JUNE 10 2018 - 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 JUNE 10 2018. IN OUR 23rd YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS WIA Awards. - WIA DIRECTOR AIDAN VK4APM. - WIA 2018 Winter VHF-UHF Field Day (23 - 24 June) THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA 2018 AND FOR WEEK OF JUNE 10 Hello I’m Simon VK4FSIH The WIA national news can be heard in the greater Gold Coast area on Sundays at 0900 hours on 146.700 MHz Grab your cup of coffee and take 30 min out to keep up to date with all that is happening with amateur radio not only here in Australia but world-wide to. So if you’re in the Greater Gold Coast or going to be visiting the Gold coast be listening from 0900 hours Sunday morning to 146.700 for the WIA national news. Bye bye for now. News from ACMA This just into the Townsville Amateur Radio Club from the Australian Amateur Radio Assessor Information System ACMA have released a consultation paper titled 'new approaches to Amateur Radio qualification arrangements" The document outlines three ways that the Training and Assessing of future Amateur Radio Operators might go. The document is a must read and the deadline for submissions is July 2. The document can be found on: https://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2018/20180605-1/index.php also https://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/new-approaches-to-amateur-radio-qualification-arrangements (TARC with thanks to 'Fred.') Another ACMA submission is due by July 5, this involves some Tasmanian AM/FM oulets. Tasmania is being asked for its input into a plan to upgrade three of the state's commercial AM radio stations. Under the plan, radio stations 7BU in Burnie and 7AD in Devonport would switch from AM to FM, while 7SD in Scottsdale would be simulcast on both transmissions. "ACMA are said to be very receptive to a move by to convert the three remaining sites to FM" said Tasmanian Broadcasters Executive General Manager Tim Holder. “ACMA will facilitate a conversion if we are satisfied that audiences in regional areas do not lose important radio services under the proposal,” ACMA chairwoman Nerida O’Loughlin said. Members of the public are invited to make submissions on the proposals to the ACMA by July 5. Read more on https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/fm-switch-proposed-northern-tasmania-key-regions © Radioinfo.com.au Legendary rock guitarist Joe Walsh WB 6 ACU, of the Eagles is featured in a just-released set of ARRL audio and video public service announcements promoting Amateur Radio The ARRL announcement says: ARRL will provide the 30- and 60-second PSAs to Public Information Officers (PIOs) to share with their Section’s television and radio stations. The ARRL Media and Public Relations Department also will provide these announcement files directly to interested television and radio outlets. The announcements are available for downloading from the ARRL website for members to use in promoting Amateur Radio at club meetings and public presentations, such as ARRL Field Day June 23 – 24 (PSAs specifically for ARRL Field Day also are available). Walsh, who visited ARRL Headquarters last year for taping, wanted to deliver two main messages in his PSAs: get involved in Amateur Radio, and become a member of ARRL. The messages highlight the tremendous service that radio amateurs provide to communities, and convey how ARRL advocates on behalf of Amateur Radio on a wide range of legal and political issues. Read the full story at http://www.arrl.org/news/view/eagles-guitarist-joe-walsh-wb6acu-promotes-amateur-radio-in-media-announcements WIA Awards At the Wireless Institute of Australia annual general meeting held at Seaworld Conference Centre, a number of high achievers were honoured with the presentation of its annual awards.   GA Taylor Medal   Ewan Mcleod VK4ERM from Kenmore QLD received the GA Taylor medal. The GA Taylor medal was presented in recognition of exceptional service to The Wireless Institute of Australia. The GA Taylor medal is the highest ranking of all the WIA Merit Awards.  Chris Jones Award   In other recognition, for his work through promotion and training in Amateur Radio with the Radio and Electronics School, Ron Bertrand VK2DQ was awarded the prestigious Chris Jones Award. This award is in memory of Chris Jones VK2ZDD (SK) and is presented to radio amateurs who have made an exceptional contribution to amateur radio and the Wireless Institute of Australia.  