WIANEWS - September 23 - 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 23 2012. THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING SEP 23 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 'Feedback Feedback' With thanks and appreciation for those members who keenly raced to the new WIA News Broadcast Feedback page at http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/feedback The inaugural letter writers were: Ed VK2ARE - pointing out that we missed the publicity of the ZL9HR DXpedition which we will hear more about in Ed's audio submission later in the show. David VK6DWB - accusing us of entertaining him all the way to work in the morning! hihi! and a listener who picked us up on the use of 'Chairperson' in one of last week's reports. The listener pointed out the Latin root of the word 'Chairman' refers to 'manus' meaning 'hand', and is not a gender specific reference to which the ever vigilant forces of political correctness feel they need to correct. Please submit your feedback to the new Feedback Form and tell us how we're doing. David VK3RU - New WIA Secretary Continuing our series of interviews getting to know members of the WIA, today we speak with David VK3RU. HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. 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 As reported last week, Amateur Radio New South Wales will be conducting a one day Foundation course today Sunday 23rd September at the VK2WI site in Dural 23rd September. Assessments will be next Sunday. Good luck to all candidates and thanks to the members giving of their time to run the course and assessments. Also next Sunday, 30th September, at the VK2WI Dural site, 63 Quarry Rd. is a morning T&T and Home Brew afternoon gathering. Check out the ARNSW web site home page 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/ Ballarat Amateur Radio Club Inc. Contact: Roger de Valle VK3ADE, 03 5330 3082 or roger@genette.biz News Release: 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. We 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. We 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 dont 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 we have had a really strong representation of commercial traders and dealers and we 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 come every year we look forward to seeing you again, if you haven’t been to Ballarat for a while then please consider paying us a visit, it’s a truly beautiful town with lots to do for families and we would really be delighted to see you at the Hamvention. If you need more information then please visit the BARG web site at www.barg.org.au or you can contact us via Roger VK3ADE on 03 5330 3081 or Ian VK3AXH on 03 5341 3012. For bookings you can contact us via hamvention2012@barg.org.au [AUDIO UPLOADED] 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 TARC Does the Comedy Revue TARCadians and friends will once again be thoroughly entertained when they head along to this year’s Townsville Choral Society Comedy Revue on Saturday evening November 3rd. A stellar cast will regale the audience with Music - Comedy - Songs - Sketches and stunts designed to keep the name of Thuringowa alive and well. This year there is no dinner provided, however complementary wine and cheese will be served before the entertainment and drinkies will be available. Roll up around 6-30pm to get a parking spot. Doors open 7pm with everyone to be seated by 7-15pm. A fantastic show, excellent company and it only costs $25 per head. See the Master of Time and Space - Iain VK4IGM to book and pay for your seats. Act Now - as the event is very popular and places will go in a flash ! (Gavin VK4ZZ) 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 SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE Oceania DX Contest - 3 Weeks Away ! The 2012 Oceania DX contest is now only 3 weeks away, with the Phone SSB section on the first weekend in October and the CW section on the second weekend in October. This will be a great opportunity to work a lot of DX stations in the Oceania region, as well as giving your station a test drive for the new DX contest season and the CQ WW contest events later in the year. The PHONE section runs 08:00 UTC Sat 6 October to 08:00 UTC Sun 7 October with CW running at the same times the following weekend. All activity is on non-WARC bands from 160M to 10M. The organisers are expecting a good turn out from VK, ZL and YB stations, as well as stations from some of the rarer Pacific entities. The main aim of the contest is to promote HF contacts with stations in the Oceania region. Oceania stations can work other Oceania and non-Oceania stations. Non-Oceania stations can only work Oceania stations. More information and the rules are available from the contest section of the WIA website. (VK4TS) The Keith Roget National Parks Award The first to achieve all 45 