2022 OCTOBER 30 VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA ------------------------------------------------------------* THE BEST HAM 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 OCTOBER 30 2022 IN OUR 27th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS Well its only a week to go and the Tassie Ham Radio Conference and Expo has shaped up as a huge weekend of inspiration, education and promotion of our wonderful hobby. More later with a focus on the huge Expo line-up! WIA SECTRETARY PETER VK8ZZ and calls for BOARD NOMINATIONS. WIA PRESIDENT SCOTT VK3KJ JOINS US THIS & MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA WIA JOIN THE WIA tinyurl.com/yyj87b9y Greetings to all that have tuned into the WIA Broadcast this week. This is WIA President and Director, Scott Williams VK3KJ. The WIA working group that is developing the WIAs response to the ACMA proposal on Class Licensing and High Power have been busy at work considering all aspects to our pending submission. As part of this process, the WIA will be releasing an electronic survey to both Members and non-Members in the coming weeks to capture information and the broad views of the Amateur Radio Community. If you are not a member of the WIA, look out for communiques that will appear on our website and social media platforms, where you will be able to register your interest to receive the survey when it is released. WIA members will not need to register and will automatically receive the survey based on information held on the WIA database (Memnet). Once the survey is released, it is expected it will take 8 10 mts to populate. Text fields will also be provided in some cases to capture additional comments around specific areas, but is important to stay on topic. Once all survey responses from members and non-members have been compiled, and the WIA has made its submission to the ACMA, the WIA will release the outcome of the survey either in the form of submission summary or a Webinar which will be held to brief the Amateur Radio Community. Make sure you look out for the survey in the next week or two. The WIA is pleased to announce that it will shortly release guidelines and a non-exclusive licensing agreement to allow members and affiliated clubs to officially use the dedicated WIA logos. The WIA continually receives requests to us the WIA logo and it has been decided that members can use the WIA member logo in areas such as QSL cards, on your QRZ webpage profile, your own website, email signatures and a range of other mediums. WIA Affiliated clubs will be able to use the WIA Affiliated club logo on merchandise such as shirts, hats, club websites and stationery. The WIA corporate logo will be strictly reserved for WIA corporate usage only and the pending guidelines will clearly show you which logo can be used and where. The non-exclusive licensing agreement will form part of the membership renewal process and upon renewing your membership, a 12-month license to use the applicable logo will be extended to you. Clearly if your membership ceases for any reason at all, you will need to cease using the logo where reasonably possible. On a final note, the WIA would like to confirm the Board have approved the following members that will be joining the recently re-constituted Education Committee. They are: Liz Billiau VK2XSW (who will also act as the interim chair) Peter Cossins VK3BFG Chris Huggins VK3QY Amanda Hawes VK1WX Jan Van Ekris VK2FEB Irene Van Ekris - VK2VAN Harry Edgar VK6DOC This newly re-constituted committee will kick off its first meeting in the near future and will also develop a new Terms of Reference that will be approved by the board that will help shape its future direction. If you are interested in joining the committee now or into the future, make sure you send a message to the national office expressing your interest to nationaloffice@wia.org.au Stay safe and well. Best Regards Scott VK3KJ Call for Nominations as a Director of the WIA Pursuant to the Constitution of the Wireless Institute of Australia, The Board has determined that the election of directors shall be conducted by ballot. Nominations open this week, on 1st November 2022. Four directors retire at the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting which will be held in May 2023, namely Scott Williams VK3KJ, Peter Clee VK8ZZ, Greg Kelly VK2GPK and Peter Schrader VK4EA. Each retiring director is eligible for re-election. Nominations are called for from persons seeking election as a director of the WIA. A director must be a voting member of the WIA, must hold an Australian amateur radio license and a Company Director Identification Number. Any person wishing to nominate