----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 SEP 19 2010. We report on a major development that has occurred to the VK100WIA Super Springtime in Perth stay tuned for that one! The centenary publicity blitz rolls on Summerland A.R.C. "Dawn Patrol" 30th Anniversary Sunraysia Radio Group agm at Mildura Workingman's Club see's keynote speaker Jim Linton VK3PC Tex wants to buy a tower for Lyn ALL UP AND COMING IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING SEPTEMBER 19 2010 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The centenary publicity blitz rolls on A key feature of the Centenary of Organised Amateur Radio in Australia has been the wonderful, and unprecedented level of media publicity being achieved by participating WIA affiliated clubs. This began in May with the WIA Centenary Convention in Canberra resulting in interviews and reports on all of the national capital’s radio stations, and a photograph plus story in the Canberra Times newspaper. Since then the media coverage has continued with further stories and interviews on television, radio and newspapers. This week we have not one, but two segments that appeared on ABC radio. The first is from Northern Tasmania. Let’s have a listen to the Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club President, David Spicer VK7EX, the interviewer is Elaine Harris. (Play VK7EX_ABC_Radio – ends: Very happy 100th birthday) It was quite a lengthy interview in which David VK7EX also gave a plug for the Foundation Licence, discussed home building of amateur radio equipment, and provided club contact details. Now we tune into 612 ABC Brisbane with announcer Warren Boland talking to Lockyer Valley Radio and Electronics Club spokesman, Alan Shannon VK4SN. (Play VK4SN_ABC_Radio – ends: Thank you kindly) And of course, that was only part of a segment that went for 11 minutes. It covered many aspects of amateur radio and left listeners with Alan’s contact telephone number and scored a listing on the ABC radio website. Well done to both the Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club, and the Lockyer Valley Radio and Electronics Club. G’day this is Dale VK4DMC for the Tablelands Radio and Electronics Club, TREC, in Far North Queensland. What a great weekend last weekend operating the WIA Centenary Commemorative Call-sign VK100WIA. 12 TREC members set up the station at Lake Tinaroo on the Atherton Tablelands and were on air at 0001 z on Saturday. We made our first contact within the first few minutes of calling CQ VK100WIA. We made a total of 354 contacts into every VK state and territory and also many into international stations. Given the rather ordinary band conditions we were very pleased with our efforts and it was a great pleasure to make VK100WIA available to the ham community. Well done guys, more in QNEWS later.. Centenary celebration award activity Just over 100 WIA Centenary Award Certificates have been issued. VK3 radio amateurs account for 40% of them and that is more than twice those so far claimed by their VK2 counterparts. The other call areas are VK5 (13), VK4 (12), VK6 (5) VK7 (4), VK8 (2) and VK1 (1). It is expected that the Western Australia figure will be boosted by VK100WIA being operated in Perth for nine days this month. Quite clearly this limited time award has become the first for many Foundation Licensees with 12 having claimed it so far. For details on the award rules check out wia.org.au WIA National Field Day Tune Into the World - Amateur Radio Gets People Talking Are you interested in putting something back into amateur radio? Want to do something positive to promote it to the general public? If you answered yes to both those questions then why not join together with two of your radio amateur friends and take part of the inaugural event to outreach to the public and show amateur radio in action. All it needs is a minimum of three people, a portable amateur radio station set up in a public space such as a shopping area, park or wherever, the use of the WIA available posters, and take part in the ?Tune Into the World - Amateur Radio Gets People Talking?. Individuals and groups are invited to register for the event that happens across the nation on Saturday the 23rd of October. Only five week’s to go. The Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society will be setting up at the Eden Hills Primary School, Victoria's Scout Radio and Electronics Service Unit has chosen the Kangaroo Ground Memorial Tower in Melbourne's north-east, while Amateur Radio Victoria will be at the Point Gellibrand Coastal Heritage Park, Williamstown. Western Australia's Peel Amateur Radio Group has identified the Rotunda on Mandurah Foreshore, as its spot to go portable. Thank you to