WIANEWS - NOV 13 - 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 TWITTER http://twitter.com/VK1WIA 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 WEEK COMMENCING NOVEMBER 13 2011. Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest Goodwood Community Centre, Rosa St Goodwood at 0930 NEXT SUNDAY Visit www.ahars.com.au for contact details THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA IS FOR WEEK COMMENCING NOVEMBER 13 2011. ACMA warns unlicensed radio communicators (Story in text editions only) The Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued warning notices to six radio communications hobbyists, citing breaches of the Radiocommunications Act. The hobbyists, comprising those using the Citizen Band (CB) and Amateur Radio frequencies are from Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. The ACMA's Field Operations Sections found each were operating on High Frequency (HF) frequencies outside the radio bands they were authorised to use. In addition to warning notices, a number of non-compliant radio communications devices were surrendered to the ACMA. Read more on WIA FRONT PAGE NEWS http://www.wia.org.au (Jim Linton VK3PC The Australian Treasurer, Wayne Swan, says the Government will wait for advice from police before deciding the next step in the Australia Network tender process. Radio Australia's parent company, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, now holds the contract to operate the international satellite television network but is competing with Sky News to retain it. Sky News is partly owned by the British broadcaster BSkyB. Australia's Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, announced the end of a competitive tender process on Monday, saying he was acting on the advice of the Government Solicitor. He said: "The advice which the Government has received is that due to significant leaks of confidential information to the media, the Australia Network tender process has been compromised to such a degree that a fair and equitable outcome may no longer be able to be achieved." The Government also referred the matter to police because of the alleged leaks. A NEW, dedicated radio studio at Patterson Lakes Primary School means students are now interviewing some of Australia’s biggest names, live to air. Radio program co-ordinator Craig Jenner said a $50,000 State Government grant to build the studio also helped deck it out with the latest technology. “We’ve also got the experienced students training others how to do it, which gives them a sense of responsibility and independence.” The school’s radio program has been hugely successful over the years, with students interviewing the likes of former prime minister John Howard, TV stars Bert Newton and Rove McManus, NBA basket baller Andrew Bogut and former St Kilda footballer Robert Harvey. The station can be picked up on 104.7 FM throughout the Patterson Lakes area. A map of the station’s coverage area can be found at pattopsradio.weebly.com WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI president@wia.org.au Vice President Phil Wait VK2ASD vk2asd@wia.org.au Secretary Sarah Thompson VK3AUD secretary@wia.org.au Treasurer John Longayroux VK3PZ vk3pz@wia.org.au The Board of the WIA has accepted the recommendations of the 2011 Club Grant Committee and announced the successful applications. Two categories of project were identified that the WIA would support this year. The first category was projects and activities to be conducted before 1 June 2012 to attract new amateurs, but focussed on people under 25 and the second category was amateur radio projects that are useful and innovative and that utilise both information technologies and radio communications. No projects were proposed by any club that fell into the second category. The Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club will be supported by a grant of $1,500 to support a mobile shack as a promotional tool to attract new members, for Field days and emergency communications within their local area. The Brisbane Amateur Radio Club will receive a grant of $600 to help them to improve the quality of their meeting presentations using digital projection equipment. The St George Amateur Radio Society Inc. will also be supported by a grant of $600 for a basic trailer to be converted into a mobile display and field operations unit. The Sunraysia Radio Group will be supported by a grant of $1,000 to support their work promoting amateur radio to Scout District in the Mildura/Wentworth area. The Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society will receive a grant of $600 to support building on the established training