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WIANEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING JUNE 27 2010.
Looking ahead in the VK100WIA roster.
CQ Centenary Award
Solar power for VK5 amateur radio
ACMA Newsletter has article on amateur radio
Roy VK6BO has retired from the 14.116 Traveller's Net
NEW ZS HAMS RED CARDED!
Increased Power for Contests
ALL UP AND COMING IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF
AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JUNE 27 2010
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WIA Centenary Update
Looking ahead in the VK100WIA roster.
Today Sunday the 27th of June, the South Coast Amateur Radio Club from its
club rooms at Hackham is in the middle of its three-day rostered slot.
The 1st to the 3rd of July sees the Ipswich and District Amateur Radio Club
operating from its club rooms with members providing their support to put
the special callsign on air. Local publicity is planned.
The 4th to the 6th of July is the roster slot of the Orange & District Amateur
Radio Club. About half a dozen members plan to operate moon bounce, aircraft
propagation enhancement as well as phone and CW on HF, plus VHF and UHF.
The 7th to the 9th of July, Gympie Communications and Electronics Group with
some very long term WIA members keen to activate VK100WIA on CW, and augers
well for the centenary celebration there.
And Saturday the 10th and Sunday the 11th of July has the Sunraysia Amateur
Radio Group at the Tri Annual Junction Rally, Wentworth. This is major event
featuring Vintage Engines, Boats, Machinery and Vehicles. The club plans
to mount a vintage radio display as part of its support for VK100WIA.
The special callsign continues to be demand on the bands with 4,000 contacts
expected to be logged this week and heading towards 100 DXCC entities worked.
Check out the VK100WIA logbook on the WIA website
A number of stations in Western Australia report hearing VK100WIA being
operated in the eastern seaboard, but are missing out on needed contacts for
the WIA Centenary Award.
It would appreciated if all club's rostered to use the callsign, particularly
when on 40-metres, put out a few calls for VK6 stations and listen for them.
In return when VK100WIA is operated from the west the VK6 guys will do the
same and listen for stations in the east.
CQ Centenary Award
So youve made contact with VK100WIA. There will be lots more opportunities
between now and the end of October.
But how are you going with getting the required 100 points (50 if outside
Australia) towards the WIA Centenary Award?
The award rules state that a contact with VK100WIA operated by the WIA or
one of its affiliated clubs is worth 10 points (only one contact with each)
and a minimum of two contacts with the special callsign.
However from that minimum, you can make up the award points by further qualifying
contacts with VK100WIA, or individual WIA members who are worth two points
each.
Its easy, simply call CQ Centenary Award and log contacts with WIA members.
WIA
President Michael Owen VK3KI president@wia.org.au
Vice President Ewan McLeod VK4ERM vk4erm@wia.org.au
Secretary Geoff Atkinson VK3AFA secretary@wia.org.au
Treasurer John Longayroux VK3PZ vk3pz@wia.org.au
Since 2007 the AGM weekend has been very much the idea of Robert Broomhead,
who has managed the WIA weekends since then. Robert resigned as a WIA director
at the end of last year and has advised the Board that he would like to see
someone else takeover the weekends on an ongoing basis.
Following the successful Centenary Weekend at Canberra, a number of people have
requested that the WIA identify the date and venue of the 2011 AGM weekend, so
that they can make early arrangements to attend.
A number of sometimes conflicting considerations could influence a choice of
venue. These include accessibility for larger amateur populations, the
attraction of a place that is itself interesting or has interesting
attractions, the identification of a theme associated with radiocommunications,
the remoteness of the possible location and the travel options to that
location, the cost of travel and the cost of accommodation, and the
accommodation options available, the facilities for holding larger meetings
even the possible weather at different locations.
While it is appreciated that trying to compete with the 2010 Centenary Weekend
would make no sense at all, the Board has decided to invite members to offer
their suggestions for future WIA AGM Weekends, preferably by email to WIA
Secretary Geoff Atkinson at secretary@wia.org.au.
Because of the constraints imposed by the requirements for audit and formal
notice of meeting the WIA AGM must be held sometime in May each year. It
cannot be held earlier than the start of May.
Suggestions are requested by 1 July.
HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA.
VK1
vk1 local news email broadcast@vk1.wia.ampr.org and ask for subscription.
