2023 OCTOBER 29 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 OCT 29 2023 IN OUR 28th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS THIS WEEK:- NOMINATE TODAY AS A WIA DIRECTOR NOW NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA. I'M EDITOR GRAHAM VK4BB WIA JOIN THE WIA tinyurl.com/yyj87b9y Election of Directors Call for Nominations A notice will be published in the November / December edition of the Institute's magazine "Amateur Radio" calling for nominations from members for election to join the Board of Directors of the WIA. Three directors retire at the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting which will be held in May 2024, namely Lee Moyle VK3GK, Chris Dimitrijevic VK3FY and Steven Green VK2TSG. Each retiring director is eligible for re-election. A director must be a voting member of the WIA and must hold an Australian amateur radio license and a Company Director Identification Number. A nomination form is available on the WIA web site and at the link in the text version of this broadcast. 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 to ensure emails are not delivered to incorrect addresses. Delivery to the Returning Officer may be made by hand when the WIA national office is open or by mail to the Returning Officer. Detailed delivery information is available in the text version of this broadcast. Delivery to the Returning Officer may be made by hand when the WIA national office is open at: Wireless Institute of Australia National Office Unit 20 11-13 Havelock Road Bayswater Victoria 3153 or by mail to: The Returning Officer Wireless Institute of Australia PO Box 2042 Bayswater Victoria 3153 tinyurl.com/2s4adws Nominations received by facsimile, email or by other electronic means cannot be accepted. This communique is Authorised by: John Marshall WIA Returning Officer ALARA ALARAmeet 2023 only ONE week away! Indriz VK7ZIR joins us We will soon be welcoming many ALARA members and their partners into VK7 for the national meeting of ALARA that occurs every three years. The last time it was in VK7 was in 2008 in Ulverstone. It is centred on the Woolstore Motel in downtown Hobart and starts Friday the 3rd of November with some optional activities including a pre-conference cruise to Peppermint Bay for lunch and opportunity to attend the Tasmanian Symphony concert in the evening. On Saturday the 4th of November there is a welcome and trip to Salamanca Market. In the afternoon there is an afternoon of sharing and meeting for the Ladies and the OMs head off on a Mystery History Radio tour. There is a dinner with a wonderful guest speaker on the Saturday night. On Sunday the 5th of November there is a visit to the Female Factory in the morning then a visit to REAST, along with an EchoLink net, fox (or native animal) hunt, operating the club station with the special event callsign and BBQ. In the afternoon there is a visit to historic Richmond, finishing with a Dinner and another great guest speaker and awards. There are also a range of optional post conference tours on the Monday. A huge weekend of activities for ALARA participants. alara.org.au/alarameet/index.html Linda VK7QP from ALARA will join us a little 'further down the log' in todays National News from your WIA (VK7WI NEWS) WIRELESS WEATHER Earth was hit by the largest-ever detected solar storm 14,300 years ago, ancient tree rings reveal. If a storm of a similar magnitude hit our planet today, it could have potentially catastrophic effects on our modern technological society. This powerful solar storm was identified by an international team of scientists studying ancient tree rings preserved in the eroded banks of the Drouzet River, near Gap, in the Southern French Alps. Extreme solar storms known as Miyake Events are very rare. As far as we know, only nine have occurred in the last 15,000 years. The most recent confirmed Miyake Events occurred in 993 AD and 774 AD, but this newly identified 14,300-year-old storm is the largest-ever recorded approximately twice as powerful as these two and 10 times more powerful than the famous Carrington Event in 1859. (space.com) ------------------------------------------------------------* INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, RAC, ARRL, NZART, eHam, AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, eHam, Radioworld.com Hackaday and the World Wide sources of the WIA. REGION ONE The RSGB 2023 Convention brought together hundreds in person and as well as many more across the world who watched the livestream. RSGB General Manager and Convention Chair, Steve Thomas, M1ACB said: We saw presentations about taking amateur radio into schools, young radio amateurs travelling to YOTA camp, as well as the usual mix of fascinating technical talks about many aspects of amateur radio today. The Society will share a small number of Convention