WIANEWS - NOVEMBER 18 - 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 NOVEMBER 18 2012. Spring VHF-UHF Field Day 2013 WIA AGM and ANNUAL CONFERENCE Christmas Eve - Ham Radio satellite to flash morse code THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING NOV 18 2012. Spring VHF-UHF Field Day Here is a reminder for NEXT weekend, November 24 and 25. If you don't wish to camp out overnight, you can enter one of the 8 hour sections rather than the full 24 hours. Or you can participate as a home station. This next Field Day will again include the “F Call Challenge”, with special certificates for Foundation licensees who participate in any of the single operator sections of the Field Day. The details are available on the contest page of wia.org.au (John VK3KM) WIA BOARD TALK President Phil Wait VK2ASD vk2asd@wia.org.au Vice President Chris Platt VK5CP vk5cp@wia.org.au Secretary David Williams VK3RU vk3ru@wia.org.au Treasurer John Longayroux VK3PZ vk3pz@wia.org.au 2013 WIA AGM and ANNUAL CONFERENCE The 2013 WIA Annual conference will be held at the Tradewinds Hotel in historic Fremantle, Perth’s port city. Fremantle is one of Perth’s major tourist centres, offering history, culture and lifestyle. The conference is on the weekend 24 25 26 May 2013. This is the end of autumn in Perth, however we should enjoy good weather as we tend to get most of our rain later in Winter and in Spring. Various components of the conference will be hosted by Amateur radio clubs in Western Australia, and together we look forward to welcoming you to Perth and Fremantle. There is an interesting line up of activities for you to enjoy, and just as importantly you’ll have time to relax in the bar. For many of you, a trip to Western Australia is not to be taken lightly, and I encourage you to make it worth your while by making the conference part of a longer holiday. With a bit of forward planning you can get some very good airfares to Perth, giving you more cash on the wallet for your enjoyment. If you’re considering coming to the Conference, or if you’ve never given it thought before, think about it now, to give yourself time to make holiday arrangements and to watch the airfares – the airlines are frequently offering very good fares. This week QANTAS was offering Melbourne to Perth for $189 one way. With some vigilance, you may be able to improve on that fare. Booking details will be on the WIA website in early December. Check out the website at VK6.net for conference information. That’s vk6.net As Onno VK6FLAB says " The 2013 WIA AGM and conference is less than 200 days away and we’re excited to announce that expressions of interest for speakers is now open. We’re planning to host a large range of topics in various formats, from Quick Talks to Hands-on presentations, from discussions to Social Events and now is the time for you to stick up your hand and show us what you’ve got. If you've built a new gadget, written some software, engaged in research, or achieved something, we'd like to hear from you. Tell us about your successes and your failures. Use the opportunity to speak with other Amateurs who share your passion and excitement about a large range of topics. If you've been attempting to figure out how to achieve something, but finding it hard to get a room of experts together, the conference offers you the opportunity to host an open discussion on a topic of your choosing. You'll have the ability to get people in the room and benefit from the combined knowledge accumulated. Who knows, you might find someone who has a similar interest. We will be allocating time-slots on a first-come basis, so get clicking now! You can find the Expressions of Interest form on the VK6 conference site, conference.vk6.net, that’s conference.vk6.net " So that’s it. Conference in May 2013 at Fremantle, More things to do than we can cram into a weekend programme, airfares going dirt cheap, and a great venue. I look forward to hearing that you are coming to Fremantle next May. I’m Bob VK6POP HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. VK1 Last weekend the 10/11th of November Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club ran their final Foundation Amateur Radio course for the year. On the Saturday Mathew and Mark passed their upgrade from Foundation to Standard Licence and Steve passed his first attempt at the Standard Licence. They then had seven candidates for the course and assessments on the Sunday. Congratulations to John, the 2 Andrew's, Peter, Jack, Eyal, and Max who were all successful in completing the course and assessments. VK2 web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm The final Trash and Treasure for this year at the VK2WI site will be next Sunday the 25th at 63 Quarry Road Dural, 9.30 am. This is Roger Harrison VK2ZRH The battle over NSW planning restrictions on amateur radio antenna masts now has to enter a new phase – the political campaign. Last week, I asked you to do some homework – to get hold of the essential contact details for your local member of the NSW Legislative Assembly. I want you to write a polite letter to your local member, to briefly explain our issue with planning restrictions and council red tape when you want to put up an antenna mast, and to ask them to find out why this matter is NOT being considered in the current Planning System Review. I explained last