June 30 2019 - 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 TWITTER http://twitter.com/VK1WIA Please... If you are only submitting text and not audio, NEVER send just links & url's but write your story as you would expect to hear it being read back and then when you upload audio also email us the txt version. ---------------------------------------------------------------------* NATIONAL NEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING June 30 2019 IN OUR 24th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS WIA Secretary, Peter VK8ZZ, re changes at Amateur Radio Magazine. THIS & MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA 2019 AND FOR WEEK OF JUNE 30 2019 First, Peter VK8ZZ Secretary of the WIA:- It is with regret that the Board of the Wireless Institute of Australia advises that the services of the Editor of AR Magazine have been terminated, effective immediately. The apparent values of the editor of AR are not conducive with those of the WIA and the Board has decided that they were unable to continue to work together to meet the goals, objectives and aspirations of the Institute The editor of AR Magazine has attempted to hold the Wireless Institute of Australia to ransom by denying the publication of the July – August edition of Amateur Radio magazine. This unilateral action by the editor of AR is considered unconscionable and not at all in the best interests of the membership of the Institute. The Editor of AR magazine indicated in a letter to the board that he was taking this action over the non-payment of an annual, “honorarium” of $4000 and unsubstantiated “expenses” of $1000. He had invoiced the WIA for both of these amounts. The WIA Finance Committee declined payment as payment of these invoices, previously paid to him over the past few years, as it has been discovered, would breach the ATO (Australian Tax Office) guidelines for honorariums and expense reimbursement. The WIA Board has been working towards a mutually satisfactory resolution of this matter with a review that was still underway - the editor was aware of this as work-in-progress. Unfortunately, the letter from the editor received on June 24 preempted the completion of that review. An honorarium is an ex gratia payment, i.e., a payment made, without the giver recognizing themselves as having any liability or legal obligation, to a person for his or her services in a volunteer capacity or for services for which fees are not traditionally required. It is a common remuneration practice in schools or clubs. Honorariums are made at the behest of the organisation not that of the individual. There is no legal, moral or other obligation on the organisation, indeed it is inappropriate, to pay an honorarium on any ongoing basis. This action to end the long-term service of the AR editor is not taken lightly by the Board of the WIA and we are greatly saddened. We fully acknowledge the substantive contribution that has been made to the continuation of the long history of the WIA’s magazine over many years. As an immediate measure the Board has already appointed an Editor-in-Chief, who will oversee AR magazine, the current technical editors, as well as an electronic media publications group - details to be announced shortly. The intention of the WIA Board is to continue publishing AR magazine with minimal impact to the schedule. This has been Peter VK8ZZ Secretary of the WIA This is Roger Harrison VK2ZRH with a reminder on the Winter VHF-UHF Field Day – and yet another mea culpa. So. Let me get that mea culpa out of the way. Two weeks ago, in my small tribute to Joe Gelston VK7JG, I mentioned that he got his first callsign in 1965, but I got his callsign wrong. Hence, last week, I corrected that. His first callsign was VK7 Z G J. All good. But . . . sigh . . . I got Joe’s NAME wrong! I used the surname Taylor, instead of Gelston. Worse. I made the mistake in my script. There it is. On the WIA News Broadcast website, for all to see. Forever. Sigh. How BIG a mea culpa can I make? Well. No excuses. I will just have to make changes to my procedures to reduce the possibilities of making mistakes. As a famous line in that legendary BBC comedy series – The Goon Shows – has it: “Nobody’s perfect!” The 2019 Winter VHF-UHF Field Day is done and dusted, and now comes the IMPORTANT part. Submitting your log. You can do it via the VHF-UHF Field Days page on the WIA website. Scroll down the page and under the heading “Submitting Your Log”, there’s a link that takes you to the Field Day Log File Uploader. From there, it’s easy. If you are using the V K C L software, it has a function that does this for you. Easy Peasy, as a famous TV chef is wont to say. You have until midnight 8 July to submit your log. I was out west of Bathurst, with Dave VK2JDS and Steve VK2KFJ, and we had lotsa fun over the weekend. Thanks are due to Alan VK2ZIW, Justin VK2CU and Matt VK2DAG for discussions and some help. And the dogs Saul and Tex for some amusement. This is Roger Harrison VK2ZRH for VK1WIA