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2022 JANUARY 16 VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA
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THE BEST NEWS YOU'LL GET ALL WEEK
THIS LINK IS A VIDEO VERSION OF NEWS COMPILED BY VK5BD BEVAN
tinyurl.com/WIA-News-Videos
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NATIONAL NEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING JANUARY 16 2022
IN OUR 27th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS
WIA DIRECTOR GREG VK2GPK. -
Alan VK4SN for the WIA Radio Activities Committee.
THESE & MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE
WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA
PROGRAM RECORDED IN BRISBANE, OLYMPIC CITY 2032.
WIA
JOIN THE WIA
tinyurl.com/yyj87b9y
Hi, this is Alan VK4SN for the WIA Radio Activities Committee.
By now you would have heard about the new WIA Australia Day Contest on the 26th of January 2022, as kicked off by Trent VK4TS.
This year is a trial contest and due to time restrictions in getting it off the ground, the rules are loosely derived from the Remembrance Day Contest. This will allow the use of VKCL logger for logging purposes and vklogchecker.com to process the results. Please download the latest version of VKCL logger. N1MM has its own user defined contest downloadable from vk4sn.com under contests.
After many suggestions received, we finally put together what we believed was a good rule set as a trial for this year. The major hurdle was an acceptable time of operation across all states and territories from Norfolk to Christmas Isl where everyone could use
the AX prefix at the same time. A timeslot was presented to the Radio Activities Committee and everyone approved the submission. Some see propagation times may vary for or against some areas but we are
looking to open the contest up for DX next year.
Start time for this years contest will be 2200 UTC on the 25th to 1000 UTC on the 26th.
Rules are downloadable from the WIA contest webpages.
2x1 callsign holders may have received confirmation from ACMA that the AX prefix is not to be used with contest calls.
Best 73 and enjoy Australia Day.
Alan VK4SN
WIA BOARD COMMENT by Immediate Past President Greg Kelly
VK2GK is in audio ONLY this week. "*
WIA NATIONAL NEWS AND YOUR 3 W's.
WASH YOUR HANDS
WEAR YOUR MASK
WATCH YOUR DISTANCE (1.5 metres)
www.health.gov.au/
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS and WIRELESS WEATHER
SOLAR CYCLE UPDATE:
Solar Cycle 25 is shaping up to be stronger than expected. New sunspot counts confirm that the young solar cycle is outperforming official forecasts, with the rate of geomagnetic "storm days" nearly tripling in the past 12 months. See the data and learn more @ Spaceweather.com
(ARNewsLine)
REGION ONE
All electrical and electronic devices in South Africa that do not have radio frequency modules must now have valid electromagnetic compatibility certificates recognised by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS)
The new rules should go a long way to take electronics off the market that cause radio interference, electronics like switch mode power supplies, LEDs and electronic equipment where noise suppression circuitry has been omitted to save cost. The new rule comes after the SABS and Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) were met with criticism after they tried to implement a new compliance regime in 2017.
Among the concerns was that only compliance certificates from test laboratories authorised and integrated into the SABS Authorised Laboratory Programme would be recognised. ICASA and the SABS have now changed their approach, recognising internationally accredited labs.
The UK Ministry of Defence is conducting a GPS jamming exercise until April 15 at West Freugh in Dumfries and Galloway
The exercise will run over periods
10 January 4 February 2022,
21 March 15 April 2022.
The jamming will be limited to 0830 1600 Local and limited to the time required to demonstrate the desired effect on the target and shall not exceed two minutes continuously, with a maximum of 5 test points per hour and a minimum of five minutes between test points.
REGION TWO
Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, an assistant professor at The University of Scranton Department of Physics and Electrical Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant of nearly $50,000 to support the 2022 Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) Workshop. The event is set for March 18 19 at The US Space & Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama. The in-person conference also has a virtual format option.
HamSCI is a collective of professional researchers and radio amateurs with the objective to foster collaboration between the amateur and professional communities to advance scientific research and understanding, encourage development of new technologies to support this research, and provide educational opportunities for both the amateur radio community and the general public.
