2021 FEBRUARY 07 VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA ------------------------------------------------------------* THE BEST NEWS YOU'LL GET ALL WEEK THIS LINK IS A VIDEO VERSION OF NEWS COMPILED BY VK5BD BEVAN tinyurl.com/WIA-News-Videos ------------------------------------------------------------* NATIONAL NEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING FEBRUARY 07 2021 IN OUR 26th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS WIA PRESIDENT and VICE PRESIDENT SPEAK TO THE ACMA EMAIL RECEIVED BY VK AMATEURS THIS WEEK. THIS & MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA Obviously this week we'll be taking a look at the recent ACMA notification on their consultation papers on the future of Amateur Radio licencing and regulation. BUT We must send our thoughts and prayers to our friends in the west in the Bushfire regions near Perth. AND particularly Bob Bristow who was less than 5kms from the Red Zone and spent several sleepless nights and days. Bob, VK6POP is the force behind the VK6WIA news service but like the Pony Express, no doubt his news will still get through, neither Covid nor Fire will halt his news. Also this week it's to Mandurah and we'll hear live from VK6FAAZ, BUT:- to Newmedia.com.au now who are reporting how Adelaide Hills Community Rallies To Save Their Local Radio Station Over 1000 Adelaide Hills residents have signed a petition to get their community radio station back on air after it was denied an ongoing broadcasting licence by the Federal government in September last year. Now these residents have started a campaign for the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which manages all broadcasting licences to open up a second community radio frequency in the Adelaide Hills. Whilst we are looking at Broadcast Radio, commercial radios weekly audience hit 11.1m in 2020. The Australian metropolitan commercial radio audience grew by 2% to nearly 11.1 million listeners in 2020, a year dominated by COVID-19 which saw the number of people listening at home jump by eight per cent to 6.4 million. Commercial Radio Australias annual listening summary, based on an average of the five official GfK metropolitan radio surveys conducted in 2020, shows radios cumulative audience has climbed by 10% over the past five years. WIA JOIN THE WIA tinyurl.com/yyj87b9y WIA BOARD MINUTES wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/minutes/ WIA BOARD NEWSLETTERS (older) Giving members to have a better awareness of Board activities. wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/newsletters/ Hello, this is WIA President Greg with this weeks board comment. Something that should be of both interest and concern of all Radio Amateurs in Australia has just been released by the spectrum regulator - the ACMA. This very important announcement last Wednesday (Feb 03) from ACMA, is a consultation advice re potential major changes to the Amateur Radio Service and its licensing regime into the future. The following is quoted from the ACMA announcement: Have your say review of non-assigned amateur regulatory arrangements The ACMA has reviewed the regulatory arrangements that authorise the operation of non-assigned amateur stations. This work was part of a broader review that included non-assigned outpost licensing arrangements, as foreshadowed in the Five-year spectrum outlook 202024. The objective of our review is to identify the best licensing mechanism that reduces regulatory burden and minimises costs for licensees, while also preserving the current operational utility for licensees. We have identified a set of options. We could: -keep the existing apparatus licensing arrangements and conditions -simplify the existing licensing arrangements and conditions -transition non-assigned stations to class licensing arrangements, while retaining apparatus licensing arrangements for assigned stations. We are now consulting on these options and our preferred approach to authorise the operation of non-assigned amateur stations under a class licence. We are also seeking preliminary comments on a proposal to establish an additional kind of accreditation to allow people to become accredited persons to issue frequency assignment certificates for assigned amateur repeater and beacon licences. End of quote. Note that currently Amateur Licences ( Foundation, Standard & Advanced) are Non-assigned Apparatus licences. The WIA will be submitting a response to this consultation. We have yet to review