April 28 2019 - VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA
---------------------------------------------------------------------*
THE BEST NEWS YOU'LL GET ALL WEEK
Oh... and to contact us with your news because
If It Matters To You It Matters To Us!
Email nationalnews@wia.org.au
http://www.wia.org.au click news in member area & submit your audio
TWITTER http://twitter.com/VK1WIA
Please... If you are only submitting text and not audio,
NEVER send just links & url's but write your story as you would
expect to hear it being read back and then when you upload audio
also email us the txt version.
---------------------------------------------------------------------*
NATIONAL NEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING Apr 28 2019
IN OUR 24th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS
WIA's Honour Roll of members who paid the supreme sacrifice. -
WIA DIRECTOR Harry VK6YBZ comment. -
WIA Merit Awards, last call. -
WIA Annual Conference details with Raffy VK2RF.
THIS & MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE
WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA 2019
AND FOR WEEK OF APRIL 28 2019
Was great to hear the bands chirping on the 25th, Thursday, with
plenty of AM and CW activity in remembrance of ANZAC Day.
Although we were not as a news room 'kept in the loop' this is the
annual event organised by VK4MIK and Tablelands Radio Group and
certainly was gratifying to hear so many that did remember.
Speaking of War, lets add Radio and Football to the mix.
The three seem very removed from each other, but not on Wednesday
when AFL team Richmond took to the field for their ANZAC eve match.
Eagle eyed WIA supporter Tony, VK7VKT, noticed the jumper worn by the
players featured morse code printed on the jumpers. The morse read
of the third and fourth stanza of Laurence Binyon's poem,
For the Fallen.
The Morse code replicates the architecture of the walls of the
Education Centre courtyard at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.
Those stanzas being,
"They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
A beautiful mark of respect of our fallen hero's as well as
recognising communications of that era embedded into poem.
Honour Roll of WIA members
who paid the supreme sacrifice
Royal Australian Navy
J.E. Mann VK3IE
A.H.G. Rippon VK6GR
Australian Military Forces
C.D. Roberts VK2JV
J.D. Morris VK3DQ
J. McCandlish VK3HN
S.W. Jones VK3SF
D.A. Laws VK4DR
J.G. Phillips VK5BW
K.S. Anderson VK6KS
Royal Australian Air Force
F.W.S. Easton VK2BQ
V.J.E. Jarvis VK2VJ
W. Abbott VK2YK
G.C. Curle VK2AJB
T. Stephens VK3GO
M.D. Orr VK3OR
J.F. Colthrop VK3PL
J.A. Burrage VK3UW
J.E. Snadden VK3VE
F.J. Starr VK4FS
R. Allen VK4PR
C.A. Ives VK5AF
B. James VK5BL
J.E. Goddard VK6JG
P.P. Paterson VK6PP
Merchant Marine
N.E. Gunter VK3NG
R.P. Veall VK3PV
"They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old.
Age will not weary them nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them."
Hi this is Harry VK6YBZ holder of an advanced amateur radio license
and a director of the Wireless Institute of Australia.
I thought that I would talk a little today about my journey in Amateur
Radio and how and why I ended up on the Board of the WIA.
I started out in amateur radio in 1983, obtaining my license whilst a
student undertaking a bachelor's degree in electronics and a PhD in
telecommunications in the UK. I travelled a lot and VHF FM mobile
became my main mode of operation although I dabbled a little in RTTY
in my home shack, writing my own software for these "digital" modes
while packet radio claimed the innovative technical high ground.
Sick of the politics, the drama of the miners' strike and Thatcher's
Britain in mid-1989 I decided on impulse to migrate to Australia, a
country I knew nothing about to a job at a university that I knew
little of. I knew even less about the place I would live and work.
I fell in love with Perth, a beautiful city and Australia a gorgeous
land. My career developed, I undertook a postgraduate law degree and
I travelled worldwide a lot and amateur radio quickly faded into the
background and eventually disappeared altogether.
Without realizing it at the time, I had a large property ideal for
large antennas and a purpose-built shack. However, my interest in
amateur radio at the time was nil. It remained this way for 30 years
while I travelled and built a career and family.