presentations on YouTube over the coming weeks and will provide many more for members to view as part of the benefit of RSGB membership. In addition, you will be able to watch a series of special interviews that were recorded over the weekend. The interview with the RSGB and IRTS Presidents has been released and you can see it on the RSGB YouTube channel and also on the RSGB Convention web page IRELAND Over the years weve reported on the passing of a few broadcasting technologies of yesteryear, such as analogue TV in Australia, or AM radio in Europe. Now its the turn of an early digital contender, as one of the few remaining holdouts of old-style teletext is to shut down its service. The Irish broadcaster RT is to turn off its teletext service which has been live in some form continuously since 1986. In an internet-connected world it seems quaint that a limited set of curated pages could once have been such a big deal, but its easy to forget that for many the teletext system provided their first ever taste of online information. As it shuffles away almost unnoticed we wont miss counting through the page numbers cycling by in the top corner as we waited for our page to load, but its worth marking its final passing from one of the few places it could still be found, Ireland. tinyurl.com/3bbz3vhd REGION TWO The AMSAT Board of Directors met Oct. 19 in Dallas, Texas in advance of their annual meeting and Symposium. Since Board members whose terms were expiring were all re-elected, the Board was as previously constituted. Frank Karnauskas was welcomed as the new Alternate Board member. All officers were re-appointed by acclamation: President Robert Bankston gave his President's Report. His focus was on improving transparency and accountability between AMSAT leadership and membership. This would include better reporting of finances, better standards for publishing accomplishments, more attention to Member Services for member satisfaction, and redesign of the AMSAT website. AI-Based Weather Service to cover USA. The use of AI-based content tools in radio broadcasting applications continues to proliferate. Westwood One and cloud-based technology supplier Super Hi-Fi announced an agreement under which Westwood One will market Super Hi-Fis recently introduced AI-generated weather service. Super Hi-Fi describes Weathercaster as the only AI-powered audio based weather report service for radio. Its content creation and audio production are automated. Weathercaster saves radio companies significant time and money, and allows for incredibly high-quality localized weather reports to be included with every linear radio broadcast, the company says. Westwood Ones syndicated content is heard on 9,400 affiliated broadcast radio stations as well as streaming and digital platforms. WEIRD AND WONDERFULL Strange anomaly in sun's solar cycle discovered in centuries-old texts from Korea. Aurora records in royal chronicles from Korea show that during the 'Maunder Minimum' between 1645 and 1715, the sun's solar cycles became several years shorter than they are today. This new study, published October 3 in the journal AGU Advances, researchers analysed historic auroral records from Korea and found that solar cycles during the Maunder Minimum were only eight years long on average three years shorter than modern 11 year cycles. These aurora records were part of three separate books, chronicles, written on behalf of Korean Kings that contained detailed daily reports of royal business, state affairs, weather AND astronomical phenomena that occurred within the Korean peninsula for close on a thousand years, between 918 and 1910 (eHam - livescience.com) -------------------------------------------------------------------* HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT -------------- -------------- NOW CONTEST WISE:- -------------- -------------- 75th CQ World Wide DX Contest's SSB leg is THIS WEEKEND October 28-29 with the CW test November 25-26. Both legs run 0000 UTC Saturday; Ending 2359 UTC Sunday Using SSB on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and your CQ Zone. ---------------- NOVEMBER VHF-UHF Spring Field Day. 25 - 26 November. 