as a candidate for election as director of the WIA must deliver or cause to be delivered to the Returning Officer by not later than 2.00pm on 16th December 2022 a nomination form which is available on the WIA web site at wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/board/documents/Nomination%20Form%20-%20WIA%20Board%20of%20Directors.pdf Candidate information will be posted online and emailed to members. Members are requested to ensure that their email address is correctly recorded on the WIA membership register. Nominations received by facsimile or by electronic means cannot be accepted. Authorised by John Marshall WIA Returning Officer Spoken by Peter Clee VK8ZZ WIA Director/Secretary. ------------------------------------------------------------* 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 EMF assessments From 18 November all UK amateurs are required to have conducted EMF assessments for all the bands they use. The RSGB provides an assessment app, which includes many current antennas. Certainly worth a look at the link in this weeks edition of WIA National News rsgb.services/public/software/emccalculator/ SILENT KEY - and the word to the world-wide DX Ham Community is to "plant a Rhododendron." This announcement came from Martti Laine OH 2 BH Peter Tigerstedt, OH5NQ & OH2BM now Silent Key. Amateur Radio in Finland has lost one of its giants. As a visiting professor in many parts of the globe, he always became integrated with the local amateur radio community. A great example being W9YT, the University of Wisconsin. Peter was one of the pioneers at both ends of the HF radio spectrum; 160M and 6M, and his contributions to both were significant. Peter was a mentor for a large portion of the younger OH contest generation and maintained an impressive multi-station OH5Z at the Mustila Estate as its host and sponsor. Now the OH5Z group has lost their "father figure." When not involved in the many facets of Amateur Radio, Prof. Dr. Peter Tigerstedt OH 5 NQ was a world renowned scientist, plant breeding expert and professor emeritus at the Helsinki University. He was perhaps most famous as being the founder of the rhododendron breeding program at Mustila Arboretum. Hams world-wide are asked " If you wish to remember Peter and honour his legacy, perhaps you can plant a rhododendron, particularly P.M.A. Tigerstedt, named after him. They grow to reach impressive heights, much like everything else Peter did during his lifetime. Speaking of Silent Keys, a nice one from our Polish friends. SK Memorial The Polish PZK has announced an initiative to commemorate their Silent Keys. A rough translation of the most recent PZK news Bulletin article reads: "Almost every ham radio has an "SK" sign in his memory, that is, a sender whose key is silent forever. The "Remembrance of those who passed away" "Silent Key Memorial 2022" campaign aims to commemorate our deceased colleagues. The organiser of the action is the Editorial Office of PZK Communications. The SP 0 SKM memorial radio station will be active in the 80m-40m-20m-2m bands, with CW, SSB and FM emissions in the period from 1 to 6 November 2022. Operators joining the action establish contacts with SP0SKM, during which they provide the call-sign of the SK operator, which they would like to commemorate. AMATEUR AIRCRAFT MAKER. Although this story contains reference to avionics it's really all about a chap in the UK who made a 'flying machine' in his Essex back yard, the ULTIMATE 'home brewed'. Ashok Aliseril Thamarakshan built the 4 seat South African designed Sling TSi aircraft under the VERY watchful eye of the Light Aircraft Association, the UK representative body that oversees the construction and maintenance of home-built aircraft, under an approval from the UK Civil Aviation Authority Each stage of the project had to be signed off by an inspector before he could move onto the next task the Light Aircraft Association completed around 12 inspections in total. The first flight, some 18 months after the back yard build commenced, was conducted by a test pilot who gave the $320,000 AUD aircraft the official tick of approval. The Sling kit was less than half the total cost but Engine, propeller and the Avionics system soon added to it. tinyurl.com/yc582mxv REGION TWO SPECIAL EVENT STATION COMMEMORATES LAKE SUPERIOR TRAGEDY Even if you're not in the United States, you may have heard of the tragedy of the freighter that sank during a storm in 1975 in one of the Great Lakes. The vessel's story is being told again with the help of a special event station, as we hear from Sel Embee KZ3TZD. "In the state of Michigan, the story of the tragedy cannot be told enough: On November 10th, 1975, an