Feb 24 2019 - VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA
---------------------------------------------------------------------*
NATIONAL NEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING Feb 24 2019
IN OUR 24th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS
WIA AGM details. -
WIA Director Marcus VK5WTF on Dale Hughes VK1DSH and ITU. -
WIA Assessors required to contact AMC. -
WIA receives word of new examination costs. -
WIA National Inwards QSL Bureau Volunteers sought. (or is that SORT.). -
WIA serves and protects.
THIS & MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE
WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA 2019
AND FOR WEEK OF FEBRUARY 24 2019
The 2019 WIA Annual Conference and AGM is being held at the
ParkRoyal Hotel 150 Day St Sydney over the weekend 24th to 26th
of May.
All details on WIA web under the heading WIA Information
https://www.wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/2019agm/
Your WIA has been in contact with the new providers of the AR
examination and licence providers and we will be bringing much
of the latest to you throughout this news bulletin.
The new provider has published their fee structure, it's on
the front page news section of wia.org.au
https://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2019/20190222-1/index.php
The Australian Maritime College has provided the fee schedule
for amateur radio statutory and non-statutory services.
This covers statutory examinations and non-statutory callsign
recommendations, recognition of prior learning and re-issuing
of certificates.
The WIA has also opened the door to AMC Manager, Martin, to
use this WIA News Service to provide you the listener with
info comming from AMC.
One official email I'll read now
The Australian Maritime College Manager - Office of Maritime
Communications thanks the WIA for its support.
"I would be grateful if you could please let your members
know that we would ask all former and potential assessors
to contact AMC-Amateur Radio email on AMC.AR@utas.edu.au
to register your interest. We look forward to working together
for the good of the Hobby.
Best wishes,
Martin Crees-Morris
Manager - AMC Amateur Radio
Australian Maritime College
University of Tasmania."
Later in educational news we'll expand on that correspondance and
also VK5WTF Marcus will join us with more.
BUT first this in from
John Seamons, VK3JLS
National Inwards QSL Bureau Volunteers sought. (or is that SORT.)
The WIA National Inwards Bureau, located at the WIA offices in
Bayswater, is seeking expressions of interest from WIA members
who would be willing to assist in the sorting and distribution
of incoming QSL cards received at the Bureau.
This assistance would only be required on one or two days per month,
generally on a Monday morning, dependant on QSL cards received from
overseas Bureaus. To minimise travel, ideally applicants should come
from the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
To express your interest, or for more information, please contact
John Seamons, VK3JLS, on vk3jls@wia.org.au
The WIA serves and protects
Want to know what the WIA is doing to encourage Amateur Radio
and members engagement?
Wish to be informed on the latest developments that may affect you?
Then regularly visit the material on its website, read the WIA
journal - "Amateur Radio magazine" - and listen to the weekly
VK1WIA broadcast.
The WIA website, which includes the text edition of this broadcast,
is at www.wia.org.au
Hello, this is vk5wtf WIA with this weeks Board Comment
The ITU (Part of the United Nations) World Radio Conference WRC-19 is
being held in Sharm el Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt from the
28 October to 22 November 2019 and will see more than 2500
delegates from over 160 countries attending. There is a punishing
schedule being finalised that will see the spectrum management
agenda set for the next four years.
There is much preparation required for the WRC, which occurs every
4 years. Dale Hughes VK1DSH has recently spent two weeks at the
World Radio Conference 2019 (WRC-19) Conference Preparatory Meeting
(CPM) in Geneva. Dale is representing Australia for WRC-19 agenda
items 1.1 (50MHz) and 9.1.6 (Wireless Power Transfer).
The CPM develops the final documents which contain the various
'methods' used to address WRC-19 agenda items.
There is also preparation happening for the last Asia-Pacific
Telecommunity (APT) Conference Preparatory Group - APG 19-5 before
WRC-19 and this will be held from 31 July - 6 August 2019, in Tokyo,
Japan. This will form the final view of the APT that will be taken
to WRC-19 in October 2019.
As most would now be aware, the ACMA has announced (Feb 1) that the
successful tenderer for the delivery of Amateur radio licencing and
administration is the University of Tasmania through the Australian
Maritime College (AMC). The Board congratulates the University.
