eHam.net News

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VK6WIA, NewsWest for Sunday 25 December:

Posted: 24 Dec 2016 03:12 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38306


Welcome to a very special Christmas edition
of NewsWest, brought to you by the team at WA
Amateur Radio News - and thank you for
joining us.


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WIA Members to Decide Composition of the Next Board:

Posted: 23 Dec 2016 04:42 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38305


Following the resignation of two directors, WIA members are to decide the
composition of the seven-member Board through the annual election process
now under way. In the ordinary course of events, Phil Wait VK2ASD would
have another year as a Director, but has agreed to end his term to enable
the membership to decide all positions. On Sunday 18 December, Directors
Paul Simmonds VK5PAS and Andrew Smith VK6AS tendered their resignations. In
addition, Treasurer Chris Hendry VK3PAT and Assistant Treasurer Jeff
Tubbenhauer VK5IU, also tendered their resignations. Remaining Directors
Phil Wait VK2ASD, Fred Swainston VK3DAC, Ewan McLeod VK4ERM, Roger Harrison
VK2ZRH, and Robert Broomhead VK3DN, will vacate their positions on the
Board at the next AGM. Your Board is fully committed to the principle that
the future leadership of the WIA shall be determined through the
transparent and democratic process, whereby people are encouraged to offer
themselves as candidates with selection process by way of a members' votes.
Allowing Board members to select and adopt short-term replacement board
members to fill the vacancies resulting from resignations is something the
current Board is opposed. The current makeup of the Board is as follows:
President, Phil Wait VK2ASD, Vice-President Fred Swainston VK3DAC, with
directors Ewan McLeod VK4ERM, Robert Broomhead VK3DN, Roger Harrison
VK2ZRH; and Secretary Jim Linton VK3PC. No casual vacancies are intended to
be filled.


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Story Time w/Aunt Phil: Ham Radios in Alaska:

Posted: 23 Dec 2016 04:41 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38304


Christmas messages today fly across the internet and cell phones, as people
wish loved ones a happy holiday season. But before the Internet and cell
service became synonymous with instant communication, Alaska's remote
villages relied on a military network of telephone-telegraph radiophone
stations to relay messages, weather and news. Only a few cables reached a
few Alaska cities back in the mid-1900s, so messages from Alaska
Communication System stations were transmitted to and from radiophone
stations scattered all over the territory. With no roads or other forms of
modern communication, these radiophones were the lifeline for bush Alaska
and aviation. Weather reports shared over the airwaves helped prepare early
aviators for conditions along their flight paths. Every bush community had
many antenna poles sticking high into the air, and often more than one
battery-operated radio set in several homes. And weather information wasn't
the only information relayed across this system. Radio waves hummed every
evening as interested listeners tuned in their sets on every schedule,
which they knew by heart, according to an article in Alaska Call in
September 1959.