WIANEWS - MAY 12 - 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 MAY 12 2013. WIA AGM and Conference will use Fremantle VK6RFM 146.950 repeater for conference traffic. VK4PJ PASSES VK9 SOTA VI100ACT VK1 Special Event Call VI103WIA WIA AGM Special Event Call THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING MAY 12 2013. SILENT KEY VK4PJ Peter Handley Brown, Balmoral and recently Sylvan Woods. Peter peacefully passed Wednesday May Eighth 2013 at age 100 years.. A long time Radio Ham, who will be honoured in perpetuity by the "WIA Contest Champion - VK4PJ Peter Brown Trophy." Peter also was a long-time supporter and member of RAEME. He was an EX-POW in Japan and an engineer in civilian life.. His Daughter, Beth Hobson advised through the RAEME Newsletter that his funeral will be Monday 13 May at 1pm at Mt Gravatt Crematorium Chapel, Mains Road, Macgregor. As an aside the Nominal Roll has Peter as a Captain and National Archives has a Japanese Registration card placing him in command of the AAOC Wksp with HQ Rabaul He was captured in Rabaul and transported with other Officers & Nurses to Japan for the duration. In the April 7 edition of WIA National News, Laurie Murray VK4LO, wrote a glowing tribute to Peter as he was celebrating his 100th Birthday April 13. wia.org.au/members/broadcast/wianews/display.php?file_id=wianews-2013-04-07 (Arte et Marte John Parfitt Welfare Officer RAEME Association Queensland, vk4bb, vk4lo) A hearing between Adobe Systems (and others), and Bill Caralis' Super Radio Network, will be heard in the Federal Court of New South Wales Tuesday 28 May. All affidavit evidence is required to be submitted by 15 May for preliminary discovery, outline of submissions from prospective applicants are required by 20 May, and by respondents by 23 May. The five applicants who have brought the case are Adobe Systems Inc., Adobe Systems Pty ltd, Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Pty ltd, and Microsoft Regional Sales. The case relates to the Super Radio Network stations allegedly using products without licenses, and allegedly communicating internally how to apply a 'crack' to obtain unlicensed access. Less than a year after the decision to site the revolutionary Square Kilometre Array in South Africa and part here in Australia, the SKA Organisation announced that it has opened its new international headquarters building which was constructed in just 6 months. The opening ceremony for the building which will be home to the team managing the construction, design and scientific output of this ground-breaking telescope was observed by an invited audience of global dignitaries, scientists and engineers. The Square Kilometre Array is a radio telescope that is planned to be built over 8 years commencing in 2016 in the remote and radio quiet deserts of Australia and Southern Africa. The SKA will comprise thousands of radio telescopes, which will be located in these two desert locations, and will also have dishes and antennas spread over thousands of kilometres to create a single giant telescope. 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 During the WIA AGM and Conference we'll be using the Fremantle VK6RFM repeater for conference traffic. Maintained by the WA Repeater Group, you can set your radio up using 146.950 as the output frequency and 146.350 as the input. Thanks to Don VK6DN the repeater also hosts EchoLink and IRLP so you can make contact with home base from your hotel room or throughout Fremantle and beyond. The EchoLink node number is: 170709 and IRLP node number is 6200. Those numbers can also be found online at vk6.net where you'll find a full list of repeaters and beacons in VK6. Check the frequencies online, and if you're consulting this month's AR magazine, the gremlins got in and some of the frequencies there show the input frequency rather than the output frequency for some repeaters, so check online at vk6.net for details. (vk6flab) HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. VK1 VI 100 ACT - commemorates the centenary of Canberra, capital of Australia. Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club members are activating the special event call-sign till 31 Dec on LF through to VHF using multiple modes. VK2 web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news Next weekend ARNSW will be conducting a Foundation course at VK2WI Dural on Saturday the 19th and Sunday 20th. Sunday 20th there will be assessments for all license grades. Booking are required by email to education@arnsw.org.au On the following Sunday May the 27th it will be the regular bi-monthly Trash and Treasure as usual at VK2WI Dural. VK7 vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vk7regionalnews/ Due to the analogue TV switch off down in Tasmania they have removed the CTCSS tone from the 6m repeater and therefore there has been a resurgence of 6m activity in Southern VK7! (vk7tw) VK9 VK9 now SOTA classified The VK9 (Australian external territories) call area now has summits classified under SOTA as follows - 1 summit on Christmas Island. 