July CRARC will have Andrew VK1DA give a presentation on his Dayton experience,
and also a live on-air demo and presentation on the VK1 DSTAR repeater by
Tony VK1VIC and Bruce VK2MIB. Doors will be open from 1930 hours
(Peter VK1NPW)
VK4 - QNEWS
web service local audio news:- www.wiaq.com/ftp/vk4_qnews_64.mp3
local news email qnews-vk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
VKR Roundup http://www.police.qld.gov.au/News+and+Alerts/Media+Releases/
Welcome to QNews from VK4WIA. I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP and I've been reading...
We live in the wide brown land down under but what if we lived in an area with
a population of about 34,000 and our radio club maintained a system of
repeaters with just 35 members. You can read the amazing story and view the
stunning pictures in the July issue of World Radio Online.
http://www.worldradiomagazine.com/
Yukon Amateurs get to climb tall mountains and fly equipment to the repeater
sites by helicopter. This to support their hobby and support local emcomms.
Amateur Radio Newsline's Bill Pasternak has an interesting article on putting
together a "go bag" from what is available in the shack. Being prepared is a
good part of assisting in an emergency.
With the announcement of a further WIA train the trainer course in Townsville,
in last week's National News, this is a good time for us all to reflect on
being prepared.
Oh yes, World Radio Online is a free download and the July edition runs to some
20Mb and 54pp.
I'm Geoff Emery and that's what I,ve been reading....how about you?
CLUBBING -
GOLD COAST AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY
http://www.goldcoastamateurradio.com
IRLP Node 6702
A very successful AGM was held at the Gold Coast Radio Society Clubrooms last
Saturday with a good attendance.
The Club would like to welcome the new Executive and best wishes go to VK4TD
George who is the new President.
VK4KMA Dave is Treasurer and VK4BEN as Secretary
Redcliffe and District Radio Club
www.redclifferadioclub.org.au/
I'm Ray VK4CF with news from the Redcliffe AR Club.
Last Monday night was the club's annual general meeting. The Meeting was
opened by the president David, VK4DC and with some 30 members present.
After a minute's silence for all silent keys for the last 12 months David
reported to the club on its success for the last 12 months. Club membership
had increased to 118 members, many successful activities such as work bees,
field competitions & training sessions being supported by a large majority
of members. David also reminded all members that this is a hobby not a job.
He said that having fun whilst involving members is the recipe for the club's
success.
Certificates of appreciation we also handed out including:
Shaun, VK4FY for his work in providing the new web site Echolink & IRLP
services; Peter, VK4XPJ for his work supporting club members projects
throughout the year; John, VK4YJV for extraordinary efforts in construction,
working bees, repeater upgrades and Peter, VK4EA Peter for his work in the
obtaining of many grants for the club.
John, VK4WX, joined the meeting to present the Peter Garrison Shield to
Charles, VK4BTC. Charles has been busy providing many repairs to
equipment / building & leading in the caravan rebuilding project. These
behind the scene repairs/work were much appreciated by all members. The club
is fortunate in having willing members such as Charles step in & take on
projects. Charles reported a sense of fulfilment that he has enjoyed through
this work.
New Office bearers were elected with George VK4XY leading the elections. David
VK4DC was reelected as President with Kev, VK4UH as the new vice President,
Peter, VK4TAA as Club secretary and Peter, Vk4EA as the new treasurer.
A normal club meeting followed with a reminder to see Peter VK4EA or members
of the exec to pay your membership fees, $30 single or $35 Family. Peter
advised that there is an EFT payment service available and an email will go
out shortly to all members advising the EFT details for this option.
The June long weekend working bee was successful in moving the mast &
installing new antennas on the roof. The club also had a spring clean.
The triband antenna will be installed on a Wednesday over the coming weeks.
Finally the RD contest is coming up in August. Shaun VK4FY & Scott VK4FLAE
will be leading the event. Camping will be available at the Murrenbong scout
camp site for those who wish to stay over night.
So until next week, for Redcliffe club, I'm Ray VK4CF
ROCKHAMPTON
IRLP NODE 6973 ;
e-mail vk4acc@wia.org.au
Secretary Clive 4928 1173
http://www.radarc.cjb.net/
Greetings from Rockhampton and District Amateur Radio Club, the RADAR club.
