|
|
WIANEWS WEEK COMMENCING May 29 2011.
COMMEMORATIVE STATION VK5MGY
VK3EW on top of the DXCC again
Worked All VK Shires Award
Wappa Falls Observatory
THESE STORIES AND MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE
OF AUSTRALIA FOR WEEK COMMENCING MAY 29 2011.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A NOBLE Park principal has won one of the top education awards in Victoria.
Silverton Primary School principal Tony Bryant won the outstanding school
leadership award at the Education Department's awards night on May 13.
Peter Hall, the Minister for the Teaching Profession, said Silverton Primary
School staff and students were regarded as leaders in the use of technology in
teaching and learning, thanks to Mr Bryant.
Mr Hall said one example was the school's establishment of its own television
and FM radio stations.
"Tony has been instrumental in ensuring information and communications
technology is embedded into the curriculum - and has transformed his school
into a global learning community.
Mr Bryant not only gained the prestige of being voted Victoria's most
outstanding school leader but also won up to 10 weeks of paid leave and $50,000.
(greaterdandenongweekly.com.au)
SPACE FACE
NASA submissions to the Space Shuttle Program's "Face in Space" campaign
for the STS-134 mission.
Participants submit photos for uplink to Endeavour via the Mission Control
Centre at NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston. The images will return
to Earth through a data transmission, and contributors will be able to
print certificates verifying their photos flew aboard Endeavour.
More photos already have been submitted to fly aboard the last shuttle
mission targeted to launch July 8. Submissions will be accepted through to
the lift-off date. To take part in the STS-135 Face in Space campaign,
visit: http://faceinspace.nasa.gov
HAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA.
VK1
22nd June General Meeting features TWO Presentation Topics back to back:
Morse Code "Show and Tell" night.
A night of sharing information and experiences for everyone, particularly those
with an interest in Morse Code and associated techniques.
"SHOW" Bring along your paddles, keyers, oscillators, QRP Tx's, projects,
historical items, etc for a static or live display.
"TELL" Share your code learning experiences, anecdotes, secrets etc. with short
individual presentations.
The second Presentation Topic by Dimitrios Tsifakis VK1SV is:
A 5 minute talk on the history / activities of the 600m band, and a LF/HF and
QRSS computer system.
VK2
web service:- http://www.arnsw.org.au/html/news_vk2wi.htm
VKG Roundup http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news
TRASH & TREASURE AT VK2WI.
This Sunday the 29th is the Trash & Treasure event at the VK2WI Dural site.
New stock has arrived since the last T & T which should interest you.
Major items are listed on the ARNSW website under DISPOSALS.
Commencing at 9.30 am it will be followed in the early afternoon by the
Homebrew and Experimenters Group meeting. Also in the morning there will be
the usual license assessments - Those wishing to undertake an assessment should
attend by 10 am.
Further information may be obtained on the ARNSW phone 02 9651 1490 or
mobile 0400 445 829.
Chainsaw Day
This to be held at the Summerland Club Rooms Lismore June 4 to reduce pesky
trees from the yard and solar radius. WORKERS NEEDED, HET ALONG TO SCARC rooms.
TELSTRA
The St George Amateur Radio Society will be holding their next meeting at the
Telstra Museum, Wednesday evening 1st of June, at 12 Kitchener Parade, Bankstown.
VK4 - QNEWS
web service local audio news:- www.wiaq.com/ftp/vk4_qnews_64.mp3
local news email qnews-vk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
VKR Roundup http://www.police.qld.gov.au/News+and+Alerts/Media+Releases/
Welcome to QNews from VK4WIA. I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I've been thinking.
When we come to choosing those who will manage our club affairs, it is necessary
to find people we can trust.