week that preparing a letter to your local member requires a different approach to writing a submission to a government department. So, to help you, I have had a set of simple guidelines posted to the WIA website. When you write to your local member about an issue that concerns you, they will most likely write to the relevant minister – in this case, the NSW Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, the Honourable Brad Hazzard MP, who is the Member for Wakehurst. You can expect that your letter to your local member will be sent to the Minister. If your local member is a member of the Government, the Minister’s Office will refer the correspondence to the Department of Planning & Infrastructure to draft a response to your local member for the Minister’s signature. For you guys on the northern beaches in Sydney, the Minister is your local member. That’s an advantage. But, if your local member is either an independent or a member of the opposition, the Minister’s Office will likely refer the correspondence to the Department of Planning & Infrastructure to write a reply to your local member from the Department – or, at best – a reply from one of the Minister’s advisors. Either way, all the correspondence that flows on this issue will send a signal to the Minister and the Department of Planning that this issue is of serious concern to many electors. They have to get the message that the radio amateurs of NSW want exemptions for antenna masts to be included in the proposed new planning system. If it turns out that we don’t get the answer we’re looking for, be prepared to participate in stepping up the campaign to another level. Amateurs of NSW – the battle continues. This is about your future and the interests of future radio amateurs. Get cracking! This is Roger Harrison VK2ZRH. I’ll see you further down the log. VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ The inaugural meeting of the Homebrew Constructors Group was well attended last Saturday, November 10, at Amateur Radio Victoria in Ashburton. In the chair was Rob Whitmore VK3MQ, who believed that a good core group exists and with time there was a possibility it could expand. Rob VK3MQ asked those attending to introduce themselves and talk a bit about their particular interests. It ranged from kit building, home-brewing HF transceivers, power amplifiers, wireless restoration, software defined radio, microprocessors, and antennas. One of the aims of the new group is to provide support and guidance. Certainly the knowledge and experience is already among those who attended. The meeting raised topics for future discussion including printed circuit boards, soldering and surface mount techniques. A special activity day might be arranged involving the pooling of test equipment to give new projects a thorough 'work out', all under the supervision of the test equipment owner. Rob VK3MQ said the next meeting on a Saturday afternoon would be in early December and held as a 'show and tell' day. (Jim Linton VK3PC) The Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Club’s inaugural RadioFest at Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula, will be held next Sunday, 25th November. The event will be held at the Eastbourne Primary School auditorium at Allambi Avenue, Rosebud, where off street parking is available. Ticket sales and outdoor “Show and Tell” activities will commence at 8am and the Auditorium will open to the public at 9.30am with an entry fee of $5. Catering for the event is being handled by the school’s Parent and Friends Association and a large menu will be available at very reasonable costs. This event next Sunday presents an ideal opportunity to make a family day of it, so bring your family and enjoy the RadioFest and the beaches, parks, wineries, shops and restaurants of the Mornington Peninsula. If you have pre-loved equipment to sell, tables are still available at $10 through www.rosebudradiofest.com. (John Ross VK3BJR : President SPARC) VK4 - QNEWS Send your stories for news. SCRIPT to qnews@wia.org.au send audio to http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/upload/ This story, and the email threads in the text editions only of both QNEWS and VK1WIA National News Thanks to Sam VK4TTT/FQ "Eclipser One A joint team - Stiinta and Tehnica Magazine, with assistance from VK4BS (Howard) and VK4FQ (Sam) launched at 5:30 (QLD TIME) on November 14th, a helium balloon right in the middle of a solar eclipse track. The balloon had APRS tracking with YO4SJI-11 callsign. Reports where received by VK4GO (Art at Tolga) VK4FQ (Sam’s Cairns IGate) VK4ZZ (Gavin Townsville IGate) and others. During the tracking, we recorded heights in excess of 36.886Km above the earth before it burst and this broke this teams previous record of 33.5Km. Brisbane Centre – (ATC) used this information real time via aprs.fi to track the balloon and it’s payload through controlled airspace. The launch place approx. 