room by the addition of training aids and a number of kits. The Illawarra Amateur Radio Society will be supported by a grant of $900 to provide a projector and basic transceiver and antenna to supplement existing training aids for classes. The full report of the 2011 Grant Committee can be found on wia.org.au I would also ask you to read carefully the “Comment” in the December Amateur Radio when it is published, where I comment on the small number of applications for club grants this year and raise the question of the club grant scheme and ask for submissions and note that this will be an issue for the Open Forum at the Annual Conference of the WIA in Mildura next year. (Michael VK3KI WIA President) Looking Out for Your Mates Greetings from the WIA, this is Ewan VK4ERM, considering Looking Out for Your Mates. The eleventh hour of the eleventh month has just past. While it is right and proper to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our way of life and freedoms while they Looked Out for Their Mates, it also behoves us to look out for those men and women who return with damaged bodies and minds. Sometimes these situations are tragically personal or uncomfortably close. Within the Amateur Radio community we too can Look Out for Our Mates in many direct and indirect ways. Operating our equipment in a comfortable shack at home, mobile through innumerable places in this broad land or setting up a field or portable station for a contest or to escape urban RF noise provide ample opportunities for Looking Out for Your Mates. Unfortunately it is a truism that familiarity does breed contempt or at least avoidable carelessness or the taking of unnecessary risks. Sometimes the first we become aware of the error of judgement is when a situation goes wrong resulting in damage to what we have been working on, a minor physical inconvenience or personal injury. What would you reasonably expect a mate to do in such circumstances? What would you do if you were witness to the potential for such a situation occurring? In the first case a friendly word of caution from your mate may be all that was needed to jolt you out of complacency to reconsider your course of action. In the second case wouldn’t you believe it was your responsibility to caution your mate on the likely outcome of his or her actions? Either way, both situations demonstrate Looking Out for Your Mates and unlikely to cause offence with real mates. The foregoing physical cause and effect situations are readily observable to which we can spontaneously react without offence to those with whom we are familiar. Far worse and more insidious is the onset and manifestation of mental stress. The gradual change in the behaviour of a mate may be so subtle that in the long term we don’t notice it nor become aware of the past and present circumstances causing the change. However, it is unfortunate that the first we become aware that a mate is under stress is when he or she explodes or crashes with unpredictable behaviour and outcomes. This is when you have to be Looking Out for Your Mates, hopefully before situations come to a head and afterward if too late. We like to think that we know and understand those whom we have known for years or decades but the reality is there may be disturbing or traumatic events buried in their memory and eating away at their very being; events and emotions they have never communicated to others, not even their mates. Those in the far reaching fraternity of Amateur Radio are no different and if you become aware of changes in the personality and behaviour of your Amateur Radio friends in any circumstances then it is truly time to be Looking Out for Your Mates. The changes you see may be their cry for help. Look Out for Your Mates This has been Ewan VK4ERM for the WIA Board I'D SOONER BE FISHING Every now and then members let us know they receive spam emails claiming to be from the WIA and wanting to obtain personal information, this sort of email activity is called PHISHING (pronounced fishing). Phishing is a way that the bad people on the internet attempt to acquire information from us such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by claiming to be from a trustworthy entity (in our case the WIA). Customers of Banks and other financial institutions are typically the major targets of Phishing scams however they seem to have a go at people from any organisation including organizations like ours. So remember, should our WIA office staff ever need to verify your membership or personal details, they will contact you directly by telephone, never by unsolicited email. HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. VK2 