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WIANEWS - NOV 13 - 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 NOVEMBER 13 2011.
Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest Goodwood Community Centre,
Rosa St Goodwood at 0930 NEXT SUNDAY
Visit www.ahars.com.au for contact details
THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA IS FOR WEEK
COMMENCING NOVEMBER 13 2011.
ACMA warns unlicensed radio communicators (Story in text editions only)
The Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued warning
notices to six radio communications hobbyists, citing breaches of the
Radiocommunications Act.
The hobbyists, comprising those using the Citizen Band (CB) and Amateur Radio
frequencies are from Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.
The ACMA's Field Operations Sections found each were operating on High Frequency
(HF) frequencies outside the radio bands they were authorised to use.
In addition to warning notices, a number of non-compliant radio communications
devices were surrendered to the ACMA.
Read more on WIA FRONT PAGE NEWS http://www.wia.org.au
(Jim Linton VK3PC
The Australian Treasurer, Wayne Swan, says the Government will wait for advice
from police before deciding the next step in the Australia Network tender
process.
Radio Australia's parent company, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, now
holds the contract to operate the international satellite television network
but is competing with Sky News to retain it.
Sky News is partly owned by the British broadcaster BSkyB.
Australia's Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy,
Senator Stephen Conroy, announced the end of a competitive tender process
on Monday, saying he was acting on the advice of the Government Solicitor.
He said: "The advice which the Government has received is that due to
significant leaks of confidential information to the media, the Australia
Network tender process has been compromised to such a degree that a fair and
equitable outcome may no longer be able to be achieved."
The Government also referred the matter to police because of the alleged leaks.
A NEW, dedicated radio studio at Patterson Lakes Primary School means students
are now interviewing some of Australia's biggest names, live to air.
Radio program co-ordinator Craig Jenner said a $50,000 State Government grant
to build the studio also helped deck it out with the latest technology.
"We've also got the experienced students training others how to do it, which
gives them a sense of responsibility and independence."
The school's radio program has been hugely successful over the years, with
students interviewing the likes of former prime minister John Howard, TV stars
Bert Newton and Rove McManus, NBA basket baller Andrew Bogut and former
St Kilda footballer Robert Harvey.
The station can be picked up on 104.7 FM throughout the Patterson Lakes area.
A map of the station's coverage area can be found at pattopsradio.weebly.com
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 Board of the WIA has accepted the recommendations of the 2011 Club Grant
Committee and announced the successful applications.
Two categories of project were identified that the WIA would support this year.
The first category was projects and activities to be conducted before 1 June
2012 to attract new amateurs, but focussed on people under 25 and the second
category was amateur radio projects that are useful and innovative and that
utilise both information technologies and radio communications.
No projects were proposed by any club that fell into the second category.
The Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club will be supported by a grant of $1,500 to
support a mobile shack as a promotional tool to attract new members, for Field
days and emergency communications within their local area.
The Brisbane Amateur Radio Club will receive a grant of $600 to help them to
improve the quality of their meeting presentations using digital projection
equipment.
The St George Amateur Radio Society Inc. will also be supported by a grant of
$600 for a basic trailer to be converted into a mobile display and field
operations unit.
The Sunraysia Radio Group will be supported by a grant of $1,000 to support
their work promoting amateur radio to Scout District in the Mildura/Wentworth
area.
The Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society will receive a grant of $600 to
support building on the established training room by the addition of training
aids and a number of kits.
The Illawarra Amateur Radio Society will be supported by a grant of $900 to
provide a projector and basic transceiver and antenna to supplement existing
training aids for classes.
The full report of the 2011 Grant Committee can be found on wia.org.au
I would also ask you to read carefully the "Comment" in the December Amateur
Radio when it is published, where I comment on the small number of
applications for club grants this year and raise the question of the
club grant scheme and ask for submissions and note that this will be an issue
for the Open Forum at the Annual Conference of the WIA in Mildura next year.
