WIANEWS - JUNE 10 - 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 10 2012. WIA Centenary DVD's The WIA AGM and Annual conference in Mildura German Radio Ham arrested in Greece THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JUNE 3 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 WIA Centenary DVD's The WIA Centenary DVD set with footage from the 2010 Canberra event have been produced and distributed to most people who pre-registered interest in receiving a copy. The three DVD sets are $25 and if you are still chasing a copy, please send an email to Robert Broomhead VK3DN at his WIA email address vk3dn@wia.org.au The WIA AGM and Annual conference in Mildura was held a fortnight ago, but we can't stop talking about it. Intrepid reporter Robert VK3DN provided the material for this report. Visitors came from far and wide, Laurie ZL1ICU: {00:22} I'm Laurie Mathews [..] it was great. There were activities outside the AGM and Technical Conference, traditionally intended for partners, but it attracts its fair share of amateurs as well. Jean VK3VIP: {00:39} Hi this is Jean [..] we've had here. In our report last week we highlighted some of the discussion that took place during the open forum. One of the hot topics is: "How to promote Amateur Radio?" Roger VK2ZRH on the topic: {01:02} This is Roger [..] remarkably good use. And finally a word from Trent, VK4TS {00:21} This is WIA Director [..] in Perth in 2013. Next year in the last weekend of May we'll be hosting the conference in VK6. Mark your diary now so you don't have any surprises. Keep an eye on airfares, or plan to share your ride with a fellow amateur. While you're on the sun-set coast, I thoroughly recommend that you spend some time here to have a look around. There are many day trips around Perth alone and if you make the time, you'll find an amazing array of flora and fauna, not to mention far flung amateurs across Western Australia. On the conference front, we expect to call for expressions of interest for the technical talks in the coming weeks. More information about that will be included on the News and in AR magazine. Still recovering from the lurgy that Bob VK6POP shared with me, I'm Onno VK6FLAB. ON YOUR BIKE! Here is WIA Director Bob Bristow VK6POP "I was recently contacted by Robert VK6ARM, who is involved with the VKS 737 outback radio network. This network conducts regular skeds every day to keep in touch with travellers around Australia in order to ensure their safety and to pass on messages. Robert told me that they had been alerted to the presence of a pair of Korean cyclists who had set off from Laverton in Western Australia to cycle along the Anne Beadell 'Highway' to Coober Pedy in South Australia. It was reported that the cyclists appeared not to have a support crew, and that they were not carrying much in the way of supplies. It was apparent that the Korean Cyclists took the term “highway” to mean it was a major road with supply assured along the way. The Anne Beadell highway is a track. Robert sought my help to put him in touch with the Amateur Radio Travellers Net, in case there were some Amateurs along the road who could render assistance. I referred him to Bob VK6KW, who along with others conducts the travellers net on 20 metres every day.. It turned out that no Amateurs were travelling that road, however there were some on the road who use the VKS737 network. Police services have been alerted. A few people have come across the cyclists and have given them food and water, as much as they can spare. Others have left water supplies along the track for them. We can only hope that these fellows both survive their ordeal and appreciate their folly, and the concern and support given to them by complete strangers. It’s also a fine example of successful collaboration between volunteers of two radio based services dedicated to the safety of travellers in the outback. The Amateur Radio Travellers Net operates every day at 0200 UTC on 14.116 MHz. Information about the VKS737 network can be found on vks737.on.net Who said radio is a thing of the past? I’m Bob VK6POP Tune in to understand VHF marine radio The Australian Communications and Media Authority has produced two new videos that provide recreational boaters with up to date information about using VHF marine radios. The first video shows recreational boaters the importance of operating VHF marine radio correctly. It includes a re-enactment of an actual rescue by the NSW Office of Boating Safety and Maritime Affairs and Marine Rescue NSW. The second video, produced in collaboration with the Bureau of Meteorology, is about how and why boaters should always check the weather on their VHF marine radio before setting sail and while at sea. (Blake Murdoch ACMA Media) Radcomms2012 Run this week. The Australian Communications & Media Authority’s annual