90km from Laura is located on the road between Cairns and Weipa. The payload consisted of photo and HD video cameras and a scientific logger for UV, IR, Air pressure measurements. The balloon was successfully recovered. People in the launch and recovery were – Florin Mingireanu and his partner, Marc Ulieru, Catalin Beldea from Romania and Howard (VK4BS) Sam VK4FQ. Reported by Adrian (Yo3hjv) as far as I know, Eclipser One is on third place by altitude in Australia, after HORUS 16 and HORUS 22 High Altitude Amateur Radio Balloon, so you may be proud Sam." DISCUSSION POINT I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. You wonder at times whether enjoyment of a recreational pursuit, a hobby, can be like a marriage. Involvement starts out with a tingle of excitement, a sense of commitment develops and explosive times of energy and delight abound. Then the demands of work/family and other things seem to compound until the great fun times seem to disappear with the proverbial, “I’m too tired” or “I’ve got a headache” almost to a routine. What once put a spring in one’s step now seems to assume the role of being just mundane and ordinary. Even when opportunity arises, it seems almost too much effort to acknowledge it let alone open a lazy eye for a brief “once over”. But is that really how life was meant to be? This is one of the areas where our network of clubs and our administrative structure can and does provide support. When the world is passing you by it is probably the right time to engage with your local radio club again. As much as people enjoy this hobby in the isolation of their own shacks, they are still social beings whose good health and stability depends on interaction with other people, face to face. So when it is meeting time for your local club what will your response be? “Sorry, I’ve got a headache” just doesn’t work for me or you. See you at the club. I’m Geoff Emery and that’s what I think....how about you? INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA. environment across DHS components. November 08, 2012 09:00 AM Eastern Time MELBOURNE, Fla. & ROCHESTER, N.Y. (BUSINESS WIRE)--Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), an international communications and information technology company, has received $7 million in orders to deliver public safety and tactical communications systems to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its component agencies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Coast Guard. The orders were awarded through the five-year, $3 billion DHS Tactical Communications (TacCom) indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle. “The Coast Guard is using this important procurement vehicle to deploy Falcon III® radios, while DHS is rapidly implementing a Harris P25 system” Harris will provide the U.S. Coast Guard with Falcon III® AN/PRC-117G multiband manpack tactical radios that will be installed across the Coast Guard fleet to provide interoperable tactical communications with local, state and federal agencies, as well as the Department of Defence. The AN/PRC-117G radio operates multiple waveforms for narrowband line-of-sight voice and data communications, beyond-line-of-sight satellite communications, communication with public safety agencies, and wideband data communications Big amateur radio changes ahead for China Mandatory membership of the Chinese Radio Sports Association will be a thing of the past, as that country moves forward under soon to be announced new amateur service regulations. For the past 30 years, only a sports organisation could transmit over amateur radio. It began with the station BY1PK on the 29th of March, 1982, at first on CW and with limited bands. Now clubs and individuals have their own callsigns throughout the world's most populated country. The system of them first being a member of a sport-related body, before entering amateur radio, no longer works and will end. Along with the regulations will be a new entity called the, Chinese Radio Amateur Club, that will be solely focused on amateur radio. The regulations promise to bring China more in line with its counterparts throughout the world. The new group will deal with the regulations including visitor licences, conduct exams and licensing, create band plans, allow nation-wide mobile operation, develop emergency communications infrastructure, amateur satellites, and work through the IARU. Being trialled for emergency communications is a new error-correcting low power data mode for HF radio using Chinese characters, a Software Defined Radio receiver network for noisy locations, an alarm system, VHF and UHF repeaters and training. New Philippines amateur service rules The National Telecommunication Commission has revised its regulations to stimulate amateur radio in the Philippines, and introduced a new Foundation Licence which gives access to the 2-metre band and up to 50-watts. That is addition to the Technician Class on VHF and HF with 200-watts PEP, the General up to one-kilowatt PEP, and the top of the range Extra Class with all bands and up to 2,000 watts PEP. Clubs with 25 radio amateurs are eligible for a licence. Extra Class Licences of five years standing may be deputised as Amateur Inspectors to visit stations. There was freedom to operate mobile, a publically available licensees list, a question bank, vanity callsigns and access to internet linking. The regulations formally recognise the national IARU society, the Philippines Amateur Radio Association, which celebrates its 80th anniversary on November the 30th at the La Mesa Dam New Guest House at Quezon City. ============================================================================= NEWS FROM ARNEWSLINE USA GERMAN SPACE AGENCY REJECTS AMSAT DL MARS MISSION Germany’s space exploration