WIANEWS - JANUARY 6 - VK NATIONAL NEWS
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THE BEST NEWS YOU'LL GET ALL WEEK
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WIANEWS WEEK COMMENCING JANUARY 06 2013.
Relay of National news broadcast using FreeDV on 7.190 mhz.
VK0 Mawson in Antarctica to be activated
MORE 2012 YASME EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE
OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JAN 6 2013.
January 1, 2013 marked the release to Australian amateurs of the
630 metre band - 472 to 479 kilohertz.
In Melbourne first on the band was Drew VK3XU who came on at midnight
calling CQ on CW.
Then came Grant VK3HP on SSB.
The two soon found each other and a cross-mode contact was had on 476 kHz.
Peter Parker VK3YE recorded the first 30 minutes of signals from both
stations and they have been "You Tubed".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hM7LqSwtlw
Relay of National news broadcast using FreeDV in SE Australia today.
There is a growing world-wide interest with digital voice communications
on the HF bands. The D-Star equipped systems have been testing as has an
open source solution FreeDV which uses the Open Source CODEC-2 code.
Digital voice allows SSB quality communications in half the bandwidth and
at lower power levels.
The technology is in its infancy but could be the way of the future for
HF communications, as always the amateur radio hobby forms the best platform
for innovation and improvement of new technologies.
In order to allow more people to hear FreeDV in action Amateur Radio
New South Wales has kindly allowed the relay of its VK2WI transmission,
today Sunday, January 6th. (UTC 23:00 - 23:59 5th.January) to be relayed
by Ed VK2JI from the Central Coast using the proposed Digital Voice 40m
calling frequency of 7.190MHz LSB. Ed will only be running about 25W into
a 40m wire loop antenna, so low signal strength tests can take place.
It may be that this will be a world first of a national news bulletin being
transmitted using a digital voice mode on the HF bands.
To be able to receive the transmission you will need a PC connected to your
transceiver in exactly the same way as a connection to run digital data modes
(e.g. PSK31, FSK31, RTTY etc.) and on the PC (either Windows or Linux), you
need to install the FreeDV program (which is free to download from
http://freedv.org where you will also find installation instructions and
general information).
If you successfully receive the test transmission or if you have a general
interest in Digital Voice on the HF bands, please post a message to the
digitalvoice (all one word) Google group where all matters FreeDV are
discussed.
(Tim and Ed)
A SCOUTING WE WILL GO
Hello have you made it into our log at VI4ASJ, the Special Event Station
running at the Australian Scout Jamboree?
I'm Geoff, VK4ZPP, from the Maryborough Electronics and Radio Group and I've
been lucky enough to be one of the non scouting operators at AJ2013. In fact,
if we do a head count, there are more licenced amateurs wearing scouting
clothes than us civilians.
The miniature city called AJ2013 is a mixture of camping tents and marquees,
fixed showground facilities and transportable buildings adapted for this
10 day event. The largest of these buildings is home to most of the medical
facility, the badge shop and, of course, VI4ASJ. The station is comprised of
4 operating positions combined with a computer logging area.
One thing that may surprise many is that most of the modern electronic
paraphernalia is absent from the participants. If you see someone with a
mobile phone, you can be pretty sure they are working towards meeting the
goal of "Dream It Live It", the Jamboree motto. If you see a handheld radio,
the user is likely to be in a non-scout uniform providing security, policing,
first aid or site maintenance services. Every so often the h/t belongs to an
amateur using the onsite repeaters and internet linking.
The amateur radio at AJ2013 has been initially a qualifying activity for
scouts to get their Jamboree Award but is also a fully-fledged Special Event
Station manned by licenced amateurs participating in the Jamboree. There are
just too many people to mention today but look out for a full report in
"Amateur Radio" magazine.
Maryborough Radio and Electronics Group, Inc. has agreed to act as QSL Manager
with the assistance of the WIA QSL bureaux.
VI4AJS is really a limited time offer which expires on 12th January. No steak
knives with this offer but the chance to score a rare call!
Reporting from AJ2013, this has been Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP.
HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA.
VK2
web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm
VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news
Just 49 days to go to the Wyong Field Day and that means only 48 days until
the Mini Contest University at Wyong.
Registrations are flowing in so if you wish to attend the MCU you'd better
register soon as space is limited. If you want to be in the free draw for a
HF contesting book, you'll need to register before the end of January.
As well as lectures we are planning an informal round table where you'll be
able to ask experienced contesters all the questions you need.