(Michael VK3KI WIA President)
Looking Out for Your Mates
Greetings from the WIA, this is Ewan VK4ERM, considering Looking Out for Your
Mates.
The eleventh hour of the eleventh month has just past. While it is right and
proper to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our way
of life and freedoms while they Looked Out for Their Mates, it also behoves us
to look out for those men and women who return with damaged bodies and minds.
Sometimes these situations are tragically personal or uncomfortably close.
Within the Amateur Radio community we too can Look Out for Our Mates in many
direct and indirect ways.
Operating our equipment in a comfortable shack at home, mobile through
innumerable places in this broad land or setting up a field or portable
station for a contest or to escape urban RF noise provide ample opportunities
for Looking Out for Your Mates.
Unfortunately it is a truism that familiarity does breed contempt or at least
avoidable carelessness or the taking of unnecessary risks. Sometimes the first
we become aware of the error of judgement is when a situation goes wrong
resulting in damage to what we have been working on, a minor physical
inconvenience or personal injury.
What would you reasonably expect a mate to do in such circumstances?
What would you do if you were witness to the potential for such a situation
occurring?
In the first case a friendly word of caution from your mate may be all that
was needed to jolt you out of complacency to reconsider your course of action.
In the second case wouldn't you believe it was your responsibility to caution
your mate on the likely outcome of his or her actions?
Either way, both situations demonstrate Looking Out for Your Mates and
unlikely to cause offence with real mates.
The foregoing physical cause and effect situations are readily observable to
which we can spontaneously react without offence to those with whom we are
familiar. Far worse and more insidious is the onset and manifestation of
mental stress. The gradual change in the behaviour of a mate may be so subtle
that in the long term we don't notice it nor become aware of the past and
present circumstances causing the change.
However, it is unfortunate that the first we become aware that a mate is under
stress is when he or she explodes or crashes with unpredictable behaviour and
outcomes. This is when you have to be Looking Out for Your Mates, hopefully
before situations come to a head and afterward if too late.
We like to think that we know and understand those whom we have known for
years or decades but the reality is there may be disturbing or traumatic
events buried in their memory and eating away at their very being; events and
emotions they have never communicated to others, not even their mates.
Those in the far reaching fraternity of Amateur Radio are no different and if
you become aware of changes in the personality and behaviour of your Amateur
Radio friends in any circumstances then it is truly time to be Looking Out
for Your Mates.
The changes you see may be their cry for help.
Look Out for Your Mates
This has been Ewan VK4ERM for the WIA Board
I'D SOONER BE FISHING
Every now and then members let us know they receive spam emails claiming to be
from the WIA and wanting to obtain personal information, this sort of email
activity is called PHISHING (pronounced fishing).
Phishing is a way that the bad people on the internet attempt to acquire
information from us such as usernames, passwords and credit card details
by claiming to be from a trustworthy entity (in our case the WIA). Customers
of Banks and other financial institutions are typically the major targets of
Phishing scams however they seem to have a go at people from any organisation
including organizations like ours. So remember, should our WIA office staff
ever need to verify your membership or personal details, they will contact you
directly by telephone, never by unsolicited email.
HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA.
VK2
web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm
VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news
Email Address : r_demkiw@yahoo.com.au
Planning is well under way for "Amateur Radio's big day out" next year at the
Wyong racecourse.
The Central Coast Amateur Radio Club Field day at Wyong has a new service for
next year. A "group meet-up" service.
There are several Amateur Radio groups who are spread across the country and
rarely are able to meet-up in person, so why not take advantage of the fact
that many group members travel to the Wyong Field Day?
This is a free service.
The CCARC will allocate 30 minute slots throughout the day on a first come
first served basis and publicise these before the field day and announce them
over the public address system throughout the day.
An area in the coffee & tea room on the 2nd floor of the race club building
will be set aside as the "meet-up point". This has lift access available for
those who have difficulty with stairs.
As the slots are already filling, it is recommended to get your application
in as soon as possible by sending an email to WFDMeetup at gmail.com
The list will close at the end of January or earlier if all slots are taken,
so that signs can be printed for display at the event and the list publicised.
