2021 APRIL 25 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 APRIL 25 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/ WIA VICE PRESIDENT LEE MOYLE VK3GK REPORTS plus LOT'S LOT MORE IN THIS EARLY EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA - ANZAC DAY 2012 Our Southern area of Tasmania viewers and listeners are in for a treat at REAST's May presentation night, it's on lightning, whistlers and other phenomena by VK7MJ, Dr. Mike Groth. While Army Signallers in the trenches in France during the First World War were using early valve amplifiers to detect the earth currents generated by the field telephones in the enemy trenches, they discovered that the earth generated a range of strange audio frequency signals, including clicks, tweaks, and whistling. These remained a scientific curiosity for almost 40 years, until the International Geophysical Year in 1957-8, when they became a tool for exploring the electrical and magnetic properties of the Earths magnetosphere, this, before the development of specialised geophysical monitoring satellites in the 1970s. This will be another fascinating presentation from Mike and is on May 5 in the Queens Domain clubrooms and will be streamed via the REAST YouTube channel. (REAST Committee via VK7WI News) WIA JOIN THE WIA tinyurl.com/yyj87b9y WIA BOARD MINUTES www.wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/minutes/ WIA BOARD NEWSLETTERS (older) Giving members to have a better awareness of Board activities. www.wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/newsletters/ WIA Vice President, Lee Moyle VK3GK. Today is a very special day, Anzac Day, 25 April, is one of Australias most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War and commemorates all the conflicts that followed. Today is one of the few days during the year that the ACMA allow us to replace the VK prefix with the AX prefix in commemoration of Anzac Day. Make sure you get on air and contact some AX prefix users, or even better operate on the HF bands and work some DX, as many overseas stations and award hunters will be looking to contact the special AX prefix. Many members have been enquiring about the WIA AGM. The Board met last Tuesday and it was at the top of the discussions. The AGM date and venue are being finalized and once confirmed, we will inform our members via the website, social media and memnet. The Covid issues are still at the forefront of venue decisions as boarder closures can happen quickly putting our AGM plans in jeopardy. We plan to have a physical venue and members can also join in as was done last year via an online zoom session. Location, date and time to be announced in the up coming weeks. The AGM is when the four directors fill the vacancies and will be joining the board for the next two years of their terms. Voting for your preferred candidates is still open but please consider posting off to the WIA HQ quickly, to enable your vote to count. Keep in mind that ballot submissions close April 30th. I look forward to working with the new board members creating a successful team delivering new member benefits and to propel the WIA into 2022. At the AGM many awards and commendations are announced. Do you know of someone who is a deserving recipient? If so, then email the WIA office with your suggestion and a short note detailing the persons contribution to the Amateur Radio community. Have you downloaded and used your member benefits card yet? If not then log in to memnet, and download your card included on your last receipt. Reports in from ecstatic members are suggesting savings on some purchases are well in excess of the cost of WIA membership. Now that is a great deal. VK 20 HOME is the WIA special event callsign for members to use while Covid is amongst us. It is current 'til December 31 2021. We have been very lucky in Australia but in many places around the globe, strict lockdowns are still occurring. Check the WIA website and Special Event pages to book your time slot for use. 73 from Lee Moyle VK3GK ACMA - WIA While the WIA has been focused on the main class licence submission, it seems the team has also been monitoring the ACMA consultation pages for other issues that may affect the amateur service due to ammendments. Among specific instruments being amended was the Overseas Amateurs Visiting Australia Class Licence 2015. This class licence is used today to authorise visiting qualified radio amateurs to operate amateur radio stations within Australia for a period of up to 90 days. It is equivalent to the existing Radiocommunications Licence Conditions (Amateur Licence) Determination 2015 that domestic amateur licensees are bound by. In short, new proposals sees a disparity between we locals and our bretheren visiting (when they are able) from overseas ports. The WIA has contacted ACMA via submission hoping to retain EME management parity between domestic and overseas visiting amateur licensees. The WIA will be watching this issue closely. Much more detail is on WIA frnt page news on wia.org.au EDUCATION Training and Assessments REASTs next Foundation Training and all licence assessment day is Saturday 29th May. If you are thinking of going along then grab your copy of the Foundation Licence Manual from the Caltex Service Station corner of Amy St and Main Rd, Moonah for $35 cash and please let Reg Emmett VK7KK REAST Learning Organiser know ASAP that you will be