web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news Email Address : r_demkiw@yahoo.com.au Planning is well under way for "Amateur Radio's big day out" next year at the Wyong racecourse. The Central Coast Amateur Radio Club Field day at Wyong has a new service for next year. A "group meet-up" service. There are several Amateur Radio groups who are spread across the country and rarely are able to meet-up in person, so why not take advantage of the fact that many group members travel to the Wyong Field Day? This is a free service. The CCARC will allocate 30 minute slots throughout the day on a first come first served basis and publicise these before the field day and announce them over the public address system throughout the day. An area in the coffee & tea room on the 2nd floor of the race club building will be set aside as the "meet-up point". This has lift access available for those who have difficulty with stairs. As the slots are already filling, it is recommended to get your application in as soon as possible by sending an email to WFDMeetup at gmail.com The list will close at the end of January or earlier if all slots are taken, so that signs can be printed for display at the event and the list publicised. Make sure you have the date firmly in your calendar *- CCARC Field day at Wyong - February 26th. 2012 and the Field-Day website at www.fieldday.org.au for all information about the event. VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ Police Roundup http://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/ Victorian National Parks next weekend So far eight registrations have been received for declared National Parks activations in Victoria as a concentrated effort is made on the Keith Roget Memorial National Parks Award. It is also part of the Amateur Radio Victoria Century and will run from Friday November the 18th through to Monday November 21st. They include Heathcote-Graytown, Brisbane Ranges, Barmah, Dandenong Ranges, Greater Bendigo, plus a yet to be specified park in Gippsland. For the Saturday and Sunday Terry Murphy VK3UP will be using the special call sign VK100ARV. Others involved are VK3WAM, VK3JDA, VK3VTH, VK3ZPF, VK3EME and VK3PF. Check them out by visiting www.amateurradio.com.au and tune around the bands next weekend giving them plenty of support. (Jim Linton VK3PC) VK4 Welcome to QNews from VK4WIA. I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP and I've been thinking. October 9th was important for the 2 dozen or so amateurs who attended the President's Luncheon at the Bundaberg Radio Club. Since the reformation of the Wireless Institute of Australia and devolving the old state WIA branches into advisory committees, these meetings have been a way of sharing face to face between the clubs and the board of the Institute. WIA President, Michael Owen, VK3KI ran the meeting so that ideas that had surfaced could be put and thoughts gathered from the clubs represented. Similarly, ideas and concerns from the clubs were put to the meeting and input from the VK4 event will be used at later similar get-togethers. Discussion at the tea break and again at lunch ran the gamut of what you would expect of a bunch of amateurs - from home brew to dealings with policy councils. Still one question which Michael raised seemed not to prompt an easy response. Whilst everyone agreed that recruiting to the hobby from our younger community is necessary, getting a finger on what attracts the people who have grown up with the "convergent" technology, to me or you and our hobby of amateur radio, just seemed too hard. As time has gone on and technology has outstripped individual imaginations, when we talk about the good old days of radio, is it not really us that has run out of steam and not the young people with their pocket computer radio internet linked devices? How do these people relate to you and me and how do we attractively present our interests to them? I'm Geoff Emery and that's what I think....how about you? CENTRAL QUEENSLAND AR CLUB Rockhampton cqar.com.au With late notice and being a Monday Morning, it was great to see many of the Central Queensland Amateur Radio Association Members turn out to assist with an open day at the Rockhampton Heritage Village. Our members assisted the Heritage Village co-ordinator VK4NJB – Jeff in the setup, cleaning and activation of the radio museum. The Singaporean Armed Forces and other international visitors were touring the Heritage Village on the day and were taken through the Amateur Radio Museum. Members present displayed UHF, VHF and HF operations as well as a HF Portable Back-Pack radio. A big thanks go out to the CQARA Members that