WIANEWS - Jul 25 - VK NATIONAL NEWS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 http://www.wia.org.au (click news in member area) Submit your audio news Please.. If you are only submitting text and not audio, write your story as you would expect to hear it being read back and NEVER send just links & url's. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WIANEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING JULY 25 2010. ALL UP AND COMING IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JULY 25 2010 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- WIA Centenary Update Share the good news and add to the growing Centenary Media File Now here’s a plea to radio clubs and individual radio amateurs involved in getting media exposure for the Centenary of Organised Amateur Radio in Australia. Do please share your media hits with the wider amateur radio community to show what has and can be achieved. There are a few WIA affiliated clubs on the VK100WIA roster yet to file their media report. Doesn’t matter if it’s a mere column inch in a local newspaper, mention on a website, or a feature newspaper or magazine article, radio or even television. Reports on news media achievements are being posted on the WIA website under the section ‘VK100WIA Club & Media Feedback’. Thank you to the club’s that have put the special callsign VK100WIA on air. Please don't forget to file an activity report to the WIA Centenary Committee so it can be included in the Centenary Media File. And also a reminder that the WIA Media Kit is available on request from all WIA affiliated clubs – whether or not they are rostered to use VK100WIA. VK100WIA flooding the QSL Bureaux If you’re among the thousands who have made contact with the special callsign VK100WIA then you have qualified for its commemorative QSL card. It will look just great on display in your radio shack showing that you actively took part in this on air activity to celebrate the Centenary of Organised Amateur Radio in Australia. Being registered with the WIA membership service QSL Bureau will result in an automatically issued card reaching you soon. The WIA website advises that Bureaux operate in each state and the Northern Territory. Those radio amateurs wishing to receive their incoming cards usually make arrangements with those Bureaux. Another way to get the VK100WIA QSL card is by the direct QSLing method. Before doing so please check your contact details in the online VK100WIA log. Then send your QSL card or full QSL details with contact time and date in UTC, plus funds or a self-addressed-stamped envelope to the WIA National Offfice. And the VK100WIA callsign online log is now showing around 7,000 contacts having been made its first nine weeks of operation – so the QSL Bureaux will be awash with cards for the special callsign. First WIA Centenary Award issued Quick off the mark to qualify for the WIA Centenary Award is John Fisher VK3DQ who has been presented with his award certificate personally by the WIA President, Michael Owen VK3KI. The award claim by VK3DQ had three contacts with VK100WIA, one with the WIA during May, then with the Wagga and Midland Amateur Radio Clubs in June, plus 14 WIA members to tally up the required 100 points. John VK3DQ was absolutely delighted and considered it a real privilege and an honor to be the very first to receive the award. Michael VK3KI made a surprise visit to the home of John and XYL Jean VK3VIP in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Wantirna South on Sunday to extend congratulations and personally present the award. During afternoon tea served by the couple, John VK3DQ commented on the success of the special call sign and the Centenary Award, observing it was generating a lot of interest and on air activity. Jean VK3VIP, who is on her way to qualify for the Award too, is looking forward being part of ALARA’s turn at activating the special call sign in a couple of week’s time. The first DX station to qualify is Masami Shinhaze JF6CHY. About a half a dozen other award claims received are now being checked with more certificates to be issued in the coming week. FIRST INTERNATIONAL RECIPIENT OF CENTENARY AWARD Further WIA Centenary Award certificates have been claimed and issued during the past week, with more just arrived waiting verification. The first overseas radio amateur to get the award has written with his thanks and best wishes for the Centenary celebrations. Masami Shinhaze JF6CHY of Fukutsu-City the capital of Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan said, "I have the honour as the first qualified not only JA station but also DX station. "100 years, it's long long time indeed, and I am very interested in the great history of the WIA. I wish you continued success and prosperity in the future." The WIA Centenary Committee expects the award to be popular among Japanese radio amateurs and the DX community generally. Looking ahead at the VK100WIA roster Today, 25th, tomorrow and Tuesday the Townsville Amateur Radio Club intends to have at least 36 hours of operating logged for the special callsign. It