NZART Headquarters Infoline Issue 219
21-NOVEMBER-2010
NZART Website: http://www.nzart.org.nz/index.html

In This Issue
*From The Business Manager ZL2TDM
*Internet Connected Amateur Radio
*FMTAG Notes For 21 November(2) 2010
*From November 2010 Business Update - Updating Your Client Record
*Radio Amateurs of Canada Vision Statement 2010-11-14
*The Doctor is in: Pacemakers and RF
*Fries With That?
*RSGB to Investigate Mystery Signal
*Metal-Insulator-Metal Diode
*Web Update
*Wellington EXPO-11
*Upcoming Events
*Contest News
==VHF/UHF/SHF Contest Notes
==HF Contests
*Housekeeping
*Attachment(s) for Branches: NZART Headquarters Infoline 219.doc

*******
Please think of the environment before printing this e-mail
From The Business Manager ZL2TDM
Debby says...
Repeater Licensing Fees
Doug ZL2TAR will have sent all those branches who are due to renew their
annual repeater and beacon licenses a reminder to do so. For those who have
received and paid this fee, I have sent an invoice back to the branch,
stamped as having been paid. If your branch is unsure if a payment has been
made, please check to see if you have received this stamped invoice from me.
The addresses used to forward these receipted invoices are all taken from
Call Book 2010/2011.

Failure to pay the fee will result in your license lapsing.

Many branches choose to pay by direct credit to the NZART bank account,
which I do appreciate, however as I am also receiving a considerable number
of subscription payments directly into the account, a payment may be
overlooked, therefore where possible, please send me an e-mail confirming
the date and amount you have submitted for payment for your licenses.

Remits and Elections
Only one month to go before the cut off, for nominations to Council and
remit submissions. If your branch is considering submitting a remit, please
ensure it reaches this office before 31 December and I have acknowledged
receipt in writing either by e-mail or snail mail.

Nominations to Council will also receive an acknowledgement from the
Returning Officer Evan Sayer. As Evan does not call into the office on a
regular basis, please allow a couple of weeks before you receive this
acknowledgement.

Subscriptions Eligible For The Rebate
Only a few more days left for you to be eligible for the $15 rebate on your
2011 subscriptions. If you are paying by regular automatic payment into our
bank account, the rebate does not apply.

Talk soon...Debby ZL2TDM

Internet Connected Amateur Radio
Members may recall that the ALO asked in Infoline 210 for input to a paper
he was putting together, at Radio Spectrum Management’s request, on the
topic of Internet Connected Amateur Radio.

RSM have now completed their review of this topic and have concluded that no
changes are required to the current Amateur General User Radio Licence
conditions to accommodate Internet-connected amateur radio modes such as
APRS, IRLP, D-Link, etc. provided:

1.. the transmissions are taking place from an Amateur operator's
property; and
2.. frequency coordination with non-amateur services is not required.
Normal repeater licensing procedures will continue to apply to those
circumstances where frequency coordination is required and/or the
internet-connected device is located at a site belonging to a non-amateur
third party such as Kordia, Telecom, etc.

Also, in operating Internet-connected systems, Amateurs need to be aware of
the provisions of section 5.3 of the Amateur General User Licence (GURL), as
well as Regulation 25.2 of the International Radio Regulations:

“Transmission between amateur stations of different countries shall be
limited to communications incidental to the purposes of the amateur service,
as defined in 1.56 and to remarks of a personal character.”

Don Wallace ZL2TLL NZART Administration Liaison Officer (ALO)

20101117

FMTAG Notes For 21 November(2) 2010
Correction
There was an error in the map reference for the Branch 33 application,
published in HQ InfoLine 218. The corrected version is:
Branch 33 Rotorua has applied for a 2 metre APRS Digipeater at Makatiti
Dome, Topo50 map reference BE38 038.75 730.97. An engineering evaluation
confirms that there will be no interference to other stations and that the
transmit and receive frequency will be 144.575 MHz.

MED Licence Renewals - A Reminder
The majority of Beacon, Link, and Repeater Licences are due for renewal
before the end of November. At the beginning of November, FMTAG advised all
of the Branches involved and advised that payment needed to be made to NZART
HQ before the licences would be renewed.

Our thanks go to all Branches who renewed early, to avoid the last minute
rush.

