MAY 21 2017 - 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 MAY 21 2017. IN OUR 22nd YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS WIA tries out on line trial exams. - WIA Volunteer Charter finalised and available for download. - WIA NEWS Report for Saturdays AGM and open forum. THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA 2017 AND FOR WEEK OF MAY 21 PULSE TAKEN Pulse FM is a youth community radio station serving the Kingsborough and Huon Municipalities in Tasmania and operates several LPON stations to cover the region. Last weekend, the Pulse was taken - by -- WannaCry that infamous new strain of ransomware — malicious software that encrypts a computer’s files and then demands payment to unlock them. It destroyed all the station's data including documents, videos and pictures. Pulse FM was launched on the 8th of April 2016 while broadcasting from the Kingborough Council Colour Festival on Kingston Beach. Pulse FM is often found broadcasting live at the Kingston weekly Rotary Market, as well as other local events. Now another remarkable thing about the Tassie Pulse FM Network is its General Manager Josh Agnew, Josh is but 12 years of age!! Josh did NOT pay the Ransome and already is" back on air." It would seem Australia fared well in this latest cyber-attack with only a half dozen companies falling victim. https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/ransomware-infects-narrowcast-radio-station http://www.pulsefmtas.com.au/ Perth rail comms upgrade gathers steam The Western Australia state government is progressing its plan to upgrade the radiocommunications system for Perth’s urban rail system by issuing a request for proposal. Five short-listed companies will be asked to respond to the RFP, after the Public Transport Authority (PTA) called for and evaluated expressions of interest earlier this year. The $120 million project will see the current analogue radiocommunications system replaced with a modern digital system. It will involve installing new towers and poles with new digital-friendly infrastructure. It will be at the forefront of technology, allowing the PTA to take advantage of modern applications. All radio devices in trains, security vehicles and handheld radios for mobile staff will be replaced with new equipment. The contract will be awarded early next year. criticalcomms.com.au/content/radio-systems/article/perth-rail-comms-upgrade-gathers-steam-1178695571 ( Critical Comms ) QB50 IN SPACE Back some 5 weeks ago on WIA National News Paul ex VK5FPAU who now lives in the USA and sent us the story of the 3 "nanosatellites" developed in Australia as part of a research project involving Australian universities under the European-funded project, QB50 an international network of 50 CubeSats. Following on with more on that exciting news comes further from Cameron VK2CKP. Australian Made Satellites Awaiting Deployment from the ISS In the early hours (0111 AEDT) of the morning of Wednesday 19th April 2017, an Orbital ATK Atlas V rocket complete with the S.S. John Glenn (a Cygnus Supply Vessel) lifted off from the SLC41 Pad at Cape Canaveral. As part of the 3459kg of cargo lay the hopes and dreams of 28 of the teams involved in the international QB50 (see footnote 1 in this story) cubesat project including the three satellites designed built and tested in Australia – the first in 16 years and only the 4th, 5th and 6th in Australia’s history. These three satellites were built by academics and students from the following universities: AU01(SUSat)2 – University of Adelaide in collaboration with the University of South Australia. AU02(UNSW-EC0)3 – University of New South Wales AU03(i-INSPIRE II)4 – University of Sydney in collaboration with the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales Each of these satellites carry a specified QB50 scientific payload as well as a number of other in-house and co-contributor payloads. Command and Control typically utilises the 70cm amateur band after the IARU declared restrictions (footnote 5) to 2m spectrum for future satellite missions. Frequency coordination was undertaken by the IARU (imagine the work involved in that task alone for the 52 proposed satellites forming the entire project) which provided dedicated single point of contact for the entire project. In Australia, the university teams reached out to the wider amateur radio community for technical support and guidance. In the case of the AU03 team from the University of Sydney, they were fortunate enough to have a former staff member, Dr Tony Monger – VK2KZ, a licenced amateur available to provide guidance and assistance. Through various contacts, Dimitris Tsifakis – VK1SV/VK2COW, a