----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 MARCH 4 2012. VK7 24GHz Records Set What use is an f-call? ANTENNA SPRAY SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN THESE ITEMS AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING MARCH 04 2012. VK7 24GHz Records Set Rex VK7MO that intrepid Microwave DXer lets us know that over the last little while David VK3QM and Ken VK3AKK along with Rex have been gradually increasing the 24GHz Tasmanian State Record from a few meters across his Lounge room to 6 km across the river, 17 km from Mt Wellington to Coningham to around 161 km from Mt Barrow to Mt Wellington. The equipment used at the VK7MO end was 4 watts into a 47 cm dish based on Khune Tranceiver PA and Preamp all GPS locked. At the VK3QM/VK3AKK end they used a 10 inch dish and 500 mw output. Rex also says 24GHz digital tests that were undertaken between Mt Barrow and VK3HZ proved to be very promising. The path was 421km path between John's Hill lookout in VK3 and Mt Barrow. While a QSO was not completed three full decodes were exchanged suggesting that such a path is possible on 24 GHz. Watch this space!!!! Congratulations to all involved. (vk7wi) In preparation for the April announcement on Australia's Square Kilometer Array bid, a new supercomputer that is 10,000 times faster than an average office desktop computer has been installed at the University of Western Australia (UWA). Besides the need for a supercomputer, scientists at the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) say the AU$2 billion SKA will also generate one exabyte of data − a billion terabytes – every day while it searches the sky with the power to detect airport radars in other solar systems 50 light years away. Basically, the amount of computer data generated by the entire world in a whole year will need to be stored in a single day for the telescope. The SKA is a continent-wide Australasian project with radio telescope sites that that extend to New Zealand. Results on the SKA bid is expected to be made by the international SKA Board in London in April. The other bid comes from South Africa. (icrar - asian scientist) The Federal Government is in confidential negotiations with railway operators after setting prices for radio spectrum critical to a new national rail safety system. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's office said state transport authorities would be required to pay full commercial rates for the spectrum as it revealed it was in confidential negotiations with them over renewal of their spectrum licenses. Under terms of the determination announced last week, operators will be required to pay $0.23 per person living in each license area for every MHz of 1800MHz spectrum they operate. That would mean rail authorities would collectively have to pay at least $420m to retain their current license holdings in each state. (sourced to the Australian) 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 Have you registered to attend to the WIA Annual Conference being held in Mildura over the weekend 25th - 27th May? Saturday afternoons Technical Symposium - Technology To The Future. Hear what the experts have to say, learn about the cutting edge technology and what our Australian Amateurs have been working on, and the bright future for our hobby. One of the presents will be Andrew Martin, VK3OE. Andrew is a qualified Telecommunications Engineer --- Andrew has developed a remote internet controlled site and chirp radar for amateur use. Andrew will discuss his remote site together with recent developments and results obtained with the chirp radar. It's going to be a very special weekend of activities, and there is much more in store that we will continue sharing with you in upcoming broadcasts and don't forget the registration page on the WIA Website. Up up and away, see you in Mildura this has been Robert VK3DN 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 vk2zwk advises Fishers Ghost Amateur Radio Club will be holding an exhibition for 2 weeks at Campbelltown Library. On display will be various radios, photos and details of activities undertaken by FGARC. This is part of the 30th Birthday celebrations March 19 - 31 Tomorrow evening the 5th the upgrade course commences with Amateur Radio NSW at 7pm. This course will continue each Monday evening, other than public holidays. The location is at the VK2WI site = number 63 Quarry Road, Dural. While the course is intended for Foundation licenses to upgrade to either Standard or Advanced don't let not yet holding