2010 continues to bring several new initiatives for the club and further
development from 2009.
The RADAR club, conducting meetings from the local State Emergency Services
Building, has been lucky to obtain long term use of a site at Rockhampton
Regional Council's massive Heritage Centre.
The centre attracts close to fifty thousand visitors every year through markets,
theme days and school visits, to name a few.
RADAR, particularly through the efforts of Jeff, VK4NJB with support from Mike
the builder VK4LMB, Ray the hot spanner man VK4HOT, Doug VK4DUG, Bob VK4CHV and
a large number of club members has converted what was basically an unused barn to
a full blown vintage radio museum, complete with air conditioned radio shack.
Keep an ear out for VK4CHV, that's it, VK4CHV, the dedicated callsign for
Capricorn Heritage Village.
Although the Radio site officially opens on 25th July in conjunction with the
Villages Emergency Display Day, the club has hosted market day visits and
importantly, Primary School sessions to showcase the hobby. More, later, on
radio frequencies used on the day so amateurs can call in and can join the
occasion.
To assist the club to further its display, donations of old equipment, parts or
publications would be gratefully received. Why have your old gear collecting
dust in the shed when it could be encouraging others to continue our enjoyable
interest? Jeff, email jcbrett@bigpond.com would be delighted to hear from you.
TOWNSVILLE
vk4wit@wia.org.au
4773 1196 or 0408 001142
po box 333 Garbutt East, QLD 4814
www.tarc.org.au
GREETINGS ! THIS IS DON VK4FNQA, WITH NEWS FROM NORTH QUEENSLAND,
BACK IN THE COMFY SURROUNDS OF THE MATCAVE AFTER
A WEEK IN THE INVIGORATING CLIMATE OF THE ATHERTON TABLELANDS.
FIRSTLY, HERE IS AN UPDATE ON THE PUBLIC SAFETY TRAINER TRAINING WEEKEND
HAPPENING IN TOWNSVILLE FROM FRIDAY EVENING 30TH JULY TO
SUNDAY AFTERNOON 1ST AUGUST.
FRED SWAINSTON VK3DAC IS PLANNING TO CONDUCT AN INTENSIVE TRAINING
SESSION AT THE SES HEADQUARTERS, GREEN STREET, WEST END AND
IS BEING ASSISTED WITH LOCAL LOGISTICS BY ROGER CORDUKES VK4CD.
FRED HAS CONTACTED SOME OF THE CANDIDATES FOR THE COURSE BUT
WOULD LIKE MORE AMATEURS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN DOING THIS COURSE
TO REGISTER ON THE WIA WEBSITE AND CONTACT ROGER ASAP!
FOR THOSE WITH CERTIFICATE FOUR TRAINING AND ASSESSMENT, IT WILL BE AN
EXCELLENT COURSE THAT WILL GIVE QUALIFICATIONS IN EMERGENCY
COMMUNICATIONS, BOTH WICEN AND SES.
FOR THOSE WITHOUT CERTIFICATE FOUR BUT WITH WICEN INTEREST AND
EXPERIENCE, YOU CAN STILL BECOME INVOLVED AND DO THE COURSE.
FRED CAN TAKE A TOTAL OF FIFTEEN PARTICIPANTS.
AS FRED WILL BE DELIVERING THE COURSE IN ABOUT HALF THE TIME THAT
IS NORMALLY REQUIRED THERE IS SOME HOMEWORK INVOLVED PRIOR TO
THE VERY FULL WEEKEND - HOWEVER IT IS ALL VERY WELL WORTH THE EFFORT !
THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR CENTRAL, NORTH AND FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND
AMATEURS, SO DO NOT MISS IT !
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD TO THE CLUBS IN YOUR AREA.
FURTHER DETAILS TO FOLLOW TO INTERESTED AMATEURS.
CONTACT ROGER CORDUKES VK4CD ON
TELEPHONE 07 47740221, MOBILE 0417638366
OR ON EMAIL VK4CD AT WIA DOT ORG DOT AU
HERE IS THAT WAKE UP CALL AGAIN FOR ALL TARCADIANS !
YET ANOTHER TIMELY REMINDER THAT YOUR MEMBER SUBS NEED TO
BE PAID BY THIS WEDNESDAY 30TH JUNE 2010.
DONT DELAY, DO IT TODAY.
