![]() |
WIANEWS for week commencing February 01 2009
This WIA News, is for week commencing February One 2009 and originates from VK1WIA. Remember when you hear something that interests you as a Radio Amateur, write it out as you'd expect to hear it and email it in to We do not have deadlines, just that the sooner you get your story to us the more likelyhood we will be able to present it in the following weeks broadcast. __________________________________________________ ________________ News readers this week are from the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club, home of the Wyong Field Day __________________________________________________ ________________ This is WIANEWS for week commencing February 01 2009 This news is coming to you from the Studio of the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club at Kariong. I am Fred, VK2FSP, together with Col, VK2ZCO, Leon, VK2BLV, Geoff, VK2ZC, Peter, VK2EHQ, and Karen, VK2AKB. We invite all, who are able, to be present at our Annual Field Day, next Sunday 8th February, at the Wyong Racecourse, Wyong NSW. The C.C.A.R.C have booked a seperate room for the Saturday evening meal at the Wyong Bowling Club on Panonia Rd. Wyong. Just 3 minutes drive from the Race Course, the site of the Sunday Field Day. It is a level Site with parking available. This is the 51st C.C.A.R.C Field Day, it is looking good for Sunday Feb 8, do not forget that the main building is air conditioned for your comfort. There will be many Traders and Exhibitors who will have on show many radio items of interest for you to buy or look at. Remember this for the Amateur Radio Hobby, so come along and become part of the scene. More info, ph. (02) 4325 2182. Ray VK2 HAY. A `Talk In' will be available, for those who need directions, call VK2AFY Portable, on the Gosford 2 meter Repeater, VK2RAG, 146.725 mHz. Also, for those who are unable to attend, there will be an Amateur HF station, VK2WFD, operating at the Field Day, as propagation permits, on 80 meters, 3.595 mHz; 40 meters, 7.146 mHz; 20 meters, 14.170 mHz. A QSL Card will be available for contacts made with VK2WFD on Sunday 8th February. FREE WIA MEMBERSHIPS Yes news this week of a great new competition where not one but TWO people will receive a free 12 month WIA membership! Stay tuned!! WIA TAKES OVER Back on 28 January 2009, Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) Chairman Chris Chapman signed a Deed between ACMA and the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA). The Deed sets out the conditions under which the WIA will manage amateur examinations, the issue of certificates of proficiency and callsign recommendations for the next 5 or (at the WIA's option) 10 years. From Monday 2 February, the WIA will issue amateur certificates of proficiency, in addition to conducting amateur examinations (including special examinations). An Assessor Alert will be issued and other information about examinations will be published on the WIA website before 2 February 2009. ACMA will continue to issue callsigns until Friday 27 February 2009. From Monday 2 March 2009, the WIA will become responsible for the management of all levels of amateur callsigns, including special, repeater and beacon callsigns. Under the new arrangements, all amateurs wishing to be issued a callsign must apply to the WIA for a callsign recommendation. Upon application, the WIA will provide a recommendation for an appropriate callsign and issue a letter to the applicant. This letter will be a necessary part of ACMA's amateur transmitter licence application process. It is anticipated that a list of all callsigns available for selection will be placed on the WIA website before 2 March 2009. This list will be accompanied by a release setting out full details of the new callsign-recommendation process. Further details of the new arrangements will be posted shortly on the ACMA and WIA websites. Queries may be directed to the WIA National Office, or to ACMA by email at Belayet Robin - S21RB (http://belayet.info) tells a remarkable story of how a 79-year-old woman who was almost completely paralysed after a fall has learned to talk to her son by tapping out Morse code with her thumb. Sylvia Jones from Swansea suffered brain damage five years ago. But thanks to her schoolgirl knowledge of Morse code, she has broken her silence using sounded dots and dashes. Her communication skills were developed with