2 summits on Norfolk Island. 4 summits on Lord Howe Island. and can be used from May 1st. (sourced to SouthGate) DISCUSSION POINT What use is an f-call? When you get introduced to Amateur Radio, your likely first step is to get a Foundation License. That's not always been the case. The Foundation License has only been in existence since October 2005. I say only, because Amateur Radio has been around for over a hundred years. For example, the Wireless Institute of Australia, the WIA celebrated its centenary in 2010. There are currently more than 2300 Foundation Licenses active, said in another way over 14% of Amateur Licences are Foundation Licenses. My question is this. If there are more Foundation Licenses as there are Standard Licenses, why don't we hear more of them on-air? Recently I participated in a contest as a QRP station. That means I halved my allowable power from 10 Watts down to 5 Watts to participate to see what the impact might be - given that I'm aiming to contact 100 countries using my F-call and 5 Watts. During the 16 hours I participated in the contest I made contacts with 45 different stations. 80% of those were Advanced Calls, only 9% of those call signs heard were Foundation Calls. Sure, you might argue that because an Foundation Licensee is only allowed 10 Watts, they cannot be heard, but I made 185 actual contacts across 4 states - hardly the mark of someone who could not be heard. Perhaps my set-up was better than those of other Foundation Licensees, but I don't think that this is what makes the difference. I think they're just not on air. Perhaps you're an F-call and you're not on-air. What's stopping you from using your call and making your contribution to the airwaves? Perhaps you hold another license - perhaps you might ask F-calls you meet if they're on-air or not. 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. The S.A.R.L. is planning to hold a Youth Week in mid February 2014 to coincide with the ARRL School Club Round-up from 11 - 15 February. SARL's newly appointed youth councillor, Gerhard Coetzee, ZS 3 TG, is looking for input and suggestions on the type of activity young Amateurs in South Africa would like to see included. The RAC Board of Directors have announced the selection of Scott Wood, VE 1 QD of Halifax, Nova Scotia, as the Canadian Radio Amateur of the Year for 2012. VE1QD celebrated sixty years in Amateur Radio in 2012. Over these years he has contributed enormously, and in many and varied ways both to our hobby and to radio in general. In his youth as a net controller in the Oregon State Fire Service, later as a radio operator in the US Naval Reserve, as a member of the Board of Directors for Radio for Peace International, in contesting and DXing, and in Elmering aspiring new hams, both young and old. However, it is the leadership in Amateur Radio that Scott has demonstrated locally, regionally, and internationally that is being recognized with this award. Scott has demonstrated vision, enthusiasm, dogged determination & commitment to excellence in the area of Amateur Radio DXing through the establishment and management of the Maritime DX Forum for eight consecutive years. Scott envisioned the forum to be a venue where DXers in the region could come together annually to hear world-class, as well as local DX experts speak about important and current DX topics, and to provide a forum in which to share ideas with some of the best operators and leaders within the Amateur Radio community. A presentation will be made to Scott by the RAC President at the RAC booth at the Dayton Ham Fest this month. SPRING 2013 5MHZ NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE The Spring 2013 edition of The 5MHz Newsletter is now available for free download. This edition features news about 5 MHz amateur band allocations, the latest update of the Worldwide Amateur 5 MHz Allocations Chart, plus stories on 5 MHz Web Software Defined Radios and much more. You can download your copy at tinyurl.com/dxlpgyj IRTS NEWS DESK SEARG gear-up for Geoparks weekend Ireland's South Eastern Amateur Radio Group will, for the 6th consecutive year, take part in the Geoparks Communications weekend which takes place over the weekend of 25 and 26 of May to coincide with European Geoparks week. The event is co-ordinated by Martin G3VOF of the Riviera Amateur Radio Club and awards are available for working Geoparks stations including the main