WIANEWS - September 2 - 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 SEPTEMBER 2 2012. VIP CENTENARY: The West Australian VHF Group Inc. is running in top gear with another public Amateur Radio display station similar to the VK100WIA Super Springtime. September 2012 will see the Centenary of the establishment of our nation’s Coastal Radio station network. VIP Perth on Wireless Hill, Ardross WA is believed to be the only remaining survivor in public hands. The WA VHF Group was instrumental in the preservation of the buildings to house a Telecommunications Museum and now has almost certainly secured a permanent Hamshack as part of the re-vamping. This was the site of the 2010 WIA Centenary celebration airing the VK100WIA call for 12 consecutive days in a co-operative venture by 9 local radio groups. In co-ordination with the Melville City Council, the WA VHF Group has made application to again air the commemorative callsign VI 6 VIP (previous occasions being 1992 and 2004) for this station which will be open to the public 01:00Z to 10:00Z daily Sat 29 Sept to 13 Oct inclusive. The station should be active well beyond these hours. (73 Bob, VK6KW, President) RAOTC SEPTEMBER REMINDER. Hallo everyone, this is Clive VK6CSW with a reminder that tomorrow Monday September 3rd 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 can be heard on 20 metres on 14.150 MHz USB at 0100 UTC beamed north from Melbourne for Eastern states listeners, and again at 0200 beamed West for Western Australia. During tomorrow numerous local relays will also take place on various VHF and lower HF frequencies. To find a frequency and time for your area, please visit the RAOTC website www.raotc.org.au September 3 is the 73rd anniversary of the declaration of WW2 and in keeping with this occasion we have in the Monday Broadcast an item on Oboe, the most precise radio bombing aid of WW2. Everyone, RAOTC members and non-members alike, is invited to listen to this interesting half hour of Old Timer news, stories and anecdotes and to participate in the call backs afterwards. Once again, the RAOTC monthly bulletin is scheduled for tomorrow, Monday September 3rd. 73 from Clive VK6CSW. PLANE HEARING Ever wanted an ear inside the cockpit as a pilot prepares to land or take off from Melbourne Airport? Well, according to the Sunbury Leaer, you could soon have the chance if a plan by Hume councillor Jack Ogilvie takes flight. Cr Ogilvie wants a transmitter tower installed at the airport viewing area on the corner of Sunbury and Oaklands roads, allowing plane watchers to listen to conversations between pilots and air traffic controllers. "It would be about 3m high, with a transmitter and a solar panel," he said. "It would enable people to tune in to an FM station in their own cars and you would be able to hear what's happening." Rhema Central Coast upgrades transmission facilities Rhema FM on the NSW central coast has upgraded its broadcast antenna. General Manager Rick Broome told radioinfo.com.au the coverage is much better and that their old antenna is looking for a new home. “The increase in signal strength from about 1100w to licenced 2kw has made a tremendous improvement to coverage. The new 4-bay antenna cost the station about $5,500, so they are looking to re-coup a little of the cost. “Make us an offer!” says Broome. Contact Rick Broome on mail@rhemacentralcoast.com.au to follow up (radioinfo.com.au) WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI president@wia.org.au Vice President Phil Wait VK2ASD vk2asd@wia.org.au Secretary David Williams VK3RU vk3ru@wia.org.au Treasurer John Longayroux VK3PZ vk3pz@wia.org.au What a great weekend the Remembrance Day contest was. We had over 1100 unique calls that made it on air. This meant that some stations were actually working 1 to 2 contacts per minute over a one hour period. Propagation was fantastic as well; with a very low noise figure it made it easy for eastern QRP stations to contact VK6 on a regular basis. Some quotes extracted from logs received are: “The most enjoyable RD since the 1980’s” “The RD contest bought the activity level on several bands up to where it was many years ago” “I really like the new RST/exchange system – less competitive pressure.” “Thanks to the organisers for making this contest more accessible” And “A great format for a friendly contest” I think the last comment sums it up perfectly. Remember to send in your log. At the moment only 17 per cent have done so. That’s 17 per cent of actual participants. The state scores are very close and it only needs a few logs to tilt the current balance of power. So please, send me your logs. Only 7 days left for log submission, so do it now! Your log could decide if your state