Amateur Radio
Issue No.5, 2020
Delivery date 13th November 2020
 WIA Member Digital Edition Download
Editorial
During a recent Publications Committee meeting, we discussed “themed” issues for the magazine. Perhaps the last issue (No.4) could rightly be recognised as the “Portable” issue! With three reviews of Icom’s latest rig – the IC-705 – pitched at the portable operations market, each from different perspectives, plus a ‘featurette’ on local portable operations under COVID-19 restrictions, Covid, a Clansman, a Codan and QRP in a clamshell, and even a neat segue from the SOTA and Parks column into the third IC-705 review, the issue was laden with the pleasures of portable play.
Back to PubCom’s discussion – the first topic that sprang to the collective mind of the Committee was antennas. And, what use is an antenna without a feedline? Accordingly, I present another themed issue for this era – on Antennas and Feedlines.
Hence, our feature is on the practicalities of designing and building your own open feedlines (careful . . equations!). The feature DIY project is an antenna switch for the shack with a built-in power-and-SWR meter, from the indefatigable Jim Tregellas VK5JST. It’s nicely set off by an article on a novel arboreal aerial for the MF bands. Also, we have a review of a dual-band (2m/70cm) Yagi kit, and a review of an automatic antenna matcher/tuner kit. Even our VHF/UHF and Meteor Scatter columnists have thrown-in some cogent catchwords on antennas.
COVID constrictions
Like everyone else, I have been struck by the mainstream media’s concentration on the strictures of COVID-19 lockdown. No doubt about it, dealing with the pandemic is a serious business. Lives and livelihoods are at stake.
Be that as it may, the cartoonists have at least been able to pick out some of the lighter sides of the general situation. They caused me to wryly reflect on my early career when I worked at Casey Station in Antarctica over 1970-71. The ‘everyday’ limitations of living and working at an Antarctic research station compared to living and working under COVID-19 lockdown struck me.
Indeed, the Australian Antarctic Division’s powers-that-be back then were concerned about the mental well-being of station inhabitants. In the “personal manual” every expeditioner received, suggestions were offered on relieving mental tensions from the limits of station life.
Today’s COVID “lockdownees” can look out the window or walk around the block and see green trees, and busy gardens. Locked-down in Casey, all there was to see was white, relieved by grey buildings, grey rocks, and grey masts, with perhaps a few orange vehicles scattered about. You couldn’t pop out to the shops or go out to a park.
In this era, some broadcaster shlock jocks have had a riot complaining. Lockdown? Lockdown! The egregious irony struck me about the comparative circumstances of 2020 versus 1970. For the life of me, I can’t see what those pusillanimous pussyfooter broadcasters have to properly complain about. Those who surely had the most to complain about lately – VK3s, mostly – have “taken it on the chin”, kept calm and carried on!
WIA President's Comment
WIA Presidents Comment
Member benefits re-boot:
On 25 September, the Board announced a suite of membership initiatives, leveraging a new WIA Members’ card. Several vendors have teamed up with the WIA to provide a range of discounts and savings to WIA members when using their services or purchasing goods from them. All you need to do, in most cases, is produce your membership card or quote your current membership number for online purchases.
The membership card is similar to a test conducted in the middle of the year to determine the feasibility of email as a distribution conduit – this was problematic, so we decided to use MemNet to deploy the card PDFs.
The card displays your call sign, (up to two may be shown), your membership number, membership expiry date and a list of all the current vendors participating in the benefits program – yep, that’s new, too.
If you are renewing your membership or are a new member, your membership card is simply downloaded from the WIA website via Memnet by
1) Login to Memnet with your membership number (or call sign) and Password
2) On the ‘MY WIA’ Page, select ‘Pay Invoice’
3) Select ‘Receipt’ button on the most recent invoice shown
4) Print out your last receipt
5) Cut out, fold and (optionally) laminate your Membership Card ready for use.
Discounts will vary, depending upon the retailer. Some very deep discounts are being offered by the major electronics component retailers listed on the card.
Depending on your purchases and chosen supplier, the realised annual savings alone can easily be in the order of several times the initial cost of your annual WIA membership subscription! Conditions of use, a list of current vendors and other information relating to the new program will soon be listed on the WIA website.
Imitation:
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In the digital sphere, pretending to be someone else is called ‘spoofing’. ‘Spoofing” is poorly policed on most social media because these platforms are organised like ‘walled gardens’. That is, they give the illusion that nothing exists in the wider internet outside the wall. This is logical, as their primary purpose is to keep you within the wall for as long as possible. So, please be aware that there are one or more spoof pages purporting to be the WIA and it is often difficult to tell them from the real thing at first glance. Find the real WIA: https://www.wia.org.au or https://www.facebook.com/wiavk
Spectrum Intruders:
For HF band enthusiasts who have been active on the bands recently, you may have experienced better propagation, especially in the higher frequencies. Along with that come intruders to our bands, whether in the form of Over the Horizon Radar (OTHR), taxis on 10m FM, or just the annoying fishing boats, usually all from our northern neighbours. The WIA’s IARU Monitoring System (WIMS) is a part of the IARU’s global monitoring activities of the Amateur Service across all three IARU regions. Australia belongs to IARU Region 3 (R3). Information is shared with other national societies within the R3 region and other regions to assist with locating and identifying intruders.
The WIA has a long established arrangement whereby amateurs can report possible unauthorised (non- amateur) transmissions in our primary HF bands to the WIMS Coordinator. The WIA’s IARU Monitoring System Coordinator is Peter VK3MV, email via: intruders@wia.org.au. Reports of identified intruders are also lodged with the relevant spectrum management administration to facilitate removal action to be taken.
The WIA IARU Monitoring System is an agreed mechanism between the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the WIA to identify and then instigate compliance action to remove non- amateur intruders that are causing substantial interference to Australian amateurs in our primary Amateur HF bands. The ACMA interprets substantial interference as “that level of interference which degrades reception by a considerable degree”. The ACMA is obliged under the WIA IARU Monitoring System mechanism to investigate and, as much as is practical, resolve intrusions into amateur HF bands where Australian amateurs have Primary status.
The agreed procedure between the ACMA and the WIA for forwarding intruder complaints from the WIA is a nine-point process, which can be found on the WIA website, at: www.wia.org.au/members/protecting/about/
Summary:
The WIA Board and the many other volunteers who support our 110 year young organisation are continually working on current programs and new initiatives to increase the relevance and value of WIA membership. Whether that be via international representation to the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), at World Radio Conferences (WRCs), local representation to the ACMA (Australian Communications & Media Authority) or the AMC (Australian Marine College). It is also providing support and benefits at an operational level at local WIA affiliated radio clubs, or in the home and ‘ham shack’ directly via our new benefits program.
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Table Of Contents
Technical
Building your own open feeders – simples
Roger Harrison VK2ZRH and Andy Sayers VK3ES
A novel arboreal aerial for the 630m and 160m MF bands - Leigh Turner VK5KLT
Build this antenna switch with power-and-SWR meter for the HF bands - Jim Tregellas VK5JST
Snag satellites with this 2-band Yagi kit - Andy Keir VK2AAK
Homebrew HF Transceiver project Part 3 VFO System - Luigi Destefano VK3AQZ
Switch that coil, change them ohms - Nigel Dudley VK6NI
General
When governments ruled the aether - Peter Wolfenden VK3RV,
Ross Hull Memorial VHF-UHF Contest - Rob Heyer VK2XIC
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