station GB6GEO. Although most activity is in Europe, a number of stations will be QRV from Geoparks around the world. SEARG will be QRV as EI2GEO from the Copper Coast Geopark in Co. Waterford. As the Geopark event is not a contest, operation tends to be relaxed with ample time and an ideal location to experiment with antennas. There is also a strong social aspect to the event with barbecue and drinks on the Saturday night. Activity will be mainly on HF (SSB and CW). The Copper Coast European Geopark is located on the South East coast of Ireland. SEARG would like to thank Paula McCarthy from the Copper Coast Geopark management for making this excellent site available over the past number of years. For up-to-date news about the South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and it’s actives you can check our website www.searg.com and you can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. NEWS FROM ARNEWSLINE USA RADIO READING: RIDING THE SHORTWAVES: EXPLORING THE MAGIC OF AMATEUR RADIO Now the story of a new book for new and potential hams. Amateur Radio Newsline's Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, tells us all about it: Riding the Shortwaves: Exploring the Magic of Amateur Radio is a new book by author Don Keith, N4KC, that contains material of special interest to newcomers to ham radio and those thinking of joining its ranks. This includes easy-to-understand chapters on antennas, choosing a first station, and a tour of the amateur radio high-frequency bands. There are also short fictional and satirical pieces that use humour or drama to show the various facets of the hobby. According to Keith, that's why he too the approach that he did: N4KC: "I felt there was a need for a book for people who were just on the verge of either committing to ham radio or walking away from it. So I had to think about what’s keeping people from entering the hobby and what would it take to push them over the cliff." -- Keith also notes that it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and in the right situation for ham radio to become a part of someone's life: -- N4KC: "That was my case. My dad was not a ham. He was a television repair and he had a shortwave receiver. We used to sit around and listen to hams; to Sputnik and all sorts of things like that and the bug bit." -- Keith's book also counters the notion that Facebook, the web, Twitter, smart phones and other new technology have made amateur radio obsolete. On the contrary, the author maintains, in its 100th year, the hobby is more vibrant and exciting than ever. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois. -- Riding the Shortwaves: Exploring the Magic of Amateur Radio is available in both paper and electronic release from booksellers everywhere including Amazon.com DX GROUP ATTEMPTING TO ARRANGE OPERATION FROM NORTH KOREA A group of DXers say that they are working on getting permission to operate from North Korea which is the most wanted DXCC entity in the world. Amateur Radio Newsline's Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, reports: -- The Intrepid-DX Group, in partnership with the World-Wide DX Group says that for the past four years that they have been working with professionals in the business and tourism industries who are actively doing business in North Korea. In a widely circulated press statement the organizations note that they have prepared a comprehensive, multi-faceted proposal, which has been delivered it to the North Korean officials via their emissary located in Chinese. Also that several members of the combined groups leadership and advisory team have made multiple visits to the region and are advising the overall groups accordingly. The DXers say that they are using the same techniques that were successful in opening up Kurdistan, the South Sudan and Yemen to DXpedition activity. They add that they are leveraging their ideas and contacts towards the goal of a major DXpedition over a four week period from within the North Korea border. As we go to air, no date for such an operation to take place has even been speculated. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois. OPERATIONAL NEWS - DATELINE 2013 VK Trans Tasman Contest May 11 The Day of the YL’s will be held 18 and 19 May. VK SHIRES June long weekend 0600 UTC Sat June 8, ends 0600 UTC June 9. WW International Museums Weekends June 15/16 and 22/23 160M PHONE & 80/160M CW & DIGITAL TRANS-TASMAN CONTEST: 20 JULY, 8PM-2AM 80M PHONE TRANS-TASMAN CONTEST: 11 MAY, 8PM-2AM The popular 80m phone Trans-Tasman contest is coming around again, and will be held on Saturday 11th of May 2013, from 8pm to 2am NZST. As usual your best 5 hours of the 6 count toward the final result. BUT the only news your WIA News has of this actually comes from ZL! Contact as many ZL's and VK's as you can each hour on 80m SSB. Bonus points for QRP, and for each group of 5 different call areas. Full rules and last years results are over on the WIA contest pages: http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/transtasman/ [8] The contest logging software VKCL has been updated to cover the latest revision of the rules. VKCL can be downloaded here: http://www.mnds.com.au/vkcl/ [9] This is always a great night of contesting, not too long or too serious, but there's enough activity and challenge for an enjoyable evening. For extra fun many stations go portable with simple wire antennas. 160M PHONE & 80/160M CW & DIGITAL TRANS-TASMAN CONTEST: 20 JULY, 8PM-2AM The 160m phone contest in July is always popular with 160m enthusiasts, and is a great chance to have a go on the band, or to go portable with simple antennas. The Trans-Tasman CW and Digital contests are held on the same night. They can be entered separately or combined with 160m phone to compete in the multi-mode category. This is a great opportunity for clubs and other multi-op stations to work both bands and all modes with 2 transmitters. CW scores double points this year! Rules and results again on the WIA page above. (sourced to Rob, ZL3AKM Contest Manager via NZART info line.) SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE To promote Amateur Radio and the WIA AGM listen out for VI 103 WIA during that AGM weekend. CELEBRATING ST CYRIL AND METHODIUS DAY Now here' a rather interesting one. A special event station signing LZ 2013 KM will be activated by members of Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs until May 31st. This operation is to celebrate a national holiday known as St. Cyril and Methodius day. Operation will be on all the High Frequency bands with QSLs going only via the LZ bureau. And who were St. Cyril and Methodius you ask? Well they were the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet, and we thought you might like to know. (Z1BJ via ARNewsLine) JA9LSZ is reported as being currently active from Nepal as 9 N 7 SZ. His operation is on the High Frequency bands only. If you work 9n7sz him please QSL to JA 9 LSZ. In the USA in particular Armed Forces Day Cross band Military/Amateur Radio Communications Test is where the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard co-sponsor the annual military/amateur radio communications tests in celebration of the 63rd Anniversary of Armed Forces Day (AFD). Although the actual Armed Forces Day is celebrated on Saturday, May 18, 2013, the AFD Military/Amateur Crossband Communications Test will be conducted this weekend 11 May to prevent conflict with the Dayton Hamvention, which is the same weekend as the actual Armed Forces Day. The annual celebration features traditional military to amateur cross band communications SSB voice and Morse Code tests. These tests give Amateur Radio operators and Short Wave Listeners an opportunity to demonstrate their individual technical skills, and to receive recognition from the appropriate military radio station for their proven expertise. QSL cards will be provided to those stations making contact with the military stations. usamars.us/crossband_2013.htm (SouthGate) THE QNEWS WORK BENCH - the nuts and volts report – Measure Twice cut Once. WIA Front Page News says "Though they be but little, they are fierce." The most powerful batteries on the planet are only a few millimetres in size, yet they pack such a punch that a WIA member could use a mobile phone powered by these batteries to jump-start a dead car battery - and then recharge the phone in the blink of an eye. Developed by researchers at the University of Illinois, the new micro batteries out-power even the best super capacitors and could drive new applications in radio communications and compact electronics, even our ham radios. The new micro batteries offer both power and energy, and by tweaking the structure a bit, the researchers can tune them over a wide range on the power-versus-energy scale. The batteries owe their high performance to their internal three-dimensional microstructure. Batteries have two key components: the anode (minus side) and cathode (plus side). The National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research supported this work in the USA. (SOURCE: University of Illinois VIA WIA.ORG.AU) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ARDF WIA ARDF COORDINATOR VK3WWW Jack vk3www@wia.org.au http://users.mackay.net.au/~ron/ http://www.homingin.com http://www.ardf.org.au TARC does ARDF If you are in the vicinity of the Townsville Region on Saturday June 1st and want to get involved in a Foxhunt then Tony VK4TJS