WIANEWS - JULY 7 - 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 JULY 7 2013. Geoff Atkinson VK3TL Director IARU Region 3 about IARU HF Contest Bob Bristow VK6POP WIA Director on "Why join a radio club." THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JULY 07 2013. Happy Birthday WWVB Every day, electronic gear across the world locks on to a radio signal beamed from the base of the Rocky Mountains in the USA. The signal contains a message that keeps the devices on time, helping to make sure their owners keep to their schedules and aren’t late for work the next day. The broadcast comes from WWVB, a station run by the National Institute for Standards and Technology. WWVB marked half a century as the nation’s official time broadcaster on July 5. Together with its sister station, WWV, which is about to hit 90 years in service, the radio has been an invisible piece of American infrastructure that has advanced industries from entertainment to telecommunications. (WWV’s broadcast includes a wider range of information, including maritime weather warnings and solar storm alerts). Most people aren’t even aware that these stations exist, but they have a rich and fascinating history. Their future is uncertain, however, as newer technologies threaten to make them obsolete. Happy Birthday WWVB IRON ORE MINING IN PERTH CBD. Over 1000 kilometres from BHP's iron ore mines in the Pilbara thanks to the rise of technology, much of the logistics and mining work on BHP's seven Pilbara mines are now be conducted by the 70 staff at its ''Integrated Remote Operations Centre'' in Perth. The centre, which operate 24/7 was officially launched on Tuesday by Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett. This new centre allows a complete view of things such as train scheduling and mine fleet management. Read more on line at the Sydney Morning Herald. smh.com.au/business/dig-this-bhps-new-nerve-centre-leaves-no-stone-unturned-20130702-2pa00.html#ixzz2XwZW3PB5 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 The 2013 IARU HF World Championship Contest takes place annually on the second full weekend of July, beginning at 1200 UTC on Saturday and ending at 1200 UTC Sunday (13-14 July 2013). Both single and multi operator stations may operate for the entire 24 hour period. All licensed amateurs worldwide are eligible to participate in this contest. The objective is to contact as many other amateurs, and especially IARU member society HQ stations, around the world. The 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter bands may be used. Multipliers are the total number of ITU Zones plus IARU member society HQ stations worked on each band (not mode). Region 3 has 29 potential society stations. Last year 9 societies participated in the contest from Region 3. IARU officials represent a maximum of four multipliers per band (AC, R1, R2 and R3) Regional EC members who are not AC members must use the designator "R3". The complete rules of the championship can be found at the following Link http://www.arrl.org/iaru-hf-championship This year there is an added incentive for an amateur from Region 3 as it will be the first time the Michael Owen VK3KI award is issued for the Region 3 amateur who receives the highest number of points during the championship. (Geoff Atkinson VK3TL Director IARU Region 3) Why join an Amateur Radio club? Clubs are the backbone of organised Amateur Radio in any given location. Although it’s entirely possible to live a full and busy Amateur Radio life outside of a club, there are many reasons why joining and participating in a club is a good thing. There is evidence that a person who has social capital will fare better in terms of their enjoyment of life and in their mental health. What is social capital? It’s pretty easy - you’ve probably worked it out already. It’s the things you do together with other people, the clubs and groups that you participate in, and the friends and family that you engage with regularly. So even before we look at the benefits to Amateur Radio, especially your Amateur Radio career, having social capital puts you in a good position to enjoy a socially healthy life. Now let’s look at clubs. By participating in a club, you get to share your own experiences and knowledge, and at the same time benefit from others sharing the same things. You’ve probably heard the saying “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. This little piece of wisdom from Aristotle is as true today as it was back then. A group of people working together in a club setting can bring about some great results that individuals would find it hard to achieve. In these days of increasing restrictions on what we as Amateurs can do in our own backyards, we can look to Clubs to provide a shack and have a decent crop of antennas. Where your Amateur Radio activities may be restricted at home, in the club setting you’re back in the good old days. There are lots of perfectly acceptable self-centred reasons for being a member of an Amateur Radio Club and a load of other reasons to be part of a sharing community. So if you’ve previously not considered joining a club, or you’ve fallen away from club membership and wondering why your Amateur Radio life has dulled down, stop awhile and consider or reconsider your local clubs. The Wireless Institute of Australia gives direct support to Amateur Radio Clubs by advertising them on its website, ( www.wia.org.au ) making affordable club insurance available, giving space in the Amateur Radio Magazine for club reports and activities, and the Club Grant Scheme. I’m Bob VK6POP HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. 