There is now one week remaining before the MED SMART system starts
cancelling licences due to non-payment. The MED fee for re-instating
licences, lost through non-payment, is $408.89.

Some payments may be in transit, such as bank transfers made on Friday the
19th of November, or cheques posted on Wednesday the 17th or Thursday the
18th, or later.

As at close-of-business on Friday the 19th of November, Licence Fee payments
had not been received at NZART HQ from the following Branches:

08 Eastern Southland
11 Gisborne
12 Hamilton
26 Nelson
29 North Shore
30 Otago
33 Rotorua
34 South Canterbury
35 South Otago
42 Titahi Bay
49 Westland
51 Eastern Bay of Plenty
56 Christchurch West
60 Taupo
61 Central Otago
62 Reefton-Buller
64 North Otago
66 Auckland VHF
75 Queenstown
78 Far North
87 South Taranaki
CARDS

Proposals
Branch 74 Wellington VHF Group has applied for a Spectrum Licence on TV
Channel 39 for its Belmont ATV repeater, to replace its previous Radio
Licence, cancelled by the MED as part of the Digital Switch-Over process.
The location is Belmont, Topo50 map reference BQ32 568.79 398.86. All of the
engineering parameters are unchanged from those of the cancelled licence.

Final Recommendations to NZART Council
None this time

Comments and Applications
Please send your comments and suggestions on the above matters, and on any
other FMTAG matters, by e-mail to:
?subject=FMTAG_INFOLINE
Applications for repeaters, beacons, digipeaters, point-to-point links, and
so on, should be made on the latest version of FMTAG Form 10. The latest
versions of FMTAG Form 10, and the explanatory Form 10A, are available at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/fmtag/index.html
Completed forms should be sent by e-mail to:
?subject=FMTAG_INFOLINE
END

From November 2010 Business Update: Updating Your Client Record
While updating your client record in SMART is as easy as a phone call to
0508 RSM INFO (0508 776463), we realise that it is easy to forget to do this
when your contact details or addresses change.

For radio licence and spectrum licence holders the annual fee payment serves
as a reminder. However, there are a range of other clients (notably maritime
and amateur call sign holders) that do not receive this memory jog.

We are presently exploring options for a more proactive approach to checking
client records on a regular basis - perhaps on a 3-5 year cycle.

In the meantime, if you haven't checked your client details in SMART
recently, you are encouraged to log on and do so. If you don't know your
log-in, call RSM INFO for assistance.

ZL1DK

Radio Amateurs of Canada Vision Statement 2010-11-14
Vision for RAC as unanimously agreed upon by the Board of Directors and
Executive of the Radio Amateurs of Canada:

"The Board and Executive of the Radio Amateurs of Canada, committed to the
future of Amateur Radio in Canada and to the future of RAC, held a planning
meeting in Ottawa from October 29th to October 31st as part of a process to
map the future of RAC in the 21st Century. The Board and Executive have
unanimously agreed upon a draft Vision for RAC."

See the complete statement at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/html/2010/06-news.html#nov08

The Doctor is in: Pacemakers and RF
Schley Cox, W4AMW, of Owensboro, Kentucky, told the Doctor that he's headed
to see the cardiologist next week about a pacemaker. He's already started
researching their use around RF and says he is happy to go all low power
(QRP), if that's what's called for. Schley mentioned that he might also be
able to operate his rig remotely -- perhaps 20 feet away, but he needs to
know how to measure stray RF in the shack itself.

Here's what the Doctor had to say:
I haven't received actual reports of any pacemaker problems and that seems
to go along with the info on the ARRL Web site
http://www.arrl.org/pacemaker.
Note that there are no power levels (or field strength) limits noted there,
nor have I found any on manufacturers' Web sites. Thus knowing the actual
field strength level in the station may not help. If it were me, I would
start by talking to my physician. She won't be able to give you power
limits, but perhaps could indicate symptoms to watch for while on the air so
you could take appropriate action quickly if called for.

I would start with a careful RF safety evaluation, as required by the FCC
anyway. While the FCC guidelines were not based on pacemaker interference,
they should result in a reasonably safe environment. If your station is
properly set up -- without common mode feed line current, for example --
most radiation should surround the antenna and there should not be much RF
within the shack.

Calibrated RF field strength meters are available, but are quite expensive.
Relative measurement is pretty easy -- look at any recent ARRL Handbook. If
you had a simple field strength meter running at all times in the station
(I'm thinking the diode and microampmeter type that doesn't require power),
you could see if anything changed, and diagnose and repair as needed.

