MOVEMBER 6 - VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NATIONAL NEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING MOVEMBER 6 2016. IN OUR 21st YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS WIA Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer report after their first week. - WIAs VK2ZRH on “What do we want? A thousand watts! When do want it? Now!” - WIA Media Guide. - WIA directors VK6AS and VK5PAS to visit Melbourne Radio Club. - WIAs new book, ‘Wireless Men and Women at War’ out soon. THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA 2016 AND FOR WEEK OF MOVEMBER 06 WIA Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer report after their first week. At the Tuesday night Board meeting the WIA’s new Treasurer, Chris Hendry VK3PAT and Assistant Treasurer Jeff Tubbenhauer VK5IU gave an outline of the financial and operational position of the WIA. Both Chris and Jeff have significant corporate experience to tackle the accounting and operational systems of the WIA. Chris has had a week in the office and reviewing the WIA’s accounting records. Clearly, the WIA is solvent and it can pay its current liabilities such GST, Employee PAYG and Employee Superannuation as they fall due. Unfortunately, getting the accounting up-to-date will be both a challenge and a time consuming exercise. The sub-systems such as the online bookshop, and MEMNET do not integrate easily with the MYOB Accounting software. Many of the transactions relating to these sub-systems have been incorrectly entered into the accounting software. Chris has found that the bookshop inventory is incorrectly valued in the Accounts and that debtors, that is people who owe us money, are too high and more importantly may not have been reconciled correctly. We now have many hours work reviewing all transactions to discover past errors. This will take two to three months. Producing an accurate Profit and Loss and Balance sheet to the Board will take some time. Once we are satisfied that the accounts are accurate our goal is to have a reconciled set of financials provided to the board monthly. In addition, the Treasurers are developing an operating budget for 2017 for approval by the Board. A budget compliance report will be submitted to the Board each month. Processes have already been put into place to make sure that all expenses are scrutinized. For any proposed expenditures over $1,000 competitive quotes must be sought and approved by the Treasurer. All unbudgeted expenditure over $1,000 must be approved by the Board. Members can be assured that the issues are not life threatening but there are significant challenges to maintaining our revenue streams and providing member benefits. The board has created a new volunteer charter which will be distributed shortly. There are many operational issues to tackle and to solve these issues a strategic review is recommended. (WIA PRESIDENT VK2ASD) WIA Media Guide While getting publicity in the news media is not that difficult it does require some planning and the right approach to get the best results. Each club needs a person who will be its spokesperson, someone who can talk knowledgeably about the club and their event or activity, and suitable to be photographed or even interviewed on television. The WIA has produced a Media Kit that will greatly assist with obtaining media coverage. Most clubs will have least one local weekly newspaper, and a community radio broadcast station. In other areas maybe local ABC radio and commercial stations too, or even regional TV. All of these media outlets welcome local news if it is supplied to them in a professional manner. It needs to show them what the story is about, how it should be of interest to their readers or audience, when and where it is happening and who to contact for more information if required. The WIA Media Kit has a template Media Release, and gives a guide on how to prepare and execute coverage in the local media. It can be found in the Members Section on the WIA website. www.wia.org.au/members/promoting/mediaguide/ ACMA looks ahead on spectrum planning The Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) five-year outlook sets out the priorities for spectrum management over the period, with technology-driven demand in focus. The plan seeks to meet the ongoing mobile broadband update, and plans for developments including 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT), with the contributions these emerging technologies will make to productivity and economic growth. The ACMA has issued a discussion paper for stakeholder consultation and submissions on the plan should be received by January next. The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) is