staff member at the Australian National University in Canberra, volunteered to provide ground station support for the team from the ANU’s ‘Blue Wren’ ground station. For the AU01 team, University of South Australia staff member Bill Cowley VK5DSP provided assistance and guidance. The author’s (VK2CKP) involvement with the AU02 initially came about in responding to an enquiry regarding amateur radio operator licencing for ground station operations which since September 2015 has seen 14 candidates licenced and another 11 potential candidates currently studying for their assessments. Similarly, at the ANU, there are four students and staff about to sit their exams to obtain an amateur radio licence, in order to be able to operate the ground station. In addition, technical advice to the UNSW BLUESat’s6 team (who were co-opted to provide the ground station and associated operators) on groundstation configuration, implementation and commissioning as a result of a severely neglected ground station at the UNSW’s Kensington Campus was provided which has seen this ground station returned to full operational capability with plans for future expansion. After a successful docking operation to the ISS on the Saturday afternoon (2239 AEDT) following the launch, the teams now wait anxiously for their staged deployment (which is to occur in multiple waves due to the number of satellites involved which requires multiple ISS air-lock events). At this stage, all satellites are scheduled to be placed in orbit commencing with the first round of deployments successfully occurring on 16th May 2016 @ 0825 UTC however the deployment times and dates for the Australian Satellites are not yet declared at the time of writing. 7 Obviously, there is still a long way to go before ‘mission success’ is claimed however with each small step that goal gets closer as the residual risks reduce. The teams will need to establish communications with their satellites (which history shows is ‘easier said than done’), undertake orbit stability (detumbling) manoeuvres, start and stablise all on-board systems, begin their scientific missions (which includes uploading new experiment requirements and downloading experiment results) before spontaneous de-orbiting of their satellites in approximately 1 to 1.5 years time. With STEM appearing to be the buzzword of the decade, what greater example of the alignment and collaboration of amateur radio and STEM ‘at work’ could there be than the reintroduction of Australian students back to space whether it be through cubesat development or the Off World Rover competitions. Who knows where amateur radio can next be used in supporting education and technology? We already know - the sky is not the limit! So, over to you – What would you like to see as the next amateur radio related payload on the next Low Earth Orbit satellite built in Australia? (Submitted by Cameron McKay VK2CKP with contributions from Tony Monger VK2KZ, Dimitris Tsifakis VK1SV/VK2COW and Bill Cowley VK5DSP. 1 – www.qb50.eu 2 – https://www.itr.unisa.edu.au/itrusers/bill/public_html/QB50/QB50_Comms_Payload.html https://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/students/wiki/projects/index.php/Projects:2015s1-01_LaunchBox 3 – http://www.acser.unsw.edu.au/QB50 4 – http://sydney.edu.au/inspire-cubesat/project/index.shtml 5 - http://www.iaru.org/uploads/1/3/0/7/13073366/satellite_frequency_coordination_in_the_two.pdf 6 - http://bluesat.com.au/ 7 – https://ukamsat.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/qb50-iss-cubesats-deployment-and-radio-information.pdf WIA BOARD TALK WIA tries out on line trial exams The Wireless Institute of Australia has been working toward some on line assessments for some time and has introduced a trial exam system as a 'proof of concept' exercise. There are currently two trial theory assessments at the Standard level and in future these will include a couple of Advanced theory assessments. The trials are on the Assessor Information System website http;//www.silvertrain.com.au and for the log-on and process details check out the WIA website http:// www.wia.org.au The latest version of the flash player is needed. Eventually the final version of the theory assessments exams will be put on the WIA website and programmed in HTML5. This trial is only to prove the process. However, the assessments are similar in content faced by candidates for the Standard assessment making them ideal practice. There have been some initial results reported by Fred Swainston VK3DAC with more than 70 registering for access in the first 48 hours. Some 16 of them are Foundation Licensees looking to upgrade, and interesting four registration did not