----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 JAN 02 2011. We look back at 2010 the WIA Centenary! ALL UP AND COMING IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JANUARY 2 2011. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Hi this is Graham VK3BB. Today the 2nd of January 2011 we look back, reflect upon, and close the 12 month celebration of the Centenary of the Wireless Institute of Australia. It all started back on the 11 March, 1910 where a meeting took place between like-minded radio enthusiasts at the Hotel Australia Martin Place Sydney. There a group was formed known as the Institute of Wireless Telegraphy of Australia. Not long afterwards a similar group formed in Melbourne known as the Amateur Wireless Society of Victoria, then fairly quickly, similar organisations formed in each Australian state, and in time these state groups became divisions of federated organisations known as the Wireless Institute of Australia. More recently the National Wireless Institute of Australia was formed, a single national body representing the interests of all Australian Amateurs. So from the year 1910 fast forward 100 years to 2010 our Centenary ... one hundred years of Amateur Radio in Australia, one hundred years of experimentation in the hobby and one hundred years of the WIA doing what it does best, protecting and supporting the interests of we radio amateurs. The formal planning for the twelve month Centenary celebrations commenced twenty six months ago with the formation of a WIA Centenary Committee. Led by David Wardlaw VK3ADW as Chairman it was a group of four, members included Peter Wolfenden VK3RV heading up the history and archive research project, Jim Linton VK3PC as Centenary Media Officer managing the many Media and Publicity aspects of the Centenary and Robert Broomhead VK3DN taking care of promotional merchandise, memorabilia and the special Centenary weekend held in Canberra. With the enormous task ahead of them the committee faced many challenges and hurdles, many were overcome, however a few ideas and suggestions put forward were simply not possible to implement. In the true spirit of the hobby many members stepped forward to assist the committee assisting and supporting the group in many practical ways. The commercial suppliers got behind the celebrations generously making available equipment, commemorative memorabilia and meeting the costs of some of the facilities offered during the Canberra weekend. Dick Smith VK2DIK not only volunteered his services as our Centenary Patron but opened his private Flying Club museum for an unforgettable experience for those attending the Centenary weekend in Canberra. International radio societies sent representatives half way around the world to join in the special occasion. The WIA extends a very genuine thank-you to all who have been involved in making the celebration of the WIA Centenary such an enormous success. Centenary committee chairman David Wardlaw VK3ADW joins us to share some more, David In 2008 the President of the WIA setup a special committee to prepare for the centenary celebrations which were to take place in 2010 the 100th year of organised amateur radio in Australia. The first task was to present a plan to the directors of activities that would be appropriate. The committee was aware of what had taken place at the 75th anniversary. In addition to the planned activities the committee commissioned the design of a special logo and appropriate posters recognising the WIA’s 100th anniversary, this part of the project required specialised help. After viewing a number of choices a final decision was made and I think we have a rather fine logo and posters. At this stage I must say that we were very disappointed that Australia Post did not accept our proposal for a commemorative postage stamp, although we fulfilled the required criteria. Despite best efforts, further discussions with Australia Post were unable to change the decision. Special callsign, VK100WIA was chosen as by using the prefix VK rather than one of our alternatives it clearly indicated it was a very special event for Australian amateurs that 100th anniversary of the WIA. The VK100WIA callsign was allowed to be used by nominated clubs over a 6 month period the clubs were issued with special publicity packs and made good use of them. After consultation with the Canberra amateur radio club it was decided to combine the special celebrations with the WIA AGM in Canberra. Another bonus was that the IARU region 3 was able to schedule their annual directors meeting to coincide with the celebrations enabling there to be a significant international presence at our celebrations. It was very pleasing to have been involved with the Centenary of the WIA an organisation I have been a member of for over 60 years, the activities were well supported and very successful in introducing amateur radio to members of the public. Sincere thanks to all those, who helped in the activities throughout the year. Graham An enormous amount of time and effort was invested researching the history of the WIA, Peter Wolfenden VK3RV joins us with more on the work of the research team. Peter Wolfenden The 100th Anniversary celebrations focused our minds on the history of amateur radio in this country. Personally, I had an enjoyable if not demanding time in seeking out the relevant historical material. This culminated in the articles in Amateur Radio, the release of the cd: “The Sounds of Amateur Radio Volume 2” and the wonderful program of guest speakers at the Canberra Celebrations. Thank you again to all of those