the details of the options proposed, especially the proposed legislative instruments that underpin the proposals. Hence, it is premature to comment on our initial assessment and position on the pros and cons of each of the options. Please be assured that the WIA will keep our members updated directly via email on this important issue. Link to ACMA Feb 03 2021 consultation advice: www.acma.gov.au/.../review-non-assigned-amateur... Link to ACMA re Apparatus Licence: www.acma.gov.au/apparatus-licences Link to ACMA re Class Licence: www.acma.gov.au/class-licences On another issue, there has been a pleasing response to the call for 2021 director nominations with nominations received by our returning officer being in excess of the vacant positions, so accordingly an election will ensue. Details to be advised to members soon. The WIA, now 110 plus years young can only continue to support the Amateur Radio community with YOUR support. If you have a real passion for the future of Amateur radio, the WIA needs you! Until next time, this is Greg VK2GPK ------------------------------------------------------------* INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, RAC, NZART AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE & the World Wide sources of the WIA. AUSTRALIA For this story, of an Australian with an 'Indian' twist we visit the Times Of India who take us to Kolkata. Once known as Calcutta, its official name until 2001 it is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, the city is approximately 80 kilometres west of their border with Bangladesh. Now enough of the History and Geography story and on to this story of Ham Radio finding a missing person, a bit of an everyday occurrence for members of the West Bengal Radio Club. A 69-year-old man of Indian origin, who was rescued from the streets of Kolkata a few weeks ago and admitted to Hospital, has turned out to be an Australian citizen. Thanks to amateur radio operators, the Australian High Commission in India has been contacted and efforts are on to track down his records and family. The only document he possesses is the photocopy of a registration certificate, declaring him an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI). A few days ago, health department officials, who know of our work in tracing down the families of lost people, got in touch and told us about the man. It came to light that the man is Ashoke Chakravorty from Sydney, Australia" said Ambarish Nag Biswas, secretary, West Bengal Radio Club . The Hams also say it's possible that Chakravorty worked at the branch of a nationalised bank in the Darjeeling district before moving to Australia. We received calls from the Australian Deputy High Commissioners office. The officials spoke to the patient who speaks fluent English and says that he is from Australia but doesnt remember his address there. When asked whether he seeks assistance, he demanded that he be united with his relatives in Australia, an official at the state-run hospital said. When contacted, a source at the Australian Deputy High Commissioners office in Kolkata said that efforts are on to find out more about Chakravorty. tinyurl.com/y2m29wzf TAIPEI Signals received from Taiwan's CubeSats The Taipei Times reports Amateur Radio operators have received signals transmitted by Taiwan's two new CubeSats which are called YuSat and IDEASSat and were launched by SpaceX January 24 The newspaper says: By noon January 25, overseas amateur radio operators received signals transmitted by the two CubeSats with correct and corresponding signal frequencies, intervals and coordinates, said NCU Department of Space Science and Engineering professor Loren Chang who oversees the IDEASSat project. That shows the two CubeSats are operating, Chang said. tinyurl.com/y462otnc SOUTH AFRICA Crowd funding for SARL Next Generation Beacons. In addition to AMSAT-SAs financial contribution to the SARL Next Generation beacon fund, the group has started a crowd funding campaign on its payfast platform. Donors will be recognised on the SARL and AMSATSA websites as well as receiving a confirmation email. The first next generation beacon will be installed at Bethlehem replacing the analogue beacon and was fully funded by the SARL. The next two beacons for which funding is required will be installed in Cape Town and Northern Karoo. Contributions to the beacon fund can be made from amsatsa.org.za FRANCE French Defence Ministry has a tender out for radio jammers that can