WIANEWS WEEK COMMENCING May 29 2011. COMMEMORATIVE STATION VK5MGY VK3EW on top of the DXCC again Worked All VK Shires Award Wappa Falls Observatory THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING MAY 29 2011. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A NOBLE Park principal has won one of the top education awards in Victoria. Silverton Primary School principal Tony Bryant won the outstanding school leadership award at the Education Department's awards night on May 13. Peter Hall, the Minister for the Teaching Profession, said Silverton Primary School staff and students were regarded as leaders in the use of technology in teaching and learning, thanks to Mr Bryant. Mr Hall said one example was the school's establishment of its own television and FM radio stations. "Tony has been instrumental in ensuring information and communications technology is embedded into the curriculum - and has transformed his school into a global learning community. Mr Bryant not only gained the prestige of being voted Victoria's most outstanding school leader but also won up to 10 weeks of paid leave and $50,000. (greaterdandenongweekly.com.au) SPACE FACE NASA submissions to the Space Shuttle Program's "Face in Space" campaign for the STS-134 mission. Participants submit photos for uplink to Endeavour via the Mission Control Centre at NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston. The images will return to Earth through a data transmission, and contributors will be able to print certificates verifying their photos flew aboard Endeavour. More photos already have been submitted to fly aboard the last shuttle mission targeted to launch July 8. Submissions will be accepted through to the lift-off date. To take part in the STS-135 Face in Space campaign, visit: http://faceinspace.nasa.gov HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. VK1 22nd June General Meeting features TWO Presentation Topics back to back: Morse Code “Show and Tell” night. A night of sharing information and experiences for everyone, particularly those with an interest in Morse Code and associated techniques. “SHOW” Bring along your paddles, keyers, oscillators, QRP Tx’s, projects, historical items, etc for a static or live display. “TELL” Share your code learning experiences, anecdotes, secrets etc. with short individual presentations. The second Presentation Topic by Dimitrios Tsifakis VK1SV is: A 5 minute talk on the history / activities of the 600m band, and a LF/HF and QRSS computer system. VK2 web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news TRASH & TREASURE AT VK2WI. This Sunday the 29th is the Trash & Treasure event at the VK2WI Dural site. New stock has arrived since the last T & T which should interest you. Major items are listed on the ARNSW website under DISPOSALS. Commencing at 9.30 am it will be followed in the early afternoon by the Homebrew and Experimenters Group meeting. Also in the morning there will be the usual license assessments - Those wishing to undertake an assessment should attend by 10 am. Further information may be obtained on the ARNSW phone 02 9651 1490 or mobile 0400 445 829. Chainsaw Day This to be held at the Summerland Club Rooms Lismore June 4 to reduce pesky trees from the yard and solar radius. WORKERS NEEDED, HET ALONG TO SCARC rooms. TELSTRA The St George Amateur Radio Society will be holding their next meeting at the Telstra Museum, Wednesday evening 1st of June, at 12 Kitchener Parade, Bankstown. 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/ Welcome to QNews from VK4WIA. I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I've been thinking. When we come to choosing those who will manage our club affairs, it is necessary to find people we can trust. It was not surprising that others have been addressing these issues. Writing in WorldRadio Online, May issue, Dave Hayes, VE3JX, looks over these qualities, as viewed by the QCWA - that's the US Quarter Century association not the local ladies in VK4. http://www.worldradiomagazine.com/ Knowledge of the area, such as finances for the treasurer, common sense and humility are some of the qualities which are examined. This is a practical set of criteria used by a large body with local to national structures. At the local level, clubs are often faced with the struggle to maintain membership and can really be challenged at finding active members who volunteer for club positions. None the less, I believe it is important that we all think over these ideas. We may not be available to fill a role for our club but we may have a say in electing some-one who will. If we are clear in our own minds of the qualities we value, it will be that much easier to make our vote count. I'm Geoff Emery and that's what I think....how about you? VK5 1912 THE EVENT - COMMEMORATIVE STATION VK5MGY This