have a callsign, and after contact are looking to get into Amateur Radio. There are also six Standard Licensees waiting for the trial Advanced assessment that should appear by June. The remaining are already Advanced Licensees just looking at the trial. Many favourable comments have been received and it continues Volunteer Charter finalised and available for download Date : 17 / 05 / 2017 Author : Roger Harrison - VK2ZRH Development of a Charter for WIA Volunteers was agreed and announced by the Board in 2016. A draft was developed, based on principles defined by the community-based non-government organisation (NGO) Volunteering Australia. The Board reviewed the draft Volunteer Charter in October 2016, which was then circulated to WIA Committee volunteers in November for their feedback. Following revision, a second draft Charter was released in January 2017 to the Amateur Radio community at large for comment. This consultation round finished at the end of February. The finalised WIA Charter for Volunteers is now available for download from the ‘Information about the WIA’ web page, at this Link http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2017/20170517-1/index.php (text edition of news only) WIA National News Broadcast Report on News for Saturdays AGM and open forum Among all the reports which have been available several weeks on the wia.org.au site is this one on the WIA News Service, I prepared earlier! "We again this year thank our readers and listeners; without you there would be no need for a myriad of volunteers who put the weekly news to air each and every Sunday. To our call-back operators who take the time to forward to nationalnews@wia.org.au the number of check-ins each week; to the various clubs and individuals up bright and early transmitting the audio files; to the writers and particularly those who take the time to voice their reports thanks for your input. With one notable exception, material is edited, in the main, to try and adhere to a 30 minute bulletin. I thank you all for your dedication, effort and understanding. Much has been written in the main stream media about so called ‘fake news’. I believe the VK1WIA News broadcast has been successful in reporting the real news rather than manufacturing fake news. There have been items in some Ham publications questioning why we are having a complete board election this year, and claiming that the WIA news is censored. The WIA news is not censored by the WIA Board. Yes, lies were told and then re-circulated, and several emails to the 'perpetrators' asking to ‘desist’ went unanswered. Let us all hope this situation is well behind us now, although I tend to think no matter WHO are elected there will be those who will never be happy. (A bit like one club member who wanted his HamFest plug given the same spot 5 minutes into a broadcast that he figured we gave a VK2er because he was a WIA Director). On HamFest material, over many years, the Wyong Field Day promotions on this newscast show the way it can be done. Each week new recordings contained something new. Each week the expanded text editions also highlighted their commercial traders, which, to adhere to ACMA regulations, could not be aired on the Broadcast. Those members elected to the new WIA board this weekend have a lot to live up to as far as supplying the ham radio operators of VK the latest “No Spin” news. So I’ll finish this year’s report with a BIG thank you to regular reporters, Jason VK2LAW, Bryan VK3GR, Robert (retired WIA Director) VK3DN and Felix VK4FUQ and to Jim VK3PC - last year’s WIA Secretary, Phil VK2ASD - WIA President, and Roger Harrison VK2ZRH - WIA Director, for regular input not only on WIA material but amateur radio operating in general. RFCheckins this year:- Close on 38 Thousand VK1 = 944 VK8 = 1336 VK3 = 3375 VK7 = 4709 VK2 = 5428 VK5 = 5938 VK6 = 6950 VK4 = 7310 Including the downloads RF and interweb editions of National News a total reach of close on 115 Thousand Walking a little louder than usual. I’m GraHam VK4BB, WIA NEWS EDITOR The ACMA looks ahead Among the many pages we call the Federal Budget is expenditure and plans set by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. The ACMA is budgeting for total expenditure of $93.7 million. Among its work is the regulation of broadcasting, radiocommunications, telecommunications and online content - under four pieces of legislation. The ACMA supports and encourages an innovative communications sector, works closely with stakeholders in a regulatory framework, safeguards public interest, and meet the needs for spectrum access. VK3PC Jim Linton tells us that ACMA are looking at spectrum planning and interference management