reviewing the document to see of it impacts current and future demands of the amateur and amateur satellite services. acma.gov.au/Industry/Spectrum/Spectrum-projects/Mobile-broadband/five-year-spectrum-outlook-2016-20 This is Roger Harrison VK2ZRH from the WIA Spectrum Strategy Committee with a further instalment on the WIA’s licence conditions submission to the A C M A. This week, it’s about high power. I can hear the chanting floating across the valley, here: “What do we want? A thousand watts! When do want it? Now!” I was asked at a meeting a while back – when are we getting another high power trial ? My answer was: we’re not. A member at a different meeting asked: when the ZLs can have a kilowatt, why can’t we? My answer was along the lines that the regulation of radiocommunications in New Zealand is a matter for the New Zealand government, while the regulation of radiocommunications in Australia is the business of the Australian government. Each government makes laws in in its own jurisdiction, as it sees fit. It’s an issue of sovereignty. But, let’s not go there or we’ll end up arguing the toss about the role and powers of the governor general ! The Spectrum Strategy Committee has had the issue of the use of high power – that is, power output of greater than 400 watts peak – on the WIA’s “log of claims” with the A C M A since the end of the now-infamous high power trial in 2013. Many amateurs ask the question: why is it that we just can’t have it, like amateurs in so many other countries – New Zealand, America, Canada, Japan and so on? The central issue comes down to that of compliance with electromagnetic radiation standards in Australia. The A C M A uses the term “electromagnetic emissions” – abbreviated E M E – but the acronym E M R is also widely used for the same thing. Here’s “the kicker” – Australia is unique in the world when it comes to radiocommunications regulation, embodied in licence conditions, and compliance with electromagnetic radiation standards. Here, the two things are linked – but nowhere else in the world. In Australia, our radiocommunications regulator – the A C M A – has the responsibility to ensure compliance, and every licensee (not just amateurs) is required to comply. And there’s no use complaining about, or blaming, what happened with the high power trial of 2012-13. Consider it as water under the bridge. Complaining that New Zealand, America, Canada, Japan and other jurisdictions allow "high power" in their amateur licence conditions doesn't cut it – you're not comparing like with like. The A C M A has a responsibility to the public, to ensure that electromagnetic emissions from ALL radio transmitting systems do not present a harmful situation. In fulfilling that responsibility, the A C M A needs to know where possibly harmful transmitter systems are located and that such locations are recorded on a licence. With that understanding, the Spectrum Strategy Committee is working with the A C M A to develop suitable procedures under which amateurs interested in running high power can make an application that meets the ACMA’s technical and regulatory requirements. Talks are continuing. At club presentations, one or two people have asked me the reasonable questions: what experience have you had with high power, and would you like to run more than 400 watts? Early in my career, part of my job was to operate and maintain transmitting equipment rated at up to ten kilowatts. These days, would I like to run high power on the amateur bands ? – you betcha ! But responsibly. This has been Roger Harrison VK2ZRH for VK1WIA News. A record participation in Victorian National Parks next weekend Dedicated and enthusiastic radio amateurs will activate 40 unique VK3 National Parks during the annual Keith Roget Memorial National Park Award activity period. But before we have further details, a well-known Activator and Hunter now has the Award ‘Merit’ certificate, having logged reception reports with all 45 of them. John Dawes VK5BJE, through dogged work has now qualified. He says it has been great fun over about five years chasing operators in Victorian National Parks. His log shows some of them were worked while he was portable in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. John VK5BJE says proving to be the most elusive for him was the Lower Goulburn National Park, but last month worked Rob Janoska VK4AAC portable 3 in that National Park. He is expected to also join the Hunters 6th annual Keith Roget Memorial National Parks Award activation period on Friday 11th until Monday 14 November. Some 23 radio amateurs will be involved this year to provide a condensed weekend of portable