2023 MARCH 19 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 MARCH 19 2023 IN OUR 28th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS THIS WEEK:- WIA President and Director, Scott Williams VK3KJ - Insurance. PLUS MUCH MUCH MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA I'M EDITOR GRAHAM VK4BB WIA JOIN THE WIA tinyurl.com/yyj87b9y Welcome to all that have tuned into the WIA Broadcast this week. This is WIA President and Director, Scott Williams VK3KJ. This week, the WIA wrote to all Affiliated Clubs, and we were delighted to announce that the WIA has formally entered into a new insurance arrangement with our preferred insurance partner, GippsInsure, to provide insurance products and services to Clubs. GippsInsure is a Victorian based insurance Broker and is part of the large Steadfast insurance network throughout Australia. Over the past 3 months, the WIA has reviewed the insurance needs of clubs and the way the arrangement has been previously administered through the WIA. What became clear is WIA Affiliated Clubs had a broad range of insurance needs that extended from Public & Product Liability insurance, Association Liability insurance incorporating Professional Indemnity, Management Liability insurance, Volunteer Workers insurance, General Property insurance also covering equipment taken away from club rooms and a range of other insurance requirements. Overall, the new arrangement that has been put in place is price attractive and enables clubs to consolidate their insurance needs, making the administration of insurance far simpler. Affiliated Clubs will now to be able to liaise directly with GippsInsure and under our group buying arrangement, supported by our 136 Affiliated Clubs, have access to a comprehensive range of insurance products and services. All WIA Affiliated Clubs who have previously pursued insurance through the old arrangement, will find generally their policy expires at the end of this month, so clubs will need to act promptly if you wish to ensure continuity of insurance. All Clubs are encouraged to carefully consider your insurance requirements and ensure adequate insurance is in place commensurate with your activities. The contact details for GippsInsure, is published on the WIA website at wia.org.au under a recent posted news article. I will now pass you back to Graham to continue with this weeks broadcast. Stay safe and well. Best Regards Scott VK3KJ ------------------------------------------------------------* INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, RAC, ARRL, NZART, eHam, AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, eHam, Radioworld.com and the World Wide sources of the WIA. REGION ONE Hams in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Northern Asia are being asked to take the challenge of seeing into the future. Region 1 of the International Amateur Radio Union is inviting teams and individuals to engage in two types of brainstorming as part of the region's HamChallenge competition. Both challenges are designed to inspire projects that increase awareness of amateur radio's vitality and relevance today. The first challenge asks hams to create projects that reach out to people who do not have a radio licence. The project could be a social media campaign, a video, a storyboard or some other creative venture that showcases the power ham radio has in building friendships and expanding scientific knowledge. The second challenge focuses on a project that reaches out to other hams showing the way amateur radio might look in 10 years. Entries in this part of the challenge can be a technology project, an experiment or something else. All ideas should be sent to the IARU Region 1 by July. Hackers Disrupt Russian Radio Writing in the ICQPODACST, Colin Butler says radio stations in several Russian cities were disrupted on 22nd February by the sound of air raid sirens and a warning of imminent missile strikes. Recordings of the broadcast were shared on the social media network 'Telegram' and reported on by Meduza. Meduza, an independent news agency now based in Latvia, was forced to move its operations out of Russia during the media crackdown that followed Russias February 22 invasion of Ukraine. EMERCOM, the Russian Ministry for Civil Defence, Emergency Situations and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters, confirmed the broadcasts in a statement on its Telegram channel, blaming an unspecified hacker attack on servers of a number of commercial radio stations in some regions of the country. According to a post by AvtoRadio, the hack was focused on the satellite signals used to distribute