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WIANEWS - JUNE 23 - VK NATIONAL NEWS
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THE BEST NEWS YOU'LL GET ALL WEEK
Oh... and to contact us with your news because
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WIANEWS WEEK COMMENCING JUNE 23 2013.
WIA BOARD REPORT FOR JUNE 2013
WIA ANNOUNCE TWO CHANGES TO QSL SERVICE
WIA Contest Champion VK4PJ Trophy standings.
WIA Winter VHF/UHF Field Day this weekend
THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE
OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING JUNE 23 2013.
WIA BOARD TALK
President Phil Wait VK2ASD vk2asd@wia.org.au
Vice President Chris Platt VK5CP vk5cp@wia.org.au
Secretary David Williams VK3RU vk3ru@wia.org.au
Treasurer John Longayroux VK3PZ vk3pz@wia.org.au
Two changes have been made to the Outwards QSL Service.
QSL Service Guidelines for Special Event Stations
A WIA Member is entitled to a free outwards and inwards QSL service.
The QSL service is free for special event stations, DXpeditions, Iota's
etc. operated by WIA members or by WIA affiliated Clubs. However, all operators
need to be WIA members or the operation needs to be sanctioned by a WIA
Affiliated Club.
New Outwards QSL Address
Outwards QSL Service
PO BOX 66
Boolaroo
NSW 2284
Inwards QSL cards will continue to be available for non-members at the
convenience of the QSL service.
WIA Board Meets and Re-appoints Executive
At its first meeting this past week, the new Board of the WIA for 2013-2104
re-elected the outgoing executive that steered the Institute since October
last year, since the untimely death of Michael Owen VK3KI.
Remaining in their former roles are Phil Wait VK2ASD as President, Chris
Platt VK5CP as Vice-President, John Longayroux VK3PZ as Treasurer, and David
Williams VK3RU as Secretary.
For the first time, the Board got together via an online application known as
"Go To Meeting".
Investigated and set up by Treasurer, John Longayroux VK3PZ, it proved a
great success, with directors joining the online meeting from locations
scattered across the country. The system offers significant cost-savings
The four newly-elected directors were welcomed by President Phil Wait VK2ASD,
being Roger Harrison VK2ZRH, Ewan McCleod VK4ERM, Fred Swainston VK3DAC and
myself, Robert Broomhead VK3DN.
As an early item of business, the Board set about appointing directors to
serve on the ten committees, which were constituted as an initiative of last
year's WIA Board.
You will find the list of directors appointed to the various committees on
the WIA website, along with some words about the committees' functions.
The committee system has a very important role to play in the functioning of
the WIA, in serving the needs of members and the amateur radio community, as
well as the development of new roles and functions for the Institute.
High on the Board's agenda for discussion at its first meeting were the
Foundation Licence Review, which is ongoing and with many issues to consider,
the Institute's next steps in progressing the WIA submission to the ACMA
concerning retention of spectrum at 2300 MHz, and progress with the High
Power trial, which is under way.
If members haven't already noticed, the new MEMNET system went live on the
first of June.
You will recall that MEMNET is a cloud-based membership management system
that enables membership access online to WIA services and facilities, and has
the ability to provide a targeted information service to members depending on
their interests and activities.
The new Board discussed various aspects of MEMNET's implementation, its
functioning and how it develops in meeting the Institute's goals for it.
There'll be more from the Board in later broadcasts. This is Robert Broomhead
VK3DN for VK1WIA News.
HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA.
SPACE has always inspired the big questions in life.
Where did we come from?
Why are we here?
Is there anybody else out there?
These are some of the issues that artists are being asked to contemplate and
depict as part of a new national exhibition that celebrates art and astronomy.
"Seeing Stars" is being run to coincide with the beginnings of the project
known as SKA (Square Kilometre Array), the world's largest radio telescope
that will be co-hosted in Australia and South Africa.
SKA will utilise thousands of linked radio wave receptors.
Construction is scheduled to start in 2016.
The Seeing Stars exhibition is asking artists to create an original piece of
work "expressing the excitement and mystery of the SKA and its potential for
discovery".
Artworks can be in painting, drawing, textiles or prints of digital art.
Mediums such as photography, installations or other craft will not be
accepted.
