WIANEWS - DECEMBER 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 DECEMBER 16 2012. Wyong Mini-Contest-University Masthead TV devices and electric fences EMDRC Christmas Foundation Course THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING DEC 16 2012. Wyong Mini-Contest-University - February 23rd. 2013 at Wyong. Trent VK4TS, WIA Director for Awards and Contests is locked in as keynote speaker to introduce the day. As well as material from the Dayton Contest University, kindly supplied by Tim K3LR, some local content has been offered to be presented by members of the VKCC group. One aim of the "MCU" is to help people understand what contesting is all about. It's hoped that people who are sitting on the contest sidelines, not knowing how to move forward can gain from attending this (free) event. As well as the educational content it is hoped that the networking component the chance to meet the people you have heard (or heard of) will also form a major part of the day. The day will run from 10 am to 4pm on Saturday 23rd. February with an hour break for lunch and if there is sufficient interest extend to a get together and meal in the evening at a local pub or restaurant joining up with others coming to the Field day on the Sunday. Information and details on how to register can be found under the mini contest university link in the sidebar of www.fieldday.org.au or directly from the link on the Dayton Contest University page at www.contestuniversity.com (Ed VK2JI) Masthead TV devices and electric fences The Australian Communications and Media Authority has a masthead and distribution amplifier fact sheet, and a media article on electrically powered fences - both which can cause interference. In marginal TV reception areas it is finding faulty, due to age or misuse, mastehead amplifiers that radiate a signal affecting TV viewing, mobile phones, two-way radios and heard on the amateur radio bands. ACMA field officers have found them either overloaded to distortion, internally mixing a multitude of high level signals, or going into self-oscillation. Distribution amplifiers are also designed to feed a number of TV sets from a single antenna, but never to oscillate and become an unintended radiator. Meantime, the ACMA in the Hoofbeats magazine read mainly by horse owners, warns then about the interference that may be caused by faulty electric fences. The fact sheet and article give helpful installation and operational advice, to avoid fines the ACMA may issue if it enforces the Radiocommunications Act. (Jim Linton VK3PC) Proposed changes to radio service in Darwin and Katherine The Australian Communications and Media Authority is seeking public comment on proposed changes to improve and add radio services in the Darwin and Katherine area. The ACMA is proposing to amend the Licence Area Plan – Darwin Radio to: formalise the operation of 8PNN Darwin and Katherine and 8HOT and 8MIX Adelaide River improve the operation of the Darwin radio broadcasting services 8ABCFM, 8DDD, 8JJJ, 8PNN, 8SBSFM, 8HOT & 8MIX, 8GGG, 8KNB & 8TOP and the Katherine radio broadcasting service 8KTR make a frequency available for a new community radio service to be provided in Darwin. The proposed changes are contained in the Draft Variation to Licence Area Plan – Darwin Radio - No. 2 of 2012 and discussed in accompanying explanatory paper. The documents are available on the ACMA’s website or by calling 1300 850 115. The closing date for comments on the proposals is 5pm Friday 11 January 2013. (acma.gov.au) 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 Have you prepared for the last weekend in May; the 2013 WIA AGM and Conference? Hosted in the Maritime Hub of Fremantle in Western Australia, the 2013 Conference in May offers you the best in Amateur Radio, with seminars, workshops and social activities for Amateur Radio enthusiasts and their partners. Hosted by Western Australian Amateur Radio Clubs and held at the Tradewinds Hotel in Fremantle, it's going to be your event. Why should you make the trip across the globe to Western Australia to visit the most isolated capital city in the world? Find out! The 2013 WIA AGM and Conference, it's all about Engaging, Learning, Appreciating, Socializing and Discovering. You'll find all the information online at the VK6 conference site, conference.vk6.net HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ EMDRC Christmas Foundation Course For those folk who have heard about Amateur Radio and would like to get involved in the hobby and get on the air with a Foundation Licence, and who may be looking for something to do in the few days between Christmas and New year, then have we a deal for you ! The Eastern and Mountain District Radio Club will once again be running its special Christmas Foundation course. The course will be run on Thursday the 27th of December with the assessments