item we broadcast last week about VK5MGY was picked up by the SARL who noted. "Interesting, the detector of the receiver on the Carpathia, by which the emergency call from the Titanic was received, was in the Telkom museum when the museum was still in Pretoria. SARL trust that it is still well looked after." Check out the event web site 1912theevent.com. VK7 local area news :- http://reast.asn.au/news.php vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com North West Tasmanian ATV Group Members are notified that the Club's next General Meeting is scheduled to be held on Saturday 4th. June, commencing 2.00 PM at the home of Tony VK7AX, 5 Kywong Crescent, Ulverstone. Tony will demonstrate the configuration of his Video Streaming setup. Persons in the N/West Area of VK7 interested in Training and Assessments for all classes of Amateur Radio Licenses are advised that NWTATV Club can provide these requirements and much more. Contact details can be found on the Club Web Site or the WIA site under VK7 Clubs. (Tony VK7AX, President - North West Tas. ATV Group) HOME OF THE GOOD GUYS Toowoomba ARC suffered a lightning strike to their repeater, SARC gave them some gear to help get it back on air. EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO www.hamcollege.com.au The Illawarra Amateur Radio Society in New South Wales, currently has a construction competition running. Entry is available in two categories:- The First is for IARS club members. The second category is for all other amateur radio operators within VK. Entry is easy, simply, build a crystal set! Judging will be based on some simple rules:- The crystal set must work i.e. receive a transmitted signal. The crystal set can receive either commercial, broadcast or amateur signals. No external power other than the received signal can be used. Additional points will be gained by utilizing recycled parts, or home made components. Additional points will be gained for Innovative design, and unique concepts. The finished article does not need to be ascetically pleasing. Testing will be carried out at Industry World Centre, Wollongong NSW. A full set of rules are available on the society's web site www.iars.org.au The judging of the contest will be at the IARS November meeting. INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA. CHURCH AUDIO HEARD ON 10 METERS Illegal broadcasts from at least one church have been heard on 28.265 MHz by hams in Germany and as a result, amateurs world-wide are being requested to listen AROUND 28.265 in order to identify the station and its location. If you hear it, please send your report the IARU Monitoring System Coordinator. NEWS REPORTS SAY JET BLUE TERMINAL AT JFK NYC IS RADIO DEAD ZONE According to recent news reports, the $743 million Jet Blue Airlines terminal at JFK Airport in New York is a police radio dead zone. One that puts Port Authority police officers in a Ground Zero like communications blackout zone that has already led to a number of police injuries. A permanent fix will cost an estimated $3 million and is many months away from completion. In the meantime Port Authority police officers assigned to the terminal are reportedly given pre-programmed cell phones at the start of their shifts to call the JFK police command if an emergency crops up. EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: MAKING GREEN LED’S MORE EFFICIENT Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has lead to the development of a new method for manufacturing green-colored Light Emitting Diodes with greatly enhanced output. The research team, led by Physics Professor Christian Wetzel began by etching a nano-scale pattern at the interface between the LED's sapphire base and the layer of Gallium Nitride. The latter is what gives the LED its green colour. This new technique results in green LED’s with significant enhancements in light extraction, internal efficiency, and light output. This discovery brings Wetzel and his team one step closer to the goal of developing a high performance, low-cost green Light Emitting Diodes. Results of the study were published recently in the journal Applied Physics Letters, and are featured in the April 25th issue of the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology. The latter is published by the American Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society. HUMAN MOVEMENT COULD REPLACE BATTERIES Powering your hand held radio or other electronic device that converts movement into power could be on the horizon. This as a team of researchers in New Zealand say that they are trying to develop what they call wearable energy harvesters" capable of converting movement from humans or found in nature into battery power. According to Science Daily, the new technology is based on a class of variable capacitor generators known as