services for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. The ACMA also has the reform of the current Radiocommunication Act. The document entitled 'entity resources and planned performance,' sets out a series of outcomes and target performance. DISCUSSION POINT ( text only audio at http://www.wiaq.org.au/ftp/vk4_qnews_32.mp3 ) Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. A long time ago, the fantasy land of Hollywood made a film which took the world by storm. It was an allegory where the main characters felt they were not adequate because they lacked certain characteristics. As they joined together and travelled the Yellow Brick Road, they learned to appreciate what they had. Now I have a vision of what I want as the annual get-together is winding to a close in Hahndorf. I would like there to be courage to face the future for our new board of the Wireless Institute to go to further and better places. The courage to faithfully take amateur radio into the homes, the schools and the clubs. The courage to advocate for our hobby at home and abroad without acrimony and with fairness for all amateurs. I would like the vision to include the intelligence to seize new opportunities and to settle disagreements. I would like to see thoughtful discussion and fruitful outcomes and I would like minds to grasp the challenges that are in front of the management of our hobby. I would like to see a progressive and respectful attitude to settle over this land. I would like there to be a joy in the adventures that amateur radio can provide. I would like people to know the warmth of a tear on their cheek as they feel the movement that is world wide amateur radio. I would like people to feel they belong. And like Dorothy, the great fantasy that ends at the end of the Yellow Brick Road is the knowledge that there is no Wizard and the magic lies in us. If the amateurs have learned from the journey, there is hope ahead and sorry, there is no Wizard of Oz. I’m Geoff Emery and that’s what I think....how about you? INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, WIA Local News Service VK7, VK3PC and the WW sources of the WIA. Less than a week ago, the top news story among the headlines on the Belize Amateur Radio Club website was about....the Belize Amateur Radio Club! Amateur Radio Newsline, in a story by WIA News Editor Graham VK4BB, tells after much waiting, the ham radio group received its hard-won admission into the International Amateur Radio Union in an overwhelmingly positive vote 77 member societies voting yes to membership status, where only 55 votes were needed. Although IARU membership is new to this club, the group adopted the same name of an organization that previously belonged to the IARU but no longer exists. Now the right to membership in IARU Region 2 rests exclusively with this Belize club, after IARU officials determined the group met requirements established by the IARU constitution and its bylaws. The club's website, barc.bz proudly displays the IARU press release, issued the 11th of May, announcing the club's new official status. According to its website, the club was established in 2015 to promote technical education, encourage wireless experimentation and advance international partnerships. Speaking of partnerships, the Belize club's admission into the IARU makes it one of 167 member societies involved in this ever-widening global community. Glenn Baxter, ex-K1MAN, SK; Engaged in Protracted Enforcement Battle with FCC Glenn Baxter, ex-K1MAN, of Belgrade, Maine, died on May 5. He was 75. In 2014, Baxter ultimately lost his battle to retain his Amateur Extra class license when the FCC dismissed his long-standing renewal application, citing an unpaid $10,000 forfeiture stemming from violations over a period extending back several years. Baxter was originally licensed back in 1956. Over a period of decades, Baxter — a licensed professional engineer in Maine and Illinois — ran afoul of the FCC stemming from complaints of malicious interference resulting from his program-length AM transmissions under the flag of his self-styled American Amateur Radio Association. Baxter’s transmissions included, news, interviews, commentaries, and rebroadcasts of ham radio news produced by others, including ARRL, with which Baxter also had feuded. K1MAN also had a series of identifications voiced by a VK4 Ham back just prior to QNEWS starting in VK4 in '95 “Frequency,” “Last Man Standing” TV Shows QRT Hollywood Reporter reports that The CW television network has pulled the plug on the Amateur Radio-themed show “Frequency,” which stars Peyton List as young police detective and radio amateur Raimy Sullivan. “Frequency was a