activity, to allow as many Hunters and Activators to consolidate contacts as they work towards their Award goals. Once again Activators are travelling from VK2 & VK5 to support the activity. Expect to hear portable in VK3 from John VK2AWJ, Col VK5HCF, Tom VK5EE, Paul VK5PAS, David VK5DG signing as VK3TUN, and Tim VK5AV. Many regulars will be there too. VK3ARH, VK3BYD, VK3PF, VK3TKK, VK3EHG, VK3ZPF, VK3PMG, VK3XCI, VK3OF, VK3BRQ, VK3AV, VK3SRC, VK3FMPB, VK3SG, VK3MTB and VK3XV. A small number of National Parks do not have an activation yet. These are the Burrowa-Pine Mountain, Errinundra, Great Otway, Murray-Sunset and the Snowy River. If you can help, even for an hour or two, please advise the Award Manager Tony VK3XV. The current 40 parks will be activated on several bands and you can expect to hear both CW and SSB activity across the weekend. The callsigns, times and location are on the Amateur Radio Victoria website which has the rules, and the Parks 'n Peak website. (Jim Linton VK3PC) INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA. SO-50 Experiences Terrestrial Interference in 2M Satellite Sub-Band Recently communications through the SO-50 satellite, over North America, have been compromised due to a terrestrial station using 145.850 MHz, the uplink frequency for SO-50. AMSAT-NA reports the station appears to be located in the south-eastern part of the United States. STILL IN SPACE AND A PLAN TO TAKE SPACE WEATHER BY STORM We Hams deal with space weather regularly -- but what about everyone else? Yes, there is a plan - or there will be one soon in the U.S. Amateur Radio Newsline's Mike Askins KE5CXP says his countries federal agencies now have until April 2017 to devise a comprehensive plan to predict, detect and deal with solar flares and other so-called space weather disturbances that could mess with the nation's technology, everything from GPS systems to satellites to the power grid itself. President Barack Obama's Oct. 13 Executive Order directed Homeland Security, NASA, the Secretary of Defence and the Secretary of the Interior among other offices, to find ways to be alert to such occurrences, including geomagnetic storms. Obama ordered the agencies to find ways to protect or quickly repair the infrastructure, consistent with the goal identified in the nation's 2015 National Space Weather Action Plan. Tom Callas, KC0W, who was forced to abruptly cancel the rest of his “Cows Over the World” Pacific DXpeditions after his belongings were stolen in Kiribati, has been regrouping. “I will be in the Philippines until November 25, and the call sign will be 4 I 7 COW,” Callas said on his QRZ.com profile. “This unique prefix has never been issued before, so it should generate some good interest.” He also reports “fantastic progress” in acquiring 3 C and 3 C 0 licenses. Equatorial Guinea is number 43 on the ClubLog DXCC Most Wanted List. Annobon is number 35. The Radio Society of Great Britain has weighed in following the airing of a "Nightmare Neighbour Next Door" episode on channel 5 that featured an Amateur Radio operator. In the program, neighbours of 75-year-old Armando Martins, M 0 PAM, of Kent, made unsubstantiated claims that RF radiating from his 30-foot vertical antenna was detrimental to their health. “Unfortunately, the RSGB was not invited to be part of Channel 5’s Nightmare Neighbour Next Door programme or to verify any facts,” the RSGB said. “We have, of course, contacted Channel 5 about our concerns and have highlighted the positive aspects of Amateur Radio. We have also offered our expertise and input for future programmes where Amateur Radio is mentioned.” Critics complained that the program was replete with false claims and note that Ofcom has never found any problems with Martins’ station. OPERATIONAL NEWS 2016 Adopt-a-Mill in Australia and radioactivate it A campaign is about to start to get as many mills on air in Australia via portable Amateur Radio stations. While the Mills on the Air event each May has been confined to Europe, plans are now well advanced to bring it downunder. Around Australia there are many former mills that processed flour, sugar, timber and wool. On next week’s broadcast we will have details of how one old mill is being put on air, and it will be asking others to start their planning to join it in May. Now for more operational news it's to Felix VK4FUQ. All major Australian contests, rules and results, are on the Contest Section of the WIA website. wia.org.au/members/contests/about November 11-14 The Keith Roget Memorial National Parks Award Activation November 26-27 WIA VHF/UHF Spring Field Day Nov 26-27 CQ WW DX / CW Contest Always the last full weekend in November) Dec 1 - 31 