It was not surprising that others have been addressing these issues. Writing in
WorldRadio Online, May issue, Dave Hayes, VE3JX, looks over these qualities, as
viewed by the QCWA - that's the US Quarter Century association not the local
ladies in VK4.
http://www.worldradiomagazine.com/
Knowledge of the area, such as finances for the treasurer, common sense and
humility are some of the qualities which are examined. This is a practical set
of criteria used by a large body with local to national structures. At the local
level, clubs are often faced with the struggle to maintain membership and can
really be challenged at finding active members who volunteer for club positions.
None the less, I believe it is important that we all think over these ideas.
We may not be available to fill a role for our club but we may have a say in
electing some-one who will. If we are clear in our own minds of the qualities
we value, it will be that much easier to make our vote count.
I'm Geoff Emery and that's what I think....how about you?
VK5
1912 THE EVENT - COMMEMORATIVE STATION VK5MGY
This item we broadcast last week about VK5MGY was picked up by the SARL who
noted.
"Interesting, the detector of the receiver on the Carpathia, by which the
emergency call from the Titanic was received, was in the Telkom museum when the
museum was still in Pretoria. SARL trust that it is still well looked after."
Check out the event web site 1912theevent.com.
VK7
local area news :- http://reast.asn.au/news.php
vk7 local news, email vk7regionalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
North West Tasmanian ATV Group Members are notified that the Club's next
General Meeting is scheduled to be held on Saturday 4th. June, commencing
2.00 PM at the home of Tony VK7AX, 5 Kywong Crescent, Ulverstone.
Tony will demonstrate the configuration of his Video Streaming setup.
Persons in the N/West Area of VK7 interested in Training and Assessments
for all classes of Amateur Radio Licenses are advised that NWTATV Club can
provide these requirements and much more.
Contact details can be found on the Club Web Site or the WIA site under
VK7 Clubs.
(Tony VK7AX, President - North West Tas. ATV Group)
HOME OF THE GOOD GUYS
Toowoomba ARC suffered a lightning strike to their repeater, SARC gave
them some gear to help get it back on air.
EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO
www.hamcollege.com.au
The Illawarra Amateur Radio Society in New South Wales, currently has a
construction competition running. Entry is available in two categories:-
The First is for IARS club members.
The second category is for all other amateur radio operators within VK.
Entry is easy, simply, build a crystal set!
Judging will be based on some simple rules:-
The crystal set must work i.e. receive a transmitted signal.
The crystal set can receive either commercial, broadcast or amateur signals.
No external power other than the received signal can be used.
Additional points will be gained by utilizing recycled parts, or home made
components.
Additional points will be gained for Innovative design, and unique concepts.
The finished article does not need to be ascetically pleasing.
Testing will be carried out at Industry World Centre, Wollongong NSW.
A full set of rules are available on the society's web site www.iars.org.au
The judging of the contest will be at the IARS November meeting.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to RSGB, Southgate AR Club, the ARRL,
Amateur Radio Newsline, NZART and the WW sources of the WIA.
CHURCH AUDIO HEARD ON 10 METERS
Illegal broadcasts from at least one church have been heard on 28.265 MHz by
hams in Germany and as a result, amateurs world-wide are being requested to
listen AROUND 28.265 in order to identify the station and its location.
If you hear it, please send your report the IARU Monitoring System Coordinator.
NEWS REPORTS SAY JET BLUE TERMINAL AT JFK NYC IS RADIO DEAD ZONE
According to recent news reports, the $743
million Jet Blue Airlines terminal at JFK Airport
in New York is a police radio dead zone. One
that puts Port Authority police officers in a
Ground Zero like communications blackout zone
that has already led to a number of police injuries.
A permanent fix will cost an estimated $3 million
and is many months away from completion. In the
meantime Port Authority police officers assigned
to the terminal are reportedly given
pre-programmed cell phones at the start of their
shifts to call the JFK police command if an emergency crops up.
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: MAKING GREEN LED'S MORE EFFICIENT
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
has lead to the development of a new method for
manufacturing green-colored Light Emitting Diodes
with greatly enhanced output.
