WIANEWS - March 11 - 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 MARCH 11 2012. VK's ROSS HULL CONTEST WON BY ZL Proposals for 2013 WIA Annual Conference ALARA and WARO news from ALARA President Tina VK5TMC THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING MAR 11 2012. 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 One of the Show Piece contests put on by the WIA is the Ross Hull Contest. The 2012 Ross Hull results have now been finalised. In Section A, the top two scores were gained by Bob McQuarrie ZL3TY and Stephen Hayman ZL1TPH - the first time the Ross Hull Contest has been won by a station outside Australia. Coming third as the top scoring VK station was Ted Thrift VK2ARA. Next in line was Barrie Burns VK6ADI. In the digital section, top score went to Dave VK2JDS with a log of 1296 MHz EME contacts, followed by one station from each of VK1, 4, 6, 7 and ZL. Full details are available on the contest web page. http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/rosshull/ John VK3KM Proposals for 2013 WIA Annual Conference At its February meeting, the Board of the WIA considered the venue for the 2013 Annual Conference weekend. It had before it two submissions, one complete and another under development. The Board has deferred its decision in this mater until the end of March and encourages any club (or group of clubs) considering applying to do so by close of business Friday March 30th. Full details of what should be included in any application can be found by referring to the President’s Comment in the July 2011 edition of “Amateur Radio” magazine which is reproduced at: http://www.wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/presidentsmessage/ WIA Proposes Operating Principles The Board of the Wireless Institute of Australia has adopted the following Operating Principles as a guide for all amateurs: We, the Australian Radio Amateurs will at all times: act and operate with integrity; be honest in our dealings; ensure that the operating equipment of our station is safe for ourselves and for visitors to our station; show respect to and extend courtesy to fellow amateurs and other spectrum users; be aware of and comply with our license conditions and the other laws and regulations that govern the installation and operation of our station; encourage others to participate in amateur radio; strive to improve our technical and operating skills; assist our community in emergencies; ensure that any spectrum interference issues resulting from the operation of our station are resolved promptly and with courtesy, and promote the benefits of amateur radio to the community. http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2012/20120304-1/index.php (sourced from the WIA Website) 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 Next Sunday the 18th ARNSW will be conducting a one day Foundation course. It will start at 8.30 am and conclude late afternoon. The assessments will be the following Sunday, 25th, during the bi-monthly Trash & Treasure. The location is the VK2WI site at 63 Quarry Road, Dural. Candidates need to bring with them a passport sized head and shoulders photo of themselves and identification. Details to be found on the ARNSW web site under Training and Exams. Contact via education@arnsw.org.au VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ Police Roundup http://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/ EMDRC You don't need to pack a lunch or cut the hump of a camel to get to VK3's best hamfest, just pull your diary out now and mark down: 10am Sunday March 25th, for the Eastern and Mountain District's Annual White Elephant Sale at Great Ryrie Primary School, Great Ryrie Street Heathmont. Full details and table bookings at EMDRC.COM.AU The Rosebud RadioFest will be held on Sunday 25th November 2012 (exactly 1 month before Christmas), commencing 0930 am at the Recreation Stadium, Eastbourne Primary School, Allambi Ave Rosebud, Victoria. This is said to be a wonderful venue, & well-suited to staging a RadioFest. There is plenty of parking close to the site, easy access and the event is fully catered. As well as excellent technical forums, & all the regular favourites plus a number of new and innovative features for SPARC's first ever RadioFest. There is a commitment from the Rosebud Fire Brigade to display their brand new appliances including Forward Communications Vehicle along with their specialised comms gear. SPARC is totally committed to putting on a first class show! SPARC will also offer a free table to each club that wants to promote it's own activities at the Novemer 25th RadioFest. Contact is 0407 844 063 (Mark, Assistant Secretary, Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)). 