Thanks Doctor! Do you have a question or a problem? Send your questions via
e-mail or to "The Doctor," ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT
06111 (no phone calls, please). Look for "The Doctor Is IN" every month in
QST
http://www.arrl.org/qst,
the official journal of the ARRL.

Fries With That?
McDonald's Australia is launching contactless credit card technology in its
stores that will allow customers to pay without swiping, signing or using a
PIN.

The technology, to be rolled out later this month, follows a number of other
merchants moving into the contactless payment space, including convenient
store chain 7-Eleven.

"With Visa payWave, customers see speedier transactions and they can pick up
their food with just a wave of their card," McDonald's chief information
officer Henry Shiner said in a statement.

A number of banks and financial institutions are already beginning to
distribute contactless-payment cards, which operate via radio frequencies.
Both the banks and merchants are emphasising the use of up-to-date security
measures.

RSGB to Investigate Mystery Signal
Many UK amateurs who operate on 501-504 kHz have reported over the past
month reception of an wideband signal between 498 and 502kHz.

The RSGB is investigating the matter, but it is possible that it is an early
trial of a so called e-Navigation MFSK system that the maritime service is
proposing for this part of the spectrum at WRC-12 preparation meetings.

http://www.rsgb.org.uk/

Metal-Insulator-Metal Diode
Creation of a high-performance 'metal-insulator-metal' diode could change
modern electronics.

Researchers at Oregon State University have solved a quest in fundamental
material science that has eluded scientists since the 1960s, and could form
the basis of a new approach to electronics.

The discovery, just reported online in the professional journal Advanced
Materials, outlines the creation for the first time of a high-performance
"metal-insulator-metal" diode.

Diodes made previously with other approaches always had poor yield and
performance".

Read more at:
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=18741.php

Web Update
It is planned to change the NZART Web to a SilverStripe Contents Management
System (CMS) during the weekend of 27/28-November-2010. There will be a
minimum interuption as the change to the new web system will be transparent
to users. Below is some information on the SilverStripe CMS.

SilverStripe CMS
A website editor is a busy person. The editor must be able update the site
easily and be confident that changes come out the way the editor intended.
Editors may also manage other staff with various technical skills
contributing content to they site, and editors don't have a lot of time to
train all the contributors.

With the SilverStripe CMS, website editors don't need be familiar with
complex web applications—or even know HTML. You can get started in very
little time—a typical training session with one of our clients takes no more
than an hour or two. You and your staff can quickly start taking advantage
of powerful features. For example, you can:

1.. Create new pages and drag and drop them where you want them to be in
the sitemap.
2.. Edit and style content in an editor that uses a formatting toolbar
that is familiar to anyone who uses word processing software.
3.. Easily insert links, images, Flash animations, and video into your
content.
4.. Copy and paste content directly from Microsoft Word.
5.. View a draft of your content changes before publishing them on the
live site.
6.. Publish multiple changes to your site with one click.
7.. Assign different user roles and permissions for each section or page
of your site.
8.. View older versions of a page, and roll back to a previous version, if
needed.
In addition to these editing features, the SilverStripe CMS generates
search-engine friendly and accessible websites. Your website will be easily
found by search engines and used by visitors with different abilities and
technical setups. All these features are included in the SilverStripe CMS
out of the box.

SilverStripe 2.4 Site Editing Overview from SilverStripe on Vimeo.

To see SilverStripe CMS in action, watch the above video for content
editors, or try SilverStripe CMS for yourself in our online demo.

Places you may also like to visit:
1.. Silverstripe.org - This is the home for our open source CMS and
Sapphire application framework. If you you want to learn about or get
involved in our developer community, or learn more about how to develop with
our tools then this is the place for you.
2.. Understanding the BSD License - Here you'll find more information
about our chosen open source license, Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD),
and what it means for you.
3.. Philosophy - What we believe in and why we do what we do.
Jamie Pye ZL2NN