Annual Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) 2017 Jan 1 – Dec 31 The Victorian Local Government Award 2017 Challenge January it's the WIA's Ross Hull Memorial VHF/UHF Contest Jan 1 AMSAT CW Activity Day 24 hours. All forms of CW are welcome. Ham Radio On The Ferries 12th of March WIA's John Moyle Memorial Field Day 18th-19th March 2017 WIA's Harry Angel Memorial 80 meter sprint Saturday May 6 10:00 -11:46 UTC May 13-15 Mills On The Air VK SHIRES June 10 and 11. Trans-Tasman Low-Band Contest 160/80/40 Saturday night July 15 and Start Time is 08:00 UTC and finish time is 14:00 UTC 10-10 INTERNATIONAL SUMMER CONTEST Aug 5 - 6 WIA's Flagship contest the Remembrance Day Contest 12th & 13th August Aug 19-20 ILLW the 3rd full weekend in August since 1998 October CQ WW DX / SSB CONTEST (always Octobers Last full weekend) Running ALL year 'til Dec 31 Victorian Local Government Award 2017 Challenge Until November 13 SN 4KIDS Polish radio amateurs are supporting UNICEF in its fight against child malnutrition. It is the intent of the Hams4KIDS initiative to help children in need, particularly in Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, by focusing the collective efforts of the global radio amateur community to provide meaningful financial support to UNICEF's anti-malnutrition program. The initiative's radio station, SN4KIDS, is on the air until 13th November on all the HF bands plus 6m. For every unique QSO with the station, the organisers will donate 2 cents to UNICEF. So, the more QSOs, the more money gets raised. For more information take a look at facebook.com/hams4kids/ or www.hams4kids.org (RSGB) Members of the Radio club Admira in Romania are on the air with special event calls YR 95 HMK and YP 95 HMK until the 15th of November to mark the 95th birthday of King Michael. Activity is on 160 to 10 metres using CW, SSB and RTTY. Radio Amateurs of Canada has told us that it has secured permission for all Canadian Radio Amateurs to use special call sign prefixes to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canada's Confederation. National, regional and local events will take place throughout 2017 to celebrate the anniversary and Canadian Amateurs will let their counterparts around the world know of their celebration by using the following special prefixes: CF CG CH CI These special prefixes are optional and Amateurs can choose if and when to use the special prefix vs their normal prefix at any time during 2017. For more information on Canada150 visit http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1342792785740 (RAC) VP 6 AH Active from Pitcairn Island is VP6AH until 25th November. SSB and Digital. QSL to the home call which is DL 2 AH FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, DA. Special event station DR777RI is QRV until the end of 2016 to mark the 777th anniversary of the town of Rinteln. QSL via DL 8 OBQ. BELGIUM, ON. Lions Clubs International Belgian Amateur Radio operators are QRV as OR 100 LCI until March 2017 to mark its 100th anniversary. Activity is on the HF bands using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via ON 8 ZL. Rarotonga Island (IOTA OC - 013) TILL November 25 2016 E 51 RR. MEDIA WATCH Who and Where are our broadcast stations? http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/where/ ‘Wireless Men and Women at War’ – a new WIA publication out soon Fully researched history stories covered in words and pictures trace the development of wireless communications in the lead up to, and during World War 1, and through subsequent years and conflicts. It details the actions of many of the radio amateurs in those years and makes for interesting reading. WIA Historian Peter Wolfenden VK3RV and the Publications Committee are proud to make the book available soon via mail order from the WIA bookshop. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video arvideonews.com hamradiotube.com youtube.com qdg.org.au BATC videos on YouTube Videos of the talks at the recent British Amateur Television Club Convention are now available on YouTube. Among the many talks are Receiving and Presenting HamTV from the ISS by Noel, G8GTZ, VHF/UHF Propagation by Mike, G0MJW and A Practical Operators Guide to 146MHz Reduced Bandwidth TV by Shaun, G8VPG. See www.youtube.com/channel/UCUWLnUZllytlcCFd93tnBzw/ . (RSGB) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- IOTA http://rsgbiota.org Island On The Air activities: NA-057. John, AD8J, will once again be active as HR9/AD8J from Roatan Island until November 12th. When not he is not scuba diving, look for John on 80-10 meters using mostly CW. QSL via his home callsign, AD8J. SA-028. Members of the Cabreuva DX Team will be active as ZV2TA from Tamandua Island (New DIB-SP021) between November 19-20the on 80/40/20/15/10/2 meters using CW, SSB and the Digital modes. QSL via PY 2 XIZ. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- MEDICAL IHS = www.groups.Yahoo.com/group/IHSradio/ IHS = www.IHSOFMN.org PHARMACISTS = www.malpensa.it/iphg Medical Amateur Radio Council www.marco-ltd.org/ Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB) knows that talking about communication can’t just be idle chatter when it concerns emergency response capability during a disaster. The Cascadia Rising 2016 earthquake exercise held Throughout the Pacific Northwest tested the emergency management ability of multiple government agencies, and the recent Washington State assessment from that disaster drill was that the area still has work to do to be adequately prepared, especially concerning communication. According to Terry Lerma, NHB Emergency Preparedness manager, it was a foregone conclusion going into the exercise that being able to communicate is key to providing medical support to those in need when trying to handle a disaster such as an extensive earthquake, along with the associated aftermath. “Even though HAM RADIO may be viewed as an ancient technology, it HAS proven its reliability, dependability and versatility,” stated Lerma. Lerma notes that in any disaster or large scale drill that went bad, communications – or lack thereof – is always one of the top issues that falters. Adding HAM radio capabilities enables contact outside the command to keep staff members informed. 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 Weather Watch Cyclone Season is about and northern Hams need to be in the know about curly wind movements to be ready for activation. Townsville Amateur Radio club have prided a series of very useful interweb links to enable you to keep an eye on these TARC suggest you check regularly the Australian Bureau of Meteorology website and the alternate ones given in this weeks emailed text news. http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/forecasts/cyclone.shtml the Coral Sea http://www.bom.gov.au/nt/forecasts/tcoutlook.shtml the Gulf of Carpentaria http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone for any cyclone warnings. Alternative source for information regarding cyclone formation at https://metoc.ndbc.noaa.gov/JTWC/ Joint Typhoon Warning Centre http://www.meteo.gov.vu/ Vanuatu Meteorological Services http://www.met.gov.fj/ Fiji Meteorological Service And if you happen to be in the Townsville area this weekend - Cyclone Sunday - promoting community awareness of the Cyclone Season organised by the Townsville City Council is at Strand Park 9am to 12pm Sunday (6th November) November 1st marked the start of the Cyclone Season, but, are you Cyclone Ready? Whether you are a new resident to Townsville or have lived here for years Cyclone Sunday is a must attend community event. With an active monsoon season predicted there is no better time to prepare yourself, your family and property. Speak to over 30 organisations that can assist with your wet season preparations, grab your free waterproof document wallet, have your important documents scanned onto a USB, chill out in the kids zone, go into the draw to win some great prizes and enjoy the entertainment provided. Get there Now, Because Later is Toooo Late ! Find out more at https://whatson.townsville.qld.gov.au/events/cyclone-sunday (theTARCinc) SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- SUMMITS ON THE AIR www.sotawatch.org www.sota.org.uk SOTA activations exceed expectations Last week Ed brought you details of the Summits on the Air, Australia to Europe Summit to Summit Super Event where seventy three summits were activated - Now the RSGB have reported a similar event is being discussed between European and North American SOTA activators. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR OLD-TIMERS http://www.raotc.org.au Hallo everyone, this is Clive VK6CSW with the usual reminder that tomorrow, Monday November 7th the Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club of Australia’s monthly News and Information bulletin will go to air. This month as well as all the usual RAOTC news, we feature two items, one on bitumen and the second on Microwaves. What the connection between bitumen and amateur radio is I have no idea but Ian VK3JS will enlighten us tomorrow. The principal HF transmission will be on 20 metres on 14.150 MHz upper sideband starting at 0100 UTC beamed north from Melbourne for the eastern states. An hour later at 0200 UTC Chris VK6JI will repeat the program, transmitting from Perth on 40 metres on 7088 kHz lower sideband, simultaneously