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WIANEWS - March 18 - VK NATIONAL NEWS
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THE BEST NEWS YOU'LL GET ALL WEEK
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THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING MAR 18 2012.
WIA
HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA.
VK1
Two local Hams were interviewed live last Sunday on ABC 666 AM with
Ginger Gorman on the Month of Sundays morning program.
Peter Ellis vk1pe and Chris Carroll vk1gg demonstrated and talked about
the historical and current usage of Morse Code.
The producer has since conveyed that the caliber of the Morse interview was
"EXCELLENT"!
Congratulations guys, a job well done.
Now on this weeks WIA News Broadcast the rundown from the boys themselves!
VK1WIA STUDIO:
Peter Ellis VK1PE and Chris Carroll VK1GG did a 20 minute interview on ABC Local Radio in Canberra last Sunday. It's part of the Sunday program's month focussing on communication, and the guy's interview was talking about Morse Code and Amateur Radio. Let's listen in.
SUMMARY (120 seconds):
Intro by Peter VK1PE
Chris VK1GG demonstrating Morse to Ginger Gorman, the ABC presenter.
Peter VK1PE talking about the 137kHz band and the need for Morse to be used.
Ginger Gorman talks about 'enthusiasm' for Morse.
Chris talks about the 'romance' of the code.
Sign-off by Peter VK1PE.
VK1WIA STUDIO:
Peter said they were immediately followed by a short pre-recorded interview with two Navy veterans from the Korea War who talked about Morse's use back then; and, the next segment was about communication between ants. (Laugh!)
VK3
web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/
Police Roundup http://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/
EMDRC HEY YOU!
Yes, You! Where are you going?
VK3's Eastern and Mountain District Radio Club's Annual White Elephant Sale
is in the other direction!
Doors open at 10am on Sunday the 25th of March
at the Great Ryrie Primary School, Great Ryrie Street Heathmont.
Some tables still available and full details at EMDRC.COM.AU
VK4 - QNEWS
Send your stories for news. SCRIPT to qnews@wia.org.au
send audio to http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/upload/
get local audio news www.wiaq.org.au/ftp/vk4_qnews_64.mp3
get local news emailed qnews-vk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The South East Queensland ATV group's Digital TV repeater is one step closer.
Their boards have arrived!
The club's technical officer Martin VK4JVC is busy installing the digital boards
in boxes ready for testing.
Stay tuned for further updates.
(Alan VK4NA)
SUNSHINE COAST NEWS
Col McCamley Award, we are joined by Gordon VK4VP who, speaking on qnews,
best heard when you listen to wiaq.org.au says that as part of the
Sunny Coasts AGM an award is presented to a club member who has provided
outstanding service to the club in the previous year.
"This is in memory of Col McCamley who is now a silent key but did a huge
amount of work getting the club going in the early years. This was voted on
and Roy VK4ARS was named as the recipient this year. Roy has been running
the good morning net on Mondays for quite a few years and the weekly 2m SSB
net on Sunday nights. Roy is always available for checks and handing out
contest points from his lofty perch up at Flaxton."
More from the SCARC in this weeks QNEWS text and audio.
VK7
vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vk7regionalnews/
Tasmania's Torpedo Boat
After the gradual draw-down of the British Garrison 1850-1870, and the perceived
threat of a Russian invasion, senior Royal Engineer defence experts,
Sir William Jervois and Colonel Peter Scratchley were sent to the Australasian
Colonies to advise them to their best means of defence.
Among Scatchley's recommendations was the purchase of Torpedo boats, and the
Tasmanian Government obtained one 2nd Class torpedo boat from celebrated British
builder, J.I.Thornycroft & Son.