radiocommunications forum ran last Wednesday and Thursday at Melbourne’s Sofitel on Collins, boasting more than 20 expert speakers. Timely spectrum-related topics included the growing requirements of broadband mobile, satellite observations of climate change, spectrum issues and the convergence review, and space astronomy. For over six years, the Radcomms program series have become the peak industry gathering to discuss Australian spectrum issues and future planning. From cyclone warnings to planetary health, from galaxies to gigabits, from floods to soil fertility, radio spectrum is not only a core enabler of our modern mobile economy, but also a vital tool in understanding the world and universe around us. This year’s key speakers included Dr Compton Tucker, senior research scientist in the Earth Sciences Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre; Dr Georg Schone, chief technology officer, LS telcom AG; and Mike Quigley, CEO NBN Co. HOME OF THE GOOD GUYS Air Cadets radio exam The Radio Communications Foundation in the United Kingdom has announced agreement has been reached with the Air Cadets Organisation to accept a pass in their ACO Radio Communications Foundation Equivalent examination as equivalent to a pass in the Foundation Radio Amateur examination. Ofcom has also accepted that the ACO Foundation Equivalent examination syllabus meets the Radio Amateur Foundation level requirements and will issue a Radio Amateur Foundation level licence via the Radio Society of Great Britain on receipt of a successful Air Cadet candidate pass details. The RSGB is offering those under 21 who achieve their licence through this route a year's free membership of the Society. SILENT KEY As you know we seldom do 'Silent Keys' on the National News, instead leaving it to local club and state level news. However we have learnt of the passing recently of VK6BDB Sean Leahy. No not the Cartoonist but his Father who was aged 86! A tribute written by cartoonist Sean Leahy after the passing of his father, his story made me really think about the service that this man had given, it was posted the day before ANZAC day. VK6BDB was born in Long Beach, California and moved to Ireland at the age of 11. He joined the Irish Army then the British Merchant navy as a radio officer and served on the famous salvage tug the "Turmoil" in the Atlantic only venturing out in terrible weather when ships were in distress. He stuck with that stoically for years despite a constant battle with seasickness. He married in 1956 and brought his 2 young children to Australia in 1960. He served as a land-based radio officer for OTC Coastal Radio and took postings with his family to Broome, Perth and Carnarvon in Western Australia before his retirement. He was in retirement also a ham radio buff. His regular "skeds" with other former radio operator friends overseas and around Australia who only knew him by his voice were a daily ritual he kept for years. Another Silent Key is one Steve Mendelsohn W2ML. W2ML was a lifelong friend of OUR friend and NewsLine Editor Bill Pasternak WA6ITF. This is guy who completely changed Bills life! " It was in the winter or early spring of 1970. I was dating a gal named Sharon Wagner and every Sunday morning found me winding my way from Brooklyn out to Valley Stream to pick up the lady to go – well – go somewhere or do something. Be it just lunch and a movie or whatever, I would pick her up and we would be off to that proverbial somewhere. And it also became a ritual for everyone on WA2SUR to say hello to Sharon and for her to say hi in return. This with me in control of the transceiver. A Regency HR-2 as I recall. Well this one Sunday after we had all said our hello’s via WA2SUR, Steve says something like: “…you two have been going out for months. When are you going to ask the girl to marry you?” At first I hemmed and hawed a bit looking for an excuse, but there was none to be had. Steve had put me into a corner where it was either catch the fish or cut bait and run. I knew that I was in love with the lady, so with much of New York hamdom listening in on 146.73 MHz, I asked Sharon to change her last name from Wagner to Pasternak. She immediately accepted and that September Sharon and I said “I Do.” Being honest: If not for Steve, I do not know if I would have asked Sharon or any gal to become my wife. But thanks to him, I was forced to make a decision that was definitely the right one. 40 years so far and headed toward 41. INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA. 630m in Monaco The telecoms regulator of the Principality of Monaco has allocated the segment 472-479kHz to the amateur service, with secondary status, with a maximum power of one watt eirp. Radio waves remotely trigger insulin Researchers have remotely activated genes inside living animals, a proof of concept that could