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WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
THIS SHOPPING LIST INCLUDED A SURPRISE QSO
You never know what's going to happen when you call CQ.
One ham in Tennessee found out that if you do it in an unlikely place, using an unlikely method, you may just be surprised at what happens. Direct from Amateur Radio NewsLine here's Skeeter NASH.
"There was no doubt about it: Bill Price K4FLH was calling CQ and the sound of his Morse Code practice could be heard loud and clear,
everywhere. In this case, "everywhere" turned out to be the inside of
the huge Walmart store where he was shopping. Instead of using a keyer, Bill was practicing his CW using the small high-pitched electronic horn that's attached to the riding cart that the store provides for disabled shoppers like him. The horn is there to warn other shoppers of the cart's approach.
Bill told NewsLine he's been practicing that way since the summer and he never once thought anything would come of it except improved code
practice -- that is, until late December. Bill wrote on Facebook that to his surprise, that day his Morse message caught the ear of another
shopper: a fellow ham also using a cart with a horn. What followed was a 10-minute QSO between the two. It ended when they agreed to meet up at the checkout for an eyeball QSO.
Bill not only got his shopping list completed - he ended up with
something that wasn't on his list. He wrote
"I now have a new friend."
(Amateur Radio NewsLine Skeeter Nash N5ASH)
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HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT
NOW CONTEST WISE:-
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2022
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January, this entire month is the WIA ROSS HULL VHF - UHF MARATHON CONTEST
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WIA VHF - UHF FIELD DAY IS ON THIS WEEKEND
Saturday 15 January through Sunday 16 January
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AUSTRALIA DAY BRAND NEW WIA CONTEST
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Then in March its the
John Moyle Memorial Field Day
The JMMFD contest Starts 0100 GMT on the 19th of March and concludes
0059 GMT on the 20th of March.
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Harry Angel Memorial 80m Sprint
Saturday May 7th 2022
10:00 UTC - 11:46 UTC
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International CQ Pride contest June 4-6
International CQ Pride contest will run through the first weekend of June to celebrate Pride Month in 2022. With more Luke VK3UKW:-
"Pride Radio Group has been a home and a champion for underrepresented groups in amateur radio for a little more than a year and we are now planning our first contest.
The international CQ Pride contest will run through the first weekend of June to celebrate Pride Month 2022 and the contest is open to all amateurs world-wide as single or multi operator entries, with bonus points for working diversity oriented amateur radio groups, newly
licensed amateurs, and low-power operation.
Find the contest rules here:
prideradio.group/contest
Some details such as log submission are still being finalised but mark June 4 to June 6 on your calendars.
Pride Radio Group is an international group that aims to further acceptance and inclusion for underrepresented groups in amateur radio.
This has been Luke VK3UKW for Pride Radio Group VK3PRG.
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Celebrations to mark the BBC's Centenary began at noon on the 1st of January. The London BBC Radio Group was granted an extended Special Event radio licence by Ofcom, to operate GB100BBC throughout 2022. The amateur radio activity is one of many events organised to celebrate 100 years of the BBC, which began broadcasting from Savoy Hill in 1922.
The RSGB HF Contest Calendar for 2022, with all the rules for our contests, has been published. Go to rsgbcc.org/hf and click on the HF pages tab.
(rsgb)
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DX WINDOW
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Turks and Caicos
Operators John/AF3K and Ross/W2TT, who cancelled their operation last year due to Covid, will be active as VP5/AF3K and VP5/W2TT, respectively, from Providenciales Island (NA-002) between March 23-31st.
Activity will include an entry in CQWW WPX SSB Contest (March 26-27th) signing as VP5P.
QSL via N2OO or ClubLog's OQRS.
All logs will be uploaded to LoTW, eQSL and ClubLog
(OPDX)
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LN 1 B and LA 100 B
The Norwegian 'Bergensgruppen av NRRL' celebrates its first 100 years.
The club was founded in 1922 under the name Bergens Radio Amatr Klub and was only fitting that the club was founded in Hotel Transatlantic, only few months after the first transatlantic contact between radio amateurs.