DETAILS ON WHAT AND HOW TO PAY CAN BE FOUND ON THE INSIDE
FRONT COVER OF THE MAGAZINE OF RENOWN, BACK-SCATTER.
REMEMBER TO CONTACT TREASURER JOAN VK4FTVL IF YOU ARE
HAVING ANY PROBLEMS PAYING.
JOAN CAN BE CONTACTED ON
TELEPHONE 07-47515261 OR
EMAIL COLJOAN AT BIGPOND DOT COM
AND NOW A CALL GOES OUT TO HELP MIKE GET ON HIS BIKE.
THIS IS AN UPDATE ON THE ACTIVITY THAT DASHING
AERO PARAMEDIC, AVID DX-ER AND ALL ROUND GOOD GUY
MIKE VK4MSA IS CURRENTLY IN TRAINING FOR.
THE BIG W TOWNSVILLE TO CAIRNS CHARITY BIKE RIDE WILL BE
LEAVING TOWNSVILLE ON THURSDAY 29TH JULY AND FINISHES IN
CAIRNS ON SATURDAY 31ST JULY, ALONG THE WAY RAISING FUNDS
FOR THE CHILDRENS CANCER INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA.
MIKE HAS THE ENTRY FEE ALL SAVED UP BUT HAS TO RAISE AT
LEAST 500 DOLLARS FOR CHARITY BEFORE HE CAN
PARTICIPATE IN THE RIDE - AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT !
SO, CAN YOU HELP OUT A FELLOW HAM WHO IS DOING SOMETHING GOOD?
CONTACT MIKE VK4MSA NEXT TIME YOU HEAR HIM ON AIR OR HEAD OVER
TO THIS WEBSITE TO FIND OUT MORE AND HELP DONATE.
WORLD WIDE WEB DOT EVERYDAYHERO DOT COM DOT AU SLASH
MICHAELPAULSEN
SO THAT IS ALL THERE IS TIME FOR THIS WEEK AND I WILL BRING
THIS EDITION OF QNEWS FOR SUNDAY TWENTY SEVENTH OF JUNE
TO A CLOSE.
NEXT WEEK I WILL BRING YOU SOME EXCITING NEWS ABOUT LADIES
UTILISING THE WIA CENTENARY CALLSIGN TOWARDS THE END OF THE MONTH.
THIS HAS BEEN DON VK4FNQA IN TROPICAL PARADISE FOR
THE TOWNSVILLE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB INC, AND YOU HAVE BEEN
LISTENING TO, AND ENJOYING QNEWS FROM VK4WIA..
VK5
Solar power for amateur radio
The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will have an interesting
presentation on solar power at its monthly meeting for July.
Peter Cockburn VK5TZX will talk about the design, construction and use of
a solar based power supply system for an amateur station or home.
The AREG meeting on Friday the 16th of July starting at 8pm will be at
Reedbeds Hall, Phelps Court, Fulham South Australia.
Visitors are most welcome. Check out the location map and more details on
the club's website www.areg.org.au
(vk3pc)
VK7
local area news :- http://reast.asn.au/news.php
vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
July Presentation
Constructor's Night - Optical Transceivers
REAST will be putting together simple light transceivers during the night and
then testing and talking to each other via red LED light.
Please bring along your soldering iron, some solder and side cutters for a fun
night of construction. Don't worry if you don't own a soldering iron there will
be some spare irons, etc just in case you don't have one.
Kits will be available for between $10 and $20 to cover the component cost and
everything is in the kit including a 9v battery!
Orders are coming in fast so, get in quick and let Justin VK7TW know if are
coming along so REAST can have enough kits available on the night.
This occurs on Wednesday 7th July 2010 starting at 8:00pm.
Even if you don't want to put a kit together then you are most welcome to go
along and help the novice kit constructors and have some fun with the finished
kits talking to each other.
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
VK8
Adrian, VK2VHF tells WIA News that all through the week "Darwinians" were able
to send free telegrams!
This to anywhere in Australia.
Before text messages, email and Twitter, there was the telegram, and this past
week people in Darwin celebrated back to Morse Week.
BTM week commemorates the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line in the
1870s which connected Australia to the rest of the world.
Messages were transmitted through morse code from Lyons Cottage in Darwin to
Rundle Mall in Adelaide.
