WIANEWS - JUNE 24 - 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 24 2012. VK7RRR - Tasmania's D-Star Repeater is On the Air! VK Winter VHF-UHF Field Day June 23-24 DJ6SI VS. GREECE – THE COURT DECISION THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JUNE 24 2012. High Power Trial – New LTE Exclusion Area in the Perth Area As part of on-going discussions with the ACMA by WIA, advice has been received that a new Long Term Evolution (LTE) trial commenced in Perth on 1 June in the 700 MHz spectrum segment. LTE trials are authorised by the ACMA by way of a Scientific Licence to cover the trial period. The ACMA has advised that no applications from Advanced licensees for variations to their station licences to operate high power within a 40 km radius of Midland, Perth would be approved. Meanwhile, the LTE in the Bendigo region has ended, however the Scientific Licence that authorises this trial does not expire until September 2012. (WIA.ORG.AU) One of the world's most powerful supercomputers is planned for Perth to process vast amounts of data being collected by radio telescopes in Western Australia's Murchison region. WAToday said the supercomputer is to be housed in the Pawsey Centre being built in the southern Perth suburb of Kensington, near Curtin University. The machines will initially process data from existing radio telescopes based at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) but is free to expand for use in the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. It was decided in May that Australia would share the $2 billion SKA project with South Africa. 3000 dishes and a discovery potential 10,000 times greater than the best contemporary instruments, the SKA will observe such things as what happened after the big bang and how galaxies evolved, and will attempt to uncover more about the "dark matter" that fills the majority of the universe. watoday.com.au/technology/sci-tech/perth-gears-up-supercomputer-for-ska-20120619-20kx2.html#ixzz1yCfCZu7Z The ACMA's Spectrum Conference this year saw the ongoing work associated with the Review of 400 MHz spectrum that also includes our 70cm meter allocation. Currently, the amateur service has a secondary allocation between 420 and 450 MHz. In its last report from the ACMA on the review issued April 2010, they advised that the allocation for the amateur service between 430-450 MHz would not be affected from any rearrangement. They cited, however, a possible need for some temporary use by other services in the segment 440-450 MHz during the transition period. In the Amateur secondary segment 420-430 MHz, some geographic areas around Australia amateur use has already been withdrawn. At the conference, the ACMA has flagged that they will be seeking consultation with the WIA on withdrawal of the amateur service in this segment across the rest of Australia. The major use of this segment by amateurs is fixed links and the like where the ACMA database lists around 126 assignments across 35 licensees. It is expected these can be relocated to the 430 – 450 MHz region. (WIA.ORG.AU) AUSTRALIA'S MOST WANTED Request for Information! Do you know anything about the Althorpe Island Light House wireless communications operations.? Lighthouses of Australia a volunteer group whose aim is the preservation of Australian Lighthouses is looking for information on this famous Australian lighthouse. A reliable means of communication with the lighthouse was the driving force behind the establishment of a wireless telegraphy system in the late 1890s. It appears this means of communications was all too hard to set up and a cable was finally laid in about July 1911. This created its own problems of not being able to send messages after 6 o'clock because the telegraph operator on the mainland had gone home. It seems that during the Second World War the lighthouse was equipped with a pedal wireless set that enabled them to communicate with Cape Borda Lighthouse and from there, messages were relayed to the mainland -- this was in use into the 1950s. If anyone can elaborate on what has already been researched or know what type of radio systems were employed, please send it to Ross VK2VVV. vk2vvv@wia.org.au JUL 7- 8 VK3 GippsTech 2012, Monash University Gippsland Campus Churchill. It is NOT too late to register for this long running Australian event. Peter Freeman VK3PF says registration closes June 30. Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania Inc. http://reast.asn.au/ July Presentation – Pulsars, Black Holes and Atomic Clocks with Jim Palfreyman. Jim's background is computer science and mathematics and he has just finished his thesis for a Masters in astrophysics. Studying pulsars using the radio telescope at Richmond. Jim has a passion for accurate time and he assists in looking after the University's hydrogen maser atomic clocks. Jim also owns the old Hobart "Speaking Clock" and keeps it running - and accurate. This should be a fascinating presentation. Queen's Domain Clubrooms, July 4 at 7:30pm. (73, Justin – VK7TW, Secretary) VK7RRR - Tasmania's D-Star Repeater is On the Air! VK7RRR is the Southernmost D-Star repeater in the World, and the first (and only) public D-Star repeater in Tasmania. Prior to VK7RRR, Tasmania was the only Australian State or Territory that didn't have at least one D-Star repeater. VK7RRR uses a DV-RPTR DSP GMSK modem in combination with the DV-RPTR Repeater Controller and ircDDB Gateway software, thus allowing linking with D-Plus/REF, DExtra/XRF and x-Net/DCS reflectors worldwide. VK7RRR operates on the 70cm band 438.125 MHz TX (50W) / 432.725 MHz RX VK7RRR is connected