one day lead to medical procedures in which patients' genes are triggered on demand. The team used radio waves to switch on engineered insulin-producing genes in mice. Jeffrey Friedman, a molecular geneticist at the Rockefeller University in New York and lead author of the study, said that in the short term, the results will lead to better tools to allow scientists to manipulate cells non-invasively. But with refinement, he thinks, clinical applications could also be possible. Friedman and his colleagues coated iron oxide nanoparticles with antibodies that bind to a modified version of the temperature-sensitive ion channel TRPV1, which sits on the surface of cells. They injected these particles into tumours, grown under the skin of mice, then used the magnetic field generated by a device similar to a miniature magnetic-resonance-imaging machine to heat the nanoparticles with low-frequency radio waves. In turn, the nanoparticles heated the ion channel to its activation temperature of 42°C. Opening the channel allowed calcium to flow into cells, triggering secondary signals that switched on an engineered calcium-sensitive gene that produces insulin. After 30 minutes of radio wave exposure, the mice's insulin levels had increased and their blood sugar levels had dropped. "The great thing about this system is that radio wave heating can penetrate deep tissue, and TRPV1 can focus that stimulus very locally to just where you have the nanoparticles," said David Julius, a physiologist who studies TRPV1 at the University of California, San Francisco. Friedman said that his team did not develop the method as a way of managing diabetes; insulin and blood sugar levels simply provide convenient physiological readouts for checking that the remote control is working. "There are many good treatments for diabetes that are much simpler," he said. However, the system could potentially be engineered to produce proteins to treat other conditions. For more information take a look at the link radiocomms.com.au/articles/53026 German Radio Ham arrested in Greece Greek newspapers report on the arrest of a German radio amateur, Baldur Drobnica DJ6SI on holiday in Mastichari, Kos, apparently for the 'crime' of operating amateur radio equipment. Greek news reports appear to indicate the 75 year old was arrested under a 1929 decree for illegal operation of radio telegraph equipment. The Aegean News reports that he was on holiday with his wife who has Alzheimer's. A photograph published by Aegea News show injuries reportedly received from handcuffs. Read the Aegea News report in Google English http://tinyurl.com/DJ6SI-Aegea-News Samos Times report http://tinyurl.com/DJ6SI-Samos-Times ============================================================================= NEWS FROM ARNEWSLINE USA HAM RADIO BEING DRAWN INTO DISPUTE OVER OWNERSHIP OF SCARBOROUGH REEF Ham radio is being drawn into a dispute over the territorial ownership of Scarborough Reef. This as a website pops up claiming correspondence between the Philippine Amateur Radio Association and the ARRL supports mainland China's territorial claim in regard to the land mass that's also known as Panatag Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc. The report on the Sina website relating to amateur radio says that back in 1990, the then Philippine ambassador to Germany indicated clearly in his letter to a German radio amateur on February 5th that, Scarborough was not within the Philippine territory and sovereignty. This, according to the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority of the Philippines. The documents issued by the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority of the Philippines and the Philippine amateur radio organization to the American Radio Relay League on October 18 and November 18, 1994 had also are claimed to confirm that the Philippine territorial limits and sovereignty was stipulated by the Article 3 of the Treaty of Paris way back in the year 1889. Scarborough Reef is located between the Macclesfield Bank and Luzon Island of the Philippines. Over the years it has seen several major DXpeditions and still ranks high as a wanted entity by DXers worldwide. . You can read the entire claim for yourself on-line at tinyurl.com/Scarborough-Reef. ============================================================================= WEIRD AND WONDERFUL Researchers grow Biological Hard Drive from Bacteria Researchers at the University of Leeds have used a type of bacterium which 'eats' iron to create a surface of magnets, similar to those found in traditional hard drives, and wiring. As the bacterium ingests the iron it creates tiny magnets within itself. The team has also begun to understand how the proteins inside these bacteria collect, shape and position these "nanomagnets" inside their cells and can now replicate this behaviour