Centenary activities will be based in the club station in Totland, Bergen.
LA100B will be activated throughout the year in many modes on HF and 6m.
During contests expect to also hear the callsign LN1B.
(IRTS)
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4 A 90, MEXICO (Special Event).
Members of the Federacion Mexicana de Radio Experimentadores (FMRE) are celebrating their 90th anniversary during January, February and March 2022 promoting each of the 31 States and Mexico City with the
32 different special event callsigns beginning 4A90 and a station
4 A 90 FMRE:
(ans)
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In 2022, the UBA, or in full, the Royal Belgian Amateur Radio Union,
will blow out 75 candles.
On the occasion of this anniversary, the HF committee will organize a special activity under the title 'UBA 75 On The Air Event' during January and February
All participating UBA sections will be in the air during the months of January and February with special prefix ON75 followed by the three-letter abbreviation of the department as a club station.
tinyurl.com/IARU-Belgium
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WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS
ASTRONOMICAL
James Webb telescope completes epic deployment sequence
It's done. The biggest astronomical mirror ever sent into space is assembled and ready for focusing.
The golden reflector, the centrepiece of the new James Webb telescope, was straightened out on Saturday into its full, 6.5m-wide, concave shape.
The mirror had been folded like a drop-leaf table for the mission's Christmas Day launch.
James Webb is set now to become a transformative tool in the study of all parts of the cosmos.
Scientists intend to use the $10bn observatory and its remarkable mirror to capture events that occurred just a couple of hundred million years after the Big Bang. They want to see the very first stars to light up the Universe.
They'll also train the telescope's big "eye" on the atmospheres of distant planets to see if those worlds might be habitable.
"Webb has the potential to blow people away, even people who are used to the pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope - and I know that's hard to imagine," said Lee Feinberg, who's led the Webb mirror development team at the US space agency (Nasa).
"Webb is so powerful, almost anywhere we look we're going to be breaking new ground in a huge way," he told BBC News.
Read the full BBC News article:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59914936
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- CW
www.morsecodeclassnet.com
The first public demonstration of the electric telegraph, which uses Morse code, was done on January 11, 1838, by inventors Samuel Breese Morse and Alfred Vail.
Learn Your Name in Morse Code Day takes place on the anniversary of that day, and was created by Brownielocks, in part because less and less people now know Morse code. As of 2007, knowing Morse code is no longer a requirement in order to get a ham radio licence, demonstrating just one example of how Morse code continues to fall by the wayside. The day was created to get people to take an interest in Morse code; Brownielocks created it to get people of all ages to at least learn their name in the code on the day.
The telegraph was the first device to send messages with electricity, by transmitting electrical signals over wires between stations. It revolutionized long-distance communicationit changed how wars were fought, how newspapers worked, and how money could be sent. Prior to its invention, messages could only be sent as fast as a horse could run.
In this day and age where almost every day is a special day, little wonder this morse day got lost in the QRM
(eHam)
The Slow Morse Club
As membership of the Slow Morse Club surpasses eight thousand this is a little reminder to those who might be thinking of joining the apparent renaissance of CW operating.
The club welcomes all who are interested in operating slow CW on air regardless of ability in the mode. For the more experienced there is the chance to coach and for the newbies, the chance to learn, and more importantly, use CW on air perhaps for the first time.
Knowing that your contact is a 'friendly face' who is not going to chastise you if the QSO doesn't quite abide by the normal conventions of CW QSOs, for example if you make a mistake, helps overcome some of the anxiety of using this most skilful of radio modes.
The club has a FaceBook page for general chit-chat and uses the Signal instant messaging app for arranging skeds and advising others of slow CW contacts in real time.
If you think you may be interested, why not look up "The Slow Morse Cub" you'll be very welcome.
(IRTS)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER
AMSAT-VK Secretary - secretary@amsat-vk.org
NASA has recognized Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) as a science education and research program. Two images of ARISS activity are among those singled out by the space agency as some of the Best Space Station Science Pictures of 2021.
tinyurl.com/2p94d6rk
ARRL Representative to ARISS-International Rosalie White, K1STO, said recognition is significant because it shows that NASA considers what ARISS does to be within the realm of science education and research.
