AUGUST 18 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 AUGUST 18 2019 AND READ BY ALARA MEMBER. WIA's Aidan VK4APM with this weeks board comment. THIS & MORE IN ALARA THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA AND FOR WEEK OF AUGUST 18 2019 VK3DX active for International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend The Warrnambool Standard newspaper reports Warrnambool radio amateurs are operating VK3DX from Portland's Whalers Bluff lighthouse this year as part of International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend Greg McNamara VK3UT said the event being held this weekend will see Warrnambool Amateur Radio Group members spending the two days chatting to enthusiasts from more than 400 stations. The amateur radio station worked out of a room next to the lighthouse at Warrnambool's Flagstaff Hill for 14 years but a dispute with Warrnambool City Council about 12 months ago saw the group leave their beloved "hut" and withdraw from the 2018 International Lighthouse Weekend. A council spokesman said the amateur radio group could continue to run out of Flagstaff Hill, as long as all members of the group signed in and out of the maritime museum. Council had also requested that the group consult first with Flagstaff Hill management to ensure all the necessary permits and consents were in place prior to making modifications to Flagstaff Hill buildings," he said. About 10 members of the amateur radio group are expected to attend over this, the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. So listen and work VK3DX - they'd love to hear from YOU! (Internet sources) EDUCATION 'Ham in a Day' returns In the USA the complete training course and exam for the 1.5 kW Technician amateur radio license can be done in just 7 hours with a 95% pass rate WHTC-1450 AM News reports: The Holland Amateur Radio Club held the second of three "Ham in a Day" sessions this year [August 10]. Tom Bosscher and other club members had a lengthy list of questions that prospective ham radio operators must have answered during the five-hour study session before the actual two-hour test took place. "It's a cram memory session. Remember what you used to do at school, where you'd study on the bus for the test in first hour? That's basically what this does. We have a 95% pass rate, and then the people get their license. That's just an introduction of what they can do. Once they got your license, that's when they start learning about what's it's all about. All this and just 25 dollars". While the Holland Amateur Radio Club say two hours is allocated for the test it only takes 30 minutes to complete. The extra time allocated allows the candidates to immediately do free retakes of the exam should they fail on their first attempt. (SouthGate) WIA DIRECTORS COMMENT Welcome everyone to this special ALARA edition of the National News, this is Aidan, VK4APM for this weeks board comment. A short while ago the ACMA released a series of proposals for changes to the Amateur Radio Service. These were presented as an "omnibus" Licence conditions update. The WIA's response to this was made available to Affiliated Clubs this week and we would like to thank the many who, despite the very short time frames, were able to deliver expressions of support on behalf of their clubs, for the proposals contained within our response. As we have expressed in the past, our community must act with one voice. Without cohesion and solidarity, the threat to the service is real. We have seen over the years reduction in spectrum access as technology improves and the commercial value of the spectrum that was, at a time, deemed valueless increase. These spectrum access rights are a privilege and we must collectively defend them - for without spectrum the Amateur Service will cease to exist. Consider, thanks to our never ending demand for more bandwidth for the, literally billiions, of mobile devices and IoT devices around the world, the losses of spectrum in the 3-4GHz band is more than than the entire HF, and VHF bands combined. Perhaps users in the Amateur Service needs to expand our thinking and find useful, global applications for this enormous spectrum asset that we have access to. (and it is an asset - something that many seem to only appreciate when it is gone...) By the time this segment goes to air the WIA response will be in the hands of members and the broader community. We encourage all operators, WIA member or not, to submit to the ACMA letters of "in principle" support for the proposals contained therein. Thats all from me, Aidan, VK4APM Remember, WIA board minutes can be found on wia.org.au click WIA Information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------* WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS DIGITAL FreeDV via geostationary satellite ham radio transponder Gerhard OE 3 GBB is