be drone-mounted. The government's Defence Innovation Agency has put out a request for proposals in search of a small, low-power warfare device that can find radio communication transmitters while mounted on a fixed or rotary-wing drone and possibly disable the signals through jamming. The devices are expected to be capable of detecting any number of transmitters operating between 30 MHz and 6 GHz ARNewsLine say bidding is being limited to companies within the European Union. DENMARK Listen out for a rather LONG call - OV JUTLANDIA When the Korean War broke out June, 1950, Denmark pledged to assist the United Nations Command by providing humanitarian aid to the Allied forces. Medicinal products were made available very quickly, and it was agreed Denmark would also send a hospital ship. In the autumn of 1950, EAC agreed to make Jutlandia available to the Danish government and after rebuilding, the ship departed January of '51, heading for Korea. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of this event, Experimental Danish Radio Amateurs have activated a special radio station with the call sign OV JUTLANDIA. From the 1st of February to 31st of March, this call sign is active on most amateur radio bands with CW, SSB, RTTY and other digital Modes. All HF bands, including WARC bands, and all Modes can be used. EDR, the Danish National Society is awarding a special diploma that radio amateurs around the world who qualify can apply for. USA For years, Facebook has been developing a technology to improve the way data is organized and routed in wireless networks. That technology is now being integrated into commercially available 60-gigahertz small-cell base stations. And if service providers sign on, it could soon help deliver over-the-air Internet to homes and businesses around the world. The Facebook technology, called Terragraph, provides a way for a cluster of base stations broadcasting at 60 GHz to autonomously manage and distribute traffic among themselves. If one base station goes down, another can take over in an instantand they can work together to find the most efficient path for information en route. Many Internet service providers are considering using 60 GHz to bridge the gap between existing infrastructure and new locations theyd like to reach, or to add capacity to places they already serve. Its definitely interesting, says Swetank Kumar Saha, a research assistant and Ph.D. candidate in computer science at the University at Buffalo, in New York, who has studied the performance of 60-GHz consumer gear for indoors. A lot of people have struggled to commercialize 60 GHz. Theres been a lot of talk. In New Zealand Corey Weir, Chairman, Radio Frequency Users Association of New Zealand has said "using street-level mm Wave radios, Terragraph leverages existing street furniture to create a wireless distribution network ideally suited for last-mile fixed access. One benefit of Terragraph is faster time to market, with it being faster to deploy than wireline service because it mounts on existing Street Furniture and does not require costly Right of Way Permissions. Another benefit is that it can be easily scaled as demand grows, greatly reducing the upfront investment needed. tinyurl.com/y22vll4j (USA) tinyurl.com/y52eyeyv (New Zealand) ------------------------------------------------------------* HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT If you are a "night owl" on the Eastern Seaboard and happened on a LOT of CW around 1 or 2 this morning, Sunday.. no doubt you decoded and realised it was another FISTS SATURDAY SPRINT. FISTS Sprints are held 8 times throughout the year:- First Saturday and third Sunday in each quarter of 2021 during: Feb, May, Aug, and Nov. Each Sprint consists of a two-hour operating period. Saturday Sprints between 1600 to 1800. Sunday Sprints between 2100 to 2300 UTC. Fists next Saturday Sprint is 1600Z - 1800Z May One. fistsna.org/operating.html#sprints (sourced to VKCC) -------------- Last week we took part in the CW section, next the SSB. Yes the CQWW 160M SSB CONTEST is end of the month, February 26 - 28. -------------- A couple of weekends back many avid contesters signed up on YouTube for Contest University's Propagation Summit. Well now YouTube recordings and PDF files from that Summit hosted on January 23 by Contest University are available. More than 1,000 logged in for the sessions. Each presentation begins approximately on the hour. You can advance the video to the presentation