This presentation is given by retired HEC engineer Donald Chisholm-Smith on
29 March 2012from 7:30pm at the Royal Engineers Building.
If intending to attend then let Catherine know on 6234 2228 or email:
creading@engineersaustralia.org.au
Thanks to Richard Rogers VK7RO for passing on the information
EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO
North West Tassie News
Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club
The CCARC would like to advise all shortwave listeners and ex CB'ers who may be
thinking of trying for a foundation licence or better, that they have a very
experienced team of accredited licence examiners who are only too pleased to
answer any information that you may require to obtain your Amateur Licence and
they are happy to provide their services at any reasonable time to suit the
individual without waiting for more than one applicant, Licence testing is
basically available on command and if necessary will travel to the applicant, this
also applies to anyone wishing to upgrade to the next level or going for the big
one.
Check out Cradle Coast Club in the vk7 section of club pages, wia.org.au
What use is an f-call?
I keep having the same conversation, almost word-for-word, over and over
again. I cannot do anything with just 10 Watts, it's not enough,
it's useless, I cannot make any contacts, no-one hears me, I'm wasting my
time.
The United Arab Emirates and Denmark, are two countries far from our shores.
Seemingly these two have nothing in common, other than that we share our
globe with their citizens. However, these two countries were contacted by
an F-call last week with a 4/9 signal report.
This time it wasn't me making
the contact it was another station who is free to brag about their contact
to the community. I'm bring it up here because it's not just me saying that
you can make contacts, it's not just me making contacts, there are many
amateurs who on a daily basis make contacts across the planet. Some of them
hold a foundation license.
What it takes to achieve is some patience and a dose of luck. Neither of
which are hard to come by or hard to achieve. Sitting at the radio for a
few hours will likely get you a result.
Don't despair if it doesn't, try again, try a different band, check your
radio settings, is your antenna pointing in the right direction? Is it
connected? See if you can make a local contact and nut out if there are
ways to improve your signal.
It keeps coming back to the same thing. Amateur Radio isn't an Instant
Gratification kind of activity. It's one where some preparation and patience
goes a long way. If you're looking for a quick fix, get on the Internet. If
you want to get a sense of personal achievement, try making a long distance
contact. There are amateurs on air all day long calling CQ, just waiting for
a call from a station on the other side of the globe - this is your domain
as much as it is theirs.
I cannot make you push the PTT button, but I can encourage you to have a go.
I've seen a ten year old key the mike like an old hand, if he can do it, so
can you. It won't bite!
I'm Onno VK6FLAB
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL,
Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA.
NEW US 60 METER RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Effective Monday, March 5th United States radio
amateurs were granted new operating privileges
on the 60 meter band. In addition to an increase
in effective radiated power from 50 to 100 watts,
hams can now transmit CW and PSK31. More
information on what modes can be used on what
frequencies is on-line at the ARRL website.
JAPAN HOME TO WORLDS TALLEST BROADCAST TOWER
A ceremony to mark the completion of the world's
tallest freestanding broadcasting tower was held
in Tokyo on Friday, March 2nd. Construction on
the Tokyo Sky Tree tower began in 2008. It was
completed a few days prior to its dedication ceremony.
The Sky Tree stands 2,080 feet tall and is
claimed to be the tallest structure of its type
ever built. It will eventually be the home of
most broadcasting and two-way radio operations in that city.
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WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
RESCUE FROM RADIO TOWER: NAKED CLIMBER REMOVED
FROM ATOP LOS ANGELES RADIO TOWER
From the wEIRD AND wONDerFUL file comes the story
of a naked man atop a downtown Los Angeles radio
tower who was wrapped in a blanket and lowered to
safety by a makeshift pulley system on Wednesday night February 8th.
The unidentified tower climber was believed to be
in his 30s or 40s and possibly an Arizona
resident. It was unclear why he climbed the 220
foot high structure, which is part of a city
personnel building just west of downtown L.A..
Witnesses say that he removed items of clothing
after he began scaling the tower about 4 p.m.
Pacific time just prior to sundown. His rescue
went without incident after he asked to be given some MacDonalds hamburgers.
The mission which involved a heavy presence of
Los Angeles Fire Department personnel was
completed at about 9:45 Pacific Standard
Time. Police said that the man will not be
charged with a crime and his name will not be
released.
