WIANEWS - Feb 12 - 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 FEBRUARY 12 2012. WRC-12 Day 16 – 7 February 2012 – 500KHz YES! Perth City of Light, the Hills Amateur Radio Group Event. THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING FEBRUARY 12 2012. HACK THE TUBE – A TRIP TO THE EDGE OF SPACE BY TEEN HAM ERIN KING, AK4JG Erin King, AK4JG, of Columbia, Georgia, may only be a teenager but she has already left a very positive imprint in our world of amateur radio. Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, has the details on Erin’s magic carpet ride to the edge of space and the video that is taking the ham radio community by storm: Erin King, AK4JG has posted a video of her recent amateur radio high altitude balloon mission for the 'Hack the Tubes' project. This, for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s class of 2016's early admissions program. And when you see it you will find it hard to believe that both the flight and the video are the work of a very, very talented teen. According to AK4JG, she decided to send her Tube to the edge of space by turning it into an amateur radio high-altitude ballooning project. To accomplish this, Erin used two GPS and APRS-equipped transmitters for payload tracking. One of these signed the call AK4JG-11 and the other beaconed her fathers call sign of K4ETY-11. Each one sent out position packets from the Tube so Erin could follow it on the ground. Also on board the tube-shaped payload was an Earth viewing GoPro Hero camera shooting high definition video. And capture some breathtaking video of the entire flight it did. Erin’s payload was carried aloft by a Helium filled 800 gram weather balloon. Take-off took place on January 16th at around 1 P.M. Eastern time from Lumpkin, GA. The entire flight from launch to landing lasted about 2 hours. That is all compacted to 8 ½ minutes during which Erin’s video takes you from initial payload assembly of the trackers to the edge of space at over 90,000 feet and to recovery of the payload from where it landed in a pine tree. The video is set to the music of "Circuit" by Sonic Adventure Project. There is no narration. Instead Erin and her very professional video editing skill lets the pictures tell the entire story. You can see it for yourself by taking your web browser to tinyurl.com/AK4JG-balloon-video. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois. Again, you will find Erin’s video on-line at tinyurl.com/AK4JG-balloon-video Go take a look. You will be glad that you did. AND it begs the question whatever happened to the VKs from 5 and 2 that used to experiment with ballooning? To mark the 50th Anniversary of the Perth City of Light, the Hills Amateur Radio Group will make an ARISS contact. Taking resources from around the globe to make this possible. In the middle of the night Dick (AH6NM) and Mike (N6GOZ) will be running their ARISS tracking station, pointing their antennas at the International Space Station and directing the feed across the globe to Perth, where we'll be sitting in the shade of the big-screen at the Northbridge Piazza. Mike tells us that he's going to be fine with our Aussie slang, since he was born in Bris Vegas (Brisbane) and went to school in Tumby (Toowoomba). He also knows his station inside out, since he was one of the HAMs responsible for building the tracking facility. He's had a bit of Hawaii rub off on him, he's been there since the late 70's, so we will have the best of both worlds. Welcome aboard! Or as Mike put it, 73 and aloha February 20th. Festivities start from 5pm on the Northbridge Piazza (Onno VK6FLAB) FROM RSGB.ORG WEBSITE - WRC-12 Day 16 – 7 February 2012 – YES! Agenda Item 1.23 – 500kHz Progress through Committee 4 (COM4) was a little easier than expected and the frequency band 472-479kHz will be allocated to the amateur service, on a Secondary basis. This is subject to no further objections being received during the two final readings through the plenary meetings Agenda Item 1.15 – Oceanic Radar It seems that tidying up the paperwork was not part of the intent when the sub-working group reconsidered these proposals. The entry for 5250-5275kHz remains in a footnote as a Primary user in Region 2 and Secondary in Regions 1 and 3. This paper has been elevated to Working Group 4A and could be considered by COM4. As the spectrum for this issue covers now extends to 42MHz, the references to HF have been removed. Agenda Item 8.2 – Future Agenda Items 5MHz Text for this proposal should have been agreed between Cuba and the US, seems that specific reference to the amount of spectrum required has been removed, as Cuba wanted 50kHz and the US offered 15kHz. The latter is of course less than US amateurs have under current arrangements. This is before the proposal even gets considered as a Future Agenda Item… 10GHz There is a proposal for an allocation at 10GHz for the Earth Exploration Satellite Service for WRC-15. Initial investigations show there could be a small threat to the amateur services so this is being closely followed. 