WIANEWS - JUNE 3 - 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 JUNE 03 2012. We'll compress 3 days of Amateur radio into 8 minutes and give you a feel for what you missed out on at the 2012 WIA AGM and Conference in Mildura. THIS STORY AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JUNE 3 2012. SA GETS LION SHARE OF SKA. After nine years of sweat and tears by the South African and Australian SKA site bid teams, the independent SKA Site Advisory Committee, identified by consensus Africa as the preferred site but their recommendation was overturned by the SKA Organization after complaints by we Australians, It appears the SKA organization had difficulty coming to a final decision and according to one of the members of the committee the atmosphere at the meeting was heated and at times the group had to take a recess. The ultimate outcome was that for the sake of inclusivity they agreed to consider constructing one of the three SKA receiver components in Australia. Two will be constructed in Africa. (sarl-Southgate) Community broadcasting service for South Australia’s Goolwa community The Goolwa community in South Australia will have a new long-term community radio service after the Australian Communications and Media Authority decided to allocate the licence to Radio Alexandrina Community Broadcasters Association Inc. (Alex FM). Alex FM was one of two applicants for the Goolwa licence. The other was Fleurieu Christian Broadcasters Inc. (Spirit FM). The licence is initially for a period of five years, when the licensee must then apply for it to be renewed. Alex FM proposes to represent the general community interest while Spirit FM had proposed to represent the Religious – Christian community interest. The ACMA considered that Alex FM better demonstrated its capacity to provide the proposed service which would be more capable of meeting the existing and perceived future needs of the community. (ACMA MEDIA) 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 we'll compress 3 days of Amateur radio into 8 minutes and give you a feel for what you missed out on at the 2012 WIA AGM and Conference in Mildura. For many arrivals in Mildura the first taste of hospitality was the airport arrival lounge where local amateurs were waiting to provide personal transport to accommodation. After check-in, registration was one stop in a whirlwind of meeting amateurs left, right and centre. Mal Brooks was handing out the registration packs together with a locally grown mandarin and maps to aid navigation through Mildura. The Friday afternoon was topped off with a visit to the local boutique brewery pub where we sampled some local ales. A brisk walk around the corner and we were on the way to Settlers where the amateurs outnumbered the locals three to one, but they took it in their stride and dinner was on the way in the blink of an eye. The buffet style meal was punctuated by local Balloon Pilot and all-round Scotsman, Alan Cameron who regaled several tall tales, some of which may have had a little help from the local brew. Dinner was accompanied by local musicians who kept up a lively flow of song and music. Breakfast the next morning was a social affair with amateurs making their way to the central dining hall where all manner of great food was available, and as food goes, Mildura kept up its end of the deal with great food the whole way through the weekend. Afterwards a quick registration for the AGM - every current WIA member was presented with a blue voting card - not that we needed to vote on anything in the end, but being prepared is always par for the course. VK3KI, WIA President Michael Owen, ran a tight ship and after opening the AGM celebrating 102 years of the Wireless Institute of Australia at 09:07 and the acceptance of apologies we stood for a minute silence to acknowledge the silent keys who passed in the last year. 65 WIA members and 55 further Amateurs, two Life Members among them. The minutes of last year's AGM were accepted and the financial report was passed without comment. New Directors were introduced and at 09:13 the AGM was all done and dusted. Next item on the agenda was the annual awards and President’s Commendations. President’s Commendations Neil Husk VK6BDO In recognition of his contribution to amateur radio and the Wireless Institute of Australia over many years, including supporting the WA Repeater Group and the WIA news broadcasts, but most particularly his ongoing support of the education of potential amateurs including his role in the foundation of HAM college and his role training and assessing since then. Keith Bainbridge VK6XH, VK6EME, VK6RK In recognition of his contribution to the Wireless Institute of Australia and amateur radio over many years including