Make sure you have the date firmly in your calendar *- CCARC Field day at
Wyong - February 26th. 2012 and the Field-Day website at www.fieldday.org.au
for all information about the event.
VK3
web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/
Police Roundup http://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/
Victorian National Parks next weekend
So far eight registrations have been received for declared National Parks
activations in Victoria as a concentrated effort is made on the Keith
Roget Memorial National Parks Award.
It is also part of the Amateur Radio Victoria Century and will run from
Friday November the 18th through to Monday November 21st.
They include Heathcote-Graytown, Brisbane Ranges, Barmah, Dandenong
Ranges, Greater Bendigo, plus a yet to be specified park in Gippsland.
For the Saturday and Sunday Terry Murphy VK3UP will be using the special
call sign VK100ARV.
Others involved are VK3WAM, VK3JDA, VK3VTH, VK3ZPF, VK3EME and VK3PF.
Check them out by visiting www.amateurradio.com.au and tune around the
bands next weekend giving them plenty of support.
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
VK4
Welcome to QNews from VK4WIA. I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP and I've been
thinking.
October 9th was important for the 2 dozen or so amateurs who attended the
President's Luncheon at the Bundaberg Radio Club. Since the reformation
of the Wireless Institute of Australia and devolving the old state WIA branches
into advisory committees, these meetings have been a way of sharing face to
face between the clubs and the board of the Institute.
WIA President, Michael Owen, VK3KI ran the meeting so that ideas that had
surfaced could be put and thoughts gathered from the clubs represented.
Similarly, ideas and concerns from the clubs were put to the meeting and input
from the VK4 event will be used at later similar get-togethers.
Discussion at the tea break and again at lunch ran the gamut of what you would
expect of a bunch of amateurs - from home brew to dealings with policy councils.
Still one question which Michael raised seemed not to prompt an easy response.
Whilst everyone agreed that recruiting to the hobby from our younger community
is necessary, getting a finger on what attracts the people who have grown up with
the "convergent" technology, to me or you and our hobby of amateur radio,
just seemed too hard.
As time has gone on and technology has outstripped individual imaginations,
when we talk about the good old days of radio, is it not really us that has run
out of steam and not the young people with their pocket computer radio internet
linked devices? How do these people relate to you and me and how do we
attractively present our interests to them?
I'm Geoff Emery and that's what I think....how about you?
CENTRAL QUEENSLAND AR CLUB
Rockhampton
cqar.com.au
With late notice and being a Monday Morning, it was great to see many of the
Central Queensland Amateur Radio Association Members turn out to assist with
an open day at the Rockhampton Heritage Village. Our members assisted the
Heritage Village co-ordinator VK4NJB - Jeff in the setup, cleaning and
activation of the radio museum.
The Singaporean Armed Forces and other international visitors were touring
the Heritage Village on the day and were taken through the Amateur Radio
Museum.
Members present displayed UHF, VHF and HF operations as well as a HF Portable
Back-Pack radio. A big thanks go out to the CQARA Members that assisted. From
all reports the display was well received by our international visitors.
I'm Adam - VK4MTJ on behalf of the Central Queensland Amateur Radio Association.
SUNSHINE COAST
Maleny VK4RSC 146.850 (91.5HZ) and 438.075 VK4RSN 53.7
Noosa Heads VK4RSL 146.825 and 438.175
The Expedition
3 members from SCARC set out together to travel to and attend the CHARC annual
get together at Fairbairn Dam recently, they travelled up together but came back
3 different and separate ways.
What could have happened, are they still friends??
It started a few days early, 3 4WD's, 3 Caravans and 3 couples. It took 3 days
to get up there from the Sunshine Coast which seems a bit slow but they did all
have 4WD's from the same manufacturer. Possibly there were some bitsamissing
however the official story is they took their time.