combination of two of the season’s most popular trends: time travel and movie reboots,” Hollywood Reporter said, noting that the show had been averaging 1.5 million viewers. “Frequency” has joined ABC’s “Last Man Standing,” starring real-life radio amateur Tim Allen as Mike Baxter, KA0XTT, in providing Amateur Radio some small-screen exposure, albeit fictional. News on May 10 from Variety is that ABC has now cancelled “Last Man Standing” after six seasons. Occasional scenes on “Last Man” showed Allen’s character at his ham station. The program’s producer is John Amodeo, NN6JA, and real-life Amateur Radio special events have been staged from the show’s Hollywood set. Now the question is..who gets Tim’s Rig? THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED. MP3 changed the way we listen to music, as we shifted from bulky Walkman’s to compact digital listening devices. But the digital audio encoding format has now been officially confirmed as dead -- by the people who invented it. The Fraunhofer Institute officially terminated its licensing program for certain MP3-related patents, in a move widely interpreted by tech experts as MP3's "official death warrant". Yes, you can still listen to MP3 files While the move is fairly symbolic — you can still use MP3 files if you want to — the removal of support for the format signals an official shift in the industry. Better quality formats that offer more efficient compression and more functionality are now the standard. These days, most state-of-the-art media services such as streaming or TV and radio broadcasting use modern ISO-MPEG codecs, such as the AAC [Advanced Audio Coding] family, or, in the future MPEG-H. Who and Where are our broadcast stations? http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/where/ HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT All major Australian contests, rules and results, are on the Contest Section of the WIA website. wia.org.au/members/contests/about 2017 Jan 1 – Dec 31 The Victorian Local Government Award 2017 Challenge 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 VK1 Winter SOTA QSO Party takes place August 6th 2017 9:00 am till 11:30 am. WIA's Flagship contest the Remembrance Day Contest 12th & 13th August Aug 19-20 ILLW the 3rd full weekend in August since 1998 Aug 26 ALARA Contest Start Time 1600 this is a 24 hour Contest for YL's IARU High Speed Telegraphy world championships are 8th to 12th September. October CQ WW DX / SSB CONTEST (always Octobers Last full weekend) Running ALL year 'til Dec 31 Victorian Local Government Award 2017 Challenge 2018 John Moyle Memorial Field Day will be held over the weekend of the 17th-18th March 2018 and will run from UTC 0100 on the Saturday until 0059 on the Sunday. IARU HF Championship event on 15 and 16 July 2018. The Frontenac Amateur Radio Club Canada will be sponsoring the special event call sign XM 3 CARF to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Canadian Amateur Radio Federation (CARF), which was founded in 1967. CARF was Canada's first successful national amateur radio society and existed between 1967 and 1993, when it was amalgamated with the Canadian Radio Relay League to form the Radio Amateurs of Canada. XM 3 CARF will be active on SSB, CW and various Digital Modes throughout the month of June, and will sign off shortly after the RAC Canada Day Contest on July 1st. AND Canada continues to celebrate its 150 years The Radio Amateurs of Canada IARU member society reminds us that radio amateurs in Canada can be heard using optional callsign prefix's to celebrate Canada 150. All VA callsigns may use CF, while VE can be CG, VO becomes CH and VY is CI. These prefixes are automatic, optional and available to the end of December. DXCC reinstatement of Midway and Kure islands. On 31 March the ARRL announced that Midway and Kure Islands had been placed on the list of DXCC deleted entities. "The stated reason for this action," the ARRL reported on 11 May, "was because of changes in the administration resulting from changes in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument", which includes Midway and Kure. "After further review it has been found that the deletion of these two entities is not supported by the changes that were made to the relevant administrations. Therefore, the deletions from the DXCC list should not have occurred and the two entities, Midway Island KH4 and Kure Island KH7K, will return to the DXCC list as separate entities". Indian Ocean 6M EME DXpeditions Lance, W7GJ, will be active from the Indian Ocean to focus on 6 meters EME QSOs. West Island/Cocos Island as VK9CGJ between September 12-28th. Christmas Island as VK9XGJ between October 