a license stop you attending. Later in the month there will be the one day Foundation Course of Sunday 18th. Assessments for all license grades will be held on Sunday 25 during the bi-monthly Trash & Treasure days - all the the VK2WI site. VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ Police Roundup http://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/ The Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club members announce that on 21st July 2012 they will be conducting their annual Hamfest at the Cranbourne Community Hall on the corner of Clarendon and High Streets, Cranbourne. High Street is part of the South Gippsland Highway. Melway 133 K4. Forty tables of goods will be presented at this large venue, but stall holders should book early as demand is always high. Reservations for stall holders may be made by contacting Steve Harding VK3EGD on 0408 878934 or by emailing. More information can be found on the GGREC website. Tables will be available for $20 each. A limit of four (4) tables per Stall Holder applies. Doors open at 8:30 AM. for stall holders and at 10:00 AM for the general public. The admittance fee of $6 as a buyer will go towards the continued upgrading of facilities at our Club Shack & meeting room in Cranbourne. Take away food, tea and coffee will be available. The entry fee includes a ticket in the Door Prize which will be drawn around 1:30 PM for all who register upon entry. Great prizes to be won as usual. Additional tickets can be purchased on the day. VK4 - QNEWS Send your stories for news. SCRIPT to qnews@wia.org.au send audio to http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/upload/ get local audio news www.wiaq.com/ftp/vk4_qnews_64.mp3 get local news emailed qnews-vk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Graeme VK4RD droped us a note to say due to the number of people interested in ham radio, those that have just got there license, or those that wish to get there license in the Biloela/Gladstone area a field day demonstration is planned for the Lions Park in Biloela (date yet to be determined). We'll hear directly from Graeme in later bulletins as the time draws nearer. TOWNSVILLE The Management Meeting of the Townsville Amateur Radio Club happens this Tuesday 6th of March from 7-30pm at the Club Rooms SES HQ Green Street West End. VK7 vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vk7regionalnews/ Sewing Circle Net Meet the Voice BBQ If you have not heard about it by now, then let us update you on the up and coming Sewing Circle Net Meet the Voice BBQ. The Ross event gets under way at 10.30am Sunday 18 March. Registration is just $5.00 per amateur or family. Your registration will give you 2 free tickets in the mighty raffle. This year, 2 prizes. A $100 voucher, kindly donated by Dave and Claureen Wilson from TTS Systems. The other prize a new FDC 70cm/2m dual band hand held radio. Extra raffle tickets will be on sale on the day! Plans for the auction of quality pre owned equipment are well underway. So far, 10 items for auction including 2 computer systems, a 70cm multimode radio, an 80M antenna, a quarter kilo bag of resistors, a screwdriver antenna with controller, a super jpole dual band antenna and much more. The Sewing Circle Net extends many thanks to auction donors Geoff VK7GW; the two Bryan's VK7KBE and 7KWB and Ron VK7VDL. Do you have something that you would be willing to donate to the auction? Remember, all funds raised (and we mean every dollar) from registrations, the raffle and the auction will go to repeater maintenance around Tasmania. The car boot sale will feature again this year. Fill your vehicle with any pre-loved gear that you would like to sell. Going on previous years, trade will be brisk. If you have a boot load, maybe you have something that you could donate to the auction? If you do have something to donate, all they ask is that you do not leave it to the last minute. A website is dedicated to the Ross event, kindly provided by Tony VK7VKT. The web address is sewingcircle.org (Vince VK7VH, Don VK7AY and all the crew on the Sewing Circle Net) 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.) (EPISODE 20111009) Amateur Radio is a moving feast of people, coming and going, gaining interest, loosing interest, having time, running out of time. Every week there are people joining and people leaving the hobby. Fortunately the Foundation License seems to be increasing the size of the hobby quicker than the number of people leaving through choice or not. One of the things that strikes me is