serving as a member of the Council of the Wireless Institute of Australia Western Australia Division and thereafter as a member and Chairman of the WA Advisory Committee, his different roles in the Northern Corridor Radio Group, his compilation of notes for Amateur Radio magazine, his support of the WIA Awards program and his untiring support and promotion of the Wireless Institute of Australia. Onno Benschop VK6FLAB In recognition of his active participation in various aspects of amateur radio during his first year as a licenced radio amateur. David McAulay VK3EW For his valuable ongoing contribution to the WIA’s Awards Committee. Alek Petkovic VK6APK For his valuable ongoing contribution to the WIA’s Awards Committee. President’s Commendations to Nominated Assessors Roger Cordukes VK4CD Peter Willmott VK3TQ Terence Ryeland VK2UX Peter Watts VK5ZFW Ronald Bertrand VK2DQ Larry Lindsay VK2CLL Peter Dowde VK7PD Colin Pomroy VK3BLE Craig Cook VK3CMC Trevor Quick VK5ATQ Lyle Dobbs VK4LM Trevor Connell VK8CO Laurie Pritchard VK4BLE Dale McCarthy VK4DMC Tony LaMacchia VK2BTL Eric Van De Weyer VK2VE Ian Ellings VK7QF Philip Adams VK3JNI Paul Hoffmann VK5PH Owen Clarke VK3BC Steven Tregear VK3TSR Scott Habgood VK2UBQ Kathi Suminer VK6KTS Gail Lidden-Sandford VK4ION In recognition of their valuable contribution to amateur radio and the Wireless Institute of Australia as a Nominated Assessor – a role requiring specific qualifications and central to the effective operation of the WIA Exam Service. Higginbotham Award: David Clegg VK5KC In recognition of his contribution to amateur radio and the Wireless Institute of Australia including his support of the North East Radio Club and as a very active Secretary and now President of the Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society and as a member of the South Australian Advisory Committee and his untiring support of the Wireless Institute of Australia. Amateur Radio Technical Award: James (Jim) Tregellas VK5JST for his articles ‘An introduction to stepper motors’ and ‘Building an 80 metre magnetic loop antenna for your attic’, published in the May, July and August 2011 issues of Amateur Radio. Al Shawsmith Award for journalism: Justin Giles-Clark VK7TW for his article ‘Modern communications technologies - a quick Centenary review and the future’, published in the December 2011 issues of Amateur Radio. The Chris Jones Award; Gavin Reibelt VK4ZZ (commendation not provided here) The Ron Wilkinson Award: Dale Hughes VK1DSH for his contribution to amateur radio in representing the amateur service in the preparation for WRC-12 and as a member of the Australian delegation to the APG and the WRC and his long history of technically excellent articles published in Amateur Radio magazine. G. A. Taylor Medal: Peter Young VK3MV (commendation not provided here) After the awards, we started the Open Forum Discussion. Discussions were productive and engaging about many issues close to the heart of Amateur Radio, including several proposals to promote our hobby to new audiences and the future of the club grant scheme. There was discussion about how successful the club grant scheme had been, whether it was too confining in its requirements - one example from the floor was that it should be possible for the club-grant scheme to be used to buy tins of paint because it might well be that this would be the most important thing for a club to spend money on and one member stood to ask for exactly that - having just moved into a hall that needed more than some TLC. During morning tea - which included several nice pastries - several discussions continued on and the topic of promotion of the hobby was discussed. After lunch we had several great presentations, details will be available on http://wia.org.au We saw a demonstration of Amateur TV, saw satellites launched into space, heard about how audio chirps help determine propagation and saw amazing footage and inventiveness with project Horus. Pre-dinner drinks were enjoyed by some, but yours truly was putting together the announcement for the conference next year in VK6 and you'll hear more about that in the news next week. Dinner was accompanied by classical music and a classic speaker who had a lifetime in media and commercial broadcast radio and had many tales to tell about radio in Mildura. For early risers the next morning, there was the opportunity to witness two Horus launches, weather balloons with electronic payloads. One of the launches had a repeater as a pay-load and many amateurs used it to check-in with VK3WIA. Meanwhile, the festivities continued on the Paddle Ship Mundoo - where among the food and fun we had a live shack operating the call-sign VK102WIA - try saying that in a hurry. Many amateurs