her son Alan, an ex-BBC technician who rigged up a system using an old margarine tub and shower curtain ring. He had worked out how they could communicate again after sitting by her bedside for 16 weeks as she recovered from a life-saving operation. Mrs Jones's injury has left her unable to move, speak or feed herself but her understanding is unimpaired. A bunch of Optus mobile customers with Nokia N96 phones are enjoying the benefits of digital video broadcast to handheld (DVB-H) services under Australia's second trial of the technology which delivers up to 30 video channels over a single 7MHz UHF TV broadcast channel. The trial runs until Feb 28 with nine video streams The content includes: Seven Digital, ABC1, SBS Digital, Fox Sports News. Sky News Business, CNN International and Cartoon Network, MTV and MySpace Road Tour. The trial has been co-ordinated by The Australian Industry Group's (AIG) Australian Digital Suppliers Industry Forum (ADSIF), which represents handset suppliers and providers of broadcast services. The DVB-H signals are being broadcast from Broadcast Australia 's Gore Hill transmitter in Sydney. Around Australia VK1 vk1 local news email and ask for subscription. CANBERRA REGION AMATEUR RADIO CLUB. ABN 49 165 386 789 Notice of the Annual General Meeting Notice is hereby given that the annual general meeting of the members will be held on Monday the 23rd of February 2009 commencing at 8.00PM. At the Scout & Guide Hall Longeranong St. Farrer ACT. The meeting will be convened subject to rule 24(1) All members should by now have official notificatio sent by Trevor Jenner VK1FJET Secretary VK2 web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news Last chance today to contact VI2BV90 celebrating Waverley ARS's 90th Birthday VK4 web service local news:- www.wiaq.com/qnews/upload/qnewsbcast.htm local news email VKR Roundup http://www.police.qld.gov.au/News+an...edia+Releases/ The ever popular Wednesday night trivia quiz is back in South East VK4 as of February 4. Quiz master john has a new range of really trivial questions that will get the brain cells back to work. Join the Quiz master on the Redcliffe 70 cm repeater about 25 past 7 every Wednesday night. To find it's frequency check the latest WIA callbook for details. The TARC Australia Day Weekend Family Radio Camp was another great success, the torrential rain fell mainly at night, the freshwater creek behaved itself for two days before it became a raging torrent, radio conditions were good on most HF bands enabling a few contacts, lots of fun was had with Australian activities and a new batch of screen printed clothing promoting Amateur Radio is about to hit the street. These were just some of the highlights of the TARC Australia Day Weekend Family Radio Camp held at the Flinders Region Baden Powell Girl Guides Training and Camping Centre Bluewater last weekend. All we can add is that next year, if you find yourself in the Townsville area, make it a travelling highlight to attend! VK6 web service http://www.vk6.net/newswest-index.html The VK6 40 metre relay has changed frequency to 7.140 keeping it in step with the WIA band plan for news broadcasts arranged several years ago by then WIA Director Glenn Dunstan. A little later VK6 WIA news Guru VK6KAD Dennis will have more on this change. Education & Youth AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO www.hamcollege.com.au The Redcliffe club will be conducting Foundation and other radio classes in late February and anyone wishing to undertake classes, please contact club secretary, Peter VK4TAA via the club's website, just google Queensland Redcliffe, or contact via snail mail, The Secretary, Redcliffe and District Radio Club Inc, PO Box 20, Woody Point, QLD, 4019. Congratulations to Gary Wilmott who gained his standard theory at the January 13th REAST exam event. A while since we have had successful candidates notified to the news, no doubt the result of the Chrissie break! A new Hobart Foundation training event will be held in late February. So if you are interested in attending the Foundation Licence training or sit any of the amateur radio assessments (foundation, standard, advanced or practical) then let Reg VK7KK know on mobile: 0417 391 607 or email: License assessments at Wyong Field Day License assessments at for all classes of license will be conducted at Wyong Field day on the 8th February. The assessment will be held at