2021 FEBRUARY 21 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 21 2021 IN OUR 26th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PORTAL Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest news, key facts and figures, contacts and answers to your questions. www.health.gov.au/ VK2GPK Greg, WIA President, with an important announcement for all amateurs: - SCOTT VK3KJ with board approval for BERU calls and more news on forthcoming election: THIS & MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA With news of the United Arab Emirates' Hope mission returning its first picture of Mars as Hope entered into an orbit around the Red Planet it makes the UAE the first Arab nation in history to have a scientific presence at Earth's near neighbour. www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56060890 BUT AUSTRALIA ALSO HAS A PRESENCE. This portion was written about 7am Friday VK4 local time after we spent a heart stopping 60 minute live NASA telecast of the landing on Mars. NASA's latest Mars mission with Perseverance has two very interested Australians: Abigail Allwood and David Flannery "Wow. My invention is going to land on Mars in a few days' time." As NASA's Perseverance rover gets ready to land on the Red Planet this week, Abigail Allwood has started to have "pinch me" moments. ABC Science has a great article, written by Genelle Weule on this expedition. tinyurl.com/1h2juqtf Dr Allwood is the first woman and Australian to be a principal investigator on a Mars mission. Perched on the arm of the robotic rover is a key tool called PIXL (short for Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry). This little box about the size of a large lunchbox is designed to take close-up images and scan a postage-stamp sized area with x-rays, looking for chemical signatures of microbial life in 3-billion-year-old rocks. Working with Dr Allwood in the US for the first year of the project was David Flannery, then a post-doctoral student from the Queensland University of Technology. Dr David, like Dr Abigai, also studied ancient rocks in the Pilbara. Australia's critical role in the mission While Dr Allwood's team has been working on PIXL, engineers at JPL and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have been building software to crunch the data as it comes down from Mars. The plan is once data starts flowing about 90 (Mars) days after the rover lands, a team of 500 scientists in JPL and QUT will analyse data around the clock until at least April 2023. "Australia will pick up where we leave off when California goes to sleep at the end of the operations day," Dr Allwood says. "That's so important because that makes PIXL more relevant to the whole tactical decision-making process, including the selection of samples." Again the 'link we like' to ABC SCIENCE is tinyurl.com/1h2juqtf A trial to assess the boosting of GPS signals in Sydneys road tunnels has been given the go-ahead, with funding approved and federal laws amended to accommodate the project. The trial, which aims to improve safety within the tunnels by providing more reliable GPS signals via provision of repeaters, will be conducted by Transport for NSW says a post by criticalcomms.com.au it was federal law that banned GPS repeaters due to concerns they could interfere with external GPS signals if not operated correctly. Transport for NSW joined with other key agencies to make a submission to get the law changed. ACMA has agreed to amend the law which also enables a number of road tunnel operators who track staff underground using Bluetooth beacons to change their comms needs. Bluetooth requires users to have an authorised application for detecting and locating the beacons so where provisioned, GPS repeaters could open up underground tracking to all users of smart devices. tinyurl.com/efwgkej0 WIA Hello, this is Greg, WIA President, with an important WIA announcement for all amateurs: Recently the Spectrum regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) issued a consultation document which details 3 options concerning the future of Amateur Radio in Australia. Significantly, the ACMAs preferred option is changing to a Class Licence instead of the current apparatus licence. This is a non-trivial change and has long term major ramifications on the Radio Amateur Service in Australia. Note that a change to a class licence was rejected in a 2004 determination issued by the ACMAs predecessor organisation. Any changes to the Radio Amateur Service licensing framework as proposed as the preferred option in the ACMA consultation are likely to be permanent and irrevocable. Hence it is vitally important that the WIA response reflects the views of our members as well as, to the extent it is feasible, the views of the wider radio amateur cohort. Next week the WIA will be releasing its position paper on the consultation and initiating a poll to gather feedback from the amateur community. The WIA board and its supporting volunteer technical team have been investigating and researching the implications of the various options and burning the midnight oil since this consultation was released. The technical team has a great depth of skill and experience in the radio communications sector and its regulatory environment. The WIA will be seeking feedback from its members and other interested amateurs via a registered poll. You must be registered to receive the poll with