The WIA Publications Committee Awards  Publications Committee Awards were announced and awarded to:   • Trevor Quick VK5ATQ and Stuart Fillmore VK5STU who received the Al Shawsmith Award for the best non-technical article "VK5 School Holiday Technology Program is a Resounding Success" published in the May 2017 issue.  • Peter Gibson VK3AZL received the Higginbotham Award for service to the amateur radio community and for Peter's service to the WIA and the Publications Committee over at least 32 years, serving as the lead Technical Editor for most of that period.  • Jim Henderson VK1AT received the Publications Committeee Technical Award for his article "A 35 to 4400 MHz Signal Generator" published in the November 2017 issue.   Technical Excellence Awards  Three Technical Excellence Awards were announced, these were presented to:  • Peter Parker VK3YE for his prolific promotion of amateur radio in Australia, and making the hobby accessible to new and old through his YouTube channel and ebooks.  • Timothy Dixon VK5ZT for his work promoting his hobby, openly sharing his extensive modifications to microwave equipment and furthering experimentation in microwave and optical bands in Australia.  • Glenn English VK1XX for sharing his technical skills and knowledge to improve the hobby in a variety of technical fields.  WIA President Commendations  Four WIA President Commendations were awarded these to:  • Joe & Julie Gonzales VK3YSP & VK3FOWL for promotion of amateur radio in schools, engaging youth and school communities, and sharing their projects and findings with the amateur community.  • Grant Willis VK5GR for his work with the WIA, contesting and in past advocacy within the IARU.  • Trent Sampson VK4TS for actively promoting contesting in Australia, engaging with clubs to improve their contesting skills and supporting contesting in Australia and the region.  • Paul VK5PAS for his work with the VK5 parks award, promoting WWFF and opening up an aspect of the hobby to the wider community.  10 Year Assessor Service Awards  16 WIA Assessors reached the milestone of 10 years of service conducting assessments, and those present were presented a Certificate and pin by the WIA Exam Service to mark the occasion. 10 year service awards were to Daniel Clift VK2DC, Brian Conner VK2ZBP, Mark Plowman VK2MP, Peter Burgess VK2ZZA, Edward Thrift VK2ARA, John Chenoweth VK3ZX, Ashley Clark VK3SSB, Rex Foord VK3ARG, Walter Cornell VK3FGC, Ewen Templeton VK3OW, Arnold Put VK3YAP, Andre Van Zyl VK3AVZ, Peter Schrader VK4EA, Cecil Kenny VK4CF, Stephen Reakes VK4QQ, Patrick Daley VK8ZMX. Congratulations to all these award recipients and a huge thank you from the Board. This has been Justin VK7TW for the WIA National News. Hello fellow operators it's Aidan, VK4APM here. It has been a busy time since the AGM on the Gold Coast and I thank all of you who have sent me emails of support, suggestions and information following my nomination to the WIA board. As many of you are aware the Australian Communications and Media Authority recently released a discussion paper seeking feedback on three methods being contemplated for licencing of Amateur Operators when the current arrangement expires in 2019. We request your assistance in providing feedback to be included in our submission that will be aligned with the "Beyond 2020" strategy outlined at the recent conference. If you have any feedback on the discussion paper that you would like us to consider in the WIA submission, please email beyond2020@wia.org.au. We also encourage you to have your say by directly responding to the ACMA's discussion paper. A link to the discussion paper can be found on the WIA website. https://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2018/20180605-1/index.php That's all from me 73 vk4apm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the World Wide sources of the WIA and local news services. Student grilled for carrying VHF radio. Indian publication, Telangana Today, reports a 19-year-old radio amateur was detained at Nagole Metro Station and questioned for almost one hour The Electronics and Communications Engineering student, Koduru, VU 3 JVW, told ‘Telangana Today’ that he was let off only after an hour of interrogation and after his details were