who contributed so very much to this memorable event. However, I wish to share with you a few other on-going activities which came about because of the 100th Anniversary Celebrations. The process of sorting the many uncatalogued documents held by the institute culminated in the establishment of an archive at the national office in Melbourne. The directors allocated a room in which the shelves are now slowly filling with sorted documents. A few years ago, Will VK6UU scanned Amateur Radio Magazine from the 1933 to 1939 issues. We now have a similar project underway and that is the scanning of all call sign listings and call books from 1912 onwards. Ian, VK3IFM has spent many hours doing much of this “hack work”. This has already paid dividends for the institute which is now, from searchable pdf files, able to relatively easily answer enquiries - usually from family historians, about early licensed amateurs. The response to the “Call for Historical Articles” in AR resulted in many submissions some of which have already been published, other very interesting and significant articles will follow. All material will be indexed and added to our archive for use by future researchers. We can all be part of the on-going 100th Anniversary Celebrations of organised Amateur Radio in Australia, by contributing historical material to the WIA Archive - a true legacy of our 100th year! Graham The release of the commemorative WIA Centenary Poster, sale of Centenary memorabilia and merchandise were perhaps one of the first visible signs the Centenary celebrations were being launched. When it comes to describing sale of merchandise the word popular is perhaps an understatement with sales far outstripping original expectations. Joining us is WIA manager Mal Brooks VK3FDSL. Mal Brooks For those who may have missed it, we have a range of clothing, caps, hats and badges all featuring the special WIA centenary logo. Last year we sold in excess of 200 caps and hats, 120 vests and jackets and 230 shirts. We’ve also distributed hundreds of pins and posters, largely through the amateur radio club network. There’s not much left on the shelves, but we will be placing one more order with our suppliers upon our return in January. So, if you thought you’d missed out – here is one last chance to login to the online shop and make your purchases. Thank you for your support and best wishes for 2011. Graham During the course of the year the amateur bands were truly alive with the sounds of “this is VK100WIA calling CQ” yes our centenary call sign gracing the airwaves with the help of many WIA affiliated clubs airing the callsign over fifty seven three day time slots. People who had made contact with VK100WIA were often heard chasing further contacts in order to become eligible for the limited issue Centenary award. WIA Secretary Geoff Atkinson joins us with more. Geoff Atkinson Good Morning and Happy New Year. This is Geoff Atkinson VK3AFA joining in this Centenary review broadcast, with a report on the Centenary QSL cards and Centenary Awards. From May to October 2010 VK100WIA was on air operated by 50 Clubs around Australia. The online log recorded 24,460 contacts during this time. Over 100 countries made contact with VK100WIA and enquiries are being made for a DXCC award. The Centenary Award has also proved popular with over 380 certificates having been awarded to date. Award applications close on the 31st January 2011. Some technical difficulties have delayed the printing of the VK100WIA QSL cards, however these matters are now being resolved and we expect cards to be distributed to State and overseas bureaus in the very near future. The Centenary callsign program has been a very successful activity, resulting in the reactivation of many AR stations. Graham The hive of activity both on and off air provided an enormous amount of enthusiasm amongst members as well as many media opportunities to talk about and promote our hobby to the public, Centenary Media Officer Jim Linton VK3PC joins us with his thoughts... Jim Linton Undoubtedly the level of media coverage achieved right across Australia is something we have not seen happen before, and hopefully that exercise in promoting the WIA Centenary will have a long lasting influence on the way radio clubs think about promoting themselves and amateur radio in the future. Rather than just celebrating the Centenary, and that was enjoyable, then opportunity to use it as a promotional vehicle for amateur radio was one not to be missed. The WIA affiliated clubs on the VK100WIA roster, actually began demanding help and support in terms of how to deal with their local news media. At a very early stage in planning the WIA Centenary Committee identified as a priority that a Media Kit should be made available to all clubs on the roster. The WIA National Office posted out the kit at least a month before their rostered slots, and these were followed up with emails. The comprehensive kit included a template media release, background sheets on amateur radio and the WIA, plus a how-to guide for clubs. It was very pleasing to see the media release adapted with club information appear in so many newspapers and result in radio and television interviews. If you have not already done so, please check out the VK100WIA Club & Media Feedback section on the WIA website. A media file is to be included in the WIA historical archive on the Centenary activities. Often on request a special media release was written for a few clubs, but in the main they felt comfortable doing it themselves with the media kit. Those clubs have done it for the Centenary, and