2021 JULY 18 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 18 2021 IN OUR 26th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS WIA Board announces new President. 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/ Good morning from Lee Moyle, VK3GK, WIA Vice President. WIA Board announces new President. The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) board of directors convened their first meeting after the 2021 AGM, which is when the President and Vice President are appointed and all new directors are welcomed to the board. Firstly all returning and new directors were congratulated on their appointments and then we all welcomed new Director, Peter Schrader VK4EA to the WIA board. The WIA Board of Directors are proud to announce the appointments of Scott Williams VK3KJ as new WIA President and Lee Moyle VK3GK will continue as Vice President. All the directors thanked past President Greg Kelly VK2GPK for his commitment and contribution to the WIA during his past Presidential tenure. Greg Kelly continues on the WIA board as a valuable resource and support to assist new President Scott Williams as he transitions into the role. A general meeting followed with some excellent initiatives tabled, including a focus on the aspects of increasing our utilization of social media platforms and memnet for information delivery to our WIA membership base. The board undertook a range of discussions focused towards improvement on the levels of customer service to members. It was acknowledged that the WIA board must introduce system enhancements to triage member feedback and concerns. With a goal to address matters more timely and efficiently. The mood was very upbeat as we look forward to the coming year ahead. 73 from Lee VK3GK 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. Hidden radios in home devices the next cyber threat. Did you know that your Internet Of Things devices are 'secretly' communicating with each other? This includes IOT devices that are not in your home. Did you know that what your devices do may be transmitted to third parties? Did you know that your TV may also have the capability and may currently be transmitting your activity far and wide? There are secret communications occurring between IOT devices using protocols like Bluetooth LE, Zigbee, Thread, 802.15, and LoRa that you likely didn't expect or was not explained when you bought these devices. Just like Amazon Echo has been conscripted to work with the Amazon Sidewalk Mesh network, other networks are in operation and some are completely unknown. Learn about these in this video on the link we like www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tIK3Fk-bLA REGION ONE Swiss radio amateurs face fee to use QO-100 The Swiss communications regulator charges JUST OVER 100 AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS (CHF 70) to issue radio amateurs with special permits to use the QO-100 amateur satellite transponders A post on the USKA website indicates they wish to protect license-exempt users in 2.4 GHz and reserves the right to withdraw the special permit if there are problems. The special permit entitles the holder to use a transmitter with a maximum output of 100 W PEP for a satellite uplink in 2400-2410 MHz. tinyurl.com/IARU-Switzerland The RSGB ran an amateur radio survey in May as part of its input to an IARU workshop and over one thousand people responded and gave their views of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for amateur radio both currently and in the future. A summary of the responses has been published in the August RadCom and you can also read the summary by following a link on the RSGBs survey web page: www.rsgb.org/survey Imagine powering your own hand held simply by using your body instead of a battery. News Editor Graham, VK4BB, tells us about some research in Israel that makes that sound more real than you may think: It's all thanks to piezoelectricity. Here's that story from the "Times of Israel" Graham filed this week to Amateur Radio NewsLine. "...and it's been around for a while. The accumulation of electrical charges from solid materials is actually not a new concept, at least in the lab. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University believe this nanotechnology will one day be able to power medical devices, such as pacemakers, by transforming the body's mechanical movements into electricity. That's because they have discovered a way to do this using materials that are nontoxic, making them safe for implantation into the body. The research was published recently in the journal Nature Communications. Now the time has come for this to be tried out on humans. The lead researcher, Professor Ehud Gazit said the practical applications extend beyond medicine. He said the device could also power street lights simply by being placed on the road to capture energy from tire movement. We hams, of course, will be watching and waiting for the results of this new development in green energy. For those of us who operate portable or mobile, it certainly puts all kinds of possibilities for 'power in motion'." REGION TWO USA MOBILE ANTENNA HITS A BUMP IN THE ROAD This story is of a mobile antenna and traveling down the road to trouble. Mike Askins KE5CXP tells us how it happened. "There's nothing like the freedom of having a mobile antenna and many hams who have at least one will tell you it's a game-changer when they're on the road. But when is an antenna TOO MUCH antenna? According to the California Highway Patrol, it's too much antenna when it's a satellite dish attached to the hood of your car. On July 2nd, a motorist with just that configuration was pulled over by an officer who identified it as a [quote] "visual obstruction." The police said the dish seemed to be an antenna like those that connect