Victorian National Parks is Peter Fraser VK3ZPF. It has taken him from the warm Sunset country in the northwest to the cooler climates of the distant Gippsland Parks. Peter VK3ZPF will be on air with others over the forthcoming special VK3 National Parks Weekend of November the 16th to the 18th. Keep an ear out that weekend for at least the National Parks at Heathcote-Graytown, Barmah, Gunbower, Terrick Terrick, Kinglake and St Arnaud. If you intend to activate a National Park on November the 16th to the 18th then put on a Master List on the Amateur Radio Victoria website www.amateurradio.com.au which contains the rules and endorsements. (Tony Hambling VK3VTH) MONSTER ANTENNA! The HARAOA president and DX'Pedition leader Tommy VK2IR has just finished construction of a 40metre, 2 element Moxon antenna – yes that's right a two element 40 metre beam is gong on the ZL9HR DX'Pedition to Campbell Island (IOTA OC-037) for the activation between November 28th. and December 9th. The element length is 15 ½ metres long! To see the construction of this monster simply search for ZL9HR on Youtube. The size of this antenna meant that it needed to have its own special shipping crate built and over the last couple of weeks all crates have been built and the fitting out of the four shipping containers finished. All of this is on schedule and all equipment will be shipped out of Sydney before the end of the month. The team are also delighted to have received several more sponsors, both commercial, associations and clubs and individuals – all of which are listed on the web site at ZL9HR.com. Again a great vote of thanks to all of the sponsors without whom this DX'Pedition could not take place. So where will ZL9HR operate? On which bands and which modes? While the aim is to operate on as many bands as possible and try to give as many amateurs as possible the chance to work this rare DX location, your vote on the website will affect some of the plans – so if you haven't already done so, please go and vote for your preferred mode and band by going to ZL9HR.com and clicking on the survey button at the top of the home page. Presently 10m is by far the most requested band followed by 160m, as for modes CW leads Digital followed by Sideband. Please refer to the web site ZL9HR.COM for the full, up to date, information about this major DX'Pedition to the Great Southern Ocean. 73 from Ed VK2ARE Australian publicity Officer for ZL9HR. [Audio Uploaded] PT 0 S - DXpedition to St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks The DXpedition will take place in late November to mid-December. The actual dates will depend on weather conditions. There had been an official ban on Amateur Radio activities from PY 0 S. Although the ban, which was created for environmental and safety reasons, remains in place, a special permit by Brazil's S.E.C.I.R.M. the Brazilian Navy, Ministry of Environment and LABRE to conduct a two week long operation. (SouthGate) 3D2C DXpedition to Conway Reef 19 operators from all over the globe to participate in a tent and generator operation on Conway Reef, in the South Pacific Ocean -- the 35th most wanted DXCC entity. The Team expects to arrive at Conway Reef and become active on September 26th running through to October 5th. The main goal of this DXpedition is to work every amateur radio operator who needs Conway Reef for a new DXCC country. They we will be active on all bands from 1.8 MHz to 144 MHz, including the 5 MHz and 50 MHz bands. The team will be active on CW, SSB and RTTY with special attention paid to far away stations in Europe and Africa when propagation permits. The official website is http://www.yt1ad.info/3d2c/index.html (SouthgateARC) FR/DJ7RJ Willi/DJ7RJ Reunion Island AF-016 September 26th to October 21st with CW and SSB ops 160 to 10m with emphasis on low bands VK9XM Pekka/OH2YY and Pekka/OH1TV Christmas Island October 6th to October 12th SSB and CW ops 40 to 10metres T30PY and T30SIX Tarawa Western Kiribati October 16th to 25th, details at http://www.mdxc.org/t30py VK4/JA1NLX Aki-san/JA1NLX Hamilton Island OC-160 October 18th to 23rd ops CW and SSB 40 to 10metres Website www.ne.jp/asahi/ja1nlx/ham/VK4_2012.html KH8/JA2ZL Anci/JA2ZL Pago Pago American Samoa OC-045 October 23rd to 29th ops CW SSB RTTY 80 to 10metres THE QNEWS WORK BENCH - the nuts and volts report – Measure Twice cut Once. CONTROLLED CARRIER AM -SOMETHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN An old modulation technology is making a comeback for A-M broadcast stations in a new and money saving way. Amateur Radio Newsline’s George Bowen, W2XBS, says that back in the days of full carrier A-M transmission one very popular and low cost way to put ones voice onto a carrier wave was to modulate the final power amplifier’s screen grid. A variation on this that required no heavy modulation transformer was to vary the output power of the transmitter at an audio