those 4 clubs for making an early commitment to the event. Check out the National Field Day rules, learn about the available resources to make your participation look professional, and to register online, visit the WIA website and its WIA Centenary section The Super Springtime in VK6 is now even bigger Tomorrow, Monday the 20th of September the special callsign for the Centenary of Organised Amateur Radio in Australia VK100WIA goes on air from the Royal Perth Showgrounds. As previously announced, seven Western Australian amateur radio groups have collaborated to pool their resources and give the centenary celebration a real kick long both at the Perth Show and from Wireless Hill. WICEN Western Australia has it from the 20th to the 22nd of September, then to follow was the Western Australian Repeater Group, and the West Australian VHF Group operates from the Wireless Hill Museum on Wednesday the 29th, Thursday the 30th and Friday the 1st of October. But here's a big new development. Just hours ago the Super Springtime was expanded, it won't be nine days but a whopping 12 days straight. The Scout Communication and Technology Team, which was already an enthusiastic part of the Super Springtime, now joins the VK100WIA roster for the 23rd to the 25th of September. The strong collaborative spirit being shown in the West is likely to see 2,500 contacts added to the VK100WIA online log over 12 days. Whether it is via amateur satellite, D-Star, HF, VHF and UHF, the world will indeed be listening for VK100WIA from Perth and its surrounds. Do give the now Super, Super Springtime support by making a contact WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI president@wia.org.au Vice President Phil Wait VK2ASD vk2asd@wia.org.au Secretary Geoff Atkinson VK3AFA secretary@wia.org.au Treasurer John Longayroux VK3PZ vk3pz@wia.org.au This is Michael Owen VK3KI, with two items from the WIA Board meeting of 4 and 5 September. Vice President Ewan Mcleod VK4ERM requested to be relieved of his duties as Vice-President because of the pressure of other commitments. The Board accepted Ewan’s resignation as Vice-President with regret, thanking him for his contribution. The directors were pleased he was able to continue as a director. The Board appointed Phil Wait VK2ASD as Vice-President. Phil has been a director since the restructure of the WIA in May 2004, and is well known as a joint author of the Foundation Licence Manual and for his valuable work for the WIA, particularly in relation to BPL and standards. The other item is that the Board considered the date and venue for the next AGM weekend. Suggestions for a venue had been invited and a number of the State Advisory Committees had been consulted. From many comments at different times, and particularly at the Canberra Centenary weekend, it seems obvious that many people prefer the location to be at least interesting in itself, and not a capital city. It is also clear that many people appreciate early advice as to date and venue, so that they can plan a break around the WIA weekend In fixing a date, the Board took into account the notice requirements in respect of the AGM as well as the dates of other activities, such as the Dayton hamvention. The weekend chosen was the 27-29 May 2011. The venue chosen was Darwin. The directors were much influenced by the proposal submitted by Peter Blackadder VK8HPB on behalf of the Darwin Amateur Radio Club. The club has made its name around Region 3 as a result of the very well remembered IARU Region 3 Conference held in Darwin in 2000 and the legendary hospitality of the club and the Darwin amateurs. This is very much an early advance notice, and further details will be released as soon as possible. In the meantime, just to give us an idea of the interest in this very different suggestion, if you are thinking of coming, do let our secretary Geoff Atkinson know, without any commitment. secretary@wia.org.au HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. Changes to the RFDS HF network in WA taking affect 1st October. http://www.vks737.on.net/pdfs/RFDSmediarel.pdf VK2 web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news Next Sunday will be the September Trash and Treasure event at the VK2WI Dural site. Major items on offer are to be found on the Amateur Radio NSW web site www.arnsw.org.au on the Disposal page. The event starts 10 am. Also available during the morning are all grades of exam assessments. Please register your interest by a phone call to the ARNSW office 02 9651 1490 or the Secretary's mobile 0400 445 829. The usual sausage sizzle will be available for lunch. ... In the afternoon the Radio Home Brew and Experimenters Group have their meeting. The next meeting of the ARNSW Radio