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WIANEWS - July 03 - VK NATIONAL NEWS
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THE BEST NEWS YOU'LL GET ALL WEEK
Oh... and to contact us with your news because
If It Matters To You It Matters To Us!
email nationalnews@wia.org.au
http://www.wia.org.au (click news in member area) Submit your audio news
TWITTER http://twitter.com/VK1WIA
Please.. If you are only submitting text and not audio, write your story as
you would expect to hear it being read back and NEVER send just links & url's.
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WIANEWS WEEK COMMENCING July 03 2011 FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA
FOR WEEK COMMENCING JULY 3 2011.
Sometimes when news arrives we check the date, in case it's meant for April One!
This story is one of those!
It's about a DXpedition requiring the services of polar bear guards,
electrically charged bear fences and "Polar Bear Spray".
This is the first-time IOTA activation of Point Lay Barrier Island IOTA NA-242.
July 22 - 26 July (2011) CALLSIGN: K6VVA/KL7
QSL ROUTE: ONLY via N6AWD (Direct or Bureau)
NA-242 is primarily CW on 40/30/20/17m.
Due to the possibility of polar bears at NA-242, they have purchased electric
bear fences, bear spray, and will hire one or more local "Bear Guards" with
heavy firepower for 24/7 protection.
WEBSITE: http://www.k6vva.com/iota/na242
(Rick, K6VVA The Locust via Southgate)
South Australian newspaper "Border Watch" is reporting on what they say is a
"Remarkable rescue".
Two men have been lucky to survive nearly four hours in icy waters after their
boat capsized off the coast of Port MacDonnell on Saturday afternoon.
The two Geelong men, both aged in their 50s, were rescued 14km off the coast
of Port MacDonnell after a wave swamped their five-metre vessel.
Miraculously, the men managed to dive under the capsized boat and recover an
emergency beacon before clinging to the vessel.
The pair were able to transmit an emergency message to Australia Search and
Rescue (AusSar) services in Canberra, which in turn alerted emergency services
in South Australia.
However, the vessel sank shortly after the signal was sent, leaving both men
clutching to an esky in the freezing water as it became dark.
The rescuing craft's captain said "the men were in a poor state when they were
pulled aboard. They were suffering very badly from hypothermia".
Are you interested in any way with VHF, UHF or microwave bands? Then
perhaps you should consider attending the annual GippsTech technical
conference, held each year in July at Churchill.
This year, it looks like they have a very full program across the 2 days.
Saturday lunch will be a spit roast, with vegetarian options (if
pre-booked).
Sunday lunch will be pizza, with vegetarian and gluten free options (if
pre-booked).
The Saturday evening Conference Dinner will again be at the Morwell
Club, with a smorgasbord main course and buy your own drinks at the
bar.
Register NOW!
Download the form from http://www.vk3bez.org/ and follow the links to
GippsTech.
Registrations need to be in TODAY - No guarantee of food for those
who register after Today Sunday 3 July.
(sourced to a release by Peter VK3PF)
This is Jack VK3WWW with an update for the 8th IARU Region 3 ARDF Championships.
I expect you are all aware by now of the date but if you are not they will be
on from 23rd through to the 28th of September.
Things are really hotting up now with many of the International teams busy
organising entry visas and air transport. One of the interesting things is the
popularity of the event in China. Recently I received a request from the
Chinese Radio Sports Association CRSA if they could send extra competitors not
just a couple but 40 extra competitors. In places like China, ARDF has been
very popular for a long time. It is even an elective sport in some schools.
When I first started out in ARDF financial backing and selection for a Chinese
team was done at a government level. Later on the Government only subsidised a
little bit of the costs and now I expect they all pay there own way like we do.
How things change.
The 8th IARU Region 3 ARDF Championships will be in the Maldon, Bendigo and
Castlemaine region so competitors will get to really see some of our natural
bush.
