------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WIANEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING NOV 22 2009. Brought to you by members of North West Tasmania Amateur Television Group from the studios of VK7AX. It will be a hard act to follow the professional production presented by our news readers last week, however we will do our best. Presenting the broadcast will be:- Susan VK7LUV on Education and advancement of Amateur Radio. Jim VK7JH with Intruder Watch and Enforcement Zone. Ron VK7RN with World Wide Special Interest Groups and Rewind. Ivan VK7XL with Operational News. Neil VK7ZNX Talking about our Hams across Australia. Daniel VK7FDWB brings us up to speed with International News. ALL UP AND COMING IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING NOV 22 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABU digital radio delegation visit Sydney and VK1WIA in DAB+ Twenty radio delegates from eight different countries visited Sydney this week as part of an Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union digital radio delegation. The delegation was hosted by Commercial Radio Australia in collaboration with the ABU Technical Department and included representatives from MRTBN - Mongolia, RTHK - Hong Kong, RTB - Brunei, VOV - Vietnam, TBS - Japan, LRN - Laos, RTM & IPPTAR - Malaysia and Mediacorp – Singapore. The ABU delegation is made up of senior executives in engineering, programming and management eager to understand how Australia made the transition to digital radio and follows visits in the past couple of months from Korean and Indonesian radio broadcasters. Joan Warner chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia said Australia’s successful DAB+ has created a great deal of interest internationally. Creating interest in Australia last week on the DAB+ platform in Brisbane was the highly successful transmission of the WIA national news and QNEWS. This was the edition read by current and past Radio Announcers, sort of "taking back the streets". Radio (or the wireless) as we know it today DID evolve from radio amateurs so last weeks news formed the centre piece of a special broadcast on TAB+ a digital channel in Brisbane. Featuring the news of course but also heaps and heaps of music with a radio/communication theme. ABBAS SOS... VK1WIA gave both CQ Serenade and CQ Boogie a play, there was Slim Dusty dot com and "Grand-dad was a telegraphist, the tracks from "The Ham Band" (Google that one it's well worth a surf".. and what radio show would be worth it's salt without COMMERCIALS! Yes plenty of plugs on how to become a ham and the WIA-BOOK SHOP. Following on from that success it is planned to do it again in 2010 for our Centenary using VK100WIA if you are in Brisbane, look for TAB+ or if (shame shame) you have yet to purchase a digital radio visit your local electronics store and ask them about Digital Radio! Click on the link on the WIA front page so see and hear a couple of video clips of the transmission. VK JAMBOREE The 22nd Australian Jamboree is the biggest event on the Australian Scouting calendar. With more WIA JOTA co-ordinator Bob Bristow VK6POP "Over 12,000 Scouts and Leaders from all around Australia and other countries will converge on Cataract Scout Park in January 2010 to take part in a 2 week long camp. The theme of the Jamboree is “Test Your Limits”, and Scouts will enjoy a wide variety of activities on and off site that will indeed test their limits. Amateur Radio has been part of Scout Jamborees for more than 50 years, and this Jamboree will be no different, with activities based around the purpose built radio shack onsite. The Amateur Radio activity at the Jamboree is being provided by the Fisher’s Ghost Amateur Radio Club. Wal VK2ZWK tells me that they are providing several operating positions in the shack, as well as activities and passive displays around the shack. The HF stations will operate around the JOTA frequencies. There will also be an IRLP node, number 6111, and APRS onsite. The FGARC has secured the magnificent callsign “VI 2 AJ 2010” for the duration of the event. QSLs via the bureau. As always, extra help would be appreciated. If you are able to help out either before the Jamboree, or during the Jamboree as a day worker, your assistance would be welcome. Anyone working during the Jamboree must be able to comply with the NSW working with children requirements, and prior registration is required. If you don’t know how to contact FGARC, contact vk6pop@wia.org.au and I’ll pass your enquiry on to Wal VK2ZWK. WIA PRESIDENT MICHAEL OWEN VK3KI Today, 2 news items. The Australian of the Year Awards is a program of the National Australia Day Council, with state and territory selection committees selecting four finalists in each category, including the Senior Australian of the Year. The awards recognise the individual’s contribution to their community. The South Australian Committee selected an amateur, Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI as one of the four South Australia finalists in the senior category for his work as one of the 9 approved Satellite Earth Stations for the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program and as Australian ARISS Coordinator organising the link ups for schools to contact the amateurs on the International Space Station, stimulating the interest of young people in science and technology. The national finalists were announced and the state finalists were presented at an impressive ceremony on the 11th November at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide in the presence of the Governor of South Australia and the Deputy Premier of South Australia. While Maggie Beer of television fame went on