wins or loses. (Alan, VK4SN) 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 Central Highlands ARC AGM Weekend - SUDDEN DATE CHANGE The date has had to be changed due to a double booking with the Scouts Queensland State Jamboree Committee. So now the AGM weekend will be held from 4pm Friday October 5th to Midday Sunday October 7th. Find out more, contact vk4kal@wia.org.au (VK4ZZ) VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ Ballarat Amateur Radio Hamvention – 2012. The Ballarat Amateur Radio Group will hold its annual Hamvention on Sunday the 21st of October 2012 in the usual venue provided by the Ballarat Greyhound Racing Club in Rubicon St, Redan. Doors open for traders at 8am and general access is at 10am. Those that have attended in the past will know that this is a good day out in a really roomy, indoors venue with historically around 60 to 70 tables of new and preloved amateur radio gear, test gear and general bits and pieces on sale. They work very hard to make the event a place where both first timers and regulars are welcomed, be they traders, browsers or buyers and each and everyone is given every assistance to ensure that they have a great day out. Entry for everyone, including traders is $6 per head and tables are available for $10 per 1.6 metre section. Ballarat would really encourage people to use the opportunity to turn over some of that gear that has been sitting in the shack for a little too long and those bit and pieces that you have been struggling to find a use for, give another amateur a chance to put it to use and make yourself a few dollars in the process. If you don’t think you could support a full table then the Ballarat Club has a table where they are more than happy to sell the goods for you for a small commission. Historically they have had a really strong representation of commercial traders and dealers and are pleased to continue this tradition into 2012. No amateur gathering is ever complete without a bit a food, a place for a coffee and a good catch up with friends, there is a well catered food area designated and it is provided with a goodly amount of seating with generous sized tables. If you love building equipment then how about a bit of show and tell, there is a special section for home brew projects with sections for novices, skilled and very skilled with generous prizes for each category, amateurs just love seeing other amateurs projects and admiring their ingenuity. If you attend every year they look forward to seeing you again, if you haven’t been to Ballarat for a while then please consider paying a visit, it’s a truly beautiful town with lots to do for families and they would really be delighted to see you at the Hamvention. If you need more information then please visit the BARG web site www.barg.org.au or you can contact via Roger VK3ADE on 03 5330 3081 or Ian VK3AXH on 03 5341 3012. For bookings contact hamvention2012@barg.org.au VK4 - QNEWS - CONTINUES Interested in amateur microwaves? In two weeks’ time, the Brisbane VHF Group will be running another microwave test and tune-up day. The aim of this event is to provide an opportunity for amateurs interested in microwave bands to test and measure the performance of gear that they have built or bought for the bands we have available above 1 GHz. Another aim is for amateurs who have a budding interest in the microwave bands to engage with others of similar interest, sharing plans and dreams or just to enjoying being together. Last year, this event was a real blast and many microwave projects and items were tested and evaluated. The day also served as an all-in-one-place ‘show and tell’ session for working microwave gear. We hope to do the same or better this year with test equipment available for frequencies right up to 24 GHz. There’ll be power measurement, spectrum analysers and swept frequency testing to 24 GHz, a signal generator and frequency counting to 18 GHz, and noise figure measurement to 1.8 GHz. When and where’s this all happening? It’ll be on Sunday the 16th of September at the club rooms of the Redcliffe and Districts Radio Club in Klinger Road, Kippa-Ring. The advertised start time is 9:00 a.m. and it will be easy to just come and go at different times of the morning, through to around 2:00 p.m. Interest in amateur microwaves in South-East Queensland is starting to pick up. So, if you have a plan to one day get active there, or you’ve even got some completed or not yet completed gear, come along on the sixteenth. Going on from that, like last year, the Brisbane VHF Group will also be holding another out-in-the-field microwave activity day on the last Sunday of October. Keep that one in mind as well as the Spring VHF-UHF Field contest at the end of November! But the focus right now is the microwave test and tune-up day on the 16th of September. See you there! (Doug vk4oe) VK7 vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vk7regionalnews/ We received the very first QST magazine from Tasmania's Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club through the week and this IS a magazine! A very comprehensive report from the President Full story and great 'chopper shots' of their Mt Duncan Repeater upgrade. The ILLW VK7EM looks back at his time on Wilkes in 1968 WICEN and the Tom Quilty Ride A good review of the Buddistick Antenna And of course local 'classifieds'. Volume 1 issue 1 is well worth a read! Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club www.ntarc.net September NTARC Meeting David Long, Tasmanian ACMA field representative, will be guest speaker at Wednesday 12 September's meeting. Please mark your diary and go along to hear David bring you up to date on ACMA's modern role and recent activity in VK7. As previously suggested, members of the clubs in the North West might also like to attend this briefing. At least one CCARC member intends to get along, so why not join him? You would be more than welcome. DISCUSSION POINT The state of Amateur Radio in Australia today Over the past months in VK6 we've been welcoming new Amateurs to the hobby by extracting the latest callsigns from the ACMA RADCOM database. This started me wondering what the overall numbers of Amateurs in Australia looks like today. Not having seen such statistics anywhere, I have compiled to the best of my ability the numbers based on information from the ACMA RADCOM database, Geoscience Australia[#1] and the Australian Bureau of Statistics[#2]. The big numbers first As at August 13[#3], 2012, there were a total of 15,771 Amateur licenses across 14,653 people in the RADCOM database. Comprising 476 licenses for beacons and repeaters and 15,295 licenses for Operators. Just over 71% of licenses are Advanced Licenses. 15% are Foundation and nearly 14% are Standard Licenses. Ignoring repeaters and beacons, the most licenses are in New South Wales (VK2), where 4,239 Amateur Licenses are allocated, representing just under 28% of total Licenses issued. Just over 27% of Licenses are held by Victorians (VK3), Queensland (VK4) follows with over 18%, South Australia (VK5) with just under 10%, Western Australia (VK6) with under 9%, Tasmania (VK7) with under 4%, the Australian Capital Territory[#4] (VK1) with 2.5%, the Northern Territory (VK8) with 1%, followed by the external territories (VK9) with 0.2% and the Australian Antarctic Territory (VK0) with 0.05%. The total population in Australia is 22,485,300. Amateur Radio license holders represent 0.07% of the population. Taking into account the naming convention variation across the ACMA database[#5], the Wireless Institute of Australia is the largest Amateur License holder in VK, it holds 167 licenses[#6] in various names. Scouting around Australia[#7] holds 53 licenses across 21 different groups. 332 licenses[#8] are held by 135 groups, clubs and associations. One amateur holds 9 licenses, three hold 7 and eleven amateurs hold 6 licenses each. The most popular suffixes are AA, XX, DX and WI. The most common Foundation call is FAAF. The largest beacon operator is the West Australian VHF Group who operate 8 beacon licenses across VK6. The largest repeater operator is the WIA who operate 115 licenses across VK. The next largest is the West Australian Repeater Group who operate 15 licenses in VK6, followed by Scouts who operate 8 licenses. And that is a quick run-down on the state of Amateur Radio in Australia today. I'm Onno VK6FLAB [#1] http://www.ga.gov.au/education/geoscience-basics/dimensions/area-of-australia-states-and-territories.html [#2] http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0/ [#3] There was a problem downloading the data for VK2, which was done a day later. [#4] I've combined the population and area of the ACT and Jervoise Bay - I do not know if VK1 follows the same convention. [#5] The ACMA RADCOM database holds a License Number, Category, Callsign, Ship Name, Client Number and Licensee. To produce these numbers Client Numbers and Licensees were combined where they were the same. For example, the Wireless Institute of Australia has three different Client Numbers with an identical Licensee. The WIA appears in several variations in spelling and state affiliation. These entities have been combined manually. [#6] This combines licenses held by WIA, WIA NSW, WIA VIC, WICEN in several permutations and states. [#7] This includes all licenses issued to an entity with the word "Scout" in it. [#8] This includes all licenses issued to an entity with the words "Club", "Group" or "Assoc". (Onno Benschop) INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA. British 'Phantom' star may tour to ISS Singer Sarah Brightman may be the next paying passenger to ride a Russian rocket to the International Space Station, the Interfax news agency reported, citing an unidentified official in the space industry in Russia. If it happens, Brightman, 52, would make the journey in 2015 and would be the first paying customer since Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte who donned a red clown's nose during his 2009 trip, the official was cited as saying. But seats on the three-person Soyuz capsules have become scarce since U.S. space agency NASA retired its space shuttles last year, leaving Russian rockets as the only craft capable of carrying crews to the station for now. Brightman - who rose to fame starring in the original London and New York casts of "The Phantom of the Opera" - visited Russia about a month ago and received the approval of a medical commission to begin training at the Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow, the source added. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/08/22/uk-russia-space-tourism-idUKBRE87L0IU20120822 Gough Island pirate Its seems the DX community has been duped on the Paul, ZD 9 KN, operation from Gough Island (AF-030). ZD 9 KN is a Pirate! Several sources report that Johan, ZS 1 A, has confirmed that the callsign ZD 9 KN has never been issued. So, OPDX say "do not waste time working this station if you hear him." The good news is that Gerard ZS 6 KX/ZS 7 KX will be going to Gough Island sometime this month for one year. He is hoping to be issued the callsign ZD 9 KX and is awaiting for the approval/license. QSL route TBA. Look for more details to be forthcoming. (OPDX) BBC TO TEST TURNING OFF MEDIUM WAVE TRANSMISSIONS The British Broadcasting Corporation is running a five week trial of switching off existing Medium Wave services for four BBC local radio stations. The experiment runs to the 24th of September and affects BBC Radio Kent, BBC Radio Lincolnshire, BBC Radio Merseyside and BBC Radio Nottingham. The BBC say one way to make savings and preserve value to license fee payers is to switch off Medium Wave services EXCEPT where listeners depend upon Medium Wave as an alternative to FM or Digital Audio Broadcasting. Medium Wave services in the UK mainly duplicate what is already available on FM and DAB. Medium Wave is a European term that describes what we call the AM broadcast band here in VK. The BBC notes that the aim of the trial is to get a better understanding of the impact of the loss of Medium Wave would have on its core listeners and also enable the broadcaster to ensure adequate coverage is available on other platforms in these regions. (BBC) ============================================================================= NEWS FROM ARNEWSLINE USA UNESCO RECOGNIZES IRESC WITH SPECIAL CONSULTATIVE STATUS A major coup for a relatively new ham radio emergency communications radio group. This as the United Nations Economic and Social Council known by the acronym UNESCO adopts the recommendation of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations to grant Special Consultative Status to the International Radio Emergency Support Coalition. A group better known by its initials of IRESC. For those who may have never heard of it, the International Radio Emergency Support Coalition bills itself as a global coalition of volunteer communicators, with dedicated members spread around the world providing assistance to those in need at all times of day or night. The main objectives of IRESC are to foster efficient collaboration between radio amateurs, extending friendships across the world and providing international emergency communication in times of need when all else fail. Currently, IRESC has members in at least 40 countries. Most are also affiliated with national organizations such as the International Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the United Kingdom’s RAYNET, the Israel’s Magen David Adom, local amateur radio clubs, and many other groups the world over. The decision to grant the International Radio Emergency Support Coalition this status was made at the recently concluded UNESCO session held in July. More about this important milestone for the IRESC can be found on-line at www.irescintl.com EARLY WARNING QUAKE DETECTION DEMONSTRATED AT CAL TECH Earthquake prediction may be on the verge of becoming a reality. This, following media reports that a pair of temblors centred near Yorba Linda, California were detected by a new earthquake warning system that’s being developed at the California Institute of Technology. A 4.5-magnitude quake