Owners and Trainer rooms at the northern end of the grandstand. Bring your cash or credit card and photograph of yourself (35mm by 45mm) Telephone inquires can be directed to Brian Kelly VK2WBK 0418 659 043 or Col 02 4324 5576. (Terry Ryeland VK2UX Amateur Radio New South Wales Education Officer) International News With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL, Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA. Strong winds in Spain cause antenna collapses Many hams in Spain will remember this past weekend for years... Strong winds of nearly 112 miles per hour destroyed ham radio antennas in northern and Central Spain. You can see pictures and videos he www.ea1uro.com/noticias.html But it wasn't only ham radio antennas that were affected. In Cospeito, a little village in Galicia, NW of Spain, the historic III Reich huge antennas used by Hitler's troops during second world war, survived till this Sunday, when they collapsed. Regional government, Xunta of Galicia, promised to restore them asap. Several ham radio activities have activated special callsigns from this historic antenna set-up in the past months. Some pictures also in the above link. The "Arneiro Towers" are the ruins of an ancient radio-navigation system called "Elektra-Sonne" used by planes and submarines in the Atlantic sea for self-positioning (both Germans and allied forces). They were installed by the German Army during the Second World War. They are currently abandoned, so it's about to get lost an unique example of the recent history. One of the three antennas was pulled down in 2006. Nowadays the facilities are pending restoration by the Gallecian Government. But, on Sunday January 25th, the other 2 towers collapsed. More info on this: www.torresdearneiro.com (Fernando, EC1AME, Southgate) Admiral John Scott Redd, USN (ret), K0DQ, has received the National Security Medal in a White House ceremony. In one of his last official duties as President of the United States, George W. Bush recognized Redd for "his more than 40 years of exceptional service to the Nation, strengthening its intelligence capabilities and improving national security," and called Redd "an innovator, a strategic thinker, an inspirational leader and a dedicated servant to the Nation, respected for his vision, courage and integrity." The medal won by K0DQ is America's highest intelligence award. It is awarded to any citizen of the United States with distinguished achievements or outstanding contributions, on or after 26 July 1947, in the field of intelligence relating to the national security of the United States of America. (ARRL) Full size 3-element 160m beam in use The world's largest amateur radio antenna is to be been deployed on 160m at OH8X. The group at Radio Arcala erected a 39-ton, 3-element full-size monster during the week of January 19th, ready for the CQWW 160m Contest. Radio Arcala is cooperating with the University of Oulu in several areas of HF propagation study. They also welcome and acknowledge field reports to Operational News ON AIR CONTEST AND EVENT COLUMN - D A T E L I N E A reminder that your Ross Hull Memorial UHF/VHF contest Log should be in by February 15. FEB 7 NZART - PAPAKURA CW SPRINT FEB 14 NZART - PAPAKURA PHONE SPRINT FEB 28 - Mar 1 JOCK WHITE MEMORIAL FIELD DAY MAR 14 - 15 JOHN MOYLE FIELD DAY MAR 14 - 15 BERU Running till Dec 31 2009 is the 4th CQ DX Marathon AMSAT's Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2009 was a huge success thanks in a large part to the popularity of AO-51, a record 24 Best Fist winners were announced on the AMSAT web this week. ray w2rs SAID "Participation outside North America was especially high, particularly in Asia, a trend which AMSAT hope will continue. JOHN MOYLE FIELD DAY The dates this year unfortunately the dates coincide with the BERU contest on the 14th & 15th March. The date was moved last July at the request of number of operators, however next year the dates will follow the usual system of the third full weekend in March. It is worth noting that there have been a few changes to the rules for the contest. You are invited to check them at the site: www.wia.org.au and follow the links to the contest area and the John Moyle site. The rule changes will be examined and discussed next week. (Denis Johnstone ((VK4AE)) Contest Manager) SPECIAL EVENTS, BEACON DX AND NET ADVICE hf nets ON the net, www.timroberts-vk4yeh.id.au/ GB 40 WAB 40th