has advised that VK100WIA will be the control station for the North Queensland Net tonight on 3605.4 kHz from 0930UTC. The Townsville news media has been told that the club’s radio station will be open to the public who can not only see a display of amateur radio equipment but also ask questions of knowledgeable club members. In the media statements too are details of what occurred in 1927 after devastating tropical cyclone Willis. Now that’s the very first known occasion when radio amateurs provided emergency communications following a natural disaster in Australia. Next on the roster is the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula Amateur Radio Club, 28th to the 30th of July, operating VK100WIA mainly from member QTH’s. Then it’s across to VK6 next weekend with the Hills Amateur Radio Club opening its club station at Cannington to the public. The Central Goldfields Amateur Radio Club, on Tuesday the 3rd of August, will operate from the Talbot Radio, Arts and Historical Museum, with WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI attending, but more about that on next week’s broadcast. NATIONAL FIELD DAY - 23 OCTOBER 2010 Good Morning Trent Vk4ti here.. (cut 4 july 25) (audio supplied) Automate that rig... Take your time to automate as much as posible in your contesting work. Modern software will check all ongoing during a contest and after the contest will submit the log to the contest organisers. No more than what is needed for modern soundcard modes are needed for contesting in fact if you have a sound card multi mide interface you have 99% of what is needed to get that rig optimised for contest performance. Back to the news desk. Links to common Software http://web.aanet.com.au/mnds/ http://web.aanet.com.au/mnds/ http://www.qsl.net/w3km/gen_log.htm http://www.ei5di.com/ http://writelog.com/ Hello Listeners. I am peter Harding, VK4OD the WIA RD Contest Manager. Today being the 25th July and as this news goes to air, you have about 4 weeks to check your equipment, logs sheets, and Logging Software updates. At the bottom of the RD Contest page on the WIA website you will find the Files For Downloading,  they are:- the Rd 2010 Rules, RD Introduction, Logging Data Sheets for those that are going to handwrite their logs, ( OHHH and I have increased the cell sizing to make it easier ) , Log Cover Sheet, WII Equipment Declaration Forms, all these forms are available in PDF format. PLEASE read the rules to ensure that you enter your logs in the correct category, as last year I had several logs where I had to confirm with the operators under which category they wanted to be entered into. Those operators that are going to be operating between 01:00 and 06:00 local be sure to check for your logs shows correct time, to accrue the extra points for that time period. Anybody requiring any of the forms posted to them please contact me ASAP.   It is anticipated that the opening speech will run between 20 and 30 minutes, links will be available on the RD Contest page, as soon as I complete the assembly. Until next week. ACMA Proposes Temporary Use of 70cm. On Monday the 19th July WIA directors Peter Young, VK3MV, and Phil Wait, VK2ASD, attended a briefing presentation by the ACMA on the proposed re-arrangements for the 400 MHz band (403 – 520 MHz) that includes the 70cm amateur spectrum and the UHF CBRS band. The WIA has made written submissions to the ACMA in respect to the 70cm amateur Secondary Service allocation, detailing amateur use of the 400MHz spectrum and expressing its concerns. The presentation to 100 radiocommunications industry members, emergency and government users, follows on from an ACMA paper “The Way Ahead – Decisions and Implementation Options for the 400 MHz Band,” released in April 2010, (a copy can be obtained from the ACMA website). The ACMA’s Executive Manager, Spectrum Infrastructure Branch, Andrew Kerans, provided background to the re-arrangements and to the series of discussion papers that have been released on this issue over the past 2 years. Of particular interest to the amateur community, the ACMA confirmed the need for the temporary ad-hoc use of the spectrum segment 440 to 450 MHz by affected land-mobile licensees. Clearing out parts of the land mobile spectrum at 400MHz is necessary for an orderly transition from a 9.5 MHz to a 10 MHz transmit/receive frequency split, and those affected land-mobile users need somewhere to go within the tuning range of their existing radios. The temporary use of the 440 to 450 MHz amateur band will be contained to the top and bottom 500 kHz, (440-440.5MHz and 449.5–450MHz, i.e. either side of the 70cm ATV segment), and most likely will be confined to the heavily congested areas of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The ACMA has indicated that the temporary use arrangements could last up to 3 years. The temporary use of 440 – 450 MHz has been utilised in the past for major sporting events and has not resulted in any reported interference issues. The WIA will be working with the ACMA’s Operations Branch that will have carriage with the implementation