wants to hear from you. The foxhunt will start at Apex Park Kelso at 1pm and you have until 28th May to get your attendance numbers in for the Foxhunt. There will be activities for all family members to participate in during the Foxhunt and things will end up with some in-flight catering. You access Apex Park by turning off Riverway Drive opposite the Kelso Medical Centre. To cater for the event Tony needs to know your attendance numbers. Who do you have to call ? Tony VK4TJS of course, on 476 77 137 WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video arvideonews.com hamradiotube.com youtube.com qdg.org.au WEBINAR RECORDING FIRST TRANS ATLANTIC SHORTWAVE MESSAGE NOW ON LINE A Webinar archive presentation surrounding the story of the first trans-Atlantic short wave message which involved several Radio Club of America members and station 1BCG is now available for viewing on-line. To access the recording, take your web browser to tinyurl.com/rca-atlantic-message and click on the title The First Top Band DX Contest - the 1921 Transatlantic Test by Frank Donovan W3LPL. This Webinar recording is being hosted at the website of the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation. (RCA 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 FIRST CLASS CW OPS CLUB CELEBRATES 75 YEARS We've mentioned it before but a reminder that members of the First Class CW Operators Club have taken to the air though May with many using special calls. This to celebrate the 75th anniversary of that organization. Nearly 50 special FOC suffix calls, and 6 calls with unique prefixes will be on the bands throughout the month. Special call GB 75 FOC will be activated by a group of English members each day and special versions of the club call G 4 FOC will be used in non-English U.K. countries. In addition, the call M 0 RSE will be on the air as well. An FOC 75 award will be available at the three levels of bronze, silver and gold. www.g4foc.org (KR3E via ARNewsLine) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DIGITAL Comparison of ham radio digital modes Tony K2MO has released a video comparing PSK-31 and MT63-500 on long path between New Zealand and New York. He says, and I quote: "I've been testing several modes with Fergus, ZL2FV, on 20 meters. The long distance path from New Zealand to New York tends to be quite unstable and that makes for difficult copy with modes that are susceptible to the effects of multi-path and other types of ionospheric distortion. We tested a mode with lots of error correction (MT63-500) and another (PSK-31) with no error correction. I plan on testing a few more modes under more adverse conditions and will post a follow up video ASAP." Watch Digital Mode Comparison - MT63500 / PSK31 - New Zealand to New York WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER VO-52 satellite completes eight years in orbit Sunday, May 5, AMSAT-India's VO-52 completed 8 years in orbit. During this time it has proved to be a valuable communications resource for the amateur radio community. The overall health parameters are excellent and it's hoped that transponder(s) on-board ‘HAMSAT VO-52′ will continue to render good services for many more years to come. (VU2WMY) 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 SA have some twenty volunteers assisting at the Rally of South Australia event which is part of the Australian Car Rally series Friday 24th, Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th May 2013. WICEN still have a few spots empty in the draft roster for the event that is being co-ordinated by Charlie McEachern (VK5KDK) and Nic McLean (VK5ZAT). WICEN SA will handle scoring traffic between each stage and Rally Headquarters. This will involve voice links at each stage, as well as computer links to send the scores to Rally Headquarters. Any extra volunteers who are considering assisting on any day during the weekend would be welcome. If you can assist, please email president@sa.wicen.org.au (Andrew Macmichael VK5FMAC) Saturday June 8th 2013 Mallee Rally Sea Lake Contact: Paul Elvey VK3YYF phone: 03 9753 2184 Email: paul.elvey@apparel21.com SOCIAL SCENE 2013 MAY 11 VK3 Moorabbin & District Radio Club Hamfest MAY 11 VK4 BARCfest Mt Gravatt Showgrounds 9:30am MAY 11 VK6 Hills Amateur Radio Group - HARGfest - 1pm. MAY 24-26 VK6 WIA AGM AND CONFERENCE IN PERTH JUL 20 VK3 Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club Hamfest AUG 11 VK2 SARCFEST 414 Richmond Hill Rd near Lismore AUG 17-18 WW ILLW Oct 3- 7 VK4 North Queensland Amateur Radio Convention Charters Towers NOV 2 VK4 Gold Coast ARS HamFest at Albert Waterways Hall. 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. 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. -------------