Artwork should be around one or more of these five themes:
The birth of stars and galaxies
The mysteries of dark energy
Alien life
The genius of Einstein
Giant magnetic fields of space
Entries close on July 5 and may be included in an exhibition at
Federation Square, Melbourne from August 13.
Full details at http://www.ska.gov.au/artprize
DAB+, CLIMBS ABOARD A FORD
With the growth of Digital Radio in Australia, FORD are being very supportive
of this new radio format and plan to offer DAB+ on many of their new products.
This migration will begin with our new Ford Kuga.
DAB+ as a standard feature will be offered on mid and high series on this
vehicle.
In addition, they will offer DAB+ capability across other Ford products in
the Australia market as they introduce updated models over the next few years.
(CRA)
We've had LEDs used for light-wave communications, but now it's Wi-Fi,
Peter Ellis tells us.
PETER:
Australian start-up company LIFX is preparing to ship its Wi-Fi enabled
LED light bulbs later this year. The 'smart' light bulb, which can be
controlled by a smartphone app, is the brainchild of LIFX CEO Phil Bosua.
Like most good ideas, its origins are a conversation in a pub.
The co-founders of LIFX took the idea of building a better light bulb to
Kickstarter in September 2012 and raised around $1,3m of crowd funding.
A Wi-Fi enabled, multi-colour, energy efficient LED light bulb that you
control with your smartphone. The LIFX bulbs each incorporate a computer
system capable of connecting to standard 802.11n Wi-Fi networks; the bulbs
communicate with each other using the low-power 802.15.4 networking standard.
Peter Ellis
VK1PE
References:
http://lifx.co/
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/464821/iot_aussies_prepare_ship_wi-fi_connected_lightbulbs/
VK3
web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/
Bogong High Plains Adventure
This year's Bogong High Plains Winter Trip will run from the 5th to 9th of
August.
Heading out across the snowy wilderness, a team of amateurs and friends
will ski through some of Australia's most stunning alpine landscapes. The
group will be led by VK3GT, VK3FMAW and VK3SN up onto mountain plateaus which
sit well over 1800m ASL.
Using ultra light solar powered gear, these back country skiers will be active
on 40m each afternoon and 80m every evening. Other HF bands will be activated
according to conditions and north-eastern Victorian 2m & 70cm repeaters will
also be worked during each day.
Share in the adventure by listening out for the group as they operate QRP
from huts, tents and igloos on the roof of Victoria.
More at www.vk3sn.net
(Stephen VK3SN)
VK6
Every year on the first Sunday in August the Northern Corridor Radio Group
holds its annual Hamfest in the Cyril Jackson Rec Centre Fisher st
Ashfield Bassendean WA Starts at 9am admission $5.
DISCUSSION POINT
What use is an f-call?
It's been said many times, Amateur Radio is about experimentation and
learning. It bears repeating, Amateur Radio is about experimentation
AND learning.
I know you've heard it all before, but what does it actually mean?
I regularly speak with Amateurs across the bands, via email, the phone and
face-to-face. The single thing that strikes me is that there is lots of
activity that you never see, never hear about, never even know about, unless
you happen to bump into the Amateur who did the job or was part of the team
doing it.
We have the experimentation down pretty pat, that is, we all regularly fiddle
with new stuff and fix, change, add or create contraptions or solutions
regularly.
Personally we're doing that and each of us is personally learning from the
effort.
The thing that comes back to me in the conversations is that people are
individually re-inventing the wheel over and over again. I see little
evidence of inter-Amateur communication. There is some crossover in smaller
groups, one-on-one, between friends, but I see little in the way of
documentation coming out of VK.
That's not to say it isn't there, some people almost religiously document
their efforts with YouTube videos, PDF explanations and plans, web-pages of
instruction and efforts, but those Amateurs are far and few between.
Next time you make the effort to do some experimentation, I'd like to
encourage you to do some sharing as well, by writing it down and publishing
the endeavour, who knows, you might learn something else in the process.
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.
Hawke's Bay police trigger tags.
Police national operations manager Superintendent Barry Taylor said that
Officer Safety Alarm devices had been activated more than 600 times since
their November roll-out.
While most activations involved officers testing the devices, 12 related to
six events in which police had sought immediate emergency assistance.
"That is, where the alarm was activated because the officer required urgent
assistance and was unable to use the radio," Mr Taylor said.
Police Eastern district operations manager Inspector Mike O'Leary said the
devices offered staff "another level of safety".