arrangements. The ACMA will be holding briefing sessions in all the capital cities and regional centres over the next coming weeks. The WIA will have representation at most of these sessions. WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI president@wia.org.au Vice President Ewan McLeod VK4ERM vk4erm@wia.org.au Secretary Geoff Atkinson VK3AFA secretary@wia.org.au Treasurer John Longayroux VK3PZ vk3pz@wia.org.au HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA VK0 VK1 VK2 Blue Mountains Amateur Radio Club is holding its annual Winterfest August 22 at the clubhouse in Orchard Hills. Please note this is the 22nd not the date inadvertantly broadcast last week. Venders and displays From Yaesu, Action Comms, ATRC, NBS Antennas and Masts, AUZ Comms, ALARA, AMSAT, Flea Market and Boot Sales, Food and Drinks, so go along and grab a bargain. More information www.bmarc.org follow the prompts to Winterfest page. 40M PORTABLE ANTENNA SHOOTOUT  Northern Rivers WICEN in conjunction with the Summerland Amateur Radio Club is holding a 40M portable antenna shootout at the SARC clubrooms on Sunday 19 September 2010 The idea behind the event is to encourage interest in HF portable and mobile operation. There won't be any overall winner as ease of use, robustness, portability Vs mobility, transportability and costs are all factors for the individual to consider. The results won't be precise signal strength measurements but will reflect the practical usability of the antenna. Participants will receive a certificate. There ARE rules; trees and mobile whips on cars are OK, but don’t think you’re going to lash up to the club’s antenna mast. 10Watts max and a predetermined frequency of 7075+/- to give experimenters a goal to kick towards for any pre-cutting and beam spacing. Well done to the SARC and NR WICEN and if you hear Chris VK2ACD or Duncan VK2DLR on air after the event, ask them how the event went. There will also be the pre-requisite sausage sizzle to pass time during the adjudication process, hi hi. VK3 VK4 - QNEWS Caboolture Show attendees learn about amateur radio A display at the recent three-day Caboolture Show about an hour drive north of Brisbane demonstrates what any group of radio amateurs to publicise amateur radio. David Brownsey VK4AFA and Mic Lohse VK4CRC set up the display using a couple of tables to display that included a 1910 diathermy unit claimed to cure all diseases known to mankind and some not yet identified, a replica spark gap transmitter built by Al Shawsmith VK4SS. To complete the display there was a modern amateur transceiver, an active lap-top computer display of amateur satellites, plus both the WIA?s ?Calling CQ? and ?WIA Centenary? posters ? with two knowledgeable radio amateurs on hand to answer questions. The manning of the display at the Caboolture Show is not a one-off, but this pair of radio amateurs has shown strong initiative in mounting seven displays this year. There are other radio amateurs, clubs and groups around Australia that do take the task of publicising amateur radio seriously, but there is room for many more. With the WIA posters and other readily available resources it has never been easier to promote the wonderful world of amateur radio. (Jim Linton VK3PC) - Help Mike get on his Bike Here is an update on the activity that dashing aero-paramedic, avid dx-er and all round good guy Mike VK4MSA is currently in training for. The Big W Townsville to Cairns Charity Bike Ride will be leaving Townsville on Thursday 29th July and finishes in Cairns on Saturday 31st July, along the way raising funds for The Childrens Cancer Institute of Australia. Mike has the entry fee all saved up but has to raise at least 500 dollars for charity before he can participate in the ride - and time is running out ! So, can you help out a fellow ham who is doing something good ? Contact Mike VK4MSA next time you hear him on air or head over to this website to find out more and help donate ! find out more at http://www.everydayhero.com.au/michaelpaulsen (News from the North VK4ZZ) VK5 Cable & Connector Testing Day 31st July 2010 0900 - 1400 This will be held at the Tranmere Sea Scouts Hall, corner of Moore St and Milton Ave, Tranmere, SA. Anybody can bring in cables which will be tested 'free of charge' for them. Then the person will be taught how to resolve any the issues and/or how to install connectors on new cable. Further details on http://www.sa.wicen.org.au/news/news2.php VK6 - NEWS WEST VK7 VK8 VK9 ACMA NEWS EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club Foundation Course Alan VK1WX sends word that "A successful foundation course was held last weekend 17/18 July with six foundation and two upgrade candidates. The following foundation candidates passed their assessments, Erin Thorncraft, Stan Jarvis, Lyndsay Sheldrick, Philip Bryne, John Ekman, Steve Stanton, also Matthew Bowman and  Robert Smith successfully upgraded to Standard level. The weekend was not without equipment problems, the projector failed after two minutes, an antenna tuner would not tune and the Yaesu FT757 lost its display. Despite all