WIANEWS - MAY 11 - 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 11 2014. OUR 19TH YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS WIA AGM NEXT WEEKEND - We ask the questions "why a lack of F Call participants, and "why is it not streamed or broadcast live like RSGB AGM and Dayton?" WIA Team heads to Kazakhstan. THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING MAY 11 2014. TRENDING ON VK1WIA TWITTER ACCOUNT http://twitter.com/VK1WIA #WIAagm #WIAconference Aircraft museum gets its own Amateur Radio station We have mentioned in these broadcasts several times of late of the Flying Boat Museum at Lake Boga near Swan Hill in northwest Victoria, a memorial to those who worked on, and with, those champions of the air during World War II. A Lions Club project particularly commemorates the contribution made by service men and women, at the No. 1 Flying Boat Repair Depot. The re-constructed Communications Bunker was put on air by Thomas Brownstein VK3EO during the recent ANZAC Day AM and CW event. Now Thomas VK3EO has established a permanent station in the bunker, which already houses war-time receivers and smaller transmitters from the Catalina Aircraft. It will feature in future ANZAC Day events or when a large group of tourist is expected at the museum. He wants to source a TS-830 transceiver and FL2100z linear, and will set-up a dipole antenna. The next step is to find a 500W AM/CW transmitter similar to those originally used. Thomas VK3EO describes that operating from the bunker has a real charm to it, with its curved bomb proof walls having nice acoustic properties. If you can help him source equipment please make contact via QTH-R, or check out detail in the text edition of this broadcast. Email: thomasbrownstein@bigpond.com Website: www.flyingboat.org.au (Jim Linton VK3PC) IARU Region 3 directors at vital regional meeting The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 3 will be at next month's important Asia-Pacific Telecommunity meeting in Brisbane Australia, in the lead-up to the World Radioconference Conference in 2015 (WRC-15). This third preparatory group meeting will see a regional established. It is one of a series of regional gatherings at which the IARU is seeking support for an allocation at 5 MHz, to fill the gap between existing bands allocated to us. The IARU is able to input an Amateur Radio view on matters being discussed and decided. The IARU Region 3 Directors, Peter Lake ZL2AZ, Shizuo Endo JE1MUI and Professor Rhee HL1AQQ will attend in Brisbane, plus the Secretary Ken Yamamoto JA1CJP. The IARU Region 3 will submit an information paper on the WRC-15 agenda items, which are of concern to the Amateur Services. A strongly agreed Asia-Pacific Telecommunity position is essential to take as a block vote to the World Radiocommunications Conference, held by the International Radio Union in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2015. Immediately after the Brisbane meeting, and also in that city, the IARU Region 3 Directors will hold their annual meeting. DISCUSSION POINT I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. In less than a fortnight, amateurs from around Australia, will be joining in the activities of the WIA Annual General Meeting around the Sunshine Coast. If you have followed the progress of this event, there have been some really great get togethers in memorablelocations. Similarly, the venues and stay over accommodation mark a separation of those who can afford to come and those who have to stay away. This is the fact that our aging membership means personal resources can be far less than the marketer’s idealised baby boomers out spending the kids inheritance. The vagaries of the modern working world mean more people can be looking at their bank balances at any time than years ago. Just as the Institute is looking at ways of continuing the production of Amateur Radio, so I feel, the cost involved in the AGM should be looked at. We involve ourselves in electronic communication and teleconferencing is a routine part of life. Isn’t it about time we thought about using our hobby skills to bring these important events to amateurs all around the country? ATV and internet streaming are technologies that spring to mind. We have the technology and the skills but do we have the foresight to step into the everyday world and ensure this is a community event rather than a special event? We seek to have involvement in our clubs and in the Institute and surely this would increase the opportunities to become involved. I’m Geoff Emery and that’s what I think....how about you? EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO www.hamcollege.com.au www.enjoyhamradio.com What use is an F-call? Looking through the list of Amateurs attending the WIA conference, I notice a distinct lack of attendance by F-calls. It was the same at the conference last year. Few and Far between. We don't seem to have a way to attract new blood to discussions that further the future of Amateur Radio, either because a new F-call believes that they don't have anything to say, or don't have the right to make their opinion known. Let me disabuse you of that notion. You have a license, you've studied for it, paid for it, passed the test and now you have the responsibility