plans will not support a proposed ham radio mission to the red planet. We have more in this report: -- After five years of discussions and negotiations with the German space agency, AMSAT-DL reports that nation’s space exploration group has withdrawn its support for the amateur satellite organization's plan to send a ham radio satellite to Mars. This is the so-called P 5 or Phase 5 satellite mission. According to the AMSAT News Service, the agency advised the group that P5's mission was not financially feasible. Also that compared with the current Mars missions the scientific attraction was simply not there. You can read that as being of insufficient interest to the formal scientific research community. The decision by the German Space Agency also affects plans for a geostationary Earth-orbiting ham radio satellite. This being the so called Phase 3 E which was to be part of the overall P 5 program. None of this is good news for amateur radio’s future exploration of the final frontier. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Burt Hicks, in Los Angeles. -- AMSAT-DL officials say that they are not giving up hope for these missions. They note that their organization recently had some interesting meetings in China adding that if it cannot do rocket science in Germany, that it will have to look for other countries. DARC SEEKS NOMINATIONS FOR ANNUAL HORKHEIMER PRIZE Nominations are being invited by the German national amateur radio society, the DARC, for the prestigious Horkheimer Prize. The prize consists of an etched glass trophy and a monetary prize for non-personal use. The money is to be spent for the promotion of amateur radio however the recipient chooses. The prize can be awarded to one or more persons or institutions. Any member of an amateur radio society in the International Amateur Radio Union is eligible, and self-proposals are permitted. Nominations must be submitted to DARC by March 28, 2013, and the prize itself will be awarded at the opening of next year’s Ham Radio convention in Friedrichshafen. More information in the German language is on-line at www.darc.de IRTS ANNOUNCES OPPOSITION TO PROPOSED EUROPEAN PLT STANDARD Ireland’s Irish Radio Transmitters Society is the latest national ham radio organization to line up in opposition to a newly proposed pan-European draft digital Power Line or PLT transmission standard. Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, has more: - Following the news last week that the German National Society, DARC, now opposes a new pan-European draft Power Line Transmission standard, we have heard that the Irish Radio Transmitters Society, like the RSGB, also opposes the standard. In their magazine they say that "the draft Standard accepts that the PLT devices do not, in effect, meet the essential requirements of the EMC Directive as it prescribes measures to mitigate interference by permanently or dynamically excluding frequencies in the amateur, aeronautical mobile and broadcast bands." The IRTS Committee took the unanimous view that it would not be appropriate to support a draft Standard that sought only to protect selective sensitive frequencies in the HF spectrum without regard to the levels of interference that could be caused by the equipment concerned on the remainder of the HF spectrum. For the Amateur radio Newsline, I’m Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, in Nottingham in the United Kingdom. -- As previously noted here on Amateur Radio Newsline, this new standard concerns the devices that people install in their homes to run data over their house wiring. It has nothing to do with PLC or BPL data that is carried over the over company power line networks. ============================================================================= OPERATIONAL NEWS - DATELINE 2012 WW CQ WW DX Contest CW November 24-25 VK Spring VHF / UHF Field Day November 24-25 WW ARRL 160 MTR CONTEST November 30 WW RTTY Melee December 1 WW ARRL 10 m Contest December 8- 9 So as you see not a lot happening till years end contest wise, maybe our WIA Directors and ex-officious looking after Contests, Awards DX etc etc would like to supply the WIA members and listeners to this broadcast with material to prove we haven’t ALL gone to sleep!! NOT going to sleep is IARU region One who have just released this months IARU Monitoring Report on the web and to sister societies, In Intruder watch we find that a French radar is again active on 7000, 14000, 14250, 21000 kHz using a 20 kHz wide burst system. They also report that taxi operators in the Russia Federation, Belorussia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan are using FM in the amateur radio 28 MHz band more than ever. Read the International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System (IARUMS) Region 1 October 2012 newsletter at the web address wia.org.au and click "This Weeks Broadcast". I think I have time again to bring you that "DX Code Of Practice" and with little band activity a good chance to "listen and learn" from John VK2JJW "I will listen, and listen, and then listen again before calling. I will only call if I can copy the DX station properly. I will not trust the DX cluster and will be sure of the DX station's call sign before calling. I will not interfere with the DX station nor anyone calling and will never tune up on the DX frequency or in the QSX