were using the new Weak Signal Communicator (WSC) front end for the Spectrum Lab audio analysing application that has been recently created by David VK3HZ. David has described this mode as follows: The concept behind WSC is simple. The two callsigns are split into 4 groups of three characters and each group is sent in sequence. The actual transmission is a tone with frequency determined by the encoding of the group of letters. At the other end, the tone frequency is determined and the group of letters decoded. Signal reports can also be uniquely encoded and exchanged. The -44dB (on WSJT scale) capability comes from the narrow bandwidth used for the transmission, efficient coding and the time taken to send the information. The unique tones are separated by approx 3.8milliHz and it takes 20 minutes to send a complete pair of callsigns. WSC uses Spectrum Lab (SL) as the signal processing engine. SL has a signal generator that is used for Tx. It also has an FFT function for RX that can be very long - I think we're treading on the edge of it. The whole concept requires very high frequency accuracy and stability to the extent that Rex needed to GPS-lock the audio cards at both ends. Timing is much less critical given the length of an "over". The mode is well suited to the optical comms which is baseband and so has no external influences on frequency (Doppler etc.) However, how it performs over an RF link is yet to be tested. We're hoping to try some VLF experiments soon to test it out. Callsigns were decoded using the WSC application and signals were improving. Rex and Joe then raised the elevation of the TX and Rx up to approximately 3 degrees each end and signal further improved which indicated the presence of high cirrus cloud (~20,000ft) and WSJT was tried with sync being received at -30dB but unfortunately no decodes. A full report will be posted to the REAST website Optical pages in the near future. http://reast.asn.au/optical.php Congratulations to Rex Joe, Paul and David. (Justin, VK7TW) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- POLICE http://www.iparc.nl The annual contest of the International Police Association Radio Club is taking place over this weekend, 7th and 8th November, UTC. CW is on 7th November from 06.00 to 10.00 UTC and 14.00 to 18.00 UTC. SSB is 8th November also from 06.00 to 10.00 and 14.00 to 18.00 UTC. More details from www.iparc.de SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ROAR ROTARIANS OF AMATEUR RADIO bill.learmonth@lineone.net rotmem@yahoogroups.com nmclaren3@juno.com VK2IWT Secretary VK3DLS Is Mr December ! TARCadian David VK3DLS residing in Bairnsdale VIC has a photo he took in the North Queensland town of Thuringowa Central's Rotoract 2010 Calendar ! David was amongst a number of people whose photographs of Townsville are appearing in the charity calendar which was launched at the Townsville City Council chambers by Mayor Les Tyrell. The calendar is a result of a photo competition and forms the main vehicle for Thuringowa Central Rotoract fund raising for local children’s charities. Recipients of funds from sale of these calendars will be Angel Flight and St Vinnies Youth. Calendars are available for purchase at the Strand Night Markets, Willows Markets, Cotters Markets and Navcom Electronics and cost $5 . WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- SOTA www.sota.org.uk John Linford g3wgv@aol.com NORTH AMERICAN SUMMITS ON THE AIR This North American Summits on the Air or SOTA activation day is Saturday, November 14th. To celebrate, the four North American Summits on the Air associations are planning a multi-hilltop activation spanning the North American continent. Portable, mountain top stations will be operating from the VE2, W1, W2, and W6 call areas. The operators will be using the extensive spotting and alerting system devised by the SOTA organization. To join in the fun, visit sota.org.uk (ARNewsLine) THE LOWDOWN COLUMN INCLUDING PRECISION BEACON TRANSMISSIONS BEACONS www.qsl.net/zl1bpu/micro/Precision Finbar EI0CF has QSO with Joe, VX9MRC. A 500khz First! Joe was on 507.77 kHz and Finbar was on 507.056 kHz. The antenna at EI0CF was a 70 foot vertical with 6 X 50 foot top loading wires. Respective reports were, EI0CF heard in Canada at 559 and VX9MRC heard at 529. The mode was CW, using straight morse keys. This is the first MF/MF Irish / Canadian contact on the 500 kHz band. The QSO started at 2235z and ended at 2244z. Finbar was the marine operator at Malin Head Marine Station who 'signed off' 500KHz when Ireland ended keeping a listening watch. (IRTS) SOCIAL SCENE 2009 International Telecommunication Union's Telecom World 2009. NOV 15 VK4 QUEENSLAND CLUBS "PRESIDENTS LUNCH" GEEBUNG RSL NOV 29 VK2 Final Trash & Treasure at VK2WI for the year. 2010 JAN 4 - 14 VK2 FGARC will be providing the Amateur Radio Activity at Cataract Scout Park, sth of Sydney to contact Scouts around Aust/Overseas on various frequencies as conditions permit between 80M and 70cm, plus Karl's trailered IRLP node 6111. Day sessions 0900-1200 & 1400-1700 for Scouts & night session for Licensed Scout Operators from 2000-2200. Enq: Pres. Wal Kelly vk2zwk@wia.org.au or tel 02 4626 8423 JAN 24 VK2 Mid North Coast Amateur Radio Group's Radio Expo 2010 8.30am St Johns Church Hall, Mc Lean Street Coffs Harbour. JAN 30 VK4 Bunya Mts & Dist AmCom host "HAM AND WINE FEST 2010" at Maclagan. 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. JULY 17 VK3 GGREC Hamfest Start Time : 10:00 Oct 29 - 31 VK1OOWIA Westlakes ARC during our WIA centenary celebrations. NOV 7 VK5 2010 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest Rosa St Goodwood 2012 15TH IARU REGION 3 CONFERENCE hosted by V.A.R.C. in Ho-Chi-Minh City, Vietnam. 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) 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. /ex