to Australian D-Star reflector REF003C. If a user links VK7RRR to a different repeater or reflector then it will re-link to REF003C after 10 minutes of inactivity. More information, including how to send commands to the repeater to link worldwide, can be found here: vk7rrr.info Hello, this is Philip VK3JNI. Over the weekend that this broadcast goes to air, I will be assisting with a Foundation Amateur Radio course. In preparing for the course, I am quite excited, as this is the largest number of applicants that we have had for some time. Many of these people are under 18 years old. Undoubtedly, these young people have been encouraged by previous Scout JOTA activities and the active support of one or two parents and their leaders. I wonder how many other young people would be interested in amateur radio if we could encourage their leaders, teachers or parents to consider the idea? The idea of year 11 and 12 physics students studying waves and propagation via amateur radio does appeal to me. I can foresee the schools being approached by a small delegation from the local club, maybe with a donation of the foundation manual for the school library in hand. Would the school be interested in hosting a Foundation Course after hours or over the weekend? To paraphrase someone else’s slogan, we may never never know if we never never go, and try. DISCUSSION POINT (Past editions of What use is an f-call can be found online at harg.org.au under F-troop.) Some days you chew off more than you bargain for. Today I wanted to know a little more about propagation, the radio kind, not the plant variety. Four hours later I'm still reading. Everyone has an opinion, everyone's an expert and some people can even put together a coherent story on their web-site. What did I learn so-far? I didn't know that the Bureau of Meteorology has a Space Weather Branch, it's called IPS or the Ionospheric Prediction Service and their website is full of goodies. Then there's an article by Ian Poole, which appeared in the September 2002 edition of QST magazine, explaining how the Solar Flux, the K index and the A index affect your ability to talk to the other side of the world with your HF set. So, it seems that the numbers are related to things that affect each other. A high Solar Flux is good, but it's adversely affected by a high K index which in turn is represented as an average as an A index. Confused yet? So, the K index, runs between 0 and 9, 9 being a very major storm, 0 being Quiet. Quiet is good, storm is bad. The higher the Solar Flux, the better it is for higher HF frequencies. The Solar Flux needs to build up, takes a few days, so, you need Quiet and high Solar Flux for a few days and magic happens. I'm not confident enough with all this to tell you what to look for, but it seems that a Solar Flux of 150 or more for a few days with a K index below 2 will give you a good chance of getting some DX contact. Now I realise that this might just be gobbledygook for you, in fact, four hours ago, it was for me too, but now when someone talks about the Solar Flux being high, at least I have an idea of what on earth they're talking about. Next stop, figuring out how to read propagation maps. I'm Onno, VK6FLAB INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA. NZART 5 MHz Working Party WRC 15 will consider a possible new allocation to the amateur service on a secondary basis within the band 5 250-5 450 kHz and invited the ITU-R's to study spectrum requirements, to carry out sharing studies on the impact to other services currently allocated in the band referred to in invites ITU-R 1 and in the adjacent bands; Not letting the grass grow under their feet (Well if they did those pesky ZL sheep would be in like flyn), well Don Wallace ZL2TLL is putting together an NZART working party to look at what New Zealand can gather to support an international allocation in the 5 MHz area. Does the radiation of your mobile phone cause health issues or other electronic interference? In the USA this topic has not been visited for more than 15 years, so the FCC is ready again to study the effects, if any. The chairman of the FCC, will be asking his fellow commissioners to approve a notice that will permit the agency to open a formal inquiry on the matter. London Bound? Ofcom has announced that a small block of the amateur radio 144 MHz band is to be used for the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games and the RSGB say to minimise the impact on amateurs, a small block of 12.5kHz channels, ranging from 144.0125MHz to 144.1375MHz, for the period 27 July to 28 August 2012 only will be "out of band". 125 CANDIDATES PASSED THE RAE IN MAY A total number of 144 candidates wrote the amateur radio examination class A in May this year in South Africa. The pass rate was 81% with 116 candidates passing the examination. 