The draft program is up on the website and to see all details and how to
register simply go to fieldday.org.au and click on "Mini Contest University"
on the right hand side and you'll get all the details you require.
73, This is Ed VK2JI. "See you at Wyong".
VK3
web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/
The Centre Victoria RadioFest
Want to secure a trading spot at this well-attended event to be held on
Sunday February the 10th at Kyneton?
Table bookings can be made conveniently and easily at our online shop via the
main Amateur Radio Victoria website.
For general inquiries call Ross Pittard VK3CE on 0408 533 107, for Club
Corner displays Tony Hambling VK3VTH on 0423 635 152 or
vk3vth@amateurradio.com.au
The event includes the busy Traders Hall, Second-hand Sellers' Market,
Club Corner and the Mini-lecture Program.
Speakers are Kevin Forbes VK3UKF about things in orbit
Drew Diamond VK3XU homebrewing techniques
Alan Devin VK3XPD and Michael Coleman VK3XH show and tell on the Millimetre
Wave Bands, and Wayne Merry VK3WAM about 'Summit on the Air'.
See you at the Centre Victoria RadioFest, on Sunday February the 10th.
I'm Barry Robinson VK3PV and you are listening to VK1WIA.
DISCUSSION POINT
I don't know where you were on New Year's Eve, but being conscientious
Amateurs I'm sure a few of you were manning your stations, ready to relay
messages and provide communications if required.
Your stations were likely still prepared from the End Of The World 'Disaster
Drill' that I'm reliably informed by some of my Mayan mates has been delayed
until after the GFC, and will be back on sale when the consumer confidence
index picks up again! HiHi
A shame, it seems that the major Telco's are unable to add new hardware to
their Christmas lists, like we did. Or perhaps they have, but were a little
busy to read the manuals and unpack the boxes in time for the New Year's
festivities.
All around Australia, as has been the case for 15 years in my experience, the
thronging masses heading to the CBD to see the fireworks have given the
mobile phone networks a bit of indigestion. Indeed, with the pain that the
general populace experienced with passing SMSes, I'm sure this will be
diagnosed as a case of 'DNGS' -- Digital Network Gall Stones.
All joking aside though, Twitter was abuzz with complaints levelled at all the
carriers beginning as early as 6.30pm on New Year's Eve. Comments like
"Haven't been able to make a call with @Telstra in Melbourne for last 2
hours. Network outages starting early?? #fail" cause the official Telstra
Twitter account to respond with: "Sounds like NYE Network Congestion. Sorry
about the inconvenience."
Yes, they're undoubtedly aware of the situation and expecting it every year,
unable and unwilling (and I think rightly so) to justify massive hardware
rollouts to cope with the mass spamming of Happy New Year messages to entire
address books.
Indeed, Telstra and Facebook rolled out features in recent weeks to pre-load
your messages to be sent at mid-night and Telstra's Facebook page shows a
graphic of the SMS traffic spike. It shows a ramp-up over the evening hours
and a doubling of traffic from 11pm to mid-night before a sharp decline and
by 5am SMS traffic is down to 5% of the peak.
But what has been forgotten?
Stories from the trenches are emerging as to the effects of the network
congestion on other mobile network users in the capital cities.
With the ubiquity of coverage and our comfort with mobile devices, it's easy
to overlook the commercial and industrial uses of the technology. For
last-mile network connectivity in difficult to reach or temporary locations
and backup communications for medical and security hardware, there are a lot
of scenarios more serious than not being able to pay by EFTPOS on a portable
terminal at a street-vendor selling Glo-Sticks and party hats.
Despite best efforts, Tuesday January 1st was a busy day in the Building
Maintenance and IT services around the world. False alarms, real alarms,
unreported break-ins and impossible to complete backup jobs needed tending to.
Fortunately, no medical stories have hit the wire, and we should commend
those working at the large events who ensure our safety. And count yourself
lucky if you managed to hail a taxi driver who wasn't relying on their
smartphone and Google maps to decipher your address at 1am!
All that aside, no matter how congested the mobile phone network is, there's
always one trusty method to get through:
-.-. --.- / -.-. --.- / -.-. --.-
https://twitter.com/liamdobrien/status/285710306288734209
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151222318264315
What use is an f-call?
When I was a lad, which for me was in the 1970's, I had a big tub of LEGO.
I used it to learn about the mechanics of things. I built a diff with
Yellow, Blue and Red cogs - long before LEGO Technic came along with a
pre-made diff. I built trucks and steering linkages, suspension arms and when
I had the opportunity to build a V8 engine with several kits from friends, I
did that.