On Tuesday (Feb 19), the WIA board met with the ACMA to discuss the
ongoing transition-out arrangements, which are proceeding well.
All deed required IP has been repatriated to the ACMA, and the focus
is now on document archiving - a non-trivial effort with an
estimated 150 archive boxes of documents required to be scanned to
meet the National Archives requirements - the documents have a
retention period of 75 years.
The ACMA also confirmed at this meeting that the new "deed" has been
signed with the AMC. The ACMA noted that the "deed" is yet to be
enacted, due to legislative requirements that have to be completed,
to establish delegations, etc. No timeframe was given for completion
of these requirements.
73, this is vk5wtf, going clear and listening
---------------------------------------------------------------------*
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club,
ARRL, RAC, NZART AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE & the World Wide sources of
the WIA.
ITU emergency comms document update
The ITU has updated a key recommendation for cross border usage of
Emergency Communications Equipment.
The new 2019 edition of ITU Recommendation M-1637 is clearer
regarding countries facilitating the use of radio equipment that
may be physically brought by visiting relief personnel into the
territory where there is a disaster or emergency. The
recommendation is intended to avoid delays due to customs
procedures and type-approvals etc. and facilitate the use of both
professional, as well as amateur, radio equipment in such situations.
URL for M1637-1 is
www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-M.1637-1-201901-I
TAIWAN
The only radio ham in Taiwan for 25 years
Tim Chen BV2A was famous among amateur radio enthusiasts as the only
person allowed to operate in Taiwan until 1985, when the government
started issuing more licenses
The Taipei Times reports:
Until 1985, Taiwan's amateur (ham) radio scene consisted of one
person: Tim Chen who held the country's only license due to
Martial Law era restrictions. Accordingly, this resulted in the
unusual situation where Taiwan Garrison Command had to establish
a set of amateur radio regulations just for him.
Since there was nobody else in Taiwan to talk to, Chen connected
with people around the world, using Morse code at first via his
station BV2A, and gaining voice communication capabilities in 1974
through BV2B. Chen was strictly forbidden to speak with anyone in
China or the Soviet Union, but he enjoyed much popularity as the
world's only BV operator so much so that 5 term US senator and
the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States
in 1964 and fellow ham enthusiast Barry Goldwater K7UGA specifically
requested to tour Chen's two stations when he visited Taiwan in 1986.
Read the full Taipei Times story at
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2019/02/17/2003709864
SWITZERLAND
ITU WRC-19 Conference Preparatory Meeting Under Way in Geneva
The second Conference Preparatory Meeting in advance of
World Radio Communication Conference 2019 got under way
February 18 at International Telecommunication Union Headquarters
in Geneva.
Delegates from around the world are attending including the WIA's
Dal Hughes as we heard earlier.
This CPM will prepare a consolidated report that will support
the work of WRC-19, based on contributions from various
administrations, study groups, and other sources concerning the
regulatory, technical, operational, and procedural matters, and the
inclusion of reconciled differences or of differing views and their
justification.
Agenda items affecting Amateur Radio include the harmonization of
the 50-MHz amateur allocation, 5G in the 47-GHz band
and studies concerning Wireless Power Transmission for electric
vehicles to assess the impact of WPT for electric vehicles on
radiocommunication services and to study suitable harmonized
frequency ranges which would minimize the impact on
radiocommunication services from WPT for electrical vehicles.
UNITED KINGDOM
Parking charges waived for ham radio rally
BBC News reports car parking charges will be waived to allow a
popular amateur radio event to continue being held in a Somerset
town
The West of England Radio Rally takes place at Frome's
Cheese and Grain, with part of the nearby Cattle Market car park
being given over to exhibitors.
Last year Mendip District Council introduced Sunday charges.
The council has announced it will stop charging for the duration
of the event and one councillor said:- "This event has taken place
on the Cattle Market car park for the last 16 years.
"During this time parking has always been free of charge on Sundays
in Frome. The decision has been made to allow the event to utilise
the required small area of this car park free of charge in 2019,"
he said.
The West of England Radio Rally will be held on 16 June.
ICELAND
Icelandic Radio Amateurs, that country's national association of
hams, is hoping to ask the Post and Telecom Administration to
approve a licence examination in May and wants members to weigh in
with their interest.