homebrew and Experimenters Group will be Sunday the 26th of September. The venue is the usual location - at the ARNSW broadcast site, 63 Quarry Road Dural. The time, about 1pm, after the Trash and Treasure has packed up. This month the audience is in for a treat. Bob Mutton VK2ZRM will be giving a talk and demonstrating his homebrewed HF amplifier - 600 Watts - fully solid state. No tetrodes or triodes here, just 4 large, but not very expensive FETs and a 60V power supply. So if you want to homebrew a big amplifier for yourself, but have been scared of high voltages, then this could be the project for you. There will also be some information about some smaller and less ambitious solid state amplifiers, so anyone attending is encouraged to bring along a USB memory stick for information. As well as the talk on the big amplifier, the meeting will also start with the usual "show and tell" segment, where members of the audience demonstrate their latest piece of equipment that they have been working on. All interested amateurs and short wave listeners are invited to come along and join in. Sunday the 26th of September at the Dural Transmitter site. VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ VKC Roundup http://www.police Oct 10 in VK3 will see the Sunraysia Radio Group's agm at Mildura Workingman's Club. Keynote speaker will be Jim Linton VK3PC, member of the WIA Centenary Committee and Amateur Radio Victoria President. BARG Hamvention 2010 Sunday 24th October, at Ballarat Greyhound Racing Club, corner of Rubicon and Sutton Streets. Doors open at 10:00 am, Entry is $6.00 and cost of hiring a table $15 each. See web site for location maps, table bookings, and home brew competition rules. www.barg.org.au (thanks to nerg) VK4 - QNEWS web service local audio news:- www.wiaq.com/ftp/vk4_qnews_64.mp3 local news email qnews-vk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com VKR Roundup http://www.police.qld.gov.au/News+and+Alerts/Media+Releases/ Tex wants to buy a tower for Lyn On OC-227 Sweers Island, they certainly have their priorities in order . Lyn VK4SWE has been promised a 12 to 15 metre high tilt over tower with mounting plate for rotator and suitable to take the Hygain TH3 Junior Tribander as a birthday pressie by hubby Tex. Only problem is, Tex has not been able to source the tower at an affordable price, taking into account the cost of freight to Karumba then shipping across the Southern Gulf of Carpentaria to Sweers Island! If you know the whereabouts of a tower suitable for Lyns birthday pressie, get in touch with Tex on email info@sweers.com.au I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP and I've been thinking - about getting the job done. The amateur radio calendar is rather full in this part of the world and our club resources are being suitably stretched. In other words, we are having to find the balance of activity that suits our individual members and their needs and interests as well as provide the combined activity that makes club life interesting. The Amateur's Creed stresses that the radio amateur enjoys a balanced life; the radio amateur is available to serve the community but should never forget the responsibilities of home and family. Like any other organisation, whether work or play, it does mean that up to a third of people may be unavailable at any one time due to health, holidays and other commitments. When we plan our club activities we have to accept this reality and utilise our manpower resources accordingly. Far better to gently push the boundaries with a willing core of people than over plan and have to cancel activities on the day because of non-attendance. Our radio club should be a place of satisfaction and enjoyment not an source of stress and frustration. I'm Geoff Emery and that's what I think....how about you? TABLELANDS RADIO AND ELECTRONICS CLUB vk4wat@wia.org.au www.treclub.org.au G’day this is Dale VK4DMC for the Tablelands Radio and Electronics Club, TREC, in Far North Queensland. What a great weekend last weekend operating the WIA Centenary Commemorative Call-sign VK100WIA. The station consisted of an Icom 706 Mk2 G fed into a 3 element tri-band yagi mounted on the TREC mobile tower at 10 metres. Above this we had a 12 element 2 metre yagi. Station was powered by a battery bank charged by solar panels. Operators were recharged by hot coffee, cold fizzy drinks and great company. We made a total of 354 contacts into every VK state and territory and also many into international stations. Thanks to all those who sometimes had to persevere with the inevitable dog-piles from time to time. Unfortunately we could not access the Cairns repeater to allow operation on IRLP. We were aware that some stations were trying to get