you wish to view. The link we like is shown on the text edition of this newscast and in the ATV version youtube.com/watch?v=WpBpU_dcMbc --------------------- CQ World Wide RTTY WPX Contest February 13-14 -------------- International DX CW Contest February 20-21 -------------- International DX Phone Contest March 6 - 7 -------------- Commonwealth Contest (BERU) 13/14 March. --------------- WIA John Moyle Field Day 2021 March from UTC 0100 on Saturday 20 to 0059 Sunday 21nd. -------------- the CQ World Wide SSB WPX Contest March 27-28 the CQ World Wide CW WPX Contest May 29-30 -------------- April 25 AM / CW ANZAC Day, Mon 25th from 9am on 7125kHz AM. -------------- Harry Angel Sprint will be May First 2021. 10:00 - 11:46 UTC. -------------- The VK SHIRES June 12-13 in 2021 -------------- WINTER VHF-UHF Field Days - June 26 - 27 -------------- IARU HF World Championship July 10-11 -------------- TRANS TASMAN LOWBAND CONTEST Next contest - JUL 17 2021 - 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 14-15. -------------- ALARA CONTEST A Combined phone and CW run over 24 hours starting on Saturday 28th August at 0600 hours UTC finishing Sunday 29th August at 0559 hours UTC -------------- OCEANA CONTEST VOICE from 0800 UTC Saturday 2 October to 0800 UTC Sunday October 3 CW from 0800 UTC Saturday 9 October to 0800 UTC Sunday October 10 -------------- SPRING VHF - UHF FIELD DAYS November 27-28 -------------- December 4-5 160 Meter WW -------------- DECEMBER 11 - 12 10 Mtr World Wide -------------- -------------- DX WINDOW -------------- -------------- 2021 FEBRUARY -------------- Pride Radio Group will be operating the special event callsign VI2021PRIDE throughout the Sydney Mardi Gras, February 19th to March 7th then again during Midsumma, April 19th to May 5th and Pride month, 1 to 30th of June. -------------- ZL 100 RSC throughout February only celebrates the 100th birthday of the first meeting of NZART's Branch 5. the Christchurch ARC. (SouthGate) -------------- Time to 'open the Madeira' Madeira Island operation Active will be CT9/DD 8 ZX and CT9/DJ 9 KM from Madeira Island (AF-014) which is an autonomous region of Portugal, comprising 4 islands off to the northwest of Casablanca and Marrakesh North Africa. Between February 27th and March 6th depending on the Covid-19 situation) their activity will be holiday style on 40-10 meters using mostly the Digital modes (FT8 and RTTY). QSL via their home callsigns, by the Bureau, direct or LoTW -------------- NETHERLANDS. PC 19 HOPE is QRV until March 10 to support efforts in containing the COVID-19 pandemic. QSL via PA7HPH. (arrl) -------------- THE RAAF is flying high to celebrate it's 100 years on March 31.. The Royal Australian Airforce call signs to 'target' are VI 100 AF March 1 - 29 May VK 100 AF March 1 - 31 August (vk8nsb) -------------- POLAND. Members of the SEDINA Contest Club are QRV with SQ 0 MORSE until the end of April commemorating the 230th birthday of Samuel F. B. Morse. QSL via SP1EG. (arrl) -------------- KENYA, 5Z. Cato, LA9PF will be QRV as 5Z4/LA9PF from Malindi now until May on 80 to 10 meters using SSB and various digital modes. (arrl) -------------- PORTUGAL, CT. CQ 750 RSI throughout 2021 commemorates the 750th anniversary of the birth of Elizabeth of Aragon, the queen consort of Portugal and patron saint of their city of Coimbra. QSL to home call CT 7 AQD. Antarctica operation Alexei is active as RI 01 ANT from Antarctica until May the 30th from Russian Progress and Vostok Base stations on 40 meters and higher using CW and FT8. QSL via RX6A. -------------- To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the International Police Association Radio Club (IPARC) of Switzerland, look for special event station HB 40 POLICE to be active until December 31st on 160 - 6 meters (sourced to SouthGate) -------------- To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the International Police Association Radio Club of Switzerland, look for HB 40 POLICE to be active all year til December 31st. A QSO with HB 40 POLICE counts as a club callsign for the IPARC Switzerland and is valid for the Matterhorn Award. QSL via the Bureau or eQSL. (sourced to SouthGate) -------------- FINLAND, OH. Special event station OH 100 SRAL is QRV during all of 2021 to celebrate the centennial of the Finnish Amateur Radio League. QSL via bureau. (arrl) ------------------------------------------------------------* WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - tinyurl.com/WIA-News-Videos