One Telegraphist Barrie Barnes says the telegram was then transcribed and
posted.
"Australians 50, 60, 70 years ago communicated with each other via telegram,
which was transmitted between post offices by morse code," he said." It doesn't
run down a physical line as it did then, which was a piece of galvanised iron
wire. It's now sent over the normal telecommunication links, but it does
traverse the same route as the overland telegraph line."
It is the 20th time the event has been held in Darwin
ACMA NEWS
ACMA Newsletter has article on amateur radio
ACMAsphere is the ACMA's monthly newsletter, covering its activities in
the fields of broadcasting, the internet, radiocommunications and
telecommunications.
Page 16 of issue 53, June 2010 is devoted to amateur radio, primarily an
article "Working with the amateur community to ensure spectrum integrity"
wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2010/20100622-2/index.php
HOME OF THE GOOD GUYS
Roy VK6BO has retired from the 14.116 Traveller's Net and the Indian Ocean
Maritime Net due to relocation and subsequent loss of HF antennae.
Roy has handed over these responsibilities to Bob VK6KW who, with assistance
from the many relay stations, has volunteered to keep the nets running.
Roy made his last 20 meter transmission at 11:45UTC on Wednesday 16 June
2010 after many many years of twice daily scheds, his service has been
recognised by the Australian Government by making him an OAM.
Roy, We salute you.
(VK6KAD)
EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO
www.hamcollege.com.au
Adelaide intensive Standard License Course to be held in August 2010
Are you Adelaide based and interested in getting/upgrading to a Standard
License?
AREG is planning to run a Standard License Course in August over a week.
The course syllabus will be divided in to 5 x 3 hour evening lectures to be
give by a variety of lecturers (5CP, ZSN, ZMC, TZX) in a single week Monday to
Friday. A regulations exam will be held on the Saturday morning followed by a
refresher lecture, followed by the Standard Exam.
Participants will be expected to have done some study before the course and
(obviously) during the week.
Cost of the course will be about $100 per student (excluding WIA examination
fees) to cover hall and equipment hire, coffee etc. AREG are looking to train
10-15 persons.
If you are interested email Chris VK5CP
vk5cp@arrl.net
This intensive course is the best way to upgrade and give your F call mates
some stick when you operate the world on 20M in the sunspot peak.
LEARNERS TO BUILD PAYLOAD FOR HABEX
The SciBono Discovery Centre (ZS6SCI), in association with the Gauteng
Department of Education initiated the High Altitude Balloon Experiment project,
called HABEX.
The objective is to involve schools in the entire process of developing and
building a payload that will be launched into high altitude using an unmanned
meteorological balloon and approval has been obtained to launch the balloons on
24 July.
Ten school teams are involved and several radio amateurs have also opted to
join in this exciting project. A team of radio amateur engineers and designers
are assisting the schools in developing the payloads. You can also join in the
activities planned for the HABEX 2010 Launch.
(sourced to sarl)
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL,
Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA.
NEW ZS HAMS RED CARDED!
The S.A.R.L. regrets to advise candidates who recently wrote the radio amateur
exam, that call signs have not yet been issued by the Authority.
And it's all to do with the Soccer World Cup!
The person responsible for issuing the call signs has been allocated to process
applications for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and has had to focus on dealing with all
Spectrum licensing requests for this epic event.
Oman on 50 MHz
On the IARU-R1 website, Abdalla A41KB reports that radio amateurs in Oman can
now use the 50-52 MHz (6m) band.
The Omani Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has allocated the 50-52 MHz
band to the amateur service on a secondary basis.
Royal Omani Amateur Radio Society (ROARS)
roars.org.om
cALIFORNIA SOS HOAXSTER SENTENCED TO 30 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON
A federal judge sentenced Kurtis Thorsted of Salinas, California to 30
months in federal prison. This, after the 53 year old pleaded guilty in
July in U.S. District Court in San Jose to broadcasting a fake distress
signal in October 2008.
At that time he made the transmissions Thorsted told would-be rescuers in
that he was in a kayak off the coast of Santa Cruz and having difficulty
getting to shore. However it was found that he was actually at his home in
the city of Salinas.
Thorsted also pleaded guilty in October to making two other fake mayday
calls to the Coast Guard. In all, the court found that Thorsted has made
51 false distress messages over six months and costing the Coast Guard
$102,000 in search and related costs.