us there. It was really encouraging to hear so many foundation licensees taking part. Again, well done guys. MARYBOROUGH RADIO AND ELECTRONICS CLUB For more info, call Secretary Kathy Johns 040-939-8853 Email: kathy.johns@bigpond.com Channel 14 UHF CB call "CQ MERG" With the RACQ Technology Challenge over, the Maryborough Electronics and Radio Group are finishing the paperwork for that event and this week getting on with getting the word out on the Wide Bay Mini Hamfest on Saturday 9th October, next. In conjunction with hosting the operations of VK100WIA, over that weekend, MERG will be utilising the club station VK4MB equipment to publicly demonstrate the hobby from the Scout Hall, Ariadne Street, Maryborough. A roster of stations operating VK100WIA is being compiled for the hours outside the hamfest and MERG hopes to activate as many bands as possible. As was said prior to the Gootchie Mini Hamfest, "got to hurry - so much to do and so little time to do it". For MERG, I'm Geoff, VK4ZPP. Redcliffe and District Radio Club www.redclifferadioclub.org.au/ I'm Ray VK4CF with news from the Redcliffe AR Club. The club conducts Tech Talks on the third Monday of each month and upcoming talks include in September Kevin VK4UH – Expedition to Norfolk Island, October Peter VK4EA Codan NGT radio and modem and in November Peter VK4XPJ, Test instruments in radio repairs. Club Nets The club conducts its nets as follows, Sunday 7pm – 2m repeater 146.926, Sunday 7.45pm HF – 3.618 +/- QRM, Wednesday 7.30pm Trivia 438.325, (91.5 CTCSS) It was a special night last Monday when club president, David, VK4DC presented Charles, VK4BTC with the club’s highest award, the Peter Garrison shield for his work over the last 12 months in helping the club in building including the caravan modifications and equipment repairs. In reply, Charles reported that some additional material has been received so the caravan is ready for additional installations and repairs. He also said that BOAT HARBOUR MARINE has donated VHF antenna, hatched stainless bolts resins & paint. The caravan will have a plaque acknowledging the support of this & other businesses that have helped with the setup of the caravan. VK4FKEN reported to the meeting that David,VK4ICE, had donated a DSP speaker to the club to help with the floor noise that was experienced during the recent VK100WIA competition. David has been a strong and regular supporter of our Club with antennas & other gear to the value of many hundreds of dollars and club members were asked to support David in return. VK100WIA – 100 years of amateur radio. The club made 372 contacts during this event & is proud of its contribution to this great initiative. To date over 15,000 contacts have been made around Australia. A special thanks to VK4DJH, VK4FKEN, VK4YJV, VK4FLAE & others, who spent many numbers of hours making these contacts for this event. JOTA. 16/17 October. Peter VK4TAA reported that Glen VK4FZ & Andy VK4KY now have all the kits ready & we are now looking to confirm the members attending over the weekend to assign to the different activities. The club needs the assistance of other amateurs in the Brisbane area to help out this special day. Whether you can attend for the whole weekend, a day or perhaps only a few hours contact Peter VK4TAA for further information. So until next time, for the Redcliffe club, I'm Ray VK4CF. VK7 local area news :- http://reast.asn.au/news.php vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club (CCARC) Members are advised that the next meeting of the Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club will be held on Saturday, September 25th, 1.30pm at the Penguin Lions club rooms, 19 Ironcliff road, Penguin. Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club has a new WIA assessor. Keith Winkler VK7KW has upgraded his status from Learning Facilitator to WIA Assessor. He will still be the club Learning Organiser and a point of contact for licensing needs. INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA. Beijing clamps down on radio hams The Government backed English-language daily the Global Times reports on a crackdown on users of unlicensed radio transmitters. The article, inappropriately titled "Bureau cracks down on radio hams", labels both commercial and hobby users as "Radio Amateurs". It appears that users of radio transmitters with a power output of half a watt or greater will have to register. In the case of commercial users registration is with the Beijing Radio Administration Bureau and for what are described as non-commercial users with the "Beijing Wireless Sports Association" where it says the simple registration procedure will involve taking an Amateur Radio test. It is suspected that the article