with a transmission via all linked NewsWest repeaters. Numerous local relays also take place. Details for your local area transmissions can be found at the RAOTC website, www.raotc.org.au. From Tuesday you can download the audio file from this website. Membership details can also be found here. Everyone, RAOTC Members and non-members alike, is invited to listen to this interesting half hour of Old Timer news and information and we hope to hear your call sign amongst the call backs afterwards.. Once again, the RAOTC November bulletin is on air tomorrow Monday November 7th. 73 from Clive VK6CSW. Rewind, a look back on our history The latest HACKADAY magazine has part two of HAMS IN SPACE, well worth a read although in their "over to you" reader comments a bunch of ex hams seem to have that "Angry Old Men" syndrome... funny that! Now comes word from WIA's Jim Linton VK3PC of an interesting video on ARISS through the years. The advent of the International Space Station launched in 1998 as an unmanned module, and its progression to a full research facility with crew is shown by a new video. Gaston Bertels ON4WF traces the history including it making history in 2001 with a hand-held transceiver bringing the very first Amateur of the International Space Station or ARISS contact. That milestone in September of that year was with a school group near Chicago USA. Both the Federal Communications Commission and Russia had issued amateur service callsigns for use by the astronauts. Gaston ON4WF says there have been many such contacts putting schools in contact with space travellers via Amateur Radio. His video looks at the development over the years of the ARISS equipment in space. It also talks about the Ham TV project that began in 2014, and a future slideshow facility for it. An uninterruptable power supply is proposed to power ARISS equipment. This YouTube video of 12 minutes covers the past, present and future milestones for ARISS. It is well worth viewing whether you are keenly interested in ARISS or just want to know a bit more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufuyki21G6M SOCIAL SCENE 2016 This is Roger Harrison VK2ZRH with a snippet of social news concerning Dick Smith VK2DIK. On Saturday 22 October, I joined a throng of electronics industry identities past and present at Dick Smith’s home on Sydney’s north shore. The invitation-only event drew key past and long-term employees, industry identities from the 1970s and 80s, and some of Dick’s partners in various adventures around the world. The proprietors of widely-known electronics stores, Altronics, Jack O’Donnell, and Jaycar's – Gary Johnston, joined the small group in Dick’s helicopter hangar. Both adopted the DSE electronics retailing model and built successful businesses. Altronics is based in the West Australian capital of Perth, while Jaycar is headquartered in Sydney. As it happened, Phil Wait VK2ASD was there, too. Other industry identities of the 1970s and 80s swelled the crowd, including Owen Hill of Microbee fame, Greg Ackman of Mobile One – the famous manufacturer of mobile antennas, and Collyn Rivers, publisher of Electronics Today International in that era, where Phil Wait and I worked. Dick’s very first employee, Marshall Gill, turned up; he worked for Dick in his original car radio business in the late-1960s. Also there was Ross Tester, who ran Dick’s advertising division for years, and the architect of those famously crowded magazine advertisements, with black and white illustrations and tiny, tiny type! One of the longest-serving employees, Chris Ayres appeared, who started with DSE as a components buyer and survived through all the ownership eras beginning with Dick himself, then Woolworths and finally, Anchorage Capital. In his typical ebullient style, Dick stood on a chair in his helicopter hangar and harangued the audience with his views on the myth of ‘continuous growth’ and how the management of Dick Smith Electronics by Anchorage Capital brought on the final collapse of his and wife, Pip’s, “baby”. Dick told us all that he and Pip dreamed that the firm would last 50 years; in the end, it lasted 47. It had taken 15 years for Dick and Pip, and a phalanx of enthusiastic employees, to build Dick Smith Electronics and sell out to Woolworths for some $20 million in the mid-1980s. In reviewing DSE’s history, Dick echoed the words of DSE’s administrator, McGrathNicol, on what went wrong – dumb management blunders, such as expansion beyond belief, buying too much inventory, wrong product choices and too much debt. Dick was highly critical, saying the tragedy was a typical example of “professionals” that didn’t know retail, never worked in the business