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JULY 30 2017 - VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) had outstanding
success with many receiving its Slow Scan TV images that started on Thursday
July 20 and went for several days. However news just in is that the Packet
Radio Module in the Columbus module has failed after being in orbit for 17-years.
ARISS is looking for a solution, but warns it will be out of action for several
months.
We'll take a 'heavenly look' in this edition with further news there is a new
ISS Ham in Expedition 53 and a story on the newly orbited D-Sat, a three-unit
CubeSat designed to be the first satellite in history that will come back into
to Earth
The ACMA looking at microwave spectrum
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is planning for the
arrival of the revolutionary 5G mobile technology.
Acting ACMA Chairman, Richard Bean, in a speech entitled 'Unwired Revolution',
said nearly everyone accepts that standardisation and spectrum harmonisation
for 5G technology is still at the formative stage. However, 5G is expected to
bring super-fast mobile broadband networks, support the Internet of Things,
and be ultra-reliable for applications, including remote control of industrial
or medical processes.
The key question is:
What bands are likely to be used for 5G in particular, or wireless broadband
more generally?
There will be pressure on all the microwave bands used by Amateur Radio
terrestrially and with satellites, with the ACMA already looking at 3.6 GHz,
5.6 GHz and 47 GHz as possible candidate bands.
These ACMA reviews will take some years, but the theme is that spectrum shared
by Amateur Radio at present is not certain in this rapidly changing technology
world.
This area is closely watched locally by the Wireless Institute of Australia,
and globally through the International Amateur Radio Union.
In the text edition of this broadcast is the URL with more information on the
July 20 speech:
www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/Newsroom/Newsroom/Speeches/acting-chairmans-speech-to-unwired-revolution
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club, ARRL,
Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART, WIA Local News Service VK7, VK3PC and the WW
sources of the WIA.
Spectrum pollution and intruders put urban radio in doubt
The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 told the Ham Radio 2017
Friedrichshafen conference opening ceremony of the need to be more vigilant
to pollution and intrusions on our bands.
IARU Region 1 President Don Beattie G3BJ, said the pressures are so intense
from other radio services that Amateur Radio needs to work very hard to ensure
that we continue to enjoy privileged access to parts of the spectrum.
The IARU is the only organisation representing us at the Regional
Telecommunications Organisations meetings, and the ITU World Radiocommunications
Conference in 2019.
A second part to the IARU core work is spectrum protection.
Don G3BJ said he is "deeply concerned about our ability to maintain a usable
radio spectrum in some parts of suburban Europe." Amateur Radio spectrum
allocations are of little value if they are "made unusable by the presence of
multiple sources of interference - be it electrical interference or intruders".
Don G3BJ said the IARU is deeply involved in the work of the international
standards organisations, arguing for common sense in the setting of emission
standards for electrical and electronic devices.
He highlighted major concerns facing the IARU being solar photovoltaic arrays,
wind generators, digital devices, VDSL+ and wireless power transfer technology.
"Some would say that even with the work we are involved in on standards, much
of the radio spectrum is becoming unusable in the suburban environment," adding
he personally has sympathy with this view.
He also praised the work of the IARU Monitoring System but more intruder watch
observers were desperately needed.
The URL of the full speech is in the text edition of this broadcast.
http://iaru-r1.org/images/PR_Communications/FHN-opening-address---G3BJ.pdf
Flight reaches Pago Pago - and beyond!
The commemorative around the world flight marking the 80 years since the
disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart is heading home!
Brian Lloyd WB6RQN the 62-year old pilot has reported all is well after sorting
out the reason for an earlier aborted flight out of Hamilton in New Zealand's
north island a week earlier.
He advised that the test flight had confirmed the earlier fault was a
combination of a partial blockage in the fuelling system and vapour lock, where
the fuel had vaporised before reaching the engine.
The plane flew perfectly across the Pacific Ocean to the International Airport
at Pago Pago, although it had to change attitude due to ice.
From Pago Pago to ------------- well here's our News Editor VK4BB Graham to
take up the story of this epic flight.
The commemorative around the world flight by pilot Brian Lloyd WB6RQN crossed
the Pacific Ocean, landing first at Pago Pago in American Samoa, then Hawaii
via a symbolic flyover of Howland Island.
The Mooney M20K 231 registration number N916BL named 'Spirit' has expanded fuel
capacity, modern satellite avionics gear, and a Ham radio transceiver enabling
WB6RQN Aeronautical Mobile to talk to hundreds of radio amateurs.