there is no reason why they can’t do it again in the future. Some clubs also did it for the National Field Day – Tune-In To The World, amateur radio gets people talking – public relations exercise. Again for many it focussed their attention on the image portrayed by amateur radio to the public. Clubs are now thinking about the need to have knowledgeable, friendly and well groomed ambassadors, if possible across a wide demographic and both genders, to give a first positive impression. More thought is being given on what to say to someone who visits a display. Gone should be the days when visitors would be greeted with jargon such as 'we’re using sideband on HF 7megs and working a ZL at the moment and he’s 59'. And perhaps worst still is to use amateur radio lingo during a media interview. On this the very first broadcast for 2011, I would suggest that all radio clubs and groups make a New Year’s resolution to think seriously about, and take action on promotion. It should be a core, planned activity of any club. A very Happy New Year to all, I’m Jim Linton VK3PC, the WIA Centenary Media Officer. Graham As Jim mentioned, a number of radio and TV interviews took place these as a result of clubs making well prepared approaches to the media -INSERT RADIO INTERVIEW MONTAGE- The Centenary weekend held in Canberra was by no doubt a real highlight of the centenary celebrations , here now a few thoughts and reflections from Robert Broomhead VK3DN who put together the weekend program. Robert Thanks Graham, Canberra .. Wow ! I made my first trip to Canberra back in August 2009 to start the planning mission for the Centenary weekend, there were so many Hotels to check out, many venues, many prices many options. But ...I had a pretty strange looking shopping list, as I wanted a dedicated 24/7 radio room to operate an amateur radio station, a suitable hotel roof to mount antennas, must have suitable access with permission to mount an array of antennas on the roof. I did get some strange looks!! It has been a tradition with the WIA AGM weekends over past years that they include one or more activities of particular interest to radio amateurs, so I was clearly on a mission to seek out and find something interesting. So you can imagine how excited I was once I discovered that the Telstra Black mountain communications tower was celebrating it’s anniversary in the same month the WIA was to be celebrating it’s Centenary. The arrangements for access and the technical tours was not quite straight forward as people may imagine, but always up for a challenge, after a number of meetings with Telstra representatives and much correspondence with the property managers I had the arrangements in place. The historical presentation program held during the Saturday afternoon at the Rydges Hotel were something that I had asked Peter Wolfenden to help with the arrangements and I must say he did a first rate job. The Centenary dinner and the Ariss contact went off without a hitch ! Thank goodness !! I cant tell you how much preparation Tony Hutchison and I had done double and triple checking everything was in place and working before the event, this was one very special contact that went off without a hitch. Many thanks to Tony Hutchison, to Carl and his Students for participating in the contact and helping make it such a memorable evening. And of course to our Centenary Patron Dick Smith VK2DIK, a wonderful and generous person. Thank you so much Dick for your time and talk during the Saturday evening dinner and for opening your flying club to us on the Sunday. Well almost everything during the Canberra weekend went to plan, I say almost because the one thing we did a bit differently and was to run the live VK1WIA news broadcast from the radio room at the Rydges Hotel instead of at the park, it was probably even more fun being crammed into the little room swapping seats for the microphone, I think both presenters and listeners got a real kick out of it ! Happy new year to all this is Robert VK3DN AROUND VK VK4 - QNEWS Welcome to QNews from VK4WIA. I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I've been thinking. A few years ago, many VK amateurs had reason to sleep in. It was the morning after the night before. The HF bands were filled to overflowing with those of us making our first contacts on the short wave bands. The doomsayers were sure that the apocalypse was upon us with the removal of compulsory morse code. Since that morning, it seems more people have a genuine rather than a mandated interest in CW and the world still hasn't ended. It seemed to be a paradox that the historic operational mode of the hobby has been resurrected in the frontier land of the digital world. In a similar way, it seems to me, that more people are pursuing an interest in more efficient methods of producing AM. Have a look at the modulation methods being used with power fets. There are those who are pursuing hifi ssb signals. The once ubiquitous crystal set may yet find favour as a teaching aid just because of this renewing interest in supposedly lost arts. Whatever finds favour in your shack, we can rest assured that 2011 will continue to mix the modern with the historical in the amateur radio world. For those who lament the demise of home brew, it is the simplicity, low parts count of projects based around cw and AM that make projects attractive. We don't have to be QRO or QRP operators to indulge in building some suitable gear. For the Foundation call, what is a crystal set but a field strength meter with headphones. A learning tool and a test instrument in one