WIANEWS - March 25 - VK NATIONAL NEWS
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WIANEWS WEEK COMMENCING MARCH 25 2012.
ACMA makes new Commercial Radio Standards
wHO PLAYS HAM RADIO
It's to the Holyland Contest
THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE
OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING MAR 25 2012.
ACMA makes new Commercial Radio Standards
The ACMA has made new Commercial Radio Standards that strengthen the rules
on advertising and the disclosure of commercial influence on commercial
radio programs.
'The new standards begin 1 May and reflect the ACMA's recent decision to
continue regulating both commercial influence in current affairs programs
and advertising on commercial radio,' said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.
The standards were developed following the ACMA's review and extensive
consultation with industry and the public seeking comment on the proposed
reforms.
'This reform package strengthens protections for listeners while at the
same time reducing the regulatory burden on industry,' Mr Chapman said.
(Emma Rossi, Media Manager, ACMA)
It's to the Holyland Contest
21st time in a row, yes its the annual Holyland Contest.
Each year, more radio amateurs from all continents and countries world wide,
participate in this extraordinary contest. Each one hopes to add some new
squares to his existing collection in order to obtain the most exquisite
Award. Therefore, it is with the greatest pleasure that, we announce the
Holyland Contest 2012, and invite all Radio Amateurs and Short Wave Listeners
to participate.
This year's contest will start on Friday 20 and end on Saturday 21 April 2012
from 21.00 UTC until 21.00 UTC.
Special Trophies and New certificates will be issued to participating Radio
Amateurs and SWL's for different classes and modes of operation. Mark 4ZOX
contest manager says " We are happy to announce that last years, digital
modes were a huge success as well, and will continue with this mode in the
present contest. As usual, we invite, the entire Amateur Radio Community to
be on the bands, knowing full well, that propagation at times is not in our
favor, nevertheless we will demonstrate and exercise, the spirit of
friendship between all Radio Amateurs.
Thanking you for your cooperation, see you in the "contest".
Speaking of contests... The Trans Tasman.
Don't believe all you read on our front page news this week.
NO the date was NOT incorrect, BUT it had has changed.
SO YES it has been wrong of late on this news and even AR Magazine had a
different date again.
BUT thae date we had been broadcasting had been supplied prior to a new
contest manager taking over from Bruce Renn.
Felix will have more on this, plus the NEW date and much changed rules later.
wHO PLAYS HAM RADIO
tHE DXCC Country/Entity Report ISSUED THIS WEEK shows that acccording to the
Amateur Radio Cluster Network, for the week of Sunday, 11 through Sunday, 18
March there were 226 countries active!
Not a bad roll up!!!
Were you on RF?
IF NOT WHY NOT!
What use is an F-call?
Recently I had the opportunity to setup my radio in the bush. Having been
around the metropolitan area for most of my Amateur Life to-date, that was a
whole new, and I might say, very positive experience.
Laying out radials
across the landscape was a challenge and having set-up against the corner of
the veranda of the house where I was staying meant that I could only put them
out in 270 degrees, the owner frowning on the notion of running 12 meter
radials through the house for some reason.
The silence was amazing, no man-made noise, no clicking or buzzing from
nearby appliances, overall worth the effort!
Honesty requires me to point out
that the local atmospherics conspired to actually making contacts on 80 and
40 meters nigh-on impossible. At the time I was unable to determine what
caused the problem and research since then indicated all manner of possible
causes, ranging from background cosmic noise to the LCD TV in the next room
with several other options in between. Armed with that knowledge I'll spend
some effort hunting next time around.
I can recommend that you pick up your radio once in a while, put it in your
preferred mode of transport and place yourself in another location to
experience other conditions. It's a learning opportunity every time.
I'm Onno VK6FLAB
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL,
Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA.
Birthplace of radio becomes a city
Chelmsford, acknowledged as the birthplace of radio and home to the
Marconi Company for many years, is one of three new cities created to
mark our Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment by
Marconi of the first purpose built radio factory in New Street,
Chelmsford in 1912. New Street is marked with a blue plaque noting the
historic significance.
