DECEMBER 29 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 DECEMBER 29 2019 IN OUR 24th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS WIA IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT JUSTIN WITH WHATS IN STORE IN HOBART FOR OUR AGM WIA DIRECTOR JOHN VK4JJW NEWS OF A SILENT KEY WHOSE MAIN ACHIEVEMENT WE USE MOST DAYS WIA QSL BUREAU CHANGES IN 2 STATES WIA PAST DIRECTOR ROBERT GOES STAR GAZING, AND SO TO CAN YOU WIA OFFICE CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS NEW YEAR WIA PRESIDENT WITH THIS WEEKS BOARD COMMENT All this and more in this bumper Christmas Season edition of National news from the WIA, the last news service of the decade. WIA Not a WIA Member? details email nationaloffice@wia.org.au OR the link on bottom right of wia.org.au https://wia.memnet.com.au/MemberSelfService/NewMemberForm/WIA/NewMemberForm.aspx WIA board minutes can be found on wia.org.au click WIA Information. Season’s Greetings from the WIA Conference Organising Committee. The WIA Annual Conference will be held in Hobart Tasmania over the 8th to 10th May 2020 and registrations are open and selling fast. The conference theme is “Antarctic Gateway” and the weekend is setup to showcase the Antarctic past, present and future for those attending the weekend. We have been able to secure a fantastic deal from the Spirit of Tasmania with discounted fares and accommodation on the ship for the two weeks before and after the conference weekend. So, if you are thinking of making a holiday of it and seeing the Apple Isle, this is your chance. Bring the car, caravan, motorhome or motorbike. To take advantage of the special Spirit of Tasmania deal book early to ensure they have a space for your vehicle and caravan! Follow the link on the WIA website page to the Spirit of Tasmania booking site. https://www.spiritoftasmania.com.au/offers/wia-annual-conference-2020 We have also been given permission to operate 6m, 2m and 70cm handhelds maritime mobile on the Spirit for this period. This is a unique opportunity to operate Maritime Mobile on your travels. The conference begins on Friday 8th May at lunchtime with 30 lucky people getting a tour of the Australian Antarctic Division headquarters South of Hobart. There will be buses to and from the conference venue. These bookings are open to all call areas except VK7 on a first come first served basis so get in quick to reserve a booking as it is limited to 30 people. On the Sunday we have a range of fascinating tours organised. These include Mawson’s Huts Replica Museum, either the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery with their Islands to Ice exhibition or the Tasmanian Maritime Museum and the wonderful and very unique Grote Reber Museum and Radio Telescope dish. Grote Reber was the father of radio astronomy, being the first person to build a "big dish" antenna for the purpose of mapping the sky at radio frequencies. He discovered many discrete radio sources, and he mapped the band of bright radio emission from our Galaxy, the Milky Way. Reber came to Tasmania in the late 1950s because of its unique location at high magnetic latitude in the southern hemisphere. He spent 40 years studying low frequency emissions with telescopes he built himself, first in partnership with the University of Tasmania School of Physics, and later on his own at Bothwell. We finish off today with a reminder that we have negotiated a great deal from the Conference venue – Best Western Hobart with $149 per night rooms. Check out the WIA website to see what to do to take advantage of this discounted rate. https://www.wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/2020agm/ We hope you have a safe and happy holiday season. 73, Justin VK7TW on behalf of the WIA2020 Conference organising committee. Staffing Changes in the WIA Bureaus The WIA Board has recently approved two changes in the management of the State QSL Bureaus. In VK5, Chris Platt, (VK5CP) has stepped out of the role, which has now been taken up by Grant Willis (VK5GR), with the VK5 Bureau now operating under the auspices of the Amateur Radio Experimenter’s Group in that State. In VK8, Greg Winterflood (VK8KMD) has relinquished his role, noting a recent downturn in cards destined for Alice Springs amateurs. Phil Brennan (VK8VWA) has now taken over the VK8 QSL Bureau management, which is now tied in with the Darwin Amateur Radio Club. On behalf of the WIA, I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to both Chris and Greg for their assistance in ensuring that the WIA QSL Bureau process has continued to operate effectively. The WIA QSL Bureaus could not continue to operate without the time given voluntarily by our members. John Seamons VK3JLS - National & Inwards WIA QSL Bureau Manager WIA National Office posted a note a day or so back on the main wia page to advise they are closed. The WIA office in Bayswater closed Friday December 20th 2019 and will re-open in the New Year at 11am (AEDT) on Monday 20th of January 2020. (wia.org.au) ---------------------------------------------------------------------* INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, RAC, NZART AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE & the World Wide sources of the WIA. USA FCC seeks to remove 3 GHz ham radio band ARRL reports the FCC has formally adopted proposals to remove the USA Amateur and Amateur-Satellite Service 3 GHz Band and is inviting comments “By proposing to delete the existing non-federal secondary allocations from the 3.3 – 3.55 GHz band, we are taking an important initial step towards satisfying Congress’s directives and making as much as 250 megahertz of spectrum potentially available for advanced wireless services, including 5G,” the FCC said in the Introduction to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. A group of radio amateurs gathered earlier this month at W 1 AW to mark the 98th anniversary of the successful ARRL Transatlantic Tests. December, 1921, a message transmitted by a group of Radio Club of America members at 1 BCG in Greenwich, Connecticut, was copied by Paul Godley, 2 ZE, in Scotland. Reporting on the accomplishment, ARRL Secretary Kenneth B. Warner, 1 EH, declared “Excelsior!” Clark Burgard, n 1 BCG — who lives in Greenwich and fashions his call sign as, lower case n, figure ONE then upper case BCG to honour the original 1BCG — was among those on hand at the Maxim Memorial Station. “We completed a successful special event at W1AW commemorating the 98th anniversary of the Transatlantic Tests,” Burgard recounted. “This was particularly important historically to amateur radio as it was originally organized by the ARRL in 1921 to determine if low-power amateur radio stations using shortwave frequencies could actually be heard in Europe. Until then, it was thought impossible.” BOSTON MARATHON FCC Proposes a MARATHON Fine for Unlicensed Broadcasting The FCC has proposed fining an alleged pirate broadcaster in the Boston, Massachusetts area more than $450,000. According to the FCC, Radio TeleBoston, used three separate transmitters for broadcasting, resulting in three separate violations of the law. As a result of the scale of this operation, its potential impacts, and its continuous nature, the Commission proposed the maximum penalty for all three transmitters. NEW ZEALAND Short-term management rights in 3.5 GHz band for 5G In December 2019 the New Zealand Government approved the allocation, via auction, of short-term rights to an unused portion of 3.5 GHz spectrum. These rights will be allocated as national management rights for a term beginning mid-2020 until 31 October 2022. 3.5 GHz is the first spectrum band to be allocated for 5G services in ZL. INDIA A now elderly man who'd gone missing from home when he was in his 20s and for whom a death certificate in the meantime had been issued is back home with his family in Odisha, India with the help of amateur radio operators. Our News Editor Graham VK4BB filed this story this week for Amateur Radio Newsline:- " The West Bengal Radio Club's secretary, Ambarish Nag Biswas VU2JFA, had noticed the 75-year-old resting on a bench. Though the man did not speak to him, Ambarish befriended him over time, bringing him food, a blanket and a mosquito net. When the man finally spoke and said his name was Charu, Ambarish recognized that he was from Odisha. He contacted a ham there - Dushyant (Doo-SHANT) Kumar Das - who was able to track down the man's family home based on his memories of what it looked like 57 years ago, the last time Charu had been there. Dushyant found the location and eventually tracked down Charu's younger brother, Ajay (A-JIGH) who recounted how after Charu had gone missing and could not be located, had been declared dead. The Odisha hams relayed the Charu's return. Subir Datta VU3ZSD president of the West Bengal Radio Club, told the Millennium Post, "We are happy to help a person to reunite with his family after so many years. " --------------------------------------------------------------------* 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 -------------- Ross Hull Memorial VHF/UHF Contest takes place ALL of January 2010 -------------- VHF - UHF SUMMER FIELD DAY - Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 January. -------------- WIA John Moyle Field Day 2020 Weekend of 21-22 March from UTC 0100 on the Saturday to 0059 Sunday 22. -------------- The provisional date for the next Harry Angel Sprint will be Saturday May 2nd 2020. 