(LA Times, LA Weekly, others via ARNewsLine)
SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2012
VK JOHN MOYLE MEMORIAL FIELD DAY TODAY March 17-18
WW FISTS TITANIC SPRINT April 15
VK/ZL AM/CW on ANZAC DAY April 25
VK/ZL Trans Tasman Contest 80metres SSB May 5
VK Shires Contest June 9-10
VK/ZL Trans Tasman Contest 160metres SSB June 25
ZL NZART Memorial Contest July First full weekend
VK Remembrance Day Contest August 11-12
WW International Lighthouse Lightship Wknd August 18-19
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE
In DX, word that the AX stroke VK0TH operation
from Macquarie Island, the December 2011 and
January 2012 9U3TMM DXpedition to Burundi and the
2011 6-Oh-Zero M operation from Somalia have all
now been approved for DXCC credit.
Also approved is the current T6BP operation from
Afghanistan.
If you had any of these operations rejected in a
recent application send a note to bmoore@arrl.org
to have your record updated.
B Moore notes that the AX stroke VK0TH operation is in
addition to the VK0TH that has already been approved
for DXCC recognition.
FLEMISH RADIO AMATEURS COMMEMORATE THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC
100 YEARS AGO
Three special call signs will be activated from
April 1st to the 30th from Belgium by the Flemish
Radio Amateurs organization. This to honor those
who perished 100 years ago in the sinking of the steam ship Titanic.
OO100MGY by operated from the city of
Antwerp. OR100MGY will take to the air from
Knokke-Heist while OT100MGY will be on from Londerzeel.
During the weekend of April 14 through April 15,
all three stations will be active during a
marathon session from 12:00 Saturday until 16:00
Sunday UTC. Each of these stations has a special
and unique QSL card available so that three
different styles can be acquired.
BRAZIL BANS PY0S DX OPERATIONS
The Southgate News reports that radio amateur are
now prohibited from operating DXpeditions from
the Brazilian Archipelago of Saint Peter and
Saint Paul also known as PY0S. This is a remote
group of islands near the equator whose maximum
elevation is only 18 about meters above sea
level. It's also the nearest point of Brazil to
Africa, lying about 1820 kilometers from Guinea
Bissau. St. Peter & St. Paul was rated number 16
in 2011 DXCC list of most wanted entities.
In a report credited to PS8RF and the Brazilian
Amateur Radio League and some DX groups in Brazil
have shown their displeasure with this government
ban in postings on various social
websites. PS8RF told Southgate that there is
already a major mobilization by the Brazilian ham
community aimed at urging the nations Senators
and Federal Representatives to reverse the
decision on the to ban. PS8RF notes that the
biggest concern among Brazilian hams is that this
decision could open unheard restrictions to other
entities in Brazil as in other parts of the world
where there is no amateur radio activity.
BROADCAST MONITORING SWL AND SCANNER NEWS
DRM COMING TO INDIA
All India Radio has outlined its digitization
plan. This during the 18th Annual Broadcast
Engineering Society of India event.
According to All India Radio Director General, a
pair of one megawatt transmitters at Rajkot and
Kolkata are likely to be operational by the end
of March and an additional 72 Digital Radio
Mondiale transmitters would be commissioned
between June of this year and March 2013.
The ongoing rollout by All India Radio has gained
the interest of receiver manufacturers, who were
present at the event with their latest products.
Digital Radio Mondiale member companies Nautel,
Digidia, Fraunhofer, Harris and Thomson Broadcast
attended the conference this year.
(Radio Magazine via arnewsline)
MEDIA WATCH
W5LFL AND W5KWQ - MAN ON A MISSION - THE MOVIE
We travel back in time to 1983.
That's when then NASA astronaut and ham operator Owen
Garriott, W5LFL, made the first manned amateur
radio transmission from space. His pioneering
effort from flight STS-9 paved the way for todays
International Space Station ARISS program.
Several decades later, Owen's son Richard, W5KWQ,
would fly to the ISS and use the same method to
talk to his dad and many others here on planet
Earth. Now, these historic moments have been
captured in the exciting new documentary titled
Man on a Mission. A film that reveals Richard
Garriotts quest to become the first second generation American in space.
