WIANEWS - Jan 29 - 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 JANUARY 29 2012. 50th Anniversary Perth City of Light, John Glenn, TODAY you will hear audio from John Glenn in space over Perth back in '62. T-minus 18 and counting .. God Speed John Glenn .. 10, 9 .. Stay tuned, more later... IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JANUARY 29 2012. G’day everyone! And welcome from the members of the CCARC, I’m Rod VK2FVRJ. Who’s 55 years old and showing no sign of retiring? The CCARC Field Day at Wyong, that’s who! The 26th of February, 2012, marks the 55th year of Australia’s largest gathering of ham radio enthusiasts. And every year just gets better and better! From the flea market, to the major suppliers of Amateur Radio equipment, the various AR clubs and exhibitors, the Field day is packed with plenty to interest the Amateur Radio fraternity And what would the Field day be without our usual lecture program, which promises yet again, to be a highlight of the day’s activities. This year’s topics span the years, starting with Vintage Radio Repair, Radar before the Magnetron , right up to the new National Broadband Network. For our final lecture, we are very pleased to have a presentation from Hellenic Amateur Radio Assoc. Of Australia on the 2011 DXpedition to Lord Howe Island which included a member of our own CCARC. Please check the fieldday.org.au website for more information regarding the lecture program and times. So grab your calendar, mark the date and we’ll see you at CCARC Field Day at Wyong – 26th February, 2012 P.S. Don’t forget the raffle! Christopher Lampe VK2FVKG let us know of an event that whilst not ham radio based is a family fun filled event and it's known as the Hastings American Motorcycle Club Date : March 2nd-4th 2012 ( Fri– Sun ) Hastings Motocross Complex Burrawan Forest Drive ( off Pacific Hwy South of Port Macquarie ) event includes * Live Bands * Market Stalls * Motocross & Unicycle Racing and much more * Camping Sites Available * Showers and Toilets Contact : Charlie 04 04 07 9835 Patch Clubs By Invitation for more information please contact Cricket – 0447199443 or Stormy – 0439846442 Regards VK2FVKG Hi again Folks, Neil VK4NF back again with a final reminder that the Ham & Wine fest at Maclagan is on this coming Saturday the 4th February commencing at 9am. BBQ breakfast & Lunch available, 1940s & 50s radio display, new and preloved gear for sale, Multi draw raffle. Lucky door prize. And don’t forget the wine. And the monster Auction. Look forward to seeing you there and good morning to all The Centre Victoria RadioFest at the Kyneton Racecourse, an hour from Melbourne, Ballarat and Bendigo on Sunday the 12th of February. All the major commercial traders would not miss it and neither should you. Looking for bargains, components, bits and pieces, connectors, cable, sealed lead acid batteries or antennas? Then come and check out the second-hand market or car-boot sales alley. Want to make a sales table or car-boot space booking? Then be quick and obtain an application form from the Amateur Radio Victoria website. Other attractions are digital amateur television, emergency communications, mini-lectures, historical displays and lots, lots more. Free tea and coffee. The venue is mostly under cover, fully catered for or bring your own picnic. The Centre Victoria RadioFest at Kyneton on Sunday the 12th of February. Points are contact are: Commercial Traders Liaison, Barry Robinson VK3PV 0428 516 001 Second hand tables are space, Ross Pittard VK3CE 0408 533 107 Club Corner Precinct, Tony Hambling VK3VTH 0423 635 152 (Bruce Lees VK3FFF) Melbourne Maker Faire a success 22 January's VK1WIA reported on a new Maker column in CQ magazine, intended to strengthen ties between radio amateurs and the maker community. Closer to home, Melbourne's Connected Community Hackerspace held Australia's first Mini Maker Faire on Saturday January 14. The event, held at Swinburne University, attracted an estimated 400 visitors. Think of it like a Hamfest but with practical stands replacing equipment sales. Popular exhibits included 3 dimensional printing, electronic music and Arduino open source microcontrollers. There were also learn to solder workshops, Lego poetry and numerous demonstrations. These included a remote controlled blimp, traditional handicrafts and a self-righting electronic Segway scooter (developed by Malcolm Faed VK2TMF). Key themes of Maker Faire included pulling apart, recycling, repairing and making. Computing, cheap components and easy to program microcontrollers is encouraging creative people to juxtapose art and electronics. A number of VK3s attended and enjoyed the event. For those who wished they had gone several comprehensive videos of the event can be viewed on YouTube - just search for 'Melbourne Mini Maker Faire' More info: http://makerfairemelbourne.wordpress.com/ & http://www.hackmelbourne.org/ The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) opened in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, January 23. Attendees will review and revise the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of radio frequency spectrum and satellite orbits. One of the items to be considered at WRC-12 is Agenda Item 1.23: To consider an allocation of about 15 kHz in parts of the band 415-526.5 kHz to the Amateur Service on a secondary