News. ---------------------------------------------------------------------* INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, RAC, NZART AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE & the World Wide sources of the WIA. INDIA An uncle and his niece, both amateur radio operators, were ready recently when a Cyclone struck the Indian state of Gujarat. Tropical Cyclone Vayu was poised to hit the coast sometime before the 12th of June. On that day, as people began evacuating their homes, Rajesh, VU2EXP and his niece Shyama VU3WHG were enroute to Porbandar in the western part of the state at the request of the police and other officials to provide amateur radio emergency communications. VU 2 OZJ of the Gujarat Institute of Amateur Radio, said that his organisation stayed in touch with hams in various districts expected to be impacted by the coming storm. By June 13th Rajesh and Shyama had established both HF and VHF stations and coordinated their frequencies and operating plan with the Gujarat Institute and the Amateur Radio Society of India. Rajesh noted the station established contact with cities across the state and across India. After the cyclone changed course, the uncle-and-niece team were able to return home as the storm had moved on and no longer posed a threat to the state. GERMANY Online Exams demonstrated at Friedrichshafen RSGB President Dave Wilson M 0 OBW demonstrated the UK's new online exam system at the 44th international amateur radio show Ham Radio 2019 held in Friedrichshafen A report published by Sweden's national society the SSA says: "In the UK, test arrangements are now being applied according to online exam systems. The experience is very good, as it provides several benefits for everyone involved in the process. No papers needed for questions and answers. This also eliminates the risk of typing errors and gives more time to concentration on the data. Questions can even be set in graphical form for handling the right answer. The correction is done automatically and the test result is reported directly with a message for each question." UNITED KINGDOM FILM AT TEN Historic IARU congress film now on website A newly-digitised classic film of the 25th Anniversary Congress of the IARU has been uploaded to the RSGB YouTube channel. Taking place in 1950, the Congress was attended by many well-known amateurs from around the world. The silent film also includes some marvellously authentic street scenes - and some decidedly odd motor vehicles. You can find it in the Film Archive section where you'll also be able to find the Bulletin report from August 1950 on the same event. www.rsgb.org/videos USA Celebrating the 100 years of WWV with an event in Northern Colorado and a special event amateur radio station. Help celebrate the World’s oldest continually operating radio station, W W V, as it turns 100 on October 1, 2019 - 3 months away! The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Northern Colorado Amateur Radio Club (NCARC) have reached an agreement and are working together to organize the event. NIST will focus on the plans for Tuesday, October 1, 2019, when they will host a recognition ceremony and an open house at the radio station north of Fort Collins. NCARC will operate a special event amateur radio station, call sign WW 0 WWV, on the WWV property starting September 28 and going 24-hours a day through October 2. The goal is to make as many U.S. and world-wide contacts during the 120-hour period as possible, using multiple bands and multiple modes on at least 4 simultaneous transmitters. WW 0 WWV will also operate a Get On The Air station for facilitating school and museum contacts over the 5 days of operation. SOUTH AMERICA HAMS ASSIST DURING HISTORIC OUTAGE Hams were at the ready when a historic power outage hit a number of South American countries on Sunday the 16th of June. Argentina was particularly hard hit with only 1 province that retained electricity. Uruguay, part of Paraguay and part of southern Brazil were also left in the dark during the blackout. Jorge Sierra LU1AS, the area emergency coordinator for IARU Region 2, told our Sister News Room "ARNewsLine" that a number of groups using amateur radio for emergency communications were activated in Argentina and Uruguay using battery power. Jorge said however there were no massive network activations of hams but Radio Club Argentino and Radio Club Uruguayo were at the ready. Though no official cause has been identified for why tens of millions of South Americans were left in the dark, LU1AS noted that a fault in Argentina's electrical distribution system spread to the rest of the system, impacting other nations. His own home city of Buenos Aires had power restored 7 hours later and power was gradually restored elsewhere. As an aside, he noted that without general electric service, noise levels on 40 and 80 metres were between S1 and S2. He said in cities, the noise level is usually between S7 and S9 - or higher. OUT OF THIS WORLD PIZZA AT THE SPACE STATION IS JUST PIE IN THE SKY Owen Garriott W5LFL, who