taking place on the morning of Friday the 28th of December The course will be held at our EMDRC Clubrooms located at 13a McCubbin Street Burwood, for those not familiar with the area, its location is very close to the RSPCA on Burwood Highway, ideal if you plan on coming by public transport. If you are coming by car, there is plenty of parking available onsite. To arrive at the clubrooms, simply drive west down McCubbin street and look for the lane way on your left hand side, you will find the clubrooms (Scout Hall) at the bottom of the lane way. The course instructors will be myself Robert Broomhead VK3DN and Damian Ayers VK3KQ. The Sunday morning the assessments will be run by myself with Keith VK3FT and assistance from other assessors.. Further details on the EMDRC club website http://www.emdrc.com.au 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 Cairns Region VHF Repeater back on air The VK4RCA Cairns 2 metre voice repeater has finally planted its feet yet again. After being retrieved from the Mount Yarrabah site and many months of refurbishment and reliability testing on the workbench the repeater equipment has received the tick of approval and has just been installed at the Mount Haren repeater site, up on the range behind Kuranda. With 13 Watts to the antenna and a 6 dB antenna to boot, the repeater should have good coverage across the Atherton Tableland region plus good access from Cairns and the Northern Beaches. Access and reception reports are requested secretary@carc.org.au VK7 vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vk7regionalnews/ VK7RCH Antenna Upgrade The old repeater antenna from VK7RTC - Mt.Nelson has been removed to reinstall at Grey Mountain at the next possible chance. This involved careful manoeuvring on top of the tower in windy conditions and a difficult removal of the antenna from its mast clamp. The mast had to be cut at the bottom near the plate, and the stays unbolted. The whole assembly had to be lowered down onto the top of the tower, while taking care with the weight of the mast - an estimated 50 plus kilos! A new blog has also been started to check out the status of the repeater and other associated projects. The web address is in the email addition of this broadcast. http://vk7rch.blogspot.com.au/ (Hayden, VK7HA via vk7wia news) OPERATIONAL NEWS - DATELINE 2012-13 AMSAT Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2013 You are invited to participate in Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2013. This year's AMSAT event is dedicated to the memory of John Thompson, W1BIH/PJ9JT, who passed away this year aged 96. Although known primarily as an HF DXer and contester, John was also active on OSCAR, mostly on CW. As always, S.K.N. on OSCAR is simple and informal. Just operate CW through one or more satellites on 1 January 2013 (0000 to 2400 UTC), using a straight hand key. There is no need to send in a log, but all participants are encouraged to nominate someone they worked for Best Fist. Your nominee need not have the best fist of anyone you heard, only of those you worked. Send your nomination to w2rs@amsat.org SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE New address for Canada QSL Bureau The address for the Canadian QSL bureau has changed. All QSL cards for Canada should be sent to RAC National Incoming QSL Bureau, Box 51, Saint John, NB E2L 3X1, Canada. 8J6HAM - celebrating the 12th West Japan Ham Fair on AS-077 Kyushu 10 Dec to 3 Mar 8N119T - celebrating the 65th anniversary of the Tokyo Fire Department (119 is the emergency fire/ambulance number in Japan) 23 Dec to 25 Mar active on all HF bands and modes. DISCUSSION POINT What use is an f-call? I'm about to go on a couple of trips and thought that it might be a good idea to have a radio with me, if nothing else, a great opportunity to talk to some locals on their local repeater. I have a portable kit, that is a Yaesu 857d with 2 x 26Ah batteries which goes forever using 10 Watts. My back of napkin calculation says that on 2m I can transmit continuously for over 12 hours with that - more realistically, if I transmit 10 minutes out of every hour, over 40 hours, though I've never tested it and likely the numbers will be different for HF using SSB with my Antenna Tuner plugged in. This amazing battery life comes at a cost, namely size and weight. The batteries fit in a medium size tool-box, and each battery uses more than 8kg from my luggage allowance, so, if I was keen, I could stick my radio and 16 kg of battery in my suitcase and take my toothbrush but I'm pretty sure my hosts would prefer I packed some clean clothes as well. I've been shopping around for a hand-held and I know that for $100 bucks or so I could select from any number of cheap hand-helds which for some reason that I'm yet to determine the Amateur Radio fraternity appears to refer to as Handy