2-18th. Franz Josef Land Members of the Russian Robinson Club (RRC) are planning their next Arctic operation. Look for RI 1 F to be active from Victoria Island (EU-190) sometime late September (26th or 27th was mentioned). This island group has never been activated. Activity will be on various HF bands. They plan to have up to 12 operators. QSL via the Bureau. Francois FT 3 YL is on Dumont d’Urville Research Station, Petrels Island in Antarctica for a one year stay. He has been issued with the callsign FT 3 YL which is valid from 1st December 2016 until 1st February 2018. He will be on the air when possible during his spare time and his QSL Manager is F6KPQ. Rotarians of Amateur Radio (ROAR) in Australia have hit the HF bands for 3 months from 26 February to May 26, with the special event callsign VI 100 TRF. This to highlight the Rotary Foundation’s work over the past 100 years. Marc, ON 5 SM is transmitting as DU 9/ON 5 SM from Mindanao in the Philippines, OC-130, to the 24th of May. Activity on 80 to 6 metres using SSB, SSTV and various digital modes. QSL to home call, ON 5 SM. VK SHIRES CONTESTING Now some more ideas for the VK Shires QSO 2017. The VK Shires QSO Party is not a WIA Contest but they kindly provide access to the WIA WEB Site. http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/wavks/ VK Contest tips Number 1 : Read the rules - this new concept has many implications - beware of sub rules - for example the WIA has General Rules for contests as well as the rules of individual contests. What is stopping you, during the midnight to dawn yawn, running Keyers on more than one rig - what is stopping you running more than one rig on the same band in different modes? What is stopping you ? Do the rules in the VK Shires, the RD, the JMMFD, the VHF/UHF Field Days prohibit it ? The VK Shires is on in four weekends time; get ready to have fun on the low bands; 80 and 40M will be where it is happening. In 2016 VK6POP made up a two element 40M array for the East Coast to great effect - What could be your secret weapon? This has been Trent VK4TS " REPEATERS Peter VK4OD looks after the Data input on the VKHAM Website for all of the VK repeaters, the data there is only as accurate as is received from your repeater personel. Recently VK4OD was asked to update the data for the Bribane VHF group Beacons, The attached linked will show what format he has adopted. If you'd like your site to reflect similar just send a message to "Allan VK2CA" saj507@gmail.com http://www.vkham.com/Repeater/brisbane.html Scroll down to the Beacon Data. (text edition news) MEDIA WATCH Who and Where are our broadcast stations? http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/where/ "Cellar-Dwellers" On The Go! Upcoming Book Release The sequel to the MF Down Under book edited by David "Doc" Wescombe-Down VK5BUG is being released this wekend At over 240 pages in 15 chapters it has 25 articles by 12 authors about operating 2200m, 630m and 160m away from home. "WIA News rebroadcaster in Brisbane of a Monday night Bruce VK4EHT advises the Redcliffe Radio clubs 2 meter repeater on 146.925 MHz now needs a 91.5 HZ sub audible tone for access." WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DIGITAL Clayton VK7ZCR lets us know via VK7 news that he is rebroadcasting the WIA and VK7 Regional News broadcasts each Sunday on channel 505 around VK. So far 4 call backs have been received, so if you are DMR capable why not give VK7ZCR on channel 505 a call. Last week we told you of how the Victorian DStar Users Group is on the search for a new President. So a reminder that their Extraordinary General Meeting to elect a President is Saturday the 27th May at 10.00am. The Location: Milpara Scout Group Hall, (EMDRC Clubrooms upstairs) 13A McCubbin Street, Burwood. Melways Reference Map 61-E7. Entry to the hall is via the driveway from McCubbin St. Look for the Green Letter Box beside the driveway. Further Information: www.vk3dstar.orh.au Secretary: Allan vk3slr@apollo-net.co.uk WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER South Korea Air Force Academy proposes FM repeater K2Sat to IARU The Republic of Korea Air Force Academy has submitted a coordination request to the IARU for the K2Sat satellite, a 3U CubeSat Mission. The K2Sat's primary mission is to demonstrate satellite imaging and transfer, to also test voice repeating capability. The following are the payloads: 1. On-board camera 2. On-board voice repeater proposing a V/U FM voice transceiver 3. 