WIANEWS - September 16 - 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 16 2012. THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING SEP 16 2012. 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 PASSED its USE BY DATE. August 20 was the cut-off date for applications to be received by the WIA club grant scheme committee, 10 arrived in time 1 didn't. Yes one application was unfortunately received 9 days after the deadline. The WIA Board has announced that the Grant Committee for 2012 will comprise Reg Emmett VK7KK as chair with Peter Lowe VK3KCD and Rotarian of Amateur Radio Bill Main VK4ZD as members. They hope that grants will be announced by Monday 22 October 2012. (sourced to wia front page news) GUIDING LIGHT The WIA Board invites clubs, groups of clubs and even groups of individuals to consider conducting the WIA Annual Conference. The Annual Conference in 2011 was in Darwin and the host club was the Darwin Amateur Radio Club and the Annual Conference this year was in Mildura and the host club was the Sunraysia Radio Group. The "Guidelines for Hosting a WIA Annual Conference Weekend" is based on the experience of those involved in those two conferences, and Spud Murphy (Darwin) and Noel Ferguson (Mildura) have contributed to the "Guidelines". The Board hopes the pattern set by these two highly successful events can be continued, with different clubs in interesting areas hosting weekends, usually in the latter half of May. The 2013 Conference will be in Perth, but clubs are urged to think about Conferences after that. The "Guidelines" set out the general procedures for a Conference, some of the issues that should be considered and the approach to actually coordinating and managing a Conference. contact secretary@wia.org.au for your copy. (wia front page news) HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. VK0 VK0 Future Activation Notice VK0JJJ/VK6JJJ VK0 activation from Mawson over the 2013/14 winter. Craig will be wintering at Mawson station 2013/14 and will be active on all bands with priority given to 6m. Steve VK3ZAZ hopes to be active on Macquarie Island at the same time also on HF/6m. So swing your yagi's to the south during January and listen out for beacons as it's been 20 years since Antarctica has been activated on 6m. (vk7wi) VK1 Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club CRARC have just conducted a Foundation Course Weekend for potential Amateurs in the region. A number of candidates were from the University of Canberra, who in fact have an amateur radio station on Campus and will be applying for a Club call sign in the near future. Out of the twelve candidates ten passed their assessments. CRARC's next scheduled Foundation Weekend is in November. (CRARC Education) VK2 web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news Email Address : r_demkiw@yahoo.com.au Amateur Radio will be conducting the next one day Foundation course at the VK2WI site, 63 Quarry Road, Dural 23rd September . Assessments will be the following Sunday. Details under Training on the ARNSW web site http://www.arnsw.org.au Contact by email education@arnsw.org.au or telephone 02 9651 1490 and leave message and contact details. Sunday the 30 th September is the next activity at the VK2WI Dural site, 63 Quarry Rd. Dural with the morning T&T, exam assessments and Home Brew afternoon gathering. Check out the ARNSW web site home page http://www.arnsw.org.au for the various activities. Those attending assessments bring a passport photo and identification. VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ Become a radio amateur Enrolment is now open for this month’s Foundation Licence training and assessment weekend by Amateur Radio Victoria which will be September the 22nd and 23rd. These are at centrally located 40G Victory Boulevard, Ashburton. For enrolment or more information please contact the Education Team Leader, Barry Robinson VK3PV foundation@amateurradio.com.au or 0428 516 001. 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 http://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 BACK ! The famous and popular Central Highlands Amateur Radio Club AGM weekend at Camp Fairbairn, approx. 20km south of Emerald, was to have been on from 4pm Friday 28th to Midday Sunday 30th September 2012. Then the dates got changed due to a double booking with the Scouts Queensland State Jamboree Committee to 4pm Friday October 5th to Midday Sunday October 7th. Well, CHARC members have actually contacted Gordon/VK4KAL to advise that at least half that were going on the original dates can't make the new dates! So, Gordon has thrown his 89 years of experience around a bit, been assured that CHARC will have exclusive use of the usual facilities at Camp Fairbairn and that the Scouts will be settling in a bit further down the grounds. Of course, any Scouts or Leaders that get to close on the weekend will be recruited, undergo a crash Foundation Course and turned into Hams! So - the Central Highlands Amateur Radio Club AGM weekend at Camp Fairbairn, approx. 