OCTOBER 20 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 OCTOBER 20 2019 IN OUR 24th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS The WIA National News is being read by by guides from Southern Sydney Rivers Region and scouts from Sydney South Metropolitan Region. THIS & MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA AND FOR WEEK OF OCTOBER 20 2019 This year JOTA celebrates 62 years of connecting scouts and guides by radio. A few things to note, with the change of DMR talk groups for JOTA this weekend, the Tasmania Wia news is on TG3807 this weekend at 9:30 am advises VK7ZCR. Col, VK3GTV one of our regular news presentors this weekend will be with a JOTA scout camp at Lake Eppalock in Central Victoria, two days, two hats, as an amateur operator and Scout Leader. From October 18th through the 20th, all modes all bands is the 'travel free' jamboree. This is not a contest, but an opportunity for scouts from around the world to contact each other through the Internet and the Amateur Radio bands. While this is a scouting specific event, all amateurs are encouraged to participate in any way they can. Scouts ultimately need to talk with other scouts, but with our current up and down band conditions, any contact will be appreciated. For those of you who have committed to scouting for this special event, this is a great opportunity to work with youth and show the best of Amateur Radio as a life long hobby. For those of you providing contacts, it's also an opportunity for you to share your Amateur Radio experience and any history you have with Scouting. You will hear the K2BSA callsign on the air portable from the various call areas in the USA.For more information on this please visit website k2bsa.net Over in the UK GB 100 GP will be on the air from Gilwell Park and will have over 250 youngsters visiting the station over the weekend to take part in a variety of activities. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority is seeking feedback on the proposal to cease HF radiotelephone monitoring of distress and safety communications in Australia on 1 January 2022. The state and Northern Territory marine agencies or volunteer marine rescue organisations monitor the HF radiotelephone distress and safety calling frequencies. The proposal to cease monitoring has come from the Maritime Agencies Forum (MAF), a national body that enables marine safety agencies to identify, agree and monitor the ongoing work required to implement the National Standard for Commercial Vessels, which coordinates technical maritime safety advice and operational maritime policy nationally. However, the use of HF radiotelephone as the first and only means of distress and safety calling has steadily declined. In the four-year period to March 2018, there were only two distress and six urgency communications initiated by vessels, where only HF radiotelephone was used. The consultation applies to all vessel categories; however, vessels operating outside VHF coast station range and without a global maritime distress safety system radio, such as Inmarsat, or HF digital selective calling radio are those mostly affected. Read more: http://criticalcomms.com.au/content/public-safety/news/amsa-seeking-feedback-on-ceasing-hf-monitoring-409648240#ixzz622BzqxDg ‘Flynn of Moliagul – the story of Rev John Flynn of the Royal Flying Doctor Service’. The Reserve Bank is issuing an updated $20 note this month, featuring Rev John Flynn. A commemorative event will be held at the Moliagul school on Saturday October 26th, featuring evolving technologies of wireless radio communication and aviation development. Rev John Flynn was born at Moliagul on November 25, 1880, and his father was the teacher at the Moliagul school. The event is presented by the Goldfields Historical & Arts Society and Dunolly Museum, with the Bendigo Amateur Radio & Electronics Club, Kyneton Aero Club, Moliagul Reserve committee and Bendigo Historic Motorcycle Club. And rumour has it there may even be a flyby. There will be talks and exhibits in the school house from 10 am to 5 pm. The event is free and refreshments will be available. The special event callsign will be VI 3 FLYNN and an electronic QSL will card available, so stay tuned for frequencies and operating times. For something different, drop in and see us at the Moliagul school on October 26th. The school is located at 43 High St, Moliagul in Central Victoria. Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. During the week, I read an article about a group of people working in high end Researchand Development who went to a course and became radio amateurs. Although most of these people were skilled in various areas of science and computing, they were working on systems that depend on radio for some of their features. The radio hobby brought these people into understanding more of how the overall performance of their systems could be influenced by radio propagation, absorption of signals by moisture and so much more. Hello to all the people involved in Jamboree on the Air and Jamboree on the Internet. I hope you have been enjoying some of the experiences these world wide scouting meets offer. For many of you this might be the first contact with some aspects of the STEAM studies. What that means is science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics are the things that we use to make our world run. Amateur radio uses technology in various forms, electronics being the most obvious but we pick up on all