anniversary of the WAB Till Dec 31 LY 1000 ** Millennium of Lithuania, QRV til 1st March. OP 0 LE (O-POLE) Princess Elizabeth Base Antarctica Till Feb 15 OZ 1658 ROS 350th anniversary of the Treaty of Roskilde Till Dec 31 VARIOUS SM STATIONS USING 1658 (Treaty of Roskilde) Till Dec 31 VI 2 BV90 Waverley ARS 90th Birthday Jan 24 - Feb 1 VP 9 400 /home call 400th Anniversary of Bermuda Till Dec 31 Special Event Stations On 31st January and 1st February Ted Moore, G7AIR will be operating a special event station on behalf of The Eddystone User Group at the site of the Point of Ayre Lighthouse on the Isle of Man. The callsigns used will GT3EUG on 80m, GT7EUG on 40m and GD7AIR on 160m. Special QSLs will be issued for each band and call. For further info check out Eddystone User Group website.www.eddystoneusergroup.org.uk To mark the Millennium of Lithuania, a number of club members are QRV with the prefix LY1000 until 1st March. Activity is on all bands and modes. QSL via operators' instructions In the last couple of weeks there has been much excitement over the all new VK SHIRES CONTEST. Joining us from Queensland is Bill VK4FW. "Already we have received notification from several operators who intend to go to a rarer shire for the actual contest. As well as the contest we have designed an actual VK SHIRES AWARD which will be known as WAVKSA. A full set of the rules and full list of all the shires is available from the web site www.vkshires.info Now for a couple of special competitions........ We have decided to allow all of you to come up with a design for the certificates for both the contest and for the award. Yes that's right we want you to design both varieties of certificates. Both competitions close last mail 7th Apr 2009. The competition criteria is available by sending an email to So what's in it for you........ firstly you will have printed recognition on the design, secondly we are giving a one year membership to the WIA to the 2 winners. To close I personally would like to thank all those that quickly put their hand up to sponsor all the categories in the contest for the next 3 years. Well done to you all. Oh and Paul EI5DI has added support for both sides of the VK Shires contest to SD, his HF Contest Logger. SD runs on Windows, on Linux/Wine, and on Apple Mac with Bootcamp or Parallels. It is free from www.ei5di.com WIRELESS WEATHER Ring of fi Indian Ocean see's solar eclipse A few lucky people in the Indian Ocean were treated to a rare event Monday when an annular solar eclipse transformed the Sun into a dark disc with a blazing ring-shaped corona around its rim. In solar eclipses, the Moon moves between the Sun and Earth, casting its shadow on the terrestrial surface. In an annular eclipse, a tiny shift in distance that results from celestial mechanics means the Moon does not completely cover the Sun's face, as it does in a total eclipse. Instead, for those directly under the alignment, the Moon covers most of the Sun's surface, and a ring-like crown of solar light blazes from the edge of the disk. The partial eclipse wws seen in a wide swathe, including the southern third of Africa, Madagascar, Australia, Southeast India, Southeast Asia and Indonesia. It was the only annular solar eclipse this year. The last was on 7 February, 2007, and the next one will be on 15 January, 2010. Oh and THE big event for eclipse junkies this year is on July 22, when a total solar eclipse will be visible from India and China, the world's two most populous countries. INTRUDER WATCH - ENFORCEMENT ZONE A NEW THREAT TO 24 GHZ IN EUROPE Potentially a new threat to amateur and amateur satellite operations in the 24 Gigahertz band in Europe. The European Commission has put out a call for public input and comment to prepare for a fundamental review of a decision made in 2005. This, for harmonization of the 24 Gigahertz radio spectrum for the time-limited use by automotive short-range radar equipment. In other words, unlicensed devices such as Short Range Radar and the like. Hams in Europe see this as an opportunity for commercial interests to extend, possibly indefinitely, what they see as the inappropriate use of 24 Gigahertz for these applications and are organizing their opposition to this use of the band. (EU Radio Spectrum Policy, Southgate) NO CELL JAMMING DEMO AT DC PRISON A rather strange story out of the USA, with word that a company that wanted to show how its cellular