10 candidates wrote the class B examination, of which 9 candidates passed. The youngest candidate to sit the examination was 11 years old. 90 YEAR OLD UK HAM GETS MASTERS DEGREE Bert Gladwin G3FVO, a former MI 6 electronics engineer, has become the United Kingdom’s oldest new graduate at the age of 90. During World War II he served with the Royal Air Force and developed an interest in radio communications. After the war he worked for the Marconi company and obtained his amateur radio license. Gladwin then worked for the Foreign Office setting up communications systems for British embassies around the world. He embarked on his degree in Intelligence History and Bletchley Park Studies at the age of 89. Bert Gladwin’s advice to anyone considering a degree is to go for it at any age. He says that it’s never too late to learn. More is on-line at tinyurl.com/grad-at-90 HELLO SAILOR A Finnish cruise line with Radio Arcala, OH8X are in the process of testing whether a permanent amateur radio station will suit the maritime environment and serve DXers in their leisure time, whether cruising in the Mediterranean, off West Africa or just doing island-hopping in the Caribbean. The objective for the first run is to look at potential interference issues both ways - from the amateur radio station to the ship's navigation system and from the ship's advanced PC networks to the reception of amateur radio transmissions. ============================================================================= NEWS FROM ARNEWSLINE USA DJ6SI VS. GREECE – THE COURT DECISION A court decision in the case of DXer Baldur Drobnica, DJ6SI, who stood trial last week in Greece on three charges involving his operation of an amateur radio station on the vacation island of Kos. The three crimes he was eventually charged with were conducting radio traffic without permission from the Greek Government. Operating a transceiver that covered more spectrum than just the ham radio bands permitted by Greece and his refusal to surrender his equipment to the officer who investigated the incident. According to a note posted to the Internet by his attorney, Drobnica was acquitted on counts 1 and 2 after the court ruled that he was a properly licensed radio amateur. However he was convicted on the third count of refusing to surrender his equipment to the arresting officer. No word of what penalties if any were imposed on the single count conviction. However his lawyer is reported to already have filed an appeal on count three and the court is expected to hold a separate trial on this issue at a later date. Please keep in mind that this report is based on multiple language translations beginning in Greek with some of it electronic. As you all know, the latter have been known to leave you wondering if the translation is completely accurate. One report in translated English is on-line at tinyurl.com/dj6si-verdict TRACKING MANTA RAYS BY SATELLITE An international team of researchers have used radio beacon transmitters and satellite technology to track the movements of giant Manta Rays. According to a Times news report, a team headed by Rachel Graham of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Punta Gorda, Belize, attached transmitters to six Rays off the coast of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. They reported in the journal PLoS One that they monitored the rays for periods ranging from 27 to 64 days. Their preliminary findings for the Atlantic mantas showed that they travelled as far as 680 miles over a one to two month period searching for food most of the time staying close to the coastline. They also found that Rays spent considerable time in shipping lanes, which rendered them vulnerable to being hit by freighters. The full in-depth text of this very interesting use of radio tracking can be found on-line at tinyurl.com/manta-ray-tracking BRUNEI GOING AFTER UNLICENSED MOBILE OPERATORS The Brunei government says that it is cracking down on anyone found operating amateur radio gear without government authorization. Members of that nation’s citizenry who are convicted of illegal use of amateur radio equipment without a license from the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam or AITI will face a maximum fine of 10,000 Brunei dollars, up to three years imprisonment, or both. This new anti-pirate operating campaign appears aimed primarily at those unlicensed individuals who use mobile gear on the VHF and UHF amateur bands. It was announced by the AITI during a briefing on the first of several joint operations with the Berakas Police to crack down on illegal use of radio equipment. The operations involved a dedicated corps of sixteen police personnel and seven AITI officials. PHONESATS SHOWN AT MAY MAKER FAIRE Turning to ham radio in space related news, some new amateur radio satellites based on cellphones were recently shown to the public at the 2012 Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo, California. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Skeeter Nash, N5ASH, reports: -- Among the displays was one for the PhoneSat amateur radio satellites. These are a pair of ham radio satellites both of which run the Android operating system and will be enclosed in a standard 1U CubeSat structure. PhoneSat 1.0 cost about $3500 and is built around the Nexus One smartphone. It will operate on battery power only with a mission lifetime of approx 1 week. Its big brother called PhoneSat 2.0 used a Nexus S smartphone and has solar panels on each face for a mission lifetime that should last at least two weeks when it will likely de-orbit. The IARU has coordinated a frequency of 437.425 MHz for the AX.25 AFSK downlink. The first launch is scheduled for the third quarter of 2012 on the Antares-110 launch vehicle. It will carry two PhoneSat 1.0 satellites and one PhoneSat 2.0. A second PhoneSat launch is expected to occur sometime in 2013. -- The 2012 Bay Area Maker Faire took place May 19th to the 20th. Several news reports estimate that 65,000 to 70,000 attended this ever growing West Coast event that was held the same weekend as the Dayton Hamvention. ============================================================================= RSGB New award commemorates Tony Sale The life of Tony Sale, who was best known for his work in re- creating the Colossus computer at Bletchley Park, is to be commemorated by the creation of an award for the best