took the opportunity to operate the station and QSO's were had with New Zealand, VK6 and Russia. At several times signal reports were quite strong but some detective work determined that a few hams decided to make call-backs from the boat - anything for a QSL card. After lunch and a group photo we made our way to the QTH of Noel Ferguson VK3FI who opened up his home and his shack for all of us to be inspired by. A life-time of building is visible in Noel's shack and his attention to detail comes with a dry wit which saw the local bag-pipers come by to annoy the President of the Sunraysia Radio Group. The BBQ was of the same high standard that Mildura offered throughout and it was topped off with a masterfully called raffle, under the auspices of Ray VK3HSR. And that's how it ended, laughing into the distance. What an experience! Next year we'll have to put on a great show to top this one. HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. 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 The Caboolture Radio Club, call sign VK4QD, will be celebrating 100 Years of the WIA in Queensland from Saturday to Monday, 16th to 18th June using the special event call sign VK100WIQ. The operation will be from the clubhouse located at 169 Smiths Road, Caboolture. We will be also be holding a “Grand” re-opening on Saturday 16th June from 11am to 3pm to celebrate our recently renovated clubhouse. This is a great opportunity to check out our upgraded facilities and the cool new custom-made consoles while the VK100WIQ operation is in full swing. Hope to see you! 73, Peter VK4QC, Secretary Calling all merry makers. You are cordially invited to RES Reunion of facilitators, students, past students and friends and partners. All welcome. Saturday 9th June 2012 Hinze Dam 10 AM onwards or until we drop. You will need to bring all food, and beverages BBQ's and restrooms are available. Please bring out door chairs if you wish to be more comfortable. Directions will be available of 146.7 MHz (Gold Coast Repeater) and 146.5 Simplex from 9.00 AM onwards. Please RSVP via email to ron@res.net.au. If you RSVP then we will be able to advise you of any changes such as postponements due to bad weather. FREE - Boot Sale - fill your boot - sell your junk to others - and buy some of theirs. Fox Hunt - $5 entry - monetary prize for winner AND prizes for 2nd and 3rd. Go to web site www.ron.so (Peter VK4KTX) VK5 South East Radio Group Convention This is John VK5DJ for the South East Radio Group. The South East Radio Group’s 48th Annual Convention will be held next Saturday and Sunday, 9th and 10th June at Mount Gambier. That’s next weekend. Last year the hall was open for just one day although the Australian Fox Hunting Championship was run over its usual two days. Many comments were received about wanting the 2 day convention back and we are pleased that we have been able go back to the 2 day format. The program is on the website now. Just type “SERG Convention” into Google. The first event is the Sniffer Hunt at 11.00AM on Saturday. Of course the famous night fox hunt will be held that evening and again the organisers will do their best to trick the foxes. A special challenge is promised and competitors will need to be on their toes. If you’ve never seen fox hunting in action here’s your big chance to see how experts and beginners do it and have huge fun in the process. The venue for the Home Brew Competition and the Trading tables is the headquarters of the 1st Mount Gambier Scout Group in Margaret Street, Mount Gambier. Entry Fee for the two days is only $5.00. The hall opens at midday on Saturday and 9:00AM on Sunday, there are hourly door prizes. Our Chef from last year has been convinced to return, so catering will be available at the venue. Presentations will be at the SERG Club Rooms in the Reidy Park Centre followed by the post-convention BBQ at the SERG clubrooms. The Home brew competition is a highlight with prizes provided by a generous anonymous amateur, so bring along that project you’ve been working on. The project can be simple or complicated. There are several sections that cater for the beginner and the expert. 