First nights camp and a brand new caravan suffered a broken awning clip at the
hands of an experienced caravanner, oh the shame. There were other problems,
intermittent radio comms in one car meant the other two could only chat to
each other, some like to drive less per day, other like to drive more etc.
All were running HF APRS and it was interesting to see some get out a lot more
position reports than others, this was good as it highlighted a fault with one
setup. Not to mention another one that drove through a 10 foot clearance
bridge with an 11 foot antenna, needless to say there were no beacons from that
one anymore.
The report back to the club seems to indicate they do still talk to each other,
I think they actually enjoy arguing amongst themselves, so even though they
went their separate ways on the way back it was because they had planned it
that way. But as they say "why let the truth get in the way of a good story"
Tone added to 146.850 at Maleny
Due to ongoing interference a 91.5Hz tone is required to access the Maleny
146.850 repeater.
The 146.825 linked repeater at Noosa does not require a tone so if you can't
access the Maleny repeater due to not having a tone try Noosa.
TABLELANDS RADIO AND ELECTRONICS CLUB
vk4wat@wia.org.au
www.treclub.org.au
G'day again from the Atherton Tablelands this is Dale VK4DMC for the
Tablelands Radio and Electronics Club, TREC, in Far North Queensland.
TREC members are planning for the VHF/UHF Spring Field Day contest to be held
on the 26/27th November. We will be operating from Hallorans Hill which is
located only 1.5 kilometres from the centre of Atherton.
Grid locator is QH22rr.
This contest is always lots of fun and allows operators to see just how far
they can work on the higher bands.
Frequencies to be used by TREC will be 6M, 2M, 70cm, 23cm and 3cm.
Some club members will also be operating from other locations around the
Atherton Tablelands during the contest.
We are also planning for the Annual TREC End of Year party to be held at the
Tolga Hotel on Saturday 3rd December. The famous (or maybe that should read
infamous) TREC Trivia Challenge will be held again with this year's quizmaster
being Gary (Snoopy) VK4FD.
Now a reminder of our up and coming VK4XQA operation on 160M & 80M that is
scheduled for 19/20/21 November 2011 from Euramo, QLD, Australia.
All systems are go, antenna ready, the rig and amplifier are ready, now we
wait until we can all congregate at the site. Operation times and frequencies
will be fairly flexible with operation mainly during our nights here and with
prime consideration being given to top band operations.
Top Band Operations:
We will have one operator, John VK4TL who will be our designated CW operator
and who will be operating in the CW section of the band, somewhere around
1825KHz.
Our SSB operators will be Jeff VK4BOF and Gary VK4FD who may also grace us with
his CW skills, Chris VK4YCG will also be operating on occasion, mainly on AM
for the old time operators out there. <Grin>
SSB and AM operations will be on or about 1845KHz though we can go lower for
those of you out there that are not permitted operations in that section of
the band.
These frequencies comply with the suggested band plan here in Australia and
also seem to be ok for IARU region's 1 & 2 as well.
Please bare in mind that we will only be operating with ONE RADIO, therefore
we cannot devote all our time to just CW or just to the AM/SSB side of it,
we must share it aound amongst all modes and operators.
80M band Operations:
80M band operation is secondary to our 160M band efforts.
SSB & CW Operation on 80M will be within the frequency range of 3779KHz to
3799KHz. AKA, the 'DX Window' in Australia.
We *may* operate at a lower frequency ie: between 3500 & 3700KHz but it will
be a much lower priority. In fact our whole 80M band activation is going to be
of a lower priority for us, we are mainly going to be on-site for 160M band
operations.
Power output on all modes and frequencies will be the Australian legal limit
for the appropriate mode.
The rig will be an Elecraft K3 and the amplifier will be an Elecraft KPA500.
An Elecraft P3 Panadaptor will also be in use to see the activity around us on
the bands.
Well that's your lot for this week.
Once again don't forget to 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 QNEWS. Travel Well!
VK5
November 20 is Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest Goodwood Community
Centre, Rosa St Goodwood at 0930. Visit www.ahars.com.au for contact details
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL,
Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA.