20km south of Emerald is again on from 4pm Friday 28th to Midday Sunday 30th September 2012. Get your finger out and contact Gordon on vk4kal@wia.org.au to get your bookings in or to find out more. (Gavin VK4ZZ) VK7 vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vk7regionalnews/ Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club http://www.ntarc.net October NTARC Meeting To be held on Wednesday 12 October, this will again be the yearly pilgrimage to Mt Barrow. Last year this was a really great evening and those that attended thoroughly enjoyed themselves, especially in the extended twilight that came with the introduction of daylight saving just days before. This formula will also apply in 2012, so get along. Arrive any time in the afternoon and NTARC have the site overnight so if you are appropriately equipped, why not camp until next morning. There are members who regularly do just that and they would love to have your company. DISCUSSION POINT Website News Feedback form SILENT KEY Hans Camenzind, Father of the NE555, Dies at the Age of 78 VK7 News tell us that last month one of the unsung heroes of electronics passed away. Hans Camenzind, father of one of the most famous integrated circuit of all times, the Signetics timer NE555, timed out at the age of 78. Being a gifted analogue designer, Swiss-born Monsieur Camenzind is also credited to be the father of class-D amplifiers and he has introduced the concept of the Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) in ICs. During his rather productive career he designed over 140 ICs, wrote several books and many articles and his name is attached to some twenty patents. When a famous artists dies you will hear his or her greatest hits on every radio or see his or her best films on every TV channel. Therefore, as a tribute to one of the great electronics inventors of our century we will play here Hans Camenzind's most successful composition: NE555 in bipolar. (vk7wi) INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, AR Victoria and the WW sources of the WIA. STAR FOUND DEVOURING PLANET Astronomers have found evidence of a planet being devoured by its star, yielding insights into the fate that will befall Earth several billions years in the future. The team uncovered the signature of the planet that had been absorbed by looking at the chemistry of the host star. They also think a surviving planet circling this star may have been kicked into its unusual orbit by the destruction of a neighbouring world. The US-Polish-Spanish team made the discovery when they were studying the star BD+48 740 - which is one of a stellar class known as red giants. Rising temperatures near the cores of red giants cause these elderly stars to expand in size. This in turn results in any nearby planets to be absorbed by the expanding star or otherwise destroyed. It’s the way of the universe now brought to us thanks to the art of radio and the science of Astronomy. tinyurl.com/planet-hungry-star. (arnewsline sep4) RSGB sticks to its views on EMC Directive Members may have seen recent press commentary about the RSGB's position on the proposed European power line telecommunications standard. Whilst protecting to a large extent the amateur HF bands, this standard, if approved, would legalise high levels of wideband emissions elsewhere in the HF spectrum, in direct contravention of the European EMC Directive. The European Commission's own EM Consultant supports the RSGB view that the Standard would not comply with European Law. Sadly the International Amateur Radio Union has taken the view that support for the standard represents protection for the amateur bands. The RSGB has concerns that this is a narrow view, and that setting aside the requirements of the EMC Directive is not only improper, but bodes ill for the future protection of the Spectrum and for the integrity of the standardisation process. The RSGB position is now being challenged by the Chair of the CENELEC Committee charged with developing the standard, who argues that there is no current standard. This is simply not the case, as the Commission itself has confirmed that the exiting CISPR22 standard applies to PLA devices and that it fails to allow the high emission levels which PLT manufacturers say they need is the real issue. You can read more at http://www.rsgb.org/pla (rsgb sep 4) OPERATIONAL NEWS - DATELINE 2012 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 JACK FILES MEMORIAL CONTEST HAS NOT CONCLUDED - JUST QSY'd till 2013. The Jack Files Memorial Contest had been an annual 80m phone contest by the old WIAQ then the WIA Queensland Advisory Committee. The contest honours the memory of Jack Files VK4JF a long standing member and contributor to the work of the then Wireless Institute of Australia Queensland division particularly the QSL Bureau. Jack also wrote the old "Teleradio" notes in the 30's was the institutes Librarian and as a tribute the then VK4 Division saw fit to honour his 35 years of unselfish devotion to the Institute it developed the Jack Files Memorial Contest. The Jack files contest is normally an annual contest run in the month of July as a precursor to the Remembrance Day contest. The object is for amateurs to work as many other amateur stations, and particularly as many different VK4 shires, and lately towns and as many different states and territories as possible within each one hour block of the contest. Regretfully the 2012 contest has been suspended. The only reason, according to VK4TS, writing on wia Front Page News that the contest is now not on the web site was to quote "To avoid confusion". SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club's Dave VK7DD and Joe VK7JG have successfully completed the installation of a 28Mhz beacon at Don Heads. 