and thought that, “. . if a dummy like Dick could make money, just think what “professionals” could do!” Unsurprisingly, there was a smattering of radio amateurs among the throng, aside from VK2DIK himself; Ike Bain VK2AIG, Chris Ayres VK2YUS, Mark Plowman VK2MP, and Sandy Brucesmith ex-VK2AD and a ZL now. I’m unsure if I caught up with all those with a callsign. A small, but significant event. Now, back to VK1WIA and more "Socialising." Gold Coast HamFest 5th November Melbourne QRP by the Bay at Chelsea beach November 5 from 3pm Nov 6 VK5 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society HamFest 8am (VK5KC) NOV 15 VK3 EMDRC MEET WIA WIA Directors Andrew and Paul to visit the Eastern and Mountain District radio club, EMDRC. So.. Who doesn’t like a sausage in a piece of bread, if you are keen for a snag and a chat with WIA directors Andrew Smith VK6AS and Paul Simmonds VK5PAS, the Eastern and Mountain district Radio club invites you to our clubrooms in Burwood, Tuesday night, the 15th of November when Paul and Andrew will visit our club. We will fire up the BBQ from 6:30pm, and the director chat will start at 8pm upstairs in our rooms. This gathering is open to all hams, so, come along and meet your new WIA directors when they travel to Melbourne and see what they have to say. The EMDRC Clubrooms are located at 13a McCubbin St in Burwood, down the dirt driveway. For more information head to the clubs website at http://www.emdrc.com.au/ or just search VK3ER on Facebook. We hope to see you on the night. Thanks EMDRC. Nov 20 VK3 Rosebud RadioFest tickets on sale 8am (vk3pdg) This is Tim VK3TJC of the Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Club reminding listeners that the Rosebud RadioFest will be held once again this year on Sunday, the 20th November. As usual, the event will be held at the Eastbourne Primary School at Allambi Avenue, Rosebud, with outdoor displays open from 8 am and the main sale area open from the new earlier time of 9.30 am, continuing through till 1.30 pm. If you have pre-loved equipment to sell, tables are still available at $10 and can be booked on-line at www.rosebudradiofest.com But be quick as only a few tables are available. Technical forums will be held as part of the Rosebud RadioFest and topics include: the SPARC auto-tune high efficiency mobile antenna project, a presentation by Jack Bramham, VK3WWW, on ARDF Foxhunting, and finally a presentation by Peter Parker, VK3YE, on Handheld QRP antennas. The event has full catering, plenty of off street parking and great door prizes. The entry fee is only $6 with under 12’s free. This event presents an ideal opportunity to make a family day of it, so bring your family and enjoy the Rosebud RadioFest, the beaches, parks, wineries, shops and restaurants of the Mornington Peninsula. See you in Rosebud on the 20th of November. 73 from the Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Club. Nov 26 VK7 Miena HamFest Saturday 26th. (vk7wi txt) Submitting news items A reminder when supplying HamFest info we obviously can't plug commercial traders "on air", but we at the WIA will put your supporters in this text edition "no worries." 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 and don't JUST send url's links but take the time to pen YOUR contribution. To submit audio read "how to submit items" in the weekly news page on http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/contribute/ 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. Who and where are they? http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/where/ 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... Who listens to radio? A weekly 'tally sheet' is sent to all rebroadcasters and interested listeners, to get your free copy send a blank email to:- wiabroadcasters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.au Put the word subscribe in the title or subject field How do I join this National News List? (subscribe for an automatic weekly feed.) Email to vk1wia-news-join@lists.wia.org.au from the email account that you wish the emails to go to. How do I leave this National News List? (unsubscribe your weekly feed) Open mail program which sends mail from the address you want to unsubscribe. Send mail to the list unsubscribe address vk1wia-news-leave@lists.wia.org.au You will be sent a confirmation mail and must follow the instructions given in that mail to complete the unsubscription. Once your unsubscription has been processed, you will probably receive another message confirming your unsubscription from the list, and at that point you should stop receiving messages. National News compiled by VK4BB on behalf of the National WIA. . -------------