New Zealand Amateur Radio Day will be held March 10 from 1000 to 1400 hours.
NZART Branches are being encouraged to set up stations in prominent areas in
their local community, and to make contact with other NZARD stations and home
stations.
Media inclusion is to be encouraged.
The purpose of NZARD is twofold. To expose Ham Radio to the community and to
prospect for potential amateur operators.
Container search continues
The search continues off Tauranga in ZL land for containers lost from the
stranded ship Rena in bad weather back in October.
Sonar searches have found a number of them within a 1,000 metre radius of the
ship, in water up to 80 metres deep.
A total of 30 containers has either washed up on beaches or been located,
leaving around 50 still missing.
Four containers with dangerous goods on board the Rena have been tagged with
transmitters in case they too end up coming off the ship.
500 kHz
During the meeting of the CEPT WRC-12 Conference Preparatory Group held in
Bucharest between November 1st-4th 2011 a European Common Proposal (ECP)
was agreed.
This ECP represents the block vote of 48 administrations and was passed
without dissent. It proposes an allocation to the amateur service between
472-480 kHz on a secondary basis with a maximum power limit of 5W eirp.
This ECP will now be forwarded to the ITU as a contribution from CEPT to
WRC-12.
The IARU has thanked the European Member Societies who helped to influence
their national administrations in this matter. This is an important step in
the IARU efforts to secure a worldwide secondary allocation to the amateur
service in the region of 500 kHz at WRC-12
BBC celebrates 75 years of television
Back on November 2, 1936 the BBC ran the world's first "repeat" of a TV show,
this on the very same day they COMMENCED transmissions from Alexandra Palace.
Having the transmitter and studios in the same building caused some problems
at first, such as radio transmissions interfering with electronics of cameras.
Two services were tested.
John Logie Baird's in one studio and a Marconi-EMI system in another.
A coin toss decided that the pilot programme would be transmitted on the
Baird system first, and then on the Marconi-EMI system following a brief
pause - so that there was a repeat show on the first day!
After three months it was decided to use the EMI system.
A BBC video reports names once considered for television included
phototelegraphy, seeing by wireless, and electric telescope.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/313799#ixzz1d5Bw1kbU
Still at the Beeb, the BBC World Service is moving out of Bush House and into
Broadcasting House early next year. An online auction of general audio and
radio equipment is being held, which includes:
Audio consoles: Speakers: Microphones: Headphones, equipment stands, microphone
stands, tape decks, turntables, stereo power amplifiers, general audio
processing equipment.
For more information, including photos, and to sign up for the auction, visit
http://www.go-dove.com/event-16010/BBC-World-Service
Bidding closes on 22 November.
=============================================================================
RSGB
New 6m beacon from Greece
A 5MHz beacon from Greece is now on the air.
Operating on 5,398.5kHz CW, it runs 30W into a non-resonant
antenna for the moment. It should be on the air mostly between
19.00 and 06.00 UTC. It may be off on some days due to other HF
activities at the test site, so try to listen regularly.
Details of the beacon message and timings can be found on the IARU
Region 1 website, www.iaru-r1.org
New digital net
A new digital net to encourage use of these modes on 10m will be
held every Saturday and Sunday at 18.00 UTC.
The net will gather on 28,125kHz USB, plus or minus QRM. RS ID and
Call ID will be used to help people pick out the net and modes
used. Olivia 500/8 mode will be used to call up the net but it may
switch modes as needed.
Check out www.obriensweb.com/sked for online coordination during each session.
Colorado 6m beacon back on air
The Colorado 6m beacon is back on the air following rebuilding.
The operating frequency is 50.065MHz and the call sign is KA0CDN.
Further information can be found online at www.rmvhf.org
SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2011
Nov 26-27 WIA Spring VHF-UHF Field Day
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.
July First full weekend NZART Memorial Contest
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE
Closed QSL Bureaux
There are 2 new countries that have closed their QSL bureaux,
TU Cote d'Ivoire and
V7 Marshall Island.