recorded in the metro station’s armoury book. “A senior official, flanked by police officials, sitting in a large cabin, grilled me about the radio station, the walkie talkie, and then told me that amateur radio hams, even licensed ones, are not allowed to use VHF radios. Only police can use them, he told me! “Any licensed amateur radio ham can use high frequency, very high frequency and ultra-high frequency radios, anywhere — those are government rules applicable across India. He said I was carrying a weapon,” said the student. Moreover, the official refused to divulge any details about his official authority or his name. Read the full story at https://telanganatoday.com/student-grilled-for-carrying-vhf-radio-in-hyderabad The Hungarian telecoms regulator, The National Media & Infocommunications Authority – Hungary ) has published an update to the National Frequency Allocation table on the use of frequency bands, which initiates the WRC-15 Allocation of 5351.5 to 5366.5 kHz with 15W EIRP maximum power. Previously special 3-month only permits were available, allowing 5350-5450 kHz at 100W, but these were discontinued in 2017. QST Magazine honoured with the E.T. Krenkel Medal. In making the award, the Russian National Academy of Researches and Discoveries commended QST for "outstanding global contributions to Amateur Radio." The award's namesake, Ernst T Krenkel, was a radio amateur who, over the years, used the call signs RAEM, U3AA, and UA3AA. The Polish-born Krenkel was an Arctic explorer who took part in the first Soviet "drifting station," North Pole-1 and was made a "Hero of the Soviet Union" in 1938 for his exploits. Krenkel's son, T.E. Krenkel, was among the four signatories to the QST award certificate. He said his father was an avid radio amateur who served as the first chairman of the Central Radio Club in the USSR. E.T. Krenkel's image appears on postage stamps from the USSR and Russia, and he authored a biography entitled My Callsign is RAEM. In the era when all radio amateurs received QSL cards via Box 88, Moscow, Krenkel was allowed to have his own postal address on his QSLs and was issued the non-standard RAEM call sign. Threat to Belgian 70cm allocation Amateurs in Belgium are facing severe restrictions on their 70cm band operations even though, unlike in the UK, it is a Primary allocation for amateurs. The Regulator is proposing to reduce amateur privileges in the middle of the band to just a few milliwatts, and to ban certain modes outright. These may include digital and analogue ATV, packet radio, and possibly others on the affected frequencies. We believe it is unprecedented for any Primary user being overridden and restricted in such a way. Details are on the website of UBA, the Belgian national society, on https://www.uba.be/nl/actueel/flash/raadpleging-bipt-toegang-van-de-radioamateurs-tot-de-frequentieband-433050-434790-mhz Ambitious Arizona STEM Planetary Rover Project is a Winner An Amateur Radio-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) initiative at an Arizona elementary school has culminated as youngsters competitively deployed their own radio-controlled rovers to explore a simulated planet set up in the Desert. Following in the footsteps of NASA scientists, 25 pupils at Bouse Elementary School — several already holding ham radio licensees — took part in the APS Arizona Rover Project, which is aimed at promoting STEM subjects through Amateur Radio and preparing young participants to earn their Amateur Radio license. 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 June 9-10 - VK - VK SHIRES CONTEST June 17 – IARU R3 – 2018 QRP Day Region 3 June 16-17 - WW - INTERNATIONAL MUSEUMS WEEKEND (1) June 22-23 - WW - INTERNATIONAL MUSEUMS WEEKEND (2) June 22-23 - VK - Winter VHF-UHF Field Day July 14-15 - WW IARU HF Championship July 21 - VKZL Trans-Tasman Low band contest August 11-12 – VK - Remembrance Day Contest  August 18-19 – WW - Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend August 25-26 - VK - ALARA YL CONTEST October 6 – WW - Oceania DX contest Last weekend members of the Rockhampton and Gladstone Amateur Radio Clubs manned the radio room of museum ship HMAS GLADSTONE, callsign VK 4 GLA in Gladstone Queensland. The International Museum Ships Weekend was the event and the RADAR club transceiver was set up feeding into ships antennas. Conditions were less than