This is not the first time that Thorsted has been convicted of transmitting
a false distress message. In April 2004 he was sentenced to two years in
federal prison and ordered to pay more than $29,000 in restitution to the
Coast Guard for a similar series of hoax calls. And in one of the earlier
incidents, Thorsted's phony call interrupted a real distress call from a
33-foot boat 4 miles off the coast of Santa Cruz island. More on this
story is on-line at tinyurl.com/2f63oq8
WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
Radio Amateur's spectacular English Channel crossing.
Just a few weeks ago, in a scene reminiscent of the 2003 Aussie movie
"Danny Deckchair", North Carolina Radio Amateur and pilot Jonathan Trappe,
KJ4GQV tied himself to 54 helium balloons, floated across the English
Channel and landed in a French farmer's vegetable patch.
Strapped into a paragliding harness known as a "gondola", he wore an unlikely
outfit for a dare devil adventurer - a crisp white buttoned shirt,
black fleece, green combat trousers and scruffy trainers.
At his highest, Mr Trappe was 7,500ft and travelled at around 17mph.
KJ4GQ, as the first "cluster balloonist" to cross the 22-mile Channel,
said he had fulfilled the ultimate dream: "Didn't you have this dream -
grabbing on to a bunch of toy balloons and floating off"?
Read the Telegraph article 'Adventurer flies across Channel in helium filled
balloons'
telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7778877/Adventurer-flies-across-Channel-in-helium-filled-balloons.html
OPERATIONAL NEWS -
SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2010
Jul 3- 4 NZART MEMORIAL CONTEST
http://www.nzart.org.nz/contests/index.html
Jul 10tbc WIA Jack Files Contest
John Spooner vk4ajs@wia.org.au
Aug 14-15 WIA Remembrance Day Contest
Peter Harding vk4od@wia.org.au
Aug 21-22 International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend.
register on website illw.net
Octtbc 23 WIA WIA National Field Day
nfd@wia.org.au
Oct 2- 3 WIA Oceania DX Contest Phone
Tony Burt vk3tz@wia.org.au
Oct 9-10 WIA Oceania DX Contest CW
Tony Burt vk3tz@wia.org.au
NOV 20-21 WIA Spring VHF-UHF Field Day
John Martin VK3KM tac@wia.org.au
Trans-Tasman CW & Digital Contest
This is a reminder of the newly resurrected Trans-Tasman CW & Digital contest
which runs on 160m for CW & Digital on 26 June 2010.
Operation is between 0800-1300UTC (best 4 hours out of 5) and you can operate
CW, RTTY, PSK31, and others.
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/robglassey/TT_CW_dig/index.html
This week, the 14th Marconi Memorial contest is taking place 26 and 27 June
from 14.00 to 14.00 UTC. Using CW on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands, the exchange is
signal report and serial number. There are sections for three differing power
levels and single- and multi- operator stations.
Thai radio hams on 50 MHz for CQWW VHF contest
Radio Amateurs in Thailand have been authorised to use 50-54 MHz (6m) during
the CQWW VHF contest July 17-18 2010.
This will be the first use of the band by Thai hams for 18 years.
Thai radio amateurs have been granted temporary permission to use the 6-metre
amateur band by the Thai regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission
The last time such permission had been granted was in 1992 during the Southeast
Asia Net convention staged in Chiang Mai that year.
Increased Power for Contests
The Irish Society is continuing to pursue with ComReg the question of securing
increased power for the duration of contests on a list of international HF and
VHF contests still to be finalised.
In order to take this matter further, ComReg wish to have submitted a list of
licensed amateurs who would be interested in getting permission to operate with
increased power for the contests concerned.
With the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW) approaching,
Jason, VK4FJGS has organized a luxury 50 foot power cat to transport RADAR
participants to Cape Capricorn Lighthouse some 30 nautical miles east of the
mouth of the Firzroy River. Approximately 14 members will attend. The
Lighthouse cottages have been converted to a holiday escape theme, open to the
public, with power, refrigeration, full cooking facilities and even TV and
video - a far call from the clubs ILLW effort last year with all equipment set
up under a tarp and carried up the hill to the Sea Hill Lighthouse on two
wheeled trollies.
