WIANEWS - JANUARY 13 - 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. When you upload audio email us the txt version. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WIANEWS WEEK COMMENCING JANUARY 13 2013. Bushfires throughout Australia. Australian given an AMSAT accolade. Raspberry Pi. VI 4 ASJ Wraps up. THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JAN 13 2013. Bushfires throughout Australia The wild fires in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland come as Australia experiences its hottest temperatures on record spanning 120 years. The fierce immense fires have even been photographed and tweeted by the International Space Station Commander, Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield VA3OOG. So far WICEN South (Tasmania) is the only group of trained radio amateurs reported to be engaged by manning Tasmanian Fire Service communications. In teams of two, WICEN is posted at the Incident Management Team headquarters to control the busy 80MHz radio traffic to crews at the massive blazes on the Tasman Peninsula and in the Derwent Valley. Lots of people including tourists were trapped. Aerial and ground crews have worked on those two fires that saw houses, out-buildings and a school lost. Fires had burnt elsewhere in Tasmania. In Victoria houses were burnt by a grass fire at Snake Gully near Ballart including an historic homestead. A similar situation existed in New South Wales with fire near Bega, Cooma, Wagga Wagga and Nowra in the Shoalhaven region. Queensland has had numerous fires. South Australian fire-fighters are being kept busy too. Despite some respite in a few areas with cooler weather, including reports of a little snow on Hobart's Mount Wellington on Wednesday gave fire-fighters some help, but severe hot weather is forecast to return to most areas. In Victoria, authorities are mobilising fire fighting fire trucks, aircraft and resources to the north-east region fearing the worst there by this weekend. (Jim Linton VK3PC, Chair of the IARU Region 3, Disaster Communications Committee) Australian given an AMSAT accolade It was a very humble Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI who received an award from AMSAT North America for the voluntary work he has done for the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. In accepting the award, Tony VK5ZAI said it was a very nice honour which made him feel humble. "I look at it as a combined effort for all those that have helped over the last 20 years because I couldn't have done it alone," he said. In praise of ARISS, Tony VK5ZAI said, "They’re a great group to work with and he has made many friends through it and amateur radio." He is the Australian ARISS Coordinator and a Telebridge Earth Station involved in many contacts between the ISS and schools. The Channel 7 Today Tonight show interviewed Tony VK5ZAI in early 2012, when he gave some great insights as to how Amateur Radio can provide support for NASA, as well as raise public awareness through the ARISS schools program. The segment has been posted to YouTube and NOW features as a prelude to many Australian school contacts with the ISS. To view it visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?V=fUsoo_oaNkw 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 Phil Wait VK2ASD our WIA President writing on WIA Front Page News (wia.org.au) says the Society needs an Assistant Treasurer to assist John Longayroux VK3PZ in looking after the financial affairs of the Institute. Ideally you would live in the wider Melbourne area, have some corporate or not-for-profit experience and be proficient in MYOB or other computer based accounting systems, and naturally have some spare time to devote to the WIA. If you are able to assist John in the preparation of our yearly budgets and quarterly financial reports, and also happy to attend occasional meetings, we need to hear from you. WIA President went on to say "I would like to say that this is a paid position and full of all sorts of perks and benefits. Sorry! but you will be involved with a great group of people all working for Amateur Radio and, although deadlines have to be met, the position is not too demanding." If you believe you can help the WIA in this aspect of its work, please send an Email with a brief outline of your qualifications and experience to president@WIA.org.au Learn - 13 January 2013 Have you prepared for the last weekend in May; the 2013 WIA AGM and Conference? With access to Amateurs from all levels of experience, you'll participate in sessions about and related to Amateur Radio. With so much expertise in one place we offer a platform to tap into the assembled knowledge and experience and give you front row access to it all. 