WIANEWS - NOVEMBER 30 - VK NATIONAL NEWS
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WIANEWS WEEK COMMENCING NOVEMBER 30 2014.
HEADING TOWARDS OUR 20TH YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS
WIA and NZART ANZAC 100 actions
THIS STORY AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE
OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING NOVEMBER 30 2014.
WIA and NZART ANZAC 100 actions
The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) plans for the ANZAC century in
2015 have been joined by the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters
(NZART). Both will have commemorative callsigns and awards.
The major commemoration will start on April 25, 2015, which is when Australian
and New Zealand Army Corp (ANZAC) troops landed at Gallipoli 100 years ago.
The WIA and the NZART are to be heard on air with ANZAC callsigns. Both will
have specially designed QSL cards and Award certificates.
They will join Telsiz ve Radyo Amat?rleri Cemiyeti (TRAC) of Turkey in the
commemorations, with interest also shown in the United Kingdom, Philippines
and Malaysia.
The WIA invites club registrations for the callsign use in 2015 between ANZAC
Day April 25, when the landing occurred at Gallipoli Cove, and December 20,
the day ANZAC troops left Gallipoli.
The NZART has ZL100ANZAC available for a month to clubs, as well as ZL1,
ZL2, ZL3, ZL4 ANZAC callsigns. It invites its branches and interested
individuals to register.
A special pre-recorded opening 30 minute VK100ANZAC broadcast is to happen for
ANZAC Day (April 24, 1300 UTC), with cooperation of the WIA, NZART and TRAC.
The WIA hopes to broadcast from a significant place in the Australian capital
of Canberra.
At each of Australia's three time zones on the day the pre-recorded broadcast
will be repeated by the WIA on a rostered basis. There will be plenty of
occasions to hear it.
The WIA has already listed some club events on its website, including the
75th Anniversary of RAAF Secret Mission, Battle of the Somme, Battle of Kokoda
Track, the WIA Remembrance Day, and the Evacuation of Gallipoli.
To commemorate ANZAC 100 a series of articles appear in Amateur Radio
magazine. Here is a summary of one of them - Amateur Radio Activity During
WWII - whish was written by Jim Linton VK3PC.
Some three days before the official declaration of WWII on the 3rd of September
1939, an urgent telegram to all Australian radio amateurs ordered Amateur
Radio immediately stop.
Many radio amateurs subsequently enlisted in the armed services with campaigns
in Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Pacific. This included
those at the forefront of communications and its development.
After the war Amateur Radio resumed with many radio-related stories. One
was that Father Maximilian Kolbe SP3RN was arrested in Poland by the Germans,
who believed Amateur Radio was somehow involved in espionage.
Fr Kolbe volunteered in 1941 to take the place of a condemned man chosen
in retribution for an escape of 10 from Auschwitz prison camp. His action
resulted in the canonisation by Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982, and
was considered to be the saint of radio amateurs.
Research of the WIA Archive also found a letter that in early 1941, as a
war measure, an Emergency Communications network began in Central Sydney.
The idea was that if the phone system were disabled, a radio system would
take over.
Other research found an Amateur Radio magazine column in November 1942
containing a little about Civil Defence preparations in Western Australia.
However, a newspaper report entitled ADELAIDE HAMS DID GREAT WORK IN WAR,
was then followed by a second part headed CIVIL DEFENCE, and it read:
When Australia was threatened by invasion, the civil defence network of
radio operators was organised.
The headquarters station worked on 1775 kilocycles and sub-controls on 3605
kilocycles. Regular exercises and surprise tests proved its efficiency. The
Emergency Communications Network was disbanded in late 1945.
An editorial in Amateur Radio in April 1946 foreshadowed the establishment
of the WIA Emergency Communication.
The activity of helping the community in times of disaster had been traced
back to the relaying vital messages when a severe tropical cyclone struck
north of Cairns Queensland in February 1927. Today, emergency communication
still occurs throughout the world in times of disaster.
Read the full article, Amateur Radio Activity During WWII - in an edition
of Amateur Radio magazine.
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA.
RADIO AMATEUR OLD-TIMERS OF AUSTRALIA - LISTEN UP!
Hallo everyone, this is Clive VK6CSW with the usual reminder that as tomorrow
is the first Monday of the month it's time once again for the Radio Amateurs
Old Timers Club of Australia's December bulletin to go to air.