struck one mile northeast from Yorba Linda at 11:23 p.m. Tuesday, August 7th. About ten hours later another a 4.4 magnitude shaker struck two miles from the same location. News reports quote Douglas Given from the U.S. Geological Survey as saying that in the case of the first event Cal Tech received about nine to ten seconds warning before the strongest shaking was felt at the facility. In regard to the second quake the warning time was in the area of four seconds. Cal Tech is located in Pasadena California which is about 60 air miles from the two quake’s epicentre. Seismologists say that once the technology advances, they should be able to quickly determine a quake's magnitude and send that information out to the public before the strongest shaking waves reaches a given location. In its current incarnation, the early warning system sounds an audible alert, shows a countdown timer and estimates the intensity of an earthquake. Experiments in quake detection have been going on for well over five decades but experts say that this new prototype system is the first to ever pick up quakes before the ground started shaking at its location. NCDXF RECEIVES $4000 FUNDING BOOST The Northern California DX Foundation is the recipient of a $4000 donation from the Northern California DX Club. This is said to be the largest donation ever received by the group from a club. Of late more and more DX oriented clubs are making donations to the Northern California DX Foundation. The organization thoroughly analyzes the financial needs of planned DXpeditions and helps provide critical funding to operations high on the DXers Most Wanted List. It’s been said that without support many DXpeditions would not be possible. ============================================================================= WEIRD AND WONDERFUL Ant-enna: Radio tags aid hairy wood ant research The BBC report that scientists investigating the behaviour of the UK's largest ant are to tag around 1,000 of the insects at a National Trust site in Derbyshire in the first study of its kind. In the report Richard Black says: Tiny radio tags will be glued to the backs of northern hairy wood ants, allowing researchers to study the ants' interaction with others within their own colony and between nests. It is hoped the findings will help the National Trust look after the hairy wood ants, which are a protected species in the UK. Watch Ant-enna: Radio tags aid hairy wood ant research http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19365505 University of York scientists track insects by antennae http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9892035.York_scientists_track_insects_by_antennae/ A lesson in efficiency – ants show the way http://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/features/ant-research/ (SouthGate) OPERATIONAL NEWS:- 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 Has 2 O 12 L broken a world record? The RSGB reports that the team at 2 O 12 L, the amateur radio special event station for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games, believe that they have now broken the world record for the number of contacts by a Special Event Station. It is believed the record was made by DQ 2006 X during the 2006 World Cup, their total was 47,790 contacts. At 2142UTC on 21 August, 2 O 12 L made contact number 47,791. The team would like to thank the thousands who have joined the pile-ups to contact 2 O 12 L and now they look forward to hitting their overall target of 60,000 QSOs. 2 O 12 L goes QRT on 9 September after the Paralympic Games' closing ceremony so there is still some time to work the station or get more band-slots. http://www.2o12l.com/ (RSGB) 9/11 Special Event Stations Members of the Symbol Technologies Amateur Radio Club (STARC), will be operational as N 1 Y, September 8th and 9th commemorating the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks. They will be on 40/20/15 meters using CW and SSB. N 3 U/F l t 93 (N3U/United Flight 93) to be activated once again between September 8-13th, to remind "Amateur Radio Operators World-Wide" of the tragic events that happened near "Shanksville (Pa), New York City and Washington DC, on September 11, 2001." P 49 T (P 49 Towers) Aruba September 14-21st. QSL via W3BTX, by the W3 Bureau or direct. Don't QSL via the P4 Bureau or eQSL. A pair of twinned Special Event Stations, GB 175 PO and TM 175 PO, are running in Dover and Calais to celebrate 175 years of P&O. Operation will be running till around September 10 approx. Both stations will have the opportunity to work from ferries at various times during the operation. 