became a Silent Key earlier this year, may have been the first astronaut to make an amateur radio call from the International Space Station but the distinction of receiving the first pizza delivered there is the proud province of cosmonaut Yuri Usachov. In 2001, Pizza Hut restaurant chain sent the six-inch-in-diameter delicacy, topped with more travel-friendly salami instead of pepperoni, at a cost equivalent to about $1 million U.S. dollars. The vacuum-sealed meal was prepared and perfected in Kazakhstan, where the Russian space program is headquartered. NASA, of course, was able much later to send pizza-making meal kits to the astronauts who in December 2017 and as recently as this past April have had pizza parties in space. As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, let us all consider this encouraging thought -- that with a little effort, pie in the sky is indeed within the reach of all of us. --------------------------------------------------------------------* 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 2019 IARU HF World Championship 13-14 July. RSGB IOTA Contest July 27-28th Trans-Tasman Low-Band Contest July 20 VK Remembrance Day Contest is August 17-18 -------------- CANADA, VE. Special event station XN 1 M is QRV until July 21 to commemorate the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. QSL via VO 1 IDX. -------------- 3 W 3 B is in Laos from 26th June – 7th July where he will activate his XW4XR callsign. Look for him on 40 – 6m on CW, FT8 and RTTY. QSL manager is E 21 EIC. (irts) -------------- SP 9 FIH returns to Bethlehem in Palestine from 6th July – 3rd August and will be QRV on 80 – 6m as E 44 WE. QSLs go via his home call, again that's SP9FTH (irts) -------------- Help Celebrate AMSAT’s 50th Anniversary – Take W3ZM on the Road! Leading up to the 2019 AMSAT 50th Anniversary Space Symposium and General Meeting, to be held in Arlington, VA, October 18 – 20, 2019, AMSAT’s call sign, W3ZM, will operate from all 50 US States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Not only is this your chance to get Worked All States-Satellites under the W3ZM call sign, but, also, your chance to be a part of this historic effort. When operating outside of the “3” call area, operators will append the W3ZM call sign with “/(call area)." As an example, someone operating from Texas will use W3ZM/5; from Hawaii, W3ZM/KH6; from Alaska, W3ZM/KL7; and from Puerto Rico, W3ZM/WP4. (AMSAT) -------------- BELARUS, EW. Sixteen special event stations are using the EV19 prefix TILL TODAY June 30 to mark the 2nd European Games being held in Minsk. Stations EV 0 CA, EV 0 MA and EV 0 SD represent the sports venues. QSL via operators' instructions. -------------- FRANCE, F. Special event station TM 57 FFC is QRV to July 9 during the 8th FIFA Women's World Cup. QSL via bureau. -------------- ROCK ON Gibraltar Special Event Members of the Gibraltar Amateur Radio Society (GARS) will activate ZB 2 IG 19 between July 1-31st. Activation is to celebrate the 18th International Island Games which is being held in Gibraltar between July 6-12th. Activity will be on various HF bands, 6 meters, and using CW, SSB, FT8, and FM on the satellites. -------------- SRI LANKA, 4S. Kamal, 4S7AB has been QRV using FT8 on 6 meters. QSL direct to home call 4S7AB. ---------------------------------------------------------------------* WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS DIGITAL Packet radio lives again! The old VK2EHQ packet radio BBS has been resurrected, and is active on 147.6 MHz; naturally there is a digipeater operating as VK2RAG-1, and old-timers will know how to access it. In a nod to progress, it is intended to make it available via the Internet once the necessary filters are in place. So, dig out that old TNC, dust it off, plug it in, and enjoy a 'blast from the past.' Oh and as of the time of writing, sysop Peter VK2EHQ is recovering from surgery, so we wish him all the best. (Dave VK2KFU, Publicity Officer, Central Coast Amateur Radio Club) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FEMALES IN RADIO. More women taking up amateur radio CBC News reports more women on Prince Edward Island, Canada, are taking up amateur radio Stephanie vanKampen wrote: Therese Mair dons headphones while her fingers fiddle with a scanner, searching for a voice through the static. She goes on air from her home-made station on P.E.I., with her call letters VY 2 TAM every day and chats with strangers. "What I love is being able to talk to people around the world that I don't know," she said. "I just randomly talked to somebody in Croatia this morning." Mair is new to amateur radio, but she's already showing other women the ins and outs of the hobby at an annual event being held in Charlottetown. Julieanne Scales, 20, came to the event hoping to learn more about the hobby. She said seeing other women operators makes it more attractive. "To know that there are more women in this as well is encouraging and I'd definitely like to take part." Read the full story at