transmitting the digital voice mode FreeDV through the amateur radio narrowband transponder on the Es'hail-2 / QO-100 geostationary satellite Gerhard says "I am frequently sending test transmissions and calling CQ at around 10,489.650 MHz. Having adjusted my signal to 10 dB over transponder noise I am getting back at SNR 4-5 in mode2020." QO-100 is in geostationary orbit at 26° east and provides radio amateurs with continuous coverage from Brazil across to Thailand. Post by Gerhard OE3GBB https://sourceforge.net/p/freetel/mailman/message/36734483/ (SouthGate) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER FUNcube-1/AO-73 Entering Continuous Sunlight The operations team have decided to set the satellite to education mode full time. This means full power beacon with no transponder and no eclipse auto switching. One of the effects of this is that the temperature of the satellite will increase. This will allow the FUNcube operations team to follow the effects of continuous sunlight more easily and, in theory, should keep the satellite cooler as more energy should be radiated from the structure as RF. They predict that the satellite will start experiencing eclipses again on approximately 7 May 2020. The team may put the satellite back into transponder mode while it is in continuous sunlight, and will make an announcement if they do so. (ANS) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FT4 and FT8 The FT8 Digital Mode Club is commemorating its 2nd anniversary and eight special event stations are on air in a number of countries until the 24th of August. An F T D M C Anniversary Award can be earned, with various levels to the award. Full details of the participating stations, and the awards, are on ft8dmc.eu (rsgb) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ILLW https://illw.net/ ILLW another 'new' light. On now is the 22nd International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend and Germany has led the field with 57 entries closely followed by the USA with 56. The new light AND new country in the event is the US Virgin Island with Buck Island Lighthouse being registered for the first time. It is a typical example of the main objective of the ILLW which is the preservation of lighthouses. This lighthouse was built by the Danish government shortly before the islands became a U.S. territory in 1917. (SouthGate) 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 Last Sunday, August 11, 80 youngsters from 28 countries met near Sofia, Bulgaria, for the YOTA Summer Camp hosted by the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs. It was a camp full of many great activities like operating the camp station LZ 19 YOTA, building kits and antennas, sight seeing tours around Sofia and enjoying time with new friends in the accommodation. An initiative of IARU Region 1 youth teams under the age of 26 were from 28 countries including from our own region 3 a team from New Zealand sure have enjoyed the week. (SouthGate) SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - VHF AND ABOVE (The Plumbers Delight) 432 MHz station on Cape Verde Islands So far in 2019, the D4C contest team off the west coast of Africa have made some pretty amazing contacts on 144 MHz using the call D 41 CV. Many of these contacts to the Caribbean and Europe were well in excess of 4000 kms in distance. The team have recently announced they are now active on 432 MHz (70cms). They already have worked, SSB, locator square IM66 for 3000 km dx which now raises the possibility of new records being set on this UHF band. (SouthGate) ---------------------------------------------------------------------* 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 HI This is Alan VK4SN with a Sunday morning reminder for the RD contest. There are approximately 3 and a half hours left to fire up and make a few contacts to those bleary-eyed operators who have been up all night chasing triple points. Yes, triple points make for that lead advantage that may put them in a top 3 placing in their chosen categories. Hopefully operators have used the latest version of RD Logger, VKCL or N 1 MM loggers so the logs are easily uploaded to the log checker site. If not, the log will be rejected and will have to be sent to me for a bit of a fix up and then uploaded. No matter how small you think the log is, it is vital that you submit it. Please support your state by submitting your log as it will add to your state totals.! Thanks to everyone for making this a successful RD, especially Peter, VK1PE for his outstanding work in organising the pre contest speeches. 