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. Two Croatian amateurs are with the NATO-led troops in Afghanistan. T 6 TJ and T 6 VT until the end of September. QSLs for both operators go via 9 A 6 AA. Stefan is in Afghanistan until the end of this month (September.) He is active as T 6 SS and so far has been worked mainly on 20m. PB 100 PREFIX, Netherlands Special Event To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ITU Prefixes, look for special event station PB 100 PREFIX to be active between October 4-31st. QSL via PB 0 P. After the tragic loss of the Titanic (Callsign MGY, the, "M", is from the Marconi company) in April 1912, there was an acknowledgement that there should be international standards for radio communications. Therefore, the leading colonial countries planned several meetings in the aftermath of the loss of the Titanic. For more details, visit: http://www.PB100PREFIX.nl 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 Recently the Canadian Paragliding National Championships were held and the "Radio Amateurs of Canada" became extremely concerned about the organizers assertion that all participants must use a VHF radio tuned to 146.415 Mhz. This frequency is inside the two meter amateur allocation. Industry Canada has advised that the group that that use of Amateur Radio Frequencies by persons who are not in possession of a valid Amateur Radio Operator's Certificate is not permitted. The Paragliding group assured Industry Canada that all participants who used the channel were indeed holders of a certificate. Additionally, Industry Canada has advised the group of a VHF frequency inside the Aeronautical Radio Frequency Band that has been allocated for their use on a Canada Wide basis. (sourced to Bill Gade, VE4WO Regulatory Affairs Officer) THE QNEWS WORK BENCH - the nuts and volts report – Measure Twice cut Once. Amateur Radio Technical Article Archive For the past 13 years John G8MNY has been producing technical bulletins for distribution by Packet Radio, now the collection of articles is available on the web. The articles cover a wide range of subjects including Antennas, ATV, Broadcast, Modifications, Power Amplifiers and Portable and Mobile operation. If you want to know how to make a Slim Jim antenna, a battery charger or a 12V Cow Fence for /P operation there's an article in the archive. The extensive collection can be downloaded from http://www.theskywaves.net/technical.html Caterham Radio Group http://www.theskywaves.net/ (SouthGate) 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 WICEN Victoria are involved in 2 events during the next quarter. If you are available to participate in any of these events, please get in touch with the contact listed for the event. Saturday October 20th 2012 Mini Canoe Marathon Echuca Contact: Gerard Werner VK3GER phone: 03 9773 6313 Email: gerwer01@gmail.com Sunday October 21st 2012 Stockmans Rally Big River Contact: Ian Morris VK3IFM phone: 03 9763 0565 Email: ifm@live.com.au Rally Victoria is again being held in the forest area north of Warragul Friday 16th and Saturday 17th November. Rally Victoria is an Australian Rally Championship and Victorian Rally Championship event. On Friday, there will be 2 bush stages and on the Saturday, 5 stages. Each stage will be run twice. As previously, Rally HQ will be at Lardner Park. Event commander is Chris VK3CJK. Communications will be required for logistics, safety, and scoring, with scoring and car tracking via 2m packet and other functions via 2m voice. If you can assist with the event, could you please phone 51 955 247 in the evenings. (John VK3ZRX) Communications Support Event - Your Help Is Needed In VK4 Help is needed in providing sufficient manning for the following events - family and support crews are also welcome to go along ! Sat 15 and Sun 16 Sept - TERAHA AEBM Endurance Ride Bluewater Two full days of playing with radios in the field and helping watch over the horses and riders. 20 and 5km rides on Saturday arvo, 80 and 40km rides on Sunday. Radio camp out at Ride Base Saturday Night. Main comms will be on VHF, with some UHF-CB comms with horse riders and officials. 10am Saturday start at Ride Base, North Queensland Equestrian Centre, via Forestry Road. If you can help contact the TATC on the VK4RAT repeater system. SOCIAL SCENE 2012 SEP 8 VK4 SUNFEST WOOMBYE. (Sunshine Coast). oCT 5-7 VK4 Central Highlands ARC AGM at Camp Fairbairn, Emerald. OCT 21 VK3 BALLARAT HAMVENTION 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 AUG 17-18 WW ILLW 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 ‘and always if the news room is to read your item write in the 3rd person. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ============================================================================= 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