Actually, its an honour for amateur radio, too, that this program is categorized as science education and research, White added. This is a really big deal for ARISS, and we are really proud of the team.
White feels the most important aspect of the recognition is that it shows that NASA believes in ARISSs efforts in the realm of science education and research. They call our radio contacts ISS experiments, just as we call each radio contact an ARISS experiment, she said.
tinyurl.com/2p94d6rk
(arrl)
Cat on a hot satellite dish:
Elon Musks Starlink antenna hits surprise problem
Starlinks satellite internet performance has fallen victim to felines attracted to the warmth its dish gives off on cold days
A customer tweeted a photo of five cats huddled on his Starlink dish, which links homes to more than a thousand satellites, and noted that the presence of the furtive felines had slowed his internet performance.
Starlink works great until the cats find out that the dish gives off a little heat on cold days, Aaron Taylor said.
After the photo was widely shared online, Taylor clarified that the cats had taken to the dish by choice, rather than necessity.
They have a heated cat house, with water and food, but -25C and they decide to sit on the Starlink dish. When the sun goes down, they head back to their house, he said.
The attraction may be due to a self-heating feature on the dish which is designed to melt snow. In 2020, Starlink engineers touted efforts to upgrade our snow melting ability.
Taylor said the cats attraction to his Starlink dish interrupted movie streaming and affected internet speed.
Doesnt shut it down completely but definitely slows everything down, he said.
He also said he planned to move the dish from the ground to a higher location.
(SouthGate)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- IOTA
iota-world.org
SA-023.
Operators Bob/PY6TV (using CW) and RaFael/PP2OK (on SSB) are active as ZY6A from Friars Island until today January 16.
Activity on 40/20/15/10 meters using, obviously, CW and SSB.
QSL via address on QRZ.com direct or PayPal.
(SouthGate)
OC-262. Operators Agus/YB1TDL and Budi/YC1RQZ will be active as YB1TDL/4 and YC1RQZ/4, respectively, from Rakata Island between January 15-20th. Activity will be on 40-10 meters using SSB and FT8.
QSL via HA3JB.
(SouthGate)
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2022 Social Scene
Due to the COVID-19 situation, please check these events'
direct for up-to-date status information and even without
Covid dates have an uncanny knack of being changed at last
moment.
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PORTAL
Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest news, key facts and figures,
contacts and answers to your questions.
www.health.gov.au/
VK7 - REAST Open Day Sunday January 30th 11am to 3pm (vk7wi)
VK3 - SPARC Rosebud RadioFest Feb 13 9:30AM (VK3PDG)
VK4 - REDFEST Saturday the 9th April. (vk4ftn)
VK5 - Australian Fox Hunting Championship and SERG Convention
Mt Gambier Queens Birthday weekend June (vk5dj)
NOW
THE FINAL FINAL
The Victorian Scout Jamboree VicJam has concluded and with over 7 thousand attending, was deemed a huge success. Many scouts participated in the Amateur Radio activities with the station having the special callsign VI3JAM including a contact with astronaut Mark VandeHei KG5GNP aboard the International Space Station (NA1SS). Col VK3GTV will have a special video report in this segment next week.
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 send BOTH the audio and the text
We would appreciate items certainly no longer than 1.5 mts in
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Remember the sooner you submit material the more the
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A reminder when supplying HamFest info we obviously can't
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WIA will put your supporters 'goods' in this text edition
"no worries."
We cannot give blatant 'plugs' to raffles.
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Oh... and to contact us with your news because
If It Matters To You It Matters To Us!
Click the links below to download the most recent edition of
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WIANEWS backup thanks to Brendan VK4BLP can be found on
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BACKUPS OF THE BACKUP!! thanks to Tony VK7AX
www.vk7ax.id.au/wianews/
wia.org.au/members/broadcast/wianews/ (This is the link
to the original text version and original audio on wia site)
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