77GHz Another likely agenda item for WRC-15 is “Allocation of the band 77.5-78.0 GHz to the radiolocation service to support automotive short-range high-resolution radar operations”, otherwise known as anti-collision radar. This frequency band is currently allocated to the amateur services on a Primary basis For updates on the above which is sourced to the RSGB go to http://www.rsgb.org Twitter telegraph a reality Just when you think you know about technology convergence along comes the simple Arduino project. It involves a Morse code key, somewhat an old switch, with a new use in the form of modern Twitter. Becoming a Tworse key you can send standard Twitter messages through a LAN cable and decoder. The Arduino project includes the source code, hardware schematics and building instructions. Check out @tworsekey on Twitter to read some examples sent from the actual device. Or visit Google at https://code.google.com/p/tworsekey/ (Jim Linton VK3PC) Virtual tour of ARRL HQ station On 12th February, amateurs worldwide will be able to enjoy a virtual tour of the station at ARRL HQ in a live webcast starting at 22.00 GMT. W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, at ARRL Headquarters in Connecticut has appeared in many logs. Anyone with an internet connection will be able to watch the tour at www.awecast.tv/channels/arrl/ BUNYA MTS HAMFEST, MACLAGAN. SATURDAY. Always good to hear how activity goes at events publicised here through VK1WIA This report from the VK4 Wine and Ham Fest actually came from our good friends at Summerland, where a number of SARC members attended this very enjoyable Hamfest up in VK4. Maclagan is 83 kms NW of Toowoomba, and about 400 kms from Lismore. A very good day was had with 76 visitors logged and about 11 exhibitors. Great hall, variety of gear there, incl wine tasting, catering etc. Showing was a video of a lot of hard work building the 1989 Bunya Mts repeater. Pic att of a general view, more at http://www.ourphotos.net.au/albums.php?album=3272 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 For those in northern Sydney, this Tuesday evening, the 14th is the first informal HADARC meeting for 2012. The Hornsby and Districts Amateur Radio Club meet at the Mount Colah Community Centre, near the Northern end of Pierre Close, Mt Colah, from 8:00pm. Their main meeting on the 28th will include a talk on small loop antennas by Jim VK2LC. Website: http://www.hadarc.org.au/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/VK2MA (Julian Sortland, VK2YJS) As I'm sure all will understand the CCARCs activities this month are filled with preparation for our field day at Wyong racecourse in just two weeks time however this does not stop other club activities completely. In the amateur TV world we are now transmitting regular test broadcasts on 444.250 MHz These consist of educational material and are well worth a look. For those in the Central Coast area point your horizontally polarised 70cm beam towards Kariong and connect up your normal TV set each Monday and Tuesday from 7:30pm for an hour of interesting video then call in at 9pm on VK2RAG on 146.725 to give your reception report. This is an important action prior to our upgrading the VK2RTG repeater to digital TV output. The terrestrial digital transmitter will be on display at the field day and then installed into operation soon thereafter. Another repeater action is also well in progress. The CCARC six metre repeater is just awaiting the final updates to the controller software and then it will come on air from our newly extended repeater station building at Somersby and promises to cover a large area from its high location. This repeater will have the ability to be linked to one of our 70cm repeaters to allow cross band operation for Standard and Advanced calls. On the HF bands the clubs tri-bander and rotator are down for maintenance but will soon be back up again, higher than before so VK2AFY, the clubs base call sign, will be stronger than ever. The club has recently taken part in the VHF-UHF Field Day contest and plans to enter the John Moyle contest in March. Preparations for the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend in August are also well in hand with our location of Nobbys Head lighthouse in Newcastle booked. For all details about what is happening at the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club, please refer to the clubs two websites; CCARC.ORG.AU for all club news and FIELDDAY.ORG.AU for all you could want to know about the CCARC Field Day at Wyong racecourse. 