American freighter, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was sent to the bottom of Lake Superior. The crew of 29 lost their lives that day. That story will be shared once again between October 30th and November 13th by members of the Livonia Amateur Radio Club, K8UNS, as they operate as special event station W8F. On Saturday, November 5th, the operation will also be at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum from 1600 to 2030 UTC. This is also a POTA activation and an entity in the US Islands Awards scheme. The museum and the Detroit Historical Society are hosting the event, hoping that amateurs from around the world will make contact and that visitors to the museum will observe the portable ham station on its day of operation there. Hams who log W8F as a contact will be issued a confirmation certificate. See the QRZ.com page for special event station W8F for more details. This is Sel Embee KB3TZD. REGION THREE LIFE FOR VK3QI VK3QI Peter commenced work with the VK3 QSL bureau in 1988 sorting a backlog of some 100,000 QSL cards when the then WIA Vic Division took over the management of the Victorian Bureau. Peter continued with in inwards bureau until 1998 when he took over the outward bureau. Averaging at its peak some 20,000 cards per year Peter, VK3QI, has single handily undertaken this task for over 20 yrs. He recently retired from this position and at the recent AGM it was unanimously moved that A.R.V. bestow LIFE MEMBERSHIP on Peter for his work with the bureau. President of Amateur Radio Victoria, Tony Hambling, congratulated Peter and presented him with his certificate. Astronomers have never seen anything quite like it. On Oct. 9, Earth-orbiting satellites detected the strongest gamma-ray burst in modern history: GRB221009A. How strong was it? It caused electrical currents to flow through the surface of our planet. Dr. Andrew Klekociuk in Tasmania (VK7) recorded the effect using an Earth Probe Antenna. "I am a climate scientist at the Australian Antarctic Divisionthat's my day job," says the good Doctor. "VLF is my hobby. I started doing VLF radio measurements in the 70's when I was in high school. This is the first time I have detected a gamma-ray burst." Dr. Andrews's unusual "ham rig" uses Earth itself as a giant antenna. In his back garden there are two metal spikes stuck into the ground 75 meters apart. They are connected to a radio receiver via insulated buried wires. In recent years amateur radio operators have been experimenting with this weird kind of antenna to detect VLF radio signals circling our planet in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide. Earth's crust forms one of the waveguide's walls, allowing Earth Probe antennas to detect distant transmitters. ------------------------------------------------------------* HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT -------------- NOW CONTEST WISE:- -------------- 2022 -------------- This weekend it's the SSB leg of the CQ WW Contest. Expect a lot of activity in the contest segments from top band thru to 10m during this gruelling 48 hour shouting duel. The SSB leg is on now, October 29 and 30, the CW leg is on the weekend of November 26th and 27th. Speaking of CW, also this weekend for our Morse fraternity is the Central Siberia DX-lubs HAM SPIRIT CONTEST. The goal is to improve amateur operating skills by conducting 2-way radio communications with as many amateur radio stations around the world and from as many ITU Zones and square Fields of the QTH Locator as possible on the HF bands. October 29, at 06:00 UTC ending the 30th at 05:59 UTC on 160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m. hamspiritcontest.com/eng/rules -------------- WIA VHF - UHF FIELD DAY SPRING 0100 UTC Saturday 26 through 0059 UTC Sunday 27 November -------------- -------------- DX WINDOW -------------- -------------- Listen for Jaap PA7DA, operating from Aruba with the call sign P4DA from November 13th through to the 27th. QSL via the Dutch QSL Bureau to his home call sign. For direct QSL information, see his QRZ.com page. -------------- Listen for Oleg, ZS1ANF, who hopes to be on the air as ZS7ANF at Wolf's Fang Runway in Antarctica starting on November 1st. QSL details are on QRZ.com (DX-WORLD.NET) -------------- VK9C & VK9CM, COCOS-KEELING DXPEDITION NEWS (Update/Reminder) VK9CM from Cocos Keeling Islands (OC-003) between October 26th and November 3rd on 80-10 meters (possibly 6m). They will also use the callsign VK9C during the CQWW DX SSB Contest this weekend. QSL both callsigns via EB7DX or LoTW. Another operation from COCOS-KEELING AND CHRISTAMS ISLANDS will use VK9C (a few days earlier 25-27) and VK9X from CHRISTAMS