The research team, led by Physics Professor
Christian Wetzel began by etching a nano-scale
pattern at the interface between the LED's
sapphire base and the layer of Gallium Nitride.
The latter is what gives the LED its green colour.
This new technique results in green LED's with significant
enhancements in light extraction, internal efficiency, and
light output. This discovery brings Wetzel and his team
one step closer to the goal of developing a high performance,
low-cost green Light Emitting Diodes.
Results of the study were published recently in
the journal Applied Physics Letters, and are
featured in the April 25th issue of the Virtual
Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology.
The latter is published by the American Institute of
Physics and the American Physical Society.
HUMAN MOVEMENT COULD REPLACE BATTERIES
Powering your hand held radio or other electronic
device that converts movement into power could be
on the horizon. This as a team of researchers in
New Zealand say that they are trying to develop
what they call wearable energy harvesters"
capable of converting movement from humans or
found in nature into battery power.
According to Science Daily, the new technology is
based on a class of variable capacitor generators
known as dielectric elastomer generators to
D-E-G's. The scientific investigations currently
underway say that these devices shows great
potential for wearable energy harvesting. In
fact, researchers at the Auckland Bioengineering
Institute's Biomimetics Lab believe D-E-G's may
enable the creation of light weight,
form-fitting, and silent energy harvesters with
excellent mechanical properties that match human muscle.
The findings are described in the American
Institute of Physics' journal Applied Physics
Letters. More on this emerging new technology is
on-line at tinyurl.com/3vfsyry.
TV OWNERSHIP DECLINES
In what experts are attributing to both the
current economic slide and the rise of
alternative digital devices, ownership of
television sets in the U.S. has dropped for the first time in 20 years.
According to the A.C. Nielsen ratings service,
96.7 percent of American households currently own
TVs, down from 98.9 percent.
That's a drop of 2.2% in the past two decades.
According to news articles quoting Nielsen, there
appear to be two reasons for the decline. The
first is purely economic. Simply said, some
low-income households no longer own TV sets, most
likely because they cannot afford new digital
receivers and outdoor antennas. Likely, when
their older non-digital sets using converter
boxes fail and can no longer be repaired they
simply walk away from any form of in-home visual entertainment.
The other is technological know-how among the
current generation of younger viewers. There are
the pre-teens, teens and young adults who are
growing up with laptop computers rather than the
traditional television remote control of their
parents era. As they reach adulthood they are
simply opting not to buy TV sets. Instead, they
are watching their television shows and other
forms of entertainment streamed live over the Internet.
SPECIAL EVENTS AND ON AIR CONTEST COLUMN - D A T E L I N E 2011
CONTEST RESULTS
NASA has announced the winners of its 'Original Song Contest' after six weeks
of public voting. You will recall here on VK1WIA National News we told how
songs will awaken the STS-134 astronauts aboard space shuttle Endeavour during
their ongoing mission.
"Sunrise Number 1" by Jorge Otero and the band Stormy Mondays from Spain,
earned first place.
Shuttle Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Greg H. Johnson, Mission Specialists
Mike Fincke, Drew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and Roberto Vittori of the
European Space Agency will hear the song at 5:56 p.m. EDT on May 31 - the day
before the crew returns to Earth. "Sunrise Number 1" received 787,725 votes, or
49.8 percent of the total ballots.
"Dreams You Give" by Brian Plunkett earned second place with 38.8 percent.
It will wake the crew at 6:56 p.m. on May 30.
The public cast over 1.5 million votes!
To listen to the songs and see the all the results, visit:
https://songcontest.nasa.gov/voteOrigResult.aspx
Aug 20-21 WW I.L.L.W.
The ILLW a real hit in VK7
The event has grown each year with VK7 having with nine slotted in so far
compared with only seven the entire previous year.