Work injury and early retirement came on me suddenly, I downsized in
property and found time on my hands. I looked around for something to
do and amateur radio came back into my life. Boy had things changed
in 30 years. Digital modes, including FT8, PSK, Allstar and DMR all
became exciting opportunities to communicate worldwide in an
environment where large antennas were just not feasible. I've had a
ball working places that I never dreamed possible to communicate with
in my restricted antenna environment.
I met some members of the WIA board and was invited to work with the
WIA Education Group to develop the response to the tender for the deed
to supply the licensing services for the ACMA. That bid failed, but a
strategic education development for the WIA was born. You'll hear
more of that at the AGM and conference in Sydney and in the coming
months.
Out of my work with the Education Group came an invitation to fill a
casual vacancy on the board for a period of one year. I was wary.
I had heard about the politics and wrangling that had gone on with
previous boards and some members and did not want to be involved in
those kinds of problems. However, my discussions revealed a new board
that was skilled, forward looking, strategically focused and beyond
much of the politics that had been evident in the past. Considering
that these people who work on the board, develop and implement
policies and procedures missing in the past, and operate the
committees and working groups are amateurs that hold down full-time
jobs and families, their effort and dedication is something to be
admired. They are a skilled, strategically focused group who are
clear and independent of the baggage of the past and need your support
to move the WIA forward into a very exciting future. I am pleased to
serve the amateur community and work with such dedicated amateurs.
That's my view and I look forward to representing you as we progress
out of the issues of the past into the opportunities of the future.
Next week Board Comment will be by President Justin.
The WIA Merit Awards are presented each year at the WIA AGM.
The Board are keen to receive nominations for worthy recipients of
these awards.
Details on the awards and how to make nominations are on the WIA web
site, wia.org.au
Nominations are currently open and need to be submitted by the end
of APRIL.
CQ WIA Annual Conference
The WIA Annual Conference is almost upon us, only four weeks to go,
this year's event will be held at the impressive Park Royal Hotel near
Darling Harbour in the heart of Sydney. You don't need to be a
WIA member to attend and participate and all who register by midnight
11th May will be in the draw for a UHF type approved DMR and FM
Analogue Handheld by FDP Radios.
On Friday evening 24th May, the Waverley Amateur Radio Society will
be holding its 100th year anniversary at the historic Marconi Room
of Sydney Town Hall, with keynote speaker David Dufty, author of the
Australian "Secret Code Breakers",
On Saturday morning 25th May, after a short formal AGM the conference
proper will commence, There will be Open Forum. discussions and
reports This is an opportunity to influence the future direction of
Amateur Radio in Australia,
After lunch, the theme of the conference technical presentations will
be "a Spectrum of Opportunities". There will be many technical
sessions featuring fascinating insights and new ideas.
The Conference Dinner will be served at the Parkroyal Hotel, with
renowned keynote speaker Professor Fred Watson, astronomer
extraordinaire, whose father was a ham.
And on Sunday morning, we will QSY to Dural, the home of Amateur Radio
NSW for a field day, with commercial exhibitors, technical
demonstrations and talks, as well as complimentary lunch for
registered attendees.
There is abundant public transport to the Sydney CBD, and many
surrounding hotels, Some billeting opportunities are also in place
for interstate and regional NSW attendees. And if you live in Sydney
and can spare a bed for a few nights, register your offer at the
website of the Waverley Amateur Radio Society, VK2BV.ORG.
This year's conference is back dropped at night by the spectacular
public Vivid light and sound extravaganza. There is plenty of time
after the two evening conference events to stroll to the dramatic
displays.
So for a really great weekend in Sydney, Register now to secure your
place at www.wia.org.au under the WIA Information tab., or just google
WIA 2019 Annual Conference,
See you there!
73 from Raffy VK2RF
---------------------------------------------------------------------*
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, SARL, Southgate AR Club,
ARRL, RAC, NZART AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE & the World Wide sources of
the WIA.
GUAM
SpaceDaily.com is reporting Virgin Orbit, Sir Richard Branson's
satellite launch company, announced that the Pacific island of Guam
will become an additional launch site for the company's LauncherOne
service.
This will be in addition to California, Florida, Spaceport Cornwall
in the United Kingdom, and Taranto in Italy.