slot. I will wait for the DX station to end a contact before I call. I will always send my full call sign. I will call and then listen for a reasonable interval. I will not call continuously. I will not transmit when the DX operator calls another call sign, not mine. I will not transmit when the DX operator queries a call sign not like mine. I will not transmit when the DX station requests geographic areas other than mine. When the DX operator calls me, I will not repeat my call sign unless I think he has copied it incorrectly. I will be thankful if and when I do make a contact. I will respect my fellow radio amateurs and conduct myself so as to earn their respect." In Ingham where after the eclipse where we are "starting to see the light", I'm Felix VK4FUQ. INTRUDER WATCH - ENFORCEMENT ZONE IARU Monitoring System Newsletter The IARU Region 1 Monitoring Service reports that French radar is again active on 7000, 14000, 14250, 21000 kHz using a 20 kHz wide burst system. They also report that taxi operators in the Russia Federation, Belorussia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan are using FM in the amateur radio 28 MHz band more than ever. Read the International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System (IARUMS) Region 1 October 2012 newsletter at http://www.iarums-r1.org/iarums/news2012/news1210.pdf WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER Christmas Eve - Ham Radio satellite to flash morse code Dec. 24 the Japanese students who built FITSAT-1 are planning to active the satellite's LED optical array and flash a message in Morse Code to Earth. The Morse message may be visible with the unaided eye. According to Takushi Tanaka JA6AVG, the students plan to start testing the optical system at the end of November. The FITSAT-1 CubeSat was developed by students at the Fukuoka Institute of Technology (FIT) in Japan. It has a CW beacon on 437.250 MHz and a data link on 437.445 MHz, there is also a 5.8 GHz data downlink. Further FITSAT-1 information at http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO SCOUTING http://www.scouts.com.au In Maryborough Queensland a very dedicated band of volunteers are working in preparing the local Showgrounds and Equestrian Park to become a working canvass city. People are travelling and sacrificing their weekends at the venue of the Australian National Scouts Jamboree, AJ2013, commencing 2nd January, next. As part of the preparations, the pieces of organising a special event amateur radio station are being juggled into place. For the collectors of special event call signs be on the lookout for V-I-4-A-J-S operating on HF, VHF and UHF as well as internet linked modes for what is expected to be a busy 10 days. For the members of MERG, Inc. this is again a great experience at sharing the great hobby Amateur Radio with other dedicated volunteers, in the world of scouting. Ours is but a small part of the program but with the possibility of having 10,500 scouts accessing the station to earn their Jamboree Award, this is a major event for a regional radio club as well. For the WIA National News Service, this Geoff, VK4ZPP on behalf of MERG, Inc. Thanks Geoff, now as I leave you this week, you the listener can take a leaf out of VK4ZPP's book and submitting some news items for next week. Yes it's easy done to submit news items for inclusion in the VK1WIA broadcasts, just 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. From Melbourne that's all this week I'm Robert VK3DN. EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO www.hamcollege.com.au What use is an f-call? (20120408) So, you've got yourself a transceiver and it's all working well. You've read the manual more than a couple of times and you know your way around your kit. It's great to know how to operate your own radio and I've spoken to many hams who know their way around their own radio backwards. I remember one day speaking with an amateur and we were talking about how I could show a spectrum scope showing activity across a band. He lamented that his radio didn't have that functionality. I had a quick look through his system and activated the spectrum scope on his radio. A pleasant surprise for both. The opposite happened not long afterwards when another amateur was using my rig to listen to a remote station. He fiddled with some settings and magically the station appeared from out of the muck and we could hear it clearly. I asked him how he did that and after some hand-waving it transpired that there were some settings I knew nothing about - the radio which I'd known for many hours, read the manual backwards and so-on. It's been on my to-do list for a little while now, but I've just spent an enjoyable couple of hours sitting at my radio, re-reading parts of the manual, learning more about its operating parameters, how to set filters, turn on and off pre-amplifiers, change microphone equalisation and many other settings. How well do you know your radio - really? I'm Onno VK6FLAB SOCIAL SCENE 2012 NOV 25 VK3 SPARC HAMFEST AT ROSEBUD DEC 1 VK7 Miena Hamfest SOCIAL SCENE 2013 MAY 24-25 VK6 WIA AGM AND CONFERENCE IN PERTH AUG 17-18 WW ILLW NOV 3 VK5 HamFest Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society 2 Goodwood. ============================================================================= 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