"It's effectively a GPS system," he said. "Basically it's a safety device to
be used by our staff as and when the need arises."
A total of 1500 alarms were rolled out to Kiwi police districts that weren't
on the digital radio network.
hawkesbaytoday.co.nz/news/bay-cops-can-use-safety-alarms-if-danger-looms/1906214/
RASPBERRY PI MICRO COMPUTER LONG DISTANCE CONTACT CHALLENGE
In SARLNEWS of 7 April radio amateurs in South Africa were challenged to try
their hand at covering distance with Milliwatt power into the antenna using a
Raspberry Pi.
This was in response to Eddie Bennett, G3ZJO, of Northampton in the United
Kingdom who used the 10 milliwatt of RF that can be generated from the
Raspberry Pi computer board and was heard at over 2000 km on the 7 MHz band.
SARL's Jaco le Roux, ZS6PX, responded to the challenge. He received reports
from several stations; the furthest was some 900 km from ZS2CX.
He said "When I received the Pi, I loaded a new SD card with Raspbian Wheezy
and followed the instruction that I found on the Web. I could not believe
that 10mW could travel that far".
Dot, dash, full stop: Telegram service ends July 15
The Hindu reports come July 15, 2013 one of India's oldest communication
services - the telegram - will become history.
Financial constraints have forced the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd to wind up
the telegraphic service, which would be remembered mainly as a historically
inexpensive but relatively quick method of sending alerts related to births,
deaths and emergency situations.
In India, the first telegraph message was transmitted live through electrical
signals between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour, a distance of about 50 km,
on November 5, 1850; and the service was opened for the general public in
February 1855.
thehindu.com/news/national/bsnl-to-shut-down-telegram-services-from-june-15/article4806921.ece
Officials shut down pirate radio station
Authorities have shut down a community radio station in Bangkok for
unauthorised broadcasting and airing misleading health product
advertisements.
Officials from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission,
the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Protection Police Division
raided and shut down the Ban Hao radio station on Monday.
Under the Thai broadcasting law, they are liable for a jail term of up to
five years and/or a fine of up to 5 million baht for unauthorised
broadcasting.
Google Project Loon using 2400 and 5800 MHz
Project Loon is a research and development project being developed by
Google with the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote
areas using High-Altitude Balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude
of about 20 km to create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds.
Google plans to sending up 300 balloons transmitting on 2400 MHz and 5800 MHz
around the world at the southern fortieth parallel that would provide
coverage to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina.
The company hopes to eventually have thousands of balloons flying in the
stratosphere at an altitude of 20 km.
The first 30 balloons are being launched from New Zealand
nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10890750
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ARNewsLine from various news sources
CROWD FUNDING SAVES TESLA MUSEUM
Some good news for those working to maintain the
history of communications. This with word that
the famed Tesla Laboratory on New York's Long
Island has been saved and is now in the hands of
the non-profit organization that has been trying
to purchase it for the past eighteen years.
It all came about because of the dedication of
famed cartoonist Matthew Inman, who is the
creator of "The Oatmeal." Inman was able to
raise $1,370,461 by crowd-funding to set up a
permanent museum honouring the great scientist.
The purchase price of the former Nikola Tesla
laboratory was $850,000. The remainder of the
funds raised by the campaign will be used to
clean up and to begin renovations of the property.
Although the actual science centre is going to
take a lot more time to finance and build, in the
interim those involved in the project are
planning on having a celebration of sorts in
Shoreham, New York, hopefully sometime this
summer. That event will focus on science,
technology, and innovation. You can read the
entire story on-line at
tinyurl.com/tesla-museum-saved
BUSY AGENDA AT GAREC 2013 IN ZURICH
The delegates and guests at the Global Amateur
Radio Emergency Communication or GAREC 2013
Conference will have a busy agenda later this
month. This as they share ideas and learn the
approach being taken in different parts of the world.
GAREC 2013 will discuss the true objectives,
dissemination of disaster information at an
international level, how to have hams prepared,
trained and involved, and convince authorities
about amateur radio emergency communication.
Stefan Streif HB9TTQ is an organizer of GAREC
2013. He advises that one topic on the agenda is
whether amateur radio has an emergency
communications role in Europe. This is because
the authorities believe their infrastructure is
so good and its technical level so high, that a
disaster could not affect communications over a wide area.