This month our feature is about Heathkits - and if you've ever built a Heathkit
then this story should resonate with you.
Everyone, RAOTC members and non-members alike, is most welcome to tune in and
join the call backs afterwards.
The principal HF broadcasts are on 20 metres on 14.150 MHz. The first at
0100 UTC, is beamed north from Melbourne for eastern states listeners.
The second, an hour later at 0200 UTC, is beamed westward for WA, also on
14.150 MHz.
Also at 0200 UTC, Chris VK6JI will be transmitting on 40 metres on 7060 kHz LSB
mainly for WA country listeners, simultaneously with the extensive NewsWest
VHF/UHF repeater coverage.
Additionally, throughout the day there are other local HF, VHF and UHF relays,
details of which can be found on our website at www.raotc.org.au
This is our last bulletin until February next year, so I take this opportunity
to thank everyone who has supported these broadcasts throughout the year,
especially the relay and call back operators, and wish everyone a merry
Christmas and a happy New Year.
73 de Clive VK6CSW.
VK2
web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm
The December meeting of the Albury Wodonga amateur radio club (AWARC) will be
one not to be missed.
The club will be having Mr Mark Tell of the Australian Communications and
Media Authority along to give a talk on how ACMA deals with complaints and to
answer any questions regarding the regulations or other aspects of amateur
radio that the ACMA become involved in.
The December meeting will be held at the 1st Lavington Scout Hall in Mutsch
Street, Lavington at 7 30 pm.
All amateurs and short wave listeners in the region are invited to come along
and hear what will surely be a most informative evening.
More information can be found on our website at www.awarc.org
That's Tuesday December 2nd at the 1st Lavington Scout Hall in Mutsch Street,
Lavington.
This is frank VK2HFS for the Albury Wodonga Amateur Radio Club
VK2BWI morse in recess.
The Thursday evening operator provided morse session on 3550 KHz is in recess
until the 5th of February 2015 - advises the provider - Ross VK2ER.
VK3
web service:- http://www.amateurradio.com.au/news/
Build your own gear
The practice of making accessories, antennas, or whole receivers and
transmitters is what we call 'homebrew'. It is very much how wireless
experimenters began.
The Homebrew Constructors Group continues that tradition. Rob Whitmore VK3MQ
will talk this Saturday about "Making Aluminium Enclosures for Homebrew
Projects".
The speech is at 2pm on Saturday December the 6th in the Amateur Radio
Victoria rooms at 40g Victory Boulevard, Ashburton. Email inquiries to
homebrew@amateurradio.com.au
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
Hello,
This is John VK3BJR President of the Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Club.
I'm here to remind you that the Rosebud RadioFest is on today, Sunday
30 November at the Eastbourne Primary School at Allambi Avenue, Rosebud.
It's not too late to attend as new and used sales in the main auditorium
will run from 9.30 am until 2 pm while technical forums will be held at
10.15 am, 11 am and 11.45 am with the ever popular ACMA update timed
to start at 12.45 pm.
The event has full catering, there is plenty of off street parking, there are
great door prizes to be drawn at 12.15 pm and the entry fee is only $6 with
under 12's free.
If you need help to find the venue, talk in will be conducted on
VK3RSP 146.675 MHz and VK3RPU 439.850 Mhz.
Come and enjoy the Rosebud RadioFest today. This is John VK3BJR.
DISCUSSION POINT
What use is an F-call?
Recently I talked about making contacts on HF. Picking the band, the time of
day, the right location on the band and looking for a nice loud station are
part of the equation, but there are other considerations to be had.
If you consider a station transmitting with 1.5 kilowatt on a 5 element Yagi
and you're at home with your radio, you tune around and you find this station
to be the loudest on the band, you're likely to try to talk to them.
Sometimes this even works.
However, many times, in fact, most of the time, this is pretty hard to do for
a number of reasons.
The first reason that this is hard is because their strength is a combination
of lots of power and lots of antenna gain. If you transmit back, the only
thing going for you is their antenna gain, but their power will likely
distort your perception of how well they'll hear you. If you find a
station that tells someone else that they're running high power,
then make sure that their signal to you is banging the S-meter
against the wall, that is 10 or 20 dB. over 9, before you spend hours
trying to get their attention.