that goes with being an Amateur. You can of course choose to just listen, but if you do that, why bother with a license at all? You could sit on the sidelines and be a short-wave listener and take enjoyment from that. Or you could take a more active role in the responsibility bestowed on you when your license was granted to you, and make no mistake, an Amateur Radio License is a privilege, one that you were granted, not one that you have a right to. The radio spectrum is a fickle beast, it evolves with use, it challenges and changes and discussions need to be had. Are Power Over Ethernet devices a scourge or a boon, should repeaters be channelled differently, should we hand back frequencies, apply for higher power, ask for new modes, improve our training base, encourage more experimentation, develop our hobby, or just let it evaporate through apathy? I know that participating can be challenging, sometimes even confronting, but don't think for a minute that your voice is not valuable or that you don't have the right to speak. If that was what was stopping you from coming to a conference where lots of people share your hobby, think again. I'm Onno VK6FLAB INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA. MANASSAS HAMFEST AND YOUTH LOUNGE The Ole Virginia Hams Amateur Radio Club will hold its 40th annual Manassas Hamfest on June 8th in Virginia USA. But something new this year will be a Youth Lounge. N 4 H has been issued for the event by the FCC and will be used to operate an HF through VHF station located in the Youth Lounge area. Now this is something I bet none of this weekend’s Hamfests down under have ever considered! Food for thought next year? and also for Wyong?? manassashamfest.org GETTING TO KNOW D-STAR WITHOUT BUYING A RADIO If you are thinking about getting into D-STAR and are wondering just what you can expect when you get a radio or DV Dongle, you can now find out by listening to live audio streaming online from the VA6EFR Gateway. According to Jeff Bishop, to monitor without any D-STAR equipment just take your web browser to the Edmonton Fire Radio website at www.edmontonfireradio.com and click on the listen live link. and in other streaming news if you cannot make it to Hamvention 2014, then W5KUB, will make it possible for you to join in all the fun over his video webcast of the event. Tom's Internet video stream will begin on Wednesday May 14th showing his ride from his home not far from Memphis, Tennessee, to the Hamvention at Dayton's Hara Arena. The next three days will showcase the magic of the Dayton Hamvention over his dedicated video website at W5KUB.com Sony has created a tape capable of holding 185 terabytes. Sony's new tapes hold the equivalent of 11,840 16-gigabyte iPhone 5s smartphones – or about 3700 Blu-ray discs. The tapes, which were developed with the help of IBM, obliterate the previous record, which was set in 2010 by Fujifilm and IBM. Back then, the companies set the record with a tape capable of holding 35 terabytes. Sony presented and explained its new tapes at the INTERMAG Europe 2014 international magnetics conference, held this week in Dresden, Germany. ============================================================================= ARNEWSLINE THE PROJECT You may have seen this story when it was broadcast on the Channel 10 TV show 'The Project.' It seems a Florida USA resident that the FCC says was the source of cellular telephone jamming for upward of two years has been handed a $48,000 Notice of Liability to Monetary Forfeiture. The FCC says that a Mr Humphreys from Florida, was caught with a jamming device in his car as he rode along Interstate 4 disrupting not only cell phones, but allegedly police and other emergency communications as well. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB, has the details: "For the FCC it all began back on April 29, 2013. That's when its Enforcement Bureau received a complaint from Metro P-C-S that its cellular telephone service had been experiencing interference during the morning and evening commutes in the Tampa, Florida, area. Based on the location of the towers and the times that the alleged interference occurred, the Bureau determined that the likely source of the interference was mobile along Interstate 4 between downtown Tampa and Seffner, Florida. On May 7th, agents from the Bureau's Tampa Office began monitoring the suspected route. On May 7th, 8th, and 9th the agents determined that strong wideband emissions within the cellular and P-C-S bands were coming from a blue Toyota Highlander with a Florida license plate. On May 9th, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, working with the FCC agents stopped the suspect vehicle. At that time the Sheriff’s Deputies reported that communications with police dispatch over their 800 MHz two-way portable radios were interrupted as they approached the SUV. The agents from the FCC Tampa Office and the Hillsborough Sheriff's Deputies interviewed the driver, who identified himself as Jason R. Humphreys. At that time Humphreys admitted that he owned and had operated a cell phone jammer from his car and had done so for the past 16 to 24 months. An inspection of the vehicle revealed the jammer behind the seat cover of the passenger seat. Humphreys stated that he