as a national finalist the recognition of the contribution of amateur radio and of Tony to the community has delighted the WIA Board. The WIA Board has accepted with regret the resignation of Robert Broomhead VK3KRB/VK3DN as Director of the WIA with effect from 31 December 2009. Robert, who has served as Director of the WIA since 8 November 2004, advised the Board that he wished to resign after a 5 year commitment. Robert has made a great contribution to the WIA, being responsible for the “corporate look” that has been adopted by the WIA, the IT side of our activities and is responsible for the incredibly successful Annual Meeting weekends that have become such a feature of the WIA. We are grateful that he will continue to assist the Centenary Committee, and, of course, we have accepted his offer to continue as Webmaster for the WIA website. The Directors cannot adequately express their gratitude for all that Robert has done. It falls to the WIA Board to appoint a Director for the balance of Robert’s term, which ends at the AGM in 2011 and we are giving consideration to this. HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. VK1 vk1 local news email broadcast@vk1.wia.ampr.org and ask for subscription. RD Contest: Congratulations go to the team of operators who fired up the OLD C.R.A.R.C shack at Farrer for the last time during the RD Contest. They put up a Stirling effort resulting in a 3rd Place in the “HF Multi Op Phone” section... Canberra-ITES are wondering if the NEW shack will result in a First next year. RD CONTEST MANAGER PETER WILL JOIN US TO MAKE THE NEW FIRST PLACE OVERALL ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE FIRST BCAST OF DECEMBER, STAY TUNED YOU MAY BE SUPRISED! VK2 web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news Pencils at the ready, mark your calendars with 2 dates, December 19 and November 29 November 29 is the Final Trash & Treasure at VK2WI for the year and December 19? This is the Westlakes clubs Chrissie BBQ and get together. This is a family day and a Krazy Kricket match is being organised by Geoff VK2GL. VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ VKC Roundup http://www.police The Centre Victoria RadioFest No. 3 will be held in just 80 days Interest is mounting about the biggest amateur radio event in Victoria. Major commercial traders have secured their Traders Hall bookings. Second-hand sellers also taking up trestle table or car-boot spaces. Eager to be part of the Club Corner precinct are the centenary celebrating Wireless Institute of Australia, CW Operators' QRP Club, the Historical Radio Society of Australia and Royal Australian Signals Museum. Other clubs and groups expected to take advantage of this excellent promotional display and membership recruitment opportunity. The Mini-lecture program has a mystery presenter about the end of Amateur Radio, how it does not have a future because of the internet, email, mobile phone, Skype and social media. On the same program, to provide a bit of balance, will be details of how a combined primary and secondary school is doing its bit to keep amateur alive. Check out the website www.radiofest.amateurradio.com.au It all sounds very interesting indeed. See you at the Centre Victoria RadioFest on Sunday the 14th of February, at the Kyneton racecourse just an hour from Melbourne, Ballarat and Bendigo. I'm Bruce Lees VK3FFF and you're listening to VK1WIA. VK4 web service local news:- www.wiaq.com/qnews/upload/qnewsbcast.htm local news email qnews-vk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com VKR Roundup http://www.police.qld.gov.au/News+and+Alerts/Media+Releases/ We heard Tony VK7AX make mention of last weeks WIA National News Broadcast in DAB+ , this just in from Geoff VK4ZPP of Gootchie. "Congratulations to all those who responded to Graham, VK4Baker Baker's call for members of the broadcast industry to get behind the WIA National News microphone. Further congratulations to Graham for organising what is probably a first, certainly for the Brisbane, VK4 area, the rebroadcast of the whole news on the 4TAB DAB+ channel. The delegates to the President's Lunch with whom I have had a chance to talk were impressed with the enthusiasm of the event. The participation of delegates in the discussions were built upon by being able to individually raise issues of interest with the speakers. Not only that, the represented Clubs were given copies of the new promotional posters and the centenary pin was available for purchase. VK5 www.qsl.net/vk5bar/ The VK5TTY Packet BBS will scheduled to be decommissioned for operation on the 1st December 2009. Due to changes and closures to the Adelaide Local Area Network (LAN) by SAPUG, VK5TTY will no longer be able to properly fulfil it's function in the South Australian Packet Network. As a result, the club has decided to shutdown VK5TTY packet BBS. It is a shame that the second longest serving Packet BBS's in Adelaide will no longer be operational, however, due to the decline in use and lack of interest in packet radio, they found it necessary for this decision. This does not mean VK5TTY will be lost forever. The club has decided to convert the BBS over to an APRS Igate and Digipeater, meaning digital communications will still be operational from the site. The club would like to thank all the users for their continued support and patronage over the 20 years of operation. It was a great ride while it lasted and it's hoped that the BBS was a valuable service for the years it was operational Best wishes and many thanks via WIA National News from all the SysOp's that have ever operated VK5TTY INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA. INDONESIA TO LAUNCH RESCUE RADIO HAMSAT The Bernama dot