ISLANDS These two DXCC entities VK9QO on the QO-100 satellite between October 25-31st. October 25-27th -- Cocos (Keeling) Island (VK 9 C) October 28-31st -- Christmas Island (VK 9 X) QSL via LoTW and eQSL, as well as paper-QSL, will be handled. QSO with VK9QO is valid for "JAMSAT 50th Anniversary Award" jamsat.or.jp/?p=1854 (sourced to wia / opdx) A search of the ACMA data base failed to show any single suffix call. -------------- MALAWI 7 Q 6M is on air until November 29 on 160 to 6 meters. Also in this weekends CQ World Wide DX SSB contest. QSL to home call K 6 ZO (eHam) ------------------------------------------------------------* WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS NO BARE-BONES OPERATION FOR HALLOWEEN As Halloween approaches, people have been growing increasingly creative in the ways they decorate their homes. Meet one ham in Colorado, who carries the theme way above all the others - way, way above - because it's on his roof. Neil Rapp WB9VPG gives us the details. If you look at the photos on his page on QRZ.com, you'll notice right away that Keifer Hunniford, K3IFR, doesn't exactly have a shack that you'd call a bare-bones operation. Well, Halloween has changed all that. His wife, Ari, is a big fan of the holiday and recently brought home nine skeletons from the local Home Depot. Some of them are now scattered around the couple's yard and a few are hanging off the roof of their house in various poses. The luckiest skeleton of the bunch got the highest visibility of all: Keifer has him mounted on his antenna, and the installation required - you guessed it - only a skeleton crew. Keifer zip-tied that festive bunch of bones into place to keep him secure through the end of the month. We're not sure whether its presence has an impact on Keifer's SWR - that's Skeleton-Wave-Ratio - but we do know it has scared up a lot of interest locally and on Facebook too, where he posted a picture. It has turned their house into quite a haunt - and if any neighbours should try to compete with it... let's just say.....they don't stand a ghost of a chance. This is Neil Rapp WB9VPG. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER AMSAT-VK Secretary - secretary@amsat-vk.org It's congratulations to VK 6 MJ who last Wednesday the 19th, conducted a successful ARISS TELEBRIDGE hook up from WA to Canada. Chief Whitecap Elementary School, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, was the lucky school who, thanks to Martin VK6MJ PhD a Research Student at Curtin University and Retired Teacher, contacted the ISS with crewmember Josh Cassada KI5CRH using the call NA1SS This coming Wednesday 26th another opportunity for an Aussie Station was to present when they attempted to put the same ISS crewmember in touch with the same ISS crewmember with Five Bridges Junior High School, Stillwater Lake, in Nova Scotia, Canada. (AMSAT NA / VK4BB) Richard Branson's small satellite service provider Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc will be doing its first launch from European soil within 5-6 weeks, its founder said last week. "Virgin Orbit can launch satellites into space from anywhere in the world into any orbit at a days notice," Branson said during a press conference in Milan, Italy. "We are doing the first launch from European soil into space ... from Cornwall," he added. (ANS) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- MILITARY Recordings of military transmissions can be found on the Signal Identification Guide Wiki at sigidwiki.com/wiki/Category:Military For this story, I just need go down the street and catch up with fellow Bendigo AR Club member Bruce VK3FF Few have heard the tale of Watertown USA patriot Jim Monroe Bradley, a man born with a birth defect that kept him from serving in the military, BUT, who aided his country during World War II using his ham radio so that families could hear the voices of their loved ones soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who were convalescing in hospitals overseas. "He had a radio so strong that it sometimes interfered with WSM Radio, said Bradleys daughter, Betty Edwards, who recently donated her fathers ham radio to the Wilson County Veterans Museum. At some time during WWII, the Federal Communications Commission came to the Bradley residence to inspect Jims transmissions because it occasionally knocked WSM Radio, home of the Grand Ole Opry, off the air. They stayed a couple days and after checking things out allowed him to continue his hobby. In fact, Bradley was able to transmit and receive to and from the European and Pacific theatres of combat. On the American home front, families received telegrams from the military alerting them that their