Virgin Orbit uses a customized 747-400 aircraft as its "flying launch
pad," providing the ability to quickly transport the entire launch
site to new locations around the world, launching each satellite from
the optimal location.
TURKEY
IARU argues for protection from WPT spurious emissions
IARU was again represented at a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, where
committee SE24 (Short Range Devices) met to undertake further work
on the Work Item concerning Wireless Power Transmission
SE24 is considering both WPT for electric vehicles and also generic
WPT applications.
IARU has made extensive input on the potential impact on radio
communications from spurious emissions from WPT devices and much of
this is captured in CEPT ECC Report 289, published earlier this year
https://www.ecodocdb.dk/document/8214
At the Ankara meeting further input was made by IARU and other
interested parties and there will be a meeting of SE24 dedicated
to WPT issues in early July.
IARU was represented in Ankara by Don Beattie G3BJ, Region 1 President,
who is leading the IARU work on WPT.
IARU Region 1 http://iaru-r1.org/
NORWAY
DXpeditioner Kenneth Opskar, LA7GIA, is Recipient of
Intrepid Spirit Award
Kenneth, LA7GIA, is the radio amateur who was detained in Chad for
several days after his TT 8 KO DXpedition was shut down. Now he has
won the Intrepid Spirit Award from the Intrepid-DX Group.
"This award is to recognize Ken's outstanding efforts to activate
Malawi 7Q7GIA; Comoros D67GIA; Equatorial Guinea 3C7A;
Central African Republic TL8AO; Congo TN5E; Somalia 6O6O,
and Chad TT8KO," the group said.
"We acknowledge Ken's pursuit of operating excellence in making these
difficult activations."
The Intrepid Spirit Award memorializes James McLaughlin, T6AF, an
Intrepid-DX Group member, who died in Afghanistan in 2011.
UNITED KINGDOM
The RSGB Foundation Licence Manual is now available in the convenient
electronic Kindle format
The Foundation Licence Manual for Radio Amateurs is the RSGB
course-book for those who wish to become radio amateurs in the UK.
This book sets out to provide the very latest information required to
obtain a UK Foundation licence. Broken down into 15 easy to digest
sections Foundation Licence Manual for Radio Amateurs covers all you
will need to know to be successful in the examination.
This book provides insight into technical basics, receivers,
transmitters, antennas, feeders and propagation. There are details
of the operating practices & procedures you will need to know
alongside safety considerations, electromagnetic compatibility and
licence information.
The practical assessments are explained and there is a helpful guide
to how to best approach the Foundation examination itself.
The manual is written for the new 2019 syllabus that will be used for
exams from September.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07QS7C68V
USA
Ham Radio on I-40
The ARRL reports amateur radio is being promoted on a billboard that's
passed by 6 million vehicles a year
This new billboard on Interstate 40 in Tennessee promotes ARRL and
Amateur Radio. Working with ARRL Product Development Manager
Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, and Communications Manager Dave Isgur, N1RSN,
ARRL Graphic Designer Sue Fagan, KB1OKW, completed a design for a the
new 10 20 ft. billboard, owned by ARRL Life Member Cliff Segar, KD4GT.
Segar says the average daily traffic count for the area along I-40
west bound, mile marker 336, is on the order of 6 million vehicles
per year.
arrl.org/news/view/arrl-radio-communications-billboard-promotes-ham-radio-on-i-40
--------------------------------------------------------------------*
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
20th Harry Angel Memorial Sprint May 4
IARU HF World Championship 13-14 July.
Trans-Tasman Low-Band Contest July 20
VK Remembrance Day Contest is August 17-18
--------------
Museum Ships Weekend
Reminder that the Museum Ships Weekend this year will be held during
the weekend of June 1 and 2.
Transmissions will be sent from all sorts of historic and special
ships worldwide, so as to enable unique QSO's.
All information about participating vessels and an optional
certificate, can be found on the website url in our written word
edition of WIA NATIONAL NEWS
https://www.qsl.net/w/wa2tvs/museum
--------------
THRU THE DX WINDOW
Eurovision Song Contest special event
The Israel Amateur Radio Club has activated the following special
event callsigns around the 64th Eurovision Song Contest:
4 X 6 4S
4 X 64 O
4 X 6 4N
4 X 6 4G
and 4 Z 64 EURO.