outside the bacteria. Using this knowledge the team hopes to develop a 'bottom-up' approach for creating cheaper, more environmentally-friendly electronics of the future. The magnetic array was created using a protein which creates perfect nanocrystals of magnetite inside the bacterium Magnetospirilllum magneticum. In a process akin to potato-printing on a much smaller scale, this protein is attached to a gold surface in a checkerboard pattern and placed in a solution containing iron. At a temperature of 80°C, similarly-sized crystals of magnetite form on the sections of the surface covered by the protein. The researchers are now working to reduce the size of these islands of magnets, in order to make arrays of single nanomagnets. They also plan to vary the magnetic materials that this protein can control. These next steps would allow each of these nanomagnets to hold one bit of information allowing the construction of better hard drives. http://www.elektor.com/news/researchers-grow-biological-hard-drive-from.2160567.lynkx (Sourced from vk7wia) 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 Winter VHF-UHF Field Day The Winter VHF-UHF Field Day will be held over the weekend of June 23 and 24. The Field Days have separate sections for single and multiple operator stations. The Field Day runs for 24 hours, but there are also 8 hour sections for operators who may not be able to camp overnight. If you don't like the nice cool weather, there is also a separate Home Station section. An extra feature in the next Field Day will be an “F Call Challenge”, with special certificates for Foundation licensees who participate in any of the single operator sections of the Field Day. The details have been published in "Amateur Radio" magazine, and they are also available on the contest page of http://www.wia.org.au (John VK3KM) The winners of CQ Magazine DX Marathon 2011 have just been announced, and the winner for Oceania, and also Zone 30, is VK4CC, Col Clark! He will receive a trophy for his efforts, a huge achievement in what was really his first year as a serious DXer. Full results are published in the June issue of CQ magazine, out now. Congratulations, Col! the news is just in from Bob Locher W9KNI live from Dayton, and who Col cites as his DX Elmer, having been inspired to tackle the Marathon when he read Bob's book "A Year of DX". SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE It is congratulations to VK5VJZ who at 12 minutes into the WIAQ 100 year celebrations became the first appear in the logs as having worked special station VK100WIQ operating out of the 4650 post code zone. The team who were so "bad" at Cape Liptrap last August have decided to be bad again! VK3BAD that is. At the end of August a 20 strong team will travel into the Otway Ranges homing in on The King Parrot Cottage complex near the Village of Pennyroyal for a party. The Pennyroyal Propagation Party , a long weekend of Radio, Delicious Food and Drink and Great Company. Styled "Wireless Weekends" this inaugural operation follows on from highly popular activations at Cape Liptrap over the past two years, And so great was the demand that the trip was sold out just 3 days after being announced. The location is high in the mountains with lots of wildlife in the area and great views. The Station will operate on most HF frequencies 160 - 10mtrs and on 6 and 2 mtrs and 70cm with contact to the Melbourne Area via the Geelong 2 mtr repeater. They'll also attempt a live link up on 1250mhz to VK3RTV repeater from a nearby high point which according to plotting software will give a line of sight path of 147km. Also they hope to have a number of live crosses using Skype to access VK3RTV during the weekend so you can see all the action. So please listen out for VK3BAD on 31st August through until September 3rd. Further details on QRZ.com under VK3BAD 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. Some special event call signs will be activated to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: 2O12L from London, England and 2O12W from Barry, Wales. The London 2012 Inspire program has granted the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) -- Great Britain's IARU Member-Society -- use of the "Inspire mark" for these stations. Both stations will be on-the-air for the duration of the Games, July 27-August 12. More Special callsigns for UK radio amateurs during 2012 The Radio Society of Great Britain and Ofcom have reached agreement on the optional use of special callsigns for two significant events during 2012. For the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, all UK amateur stations will have the option of applying for a variation to their licence if they wish, to use a special prefix for a five week period. This will add or substitute the letter “Q” in the place of the Regional identifier in