THAT LINK IS A VIDEO VERSION OF THIS NEWS COMPILED BY VK5BD BEVAN WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER AMSAT-VK Secretary - secretary@amsat-vk.org RadFxSat-2 Signals Detected, AMSAT Engineering Continues to Assess Status Following on from our story last week, on January 27th, Brad, W5SAT, reported copying his CW signal back weakly via the RadFxSat-2 transponder. AMSAT Engineering and Operations confirmed these reports and determined that RadFxSat-2 is partially functioning, though signals are extremely weak. At this point in time it is essential do not attempt to transmit through the transponder until further notice. This is very important to the next steps AMSAT are taking. [AMSAT-NA] CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE SOLAR KIND It may have taken some time, 60 years in fact from 1958 when it was first theorised by Eugene Parker that our sun constantly sends out particles and energy called Solar Wind till a space probe took off from mother earth on the mother of all journeys, to our sun. Now the Parker probe, named after Eugene, and sent up by NASA in August of 2018 has just made a close encounter of the solar kind. Kent Peterson KC0DGY gives WIA and Amateur Radio NewsLine listeners details. "For the first time since last September, NASA's Parker Solar Probe spacecraft made a close approach to the sun just as solar activity began to kick into high gear. From a distance of 13.5 million kms the probe made its approach on Sunday, January 17th. There's plenty of data for it to collect, especially with Solar Cycle 25 now well under way. Last November, the sun had its first major flare in three years. NASA has planned four close approaches to the sun this year along with two flybys of Venus, with the first one happening February 20th. After that, it's back to the sun for another close look on April 29th. For Amateur Radio NewsLine I'm Kent Peterson KC0DGY. Now before we are "out of space", ARISS and its partners are troubleshooting a failure within the on-board NA 1 SS amateur station in the Columbus module. The problem does not appear to be with the radio equipment in Columbus, however. ARISS realized the problem when a contact with a school in Wyoming, between ON 4 ISS on Earth and astronaut Mike Hopkins, KF 5 LJG, at NA1SS, had to abort when no downlink signal was heard. ARISS has asked its Russian team lead Sergey, RV 3 DR, if ARISS could temporarily use the RS 0 ISS radio in the ISS Service Module for school contacts that are already scheduled until ARISS can resolve the issue. (qrznow.com) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- MEDICAL IHS = IHSOFMN.org PHARMACISTS = malpensa.it/iphg Medical Amateur Radio Council marco-ltd.org/ A long-time radio amateur in Michigan has been reaching out on social media for a life-saving donation. Again thanks to Amateur Radio NewsLine Don Wilbanks AE5DW tells us about him. " Philip Ross AB8PR, who has been a licensed ham since 1971, has been looking lately for something a whole lot more than some rare DX or a good signal report. The Michigan grandfather learned recently he has end-stage kidney disease and needs a living donor to make a transplant possible. He tells his story on various social media sites and his own website in the hopes that someone will come forward to help him. He notes that dialysis - his only other option - is not a cure but a form of disease management that leads to a shorter life with greatly lessened quality. His website reads: Papa Phil Can; His Kidneys Can't. Visit his website to learn more. That's papaphilcan.COM For Amateur Radio NewsLine I'm Don Wilbanks AE5DW. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- MILITARY To mark the 80th Anniversary of the Formation in the UK of the Air Training Corps, or ATC, on February 5 1941, Ofcom has issued the callsign GB 80 ATC. The callsign is valid for use for a year between last Friday, the 5th and 4th February 2022. It will be managed by David, M0SKT and a team of serving Cadet Force Adult Volunteer staff who are UK Licence holders. (RSGB) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RESCUE RADIO IARU REGION 3 Emergency Centre of Activity (CoA) frequencies 3.600, 7.110, 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz Region 1 3760 7110 14300 18160 21360 kHz Region 2 3750 3985 7060 7240 7275 14300 18160 21360 kHz Most would arguably know about WICEN but across 'the ditch' you'll hear lots about AREC. Amateur Radio Emergency Communications supports