The Cape Capricorn Escape cottages are also being offered on Mates Rates -
cost of diesel to power generators only.
Incidentally, RADAR is claiming the 2009 award for activating the most remote
and basic lighthouse weekend field station!!!
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, REPEATER BEACON DX AND NET ADVICE
hf nets ON the net, www.timroberts-vk4yeh.id.au/
Jack, G3PWK will be operating GB70AAF for the Anniversary Airborne
Forces on 22nd, 26th & 27th June.
Scarborough Special Events Group will be on the air as GB1AFD for
Armed Forces Day, over this weekend of 26th and 27th June. Scarborough
will host a parade of more than 400 soldiers celebrating their recent
return from Afghanistan. The town's adopted Warship HMS Explorer will
be in the bay and there will be fly past by a Spitfire.
Four members of Yamakto ARC will operate from Yap Island, which is
IOTA reference OC-012, between 22nd and 29th June. They will operate
6m through to 160m using SSB, CW, RTTY. Callsigns will be within the
V63 range and you should listen for QSL information.
INTRUDER WATCH - ENFORCEMENT ZONE
Region III IARUMS Coordinator Peter Young VK3MV
VK IARUMS reflector email to subscribe intruders@wia.org.au
Tougher action against Dutch pirate radio stations
The Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands (AT) is stepping up action to
prevent illegal radio radio broadcasts.
The agency will not only close down stations that are on the air without
permit, but will also target aerial towers "obviously intended for illegal
broadcasts".
As a first step, AT inspectors will pay warning visits to land and home owners
on whose premises suspicious constructions are spotted. "If these are used
illegally, they will be fined 2,500 euros plus a conditional fine of 2,250."
The total fine that illegal broadcasters risk "can total up to 33,750 euros",
according to AT spokesman Gernant Deekens.
The new approach will first be used in the relatively rural northeastern
province of Drenthe. Pirate stations are often run from hideouts in sheds and
barns, playing popular music to a local audience for a couple of hours a day.
It is often felt that "official" radio stations are catering insufficiently for
regional tastes, prompting enterprising individuals to set up their own
transmissions on AM or FM. The quality of the transmitters is often such that
the broadcasts are causing interference on other channels, often without the
pirates even being aware of it.
"Pirate radios are causing a lot of trouble in the north and east of the
Netherlands," according to AT Chief Inspector Peter Spijkerman. "Their illegal
broadcasts are interfering with legal radio stations here and in neighbouring
Germany. Air traffic communication, too, is disrupted by illegal transmissions.
This can lead to dangerous situations. We primarily want to take preventive
action, but if people break the law, we'll give the pirates tit for tat,"
Mr Spijkerman warned.
THE QNEWS WORK BENCH - the nuts and volts report -
(Measure twice - Cut once!)
Wireless transceiver cuts power consumption by 90%
European research group Imec plans to produce a short range RF transceiver
ten times more power efficient than today's Bluetooth and Zigbee chips.
Imec recently demonstrated discrete modules capable of sending 1,024 kbyte/s
over 5 meters while consuming less than one milliwatt. Regular production is
planned for the end of the year.
Radio components consume as much as 47% of the power used by wireless networks,
making them the first of many targets for Imec's low-power electronics program.
The ultimate goal is to reduce the power consumption of electronics for
wireless sensor networks so they can operate using energy harvesting techniques
and not require batteries.
imec.be/ScientificReport/SR2007/html/1384142.html
(Sourced to vk7wia news)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- MILITARY
70th anniversary of de Gaulle broadcast
A BBC video reports on the impact of an historic radio broadcast by
Charles de Gaulle 70 years ago.
The BBC say:
The French Resistance is one of the most heroic and enduring stories of
World War II. Thousands of French men and women defied the Vichy regime,
and many died or were executed trying to free France from German occupation
after 1940.
Their own hero was General Charles de Gaulle who had rallied resistance
fighters in a broadcast made 70 years ago, from a small BBC studio in London.
As Allan Little reports its impact was far greater and enduring than the number
of French citizens who heard it crackling over the airwaves.