programming. IMD at the Museum of Vintage Radio in Howth It is twenty years since the late Pat Herbert founded Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio in Howth. EI 0 MAR was established there that same year. In conjunction with IMD, International Marconi Day, which takes place on the 22nd of April, Pat's son Simon plans a day of celebration at the museum. The Mayor of Howth will be also be in attendance. EI0MAR has always taken part in IMD. Martello tower, in which the museum is located, is where Lee De Forest, the inventor of the triode valve, demonstrated his wireless telegraphy system to engineers of the British Post Office in 1903. Two years later The Marconi Company set up an experimental wireless receiving station in the tower to monitor transmissions from a vessel sailing to different locations in the Irish Sea. REGION TWO Automakers have replied to U.S. Sen. Ed Markeys letter urging them to maintain broadcast AM radio as a feature in electric vehicles and other future vehicles. But the auto industrys response by no means offers any guarantees that the senior band will remain in the dashboard going forward. Senator Markey wrote in December to all the big automakers: Ford, General Motors, BMW and Kia among them. He asked for a thorough accounting of where AM radio receivers stand in the view of automakers and to inform him of any plans to discontinue access to AM in new cars. The auto industry response comes from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation and appears to be a resounding NON-endorsement of AM radio. In fact, the letter makes no mention of the industrys intentions of keeping AM radio intact in the dashboard. March 13th, 2023, astronomers around the world marked the 10th anniversary of the inauguration of the Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array (ALMA), the worlds largest radio telescope. Over the past decade, ALMA has revolutionized our understanding of the Universe and unveiled its secrets, from the formation of planets, stars, and galaxies to deciphering the chemistry of the cosmos, and even taking part in capturing the first images of black holes. ALMA consists of 66 antennas, spread over up to 16 kilometres on a plateau of the Chilean Andes at 5,000 meters above sea level. The technology that makes the telescope special is borne of an international collaboration of 21 countries from across North America, Europe, and East Asia. public.nrao.edu/news/alma-10-year-anniversary-inauguration/ REGION THREE A very quiet month for intruders observed in our region 3 last December, just 61 observations. Still, that is a couple per day. Reports for December 2022 were contributed by ARSI, NZART and JARL with 45 observations from ARSI, 12 Observations from NZART and 4 from Japan, the JARL. The most prominent intruder in the 40 meter band was a broadcast radio station from Ethiopia and in our 15 meter band the over the horizon radar setups in China and Cyprus. A link in our text edition of WIA National News will take you directly to the IARU Monitory Service reports this week. tinyurl.com/v73z2v6y ------------------------------------------------------------* HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT -------------- NOW CONTEST WISE:- -------------- 2023 -------------- -------------- While you are at plugging along with the John Moyle Field Day contest this weekend many stations to our west are active in the Africa All Mode International DX Contest. Their Activity is on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 metres with CW, RTTY and SSB all wrapped up in the one 'test'. BUT joining me again this week is Denis VK4AE contest Manager for the John Moyle Field Day 2023. "Yes As this news goes to air the contest is nearing completion, and as many stations will still be active I wish them well in the remainder of the contest, Logs have been arriving steadily. There does not seem to be not as many as the number received at this point after the contest last year. It is highly recommended that once you have submitted your log you should check a bit later that your callsign has been added to the list of logs received. If your call is not on the list, then it might not have been received. A couple of logs have been submitted as a PDF which is just a picture and contains no more useful information to the contest than a picture of a flower as the data is not accessible electronically and hence usable to me. In the same way a couple of logs were submitted using a Cabrillo format that does not contain all of the information required by the JMMFD VHF/UHF rules and requires much extra work for the