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.org.au/ftp/vk4_qnews_64.mp3 get local news emailed qnews-vk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com VK4WIT at the John Moyle Field Day 2012 theTARCinc will be active during this years John Moyle Field Day alongside the mighty Burdekin River at Bivouac Junction near Macrossan Friday March 16 to Sunday March 18. Its easy to get to Bivouac Junction, just take to the Flinders Highway between Townsville and Charters Towers and take the right hand turnoff just before heading across the Burdekin River. Head upstream for about 2km and you are there! The site is only a couple of km away from the VK4FNQ Majestic Towers and 20km away from Charters Towers for any scheduled shopping trips. VK7 vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vk7regionalnews/ REAST AGM Sunday 11 March at 11am will be the REAST AGM for 2012. We look forward to as many members as possible coming along and even take the opportunity to pay your 2012 membership at the same time. This will be followed by a BBQ which is a BYO event. All the details of the AGM can be found on the REAST website. http://reast.asn.au/ (Tony VK7VKT, Secretary REAST) INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, NZART, ARVictoria and from ARNEWSLINE in the USA IRTS NEWS DESK CQIR, St. Patrick’s Day The CQIR contest is fast approaching and we are pleased to report that radio news services and contest reflectors worldwide have been giving the event great publicity. Both QST and RadCom have carried feature pieces and we expect a really excellent turnout right around the globe. The Society is appealing to all EI and GI stations to make a special effort to come on the bands, at least for a few hours over the 24 hours of the contest and hand out much needed points and multipliers. Many of the overseas Irish who will be participating will not be contesters but will be taking part to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, so even if you are not a contester yourself, you will find many operators looking to have a bit of a ragchew as well. Paul EI5DI advises that his contest logger SD is now free and unrestricted in CQIR. Entrants should be aware that the Russian DX contest overlaps with CQIR, and Russian stations will send a 2-character district code instead of a serial. SD may be downloaded from ei5di.com, and users should experiment with test logs before the contest. Full rules for the contest are available on the IRTS website. This contest is the international showpiece event for the Society’s 80th celebrations and while we know most of our serious contesters will be making a big effort on the bands we would again ask all stations to join in the festivities over the St. Patrick’s weekend. ============================================================================= ARNEWSLINE.ORG MV ISLAND DELETED FROM THE DXCC ENTITY LIST As of February 17th, Malyj Vysotskij Island, better known as MV Island in ham radio circles has been deleted from the D-X-C-C. This after an announcement by the Finnish Ministry of Transportation and Communication that the Saimaa Canal Treaty between Finland and Russia has been finalized and that MV Island is no longer included in it. For amateur radio this means that M V Island was deleted from the DXCC and added to the Deleted Entities List. Also that the entry level for DXCC Honor Roll number has dropped to 331. LIGHTSQUARED ANNOUNCES LAYOFFS FOLLOWING FCC DECISION AGAINST ITS NETWORK LightSquared Inc. the wireless company whose controversial plan to operate in spectrum adjacent to that used by the space-based G-P-S navigation system says that it plans to lay off nearly half of its employees to save money. In a press release, the company said it will cut 45 percent of its 330 employee workforce and called the move a necessary cost savings measure to ensure the long-term success of the company. As previously reported, the Federal Communications Commission dealt the company a severe blow when it said it would revoke permission for LightSquared to move ahead with its wireless network. This, after tests found that it would interfere with Global Positioning Systems used by the military, the airlines and the general public. NASA SHUTS DOWN LAST MAINFRAME There was a time when IBM's mainframe computers were the cutting-edge machines for scientific and engineering calculations. Now, for NASA that’s all come to an end. Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, has the details: The day of the giant mainframe computer began in the 1960s, when IBM's System 360 rewrote the rules of computing and before humans walked on the moon. When NASA acquired two of the then super-speed System 360 Model 95 mainframes in 1968, IBM touted the machines' mathematical abilities. But February marked the end of the era in NASA computing. This as the space agency powered down its last IBM Z9 mainframe that was located at Marshall Space Flight Center. In the old days, mainframes were the size of several large rooms. Today these units are only the size of a refrigerator. And even though NASA has shut down its last one, there is still a requirement for mainframe capability in many other organizations. For the amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois. By comparison with days gone bye, today’s fastest mainframe supercomputers can perform 10.5 quadrillion calculations per second. ============================================================================= RSGB Senegal gets six metres Following an application to the Regulatory Agency, Senegal has gained access to the 6m band. 50 to 51MHz has been officially allocated to that nation's amateur service on a Primary basis. This allocation becomes effective when the new ITU Radio Regulations come into force. Any contacts made on 6m before that date have to be considered as unauthorised. International Museums Weekend The International Museums Weekend special event will take place on the weekends of 16th & 17th June and 23th & 24th June. Radio amateurs are encouraged to participate in this event by setting up stations in their local museums. Organiser Harry, M1BYT asks that all those intending to take part in the event should register at www.ukradioamateur.co.uk/imw. ============================================================================= EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO www.hamcollege.com.au 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 20111016 USED MARCH 11) It's good to get inspiration and it arrives in the strangest ways at the most unexpected time. I've been pretty busy in my non-amateur radio activities over the past months. Not that you'd notice, a bit like a duck floating on a lake, the picture of serenity itself, furiously paddling under water. I have a regular activity, the VK6 F-troop which I host on behalf of Foundation Licensees across VK6 every Saturday at 8am local time. It forces me to turn my radio on and gives me an opportunity to talk to other amateurs on at the very least a weekly basis. One of the amateurs, Ronald VK6FRSK continues to throw new ideas and experiments into the air and every now and then one of them speaks to me at an unexpected level. Ronald reported listening and attempting to talk to overflying satellites and the International Space Station with a rubber-ducky antenna which gave me an unexpected thrill. I tuned to an ISS frequency and almost without effort managed to hear it overhead. I didn't have more time spare to do anything else, but just the thrill of hearing that gave me inspiration and it was just a little thing! So, if you've done something, heard something, learnt something, tell another amateur about it, not to brag, though that's always fun, just to inspire the next experiment when it seems hard to see the wood for the trees. So, whom have you inspired lately? I'm Onno - VK6FLAB 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 This is Trent VK4TS the WIA Director for Contests - 2012 sees a new RD contest manager after the retirement of Peter VK4OD - The new manager of the Rememberance Day was recommended by Peter as someone who understood the value and history of the contest and that person is Alan VK4SN Alan is a consistent competitor in most contents and brings with him a new way of looking at the RD Contest With every change comes housekeeping and Alan has moved forward at a rapid pace with changes to the operating conditions in the RD - These have been put forward to the Contesting Committee and are now on display on the WIA website for final comment prior to publication in AR. Some of the big changes Alan has proposed is the introduction of a Single Transmitter Multi operator class and the introduction of a combined teams section. Please go over the new rules and send your feedback to Alan at his WIA Address Yes overall the rules have been simplified and will make it much easier for the casual contester. In the past the smaller clubs could not compete against the logistics of the larger clubs - Now they can compete against themselves - many affiliated clubs are under 20 members. All Phone modes have been combined as has MF, HF and VHF. The idea behind this is to force band changes. (sourced to a mailer from Alan Shannon VK4SN WIA RD Contest Manager) SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE DX news from India. By Dot VK2DB A group of Indian hams, lead by a YL, Sarla VU2-SWS will be operating from Bet Dwarka IOTA AS 175 from the 15th to the 23rd of March 2012. This island has not been activated before. Hopefully three stations will be set up by the 17th and a team of 6 operators will operate till the 23rd March on CW, SSB, RTTY. The special call sign for this event is *AT2-DW. * There will be an online log check facility and all logs will be uploaded onto the Logbook of the World. Hopefully many YLs will work this call on all modes. A free QSL card to all YL station contacts will be sent if they give the QSO details via email. VU2-SWS will be the qsl manager. More information about the website will be available soon. This