At Pago Pago (July 23) he was greeted by a news reporter for an interview,
then got the latest weather information, with Ellie from the National Weather
Service finishing her shift and taking him to a downtown restaurant for a meal
of Samoan Oka (rockfish).
Brian WB6RQN said the next stage was the hardest leg of the trip that was going
to "push both the plane and me to the limit of our abilities".
He explained that the single engine propeller driven 'Spirit' was fully fuelled
including three hours flying time of reserve fuel because "there are scant
alternatives should problems mount up for any reason".
After leaving Pago Pago just before sunrise with about 19 hours ahead there was
the planned flyover of Howland Island dropping a floral wreath where Earhart
and her navigator Fred Noonan tried unsuccessfully to land. Brian WB6RQN in
reflection said: "My respect for Amelia Earhart has risen a thousand per cent
now that I have flown 20,000 miles in her shoes. "I am talking about flying the
plane and dealing with the issues that come up as part of the flight. She was
the sole pilot in her plane as I am with mine. Speeds are comparable and I have
had to deal with the same weather she did."
Project Amelia Earhart funded by The Classic Aircraft Aviation Museum and other
donations retraces the route taken by the famous aviator in June 1937.
Brian WB6RQN then headed for Lihue airport on the island of Kauai (Hawaii).
"I was unable to file my eAPIS arrival report with Customs from Pago Pago" he
said "so I tried to do it over the sat phone. That was when I found out there
was not going to be anyone from Customs in Kauai. Seems that, while Lihue
Airport is listed as an airport-of-entry, customs agents are only available by
prior arrangement as they must fly in from Oahu. No prior report? No agents.
So several hours out I had to change my destination from Kauai to Honolulu.
I must admit, the people from Air Service Hawaii (they are both a handling
agent and an FBO) took care of me and got everything straight with Customs.
The Customs agents who arrived were helpful and supportive and seemed genuinely
happy to be there so it all worked out in the end. The woman at Air Services
Hawaii even made me a Mai Tai to welcome me to Hawaii. It was much appreciated!
Off to my hotel for a good night's sleep ..."
After an overnight stay he took off again (July 26) passing over the historic
Pearl Harbor sites on his flight to Kauai then it's over the Pacific Ocean to
Oakland California, then to the Amelia Earhart Museum in Atchison Kansas.
The epic flight taking in about 20 countries began on June 1, was to end at
Kestrel Airpark Texas on July 30, which is the pilot's starting point and his
home airfield.
Keeping him company on the New Zealand-Pago Pago flight via Amateur radio was
Stuie VK8NSB who met the pilot when in Darwin. WB6RQN was on the 15m and 20m,
with VK's, ZL's and also a couple of American stations making the contact.
Brian WB6RQN is Managing Partner of Lloyd Aviation in San Antonio Texas, a
company which provides flight training and pilot services.
New ISS Ham in Expedition 53
European Space Agency's Paolo Nespoli IZ0JPA, NASA's Randy Bresnik and Russian
Cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy are headed for the International Space Station
(ISS).
Paolo IZ0JPA was previously with Expedition 27 that ended 157 days in space in
May 2011.
During that time he spoke to 45 schools to set a new ARISS record for a single
astronaut. His enthusiasm struck a chord with the younger generation. A repeat
of that is expected.
On arrival the trio will be met by the current Expedition 52 crew Commander
Fyodor RN3FI and Flight Engineers Peggy ex-KC5ZTD and Jack K2FSH.
NASA says the existing crew will continue work on hundreds of biology,
biotechnology, physical science and Earth science experiments.
The plan is that crew members will return to Earth in December.
A revised FCC Form 605 -- Quick-Form Application for Authorization in the Ship,
Aircraft, Amateur, Restricted and Commercial Operator, and General Mobile Radio
Services -- going into effect in September will ask all applicants to indicate
if they have been convicted of or pled guilty to a felony.
The Communications Act obliges the Commission to ask "the felony question," as
it did on the old Form 610 and still does on other applications.
This action will correct its omission on Form 605, which has existed for years.
Applicants' responses and explanations will be used to determine eligibility to
be a Commission licensee. The FCC told ARRL that it's still deciding whether to
issue a public notice on the change.
For those sitting any US examination in Australia be careful how you answer !
VK4BB our editor when aged about 18 applied for a broadcasting position with
the ABC in Papua New Guinea and answered YES to the question, "do you have
any convictions"... Graham's never forgotten a PARKING FINE is NOT a
'conviction.'/// and no -- he didn't get the job!