The group's president Jnas Bjarnason TF3JB said despite the
cancellation of a planned amateur radio course this month, the
Icelandic group believes there are enough experienced hams with
enough knowledge to sit for the examination without having taken
the scheduled coursework.
TF3JB said that the popularity of the hobby has led the amateur
group to offer the pre-exam course as frequently as four times a
year during the last two years so there are plenty of hams who might
be candidates for a licence upgrade.
Exams are given at the University of Reykjavk in both English and
Icelandic and although candidates are accepted on a walk-in basis,
registration is recommended at least a week in advance.
He said that meanwhile, another course is being planned for later in
2019 - this time, in October. He said that by early September, the
Icelandic ham group will be advertising the classes on Facebook, at
the university and elsewhere.
USA
ARRL Volunteer Monitors programme
Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, will oversee the development and
implementation phases of the ARRL's new Volunteer Monitors programme.
K 4 ZDH once handled amateur radio enforcement for the FCC Volunteer
Monitors and will work in cooperation with the FCC. Volunteers
trained and vetted by ARRL will monitor the amateur bands for
possible instances of misconduct or to recognize exemplary on-air
operation. Cases of flagrant violations or noncompliance will be
directed to the FCC for action, in accordance with FCC guidelines.
The programme aims to re-energise amateur radio enforcement
efforts, although ARRL officials estimate that it will take 9 to
12 months before the first Volunteer Monitors begin filing reports.
US Amateur Radio Population Grows Slightly in 2018
The US Amateur Radio population once again grew by about 1%,
based upon 2017 and 2018 year-end FCC database statistics
provided by Joe Speroni, AH0A.
The 755,430 total licensees represent nearly 7,300 more license
holders than those that were in the database at the end of 2017.
--------------------------------------------------------------------*
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
2019
The CW World Wide 160m DX contest is running for 48 hours from
2200UTC on the 22nd to 2200UTC on the 24th.
Using SSB on the 1.8MHz band only, the exchange is signal report
and CQ Zone, American and Canadian stations will also send their
State or Province. (rsgb)
Sydney's Amateur Radio Ferry Contest - Sunday March 10th (VK2GZ)
W.I.A. John Moyle Memorial Field Day 16-17 March 2019 (vk4ae)
CQ World Wide WPX SSB Contest over the March 30 - 31 weekend.
20th Harry Angel Memorial Sprint May 4
Trans-Tasman Low-Band Contest July 20
VK Remembrance Day Contest is August 17-18
--------------
THRU THE DX WINDOW
In Jamaica, Neil, G 0 RNU, is operating until this Tuesday
the 26th of February as 6Y/G 0 RNU and can be heard on 80 through 6
QSL via eQSL.
(sourced to ARNewsLine)
Active is 3 W 9 JF from the island of Phu Quoc, (said Foo Kwok)
AS-128, to the 6th of March. Mainly on 80, 40, 20 and 17m bands.
QSL via eQSL or direct to EA 5 GL.
(rsgb)
Members of Radio Club F 6 KMB will be active as TM 6 C until 24
of March during the traditional Dunkirk Carnival.
QSL via F 6 KMB.
(rsgb)
Willy, ON 4 AVT, is on the air as 6 W 7/ON4AVT from Senegal,
till March 30th, operating on 40/20/10 meters using CW, SSB, PSK31
and PSK63.
He is possibly on 60 meters as well.
QSL via his home callsign, ON4AVT
(ARNewsLine)
---------------------------------------------------------------------*
WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DEFENCE
Amateur radio operators and the United States military are old
friends, dating back to the first World War.
Once again the two recently became classmates as well.
Amateur Radio Newline's Dave Parks WB8ODF said that this time, the
teacher and students were in Point Mugu, California, home of a
U.S. Naval Air Station.
The classroom of Brian Hill KF4CAM was filled with 23 software
engineers and developers from the Naval Air Warfare Centre Weapons
Division. They were there to prep for their amateur radio Technician
test.
Organizers were quoted in published reports as saying that the
one-week immersion session included a curriculum in RF propagation,
antennas and signal modulation. The instruction designed by Brian,
who's been a ham since high school, had been crafted to supplement
these students' computer science backgrounds by adding some relevant
radio theory.