28.267Mhz with a nominal output of 5 Watts into an end-fed half-wave vertical dipole. (vk7wi) VOODOO CONTEST CLUB TO BE ACTIVE FROM LIBERIA For the 24th straight year look for the Voodoo Contest Group to again be active from Liberia between November 21st and the 27th. Operations will be from a location just South of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. Their main goal is to be an entry in the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest on November 24th and 25th as a Multi-Multi category using the call sign EL 2 A. Outside of the contest the operators will use their own personal call signs. QSL as directed by each operator. (arnewsline sep10) A group of operators from Switzerland known as the Radio 7 Team will be active from Rodrigues Island as 3 B 9 SP from between October 16 and 23. Most operation will be on CW and SSB with some RTTY and PSK 31. QSL via HB 9 ACA. As part of the 50th Anniversary of Independence celebrations in Algeria several special stations are active until the end of 2012. Prefix hunters will have the opportunity to work 7U50I, 7V50I, 7W50I and 7Y50I. E I 25 D B Dublin Bus celebrates its 25th Birthday. To celebrate the event a Special Event Station EI 25 DB until 30th June 2013. The station is operated by current and former employees of Dublin Bus led by Declan and Pete. QSLs to Declan EI 9 HQ or on LOTW or HamLog.eu Morocco CN 2 YZ through years end. His activity will be from the city of Tangier especially on the weekends. Philippine Amateur Radio League 50th anniversary special event Look for special event station 4 G 0 LD to be active during 2012. Activity is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Philippine Amateur Radio League (PARL). QSL via the Bureau. Also, the P.A.R.L. is sponsoring a commemorative Diploma for amateur radio stations that have established two-way communications with at least 12 QSOs with PARL members. (SouthGate) BROADCAST MONITORING SWL AND SCANNER NEWS ZAMBIA MAKES READY FOR DIGITAL BROADCASTING The Zambian government has issued 10 licenses and 16 construction permits to radio and TV stations in the country. Those chosen are expected to switch to digital broadcasting before the 2013 deadline set by the Southern Africa Development Community. According to the nations Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, the move is intended to enhance participation in the affairs of the country, as well as offer people an opportunity to air their views on issues of national interest. (arnewsline sep10) INTRUDER WATCH - ENFORCEMENT ZONE Region III IARUMS Coordinator Peter Young VK3MV VK IARUMS reflector email to subscribe intruders@wia.org.au Two commercial operations evicted from two meter band Following investigation into several member complaints, the Radio Amateurs of Canada is pleased to announce that two cases of frequency incursion have been resolved. In the first, a transportation company was observed to be operating illegally on 144.100 Mhz. In addition to operating inside the amateur radio two meter band, this operation posed a threat to low signal operations across a wide portion of North America. In the second matter, a home moving company was observed to be operating on 144.940 Mhz. The company was observed in Alberta during the moving of a house. In this case, the company had already licensed frequencies with Industry Canada. They had requested 144.940 MHz as a channel. Their request was denied by Industry Canada and a business band channel was issued. However, the company failed to check their license paperwork and assumed they had been approved for their requested channel. In both cases, it appears that channels in the two meter band were chosen by these businesses because their new vhf radios defaulted to that frequency range. As well, both businesses indicated they could simply dial a new frequency into the radio to move out of our band. This is strong cause for concern that the actual radios being used are modified Amateur Radio equipment. The use of equipment intended for Amateur Radio operation outside of the Amateur Bands or by persons who do not hold an Amateur Radio Certificate is illegal. Action on these and other incursions has been made possible by quality reports from monitoring stations. (Bill Gade, VE4WO Regulatory Affairs) K3EST RETIRES FROM DIRECTOR OF CQWW DX CONTEST CQ Magazine has announced that Bob Cox, K 3 EST, has retired as Director of the CQ World Wide DX Contest and as CQ's Director of Contesting. Bob has been at the helm of the CQ World Wide DX contest for 35 years. During his tenure he guided the competition