com on line newspaper reports that the Indonesian Amateur Radio Organization called Orari and the Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautic and Space plan to launch the ham radio bird next year. According to the website, the new ham radio bird will be used to expand that nations ham radio communication network to remote districts. It went on to note that the satellite will play a major role in linking land, sea and air communication for rescue radio operations. The article also noted that ham radio operators from Orari had become the alternative communication tool. This, during disasters like the tsunami in Aceh and the recent earthquake in Padang. EUROPE HAS NEW PC FOR THE ELDERLY A new desktop PC aimed at people aged over 60 who are unfamiliar with Personal Computers and the internet has been unveiled in the United Kingdom. Called Simplicity, the simplified desktop has only six buttons directing users to basic tasks such as e-mail and chat. The Simplicity computer has no log-in screen when it starts up, contains no drop-down menus and comes pre-loaded with 17 video tutorials. The operating system is a version of Linux that can be customized by users. So far the SimplicITy computer system is only available in the Europe. According to the BBC story introducing it, more than 6 million people in the UK over the age of 65 have never used the internet, according to British government figures. If you're an American ham, chances are that your call sign was issued by the Federal Communications Commission. A "no brainer," right? Well if you're an American ham who happens to be stationed at Guantanamo Bay or at one of the US bases in the Antarctic, your call sign is not issued by the FCC -- it's issued by the base commander. Guantanamo Bay uses the KG4 prefix, this block is reserved exclusively for American hams at "Gitmo". As for Antarctica, the Antarctic Treaty signed in 1959 established the legal framework for the management of Antarctica, including allocation of amateur call signs. The National Science Foundation received their block on July 1, 1959. US military hams in Japan and Korea are also issued special call signs: OPERATIONAL NEWS - ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2009 NOV 28 - 29 VK SPRING VHF-UHF FIELD DAY NOV 28 - 29 CQ WORLD WIDE CW Westlakes Contest Coordinator Allan VK2JED has announced the winners from this years Westlakes Cup where logs submitted made this the best return to date. Topping the count in the advanced class was VK4ZD. While the Foundation class was won by VK2FSBB. Congratulations to the winners as well as those who took part Trophies have been sent and certificates are being prepared Last month, after a gruelling selection process, the organizers of the 2010 World Radiosport Team Championships (WRTC) selected the 44 team leaders who will compete in the event next year. These 44 team leaders, representing all six continents, have each chosen a partner. The rules state that while the leader's partner may be from a different call sign area, they must be from the same country as the leader. WRTC, held every few years, takes place during the 2010 IARU HF World Championships, July 10-11 and will be held just outside Moscow. Two Radio Amateurs from the Canary Islands will represent Africa at the WRTC, team leader is well know DXer Juan Hidalgo from Las Palmas. In 2006, at the event held in Brazil, Bernie van der Walt, ZS4TX, represented Africa. His team-mate was N2IC. They were placed 26th. EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO www.hamcollege.com.au ARKS The date for the next ARK's Academy foundation course is Sat Feb 20 and Sunday Feb 21 2010, this course will be conducted at Nunnawading. Please contact vk3ark@wia.org.au to register. JOHN vk3ark asks "please note the date of this course has been changed so as not to clash with the Healsville Hamfest". Registrations are also open for the Regulations Course which will be held over the weekend Sat 27th March and Sunday 28th March and for the Standard / Advanced Upgrade course over five Sundays April 25th May 2nd may 9th May 16th With Exams May 23rd ARK's Academy would also like to hear from any club or group of Amateurs who would like assistance with running education and training , and of course we are always looking for people willing to give of their time to assist new people into our hobby and to help those who wish to upgrade their licenses " (John Fisher VK3DQ / VK3ARK) Reg VK7KK, the REAST Learning Organiser lets us know about the next REAST Foundation training and assessment sessions. The Training Sessions will be held on Monday 30th November, and Tuesday the 1st December with the Assessment session on Monday the 7th December. All sessions will take place in the REAST Queen's Domain Clubrooms from 7pm to 10 pm. Some participants may feel that they do not need to participate in the training programme, they would then just need to attend the assessment evening. If there are candidates interested in Standard or Advanced assessments they should also enquire. Reg can be contacted on 0417 391 607 email: assessor@reat.asn.au (Reg VK7KK) 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 From Hong Kong Brett vr2bg has some disturbing news, it seems that here in VK La Trobe University has over-the-horizon radars in VK7 as well as ZL's Southland and they have been heard operating on the 20 & 30m amateur bands. VR2BG went on to say "They put 600 watts into each of 16 ten-element log period yagis & are used to observe the southern auroral circle. The Tasmanian radar has been operational since 1999 & the New Zealand one since 2005. NZART Monitoring System has reported hearing both the Australian & New Zealand radars in amateur