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. VK6 Shane VK6ZW has been 'doing' the 80mx relay Sunday eves of this the WIA News for a number of years, and reports he has had to QSY from 3.564 up to ANYWHERE between 3.610 - 3.635 due to local QRM. The local 2 meter repeater advises frequency on the night of broadcast. VK2 web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news The day is fast approaching for the largest Amateur Radio gathering in the Southern Hemisphere Wyong Field Day – Sunday 24th February 2013 - Mark this date in your calendar, or you may be disappointed Free shuttle bus from Wyong station Gates open 6.30am – Traders and Exhibitors 9am For more information, got to the website, fieldday.org.au Proudly brought to you by the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club Wyong field Day – Amateur Radio’s Big Day Out! 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 The one subject that is mentioned every day on Amateur Radio Nets around Australia is the weather. The Gold Coast Amateur Radio Society, VK4WIG, will be hosting a presentation by well respected local Meteorologist and Storm Chaser, Anthony Cornelius. He will be answering all of those nagging questions, like how do meteorologists forecast storms, what are the best instruments to use at home, and what’s’ with all this crazy weather we are having right now. Anthony will be at the Molendinar clubhouse at 10am on 19 January and everyone is welcome. A bar-b-Q will follow at approximately 12noon. See you there – I’m Bryn VK4GF GCARS Secretary” VK3 web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/ The Centre Victoria RadioFest This major event will be at the Kyneton Racecourse, only an hour from Ballarat, Bendigo and Melbourne on Sunday February the 10th, tickets on sale from 9am and the doors open at 10am. A feature will be a Homebrew Competition judged by Drew Diamond VK3XU. There will be a bustling Traders Hall, a second-hand seller market, club displays including vintage equipment and the ever popular mini-lecture program. Presentations are by Alan Devin VK3XPD and Michael Coleman VK3XH on the Millimetre Wave Bands, Wayne Merry VK3WAM about ‘Summit on the Air’, Drew Diamond VK3XU home brewing, and Kevin Forbes VK3UKF on things in orbit. See you at the Centre Victoria RadioFest, on Sunday February the 10th. I’m Barry Robinson VK3PV and you are listening to VK1WIA. What use is an f-call? Over the past year I've come to see and experience some of the different achievements that amateurs have made in this hobby. It's not immediately obvious what the scale or range of those things are. Just scratching the surface reveals that the amateur radio news is broadcast every week, there's likely a repeater within range, if not several, there are clubs and associations, contests, training services, websites, magazines, on-air nets, technical talks and seminars, educational activities, promotions, sponsorships and emergency services. I've had the opportunity to participate in most of those activities, some as a receiver of services and others where I was an active contributor. Recently I was struck by the invisibility of the edge. What I mean by that is that there are single points of failure in many of those services. The news that you're listening to right now for example is put together by amateurs like you. The news has been here every week and you've been able to listen to it. The reason that's possible is because there is a large group of people across the world making it happen. You could stop there and leave it at that, but if you did, you'd lose the point I'm making. The edge that I'm talking about is for example, one single person is responsible for broadcasting the produced news file on my local repeater. Similarly, one single person is responsible for doing the same on 160m. Across the country, and across the world for that matter, are single individuals who are providing an essential service. Each individual representing a single point of failure. I know that I am one of those single points of failure - not a critical one by any stretch of the imagination, but none the less. I didn't plan to be, in-fact, the opposite is true - I offered to help another amateur with the aim of sharing the load and found myself holding the baby. This is not a unique story, in fact, it's played out all over the hobby every day. You could construct a list of all of those individuals and laud them with accolades, but I know for myself, that's not what I want - and I doubt others do either - of course, it's not for me to say, so instead, I'll ask this question: What things in Amateur Radio are you taking for granted, and what could you do to contribute to them? 