WIANEWS - JULY 8 - VK NATIONAL NEWS
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THE BEST NEWS YOU'LL GET ALL WEEK
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WIANEWS WEEK COMMENCING JULY 8 2012.
Georg Schneider, VK2FDW SKEY (txt edition)
Joining us this week is Mal Brooks, VK3FDSL for the WIA along with VK4ERM and
VK3KI WIA President
THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE
OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JULY 08 2012.
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AUDIO news service or on the WIA FRONTPAGE NEWS.
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
Greetings Everyone, from the President and Board of the WIA.
Several amateurs have contacted the WIA asking what is the WIA Board going
to do about the significant increase in amateur licence fees. Of note is
advice received from the ACMA that the Amateur Radio Licence fee has
increased from $67.00 to $72.00 as of the 1st July 2012.
This increase was mooted in late November last year, communicated to the
amateur community by the WIA and is now published in ACMA document
'Apparatus licence fee schedule 1 July 2012.
Appendix A: Changes to the fee schedule April 2012, to the document
highlights the role of the Consumer Price Index on apparatus licence tax.
This ACMA publication can be read in its entirety on the WIA website at:
wia.org.au/members/legislation/other/documents/licence_fee_schedule-1july2012.pdf
Two components are considered in determining the cost of an amateur licence.
Firstly, the actual costs incurred by the ACMA in managing the system, and,
secondly, a tax component linked to CPI as explained earlier.
The Commonwealth 'Cost Recovery Guidelines', requires the ACMA to increase
the management cost component by the cost increases it has incurred. Hence,
the proposal, in November 2011, to increase the cost of amateur licences by
$5 which became effective on 1 July 2012.
The WIA is similarly required to operate under the 'Cost Recovery Guidelines.
The cost increases proposed by the ACMA are factual and answers the question
'Has the cost incurred by the ACMA in providing a service increased and if so
by how much?' It is unlikely the ACMA is unable to demonstrate the cost
increase it has identified.
As much as we may feel resentful and upset by the increase in our licence
fees they are based on sound principles of Cost Recovery to which the WIA is
required to comply as is the ACMA.
This has been Ewan VK4ERM for the WIA Board
Licence fee variation -- has increased from $41.00 to $49.00
Annual fee -- $72.00
2 years ---- $141.00
3 years ---- $209.00
4 years ---- $277.00
5 years ---- $346.00
These changes are effective as of 1st July.
Regards
WIA Office
This is Mal Brooks, VK3FDSL for the WIA
Last month the WIA Board announced that the 2012 Club Grant Scheme would
continue with a maximum sum of $6,000 to be distributed this year. As a
result of the discussion at the recent Open Forum, new Rules have been
adopted with a much simpler and wider test for a Grant.
For a project to receive a Grant it must be considered by the Grant Committee
and the Board to be sufficiently useful for any one or more of amateur radio,
the Affiliated Club or the WIA to justify the making of a Grant.
The new Rules are on the Affiliated Club section of the WIA website,
(HTTP://WWW.WIA.ORG.AU) together with an application form
To be eligible for consideration, an application for a Grant must be lodged
by Monday 20 August 2012.
This is Michael Owen VK3Ki WIA President.
Let me update you on the 70 Cm band.
Internationally, the 420 - 430 MHz part of the 70 cm band exists by a
footnote allocating the band on a secondary basis to amateur only in the USA,
Jamaica, the Philippines and Australia.
In fact, use of the part of the 70 cm band 420 to 430 MHZ in Australia has
been restricted to Advanced licensees and further restricted by various
exclusion zones in NSW, the ACT, and the Jervis Bay area, Sydney, Perth and
Melbourne.
In April 2008 the WIA reported on the public consultation by the ACMA in
respect of its review of the band 403 - 520 MHz.
From the outset it was obvious that the amateur band 420 - 450 MHz would be
affected. Fairly early on, the bands 430 - 450 MHz was announced to be
"out of scope" for the review. However, the ACMA has indicated that segment
from 440-450 MHz may be used on a temporary basis by displaced land mobile
services until they are relocated during the transition phase.
In September 2008 the WIA reported on the release of the submissions received
by the ACMA, and in June 2010 the WIA further reported on the ACMA's
announcements.
An examination of the WIA 70 Cm Band Plan shows that the band 420 - 430 MHz
is largely "Restricted".
The band is allocated in Australia to radiolocation and mobile as primary,
and that primary mobile use is by government networks supporting essential
and emergency networks supporting police, fire and ambulance. That use
commenced in 1999, and since 2009 the Council of Australian Governments has
supported interoperability and harmonisation of those services.