Who and Where are our broadcast stations?
http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/where/
HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT
All major Australian contests, rules and results, are on the
Contest Section of the WIA website.
wia.org.au/members/contests/about
2017
Jan 1 - Dec 31 The Victorian Local Government Award 2017 Challenge
10-10 INTERNATIONAL SUMMER CONTEST Aug 5 - 6
VK1 Winter SOTA QSO Party takes place August 6th 2017 9:00 am till 11:30 am.
WIA's Flagship contest the Remembrance Day Contest 12th & 13th August
Aug 19-20 ILLW the 3rd full weekend in August since 1998
Aug 26 ALARA Contest Start Time 1600 this is a 24 hour Contest for YL's
IARU High Speed Telegraphy world championships are 8th to 12th September.
October CQ WW DX / SSB CONTEST (always Octobers Last full weekend)
CQ Announces Rule Changes for 2017 CQ World Wide SSB and CW Events
CQ has announced updates to its rules for the CQ World Wide SSB and CW contests,
and said complete rules will be published soon. The changes clarify the
definition of multioperator, single transmitter (MS); spell out club definitions
and residency requirements; restrict ITU Region 1 stations transmitting
frequencies on 40 and 160 meters; address audio recording requirements, and
impose greater penalties for so-called "rubber clocking."
Running over the end of the contest because your clock was off is not
"rubber clocking". Rubber clocking is when you changed (by a minute or two)
the logged time on QSOs surrounding a band change. This was done to make it
appear that you spent the required ten minutes on the new band before changing
to another.
The clock's accuracy in this case moved back and forth, hence the term "rubber".
The SSB weekend is October 29-30. The CW weekend is November 26-27.
THE AIR ADVENTURES OF VK 4 KG
VK4KG, the Amateur Radio Station based at the RAAF Townsville Aviation Heritage
Centre, is planning a number of operations over the next few weeks.
Here is the another look at latest revised schedule for the 75th Anniversary
of the Bombing of Townsville for Sunday onwards.
Sun 30th July - 0900 to 2100 local - RAAF Townsville Aviation Heritage Centre
Sat/Sun August 12-13 Remembrance Day Contest operating from the Radio Shack
at the RAAF Aviation Heritage Centre.
The special event station GB 4 RME will operate from inside the Royal Mint in
Llantrisant Wales from 30th July until 5th August 2017. More information
available from www.bars.btil.com
Tim VE6SH is signing V 29 SH from the island of Antigua from 23rd July to 5th
August. This is a holiday style operation and he will be mainly on 30m and 17m.
QSLs go via the home call, VE6SH
SC 40 VIC may be of interest to prefix chasers. This is a special event station
to celebrate the 40th birthday of the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria. The
station will be on the air until the end of 2017. QSL manager is SM 6 JSM.
MEDIA WATCH
Who and Where are our broadcast stations?
http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/where/
This note in from VK6GX is worthy of a share in this period where Propagation
is a little hit and miss.
"Excellent propagation on Top Band this morning, with an all time
distance record broken, 1650km to Broome VK8RC/6 and many other country
stations (previous best was 1000km to Coral Bay) and my call-back record
broken with 26 callbacks.
The breakdown:-
0700 = 19, comprising 7 country, (Furthest 1650km NE, 400km NE
(mobile), 2 @ 300km S and 1 @ 180km E) and 12 greater Perth
metro area, including 1 SWL via QSP and 1 via email.
0800 = 7, comprising 1 country, (300km S) and 6 greater Perth metro area,
including one SWL via email.
Radio DARC IARU-R1 Conference Broadcasts
Shortwave broadcaster Radio DARC has announced how it will cover the
IARU Region 1 Conference in September
From 16 through 22 September 2017, the IARU Region-1 Conference will take place
near Munich Germany where the 96 member societies will discuss issues related
to the amateur radio service.
RADIO DARC will report current news on the conference in six daily special
shortwave transmissions to keep the IARU Region 1 ham radio audience up to date
with news and background reports. The programs will be in the English language.
Several transmitters and shortwave bands will be used to allow reception in
different target regions and the broadcasting partner is the Austrian
Broadcasting Transmitters Corporation in Moosbrunn near Vienna.
The schedule is as follows:
Sunday, 17 September 2017 through Friday, 22 September 2017
17:30 - 18:00 UTC / 13775 kHz / 300 kW / for Africa
17:30 - 18:00 UTC / 9790 kHz / 100 kW / for Eastern Europe / Russia /
Middle East
18:00 - 18:30 UTC / 6070 kHz / 100 kW / for Central, Northern and Southern
Europe
18:00 - 18:30 UTC / 9540 kHz / 100 kW / for Western Europe
RADIO DARC is the weekly magazine of the German Amateur Radio Club
with three broadcasts on 6070 kHz for Europe.