AMSAT-NA RECEIVES OKJ TO RE-DISTRIBUTE KEPS
AMSAT's Ray Hoad, WA5QGD has announced that the organizations request to
re-distribute US Air Force Space Command Keplerian elements from SpaceTrack
has been approved for the period April 1, 2012 to April 1, 2013.
EXTRA-GALACTIC MILESTONE FOR SOUTH AFRICA'S KAT-7 TELESCOPE
South Africa's KAT-7 telescope, a seven-dish array which is a precursor to
the much larger MeerKAT telescope in the Karoo and to the Square Kilometre
Array, has reached another major milestone by observing the radio emission
from the neutral hydrogen gas (HI) in a nearby galaxy. Hydrogen gas emits
radio emission in a spectral line at a very specific frequency of 1420 MHz.
The astronomers pointed the telescope towards a galaxy called NGC 3 109 - a
small spiral galaxy, about 4,3 million light-years away from Earth, located
in the constellation of Hydra. The observation allowed them to see the HI
radio emission of this galaxy, as well as to see how this galaxy is moving.
Where the gas is moving towards us, the frequency of the spectral line is
Doppler-shifted upwards; where the gas is moving away, the frequency is
shifted down. In this way, astronomers can map the way in which all of the
gas in the galaxy is moving.
International effort at sea gets UT1FG/MM back on satellites
John, K8YSE shared an international amateur radio goodwill success story in
getting Captain Yuri Bodrov, UT1FG/MM back on the air after a power supply
failure at sea.
UT1FG/MM was enroute aboard his cargo ship from a Pacific port in
Nicaragua bound for Montreal Canada via the Panama Canal and into the
Gulf of Mexico. Yuri, an avid 6 meter and satellite operator, reported that
his 12 volt power supply had failed shortly after leaving port.
John wrote, "The bad news was relayed amongst those of us who had
been following Yuri and working him in wet grids as he traveled.
Brainstorming started with ideas tossed around via emails.
One idea was to buy a power supply and ship it Fedex to Yuri's agent
in Panama and hope it got there in time but Yuri felt that there would not
be enough time for that to happen. We only had a few days."
Searching with Google and QRZ achieved contact with Captain Manolis
Joannou, HP1CQ, also a sea captain and president of the Panama Canal
Amateur Radio Association. Manolis was able to find a power supply that
could operate off the 220 VAC ship mains and provide 12 volts to Yuri's
IC-706 radio.
Captain Manolis made his way via a motor launch to Yuri's ship and hand
delivered the new power supply. The two Captains spent an hour together
before parting. Yuri was back on the air, working satellites from the
Gulf of Mexico.
For a full story, complete with photos visit:
http://www.papays.com/sat/power/ut1fgpanama.html
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NEWS FROM ARNEWSLINE USA
HAM RADIO AND SOCIAL NETWORKS RESPOND TO MEXICO EARTHQUAKE
Amateur radio operators and the social media have responded
in the wake of an earthquake that hit Southwest Mexico on
March 20th. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with
what we know so far:
What has been described as a powerful and prolonged
earthquake rocked parts of Mexico on Tuesday, March 20th.
The 7.6 magnitude temblor near the Pacific Coast resort town
of Acapulco. According to news reports, some homes were
toppled near the quakes epicenter. Electricity and
telephone communications was lost for a time. But despite
the quake's power, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon and
officials across the country said that there were no reports
of serious injuries.
While there was some damage to the nation's internal
communications infrastructure, Mexico's connection with the
outside world for the most part remained unscathed. So far
nothing has been heard about activation of any domestic
Mexican ham radio emergency group. As we go to air, Sunday 25,
the only international ham radio operation we have heard about
is a group called the International Radio Emergency Support
Coalition. IRESC President, Urcun Canel, TA0U, in Istanbul,
Turkey worked with about 8 or 9 hams in Mexico passing early
damage assessment reports to the European continent. Some
of this communications audio was posted to Facebook:
Actuality audio communications. Hear it by downloading the
MP3 audio file of this newscast at www.wia.org.au
You can hear the entire communications session at
tinyurl.com/iresc-mexico-quake. But the real story in this
case is the response by the people in the affected areas.