Talkies, rather than Walkie Talkies. The closest I can come is that a HT, or Handheld Transceiver once got explained by a Walkie Talkie User as a Handy Talkie and it stuck, but I don't know; what's in a name? Anyway, I'd like to be able to use the same accessories I already have, like the nice remote microphone that cost more than the hand-held I can get, my battery charger, the mount I already have in my car, etc. A friendly HAM had loaned me a hand-held radio for a previous journey and I'm borrowing another one this weekend from another HAM - which is a fantastic way to try before you buy - but I'm not yet convinced. I've begun to investigate solving the problem in another way. Pack my current radio into a satchel, add a small lithium ion battery of some description and I've got my "normal" radio with me when I travel. I don't yet know if that's going to work - for example, I've not yet figured out how to deal with the antenna, since the radio isn't really designed for sitting on its tail with an antenna hanging out, but perhaps I can set it on a flat surface and poke a multi-band antenna out the back. I won't be able to attach it to my belt and at this time that's not a great concern. Ironically, when I started, I skipped the hand-held option and my go-kit has gotten larger and heavier every time I find another essential tool. I think I might need to make two go-kits, one mobile and one portable - hi hi. It seems that even if you bought yourself your ultimate radio, your needs change. I'm Onno VK6FLAB INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA. ZL Amateur Access to 600 Metres The band 472 kHz to 479 kHz was allocated to the Amateur service for use on a secondary basis at the World Radiocommunication Conference held earlier this year. New Zealand Amateurs will be given access to this band with the Radio Spectrum Policy and Planning Group of the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment: Type of allocation: Secondary Power Output : 25 W eirp No Bandwidth restrictions: As a result of this new ZL allocation, Amateurs will no longer have access to the previous temporary allocation at 505 – 515 kHz. The Ministry has, however, agreed that the temporary use in the band 505 kHz to 515 kHz will be permitted for one further year, until the end of 2013, to provide amateurs with an opportunity to retune and/or rebuild their equipment. BIRD MEN OF SAN QUENTIN NBC News reports in the USA that inmates at San Quentin prison are building CubeSat orbital deployers. P-PODs, Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployers are aluminium boxes designed to hold tiny satellites known as CubeSats, which ride "piggyback" into space as secondary payloads Watch the NBC video at http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/06/15730738-san-quentin-inmates-building-satellite-hardware-for-nasa?lite Foreign licensees in South Korea When applying for a South Korean license foreign amateurs may choose between a Korean callsign or HL*/homecall. The callsign blocks range from HL1Z** to HL1Z** and the number depends on the location in Korea. The foreign language repeater in Seoul was moved on top of a 600m high mountain: RX 439.6 MHz, TX 434.6 MHz with 123 Hz subtone. Interestingly, any language OTHER than Korean is allowed on this repeater. ITU Radio Regulations 2012 available for download The 2012 edition of the ITU Radio Regulations which includes the results of WRC-12 is now available. The Radio Regulations, Edition of 2012, contains the complete texts of the Radio Regulations as adopted by the World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 1995) (WRC-95) subsequently revised and approved by the World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 1997) (WRC-97). World Radiocommunication Conference (Istanbul, 2000) (WRC-2000), World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 2003) (WRC-03) World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 2007) (WRC-07) World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 2012) (WRC-12), including all Appendices, Resolutions, Recommendations and ITU-R Recommendations incorporated by reference. The free download is available at www.itu.int/pub/R-REG-RR-2012/en ============================================================================= NEWS FROM ARNEWSLINE USA TAIWAN RADIO HAMS SEEK ADDITIONAL ALLOCATIONS Hams in Taiwan say that they are in need of additional operating spectrum and have prepared a report that explains what, where and why. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, has the details: -- Taiwan's national society the CTARL, presented a paper regarding amateur radio in that country at the recent IARU Region 3 conference. In it the Taiwanese ham radio community says that it is seeking to expand several amateur allocations. On 80 meters where they currently only have 3.5 to 3.5125 and 3.55 to 3.5625 MHz, they are seeking an allocation from 3.5 to 3.9 MHz. On 6 meters they have just 50 to 50.0125 and 50.11 to 50.1225 MHz. As such they are seeking the entire 50.0 to 54.0 MHz band and to add 146 to 148 MHz to their existing 144 to 146 MHz allocation. Taiwan has very limited amateur allocations in the UHF and Microwave bands, only 430 to 432, 1260 to 1265 and 2440 to 2450 MHz. There they seek to expand these allocations to from 430 to 440 and 1240 to 1300 MHz. Of interest, the CTARL reports that its membership is now just 362. In 2000 the IARU reported it had a membership of 1264 out of an amateur population of 24,324. This indicates that they have lost 72% of their members this century and one can speculate that perhaps the number of radio amateurs in that nation has had a similar sharp decline. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, in Nelson. New Zealand. ZONECASTING TO BE TRIED ON THE FM BAND IF FCC SAYS OK Something new may soon be coming to the FM broadcast band in the United States. This if a proposed system called ZoneCasting proves out its proposed technology. ZoneCasting is the result of research and development by a company known as Geo-Broadcast Solutions. It proposes to use a series of booster transmitters to give FM radio stations the ability to divide their coverage areas into geographic zones and “geo-target” their advertising and programming. Geo-Broadcast Solutions says its ZoneCasting system uses GPS and mobile broadband technologies to slice up the FM signal but avoid interference via a single-frequency network made up of FM boosters. To allow the system to work, the company has asked the FCC to modify its current rule that prohibits booster stations from originating programming. A booster operates on the same frequency as an FM station’s main channel and is used to improve signal within the station’s coverage contour. The company and Harris are partnering on the first commercial test, which is expected to launch early next year at WRMF-FM in Palm Beach, Florida. Broadcast engineers say that limiting interference between a main channel signal and booster can be a challenge. Geo-Broadcast Solutions said the purpose of the test at WRMF is to prove ZoneCasting will not cause that type of a problem. 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 Meet The YL's Of Amateur Radio" Jean VK3VIP President and VK3 State Representative for ALARA asks "Would you like to meet YL's interested in Amateur Radio?" If so then you are invited to go along to Bundoora Park Rotunda no 6 from 10:30am Sunday January 27. (That’s in maiden head square QF22MH). Assisted by members of WANSARC the Ladies of ALARA will be holding a special meet the YL's BBQ. BYO Meat but salads and sweets along with tea and coffee will be provided. Talk in 146.450Mhz Simplex" There will also be a special event station operating and the entire day will be televised on VK3RTV digital ATV WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER Mission confirmed: British singer Brightman to blast off to space The Space Adventures agency has confirmed that Phantom of the Opera star Sarah Brightman has signed an agreement with the Russian Space Agency and secured herself a space trip in 2015. “All legal matters have been settled,” the Space Adventures agency said in a statement. Last month the singer told Russian Trud newspaper she will also have to learn some Russian before her space trip to be able to communicate with the crew. “I wish some alien would kidnap me,” the singer who was once married to composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and starred in the original "Phantom of the Opera" productions said in October. The Russian Space Agency did not disclose any details of the contract with Brightman, who will join professional cosmonauts on a Russian Soyuz mission to the international space station in three years’ time http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/singer-brightman-space-russian-359/ 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 How time flies, as they say and the 2nd of January may be a Scots day of recovery after Hogmanay but in Maryborough, Queensland, it marks the beginning of 10 action packed days of the Australian Scout Jamboree, AJ2013. During this past week the courier brought the well boxed HF radio which Icom Australia has donated to the event. VK4KEV has configured his Echo/IRLP box and registered the Jamboree call sign VI4ASJ for use on the amateur internet linking services of EchoLink and IRLP. Providing the internet remains up, contact from the Jamboree will be available through these services 24hours a day, worldwide, using 2m simplex. To find the Jamboree station on EchoLink, you will need to look under the –L listings and with a VI prefix it should be top of the Australian calls. On IRLP the node number will be 6496 Refer to page 27 of this month’s Amateur Radio magazine for a listing of the VK and worldwide Scouting calling frequencies. If the magic band of 6m is running listen on both the SSB and FM frequencies. This station is licenced to operate for 14 days only and at the height of the Aussie summer should provide some interesting contacts with T/E, troppo and ducting all possible. Listen out for VI4ASJ from 1st January, 2013. For WIA News, I’m Geoff, VK4ZPP from MERG, Inc. 