that there is a small group of amateurs with foundation licenses who can be heard on-air, but there is a large contingent of licensees that are hardly ever heard from. Of course it's possible that some of those F-calls never even purchased a radio, or that their circumstances changed by the time their license came through, but overall I'd expect to hear more people on air than I do. So what is stopping those new amateurs from participating? Why are they shy to push on their magical microphone key and have a go? Rather than answering the question, perhaps you might ask yourself if there is anything that you could be doing that might encourage new licensees to join in the fun and become active participants in the hobby. It's not for me to dictate how you might go about achieving that, but I always have suggestions - I'm never short of a word and you might have guessed. For one, leaving a break between each over is an excellent way to let newcomers feel like you care enough about them to let them join in. One amateur I spoke with suggested that you put your microphone down after your over which forces you to pick it up with the associated delay, leaving a space for another station to chime in with their contribution. Not that I'm suggesting that amateurs talk over the tail of each other, or anything like that - hi hi. Perhaps there are other tips you have to contribute. I'm Onno - vk6flab INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA. UK National Radio Centre opens The National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park opened its doors for the first time on Saturday 25th February. It is initially operating for three days a week - Thursday, Saturday and Sunday - while the displays and exhibits are put through their paces. The formal opening is expected to take place in late spring. Improved 60m access Following proposals from the RSGB to Ofcom, aimed at harmonising NoV access to 5MHz with that access enjoyed by radio amateurs in other countries, the Society has received an offer from the MoD. It was reported earlier that the MoD were unable to meet our request for access over a continuous range, ie a band, so at our request have offered a number of small frequency blocks, which include all of the present 3kHz wide channels. More information can be found on the RSGB website, following the link on their home page to Consultations HAM RADIO IN HOLLYWOOD In a movie Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Sean Anderson (played by Josh Hutcherson) receives a coded distress signal that comes from a mysterious island where no island should exist. The movie opens in Dayton, Ohio with Sean on his motorcycle, being chased by police officers. Sean had been caught breaking in to a "satellite facility." When questioned Sean confesses that he had received a coded message from his grandfather but his equipment was too weak to copy it; he decided to go somewhere where there were bigger antennas. The message -- a string of one and two syllable words makes no sense to Sean. But a former US Navy cryptographer, offers to help decode the message; Seems the message is really in Morse code: each one syllable word is a "dit," while each two syllable word is a "dah." This gives clues to the location of the grandfather's whereabouts. Read more arrl.org/news/hollywood-movie-features-morse-code-homebrew-equipment-and-sea-monsters NEWS FROM ARNEWSLINE USA A SPRAY-ON ANTENNA Chamtech Enterprises, of Sandy, Utah, has developed a spray-on antenna material that it says is more lightweight and energy efficient than current technology. Revealed at Google's inaugural "Solve for X" symposium, the company says that an antenna can be painted onto almost any surface including trees, walls and even on fabrics. Chamtech says that it is already talking with government-based customers, and as such can't give too much detail on how it works. However it has released information that its material uses organic elements that have the ability to interact with magnetic and radio-frequency fields. The company's Chief Technology Officer is Rhett Spencer. Spencer is quoted as saying the antenna could increase mobile energy efficiency by 10 percent. Also that it was found to work particularly well under water. Observers at the event say that being organic could make it ideal for sub-aquatic telecommunications infrastructure. Prelimnary tests on current a generation cell phone showed that the product was able to boost signals by an impressive 20 dbm when painted over the standard internal antenna. From our point of view, for ham radio operators living in antenna restricted areas such as apartments or condominiums, the possibilities of a product such as this could be endless. All a ham might need is a bit of imagination and some of the spray-on antenna paint to get on the air with a signal much stronger than from the rubber duckie on his or her HT. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Michael Grebert, N4OZ, not far from Music City, Nashville, Tennessee. For more information about the Chamtech spray-on antenna material you can take your web browser to www.chamtechops.com A video with a talk about the technology involved is on-line tinyurl.com/spray-on-antenna COORDINATING THE SUPER BOWL And finally this week in the ARNewsLine segment of WIA Natioan News, a tale of frequency coordination to the stars. Not the stars in the sky but those on the football field at this year’s Super bowl. It’s also the story of the part played in the process by a number of Hoosier state radio amateurs. Here’s Jack Parker, W8ISH: INDY SUPER BOWL HAMS Actuality Audio: “Check one two three four…This is about a team an organization…I’ve just gone from hotel to stadium. It was a great experience overall.” From mic checks to manning to Madonna to the man on the street the airwaves around downtown Indianapolis were full of frequencies from over 3500 hundred transmitters. For two weeks prior to Super Bowl 46, and through the game itself, hundreds of radio and television stations were vying for radio spectrum in their efforts to cover the greatest show in professional football. Keeping interference to a minimum is the job of the Super Bowl Frequency Coordination Committee. It is a team of 46 six, including 17 Amateur Radio operators from central Indiana. Their mission was to log, tag and tune all wireless transmitters from broadcast media from around the world. As Super Bowl Sunday approached the job of preventing interference became a super task. The Indianapolis Super Bowl village, Lucas Oil Stadium and major hotels are located in a one mile square area. According to one volunteer, that is a lot of RF in a small area. According to organizers the area of frequency control was expanded on game day stretching out about 30 miles into the suburbs of central Indiana. Reporting from Indianapolis, I’m Jack Parker, W8ISH. 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 FISTS have sponsored a Titanic 24 Hour Sprint on Sunday the 15th April 2012. (0001 to 2359 U.T.C). All licensed Amateur Bands except the WARC Bands. Recognising the 100th anniversary of the loss of the RMS Titanic on the 15th April 1912. This event is to be a standard exchange, between stations. Scoring: - 10 Points for any Titanic special events station 5 Points for a FISTS HQ Station (GX0IPX, GX3ZQS, MX5IPX, VK2FDU, ZL6FF, JL3YMV, KN0WCW) 3 Points for a FISTS Affiliated Club Station 2 Points for a FISTS Member 1 Point for a Non Member Logs: - To include Date/Time/Call/Name/QTH/QRG/FISTS No/or Non Member Points. by e-mail to m0bpt@yahoo.co.uk in Excel/csv/tabbed word document format if possible. To be received no later than 30th April 2012. SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE Prefix hunters don't forget that Croatia is marking the 20th Anniversary of the allocation of the 9A prefix. Operators there are permitted to insert the figures ‘20’ into their callsigns. For example 9A2AA will become 9A202AA, 9A1MM becomes 9A201MM etc. These prefixes are available throughout 2012. (irts) 5 P 12 EU Denmark has the Presidency of European Union from 1st January to 30th June 2012 and the callsign 5P12EU will be activated during this period. QSL cards will be available and there is an award scheme for working or hearing this callsign. For all details on QSLing, the award scheme and logs, check out www.5p12eu.dk EI 80 IRTS Special Callsign As the Irish celebrate their 80th Anniversary, a special callsign EI80IRTS is now on the air and a very attractive certificate for working EI80IRTS is sponsored by Dundalk Amateur Radio Society, and details can be seen at http://www.ei7dar.com/ei80irts.html G3PHO will be on the air as 9H3C from Malta’s Gozo Island between March 8th and the 15th. Activity will be on 80-10 meters and possibly 160m. Look for him to be an entry in the RGSB Commonwealth Contest. QSL via G3PHO his home callsign or Logbok of the World. J88DR St Vincent in the Caribbean. J88DR will be there until 14 March on the HF bands with emphasis on 30, 17 and 12 metres. QSL to Dave G3TBK. T6JM A station from Afghanistan is Jose CT1FKN who is signing