After the discontinuation of Deutsche Welle and other SW stations, the weekly
broadcasts of the DARC are one of the few remaining shortwave programs from
Germany.
Contact for enquiries and reception reports: radio@darc.de
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video
arvideonews.com
hamradiotube.com
youtube.com
qdg.org.au
ARISS marks its 20th anniversary
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) had outstanding
success with many receiving its Slow Scan TV images that started on Thursday
July 20 and went for several days.
ARISS Australian Coordinator Shane Lynd VK4KHZ says he's aware that several
VK radio amateurs received all 12 images in the series.
The SSTV images showed the 20 years of ARISS activities, and are a testament
to the dedication of those who participated in the event.
When it was announced there were concerns that there would be insufficient time
to receive all images, but at this was not supported by the facts. Shane VK4KHZ
says the SSTV slides included those of astronauts supported by Australian
ground stations while on the ISS.
Congratulations to ARISS for coming up with the concept shown on the ARISS SSTV
blogspot (https://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com.au/) and all who received the images
from space.
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DIGITAL
Move over JT65 for a new kid on the block
The digital mode FT8 has caught on, luring many using the popular JT65 weak
signal mode. The WSJT-X 1.8.0 beta software has the FT8 mode described as
fast with an entire QSO taking about a minute, which is four times faster than
JT65.
Developed by Steven K9AN and Joe K1JT - the name FT8 stands for its creators
Franke and Taylor and 8-Frequency Shift Keying modulation.
Using a 15-second transmit and receive sequences it provides 50 per cent or
better decoding probability down to minus-20 dB.
An auto-sequencing option can also respond automatically to a CQ call decoded
reply.
An excellent HF DXing mode and multi-hop sporadic-E propagation on 6 metres
where deep fading may make fast and reliable QSO completion desirable. Some are
comparing FT8 use to that of JT65, and believe more are on air trying the new
one.
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER
D-SAT satellite update
Alessio Fanfani IU5CRE reports the CubeSat D-SAT is now fully operative
On the AMSAT Bulletin Board he writes:
Three years ago I started to work with D-Orbit, an Italian aerospace company,
on an ambitious CubeSat mission called D-SAT.
D-Sat is a three-unit CubeSat designed, built, and operated by D-Orbit and
it will be the first satellite in history that will come back into Earth's
atmosphere in a safe and controlled way by means of a dedicated solid rocket
motor and burn up instead of becoming new debris.
D-SAT was launched on June 23th, 2017 into a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit from
Indian SHAR.
D-SAT is now fully operative in orbit and it is hosting three communication
experiments in collaboration with an Italian university, high-level schools
and a local ham radio community
For more information on D-SAT, you can visit the mission's website, where you
will also find a page entirely dedicated to radio hams where you can download
the software necessary for the reception of D-Sat's signal.
We really hope you will consider joining us! Also, should you have any question
about the mission, don't hesitate to ask!
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Alessio Fanfani, IU5CRE
D-SAT Mission
http://www.dsat.space/
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ILLW
The 300th ILLW registration
The Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse VO 1 OK in Newfoundland Canada is the
milestone 300 registration in this year's International Lighthouse and
Lightship Weekend.
This is the fourth year at that lighthouse with Michael VO 1 OK joined
by David VO 1 LDM, and Nazaire VO 2 NS, with Parks Canada permission to
shelter inside the building.
Michael VO1OK said the activation sees many visitors attracted to the
lighthouse and historical displays including the famed tide clock. The
public will be learning about Amateur Radio as well, which is one the
aims of the fun event.
Overlooking the Rocky Harbour it will have a 100 watt transceiver with
an end fed antenna for 40m, 20m and 10m, on a 12 metre tall mast.
All lighthouses and lightships for 2017 are listed, with Germany in the lead
on 51, closely followed by the USA 48 and Australia 39.
There are 40 countries registered so far in the 20th annual fun event
held on August 19-20.
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
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
This weekend in the Townsville area it's the Magnetic Island Swim taking place.