73 from a bleary eyed VK4SN. -------------- G'day, this is Peter VK2PR with the WIA Contest Champion results for 2018. The WIA Contest Champion is awarded annually for the best combined effort in WIA Sponsored Contests. It recognises those who have participated in multiple WIA contests and submitted logs throughout the year. There were a total of 373 entrants during 2018, just 2 short of the record of 375 entrants in 2012. So without further ado, the winner of the Peter Brown VK4PJ trophy for 2018 is... Lawrie Mew VK5LJ with a record score of 660 points. Lawrie entered 7 out of the 9 eligible contests and won 1st place in all but 1 of the contests he entered. Congratulations to Lawrie, an amazing effort! 2nd place went to Gerard Hill VK2IO with a score of 420 points. 3rd place went to Rob McKnight VK2MT with a score of 340 points. 4th place was Trent Sampson VK4TS with a score of 328 points. Equal 5th place was Hilary Bridel VK2AZ (who was the 2017 trophy winner) and Alan Shannon VK4SN, both with scores of 320 points each. Full results can be viewed at www.wia.org.au/members/contests/contestchampion. 73 from Peter VK2PR Good luck in the contests! -------------- ALARA contest August 24/25 The ALARA contest is on next weekend. It starts on Saturday 24th August at 0600 hours UTC and ends Sunday 25th August at 0559 UTC. The aim is to contact YLs. All the details are on the ALARA website. ALARA.org.au We encourage all YLs to get on the air, and OMs to come and talk to us. (Linda VK7QP) -------------- BARTG GB60ATG special event Members of the British Amateur Radio Teledata Group (BARTG) will be active as GB 60 ATG until June 2020. The BARTG is celebrating their 60th Year Diamond Jubilee anniversary with this callsign and special awards are available for contacts with GB 60 ATG using any Data Mode. More information can be found on the BARTG Web site on bartg.org.uk -------------- OMG - Operation Market Garden - special event Look for special event station PA75OMG to be active between September 12 - 22 Activity is to commemorate and celebrate the anniversary of freedom. As part of Operation Market Garden in World War II, paratroopers of the allied forces, such as American, British, Canadian, Polish and Dutch landed in the Nijmegen region on September the 17th, 1944 and the region was soon liberated after four years of German occupation. During the 10 days of activity, PA7OMG will try to work as many amateur radio operators across the world as possible. QSL via the info on QRZ.com For more details and pictures, see: https://pa75omg.nl (SouthGate) -------------- NAURU, C21. Operators Yuris YL2GM Jack YL2KA Kaspars YL1ZF and Kristers YL3JA will be active as C 2 1W from September 16 to 25. Activity will be on 160 to 6 meters, and possibly 60 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8. QSL via YL 2 GN direct or via ClubLog. (SouthGate) -------------- EI 100 YXQ is active until the end of 2019 on all bands and modes. This is a special call to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the first East to West voice transmission across the Atlantic from Ballybunion to Louisberg, Nova Scotia. Kerry Amateur Radio Group (KARG) is QRV from Cromwell Point Lighthouse this weekend for the 16th year in a row of operating in the International Lighthouse Weekend using this special call EI 100 YXQ. (SouthGate) ---------------------------------------------------------------------* INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, RAC, NZART AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE & the World Wide sources of the WIA. Our IARU Secretary, David Sumner, K1ZZ, has contributed to the latest edition of ITU News Magazine, published by the International Telecommunication Union. The issue is devoted to "terrestrial wireless communications," which includes the Amateur Radio and Amateur Satellite services. David's article, "Self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations: the amateur service in the 21st Century," discusses Amateur Radio within the context of a global network of experimenters and communicators who, in his words, "expand the body of human knowledge and technical skills that are essential to development and offer a resource that can literally save lives when natural disasters disrupt normal communications channels." "Amateur licensees are grateful that ITU member-states continue to recognize the benefits of providing direct access to the radio spectrum to qualified individuals," said David. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is an ITU sector member. He points out that access to frequency bands "spaced throughout the radio spectrum" is critical to Amateur Radio's future. He notes that the initial pattern of amateur allocations dates back to 1927 and the International Radiotelegraph Conference. Allocations have been expanded at subsequent conferences, most recently at World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15), when amateur radio obtained a tiny secondary band near 5,3 MHz. An earlier WRC was responsible for the Amateur Service's two lowest-frequency allocations, 135.7 - 137.8 kHz and 472 - 479 kHz. The 1979 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) extended terrestrial allocations above 40 GHz to include amateur allocations. ANTARCTIC AMSAT-DL is hurriedly building a ground station for Antarctica that will link to QO-100. The purpose for the installation is to provide a scientific platform to engage students in studying climate change and its effects in the polar regions. Read the complete article at https://amsat-dl.org/en/wie-wird-die-antarktis-auf-qo-100-qrv/ INDIA Ham radio in Maharashtra floods relief effort The 'Republic World' reports amateur radios and drones have been brought in to assist rescue operations in the aftermath of the Maharashtra floods as rescue and relief operations in Western Maharashtra are in full swing as several places are battling a severe deluge that has engulfed the place. For past 5 days, Narsoba Wadi Village has been submerged following which multiple teams from the NDRF and Indian Navy have been summoned to transport supplies and relief material to the 5,000 people who are stranded in different locations. Apart from the food and medicine supplies, doctors have also been brought in. One of the officials present on site said that boats have been sent for a recee and in addition, the rescue teams are also using Ham radios in order to establish proper communication channels. The teams have set up a base station from where information is channelled and connected with all Ham Radio Networks there. Read the full story on republicworld.com/india-news/general-news/maharashtra-floods-ham-radios-and-drones-brought-in-to-ass AUSTRIA Ham radio banned! Austria's communications regulator B M V I T has banned the carrying or use of Amateur Radio equipment at the Airpower 19 event taking place in Zeltweg on September 6-7 Within the military areas, which are accessible to the visitors, the operation of radio reception and radio transmitters, in accordance with house rules of the air base, is strictly prohibited!" "If persons within the military area are encountered with radio equipment that has not been authorized by the Airpower 19 project organization, then the radio equipment will be temporarily removed by military personnel." Source ÖVSV story with link to full BMVIT statement https://tinyurl.com/AustriaOeVSV UNITED KINGDOM Les Barclay, G3HTF, of Chelmsford, a radio wave propagation expert and academic who was well known in International Telecommunication Union circles, has died at age 85. “Les was Chairman of ITU-R Working Party 3L from 2012 until 2016 and provided key input into the technical discussions for World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 that resulted in the international 60-meter secondary amateur allocation,” said former ARRL Chief Technology Officer Brennan Price, N4QX, who attended WRC-15 and the June 2016 meeting of Working Party 3L. “His expertise in ionospheric propagation was sought and valued by ITU delegates working on a variety of HF issues across several radio services, and he conducted the proceedings of his Working Party with skill and efficiency.” In 1993, Barclay received the ITU Silver Medal for chairing the first Radiocommunication Assembly. Other awards included an Institute of Engineering and Technology Lifetime Achievement Award, the Order of the British Empire, the Polar Medal for Antarctic propagation research, and the IGY Gold Award. He was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and authored more than 50 technical publications. USA The FCC has issued a $39,000 + Forfeiture Order against a man from North Carolina, for intentional misuse of a local public safety radio communications network, in violation of the Communications Act. He is said to have impersonated first responders in unauthorized radio communications on Surry County’s licensed public safety frequency,” the FCC said. Officials, responding to a fire alarm triggered at a local residence, transmitted a request for a unit from the Westfield Volunteer Fire Department. Shortly thereafter, the culprit, posing as ‘Westfield VFD Unit 7331,’ responded, using the mobile radio in his personal vehicle and stated that he was en route to the scene of the alarm. Approximately 4 minutes later, he cancelled the call from the real responders. As a result of these two transmissions, no real first responder investigated the triggered residential fire alarm. Fortunately, no fire actually occurred at the scene of the alarm. ---------------------------------------------------------------------* 2019 Social Scene VK2 - SUMMERLAND AMATEUR RADIO CLUB'S SARCFEST 8:30am Aug 25 (wia) 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) VK5 - AHARS Buy and Sell Marion RSL Nov 3rd (vk5srp) VK3 - ROSEBUD RADIOFEST November 17 (wia) 2020 Social Scene ALARAMEET 2020 Bendigo (vk5yl) October 2 - 8 in Bendigo Victoria. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------*