package. Lets' all join in the fun in 2011 and remember, Amateur Radio: The first technology-based social network” I'm Geoff Emery and that's what I think....how about you? CLUBBING - Redcliffe and District Radio Club www.redclifferadioclub.org.au/ I’m Ray, VK4CF with news from Redcliffe Amateur Radio club. I know it is a little late but the Redcliffe club wishes a happy, healthy and hearty happy new year to all amateurs and short wave listeners for 2011. During the Christmas break it was good to catch up with John, VK4BZ, who was on leave from his chaplain duties with the Army in Townsville. John advised that later in the year he will be deployed to Afghanistan for about 8 months and hopes to be the first Australian military amateur to work out of the country. This will depend of course on the military situation and the gaining of permission from higher headquarters, to operate a station on military bases. John is presently pounding the CW key on HF, working the 6 metre band on voice and assisting his XYL around the house while the band is quiet until he departs back to Townsville about mid-January. He will be down at the club next Monday night to catch up with members. The next club technical talk will be on 17 January 2011 and will be presented by Peter, VK4XJP and the topic will be “test instruments in radio repairs”. If you have a topic that is suitable for a technical talk please contact the club secretary, Peter, VK4TAA. This is a chance for you to discuss and to share your knowledge to others about a particular topic. How well can you cook sausages? With the support of Wendy, VK4FWEN, the club will have an opportunity to be on the local Bunnings fund raiser list in the next 6 months. This will be a fantastic time to promote our hobby to a wide audience but also to gain welcome funds for the club. More details about this venture as they come to hand. The fridge at the club house has been re-stocked with Chocolates & drinks as part of our fundraising efforts and for those with a sweet tooth, please support your club by purchasing these items. The Advanced amateur radio course is now available on a CD for those wishing to study privately, for $10 payable to the Club, plus $3 if posted. Contact Peter VK4TAA if you need this CD. Stewart, VK4TSB has advised that the car park light is up but due to the rain it has not been connected yet. This will provide extra security for members visiting the club. The first working bee for 2011 will be to replace the guttering around the roof of the club house as it has finally succumbed to the high amount of rain fall over the last few months. Finally 2011 call books are available from the club and please see Peter,VK4EA with your $25 to purchase one. Well that is the news for this week, I am off to ZL land for a short 2 week holiday and until next time, it’s 73 from Ray, VK4CF. INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA, I'm Col VK4CC. HAM RADIO ON THE PHONE:- TWO NEW IPHONE APS FOR HAMS ON THE GO Amateur radio enthusiasts who travel to the U-K and own an iPhone may find two new applications or apps from Mark Turner, G7LEU very useful. First is Ham Dashboard which is designed for hams on the move or away from home. RECORDING Ham Dashboard shows a searchable list of repeaters in the UK and Ireland, along with details of input and output frequencies, a map, and a handy bearing arrow for each system. It also includes a basic APRS tracker that allows your position to be sent to the APRS-IS network. You find this one at the iTunes store at tinyurl.com/2af5rsg. Meantime Ham Tracker allows radio amateurs on the move to send location updates to the Internet side of APRS from their mobile device. Once sent, your position can be tracked using services such as aprs dot fi. Using Ham Tracker makes it easy to send an email containing an aprs dot fi tracking link for your callsign or a map link showing your current location. This one is also at the iTunes store at tinyurl.com/2c8f4uw. More details and screen shots of botg aps are on line at www.kramstuff.com STILL WITH MOBILE PHONES, THIS IS A strange story of a self destructing cellular smart phone. Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, has the details: RECORDING A north Texas man talking on his cell phone was rushed to a hospital after the display on his phone apparently exploded on Thursday morning, December 2nd. According to news reports, man said he had just finished a call when he said he heard a loud popping noise followed by blood trickling down his face. His ear was bleeding profusely and he was transported to the emergency room at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. There he received four stitches but suffered no hearing loss. Later on inspection it was found that the glass faceplate on the LCD display of the two day old Motorola Droid smart phone apparently shattered. The phone still appeared to be functioning and its battery was intact. On Thursday evening, Motorola issued at statement non what had transpired. It said – and we quote: "Motorola's priority is, and always has been the safety of our customers, and all Motorola products are designed, manufactured and tested to meet or exceed international and local standards for consumer safety. We will reach out to the consumer and investigate this thoroughly." While an self destructing L-C-D displays on a cellular phone is a rare occurrence, it is not unique. Thankfully, most such accidents happen when the phone is in charging mode rather than in use. From the Amateur Radio Newsline to MEDIA WATCH and "ARNY". AARNIE - Australian Amateur Radio News & Information