basis, taking into account the need to protect existing services. More than 3000 participants are expected to attend the four-week conference. IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH has been using Twitter to keep interested radio amateurs apprised of what is happening at WRC-12. According to his tweets, the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), the East African Community (EAC), the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) and the South African Development Community (SADC) also support an MF secondary allocation to the Amateur Service. To find out what is happening on a regular sometimes hourly basis you can check out the RSGB and ARRL web sites and follow Ellam on Twitter twitter.com/IARU_President 50th Anniversary Perth City of Light, John Glenn, ARISS contact On the 20th of February 1962 a Mercury-Atlas 6 space craft called "Friendship 7" was launched. In the hot-seat was Astronaut, John Glenn. The objective was to place a man into earth orbit, observe his reactions to the space environment and safely return him to earth to a point where he could be readily found. During the first orbit of 3, the spacecraft came into radio range of the Muchea Tracking Station where the first Australian Space Radio contact was made by Gerry O'Connor who spoke with John Glenn as he passed overhead. Muchea contact audio John Glenn reported that he saw the City of Perth and a very bright light as he overflew Perth and the Kwinana refinery which flared for the occasion. Perth bright light The event gave Perth the moniker, the City of Light. Next month, 50 years after those 3 orbits, the WA State Records Office, the WA Museum, the City of Perth, ARISS, the Hills Amateur Radio Group and of course NASA are going to celebrate with a public event in the Northbridge Piazza in Perth where around 10 lucky primary and secondary school students will make a public ARISS contact together with web-streaming and other activities, such as a radio telescope, optical telescopes, museum exhibitions a presentation by the WA Chief Scientist and some others we're working on. I have to say, it helps when there is an amateur at the State Records Office, hi Meg, VK6LUX. From a technical perspective, we'll be using a tele-bridge because we don't actually have an overhead orbit to the International Space Station, but Dick, AH6NM, the ARISS amateur in Honolulu will be wide awake at midnight to make the contact possible. In Perth, members of the Hills Amateur Radio Group will provide the amateur link between the technology and the students so they can talk to an Astronaut. Behind the scenes there is feverish activity by Tony VK5ZAI, who is the ARISS mentor in Australia - and I recommend you take a moment to have a look at some of the photo's he's published online, you'll see a NASA style console in his shack and a tracking antenna to make you drool. This once in a life-time experience is going to introduce a whole new generation of kids into space and amateur radio. If you have or know school going children, primary or secondary, in Western Australia, get them to fill in the competition form on the WA Museum Web-site, museum.wa.gov.au/city-lights If you're able to make it to Perth on February 20th, we'd love to see you at the Northbridge Piazza where we'll be setting up for the contact. Festivities start from 5pm. So, get your kids to fill in the form, at museum.wa.gov.au/city-lights and watch this space! NA1SS contact with WH6PN (lead in to Italy ARISS contact) VK4 HOSTS "EARTH FIRE and RAIN". Prevention, preparedness, response & recovery will be the focus of the Australian & New Zealand National Disaster and Emergency Management Conference to be held in Brisbane from April 16 – April 18 this year. The conference will include keynote addresses, concurrent sessions and workshops covering human and social issues, economic and environmental challenges, infrastructure, community and communication topics. It is a joint initiative of the Australian Institute of Emergency Services, the Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association Inc. and the Association for Sustainability in Business Inc. Each association is a Non-Government, Not for Profit, Member Based organisation. The "Provisional Conference Program" is now available on the website. So how did WIA National News come by this story? No not from RAVERN or WICEN but from VU land and the hamradioindia@yahoogroups.com web service. Tracey Toovey is a member of the Joint Association Committee for EFR and could be a contact point for any ham radio rescue group who would want to attend. http://anzdmc.com.au (hamradioindia@yahoogroups.com) Newcastle amateur finally gets tower approval. Charles Hunt VK2CLH, after a delay of some 12 months finally has tower back in the air. George used to live at Stockton but moved to Wallsend, he brought his tower from Stockton and when he applied to re-erect it at Wallsend - the local council - the same for both locations - said NO. With help from the Hunter Group and others approval was finally achieved. George who is 86 can now resume his 20 metre skeds with his stateside buddies you might find him on 14.332 at 11 pm local VK2 times SILENT KEY It is with regret that we have to advise of the passing January 14 of Pierce Healy VK2APQ. Pierce had celebrated his 100th Birthday last August. Pierce was a Life