got the name of the association wrong and was referring to the Chinese Radio Sports Association. Read the Global Times article Bureau cracks down on radio hams http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/update/top-news/2010-09/572427.html TAKE YOUR HAND-HELD TO WORK DAY It is time again in South Africa for their annual SARL "take your hand-held to work day" Friday 1 October 2010. This is where they show work colleagues what amateur radio is all about. Industry Canada advised both RAC and RAQI on Friday, Sept 10, 2010 that their Montreal office had authorized a number of 430 to 450 MHz frequencies and a single VHF frequency on 145.555 MHz. According to IC, frequencies were chosen to avoid known amateur repeater channels. These frequencies in the 70 cm and 2m amateur bands were temporarily authorized to support communications for many European entrants of a cycling event held on Quebec City and Montreal last weekend, the weekend after RAC received advice! This type of authorized intrusion by Industry Canada of non-amateur communications in amateur spectrum is highly unusual and is a matter of great concern to Radio Amateurs of Canada. RAC will be taking the matter up with Industry Canada officials. (Norm Rashleigh, VE3LC Vice President, Industrial Liaison RAC) OPERATIONAL NEWS - The Oceania Dx Contest, Australia's Premier international contest, is coming up on the first two weekends of October- the SSB first and then CW. This year slight changes to the rules mean its a very interesting contest for teams to enter- The category of Multiple operators One transmitter means that anyone with a staion and an ESKY can enter with some mates..as only one tranmitter is allowed there is no need for flash filters just get on air and have fun.. The other new category is 2 transmitter - again this is an easy category to set-up, but you will need to check-out band and antenna placement to have maximum effect - Remember to have fun in the contest (Trent VK4TI) SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, REPEATER BEACON DX AND NET ADVICE hf nets ON the net, www.timroberts-vk4yeh.id.au/ Summerland A.R.C. "Dawn Patrol" 30th Anniversary Are you a HF Early Bird? If so try listening at 6;30am eastern standard time on 3.600 MHz. Listen for VK2SRC "Dawn Patrol" particularly this 30th anniversary during the week 20 to 24 September. The Japan Amateur Radio League now provides the member search site at www.jarl.com There, you can search Japanese station call sign(s) and find out whether you can send your QSL to the searched station(s) via JARL QSL bureau or not. The Westcumb ARC in Nova Scotia has been granted the callsign V C 1 J for the special event station of 65th Anniversary of the United Nations and UNESCO. Station will be working from the Joggins Fossil Cliffs which became a UNESCO site last year, on the air Sunday October 24th on many different modes. A special event QSL card will be available. (Jim Langille VE1JBL President: Westcumb Amateur Radio Club) Special Event Station CG3MUG Thunder Bay M.C.T.S. Centre ( A Canadian Coast Guard Radio Station) proudly celebrates 100 years of radio service. Built by the Canadian Marconi Company, in the fall of 1910. This (then) new "wireless" station, MUG Port Arthur, was the first and only Canadian Great Lakes Marconi station ever built. In 1912, following the success of MUG, the Canadian government built a chain of marine radio stations from Port Arthur down to Kingston, Ontario. In 1913, the Marconi station was rebuilt and assigned its current government callsign of "VBA". The "V" denotes a Canadian station, "B" is for the Great Lakes, and the "A" was given for its historic position as the first. During the month of November 2010, the Centre's Hams will be operating special event station C G 3 M U G to celebrate their 100th birthday. The regular Amateur Radio callsign is VE3VBA. The email address for this special event station is: cg3mug@yahoo.ca (Robert VA3ROM, Lori VE3VAI) SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2010 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 Aug 21-22 International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. did you register on website illw.net ? WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FEMALES IN RADIO ALARA - AUSTRALIAN LADIES AR ASSOCIATION http://alara.org.au Net is held each Mondays on 3.580 MHz, commencing at 1030 UTC. (1000utc during daylight saving) geencee@picknowl.com.au QSP from LA6RHA 6 international YLs are on on the HF from Kangerlussuaq on West Greenland until 20th September. We are on CW and SSB. The call being OX6YL. The operators are the following YLs : Inger/OZ7AGR, Unni/LA6RHA, Ingrid/LA8FOA, Ruth/IT9ESZ, Evelyne, Evi/F5RPB, Waltraud/DJ6US 33, 