I should point out that there are plenty of amazing operators who will pick
out your tiny signal among the hash and call you back but there are many more
who to put it kindly are deaf as a post, who expect HF to sound like a 2m FM
repeater and set up their kit to make it so. You're unlikely to ever succeed
in making contact with the latter, but you'll be thrilled when you deal with
the former.
Another aspect making it hard to talk to such a loud station is that everyone
else also hears it very loud and will also call in. This will completely
drown your signal at their end, so you're unlikely to cut through. There are
some amateurs who swear by changing their microphone response to "cut through"
or to fiddle with other aspects of their transmission, but I've got to say
that this lacks finesse and that's what really is required.
Imagine that you're at the other end. Your aim is to make as many contacts as
possible with weird and wonderful stations. Living in Australia makes your
callsign pretty sought after, so use that to your advantage. When you're on
a roll, you don't want to break the rhythm, so, listen for a few overs to
see what is going on. Does the station always end their QSO in the same way,
or is it different each time? Write down the information that you pick up
from the station, where they are, who the operator is, lots of little details
will make the contact go smoothly. Make sure that you have their callsign
correct, check it again before you call. Also, write down the frequency on
which the station is operating. If they spend a little while talking to each
station, you can go hunting for another station and come back to check their
progress.
When you do call, try to speak in the rhythm of the other station. If they're
fast, speak fast. If they're slow, speak slow. Figure out when they're likely
to key their mike and when they'll release it. Find breaks in the pauses and
use those to put your callsign out. Only call once per over, many stations
will ignore you if you don't. Make sure that you just say your callsign, not
theirs, not while you're getting their attention.
There is more on this topic to share, but listen to the other station and
get a feel for the person at the other end.
I'm Onno VK6FLAB
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL,
Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA.
IARU urges national society support
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) President Tim Ellam VE6SH says
we face challenges ahead and needed is the assistance of member societies
to meet the IARU goals.
The IARU is working to establish rapport with the new leaders of the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU), so they fully understand the
benefits of the Amateur Radio Service.
In the 5MHz Newsletter, Tim VE6SH says all IARU member societies will be
asked to seek support from their administration in relation to the proposed
new band.
He says some temporary access has been already been given, but it will be
discussed by the ITU delegates at World Radiocommunication Conference in
November 2015 as Agenda Item 1.4.
What is proposed is an Amateur Radio Service secondary allocation at 5250
to 5450 kHz.
A spectrum sharing study has been carried out, but the new band is not a
fait accompli.
The 5 MHZ newsletter reports some delegates who may opt for 'No Overall
Change' in the spectrum, but suggests the proposal has sufficient flexibility
to accommodate them.
The newsletter also features stories on Dominica, South African beacon changes,
Near Vertical Incidence Skywave, 5 MHz being plotted noisier, and new Software
Defined Radio receivers that allow listeners via the Internet.
Want a copy of the latest 5 MHz Newsletter? Then it's freely downloadable.
The address is in the text edition of this broadcast.
http://tinyurl.com/jvjrtn6
Electronic Coins via Ham Radio ?
Not content with BitCoin? well enter "The HamRadioCoin Project."
This aims to enable amateur radio operators to send and receive HamRadioCoins
via radio.
In order to send crypto currency protocol data via radio instead of the
internet, developers are extending the HamRadioCoin protocol to use SSTV or
PSK63 as the carrier.
In the Spring of 2015 HamRadioCoin say they will attempt an Earth-Moon-Earth
communication over Ham radio which will make HamRadioCoin the first
crypto currency in space.
Read the full story at
cryptocoinsnews.com/hamradiocoin-crypto-via-radio-alternative-blockchain-channel/
Your Name in Morse at Raspberry Jam
At the Southend Raspberry Jam event on Nov 22, Essex Ham member Nick 2E0DVX
ran a 'Your Name in Morse Code' demo, helping to spread the word about amateur
radio.
There is an element of crossover between amateur radio and technology like the
Raspberry Pi, and this event provided a good opportunity to introduce amateur
radio to others interested in technology, communications and electronics.
There wasn't a live amateur radio station at the Raspberry Jam, instead
amateurs from across Essex concentrated on talking to visitors about the
amateur radio hobby along with showing videos and hardware.
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ARNEWSLINE
MALAYSIA INCLUDES HAM RADIO IN FLOOD PLANNING
Malaysia is including ham radio in its emergency preparedness for the upcoming
monsoon season. Amateur Radio Newsline's Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, has details:
--
Malaysia's Ministry of Communications and Multimedia will
ensure that all communication towers including those used by
radio amateurs will be fully functioning even though they
are inundated during the flood season.