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 Richard Philp VK4RY has told the WIA that his Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio Club will hold SUNFEST 2013 on September 14 9am at Woombye. The SUNFEST is a HAMFEST for Amateur Radio Operators, CB Radio users, Radio and Electronics enthusiasts and a top place to find Computer bits and pieces. DISCUSSION POINT What use is an f-call? You gotta love this hobby. A fellow amateur mentioned the notion of a Magnetic Loop antenna and now, several enjoyable hours later, I've been hunting and reading, learning and imagining what you might do with one of these contraptions. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, imagine an antenna that is small, efficient, simple to make and easy to lug around. Something that is especially interesting to me, since I'm getting a little worn out with putting up my 12m squid-pole for short outings. It's fine for a setup that's going to be there for a day, but I'm beginning to wonder if I couldn't improve on the antenna solution I've used to date. The build concept is pretty simple, a 1/10th wave-length circle with a smaller inner circle loop. Physically, there's lots of funky stuff happening, Magnetism, Capacitance and Resistance, all combining to make an amazing antenna - the full explanation is beyond a quick discussion, but excellent information is available. If you spend 20 minutes online with your favourite search engine, you'll come across many and varied versions of this and each design shows a little about the builder, from 40m to 10m, even 2m and 70cm versions of this exist and are simple to make. I can imagine putting one of these in my boot, or sticking it in the roof of my house, or putting it on a simple tri-pod during a field day outing, everything you'd like in an antenna. What makes me excited about all this is that the skill level involved in making a magnetic loop antenna is not beyond my two left hands - although I'll admit that I still have to actually build one, it's something that any amateur can construct, whether you're new at this, or not. Magnetic Loops, look into it. 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. China is constructing a special emergency radio broadcasting system to spread rescue and relief information in disaster-affected areas. The plan, which experts have called an important measure for coping with disasters, was inspired by a similar but smaller-scale radio network established after a fatal 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Lushan in southwest China April 20. That radio service, jointly initiated by China National Radio and local radio and TV stations, broadcast government relief measures and secondary disaster warnings to disaster-affected people via loudspeakers, AM radio frequencies and satellite facilities between April 22 and May 23. Beam them in Scotty. When riding on the train or bus be aware, VERY aware. BBDO Düsseldorf has developed technology that can transmit sounds into commuters’ skulls when they rest their heads on train windows. Tired commuters often rest their heads against windows, but now you may hear messages that no one else can hear. Wouldn't this make the average person run screaming for help!! Ominously, the technology is called bone conduction. Project Loon won't blind radio telescopes I made mention of the Google Balloon project here on WIA National News several weeks ago. Project Loon is an ambitious plan to attach 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios to meteorological-style balloons, lifting the transceivers above air traffic lanes and using high-altitude air currents for steering. The radios should be recoverable when the balloons return to the ground to help keep the project costs down. However, some of the frequencies of interest to Google are also of interest to the kinds of people who are trying to find the earliest proto-galaxies, the source of all life. With a little collaboration, Google will be able to identify locations where Loon balloons might interfere with radio astronomy, and shut the radios down until they're out of range. Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/02/project_loon_wont_bl The Radio Survivor news group are saying that Ambulances can retransmit over Car Radios To Let Drivers Know They're Coming. Everyone knows they should pull to the side of the road when an ambulance with its blaring siren approaches. But what if you've got the windows rolled up, the radio blaring, and can't hear it coming? That's not a problem in Ecuador, where to decrease emergency response times, the ambulances actually hijack nearby AM and FM signals to let drivers know they're nearby. The clever approach isn't illegal, either. The ambulances are outfitted with low-power broadcast transmitters that override all AM and FM stations within a one kilometre radius of the vehicle. So anyone within the vicinity of the ambulance would be alerted it was coming well in advance, reducing the time it had to slow down for traffic ahead to clear. ============================================================================= ARNewsLine™ from various news sources CALIFORNIA CITY EMPHASIZES HAM RADIO INVOLVEMENT IN TORNADO DRILL Officials in the city of Roseville, California, are so aware of the importance of amateur radio for emergency communications that the ham community was invited to be a part of a recent emergency preparedness drill. According to news reports a dozen agencies gathered in Placer County on Tuesday, June 11th for a mock tornado drill. The exercise emphasized skilled and reliable communication and because of this the city brought in a group of local hams from the Placer County Amateur Radio Services to assist. It was noted that amateur radio was a tool used during and after the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma. Roseville city officials say an F-3 tornado hit the Sacramento Valley in the last 50 years, so the potential for a large natural disaster of that sort remains. More is on-line at tinyurl.com/roseville-tornado-drill THE GRASSY KNOLL - KVTK AM LOOSES TOWER IN MOWING ACCIDENT Listeners to KVTK-AM of Yankton, South Dakota, were recently without the station for a few days. This is because an accident caused the stations broadcast tower to fall to the ground. The tower, which was 309 feet tall, was situated in the middle of what was described as a small, grassy field located about five miles west of the town of Vermillion. Reportedly, a man cutting the grass Monday afternoon June 10th clipped one of the tower’s guy-wires, causing it to collapse shortly after 4 p.m. local time. Engineers and other staffers of Five Star Communications, which also owns KVHT-FM, reportedly worked quickly to find the best way to begin broadcasting again after their tower collapsed. According to press reports the station was back in operation from a temporary site on Friday, June 14th. A small building located a short distance from the tower’s base was not damaged, as the collapsing metal snaked its way around the structure without striking it. Thankfully, no one was injured in the mishap. THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD: ARNEWSLINE ANCHOR DON CARLSON, KQ6FM – S.K. It is with deep sorrow that we report the passing of Amateur Radio Newsline anchor and reporter Don Carlson, KQ6FM on Friday morning, June 21st from complications to Pancreatic Cancer. A lifelong broadcaster by profession, during his career Don, at times using the stage name Don Murray, worked at numerous radio stations throughout California and Nevada. His favourite jobs were hosting oldies Rock and Roll or jazz shows. Don also owned a voice talent company called The Voice Shop. From there he provided commercials and other announcements for numerous radio and television stations across the United States. This included several national spots about ham radio that he produced for the ARRL. THAT FINAL ITEM: WILL WE SURVIVE IF A SUPER CME HITS THE EARTH And finally this week, a kind of rhetorical scientific question. Can our home planet survive a super Coronal Mass Ejection from our home star if it was hurled directly at us. While opinions among researchers are divided, at least some in South Africa believe it would not be good news. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Heather Embee, KB3TZD, takes a close look at what these scientists believe might happen: Our Sun is a yellow star that consists of a giant ball of superheated plasma. It’s magnetic field oscillates and acts as a dynamo that creates the sunspots, solar flares and strong magnetic storms in the solar system. When a Coronal Mass Ejection or C-M-E is spewed from corona of the Sun and travels to the Earth the magnetic field of our planet generally deflects it, and in the process creates auroras around the magnetic poles. But a report published by the South African Radio League notes that some scientists claim that if a super C-M-E should hit Earth then this level of a magnetic storm could penetrate the planets magnetic field and cause devastation. First of all the satellites on-orbit would be destroyed. This would mean that all satellite telecommunications and Direct Satellite T-V would go off the air. On the ground, such a C-M-E could also generate extremely high voltages in the power lines and destroy most if not all of the transformers in the substations. This would likely cause complete blackouts in cities and towns. Since water pumps won't function, municipalities world-wide dependant on pumped-in delivery might quickly dry up. According to the report, scientists are currently keeping a very close eye on the Sun with a dedicated satellite known as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. At the same time they are trying to develop some form of shielding that could protect electrical transformers and other electronics during such an event. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Heather Embee, KB3TZD, in Berwick, Pennsylvania. A massive solar storm that hit Earth in March of 1989 caused blackouts in the entire province of Quebec, Canada. That power disruption also closed schools and businesses, kept the Montreal Metro shut during the morning rush hour, and closed Dorval Airport. You can read more about it, courtesy of NASA at tinyurl.com/giant-1989-cme ============================================================================= Ahead of Felix and his look at Operational News, a further update, #4 has arrived for the Wake Atoll Commemorative DXpedition the last week in September. This DXpedition is dedicated to preserving the memory of civilian contractors who lost their lives on Wake Island October 7, 1943 during World War II. Several good options are being considered for two operating sites which will be announced soon. Please note! There are a few other DXpeditions which will be on air during the Wake Operation. WAKES band plan, established in early March and documented on their website, wake2013.org will be used during the operation. To avoid the dreaded "Not in the Log", please be sure which DXpedition you are working! (K9W Wake Atoll Management Team) OPERATIONAL NEWS - DATELINE 2013 13-14 July - IARU HF Championships 160M PHONE & 80/160M CW & DIGITAL TRANS-TASMAN CONTEST: 20 JULY, 8PM-2AM 2014 VK Harry Angel Memorial Sprint May 3. SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE British Railways Amateur Radio Society GX 4 LMR over the rest of the year will be marking the 45th anniversary of the end of steam on the British railways network. This will be taking place thanks to BRARS member Mark Procter who will be transmitting from his home QTH near Preston, which was the very last bastion of steam in August 1968. Obviously a VERY Special QSL card has been produced for this event. MARION ISLAND Two radio amateurs are part of the over-wintering team and will be active on Marion Island now to April 2014. ZS 8 C - Carson, (ZR6CWI), and ZS 8 Z - David, (ZS1BCE). Modes will mainly be SSB and digital modes and their QSL Manager is ZS 1 HF. VI 100 ACT - Centenary of Canberra, capital of Australia. Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club members are activating special event call until 31 Dec LF through to VHF using multiple modes. www.qrz.com/db/VI100ACT DL 100 OUI CELEBRATES 100 YEARS SINCE FIRST DL - US RADIO CONTACT Keep an ear open for the German special event callsign DL 100 OUI which will be on the air throughout 2013. This in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first commercial radio contact between that nation and the United States from Hannover. O U I were the call letters of the German station at that time. The US station was located in New Jersey. F 5 SWB is on the air as TU 5 DF from the Ivory Coast through to October. Activity on all of the High Frequency bands. QSL via F 5 SWB. Japanese amateur radio operators celebrate the successful transition from analogue to digital terrestrial TV with the call 8 N 1 TW. Activity continues till the 28th of July, QSL via bureau. http://www.dtvstatus.net/ TN 5 MS 4 operators will be on air as TN 5 MS from the Congo September 28 thru Oct 11. They will be active on H-F Bands. QSL via PA 3 AWW, either direct, or Logbook of the World. AWARDS The Caboolture Radio Club (VK4) has just launched the ultimate award – The CCXD Award. Here is an award for the Globe-trotting DXpeditioner. For those who have helped so many to achieve DXCC, there is now the opportunity to achieve the ultimate accolade, membership of the most prestigious and exclusive club in Amateur Radio - CCXD – The Century Club of eXtreme Difficulty. It is no coincidence that CCXD is DXCC in reverse. To achieve DXCC you need to work 100 countries from your home country. To achieve CCXD you need to work your home country from 100 DX countries. At the time of writing, no applications have been received. Certificate number 1 is awaiting presentation. Will you be the first to receive this honour? For more information visit our website www.vk4qd.net this is Peter VK4QC for WIA National News. That's going to be one bit of wall paper to go straight to the pool room if you achieve CCXD! Thanks Pete for informing the Ham Community. The