Contest Manager to attempt to fix those logs. It is timely to remind you all that while there is not a lot of time left to submit the log and it will pass quickly and the final date is the 7th April 2023. This is required by the very long lead times now for the AR Magazine. Following this date all of the logs will be processed and the results prepared and made available soon after. The results will be shown on the WIA contest page as soon as they are ready. So, check that your call is on the list, resend the log if it isnt. It might also be a good idea to submit your log now as you never know what can happen to delay you in the next few days". -------------- YOTA CONTEST Youngsters On The Air 1st round 22nd April 0800 1959 UTC ham-yota.com/contest/ -------------- MAY SIX Saturday Harry Angel Memorial Sprint 106 mts an annual 80m contest event, first established in 1999, to commemorate the life of Harry Angel VK4HA who at the time of his becoming a Silent Key was the oldest licensed amateur in Australia. (106) The duration of the contest is 106 minutes one minute for each year of Harry's life. The Harry Angel Memorial Sprint has been run annually since 1999 It is usually held on the first Saturday in May each year 10:00 UTC - 11:46 UTC (wia.org.au) -------------- MAY 20-21 Don Edwards Memorial Slow Morse Contest begins the weekend after Mother's Day. 80m section Saturday 20th May 6 to 9pm Sydney time. 40m section afternoon of Sunday 21st of May, 1 to 4 Sydney time. (vk2wi) -------------- JUNE 24-25 WINTER VHF-UHF Field Day. 0100 UTC Saturday 24 to 0059 UTC Sunday 25 BUT in VK6 add 3 hours onto start and end times. (wia.org.au) -------------- JUNE Weekend prior to 2nd Monday of June VK SHIRES -------------- Also make a mental note that the 2023 QRP Day happens June 17 (sourced to iaru r3) -------------- IARU HF World Championship Contest takes place the second full weekend of July beginning 1200 UTC Saturday and ending 1200 UTC Sunday July 8-9 July. All licensed amateurs worldwide are eligible to participate in this contest as the objective is to contact as many other amateurs as possible, especially IARU member society HQ stations around the world using the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter bands. (sourced to iaru r3) -------------- -------------- NOW LET'S OPEN THE DX WINDOW -------------- -------------- GB1PAT and GB2PAT are the special callsigns for members of the Bush valley Amateur Radio Club in use all of March as they celebrate Saint Patricks Day. Three certificates are available for making contact with both callsigns on different bands. QSL via Logbook of the World only. (rsgb) -------------- Luca, HB9OBD is active holiday style as D44KIT from Sal Island, IOTA number AF-086, Cape Verde until the 5th of April. Listen for him on SSB and FT8 on 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres. QSL via LoTW, eQSL, or via EB7DX. -------------- Hiro, JF1OCQ, is in the Comoro Islands, IOTA number AF-007, where he is on the air as D67AA until the 22nd of March. He is using CW, SSB, and the digital modes on 160 - 10 metres. QSL via LoTW or direct to his home call. He will upload his log to Club Log and other platforms. (DX-WORLD.NET) -------------- INDIA Special event station AT2 G20 is QRV until June 2 to promote greater international cooperation through amateur radio in conjunction with the G20 summit to be held in New Delhi September 9 and 10. QSL via operator's instructions. (arrl) ------------------------------------------------------------* QNEWS WORK BENCH Measure twice cut once. Balun Buildathon After a long absence, they are coming back Sunday the 11th of June at VK2WI Quarry Road Dural. Youll have your choice of constructing a 1:1 or a 4:1 balun from a kit. You can also order high quality Kevlar antenna wire. All items must be preordered and paid for on the day. For enquiries or bookings, you can email balun@arnsw.org.au or leave a phone message on 02 9444 0123. (vk2wi news) ------------------------------------------------------------* JUST AHEAD OF SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS - WIRELESS WEATHER The current solar cycle 25 far exceeds the predictions of the international panel convened for this purpose in 2019. The solar cycle is important in determining the lifetime of satellites in low-Earth orbit because satellite drag correlates with the solar cycle. In addition, the forecast gives a rough idea of the frequency of space weather storms of all kinds, from radio blackouts to geomagnetic storms to radiation storms, and is used by many to estimate the expected impact of space weather in the coming years. Including