2021 JULY 11 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 JULY 11 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 DIRECTOR PETER CLEE - VK8ZZ REPORTS. PLUS MUCH MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA Ham radio helping lifelong hobbyists stay mentally fit in old age - so says ABC WA It comes with all the benefits of social media but without "any of the downsides" and one of Australia's oldest ham radio enthusiasts says it is also the perfect hobby for retirees looking to stay mentally sharp. West Australian-based Norman Gomm VK 6 GOM took to ham radio over forty years ago and now aged 82 has no intention of signing off - just yet. As one of VK's estimated 10,500 licensed ham radio operators, VK6GOM is also President of the Bunbury Radio Club. Read and HEAR more via this Link via the story filed last week on wia front page news, wia.org.au Another story of a similar theme appeared in the Minnesota StarTribune this week. Janet and Janice Robidoux didn't live the kind of life that people would expect of women of their generation. The 86-year-old identical twins from Coon Rapids in Minnesota USA, studied electrical engineering and worked for pioneering computer companies at a time when few women had careers in STEM fields. They didn't marry or have children, instead they built canoes and raced them, became competitive bowlers and tramped through all the state parks in Minnesota. They've travelled the world via the airwaves as avid ham radio operators, a hobby they took up in their teens. Janice is K 0 JA and Janet, K 0 JE. They've also travelled the world in real life, driving a series of RVs to every state (except Hawaii) and taking volunteer trips to places like Tonga and Indonesia. tinyurl.com/mwt2kraj WIA JOIN THE WIA tinyurl.com/yyj87b9y WIA BOARD MINUTES www.wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/minutes/ As advised by retiring President VK2GPK at AGA 2021 no longer being published BUT members CAN ask WIA for them. (vk4bb) DIRECTORS COMMENT 11 July 2021 Good morning listeners, Peter VK8ZZ here. The Northern Territory went into lockdown recently which came as a shock since we had not experienced that situation since early in 2020. That was also a bit of a surprise for all the thousands of southern tourists who are currently visiting the NT to escape the southern lockdowns and enjoy the mild dry season weather up here in the north. I was in Canberra the week before the AGM and flew back home to Darwin via Melbourne. I was registered to attend the AGM but an unplanned power outage in my small community meant that I was unable to be part of this years AGM. I have seen part of the video and it seem that there was significant participation. The conference which I was attending in Canberra was held as a hybrid event. It also seems also that a virtual component is very popular and may well remain a part of future WIA AGMs and Conferences. I note that the RAOTC held last years AGM as a virtual event and it may well be a feature of future such events. That said the Board will turn its mind to the 2022 AGM. The Board will need to determine if it will be a hybrid event held at a both a physical location as well as being held via zoom and again streamed on YouTube. The board are now calling for submissions from clubs who may be interested in holding that event in 2022. On the international scene, the IARU has been working on a new global IARU website that links to all three regions. This work has been going on over the last 24 months. The IARU web sites have been updated and have been live for some time now. Common information about Amateur Radio, the role of the IARU is on the main site, whereas region specific information and news etc can be found on the links from the main site. The web sites have all been optimised to work well on both Android and iOS devices. www.iaru.org/ and R3 site directly www.iaru-r3.org/ The IARY Monitoring Service Co-ordinator, Peter VK3MV, has notified the board of the WIA that he wishes to retire from that role. The Board are seeking expressions of interest from individuals or clubs that may wish to be considered for appointment to that role. Please send your expressions of interest to secretary@wia.org.au The WIA extends it thanks to Peter VK3MV for his many years in that role. This has been WIA Director and Secretary Peter Clee VK8ZZ 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, eHam, AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE & the World Wide sources of the WIA. REGION ONE IARU is saddened to announce that IARU Region 1 Vice President Faisal Alajmi, 9 K 2 RR, died following a prolonged period of hospitalisation with COVID. 9K2RR had been Region 1 Vice President since the 2014 General Conference and was an energetic and active supporter of amateur radio in the Arab world and globally. He was also an accomplished and successful contester. He represented IARU in the Arab Spectrum Management Group meetings and had attended ITU World Radio Conferences on behalf of IARU. Region 1 President Don Beattie, G3BJ, said This is tragic news. He was a valued member of the Executive Committee and of the Region 1 team. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this sad time IARU Resignation. The Radio Society of Zambia has been deregistered by the Registrar of Societies and as such, Zambia is no longer a legal entity, the Society has now resigned from the International Amateur Radio Union. REGION TWO FCC Reaffirms Nearly $3 Million Fine for Marketing Unauthorized Drone Transmitters In a Memorandum Opinion and Order released June 17, the FCC denied a Petition for Reconsideration filed by HobbyKing of a $2,861,128 fine for marketing noncompliant RF equipment and for failing to respond to FCC orders in its investigation of the companys practices. In the same step, the FCC enforced its equipment marketing rules. The fine resulted from an FCC investigation initiated by ARRLs January 2017 complaint that the HobbyKing equipment was blatantly illegal at multiple levels. As spelled out in ARRLs 2017 complaint, the ARRL Laboratory had documented that the operating frequencies of these drone TV transmitters near the 1.3 GHz amateur band were dip-switch selectable for frequencies internationally assigned for use by Aeronautical Navigation, GPS etc. as well as to both the interrogation and reply frequencies used for Air Traffic Control Air-Route Surveillance transponder radar systems. Transmissions from these drone TV transmitters would have caused harmful interference to these essential Navigation and ATC Radar systems, presenting a real and dangerous threat to the safety of flight. The American Radio Relay League is planning a Rededication of Operations this month, July. ARRL board members from across the U.S.A. will join elected officials in reopening the world headquarters at 225 Main St., Newington. "We're really rededicating the work we do in Newington coming out of Covid; an organization thats weathered two pandemics," Product Development Manager Bob Inderbitzen explained. The ARRL has over 158,000 members, all of whom are essentially amateur radio operators and hobbyists. The USA's FCC is soliciting a second round of comments on whether to authorize commercial space entities to obtain licenses for frequencies used exclusively during space launch activities. The proposals include parts of the 70-centimeter (420 430 MHz) and 5-centimeter (5650 5925 MHz) bands. The federal government is allocated this spectrum on a primary basis and routinely uses it during space launches, but commercial space companies must obtain short-term Special Temporary Authority authorizations from the FCC to use it for the same purpose. The proposals would allow private commercial space companies to obtain regular FCC licenses instead of launch-specific STAs in a number of bands, Primary federal users heavily employ the 70-centimeter segment for radiolocation applications. Frequencies in the 420 430 MHz segment also can be used during space launches to send a flight self-destruct signal if a launch goes off course and poses danger to a populated area. The Commissions 2013 proposal, repeated in 2021, would permit use restricted to flight termination during launches by commercial space launch companies. REGION THREE JARL reports first membership increase for 27 years The JARL reports that in the year to April 30, 2021, membership increased by 574 reversing 27 years of decline. JARL President's post reads: "As I have already reported in the previous issue of JARL NEWS (Spring 2021), JARL Web, e-mail magazine, etc., the number of members of this federation at the end of last year increased by 574 compared to the same period of the previous year. Once again, we would like to thank all the members concerned and everyone involved for their cooperation in running the federation. This increase in the number of members has been taken up by various mass media such as TV news programs and national newspapers as bright news in the midst of the Corona disaster. It was a great pleasure to be informed about ham radio and JARL in this way, and it was a big event for the ham radio world as a whole." ------------------------------------------------------------* HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT -------------- IARU HF World Championship is on now, the weekend of July 10-11 -------------- TRANS TASMAN LOWBAND CONTEST JUL 17 - 160 80 and 40M using SSB, CW and RTTY OR PSK Now it's to the TT Contest Manager "Hi This is Alan VK4SN with a reminder that the TT contest is the next VK contest on the calendar and is open to both VK and ZL participants. Keep Saturday evening on July 17th free to take part between 0800 and 1400Z The six hours is divided into 3 x 2 hour blocks where you can work stations once per band per mode per block Use SSB CW or RTTY to warm up 160 80 and 40 meters in one of the following sections. 1. SOHP 2. SOLP 3. SOQRP 4. MS 5. MM Exchange is the signal report followed by a consecutive serial number starting at 001. Contestants are encouraged to use Mike's VKCL logger. Once the cabrillo log is created, it can be directly uploaded to the log checker site, with the click of a single button. The user does not have to find the log or email. The logger sends directly for you. In the event it does not work then email the log to ttlogs@wia.org.au ALSO please remember the Remembrance Day contest next month 73 Alan VK4SN." -------------- RD or Remembrance Day Contest will be August 14-15. -------------- ALARA CONTEST 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 -------------- KINGDOM OF ESWATINI, 3DA. Hans, 3 DA 0 AQ has been logged on 20 to 6 meters using CW. Eswatini, officially the Kingdom of Eswatini, sometimes still commonly known in English as Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its north, west, and south. QSL 3 DA 0 AQ via EA5GL. -------------- ST. HELENA ISLAND. No not the St Helena in VK4's Moreton bay but ZD7 laying in the South Atlantic Ocean. QRV is ZD 7 GB from Jamestown until September 6. Activity on 40 to 10 meters, including Satellite QO-100, using SSB, FT8 and FT4. QSL via operator Gerry's instructions. Gerry, whose callsigns include G3WIP and VK0GB, among others received the callsign ZD 7 GB for his activation from the main village of Jamestown on St. Helena Island whilst he is working there as a medical