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. In the USA their FCC has formalized rules to help speed the deployment of Internet services on board planes. Since 2001, the commission has authorized a number of companies to operate earth stations on aircraft communicating with Fixed-Satellite Service geostationary-orbit space stations. Installed on the exterior of the aircraft, the satellite antenna carries the signal to and from the plane, providing two-way, in-flight broadband services to passengers and flight crews. The commission’s recent Report and Order formalizes earth stations aboard aircraft — ESAA — as a licensed application in the Fixed-Satellite Service Fixed-Satellite Service and establishes a framework for processing applications while ensuring other radio service operations are protected from harmful interference. Airlines will be able test their own systems to prove they meet FCC standards, establish that they do not interfere with aircraft systems, and then get FAA approval. A proposal to embed bar codes and radio-frequency ID tags in Virginia license plates is currently 'on the table.' Proponents say the first-in the-nation surveillance program would aid law-enforcement agencies and could even “unclog traffic.” But civil-liberties groups see a more sinister agenda, and ulterior motives. “RFID (radio frequency identification), in particular, is often cited as a key offender of privacy and, in fact, Virginia statute 46.2-323.01 prohibits the use of RFID tags in driver’s licenses. DMV reports that similar concerns have been raised for bar codes,” the report stated. Morse Code as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage On December 12th, the Cabinet of Germany ratified the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which brings us one step closer to the goal of the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC) and IARU to have Morse Code added to the list of Intangible cultural heritage. This should be achieved by November 2014. BILL PASTERNAK, WA6ITF, HONORED BY CEDARS SINAI ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Amateur Radio Newsline producer Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, was recently honoured with a Certificate of Appreciation for his volunteer work to the Cedars Sinai Medical Centre Alumni Association. No, Bill never worked at the medical facility. However since his retirement from Fox Television in 2009 he has been the volunteer Videographer for the monthly social gatherings of the group. The award was presented to Bill during a break in an evening’s program while he was video recording a presentation by famed Hollywood Producer Director Paul Mazursky. Mazursky was the featured speaker talking about the production of his 1984 film Moscow on the Hudson that starred Robin Williams. THE QNEWS WORK BENCH - the nuts and volts report – Measure Twice cut Once. QNEWS WORKBENCH The Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized computer that has taken the internet tinkerers set by storm. Running a 700Mhz ARM11 type CPU it promises a cheap, powerful embedded Linux platform with USB for keyboard and mouse, and a High-Def HDMI video output capable of BluRay quality playback; a seemingly impossible feature for such an inexpensive and generally available device. It runs on 5v and exposes a bunch of GPIOs for interfacing with homebrew projects and has a composite video out and 3.5mm analogue audio output to make sure there are no excuses in getting this thing to talk to the outside world. The first model released boasted Ethernet jack and 256mb of RAM, which has since been doubled in a revised hardware configuration and more recently a cheaper version without the network connection is on sale. The operating system is written on SDcard media, the same media used in most digital cameras and a variety of flavours of Linux are officially supported by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and others by the user community. Originally envisaged as a primary and secondary school level educational platform to teach software programming, the Raspberry Pi went on general sale to attract a community and ensure economies of scale would keep the price low. Over 500,000 units were sold in its first 6 months, to September 2012. What makes this more impressive is that the 'Arduino', a microcontroller platform that was the previous 'darling of the internet', took 5 years to reach the 300,000 mark. You'll see the penetration of Arduinos at your local electronics parts retail stores, right alongside the PicAxe and Basic Stamp kits. Raspberry Pis of both flavours -- pardon the pun -- are available from the 'big two' mail-order parts suppliers in Australia. I'm sure you can find them. The 'Pi is a little underpowered to be used as a day-to-day home computer for most people, but with some technical assistance it could be a very inexpensive introduction to computing and general web-browser connected to a television for a complete novice. You're probably better off pulling out a few 'Crinkly