VK7DB Sandy Cape, VK7EM Mersey Bluff, VK7HKN Eddystone Point, VK7NET Table Cape,
VK7KT Bluff Hill, VK7VTX Low Head, VK7ZM Rocky Cape, VK7ZE Cape Wickham
who will join VK3VTH portable 7 Currie Light - both on King Island.
Information about the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend to be held
on the weekend of August the 20th and 21st, can be found at the website
http://illw.net/
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS, DX and BEACON AND NET ADVICE
On top of the DXCC again
The DX world became aware of the constitutional changes for the now the
former, Netherlands Antilles.
The ARRL DX Desk had decided that from 10 October last year four new DXCC
entities would begin.
In anticipation of the great event, a number of DXpeditions were
announced. Like many around the world, David McAulay VK3EW has gained the
necessary QSL's.
Then he noticed no-one had yet filed them with the WIA Awards Manager. The
WIA has long mirrored the ARRL program and the rulings of its DX Desk.
David VK3EW subscribes to the WIA DXCC only.
Finally the process was completed and once again he is proud to be at the
top of the Australian DXCC list.
He now has the DXCC of standing 348/340, which includes eight deleted DX
entities.
Well done and the effort you made, which shows you are deserving of being
on the top again.
(Jim Linton VK3PC)
MAY
In DX, the Intrepid-DX Group and the DX Friends plan to activate the Southern
Sudan as a new country on or after July 9th. At airtime members of the two
groups report that they are in consultation with representatives of the new
Southern Sudan Government, the International Telecommunications Union and the
International Amateur Radio Union working on making arrangements.
MAY
LAST DAYS FOR MONACO, 3A.
Monaco Telegraphy Group active as 3A2CWG during the month of May in celebration
of its 20th anniversary.
QSL via 3A2LF.
JUNE
COLLINGWOOD OPEN DAY JUNE 4
On the air, the United Kingdom's Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society will run
a special event station on the H.M.S. Collingwood on Saturday June 4th.
The callsign to be used is GB6COD which stands for Collingwood Open Day.
The station will be operational on all amateur bands from 1.8MHz
through 440 MHz. The Society headquarters station will also be open for
viewing from 9.30am to 6pm the same day. The open day will also feature the
Royal Navy Field Gun Competition.
JUNE
The St George Amateur Radio Society will be holding their next
meeting at the Telstra Museum, Wednesday evening 1st of June,
at 12 Kitchener Parade, Bankstown NSW 2200.
As part of the society's 40th anniversary celebrations, they have
been issued with the special event callsign of VK40SGARS from
the 1st of May to the 31st of July
AWARDS
DL0YLWM Women's Football World Cup
The Deutsche Amateur Radio Club is sponsoring an award to celebrate
the 2011 Women's Football World Cup.
Between 1st June and 31st July, the special station DL0YLWM and YL district
stations will be on the air.
Full details at www.darc.ce, search on the website for DL0YLWM.
Worked All VK Shires Award
VK7 news say this award is held June 11 at 06.00utc and ends June 12 06.00utc.
As a guideline the following frequencies are recommended to work those
rare ones:
80m........ 3.580 ssb and 3.530 cw
40m........ 7.080 ssb and 7.030 cw
20m........ 14.180 ssb and 14.030 cw
15m........ 21.180 ssb and 21.030 cw
10m........ 28.380 ssb and 28.030 cw
MEDIA WATCH
www.cq-amateur-radio.com/WorldRadio.html
VK Club Bulletins http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aarnie/
Barry Robinson VK3PV.
Now for a look at Amateur Radio magazine
Featured on the front cover is the WIA National Field Day . Tune-in to the
world . Amateur Radio Gets People Talking.
Inside are accounts at least from the Whyalla Amateur Radio Club, Radio and
Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania, Darwin Amateur Radio Club,
Hills Amateur Radio Group, Geelong Amateur Radio Club, Eastern & Mountain
District Club, and Amateur Radio Victoria.