telephone jammers could be an effective crime fighting tool had its demonstration cancelled by a Washington DC area prison. The company is called CellAntenna Corporation. It announced last week that the FCC-authorized presentation has been called off at the last moment by the District of Columbia Department of Corrections. The FCC had prepared a brief in favour of the testing but the whole matter became moot when the District of Columbia Prisons cancelled the test. Media Watch With the Central Coast field day next Sunday - VK2WI News will not be conducted in the morning - its a case of everyone - the 2wi Broadcast team anyway - going to the 'fair'. In its place there will be a Saturday evening transmission at 7.30pm with the morning format. Sunday evening will be as normal .... As we reported early in the news the VK6 40 metre relay has changed frequency. yes the 40 metre relay had been on 7.075 MHz since David was sent off for rough play against the Philistines. Came the revised 40 metre band plan, and at last in VK6 the Northern Corridor Radio Group has been able to effect a change of frequency for the relay of a Sunday morning. It will now be on 7.140MHz each Sunday. The NCRG also relay the news on 3.582MHz on 80 metres, and on 10.125MHz on 30 metres each Sunday morning from their clubhouse at Ham heaven = which is Whiteman Park in the northern suburbs. Also, importantly, when you send NATIONAL NEWS an item a couple of "must do's", and these have not changed over the years, just they seem to be forgotten or not passed on to club officers after elections etc. 1/ When recording, send in the highest quality you can, keep news items to approx. 90 seconds. Club events ala HamFests 30 seconds is a fair length. 2/ After you file your audio always email the script to with words "news for such and such a date" included in title. 3/ Don't send us links to stories , always write out the story in a manner in which it can be read and pasted to our text and audio services. 4/ If you want an item run several times, write different slants on the item, running the exact same item over and over would be dull/boring and lets face it, if you can't think of anything extra to say, that is probably a good sign that it will end up being a dull event!! We do not make any promise to run even varied items pertaining to the one event week in week out until the event is held. Worldwide Special Interest Group News --- FINAL FRONTIER AMSAT-VK UNOFFICIAL HF Net. 2nd Sunday each month. November through March 0900 UTC 7.068 MHz Hams can help NASA Chris St. Cyr of the Goddard Space Flight Centre says that experienced ham radio operators can participate in the historic STEREO mission to see the far side of the sun by helping NASA capture STEREO's images. The busy Deep Space Network downloads data from STEREO only 3 hours a day. That's plenty of time to capture all of the previous day's data, but NASA would like to monitor the transmissions around the clock. Goddard are putting together a 'mini-Deep Space Network' to stay in constant contact with STEREO. The two spacecraft beam their data back to Earth via an X-band radio beacon. Anyone with a 10-meter dish antenna and a suitable receiver can pick up the signals. The data rate is low, 500 bits per second, and it takes 3 to 5 minutes to download a complete image. NASA encourages people with X-band antennas to contact the STEREO team. Signals heard from new Amateur Radio satellites Reports of signals from the new Amateur Radio satellites are being posted on the AMSAT Bulletin Board At the time of writing, STARS, PRISM and KKS-1 have been heard. Also launched were SOHLA-1 and Kagayaki Details of the new Amateur Radio satellites can be found on the AMSAT-NA site www.amsat.org Listen for these new Sats using web receiver You can listen for the new Amateur Radio satellites, launched Friday Jan 23, by using a Web based Software Defined Radio (SDR). Some of the Radio Amateurs who were involved in the very successful Delfi-C3 / DO-64 Amateur Radio satellite have made available a WebSDR receiver that listeners around the world can use to receive signals from the new Amateur Radio satellites. A WebSDR station consists of one or more receivers hooked up to a PC and internet. This enables users to tune in to different signals simultaneously. One receiver is for VLF reception and one is currently used for the 70cm satellite segment. The URL of the receiver is