Watch the BBC video at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8747876.stm
Declassified 1944 OSS Simple Sabotage Field Manual
http://svn.cacert.org/CAcert/CAcert_Inc/Board/oss/OSS_Simple_Sabotage_Manual.pdf
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- QRP and WEAK SIGNAL COMMUNICATION
QRP spots via APRS and Twitter
QRPspots is a popular site for low power operators to let people know who's
active. Spots can now be posted by APRS and Twitter as well as via the website
In an email VA3SIA explains how to use it via APRS messages, he writes:
Just send an APRS message to callsign 'QRPSPT' it can be in any format as long
as there's a callsign and frequency in there somewhere.
So, these all work: (in this example from VA3SIE).
7042
Gets posted as VA3SIE spotting VA3SIE on 7042kHz.
Just heard VE3WMB on 14.063MHz
Gets posted as VA3SIE spotting VE3WMB on 14063kHz.
Terry WA0ITP @ 3560 kHz
Gets posted as VA3SIE spotting WA0ITP on 3560kHz.
QRP Spots
qrpspots.com
Twitter QRP Spots
http://twitter.com/QRPSPOTS
Beta of WSJT8
WSJT8 is an experimental version of the familiar amateur radio weak-signal
communication program WSJT and a free beta version of the software is
available.
It offers new protocols or 'modes' optimized for meteor scatter, ionospheric
scatter, EME, microwaves, and QRP at HF.
Like the modes in previous versions of WSJT, the new ones are intended for
making minimal QSOs, not for rag-chewing.
WSJT8 modes are not compatible with those in WSJT7.
To use the new modes, transmitting and receiving stations must both use WSJT8.
WSJT8 can be downloaded from
physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/
WSJT8 User's Guide,
physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSJT8_User.pdf
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RESCUE RADIO
EMERGENCY FREQUENCIES IARU REGION 3
3.600, 7.110, 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz
New cell phone antenna
Rescue Emergency workers in rugged, rural areas may never lose a cell phone
call again thanks to a new antenna developed by Montana State University
researchers in collaboration with Advanced Acoustic Concepts, Inc.
The MSU antenna is considered a "smart" or "adaptive array" antenna because it
uses a computer chip to automatically aim the message transmission beam in the
right direction, chooses the most appropriate signal strength, optimizes the
strength of transmitted beams and adapts to the environment.
The automatic control allows users to communicate in rugged terrain while on
the move. Unlike normal antennas, which broadcast in all directions
simultaneously, smart antennas maintain a direct signal between individuals
users, which could mean fewer dropped calls and the ability to move more data,
such as streaming video.
See the full Montana State University Press Release at
montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=8548
(Southgate)
THE LOWDOWN COLUMN INCLUDING PRECISION BEACON TRANSMISSIONS
BEACONS www.qsl.net/zl1bpu/micro/Precision
SAQ transmissions on July 4
We would like to remind you of the Grimeton Radio/SAQ transmissions on
17.2 kHz, CW, with the Alexanderson alternator on Sunday July 4,
"Alexanderson Day", at 09:00 UTC and 12:00 UTC.
Start of tuning up is some 30 minutes before message.
The radio station is open to visitors.
QSL-reports are kindly received:
- E-mail to: info@alexander.n.se
- or fax to: +46-340-674195
- or via: SM bureau
- or direct by mail to:
Alexander - Grimeton Veteranradios Vaenner,
Radiostationen Grimeton 72
SE-430 16 ROLFSTORP, SWEDEN
Also read web site: www.alexander.n.se
(Lars Kalland, sm6nm@telia.com)
SOCIAL SCENE 2010
JULY 10-11 VK3
GippsTech 2010
JULY 17 VK3
GGREC Hamfest Start Time : 10:00
JULY 25 VK2-3
Riverina Field Day
AUGUST 1 VK6
Northern Corridor Group Hamfest Cyril Jackson Sports Centre Ashfield
Oct 23 WIA WIA National Field Day
nfd@wia.org.au
Oct 29 - 31
VK1OOWIA Westlakes ARC during our WIA centenary celebrations.
NOV 7 VK5
2010 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest Rosa St Goodwood
2012
15TH IARU REGION 3 CONFERENCE hosted by V.A.R.C. in Ho-Chi-Minh City, Vietnam.
JAN 23-FEB 17 YEAR 2012
World Radio Conference WRC-11 Geneva 23rd January TO 17th February 2012
MAY 4-7 2012 VK5
YL International 2012 Australia (vk5tmc@bigpond.com)
Please think of the environment before printing this email
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