the callsign. Period: 00.00 BST 5th May 2012 to 23.59 BST 10th June 2012. For the period of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, a similar facility will exist for a seven week period, using the letter “O”. Period: 00.00 BST 21st July 2012 to 23.59 BST 9th September 2012 Read the full details at http://www.rsgb.org/news/articlelinks.php?id=0263 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.) In the past I've talked about the history of Amateur Radio and how as a new participant it's easy to make the same mistakes as those who came before you because you don't yet know enough to ask the right questions, or the right place to look. Recently I had a conversation on air with an Amateur who had been fascinated with the hobby since the late 1940's, so over 60 years of experience in the field. At the time we were talking about inspiration, that is, what is it that inspired him to become part of the hobby. He told of a time when he built a kit and made a transmitter and it worked. He was hooked. And while that story continues on, I'm going to go sideways to show a little of the world and how it's changed in those 60 years. We're all familiar with the idea of going from horse and cart to the automobile. Unless you've actually sat in a cart and experienced it, it's still only sort of an understanding of the change and evolution. Right now, you're likely sitting next to a radio that has a VFO on it. Probably it's got a digital display of some kind, as you turn the VFO, the display indicates what frequency you're tuned to. The pre-cursor to this is a dial with frequencies indicated and a vernier that indicated what the dial was turned to. But there was a step before that. Imagine for a moment that you have a simple receiver. Its got a dial on it that is numbered 1 to 100. You can turn the dial and change its tuning frequency. To know what actual frequency its on, you look up the dial position in a calibration book. So, 39 might be 3.582 MHz. So, you set-up your simple receiver in such a way that you've got it set to the place where you're wanting to receive. Then, you turn on your transmitter and tune it to the same place. You know you're in the right place when the simple receiver starts to squeal and then when its tuned it's howling. Then, you turn on your receiver and tune that to the same place in the same way, you hear it squeal. Now you can actually key your morse or PTT key and start transmitting. Sounds like a lot more work than what you go through today. Here's something else. The simple receiver, it's called a wave meter and it's calibrated in a laboratory. Presumably the manufacturer has a set of crystals that oscillate on the appropriate frequency and the wave meter is calibrated and logs are taken to make the dial position co-inside with a known frequency. That's what it was like in 1950 to tune your radio. And here I am with a Yaesu 857d that fits in my hand, runs across multiple bands and transmits up to 100 Watts. Perhaps that's more illustrative than a horse and cart. That's history, right there. I'm Onno, VK6FLAB REWIND A leaf out of our history thanks to Jim Linton VK3PC The American Radio Relay League or ARRL is planning to celebrate its centennial in 2014 and has asked individuals and clubs to start thinking of how best to mark the foundation of the organisation. Its President Kay Craigie N3KN wants the once-in-a-lifetime event to be truly special. You may recall that Kay N3KN was the very last to work the special station VK100WIA during the Institutes celebration, with the WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI on the microphone. The ARRL will draw on historical collections and the memories of living radio amateurs. It will also bring out centennial merchandise. It encourages local clubs to develop public relations events in 2014 that are both meaningful to radio amateurs and tied in to the observance of the ARRL’s 100th birthday. RSGB also looks at its centenary The Radio Society of Great Britain has formed a Centenary Working Group headed by Rob Harwood G0HRT who is now planning a number of events next year for the RSGB’s 100 years. This may include Special Event Stations, local club events and other acuities to the hobby. Rob G0HRT is seeking volunteers among the RSGB membership and may be contacted through centenary@rsgb.org.uk And a little closer to home, the centenary of the wireless institute in Queensland will happen this year, 2012 The Queensland centenary committee, invite you to celebrate this Centenary and all of its wonderful history through to July 31st . They have developed a special QSL card, along with a centenary award. These can be Viewed on the WIA website, under news and events, VK4 centenary. Check out website wia.org.au for further details of history and events. 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