doctor (arrl - arnewsline.org) -------------- Here's a "hi-flyer" worth keeping an ear out for. NZART news say that ARI Cadore and ARI Brunico have activated special call II 3 TDD celebrating a century from the opening of the most famous ALPS railway:- "Trenino delle DOLOMITI - DOLOMITES Mountains Train." They are on air till September 30th on all bands and modes. -------------- CROATIA, 9A. Members of the Croatian Flora Fauna ARC are QRV with special event call 9A10FF during all of 2021 to celebrate the club's 10th anniversary. QSL via 9A2MF. (ARRL) -------------- MEDIA WATCH QRM FROM THE SKY Ham radio on Russian TV Raisa R 1 BIG appeared in a news report '21st Century Radio Amateurs' that was shown on Russia's Channel One TV She writes: "I agreed with the camera crew of the main Russian Channel One that they come on International Amateur Radio day to me to make a report about Ham Radio to promote our hobby to a big number of completely new people, who watch television." The report came next day on Russian television. You can see what happened behind the scenes: INSERT VIDEO www.1tvspb.ru/event/Radiotehnika_v_21_veke_/ Raisa R1BIG Blog raisa.blog/ (southgatearc.org) D N I W E R With REWIND, I'm John Knox VK4FJR OLD SA WIA JOURNALS NOW ONLINE Doug VK 1 ZDJ has been scanning old WIA South Australian Division newsletters from 1959 to 1977 and has placed them online for all to read. Not only do they contain SA news but theres lots of circuits and projects, WIA Federal News and more. Many themes from then recur today, 50 or 60 years later. So set aside many hours of reading pleasure and visit the link we like in this weeks text edition www.vk1zdj.net/?p=476 And dont forget our own Amateur Radio magazine is also online from the 30s to the 2000s thanks to scanning and uploading by Will VK6UU. www.armag.vk6uu.id.au/ (vk3ye) ------------------------------------------------------------* BOOK EM NICK Want to get our youth into Amateur Radio and dont know where to start? Rob Norman may have the answer! Rob VK5SW has written 5 Amateur Radio books which are all available from Amazon, worldwide. Rob has been an Operator for 50 years now. These books do pertain to Amateur Radio; they are aimed at Children and are available in both e Kindle and Paperback formats. I'm sure these books can help Young People take an interest in our Hobby because Rob has kept the costs of the Books to the lowest allowed by Amazon. www.amazon.com/-/e/B004GGQM56 AND also, no not a set of steak knives BUT he is offering free] access to his Amateur Radio Website which he has been building on for over 10 Years can be seen here at the link we like on the link in todays text edition of VK's ONLY official Ham Radio News Broadcast. www.VK5SW.com Rob hopes to hear from you soon. (nzart) ------------------------------------------------------------* WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS ASTRONOMICAL So far, in the search for exoplanets, scientists have been unable to detect radio signals coming from those planets. BUT what ARE exoplanets? An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917, the prefix exo is short for extra-solar, meaning beyond the Sun, so exoplanets are just planets that orbit stars other than our Sun. T These scientists believe that radio signals from distant solar systems could give astronomers valuable information about the characteristics of the planet they emanate from. A research paper published by Rice University scientists has outlined a better way to determine which exoplanets are most likely to produce detectable radio signals based on activity within the magnetosphere on the night side of the planet. The study shows that radio signals emanating from the dayside of an exoplanet appear to be at their max during phases of high solar activity. The study also found that those coming from the planets night side could add significantly to the signal. Information on the planets magnetosphere is of particular interest to scientists because the strength of the magnetosphere around an exoplanet indicates how well it will be protected from the solar wind coming from its host star. Earths magnetosphere is one of the key reasons our home planet is teeming with life because it protects us from radiation and solar wind. tinyurl.com/4fhnpy9a (slashgear.com and vk4bb) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FEMALES IN RADIO. This week we visit with the Ladies Digital Roundtable and Sel Embee KB3TZD has that report thanks to our good friends at amateur radio newsline. "The YLs who check into the Ladies Digital Roundtable say they're grateful to have a safe spot they can get access to with a hot spot. The women, who are married to amateur radio operators, first began meeting in February of 2020 after realizing that many of the more technical nets populated by men were a bit intimidating, even to YLs who'd had their licenses for a long time. Lana N7WST conceived the net to encourage them to get on the air and feel more comfortable. Each Monday evening at 0100 UTC a dozen or more YLs meet in Southwest USA on WIRES-X Room 43197 or Yaesu System Fusion Reflector 73102. YLs using DMR are able to operate cross mode to enter. Lana told Newsline that instead of antennas and amps the women talk about their lives, their childhoods, their families and a number of less technical topics. She said [quote] "We speak about a chosen weekly topic and whatever else is on our minds or going on in our lives." [endquote] She said that all the while, the women are sharpening their operating skills too. Most of the women are in the southwestern United States but she said some regulars have been checking in from New