The only real problem that the withdrawal of this segment creates is that
there are a number of repeater link assignments that will need to be moved by
1st January 2013. There are some 34 licensees affected, mainly clubs.
In addition, there are other amateur repeater links that may be able to
operate beyond that date, and the WIA is currently negotiating with the
appropriate parties. When the matter is clarified, the WIA will also be in
contact with the relevant licensees.
While the ACMA will be formally writing to the affected licensees, the WIA
has undertaken to contact each licensee as soon as it is able to do so, to
ascertain whether there are any special difficulties in moving and to ensure
that the WIA repeater frequency coordination is available to assist as
required.
Despite the issues yet to be resolved, the ACMA has advised the WIA that the
band 420 to 430 MHz will be withdrawn as a secondary allocation at least for
general amateur use from 1st January 2013.
SILENT KEY
It is with a great deal of sadness that we inform you of one of the
gentlemen of Ham Radios passing, Mr Georg Schneider, VK2FDW from Wallsend
in Newcastle.
Georg was 87 years of age.
Georg passed away on Wednesday 27th of June from a heart attack.
Georg had only recently moved to Wallsend from Stockton in Newcastle where
after a considerable hassle with local council managed to finally get
approval to install his Nally tower and his 4 element triband antenna.
Georg had a network of radio friends in the USA that gave him a great amount
of pleasure to keep in touch with these friends from his new QTH, on his new
antenna system.
There will be a memorial service for Georg on the 11th of July at Pettigrew
Funerals of Wallsend at midday.
Submitted by Grahame O'Brien VK2FA on behalf of Charlie Hunt VK2CLH
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL,
Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, ARVictoria and the WW sources of the WIA.
W1A CELEBRATES TELSTAR AT 50
July 7, a celebration of the world's first telecommunications satellite.
This date is when the Radio Adventurers of Maine activates the callsign W 1 A
to commemorate the first messages through the Telstar bird.
They will be operating on site at the Andover, Maine
satellite facility, the original earth station which
broadcast the first messages via Telstar was uplinked on
July 10th, 1962. The clubs commemorative operation will
begin at 1300 UTC on both 40 and 20 meter phone. Other
bands will be added as propagation allows.
QSL as directed on the air.
ETHERKIT RELEASES QRSS BEACON KIT
Etherkit which is a new amateur radio kit company devoted to
open source hardware, has released its first product.
Called OpenBeacon, it is described as an open source crystal-
controlled QRP beacon transmitter kit which can output a
variety of slow-speed modes.
These include QRSS, DFCW, and Sequential Multi-tone Hellschreiber.
More information is on-line at etherkit.com
Amateur Radio Newsline celebrates 35th anniversary
America's most highly-respected ham radio news service is marking something
of a milestone. AR Newsline has just celebrated its 35th anniversary.
Producer Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF writes:
In talking with Robert Sudock, WB6FDF, we realized that this week's newscast
marks the 35th anniversary of the Amateur Radio Newsline.
I find it hard to believe that we have survived all of these years and that
we are as fervent about what we do today as we were when Jim Hendershot,
WA6VQP, and I produced that very first newscast -- then known as the
Westlink Amateur Radio news -- some 1,820 weeks ago.
Thank you all for being a part of the Amateur Radio Newsline family.
Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF
Producer, etc..
NEW DATA TRANSFER METHOD PROMISES UP TO 2.5 TB PER SECOND
We have reported the basics on this earlier this year now further as
American and Israeli scientists developed a new technology of wirelessly
transmitting data using twisted beams of light that could produce a
theoretical throughput of 2.5 terabits per second.
Amateur Radio Newsline's Heather Butera-Howell, KB3TZD, has the story of the
science making this possible:
The new method of high speed data transfer reportedly uses
orbital angular momentum or O-A-M to increase the amount of
information that can be carried by a single stream. To
accomplish this feat, the researchers twisted together eight
300 Gigabytes per second visible light data streams using O-A-M
technology over a space of one meter to achieve speeds
of 2.5 terabits per second. The development comes just one
month after it was finally proved that orbital angular
momentum is actually possible.
Using this new orbital angular momentum technology an
infinite number of conventional transmission protocols such
as Wi-Fi and LTE, can be twisted together for faster speeds
without the need for more spectrum. For perspective, that's
more than 8,000 times faster than the fastest home Internet
connection at 300 Megabytes per second.
The development team says that it will be working increasing
the transmission distance which currently at only 1 meter.
The theoretical distance limit for this new method is likely
to be less than one kilometre. At least in the foreseeable future.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heater Butera-Howell,
KB3TZD, in Berwick, Pennsylvania
You can read more on-line at tinyurl.com/super-speed-data
DISCUSSION POINT
What use is an f-call
(Past editions of What use is an f-call can be found online at harg.org.au
under F-troop.)