through numerous changes in technology and growth to become the world's most popular amateur contest. Cox's retirement is effective immediately. A successor has not yet been named. (arnewsline sep10) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ARDF WIA ARDF COORDINATOR VK3WWW Jack vk3www@wia.org.au http://users.mackay.net.au/~ron/ http://www.homingin.com http://www.ardf.org.au ARDF World Championships were held last week The RSGB ARDF World Championships team flew out to Serbia Monday 10th September. All nine of the UK competitors were self-funded. UK ARDF events using the IARU rules have been run by the RSGB since 2002. In contrast, most eastern European nations have been pursuing this radio sport for over 50 years and have a great deal of experience. These nations dominate the results, with Russia, the Ukraine and the Czech Republic particularly successful. There were four days of competition. Wednesday 12th saw the first of the classic races with both the 3.5 and 144MHz bands in use. The inaugural World Sprint ARDF championships took place on Thursday and that format used 3.5MHz. Friday 14th competitors used the band they did not use two days earlier. Finally there was the Fox-Oring race on the Saturday and this also used 3.5MHz. (sourced to wia from rsgb news) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FEMALES IN RADIO ALARA - AUSTRALIAN LADIES AR ASSOCIATION http://alara.org.au Net is held each Mondays on 3.570± MHz, commencing at 1030 UTC. (1000utc during daylight saving) geencee@picknowl.com.au WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER ANOTHER ZS CUBESAT ON THE CARDS Twenty Interns at the Denel Dynamics Engineering Academy of Learning are designing and building a CubeSat as part of their internship training. Denel Dynamic takes on up to 20 interns, students who have completed their engineering degree, masters or PhD. During the first year they spend half their time in the Academy and the other half in their designated departments. "The programme is aimed at exposing interns to a complete product development cycle", said Grant Wilson who leads the Academy. "Designing and building a CubeSat and developing a ground station to manage the satellite is an ideal project to achieve this." The 20 strong Intern Project Team was split into three separate teams, each responsible for certain aspects of the project. Team Ground Zero is responsible for the ground station and radio frequency (RF) link components. Team Virtuoso is responsible for the cube structure and on-board computer; and Team Frodo is 'sponsible for the payload, Attitude Control and Determination System (ADCS), and the launch. Read more about DynaCube on http://www.amasatsa.org.za. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ILLW Plan now to be at a lighthouse There are plenty to activate for the first time in next year’s International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend on 17-18 August 2013 to take advantage of a local or exotic location. A few DX spots are worth checking out and some sites remain in currently very active countries. It needs a little planning and access to the structure relies on the responsible authority that run the lighthouses, lightships and other maritime navigation structures allowed under the event guidelines. You can of course operate in the car park or very nearby. To see what it is all about, reports from earlier activations, the guidelines, an online registration form used by 60 in 15 countries already, and a lot more, at the website ILLW.NET (Jim Linton VK3PC) 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 JOTA/JOTI The 54th + 1 Jamboree On The Air will take place on 20 and 21 October 2012 ann in VK7 NTARC's effort is at the Carnacoo camp site at Paper Beach, as part of a Northern Districts camp. JOTA/JOTI coordinator Peter VK7KPC, advises that he is planning to get to Carnacoo on the afternoon of Friday 19 October to do preliminary setup for a JOTA station. Peter advises that the final site won't be known until organisers have a better idea of the number of Scouts attending. Peter is planning to use the VK7RAB to VK7RAF link to contact JOTA station being run South of Hobart and he is hopeful to have 2 HF stations active, plus IRLP on 2 metres and UHF to link South and maybe to North West coast stations. North West Tasmanian Amateur TV Group (NWT-ATVG) have planning well under way and the Club will again be providing resources and operators over 2 days at the Paton Park Camp at Ulverstone. Operators offering their assistance at this time with communications and control are Neil VK7NX, Ross VK7WP, Paul VK7HPD, Jim VK7JH, Graham VK7NGA, and Tony VK7AX. Operating frequencies as per the official JOTA frequencies published again this week, best read at wia.org.au and read the text edition of this wireless news. (sourced in the main to vk7wi) 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) SOCIAL SCENE 2012 SEP 28-30 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 Bryan Pliatsos VK3GR@wia.org.au on behalf of the National WIA. ***************************************************************************** /ex