While telephone and cellphone service was jammed as is the
case after events like this, broadband connections were
still open and quite useful. Anyone watching or listening
to broadcast news reports often heard tweets from residents
of the quake hit area being quoted as news sources and
giving short eye-witness assessments via Twitter.
Also, broadcast news organizations world-wide were asking
people with relatives in the quake zone to call in or post
to the stations website the latest news they might have. In
other words, news organizations were literally handling
health and welfare traffic that until a year or two ago was primarily
the domain of radio amateurs involved in emergency communications.
Quite a change from day's gone bye.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, Im Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF,
in the newsroom in Los Angeles.
BAD BATTERIES MAY HAVE CAUSED BLT-28 FAILURE
Failure of the batteries that powered the ham
radio payload of a high altitude balloon that was
designed to float from Texas to China seems the
likely cause of a total communications failure
with the near space project. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Heather Butera-Howell, K-B-3-T-Zed-D,
is here with the rest of the story:
The South Texas Balloon Launch Team lofted the
high altitude scientific balloon experiment known
as BLT-28 on February 11th from near Katy,
Texas. The balloon was supposed to rise to over
100,000 feet and float for several days and
hopefully reach its target of Nanjing,
China. But as reported here on Newsline, contact
was lost with the balloons APRS tracker just
south of the Louisiana coast at an altitude of 45,763 feet.
Andrew MacAllister, W5ACM, is part of the group
that launched BLT-28.
W5ACM notes that the power supply was made up of
commercial 1.5 volt lithium cells. According to
post flight experiments, MacAllister says that
several of the same type of batteries were put
directly on some dry ice where they went from 1.5
volts down to two tenths of a volt. And when
warmed up, they did not return to normal output.
For the amateur Radio Newsline, Im Heather
Butera-Howell, KB3TZD,near Pittsburg, PA.
BILL BEFORE CONGRESS TO LET ASTRONAUTS KEEP SPACE SOUVENIRS
A dispute between NASA and some former astronauts over
ownership of space artifacts has led to a bill in Congress that
would give the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo
astronauts "full ownership rights." This, to
items such as checklists and personal logs from
their missions. Amateur Radio Newsline's Don
Wilbanks, AE5DW, has the rest of the story:
Known as H.R. 4158 the proposed legislation grows
out of an effort last year by Apollo 13 Commander
Jim Lovell to sell the lunar module activation
checklist that had been used to convert the moon
lander into a space lifeboat on the periled 1970
Apollo 13 mission. The sale brought
record-setting $388,375 but it was put on hold
after the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration demanded proof that the former astronaut owned the item.
Now comes H.R. 4158 that was introduced by
Representative Ralph Hall of Texas. Hall is the
chairman of the House Science, Space and
Technology Committee. He measures co-sponsor was
Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, also of
Texas. It has since amassed an additional fifteen co-sponsors.
In a letter to heir congressional colleagues the
two key sponsors wrote that the legislation would
allow the first generation of astronauts to
retain spaceflight artifacts that have been in
their possession. In many cases for more than 40 years.
Under the proposed measure, astronauts from the
Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs would be
allowed to keep items such as personal logs and
checklists. The only thing off limits would be
rock samples gathered on those early lunar
missions. The so-called “Moon Rocks.”
After meeting with Lovell and several other
former astronauts last month, NASA Administrator
Charles Bolden said that these are American
heroes. He called them fellow astronauts and
personal friends who have acted in good faith. As
such, Bolden says that they are committed to
working together to find the right policy and
legal paths forward to address outstanding ownership questions.