The Navy personnel, rookies in amateur radio, are experts in
electronic warfare where a lot of this theory has relevance. Their
next activity might well be something like a fox hunt - one in
which they design and build their own directional antennas and then
go off in search of an RF beacon hidden somewhere on the base.
(Sourced to ARNewsLine)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - EDUCATION.
Yes 'pencils down and listen up!
This in from Martin Crees-Morris, Manager - AMC Amateur Radio
Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania.
I read,
"Dear Assessors,
Warm greetings from the Australian Maritime College.
I apologise for the delay in making contact with you but we are
trying to manage this transition as effectively as possible.
In order to do this we had to have the contract with the ACMA
in place and clearance to be able to contact you - which has
now been achieved.
Naturally the amateur radio examinations do not happen without
the support of dedicated assessors such as yourself.
Therefore I would encourage you to confirm your interest in
continuing to be an assessor by responding accordingly to our
new email address AMC.AR@utas.edu.au
AMC.AR@utas.edu.au
Once you have confirmed your interest we will shortly send you
the registration form.
In the meantime if you have any questions I would be happy to hear
from you.
Best wishes,
Martin
Manager - AMC Amateur Radio
Australian Maritime College
University of Tasmania
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FEMALES IN RADIO.
Radio Ham lone yachtswoman
14th February 2019, radio ham Jeanne Socrates, VE0JS reached another
milestone that no other seventy-year olds have.
The 76-year old passed the longitude of Cape Agulhas 2000E, in her
yacht SV Nereida. She never saw the most southern tip of Africa,
330 miles to the North, as she ploughed on towards Australia and
New Zealand.
Many ham radio operators have shared time with Jeanne, who makes a
point of communicating by amateur radio.
As she travels the Southern Oceans she is in contact with numerous
hams. Details of current skeds are on her QRZ.com page.
She is partway into her non-stop voyage leaving the World's southern
capes to the North! With Cape Horn under her belt, and now
Cape Agulhas, the next waypoint is the longitude of Cape Leeuwin,
in Western Australia.
She is attempting to be the oldest woman to achieve this incredible
feat, despite having completed this voyage at the age of 73!!
Her blog can be found at htpps://svnereida.com/blog
The other marks are the longitude of South East Cape, Tasmania and
Southeast Cape, Stewart Island, NZ.
(SouthGate)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER
The solar sails on the SSO-A mission 'Free Flyer' deployers,
launched December 3, 2018 with many amateur radio satellites,
are believed to have deployed and may now be quite bright to the
naked eye according to Ben Taylor who represents a team from the
University of Surrey in the UK.
Based on the experience with our InflateSail mission, we'd expect
these objects to be quite bright to the naked eye if the sails have
deployed successfully Ben said and added that they could
'well flare brightly.'
(sourced to SouthGate)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- INTERNET, THE HAMS DOMAIN.
Planned Experiment Will Disconnect Russia from the Internet
Authorities and major internet providers in Russia intend to
disconnect the country from the internet as part of a planned
experiment purportedly aimed at enhancing national security,
the Russian news agency RBK has reported.
The stated reason for the experiment is to gather insights and
provide feedback and modifications to a proposed law introduced
in the Russian Parliament in December. A draft of the law mandates
that Russian internet providers ensure the independence of the
Russian internet Runet and to disconnect the country from the
rest of the internet in the event of foreign aggression.
Russian telecom firms would be required to install "technical means"
to re-route all Russian internet traffic to exchange points that
have been approved or are managed by Roskomnadzor, which would
ensure that traffic between Russian users stays within Russia
and is not re-routed to servers abroad, where it could be
intercepted.
No date for the test has been announced, but it is expected to be
before April 1, which is the deadline to submit amendments to the
legislation, known as the Digital Economy National Program.
Also I wonder if the Russian net goes down, do we revert to
PO Box 88 Moscow?
(sourced to arrl)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- QRP and WEAK SIGNAL COMMUNICATION
NZ QRPers Group
Membership of this NZ Group is free, just send Callsign, first name,
QTH, and to receive Newsletters and other QRP information, send your
Email address to;
waynezl2oz@gmail.com
The QRP NET is on Thursday nights on 3.690 MHz at 8.30pm.
Their bi-monthly "GO QRP NIGHT" activity night is also available to
members of the group. For further information Email the address.