had been operating the jammer to keep people from talking on their cell phones while driving. At the conclusion of the interview, the Hillsborough Sheriff Deputies seized Humphreys' cell phone jammer pursuant to Florida state law. On May 10th, Metro PCS confirmed that the interference to its cell towers had ceased. Now, after looking at all of the evidence in the case the FCC has issued the proposed 48,000 fine. In doing so it said that Jason Humphreys apparently wilfully and repeatedly violated Sections of the Communications Act, and several sections of the agency's rules by operating the cell phone jammer. Also that operation of the device could and may have had disastrous consequences by precluding the use of cell phones to reach life-saving 911 services provided by police, ambulance, and fire departments. It also could have disrupted critical communications of first responders driving on the highway near Humphreys' vehicle. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB, reporting. -- The Notice of Proposed Liability or NAL to Jason R. Humphreys was approved on April 24th and made public April 29th. At that time he was given the customary 30 days to pay the fine in full or to file an appeal. LONG DURATION PARTY BALLOON FLIGHT FROM THE UK TO RUSSIA VIA GREENLAND An amazing journey for a long duration foil party balloon transmitting Contestia 8/250 telemetry data on 434.500 MHz USB The medium altitude craft was launched from Silverstone in the United Kingdom by Leo Bodnar, M0EXR. During its long duration journey, the balloon known simply as B-46 first headed West over to Southern Iceland, lopping North across Western Greenland then heading West across the Norwegian Sea. It then made landfall in Europe along Sweden's Northern coastline traveling South East down into Finland and into Russia where the flight appeared to end close to the Ukrainian border. Depending on the altitude, the 12 gram, three foot balloon could have had a radio range of between 180 and 300 miles. Bondar was one of the first to experiment with long duration flights using what are commonly known as party balloons. Reports of his work in this area appear to have prompted other individuals and groups world-wide to experiment with similar technology. The use of Contestia 8/250 sends two lines of telemetry every 4 minutes and lasts about 1 minute. Time between telemetry data was filled with beeps at 3 second intervals. You can see the flight path of B-46 at http://spacenear.us/tracker/?filter=B-46 More about this flight and Leo Bondar's earlier ballooning experiments is on his website at www.leobodnar.com/balloons HAM RADIO AT THE BOSTON MARATHON Once again ham radio provided numerous communications links for this years running of the Boston Marathon. According to news reports there was heightened security due to last year's terror attack, but that did not slow down the pace of this year's event. Heather Embee, KB3TZD, has more: -- The ARRL reports more than 300 amateur radio volunteers provided communication support for the 118th running of the Boston Marathon. In a show of solidarity following last year's tragic bombings close to the finish line, a near record numbers of runners - upward of 36,000 - turned out for the Patriot's Day event along with a huge outpouring of spectators. Steve Schwarm, W3EVE, is the Boston Marathon Course Coordinator. He said that in the wake of the 2013 bombings that they received a fantastic showing of volunteer support across the start, the course, and finish line from the amateur radio community. Schwarm noted that the level of ham radio support for the 2014 event demonstrated that "Boston Strong" remains a rallying cry in the wake of last year's tragedy. The Boston Marathon is a major public service event for the region's Amateur Radio volunteers. It follows a 26.2 mile course from Hopkinton to Boston, Massachusetts. Amateur radio communication support became critical in the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, when conventional telecommunications systems, such as cellular telephone, quickly became overloaded and confusion reigned. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD, reporting -- For an in depth look at the involvement of amateur radio in this year’s Boston Marathon take your web browser to the news pages at www.arrl.org ============================================================================= OPERATIONAL NEWS - DATELINE 2014 SGARS 80 METRE TROPHY CONTEST July 26 10-10 INTERNATIONAL SUMMER CONTEST Aug 2 - 3 WIA REMEMBRANCE DAY (THE RD) CONTEST Aug 16 - 17 Manly-Warringah Radio Society's Flagpole contest September. Amateur Radios International Air-ambulance Week, 9 days from Sep 28. 