of this plan B's went into operation and the assessments proceeded with some minor delays. Many thanks to the team, John VK1ET, Gilbert VK1GH and Dom VK2HJ who very kindly came down from Goulburn to assist with assessments.” SILENT KEYS Black box flight recorder inventor dies The death of Dr David Warren brought to the close a very interesting life of a man who developed the black box that has played a crucial role in improving aviation worldwide. He was born in 1925 at a remote mission station on Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria, North Australia, and the first European child to be born on that Aboriginal settlement. In father was killed in one of Australia's earliest air disasters in Bass Strait, and the last gift received from his dad was a crystal set. That encouraged the young David in boarding school to build radio receivers and enrol to sit for his ham ticket, hoping to become Australia?s youngest radio amateur. But this ambition was thwarted when the government imposed a ban on amateur radio with the outbreak of World War II. However his schoolboy knowledge of electronics led him to later to build the world?s first flight data recorder. Being involved in the accident investigation of the world?s first jet-power aircraft, the Comet, in 1953, led him to advocate that there be a cockpit recorder as a means of solving otherwise unexplainable aircraft crashes. The idea initially raised little interest, so while the Principal Research Scientist, Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne, he designed and built an experimental unit that could record four hours of speech as well as flight instrument readings. The idea took five years to be finally accepted. Dr David Warren died aged 85. (Jim Linton VK3PC) INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA. An important meeting dealing with wireless broadband and medical electronics is slated for Washington DC later this month. The Federal Communications Commission and Food and Drug Administration will be seeking comment on converged communications and health care devices impact on regulation. This, at a public meeting to discuss topics related to this issue is scheduled for tOMORROW AND tUESDAY July 26 and 27th. According to a joint news release there have been significant developments in recent years in medical and health care devices using radio technology to monitor various body functions and conditions. These include including critical care elements as well as those used to deliver treatment and therapy. Examples of the latest implant or body-worn monitoring, therapeutic, and treatment technologies include blood glucose monitors and automated insulin pumps, heart monitors, pacemakers, defibrillators, and neural pathway replacements that stimulate muscle movement. There has also been an increasing proliferation of devices using established commercial communication networks, including those providing Internet connectivity to communicate with care providers. The FCC and FDA say that they both recognize the need to work with all providers and users of these devices to identify pathways and strive to improve processes that will help continue to spur innovation in these areas while maintaining safety and effectiveness and promoting public health. Therefore the objective of this meeting is to gather information and to better understand issues and perspectives so the agencies can identify potential areas where each agency's jurisdiction can be identified and clarified for affected parties. Also to gauge how the collection and assessment of each agency's respectively appropriate information can be improved, expertise can be shared, and regulatory approval can be coordinated and simplified. WEIRD AND WONDERFUL SPACE News - Solar Sail Project (audio supplied) On a "light theme" the following was sent through by Tom VK7TL and is a fascinating look at a project where light is being used to move very small satellites through space. The Planetary Society is building a spacecraft that will sail on sunlight alone by the end of 2010. The new solar sail project, boosted by a one-million-dollar anonymous donation, is the beginning of an innovative program that will launch three separate spacecraft over the course of several years. The program starts with LightSail-1, which will demonstrate that sunlight can propel a spacecraft in Earth orbit. LightSail 2 and 3, more ambitious and aim to reach farther into space. Sailing on light pressure (from lasers rather than sunlight) is the only known technology that might carry out practical interstellar flight, helping pave our way to the stars. The project also has many practical applications that include Monitoring the Sun for solar storms, providing stable Earth observation platforms, and exploring our solar system without carrying heavy propellants. The solar sail propulsion is simple in concept. Light photons bounce onto a mirror-like aluminized Mylar sail. As each photon hits, its momentum is transmitted to the spacecraft. Photons have no mass but lots of energy, so a solar sail space probe requires no onboard fuel. The