only one vote per ACMA id (persons only not repeaters!). Please note WIA members do not to need to register as you are pre-registered and will automatically receive the poll via MemNet email. In line with our previous practice, this poll will open to all Australian radio amateurs via pre-registering to receive the poll. I also ask that club presidents relay this registration information to their members as soon as possible. You can register by entering the URL: poll.wia.org.au into your internet browser. We have had feedback from some (not all) Chrome browser users being unable to access the registration page due to a re-direction failure, in which case use the URL: tinyurl.com/wiapoll Remember the WIA, now 110 plus years young can only continue to support the Amateur Radio community with YOUR support. Until next time, this is Greg VK2GPK This is WIA Director Scott Williams ..VK3KJ and it is nice to be appearing on the broadcast this week on behalf of the WIA Board. It has been another difficult week in my home state of Victoria, after just coming off a sudden hard lock down due to COVID-19 that lasted 5 days and ended last Wednesday evening. I know several clubs had scheduled Hamfests and again have needed to cancel or postpone these to a time where there is more certainty. Hopefully it will not be long before we can all gather again searching for that bargain or special item but importantly, saying hello and sharing a yarn or story with our many ham radio friends. As reported in past broadcasts, there will be an election this year for Director positions on the WIA Board for 2021. The number of nominations exceeded Board vacancies therefore triggering an election. The WIA Returning Officer is John Marshall and the Returning Officer has declared that there were 8 valid nominations received. Last Monday evening, the Returning Officer and independent witnesses drew the order and placement of listed names on the ballot paper. Ballot papers will now be finalised and distributed to all members shortly. All members are strongly encouraged to vote and help shape the future of the WIA. As I have said in past broadcasts, serving on the WIA Board is a wonderful way to participate and help support and develop this wonderful hobby. It goes without saying that it is your WIA and your vote is very important and counts. Finally, the WIA Board has approved the use of the WIA callsigns VK1WIA all the way through to VK7WIA for the 2021 Commonwealth Contest (formerly known as the British Empire Radio Union Contest), which is one of the longest running contest in the HF contesting World. VK1WIA - VK1DA Andrew VK2WIA - VK2IR Tommy and VK2WQ David VK3WIA - VK3GK Lee and team VK4WIA - VK4TT Keith VK5WIA - VK5GR Grant and team VK6WIA - VK6RZ Peter VK7WIA - VK7GN Martin Look out for all 7 callsigns across the band on the weekend of the 13 & 14 March. Thats it from me this week, always great to appear on the broadcast and stay safe and well. 73s Scott VK3KJ (wia and vkcc) EDUCATION QUEENSLAND ALL USA grades of licence will be held at the Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio club March 13. All details on vk4wis.org or contact Trent vk4ts@wia.org.au TASMANIA REASTs next Foundation Training and all licence assessment day will fall on Saturday 27th March. Grab your copy of the Foundation Licence Manual from the Caltex Service Station, Amy and Main, Moonah for $35 cash and please let Reg VK7KK REAST Learning Organiser know ASAP that you will be coming along by phoning 0417 391 607 www.facebook.com/events/718404075716863/ WIA NATIONAL NEWS AND OUR 3 W's. WEAR A MASK WASH YOUR HANDS WATCH YOUR DISTANCE (1.5 metres) www.health.gov.au/ ------------------------------------------------------------* INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, RAC, Southgate AR Club, ARRL, NZART, AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE & the World Wide sources of the WIA. OUTPOST ISS U.S. astronauts living aboard the ISS orbital outpost, on Feb. 14, broke the record for most days in space by a crew launched aboard an American spacecraft. " They surpassed the record of 84 days set by the Skylab 4 crew in 1974", NASA said. Four Ham Radio licensed flight engineers, Shannon KD5DXB, Soichi KD5TVP, Victor KI5BKC and Mike KF5LJG - docked the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to the US module last November. March QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo Due to current Codid-19 pandemic, face to face ham radio gatherings have been cancelled all over the world. An alternative event online, is the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo, which will be held on March the 13th and 14th. You will have a choice of 80 plus speakers to listen to, you can take part in a live kit building workshop by buying the kits in advance, walk through a virtual exhibition hall featuring all the usual traders and meet up with fellow hams in virtual lounges using the latest technology. This IS a "ticketed" event. Your ticket will allow you to visit the event for the following thirty days. qsotodayhamexpo.com FRANCE French National Society announce growth in licence holders. Frances National Amateur Radio Society, REF, recently reported on license figures for the last five years. The number of licences at the end of 2020 in France was 13,956 compared to 13,482 at the end of 2016. This represents a slight increase of 3.4 per cent over