WIANEWS - May 20 - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FOLLOWING STORIES IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA ARE FOR WEEK COMMENCING MAY 20 2012. Are you coming to the WIA Annual Conference weekend. If you are coming then bring your radio, yes your Dstar Radio -- "way of the future I hear you say", yep that it sure is !So we will have the WIA portable Dstar repeater set up in Mildura for the full conference weekend, listen out on the Dstar repeater frequency 438.150MHz Now if you haven’t yet registered for this action packed weekend you know, we can still squeeze you in. Now it’s only a week away and we do have well over 170 people coming to sunny Mildura and we have almost reached the goal of the Sunraysia Radio Club secretary Noel Ferguson, and his dream to get 200 people to Mildura for the event. So just in case you've been listening on some other band for the last few Sundays, here’s a quick recap on what we will be getting up to next weekend. On Friday night we will be having a small feast at Settlers Club with some special entertainment arranged by Noel VK3FI and with special guest speaker Allan Cameron. On Saturday morning the WIA will run its AGM and Open Forum which will be followed in the afternoon by our tech program "Technology to the Future" with presentations on the very latest in digital ATV transmitters, the latest developments in Chirp Radar systems, a video presentation with Jan King on the history of the AMSAT satellite program and of course, none other than those helium boys from Adelaide the Project Horus team. Then on Saturday night it will be time to unwind and enjoy a sumptuous meal at the Grand Hotel, hey did you know the Grand Hotel is home to Celebrity /Chef/. /Stefano/de Pieri. need I say more, the food is going to be just amazing! On Sunday morning we will be having that much anticipated launch of the special Horus weather balloon complete with amateur radio payload. And you can install the special tracking software on your laptop feed the laptops audio interface from your radio and see the balloon progress on it's journey to somewhere, you can talk via the balloons on board 2 and 70 repeater or chase the balloon to goodness know where and be the first to recover the payload to win the brand new Yaesu FT1900R transceiver. And for the more sensible folk, do book in on the Paddleboat Mundoo for its scenic riverboat cruise and sumptuous lunch. Now ... for everyone at home, remember, that we will be running a special event HF station from the Paddleboat Mundoo between 11:00 and 15:00 hours Australian Eastern Standard time , so do listen out on the bands (I would suggest 20 or 40) for special event station VK102WIA and remember we will be issuing commemorative QSL cards for all contacts made. And finally, as we mentioned last week, the perfect way to cap off any weekend would be a BBQ at historic Fergus Park, Nicholls Point and that my friends is exactly what we will be doing Sunday night at the historic park with LED lighting. So, if you haven’t got around to registering for this fantastic weekend, jump on the net go to the WIA website home page click on the Conference weekend link and fill out our online registration form. This is Robert VK3DN on behalf of the Sunraysia radio club, host club for the 2012 WIA Annual Conference weekend. ACMA releases Five-year spectrum outlook 2012-2016 In another first for the ACMA, its key spectrum management publication, the Five-year spectrum outlook 2012–2016 has been released in a beta electronic magazine (e-mag) format. The new Outlook is more streamlined and user-friendly and can be viewed using smartphones, tablets and PCs. ‘You will be able to share the information it contains through a multitude of social media applications like Facebook, Digg, Google + and Twitter,’ said ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman. Only three months to go to ILLW As the International Lighthouse & Lightship Weekend approaches in August it is New South Wales that has taken the Australian leadership of the event with its12 entries so far. Many thanks to the clubs and individuals in more than 30 countries who have entered the 15th year of the fun event, which puts on air the old era of navigation. In Australia the order is second placed VK7 on eight registrations, followed by VK3, VK4, VK5 and VK6. Other nations with early high numbers of registration include Germany, USA, England and The Netherlands who are among about 30 countries with 210 entries. International Lighthouse & Lightship Weekend is on August the 18th and 19th. Check it out and register by visiting the website illw.net (Jim Linton VK3PC) BROLGA ON THE AIR This coming week