Search And Rescue, Civil Defence, and other emergency services in New Zealand with the provision of experienced radio communications personnel. AREC members are actively involved in supporting the communications function at operational headquarters as well as in training and is an associate member of LandSAR New Zealand and a member of the New Zealand Search and Rescue Consultative Committee. AREC is formed by members of the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters (NZART) who are individually licensed amateur radio operators required to meet standards set by Radio Spectrum Management, part of the part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. The organization was born in 1932 after the Napier earthquake to train radio operators in providing reliable message handling over the length of the country for any type of emergency. Since then, communications have been provided for thousands of emergency events ranging from searches to natural disasters to civil emergencies. AREC works closely with Police in assisting with technical information, policy, and development of technology related to SAR. AREC operates under a Service Level Agreement to Police alongside LandSAR for the provision of SAR services. arec.today/about/ WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- YOTA (Youngsters On The Air) youtube.com/channel/UClAapljf0VQ751sOgu2IzaA twitter.com/hamyota For the 24 young amateur radio operators in the Western Hemisphere who were part of December YOTA Month, the numbers added up in a big way. The Youth on the Air operators logged close on 15,000 QSOs while calling QRZ with special event callsigns. The contacts dramatically topped the previous year's total of 12,000. Some of the operators, such as Michael W3MLJ, said his favourite part of the activation was being able to run five radios at the same time, all logging contacts on digital modes. Calin K8MTJ got a special kick out of working ZR 1 ADI in South Africa using FT8. The hams, all younger than 26, had their efforts coordinated by Bryant KG 5 HVO who worked with YOTA month manager Tomi HA8RT. The event was a prelude to the first YOTA camp to be held in the Western Hemisphere this summer planned for July 11th through 16th. (Amateur Radio NewsLine) ------------------------------------------------------------* 2020 Social Scene Due to the COVID-19 situation, please check these events' direct for up-to-date status information and even without Covid dates have an uncanny knack of being changed at last moment. VK4 - A WICEN event at the Ipswich and District Radio Clubhouse NEXT Saturday, February 13 between 1000 and 1400 hours (vk4hit) VK3 - Warc HamFest Italian Sports Club Werribee Feb 21 (vk3vkt) VK2 - WYONG FIELD DAY February 28 (still tentative) (dd5lp) VK6 - Peel Amateur Radio Club Swap Meet March 6 at Mandurah Bowling Club, Allnutt Street MANDURAH' This half day event starts at 8am for Sellers. Buyers 0830 Entry $5.00. Raffles. Tea/coffee/cold drinks. Your chance to grab a bargain on that bit of equipment or thingy-a-bob you're chasing. Have a chat and discuss the latest... Finish 1230. (vk6faaz) VK4 - Tannum Sands Gathering MARCH 13 10AM TIL 8:30PM Gladstone Amateur Radio Club hold this event. Amateur radio raffles, auctions, fox hunts, projects & a BBQ style dinner with dessert. The Gladstone Amateur Radio Club would like to invite the general public, members and guests from local and regional clubs to participate in the their Amateur Radio Fundraiser located at the Tannum Sands Holiday & Caravan Park, Millennium Esplanade Tannum Sands Queensland. This memorable social event includes VHF fox hunts, radio projects, raffles, auctions and a BBQ dinner with dessert. (vk4yn) VK3 - EMDRC HamFest - March 28th 10am (vk3bq) VK4 - REDFEST 2021 April Ten (vk4tfn) VK - ALARAMEET 2021 Bendigo VK3 October 1 - 4 (vk5yl) VK3 - ROSEBUD RadioFest by SPARC 9:30am Nov 14 (vk3pdg) Morning I am Lee Moyle, WIA Vice President VK3GK Earlier this week ACMA released their consultation papers on the future of Amateur Radio licencing and regulation. Many may have seen these documents in their email or on social media already but it is important to announce here on WIA News for our members and followers as it will affect us all in the future. At the moment, Amateur Licences ( Foundation, Standard and Advanced) are Non-assigned Apparatus licences. Repeaters and beacons are classified as Assigned licences as they operate on specific nominated frequencies. The WIA will be