the five-year period. In the same period, 1,200 candidates sat their 40-question multiple choice licence examination and 748 were successful, a pass rate of just over 62 per cent. In January 2019, the fee for applying for or renewing the licence was abolished and it's likely this has resulted in more amateurs keeping their callsign. UK The RSGBs Get on the air to care construction competition has been judged for projects made during the Autumn 2020 lockdown, the Christmas and New Year holiday period or the early 2021 lockdown. The Society was delighted to receive 27 entries and the standard was very high. To reflect this, the judges awarded four prizes, rather than choose one winner as originally planned. Winner Gordon Lean, G3WJG, built a 25W HF SDR Transceiver made using GNU Radio and modules bought on eBay The other 3 awarded prises, were for construction of a primarily 3D printed LEO satellite antenna rotator, an End Fed Half Wave Antenna Coupler and a Langstone SDR transceiver, based on the design by Colin Durbridge, G4EML. Colins clever design is based on a Raspberry Pi 4 computer and the Analog Devices Pluto SDR module. You can read about their winning entries on the RSGB website www.rsgb.services/gb2rs/002. USA Weather gone wild might be an apt description of the conditions in many parts of the US, with sub-freezing temperatures in areas not prepared for that sort of thing. Aberrant weather seems to be happening across many US regions. Snow has fallen in Texas and Oklahoma, accompanied by record setting temperature readings. The severe weather has caused power and telecommunications outages, and ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service volunteers in southern Texas have been called up by served agencies to help fill the resulting communication gap. ARRL Emergency Response Director Paul Gilbert, KE5ZW, who lives in the Austin, Texas, area, reports that ARES members have been very, very, very busy with storm-related traffic. ------------------------------------------------------------* HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT -------------- International DX CW Contest is beeping out right now, February 20-21 -------------- the CQWW 160M SSB CONTEST is NEXT weekend February 26 - 28. -------------- 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. -------------- DX WINDOW -------------- John Chalkiarakis, VK3YP of the Hellenic Amateur Radio Association of Australia said that he and some friends have been trying to obtain a landing permit for VK0M, Macquarie Island which is #12 on Club Logs DXCC Most Wanted List, but he conceded that its nearly impossible to get permission from the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, because Macquarie is a protected nature reserve. (sourced to arrl) -------------- Pride Radio Group is operating the special event callsign VI2021PRIDE throughout the Sydney Mardi Gras, Now Luke VK3UKW with another Pride Radio Group announcement. "Is your radio club inclusive and welcoming? Pride Radio Group is an international group that aims to further acceptance and inclusion for underrepresented groups in amateur radio. We have recently launched a club endorsement program aiming to connect those new to the hobby to radio clubs which are trusted and supportive. For more information and to register your club, visit the club endorsement page on the website prideradio.group/club-endorsement For Pride Radio Group (VK3PRG) this has been Luke VK3UKW. -------------- 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) -------------- FRANCE QRV is TM 18 AAW from Macon until next weekend, February 28, in celebration of the 18th Antarctic Activity Week. QSL to home call F 8 DVD (arrl) -------------- Also active until next Sunday28, is special event station IQ 3 DD to recognize the F.I.S. Alpine World Ski Championship being held in Cortina. Activity is on 160 meters to 23 centimetres, using CW, SSB, and various digital modes. This includes some activity on Satellite QO-100. QSL via bureau for IQ3DD or direct to: ARI Sezione Bunico , Montal 25, 39030, Brunico San Lorenzo, ITALY Feb 7-Feb 28, 0001Z-2359Z, IQ3DD, Cortina, ITALY. ARI - Amateur Radio Society of Italy. Certificate. (arrl) -------------- Coventry is The City of Culture in 2021. GB 1 C O C is being operated on behalf of Coventry ARS by Brian, G 8 GMU. He will be mainly on the 80m band using SSB but also 2m FM and digital speech modes. Operation now until the 13th of March. (rsgb) -------------- VIET NAM, 3W. QRV is 3W9FAR from Da Nang until March 21. Activity is in spare time on HF using SSB and various digital modes. QSL to home call SP 5 FAR (arrl) ------------------------------------------------------------* WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS FINAL FRONTIER NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the agencys Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), the foundational elements of the Lunar Gateway. As the first long-term orbiting outpost around the Moon, the Gateway is critical to supporting sustainable astronauts missions. PPE is a 60-kilowatt class solar electric propulsion spacecraft that also will provide power, high-speed communications, attitude control, and the capability to move the Gateway to different lunar orbits, providing more access to the Moons surface than ever before. HALO is the pressurized living quarters where astronauts who visit the Gateway, often