dielectric elastomer generators to D-E-G’s. The scientific investigations currently underway say that these devices shows great potential for wearable energy harvesting. In fact, researchers at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute's Biomimetics Lab believe D-E-G’s may enable the creation of light weight, form-fitting, and silent energy harvesters with excellent mechanical properties that match human muscle. The findings are described in the American Institute of Physics' journal Applied Physics Letters. More on this emerging new technology is on-line at tinyurl.com/3vfsyry. TV OWNERSHIP DECLINES In what experts are attributing to both the current economic slide and the rise of alternative digital devices, ownership of television sets in the U.S. has dropped for the first time in 20 years. According to the A.C. Nielsen ratings service, 96.7 percent of American households currently own TVs, down from 98.9 percent. That’s a drop of 2.2% in the past two decades. According to news articles quoting Nielsen, there appear to be two reasons for the decline. The first is purely economic. Simply said, some low-income households no longer own TV sets, most likely because they cannot afford new digital receivers and outdoor antennas. Likely, when their older non-digital sets using converter boxes fail and can no longer be repaired they simply walk away from any form of in-home visual entertainment. The other is technological know-how among the current generation of younger viewers. There are the pre-teens, teens and young adults who are growing up with laptop computers rather than the traditional television remote control of their parents era. As they reach adulthood they are simply opting not to buy TV sets. Instead, they are watching their television shows and other forms of entertainment streamed live over the Internet. SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2011 CONTEST RESULTS NASA has announced the winners of its 'Original Song Contest' after six weeks of public voting. You will recall here on VK1WIA National News we told how songs will awaken the STS-134 astronauts aboard space shuttle Endeavour during their ongoing mission. "Sunrise Number 1" by Jorge Otero and the band Stormy Mondays from Spain, earned first place. Shuttle Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Greg H. Johnson, Mission Specialists Mike Fincke, Drew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and Roberto Vittori of the European Space Agency will hear the song at 5:56 p.m. EDT on May 31 - the day before the crew returns to Earth. "Sunrise Number 1" received 787,725 votes, or 49.8 percent of the total ballots. "Dreams You Give" by Brian Plunkett earned second place with 38.8 percent. It will wake the crew at 6:56 p.m. on May 30. The public cast over 1.5 million votes! To listen to the songs and see the all the results, visit: https://songcontest.nasa.gov/voteOrigResult.aspx Aug 20-21 WW I.L.L.W. The ILLW a real hit in VK7 The event has grown each year with VK7 having with nine slotted in so far compared with only seven the entire previous year. VK7DB Sandy Cape, VK7EM Mersey Bluff, VK7HKN Eddystone Point, VK7NET Table Cape, VK7KT Bluff Hill, VK7VTX Low Head, VK7ZM Rocky Cape, VK7ZE Cape Wickham who will join VK3VTH portable 7 Currie Light - both on King Island. Information about the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend to be held on the weekend of August the 20th and 21st, can be found at the website http://illw.net/ SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE On top of the DXCC again The DX world became aware of the constitutional changes for the now the former, Netherlands Antilles. The ARRL DX Desk had decided that from 10 October last year four new DXCC entities would begin. In anticipation of the great event, a number of DXpeditions were announced. Like many around the world, David McAulay VK3EW has gained the necessary QSL’s. Then he noticed no-one had yet filed them with the WIA Awards Manager. The WIA has long mirrored the ARRL program and the rulings of its DX Desk. David VK3EW subscribes to the WIA DXCC only. Finally the process was completed and once again he is proud to be at the top of the Australian DXCC list. He now has the DXCC of standing 348/340, which includes eight deleted DX entities. Well done and the effort you made, which shows you are deserving of being on the top again. (Jim Linton VK3PC) MAY In DX, the Intrepid-DX Group and the DX Friends plan to activate the Southern Sudan as a new country on or after July 9th. At airtime members of the two groups report that they are in consultation with representatives of the new Southern Sudan Government, the International Telecommunications Union and the International Amateur Radio Union working on making arrangements. MAY LAST DAYS FOR MONACO, 3A. Monaco