attending. email assessor@reast.asn.au Also check out the REAST Foundation Licence Training Videos that can be found on the REAST YouTube Training and Assessment playlist. tinyurl.com/2brhs4nz (VK7WI News) WIA NATIONAL NEWS AND YOUR 3 W's. WASH YOUR HANDS WEAR YOUR MASK 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. REGION ONE An additional 10 local BBC radio stations are turning off their Medium Wave transmitters for good this year. In addition, BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Gloucestershire will reduce AM coverage. The BBCs intention to close MW transmitters was first announced ten years ago in 2011, then in 2018 the corporation commenced with these and continued them in 2020 across Scotland, Wales, and England. A large and increasing share of radio listening in the UK including to the BBC is digital, and the BBC is committed to a digital future for radio. In recent years BBC have made a significant investment in local DAB expansion, all local radio stations are available on digital terrestrial TV (such as Freeview), and they have transformed online and mobile offering with BBC Sounds. HarmfulcoronaviruscontentonLoveworldbreaks broadcasting rules for third time. An Ofcom investigation in the UK has found that coronavirus coverage on the religious satellite television channel Loveworld breached broadcasting rules for a third time. During two episodes of a current affairs programme, Full Disclosure, presenters made a number of materially misleading and potentially harmful statements about the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines, which were made without scientific or other credible basis, and which went without sufficient context or challenge. It is legitimate for broadcasters to discuss and scrutinise the public health response to the coronavirus pandemic, including the potential side effects of vaccinations and it is in the public interest to do so. But Loveworlds presentation of misleading claims without sufficient challenge or context risked potential serious harm to viewers, particularly at a time when people were likely to be seeking reliable information relating to the UKs vaccination programme. As I said, this is the third time that harmful coronavirus related content on Loveworld has broken Ofcoms rules. REGION TWO On April 20, the FCCs Enforcement Bureau issued a new Enforcement Advisory, repeating the admonishments contained in a January Advisory that no licensee or user of the Amateur or Personal Radio Services may use any radio equipment in connection with unlawful activities of any nature. The Commission specifically cautioned that individuals found to have used radios in connection with any illegal activity are subject to severe penalties, including significant fines, seizure of the offending equipment, and in some cases, criminal prosecution. In addition, licensees should be aware that illegal operation in any service or band, including completely outside the amateur allocations, could potentially disqualify a person from holding any FCC license in any service, not just the Amateur Service. The Caribbean Emergency and Weather Net (CEWN) has been providing round-the-clock coverage during the La Soufriere volcanic eruption on the island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Several neighbouring islands are also still being affected by the disaster. When responding to disasters and emergencies such as this, the CEWN utilizes 3.185 MHz LSB and 7.188 MHz LSB. CEWN is requesting that all radio hams not involved in the volcano response to keep those frequencies clear. REGION THREE IARU R3 Disaster Management Coordinator role The role of IARU Region 3 DM Coordinator has become vacant. The overall role is (but not limited to) to circulate and publicise information within Region 3 on emergency events in which the Amateur Radio Service has been involved. Interested? Contact your Society 'pronto'. ------------------------------------------------------------* HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT the CQ World Wide CW WPX Contest May 29-30 -------------- April 25 AM / CW ANZAC Day, Sun 25th from 9am on 7125kHz AM. -------------- Harry Angel Sprint will be May First. 10:00 - 11:46 UTC. -------------- The VK SHIRES June 12-13 -------------- WINTER VHF-UHF Field Days - June 26 - 27 -------------- IARU HF World Championship July 10-11 -------------- TRANS TASMAN LOWBAND CONTEST Next contest - JUL 17 - 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. -------------- DX WINDOW -------------- Samuel Morse special event Members of the Hungary Radio Amateur Society (MRASZ) will activate the following callsigns in celebration of the 230th anniversary of the birth of Samuel F. B. Morse between now and April 27th, Tuesday. HA230MSE, HG230MSE and LOTS of 230 single suffix calls are on air. Activity will be on various HF bands using CW and SSB. QSL via LoTW. (sourced to SouthGate) -------------- Joe, 9H5JO is on the air this and next weekend from Malta. Between 1200 and 1300UTC each Saturday and Sunday, he will listen on, or very near to, 14.268 MHz. This could be a really good opportunity to get Malta in your logbook. (rsgb) -------------- Mark, W5MED is stationed at McMurdo Station on Ross Island in Antarctica, AN-011, until October. Look for him on 14243 kHz SSB and 14070 kHz FT8. QSL direct to K7MT and Logbook of The World. (rsgb) -------------- JW 1 I is the club callsign