2015 Tablelands Radio Group will again hold AM and CW on ANZA Day 25 April 10-10 INTERNATIONAL SUMMER CONTEST Aug 1 - 2 Sangster Shield Contest This year’s NZART Sangster Shield Contest is to be held Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th May; 2000 – 2300hrs NZST each evening. CW only with maximum power output of 5 watts Rules are published in the 2012/13 printed Callbook & in the 2014 CD Callbook Also check out nzart.org.nz Remember that there are 6 HALF hour operating periods each evening. SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX, BEACON REPEATER AND NET ADVICE In DX up front JA 0 RQV is planning to activate Niuatoputapu Island at the very small northern end of Tongan territory between May 28th and June 3rd. He will be signing A35JP/P with operations on 80 through 6 CW and SSB. But there is one hitch, that being his time on the air will be limited to when and where he can find a source of electric power as there are no power mains at the locations he will be at. That means locating a generator or a vehicle with a good battery to power his station. JA0RQV adds that in the off chance his flight is cancelled, he will instead operate from Vava'u Island or Tongatapu Island. Either way, if you work him please QSL via his home callsign either direct, via the bureau or electronically using Logbook of the World. (ARNewsLine) VK4XQA - celebrating the 100th anniversary of XQA - the first amateur radio station established in Queensland. Members of the Tablelands Radio and Electronics Club are operating the VK4XQA special event style with rostered operations until Wednesday August 6th. For further details surf to http://www.treclub.org.au (TARCinc) TM 70 BBC Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the landing of Allied Forces in Normandy. This special event station will be active from 3rd June to 13th June. See QRZ.com for more details and QSL info. Joe, W5FJG, has been assigned to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and will be operating from KC4AAA, the amateur radio station there. He will operate SSB only on weekdays and some weekends, through the winter season until November 2014. Almost all activity is currently on 20 metres on or near 14,243kHz. QSL to Larry Skilton, K1IED. CELEBRATING THE HAMANAKO FLOWER EXPO On the air, keep an ear open for special event station 8 N 2 HHH active on all bands and modes until June 16th. This in celebration of Japan’s Hamanako Flower Expo on the island of Honshu. When you make contact, please QSL as directed on the air. (JJ1WTL/AC6IM via ARNewsLine) LI for LA and LJ for LB Celebrates 200 years of the Norwegian Constitution during 2014. In addition, special event station LM1814 will be active as part of the celebration. JULY OPERATION FROM THE ISLAND OF JERSEY A group of hams from the Czech Republic will be active as MJ 0 ICD from the Island of Jersey between July 21st and the 27th on 160 through 10 meters using CW, SSB and the Digital modes. QSL MJ 0 ICD via OK 1 BIL (ARNewsLine) NAURU SEPTEMBER 29 TO OCTOBER 19 LZ 1 GC is planning to be operational as C 21 GC from the Republic of Nauru between September 29th and October 19th on 160 through10 meters using CW, SSB and some RTTY. Panama Canal Special Event This year, Panama is celebrating its 100th anniversary of the Panama Canal. On August 15th, the Panamanians will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the inaugural transit through the Panama Canal. This activity is organized by amateurs of the Republic of Panama. A special event station is operating as HO 100 CANAL until August 15. Activity will be on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB, PSK and RTTY. The QSL Manager for the operation is HP 1 AVS. http://www.qrz.com/db/HO100CANAL 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 Road to Kazakhstan During September 2014 ARDF Enthusiasts from around the world representing many radio societies from all IARU Regions will be heading to the Burabay area of Kazakhstan to compete in the IARU 17th World ARDF Championships. This championship event will be hosted by KFRR (Kazakhstan Federation of Radiosport and Radio Amateur) At this stage our WIA team will consist of 5. Accommodation during the event will be at the Rixos Borovoe Sports Complex a ski resort in the Burabay area about 220km from the north of Astana the capital of Kazakhstan. Competitors will be hunting transmitters on the 2m and 80m bands. For the competition they are separated into age and sex categories from Junior under 19 to Supervet 70 years plus. Other age groups for male and female categories are 20 (open, all ages), 30 plus, (Women 35 plus) 40 plus, 50 plus 60 plus and 70 plus. Most of the WIA team will be arriving early and spending some time touring the neighbouring Republic of Kyrgyzstan. Following the event they will head to Baikonur Kazakhstan and tour the Russian Kosmodrome Space Facility. More information about the event can be found on the official event website: http://ardf2014.kz/ If you are interested in finding more about ARDF this can be found here: www.ardf.org.au (VK3WWW, Jack Bramham WIA ARDF Coordinator) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- QRP and WEAK SIGNAL COMMUNICATION Japan's QRP day special event station 8 J 2 VLP will be active with 5 watts through June 30th. The QSLs will be sent automatically via the JARL Bureau. Three other stations with the call signs 8 J 4 VLP, 8 J 6 VLP, and 8 J 9 VLP will also be on the air for this event. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ROAR ROTARIANS OF AMATEUR RADIO website: www.ifroar.org email: webmaster@ifroar.org facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/RotariansROAR/ International President 2012 -2015: Bill Main VK4ZD secretary: Dr Elwood Anderson, AE5EA ANZO VP: Peter Lowe, VK3KCD 0645z - 0730z Anzo Net 7.118 (varies due to propagation) 0730z - 0830z International net 14.293 (varies due to propagation) At the end of May there is to be an international gathering of Rotarians in Sydney. The gathering is over 5 days. Much of the activity will be a conference during the day. Part of the Rotarians activities includes Amateur Radio and this event will be no different. They plan to have operational a special event station and callsign and hook up with other Rotarians around the world during the conference time. In the evening they plan to make the special event callsign available on a roster basis to continue working international Rotarians and other stations. Amateurs with stations having DX capabilities are invited to apply to be part of the roster. Those wishing to be on the roster are invited to contact ARNSW who will collect names and contact details and pass these on to the Amateur Radio co-ordinator Peter VK3KCD. The special event callsign is unique - it is V I 2 R Its short, just Victor India Two Romeo. Email office@arnsw.org.au giving name, callsign, telephone contact number and email address. Include details of your station and main operating bands. The conference is from the 31st of May to the 4th of June 2014. (vk2wi) SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - LOW DOWN Ok so you've done everything in ham radio, so what's new? Well the new 630m MF band 472-479 KHz is alive with signals every evening. There are 15-20 active hams who are regularly experimenting with different modes, antennas and equipment and continually breaking records. The current record is 5047 Km from Murray, ZL1EE to Derek, VK6DZ using WSPR which we heard about here on WIA National News last week. Recently Nick, VK2DX achieved the "full-house" - i.e. VK1-VK8 plus ZL. And 2-way CW contacts with ZL1ZLD, a distance of 2340 Km was achieved by Peter VK4QC back in Sept 2013 becomes the 1st QSO between the two countries and has been officially verified. Operating ZL1ZLD was Paul Chamberlaine ZL1BBR, of the Musick Point Radio Group using the original Dansk transmitter at the home of the last New Zealand coast station "ZLD" that closed in 1993. Peter Hewitson VK4QC is an ex-Merchant Navy Radio Officer and Coast Radio Station operator who in acknowledgment of the achievement on the new Amateur Radio band now has a special QSL and pendant, from the Musick Point Memorial Radio Station ZL1ZLD. Peter VK4QC advises that his station is a Skanti TRP-8250, originally from HMAS Waterhen and antenna is a Marconi T, with 3 horizontal wires, 10m high and 30m long with 8 radials, via an ex-NDB (non-directional beacon) aerial coupling unit. Like to find out more? Well Justin, VK7TW has put together a very comprehensive presentation on VK/ZL Amateur Experimentation in the 630m band with detailed information on equipment, antennas, tuning and links to informative websites. Well worth a read for anyone wishing to accept the challenge of this exciting band. http://tinyurl.com/m5ouwkt Excellent articles on building MF transmitters and antennas have been written by Dale VK1DSH and Drew VK3XU and transverters are available from Graham VK3XDK It doesn't take much to put up a receiver and leave it running all night to record WSPR activity while you sleep. In the morning you awake to find amazing results on your computer screen. Wow, how is it possible? Thousands of kilometres! A good start to find out how would be to join the Yahoo 600m forum where you can get advice and encouragement from many hams who have done it before. Just subscribe at 600m-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Also as previously reported, Noel, VK3FI currently has a CW beacon running even further down on 473 KHz every evening which has been heard far and wide. For example, a great report from Rod Graham VK3BQJ at Lakes Entrance in far eastern Victoria has the VK3FI beacon signal peaking at 50 db. over the noise floor, using an ICOM IC746 and a loop antenna. The nightly beacon with a 12 words-per-minute CW identification, followed by 20 seconds of carrier, has helped stimulate activity on the 472 to 479 kHz band. The CW may be copied by ear, without special equipment or software programs, while its burst of carrier allows those with programs such as Spectrum Lab to detect its presence. The beacon from 0900 UTC to 2200 UTC invites reports. Can you hear it? Then email a report to vk3fi@wia.org.au (Peter Hewitson, VK4QC with additional input from VK3PC Jim Linton) SOCIAL SCENE 2014 this weekend May 10 VK3 Moorabbin and District Amateur Radio club Hamfest 10am May 10 VK4 BARCFEST: Salvation Army Hall Calamvale. May 10 VK6 HARG swap meet open to Buyers 1pm. 5 Sanderson rd Lesmurdie next weekend May 16-18 VK4 WIA Conference presented by SCARC ( vk4ts@wia.org.au ) Jun 7- 9 VK2 Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club field day Port Macquarie Jun 7- 9 VK5 South East Radio Groups’ (SERG) 50th annual Convention and Australian Foxhunting Championship. Nov 2 VK5 HamFest Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Nov 15 VK7 Hamfest (Venue to be advised) Nov 30 VK3 SPARC HamFest at Rosebud ( howardjones155@gmail.com ) 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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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. . -------------