http://websdr.pa3weg.nl/ (Wouter PA3WEG) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- IOTA http://rsgbiota.org Island activities: EU-175, CU3-7, Azores Central Group: QRV as CU5T from Sao Jorge Island (DIP AZ-019, DFP FAZ06) until Feb 2. QSL via CT1GFK. OC-054, FW, Wallis Islands: FW5RE from Wallis Island until Feb 17. QSL via HA9RE. SA-002, VP8/F, Falkland Islands: Ghis, VP8/ON5NT, will be QRV from the Falklands until Feb 7. QSL via on5nt. SA-070, CE5, Bio-Bio Region Group: XR5L from Santa Maria Island until Feb 4. QSL via CE6AMN WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR OLD-TIMERS http://www.raotc.org.au OLD TIMERS Members and friends of the Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club Australia are reminded that the next news and information broadcast will take place on the first Monday of the Month, that is TOMORROW. 10.00 am Victorian time on 7.060 and 3.650 MHz plus 1.843 MHz AM, and 145.700. On 14.150 MHz at 01.00 UTC beaming north and 02:00 UTC west from Melbourne For those not yet retired, 8.30 PM Victorian time tune 80 mtrs 3.650 MHz WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO SCOUTING http://www.scouts.com.au http://www.scout.org/jota http://www.international.scouts.com.au CALLING FREQUENCIES Please QSY off the calling frequency after establishing communication. Australian voice calling frequencies: 3.650, 7.090, 14.190, 21.190, 28.590, 52.160 World CW calling frequencies: 3.570, 7.030, 14.060, 18.080, 21.140, 24.910, 28.180, 50.160 World voice calling frequencies: 3.690 & 3.940 MHz, 7.090 & 7.190, 14.290, 18.140, 21.360, 24.960, 28.390, 50.160 Calling frequencies for Slow Scan TV (SSTV): 3.630, 7.033, 14.227 Calling Frequencies for PSK31 14.070 The Get Radio-Active is a live-in course for Scouts of all ages who are interested in obtaining their Foundation Amateur Radio License. Information and an expression of interest form can be found at www.sresu.asn.au The camp is in Melbourne just after Easter. It's school holidays for everyone (except possibly Tasmania). The course fits perfectly for Venturers Pursuits. (Bob VK6POP JOTA Coordinator) Ham Radio's Social Scene International Telecommunication Union's Telecom World 2009. Feb 8 VK2 WYONG FIELD DAY Feb 15 VK3 The annual Yarra Valley Amateur Radio Group's White Elephant Sale is on Sunday 15th Feb at Healesville Memorial Hall, 10am. March 22 vk7 MEET THE VOICE SEWING CIRCLE BBQ Held at Ross in Tasmania April 4-5 vk4 Bunya Mts & District Amcom weekend get together at Somerset Dam Details Contact Neil VK4NF 07 4662 4950 Email April 18 WW World Amateur Radio Day June 5 - 8 VK4 FNNQARG at Cardwell Village Beachcomber Resort book on 1800 005633 Contact FNNQARG co-ordinator Gavin VK4ZZ for site booking guidance. July 11 - 12 VK3 GippsTech 2009, the technical conference with a VHF, UHF & microwave focus. August 2 vk6 Northern Corridor Radio Group's WA Hamfest. Cyril Jackson Rec Centre Fisher st Ashfield, WA email SEP 13 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest 9:30am. Goodwood Community Centre, Rosa St Goodwood. OCT 12 - 16 ZL 14th IARU R3 Conference Christchurch 12 - 16 October 2009. Details at www.christchurch.org.nz/ The Region 3 Web Site: www.jarl.or.jp/iaru-r3/ The Final Final WIANews - we've reported...YOU decide. Societies and Club News Letter Editors can EXCHANGE a feed prior to the actual broadcast date, e-mail Call-backs follow the RF editions, but also for text readers you may lodge a quick reply to let us know you read it, who knows, you might even get a "cheerio call". Thanks to to our dedicated band of broadcast volunteers who utilize their time and equipment in bringing you this weekly broadcast. The purpose of "WIANews" is to rapidly provide news of interest to active amateurs residing in Australia and the globe. We strongly encourage membership in the Wireless Institute of Australia and participation in the activities of local clubs. Opinions expressed in "WIANews" are those of the writers who submit material and do not necessarily reflect those of the rebroadcasters, nor the National WIA, but are broadcast in the spirit in which they were submitted. Material may be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form, a credit to WIANews wouldn't go astray... Compiled by VK4BB on behalf of the National WIA. |
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:45 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
RadioBanter.com