for the Meteorological Station on Bear Island, EU-027, Svalbard. The operator is Erling, JW/LB2PG, who is expected to stay there until the 15 of May. QSL via the bureau. (rsgb) -------------- Bolivia operation Antonio, EA5RM, is once again be active as CP1XRM from Bolivia until April 27th, working as Solidaridad Medica and Radio amateurs Without Frontiers NGO volunteer. Activity will be limited to his spare time on 160-10 meters using SSB and the Digital modes. QSL via EA8RM or LOTW (OPDX) -------------- Members of the Association of Radio Amateur of the Mexican Republic will activate three special callsigns to celebrate their club's 61st anniversary. Look for 6D 1 A, 6D 2 A and 6D 3 A to be active until May 16th. Activity will be on 160-6 meters on all modes and the satellites. (SouthGate) -------------- Radio Club to Honour Crew of Lost Submarine Colin Butler, writing in the ICQPodcast tells how a submarine, USS Squalus, sank in the Gulf of Maine on 23rd May 1939. Twenty-six of its crew were lost, but, miraculously, 33 others were saved. The Maine Ham Radio Society will be honouring the Squalus and its crew with a special Remember the Squalus event on the amateur radio airwaves on the 82nd anniversary of the tragic accident. That is Sunday May 23. Using the special FCC-issued call sign W 1 S, club members will take to the airwaves and make contacts nationally and around the globe, making other hams aware of the Squalus. Special certificates will be awarded to hams who successfully make contact with W1S that day, upon request. mainehamradiosociety.com -------------- Czech Republic special event Members of the Radioclub Chrudim will be active as OL75KCR from Chrudim to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the foundation of Radioclub Chrudim. Activity until December 31st, 2021. QSL via ClubLog's OQRS (OPDX) ------------------------------------------------------------* WIRELESS WEATHER BALTIMORESUN.COM SAY:- Astronomers have charted the sun's cycle of sunspot maximum and minimum for hundreds of years. The roughly 11-year cycle includes a maximum as the number of dark visible sunspots crescendos followed by a diminishing number of spots leading to the cycle minimum. In the most recently completed cycle, the number of sunspots noticeably diminished. The cycle's sunspot maximum was the lowest since the opening decade of the 20th century. Another of the cycles statistics, the average daily sunspot count was the lowest since this statistic started being tracked in the mid-1800s. HOWEVER a team from the National Centre for Atmospheric Research is predicting that we can expect the current cycle to deliver the strongest sunspot turnout on record. The prediction is based on yet another cycle on top of the usual 11-year cycle. Indeed, a couple of large, highly complex sunspot groups formed near the end of the year 2020. tinyurl.com/46nkxpft INTRUDER WATCH - ENFORCEMENT ZONE Region III IARUMS Coordinator Peter Young VK3MV VK IARUMS reflector email to subscribe intruders@wia.org.au SUBMITTING a report? go to http://www.wia.org.au/members/protecting/intruderreport/ INTRUDER NETS Friday 0730 UTC 7.065.5 with VK4CEU David. Amateur exclusive frequencies where any non-amateur signal is definitely an intruder. Amateur HF Spectrum world wide 7.050 to 7.100 14.000 to 14.250 14.250 to 14.350 No broadcasters 21.000 to 21.450 24.890 to 24.990 28.000 to 29.700 HF OTH Radar transmissions too numerous to count The IARU Region 1 Monitoring System newsletter reports in March the ubiquitous Over The Horizon Radars made up about 60% of all interference observations, 'one cannot even count them anymore' "Presumably there are only a few stations transmitting on often changing frequencies. In contrast to the past, they are more and more burst systems which usually transmit for only a few seconds, then the frequency is changed. Only the OTHR "Contayner" and "Pluto" (UK base Cyprus) each transmit on a frequency for a longer period of time." The International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System (IARUMS) Region 1 March 2021 newsletter can be read at the link we like tinyurl.com/k2an87mv ------------------------------------------------------------* WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - tinyurl.com/WIA-News-Videos THAT LINK IS A VIDEO VERSION OF THIS NEWS COMPILED BY VK5BD BEVAN One to grab for your own ATV channel comes from the ITU who celebrated World Amateur Radio Day last Sunday. ITU News caught up with Otava Tuomi to learn what ham radio means to him as a young amateur radio operator, and its role - and revival - amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Watch At Home But Never Alone at the link YOU'LL like in the text edition. www.youtube.com/watch?v=baM191kaZVw WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER AMSAT-VK Secretary - secretary@amsat-vk.org Last Monday, NASAs Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first "air-craft" to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. The Ingenuity team at the agencys Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California confirmed the flight succeeded after receiving data from the helicopter via NASAs Perseverance Mars rover. NASA Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen announced the name for the Martian airfield on which the flight took place. Now, 117 years after the Wright brothers succeeded in making the first