assisted. From all reports the display was well received by our international visitors. I’m Adam – VK4MTJ on behalf of the Central Queensland Amateur Radio Association. SUNSHINE COAST Maleny VK4RSC 146.850 (91.5HZ) and 438.075 VK4RSN 53.7 Noosa Heads VK4RSL 146.825 and 438.175 The Expedition 3 members from SCARC set out together to travel to and attend the CHARC annual get together at Fairbairn Dam recently, they travelled up together but came back 3 different and separate ways. What could have happened, are they still friends?? It started a few days early, 3 4WD's, 3 Caravans and 3 couples. It took 3 days to get up there from the Sunshine Coast which seems a bit slow but they did all have 4WD's from the same manufacturer. Possibly there were some bitsamissing however the official story is they took their time. First nights camp and a brand new caravan suffered a broken awning clip at the hands of an experienced caravanner, oh the shame. There were other problems, intermittent radio comms in one car meant the other two could only chat to each other, some like to drive less per day, other like to drive more etc. All were running HF APRS and it was interesting to see some get out a lot more position reports than others, this was good as it highlighted a fault with one setup. Not to mention another one that drove through a 10 foot clearance bridge with an 11 foot antenna, needless to say there were no beacons from that one anymore. The report back to the club seems to indicate they do still talk to each other, I think they actually enjoy arguing amongst themselves, so even though they went their separate ways on the way back it was because they had planned it that way. But as they say "why let the truth get in the way of a good story" Tone added to 146.850 at Maleny Due to ongoing interference a 91.5Hz tone is required to access the Maleny 146.850 repeater. The 146.825 linked repeater at Noosa does not require a tone so if you can't access the Maleny repeater due to not having a tone try Noosa. TABLELANDS RADIO AND ELECTRONICS CLUB vk4wat@wia.org.au www.treclub.org.au G’day again from the Atherton Tablelands this is Dale VK4DMC for the Tablelands Radio and Electronics Club, TREC, in Far North Queensland. TREC members are planning for the VHF/UHF Spring Field Day contest to be held on the 26/27th November. We will be operating from Hallorans Hill which is located only 1.5 kilometres from the centre of Atherton. Grid locator is QH22rr. This contest is always lots of fun and allows operators to see just how far they can work on the higher bands. Frequencies to be used by TREC will be 6M, 2M, 70cm, 23cm and 3cm. Some club members will also be operating from other locations around the Atherton Tablelands during the contest. We are also planning for the Annual TREC End of Year party to be held at the Tolga Hotel on Saturday 3rd December. The famous (or maybe that should read infamous) TREC Trivia Challenge will be held again with this year’s quizmaster being Gary (Snoopy) VK4FD. Now a reminder of our up and coming VK4XQA operation on 160M & 80M that is scheduled for 19/20/21 November 2011 from Euramo, QLD, Australia. All systems are go, antenna ready, the rig and amplifier are ready, now we wait until we can all congregate at the site. Operation times and frequencies will be fairly flexible with operation mainly during our nights here and with prime consideration being given to top band operations. Top Band Operations: We will have one operator, John VK4TL who will be our designated CW operator and who will be operating in the CW section of the band, somewhere around 1825KHz. Our SSB operators will be Jeff VK4BOF and Gary VK4FD who may also grace us with his CW skills, Chris VK4YCG will also be operating on occasion, mainly on AM for the old time operators out there. SSB and AM operations will be on or about 1845KHz though we can go lower for those of you out there that are not permitted operations in that section of the band. These frequencies comply with the suggested band plan here in Australia and also seem to be ok for IARU region's 1 & 2 as well. Please bare in mind that we will only be operating with ONE RADIO, therefore we cannot devote all our time to just CW or just to the AM/SSB side of it, we must share it aound amongst all modes and operators. 