Our Australian team is not confirmed yet as most of the usual VK competitors
are busy organising the event. If you are interested in Competing, Spectating
or even better Volunteering I would love to hear from you.
For more information about the event check out the event website
www.r3.ardf.org.au
WIA
President Michael Owen VK3KI president@wia.org.au
Vice President Phil Wait VK2ASD vk2asd@wia.org.au
Secretary Sarah Thompson VK3AUD secretary@wia.org.au
Treasurer John Longayroux VK3PZ vk3pz@wia.org.au
The Remembrance Day Contest for 2011, is on the weekend 13-14 August.
The RD will commence at the same time as in previous years, that is 0800
and run until to 0759 UTC the following day.
Although an overwhelming majority of people at the AGM open forum in Darwin
supported a revision of the starting time, it was not possible to have a
discussion with the contest manager before the rules had to be placed with
the publications team in time for inclusion in July Amateur Radio magazine.
With the establishment of the proposed Contest Committee, all contest rules
will be reviewed and where practical will be standardised. "
cheers and thanks
Bob
VK6POP
WIA Director
Good Morning fellow amateurs and short wave listeners.
This short report was submitted by Chris VK5CP, unfortunately he was unable
to prepare an audio file in preparation for this weeks broadcast and has
asked me to present the report on his behalf.
As this is Chris's first report he wanted me to tell you a little about himself.
Chris became interested in radio during the CB craze in the 1970's. At that
time Chris was finishing High School and mobile phones had not been invented
yet. Radio was a fun way to communicate and talk to people on the other side of
the globe. Chris passed his Novice exam in 1978 but had to wait until 1993 in
order to find John Kelleher VK3DP to assist him conquer the code. With the help
of Rob Charmicheal and Jim Linton, Chris got his combined call in 1993. Chris's
practical radio knowledge has been acquired using the trial and error method
which has involved letting the smoke out a number of components. With the
assistance of his colleagues at the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group in
Adelaide his skills are slowly expanding. Chris has been a WIA Board Member
just over a year.
On the Queens Birthday long weekend Chris travelled to Mount Gambier to brave
the cold damp world of fox hunting with the South East Radio Group. A record
number of 11 teams from VK3 and VK5 participated in a weekend of fox hunts
including the inaugural Wayne Kilpatrick Memorial Night Fox Hunt.
Much fun was had walking around Crater Lake waving 3 element 2 metre yagis,
receivers squealing away searching for 10 tiny hidden transmitters as a confused
public looked on. Then the car based hunts commenced, the first fox was a
80W 70cm signal emanating from a 10 element yagi in a Victorian Forest! Some
took a direct route and got bogged, our team got bogged trying to rescue the
bogged competitors. The night hunt was a long distance affair which finished
near midnight. I felt for the poor foxes freezing in the forest waiting to be
found.
On Sunday we had some sunshine and attended a nice Hamfest with a good variety
of stalls and saw a homebrew competition of a very high standard.
After another day of hunts, the SERG team put on a fantastic BBQ and handed out
certificates to the successful competitors with VK3 scoring strongly.
The weekend was a good opportunity to catch up with the VK3 and VK5 foxhunting
fraternity and meet the SERG members who are doing their bit to encourage new
entrants to our hobby. It was a well managed event, keep up the great work
SERG!
73 de Chris VK5CP (presently portable Olympic Dam)
HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA.
VK1
There is currently an unknown signal interfering with the 2m Ginini repeater
which historically occurs to this repeater (and sometimes the Bulls Head
repeater) around this time of year.
This is causing the repeater to time out - periodically coming back up when the
interfering signal drops beneath the receiver threshold, but effectively making
the repeater unusable.
As there is nothing CRARC can do at this point, I am afraid it is a case of
hurry up and wait!
( Glenn vk1nut)
VK2
web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm
VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news
Waverley Amateur Radio Society will be holding its annual auction and table
sale of small items on Saturday, July 9th at the clubhouse in Vickery Avenue,
Rose Bay, Sydney.