rate by varying the final amplifier’s screen voltage at an audio rate. This system was called controlled carrier A-M and it was made very popular on the ham bands in the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s in such budget priced transmitters as the Heathkit DX-35, DX-40 and DX-60 to name only a few. With the advent of single sideband transmission, full carrier A-M fell out of favour in the ham radio world but it has remained a staple in the broadcast industry and other services that want to get their message to the public. And now, carrier control modulation is making a comeback among broadcasters but not in the way it was done by radio amateurs of the past. For broadcasters who spend 10’s of thousands of dollars a year paying for electric service, the ability to raise and lower power levels can be a major cost cutting factor. And because of this a number of stations have received waivers from the FCC to experiment with several new forms of carrier control technology. In one instance, transmitter manufacturer Harris Broadcast and New York City powerhouse WOR-AM say they have had success with a power-saving Modulation Dependent Carrier Level algorithm. This with no effect on Arbitron Portable People Meter data encoding/decoding, the stations H-D Radio signal coverage or digital audio quality. Harris engineers worked with Tom Ray, W2TRR , who is the Corporate Director of Engineering WOR AM in New York, to test the compatibility of two Harris Modulation-Dependent Carrier Level algorithms. Amplitude Modulation Companding provided the largest reduction in transmitter power consumption, by saving 37 per cent in average AC power input to the transmitter. WOR estimated this translates up to a $3,000 per month savings on the electric bill at his New Jersey transmitter site. So will this new form of Amplitude Modulation Companding bring back full carrier AM to the ham bands? While a tiny segment may decide to experiment with it more than likely SSB will remain the preferred voice system among ham radio operators worldwide. At least until it’s replaced by a digital voice system at some time in the future. Nautel, another transmitter manufacturer has estimated that a 50 kilowatt AM transmitter using this technology and operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week could easily save $20,000 a year or more in electricity costs. This based on modest electricity rates of 10 cents per kilowatt hour. The complete story can be found on-line:- tinyurl.com/harris-modulation (arnewsline sep10) INTEL SAYS THE FUTURE OF EVERYTHING IS WIRELESS Intel Corp. believes that in the future all equipment have to be completely wireless, whether it is a laptop, a display or something else. To achieve that, Intel wants to integrate radio in every applicable chip it makes, which essentially adds wireless tech to any client chip these days, given the trend towards highly-integrated system-on-chip devices. "In the future, if it computes, it connects. From the simplest embedded sensors to the most advanced cloud datacenters, we are looking at techniques to allow all of them to connect without wires," said Justin Rattner, chief technology officer of Intel, at Intel Developer Forum. (via xbitlabs.com/news) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - ASTRONOMICAL EXPLOSION ON JUPITER NOTED BY AMATEUR STAR GAZERS Amateur astronomers last week reported a bright fireball on the planet Jupiter that appears to be the result of a small asteroid hitting the planet during the early hours of September 10th. As the fireball faded, attention has turned to trying to discover any possible debris around the impact site. Observers will be monitoring the region in the nights ahead to see what if anything surfaces. Updates will be posted on-line at spaceweather.com (Spaceweather - via ARnewsline) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- CW FISTS Club - East Asia www.feacw.net FISTS Club - Australasia www.fistsdownunder.org FISTS Club - UK & Europe www.fists.co.uk FISTS Club - Americas www.fists.org Fists Recordings on the Historic 500kHz Band On the Facebook Page of the FISTS CW CLUB, you can access a recording made by Finbar O'Connor EI0CF, Radio Officer, at the closing down of Malin Head Radio Station in County Donegal. At that time 5 Compact Discs were recorded and these have now been converted to MP3 files and the link is available for all to listen to by clicking on the FACEBOOK PAGE of the FISTS CW CLUB. www.facebook.com/FistsCwClub (Irish Radio Transmitters Society) 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 "Hi, this is Lesley VK5LOL your Alara Contest Manager. Just a reminder that I need your logs in by the end of this month - the 30th September. That is the logs for the Alara Contest. Thanking you. Lesley VK5LOL" 73, Lesley VK5LOL Alara Contest Manager AUDIO WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ARISS ARISS