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 members in Tassie, Peter VK7KPC, Wayne Hodge & Norm VK7KTN attended the Endurance Horse Riding State Championships at Sassafras. A field of 100+ riders and 2 simultaneous events made for a busy time on the radios. A highlight of the weekend was the inaugural use of CCARC's mobile comms trailer. This a cabin built on top of a tandem trailer, which is an improvement over a tent normally used for base HQ. It also obviates the risk of 240V equipment mixing with the environment in a wet tent. CCARC & NTARC WICEN groups have also agreed to investigate the use of the Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System. N.B.E.M.S, which has been adopted by the ARRL, is based on the use of any transceiver with a digital box (e.g. SIGNAL LINK) attached. Messages are transmitted using email like forms to a base & then decoded, and can be put direct into word processor or spread sheet. Message protocols are based on United Nations Disaster Management Systems, giving this system a worldwide standard. (sourced to vk7wi news) Hams ready for double disaster Typhoon Bopha that killed at least 700 people in southern Philippines, leaving a trail of mayhem behind, re-emerged out of the South China Sea last week to hit the northern part of the archipelago. The Philippines’s strongest typhoon first reached landfall on the island of Mindanao with 210km'/h winds on December the 4th, and returned to Luzon in the north last weekend. Active during both disasters were the ham radio networks, organised through the national IARU society, the Philippines Amateur Radio Association (PARA). Those nets handled emergency and welfare traffic, gave weather reports, detailed utility and infrastructure outages. The typhoon just missed nearby Guam and was headed for the southern island of Mindanao. At the time PARA had its 80th birthday celebrations in Manila. Soon after it asked that the emergency nets activate on VHF, for long haul traffic 7095 kHz, echo-link and social media. What unfolded was an outstanding effort that included evacuations of riverside and low-lying communities and coordination of rescues including those at sea. The networks played an important coordination role in the south with the Disaster Response Team of the Philippine Red Cross, Delta Fire Volunteers, and the Coastguard. Among the action was DX5RAN, the District 5 Radio Amateur Network. That net worked with the City Government of Tacloban and the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council. There were many radio amateurs involved. As the toll rose and losses, including export banana plantations on Mindanao mounted, the typhoon returned to northern Luzon. Although downgraded it dumped heavy rain causing flooding and landslides. Early evacuations in both the south and the north were attributed by the authorities as saving many lives. Many are still missing in southern areas and fishermen at sea. More than 5.4 million people were affected including 116,400 in evacuation centres. The Vice Chief Operating Officer of PARA, Ramon J. Anquilan DU1UGZ, said both nets were now closed. He thanked everyone for coordinating the activities and the worldwide assistance in keeping the HF emergency frequency clear. (Jim Linton VK3PC, Chairman IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee) SOCIAL SCENE 2013 JAN 27 VK3 MEET THE YL’s OF AMATEUR RADIO Bundoora Park Rotunda #6 FEB 24 VK WYONG FIELD DAY MAR 24 VK7 "Meet the Voice" barbecue at Ross. MAY 24-25 VK6 WIA AGM AND CONFERENCE IN PERTH With the 2013 WIA AGM and Conference just about 160 days away, the organising committee have much to share and planning ahead is well under way. They have opened up expression of interest for the Symposium and would like to invite you to discuss this in your club and make a submission to present to the community. They intend to run several streams. http://conference.vk6.net/expressions-of-interest/ More conference information is available online at http://conference.vk6.net/ AUG 17-18 WW ILLW Oct 3- 7 VK4 North Queensland Amateur Radio Convention Charters Towers NOV 3 VK5 HamFest Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society 2 Goodwood. NOV 15-17 VK3 Victorian National Parks Weekend Nov 24 VK3 Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Club: Rosebud RadioFest 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. ***************************