QRV on HF is now till May 18 on CW, SSB, PSK, and FT8.
An award will be available as well.
QSL via ClubLog, LoTW, eQSL.
https://www.iarc.org/livelog/
(SouthGate)
Rich KE 1 B will be active from Bora Bora Island in French Polynesia
as FO/KE1B until May 3 . Look for him on 20m using FT8.
Prefix hunters will probably have heard Swiss stations using the
prefixes HB 90 and HB 30 instead of the normal HB9 and HB3 calls.
This to celebrate the 90th anniversary of USKA, the member society
of the International Amateur Radio Union.
Ali, EP 3 CQ, is active as 6 O 1OO until May 15th.
Activity will be limited, he works for the UN Department of Safety
and Security in Mogadishu.
Operations will be all bands but mostly 40/20 meters using SSB
and FT8. Last time he suggested that he will be on every day between
1800-2000 East Africa Time (EAT) and on the weekend (Friday and
Saturday) between 1400-1800.
See QRZ.com for more info
QSL direct to:
Ali Solhjoo, C/O Dr.de Vivanco, Schnackenburgstr. 3, Berlin 12159,
Germany.
---------------------------------------------------------------------*
INTRUDER WATCH - ENFORCEMENT ZONE
Region III IARUMS Coordinator Peter Young VK3MV
VK IARUMS reflector email to subscribe intruders@wia.org.au
SUBMITTING a report? go to
http://www.wia.org.au/members/protecting/intruderreport/
INTRUDER NETS
Friday 0730 UTC 7.065.5 with VK4CEU David.
Amateur exclusive frequencies where any non-amateur signal is definitely an
intruder.
Amateur HF Spectrum world wide
7.050 to 7.100
14.000 to 14.250
14.250 to 14.350 No broadcasters
21.000 to 21.450
24.890 to 24.990
28.000 to 29.700
Greetings from the Ipswich and District Radio club and its members.
Has your club's two metre repeater ever suffered from pager
interference?
Well it sure happened to ours recently, and as you can imagine it was
extremely frustrating. So members did what had to be done.
Here's how it was solved.
Firstly members gathered as much information as possible.
Information was catalogued, the frequencies involved, the times,
signal strengths, and even some good old direction finding to pinpoint
the source. This was done using various pieces of equipment owned and
operated by a number of our club members. Once all this had been done
over a period of a couple of weeks, all the information gathered was
duly noted down into a basic report and handed over to the ACMA Radio
Inspectors.
Within a few days the ACMA had visited the offending site, confirmed
that they were indeed the culprits of the interference, and measures
were then taken by the offender to rectify the problems highlighted
to them by the ACMA Inspectors.
The result was that the interference to our club's two metre repeater
ceased and has not returned and all are very happy!
So the moral of the story here is, if you can provide as much
information, technical and otherwise to the ACMA along with your
complaint, you will find that results will happen much quicker than
you might anticipate. The feedback received from the ACMA was that they
were very thankful for all the data that was provided to them and it
made their job so much easier and so much quicker to resolve.
So if you do have an interference problem, don't just complain,
gather as much information as you can, and help to be part of the
solution. The results will astound you!
For the Ipswich and District Radio Club, this is Allan VK4HIT.
Cheers and 73 from Ipswich.
---------------------------------------------------------------------*
WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS
- DIGITAL MODES
New digital mode FT4
Joe Taylor K1JT has announced a new digital mode, FT4, which is
2.5 times faster than FT8
FT4 is an experimental digital mode designed specifically for
radio contesting. Like FT8, it uses fixed-length transmissions,
structured messages with formats optimized for minimal QSOs, and
strong forward error correction.
T/R sequences are 6 seconds long, so FT4 is 2.5 faster than FT8
and about the same speed as RTTY for radio contesting.
FT4 can work with signals 10 dB weaker than needed for RTTY,
while using much less bandwidth.