This year's Global Amateur Radio Emergency
Communication Conference will be held June 25th
to the 27th in Zurich, Switzerland. More
information can be found at www.garec2013.ch
DAYTON HAMVENTION REPORTS SLIGHT RISE IN ATTENDANCE
According to an announcement posted to the Dayton
Hamvention website, the official attendance
figure for this year's gathering was 24,542. This
is a very modest increase of 59 attendees over
last year's 24,483, but is a major increase over
2007 when only 19,750 showed up.
The all-time high took place in 1994. That's
when the Dayton Daily News reported that some
35,000 walked through the gates at the Hara Arena
for that years Hamvention.
STRANGE COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE INSECT WORLD
Now here's one for the books.
It happened recently when a 75 year woman in a south-western
German town called police at 3 a.m.. Her complaint was that
she couldn't sleep because her doorbell was always ringing.
Police officers dispatched to investigate the
cause quickly tracked down the culprit. It
wasn't some form of poltergeist or other strange
phenomena. Rather ants had constructed a large
nest next to the doorbell. In fact, the tiny
creatures had built such a large home that the
nest pressed the doorbells switching contacts
together. That in turn kept ringing the bell.
Officers silenced the intermittently ringing
doorbell by removing the nest with a
knife. Likely much to the dismay of the ants who
had spent the time to build it there.
PASS PREDICTIONS LINK BACK AT AMSAT WEBSITE
The AMSAT Online Satellite Pass Predictions
webpage is back on AMSAT's website. This as the
result of a team effort by N1DID, KB1LQC, KB1LQD
and W2GPS.
You can find it on-line at www.AMSAT.org under the Pass Predictions link.
RULES CHANGES FOR THE 2013 CQ WORLD WIDE VHF CONTEST
Some new rules are coming to the CQ World Wide
VHF Contest. The 2013 rules reflect changes in
the log submission deadline and the publication
date that have been implemented by the magazine.
In order to be considered for an award, your log
must be received by the robot or postmarked no
later than 23:59 UTC on August 4th. Logs
received after that date will still be listed in
the results but will not be eligible for an
award. Extensions may be granted by the director
for a valid reason if you contact that person before the deadline.
The 2013 CQ World-Wide VHF Contest starts at 1800
UTC on Saturday July 20th and concludes at 2100
UTC on Sunday July 21st, A detailed set of rules
can be found beginning on page 56 of the June 2013 issue of CQ Magazine.
OPERATIONAL NEWS - DATELINES
2013
WIA Winter VHF/UHF Field Day Weekend this weekend 22/23 June
ARRL Field Day Weekend this weekend 22/23 June
160M PHONE & 80/160M CW & DIGITAL TRANS-TASMAN CONTEST: 20 JULY, 8PM-2AM
2014
VK Harry Angel Memorial Sprint May 3 2014
These are the current top ten in the WIA Contest Champion VK4PJ Trophy.
The Harry Angel results are now added into the mix and a new leader has
emerged, VK2TQ Peter Richardson with 200 followed by
VK2DAG MK Hetherington 180
VK4ADC Doug Hunter 180
VK4OE Doug Friend 160
VK5KK DK Minchin 140
VK5ZD Iain Crawford 140
VK4SN Alan Shannon 136
VK2KJJ Knud Olesen-Jensen 128
VK4YZ Charlie Strong 120
VK4QH Kenneth Bawden 116
The Winter Field Day VHF UHF is on and in August sees the Remembrance Day
Sooo - Good Luck in the Contest(s)
http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/contestchampion/
(Trent Sampson VK4TS)
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE
A 2m beacon on 144.950MHz in Perth, Western Australia, is an attempt to prove
a Perth to South Africa path exists.
SARL news say The beacon, VK6RIO, will use Chirp modulation which can be detected
some 50dB below the noise floor in a 2kHz bandwidth. The beacon will run 100W
into 4 by 8 element yagis directed towards South Africa. With the processing
gain from using Chirp modulation the Effective Radiated Power is said to be
100 Megawatts.
VK5CE Craig portable Flinders Island OC-261 Aug 15 to Aug 21 80-10metres SSB
and PSK
INTRUDER WATCH - ENFORCEMENT ZONE
CABOOLTURE'S citizens' band (CB) radio emergency channels have turned into a
war zone filled with foul language, bullying and even threats of violence and
rape.