force acts continuously, meaning a solar sail can eventually reach speeds five to ten times greater than any chemical rocket. For more information on this fascinating project take a look at the link on the email and internet editions of this broadcast. http://planetary.org/programs/projects/solar_sailing/ (Sourced from the Planetary Society website via Tom VK7TL) OPERATIONAL NEWS SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2010 July 31 ZL Waitakere Sprint Phone 1000 - 1100utc Waitakere Sprint Contest Aug 07 ZL Waitakere Sprint CW 1000 - 1100utc Waitakere Sprint Contest Aug 14-15 WIA Remembrance Day Contest Peter Harding vk4od@wia.org.au Aug 21-22 International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. register on website illw.net Oct 23 WIA WIA National Field Day nfd@wia.org.au Oct 2- 3 WIA Oceania DX Contest Phone Tony Burt vk3tz@wia.org.au Oct 9-10 WIA Oceania DX Contest CW Tony Burt vk3tz@wia.org.au NOV 20-21 WIA Spring VHF-UHF Field Day John Martin VK3KM tac@wia.org.au SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, REPEATER BEACON DX AND NET ADVICE 5B4AHJ CELEBRATES 50 YEARS IN HAM RADIO Alan Jubb, 5B4AHJ, will celebrate his 50th anniversary as a licensed radio amateur on October 25th. To commemorate the event, he will use the special Cypress call 5B50J beginning this October 25th and continuing for a year. Listen out for him on CW and SSB. QSL via 5B4AHJ, direct or via Logbook of the World. (ARNEWSLINE) CROATIA On the air, keep an ear open for Croatian special event station 9A10P to be active through the end of the year. This, to celebrate the anniversary of the city of Djurdjevac. A special QSL will be issued, and all QSOs will be confirmed automatically via the bureau. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO And if you missed working ON4HIL as 9Q50ON, I the Democratic Republic of the Congo, don't worry. Patrick will help the locals in Kinshasa get their club station on the air and assist them in making their first QSOs as 9Q50AR. This is another special event call sign to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the independence of the Democratic Republic Congo and will be used by different local operators until the end of the year. A QSL Manager is expected to be announced shortly. (OPDX) AO, AM, AN: Spain Soccer World Champions The joy of a whole country will be also transmitted by radio hams through the airwaves until July 31th. The Spanish PTT has authorized all their radio amateurs to use these special prefixes (AO, AM, AN) until then, at the request of EA Digital Federation. It comes to recognize the effort of these dedicated sportsmen, its team work and fair play, beyond winners and losers. So, don't be surprised to see these prefixes populate our bands and feel free to contact these callsigns - happy hams are behind them. Thanks to all ! EA Digital Federation http://www.fediea.org/ PORTUGAL On the air, word from Portugal comes word that special event station CS29MR will operate from July 12th to the 18th. This to celebrate the 29th International Motorcycle Concentration Faro. Operations will be on 80 through 6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. More information can be found on QRZ.com (Southgate) AWARDS AWARDS WORKEDGRIDS FREEWARE APP FOR GRID SQUARE CHASERS WorkedGrids is a freeware Windows application that displays a map showing Amateur Radio grid squares contacted and logged using a third-party logging program. The app was developed by VE2ZAZ, and uses colors to display information on a per-band basis. Up to four bands can be displayed concurrently. For its input, the program reads the plain-text ASCII log files generated by most logging programs. The file is read at a set interval and the worked grid squares on the map are updated in a dynamic way as the contest progresses and the log file is periodically saved. WorkedGrids can be downloaded from tinyurl.com/24okrtm. (ARNEWSLINE) A Puzzling Collapse of Earth's Upper Atmosphere July 15, 2010: NASA-funded researchers are monitoring a big event in our planet's atmosphere. High above Earth's surface where the atmosphere meets space, a rarefied layer of gas called "the thermosphere" recently collapsed and now is rebounding again. Image not shown here ED Layers of Earth's upper atmosphere. Credit: John Emmert/NRL. [larger image] "This is the biggest contraction of the thermosphere in at least 43 years,"says John Emmert of the Naval Research Lab, lead author of a paper announcing the finding in the June 19th issue of the Geophysical Research Letters (GRL). "It's a Space Age record.".... Extract and notes: http://www.nzart.org.nz/pdf/2010/thermosphere-collapse-IL-211.pdf The full article: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/15jul_thermosphere/ Thanks to Bob Gregory For These Items (NZART) ------------ Website Address for the 440Mhz Rock Covers Band http://www.440mhz.net/ http://www.youtube.com/user/440MHzBlackmore --------- 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 VK3DN on behalf of the National WIA. *****************************************************************************