Member of both ARNSW and the WIA. Among many activities he wrote the Amateur Band notes in Radio & Hobbies from in the 1960's until they ended in the 1980's. DISCUSSION POINT I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2012/20120118-1/index.php On the link given in the text edition of the news is a reminder of the World Radio Conference being held in Geneva, Switzerland from 23rd January to 17th February this year. Readers of “Amateur Radio” magazine will have previously seen Michael Owen’s VK3KI, WIA President, explanation of how this conference fits into the structure of administration of radio but with particular reference to the amateur service. Dale Hughes, VK1DSH, will be attending as a member of the Australian contingent and representing the Wireless Institute of Australia. Some people ask why the Institute spends its resources in attending these meetings. For the Advanced Licensees they have a decision of a past conference for access to 10MHz, 17MHz and 24MHz collectively referred to as the WARC bands. At that time the meeting was called the World Administrative Radio Conference thus we get the acronym of WARC. It was one of the first acts of this conference in the 21st century to recommend the removal of the Morse Code requirement which gave “Limited” licensees access to the HF spectrum below 29MHz. In participating at the highest international levels of administration relevant to our hobby the Institute can take credit for maintaining and improving local licence conditions for all the amateur fraternity. It may seem very remote to the individual but joining the WIA is a real way of supporting the hobby both in VK and around the world. I’m Geoff Emery and that’s what I think....how about you? INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA. Global radio experts float new mobile phone standard Global radio experts have approved radio standards that are to usher in a new mobile phone operating system to replace third generation or 3G technology. The newly-adopted 'IMT Advanced Spectrum' would result in faster and better quality mobile services, said the director of the ITU’s Radiocommunication bureau at the organisation’s Radiocommunication Assembly in Geneva. Some phone providers have dubbed the new standard “4G”. “The term 4G remains undefined, but it is being applied by operators to the forerunners of IMT-Advanced technologies” and to others evolving from 3G systems, the ITU said in a statement. The World Meteorological Organization warned however that increased pressure on the use of radio spectrum could hamper its observation work. “Weather forecasts, disaster warnings and climate monitoring are all critically dependent on radio frequency bands which are used around the clock by meteorological services,” the WMO said in a statement. “Increasing pressure on the use of radio spectrum from wireless technology and other applications could hamper earth observations and efforts to understand and predict climate change.” As previously reported today, ITU officials are expecting 150 countries and 3,300 delegates at the WRC, which runs to February 17. The demand for wireless technologies will more than double in London during the seven weeks of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The event includes the assignment up to 20,000 wireless frequencies. Demand is due to the increasing use of wireless technologies such as wireless cameras and wireless microphones, for close-up action to a global audience of over 4 billion viewers. The extensive use of walkie-talkies by the organisers, talkback systems for broadcasters, timing and scoring systems and sports commentary systems for the audience, will also be essential for the organisation of the Games. Spectrum is already being used at full capacity. The extra demand includes borrowing spectrum on a short-term basis from public sector bodies, such as the Ministry of Defence and parts of the amateur service secondary allocation on 70cm. Ofcom will be using a large team of radio engineers to track down and deal with any cases of interference. Read the full Ofcom announcement at http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2012/01/23/ofcom-prepares-for-record-spectrum-demand-at-london-2012-games/ BBC News - London 2012: Olympics to create 'record' wireless spectrum demand http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16686471 Long awaited modified rules mean that more than 2,000 CL prefix stations in Cuba will be able to use parts of the 80m and 40m for the first time! Until now the Third Class code-less licence has been confined to segments on the 160m and 2m bands using 10w on CW and Phone. Their new expanded allocation means CL holders will be heard also on 7100 to 7125 kHz and 3500 to 3750 kHz. A bid lead by France and the USA to stop leap seconds has failed at the ITU Radio Assembly. A revision of Standard-frequency and time-signal emissions failed to reach consensus at the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Assembly meeting. Since 1972 a leap second has been used to synchronise Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) with solar time. The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service has decided to add a leap second at the end of June 2012. While a leap second can be added and taken from any month, it has only occurred at the end of December and