According to the Ministry, several communication towers that
were inundated during the flood season last year, especially
in the Kemaman area. To prevent this happening again, many
had already been upgraded so that they were located on
higher ground and would not be submerged by the rising waters.
A Ministry spokesperson noted that there are several areas
which could not receive normal communication coverage but
can be contacted using the amateur radio. The ministry went
on to say that it would cooperate with several amateur radio
associations under the Malaysian Communication and
Multimedia Commission to assist in terms of information
sharing in any flood-affected areas.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, in
New Orleans.
--
In its statement Malaysia's Ministry of Communications and
Multimedia indicated that amateur radio has the ability to
provide communications into and out of areas that no other
quick response radio service can.
ILLEGAL DEFENDER TAKES ON RUSSIAN MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
An unidentified German amateur station has tried to disturb military
transmissions from Russia taking place in the 80 meter band.
Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB, has what's known so far:
--
The action happened on 3 dot 733 MHz on October 22nd at 2000
hours UTC. The Russian Frequency Shift or FSK transmission
is believed to have come from a transmitting site in Kaliningrad.
A screenshot photograph taken by International Amateur Radio
Union Monitoring Service observer Wolfgang Hadel, DK2OM,
shows a station trying to insert Morse code dashes on the
space breaks of the Russian transmission. It also shows the
interfering station putting out spurious emissions at least
2 kilohertz wide.
According to the Monitoring Service, the same unidentified
operator is believed responsible for similar transmissions
against Russian based communications in the 40 meter band
but this has yet to be proven.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB,
reporting.
OPERATIONAL NEWS - AWARDS
ARRL INVITES NOMINATIONS FOR 2014 INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AWARD
The award is conferred upon an amateur or amateurs who demonstrate devotion to
human welfare, peace and international understanding through Amateur Radio.
The League established the annual prize to recognize Amateur Radio operators
who have used ham radio to provide extraordinary service to others in times of
crisis or disaster.
All nominations and supporting materials for the 2014 ARRL International
Humanitarian Award must be submitted in writing in English to ARRL
International Humanitarian Award, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111 USA.
Nomination submissions are due by December 31, 2014.
In the event that no nominations are received, the committee itself may
determine a recipient or decide to make no award.
The winner of the ARRL International Humanitarian Award receives an engraved
plaque and a profile in QST and other ARRL venues.
(Chuck Skolaut KBOG Field & Regulatory Correspondent ARRL via nzart infoline)
OPERATIONAL NEWS - SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX, BEACON REPEATER AND NET ADVICE
December 3 International Day of Persons with Disabilities will be celebrated
in several countries by special amateur radio call signs
The Kuwait Amateur Radio Society 9K2WDD
Liberia Radio Amateur Association 6Z2RL
Egyptian Radio Amateurs Society for Development SU0ERA. ERASD are planning a
workshop with the Egyptian Scouts.
The Asocijacija Radioamatera Bosne I Hercegovine E71AVW and they will be
active on 14 MHz SSB from 12:00 until 20:00 UTC.
Vereniging voor Experimenteel Radio Onderzoek in Nederland PI4CGR
It is hoped that many radio amateurs will join this event.
Rizkallah Azrak OD5RI
IARU Region 1 IPHA Coordinator
IARU Region 1
http://iarU-r1.org/
Celebrating the ARRL's centennial year
Until 2nd December look for the following stations to be active to celebrate
ARRL's centennial year:
W1AW/3 will be operated by Karl N8NA, State of Delaware.
W1AW/5 will be operated by Scott W5WZ, Louisiana.
W1AW/KP4 will be operated by Felipe NP4Z, located Puerto Rico.
BROADCAST MONITORING SWL AND SCANNER NEWS
websdr.org
The end of an era - BBC Relay Station site handed back to Seychelles
Tuesday November 18 marked the closure of an iconic chapter of Seychelles'
history, signalling the end of an era when information was much more
difficult to come by.
With much of Africa joining the internet and mobile phone revolution, the
times of trying to glean information about happenings in the rest of the
world on a crackly AM radio station have now passed by.
Over 25 years after its establishment, the site of the BBC's former Indian
Ocean Relay Station, located on the western side of the largest inhabited
island in the Seychelles archipelago, was handed back to the government
by the country's British High Commissioner, Lindsay Skoll.