submitting to ACMA a response to this consultation. We have yet to review the full details of the 3 options proposed, especially the proposed legislative instruments that underpin the proposals. WIA will draw upon their extensive resources of qualified people to assess the pros and cons of each of the options as well as consult with its membership base and the general Amateur Radio fraternity for their valued input. Together, the WIA will submit a comprehensive response, representative of the Australian Amateur Radio Communities input. Historically many of these submissions have been successful with ACMA looking favourable to the proposals. This one may offer a combination of the ACMA offered options as a comprehensive workable solution to ACMAs 3 options currently on offer. From the ACMA e-news email: Have your say review of non-assigned amateur regulatory arrangements The ACMA has reviewed the regulatory arrangements that authorise the operation of non-assigned amateur stations. This work was part of a broader review that included non-assigned outpost licensing arrangements, as foreshadowed in the Five-year spectrum outlook 202024. The objective of our review is to identify the best licensing mechanism that reduces regulatory burden and minimises costs for licensees, while also preserving the current operational utility for licensees. We have identified a set of options. We could: keep the existing apparatus licensing arrangements and conditions as we currently have now. I.e.: No Change. simplify the existing licensing arrangements and conditions transition non-assigned stations to class licensing arrangements, while retaining apparatus licensing arrangements for assigned stations. We are now consulting on these options and our preferred approach to authorise the operation of non-assigned amateur stations under a class licence. We are also seeking preliminary comments on a proposal to establish an additional kind of accreditation to allow people to become accredited persons to issue frequency assignment certificates for assigned amateur repeater and beacon licences. The consultation paper and draft class licence are available on the ACMA website. A separate consultation paper and draft instrument relating to outpost licensing is also available. We invite comments on the issues discussed in the consultation papers and on the proposed instruments that would implement our preferred class licensing option. Submissions close on 2 April 2021. Making a submission You can choose either to make a submission by using the Upload a submission button on the consultation webpage, or by sending your submission to SLPSConsultations@acma.gov.au Please go to the ACMA website and take a look at the consultation papers. More news from the WIA on this important topic in the coming days. So QRX QRX This is Lee Moyle VK3GK, WIA Vice president for WIA News Reception Reports WIA News rebroadcasters often give Short Wave Listeners a welcome to the broadcast as they commence call-backs straight after the Local News. Local news follows National news in all states. It would be great if those SWL's would email their reception reports and location to callbacks@wia.org.au 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 send BOTH the audio and the text We would appreciate items certainly no longer than 1.5 mts 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. (First if YOU are reading your own item) 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. ------------------------------------------------------------* Oh... and to contact us with your news because If It Matters To You It Matters To Us! Click the links below to download the most recent edition of National News, BUT this is ONLY the backup site! WIANEWS backup thanks to Brendan VK4BLP can be found on wiaq.org.au BACKUPS OF THE BACKUP!! thanks to Tony VK7AX www.vk7ax.id.au/wianews/ wia.org.au/members/broadcast/wianews/ (This is the link to the original text version and original audio on wia site) ------------------------------------------------------------* WIANews - we've reported...YOU decide. TWITTER 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? 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 would like to see the call-backs reported each broadcast, OR 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 a message confirming your unsubscription from the list and at that point you should stop receiving messages. ------------------------------------------------------------*