kinds of things from how the clouds help or spoil contacts and why the sun can boost signals around the world. You probably found that long distance chats didn’t happen on shortwave this weekend. We really need sunspots for things to happen but that is something people can look up. Now we all use these particular disciplines or areas of study, quite unconsciously every day. It is not only the games and apps on our devices but it is also the preparation of food. We all know how to cut an apple in half. It is when we go deeper into subjects that we need to be more familiar with STEAM subjects. I have listened to scientists, including Nobel prize winners, talk about their enthusiasm for the subject that they have followed. It is the creative pursuits such as reading, cinema, drama and when we are smaller, simple games with toys and in the space available. When we think about this, progress through scouting allows you to engage with many areas which fall into the STEAM pursuits. The badges that you choose to gain lead you to learn more of those subjects of interest. Similarly the hobby we know as amateur radio can take you into more areas of learning than just using a screen or keyboard. You can involve yourself in learning about the things that make this hobby personally interesting. Officially the international description of amateur radio calls it a service for experimenting and self-learning. I would like to invite you to consider joining the ranks of the radio experimenters. We have a history going back over a hundred years and members from all areas of life and experience. We have hams who like keeping old ways, young people, students through to great grand parents. Of course, not everyone wants to play tennis or futsal and not everyone wants to learn robotics, mesh networking or space communications but they can be features of your experience of amateur radio. As a memory of this JOTA/JOTI give a thought to doing a badge or even joining us on the airwaves. We have a saying, “When all else fails, we still have amateur radio”. I’m VK4ZPP Geoff Emery and that’s what I think....how about you? Now on the special JOTA edition of the news, we are joined by WIA Director VK8MA Mike Board Comment 21st October 2019 by Mike VK8MA Thank you to the Guides from the Southern Sydney Rivers Region & the Scouts from Sydney South Metropolitan Region for their efforts on this weeks WIA Programme. It is an appropriate time to think about our young people. JOTA & JOTI are happening this weekend. Young people all over the world are communicating as Scouts & Guides. These young people have access to both Radio and the Internet. Times are tough on the HF bands with conditions so depressed, so understandably Internet comms methods work well. But, Amateur Radio can still play a part with the ease of methods like IRLP, EchoLink, etc. Don’t forget IRLP Reflector 9091 is a world wide source of JOTI/JOTA contacts possible via VHF/UHF or whatever with 5 X 9 guaranteed this weekend!! What we need is these young people who have their appetites whetted to maintain interest. Although we may have not got everything we wanted from the recent ACMA review, the Foundation enthusiasts should take heart. You can now use all these incredible weak signal digital modes which will open up a new world for you while HF conditions are depressed. You can also start learning how to build your own gear. As well as facilitating stations for the Scouts to use, I would encourage all hosting Amateurs to encourage those that you can see are interested, to visit your club and make them welcome. As a young 14 year old guy that joined the WIA in the early 60’s, I was taken on board and encouraged right thru to licenced stage, and thereafter. My thanks to all the Old Timers of the VK3 branch back then at the old club rooms in Vic Parade, South Melbourne!! Wouldn’t we all love to hear a list of new members that outweighed our silent keys?? These young people are our future. We have the knowledge and experience to hand on to our successors. We need to replace silent keys with young vibrant youth enthusiasm. They don’t come with it, they need to inherit it from us, the WIA with all its expertise. Yes, the plea is to all clubs, cultivate new young membership and help them!! To the Scouting Movement all over the world, enjoy your day and have fun with communications that just don’t emanate from the Internet. This has been Mike, VK8MA on behalf of the Board. ---------------------------------------------------------------------* INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, RAC, NZART AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE & the World Wide sources of the WIA. One month until the transit of Mercury Mark your calendar. In just less than a month the tiny black form of Mercury will cross the disk of the sun, a rare transit that happens only 13 times each century. Start planning now so you can witness this beautiful event on November 11, 2019. Visibility maps and observing tips are featured on the Friday, October 11, 2019 edition of Spaceweather.com ITU Magazine Reports on IARU Agenda Items for WRC-19 David Sumner, K1ZZ, Secretary, International Amateur Radio Union authored an article in the special WRC-19 issue of #ITU News magazine "Views of the International Amateur Radio Union on WRC-19 agenda items". Among many overall IARU objectives for WRC-19 one directly affects amateur satellite operation: Agenda item 1.7 - spectrum for non-GSO satellites The IARU supports