H.R. 4158 has bi-partisan support and is expected
to make it all the way through the Congressional rule making process.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, in New Orleans.
This was not the first time that NASA has
challenged the sale by an astronaut of a piece of
space memorabilia. In 2010, NASA
challenged Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell's
attempt to sell a camera he took to the
moon. Mitchell eventually agreed to donate the
camera to the Smithsonian's National Air and
Space Museum.
SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2012
WW FISTS TITANIC SPRINT April 15
VK/ZL AM/CW on ANZAC DAY April 25
VK/ZL Trans Tasman Contest 80metres Phone May 12
VK Shires Contest June 9-10
ZL NZART Memorial Contest July First full weekend
VK/ZL Trans Tasman Contest 80+160metres July 21
VK Remembrance Day Contest August 11-12
WW International Lighthouse Lightship Wknd August 18-19
The VK-trans/Tasman contest will run this year as two contest:
The 80m Phone contest on 12 May, and
The 80m and 160m Combined contest on 21 July.
The Combined contest includes categories for:
- 160m phone,
- 80m CW,
- CW on both bands,
- Digital modes on both bands, and
- various combinations of these, including
- an overall category for both bands and all modes except 80m phone.
Rules can be found on the VK/Trans-Tasman contest page on WIA.ORG.AU
This is now the primary website for both of the 2012 contests.
The ever popular 80m phone contest remains much the same, with the
most significant changes being a simplification of the group bonus
rule, where groups can now be made from any SIX call areas of VK and
ZL combined. See the rules for details.
Combining 160m phone and the two CW and digital contests on the one
night should provide plenty of activity for all interests, and allow
clubs to set up multi-multi stations for that big effort!
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE
HERE WE GO AGAIN - OR NOT
PLANNED MALI DXPEDITION ON HOLD DUE TO POLITICAL UNREST
Some news in the world of DX. This with word that
YET ANOTHER planned DX operation being put on indefinite hold.
Two weeks ago members of the "Italian Dxpedition
Team" announced that they were planning to be
active as TZ5T from Mali between April 12th to
the 27th. However, their Pilot station Art
Lorenzo, IK7JWY, has now issued a statement that
the situation of civil war in Mali between the
government and Tuareg insurgents is
worsening. Because of this and other concerns
Mali authorities will not issue licenses to radio
amateurs who may be targeted because of radio equipment.
For this reason the DXpedition has been postponed
until a yet to be determined later date. For
updates please check in regularly at www (dot)
i2ysb (dot) com on the World-Wide-Web.
(SOURCED IN PART TO ARNEWSLINE)
The current XW1A and XWZJZ operations from Laos have been approved for
DXCC credit. Bill Moore, NC1L, who heads up the DXCC Desk at ARRL
headquarters made the approval official on Tuesday, March 13th.
Down the road a bit comes word that DK9FN will once again return to Temotu
Province, active as H40FN between this December 22nd and January 7th of 2013.
QSL H40FN via HA8DD.
F4CYZ iS operational from Morocco as CN2YZ through years end. His activity
will be from the city of Tangier especially on the weekends. The
Mediterraneo DX Club is supporting his activities and is also providing a Web
site with a log-check.
Its in cyberspace at www.mdxc.org/cn2yz
San Francisco Amateur Radio Club will be holding a Special Event Station -
W6G - to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge on May 26,
2012 at 2000z to May 27, 2012 at 2200z
Details on www.sfarc.org.
INTRUDER WATCH - ENFORCEMENT ZONE
Region III IARUMS Coordinator Peter Young VK3MV
VK IARUMS reflector email to subscribe intruders@wia.org.au
BUOYS ON 10 METERS
The source of some mysterious weak signals on
29.684 MHz with an 81.9 Baud and 130 Hz shift
have been located. According to the February
IARU Region One newsletter, the signals came from
the Spanish coastal area and were audible across
all of Europe but only during band openings and only by directional antennas.