0100 UTC Saturday to 0059 UTC Sunday BUT to make it a little fairer in VK6, they add 3 hours onto start and end times. (wia.org.au) AUSTRALIA DAY CONTEST This contest is to encourage Amateur Radio promotional Activity around the world and is designed to encourage friendly participation and help improve the operating skills of participants. It is held on the Australia Day Public Holiday, 26th of January. Amateurs here in in VK will endeavour to contact other amateurs around the world. Some VK operators will be using the AX prefix to celebrate Australia day, as its wanted by many amateurs. Scoring is distance based and calculated using 4-character grid squares. (wia.org.au) ----------- ----------- DX WINDOW ----------- ----------- BOTSWANA Members of the Russian DXpedition Team will be QRV as A25RU from October 26 to November 13. Activity will be on 160 to 6 meters using CW, SSB, and mostly FT8 with up to nine stations active. QSL via LoTW. (eHam) -------------- FRANCE Active is the special callsign TM 12 5ED between the 4th of November through to the 31st of December marking the 125th anniversary of a public demonstration by radio pioneer Eugene Ducretet, of wireless communication, between the Eiffel Tower France and the and the Pantheon in Rome Italy. All CW and SSB QSOs will be confirmed automatically via the bureau and eQSL. (sourced to ARNewsLine 2399) ----------------- INDIA. Special event station AT 30 IIH is QRV until December 31 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Indian Institute of Hams, whose focus is to train and bring young people into our amateur radio community. QSL via bureau. (eHam) ----------------- TAIWAN BM 0 QSO until December 31, using mostly digital modes. QSL station BM ZERO QSO Mvia BM 2 JCC. (arrl) ------------------------------------------------------------* Linda VK7QP joins us as we start this weeks World Wide Special Interest Group News, and its a lil further re ALARAMEET 2023 Next weekend, 4th and 5th November, we will be welcoming ALARA members to Hobart for ALARAmeet. It will be six years since we last got together so there will be lots of stories to share. Thanks to ICOM for a great raffle prize and REAST for their support for the event. Looking forward to a great weekend. For those not coming to ALARAmeet, you can still be part of it by checking in to the EchoLink net on Sunday 5 November. It will be on the ALARA conference node at 11.00am Tassie time, or 0000 UTC. Listen out for Shirley, VK5YL, who will be operating VI7ALARA. Linda VK7QP 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/ https://bunkersontheair.wixsite.com/october23 ARRL has a new book to help radio amateurs enjoy one of the fastest growing communities within the hobby, Parks on the Air (POTA). This Parks on the Air Book gives you a look at the setups and processes of 14 operators from a variety of skill levels and backgrounds and offers advice and motivation for taking your radio out to a park. Setups cover satellite operating, QRP, urban backpack portable, wire antennas for POTA, and more. parksontheair.com/ WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER AMSAT-VK Secretary - secretary@amsat-vk.org Two NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station will conduct a spacewalk tomorrow, Monday October 30, to complete maintenance activities at the orbital complex. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin about 8:05 a.m., and last about six-and-a-half hours. Live coverage of the spacewalk begins at 6:30 a.m. US EDT on NASA Television, which can also be viewed on YouTube. NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli, KI5WSL, and Loral OHara, KI5TOM, will exit the stations Quest airlock to remove an electronics box called the Radio Frequency Group from a communications antenna on station. U.S. spacewalk 89 will be the first for both KI5WSL will wear a suit with RED stripes and KI5TOM an unmarked suit. A further space walk is planned this month due to a leakage aboard. The ISS experienced another coolant leak, this time on a radiator circuit that is part of the Russian Nauka modulethe crew and station are safe, and the spacewalk planned later this month will investigate the root cause. As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol. ( AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-295 ) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - IOTA The logs for the IOTA Contest 2023 island stations have now been added to the IOTA database and are available for QSO matching. Record-holders who have made IOTA contacts in an IOTA contest after 2003, can claim credit for them without submitting QSLs, provided that the contact details match. Go to iota-world.org, select "Add Contest QSOs" under the "My IOTA" tab, and choose either Upload Contest Log or Manual QSO Entry. (SARL) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - MARITIME INCLUDING ILLW NEWS - ILLW 17th August 2024 to 18th August 2024 Australian lights planned and advised to WIA :- AU 0102 Point Charles NT - Darwin AR Club National Maritime Museum of Ireland Special Event Station EI 80 MB. The National Maritime Museum of Ireland amateur radio club in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the extraordinary rescue, December 1943, of 168 German sailors in the stormy waters of the Bay of Biscay by the 10-man crew of the small Irish coaster MV KERLOGUE, will activate Special Event Call Sign:- EI 80 MB between November 2023 and April 2024. Full details and updates on QRZ.com (irts) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR YOUNG TIMERS - YOTA (Youngsters On The Air) facebook.com/yotaregion2 facebook.com/groups/YOTAOC/ youtube.com/channel/UClAapljf0VQ751sOgu2IzaA twitter.com/hamyota ham-yota.com Its no secret that the percentage of we young people who listen to radio has been on the decline for a decade or more. And while surveys repeatedly show that teens listen to music for at least two hours a day, they no longer tend to listen on terrestrial radio unless theyre in the car with their parents. So in a world ruled by YouTube, iTunes and Spotify, can teens learn to believe that radio is kind of cool after all? That was the challenge Jim Timm, president and executive director of Nebraska Broadcasters Association, decided to take on. The idea, to partner with local schools to create stations on which students would choose and announce the songs, record news and sports features, and be heard by a potential audience all over the country. The stations would use automation but could go live in certain circumstances. The state association would lend the gear and software to a school; after students time with the project ended, the school would ship the gear to the next participating school. So many students today are not even aware of broadcasting, we wanted them to see how much fun doing radio can be. Maybe a few of them will [decide] to be involved with media, where they werent before AND they'll discover Radio can be COOL.. The initiative has now became a joint project of two state associations. (sourced to radioworld.com) 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 On October 8, 2023, more than 140 amateur radio operators from five Midwest states assisted 2,000 volunteer medical personnel at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. This is the 15th consecutive year that amateur radio operators have helped coordinate medical responses and arrange for medical resupplies at the Chicago Marathon. About 49,000 runners entered this year's event. The city-wide marathon uses six main repeater channels and deploys four temporary repeaters. New this year was official use of the Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) after organizers trialled it at their other events, including the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle and the Chicago 13.1. APRS radios were deployed to amateur communication teams in Chicago's Grant Park after the race was finished. A total of 30 radio operators worked in various capacities before and after the race. Also, there were 100 ham radio operators stationed at each of the 20 course medical tents and the medical hub. In Forward Command, 10 amateur radio operators served as net controls, traffic handlers, logging specialists, and expediters. (arrl) ------------------------------------------------------------* 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. VK6 - PerthTech - is happening this weekend (vk6pop) VK - ALARAMeet2023 4/5 November in HOBART (luther8@bigpond.com) VK3 - Rosebud RadioFest at Eastbourne Primary School Sunday, November 12 This is Andrew, VK3CAH, from the Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Club reminding listeners that the Rosebud RadioFest will be held once again this year on Sunday, the 12 th of November. As usual, the event will be held at the Eastbourne Primary School at Allambi Avenue, Rosebud, with outdoor displays open from 8 am and the main sales area open from 9.30 am, continuing through till 1.30 pm. If you have pre-loved equipment to sell, tables are still available at $10 and can be booked on-line at rosebudradiofest.com But be quick as only a few tables remain. Three great Technical forums will also be part of the Rosebud RadioFest and the event has full catering, plenty of off street parking, and great door prizes. Entry fee is only $6 with under 12s free. See you in Rosebud on the 12 th of November. 73 from Andrew VK5 - Amateur Radio Experimenters Group Radio & Electronics Sale November 26 (vk5qi) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2024 IT'S A DATE Clubs are welcome to email 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. VK3 - BARG HamFest 4th of February next door to BARG clubrooms at Ballarat Airport 10:00 am. barg.org.au/ (vk3kqt) VK - WIA AGM MAY 4 5 - BUNDABERG. (vk2tsg) VK - National Volunteer Week Monday 20 Sunday 26 May 2024. National Volunteer Week (NVW) is Australias largest annual celebration of volunteers and their important contribution to our communities. 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). If you are mentioning your own name / call in the story, say something like "and myself, Pat, vk11abc" 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! ------------------------------------------------------------* 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. ------------------------------------------------------------*