Gates open 8:30 and the main sale starts at 10:30.
Goods consist of useful ham radio and electronic gear and the auction is open
to all wishing to buy or sell.
Full details, including descriptions and pictures of some of the items to be
sold, are available on the club's web site at www.vk2bv.org
(wia events)
ORARC AGM
Saturday, 30th July
The next ORARC Meeting will be Saturday, 30th July at 2:30pm, their annual
general meeting. Venue will be the Veterans Centre Cnr of High and Palmer
Streets, South Dubbo
(Jon)
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 thinking.
Just to restate a point that I have made before; it has been the capacity of
the radio amateurs that I have known, over the years, to share their interest
in this hobby. This is the point that I have made that we will grow our
membership more by the enthusiasm of individuals than by any other means.
To step back a little - it is the skills and experience of many people that
bring the web pages, the magazines and news broadcasts to us. It is the
capacity of individuals to work together that builds our clubs and interest
groups. It is the enjoyment of the activities that stimulate our grey cells
that enables us all to tell the story which will engage a budding enthusiast
to join the hobby.
Just remember that many of us manage to do some jobs well but each of us is
an individual who has strengths that we can share. It can be as important to
exhibit proper operating procedure as it is knowing how to mark out the lines
that allow cutting material for a home brew project. It can be as important
to bring some-one into a working shack and demonstrating how to do certain
things as it is to take a photo for the club newsletter.
In other words, each of us have the opportunity to do what those who preceded
us did for us, share our hobby. Have you told some one about amateur radio,
this week?
I'm Geoff Emery and that is what I think......how about you?
CENTRAL QUEENSLAND AR CLUB
Rockhampton
cqar.com.au
The Central Queensland Amateur Radio Association Inc is going from strength to
strength with our membership growing. Jack VK4JRC has organized a digital
training day at the Rockhampton Heritage Village on how to use the SignaLink
external USB soundcard on digital mode's for member's and interested parties,
Jack has also been running hf test's on the Mount Morgan Dam with his plastic
titanic. The plastic titanic is a plastic canoe with an electric motor fitted
and it incorporates a HF radio and a HF and 6 metre antenna.
Plan's are well underway for the light house weekend at Seahill Lighthouse and
we have a foundation licence weekend coming up in July. Plan's are also underway
for an annual event for the club to be held in October.
Jack VK4JRC gave us a very interesting presentation at our last meeting on his
trip to Lord Howe island. It is amazing what you can do with little equipment
and how you can utilise the environment without harm to you or the environment.
The club meets the second Sunday of each month at the French Sport's Club at
6pm for a meal and chat prior to the meeting starting at 7pm. Ray VK4HOT will
be giving us a presentation at the July meeting on the subject of making
hydrogen for his car.
This text was written by Dave, VK4DJC and spoken by Adam, VK4MTJ on behalf of
the Central Queensland Amateur Radio Association Inc.
Redcliffe and District Radio Club
www.redclifferadioclub.org.au/
I'm Ray, VK4CF with news from Redcliffe & Districts Radio club.
After a few weeks of illness and work commitments, I am back to tell you of
the goings-on at the Redcliffe club.
One of our club members Reverend John, VK4BZ, has left to be with his battalion
in Afghanistan and should be back early next year. John decided not to take any
ham gear with him and currently trying to find a friendly American ham in the
location who could assist but as yet no luck.
Last Monday night the AGM was held with some 47 members present. Peter VK4TAA
retired as secretary after some 7 years in the job and the new secretary is
Roger, VK4ZLQ. Peter VK4EA also retired as treasurer and Chris, VK4ANI is the
new treasurer. David VK4DC remains as club president.
Two welcomed visors to the meeting were VK3XPD, VK5DK who were visiting the
area and were most welcomed by club members.
About 2 weeks ago the club participated in an fund raiser at Bunning's which
ended early in the afternoon with heavy rain and a washout of the crowds but
the club was able to raise some $900. The club hopes to get another booking
later in the year to do it all again but this time without the rain.