to the Starlink service which SpaceX introduced in its beta stage late last year. According to news accounts in the New York Post newspaper and CNBC, the motorist explained to the officer that the antenna was used for business and it provides a necessary Wi-Fi connection for the car. When the officer asked whether it impeded driving in any way, the motorist reportedly said that visibility was an issue only when making right turns. He was given a ticket for a moving violation. A post on the highway patrol's Facebook page for Antelope Valley, recounted the story too, citing a section of the California Vehicle Code which makes the mounting of visual obstructions on the hood of a vehicle to be illegal. That apparently applied to this vehicle, which was a red Toyota Prius. Perhaps the driver would have had better luck if he'd been driving something older, say, one from the 1960s or 1970s. We're thinking of one Chrysler Motors model in particular: It was called the Plymouth Satellite. For Amateur Radio NewsLine I'm Mike Askins KE5CXP." Young Caribbean Nation Formalizing Amateur Radio Guidelines. With a population around just 71,000, the Caribbean island of Dominica (J7) boasts a modest but active ham radio population. Given Dominica's vulnerability to hurricanes, the ham radio emphasis often focuses on emergency communications support. In 2017, after Hurricane Maria hit the tiny island, ham radio filled a huge telecommunications gap. Now the country's telecommunications regulator is asking hams to help formulate new amateur radio guidelines and standards. They have been collecting comments from amateurs that could lead to a formal and better-documented set of rules and regulations. Interestingly their regulators also looked at Australia's amateur radio rules. The proposals would provide for three license classes Novice, General, and Advanced -- as well as licensing procedures for each. ------------------------------------------------------------* HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT -------------- 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 -------------- Be listening between July 17th and 25th for members of the Quito Radio Club who will be on the air as HD 1 QRC 90. The club is marking its 90th anniversary. They will be on the air on all bands and all modes. QSL via the Eagle, that is, EA5GL. (arnewsline.org) -------------- LZ950, BULGARIA (Special Event). Members of the Bulgarian Radio Club Blagovestnik (LZ1KCP) continue their yearlong activity to honour the memory of Orthodox saints during July with the callsign LZ 950 TM. QSOs count towards the "All Saints - 2021" award. For more details about the awards this year and the Bulgarian Club Blagovestnik, see the link we like: www.lz1kcp.com Oh and the next special event station for August is LZ 363 ER. (opdx) -------------- RUSSIA. Call sign R 100 KOMI celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Komi Republic until the end of September. QSL via ClubLog OQRS and R1II. (southgatearc.org) -------------- 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. -------------- 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) -------------- ARGENTINA, LU. Special event station L 21 RCA is QRV during all of 2021 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of IARU member society Radio Club Argentino. QSL via LU 4 AA. (arrl) -------------- The Slovenian Amateur Radio Union will celebrate the country's 30 years of Independence by issuing a special award eligible to amateur radio enthusiasts all over the World. For this event, until December 31, Slovenian amateur radio stations can use special call signs. Those will add the number '30' into the suffix. For example: S 50 ZZ will be S 50 30 ZZ, S 51 A will be S 51 30 A, S 57 XXX will be S 57 30 XXX etc. In order to obtain the award we here in VK and in fact all foreign (to Slovenian) amateur radio station must have at least 30 contacts with S5 stations, out of which 10 or more must have the special '30' suffix. The easy part though is any band/mode counts for the award! Send the log - list of contacts, date, time, call, band and mode to scc@hamradio.si ( icqpodcast.com ) POLAND. Special event stations SN 0 ZOSP and SN 100 ZOSP are QRV until February 5, 2022 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Association of the Voluntary Fire Brigades of the Republic of Poland. (SouthGate) THE QNEWS WORK BENCH - the nuts and volts report Measure Twice cut Once. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, spoke out on the ' R2R' issue during a recent appearance on Cameo, a website that lets fans pay celebrities for video messages. In a post to Louis Rossmann, a YouTube personality and a R2R { right-to-repair advocate), Wozniak said that he was "totally supportive" of the cause -- which gives consumers the right and information to fix their own devices -- "I do a lot of Cameos, but this one has really gotten to me," he said in the nine-minute video. "We wouldn't have had an Apple had I not grown up in a very open technology world." The right to repair movement has gained ground lately. In the United Kingdom, new measures have been introduced to require manufacturers of televisions, washing machines and refrigerators to provide spare parts to consumers. Wozniak, for his part, shared how he had learned to build and modify his own devices from a young age, including with a ham radio license at 10 years old, WV 6 VLY. "Back then, when you bought things like TVs and radios, every bit of the circuits and designs were included on paper. Total open source," he said. "If you know what you're doing ... you could repair a lot of things at low cost. But it's even more precious to know that you did it yourself ." (eHam.net and VK4BB) ------------------------------------------------------------* WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS CW To celebrate the 1st anniversary of the international group 'The Slow Morse Club' on Facebook, the special callsigns TM 1 SMC (France), GB 1 SMC (England) and EI 1 SMC (for Ireland) will be active between July 17-25th. This group aims to encourage new operators and SWLs to learn Morse code, but also to bring together those who enjoy CW at a more relaxing pace. The group already brings together more than 1,800 members around the globe. The callsign TM 1 SMC will be active on the bands between 80-2 meters on CW and SSB. A special paper QSL card will be sent by the Bureau to each station present in the log and to the SWLs which request it. Please send QSL and SWL reports via F 4 IIQ (QSL Manager). Do not hesitate to consult the TM1SMC QRZ.com page for more information about the event. You can find the group's FaceBook page at: www.facebook.com/groups/3231315733622032 (southgatearc.org) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER AMSAT-VK Secretary - secretary@amsat-vk.org You'll recall how the Mauritius Amateur Radio Society said MIR-SAT-1 Awards would be issued on the occasion of the deployment in space of the first Mauritian Nano Satellite which was open to all SWL's and radio amateurs around the world. These prizes awarded to those who decoded MIR-SAT1 telemetry and transmit it to the Satnogs database. A PLATINUM award to the first 10 earth stations that apply for the award after uploading the telemetry to Satnogs and a GOLD award to the next 20 earth stations. Well in that top 30 it's a hearty congratulations to Peter Chatwin VK2PET out in the Yass area. Well done Peter. (NA VK4BB) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- LIGHT HOUSES LIGHTHOUSE SOCIETY HONORS 3 WITH LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT Congratulations to 3 hams who have received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society. Jim Buffington K5JIM Jim Elliott KA3UNQ Dan Hatcher KD3CQ. Jim Buffington has had a long career in professional broadcasting and has served the lighthouse society as vice president and chairman. He has activated lights along the US East Coast and Gulf Coast Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf Coast. Jim Elliott has activated more than 200 East Coast lighthouses and has chased and contacted more than 1,450 others. He received the society's first Activator of the Year award in 2009. He also developed a weekly chat room on the society website. Dan Hatcher has activated 178 lighthouses in 15 states, with 72 of them being first-time activations. He has also chased and confirmed almost 1,800 lighthouses in the US, Canada and in DX locations. Dan belongs to the society's Advisory Council. (ARNEWSLINE.ORG) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- MARITIME The RV Braveheart For Sale The RV Braveheart, is well known to most serious DXers and it has been chartered by numerous DXpedition teams over the years, is now up for sale. The asking price is 250,000 New Zealand Dollars. Why Kiwi dollars? Well the RV Braveheart is registered in ZL land. As reported previously here on WIA National News the impending sale of this vessel was the primary reason the long touted DXpedition to Bouvet Island was cancelled. The research and expedition ship was built in Japan in 1981 and is registered in New Zealand. It is 36 metres long with a beam of 9.5 Metres and has berths for 6 crew members and 12 passengers. The Braveheart while owned by Nigel Jolly was responsible for providing a new country to many DXers world-wide. Let's hope that the new owners will be as accommodating to the amateur radio community. (sourced to irts.ie) ------------------------------------------------------------* With REWIND, I'm John Knox VK4FJR THE WEEK OF NO WIA BROADCASTS Almost 50 years ago, in 1971, there was a week when there were no WIA broadcasts from any state of Australia. Why? No it wasn't the RD weekend when many states such as VK6 and 7 didn't originate news, instead, concentrated on the contest. On Sunday October 3, 1971 the Victorian Divisions Sunday morning broadcast contained material that was inappropriate for an Institute broadcast. PMG department people were listening in and were not impressed. The WIA Federal Council under then president Michael Owen VK3KI (a familiar name to many) decided to voluntarily suspend broadcasts across all states for a week. That would give time for divisions to introduce safeguards to prevent a repetition. This was thought preferable to action by the PMG that could have potentially involved withdrawing the concession that allowed WIA broadcasts to operate 'back in the day.' You can read the full account in the SA WIA Journal for November 1971. tinyurl.com/vket85p7 For more historic VK5 journals visit www.vk1zdj.net/?p=476 Doug VK1ZDJ has spent hours scanning and uploading nearly 20 years of journals from 1959 so you can read them online to see how we were. (vk3ye) ------------------------------------------------------------* 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 (vk4tfn) "The Redcliffe Club will hold a Car Boot Sale at our newly renovated club house on the 21 August 2021. So don't be shy, Book a place for five dollars at our Car Boot Sale. Place bookings email: secretary@redcliffe radio club.org.au Breakfast is at 8:00AM, Admission is free. Gates open at nine. Raffle prizes will be drawn at 10:30. Also go to: www.redcliffe radio club.org.au You'll find a link, which will help you to find us. We're also on Facebook. Bye for now and 73s from the Redcliffe and Districts Radio Club VK4RC. I'm Robert VK4TFN" VK5 - Australian Fox Hunting Championship and SERG Convention Mount Gambier 18th and 19 of September. (vk5dj) 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. ------------------------------------------------------------*