bands, confirmed with the real time display of both, which is on the Internet. It is not known how long they have been operating in amateur service allocations contrary to licence conditions. Since that report was filed Brett has notified us that "the relevant authorities had been approached by NZART & WIA, the New Zealand radar has QSYed to 13500 kHz & has not been seen operating elsewhere since. The Australian radar continues to indicate & has been heard from ZL transmitting in the 30m amateur band. VK7YAD has Aurora BPL Papers Tabled in Parliament. The following story comes from Greg VK7YAD who states one clear issue with the conduct of Aurora and the commercial Broadband over Power Line Trial, and it seems most of the other BPL participants is actually getting into the formal record, exactly what it was they got up to. As a result of several years investigation and assessment, one aspect of the Aurora BPL project in Mt. Nelson has been documented and Tabled to the Parliament record. During the course of Parliament in Tasmania, Thursday 5th November, the set of complaint and evidence files raised under the Fair Trading Act, referred to the Department of Justice on 31st March, were tabled formally into the records of the House of Assembly by the Hon. Kim Booth MHA. Presently the Tabled Papers of such sessions, whilst available from the Parliament Library and accessible to the public are not currently available for on-line viewing, they will be eventually. Now entered into the history of the State is a blow by blow, statement after statement, measurement after measurement, memo after memo, record of what it was that Aurora and the "Regulator" got up to in the course of the Broadband over Power Line Mt. Nelson commercial trial from mid 2005 until late 2008. Regards, and enjoy the spectrum we have, others are not so lucky. Greg, VK7YAD. Ofcom - World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 issues The UK regulator Ofcom has published a consultation on the issues to be covered during the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12) Among the questions in the consultation is: Question 23: Should amateur radio be given an allocation in part of the band 415 – 526.5 kHz, and if so where? Interesting reading indeed and available on the OFCOM website. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- IOTA http://rsgbiota.org Amateurs wishing to claim IOTA credit for October 2009 contacts with C91VM, whilst activating IOTA references AF-061, AF-066 and AF-088, should be aware that, in response to the operator's current published QSL policy, these three operations will not be accepted for IOTA accreditation. Clarification is awaited from the operator that a policy change will be made immediately to the effect that payment of 5 US dollars is not obligatory and that cards sent direct with sufficient return postage will be answered direct in a timely fashion. A prompt amendment to the policy notice on QRZ.com is therefore required if accreditation is to be reconsidered. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RESCUE RADIO EMERGENCY FREQUENCIES IARU REGION 3 3.600, 7.110, 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz Global Simulated Emergency Test (GlobalSET) This was held last Saturday 14 Nov and although no WIA station was advised to us at least one VK4 ham from the Sunshine Coast region was one of more than 200 stations taking part. Here in VK it's said propagation was poor, but one station, maritime mobile of our coast proved a great "relay vessel". The first GlobalSET was held in November 2006 and its participation has steadily grown since, due in part to the rules and procedures being available in the Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish languages. GlobalSET provides an opportunity to demonstrate the provision of communications across national borders, test the emergency centre of activity frequencies, create practices for international emergency communications and the relaying of messages SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED If you were thinking of saying 'Thank you' to your XYL for letting you play radio, how better to do it than by taking her out to lunch. You can do this in the safe company of other amateurs all doing the same thing, or just plain celebrating, at the RIVERVIEW INN at Lower Sandy Bay on Saturday on the 12th. of December. VK7's WICEN South group have booked the Inn for sole use so you are assured of pleasant company. Harmonics are welcome, as are non-licensed radio enthusiasts. Any amateurs visiting are equally invited. RSVP to any WICEN South members, or Rod VK7TRF, on 0417 314 425 http://tas.wicen.org.au/ (Rod, VK7TRF) REWIND - A LOOK BACK IN HISTORY (Will McGhie VK6UU is WIA National Historian) Bernie McCosker VK2XBF says the Taylor Centenary Re-enactment Trust on December 5 are holding a "First Flight Re-enactment." "Taylors first flight in Australian aviation history." George Taylor was before his time. He started the Aviation industry, the first radio telegraphy station, the WIA, became the first pilot, ran a competition to construct our first military aircraft, and was a "good bloke all round". Commemorating his life with the centenary of his flight at Narrabeen on dec 5th at 9:59am. SOCIAL SCENE NOV 29 VK2 Final Trash & Treasure at VK2WI for the year. 2010 JAN 4 - 14 VK2 AUSTRALIAN SCOUT JAMBOREE Cataract Scout Park south of Sydney. 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. ***************************************************************************** - NEWS POSTING TO PACKET - Courtesy Tony VK7AX VK7AX(AT)VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC ***************************************************************************** /ex