The next club technical talk is on the 3rd Monday in July and it will be
John, VK4YJV, and the topic will be basic Metallurgy. In August it will be
James, VK4TJF, on RFI, In September, Kevin, VK4UH, Norfolk Island Expedition
and in October, Bob, VK4ZB, on PIC controls and software.
Training continues at the club with a second foundation course to be held
before the end of the year, a Standard License course with 7 candidates has
started and is progressing well and an advanced course is running and is
scheduled to be completed about September with 7 candidates.
The club will be holding its first working bee at the club house on July 16
and the plan is to replace the guttering on the road side of the club house.
The club was been advised that the convener of the competition can no
longer carry out this function after this year. Accordingly he had asked
for expressions of interest to carry on this position. The Executive committee
considered that as this club had regularly participated in the competition that
we should volunteer our services. Kevin VK4UH advised that he with the
assistance of the club, would volunteer to be the convenor.
So now it's back to the rest of QNEWS and it's 73 until next time from Ray,
VK4CF, from the Redcliffe club.
TABLELANDS RADIO AND ELECTRONICS CLUB
vk4wat@wia.org.au
www.treclub.org.au
G'Day again from the chilly north this is Dale VK4DMC for the Tablelands Radio
and Electronics Club, TREC, in Far North Queensland.
During the past week TREC members have been providing communications support
and check point manning for the Far North Equestrian Riders Association on the
Atherton Tablelands. This was a 5 day horse endurance event with over 50 riders
taking part. They traverse a variety of terrains, mainly savannah scrub, with
some very steep ascents and descents. 146.500 (CH.50) is the primary frequency
used with the VK4RTA repeater being used as a secondary frequency. It gives
members experience in setting up field antennas and relaying traffic back to
the base station VK4WAT/p. Some check points were only accessible by 4WD
vehicles.
The weather was wet and cold necessitating warm clothing and lots of cups of
hot soup. The event finished on Saturday and was completed successfully with
no casualties both to the riders and the radio operators.
TREC held a well attended meeting last Saturday with many interesting topics
being discussed. Chris VK4YCG bought along his brand new Spectrum Analyser for
Show and Tell.
Well that's your lot for this week.
Visit the TREC website at www.treclub.org.au for club information and you can
also download the latest monthly club news in TREC-NEWS. Past issues are also
available on the site.
This has been Dale VK4DMC and you are listening to the WIA news. Travel Well!
Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP from MERG is inviting us all to the Wide Bay Ham Fest
on 16th July.
This is the third year the Maryborough Electronics and Radio Group has held
the Ham Fest. We have a range of tables available both inside and outside the
hall. Both new and pre-loved equipment will be available on the day and the
food is being prepared and sold by the local Scout Group.
If you wish to book a table for Saturday 16th July, please contact MERG, Inc
via http://www.wia.org.au affiliated clubs or directly to Ray Stockdale,
VK4TPT, QTHR. The hall will be open to exhibitors from 7a.m. on the morning.
If you want to come and have a cuppa and a chat, catch up on friends and score
a bargain - then find your way to the Maryborough West Scout Hall.
There is ample parking and the hall is wheel chair accessible. So if you are in
the area, we would love to see you at the Wide Bay Ham Fest, Maryborough West
Scout Hall, Ariadne Street, Maryborough at 9.00 o'clock Saturday 16th July
next.
EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO
www.hamcollege.com.au
Jon VK2JDB from the ORANA region Amateur Radio Club says their club has been
invited us to attend a Scouts meeting on Monday 1st August. This to enable
the radio club to give the entire meeting, from 7-9pm a full demonstration
of the wonderful world of amateur radio.
The propose a brief PowerPoint Display on amateur radio with particular
emphasis on safety and a few rigs set up for use. Luckily there is a tower
right next to the Scout hall.