73 - this is Ed VK2ARE on behalf of the CCARC. DISCUSSION POINT What use is an f-call? (Past editions of What use is an f-call can be found online at harg.org.au under F-troop.) Recently I had a discussion with a Foundation Licensed amateur who told me that he'd had some limited success making contacts using 10 Watts, but that he longed to have more power to get out and make better contacts. While I understand the sentiment, I know from personal experience that it just isn't true. You don't need oodles of power to smack the audio against the receiver at the other end. What you need is propagation and you need a set-up that works. Now I'd be the first to admit that propagation is a bit of a mystery to me at the best of times, but my solution to that is to sit tight, listen and when lots of stations turn up at my door-step as it were - that is, I can hear lots of people calling - I've got a great chance at getting through. What was a little more baffling to me was that this amateur, as I said, an F-Call had not really found a way to discuss his issues with any other amateurs. He'd been pretty isolated and only in discussing the issue with other F-Calls did he start investigating further. I'd like to encourage you to ask around. Look who else is on air near you and talk to them about what you're seeing. The more people you talk to, the more you learn and the more you have a chance of getting to the magic point where you can get those elusive contacts on HF using your F-Call. As I've said in the past, and I'll continue to say, power is not the answer, what you do with what you have is what makes the difference. Low power operation does not need to be a frustrating exercise in futility, QRP stations are doing this all the time. Mostly it's a matter of attitude. Don't be shy. The amateurs around you who have their standard or advanced license needed to learn their craft too. I'm Onno, VK6FLAB EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO www.hamcollege.com.au Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club assessors have conducted amateur exams in Burnie. The end result is that a new member has passed the foundation licence Rachel Rawlings has passed the foundation licence and applied for the call VK7FRMR. Please make Rachel welcome when you hear her on air in the near future. Any person wishing to acquire a foundation or other licence, or upgrade, can contact the club's learning organiser, Keith Winkler, VK7KW. He will be able to assist with your learning requirements and organise an exam at a mutually agreeable time. Contact details for Keith are available on both the CCARC's website and the www.wia.org.au site, radio club page, North West Tasmania. (vk7news) INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA. Central Philippines earthquake. The amateur radio emergency communication activity has been well established on VHF and HF servicing Mondays earthquake and landslide hit areas. The 6.9-magnitude quake killed 50 when it struck the heavily populated islands of Negros and Cebu, in the country's central region. Up to 100 are missing. There have been 900 aftershocks. Chief Operating Officer for IARU society PARA, Eddie Valdez DU1EV said that Ham Emergency Radio Operations (HEROs) has activated on 2-metres and 7.095 MHz Their command centre is on board the Philippine Coast Guard search & rescue vessel BRP Davao del Norte. HEROs have been busy forwarding traffic from the disaster areas to Cebu and Manila. Among the active HEROs are RJ DU7RJA, Roy DU7DDJ, DW7XKS and DW7RDX. As landlines and mobile phones have been erratic, amateur radio has provided a vital link. Alvin DU1AJ/7 has set up his station to relay with the HEROs in the stricken areas. In Manila, HEROs operatives Butch DU1RP and Lito DU1PA have set up at the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council under the Department of Defence. The Philippines suffered its worst earthquake in 1990 when a 7.7-magnitude tremor killed nearly 2000 people on the northern island of Luzon. (Jim Linton VK3PC Chairman, IARU Region 3, Disaster Communication Committee). ARRL VOLUNTEER TOUR GUIDES. When you visit ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, the first smiling face you're likely to see is a tour guide. ARRL's Tour Guide program now includes 19 volunteers who donate thousands of hours of their free time per year, giving tours to hundreds of visitors. ARRL's tour guides are an integral part of the ARRL. When not giving tours, they are busy accomplishing tasks in various HQ departments -- sorting QSL cards, working on special projects in the lab, updating the periodicals archive, and much, much more. www.arrl.org/news/volunteer-tour-guides-make-your-visit-to-arrl-hq-pleasant-and-informative>. ============================================================================= NEWS FROM ARNEWSLINE USA VLA TO BE RENAMED KARL G JANSKY VLA The world's most famous radio telescope will become the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array on March 31st. This, to honour the founder of radio astronomy which is the study of the universe using radio signals naturally emitted by objects in space. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory announced the new name for the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array at the American Astronomical Society's meeting in Austin, Texas. The new name will become official at a rededication ceremony at the radio telescopes site in New Mexico. The new name was selected from among 23,331 suggestions submitted by 17,023 people from more than 65 countries. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory had asked the public and the astronomical community to suggest names that reflected both the proud heritage and the future promise of the telescope array. More is on-line at tinyurl.com/jansky-vla. INTRUDER WATCH: INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION TAKES WHITE NOISE OFF 40 METERS Interference from All India Radio to the 40 meter band has been eliminated. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Cheryl Lasik, K9BIK, has the details: Wolfgang Hadel, DK2OM, in Siegbach, Germany, reports via the I-A-R-U Region 1 website that back last December 1st he and Peter Jost HB9CET of Zurich, Switzerland, noticed a band of white noise like interference on 40 meters. This from 6 dot 960 to 7 dot 040MHz and also on 7 dot 820 MHz and showing up every evening. Calculation by DK2OM showed the centre of the spurious emissions was expected to be on the centre 7 dot 410 MHz. From this point the German and Swiss Departments of Post and Telecommunications became involved. Both offices filed official complaints to their counterpart in India. VU2GMN assisted by filing a personal complaint. On January 13th the transmitter located near the city of New Delhi was reported as having been repaired, and all traces of this source of interference to 40 meters was gone. For the amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Cheryl Lasik, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois. More on this story is on-line at www.iaru-1.org LOGBOOK OF THE WORLD TO SUPPORT CQ OPERATING AWARDS CQ Communications and ARRL have signed an agreement to begin providing support for CQ-sponsored operating awards by the ARRL's Logbook of the World electronic confirmation system. CQ's awards will be the first non-ARRL awards supported by Logbook of the World and will be phased in, beginning with the CQ WPX award. Additional CQ awards will follow. The target date for beginning Logbook of the World support for WPX is April 1st. Amateurs will be able to use Logbook of the World logs to generate lists of confirmed contacts to be submitted for WPX credit. Standard Logbook of the World credit fees and CQ award fees will apply. The ARRL’s Logbook of the World system is an interactive database recording contacts between radio amateurs was created in 2003 and has been adopted by 47,500 radio amateurs worldwide. It already has records of 400 million contacts and grows weekly. A GLOOMY FUTURE FOR DXPEDITIONS TO JAN MAYEN ISLAND Jan Mayen Island could soon head to the top of the DX worlds most wanted this. This as the result of a recent decision by the Norwegian government that declared most of Jan Mayen a Nature Reserve and banned landings and camping on most of the island. This means that tour operators can no longer visit since the main landing area is part of the Reserve. The only places left on the island which could be used as landing and camp sites are in the very extreme southern part of Jan Mayen which suffers from extreme weather conditions. Amateur radio operations may still be possible from the two locations but both are difficult to get to due to stormy seas and other severe weather conditions. As such it now appears that the recent JX5O operation was probably the last major DXpedition to Jan Mayen for many years to come. There is the chance that hams who might be assigned as staff members at the islands Olonkin base will be able to activate Jan Mayen. Late word is that LA9JKA, is to be there beginning March 22nd and is expected to stay until March 2013 but what plans he has to operate from the island at this point are unknown. YAESU HINTING IT WILL BRING OUT C4FM DITIAL