If you work these countries make sure you get the QSL manager or QSL direct.
There is no point in sending them to the outgoing bureau as they will only
be returned to you.
Ascension Island will see activity by K7ZZ using ZD8ZZ and W6HGF using ZD8F.
They will be there until November 22 using CW, RTTY and some SSB.
Logs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World.
(irts)
Amateur Radio Newsline report that the Five Star DXers Association's
T32C DXpedition to Christmas Island is now history.
Despite initial difficulties with their container of equipment not reaching
the island, the team finished with over 213,000 contacts and this is the first
time an expedition has exceeded 200,000 QSO's to that rare location.
AWARDS
VK100ARV is on air
Want to qualify for the Amateur Radio Victoria Centenary Award or obtain
the special QSL card? Sunday this weekend has it activated again by Luke
Steele VK3HJ. He has it on Thursday this week too.
VK100ARV is through the VK3RML repeater on Monday nights during the
Digital Slow Scan TV session around 1000z-1300z. Outside those times Keith
Proctor VK3FT will be on every Monday.
On Friday November the 18th Peter Freeman VK3PF puts it on air. And from
the Brisbane Ranges will be heard Terry Murphy VK3UP both on the Saturday
and Sunday.
Check out the VK100ARV roster, Award conditions, and reports on previous
activity on the website www.amateurradio.com.au
Every day in November is a VK100ARV day.
RSGB Commonwealth Century Club Jubilee Award 2012
2012 is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and mindful that the Queen is the head of
the Commonwealth of Nations we are pleased to announce a new operating award
for 2012.
To qualify for an attractive certificate all you need to do is to work as many
different countries and call areas on the Commonwealth Century Club list
during 2012.
Certificates will be awarded for working 60 and 100 different call areas.
Use any mode or bands you like and QSL cards are not required.
Score sheets and full details can be downloaded from
www.beru.org.uk/CCCaward/CCCindex.html
G3PJT@btinternet.com
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video
arvideonews.com
hamradiotube.com
youtube.com
qdg.org.au
At this month's general meeting, the SEQATV group gave the Brisbane Digital
Amateur Television Group permission to commence testing digital TV
transmission on 446.5 MHz from their Ocean View repeater site.
It is hoped that if the testing goes well, the two groups will combine their
ATV repeaters in the near future.
(Alan Wills VK4NA For the SEQATV group)
'Chirpy' 28 MHz CW Transceiver on YouTube
Roger G3XBM has released a video of 'Chirpy' the CW transceiver for 28 MHz that
uses just 14 components.
This ultra-simple transceiver puts out just over 100mW and can hear signals
down to around 2uV in a quiet room. Crystal controlled, full QSK and great fun,
although the signal does chirp! Hence the name.
Best DX so far is 1414km.
The circuit diagram of Chirpy is at
https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp/Home/xbm10_2
Google Chirpy - a 14 part CW transceiver for 28MHz on YouTube
OSCAR 1 YouTube video
A prototype of the first Amateur Radio satellite, OSCAR 1, has been on display
at the AMSAT symposium in San Jose. OSCAR-1 was launched nearly 50 years ago on
December 12, 1961. Its beacon sent the letters HI on 144.9830 MHz CW.
Bob Allison, WB1GCM of ARRL's Technical Lab led the effort to refurbish the
OSCAR 1 prototype on display at ARRL headquarters. With the help of OSCAR 1
developer Lance Ginner, K6GSJ, Bob and his team got OSCAR 1 operational again.
The refurbished OSCAR-1 was on display at the ARRL exhibit area at the 2011
Dayton Hamvention. The OSCAR 1 prototype was again on display during the
AMSAT Symposium where everyone was able to once again hear the CW transmissions
(now managed by a PIC controller) in the 145 MHz band.