flight on our planet, NASAs Ingenuity helicopter has succeeded in performing this amazing feat on another world, Zurbuchen said. While these two iconic moments in aviation history may be separated by time and 173 million miles of space, they now will forever be linked. As an homage to the two innovative bicycle makers from Dayton, this first of many airfields on other worlds will now be known as Wright Brothers Field, in recognition of the ingenuity and innovation that continue to propel exploration. We say it's an aircraft, well it is. However relative to Earth, the air on Mars is extremely thin. Standard sea-level air pressure on Earth is 1,013 millibars. On Mars the surface pressure varies through the year but it averages 6 to 7 millibars. That's less than one percent of sea level pressure here on Mother Earth. (NASA/SOUTHGATE/WEBBERS) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- IOTA iota-world.org OC-138. Steve, VK6SJ, will be active as VK6SJ/4 from Iama Island (or Yam), Thursday and Poruma (or Coconut) Islands in the Torres Strait Group between April 26th and May 4th. He states that he will be operating evenings only and most likely only be using FT8, (SouthGate) 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 A linked repeater system in Tennessee provided a communications lifeline for a woman hiking in a national park. Amateur Radio's Kevin Trotman N5PRE brings us that story. "A woman in distress while hiking with a group inside the Great Smoky Mountain National Park was brought to safety with the help of communications over the W4KEV repeater system in Tennessee. With no cellular service available in the park, hiker Timothy Luttrell KA9EBJ used his HT to hit the repeater in Gatlinburg which was linked to one in Knoxville which was being monitored by David Manuel W5DJR. Timothy told David that a woman in the hiking party had suffered exhaustion and possibly dehydration and needed assistance. David notified Emergency Medical Service as well as a medic who was part of the park search team to help assess her condition via a series of questions. Meanwhile, phone calls were placed to the hiker's family. With questions relayed over the repeater, the medic determined the woman was stable enough to accompany the other hikers as they continued slowly down the trail, maintaining contact when possible. Arrangements were made for the hikers to meet with search and rescue officers in a parking area and ultimately for the woman's safe pickup by her family. For Amateur Radio NewsLine I'm Kevin Trotman N5PRE." A similar yet not related item came across the wires this week, it seems the keen and practiced eye of ARRL member Ben Kuo, AI 6 YR, helped to guide rescuers to a hiker stranded on a mountainside. The hiker had spent the night in a remote region of the Angeles National Forest after getting in a tough spot. After a concerned friend reported him missing, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department dispatched search-and-rescue teams. Although amateur radio played no direct role in the rescue, AI 6 YR cited his enthusiasm for technology and ham radio satellites and for Summits on the Air for helping him to develop the skills he needed to guide searchers to the most appropriate area. He was able to determine the hikers likely location using the tiny photo the hiker posted on Twitter that shows his legs and the valley below. AI 6 YR set to work pulling publicly available satellite images and matching them to the vegetation and terrain below the hikers legs. His eye was good. He sent authorities the GPS coordinates of the most likely area and the rescue team found the man in distress less than a mile from that location. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - VHF AND ABOVE (The Plumbers Delight) UK amateurs continue to create new DX records on the 122GHz band. Using barely one milliwatt, a new all-time UK record was set between Roger, G 8 CUB and Chris, G 0 FDZ, from Danbury Hill in Essex to the Isle of Sheppey, a distance of nearly 36 km. This is all the more remarkable given the very low powers and high atmospheric loss due to an oxygen resonance that affects this particular microwave band. (RSGB) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- YOTA (Youngsters On The Air) youtube.com/channel/UClAapljf0VQ751sOgu2IzaA twitter.com/hamyota PUSHING A GOOD THING TO FAR? When WILL organisers realise this COVID BAT FLU ain't going anywhere soon. So many TRY to push the bat bubble and advertise their event will go ahead only to fall in an embarrassing heap when their areas Covid=19 don't clear in time. Point in case here, YOTA Summer Camp Croatia This sensibly has been postponed to 2022. BTW WEST CHESTER, Ohio, April 15, The long-awaited Youth on the Air Camp in the Americas is scheduled to proceed during the planned dates, July 11 through July 16, 2021. The camp will take place at the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting in Ohio. The camp was postponed in 2020. ------------------------------------------------------------* 2021 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 - MOORABBIN HAMFEST May 8 (vk3gl) VK2 - MayHam (Wyong Race Course) May 30 (vk2ji) VK5 - SERG convention Mt. Gambier June 12 / 13 (vk5bj) VK3 - ROSEBUD RadioFest by SPARC 9:30am Nov 14 (vk3pdg) 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. ------------------------------------------------------------*