June. The most recent leap was added on December 31st, 2008. A leap second is necessary because of the Earth's unpredictable rotation. GMT is based on atomic clocks, but has been kept more or less synchronised with mean solar time by way of leap seconds, in addition to the normal Leap Day on February 29th. The leap second is recognisable by the Greenwich Time signal having seven pips, an additional pip being inserted before the final beep. Substantial UK Band Plan changes The latest edition of RadCom features the 2012 RSGB Band Plans and a background article on the substantial changes that have occurred. This information is now also available to all amateurs online at www.rsgb.org/operating/bandplans. In particular, please note that there have been major changes in the 40m, 10m, 6m, 4m and 23cm bands, so please ensure that any older editions are discarded. RADIO LAW: QRZ.COM JOINS THE FIGHT TO STOP SOPA AND PIPA The giant QRZ.com ham radio website has joined the fight to stop passage of SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and PIPA, a similar bill working its way through the U-S Senate. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Robert Sudock, WB6FDF, reports on why QRZ.com and its owner Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ is taking this hard-line stand. Why should ham radio care about these two bills? According to publisher Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ, the measures are sponsored by Hollywood entertainment corporations and the recording industry. They threaten to destroy the internet as we know it. And in his front page posting on the QRZ.com, he lists what he terms “the facts about the bills.” According to AA7BQ, websites will be required to police their own content for copyright violations of all kinds. Any website found in violation of the intellectual property of another party must be shut down -- it's internet access blocked by its Internet Service Provider, DNS de-listing, and all banking transactions via online payment providers would be stopped. Lloyd notes that there is no burden of proof required to shut down a website. Any claim of copyright infringement could result in a court ordered shutdown. Website owners will be responsible for policing content uploaded by their users. A violation could be ridiculously minor to qualify such as uploading a trademarked image, a photo of a celebrity, a clipping from a newspaper, an audio clip from movie, or the like. Also, uploading a copyrighted song or video would become a felony under the US Code. And it is not just domestic websites that would be impacted. The law would apply to foreign websites as well, requiring United States based Internet Service Providers to block access to those sites. Lloyd then notes that this law could also kill his site, QRZ.com, as users know it. He notes that the site currently has some 300,000 photographs on its server, all of which would have to be taken down and manually verified to be in compliance. The same thing would hold true for each biography page where a photograph or other image exists. Lloyd says that in his case, there's no way he could do it. If burdened with this sort of responsibility, QRZ would simply be found in violation and forcibly shut down by the federal government, all in an to protest both bills many websites went dark on Wednesday, January 18 effort to please what he terms as Hollywood and the music industries. To protest both bills, many websites went dark on Wednesday, January 18. The Amateur Radio Newsline provides a short video insert in the TWiT network's Ham Nation podcast each Tuesday evening. That network did not go dark, but devoted its live programming to the SOPA and PIPA topics. As we go to air the programs should be rendered and posted for download in both audio and video formats. Go to www.twit.tv and look for "Security Now," "This Week in Google," "Tech News Today," and "Triangulation" for a more detailed and web centric discussion. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Robert Sudock, WB6FDF, in Los Angeles. AA7BQ ends his posting by asking those who use his website to contact their Congressmen and Senators to voice your opposition to both of these measures, especially SOPA. He says that it's not just QRZ.com that depends on their action. Rather he says, it's the entire internet as they know it today. SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2012 VK Ross Hull Memorial VHF UHF Contest CLOSES TUESDAY January 31 VK JOHN MOYLE MEMORIAL FIELD DAY March 17-18 VK/ZL AM/CW on ANZAC DAY April 25 VK/ZL Trans Tasman Contest 80metres SSB May 5 VK Shires Contest June 9-10 VK/ZL Trans-Tasman Contest 160metres SSB June 25 ZL NZART Memorial Contest July First full weekend VK Remembrance Day Contest August 11-12 WW International Lighthouse Lightship Wknd August 18-19 SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE Special callsigns for UK radio amateurs during 2012 The Radio Society of Great Britain and Ofcom have reached agreement on the optional use of special callsigns for two significant events during 2012. For the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, all UK amateur stations will have the option of applying for a variation to their licence if they wish, to use a special prefix for a five week period. This will add or substitute the letter “Q” in the place of the