we radio amateurs. (iaru region 1) ------------------------------------------------------------* WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS SUMMITS ON THE AIR, WORLD WIDE FLORA, FAUNA PROGRAM, PARKS ON THE AIR and other ADVENTURE GROUPS. hema.org.uk/index.jsp minesontheair.com/about-mota parksontheair.com/ sota.org.uk sotawatch.sota.org.uk/en/ facebook.com/SotaAustralia/ wwffaustralia.com/ There are adventures and ADVENTURES ! In Locator Square IO37DO, Rockall, IOTA EU-189 has been visited by 110 people only during the past two centuries, and only 5 of them are known to have spent the night on the rock. Led by Cam Cameron, using the call-sign MM 0 UKI intrepid serial activators Nobby Styles G0VJG on SSB, and Emil Bergmann DL8JJ/LZ2EN on CW will take a pair of FT857's, a spare KX2, Spiderbeams, verticals and a generator atop the 784 square meter rock, barely 17 meters above the water at its highest point. Nobby and Emil will leave from Scotland for Rockall on the 26th of May, and plan to operate on 40m and up, also on 2m SSB and CW from the platform the size of a balcony while secured with climbing gear. Full details can be found on rockallexped.com (irts) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ASTRONOMY Visible light is just one part of the electromagnetic spectrum that astronomers use to study the universe. Bruce VK3FFF joins us The James Webb Space Telescope was built to see infrared light, other space telescopes capture X-ray images, and observatories like the Green Bank Telescope, the Very Large Array, the Atacama Large Millimetre Array and dozens of other observatories around the world work at radio wavelengths. On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit. As the small satellite circled the globe, amateur radio enthusiasts all over the world were able to pick up the radio signals it was beaming back to Earth. Since that historic flight, wireless signals have become part of almost every aspect of modern life -- from aircraft navigation to Wi-Fi -- and the number of satellites has grown exponentially. The more radio transmissions there are, the more challenging it becomes to deal with interference in radio quiet zones. Existing laws do not protect these zones from satellite transmitters, which can have devastating effects. In one example, transmissions, said to be from an Iridium satellite, completely obscured the observations of a faint star made in a protected band allocated to radio astronomy. tinyurl.com/vkdaz8w9 A solar eclipse visible in much of Australia will occur on 20 April. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - DIGITAL Last week, our Editor Graham told us of the substantial grant to the FreeDV team by ARDC. FreeDV you'll recall is that project where VK5DGR is a leading light in its development. To advance the state of the art in HF digital voice and to promote its use, Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) award is over some $630,000 Australian Dollars! With these dollars, the FreeDV Project team will, among other things : HIRE experienced digital signal processing developers to work with the volunteer staff to improve speech quality and improve low signal-to-noise ratio operation, making FreeDV performance superior to single-sideband over poor high-frequency channels. AND Work with commercial HF radio companies to embed FreeDV into at least two commercial radios, greatly reducing set up effort and reducing latency. (pr.com / eHam) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER AMSAT-VK Secretary - secretary@amsat-vk.org Dubai: The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre has revealed how the UAEs second astronaut, Sultan Al Neyadi, KI 5 VTV, will bring the wonder of outer space to classrooms and communities in that country during his six-month long, historic longest space expedition by an Arab. Over the course of 20 weeks, students will follow KI 5 VTV Al Neyadi on his ground-breaking space journey aboard the ISS. They will also hear from authors, space experts, and fellow astronauts Hazzaa Al Mansoori and Nora Al Matrooshi as they discuss the various challenges of working in space and the innovations that help overcome them. Alec, vk2apc has more. " Yes a new website, along with some 13 live calls and 10 ham radio calls have been announced as part of the community outreach programme of Al Neyadis space expedition. The website, titled ELF in Space, will be the platform through which he will interact with students. M.B.R.S.C. said episodes will be released weekly, with each episode focusing on a different topic to help students connect the dots between what they