It turns out the source of transmissions by
Datawell buoys. These buoys, produced in the
Netherlands are used for measuring water
temperatures and wave heights. They are designed
to transmit with 75 milliwatts on frequencies between 27 and 40 MHz.
Dick Van Empelen, PA2GRU, of Heemstede in the
Netherlands has since visited the Datawell
Company and has informed them that the buoy
transmissions on the amateur service 10 meter
band are illegal. The operations chief promised
to inform all Datawell offices about the situation.
MEDIA WATCH
www.cq-amateur-radio.com/WorldRadio.html
VK Club Bulletins http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aarnie/
GREECE TURNS OFF 11 MEDIUM WAVE TRANSMITTERS
The Administrative Board of the Greek Public
Broadcaster has ordered the switch-off of eleven
medium wave transmitters. This as a result of
new austerity measures due to the financial
situation being faced by that European
nation. This leaves only nine medium wave
transmitters with their respective Greek Public
Radio programs in operation.
(GreekRadio.com)
DON'T BE FOOLED: CHECK OUT THE APRIL ISSUE OF QST
This April issue of QST remembers the wireless heroes of the RMS
Titanic and the SS Carpathia 100 years ago, and also takes readers on a
voyage to the South Orkney Islands for the VP8ORK DXpedition -- and
more. So set aside a couple of hours, grab a beverage and get ready to
have some radio fun with the April issue of QST.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video
arvideonews.com
hamradiotube.com
youtube.com
qdg.org.au
K9EID UK AUDIO TALK POSTED TO YOUTUBE
A talk about improving audio on the ham radio
bands given by Bob Heil, K9EID, has been posted
on-line by M3XYP. Recorded at the United Kingdom
2011 National Hamfest, the video is in five parts
and can be found at www.youtube.com/user/m3xypsar/videos
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- CW
FISTS Club - East Asia www.feacw.net
FISTS Club - Australasia www.fistsdownunder.org
FISTS Club - UK & Europe www.fists.co.uk
FISTS Club - Americas www.fists.org
CELEBRATING MORSE CODE
New York's QSY Society Amateur Radio Club will be
hosting a special event station at the Samuel F.
B. Morse Estate at Locust Grove in the city of
Poughkeepsie. This in celebration of his
creation of the Morse Code in 1832. The
operation will run from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday April 14th
using the special event callsign
K2QS. Transmissions will be centered on 7.034 on
40 meters and 14.034 MHz on 20. Hams making
contact with K2QS will be eligible for a special
commutative QSL card. QSL requests go to David
Ruth at 48 Hoof Print Road, Millbrook, New York, 12545.
(KB2VJP VIA ARNEWSLINE)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- Internet Linking of Repeaters
IRLP TOPIC CHANNELS INAUGURATED
The long-awaited Internet Radio Linking Project
or IRLP Topic Channels have now gone live. IRLP-
users are now able to log onto reflector channels
allocated for interests ranging from DX'ing to
music, media, history and many others.
For those not aware, the Internet Radio Linking
Project was the result of research and
development by Dave Cameron, VE7LTD, back in
1998. This as a way of using the Internet to
interconnect repeaters world-wide. With the
advent of IRLP Topic Channels the concept has
developed into a global discussion real-time
forum on almost any topic of interest to those signed on.
For up-to-date information on the IRLP Topic
Channels please visit www.irlptopics.net To
locate an IRLP node near you go to
status.irlp.net on the world-wide-web.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ILLW
ILLW registrations ahead of time
The entries to this year?s International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend
in August are slightly ahead of expectation, although only 160 have
registered and half the countries are so so far represented.
Australia remains in the lead with 35 registrations just ahead of Germany
on 33, followed by the USA on 21 and England 14.
Others come from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Curacao, Denmark, Finland, France,
Honduras, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern
Ireland, Polland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden and
Wales.
The next months are expected to see a lot more seafearing nations added to
this fun event.
To enter do visit the website at illw.net for the 15th annual International
Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend held on August the 18th and 19th.
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
SOCIAL SCENE 2012
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.
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