computer restoration project. According to Computer Conservation Society chairman David Hartley, the award, which will be overseen by the CCS and backed by Google, will seek out those projects carried out in the same spirit that Tony Sale brought to his work. An article in the publication Computer Weekly notes that Tony Sale, who passed away in August 2011, was principal science officer at the Security Service MI5 and says he was also a radio ham, although it is not clear if he actually held a licence. ============================================================================= WEIRD AND WONDERFUL And quickly in today's Weird and Wonderful may we suggest you check your junk box. Why? Well a RARE surviving first model of the Apple computer, a stripped down, clunky device that bears no resemblance to today's sleek pads has sold for $374,000 at auction in New York. The price was more than double the pre-sale estimate, reflecting a two-way bidding war eventually won by an anonymous telephone bidder, Sotheby's said. The Apple I computer was created by Apple co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs and sold in 1976 at the birth of Jobs's career as the world's computer design guru. The model auctioned in New York is believed to be one of six of the less than 50 surviving that still works. (online news) SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2012 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 3D QSL Cards It seems everything is going 3D these days, Alexander Savenok 4Z5LZ has produced a 3D QSL card He created it using the online service at www.SnapilyPro.com C K 6 S - Special Event Station for the 100th Anniversary of the Calgary Stampede July 5 to 15. A special QSL card will be available through the QSL bureau or direct. Planned frequencies are in the general portion of the US phone bands around 3.825, 7.180, 14.250, 21.320 & 28.475 K 4 O - Puerto Rico Special Event Sunday July 1, the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee will be celebrating the Flag Bearing of the Puerto Rico Delegation to the Summer Olympic Games in London. The Puerto Rico Amateur Radio League will be joining the Olympic Committee in this celebration by setting up Puerto Rico Olympic Committee headquarters. They will be using the special callsign K4O for this event. MEDIA WATCH www.cq-amateur-radio.com/WorldRadio.html VK Club Bulletins http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aarnie/ Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club Repeater News - A Broadcast Trial The Ben Lomond repeater VK7RBH antenna is possibly the highest in Tasmania, and the club have been pondering the actual extent of that repeater's coverage. While it enjoys a lofty perch on the mountain, they have long known that the site is less than ideal for repeater purposes. The plateau like nature of the summit effectively shields much of the area surrounding the mountain's base. In addition to the usual service via VK7RAA at Mt Barrow, a few broadcasts are likely also being relayed through VK7RBH by Peter VK7PD. Peter will also conduct call-backs after the broadcast via VK7RBH. If you can, please take a listen on 438.050 MHz and if you managed to copy the broadcast via this service, please call back to let Peter know and also provide him with your listening location. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video arvideonews.com hamradiotube.com youtube.com qdg.org.au Ian Wade G3NRW has released a Kenwood TS-590S Slow Scan TV QuickStart Guide. The TS-590S USB port is extremely user friendly when running digital modes. No interface unit is necessary, just connect the PC to the radio with a standard off-the-shelf USB cable and you're in business. Exactly the same applies when using the USB port for analogue audio. G3NRW's HOWTO explains how to configure MMSSTV (one of the world's most popular analogue SSTV packages) to work with the TS-590S. To download the HOWTO, go to the TS-590S Resources Page http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wadei/ts-590s.htm MMSSTV software http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmsstv.php (ICQHAM NEWS) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER ARISS DIGIPETER MOVES TO 437.550 MHZ The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station or ARISS digipeater has changed frequency from 145.825 MHz to 437.550 MHz. Packet operations were moved to the Columbus Module UHF radio when the Kenwood D700 radio was recently powered off due to needing an additional air purifier to support the recently arrived Automated Transfer Vehicle. As a result the purifier is now using the power outlet that the Kenwood normally uses. The Russian team has agreed to briefly power the purifier off for the scheduled ARISS school events but then will re-activate the purifier right afterwards. (ARNEWSLINE) 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 The 2012 Tom Quilty Gold Cup national equine endurance championships were held at St Helens on the East Coast of Tasmania this month. WICEN provided checkpoint crews and communications between checkpoints and Base. Handheld and mobile radio communications between ride officials was also supplied. Other support included track mapping and web based distribution of competitor tracking. (vk7wi) SOCIAL SCENE 2012 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 AUG 5 VK6 NCRG HAMFEST Cyril Jackson Rec Centre Ashfield. AUG 12 VK2 SARCFEST at Summerland ARC Clubrooms, Lismore. 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. 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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