Troubleshooting is a skill that has to be learnt. Part of getting my
Foundation License included a module on the skill. I've been working with
complicated equipment for decades and to me, an amateur radio kit really
isn't that complex.
As you might know, I've got a portable kit. I've set it up at least 50 or so
times in the last year. I know this system backwards, still every now and
then something unexpected happens.
Twice now, my own gear has surprised me. A
couple of weeks ago I went on air to join a regular net. I tuned to the
appropriate frequency and made my call, but I couldn't hear anyone. I called
again, still nothing. I looked at the frequency, all as expected. The voltage
was fine, I could see my SWR meter working as expected, when I keyed the
mike, all was normal. I looked at the clock to make sure that I wasn't on the
wrong time-zone. I turned up the volume, still nothing.
I tuned to another frequency, nothing. In fact, apart from the fact that I
knew the volume was up, there was remarkably little noise to be heard at all.
Then I checked the squelch. Hmm, well, if you turn it all the way, then it
won't let anything through. I fixed it, and low and behold, there everyone
was.
This morning, my transceiver surprised me again, in a completely
different way. My normal antenna mount is a mag-mount, but the connector
came off last week, so I used a bracket instead, ran my normal RG58 back to
my radio, plugged it in and had a listen. I tuned to the local Air Traffic
Information Service to get the local weather and heard nothing, thought
nothing of it, changed to my memories and hit scan. After a bit, I heard
someone on the local repeater. I keyed my mike and the SWR went through the
roof.
That's weird.
I thought about my antenna connection, I knew that the bracket end was tight,
I'd just climbed up a ladder to make it so, but what about this end? All I'd
done is plug in a BNC. What about the adapter that goes from BNC to N-type?
Turns out it had come loose in transit. Tightened it up, tuned to the ATIS,
heard that, tuned to the repeater and all was well.
Just because you know it's right doesn't mean it really is.
I'm Onno VK6FLAB
SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2012
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
WW ALARA August 25-26
WW Oceania Dx Contest SSB October 6
ww Oceania Dx Contest CW oceaniadxcontest.com Oct 13
VK Spring VHF / UHF Field Day November 24-25
ALARA CONTEST 25th and 26th August 2012
All licensed operators throughout the world are invited to participate.
Also open to SWLs.
YL works everyone, OMs & Clubs work YLs only.
One contest (combined phone and CW) run over 20 hours.
Saturday 25th August 2012 0400 hours UTC to 1359 hours UTC
Sunday 26th August 2012 0400 hours UTC to 1359 hours UTC
Bands to be used are 3.5, 7, 14, 21 and 28 MHz only.
The following are suggested frequencies for easier location of contacts:
28.38 to 28.41
21.17 to 21.2 and 21.38 to 21.41
14.25 to 14.28
7.07 to 7.1
3.56 to 3.59
(Jean Fisher VK3VIP President & State rep ( VK3) for A.L.A.R.A.)
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE
VK 100 WIQ - Celebrating 100 Years of Organised Amateur Radio in Queensland
to July 30th 2012, various clubs about Queensland in 3 day blocks are still
activating.
CELEBRATING THE TOUR DE FRANCE CYCLING RACE 2012
Keep an ear open for special event station GB4TDF.
This to coincide with the 2012 Tour de France bicycle race.
The special event station began operation on June 26th and terminates
on July 23rd.
A special commemorative QSL card will be available. More is on QRZ.com
under GB4TDF.
The actual Tour de France cycling event started on June 30 and ends July 22.
(sourced to ArnewsLine)
PT0S - DXpedition to St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks
The DXpedition will take place in late November to mid-December.
The actual dates will depend on weather conditions.
There had been an official ban on Amateur Radio activities from PY 0 S.
Although the ban, which was created for environmental and safety reasons,
remains in place, a special permit by Brazil's S.E.C.I.R.M.
the Brazilian Navy, Ministry of Environment and LABRE to conduct a two week
long operation.
(SouthGate)
GB2VET - the special event station celebrating the army, navy and air force
reunion in the UK - is coming up again, the 10th Anniversary, at the end of
July, 27-28-29th.
(SouthGate)
CG3B - War of 1812 Bicentennial
Dave, VE3FOI, will use the special event callsign CG3B during the entire
month of July to celebrate the Bicentennial (200 years) of Peace between
the United States of America and Canada after the war of 1812, during various
Bicentennial functions in the Niagara on the Lake area, Ontario.
A special QSL card is available via the Bureau, attention VE3FOI.
This will be the first of many special event stations between 2012 and 2014
regarding the Bi-Centennial.