is Education week in Queensland. The Caboolture Special School Amateur Radio Club station is in the finals of the Educational Queensland 2012 Regional Showcase Awards in the Community or Industry Partnerships category. With an inside look here is Ray VK4CF The Awards, are to be presented in Maryborough, this Thursday the 24th May at the Brolga Theatre from 1.30 pm -3.30 pm. In 2007, The Caboolture Special School established its Amateur Radio Club Station (VK4HBU) to build students vocational literacy, numeracy, communication, team, social individual and community capacities and it has been a great success. The students are using amateur radio to improve their oral communication capacity by either in a listening capacity by using a range of radio equipment or by talking on a range of radio equipment in a variety of contexts. They have been able to transfer these skills to other radio and communication contexts including Community Radio 101.5FM, the local Rural Fire Service, Moreton Bay Regional Council Workshop, and a current project is the establishment of a Digital Streaming Radio Station for the Caboolture Historical Village. The club using the callsign, VK4HBU, will be setting up a portable station in the theatre and using 2 metres and available HF frequencies to show the application of amateur radio to some 200 state school principals, parents and other invited guests. Peter, VK4HOY from the Caboolture special School, Brian, VK4FBAD from the Caboolture Club and myself, Ray, VK4CF, will be manning the station with students from the Caboolture special school. If you hear the station, could you spend a few minutes talking to the students, or if you are in the local area please call in and meet the crew. 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 At the Annual Conference each year the WIA conducts an Open Forum, where those present are invited to raise issues for discussion relating to the WIA and amateur radio in general. Updates and reports on the WIA’s activities are also presented for comment. This year, taking advantage of our website’s new “member’s only” access function, the WIA is pleased to present these reports to all members in advance of the meeting. WIA members can access the Reports from the website, using their online password, established by following the steps outlined on our website at https://www.wia.org.au/members/details/ If you have any submissions you would like raised at the Open Forum, but are unable to attend personally, you should contact the WIA Manager, Mal Brooks VK3FDSL, by email by next Tuesday, May 22nd on malb@wia.org.au Clubs are the backbone of organised Amateur Radio in any given location. Although it’s entirely possible to live a full and busy Amateur Radio life outside of a club, there are many reasons why joining and participating in a club are beneficial to you. There is evidence that a person who has social capital will fare better in terms of their enjoyment of life and in their mental health. What is social capital? It’s pretty easy - you’ve probably worked it out already. It’s the things you do together with other people, the clubs and groups that you participate in, and the friends and family that you engage with regularly. So even before we look at the benefits to Amateur Radio, especially your Amateur Radio career, having social capital puts you in a good position to enjoy a socially healthy life. Now let’s look at clubs. By participating in a club, you get to share your own experiences and knowledge, and at the same time benefit from others sharing the same things. A group of people working together in a club setting can bring about some great results that individuals would find it hard to achieve. In these days of increasing restrictions on what we as Amateurs can do in our own backyards, we can look to Clubs to provide a shack and have a decent crop of antennas. Where your Amateur Radio activities may be restricted at home, in the club setting you’re back in the good old days. So there are lots of perfectly acceptable self-centred reasons for being a member of an Amateur Radio Club and a load of other reasons to be part of a sharing community. So if you’ve not considered joining a club, or you’ve fallen away from club membership and wondering why your Amateur Radio life has dulled down, stop awhile and consider or reconsider your local clubs. The Wireless Institute of Australia supports Amateur Radio Clubs by advertising them on its website, making affordable club insurance available, giving space in the Amateur Radio Magazine for club reports and activities, and the Club Grant Scheme. I’m Bob VK6POP HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. VK1 Over last weekend the 12/13th of May Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club ran a Foundation Course weekend and all 7 candidates passed! Congratulations to Tayla, Kiera, Brenden, Andrew, Mick, Nigel and Chris and we look forward to hearing you on air soon. 