VOICE GEAR FOR AMATEUR RADIO Yaesu is hinting that they will be coming out with new digital amateur radios in 2012. A new pamphlet discussing amateur digital radios shows the new Vertex Standard APCO P-25 commercial radios, as well as new amateur radios based on the C4FM FDMA digital audio system commonly known as MotoTrobo. The pamphlet makes it appear that Yaesu will be offering amateur gear based on the MotoTrobo digital standard sometime this. The new vertex radios look identical to their Motorola counterparts. Our guess is that any launch of such a project would likely take place at the Dayton Hamvention mid-May. SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2012 VK JOHN MOYLE MEMORIAL FIELD DAY March 17-18 WW FISTS TITANIC SPRINT April 15 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 Irish Radio Transmitters Society 80th Anniversary IRTS will be celebrating its 80th anniversary this year 2012. Details of a worldwide contest – CQIR – to take place on Saint Patrick’s Day, Saturday 17th March 2012 have been announced and full rules and information are available on the irts website. www.irts.ie/cqir SARL Leap Year Challenge You are invited to take part in the Leap Year Challenge on Wednesday 29 February 2012 and make as many contacts as you can on this day. This challenge has been published around the globe but we are not sure if it is opens to hams worldwide or just South Africa, however it is a "challenge" and looks great fun! Central African Time (CAT) on the 29th, all bands with phone, CW and digital activity. Work a station once only regardless of band, mode or call sign. Submit your log by e-mail to zs4bfn@netactive.co.za by midnight Friday 2 March 2012. AWARDS 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 april 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 remind you of 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 BROADCAST MONITORING SWL AND SCANNER NEWS NHK to sell analogue transmitter facilities Japans NHK is in talks to sell some 1,050 analogue broadcasting stations it no longer uses to Softbank Mobile Corp. The mobile phone service provider will use the stations - rendered obsolete by the nationwide switch to digital broadcasting last July - mostly as cell towers in mountainous areas because of complaints about reception in rural areas, the sources said on Thursday. By improving its network, the carrier hopes to gain an advantage in the competition for radio bands for next-generation, high-speed data communications that might be allocated by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry later this month, they added. The public broadcaster put the facilities up for bid in December and found Softbank Mobile was the only bidder, the sources said. The deal is estimated to be worth several hundred million yen. (Source: Media Network, Kyodo via SouthGate) MEDIA WATCH www.cq-amateur-radio.com/WorldRadio.html VK Club Bulletins http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aarnie/ The IARU Region 3 Newsletter Headlines Issue 24 - October to December 2011, Released January 2012 * A Word from the Chairman of IARU Region 3 - Michael Owen VK3KI * Saving almost 1,000 lives in Thailand * Typhoon hits Southern Philippines * JARL elects new officers * Seanet 2011 * Increase in New Zealand Amateur Power Limit * Australian regulator to permit higher power for Advanced licensees on trial basis * “WRC-12 (World Radiocommunication Conference 2012) * 15th Region 3 Triennial Conference * The 2012 International YL Meet- a reminder * Keith Malcolm VK1KM SK MS Word version of this newsletter is available at http://www.iaru-r3.org/news/r3nl-12-01.doc Acrobat PDF version is also available at http://www.iaru-r3.org/news/r3nl-12-01.pdf (nzart) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- CW FISTS Club - East Asia www.feacw.net FISTS Club - Australasia www.fistsdownunder.org FISTS Club - UK & Europe www.fists.co.uk FISTS Club - Americas www.fists.org FISTS marks a milestone The organisation that supports the use, preservation and education of Morse code is called FISTS and as VK3PC tells it "it has been doing its sterling job for 25 years." Available to members are anniversary mugs from England and T-shirts have been produced in the United States of America. Other collectables are likely to be planned. The mugs are from Robert Walker m0bpt@yahoo.co.uk of UK FISTS while the T-shirts limited-edition t-shirts in shades of grey with the 25th birthday logo screened are from Nancy Kott WZ8C nancy.tir.com of US FISTS. FISTS the CW Club, also known as the International Morse Preservation Society, began in 1987, is organised though area chapters and still going very strong. Its members can he heard particularly on 1.808 MHz, 3.528 MHz, 7.028 MHz, 10.118 MHz, 14.058 MHz, 18.085 MHz, 21.058 MHz, 24.918 MHz and 28.058 MHz. 