WELLINGTON EXPO-11
&
VHF CONVENTION
The Wellington Region EXPO-11 is to be held on
Easter Saturday 23rd April 2011
in conjunction with the
VHF CONVENTION
at Tawa College
Admission is $4. This includes a free drink and entry into the various
raffle draws.
Listen out for the raffle draws throughout the day by MC ZL2BHF.
This will be the seventh Wellington Region trading of radio equipment. There
will be the usual trade displays, trade sales of new amateur equipment and
trading tables of used equipment
Refreshments - coffee, sodas, buns & cakes will be available.
All inquiries for the table sale and bookings to:-
Gavin Cross ZL2TVM Email Address:

ZL2HO



Some items in this issue, with thanks, from Wireless Institute of Australia
(WIA), The Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) and American Radio Relay League
(ARRL) Newsletters
From The Radio Amateurs of Canada Web Site
"Amateur Radio exists as a frequency spectrum user because it qualifies as a
service. Its continued existence depends to a great degree not on the
service it has performed in the past, or on its simple potential for
service, but on what service it is performing now and will continue to
perform in the future."

Upcoming Events
1.. New Zealand Amateur Radio Day
http://www.nzart.org.nz/html/2010/05-news.html#aug06
2.. Te Puke Amateur Radio Club Inc. Sale 5-March-2011
http://www.nzart.org.nz/tepuke-53/index.html
3.. Wellington EXPO-11 & VHF Convention 23-April-2011
http://www.nzart.org.nz/events/2010/expo-2011.html
4.. UPPER HUTT NZART Conference 2011 -
Pre-registration Prize Draw and Update
http://www.nzart.org.nz/html/2010/Conference-2011.html
Contest News
VHF/UHF/SHF Contest
The next contest is the FIELD DAY CONTEST, 4/5-DECEMBER-2010
The rules are at: http://www.vhf.org.nz/VHF-UHF-SHF-ContestRules

Contest Calendar 2010
VHF/UHF/SHF Field Day (1st SAT DEC) 04/05-Dec-2010
Kiwi Digital Modes Group Twin Sprint Contest 04/05-Dec-2010

Contest Calendar 2011
VHF++ DX Weekend Contest (1st SAT FEB) 05/06-FEB-2011
***Boat Anchor Sprint (2nd SAT FEB) 12-FEB-2011
2011 PACC (Dutch) DX Contest 12/13-FEB-2011
ARRL CW 19/20-FEB-2011
Jock White Field Day (last full WE FEB) 26/27-FEB-2011


***Future Contests
In the results, received from ZL2KH, for the Nostalgia Night Contest, held
on Saturday, 11 September 2010 there was a footnote that said:
"Because of a lack of participation, Mike ZL1MDS and Barrie ZL2LA have
decided that Boat Anchor Sprints and Nostalgia Night contests will be
cancelled in the meantime."

Housekeeping
1.. Break-In-Closing Date Reminder: Copy for the JANUARY/FEBRUARY issue of
Break-In-closes on 10-JANUARY-2011
2.. Break-In-Document File Format: Please do not send copy for publication
as Word 2007.docx files; they cannot be processed. Please send in Word 2003
(or earlier).doc or .rtf file format
3.. Break-In- Early receipt of copy is much appreciated
4.. Break-In-Yearly Contents Index from 1947 can be found at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/breakin/index/index.html
5.. Break-In-AREC Column The close-of-copy date is the 03-JANUARY-2011 for
articles for publication in the AREC COLUMN OF BREAK-IN. Photos, if
available, to be on a separate floppy or CD (with captions), posted DIRECTLY
TO US. Use Call Book address. All other material can go to e-mail:
or
6.. The ARRL and WIA Weekly News can be found at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/news_old/index.html
7.. Subscribe to and Un-Subscribe From Infoline. Please go to web at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/lists/infolinelist.html
Next NZART Official Broadcast is on SUNDAY 28-NOVEMBER-2010
Next HQ-Infoline e-mailed on SUNDAY 05-DECEMBER-2010
Headquarters-Infoline is a twice-monthly bulletin of news from NZART
Headquarters. News and items of a general or technical interest are also
included that are obtained from various amateur sources. The bulletins are
e-mailed directly to Branches, the amateur radio packet Bulletin Board
Service and to others that subscribe through the NZART Website at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/lists/infolinelist.html

Past and present Infolines can be found at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/infoline/index.html
Where HTML, PDF and DOC formats can be found for the 2010 e-mailed Issues of
Infoline.

A yearly timetable of when to expect the Official Broadcast and Infoline can
be found at:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/html/2010/2011-tt.html

Regards, Jamie Pye ZL2NN, Editor