This will be great practice prior to JOTA in October.
Details:
1st Dubbo Scout Group
Cnr Talbragar & Fitzroy Sts., Dubbo
Monday 1st August
7pm - 9pm
Please reply if you can attend and if you can supply any equipment.
Since our next meeting (AGM) is the Saturday prior to the Scouts
meeting, it doesn't give us any time to prepare. Is it possible for
the members wanting to attend the Scouts meeting to get together mid
July to organise ourselves?
Cheers,
Jon
(orana region ar club)
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL,
Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA.
BBC Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Live Sports Extra are conducting an experiment
for the Wimbledon tennis tournament, user-customizable audio feeds where the
ratio of crowd noise to commentary can be tweaked to suit the individual
listener's preference.
Those who want to hear more analysis and description can move the slider on
the online NetMix Player in one direction, or in the opposite direction to add
more court-side atmosphere.
The NetMix Player feeds, available in Windows and Macintosh versions, are only
available during live coverage of matches Centre Court.
One year of the Moon in 2.5 minutes
A time lapsed video from the Goddard Space Flight Centre Scientific
Visualization Studio, uses data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and
compresses one month into 12 seconds and one year into 2.5 minutes.
You'll see how the Moon "wobbles" in its orbit, the changes in libration,
and axis tilt and the Moon's phases
NEWS FROM ARNEWSLINE USA
NEW EMERGENCY SERVICES DX GROUP ON FACEBOOK
A new amateur radio group has been formed for hams who are also members of one
of the various emergency services. Based in the United Kingdom, the group will
initially be coordinated via the Facebook social networking site with
membership open to retired or serving members of any of the emergency services.
The group is free to join.
Simply search for Emergency Services Amateur Radio DX Group on Facebook and
sign up, or contact GM0GMN directly at his call book address.
ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR NEW HAMSAT
Students at Istanbul Technical University in Turkey are working on a CubeSat
ham radio satellite that will host a linear transponder for SSB and CW amateur
radio communications.
Dubbed TURKSAT-3USAT the bird will carry a 50 kHz bandwidth 2 meter to
70 centimetre linear transponder, a beacon and telemetry downlink. Planners
hope to launch this new bird into a Sun Synchronous orbit of around
680 kilometres sometime in early 2012.
This will be the Istanbul Technical University's first ever communication
satellite. More on the project is in cyberspace at tinyurl.com/6hyxh7h
FRANCE BANS NEWSCASTS FROM PROMOTING FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
In a move that will hinder news organizations ability to reach their audiences
via social media, France has banned the use of the words Twitter and Facebook
from radio and TV newscasts. This, unless they are directly a part of a news
story.
News reports out of Europe say that broadcasting news anchors and other on-air
talent are now forbidden to refer to popular social networking sites and the
micro-blogging phenomenon, unless it is pivotal and relevant to a news item.
As such, French radio and television stations will no longer be able to ask
their audiences to follow or friend them on these services during newscasts.
Ryan Murphy, is the Digital Media Editor for the Radio and Television News
Directors Association. He is quoted as saying that this controversial move is
the result of a 1992 French government decree. One that states commercial
enterprises should not be promoted on news programs.
SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2011
July 9 WIA 160m CW & Digital Trans-Tasman contest
Aug 13-14 WIA Remembrance Day Contest
Aug 20-21 WW I.L.L.W.
Oct 22 WIA Jack Files Contest
2012
January VK Ross Hull Memorial VHF UHF Contest
March 17-18 VK JOHN MOYLE MEMORIAL FIELD DAY
June Long Weekend (vk4 time) VK Shires Contest.
Registrations up for the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend
It began in 1998 with 40 countries represented by 158 registrations.
Around 50 countries will join this annual fun event when it occurs on
August 20 and 21 this year.
With the 14th annual ILLW less than two months away entries are up 10% up
on last year, with top numbers being Australia in the lead on 44, followed
by the USA with 41 and Germany at 37.