news is also on the ALARA website as Sarla is a member of ALARA. The Society of Newfoundland Radio Amateurs (SONRA) will make history on April 25, 2012 April 25th each year marks the birthday of Guglielmo Marconi, who received the first wireless signal at Signal Hill, Newfoundland. This April 25th, SONRA will celebrate the event with making an Amateur Radio contact with Princess Elettra (Marconi) who will be in Bologna Italy to celebrate her father's birthday. It is planned to have the Canadian Heritage Minister, the NL Premier, the City of St. John's Mayor along with the NL Lieutenant Governor, exchange greetings with the Princess via Amateur Radio from VO1AA at Cabot Tower. This is the first time that this event has been attempted, and it is anticipated that it will be a high level media exposure for Amateur Radio in Canada. SONRA appreciates the wonderful relationship that it enjoys with Parks Canada, Signal Hill National Historic Site, and looks forward to many years of commemorating this important event. 73 Doug Mercer, VO1DTM/VO1DM Chief Field Services Officer - Radio Amateurs of Canada Inc. THE QNEWS WORK BENCH - the nuts and volts report – Measure Twice cut Once. The Sydney Morning Herald Researchers say radio waves shaped like fusilli pasta could help unclog airwaves. Radio waves that move like pasta spirals could help unclog the wireless world by boosting the power of radio communications, say Italian and Swedish researchers. The new way to make radio signals more potent without boosting bandwidth is described in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society's New Journal of Physics edition of March 2. "In a three-dimensional perspective, this phase twist looks like a fusillli-pasta-shaped beam," lead study author Fabrizio Tamburini was quoted as telling the science website PhysOrg. Tamburini told Nature magazine that his technique can boost radio power by up to nine times its current strength, and that the technology may be ready for market in the next two to five years. Read more: smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/pastainspired-radio-waves-could-unclog-the-wireless-world-20120305-1ubsy.html#ixzz1oCxZQwqj WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video arvideonews.com hamradiotube.com youtube.com qdg.org.au Greater Brisbane area to get a second Digital ATV repeater. The South East Queensland ATV group is waiting delivery of components to upgrade the VK4RMG repeater to Digital. Boards from SR Systems in Germany will be assembled and put on test by Martin VK4JVC in the coming months. Dual transport streams will double the present repeater video output to provide for growing local interest. Stay tuned for further updates. Alan VK4NA WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DIGITAL Hello, I’m John VK4BJT, from the Gold Coast Amateur Radio Society, and I’m here to announce our big DStar Demo and information "get-together" to be held on Saturday 24th March 2012 at 10am at the club rooms. There will be an introduction to Dstar, and later, a hands-on session, where different equipment used to connect to the Dstar network, will be made available. If you have any interest or just want to know more about digital radio, then come along, and enjoy the day with fellow radio amateurs. A BBQ will be available at approximately 12:30. Anyone interested from SE Queensland and Northern NSW, and visitors to the Gold Coast, are most welcome. As additional information, I can announce that two UHF DStar repeaters connected to the ircDDB network, are now operating on the Gold Coast. They are VK4RDK and VK4RDW. Any queries about this "get-together" please call VK4BJT on 07 55 30 55 57 WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FEMALES IN RADIO ALARA - AUSTRALIAN LADIES AR ASSOCIATION http://alara.org.au Net is held each Mondays on 3.570± MHz, commencing at 1030 UTC. (1000utc during daylight saving) geencee@picknowl.com.au YL International Meet 2012 Adelaide latest news We now have 48 YLs with 28 others joining us for the YL International 2012 from the 3rd of May to the 9th of May this year in Adelaide, South Australia. We have 20 DX YLs from Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Korea, USA, and New Zealand in the group. The Meet in Adelaide will see us touring around the area for 6 days. Some highlights are tours to Hahndorf, Clealand National Park, Port Adelaide and a three winery progressive lunch in the Barossa Valley. Then 26 of us go on the optional tour. We will be flying to Alice Springs, with a tour around Central Australia including Uluru and Kings Canyon then travelling on the Ghan from Alice Springs to Darwin. Most events are into the final stage of planning. Late registrations are still available but the 15th of April is the absolute deadline for all registrations and payments. You can find all the latest information at www.ylinternational2012.com or just do a search on YL International