Mawsons' from under the mattress if you're looking for a general purpose computer. The price: performance ratio and its low power consumption makes the Pi an excellent platform for Ham experimenters and home brewers. We Amateurs have really taken to the Raspberry Pi with a range of projects reimplemented to take advantage of the much improved user-interface, over your traditional microcontroller based project. Some projects that have caught my eye are: -Full featured CW-trainer that plugs into the TV -APRS Digipeaters and Gateways -AMSAT Satellite platform -Field day logging and Rig control -2-axis rotator controller with real-time satellite tracking -Lightweight Digi-mode setup for hiking I hope this introduction has piqued your interest and got you thinking about investigating further. (vk3gr) OPERATIONAL NEWS - DATELINE 2013 VK ROSS HULL MEMORIAL VHF-UHF ALL JANUARY VK SUMMER VHF-UHF FIELD DAY Sat sUN JANUARY 12-13 ZL Jock White Memorial Field Day Contest Sat and Sun Feb 23 and 24. Hunting-Lions-in-the-Air This event takes place this weekend (the closest to 13 January) the birth date of Melvin Jones, the founder of the Lions organisation. It is not a contest but merely a means for Lions to exchange greetings with other Lions and Lions Clubs. Radio amateurs and members of the various Lions Clubs get together and the Lions are allowed to exchange greetings with other Lions under supervision of the radio amateur. Normally the name and number of the Lions Club is the exchange. SKN on OSCAR 2013 Best Fist Nominations Due Many thanks to all who participated in AMSAT's Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2013. If you have not already done so, please take a moment to nominate someone you worked for Best Fist. Remember, your nominee need not have the best fist of those you heard, only of those you worked. Send your nomination to w2rs at amsat.org. This year's event is dedicated to the memory of John Thompson, W1BIH/PJ9JT, who passed away in 2012, aged 96. Although known primarily as an HF DXer and contester, John was also active on OSCAR, mostly on CW. Those nominated will be recognized in an ANS bulletin in early Feb- ruary, and in The AMSAT Journal. [ANS thanks Ray Soifer, W2RS for the above information] SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE P29NO Nao/JA2VQP East Sepic Province Papua New Guinea on air during January 2013 to January 2015 whilst volunteer teacher at Divine Word University Wewak. Two German operators will be QRV from Kenya from 7 – 20 January. Callsigns to look for are 5Z4/DF3ZS and 5Z4/DL1QW. They will be on all bands 80 – 10m on SSB and RTTY. QSL to the home calls. The Dakar Rally will start in Peru for the first time this year. The route will take participants through Peru, Argentina and Chile. To mark the occasion the Radio Club Peruano are airing a special event station with the callsign 4T4RDP. The station will be active from 4 – 13 January. A special QSL card will be available via OA4O. Al W6HGF will be active from the island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean from 9 – 24 January. He will use the callsign J8/W6HGF and focus on RTTY. QSLs go via his home call. MEDIA WATCH www.cq-amateur-radio.com/WorldRadio.html VK Club Bulletins http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aarnie/ VK2 CCARC news ccarc.org.au/wp/2012/09/ccarc-news-12-31/ I am happy to report that the planned live relay of VK2WI's transmission using the FreeDV digital voice mode went ahead as planned last Sunday on 7190 LSB, digital voice, with no problems. I would like to thank those amateurs who responded not only with written reports but also with screenshots, audio and video files to the digitalaudio Google group. These reports have shown areas where I can improve my transmit side as well as the effects of QSB on the received signals at various VK2 locations from the Illawarra in the south up to Duri in the north. The developers, who also monitor the list, have received these files and reports and are considering what might be possible to improve low signal performance of the mode. Thanks to the coverage of both the ARNSW and WIA News broadcasts there have been several new amateurs posting their interest in FreeDV on the digitalaudio google group. During the week there have been reports on the list from several VK amateurs testing with FreeDV for the first time and making successful contacts. For those who haven't joined the "band wagon" yet, can I suggest you check out FreeDV on the web at www.freedv.org 73 and hope to work you on Digital Voice this is Ed VK2JI. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- NAVAL Members of the Lake Boga Lions Club have established a Museum at Lake Boga on the site of the No 1 Flying Boat Repair Depot that was established back in 1942. Members might like to take a moment to visit their website by clicking the following Link and get a feel for the 30 years of effort that has gone into the establishment of the Museum. Museum volunteers are currently looking for help locating two AR7 Radio Receivers to complete the restoration of the original communications bunker. If you can help, the please contact Ross Pfeiffer from the museum by email: museum@flyingboat.org.au http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2013/20130107-1/index.php (sourced from WIA Front Page News) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO SCOUTING http://www.scouts.com.au http://www.scout.org/jota http://www.international.scouts.com.au Like all events that raise a ground swell of emotion, it is time for joining hands and a couple of verses of “Auld Lang Syne.” The Australian Scout Jamboree is wrapped up and many of the participants have arrived home or are travelling as this news goes to air. The antennas and cables are down from the roof of the activities building and equipment returned to clubs and individuals. A decision has been made that the IC-718 donated by Icom Australia, go to a special scout’s radio unit, to be formed in Queensland. No doubt part of the thinking has been after seeing the facilities that Peter, VK3AJ, brought from Victoria. For further information follow the link. http://www.sresu.asn.au/ For the operators, it has been a demanding time with troops of 6 scouts coming through to take part in Amateur Radio. Often there were 4 positions in use with the logging computer pressed into service to access Echo link whilst more scouts sat waiting, up to 3 deep. Sadly from the Fraser Coast, the band conditions did not favour daylight operations and many scouts did not get to experience hands on ham radio. Thankfully, the EchoIRLP, supplied by VK4KEV allowed many DX contacts with amateurs, scouts and former scouts. Once an operating schedule was set up for the radio scouts attending AJ2013, night time operations resulted in dog piles of activity. To the stations who missed a contact with VI4ASJ, we are sorry but we tried. To the stations who have made the contact, Maryborough Electronics and Radio Group, Inc. has accepted the role of QSL Manager. Contact details for MERG are either via WIA affiliated clubs or follow this links http://www.qrz.com/db/VI4ASJ http://www.wia.org.au/clubs/vk4/MaryboroughElectronicsAndRadioGroup/ The Wireless Institute of Australia has provided sponsored use of the QSL services so please “QSL via buro”. To the many new friends we have made during this journey, we say safe journey home, to the amateurs at the Jamboree, 73 and meet you further down the log and to those still working on site we wish you a speedy return home and a good night’s sleep in your own bed. From MERG, Inc., I’m Geoff, VK4ZPP, reporting for WIA National News. 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 February 23rd 2013 Pajero Challenge Woods point area Contact: Dirk Versluys VK3FPAJ phone: 03 9879 8384 Email: versluys@optusnet.com.au Sunday March 3rd 2013 MAD Bike Ride Woodend - Wombat State Forest Contact: John Weir VK3XD phone: 03 9431 0667 Email: zzrvelec@bigpond.net.au SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - VHF AND ABOVE First 24 GHz Contact Between USA and Japan Al, W5LUA and Shichirou, JA6CZD made the first 24 GHz EME contact between the USA and Japan on January 2 at 1430Z. The two stations had about an hour of common window where each had 15 to 20 degrees of elevation. JA6CZD uses a 2.4 M offset fed dish with a 22 watt SSPA. W5LUA uses a 2.4M offset fed dish and a TWT mounted on the feed support provid- ing 100 watts at the feed. JA6CZD sent Al a 559 signal report and Al gave Shichirou a 449 report. Both stations use linear polarity and must compensate for the 70 degrees of spatial offset between their locations. JA6CZD was used horizontal and Al used vertical polarization. The noise figure at both stations was under 2 dB. Al measured his Doppler Shift with his return echoes at 51 KHz at the start of the contact. The mutual Doppler Shift placed both at about 24048.108 MHz based on a centre frequency of 24048.100 MHz This shifted down in frequency as the schedule took place. W5LUA was GPS locked and JA6CZD uses an OCXO and a Rubidium standard to control frequency. [ANS thanks Al Ward, W5LUA for the above information] SOCIAL SCENE 2013 JAN 27 VK3 MEET THE YLs OF AMATEUR RADIO Bundoora Park Rotunda #6 FEB 10 VK3 CENTRE VICTORIA HAMFEST KYNETON FEB 23 VK Wyong Mini Contest University Wyong racecourse FEB 24 VK WYONG FIELD DAY Wyong Racecourse MAR 24 VK7 "Meet the Voice" barbecue at Ross. MAY 24-26 VK6 WIA AGM AND CONFERENCE IN PERTH 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 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. 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