www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/10-per-cent-more-p-e-i-women-learning-ham-radio-1.5186772 (SouthGate) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER SRI LANKA'S FIRST HAM RADIO SATELLITE IS IN ORBIT Sri Lanka is celebrating its arrival into the universe of satellites with the release of its Raavana-1 satellite from the International Space Station. The CubeSat is carrying an amateur radio payload and was accompanied by two other CubeSats from Japan and Nepal. The deployment from the International Space Station was made possible through a United Nations initiative known as BIRDS, which helps nations enter the satellite age. A pair of Sri Lankan youth developed their nation's CubeSat at Japan's Kyushu Institute of Technology where they were studying space engineering. Circling the earth from a distance of 400 kilometres, Raavana-1 will transmit images of Sri Lankan geography for at least 18 months. (ARNewsLine) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR OLD-TIMERS http://www.raotc.org.au Hallo everyone. This is Clive VK6CSW reminding you that the Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club of Australia’s July bulletin goes to air tomorrow. This month as well as all the latest Club news, Ian VK3JS will be with us telling about how Landline Phones made us Happy and Connected, then an item about the Square Kilometre Radio telescope Antenna Array in Western Australia, and Bill VK3BR will have a few words about Membership and Articles for the Club Journal Old Timer News. Everyone is most welcome to tune in and to join in the call backs afterwards. Regular listeners will know the times and frequencies for our morning and evening transmissions times while newcomers can find all the details by looking at the Club website at www.raotc.org.au. Here you will also find details of Club membership and qualifications needed to become an RAOTC member. Briefly, full membership requires that you have been qualified to hold an amateur radio licence for at least 25 years, while associate members must have been qualified for 10 years or more, which now includes some Foundation licensees. If none of the broadcast times suit you, you can download the audio file from our website at any time as from tomorrow morning (Monday). As well as this month’s file you can also download the files for the previous five months. If you do listen via the audio file, would you please take a moment to email some feedback to us. Once again, check the website for your local transmission schedule, tune in tomorrow or download the file for the July bulletin, and we look forward to hearing your call sign in the call backs afterwards. 73 from Clive VK6CSW. 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 YOTA TO PROVIDE A SUMMER TO REMEMBER A trio of young hams will depart for Bulgaria from the UK for Youngsters on the Air this summer. Jeremy Boot G4NJH says that Radio Society of Great Britain has announced that they have been selected to attend the Youngsters on the Air 2019 summer camp that will be hosted by the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs outside the capital city of Sofia in August. They will be among about 80 other young amateurs from around IARU Region 1 attending cultural events as well as numerous radio activities. This is the ninth such YOTA camp and it will begin on the 11th of August, concluding on the 17th. Participants are typically between the ages of 15 and 25 and have been selected by the individual IARU member societies. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO SCOUTING http://www.scouts.com.au http://www.scout.org/jota http://www.international.scouts.com.au http://jotajoti.info/ Brett Nicholas VK2BNN Scouts Australia National co-ordinator for JOTA. Lorraine O’Hare VK2FICQ is Girl Guides Australia National JOTA-JOTI Co-ordinator. CALLING FREQUENCIES Please QSY off the calling frequency after establishing communication. Australian voice calling frequencies: 3.650, 7.090, 14.190, 21.190, 28.590, 52.160 World CW calling frequencies: 3.570, 7.030, 14.060, 18.080, 21.140, 24.910, 28.180, 50.160 World voice calling frequencies: 3.690 & 3.940 MHz, 7.090 & 7.190, 14.290, 18.140, 21.360, 24.960, 28.390, 50.160 Calling frequencies for Slow Scan TV (SSTV): 3.630, 7.033, 14.227 Calling Frequencies for PSK31 14.070 ARIZONA SCOUT PROJECT FLIES LIKE AN EAGLE What's better than earning the level of Eagle Scout? Linking the honour to amateur radio. Kent Peterson KC0DGY from ARNewsLine said that the Eagle Scout award was an honour bestowed upon Charles Loftus Jr, KI 7 DUV but the ceremony that made it official turned out to be a Father’s Day gift as well for his dad Charles Loftus Sr. KG 7 KRN. Young Charlie had chosen as his Eagle Scout project the repair and restoration of the Arizona Repeater Association building atop Pinal Peak, Arizona. While the site's repeaters and linking systems were functional, the structure itself was in need of painting, weatherproofing and fire-hazard abatement. It also required a system for drainage since it sits