80M band Operations: 80M band operation is secondary to our 160M band efforts. SSB & CW Operation on 80M will be within the frequency range of 3779KHz to 3799KHz. AKA, the 'DX Window' in Australia. We *may* operate at a lower frequency ie: between 3500 & 3700KHz but it will be a much lower priority. In fact our whole 80M band activation is going to be of a lower priority for us, we are mainly going to be on-site for 160M band operations. Power output on all modes and frequencies will be the Australian legal limit for the appropriate mode. The rig will be an Elecraft K3 and the amplifier will be an Elecraft KPA500. An Elecraft P3 Panadaptor will also be in use to see the activity around us on the bands. Well that’s your lot for this week. Once again don’t forget to visit the TREC website at www.treclub.org.au for club information and you can also download the latest monthly club news in TREC-NEWS. Past issues are also available on the site. This has been Dale VK4DMC and you are listening to QNEWS. Travel Well! VK5 November 20 is Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest Goodwood Community Centre, Rosa St Goodwood at 0930. Visit www.ahars.com.au for contact details INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA. New Zealand Amateur Radio Day will be held March 10 from 1000 to 1400 hours. NZART Branches are being encouraged to set up stations in prominent areas in their local community, and to make contact with other NZARD stations and home stations. Media inclusion is to be encouraged. The purpose of NZARD is twofold. To expose Ham Radio to the community and to prospect for potential amateur operators. Container search continues The search continues off Tauranga in ZL land for containers lost from the stranded ship Rena in bad weather back in October. Sonar searches have found a number of them within a 1,000 metre radius of the ship, in water up to 80 metres deep. A total of 30 containers has either washed up on beaches or been located, leaving around 50 still missing. Four containers with dangerous goods on board the Rena have been tagged with transmitters in case they too end up coming off the ship. 500 kHz During the meeting of the CEPT WRC-12 Conference Preparatory Group held in Bucharest between November 1st-4th 2011 a European Common Proposal (ECP) was agreed. This ECP represents the block vote of 48 administrations and was passed without dissent. It proposes an allocation to the amateur service between 472-480 kHz on a secondary basis with a maximum power limit of 5W eirp. This ECP will now be forwarded to the ITU as a contribution from CEPT to WRC-12. The IARU has thanked the European Member Societies who helped to influence their national administrations in this matter. This is an important step in the IARU efforts to secure a worldwide secondary allocation to the amateur service in the region of 500 kHz at WRC-12 BBC celebrates 75 years of television Back on November 2, 1936 the BBC ran the world’s first "repeat" of a TV show, this on the very same day they COMMENCED transmissions from Alexandra Palace. Having the transmitter and studios in the same building caused some problems at first, such as radio transmissions interfering with electronics of cameras. Two services were tested. John Logie Baird's in one studio and a Marconi-EMI system in another. A coin toss decided that the pilot programme would be transmitted on the Baird system first, and then on the Marconi-EMI system following a brief pause - so that there was a repeat show on the first day! After three months it was decided to use the EMI system. A BBC video reports names once considered for television included phototelegraphy, seeing by wireless, and electric telescope. Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/313799#ixzz1d5Bw1kbU Still at the Beeb, the BBC World Service is moving out of Bush House and into Broadcasting House early next year. An online auction of general audio and radio equipment is being held, which includes: Audio consoles: Speakers: Microphones: Headphones, equipment stands, microphone stands, tape decks, turntables, stereo power amplifiers, general audio processing equipment. For more information, including photos, and to sign up for the auction, visit http://www.go-dove.com/event-16010/BBC-World-Service Bidding closes on 22 November. ============================================================================= RSGB New 6m beacon from Greece A 5MHz beacon from Greece is now on the air. Operating on 5,398.5kHz CW, it runs 30W into a non-resonant antenna for the moment. It should be on the air mostly between 19.00 and 06.00 UTC. It may be off on some days due to other HF activities at the test site, so try to listen regularly. Details of the beacon message and timings can be found on the IARU Region 1 website, www.iaru-r1.org New digital net A new digital net to encourage use of these modes on 10m will be held every Saturday and Sunday at 18.00 UTC. The net will gather on 28,125kHz USB, plus or minus QRM. RS ID and Call ID will be used to help people