T6JM. He is there until mid-June and is mainly QRV on 20m SSB and BPSK31. QSL T6JM to CT1FKN his home call. TA1TC Albania will be on the air during the CQ WPX SSB Contest. This with word that TA1HZ will operate from that nation as ZA1TC for the period of March 23 to 26 details and QSL info is on www.qrz.com. REPUBLIC OF THE SOUTH SUDAN AWARDED Z8A TO Z8Z CALL SIGN BLOCK The ITU has announced the official callsign allocation prefix block for the newly crated nation of the Republic of South Sudan will be Z8A through Z8Z. The Republic of South Sudan joined the United Nations on July 14, 2011 at which time it became the 193rd member of that august world body. (arnewsline) ZS4U will be operational portable 9Q6 from the Republic of the Congo between March 10th and April 5th. Activity will be limited, probably mainly on the weekends and some days during the week. Listen out for him between 1200 and 1600 UTC on 40 through 6 meters using CW, SSB and PSK31. QSL via his home callsign zs4u. AWARDS ERIC JAMIESON INDIAN OCEAN AWARDS Last weeks news carried the story by our President on a new award. The Board meeting in Melbourne over the weekend of 18-19 February 2012 accepted the offer of Eric Jamieson, VK5LP, to sponsor awards for first amateur radio contacts on the two metre (144 MHz) band spanning the Indian Ocean between Australia and Africa. There will be three awards, for voice, CW and digital modes and will be known as the Eric Jamieson Indian Ocean Awards. In presenting a sum of money to the WIA Foundation to fund the Awards, Eric said: "I acknowledge that spanning the Indian Ocean will not be easy but one cannot say that it will never be accomplished. The degree of difficulty may be judged from the so far inability to span the much shorter Atlantic Ocean despite concerted attempts in order to win the Brendan Atlantic Ocean trophies." The Indian Ocean Award is designed to encourage experimentation in propagation and long distance communication techniques in the two metre amateur band. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video arvideonews.com hamradiotube.com youtube.com qdg.org.au VK9ZR Mellish Reef 1982 A video of the 1982 Coral Sea DXpediton to Mellish Reef, VK9ZR, has been released on YouTube. The YouTube description reads 1982 Coral Sea DXpediton to Mellish Reef, VK9ZR, aboard sailing yacht Banyandah with Jack and Jude. Amateur Radio. Stops at lonely weather station on Willis Island, population 4. Cyclone forces departure. Super 8 film, rough in patches, but great adventure showing energy and courage in undertaking the 3 week, 2500 km journey across the Coral Seas using only primitive sextant for navigation. Watch Mellish Reef ~ MidOcean Adventure ~ (makes you wonder why these days with GPS so many DX Peditions collect their sponsors yet never make the air!..ed) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR OLD-TIMERS http://www.raotc.org.au RAOTC MARCH REMINDER. Hallo everyone, this is Clive VK6CSW with a reminder that the next Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club of Australia’s news and information bulletin will take place tomorrow, Monday March 5th, at the usual times and on the usual frequencies. At 10 am Victorian time the relay can be heard on 145.7 MHz FM in the 2 metre band, and also on 7060 and 3650 kHz At 0100 UTC the bulletin is beamed north from Melbourne on 14.150 MHz USB An hour later at 0200 UTC the bulletin is beamed westward again on 14.150 MHz USB. For West Australian listeners, the bulletin is transmitted at 8 am local time on 7060 kHz LSB and again at 10 am via all linked NewsWest repeaters. Everyone, RAOTC members and non-members alike, is cordially invited to listen and to call back afterwards. In case you missed that, to check times and frequencies for your area, visit the RAOTC website at raotc.org.au (Clive VK6CSW) N6SL SAYS QCWA 40 METER CW NET SPPED LOWERED TO 15 WPM Ben Russell, N6SL says via the Quarter Century Wireless Association’s remailer that to encourage more participation the 40 meter QCWA 40 Meter CW Net that the code speed has been reduced to approximately 15 words per minute. N6SL, who is the Net Control Station, says that this net meets every Wednesday at 8 PM Eastern Time on 7.035 MHz +/- QRM. Anyone interested in QCWA and its activities is invited to take part. (arnewsline) SOCIALY SPEAKING 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 JUN 9-10 VK5 South East Radio Group Convention, Mt Gambier. 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) 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