optimum, and no other museum ships were contacted, however a good time was had by all with contacts made in USA, CHINA, JAPAN, INDONESIA, PACIFIC ISLANDS NZ and most Australian states. During the weekend the technical team worked on testing, tracing and equipment réactivation. Since the weekend Ray, VK 4 FRAL considers it a great honour to be accepted as member of the closed group of The Fremantle Class Patrol Boat Group. These personnel served on these patrol boats and are going to provide a brains trust for ongoing repair and maintenance. Ray also hopes to inspire a few of the ex crew members including Radio Officers and Electrical Officers to join the ranks of Amateur Radio. The next event for Museum Ship HMAS Gladstone, VK4GLA is the International Museums Weekends 2018, an Amateur Radio Special Event taking place on the Weekends of 16th - 17th and 23rd - 24th June Soccer World Cup Special Event Station VK 18 FIFA Australia's Hellenic Amateur Radio Association is yet another ham outlet hosting a special event station during the Soccer World Cup held in Russia. The World Cup will run from the 14 June to 15 July. Radio Amateur members of Hellenic Amateur Radio Association of Australia will be active as VK 18 FIFA from Sans Souci, Sydney for the duration of the FIFA World Cup 2018 on HF. QSL via VK 2 IR but note it is a direct route only. The address for QSL: TOMMY HOROZAKIS, PO BOX 13, SANS SOUCI, NSW, 2219, Australia. (sourced to wia.org.au front page news) Special event station YB 50 AR will be active throughout June to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Organisasi Amatir Radio Indonesia, ORARI, Indonesia's IARU Member Society. In addition to YB 50 AR, the HQ station, another 32 special callsigns will be active from the ORARI Subdivisions over the same period. All will have the YB50 prefix. Information on the ORARI Golden Anniversary Awards will be posted to www.orari.or.id (RSGB) Harald DF2WO will be starting up from Rwanda as 9X2AW on 9th June for about three weeks. (rsgb) The 'DXCC Most Wanted' entities list has been updated on ClubLog The list contain 340 entities and here are the top 10: 1. P5 North Korea 2. 3Y/B Bouvet Island 3. FT5/W Crozet Island 4. BS7H Scarborough Reef 5. KH1 Baker Howland Islands 6. CE0X San Felix Islands 7. BV9P Pratas Island 8. KH7K Kure Island 9. KH3 Johnston Island 10. VK0M Macquarie Island The complete "DXCC Most Wanted" entities list is available on: https://secure.clublog.org/mostwanted.php THE QNEWS WORK BENCH - the nuts and volts report – Measure Twice cut Once. TARC Project Night this Tuesday This Tuesday June 12th the TARC Project Night will be happening at the Townsville Amateur Radio Club Rooms atop SES HQ Green Street West End from 7-30pm. Get along and help or learn about many fascinating aspects of technology, and how to say 'Bonzer!' when all goes good and the smoke stays in! 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 The 18th USA Championships of Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) will take place June 13-17 near Truckee, California, some 30 miles southwest of Reno, Nevada. The competition sites are at about 6,300 feet elevation near Donner Summit. The opening day will be devoted to fox-oring, a combination of radio direction finding and classic orienteering. Course designer for this, the 18th USA Championships of Amateur Radio Direction Finding is Bob Cooley, KF 6 VSE WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video arvideonews.com hamradiotube.com youtube.com qdg.org.au Videos of some Hamvention 2018 forums are available in the YouTube Dayton Hamvention 2018 videos playlist. Among those available are the TAPR Forum, the SDR Forum, and the HamSCI Forum. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR YOUNG TIMERS A Youth Net meets Saturdays at 0100 UTC on IRLP Reflector #2. Young Hams Net 3.590 - 7:30pm Victorian time. http://www.ham-yota.eu/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/youngstersontheair http://www.arrl.org/youth-nets Ham kids build, learn tech skills The Xenia Gazette reports young people were taught how to solder and built their own technology kits at Hamvention The amateur radio convention’s Youth Tech area, sponsored by Dayton Amateur Radio Association, provided a space for youth ages 9-18 to build their own technology kits. “The idea here is to teach kids skills such as