From the beginning and still running strong are Argentina, Australia,
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland,
Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Northern Ireland,
Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Sweden, USA and Wales.
New countries this year are Azerbaijan and Thailand. Other smaller countries
such as the Isle of Man, Lebanon, Namibia and St Lucia are in the mix.
Organiser Kevin Mulcahy VK2CE says he's hoping to have close to 500
entries this year as the unique event continues to grow in popularity.
It is not a contest, runs for one weekend only and there are no strict
rules just guidelines. Check out the website ILLW.NET for more information
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
Illawarra Amateur Radio Society in VK2.
They will be manning the Point Perpendicular lighthouse at Jervis Bay.
The solar lighthouse installed in 1993 will be turned off for the weekend
and the grand old light built in 1899 will be relit.
Once again, this icon will guide ships safely along the NSW south coast
shipping lanes. The club station VK2AMW will be in the lighthouse keepers'
cottage for the duration of the event.
(vk2wi)
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE
Hellenic Amateur Radio Association of Australia out to Lord Howe Island VK9HR.
24th July to 2nd August 2011.
Morse celebrations
Members of the Japan A1 Club will activate the following special callsign until
December 31st:
8J1MORSE, 8J1MORSE/2, 8J1MORSE/3 etc,
according to the district from which they are active from. Activity is to
celebrate 220th anniversary of Samuel Morse's birthday.
Operations will be mainly CW, with some SSB (to explain the novices how to
join the CW community). Some special awards are also available too.
QSL by the Bureau
Logs will be uploaded to LoTW as well.
For more details, the English rules and information are available at:
http://8j1morse.a1tokai.net
DL0YLWM Women's Football World Cup
The Deutsche Amateur Radio Club is sponsoring an award to celebrate
the 2011 Women's Football World Cup.
Between 1st June and 31st July, the special station DL0YLWM and YL district
stations will be on the air.
The first two weeks of Amateur Radio Special Event activity for the Women's
Soccer World Cup in Germany, produced more than 51,000 QSOs with the
YL-specific stations in the online log.
Full details at www.darc.ce, search on the website for DL0YLWM.
In DX, the Intrepid-DX Group and the DX Friends plan to activate the Southern
Sudan as a new country on or after July 9th. At airtime members of the two
groups report that they are in consultation with representatives of the new
Southern Sudan Government, the International Telecommunications Union and the
International Amateur Radio Union working on making arrangements.
More on this proposed operation will be posted on-line at
www.dxfriends.com/SouthernSudan2011
Text message alerts boost 'ham' radio contacts
Radio amateurs now have a helping hand in their quest for contacting rare or
distant radio stations.
Although it "goes against the grain" promoting a service that charges other
hams in this predominantly volunteer service, DX Station is an innovative
SMS text message service that alerts radio amateurs when the sought-after
radio station's signal is spotted on the radio dial.
The use of real-time text messages gives paid up subscribers to DX Station a
competitive advantage, since they can hopefully contact the distant radio
station before their colleagues join the fray.
A reduced fee trial is offered for just the first month of subscription.
(sourced to southgate)
MEDIA WATCH
www.cq-amateur-radio.com/WorldRadio.html
VK Club Bulletins http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aarnie/
Radio Foxtrot 100
There's a new radio station on the web, and this one is aimed at amateur radio
enthusiasts.
With a mixture of music, chat and ham radio items, Radio Foxtrot 100 is the
brainchild of Anthony, EI9GMB, from Dundalk in Co.Louth, Ireland.
Tony says the station is aimed at amateur radio operators and listeners alike,
and is on-the-air 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
So, click the link and give it a try - Radio Foxtrot 100
http://foxtrot100.weebly.com/
BROADCAST MONITORING SWL AND SCANNER NEWS
Thousands sign petitions of support for RNW
More than 11,000 people have signed a petition to preserve Radio Netherlands
World wide's Dutch-language broadcasts.