For information on the first "Go QRP night" check out the link
below:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/activities/nz-qrp/
(SouthGate)
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
IARU Region 1 3760 7110 14300 18160 21360 kHz
IARU Region 2 3750 3985 7060 7240 7275 14300 18160 21360 kHz
FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON PETITION TO CHANGE STATION ID RULES
The FCC is looking for comment on an Ohio ham's petition to amend
station identification rules during emergency operations.
The petition from KK 8 DX, would like net control stations or others
in an emergency communications to announce the call signs of all
participants every 10 minutes from a single point using automatic ID
by CW at speeds of no more than 25 wpm. The petition argued that
current rules could prove [quote] "burdensome and can hinder the
flow of emergency traffic on the channel." [endquote]
The same petition was filed in 2005 and 2006 but the FCC did not
adopt his suggested changes.
(FCC.GOV via ARNewsLine)
---------------------------------------------------------------------*
WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
LOVE IS IN THE AIR
WHEN IMAGINATION AND SOME CANDY ARE KEY TO THE KEYER
We conclude this week by asking: What is the REAL key to a CW
lover's heart? Here's Neil Rapp WB9VPG with an answer that you may
find we've....sugar-coated a bit.
"For Jari OH6DC, a CW enthusiast in Finland, having an imagination
is key. Actually, having a key that's imaginative is more the point.
Over the years, Jari's own style of homebrew CW keys has included
bananas, a chocolate bar and even lollipops among their components.
Take chocolate - which of course, he has. Rather than devour an
entire bar of sweet temptation he has found a way to make it the
main ingredient in a straight key. He shared his recipe with
Newsline:
Find the firmest chocolate possible and leave the smallest
practical distance in the gaps between the contacts. He adds a
wooden knob instead of a chocolate egg to avoid sticky fingers.
Melting and breakage are always dangers, he said and yes, he has
unfortunately broken the key while using it - once during the
Scandinavian CW Activity Group's Straight Key Day.
[quote] "Spare chocolate is handy when those accidents take place."
[endquote]
Well, if you're out of chocolate, there's also Jari's "dual banana
CW paddle," featuring some curved yellow produce ripe for action.
That fruit of his efforts can be seen on his QRZ.com page.
With Valentine's Day just on the calendar recently, one would think
a chocolate CW key might have set some YL's heart to melting -- but
no, Jari had other plans for that occasion. He built a special
edition "Valentine's Day Lollipop CW Key," which he displayed on
his website along with the lyrics of the Pointer Sisters song
"Telegraph Your Love."
There's also a short video showing how the paddles work.
No doubt the lollipop key will store better over time than the
chocolate straight key did. Two years after creating the chocolate
key, Jari opened the box where it was stored and found that it had
turned grey. He told Newsline he didn't want to eat it -- so he
threw it out.
Success, like chocolate, can be bittersweet.
I'm Neil Rapp WB9VPG.
And I'm not sure if this 'dandy candy keyer' had a role in it BUT
it's a HUGE congratulations from all 'down-under' to Neil and Julie
who have JUST announced their engagement!
And where better to do this than just up the road apiece from
Lexington Kentuckry, the KENTUCKY CASTLE the most romantic
hotel in the state.
Congratulations!
2019 Social Scene
VK2 - Wyong Field Day Feb 24 (vk2kfu)
VK6 - PerthTech March Two (vk6pop)
VK7 - Meet the Voice event at Ross March 23-24 (vk7news)
VK4 - Redfest 2019 April 13 (vk4tfn)
VK5 - BRL Radio Group Annual Gathering, Overland Corner, S.A
April 6 (vk5la)
VK
2019 WIA Annual Conference Sydney weekend 24-26 of May. (wia)
VK5 - South East Radio Group 2019 Annual Convention and Australian
Fox Hunting Championships 8-9 June (vk5hcf)
VK3 - Ballarat Amateur Radio Group, BARG Hamvention Oct 27 (vk3kqt)
2020 Social Scene
ALARAMEET 2020 Bendigo (vk5yl)
October 2020 in Bendigo Victoria.
Heidi VK3FHID and Jenny VK3WQ are leading the team who are planning
an eventful weekend. This team is meeting regularly and are looking
forward to seeing you in Bendigo.
=====================================================================
|