It has been alleged the harassing nature of the conversations has become so
bad that members of Morayfield's South East Queensland UHF Emergency Service
Team installed security cameras around their homes.
Shane Barnes, the group's founder, has lodged complaints with police and the
Australian Communications and Media Authority after a man directed threats
towards his partner.
An ACMA spokesman said inquiries were being made into the complaint, but
would not comment further. The confrontations stemmed from people misusing
emergency CB channels UHF 5 and 35, which the emergency service team monitors
as a public service.
AWARDS
This week I will outline the last of the three awards sponsored by the
Redcliffe club; this is the Redcliffe City Award.
The award is in two sections. Section A. for VK & ZL only and Section B. for
all other call signs.
For VK or ZL amateur radio station or short wave listener, you are required
to score 10 points, which is made up of contacts with members of Redcliffe
and District Amateur Radio Club (1 point each) and the club station VK4RC
(4 points).
The application for this award should be accompanied by a certified log
extract, signed by 2 other licensed amateurs showing date, time, frequency,
call sign and location of stations worked and enclose either $A 10.00 or
10 IRC, and send to THE AWARDS MANAGER, REDCLIFFE and Districts Amateur RADIO
CLUB, PO BOX 20 WOODY POINT QLD 4019, AUSTRALIA or email it to the clubs
website http://www.redclifferadioclub.org.au or just type in Redcliffe radio
club into your search engine for all the details.
Well that is it for this week, I'm Ray, VK4CF, from the Redcliffe and
Districts Radio Club.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ARDF
WIA ARDF COORDINATOR VK3WWW Jack vk3www@wia.org.au
http://users.mackay.net.au/~ron/
http://www.homingin.com
http://www.ardf.org.au
14th European Youth ARDF Championship
93 young people aged UP to 16 attended the European ARDF Championship in the
Czech Republic.
The Czech society C.R.C. organized the 2013 European Youth ARDF Championship,
in the small tourist village of Tri Studne (Three Cold Springs).
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP --- NAVAL
MESSAGES SENT WITHIN THE U.S. NAVY NO LONGER HAVE TO BE WRITTEN OUT IN ALL
CAPITAL LETTERS.
Since the 19th century, all official Navy communications have been written
that way, a legacy of primitive technology combined with the service's
love of tradition.
But in the modern age, young sailors more accustomed to texting on their
phones consider TYPING IN ALL CAPS akin to shouting.
Typographers, meanwhile, have long maintained that all-caps text is hard on
the eyes.
The U.S. Navy will no longer communicate exclusively in all capital letters,
ending a legacy of teletype machines that dates to the 1850s.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO SCOUTING
Radios to the sound of Nighthawk
As the news goes to air this morning some radio amateurs are wrapping up
an overnight activity to provide vital communications support for
Scouting youth members doing the hard slog through crocodile and taipan
infested land in VK4
The Kennedy Region Scouts 2013 Operation Nighthawk started on Saturday
evening and only just finished a little while ago, with a course that
traversed suburban Pallarenda and the rugged trails of the Townsville Town
Common.
Over 110 Scouts and two Venture Patrols trekked through the night to 5
activity bases equipped with radio checkpoints manned by TARCadians utilising
VHF voice and data channels plus also using UHF to VHF cross-band repeating
from vehicles to enhance operator portability and endurance.
(VK4ZZ)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RESCUE RADIO
Polish radio amateurs have signed an agreement with their Government regarding
the provision of emergency radio communications
The agreement promises cooperation between the Amateur Radio service and the
Polish government to provide support for measures that provide information on
natural disasters and other events that threaten public safety.
(SouthGate)
SOCIAL SCENE
JUL 12-14 VK3 GippsTech will be held at Churchill. Information vk3bez.org
JUL 20 VK3 Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club Hamfest
JUL 20 VK4 Caboolture Hamfest 9am
JUL 28 VK2 Albury Wodonga Amateur Radio Club Hamfest 10AM
AUG 4 VK6 Northern Corridor Radio Group Hamfest Cyril Jackson Rec Centre
Fisher St Ashfield Bassendean 9am.
AUG 11 VK2 SARCFEST 414 Richmond Hill Rd near Lismore
AUG 17-18 WW ILLW
Oct 3- 7 VK4 North Queensland Amateur Radio Convention Charters Towers
NOV 2 VK4 Gold Coast ARS HamFest at Albert Waterways Hall.
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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