A DVD release is planned for May 2012. More about this
documentary is on-line at firstrunfeatures.com
(Firstrun Features VIA ARNEWSLINE)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV
A VIDEO TOUR OF W1AW
In case you missed the live web tour of the
February 12th of ARRL headquarters' flagship
station W1AW you can now watch the 18 minute
video on the ARRL website. In the show W1AW
Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, led Geoff Fox,
K1GF, on a tour of the famed station. Al
Petrunti, KA1TCH, of the New Day Group recording
it for future netcasting.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER
Connecting Students with Space
The GENSO project features in an article in the February 2012 edition of the
free magazine ESA Bulletin.
GENSO is a worldwide network of education and amateur radio ground stations
linked together via the internet.
Student satellite teams can normally only gather around 20 minutes of data
per day from their satellite using their own ground station.
GENSO will give them free access to potentially hundreds of stations around
the globe and increase their data return to many hours per day.
It will also allow them to command their spacecraft from the other side of
the world.
GENSO http://www.genso.org/
(sourced to southgate)
Matt Bennett KF6RTB reports that the amateur radio CubeSat, Radio Auroral
Explorer 2 (RAX-2), has detected the communication-disrupting anomaly in
the upper atmosphere it was searching for.
The team express their thanks to the amateur radio community.
The primary objective of the mission is to use the onboard radar receiver in
conjunction with a powerful radar station in Alaska to study the formation of
a plasma anomaly known for causing the scintillation of radio signals in the
UHF and higher bands. This scintillation effect is known to inhibit our
space radar tracking capabilities and ground-space communications.
Studying this anomaly in this bi-static radar configuration (ground based
transmitter, space-base receiver) will provide scientists with a better
understanding of these anomalies that has not been achievable with ground
radars alone.
(sourced to southgate)
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - LOW DOWN
UK SPECIAL 600 METER PERMITS EXTENDED
AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE say UK Notices of Variation to
amateur licenses for special research permits to
operate in the band 501 to 504 kHz have been
extended to December 31st 2012.
This as telecommunications regulator Ofcom has begun
discussions with the Radio Society of Great Britain
about the timetable for implementing the new secondary
allocation to the amateur service, 472 to 479 kHz that
was recently approved at WRC-12.
The agreed upon availability date for this band to begin
to become available for administrations world-wide to
begin proceedings to open to their ham radio communities is
effective as of January 1st, 2013.
SOCIAL SCENE 2012
MAR 18 VK7 This weekend Sewing Circle Nets "Meet the Voice BBQ" at Ross.
APR 14-15 VK WIA National Field Day.
MAY 3-18 VK5 YL International 2012 Australia (vk5tmc@bigpond.com)
MAY 5- 6 VK4 RADAR and MARC Clairview Gathering
MAY 25-27 VK3 WIA Annual Conference Mildura
JUN 8-11 VK4 FNNQARG! QLD Cassowary Coast
JUN 9-10 VK5 South East Radio Group Convention, Mt Gambier.
JULY 14 VK4 Wide Bay Hamfest. West Maryborough Scout Hall
JULY 21 VK3 Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club Hamfest @ Cranbourne
NOV 25 VK3 SPARC HAMFEST AT ROSEBUD
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
If you would like to submit news items for inclusion in the
VK1WIA broadcasts, please email your item in text to nationalnews@wia.org.au
to submit audio read "how to submit items" in the weekly news page on
wia.org.au
Remember the sooner you submit material the more the likelihood of it being
broadcast in the very next edition of WIA National News. Each item will only
be broadcast once, if you want a couple of mentions, please submit different
slants to keep your event 'fresh'.
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Thanks 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
active amateurs residing in Australia and the globe.
We strongly encourage membership in the Wireless Institute of Australia
and participation in the activities of local clubs.
Opinions expressed in "WIANews" are those of the writers who submit
material and do not necessarily reflect those of the rebroadcasters,
nor the National WIA, but are broadcast in the spirit in which they were
submitted.
Material may be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form, a credit to
WIANews wouldn't go astray...
Compiled by VK4BB on behalf of the National WIA.
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