My electronics building followed a similar path. I had a Commodore VIC-20
- which reminds me, Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore Business Machines
passed away aged 83 - read up on his story when you have a moment. Anyway, I
had a Commodore VIC-20. My experimentation with that was at a TTL level,
rather than at a component level. I plugged in switches and connectors, made
a serial port between an Apple and my VIC-20 and did all manner of software
and hardware experiments.
Other amateurs I have spoken with have experienced a similar journey, some
with LEGO, others with Meccano, or Valves, Leiden Jars or a kite with a piece
of string in a thunderstorm - hi hi.
What I'm getting at is that even though I have limited experience with
resistors, capacitors, tuned circuits, transistors and diodes, let alone
designing and building circuit boards, I have the pre-requisites to start,
that is, a thirst for understanding, a joy with experimentation and a steady
enough hand to solder.
While there is no way I would consider myself at any level other than
beginner in this field of circuits, I know enough to start to read diagrams
and when another amateur turns up for lunch showing off a frequency divider,
I can follow what it's doing and how.
Why does this matter?
I've heard plenty of people tell me that they are not smart enough to know
about electronics, and that they don't have enough physics, or maths, or what
ever excuse they come up with.
What I'm trying to say is if you think of yourself as not capable of doing
something, you'll be right almost every time. However, if you think about how
the skills that allowed you to survive until now might apply to what you're
looking at, you might be surprised.
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.
MORE 2012 YASME EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Along with Peter G3PLX and Pawel SP9VRC, who received the award for the
development of PSK31, are George Fremin, K5TR; Tree Tyree, N6TR;
Trey Garlough, N5KO, and Scott Neader, KA9FOX for their contributions to
many infrastructure projects that benefit the ham community at large.
Also recognized is ARRL Education and Technology Program
Director Mark Spencer, WA8SME. Spencer received the honour
for his contribution to the ARRL Teachers Institute on
Wireless Technology and other training efforts. Also for
his development of P-I-C microcontroller projects, books for
amateurs, as well as working with leaders in student and
scientific teams in applying amateur radio to scientific projects and
experiments.
The YASME Excellence Awards are given to individuals who
through their own service, creativity, effort and
dedication, have made a significant contribution to amateur
radio. The award itself takes the form of a cash grant and
an engraved crystal globe.
For a complete list of last year's winners please take your web browser to
www.yasme.org/awards
HUNGARY CLOSES REGIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE STATIONS
Hungary's Media Services and Support Trust Fund has closed
all five of its regional radio studios which make up the
Regio Radio network. According to the Trust memo on
December 21st, the studios will be leased out, and staff
will either be made redundant or employed as correspondents
for the national public talk and news service.
According to the Chief Operating Officer of the Media
Services and Support Trust Fund, the Regio Radio network
experienced a waning audience due to increasing competition
from other local private stations. The soon-to-be-available
FM and AM frequencies will be used for broadcasting a new
nationwide public service of Hungarian song or urban folk
music and at least one operetta music station
VK0 Mawson in Antarctica to be activated
Departing next month for the coast of MacRobertson Land and Australia's base
at Mawson is Craig Hayhow VK6JJJ, who will be signing as VK0JJJ.
He lands on February the 10th, planning to soon after install the 6m beacon
VK0RTM and test the propagation on that band.
The main HF rig is a FlexRadio Flex-5000A coupled to an amplifier and feeding
a terminated sloping triangle antenna.
On 6m it will be at 400 watts from Mawson thanks to a power amplifier from
Steve Gregory VK3ZAZ, who is also the QSL manager, and radiated by a 5-element
yagi.
The amateur satellites on 2m and 70cm are to be accessed using a crossed
duo-bander.
During the next 12 months Craig VK0JJJ is in Antarctica to work and amateur
radio is his leisure time activity.
OPERATIONAL NEWS - DATELINE 2013
VK ROSS HULL MEMORIAL VHF-UHF ALL JANUARY
VK SUMMER VHF-UHF FIELD DAY sat sun JANUARY 12-13
ZL Jock White Memorial Field Day Contest Sat and Sun Feb 23 and 24.
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE
Alpine Ski World Championships - Special Event
Every Austrian amateur radio operator has a chance to operate with the
special callsign OE2013(???) (their own suffix) between January 15th and
February 18th (2013).
Activity is to celebrate the Alpine Ski World Championships 2013 taking place
in Schladming.