The topic of the month, in at least some quarters, has been the perceptions
around the WIA's move to set up its national based emergency services response.
WIA President Michael Owen explains, in detail, the WIA's approach to things.
He gives an assurance that WICEN is not sought to be replaced. A point made
previously.
There's also the latest on the discussions with the ACMA about station
inspection procedures and the WIA announcement of the 2010 Club Grant scheme
winners.
The Publication Committee is not happy with the print and paper quality being
achieved. It looks towards a better product in the short-term.
In the June edition of Amateur Radio magazine is a report on the Scouts go bush
for John Moyle Field Day by Miles Burke VK6FMAB.
In an item called Botch-ups and other lessons learned, Peter Ellis VK1PE has a
somewhat unusual look at it.
Among the technical type articles are: Building and using a touch keyer from
Grant McDuling VK4JAZ, Multiband antennas by Kevin Parsons VK2JS, A device
holder for SMD construction Winston Nickols VK7EM, and a look at RF earthing by
Dale Hughes VK1DSH.
Amateur Radio magazine is a WIA member service posted to members 11 times a
year, and also available at selected newsagents.
I'm Barry Robinson VK3PV and you're listening to VK1WIA.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ARDF
WIA ARDF COORDINATOR VK3WWW Jack vk3www@wia.org.au
http://users.mackay.net.au/~ron/
http://www.homingin.com
http://www.ardf.org.au
Sep 23-28 R3 Region 3 ARDF Championship Bendigo VK3
http://r3.ardf.org.au/
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story) - Video
arvideonews.com
hamradiotube.com
youtube.com
qdg.org.au
The Last Big Field Day is a new 41-minute video from Amateur Radio Video News
that tells the story of world class Field Day station W3AO that since 1999
has topped the ARRL's Field Day Top 10 list, beating 2nd place by a wide margin.
In 2004, the operation listed itself as 50A. That's 50 transmitters, 10 towers
a myriad of antennas and something that intrigued film maker Gary Pearce, KN4AQ.
So armed with his video production gear, Gary travelled to the W3AO site to
capture the moment and tell the tale to the world.
As Gary tells the story, it took a few years to find the time to get The Last
Big Field Day into post production and duplicated.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DIGITAL
Australian Coordinator for TCPIP domains is Indy vk2xb@wia.org.au
Pactor 4 announced
The Pactor 4 data mode unit with a top speed of 10,800 bps and a 2.4 kHz
bandwidth has been announced.
Details of the new Pactor 4 modem can be seen in Google English at
http://tinyurl.com/Pactor4SCS
Website in German
www.pactor4.com/SCS_DRAGON_DE/Home.html
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER
AMSAT-VK UNOFFICIAL HF Net.
2nd Sunday each month.
April through October 1000 UTC 3.685 MHz
November through March 0900 UTC 7.068 MHz
NASA and ARISS reach out to educators
It has been discovered many schools are not aware of the Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) Project so information has been sent to
almost 20,000 educators.
Education Office at NASA's Johnson Space Centre notified almost 20,000 US
educators about the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Project.
According to ARRL ARISS Program Manager Rosalie White, K1STO, this kicks off
the first of a number of new processes that the ARISS US team will put into
motion to get educators more involved in the program, which coordinates
Amateur Radio contacts between the ISS and educational institutions around the
world.
Read the full ARRL story at
www.arrl.org/news/nasa-and-ariss-reach-out-to-educators
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RESCUE RADIO
IARU REGION 3
Emergency Centre of Activity (CoA) frequencies
3.600, 7.110, 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz
ARRL to testify on Interoperable Public Safety Network
The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology of the US House of
Representatives invited the ARRL to testify at a hearing on 'Creating an
Interoperable Public Safety Network.'
ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, appeared before the Subcommittee on
Wednesday.