9k6 BSPK AX25 downlink for data and telemetry and planning a 2 Mbit QPSK downlink on S Band. The launch is planned for a 500/600km SSO orbit in 2018. (SouthGate) RadFxSat (Fox-1B) has successfully cleared another hurdle. A Mission Readiness Review was held April 29, at the Cal Poly campus to verify that all requirements have been met for a safe and successful launch and deployment. AMSAT Vice President for Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, presented 81 PowerPoint slides covering all Interface Control Document requirements, mission, operations, and deorbit. Following the presentation and a question-and-answer session, the panel unanimously approved RadFxSat as ready for flight. The next milestone will be integration of the CubeSat into the Poly Picosat Orbital Deployer. Launch is set for no earlier than September 21, 2017, aboard a Delta II launcher from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (arrl) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- IOTA http://rsgbiota.org OC-235. The DX 8 ZWC operation from Mindanao Islands which was to be active sometime in April was called off due to the high terror alert status in the area, and with reports of armed bandits. 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 Deputy State Coordinator, WICEN ACT, Phil Longworth VK1PL says with the National Capital Rally now only days away they find themselves short of people to assist. On the Saturday are needed 17 field stations and 4-6 people in HQ, Sunday 15 field stations and again 4-6 in HQ. VK1PL says 'Don't be daunted if you have not done anything of this nature before,' they have numerous locations where all you have to do is watch the cars go past, write down the car number and time it passed you and then radio the car number to HQ.' This is an ideal opportunity for anyone interested in Amateur Radio around our Nations Capitol to take part, and if you don't have a licence as yet then they can use you in HQ as an operator under supervision. Saturday 27th or Sunday 28th May (or both). Please send an email to wicen@crarc.ampr.org Cedar Springs residents in the USA may soon be getting a first-hand look at how an amateur radio operation might work in an emergency. The Grand Rapids Amateur Radio Association has applied to the City of Cedar Springs for an Amateur Radio Field Day, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Michigan State Parks, to be held in late June at the staging area for the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park. Henry Greib, on-air director for the radio association, told the Cedar Springs City Council that the event is a 24-hour test of radios to ensure they are ready in case of an emergency If the event gains city approval, several amateur radio stations will be set up on the site, demonstrating how such a station might be deployed in case of a major disaster in the city or county, which could knock out or overload other communication systems. mlive.com/rockford/index.ssf/2017/05/post_146.html (SOUTHGATE) SOCIAL SCENE 2017 May 19 VK WIA AGM Hahndorf some 25km from Adelaide (vk5kc) June 2- 4 VK4 Theresa Creek Camp-out-day (CHARC) (tarc) June 3 VK3 Melbourne WINTER QRP by the bay 3pm (vk3ye) June 10-11 VK2 Oxley Region ARC 42nd Annual Field Day, Port Macquarie (vk2ztm) June 10-11 VK5 SERG Annual Convention / VK Foxhunting Champs. (vk5dj) July 1 VK3 GippsTech 2017 technical conference in Churchill. (wia events) July 22 VK3 Great Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club HamFest. July 22 Cranbourne Community Hall Clarendon & High St, Cranbourne. Sep 9-10 ALARAMEET 2017 Cairns. Listen for VI4ALARA from July (vk4swe vk3pc) Sep 10 Shepparton HamFest St Augustine’s Hall, Orr St. Shepparton. (vk3fnqs) Sep29-Oct2 VK4 Cardwell Gathering (tarc) Nov 5 VK3 BARG Hamvention greyhound racing track, Ballarat. (wia events) Nov 12 VK5 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society HamFest 8am (vk5kc) Nov 12 VK3 Rosebud's annual celebration of all things Amateur Radio (wia) 2018 March 25 VK3 EMDRC HamFest - Great Ryrie Primary School, Heathmont. (VK3BQ) May 4 -7 VK4 Clairview Gathering ( between Rockhampton and Mackay ) (TARC) ============================== NEW WIA NEWS BROADCAST FEEDBACK =============================== The solar cycle and shorter days are favouring the low bands. Top Band, benefiting from this combination, produced 25 callbacks this morning. The 160 meter breakdown:- 0700 = 19, comprising 4 country (furthest 220km south and 240km north) and 15 greater Perth metro area, including 1 SWL via QSP and 2 via email. 0800 = 6, all greater Perth metro area. Thanks to you all, have a good week, 73, Phil VK6GX. 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/ We would appreciate items no longer than 2 minutes in length as we only have a half hour time slot window. 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. . -------------