pick out the net and modes used. Olivia 500/8 mode will be used to call up the net but it may switch modes as needed. Check out www.obriensweb.com/sked for online coordination during each session. Colorado 6m beacon back on air The Colorado 6m beacon is back on the air following rebuilding. The operating frequency is 50.065MHz and the call sign is KA0CDN. Further information can be found online at www.rmvhf.org SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2011 Nov 26-27 WIA Spring VHF-UHF Field Day 2012 January VK Ross Hull Memorial VHF UHF Contest March 17-18 VK JOHN MOYLE MEMORIAL FIELD DAY June Long Weekend (vk4 time) VK Shires Contest. July First full weekend NZART Memorial Contest SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE Closed QSL Bureaux There are 2 new countries that have closed their QSL bureaux, TU Cote d'Ivoire and V7 Marshall Island. If you work these countries make sure you get the QSL manager or QSL direct. There is no point in sending them to the outgoing bureau as they will only be returned to you. Ascension Island will see activity by K7ZZ using ZD8ZZ and W6HGF using ZD8F. They will be there until November 22 using CW, RTTY and some SSB. Logs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World. (irts) Amateur Radio Newsline report that the Five Star DXers Association's T32C DXpedition to Christmas Island is now history. Despite initial difficulties with their container of equipment not reaching the island, the team finished with over 213,000 contacts and this is the first time an expedition has exceeded 200,000 QSO’s to that rare location. AWARDS VK100ARV is on air Want to qualify for the Amateur Radio Victoria Centenary Award or obtain the special QSL card? Sunday this weekend has it activated again by Luke Steele VK3HJ. He has it on Thursday this week too. VK100ARV is through the VK3RML repeater on Monday nights during the Digital Slow Scan TV session around 1000z-1300z. Outside those times Keith Proctor VK3FT will be on every Monday. On Friday November the 18th Peter Freeman VK3PF puts it on air. And from the Brisbane Ranges will be heard Terry Murphy VK3UP both on the Saturday and Sunday. Check out the VK100ARV roster, Award conditions, and reports on previous activity on the website www.amateurradio.com.au Every day in November is a VK100ARV day. RSGB Commonwealth Century Club Jubilee Award 2012 2012 is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and mindful that the Queen is the head of the Commonwealth of Nations we are pleased to announce a new operating award for 2012. To qualify for an attractive certificate all you need to do is to work as many different countries and call areas on the Commonwealth Century Club list during 2012. Certificates will be awarded for working 60 and 100 different call areas. Use any mode or bands you like and QSL cards are not required. Score sheets and full details can be downloaded from www.beru.org.uk/CCCaward/CCCindex.html G3PJT@btinternet.com WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video arvideonews.com hamradiotube.com youtube.com qdg.org.au At this month’s general meeting, the SEQATV group gave the Brisbane Digital Amateur Television Group permission to commence testing digital TV transmission on 446.5 MHz from their Ocean View repeater site. It is hoped that if the testing goes well, the two groups will combine their ATV repeaters in the near future. (Alan Wills VK4NA For the SEQATV group) 'Chirpy' 28 MHz CW Transceiver on YouTube Roger G3XBM has released a video of 'Chirpy' the CW transceiver for 28 MHz that uses just 14 components. This ultra-simple transceiver puts out just over 100mW and can hear signals down to around 2uV in a quiet room. Crystal controlled, full QSK and great fun, although the signal does chirp! Hence the name. Best DX so far is 1414km. The circuit diagram of Chirpy is at https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp/Home/xbm10_2 Google Chirpy - a 14 part CW transceiver for 28MHz on YouTube OSCAR 1 YouTube video A prototype of the first Amateur Radio satellite, OSCAR 1, has been on display at the AMSAT symposium in San Jose. OSCAR-1 was launched nearly 50 years ago on December 12, 1961. Its beacon sent the letters HI on 144.9830 MHz CW. Bob Allison, WB1GCM of ARRL's Technical Lab led the effort to refurbish the OSCAR 1 prototype on display at ARRL headquarters. With the help of OSCAR 1 developer Lance Ginner, K6GSJ, Bob and his team got OSCAR 1 operational again. The refurbished OSCAR-1 was on display at the ARRL exhibit area at the 2011 Dayton Hamvention. The OSCAR 1 prototype was again on display during the AMSAT Symposium where everyone was able to once