Exchange. AARNIE is an online resource for Australian Amateur Radio Clubs to post their newsletters. Few Radio Amateurs receive club newsletters from outside their immediate club SO AARNIE, an email newsgroup allows large and small clubs alike to promote their club newsletters Australia wide. subscribe http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aarnie/ 73, de Adam VK4IM, Moderator. (SUMMERLAND) K9YA Telegraph The Good News About Amateur Radio It’s Free, It’s Fun, It’s All About Ham Radio The K9YA Telegraph is a free, monthly, general interest amateur radio publication read by hams in more than 100 countries. The K9YA Telegraph contains the stories and features most wanted by subscribers because it is written by subscribers. An e-Zine, it is delivered monthly to your e-mail inbox as a full-colour PDF file. If you’re in the mood for Morse, hankering for history, gluttonous for gear, ravished for a review, needing nostalgia, or just plain famished for fun, you’ll find it in the K9YA Telegraph. OFF THE GRID NEWS RECOMMENDS HAM RADIO Ham radio is being featured in the current issue of the e-zine "Off The Grid" News. According to an article, by David M Hill, Sr., W4DMH, he says ham radio is the only legal form of two-way radio that you can get involved in that will provide you with all levels of communication ability. He says that no other radio service can provide all of this. This very informative article can be read by taking your web browser to tinyurl.com/hamfun OPERATIONAL NEWS - WITH FELIX VK4FUQ SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2011 Jan 1-31 WIA ROSS HULL MEMORIAL VHF/UHF Jan 1 AMSAT 2011 Straight Key Night (SKN) Jan 15/16 WIA Summer VHF-UHF Field Day Includes “Microwave Challenge”, with special certificates to be awarded to the participants on microwave bands. John Martin VK3KM tac@wia.org.au Mar 19-20 WIA John Moyle Field Day weekend SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, REPEATER BEACON DX AND NET ADVICE hf nets ON the net, www.timroberts-vk4yeh.id.au/ First ham radio activation of Indonesian lighthouse Dani, YB2TJV reports that the first amateur radio lighthouse activation from Indonesia is taking place until January 4. Special callsign YE2H is activating Klirong Lighthouse (ARLHS IDO-374, WLOTA 1660), in the south beach of Kebumen City. QRV on all HF bands and modes. QSL via YB2TJV via the bureau. Further information at QRZ.com under the callsign YE2H. HG2ØØ, HUNGARY Special Event. A group of Hungarian radio amateurs will use the special callsign HG 2ØØ LST until December 31st 2011. Activity is to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of genius composer, virtuoso pianist and piano teacher Franz Liszt (1811-1886). QSL via HA5GY. LOG THIS ONE! The latest Version (3.30) of Logger32 is now available at logger32.net/program.html Note this version requires new v3.30 Language files which are being made available on the website as they are received from the respective translators. NET ADVICE IN BRISBANE. BARC club nets resume the same week as the first business meeting for 2011, THIS IS 28th January. REWIND Now rewinding we wrap up this special Centenary review with our very own WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI. 2010 was the WIA’s Centenary Year. I think it was a great year for amateur radio and the WIA. The Centenary Convention weekend at Canberra on 28 to 30 May was a great success. Our special guests from home and overseas added to the excitement of the occasion. The ARISS contact was a highlight of the dinner on Saturday night. The historical presentations Saturday afternoon captured everyone’s interest. And Sunday, thanks to our Centenary patron, Dick Smith VK2DIK was a day that we all will remember. And then there has been VK100WIA. Involving over 50 clubs, Heaven knows how many operators and, after 5 ½ months, 24,440 contacts and over 400 Centenary Awards. All of this has been built around some memorable imagery. The Centenary poster featuring that wonderfully evocative photograph from the Waverley Amateur Radio Society has been, for me, the image of the Centenary. But I think the real significance of this year has been much more than these events and images. The WIA provided its affiliated clubs with a totally professional Media Kit and the result has been that we have received more favourable publicity in print, radio and TV in one year in more places than ever before. Most importantly, I believe that 2010 has been a very friendly and constructive year. It has been a year when many of us felt proud to be a radio amateur and proud of the WIA. It has been a year that has rekindled an interest in amateur radio for a number of people. I have felt a new pride and a new interest, and a new enthusiasm from many people 2010 was a year when very many people contribute to what was a year to remember. SOCIAL SCENE 2011 Jan 30 vk2 Mid North Coast Radio Expo 2011 at St Johns Church Hall McLean Street, Coffs Harbour at 8:30am, vk2cjc@wia.org.au Feb 13 VK3 Centre Victoria RadioFest No.4 Kyneton Racecourse ( http://amateurradio.com.au/node/865/ ) Feb 27 vk2 Central Coast Amateur Radio Club Field Day at Wyong Start Time : Gates open 6.30 am Feb 27 vk3 YARRA VALLEY HAMFEST at Gary Cooper Pavilion 16 Anzac Av Yarra Glen. Opens 10am-2pm. ( www//yarravalley.ar.org.au) Apr 9 vk6 Hills Amateur Radio Group Swapmeet at club rooms Lesmurdie. Apr 18 WW “Amateur Radio: The first technology-based social network” World Amateur Radio Day, April 18, 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 3-18 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