2012 is a special year for the club as it’s also the South East Radio Group’s fiftieth birthday so come along next weekend and help us celebrate. INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA. More Italian Earthquakes Two additional earthquakes have struck the Emilia Romagna region of Italy with heavy losses in the Parmesan cheese industry and 16 deaths have been reported. Hundreds were injured when the 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook northern Italy on Tuesday, forced thousands of people from their homes, and came nine days after the 6.0 magnitude quake killed seven. Among the ongoing rescue and recovery workers are radio amateurs from the Raggruppamento Nazionale Radiocomunicazioni Emergenza, and RNRE, using both HF and VHF. Tuesday's quake was followed by dozens of aftershocks with one recorded at 5.6 magnitude in the industrial and densely populated area. Some historical buildings including churches have been further damaged by the latest shakes, particularly in the San Felice sul Panaro and Mirandola districts. IARU Region 1 Emergency Coordinator Greg Mossop G0DUB reports that RNRE have a mobile unit with five radio amateurs in the area and two more units are ready to go when requested. This follows a request from the Italian Civil Protection Department. The HF frequency 7060kHz is in use by IQ1HQ at the RNRE Headquarters and IQ0TK from the Civil Protection Department in Rome. VHF links are on 145.200MHz. Please keep the frequency of 7060kHz clear. RNRE can also be found in Google English on http://tinyurl.com/RNRE-Italy (Jim Linton VK3PC. Chairman IARU Region 3, Disaster Communications Committee, acknowledging the input from Greg Mossop G0DUB IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator) Radio transmitter causes bomb scare The BBC report that a suspicious device triggered a bomb alert in Surrey. BBC News say: The device was found after reports of suspicious activity near the Maultway, Camberley at about 10:00 BST on Monday. The Maultway and roads near the Cheylesmore Park estate were closed for about four hours. Following examination by army bomb disposal experts Surrey police said "The unit is now described as being a transmitter or repeater for a citizen or pirate band radio station." [Presumably by pirate band they are referring to 88-108 MHz?] Read the full story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-18148395 ============================================================================= RSGB Special centenary callsign for WIA 2012 is the Centenary of the Wireless Institute of Australia being established in the State of Queensland. A special Centenary callsign, VK100WIQ, will be activated from 1st June through to 31st July by way of the WIA affiliated radio clubs in Queensland. There is also a Centenary QSL card and a Centenary award available. Details of the QSL card and award can be found at www.wia.org.au 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 WW Oceania Dx Contest SSB October 6 ww Oceania Dx Contest CW oceaniadxcontest.com Oct 13 VK Spring VHF / UHF Field Day November 24-25 SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE From the TARC Inc. in Townsville we learn of an activation of VI4XQA at Mareeba, a special event station at the Mareeba Heritage Centre Saturday 9th June. The event station will be using either special call VI4XQA, or VK4XQA and will be operating adjacent to the heritage display of the first Amateur Radio station in Queensland, the Marcus Brimms XQA Spark Station. (Townsville and VK4ZZ newsletter of TARC) Coventry Amateur Radio Society have GB 50 CCC on the air until 19th June for the Coventry Cathedral Celebration. GB 0 TLR Railways on the Air Southgate Amateur Radio Club will be operating a Special Event station for the Railways on the Air event on 22nd and 23rd of September. This is being run in conjunction with the North London Model Engineering Society at the Tyttenhanger Light Railway site near London Colney, Hertfordshire using call sign GB0TLR, the same callsign as used last year and operating on 20, 40 and 80 metres. T6JM That station from Afghanistan CT1FKN who is signing T6JM is about to depart mid-June. T6JM is mainly QRV on 20m SSB and BPSK31. QSL T6JM to CT1KFN his home call. Members of the Jersey Contest Group will be active as GJ 2 A from the Isle of Jersey during the Radio Society of Great Britain’s’ Islands on the Air Contest. This event taking place July 28 and 29. QSL direct to GJ 3 DVC. 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 are numerous special event stations active on the air. They are 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) DK9FN will once again return to Temotu Province be active as H40FN between this December 22nd and January 7th of 2013. QSL H40FN via HA8DD. F4CYZ iS operational from Morocco as CN2YZ through years end. His activity will be from the city of Tangier especially on the weekends. The Mediterraneo DX Club is supporting his activities and is also providing a Web site with a log-check. Its in cyberspace at www.mdxc.org/cn2yz WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video arvideonews.com hamradiotube.com youtube.com qdg.org.au South East Queensland ATV group tell us Martin VK4JVC has been working away on the SEQATV group Digital Television transmitter, if you are in the Deception Bay area