Wake Island Commemorate K9W DXpeditition in September and the British Railways Amateur Radio Society GX4LMR now marking the 45th anniversary of the end of steam railway, are fine examples of amateur radio being part of the community. The Centenary of the RSGB is being well celebrated, and so will the ARRL mark its 100 years in 2014. Those and other events make you think. Does our hobby miss many appropriate occasions when milestones are reached and celebrated? With the ready portability of amateur radio equipment more can be done with amateur radio, special event callsigns, QSL cards and even operating awards. This does vary for time to time, and while some countries do well at it, unfortunately others are rarely involved. It begs the question of how many publicity and community engagement exercises go unattended, simple due to a lack of interest and forward planning by radio amateurs. (Jim Linton VK3PC) THE QNEWS WORK BENCH - the nuts and volts report – Measure Twice cut Once. 15-year-old develops body heat powered flashlight The Daily Mail reports that a 15-year-old Canadian girl used her knowledge of electronics to develop an innovative flashlight The newspaper says Ann Makosinski realized that Peltier tiles, which produce electricity when one side of the tile is heated and the other is cooled, could use body-heat to create energy for a flashlight. The voltage created by the tiles was not enough to power an LED light so she developed an electrical circuit to increase the voltage. In September she will be one of fifteen finalists presenting their project at the Google Science Fair in California. Read the full story and watch the video at dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2351791/15-year-old-Canadian-girl-invents-flashlight-powered-body-heat-earns-spot-Google-Science-Fair-finals.html WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video arvideonews.com hamradiotube.com youtube.com qdg.org.au YOUR VIDEO ABOUT AMATEUR RADIO CAN WIN BIG The South African Amateur Radio Development Trust has invited amateur videographers to take part in a video competition and compete for some great prizes. Shoot a short video of an exciting Amateur Radio activity in South Africa and you could win a 5watt CW MFJ 40 metre transceiver kit. The length of the video should be between 3 and 5 minutes. The subject can be anything that illustrates the joy and excitement of amateur radio. (sarl) CQ-DATV is free eBook publication focused on ATV, but also with lots of constructional projects have Amateur Radio applications CQ-DATV 4 is now available for download from www.cq-datv.mobi In DATV4 Electronic Antenna compass Sony handset IR reader Parallax propeller Introduction Balloon internet DATV from the ISS Multi camera video shoot There is no membership, logins, or email required, just click and down load the eBook file. Obviously you need an eBook reader to view these magazines on a PC. 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 VK1 WICEN Dates for Rest of 2013 Sat 5th & Sun 6th October - Brookvale Horse Endurance Ride. This year’s event will include a 120KM ride as well as the 80 & 40 KM rides. Sat 12th October - LCCC Car Rally Sun 20th October - Battle of the Beasts Mountain Bike Race Namadgi National Park Sun 27th October - Fitz's Challenge Bike Ride Sat 2nd November - BMSC Tumut Rally - Bondo State Forest Annual General Meeting of WICEN SA. will be held on Friday 19th July 2013 which will include a presentation from Simon Goodwin from ALERT SA. The meeting is being held at Reedbeds Community Centre (19 Fitch Road, Fulham) from 1930. WICEN SA will be joining AREG for the speakers presentation before members split for separate meetings. Then re-join together after the meetings to chat. RSVP to Andrew Macmichael, VK5FMAC Secretary WICEN SA by Monday 15th July via secretary@sa.wicen.org.au or 0403 791488. ENCRYPTION OF SENSITIVE HAM RADIO EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS The FCC is inviting public comments on a proposal from a Massachusetts ham to amend their Part 97 Amateur Service rules. This to permit the encryption of certain amateur communications during emergency operations or related training exercises. (arnewsline) SOCIAL SCENE JUL 12-14 VK3 GippsTech will be held at Churchill. Information vk3bez.org JUL 20 VK3 Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club Hamfest JUL 20 VK4 Caboolture Hamfest 9am JUL 28 VK2 Albury Wodonga Amateur Radio Club Hamfest 10AM AUG 4 VK6 Northern Corridor Radio Group Hamfest Cyril Jackson Rec Centre Fisher st Ashfield Bassendean 9am. AUG 11 VK2 SARCFEST 414 Richmond Hill Rd near Lismore AUG 17-18 WW ILLW SEP 14 VK4 Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio's SUNFEST 9am. Oct 3- 7 VK4 North Queensland Amateur Radio Convention Charters Towers Oct 5 vk4 REDFest by Redcliffe & Districts Radio Club St Michael's College, Caboolture, 9am 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. -------------