An award is available for three different classes (Gold, Platinum and
Diamond). Each class requires a certain number of special event stations and
OE stations logged. Each special event station or OE station will only count
once on each band. All bands and the below listed modes may be used; the only
exception Packet radio and Echo Link contacts do not count.
The award may be worked in the following modes:
CW, SSB, DIGITAL, MIXED and QRP (max. 10 Watts).
For complete details, visit:
http://wmdiplom2013.oevsv.at/export/sites/wmdiplom2013/downloads/Diplomausschreibung_Englisch.pdf
Lord Howe Island
Several JA operators are expected to be active as callsign/VK9L from the Blue
Lagoon on Lord Howe Island between January 11-18th (2013).
The following operators were mentioned:
Tatsuo, JA3ARJ/VK9L (via JA3ARJ) Kunio (JA1CJA), AE6XY/VK9L (via JA1CJA)
Lida, JA3BZO/VK9L (via JA3BZO) Masumi (JA3AVO), W7AVO/VK9L (via JA3AVO)
Shozo, JA3HJI/VK9L (via JA3HJI) Hiroko (JH3PBL), W7PBL/VK9L (via JH3PBL)
Activity will be on 80-6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY.
Refer to QRZ.com for QSL instructions.
F6ITD will be on the air stroke FG from Guadeloupe and two islands between
next February 1st and March 25th. He will be using SSB and the Digital modes
during his stay. Logs will be uploaded to both ClubLog and Logbook of the
World. QSL via his home call either direct or via the bureau.
Special event station 8 J 6 HAM will be operational from the Island of
Kyushu Japan, until March 3rd. Activity is in celebration of the 12th
West Japan Ham Fair with operations on all bands and using many modes.
QSL via the JARL Bureau.
AA9A will again be active from Antigua between February 11th and the 20th
using a new callsign V24A. Operations should be on 160 through 10 meters
using CW, SSB and possibly RTTY.
QSL via his home callsign either direct or using the bureau.
8N119T - celebrating the 65th anniversary of the Tokyo Fire Department
(119 is the emergency fire/ambulance number in Japan)
23 Dec to 25 Mar active on all HF bands and modes.
F 6 KOP expected to be active from Uganda as 5 X 8 C between Feb 6 to 18
from a location some 20 Km from Entebbe airport. 5X8CX has announced they
will comply to the last IARU band plan on 40 meters for the region with the
frequencies of the PSK and RTTY moved to 7040 and 7042 kHz.
For more details see www.5x2013.com
TG 9/KF 5 LSG will be active from Guatemala until middle of January.
He may operate as TG 9 IDX.
If you make contact, please QSL via his home callsign DL 5 RMH.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ILLW
Tally steadily grows
So far there have been 120 registrations from 24 countries in the annual
International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend held each August.
Germany leads the tally of 30, closely followed by its rival in this fun
event Australia with 28.
Then follows the United States, England, Scotland, Canada, Argentina, Sweden
and Holland, with many more nations registered including a few just having
one entry.
The idea behind the event is to activate former marine navigation structures,
draw public attention to them and publicise amateur radio.
To read the guidelines and register for the next International Lighthouse
and Lightship Weekend on August the 17th to the 18th, visit the website
illw.net
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
SOCIAL SCENE 2013
JAN 27 VK3 MEET THE YL's OF AMATEUR RADIO Bundoora Park Rotunda #6
FEB 10 VK3 Centre Victoria RadioFest at Kyneton
FEB 23 VK Wyong Mini Contest University Wyong racecourse
FEB 24 VK WYONG FIELD DAY Wyong Racecourse
MAR 24 VK7 "Meet the Voice" barbecue at Ross.
MAY 24-26 VK6 WIA AGM AND CONFERENCE IN PERTH
Have you prepared for the last weekend in May; the 2013 WIA AGM and
Conference?
The AGM is the forum for you to participate in determining the future
direction of Amateur Radio in Australia and the role that the Wireless
Institute of Australia takes in that process. You'll help with an Open Forum
where you can raise issues close to your heart and hear the views of other
Amateurs.
The 2013 WIA AGM and Conference, it's all about Engaging, Learning,
Appreciating, Socializing and Discovering.
You'll find all the information online at the VK6 conference site,
conference.vk6.net
AUG 17-18 WW ILLW
Oct 3- 7 VK4 North Queensland Amateur Radio Convention Charters Towers
NOV 3 VK5 HamFest Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Goodwood.
NOV 15-17 VK3 Victorian National Parks Weekend
Nov 24 VK3 Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Club: Rosebud RadioFest
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