Iede de Vries, Chairman of the Action Committee, says that in addition there
are about 7000 signatures from listeners who depend on programmes in one of the
other nine languages.
There are also separate petitions from former ambassadors, business and
journalistic organizations. Mr De Vries will lead a delegation from RNW who
will hand the petitions to the Dutch parliament on Monday, prior to the debate
about the substantial cuts in public broadcasting, including RNW.
Mr De Vries says several hundred people from around the world have also sent a
personal letter to the Lower House. He says a lot of support has been received
from the more than 3,000 partner stations worldwide that carry RNW programmes.
He says he suspects that many MPs don't know about many of the things that
RNW does, and advocates a postponement of the decision, allowing the
broadcaster to inform MPs about the consequences of the cuts.
On Friday, the government announced that the current budget of 46 million
euros would be reduced to just 14 million euros, a cut of 70 percent which
will mean the loss of up to 250 jobs.
A reminder that a special live programme in Dutch will be on the air from
The Hague today (27 June) at 0600-1200 UTC on the following outlets:
107.5 FM (In and around the Plein in The Hague next to the Dutch parliament
building)
1296 AM medium wave (For the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg)
Shortwave 5955 and 9895 kHz (West, Central and SW Europe)
Shortwave 13700 kHz from 1000 UTC (SW and SE Europe)
BBC World Service receives millions to increase Arabic broadcasts.
The BBC World Service is getting a funding increase to the tune of 2.2 million
per year over the next three years.
This comes after the government broadcaster's funds were slashed last year,
forcing it to announce the cancellation of 5 of its 32 language broadcasts and
reduced service on others.
The money will go to boost the Arabic language programs. An additional
9 million is being reallocated to save the Hindi shortwave service, which was
slated to be shut down.
The Arabic language service is getting more attention both from the
UK government and people in the region because of the ongoing unrest there.
The Hindi service also has a huge number of listeners.
The BBC World Service broadcasts on TV, mobile, and online, but in many regions
its shortwave broadcasts are still crucial. While listening to shortwave may
seem old fashioned, in many Middle Eastern countries the Internet is censored
or gets shut off completely during times of unrest. Also, many people in the
developing world have a shortwave radio, but little access to the Internet.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ARDF
WIA ARDF COORDINATOR VK3WWW Jack vk3www@wia.org.au
http://users.mackay.net.au/~ron/
http://www.homingin.com
http://www.ardf.org.au
Sep 23-28 R3 Region 3 ARDF Championship Bendigo VK3
http://r3.ardf.org.au/
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FAITH.
Pope posts first Twitter message
VATICAN CITY - Using an iPope er iPad POPE Benedict XVI wrote a message on
Twitter Tuesday announcing the launch of a new Vatican website in the first
'tweet' by a leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vatican has embraced social media in recent months, launching popular
Facebook and YouTube pages and courting bloggers as it tries to get the
Church's message out to a wider and more youthful audience.
The news.va web portal is also set to be formally launched.
It will provide news and pictures from the Vatican's radio and television
stations
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER
AMSAT-VK UNOFFICIAL HF Net.
2nd Sunday each month.
April through October 1000 UTC 3.685 MHz
November through March 0900 UTC 7.068 MHz
The six crew of the International Space Station had to scramble for cover
this week when a piece of space debris bore down on the orbiting station.
They temporarily took shelter in the Russian spacecraft, Soyuz, when the
lump of space junk zoomed in on the station, the Russian Interfax news agency
said.
It missed them by 250 metres - a hairsbreadth in space terms.
The team returned to the station after the debris junk passed by.
The station was not able to adjust the orbit to avert a possible collision
because it detected the space junk too late, the agency said.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- INTERNET --- THE HAMS DOMAIN
TWITTER http://twitter.com/VK1WIA
www.HamRadioNation.com
QSLogBook goes live!
The Social Networking site for Amateur Radio Enthusiasts QSLogBook is the next
niche social network, geared towards the Amateur Radio World.