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 SUMBANDILASAT AMATEUR RADIO OPERATION MAY RESUME! Ingenuity and innovation by the SumbandilaSat ground control team has resulted in bringing the satellite back to life with a real possibility that Amateur Radio communication may resume while the satellite is in sunlight. The ground stations at SANSA Space operations at Hartbeeshoek and the Electronic Systems Laboratory at Stellenbosch University are receiving telemetry when the satellite's solar panels are illuminated by the sun. Johann Lochner, ZR1CBC, said that in early June 2011, for an unknown reason (but probably related to a major radiation event on 7 June), the primary controller on the power distribution unit (PDU) powering the On-Board Computer (OBC) stopped responding to commands from the ground station. It later appeared that the battery had failed and nothing was heard from the satellite for some time. The ground segment software to monitor the passes over South Africa and to contact the satellite to initiate the recovery procedure was automated. After a month contact was made again. This was mid November. "We set in place a planned recovery procedure and within 3-4 days we came to the conclusion that the main battery had failed", Johann said. With SumbandilaSat responding when it is in full sunlight Johan Lochner is confident that some operations will be restored even to the point where it may be possible to do some imaging and have the amateur radio transponder back in operation. More on recovery efforts are on line at www.amsatsa.org.za (sarl news) A CONFLICTING REORT SAYS THAT SUMBANDILLASAT FAILS ON-ORBIT South Africa’s Defence Web reports that the nations second satellite, SumbandilaSat also known as SO-67 is no longer fully operational. Rob Olivier is the head of Business Development at SunSpace. He told Defence Web that although contact can still be made with the satellite, it cannot capture images. As such it is no longer fulfilling its main purpose. Oliver added that chances of repairing the satellite on-orbit are virtually none. As such SunSpace has moved on to other projects. SumbandilaSat was damaged during a solar storm in the June of 2011. The power supply to its on-board computer stopped working and the satellite stopped sending back images. In addition to its primary mission SumbandilaSat also carried an radio payload as well. This consisted of a voice beacon, a store and forward parrot repeater and VHF to UHF FM repeater. Vega student satellite launch. Vega is now scheduled to launch Tomorrow, Monday, February 13, at 1000 UT with eight student built amateur radio satellites. The launcher will first deploy the main payload, LARES, the Laser relativity Spacecraft and will then make an additional firing of the final AVUM stage before deploying the secondary cubesat payloads. Student Amateur Radio Satellites on Vega http://www.uk.amsat.org/4180 SOCIAL SCENE 2012 15TH IARU REGION 3 CONFERENCE hosted by V.A.R.C. in Ho-Chi-Minh City, Vietnam. World Radio Conference Geneva until 17th February 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) Again as we said at top of news, in northern Sydney, this Tuesday evening, the 14th is the first informal HADARC meeting for 2012. The Hornsby and Districts Amateur Radio Club meet at the Mount Colah Community Centre, near the Northern end of Pierre Close, Mt Colah, from 8:00pm. Their main meeting on the 28th will include a talk on small loop antennas by Jim VK2LC. Website: http://www.hadarc.org.au/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/VK2MA (Julian Sortland, VK2YJS) Hi, This is Ed VK2ARE from the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club to remind you it is just two weeks until Amateur Radio's big day out at Wyong on Sunday the 26th. of February. All preparations are going well and it promises to be another great event with traders, exhibitors, seminars and the "great unknown" of the bargain you will find in the flea market. This year we have a purpose built car parking area with its entrance off Rose Street which will be clearly signposted upon your arrival. If this is your first time heading to the big event we also have talk-in using the clubs 2 Metre repeater VK2RAG on 146.725 under the call sign of VK2WFD, that's VK2 Wyong Field Day. No one can predict the weather at the moment. We are hoping for a sunny day but rain or shine the event will go ahead. So here's looking forward to a memorable day - see you there! 73 from Ed and the CCARC. 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. 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