again hear the CW transmissions (now managed by a PIC controller) in the 145 MHz band. Watch OSCAR 1 - 1st Amateur Radio Sat at AMSAT space symposium 2011 - San Jose, just Google YouTube 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 AubieSat-1 designated AO-71 OSCAR Number Administrator, Bill Tynan, W3XO reports that he has advised J. M. Wersinger, PhD, KI4YAU, Professor Emeritus and Director of Auburn University's Student Space Program, that following the successful NASA ELaNa III launch on October 28, 2011 of AubieSat-1, and by the request of the AubieSat-1 team, the new satellite has been assigned an OSCAR number. Professor Wersinger documented that telemetry has been received from the satellite. The IARU-Sat Website states that AubieSat-1 was fully coordinated with the IARU. Bill wrote, "Therefore, by the authority vested in me by the AMSAT-NA President, I hereby designate AubieSat-1 as AubieSat Oscar 71 or AO-71 and welcome this newest OSCAR into the Amateur Radio satellite community. On behalf of AMSAT-NA and the world's amateur radio satellite community, I congratulate Professor Wersinger, Auburn University and all of those responsible for building, testing and launching this new CubeSat. May its mission meet with success." (Bill Tynan, W3XO OSCAR Number Administrator via SouthGate) 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 Following in text editions only:- Saving almost 1,000 lives The Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST) Secretary Paul Wacharaphol HS4DDQ reports his team helped to save almost 1,000 lives by coordinating rescue communications in cases of medical emergencies during the severe flooding. He coordinates the emergency medical communications at Public Health Ministry on Ngarmwongwarn Road and using the call sign HS0AC. Speaking at a small RAST gathering at Sena Place Hotel on Sunday November 6, Paul HS4DDQ told how emergency unfolded. Since the flooding began in July at least 529 people have been killed in the affected 63 of Thailand's 77 provinces. The cost to the local economy including hundreds of global manufacturers who rely on its low-cost factories keeps rising. The amateur radio station established by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NTC) using the call HS0AB were also discussed, along with the donations that RAST has received that now total over 50,000 baht, including a large amount received from donors in Malaysia. The NBTC has praised the role that radio amateurs have been playing to help people cope with the disaster by providing communications support and this have been especially helpful in flooded areas where several mobile phone cell sites have failed. Government agencies have been able to take advantage of the amateur radio communications infrastructure when their own networks failed. Using their skills and experience radio amateurs kept communicating with one another under adverse conditions. There volunteer spirit that has carried radio amateurs to the "front-line" has also helped many victims of Thailand's worst flooding in over 60 years. The RAST club station HS0AB was controlled by Pranee Netrattana E21DKD, was praised for her efforts. The station was inundated by flood water to a depth of over one metre, but that the campus was presently still inaccessible and the extent of damage to equipment is yet to be evaluated A good example of this was demonstrated by Champ Muangamphun E21EIC and his wife Goi E20NKB, who left after the meeting with flood relief supplies in their four-wheel drive vehicle well equipped with a boat strapped to the roof. (Jim Linton VK3PC, Chairman IARU R3 Disaster Communications Committee / RAST) SOCIAL SCENE 2011 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 FEB 12 VK3 CentreVictoria Hamfest, Kyneton Racecourse FEB 26 VK2 CCARC WYONG FIELD DAY APR 14-15 VK WIA National Field Day. MAY 3-18 VK5 YL International 2012 Australia (vk5tmc@bigpond.com) MAY 25-27 VK3 WIA Annual Conference Mildura JULY 14 VK4 Wide Bay Hamfest. West Maryborough Scout Hall Nov 12 VK3 SPARC HAMFEST (ROSEBUD BY THE BAY) WIA Annual Conference Mildura May 25th, 26th and 27th 2012 Details for the WIA 2012 Annual Conference being held in Mildura are on wia.org.au Host club is Sunraysia Radio Group, led by Garry Briant VK3KYF and Noel Ferguson VK3FI. WIA Members who register for the event will be able to participate in a range of fascinating and memorable activities. 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.org.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. TWITTER http://twitter.com/VK1WIA 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 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