satisfying the spectrum requirements for non.GSO satellites with short duration missions within the existing allocations for the space operation service or the frequency ranges identified in invites ITU.R 3 of Resolution 659 (WRC.15), unless the satellites are amateur satellites as defined in Radio Regulations (RR) Nos. 1.56 and 1.57. The band 144-146 MHz is especially important to amateurs as it is currently the only worldwide primary amateur and amateur-satel- lite allocation between 29.7 MHz and 24 GHz. It is heavily used in all three Regions for all forms of amateur communications including disaster response. Sumner's article begins on page 72 of the magazine which can be accessed as a 20 MB PDF file at: https://t.co/acLwy4W5Jo?amp=1 JAPAN Japan's Class 4 ham radio licence Japan introduced its entry level Class 4 licence in the the late 1950's, it would prove to be the world's most successful category of amateur radio licence, taken by over 3 million people The work required to get a Class 4 licence is less than that needed for our Foundation. It takes about 10 hours study and unlike the VK Foundation there are no Practical Assessments just a short multiple choice test at the end of the course. It seems pass rates of 97% or higher are commonplace. A Class 4 licence permits the following: • 1 watt EIRP on 135 and 472 kHz • 10 watts output on 1.9, 3.5, 7, 21, 24, 28 MHz bands • 20 watts output on 50, 144 and 430 MHz bands • Varying power levels between 10 watts and 0.1 watts on ALL amateur bands between 1240 MHz and 250 GHz. It is notable that Japan gives their Entry Level Licence class full access to all the Microwave and Millimetric bands. Japanese call signs, licence conditions and statistics motobayashi.net/callsign/enigma/index.html RUSSIA Mysterious chirps in 80m band The latest IARU Region One Monitoring System newsletter reports on the mysterious chirps on 3510 kHz USB that have been noted every evening since September 25 DK2OM and HB9CET report they cover about 3 kHz and Direction Finding suggest the source is in the area of Voronezh in the Russian Federation - but the purpose is unknown. The IARUMS Region 1 September 2019 newsletter can be read on iarums-r1.org/iarums/news2019/news1909.pdf SWEDEN S.A.Q. to transmit on UN-Day Join in celebrating UN Day on October 24 at the World Heritage Grimeton! This year, hundred years have passed since equal voting rights for men and women were introduced in Sweden. It is a human right that everyone can make their voices heard in fundamental issues and is prerequisite for creating a democratic and peaceful society. To raise the power of women in peace issues, the organization Acting 4 Change, that works with the project womens empowerment in Senegal, is invited to talk about women’s participation in the peace process from a Senegalese perspective. During the evening, a peace message is sent with the old long-wave transmitter SAQ. The event is held in the radio station building with free admission. USA Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network Employed to Monitor California Wildfires Two separate groups took advantage of the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network to monitor wildfires in California. The Mariposa Area Amateur Radio Organization used the Amateur Radio mesh to stream via microwave, video from the fire near Yosemite National Park. The Pleasant Valley Amateur Radio Club employed the AREDN mesh to stream video from the Saddle Ridge Fire near Los Angeles from a repeater site overlooking San Fernando Valley. REMEMBERING ROCKER LARRY JUNSTROM K4EG/SK The ham world and the music world have lost a major talent. Fans of classic Southern rock bands Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special are very familiar with the sound of the big man on the bass, Larry "LJ" Junstrom. But hams also knew him as K 4 EB or, as his chosen phonetics went, "Known 4 Excellent Bass." Originally licensed in 1962, a burgeoning music career sidetracked the hobby until 1990, when he decided to get back in and went from Novice to Extra in 10 months, all while still touring. Junstrom was active on HF, but also very active on D-STAR as he carried a USB dongle with him on the road with the band. But its the music he helped create with 38 Special that brought him fame and endeared him to fans all over the world. Larry Junstrom became a silent key on October 6, 2019. He was 70. --------------------------------------------------------------------* 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 -------------- A reminder that E I0 JOTA will be active from the Larch Hill Scout Centre in the Dublin/Wicklow mountains as part of this international JOTA weekend from the 18th to 20th October. Please give the scouts a call. -------------- It's been a long hard process but the 2M repeater VK2RBB (146.625MHz, -600 offset, 123 tone) is back on air. This project has been lead by Rob VK2ELH for over 5 years and taken countless hours of work by Rob and his team. The pay-off for all that hard work? The joy in the voices of operators to the North and East in particular who can now talk to the rest of Summerland after about seven years of silence. -------------- DMR Repeater VK 3 RWV is now online and servicing the Local Government Area of The City of Warrnambool. Details for accessing the repeater including frequencies can be found on its QRZ.COM page qrz.com/db/vk3rwv Steve and Donna, VK3VM-3LDY thank lots of folk for their assistance with regards to