10:00 - 11:46 UTC. -------------- The VK SHIRES the June long weekend, which is the weekend prior to the second Monday of June each year.. making it June 6 - 7 in 2020 -------------- TRANS TASMAN LOWBAND CONTEST Next contest - 17 JUL 2020 - and has the aim of encouraging Low Band activity between VK and ZL on 160 80 and 40M using SSB, CW and RTTY OR PSK -------------- RD or Remembrance Day Contest will be August 15 - 16 next year. -------------- OCEANA CONTEST VOICE from 0800 UTC Saturday October 3 to 0800 UTC Sunday October 4 CW from 0800 UTC Saturday October 10 to 0800 UTC Sunday October 11 -------------- THROUGH THE DX WINDOW -------------- -------------- New Irish beacon on 60 MHz now on the air Back in early 2018, the 60 MHz (5-metre) band was allocated to radio amateurs in Ireland (EI) on a secondary non-interference basis. Now we have news that the very first beacon on 60 MHz went on air on the 16th of December 2019 using the call EI 1 KNH. It is on 60.013 MHz and runs 25 watts into a vertical folded dipole. This currently is the only 5-metre beacon operational in the world. The 5-metre beacon is co-sited with some of the existing Irish beacons EI 0 SIX on 50 MHz and EI 4 RF on 70 MHz. The elevated site has a locator of IO 6 3VE and is located about 20 kms to the south of Dublin. (SouthGate) -------------- A joint group of Tunisian and Algerian amateurs are active as 7 X 7 X December 28 – 2nd January focusing on 160 and 80m and digital. QSL manager is 7 X 2 RO. (irts) -------------- Col MM 0 NDX and Jonathan MM 0 OKG are spending a few days in Iceland signing TF/OJ 0 Y from 30th December – 2nd January. QSL via EB 7 DX. (irts) -------------- A team of 8 UK operators will be QRV from the Sovereign Base Area of Cyprus from 2nd – 7th January. They will use the callsign ZC 4 UW on all bands 160 – 10m on CW and SSB. (irts) -------------- Island chasers may be interested in working Ron PY6/PP2RON who will be on Itaparica Island until 1st January. This one counts as SA-023 for the Islands on the Air Award and QSLs go via his home call. -------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------* QNEWS WORK BENCH Teams across Australia are joining a community science project, building backyard Radio Telescopes to detect the arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. This DIY radio telescope project headed up by second year Masters of Astronomy student Rami Mandow is the first in a Inspiring Next Geneneration series which is all about getting people across Australia and NZ involved in science and the Australian/New Zealand space communities. There’s a bunch of info about this community science project on https://spaceaustralia.com/news/community-science-project-diy-radio-telescope The teams are building antennas and software defined radio receivers for the 21cm band. The community of DIY radio telescope builders is made up of folks many who have never had any experience with radio astronomy, parents and young people, radio astronomers, radio amateurs, engineers, software developers and more, yes its a very diverse group! There are thirty-three teams in Australia, three in Africa and one team in America who are each building their own DIY radio telescopes. Teams participate, share and collaborate through an online Slack community and are working towards producing a full set of documentation which can be open-sourcedanyone at the end of this project. Link to Space Australia Website https://spaceaustralia.com/news/community-science-project-diy-radio-telescope Hi I'm Bruce vk3ff , lets look at the weather then special interest groups... WIRELESS WEATHER Solar Minimum is officially 'deep.' 2019 has just broken a Space Age record for days without sunspots. Moreover, an international panel of scientists led by NOAA and NASA predicts that Solar Minimum could deepen even further, not reaching its lowest point until April of 2020. Recently we were asked "BUT WHAT IS A SUNSPOT?" Well they are cool planet-sized areas on the Sun where intense magnetic loops poke through the star's visible surface. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- CW AMSAT CW Day, January 1, 2020 is Just Ahead! You are cordially invited to take part in AMSAT CW Activity Day 2020 sponsored by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the world. The 2020 event will be held in memory of Larry Brown, W7LB, and Keith Pugh, W5IU. Among their many contributions to AMSAT, they were the AMSAT 20-meter net for many years. Participation is easy. Just operate CW through any Amateur Radio satellite on 1 January 2020. Use of straight keys or bugs is encouraged but not required. If you use AO-7, please observe the QRP rules currently in effect for that 45-year-old satellite. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER Israel Applauds Successful Launch of Duchifat3 Israel has applauded the successful launch of Isro’s PSLV-C48 rocket that put an experimental satellite built by students of its country into orbit on Wednesday, Dec. 11. The Israeli satellite was among nine foreign customer satellites piggybacking on India's primary payload Risat-2BR1, a military radar imaging satellite. Duchifat3 was built by high school students and carries an on-board camera for earth imaging. The transponder has an uplink of 145.970 MHz and a downlink of 436.400 MHz -- however some reports indicate that downlink may actually be at 436.420 MHz. ESA's OPS-SAT Flying Laboratory Launched, a first-of-its-kind space laboratory. The small, low-cost, test satellite has been specifically designed for operational experimentation in space, and includes the most powerful flight computer on-board any current ESA spacecraft. As spacecraft managers dare to fly only tried-and-tested hard and software in the harsh conditions of space, innovation on the operational side of satellites is a very slow-moving process. This is where OPS-SAT steps in, bringing down the barriers to spacecraft operations it provides a chance to safely test out new mission control techniques. Anyone can apply to become an 'experimenter' and test their innovative software and new mission operations techniques in space. OP-SAT provides technology for future missions and paves the way for satellites to further evolve with minimum risk. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS IOTA 2020 IOTA Honour Roll – Annual Listings IOTA enthusiasts, if you have been planning to submit an application for IOTA, consider doing it now before the December / January rush. For those waiting for the very last QSL to secure their highest possible position on the 2020 Honour Roll and Annual Listing, you are reminded that the last date for mailing score updates to checkpoints for inclusion is 31 January 2020. If postmarked after that date, and each year some are received, they are processed in the normal way but the scores are held over to the following year's listing. In countries where the postal service to the checkpoint is often subject to delay, it is best to mail cards early so as to avoid complications. It is important that participants who have not updated since the 2015 annual listings and wish to remain listed should make a submission before 31 January 2020. Furthermore, if you have not logged into your record for more than two years, you will need to revalidate your registration. Do not leave it to the last moment as you WILL run out of time. WHAT ARE WE WITHOUT IT? Software that is. If you are chasing the 'latest and greatest' in Ham Radio software be aware of one of the largest and up to date repositories. DX ZONE DXZONE has software from Android to Weather and FAX and in fact some 96 logging applications! Where do you get it? dxzone.com YOTA YOUTH ON THE AIR - IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR In fact it’s a YouTube channel HamRadio.World is a YouTube channel that is put on by a family of six amateur radio operators. Dad (WX4TV) and Mom (N8ZQZ), Zechariah (WX4TVJ), Faith Hannah (KD3Z ), Hope (ND2L), and Grace (KE3G). They have been told that Faith Hannah and Hope each were at different times the youngest Extra Class hams in the US of A. They are a home school family, and amateur radio plays an integral part in their curriculum and all of the children have earned their Amateur Extra Class licenses. They even have a family ham radio club called the Ham Radio World Club and the callsign for the club is KJ 3 T. Oh and recently, the kids have been getting interested in Emergency Communications and being prepared for emergencies. The entire family helped to provide communications between the EOC and shelters during Hurricane Matthew’s brush with Florida, and the kids have built an emergency communications Go Box. Grace (KE3G), who earned her license in May 2016 at the age of 8 upgraded her license to Amateur Extra this year at the Orlando HamCation® 2019. If you hear any of the clan on the air, give a shout! (YouTube) ---------------------------------------------------------------------* 2020 Social Scene VK4 - TARC Australia Day Long Week Family Radio Camp Thursday afternoon 23rd to Monday afternoon 27th January 2020 at Girl Guides Association of Qld Campsite and Training Centre, Bluewater. (TARCinc) VK2 - WYONG FIELD DAY 23rd February 2020 (dd5lp) While many have been preparing for and then getting over Christmas feasts, or those less lucky, protecting their and others home from bush fires some of the CCARC club members have been working hard to make sure the 2020 Wyong Field Day is going to be one to remember for all the best reasons. Along with the traders, exhibitors, boot sale sellers and Lectures, this year we are arranging a Fox-Hunt day to take place at Wyong on the Saturday immediately prior to the big day. We will also be able to run Australian Licence exams again this year under the control of our AMC approved examiners, so get your reservations in, in plenty of time. We are just waiting for confirmation of supply of the valuable prizes to the annual raffle but I can tell you it'll be good again! Disabled parking is, as always, available with wheelchair access to all three levels of the event. The gates open at 8:30am - with the traders arriving to set up from 6 am. Over the coming weeks I'll be bringing you more detailed information, including an impressive list of lectures, but if you'd like to take your web browser to www.fieldday.org.AU you'll see all the information there first. For the CCARC Fieldday at Wyong this has been Ed VK2JI. VK4 - SEQ Amateur Radio Field Day March 10, 10am at Landsborough Sports Complex 15 Tunnel Ridge Rd. (vk4an) VK4 - REDFEST 2020 18th April. St. Michael's College Old Toorbul Point Rd from 8am (vk4tfn) VK - WIA Annual Conference, Hobart 8-10 May. (vk7tw) VK - ALARAMEET 2020 Bendigo October 2 - 5 (vk5yl) 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 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------*