73 es 88 de Unni LA6RHA 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 A successful ARISS contact between students in West Australia and the ISS took place last Tuesday evening 14 Sept. The linkup was done from the grounds of Curtain University in Perth with the University of Western Australia assisting as well. The event was unique as astronaut Andy Thomas was present at the university while his wife astronaut Shannon Walker on the ISS answered the 16 questions that the students put to her. Andy even got a chance to have a brief word to his wife. The linkup was telebridged through the ARISS telebridge station in Argentina operated by Luis LU8YY and Daniel LU5YBR. Martin VK6MJ along with Pete Wheeler assisted with setting up in Perth with Tony VK5ZAI setting up and moderating the linkup. The event was also fed to both Echolink and IRLP by John AG9D in Montgomery IL. USA. The next Australian school scheduled for an ARISS contact will be Carine Primary School , also in Western Australia. The school is busy preparing at present for this event which is scheduled to take place October (J.A.(Tony) Hutchison. VK5ZAI) 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 Ham Scout Head in VK, Bob Bristow, advises of the passing of George Gormley, VK5GG, just a few weeks short of his 94th birthday. Until quite recently, George was active in Amateur Radio, spending most of his time on Slow Scan TV on 20 metres. In his youth, George was a King's Scout and took great pride in his achievement. George, VK5GG, SK C91MS Mozambique Scouts QRV for JOTA David GI4FUM reports that Mozambique Scouts will be active during Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) on October 16/17 using the Amateur Radio callsign C91MS. QRV in Bilene, Mozambique for JOTA this year GI4FUM should be QRV by the evening of 15th. The callsign C91MS will be used for JOTA. (SOUTHGATE) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RESCUE RADIO EMERGENCY FREQUENCIES IARU REGION 3 3.600, 7.110, 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz Clean up continues after New Zealand's big earthquake The massive recovery operation continues after the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch at 4.36am on Saturday 4 September, leaving a damage bill of NZ$4billion and injured a few people. The Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (AREC) members have played a role and continue to do so. AREC Assistant National Director, Geoff Chapman ZL3PX said the Christchurch AREC Communications Bus ZK9EAC, and Comms Vehicle ZK9EAD went into action. They were deployed for three days in the initial recovery phase of the disaster in conjunction with the military. AREC also provided communications for the volunteer clean-up teams. The Christchurch City Civil Defence permanent radio communication systems were unaffected but AREC stepped in to provide operators. The AREC North Canterbury Section provided operators from day one for the Civil Defence Emergency Managment Communications at various locations. This included emergency operation and welfare centres. This support provided by radio amateurs is continuing with over 235 duty hours so far involving about a dozen operators. A major part of the recovery and welfare effort is the provision of psychological services for many traumatised people, affected not due to the big quake but also the un-nerving hundreds of after-shocks. (IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee Chairman, Jim Linton VK3PC with support from AREC Assistant National Director Geoff Chapman ZL3PX and others) The 2010 Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference (GAREC) -- supported by the ARRL, the IARU and all three IARU Regions is scheduled for October 11-12 in Curacao. With its theme of Learning through Practicing, this year's conference is an opportunity for emergency communicators to discuss recent events, discover technical solutions to problems and how to cooperate with professional partners. One of the highlights of the 2010 conference will be an actual EmComm exercise during the conference, exploring how information sharing across borders can be improved. SOCIAL SCENE Oct 9 VK4 Wide Bay Mini Hamfest 9.00a.m. Scout Hall, Ariadne Street, Maryborough. Oct 10 VK3 Sunraysia Radio Group agm at Mildura Workingman's Club. Keynote speaker is Jim Linton VK3PC, member of the WIA Centenary Committee and Amateur Radio Victoria President. Oct 23 WIA WIA National Field Day nfd@wia.org.au NOV 7 VK5 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest Rosa St Goodwood 2011 May 27-29 WIA AGM Weekend in Darwin secretary@wia.org.au 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) THE FINAL FINAL 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