close to Martin's QTH you may be able to pick up the low power test transmissions using standard digital TVs or desk top boxes able to tune manually tune 436 MHz (Alan VK4NA) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DIGITAL Cuba's Radio Hams get new Digimodes With great pleasure I inform to the world community of amateur radio that after a national debate and then follow the legal avenues has been approved by the department authorized by the government the use of new digital modes for all Cuban hams. The last legislation only allowed us to work in PSK31, QPSK31, AMTOR, PACKET and RTTY. We can now work in Domino Contestia, Olivia, MFSK, JT65, almost all variants of PSK (BPSK, QPSK, PSK-R) among others. And more importantly, it has set up a mechanism to apply for new digimodes by any hams, I have asked already some who were not authorized, including WSPR, JT6M, HSMM, PACTOR II and III, FSK441, among others. Another important step is that they have authorized access to the FRC's internal network using packet radio nodes, and have authorized the use of packet gateways in cross bands (HF / VHF, etc.) Cuban radio amateurs are pleased with this approval that puts us on a par with colleagues anywhere in the world. 3 from CO7WT CU on HF on Digimodes !!! WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ILLW The anniversary ILLW grabs imagination The 15th annual International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend in August has inspired many to register early with 32 countries and nearly 250 registered already. Although this is just over half of the countries normally attracted by the event it is slightly ahead of expectations with ten weeks to go. The weekend increases the public awareness of lighthouses and lightships and their need for them to be preserved, promotes amateur radio and fosters international goodwill. The event was started mainly by late Mike Dalrymple GM4SUC and the Ayr Amateur Radio Group in 1995 as the Northern Lighthouse Activity Weekend with stations at Scottish lighthouses. It quickly went international. The third weekend in August coincides with the worldwide lighthouse open day organised by the Association of Lighthouse Keepers that sees public access to many of the featured lighthouses. During the weekend a group or individual sets up an amateur station at or adjacent to a lighthouse, lightship or marine beacon that is listed. To register, complete a short online form, read the event rules and have lots of fun. You will see complete statistics on past events, reports from previous years and ILLW are on Facebook too. Visit the website at illw.net for the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend held on August the 18th and 19th. (Jim Linton VK3PC) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- NAVAL NEW JERSEY CLUB TO ACTIVATE SUBMARINE RADIO STATION The Nutley Amateur Radio Society, of Nutley New Jersey, has activated the radio room of World War II Submarine USS Ling. This as part of the world-wide Museum Ships Weekend THIS weekend, June 2nd and 3rd. The Ling is a Balao class fleet submarine, measuring 312 feet and is a permanent museum ship, berthed on the Hackensack River New Jersey. (ARNewsLine) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR OLD-TIMERS http://www.raotc.org.au Hallo everyone, this is Clive VK6CSW with a reminder that tomorrow Monday June 4th the Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club of Australia's monthly News and Information Bulletin will be broadcast on a number of HF and VHF frequencies. The principal HF transmissions will be on 20 metres on 14.150 MHz USB at 0100 UTC beamed north from Melbourne for the eastern states, and at 0200 UTC beamed westward for Western Australia. Numerous local relays will take place on both VHF and lower HF frequencies, To find the times and frequencies for your area please visit the RAOTC website at www.raotc.org.au Once again, that's www.raotc.org.au Everyone, RAOTC Members and non-members alike, is invited to listen to this interesting half hour of Old Timer news, information and anecdotes and to participate in the call backs afterwards. Once again, the RAOTC monthly bulletin is scheduled for tomorrow, Monday June 4th. 73 from Clive VK6CSW. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO SCOUTING http://www.scouts.com.au http://www.scout.org/jota http://www.international.scouts.com.au CALLING FREQUENCIES Please QSY off the calling frequency after establishing communication. Australian voice calling frequencies: 3.650, 7.090, 14.190, 21.190, 28.590, 52.160 World CW calling frequencies: 3.570, 7.030, 14.060, 18.080, 21.140, 24.910, 28.180, 50.160 World voice calling frequencies: 3.690 & 3.940 MHz, 7.090 & 7.190, 14.290, 18.140, 21.360, 24.960, 28.390, 50.160 Calling frequencies for Slow Scan TV (SSTV): 3.630, 7.033, 14.227 Calling Frequencies for PSK31 14.070 BSA TO OFFER MORSE CODE INTERPRETER STRIP For many years, Boy Scouts and Scouters of America have been able to earn an interpreter strip to wear on their uniforms. This strip, worn on the uniform denotes proficiency in a foreign language or sign language. Each language has its own strip (with the name of the language embroidered in that language), and some Scouts and Scouters wear more than one strip. Now those hams involved with the Boy Scouts can show their proficiency in Morse code with a Morse code interpreter strip (with M-O-R-S-E spelled out in Morse code) http://www.arrl.org/news/bsa-to-offer-morse-code-interpreter-strip (arrl letter) 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 Emergency Agencies should work with Radio Amateurs The Straits Times newspaper reports that the use of amateur radio in rescues should be promoted. They say amateur radios could be the key to communicate with people in distress and, therefore, collaboration between government agencies and amateur radio users should be intensified. They quote Malaysian Information Department director-general Ibrahim Abd Rahman as saying that integration between the two should be encouraged as it helped the agencies to build good rapport and teamwork spirit. He said agencies like the Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Defence Department (JPA3), police, Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS), hospitals, Royal Malaysian Air Force and the Department of Civil Aviation should work together with amateur radio users. Read the full story at nst.com.my/nation/general/promote-use-of-amateur-radios-in-rescues-1.86066 SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ROAR ROTARIANS OF AMATEUR RADIO www.ifroar.org bill.learmonth@lineone.net rotmem@yahoogroups.com nmclaren3@juno.com VK2IWT Secretary Peter Lowe, VK3KCD ANZO VP 0645z - 0730z Anzo Net 7.118 0730z - 0830z International net 14.293 GW8TGS carry's Olympic torch 27th May, William Williams, GW8TGS was an Olympic Torchbearer as part of the team carrying the Flame through Aberystwyth from around 18.14 BST, arriving at Vicarage Fields half an hour later. Having taken part in several charity runs and raising over œ15,000 for charity, William, GW8TGS was nominated by the Rotary Club of Aberystwyth for his fund raising and his voluntary work. William says he felt honoured to be a part in this once-in-a-lifetime event. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- SUMMITS ON THE AIR www.sotawatch.org www.sota.org.uk SOTA has now been operating in VK3 for 4 months, and awareness of the program continues to grow. Peter VK3PF joined the fray, activating Mt Ida VK3/VU-009 on the way up, along with Mt William VK3/VS-001 on his way back from the WIA AGM. May has also seen a varied range of summits activated from One Tree Hill VK3/VS-036 near Ararat, Mt Beckworth VK3/VC-024 near Ballarat, Mt Cole VK3/VS-009 and Mt Buangor VK3/VS-003 which are in between Ararat and Ballarat. There have been a few false starts in the month as well, but SOTA may end up with more than 10 activators before too long. Most activations have been HF SSB, but a reasonable portion have been 2m FM. This is bringing out those who remember the days when there was more activity on 2m simplex frequencies, such as the national calling frequency 146.5 FM. DX in the month was mostly restricted to CW, but there was a W/VK contact on 40m, as well as a 20m SSB contact into G. All activations in the month were QRP with operators using FT817s, but it is known that there are some kit builders out there. It is also known that some LiPos are being put together to power FT857s and IC706MkIIs so some higher power activations might be on the horizon for those eagerly chasing from Europe. Wayne, VK3WAM, presented SOTA at the EMDRC, which was warmly received. The presentation was captured on video, and is available on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmdMMBNiUJA There was to be an additional presentation at FAMPARC yesterday morning Saturday June the 2nd. SOTA Chasers were heard from VK7 and VK5, chasing contacts on VK3 summits, but some also made contacts into Europe and asked activators there for SOTA codes. A few VK1ers are looking on awaiting the day when their association will go live, but that is likely to still be a few months away. Perhaps VK5 will only be a few months behind that. (Wayne VK3WAM) SOCIAL SCENE 2012 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. JUL 7- 8 VK3 GippsTech 2012, Monash University Gippsland Campus Churchill. 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 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