Watch OSCAR 1 - 1st Amateur Radio Sat at AMSAT space symposium 2011 -
San Jose, just Google YouTube
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
AubieSat-1 designated AO-71
OSCAR Number Administrator, Bill Tynan, W3XO reports that he has advised
J. M. Wersinger, PhD, KI4YAU, Professor Emeritus and Director of Auburn
University's Student Space Program, that following the successful NASA
ELaNa III launch on October 28, 2011 of AubieSat-1, and by the request of
the AubieSat-1 team, the new satellite has been assigned an OSCAR number.
Professor Wersinger documented that telemetry has been received from the
satellite. The IARU-Sat Website states that AubieSat-1 was fully coordinated
with the IARU.
Bill wrote, "Therefore, by the authority vested in me by the AMSAT-NA President,
I hereby designate AubieSat-1 as AubieSat Oscar 71 or AO-71 and welcome this
newest OSCAR into the Amateur Radio satellite community.
On behalf of AMSAT-NA and the world's amateur radio satellite community, I
congratulate Professor Wersinger, Auburn University and all of those
responsible for building, testing and launching this new CubeSat. May its
mission meet with success."
(Bill Tynan, W3XO OSCAR Number Administrator via SouthGate)
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
Following in text editions only:-
Saving almost 1,000 lives
The Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST) Secretary Paul Wacharaphol
HS4DDQ reports his team helped to save almost 1,000 lives by coordinating
rescue communications in cases of medical emergencies during the severe
flooding.
He coordinates the emergency medical communications at Public Health
Ministry on Ngarmwongwarn Road and using the call sign HS0AC. Speaking at a
small RAST gathering at Sena Place Hotel on Sunday November 6, Paul HS4DDQ
told how emergency unfolded.
Since the flooding began in July at least 529 people have been killed in
the affected 63 of Thailand's 77 provinces. The cost to the local economy
including hundreds of global manufacturers who rely on its low-cost
factories keeps rising.
The amateur radio station established by the National Broadcasting and
Telecommunications Commission (NTC) using the call HS0AB were also
discussed, along with the donations that RAST has received that now total
over 50,000 baht, including a large amount received from donors in Malaysia.
The NBTC has praised the role that radio amateurs have been playing to
help people cope with the disaster by providing communications support and
this have been especially helpful in flooded areas where several mobile
phone cell sites have failed.
Government agencies have been able to take advantage of the amateur radio
communications infrastructure when their own networks failed.
Using their skills and experience radio amateurs kept communicating with
one another under adverse conditions. There volunteer spirit that has
carried radio amateurs to the "front-line" has also helped many victims of
Thailand's worst flooding in over 60 years.
The RAST club station HS0AB was controlled by Pranee Netrattana E21DKD,
was praised for her efforts.
The station was inundated by flood water to a depth of over one metre, but
that the campus was presently still inaccessible and the extent of damage
to equipment is yet to be evaluated
A good example of this was demonstrated by Champ Muangamphun E21EIC and
his wife Goi E20NKB, who left after the meeting with flood relief supplies
in their four-wheel drive vehicle well equipped with a boat strapped to
the roof.
(Jim Linton VK3PC, Chairman IARU R3 Disaster Communications Committee / RAST)
SOCIAL SCENE
2011
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 12 VK3 CentreVictoria Hamfest, Kyneton Racecourse
FEB 26 VK2 CCARC WYONG FIELD DAY
APR 14-15 VK WIA National Field Day.
MAY 3-18 VK5 YL International 2012 Australia (vk5tmc@bigpond.com)
MAY 25-27 VK3 WIA Annual Conference Mildura
JULY 14 VK4 Wide Bay Hamfest. West Maryborough Scout Hall
Nov 12 VK3 SPARC HAMFEST (ROSEBUD BY THE BAY)
WIA Annual Conference Mildura
May 25th, 26th and 27th 2012
Details for the WIA 2012 Annual Conference being held in Mildura are on
wia.org.au
Host club is Sunraysia Radio Group, led by Garry Briant VK3KYF and
Noel Ferguson VK3FI.
WIA Members who register for the event will be able to participate in a
range of fascinating and memorable activities.
Submitting news items
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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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