Contact with Maroochydore state School What a buzz for the kids at Maroochydore State School on Wednesday afternoon of this week just gone. They had an exciting opportunity to to talk to Aki KE5DNI who is currently travelling on the International Space Station. Local communications were handled by President Richard VK4RY from the Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio Club along with a few helpers. Also involved was Shane VK4KHZ out at Glendon, Tony VK5ZAI in Kingston SA and JOhn AG9D in Montgomery USA. Communications started at about 5:03 and lasted for only 10 minutes before the ISS was over the horizon, but what an opportunity for the school kids and an opportunity for us as Amateurs to show what radio can do. There is no other way to talk to the astronauts so hopefully some of this might stick in their heads in the years to come. Until next time, this is Gordon VK4VP. This contact was also publicised on Breakfast show on 612 ABC Brisbane. A program blog post with audio is available on their site: http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2012/09/maroochydore-primary-talks-with-outer-space-.html WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER Amateur Radio CubeSats to deploy from ISS JAXA have announced that the deployment of five CubeSats from the International Space Station (ISS) will take place on Thursday, September 27 Four of the CubeSats carry Amateur Radio payloads. The five CubeSats on this mission include: + Raiko (Japanese: "thunder drum") 2U cubesat, photography, Ku-band beacon + We Wish Infrared camera for environmental studies + FITSat 1 High-speed data test, high power LED visual tracking + F-1 Vietnam Student CubeSat On-board camera for earth observation mission + TechEdSat More information, including link modes and frequencies can be found in the AMSAT news section at amsat.org (amsat news service) 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 St George Amateur Society Activity The St George Amateur Society will be running a JOTA station at Bonna Point Reserve Kurnell, NSW this year as part of the annual scout and guide Boree Regatta event. The station will have two VHF transceivers on 2 metres and 70 centre metres and two HF transceivers operating on 80, 40 and 20 metres. The call sign will be VK2LE. The station will have over 500 scouts and guides on the air from 10am Eastern Daylight Saving Time, EDST Saturday morning till 10pm EDST Saturday night and again from 9am EDST Sunday morning to 2pm EDST Sunday afternoon. The look forward to making 2012 a truly memorable Jamboree On The Air. For further information, check out the St George web site at http://www.sgars.org/jota 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 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) holds its Simulated Emergency Test next month to try out equipment, operating skills and emergency deployment plans. Setting the date as October 6 to 7, it has invited the Amateur Radio Emergency Service, the National Traffic System, the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service, SKYWARN, the ARRL Field Organisations and other groups involved. In the US many volunteers are active in disaster preparedness communications with a variety of agencies that rely on radio amateurs to provide service during emergencies. The ARRL has agreements or Memoranda of Understandings with several including the American Red Cross, the National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Salvation Army. The membership of the ARRL and the number with a callsign are growing slowly. A factor is the continuing interest in emergency, disaster, and public service communications. (Jim Linton VK3PC) YAESU DONATES NEW GEAR TO HELP REBUILD RAST STATION HS0AC Yaesu has donated a pair of FT-2000D transceivers to the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand. This to help rebuild its headquarters station HS 0 AC that lost its radio gear during severe flooding last year. The presentation of the two transceivers to the Radio Society of Thailand was made by Dennis K 7 BV, who is the company’s Executive Vice President Amateur Radio Sales and also holds the call sign HS 0 ZKS. In his note, K 7 BV said that Thailand is what he called extremely "radioactive" with over 300,000 hams most of whom are on VHF. However, that is in the process of changing. Dennis says that after seven years of waiting, Thai hams are once again able to test for a license that gives them operating privileges on the HF bands. According to K 7 BV some 40 applicants have already passed the new exam this year and at least one more test is schedule before years end. (arnewsline sep 10) WICEN Victoria are involved in 2 events during October. If you are available to participate, 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 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. 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