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 27 th, ARNSW will be holding the regular bi-monthly Trash & Treasure at the VK2WI Dural site starting round 9 am. Also in the morning are the regular assessment for all license grades. In the early afternoon the Radio Home Brew and Experimenters group have their meeting with a lecture by Jim Omeros VK2LC on Software Defined radios. 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 Communications Support, your help is needed. Towards the end of May and well into June Hams in North Queensland look like having a bumper number of Comms Support Events happening. Help is needed in providing sufficient manning for the events - family and support crews are also welcome to go along! Contact Gavin VK4ZZ. VK7 vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vk7regionalnews/ Coffee Mornings We are told a VERY regular ham meet is informal coffee mornings each Monday and Friday at Friends Cafe in Jimmy's complex of Charles Street, Launceston. Start time is 10.30 and it runs until 11.30am. WIA - AGM ACTIVITY UP IN THE AIR Hello, this is Grant, VK5GR for the Project Horus Balloon team, with some news about our forth-coming amateur radio High altitude balloon flight being staged as part of the Wireless Institute of Australia's AGM Convention next Sunday, May 27th. Lift off is planned for 8-9 ish AEST from Mildura in NW victoria. The primary payload planned for this flight is a full cross band 2m/70cm voice repeater. This will be the first time the HORUS balloon repeater is accessible from 5 states and 4 capital cities at the same time. At apogee, the footprint will extend to cover VK1, VK2, VK3, VK5 and VK7, including the cities of Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. The radio horizon will extend some 800km radius from the balloon covering some 2,000,000 sqkm of SE Australia. You can access the repeater on 438.9 MHz using a 123Hz CTCSS tone, and you can listen to the downlink on 147.500MHz. APRS will also fly under the callsign VK5ARG-11 as will our standard 300baud RTTY telemetry beacon on 434.075MHz. Project leader Terry VK5VZI, and all of the Project Horus team hope to hear as many amateurs as possible making use of the repeater during this flight. We also look forward to meeting those who attend the WIA Convention in Mildura at our presentation during the Saturday lecture sessions. You can also find out more about the project by looking at our website projecthorus.org 73's from Grant VK5GR for Project Horus INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA. Shenzhen's first Maker Faire The first Maker Faire to be held in China took place in April, classes teaching soldering proved especially popular. In recent years there been a massive upsurge of interest in electronic home construction with Hacker Spaces and Maker Faires springing up across the UK, the USA, Japan and even one here in VK. The phenomena has also spread to China with a Mini Maker Faire being held in the Shenzhen special economic zone last month. The event attracted visitors from overseas as well as the Hacker Space in Beijing. 60 metre consultation As of May 12th, Industry Canada began the consultation process to see final approval for the use of six channels on the 60 metre band. As part of the consultation, Industry Canada is seeking input on five items and Radio Amateurs of Canada, the RAC, feels it is important for amateur radio operators to comment on this proposal and indicate their preference for the rules governing the frequencies going forward. ON 0 EME 1296 MHz Moon bounce Beacon This is possibly the first amateur radio beacon to beam signals off the Moon. Its aim is to encourage people to try and receive EME signals. According to a report in "432 and Above, EME News," the idea started in Sweden during the EME meeting in May 2011. After about 11 months of intensive work the beacon ON 0 EME started transmitting on 1296.000 MHz in the direction of the Moon. ON 0 EME’s total EIRP is about half a megawatt. The antenna is a solid 3.7 m dish and it is active when the Moon is >10° at its location. ============================================================================= NEWS FROM ARNEWSLINE USA ANACAPA HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOON SOARS TO NEAR 112000 FEET We’re not sure if it’s a new world altitude record for a ham radio equipped high altitude balloon, but members of the Anacapa Near Space Exploration Club at California’s Anacapa School are celebrating the recent success of their second near space probe. One that reached an altitude of almost 112,000 feet. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Don Carlson, KQ6FM, has the rest of the story: Balloon launch team: “5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – Go!!” That’s the sound of a group of teenage near-space adventurers lofting a high altitude balloon that would soon soar above California’s central coast and then eastward toward the states central valley. Called Anacapa Amateur High-Altitude Balloon 2, a student team from the Anacapa School launched two payload capsules tethered to a weather balloon on Saturday, May 5th. Equipped with GPS, atmospheric sensors, high-definition video and still cameras, a television transmitter and a Geiger counter, the payload downlinked live data, video and images during its ascent. Anacapa Amateur High-Altitude Balloon 2 was designed and built entirely by students that included Alex Carlson, KJ6UGF and Genevieve Hatfield, KJ6UGH. They along with non-hams Grayson Baggiolini, Julio Bernal and Christian Eckert made up the construction and launch team that was under the supervision of faculty advisor Levi Maaia, K6LCM. K6LCM: “Two years ago in September of 2010, one of my students, Connor Proctor and I got together and were talking about some of the headlines we had seen on-line about high altitude balloons and decided that it would be a neat project to bring to the Anacapa School in Santa Barbara. So we brought it to the Head Master of the school and said we want to do this. He said what an awesome idea and was behind us 110% as we sought funding for the project and put together a small team of students to spearhead the first launch.” As the balloon climbed through the thinning air, the decreasing atmospheric pressure caused it to expand nearly ten times in diameter. On reaching its apex above California’s Central Valley, the balloon burst, sending the payload back to mother Earth under the canopy of a small parachute. By reaching an altitude of 111,814 feet, this flight shattered the record of the group’s own first balloon flight by more than 20,000 feet. Over the coming weeks the students expect to thoroughly document the flight and analyse the collected data. More information, including photos and a condensed version of the in-flight video can be found online at www.anacapaschool.org/ansec For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Don Carlson, KQ6FM, in Reno. And less we forget to mention, the student group has been working on this high altitude ham radio balloon project since September of 2011. 7O6T YEMEN OPERATION APPROVED FOR DXCC OVER PROTESTS OF ISRAELI HAMS Over complaints that were voiced on QRZ.com and other public websites by some Israeli hams, the ARRL DXCC Awards Desk has approved the current 7O6T operation from Yemen for DXCC credit. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, is here with more: A small but vocal number of Israeli hams have been arguing on-line that the 7O6T from Yemen should not be allowed for DXCC because the operators refused to make contact with 4X and 4Z prefix hams. They note that Israel has no banned countries list and as such refusal of the 7O6T operators to contact them was at least a violation of the principals and the spirit of the DXCC program. While it’s true that Israel has no banned countries list, many of its neighbours consider themselves technically in a state of war with the Jewish state and have been since its creation through partitioning following World War 2. As such these nations ban hams operating under their jurisdiction from making contact with their counterparts in Israel. The 7O6T operation reportedly has the support of Yemen’s Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Radio and the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology. As such it is a pretty good guess that not recognizing Israeli stations was a decree imposed by Yemen on the 7O6T operating team and not one of their own choosing. At airtime, it’s not known if any of the protesting Israeli hams contacted the ARRL DXCC Desk regarding this issue of if it was just another of those cyberspace only arguments. Either way it came to an abrupt end on Saturday, May 5th. That’s when ARRL Awards Branch Manager Bill Moore, NC1L, issued a news release stating that the current 7O6T operation from Yemen along with the earlier 6O3A DXpedition to Somalia have been granted DXCC approval. As such, both will be counted for DXCC credit. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los Angeles. The 7O6T adventure began at 2100 UTC Monday, April 30th and had been causing massive pile-ups wherever the operators show up. It continued through 2100 UTC on May 15th. Up until this operation began, Yemen was ranked as number 5 in the DX Magazine's list of most wanted entities behind North Korea, plus Navassa, Bouvet and Heard Islands. ============================================================================= RSGB WAB awards for Olympic Flame stations The Worked All Britain Awards Group has organised special awards to coincide with the passage of the Olympic Flame around the country. Various clubs around the UK will be operating from locations along the route used by the Torch Bearers for that particular day. They will use callsigns G4WAB and G7WAB. The main call will be G4WAB, the exceptions for this being Shetland and Orkney, Jersey and Guernsey, when both callsigns will be used the same day. There will be Bronze, Silver and Gold versions of the award, depending on the number of stations worked. Full details of the cost, route and club stations are available on the WAB website. worked-all-britain.co.uk SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2012 VK Shires Contest June 9-10 VK Winter VHF-UHF Field Day June 23-24 ZL NZART Memorial Contest July First full weekend VK/ZL Trans Tasman Contest 80+160metres July 21 VK Remembrance Day Contest August 11-12 WW International Lighthouse Lightship Wknd August 18-19 VK Spring VHF / UHF Field Day November 24-25 SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX, BEACON, REPEATER AND NET ADVICE John VK3KM has advised free scripts to load the WIA repeater list into your VHF/UHF radio are available Steve Ireland VK2MD has written four useful utilities in VB Script that will load and manipulate the WIA Repeater data file. The first script simply prints the repeater list to a console window and is meant as a training exercise. The next one verifies the WIA repeater data file for any consistency. A third script converts the binary file into a format that can be imported directly into the ICOM ID880 using the free ICOM CS-80/880 Software. The last one converts the binary file into a format that can be imported directly into the many radios that are supported by Chirp. A "Read Me" file is included with the downloadable zip file that describes in detail how to run the scripts, and the scripts themselves are fully commented for those who want to write their own utilities. Also included within the zip file are sample output files that are pre-cooked and ready to use. The scripts will run on most Microsoft Windows operating systems (XP onwards) and can be downloaded from the Repeater Update page on the WIA web site. (text only edition) As we heard a lil earlier, ARRL DXCC Manager Bill Moore, NC1L, reported that the current 7 O 6 T DXpedition to Yemen and the February 2012 6 O 3 A DXpedition to Somalia have been approved for DXCC credit. BUT if you had cards that were recently rejected for the 6 O 3 A operation, please resend an e-mail ( dxcc@arrl.org ) to the ARRL DXCC Desk." (arrl letter) European Football Championship 2012 on the AIR EFC 2012 is an on-the-air activity which promises to be a great deal of fun, organized by Polish and Ukrainian amateurs affiliated with PZK and UARL. From June 1st to July 5th 2012, there will be numerous special event stations active on the air. They will be operating concurrently with the 2012 European Football Championship, which this year is organized jointly by Poland and Ukraine. There are two awards which can be earned during this period, as well as many interesting QSL cards and prizes. More detailed information be found on website http://efc2012.pzk.org.pl (irts) Brothers ZB3M and ZB2ER are using the special calls ZQ3M and ZQ2ER from Gibraltar through June 10th. This, to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. ZS6RGV is the new radio operator on the Marion Island base. His equipment includes an Icom IC-736 transceiver and FL-7000 amplifier. ZS1HF is going to help him with applying for a ZS8 call and will act as his QSL manager. INTRUDER WATCH - ENFORCEMENT ZONE Region III IARUMS Coordinator Peter Young VK3MV VK IARUMS reflector email to subscribe intruders@wia.org.au INTRUDER NETS Friday 0730 UTC 7.065.5 with VK4CEU David. Amateur exclusive frequencies where any non-amateur signal is definitely an intruder. Amateur HF Spectrum world wide 7.050 to 7.100 14.000 to 14.250 14.250 to 14.350 No broadcasters 21.000 to 21.450 24.890 to 24.990 28.000 to 29.700 IARU Monitoring System Newsletter The April issue of the IARU Monitoring System (IARUMS) newsletter reports on a mysterious 'X' signal from Israel on 7000 kHz causing interference to the 40m amateur radio band. It also reports on the success of Chris G4BOH in getting