The Niagara Peninsula ARC takes pleasure in providing this special call sign
for General Issac Brock.
[RAC]
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER
New OSCAR-7 DX record
Wyatt AC 0 RA and Bill OM 3 BD have broken the AMSAT-OSCAR 7 long distance
record set in 2010
Their GPS-measured 7849km QSO between grid squares EN31vx and JN88mf
surpassed the prior 7843km record set in 2010.
Bill says that Wyatt did all the hard work by waking up at 3am, driving to a
hill an hour away from his home, setting up his station, and working Bill
before sunrise at 0955 UT on July 2.
It appears that an even longer distance is attainable, and Wyatt is looking
for a suitable place from which they can try before Bill leaves Slovakia in
mid-July.
Further information, pictures and recordings of the contact at
qsl.net/nz5n/AO7record.htm
(SouthGate)
Radio hams swap places on the ISS
Three Expedition 32 crew members to the International Space Station
are scheduled to launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-05M from the Baikonur
Space Centre in Kazakhstan on July 15.
The Expedition 32 crew members are NASA astronaut Suni Williams
KD5PLB, cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko RK3DUP and Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide
KE5DNI.
The trio has been passing tests at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in
Star City, outside of Moscow.
They will join Expedition 31's NASA astronaut Joe Acaba KE5DAR
and cosmonauts Gennady Padalka RN3DT and Sergei Revin RN3BS on
board the orbiting outpost.
Meanwhile, fellow Expedition 31 members cosmonaut Oleg RN3DX and NASA's Don
Pettit KD5MDT and Andre Kuipers PI9ISS returned to Earth on July 1.
(SOUTHGATE)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- IOTA
http://rsgbiota.org
OC-227.
Operator Lyn, VK4SWE, a resident of Sweers Island, plans to once again be
active during the RSGB IOTA Contest July 28-29th.
OC-177.
YE0M from Kaliage Besar Island, in the Seribu Islands July 6-9th.
Activity will be on 160-10 meters, including 6 meters, using CW, SSB and RTTY.
QSL via YB1GJS.
(sourced to TARCnews)
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
ITU interview with Hans Zimmermann HB9AQS
The International Telecommunication Union have released an interview with
Hans, IARU International Coordinator for Emergency Communications
The opinions expressed in ITU interviews are those of the interviewees and
do not necessarily represent those of the ITU.
Watch ITU INTERVIEWS @ TDAG:
Hans Zimmermann, International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)
(SouthGate)
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- SUMMITS ON THE AIR
www.sotawatch.org
www.sota.org.uk
Youngest Mountain Goat
The youngest person in the UK, and probably further afield, to have achieved
Mountain Goat status in the Summits on the Air (SOTA) awards programme is
Jimmy Read M3EYP.
Jimmy (19), started trekking up the hills with his dad Tom M1EYP back in 2002
when he was 10 years old, and quickly developed an interest in hillwalking
and amateur radio.
After studying for and gaining his Foundation amateur radio licence
back in 2005, Jimmy went on to become a very keen "activator" of the summits.
Activators need to make a minimum of four contacts from a summit in order to
qualify for the points on offer, which are broadly proportional to the height
of the hill or mountain.
He completed his mission towards 1000 points with a long day out in the
Shropshire hills on Saturday 10th March 2012, in which he transmitted from
the tops of Brown Clee Hill, Titterstone Clee Hill, Long Mynd and
Stiperstones. Finally, just over the Welsh border, an activation of
Corndon Hill gave him the final five points he needed to pass through the
magical 1000 points mark.
Jimmy celebrated the milestone with a bottle of ale on the summit.
(SOURCED TO SOUTHGATE)
SOCIAL SCENE 2012
JUL 7- 8 VK3 GippsTech 2012, Monash University Gippsland Campus Churchill.
JULY 14 VK4 Wide Bay Hamfest. West Maryborough Scout Hall
JULY 21 VK3 Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club Hamfest @ Cranbourne
JULY 21 VK4 WIA VK4 CLUB PRESIDENTS LUNCH Hervey Bay AR Club
JULY 29 VK2/3 Albury Wodonga ARC HamFest @ Lavington Scout Hall
AUG 5 VK6 NCRG HAMFEST Cyril Jackson Rec Centre Ashfield.
AUG 12 VK2 SARCFEST at Summerland ARC Clubrooms, Lismore.
SEP 28-30 VK4 Central Highlands ARC AGM at Camp Fairbairn, Emerald.
NOV 4 VK5 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society HAMFEST @ Goodwood
NOV 11 VK3 Yarra Valley Amateur Radio Group Hamfest
NOV 25 VK3 SPARC HAMFEST AT ROSEBUD
FINAL FINAL
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