on the side of a hill. With the help of about 20 fellow Scouts and leaders from Troop 124 Charlie got the job done in just three days, his dad said. The best was yet to come, however. Officiating at the ceremony with 9 other Eagle Scout candidates, Kent Barnes KA7EIO told how ham radio had saved him and his crew after the Army helicopter he was piloting in 1983 had transmission failure and crashed in a dry river bed. He and his injured crewmen were left stranded as nearby flood waters approached. Grabbing his amateur radio, Kent used the same repeater site - Pinal Peak - to send a distress call which summoned a rescue helicopter. It arrived just as the waters were about to close in. Charles, the new Eagle Scout's proud father, told Newsline "Perhaps these two events are just a coincidence but I believe fate allowed these two events to touch one another." [endquote] It elevated the highest award in Scouting even higher. ---------------------------------------------------------------------* REWIND:- I'm John Knox VK4FJRK Of interest to many an old time radio fan is your chance to 'become a legal radio pirate.' If you're lucky enough to find yourself in the UK early August here is a chance to visit the Radio Caroline ship, MV Ross Revenge. 2019 is the 55th anniversary of Radio Caroline and the Martello Tower Group are going to be celebrating this by running a ‘special’ special event from MV Ross Revenge from the 1st to the 5th August using the callsign GB55RC. In previous years, they’ve operated from the Ross Revenge and made many thousands of contacts. This year should be even busier with the unique callsign GB 55 RC. The fully insured tender will depart from Mersea Island at 10:00 and 13:00 on the 3rd and 4th August for the approximately twenty minute journey to Ross Revenge. You will be greeted by members of the Martello Tower Group, offered a drink and then given a tour of the ship, including transmitter and generator rooms, studios and the record library. You will also see GB 55 RC being operated from the main Mess on board. If you’d like to book, please email gb55rc@martellotowergroup.com making sure you say which trip you’d like to be on, Saturday or Sunday at 10:00 or 13:00. The cost of this trip is just £25/person (payable in advance), places are limited and are selling quickly. If you’re interested, please see the qrz page for GB55RC here: https://www.qrz.com/db/GB55RC which has more details Keith G6NHU Sec., Martello Tower Group http://martellotowergroup.com 2019 Social Scene VK3 - GippsTech 2019 13'14 July (vk3pf) VK3 - Melbourne QRP by the Bay – Saturday 13 July at 3pm. (vk3ye) VK3 - GIPPSLAND GATE HAMFEST JULY 20 (vk3brs) Cranbourne Public Hall the corner of Clarendon and High Streets Cranbourne 10am. Contact Di by emailing hamfest@ggrec.org.au VK4 - Sunshine Coast Amateur Radios Sun-Fest 9AM, Saturday Sept 14 @ Woombye School of Arts. (vk4an) VK4 - Townsville Amateur Radio Club's Cardwell Gathering 4 days commencing October 4 (vk4zz) VK3 - Yarra Valley Amateur Group HamFest, 13th October (vk3cnw) WW - JOTA 2019 Friday 18th, Sat 19 & Sunday 20 October (vk2gx) VK3 - Ballarat Amateur Radio Group, BARG Hamvention Oct 27 (vk3kqt) VK3 - ROSEBUD RADIOFEST November 17 (wia) 2020 Social Scene ALARAMEET 2020 Bendigo (vk5yl) October 2020 in Bendigo Victoria. Heidi VK3FHID and Jenny VK3WQ are leading the team who are planning an eventful weekend. This team is meeting regularly and are looking forward to seeing you in Bendigo. Submitting news items If you would like to submit news items for possible inclusion in the VK1WIA broadcasts, please email your item in text to nationalnews@wia.org.au and don't JUST send url's links or posters, but take the time to pen YOUR contribution. To submit audio email nationalnews@wia.org.au and ask for the current password then read "how to submit items" in the weekly news page on http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/contribute/ We would appreciate items certainly no longer than 2 minutes in length as we only have a half hour. 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 it in the 3rd person. A reminder when supplying HamFest info we obviously can't plug DEALS from commercial traders "on air", but we at the WIA will put your supporters 'goods' in this text edition "no worries." We cannot give blatant 'plugs' to raffles. (new Jan 2019) ---------------------------------------------------------------------* ===================================================================== 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 WIA affiliated clubs and 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 IF broadcast, are done so 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... If you have call-backs to contribute to the National News call back tally then please send through your call-backs to callbacks@wia.org.au 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:- callbacks@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 from. Send unsubscribe 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------*