and the search engines find the webpage where you will find costs and my contact details or you can email me at vk5tmc@internode.on.net This has been Tina VK5TMC organiser of the YL International Meet 2012 in Adelaide, South Australia. WARO turned 50 Saturday the 10th March, WARO celebrated their 50th anniversary. On the 10th of March 1962 a group of YLs gathered together in Rotorua New Zealand at the Millenium Hotel and formed the Women’s Amateur Radio Organization or WARO. Yesterday on the 10th of March 2012, exactly 50 years to the day later, a large group of YLs gathered together at the same hotel to celebrate the anniversary of this wonderful organization. The group included representatives from ALARA including the President Tina VK5TMC, the senior Vice President - Jean VK3VIP, the Treasurer – Catherine VK4GH and honorary Life member Christine VK5CTY as well as Jenny VK5FJAY and most of their OMs. A great day was had by all and we are off to the museum today to continue the friendship. All members of ALARA and the WIA wish WARO another 50 years of radio contacts. This has been Tina VK5TMC president of ALARA 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 ARISS CELEBRATES 700th ISS TO SCHOOLROOM CONTACTS A milestone for manned ham radio operations from Earth orbit. ARISS Operation Team Mentor Charlie Sufana, AJ9N reports that the total number of Amateur Radio on the International Space Station or ARISS sponsored ISS-to-Earth school events has passed the 700 mark. The 700th school contact was with the Academy at Shawnee City in Louisville, Kentucky. It took place via telebridge with ON4ISS on February 14. The special John Glenn event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Perth Australia’s, City of Lights on February 20th marked event number 701. For those hams not aware. ARISS offers an opportunity for students in schoolrooms to experience the excitement of amateur radio by talking directly with crewmembers on-board the International Space Station. Further information on the ARISS program is available at www.ariss.org 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 Phil Longworth VK1PL reports, With just on 3 weeks until the Canberra 2 Day Walk, we need to get a roster built for this years event. the walk weekend is Saturday 31st March / Sunday 1st April 2012. Check the website http://www.aussiewalk.com.au/ for info about the walk itself. As I have stood down as the State Coordinator & Matt VK1MA is busy with another competing activity, we need somebody to stick their hand up and become the "Exercise Coordinator". The Exercise coordinator is the person that puts together the roster, and makes sure everyone knows where they need to be and so on, it is different to the "WICEN Commander" who is in charge of the Net Control Station and the efficient running on the day (we'd love somebody to volunteer for that too !) I am okay to assist and "Mentor" in these roles, so anyone who does stick their hand up will not be left in the lurch with no support ! Okay, as far as I am aware, the 2 Day Walk will need 9 field stations on the Saturday & 6 on the Sunday, with a couple of people to do HQ / NCS each day. This is a little uncertain as we haven't seen a route map and checkpoint list as yet but I have been told it will be similar in most respects as the 2009 event. So, who is able to assist with this years event ? Please send an email to wicen@crarc.ampr.org and say YES or NO, and if YES, then include your preferences / availability. Thanks in advance, Cheers, Phil Longworth VK1PL, WICEN Tas (Sth) Of late there have been 13 people involved in providing radio communication operators for the Tasmania Fire Service. This included relaying and logging radio messages from the Meadowbank fire ground to the Incident Management Team based at the TFS Cambridge Training facility. The fire started on the 25th Feb and there has been 24hr operations since then. Over 5000 hectares has been burnt out. See the TFS website site for more information. http://www.fire.tas.gov.au/Show?pageId=colCurrentBushfires All shifts have included at least one trained operator. If there is sufficient demand, another PUAOPE002A – OPERATE COMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT course will be run following the end of the fire season. The unit is one of those included in the WIA's Certificate 2 in Public Safety (SES Operations) PUA20500, a prerequisite to appointment as a WIA Emergency Communications Officer. (73, Roger, VK7ARN (WIA ECO #2028)) SOCIAL SCENE 2012 15TH IARU REGION 3 CONFERENCE hosted by V.A.R.C. in Ho-Chi-Minh City, Vietnam. MAR 18 VK7 Sewing Circle Nets "Meet the Voice BBQ" at Ross. MAR 25 VK3 Eastern and Mountain District's White Elephant Sale at 10am. 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 25 VK3 SPARC HAMFEST AT ROSEBUD 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. 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