getting this device online including ACMA and DMR-MARC networking team. -------------- A group of Czech operators are QRV from the Columbian island of San Andres from 17th – 27th October. The callsign, 5 K 0 K and they will be on all bands 160 – 10m. San Andres counts as a separate country for DXCC and as NA-033 for the IOTA award and QSLs go via Club Log OQRS. -------------- Willi DJ7RJ will be active again as FH/DJ7RJ from Mayotte Island in the Indian Ocean until November 4 on all bands but as usual will concentrate on the low bands, in particular 160m. QSL to his home call, DJ7RJ. -------------- A multi-national team is signing VP 6 R from Pitcairn Island until the 1st of November operating all bands and all modes. QSL via Club Log OQRS. Pitcairn Island was where the mutineers from HMS Bounty made their home in 1790. ---------------------------------------------------------------------* WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - arvideonews.com hamradiotube.com youtube.com qdg.org.au First Convention talk video released The first video of the talks given to the AMSAT-UK Colloquium, part of the RSGB Convention, on October 12-13 has now been released on YouTube A fascinating presentation on the WUSAT-3 CubeSat project given by Professor Julia Hunter-Anderson @blue_space_sust of the University of Warwick it highlights potential uses of satellites for wildlife tracking. Watch 2019: UoW WUSAT-3 project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v7ZBdCq7sU WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FEMALES IN RADIO. A FINANCIAL BOOST FOR YLs IN AUSTRALIA In Australia, there's some financial assistance for YLs looking to deepen their involvement in amateur radio. ALARA, the Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Association may be able to offer a grant to assist you with the costs. There are a limited number of grants available and they cover half the assessment fees, plus half the cost of licence fee for the new callsign. The grant includes a complimentary one-year membership in ALARA, which was formed in 1975 to encourage Australian women's participation in amateur radio. Membership has since grown to more than 200. ALARA's website notes that grants will be paid once a YL has completed her qualification. Applications and documentation should be sent to the ALARA secretary Jean VK5TSX once the licence is issued. A downloadable application form is available on the website alara.ORG.AU (Amateur Radio Newsline) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- QRP and WEAK SIGNAL COMMUNICATION Hello, this is Ron VK3AFW from the Moorabbin and District Radio Club. Sunspots continue to be at record low levels so what would you think of going portable and running QRPP, that is no more than 1 watt and getting at least four contacts on simplex or HF? A Challemge? Yes it is. The M&DRC QRPP challenge commences Saturday 19th October local time and runs through to the following Sunday week Sunday 27th October 2019. A challenge is different to a contest, It is about you meeting your personal goals. There are no places or prizes. For full details go the Club web site https://mdrc.org.au/ and click on issue 265 of the club magazine APC News. Are you up to the challenge? 73 from the Moorabbin and District Radio Club. 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 ATTRACTING YOUNG HAMS IN SWITZERLAND Some brainstorming is about to get underway in Switzerland to explore ways to attract young amateurs. Acknowledging a critical need in Switzerland for more young amateur radio operators, the Swiss amateur radio society, the USKA, is hosting a free symposium on this weekend to explore ways to infuse the hobby with enthusiastic youngsters. The Union of Swiss Shortwave Amateurs notes a slump in new young licensees in the past two years and hope that participants in the symposium can brainstorm and find ways to energize interest. The symposium will take place in Bern and is also the annual meeting of the society's training coordinators. (Amateur Radio Newsline) 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 SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- SUMMITS ON THE AIR www.sotawatch.org www.sota.org.uk HAMS PREP FOR AUTUMN'S BIG SOTA QSO PARTY Don't expect poor band conditions and challenging terrain to stand in the way of one special summit-to-summit QSO Party. SOTA activators have checked their gear and access routes to their chosen summit for the upcoming Europe - Asia- Australasia Summit-to-Summit QSO party. This event has become a regular over the last few years, occurring twice a year, once in Spring and once in Autumn around the time that the clocks are changed. This autumn's event is scheduled for Saturday the 19th of October starting around 06:30 UTC. This year will be the most difficult so far with radio conditions being the worst they have been in years but that doesn't put off these activators. They know there's a chance of contacts if they are on the right band at the right time. To see when the stations are on, go to SOTAs own cluster at sotawatch.sota.org. uk (Amateur Radio Newsline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------* 2019 Social Scene VK3 - Ballarat Amateur Radio Group, BARG Hamvention Oct 27 (vk3kqt) VK3 - Melbourne QRP by the Bay (SouthGate) Melbourne QRP by the Bay is coming up next month – Saturday 2 November at 3pm. 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 - 5 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------*