While QSLogbook does allow users to post news and information it is a site
that is mainly set up to allow users from around the world to communicate and
to send each other frequencies and call sign information.
There are a number of tools that make social networking easier when using
QSLogBook. Not only can users view their contacts (called "friends"),
they can also see contacts that are linked to their friends. In this way,
it is possible for users to see their entire extended social network.
British Library makes Google search deal
Thousands of pages from one of the world's biggest collections of historic
books, pamphlets and periodicals are to be made available on the internet.
The British Library has reached a deal with search engine Google about
250,000 texts dating back to the 18th Century.
It will allow readers to view, search and copy the out-of-copyright works at
no charge on both the library and Google books websites.
CBS says there are a million free tracks available today on its site MP3.com
Its Interactive Music Group has embarked on a campaign to promote the newly
redesigned 14-year-old site. The campaign will run into late July. .
CBS took over MP3.com as part of its 2008 purchase of CNET. The announcement
of the relaunch of MP3.com came from CBS Interactive Music Group head
David Goodman. It calls MP3.com "the original online source for free legal
music downloads" and said its emphasis would remain on emerging and indy
artists.
Features on MP3.com include a free MP3 of the day, label of the week,
"On the Scene" editorial feature and dedicated artist radio stations
from sister CBS service Last.fm
REWIND
Meccano Magazine now online
Editions of Meccano Magazine from 1916 until 1981 are now available online.
The Internet enables classic magazines such as this to be read by a new
generation.
Among the many articles available are:
November 1957 - Jodrell Bank
http://meccano.magazines.free.fr/html/1957/5711/57110532.htm
March 1962 - Space Notes - Introducing the 'Cosmic Butterfly'
http://meccano.magazines.free.fr/html/1962/6203/62030096.htm
January 1978 - Picture of Meccano model of Space Shuttle
http://meccano.magazines.free.fr/html/1978/7801/78010021.htm
Read the Meccano Magazine archive at
http://meccano.magazines.free.fr/
(southgate)
SOCIAL SCENE
2011
Jul 9 VK2e Waverley A R S annual auction at Rose Bay club rooms
Jul 16 VK3 Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club Hamfest
Cranbourne Community Hall 10am ( secretary@ggrec.org.au )
Jul 16 VK4 Maryborough Electronics and Radio Group "Wide Bay Hamfest"
West Scout Hall, Ariadne St, Maryborough 8:30am.
secretary@merg.org.au
Jul 31 VK2/3 Riverina Field Day 10am at Lavington Scout Group Hall.
Aug 7 VK2 Lismore region - SARCFEST
Aug 28 VK2 Blue Mountains amateur radio club's annual WINTERFEST
Sep 11 VK3 SADARC Comms Day at St Augustine's Hall Shepparton 10am.
Sep 16-18 VK4 NQ Amateur Radio Convention Date Set Townsville
Sep 23-28 R3 Region 3 ARDF Championship Bendigo VK3
http://r3.ardf.org.au/
Sep 30-Oct 2 VK4 Central Highlands Amateur Radio Club AGM at Camp Fairbairn
CONTACT Secretary Gordon, (vk4kal@wia.org.au)
Nov 20 vk5 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest
Goodwood Community Centre, Rosa St Goodwood at 0930.
Visit www.ahars.com.au for contact details
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
FEB 26 VK2 CCARC WYONG FIELD DAY
MAY 3-18 VK5 YL International 2012 Australia (vk5tmc@bigpond.com)
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to submit audio read "how to submit items" in the weekly news page on
wia.org.au
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broadcast in the very next edition of WIA National News.
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Thanks to to our dedicated band of broadcast volunteers who utilize
their time and equipment in bringing you this weekly broadcast.
The purpose of "WIANews" is to rapidly provide news of interest to
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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 are broadcast in the spirit in which they were
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Material may be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form, a credit to
WIANews wouldn't go astray...
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