The station transmitted BBC World Service programmes since 1988 via
shortwave to listeners across East Africa in a range of languages.
The handing over of the site also included the station's buildings and
equipment, all of which are still in working order.
Detailed article with photos here:
seychellesnewsagency.com/articles/1792/The+end+of+an+era+-+BBC+Relay+Station+site+handed+back+to+Seychelles
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
Teenager wins prize with Morse code
The Google Science Fair 2014 Voter's Choice Award has been won by 16-year
old Arsh Dilbagi of India
His winning device called 'Talk' converts short and long breaths of air into
electrical signals, that enables people to communicate in Morse code.
Arsh, who trialled the cheap device on a hospital patient in New Delhi, now
has $10,000 from Google to further develop the product.
(vk3pc)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER
Happy Birthday FUNcube-1
FUNcube-1, otherwise known as AO73, has celebrated its first birthday,
having been launched at 07.10 GMT on 21st Nov 2013.
The satellite has been performing very satisfactorily with the battery
voltage keeping above 8 volts and is fully charged within about 7 to 10
minutes after re-entering sunlight from eclipse.
AMSAT-UK would like to thank all those who download telemetry and
forwarding it to the warehouse and who use the transponder. This
telemetry data is invaluable, both as an educational resource and to see
how the spacecraft systems are performing and surviving. So far almost
400MB of unique data via stations from all around the world has been collected.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR YOUNG TIMERS
A Youth Net meets Saturdays at 0100 UTC on IRLP Reflector #2.
Young Hams Net 3.590 - 7:30pm Victorian time.
Youngsters On The Air, YOTA http://www.ham-yota.eu/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/youngstersontheair
During the entire month of December, stations in several countries will be on
air seeking contacts using "YOTA" as their call sign suffix. Youth on the Air
(YOTA) is growing fast and every week more youngsters are asking to participate
By making YOTA popular, we can all help to get youngsters active in amateur
radio. YOTA stations will be trying to make many contacts, so take this
opportunity to connect young amateurs in their teens and 20s with their peers
on the air
The South African Radio League has been granted a special call sign, ZS9YOTA,
to be used by young amateurs during YOTA month from 1 to 31 December 2014. It
will be the first worldwide YOTA event.
REWIND a look back at history
In was in 1974 that Tropical Cyclone Tracy destroyed Darwin on Christmas Eve.
The death toll was 66, but may be higher because of unrecorded people living
in Darwin.
Back then there were many single-storey flimsy houses. Some 12,500 homes
were lost, only 400 survived as habitable, 25 ships sunk, dozens of planes
destroyed and all normal communications cut.
When news filtered out, under a state of emergency Major General Alan Stretton
was put in charge to lead the disaster recovery.
The WIA journal, Amateur Radio magazine, in a December 1984 article "Cyclone
Tracy 10th Anniversary", interviewed four who were involved.
It tells of Slim Jones VK8JT in Darwin making contact with Ken McLachlan VK3AH
at Mooroolbark in Melbourne's east, and their incredible 78 hour on-air stint.
As the first relief plane neared Darwin when darkness began to fall, it had
clearance to land due to a three-way contact that involved Ken VK3AH, Mal
9M2ML and Slim VK8JT.
WICEN later helped the Red Cross and Salvation Army with their traffic. That
work detailed in Amateur Radio magazine on June 1985 in an article
"The Christmas of '74", by Ted Gabriel VK4YG.
Eventually under a new building code Darwin was reconstructed and is now
a vibrant city.
A series of 40 year anniversary events are being held in Darwin including
historic photos, concerts, an upgrade of the Cyclone Tracy exhibition, and
an all-faith church service.
The ABC also has a filmed documentary to be shown on December the 20th that
interviews about 19 people who were involved.
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
SOCIAL SCENE 2014
Nov 30 VK3 SPARC HamFest at Rosebud ( howardjones155@gmail.com )
2015
Feb 22 VK2 Central Coast Amateur Radio Club Wyong Field Day.
March 29 VK3 EMDRC Hamfest Sunday
June Queens Birthday 40th annual Oxley Region Field Day VK2
July 11-12 VK3 GippsTech 2015
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The purpose of "WIANews" is to rapidly provide news of interest to
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We strongly encourage membership in the Wireless Institute of Australia
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