This Swim from 6-30am Strand Park Sun 30th July
Then August in the north it's the WRERA Euri Gold Farms Winter Harvest Horse
Endurance Ride - Sat 19 to Sun 20 August and the TCAC King of the Hill
Hillclimb Heat 3 Comms Support - Sun August 27th on Mt Stuart Road
SOCIAL SCENE 2017
Aug 27 VK2 SACRCfest SHOW, TELL & SELL day. (vk2zdr)
Sep 9 VK4 SunFest held at the Woombye School of Arts building 09:00.(vk4vp)
Sep 9-10 VK4 ALARAMEET Cairns. Listen for VI4ALARA from July (vk4swe vk3pc)
Sep 10 VK3 Shepparton HamFest St Augustine's Hall, Orr St. (vk3fnqs)
Sep29-Oct2 VK4 Cardwell Gathering (tarc)
Oct 29 VK3 Yarra Valley Amateur Radio Group HAMFEST 10:00am at the
Gary Cooper Pavilion, Yarra Glen.
Nov 5 VK3 BARG Hamvention greyhound racing track, Ballarat. (wia events)
Nov 12 VK5 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society HamFest 8am (vk5kc)
Nov 12 VK3 Rosebud's annual celebration of all things Amateur Radio (wia)
2018
Feb 25 VK2 Wyong Field Day (VK2AOR)
March 25 VK3 EMDRC HamFest - Great Ryrie Primary School, Heathmont. (VK3BQ)
May 4 -7 VK4 Clairview Gathering ( between Rockhampton and Mackay ) (TARC)
FINAL FINAL
Hello listeners, this is Greg VK2GPK, one of the relatively "new" directors of
the WIA.
In our first 60 days as a majority new board, we have been coming up to speed
on the various facets of the WIA's operation, improving board decision
transparency, opening up the committee volunteer process and implementing a
new board governance structure. Some of these changes are already visible, such
as publishing board minutes for the monthly board meetings, now advertising
volunteer vacancies on Seek Volunteer website, or the policy of no directors
leading or chairing operational committees. However, other changes will become
more apparent over time as we focus on the higher priority issues. As the
saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day". Your constructive input is always
welcome.
I would also remind WIA members that we ARE a volunteer organisation, a true
DIY (Do it yourself) operation and we always need your help and time to keep
this respected 100 year plus organisation viable in its role of focal advocate
protecting the rights and RF spectrum of the Radio Amateur cohort. So look for
the volunteer roles as they come up. With apologies to the late JFK, Don't ask
what the WIA can do for you, ask what you can do for the WIA!
We definitely have some real challenges to deal with over the coming months,
which we are approaching with appropriate caution to ensure we have done the
research, informed members and considered the impacts, the feedback and the
implications of the various improvement options. I will touch on one of the
major challenges a little later.
On board governance, we have adopted corporate best-practice approach based on
the ASX governance guidelines and have constituted two board sub-committees.
These committees are Audit & Risk sub-committee and the Strategy sub-committee.
So I wanted to explain how these s
Sub-committees differ from the operational committees as they operate as an
extension of the board, have the delegated authority of the board, and exist
solely to assist the board manage the organisation. These governance
sub-committees are the only committees to be led by board members and include a
minimum of two board members (for continuity) and volunteers with relevant
expertise. The board does not abdicate any board responsibility to the
sub-committees, they are simply to assist the board to meet its fiduciary
obligations and provide extra input by sharing some of the board work-load. We
have yet to call for volunteers for these particular sub-committees, following
finalisation of the terms-of-reference for each committee.
I think there has been some confusion seen in some social media comments about
the sub-committees, especially in that they are chaired by a board member which
seemed to conflict with the board platform of not having operational committees
chaired by board members. Hopefully I have explained how board sub committees
are quite distinct from the operational committees and are only concerned with
the effective running of the WIA board. One other thing I should mention is that
the Terms of Reference will state that any volunteers on the board
sub-committees must be truly independent and cannot have other volunteer roles
within the WIA to avoid any perception, real or perceived, of conflict of
interest.
I am now going to talk about the WIA financial situation. Bear with me, as this
is very important. The WIA has limited financial resources, about 80 - 85% of
its revenue comes from the 4200 or so members through membership fees. The rest
comes from fees for exams and licence management, sales of WIA books (such as
the Callbook), some minor advertising sales from AR magazine and some admin
cost recovery from ACMA.
This revenue amounts to just on $500,000 dollars a year - which to an
individual member sounds a lot, but there are large expenses in running the WIA.
These were documented in the last WIA financial report (FY2016-2017).