on their way to the Moon, will work. It will provide command and control and serve as the docking hub for the outpost. After integration on Earth, the PPE and HALO are targeted to launch together no earlier than May 2024. The total cost? approximately $331.8 million. (amsat-na) The completion of a complicated upgrade of an aging antenna at the Deep Space Network in Canberra has restored full contact between Earth and the Voyager 2 probe. WIA News Editor Graham filed this story originally for Amateur Radio NewsLine... " The trailblazing spacecraft, which was launched 44 years ago by NASA, had been crossing the heavens in relative silence after a 70-meter dish there known as DSS 43 was shut down and dismantled for a needed refreshing. In space as on Earth, however, few things are immune to the impact of the global pandemic. The ordinarily large team of experts NASA would have sent to Canberra for the makeover was limited to four for safety reasons and the reduced size of the team delayed the upgrade's progress. With DSS 43 being the only antenna capable of communicating with Voyager 2, the probe had few options for communicating: It could only transmit to the smaller dishes in Canberra but was unable to receive any commands, especially those that could have fixed problems if any had been detected on board. After a test message was sent last October when DSS 43 was partially reassembled, NASA and other experts were optimistic. Now with DSS 43 back in business, the long silence is over but two-way contact still requires something of a wait: Round-trip communication between Earth and the far-away Voyager 2 takes 35 hours. For Amateur Radio NewsLine, just outside Canberra, I'm Graham Kemp VK4BB/2 " WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ARDF WIA ARDF COORDINATOR VK3WWW Jack vk3www@wia.org.au users.mackay.net.au/~ron/ homingin.com ardf.org.au Tony 4 Radio Direction Finding Fun happening in Townsville If you are in the vicinity of the Townsville Region on Saturday June 19th from 1pm and want to get involved in a Foxhunt, or radio socialise in a nice part of Townsville then Tony VK4 T J S wants to hear from you. You have until Thursday 16th June to get your attendance numbers in for the Foxhunt, PLUS there will be activities for all family members to participate in during the Foxhunt and things will end up with some in flight catering. To cater for the event Tony needs to know your attendance numbers and you need to quiz Tony further regarding details about the Foxhunt. Who do you have to call ? Tony VK4 T J S of course, his number a good time is 4767 7137 (tarc news) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- IOTA iota-world.org E U - 0 1 2. Gareth, M 0 MOL, will be active as MM 0 MOL / p from Shetland Island while working there during the months of February and March mainly in the evenings after work and QRP with a typical portable setup. QSL via M 0 MOL. (SouthGate) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FEMALES IN RADIO. Now some VERY important news from Shirley, VK5YL " Hello and on behalf of our ALARA Publicity Officer, Jennifer, VK3WQ, I am forwarding information regarding our ALARAmeet. Sadly it has been decided by the ALARA Committee that we will have to cancel the 2021 Bendigo ALARAmeet, October, due to the uncertain nature of the Covid virus and the problems we might face if we proceed again with the preparations for it. We deeply regret having to make this decision but feel that it is the safest one for all concerned. At present we are hoping to have our next ALARAmeet in 2023, which would bring it back in line with our three year cycle, but at this stage no destination has been decided on. We realise that this will come as a great disappointment to many of you, but hope that you will understand. Stay safe. 33 from Jennifer VK3WQ and Shirley VK5YL WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- YOTA (Youngsters On The Air) youtube.com/channel/UClAapljf0VQ751sOgu2IzaA twitter.com/hamyota RSGB have announced the next Youngsters On The Air talk will take place on the 25th of February at 1900 UTC. In this newest episode, the team will present the main topic on Gone exploring! They plan to discuss activities like Islands on the Air Summits on the Air and World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio. It will be followed by a Q&A session with the presenters. They will be streaming live again on YouTube, Facebook and Twitch channels. For YouTubego to youtube.com/hamyota. ------------------------------------------------------------* 2020 + 1 Social Scene KEEP ONE WAVELENGTH AWAY AT 144 Megacycles #2MetersMatters 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. AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PORTAL Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest news, key facts and figures, contacts and answers to your questions. www.health.gov.au/ VK3 - Warc HamFest Italian Sports Club Werribee Feb 21 (vk3vkt) VK6 - Peel Amateur Radio Club Swap Meet March 6 at Mandurah Bowling Club (vk6faaz) VK4 - REDFEST 2021 April Ten (vk4tfn) VK2 - MayHam (Wyong Race Course) May 30 (vk2ji) VK - ALARAMEET 2021 Bendigo October CANCELLED (vk5yl) VK3 - ROSEBUD RadioFest by SPARC 9:30am Nov 14 (vk3pdg) 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 LINKS WE LIKE 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. ------------------------------------------------------------*