York, Virginia, Indiana and at least one DX member in the Philippines. Of course there have been some off-the-air benefits as well: Many of the local members who live in Arizona have since gone on camping trips together near the Grand Canyon and stay in touch in between nets through the roundtable's FaceBook page" For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Sel Embee KB3TZD. And to Females in space where Mary Wallace Funk, known to her friends as "Wally" at age 82, and pilot with more than 19,600 flight hours is about to rocket into the history books. Maybe best known as one of the "Mercury 13" group of women who passed NASA astronaut medical exams in the 1960s, she will be on the first crewed New Shepard flight Tuesday July 20, along with billionaire Jeff Bezos. NASA made no effort to fly the Mercury 13 women, and did not formally select any female astronauts until Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in June 1983. Wally will now be the oldest person, male or female yet, to fly into space. (ANS) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER AMSAT-VK Secretary - secretary@amsat-vk.org The world's first wooden CubeSat successfully has completed a test flight into the stratosphere. WISA Woodsat is constructed using birch plywood panels in a 1U configuration measuring 10 centimetres squared. 9 small solar cells will power the satellite, which will orbit at an altitude of 500 - 550 kilometres. The novel spacecraft will carry several amateur radio experiments, as well as photo downlinking, including selfies. WISA Woodsat will go where no wood has gone before. (eHam.net and arrl.org) MIR-SAT1 Designated as MO-112 On June 22, MIR-SAT1 was deployed from the ISS and is a project of the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council carrying digipeater and camera experiments. spacemauritius.com. AMSAT has now designated MIR-SAT1 as MIRSAT-OSCAR 112 (MO-112). AMSAT has congratulated the owners and operators, and thanked them for their contribution to the amateur satellite community. {ANS} WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- POLICE iparc.nl iparc.de GM 0 GMN to lead IPA amateur radio section Following the passing of Regional Representative Tom Reilly, G 0 NSY, the International Police Association (IPA) has appointed James, GM 0 GMN to lead their UK amateur radio section. RSGB Front Page News says James is keen to make contact with current and former members of the group and to encourage new members. To contact James, see QRZ.com. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ROTA ROTA Recipes On The Air Well maybe we should call this "Recipes in Space". The first three Chinese astronauts aboard China's Tiangong space station are enjoying a menu of more than 120 dishes. Meals include shredded pork in garlic sauce, kung pao chicken, black pepper beef, pickled cabbage and many more. CCTV, which is available in VK aboard the FOXTEL platform, also reports that astronauts use condiments such as pork sauce and Sichuan pepper sauce to help adjust to the temporary loss of sense of taste experienced in microgravity. The space agency also boasted that this station is equipped with a microwave oven, so that the crew can enjoy their food hot. (ANS) SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- STAMP COLLECTING AMATEURS Awhile since we reported on this group. The US Postal Service is issuing a set of stamps bearing images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. The stamps feature 10 images received at the observatory, including plasma blasts, solar flares, coronal holes, coronal loops and those all-important sunspots. NASA launched its Solar Dynamics Observatory in 2010 to collect solar data, now in 2021 the post office issued the stamps during a ceremony in Maryland. As ARNewsline.com says, this means that we hams, of course, can now celebrate Solar Cycle 25 one stamp at a time, with each QSL card we send. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- YOTA (Youngsters On The Air) youtube.com/channel/UClAapljf0VQ751sOgu2IzaA twitter.com/hamyota YOTA Contest The second session of the 2021 Youngsters On The Air contest will take place NEXT Sunday July 18th from 1000 to 2159utc. This is a change of date from the originally announced July 17th. Over 700 logs were received for the first leg including over 100 logs from YOTA stations where the operators had to be under 25 years of age. The full details can be found on www.ham-yota.com/contest/ (irts) ------------------------------------------------------------* 2021 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. 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/ VK4 - REDCLIFFE AR Club Car Boot Sale Aug 21 9am Details in this weeks QNEWS (vk4tfn) VK5 - Australian Fox Hunting Championship and SERG Convention Mount Gambier 18th and 19 of September. (vk5dj) Good morning, this is John VK5DJ for the South East Radio Group. Well were having another try. The Australian Fox Hunting Championship and SERG Convention at Mount Gambier is now re-scheduled for the weekend of 18th and 19 of September 2021. The program may need a little adjustment around the edges as it is an ordinary weekend and that may mean that some of our foxhunters need to return home Sunday. That being said, well try to ensure that the program is as full as possible. Keep an eye on the SERG Convention page on our website: serg.org.au Were looking forward to seeing our Convention friends back on 18th, 19th of September. VK6 - PerthTech October 23 (vk6pop) 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 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. ------------------------------------------------------------*