Telegraphy Group active as 3A2CWG during the month of May in celebration of its 20th anniversary. QSL via 3A2LF. JUNE COLLINGWOOD OPEN DAY JUNE 4 On the air, the United Kingdom's Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society will run a special event station on the H.M.S. Collingwood on Saturday June 4th. The callsign to be used is GB6COD which stands for Collingwood Open Day. The station will be operational on all amateur bands from 1.8MHz through 440 MHz. The Society headquarters station will also be open for viewing from 9.30am to 6pm the same day. The open day will also feature the Royal Navy Field Gun Competition. JUNE The St George Amateur Radio Society will be holding their next meeting at the Telstra Museum, Wednesday evening 1st of June, at 12 Kitchener Parade, Bankstown NSW 2200. As part of the society’s 40th anniversary celebrations, they have been issued with the special event callsign of VK40SGARS from the 1st of May to the 31st of July AWARDS DL0YLWM Women's Football World Cup The Deutsche Amateur Radio Club is sponsoring an award to celebrate the 2011 Women's Football World Cup. Between 1st June and 31st July, the special station DL0YLWM and YL district stations will be on the air. Full details at www.darc.ce, search on the website for DL0YLWM. Worked All VK Shires Award VK7 news say this award is held June 11 at 06.00utc and ends June 12 06.00utc. As a guideline the following frequencies are recommended to work those rare ones: 80m........ 3.580 ssb and 3.530 cw 40m........ 7.080 ssb and 7.030 cw 20m........ 14.180 ssb and 14.030 cw 15m........ 21.180 ssb and 21.030 cw 10m........ 28.380 ssb and 28.030 cw MEDIA WATCH www.cq-amateur-radio.com/WorldRadio.html VK Club Bulletins http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aarnie/ Barry Robinson VK3PV. Now for a look at Amateur Radio magazine Featured on the front cover is the WIA National Field Day . Tune-in to the world . Amateur Radio Gets People Talking. Inside are accounts at least from the Whyalla Amateur Radio Club, Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania, Darwin Amateur Radio Club, Hills Amateur Radio Group, Geelong Amateur Radio Club, Eastern & Mountain District Club, and Amateur Radio Victoria. The topic of the month, in at least some quarters, has been the perceptions around the WIA’s move to set up its national based emergency services response. WIA President Michael Owen explains, in detail, the WIA’s approach to things. He gives an assurance that WICEN is not sought to be replaced. A point made previously. There’s also the latest on the discussions with the ACMA about station inspection procedures and the WIA announcement of the 2010 Club Grant scheme winners. The Publication Committee is not happy with the print and paper quality being achieved. It looks towards a better product in the short-term. In the June edition of Amateur Radio magazine is a report on the Scouts go bush for John Moyle Field Day by Miles Burke VK6FMAB. In an item called Botch-ups and other lessons learned, Peter Ellis VK1PE has a somewhat unusual look at it. Among the technical type articles are: Building and using a touch keyer from Grant McDuling VK4JAZ, Multiband antennas by Kevin Parsons VK2JS, A device holder for SMD construction Winston Nickols VK7EM, and a look at RF earthing by Dale Hughes VK1DSH. Amateur Radio magazine is a WIA member service posted to members 11 times a year, and also available at selected newsagents. I’m Barry Robinson VK3PV and you’re listening to VK1WIA. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ARDF WIA ARDF COORDINATOR VK3WWW Jack vk3www@wia.org.au http://users.mackay.net.au/~ron/ http://www.homingin.com http://www.ardf.org.au Sep 23-28 R3 Region 3 ARDF Championship Bendigo VK3 http://r3.ardf.org.au/ WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video arvideonews.com hamradiotube.com youtube.com qdg.org.au The Last Big Field Day is a new 41-minute video from Amateur Radio Video News that tells the story of world class Field Day station W3AO that since 1999 has topped the ARRL's Field Day Top 10 list, beating 2nd place by a wide margin. In 2004, the operation listed itself as 50A. That’s 50 transmitters, 10 towers a myriad of antennas and something that intrigued film maker Gary Pearce, KN4AQ. So armed with his video production gear, Gary travelled to the W3AO site to capture the moment and tell the tale to the world. As Gary tells the story, it took a few years to find the time to get The Last Big Field Day into post production and duplicated. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DIGITAL Australian Coordinator for TCPIP domains is Indy vk2xb@wia.org.au Pactor 4 announced The Pactor 4 data mode unit with a top speed of 10,800 bps and a 2.4 kHz bandwidth has been announced. Details of the new Pactor 4 modem can be seen in Google English at http://tinyurl.com/Pactor4SCS Website in German www.pactor4.com/SCS_DRAGON_DE/Home.html 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 NASA and ARISS reach out to educators It has been discovered many schools are not aware of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Project so information has been sent to almost 20,000 educators. Education Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre notified almost 20,000 US educators about the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Project. According to ARRL ARISS Program Manager Rosalie White, K1STO, this kicks off the first of a number of new processes that the ARISS US team will put into motion to get educators more involved in the program, which coordinates Amateur Radio contacts between the ISS and educational institutions around the world. Read the full ARRL story at www.arrl.org/news/nasa-and-ariss-reach-out-to-educators WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RESCUE RADIO IARU REGION 3 Emergency Centre of Activity (CoA) frequencies 3.600, 7.110, 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz ARRL to testify on Interoperable Public Safety Network The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology of the US House of Representatives invited the ARRL to testify at a hearing on 'Creating an Interoperable Public Safety Network.' ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, appeared before the Subcommittee on Wednesday. Read the full ARRL article at: www.arrl.org/news/view/arrl-to-testify-on-interoperable-public-safety-network REWIND 1962, John Glenn lifts off in Friendship 7 and becomes the first American to orbit Earth, circumnavigating the globe three times in almost five hours. In the darkness at Gladstone, 10-year-old Owen Bennedick rallied his father to set up a spotlight usually used for roo spotting to shine at the capsule as it passed overhead. Fifty years later, Owen Bennedick is still watching the sky as the owner of the Wappa Falls Observatory near Yandina. It's a backyard curiosity, a humble tourist attraction, a hub for local stargazers and the first port of call for media following up reports of unusual sightings in the sky. Over the years, he has invested heavily in his observatory equipment perhaps just as thrilling for visitors is being able to hold a piece of space in their own hands. Owen has a meteorite collection, which includes bits of the moon, Mars, Mercury, a piece of asteroid that fell in Argentina, and a ring-in – a piece of trinitite from the Trinity nuclear bomb test in New Mexico in 1945, sealed in a lead glass case – which he picked up at the Yandina markets. Then just 2 years ago, Owen heard the unedited conversation John Glenn had with NASA radio operators as he orbited the earth in 1962. John Glenn remarked upon a bright light he could see in the vicinity of Rockhampton/Gladstone. Owen Bennedick has heard in the crackly tapes, his boy hoods dream came true, his spotlight was seen by John Glenn! SOCIAL SCENE 2011 May 27-29 WIA AGM this weekend in Darwin secretary@wia.org.au Jun 10 - 12 VK4 Far North and North Queensland Amateur Radio Gathering at King Reef Resort Kurrimine Beach. CANCELLED (VK4DMC) Jun 11 - 12 VK2 Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club annual Field Day Jul 16 VK3 Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club Hamfest Cranbourne Community Hall 10am ( secretary@ggrec.org.au ) Jul 16 VK4 Maryborough Electronics and Radio Group "Wide Bay Hamfest" West Scout Hall, Ariadne St, Maryborough 8:30am. secretary@merg.org.au Jul 31 VK2/3 Riverina Field Day 10am at Lavington Scout Group Hall. Aug 7 VK2 Lismore region - SARCFEST Sep 11 VK3 SADARC Comms Day at St Augustine's Hall Shepparton 10am. Sep 16-18 VK4 NQ Amateur Radio Convention Date Set Townsville Sep 23-28 R3 Region 3 ARDF Championship Bendigo VK3 http://r3.ardf.org.au/ Sep 30-Oct 2 VK4 Central Highlands Amateur Radio Club AGM at Camp Fairbairn CONTACT Secretary Gordon, (vk4kal@wia.org.au) Nov 20 vk5 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest Goodwood Community Centre, Rosa St Goodwood at 0930. Visit www.ahars.com.au for contact details 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) Submitting news items If you would like to submit news items for inclusion in the VK1WIA broadcasts, please email your item in text to nationalnews@wia.or.au to submit audio read "how to submit items" in the weekly news page on wia.org.au Remember the sooner you submit material the more the likelihood of it being broadcast in the very next edition of WIA National News. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ============================================================================= WIANews - we've reported...YOU decide. 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