Regional identifier in the callsign. Period: 00.00 BST 5th May 2012 to 23.59 BST 10th June 2012. For the period of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, a similar facility will exist for a seven week period, using the letter “O”. Period: 00.00 BST 21st July 2012 to 23.59 BST 9th September 2012 Read the full details at http://www.rsgb.org/news/articlelinks.php?id=0263 ITU HQ Special Activity The International Amateur Radio Club, 4U1ITU, is operating with the special callsign 4U1WRC until February 17th. Activity will take place during the ITU World Radio Conference 2012 from Geneva, Switzerland. Operations will be from 160-6 meters, eventually higher, all modes. All QSOs will be confirmed with a special QSL available via 4U1ITU. Short updates of the operation will be posted on twitter at: http://twitter.com/4u1itu More detailed information is available on the Web site at: http://life.itu.int/radioclub WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DIGITAL David Rowe VK5DGR gave a presentation on the amateur radio digital voice Codec2 to the linux.conf.au 2012 in Ballarat, Jan 16-20, and was voted best paper of the conference. Codec2 is that open source low bit rate speech codec designed for communications quality speech at around 2400 bit/s. Operating at 2000 bit/s it can send 32 phone calls using the bandwidth required for one 64 Kbit/s uncompressed phone call. Watch Codec 2 - Open Source Speech Coding at 2400 bit/s and Below David Rowe by googling on YouTube. Also at that conference a presentation on a High Altitude Balloon project using amateur radio by Terry Baume VK5VZI, Foundation license holder Mark Jessop VK5FDRK, along with embedded hardware and software hacker Joel Stanley was give. The presentation titled 'Tux in (near) space!' was given to hackers at the linux.conf.au 2012. The Project Horus group have flown several amateur radio repeaters as well as APRS and video payloads. PSK2K – a new meteor scatter mode by DJ5HG PSK2K is a meteor scatter mode that enables multiple contacts to take place on a single frequency. PSK2k is high speed meteor scatter software written by Klaus DJ5HG (Prof. of Computer Science at University Hamburg). It allows 2 way MS QSO’s to be conducted with any suitable transceiver/PC/soundcard combination. Download PSK2K from http://www.dk5ew.de/2012/01/13/psk2k-a-new-meteorscatter-mode-by-dj5hg/ PSK2K Yahoo Group http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/psk2k/ 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 Winners in the ARISSat-1/KEDR Chicken Little Contest The Chicken Little Contest received 77 entries from 17 different countries, and all continents except Antarctica. Based on comments sent along with the submissions, a wide variety of techniques were used. These ranged from detailed calculations, to comparisons with past satellites, to guesses based on birthdays. The winners came from USA, UK and Switzerland. All three winners have received an appropriate Chicken Little Certificate, and the congratulations of the ARISSat-1/KEDR Team who thank all who entered. Winners of the ARISSat-1/KEDR Grab the Last Telemetry Contest. Thanks to the dedication of stations around the world, a nearly steady stream of digital telemetry reports were received in the final days from ARISSat-1/KEDR: 31 Dec -- 1125 01 Jan -- 1537 02 Jan -- 1541 03 Jan -- 1048 04 Jan -- 107 The final digital data received was copied by both JA8TCH, and JA0CAW. It was received at 06:02:14, 4 January, 2012, less than an hour before the estimated point of loss in the South Atlantic. Their data, combined with the submissions of many others, constitutes the most comprehensive coverage of the re-entry of any amateur satellite. JA8TCH and JA0CAW will receive a certificate for their achievement. SOCIAL SCENE 2012 World Radio Conference Geneva until 17th February FEB 4 VK4 Bunya Mts & District AmCom Inc. Ham & Wine Fest 2012. FEB 12 VK3 CentreVictoria Hamfest, Kyneton Racecourse FEB 26 VK2 CCARC WYONG FIELD DAY MAR 18 VK7 Sewing Circle Nets "Meet the Voice BBQ" at Ross. APR 14-15 VK WIA National Field Day. MAY 3-18 VK5 YL International 2012 Australia (vk5tmc@bigpond.com) MAY 5- 6 VK4 RADAR and MARC Clairview Gathering MAY 25-27 VK3 WIA Annual Conference Mildura JUN 8-11 VK4 FNNQARG! QLD Cassowary Coast JULY 14 VK4 Wide Bay Hamfest. West Maryborough Scout Hall JULY 21 VK3 Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club Hamfest @ Cranbourne NOV 12 VK3 SPARC HAMFEST (ROSEBUD BY THE BAY) Next meeting of the NWT-ATV Group will be 4th February at the QTH of Tony VK7AX. This will be the AGM followed by a General Meeting. If members are interested in a position on the executive committee, then please contact the Club for a Nomination form. If you are not a member of the Club, and would like to join, then please advise the Club to accommodate your request. Contact information can be found on the WIA Website under Clubs. Oh and a 12Volt / 12Amp Regulated Power supply has been donated as the raffle prize. 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. Each item will only be broadcast once, if you want a couple of mentions, please submit different slants to keep your event 'fresh'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ============================================================================= 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