The largest expense is the 11 editions a year of the AR magazine, closely
followed by the two full time office staff. Just these two expenses alone
account for two-thirds of the expenses of the WIA last year. Last year AR
magazine cost over $180,000 and the office around $120,000. So, $300,000 dollars
and we haven't included the costs of keeping the office open - electricity,
rates, many insurance policies now required. Then there are the part-time book
keeper costs (usually one day a week), accountant fees and auditor fees. Plus a
multitude of smaller amounts.
Why am I mentioning this - because the WIA is running at loss, and has been for
the previous two years. Its expenses exceed its revenue by about $50,000 a year.
Over the last two years the WIA has used $90,000 dollars of its prior cash
reserves to maintain its operation as a going concern - this obviously cannot
continue as we are on about a five-year runway toward insolvency if this is not
corrected - and it will be! Unless we can increase membership by around 10-15%,
around 500 new members there is no alternative to cutting expenses, and almost
certainly, some services.
Reviewing the audited financial results from last year the new board has found
no evidence of systemic expense abuse or fraud. The social media claims of WIA
funded director overseas trips are just that, baseless claims. In fact, total
director expenses for last year were around $3000 dollars of legitimate WIA
specific expenses or well less than 1% of revenue. These expenses include WIA
required director training course fees at around $600 per director. As
volunteer directors, we cover our own travel and out-of-pocket expenses.
The root-cause of the losses is that expenses have risen significantly faster
than revenue over the 5 or 6 years. There are only two fixes, but they are not
mutually exclusive - increase revenue or cut expenses.
Looking at office expenses first, following a recent on-site review by three
directors a few weeks ago, the is no practical scope to to reduce the office
staff below 2 FTE (Full time equivalent). In fact, these staff are
over-committed and only just coping with the administration work load. In the
past the office operated with a minimum of three full-time staff - that would
be a more sustainable staff complement to cope with the workload peaks, leave,
illness etc. To assist the current staff we have dropped the phone contact
hours from 6 to 5 hours a day, a small change admittedly, to allow them more
time to do the admin tasks. It would help, as much as is possible, if members
wishing to contact the WIA use email as it is more efficient in the use of
their time, especially if they have to refer a query to a volunteer member for
resolution.
Looking at the AR magazine, potentially the "elephant in the room", its
printing and production costs have risen from $120K a few years ago to $180K
last year. The option of ceasing production of the hard-copy is not seen as a
first-course of action, as we gain a lot of exposure to future amateurs form
the hard-copy in newsagents and the majority of member swe have asked prefer
the hard-copy version - although there is a higher rate of preference for the
digital version with younger members. But in the absence of new revenue,we have
to get the costs back to the prior levels. The publication team have been
asked to identify cost savings, and they have, but not to the level that would
be achieved by say reducing the 11 editions a year to 6.
We have made no decision as yet on reducing the number of editions, but we
wanted the membership to understand and share our struggle with keeping the
WIA viable. And we need more volunteers - so keep an eye for new roles!
Thanks for listening, Greg VK2GPK.
Submitting news items
A reminder when supplying HamFest info we obviously can't plug commercial
traders "on air", but we at the WIA will put your supporters in this text
edition "no worries."
If you would like to submit news items for inclusion in the
VK1WIA broadcasts, please email your item in text to nationalnews@wia.org.au
and don't JUST send url's links but take the time to pen YOUR contribution.
To submit audio read "how to submit items" in the weekly news page on
http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/contribute/
We would appreciate items no longer than 2 minutes in length as we only have
a half hour time slot window.
Remember the sooner you submit material the more the likelihood of it being
broadcast in the very next edition of WIA National News. Each item will only
be broadcast once, if you want a couple of mentions, please submit different
slants to keep your event 'fresh 'and always if the news room is to read your
item write in the 3rd person.
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Who listens to radio? A weekly 'tally sheet' is sent to all rebroadcasters
and interested listeners, to get your free copy send a blank email to:-
wiabroadcasters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.au
Put the word subscribe in the title or subject field
How do I join this National News List? (subscribe for an automatic weekly feed.)
Email to vk1wia-news-join@lists.wia.org.au
from the email account that you wish the emails to go to.
How do I leave this National News List? (unsubscribe your weekly feed)
Open mail program which sends mail from the address you want to unsubscribe.
Send mail to the list unsubscribe address vk1wia-news-leave@lists.wia.org.au
You will be sent a confirmation mail and must follow the instructions given
in that mail to complete the unsubscription.
Once your unsubscription has been processed, you will probably
receive another message confirming your unsubscription from the list,
and at that point you should stop receiving messages.
National News compiled by VK4BB on behalf of the National WIA.
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