FT4 message formats are the same as those in FT8 and encoded with the
same (174,91) low-density parity check code. Transmissions last for
4.48 s, compared to 12.64 s for FT8. Modulation uses 4-tone
frequency-shift keying at approximately 23.4 baud, with tones
separated by the baud rate. The occupied bandwidth, that containing
99% of transmitted power, is 90 Hz
Further information on FT4 is at
http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/FT4_Protocol.pdf
(SouthGate)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER
FUNcube Data Warehouse URL Change
The FUNcube Team announced as part of the migration of the FUNcube
Data Warehouse migration to a new server a new URL is being used.
They are now redirecting all dashboard data submissions to:
http://data.amsat-uk.org
(there is no need to change your dashboard settings)
Looking forward, all information at http://warehouse.funcube.org
will no longer be updated. The Leader Board scores will be merged
at: http://data.amsat-uk.org/ranking
You will be able to search for your site name (or callsign) and order
the columns by clicking on the column header. Features as showing the
colour coded age of submitted data will be added soon.
If you have lost your Dashboard credentials please visit:
http://data.amsat-uk.org/recover-authcode
AMSAT-UK reminds FUNcube telemetry stations to keep an eye on their
FUNcube Dashboard Summary Update page. Each satellite carrying a FUN-
cube payload has a dedicated dashboard. AMSAT-UK has updated the one
page summary (FUNcube Dashboard Summary v2) of those dashboards, their
current version number and a dedicated download link:
https://funcube.org.uk/2019/01/21/funcube-dashboard-summary-update/
Hope you like the new site and feedback will be welcome.
[ANS]
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
The end of an era - WICEN Northern Rivers Region closes down
At the annual General Meeting held 14th April, the motion was carried
to dissolve the region.
This came about mainly due to membership numbers declining below that
required to maintain a region. Another factor was the difficulty of
meeting the increasing demands of new training arrangements.
State WICEN has very generously passed on the assets of the region
to SARC, who will now undertake activities such as horse enduros
and other community assistance.
(sourced to sarc newsletter)
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- SOFTWARE DEVELOPEMENT
2 M 0 SQL Releases Pass Recorder Version 1.5
Pass Recorder is a small application that records audio from satel-
lite passes based on tracking data it receives from the commonly
used SatPC32 application. Pass recorder will sit in the background
waiting for a pass to be above 0 degrees and record the audio to a
wav file which you can use for logging purposes or just for storing
passes to listen to later for enjoyment.
SatPC32 tracking software setup for DDE via the DIVOptions.SQF file
is required. Make sure this has been completed before starting to
install Pass Recorder. Recordings are stored within the active users'
profile in Documents/Satellite Recordings, you can set your favourite
cloud backup tools to access this folder or keep it for private usage.
Version 1.5 released on April 15, 2019 includes bug fixes and adds
the following functionality:
+ User selectable sample rate which allows you to reduce the
audio quality to improve file size.
+ Allows you to select the save location of audio files
+ Added Limited support for WXTrack
The download files, additional information, and installation
instructions are available on Peter's web page:
https://www.2m0sql.com/pass-recorder/
[ANS]
---------------------------------------------------------------------*
2019 Social Scene
VK3 - Moorabbin & District Radio Club HamFest 2019 Saturday 11th May.
VK
2019 WIA Annual Conference Sydney weekend 24-26 of May. (wia)
https://www.wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/2019agm/
VK2 Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club Field Day June 8 and 9 (vk2zhe)
VK5 - South East Radio Group 2019 Annual Convention and Australian
Fox Hunting Championships 8-9 June (vk5hcf)
VK3 - GippsTech 2019 13'14 July (vk3pf)
VK4 - Townsville Amateur Radio Club's Cardwell Gathering 4 days
commencing October 4 (vk4zz)
VK3 - Yarra Valley Amateur Group HamFest, 13th October (vk3cnw)
WW - JOTA 2019 Friday 18th, Sat 19 & Sunday 20 October (vk2gx)
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.
Submitting news items
If you would like to submit news items for possible inclusion in the
VK1WIA broadcasts, please email your item in text to
nationalnews@wia.org.au and don't JUST send url's links or posters,
but take the time to pen YOUR contribution.
To submit audio email nationalnews@wia.org.au and ask for the current
password then 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.
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 it in the 3rd person.
---------------------------------------------------------------------*
|