husbands or sons had been injured. The messages shared what military hospital they were in but did not divulge details of their injuries. Bradley wanted to help the families of the wounded soldiers. He put word out to these families that he could transmit / receive anywhere there was fighting overseas, and if they wanted to, they could come to his house, recalled Edwards. He mainly heard from these families by letters. He would locate the wounded soldier first then get the actual patient on the radio, but he had to go through others and sometimes it took several days to reach the patient, mostly hours late at night. He would stay up all hours of the night patching people through. As they say in the services... "WELL DONE THAT MAN" tinyurl.com/bdzz8es4 (eHam) 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 21360kHz Government House Services Reception Friday evening, 14th October three WICEN NSW members attended a reception at Government House Sydney on behalf of VRA Rescue NSW. WICEN Members attending were Neil Fallshaw, Malcolm Alexander and Simon Brown. There were number of New South Wales Services including, Rural Fire Service, Fire & Rescue NSW, NSW SES, St Johns Ambulance, Corrective Services, Army, Navy and Air Force. The reception was hosted by Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales. This weekend cancelled. Well the Hawkesbury Classic Paddle is. As a result of ongoing safety concerns for paddlers, land crews and volunteers, what with the state of flooding in VK2, a decision has been taken to CANCEL this year's Classic. The Hawkesbury Canoe Classic Association has taken this decision in consultation with safety network partners, including NSW State Emergency Service, Marine Rescue NSW, WICEN NSW together with First Aid and Physio team. This decision revolves around the condition of the Hawkesbury River itself as a result of flooding, together with the damage caused to the infrastructure at the land-based safety checkpoints along the river. This months flood, a lesser event than the March and July floods, was the fourth flood in the region this year. The event is planned to return next yea (wicen nsw web) Amateur Radio Club Members Assist Law Enforcement The Wayne Amateur Radio Club in the US manned a 30-foot-tall mobile observational Infrastructure Protection Unit, or SkyWatch tower, at Ohio's Wayne County Fair. Staffed by specially trained amateur radio volunteers, the tower provided 24-hour surveillance, monitoring, and a record of activity on the fairgrounds, including medical emergencies, lost children, and other situations where help may have been needed. Captain Doug Hunter, KE 8 JNH, of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, was impressed with its performance. The tower gave volunteers a bird's-eye view of the midway that allows one person to see from the air what four or five people can see from the ground. The observation deck is equipped with state-of-the-art video equipment that provides situational awareness in places where there are large crowds in attendance. (arrl) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- YOTA (Youngsters On The Air) youtube.com/channel/UClAapljf0VQ751sOgu2IzaA twitter.com/hamyota YOTA Contest 2022 Youth On The Air (ham-yota.com) School Amateur Radio Club Network - An AMATEUR RADIO VICTORIA initiative under the expert guidance of Julie VK3FOWL and Joe VK3YSP. Here is Alex VK2APC School Amateur Radio Clubs are a neat way to get in an extra shot of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) while exercising your on-air conversational skills and tuning up your enquiring minds. It will expands our horizons, builds our confidence, harnesses creativity and helps develop new skills. Each week there will be different activities to whet your appetite. SARC members learn to work together as a group and to help each other through some pretty exciting challenges. Visit the site we like, the SARCNET web page, a part of the Amateur Radio Victoria SITE, but easily found under sarcnet.org This site is for school principals, teachers, parents, students and amateur radio enthusiasts. It provides inspiration, ideas, articles, news and activities all free to download, modify and use as you wish. (vk4bb) 2022 Social Scene VK7 - November 5-6 Tassie Ham Radio Conference and Expo. Hobart reast.asn.au/news-events/tassie-ham-radio-conference-and-expo/ VK4 - Nov 5 Tannum Sands Gathering with Gladstone ARC (vk4zz) VK4 - GOLD COAST HAMFEST Nov 13. @ Country Paradise Parklands VK3 - Rosebud RadioFest November 20 9.3Oam. (vk3pdg) 2023 VK3 - BARG HamFest 5th of February BARG clubrooms barg.org.au/ (vk3kqt) VK - ALARAMeet2023 4/5 November in HOBART (luther8@bigpond.com)