Read the full ARRL article at:
www.arrl.org/news/view/arrl-to-testify-on-interoperable-public-safety-network
REWIND
1962, John Glenn lifts off in Friendship 7 and becomes the first American to
orbit Earth, circumnavigating the globe three times in almost five hours.
In the darkness at Gladstone, 10-year-old Owen Bennedick rallied his father to
set up a spotlight usually used for roo spotting to shine at the capsule as it
passed overhead.
Fifty years later, Owen Bennedick is still watching the sky as the owner of the
Wappa Falls Observatory near Yandina.
It's a backyard curiosity, a humble tourist attraction, a hub for local
stargazers and the first port of call for media following up reports of
unusual sightings in the sky.
Over the years, he has invested heavily in his observatory equipment perhaps
just as thrilling for visitors is being able to hold a piece of space in their
own hands.
Owen has a meteorite collection, which includes bits of the moon, Mars, Mercury,
a piece of asteroid that fell in Argentina, and a ring-in - a piece of
trinitite from the Trinity nuclear bomb test in New Mexico in 1945, sealed in a
lead glass case - which he picked up at the Yandina markets.
Then just 2 years ago, Owen heard the unedited conversation John Glenn had with
NASA radio operators as he orbited the earth in 1962.
John Glenn remarked upon a bright light he could see in the vicinity of
Rockhampton/Gladstone.
Owen Bennedick has heard in the crackly tapes, his boy hoods dream came true,
his spotlight was seen by John Glenn!
SOCIAL SCENE
2011
May 27-29 WIA AGM this weekend in Darwin
secretary@wia.org.au
Jun 10 - 12 VK4 Far North and North Queensland Amateur Radio Gathering at
King Reef Resort Kurrimine Beach. CANCELLED (VK4DMC)
Jun 11 - 12 VK2 Oxley Region Amateur Radio Club annual Field Day
Jul 16 VK3 Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club Hamfest
Cranbourne Community Hall 10am ( secretary@ggrec.org.au )
Jul 16 VK4 Maryborough Electronics and Radio Group "Wide Bay Hamfest"
West Scout Hall, Ariadne St, Maryborough 8:30am.
secretary@merg.org.au
Jul 31 VK2/3 Riverina Field Day 10am at Lavington Scout Group Hall.
Aug 7 VK2 Lismore region - SARCFEST
Sep 11 VK3 SADARC Comms Day at St Augustine's Hall Shepparton 10am.
Sep 16-18 VK4 NQ Amateur Radio Convention Date Set Townsville
Sep 23-28 R3 Region 3 ARDF Championship Bendigo VK3
http://r3.ardf.org.au/
Sep 30-Oct 2 VK4 Central Highlands Amateur Radio Club AGM at Camp Fairbairn
CONTACT Secretary Gordon, (vk4kal@wia.org.au)
Nov 20 vk5 Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society Hamfest
Goodwood Community Centre, Rosa St Goodwood at 0930.
Visit www.ahars.com.au for contact details
2012
15TH IARU REGION 3 CONFERENCE hosted by V.A.R.C. in Ho-Chi-Minh City, Vietnam.
JAN 23-FEB 17 YEAR 2012
World Radio Conference WRC-11 Geneva 23rd January TO 17th February 2012
MAY 3-18 2012 VK5
YL International 2012 Australia (vk5tmc@bigpond.com)
Submitting news items
If you would like to submit news items for inclusion in the VK1WIA broadcasts,
please email your item in text to nationalnews@wia.or.au
to submit audio read "how to submit items" in the weekly news page on
wia.org.au
Remember the sooner you submit material the more the likelihood of it being
broadcast in the very next edition of WIA National News.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=============================================================================
WIANews - we've reported...YOU decide.
TWITTER http://twitter.com/VK1WIA
Societies and Club News Letter Editors can EXCHANGE a feed prior to
the actual broadcast date, e-mail nationalnews@wia.org.au
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.
*****************************************************************************
/ex
|
|