the Ofcom Baldock monitoring station to send an official complaint to the Tajikistan PTT regarding Radio Tajik on 14295 kHz (harmonic from 4765 kHz). The International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System (IARUMS) Region 1 April 2012 newsletter can be read at:- http://www.iarums-r1.org/iarums/news2012/news1204.pdf (southgate) RADIO MYANMAR INTERFERENCE ON 40 METERS The South African Radio League HAMNET reports that Radio Myanmar has been found to be broadcasting illegally on 7,110 MHz. The station is transmitting using full carrier AM from 15:30 UTC every day and is causing interference on the emergency communications frequency. Steps are being taken to issue a formal objection but this takes time and the correct procedures need to be followed. Meantime, South Africa's Hamnet emergency communications response group has sent an official complaint directly to Radio Myanmar and requested that it move frequency. MEDIA WATCH www.cq-amateur-radio.com/WorldRadio.html VK Club Bulletins http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aarnie/ A bit of a milestone Sunday last in VK2. A new transceiver replaced the old unit on 20 metres which enabled news call-backs to again be taken after a gap of many years. It was not pre announced and only mentioned as call-backs were about to be taken that vk2wi would take 20 metre call-backs. This brought 8 out of the woodwork, interstate as well as local, 1 here in VK3; 1 down in VK7 2 in VK4 all indicating they have an audience beyond the borders. As an aside, this WIA year we will have our highest ever number of call backs reads etc., 120,000 plus! Some 40,000 of those are RF check-ins. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ARDF WIA ARDF COORDINATOR VK3WWW Jack vk3www@wia.org.au http://users.mackay.net.au/~ron/ http://www.homingin.com http://www.ardf.org.au Famous TARC Foxhunt happening soon If you are in the vicinity of the Townsville Region on Saturday June 30th and want to get involved in a Foxhunt then Tony VK4TJS wants to hear from you. Action will get underway at a secret starting point from 2pm. There will be activities for all family members to participate in during the Foxhunt and things will end up with some in-flight catering. To cater for the event Tony needs to know your attendance numbers no later than Tuesday 26th June. Who do you have to call ? Tony VK4TJS of course 07 4774 0582 SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - VHF AND ABOVE First VK 10GHz EME DIGI Record Established Rex VK7MO and Alan VK3XPD are pleased to report on completing a QSO on 10 GHz EME with at one end a small portable station as would be used on field days. This result was achieved by taking advantage of predicted low libration spreading so that the narrow bandwidth mode JT65c could be employed, by using a program to automatically correct for Doppler and by using the Deep Search averaging function of WSJT. Lunar Libration is the slow rocking back and forth of the Moon as viewed from Earth, permitting an observer to see slightly different halves of the surface at different times. A feature of 10 GHz signals on EME is that while they vary significantly on a short term basis with glints of a second or so the average signal to noise varies only a dB or so between periods, over several periods, and this steady S/N is useful for signal averaging. Alan VK3XPD's equipment was a 10 ft Dish with linear horizontal polarisation and an 80w travelling wave tube transmitter and a DB6NT receiver pre-amp into an IF receiver – FT817. The transverter, multiplier & GPS Locked Oscillator is a totally Aussie design by Graham - VK3XDK. Rex VK7MO's equipment was a 64 cm TVRO offset Dish with linear horizontal polarisation and a DB6NT amplifier with 8 watts to the feed. Rex also used a DB6NT pre-amp and transverter. The IF receiver was an IC-910-H A big congratulation to both Rex and Alan on this great achievement SOCIAL SCENE 2012 MAY 25-27 VK3 WIA Annual Conference Mildura MAY 26 VK3 MDRC Hamfest Southern Community Centre, Mulgrave 10am MAY 26 VK4 BARCFEST (a hamfest) Mt Gravatt Showgrounds 9am. JUN 8-11 VK4 cancelled ! FNNQARG! QLD Cassowary Coast CANCELLED!!!!!!!!! JUN 9-10 VK2 Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club field day Port Macquarie. 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 JULY 21 VK4 WIA VK4 CLUB PRESIDENTS LUNCH Hervey Bay AR Club JULY 29 VK2/3 Albury Wodonga ARC HamFest @ Lavington Scout Hall NOV 4 VK5 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society HAMFEST @ Goodwood NOV 11 VK3 Yarra Valley Amateur Radio Group Hamfest 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. 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