soldering, which has been pretty much lost by recent generations — kids don’t grow up knowing how to do that anymore,” Jeff KD 8 SHF, Chair of the Youth Tech Committee, said. “So it teaches them skills on how to solder and at the same time they get to build some kits that teach different principles.” He pointed out a boy working on a wireless Tesla speaker. “Essentially when he’s done with it, he can plug it into any audio source such as his phone,” he said. “It’s a perishable skill that kids are losing today because they don’t grow up doing this,” he continued. “This is a way to re-instil those skills, because they’re still very useful skills.” Read the full story at http://www.xeniagazette.com/news/30388/ham-kids-build-learn-tech-skills (SouthGate) 17-year-old radio ham makes own integrated circuits The IEEE reports 17-year-old radio amateur Sam Zeelof KD 2 ENL has turned his parent’s garage into a 1970s-era chip fab Electronics enthusiasts like being able to make things themselves. But making DIY integrated circuits seemed impossibly out of reach. After all, building a modern fab is astronomically expensive: For example, in 2017 Intel announced it was investing US $7 billion to complete a facility for making chips with 7-nanometer-scale features. But Sam Zeloof was not deterred. This 17-year-old high school student has started making chips in his garage, albeit with technology that’s a few steps back along the curve of Moore’s Law. 17 yr. old KD2ENL says he has been working on his garage fab, located in his home, for about a year. He began thinking about how to make chips as his “way of trying to learn what’s going on inside semiconductors and transistors. Read the full IEEE story at https://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/the-high-school-student-whos-building-his-own-integrated-circuits (SouthGate) Thirteen-year-old Faith Hannah Lea, AE 4 FH, of Palm Coast, Florida, will be the only representative of International Amateur Radio Union Region 2 at the Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) camp this summer in South Africa. Faith Hannah has mounted a GoFundMe campaign to cover expenses. “When I was chosen to go to South Africa for the YOTA summer event, I was thrilled that the committee thought I was one of the best choices to represent the United States,” Faith Hanna said. “The cost of the trip and the deadline it needs to be paid for does not allow me enough time to raise the funds in my usual way to be able to go. With the help and generosity of other hams, I will be able to go to South Africa for the summer event and learn more about Amateur Radio and other cultures. Licensed at age 10 and now holding an Amateur Extra-class license, Faith Hannah is very active on the airwaves and in promoting Amateur Radio via YouTube and elsewhere. She has been a presenter at the Hamvention Youth Forum. (sourced to ARRL) 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 SARC to provide Bom Bom Endurance Ride radio Communications: The Bom Bom Horse enduro is on again and Lismore regions Summerland Amateur Radio Club have been asked to provide radio communications for the event as they did so successfully last year. The basic requirement is for a station at ride base and two field stations at checkpoints along the course. Operations will take place on 2M FM simplex with the maximum operating range being about 6Km. Operators will need to be available for a final briefing at ride base on the afternoon of Saturday 16th. The ride takes place from the early hours of Sunday morning 17th June. The ride takes place in and around the Bom Bom and Divines State Forest just south of Grafton. All interested please contact Duncan VK2DLR ( via e-mail vk2src@gmail.com ) sourced to SARC NewsLetter Social Scene 2018 June 9 & 10 - VK5 2018 South East Radio Group's Convention and Australian Fox Hunting Championship – Mt Gambier June 9 & 10 –VK2 Oxley Region ARC Field Weekend – Oxley Radio ARC July 7 & 8 – VK3 GippsTech 2018 The 21st annual Gippsland Technical Conference vk3bez.org August 4 VK3 Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club HamFest (vk3bft) Nov   11     VK5 - Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society HamFest Nov 17 VK7 - VK7Hamfest Miena Community Centre (vk7wi) 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. 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