learn in class and its impact on their lives and the world around them. Extra activities and resources will also be available for download each week to keep students engaged and propel their own explorations of the subject. " (gulfnews.com) Now we have had many a volunteer here on VK1WIA News but even today Alex has not let us down with this story.. and today of all days he may have had an excuse. You see today is Alec's 13th Birthday. Congrats you OT to be. The International Space Station has had another 'regular' cargo delivery, essential for keeping the Stations seven-person crew supplied with experiments, consumables, and equipment during its operation in low Earth orbit. This mission, CRS-27, lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre. A notable payload on this flight is a ball clamp monopod manufactured by students that can simplify filming in space. However, this is not the only payload on CRS-27 that students have been involved in with experiments from Canadian and German universities on-board. NASAs ELaNa (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) 50 mission flew a pair of CubeSats aboard this CRS-27. ARKSAT-1, developed by the University of Arkansas, is a CubeSat that is equipped with an LED light. This light will be activated, and a spectrometer on the ground will conduct orbit-to-ground atmospheric measurements by tracking the light. ARKSAT-1 will also attempt to deorbit itself at the end of its mission with a Solid State Inflation Balloon. Inflating the SSIB should increase the atmospheric drag on the satellite, causing it to deorbit sooner than it otherwise would. If this technology works, it can be used to deorbit CubeSats at the end of their useful lives, preventing additional space junk from cluttering low Earth orbit. Another 1U CubeSat that is part of ELaNa 50 is LightCube, a cooperative effort between Arizona State University, CETYS Universidad in Mexico, and Vega Space Systems. Like ARKSAT-1, LightCube will have a powerful light as its main payload. In this case, LightCube is equipped with a flashbulb that can be controlled by amateur radio operators. (various NASA sauces) ------------------------------------------------------------* 2023 Social Scene Clubs are welcome to submit text with audio for this section Details of all WIA affiliated clubs and societies can be found on the WIA website, including email addresses and website links. VK - WIA AGM May 13 at 10:30am AEST proposed for Canberra (vk8zz) A hybrid event conducted both in person and by video conference and able to be viewed on an internet streaming platform. VK - ALARAMeet2023 4/5 November in HOBART (luther8@bigpond.com) IN VK3 2 GATHERINGS OF NOTE:- VK3 - Antennapalooza at Drouin West April 15 & 16 (vk3kj) VK3 - MOORABBIN HAMFEST - May 6 (vk3gl) TO VK4 WHERE THE 2 GATHERINGS TO TAKE PLACE THIS YEAR ARE FIRST - VK4 - REDCLIFFE - REDFEST APRIL ONE Greetings from the Redcliffe & Districts Radio Club VK4RC right here in South East Queensland! Robert Thomson VK4TFN here. The Redcliffe Club will hold our Hamfest on Saturday the 1st April 9:00am at St. Michael's College, Caboolture. Please mark the date in the calendar on your mobile phone. There will be raffle prizes. BREAKFAST is served from 8:00am. REDFEST opens at 9:00am. $5 Admission. Vendors: Order your tables in March. $10.00 per table. Vendors are admitted free. For Table Bookings Email: redfest@redclifferadioclub.org.au go to: redclifferadioclub.org.au We're also on Facebook. It'll be a good day out. We look forward to seeing you. Thank you and 73 from the Redcliffe & Districts Radio Club VK4RC FROM REDCLIFFE TO THE SUNNY COAST" - VK4 - SUNFEST SEPTEMBER 9 (vk4an) At Mountain Creek State Schools massive air conditioned auditorium, just off the Sunshine Motor Way. Mountain Creek is tucked in to the west of Mooloolaba FINALY TO VK5 VK5 - SERG CONVENTION/FOX HUNTING CHAMPIONSHIPS June 10-11 (vk5dj) GRAHAM WALK SOFTLY 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 recorded 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) Promote your local rebroadcast; details on wia.org.au/members/broadcast/contribute/ 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 will not give blatant 'plugs' to raffles, be it raffles at the event or "on-line". ------------------------------------------------------------* 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/ Promote your local rebroadcast; details on wia.org.au/members/broadcast/contribute/ 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." 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. ------------------------------------------------------------*