Reply-To: nationalnews@wia.org.au

Weekly news from the WIA:
MP3 edition of news available at: http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2023-03-05.mp3 Text edition:

2023 MARCH 05 VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA ------------------------------------------------------------*

THE BEST NEWS YOU'LL GET ALL WEEK

THIS LINK IS A VIDEO VERSION OF NEWS COMPILED BY VK5BD BEVAN tinyurl.com/WIA-News-Videos

------------------------------------------------------------*

NATIONAL NEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING MARCH 5 2023
IN OUR 28th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS

THIS WEEK:-

Chris VK3FY on behalf of the WIA Board

PLUS MUCH MORE IN THIS EDITION OF NEWS
FROM THE WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA
I'M EDITOR GRAHAM VK4BB
WIA

JOIN THE WIA
tinyurl.com/yyj87b9y

Hello everyone this is Chris VK3FY on behalf of the WIA Board
for VK1WIA Weekly News.

The WIA AGM will be held on 13 May 2023. Details will be provided to
enable registrations closer to the event.

The WIA Merit Award

The WIA Merit Award program identifies and recognises sustained
outstanding achievement in the diverse field of Amateur Radio
that furthers the science of radio, and/or service to the WIA.

Nominations are called for using a special form located on the
WIA Web Site.

tinyurl.com/5n8uedzp

If the nomination is successful, these are usually announced at the
WIA annual general meeting, and where possible presented at that
gathering of members. All WIA Merit Awards are not necessarily awarded
every year.

Awards for this years AGM close at the end of March.

FREQUENCY ALLOCATIONS.

The WIA is currently reviewing the rules for Frequency allocations for Repeaters and Beacons. This review is being conducted by the WIA
Spectrum Strategy Committee
DAYTON 2023

This year there will be a number of Hams going to The DAYTON Hamvention
to be held on the third weekend of May.

Myself, Chris VK3FY along with Lee VK3GK will be once again attending
this years Contest University and the DX and Contest Dinners.

The WIA is arranging a meeting with the current President of the ARRL
and WIA Board members Chris and Lee whilst they are there.

Any VK Hams intending to visit the Dayton Hamvention can communicate
through the Facebook Page VKs going to Dayton, to arrange catch-ups
etc.

tinyurl.com/p9n4nvzc

Those wishing to attend the DX and Contest Dinners will need to book
in advance as these activities are usually sold out prior to the event.

This has been Chris VK3FY on behalf of the WIA Board and
VK1WIA Weekly News.

DISCUSSION POINT

Equipment Trading News

Beware of radio selling scammers here is Justin VK7TW.
Someone else got scammed by our regular scammer, selling an Icom 7300
from an alleged deceased estate in Turners Beach. The scammer took the
money and ran, thankfully Bank of Queensland have frozen the bank
account, pending further investigation.

The buyer said the seller was very confident on the phone, even sending
a photo of his Tasmanian drivers licence indicating he lived in
Rocherlea but it expired in 2021.

The seller usually lists the item as deceased estate, says he doesnt
know much about it, and has claimed to live in Bicheno, Launceston,
Ulverstone and other suburbs, but doesnt want to meet up in person.

If you are fairly confident its a scam, you can google the bank account
bsb number to see what bank it belongs to and contact the bank, they
really appreciate the intel, and froze a bank a/c from a scammer I rang
them about.

Copy and paste photos of the image they supply into google image search,
as they steal most images off the web to entice you to buy it, so you
can soon see if its fraudulent.

SK Jason VK7ZJA and some other friends would notify Facebook Market
Place, Gumtree and eBay re the dodgy listings, and usually got them removed.

All I can say is buyer beware, don't send any money, ask to see the
goods in person and then pay. And be very wary of using some of the
money transfer sites

(vk7wi news)
------------------------------------------------------------*
INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, RAC,
ARRL, NZART, eHam, AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, eHam,
Radioworld.com and the World Wide sources of the WIA.
REGION ONE

The overview of the national 160 m allocations within IARU Region 1
has been updated. The new document is available at
IARU R1 HF Committee.

tinyurl.com/2p9bmfwv
At 7pm on 6 March 1923, BBC broadcasting in Scotland officially
began from a studio housed in a small attic apartment at Rex House
in Glasgow, and transmitter at Port Dundas.

Using 1.5kW on 722kHz, the station was allocated the callsign 5SC.

This year, 100 years on, the BBC Amateur Radio Group will be
celebrating the anniversary with special event callsign GB 5SC
on the 4, 5 and 6 March from the present BBC Pacific Quay
headquarters, using HF, VHF, UHF and QO-100.

REGION TWO

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

The Rainbow Radio League / Youlou Radio Movement ( RRL / YRM ),
is now one step closer to developing an island-wide HF emergency
communications network, thanks to another donation of radios and
antennas from Barrett Communications, Australia.

The equipment which arrived on February 14, 2023, according to
RRL/YRM Director, Donald De Riggs J88CD, can be viewed as a
gift of love, not only from Barrett, but from all the agencies
and government departments that assisted with the transport and
clearance of this vital equipment.

The equipment is normally powered by a 12 volt DC source which makes
this ideal in times of natural or man-made emergencies. It allows
radio operators to communicate locally, regionally and worldwide
in the absence of a phone service and it is possible to send emails
wirelessly through a programme called WINLINK and CLOVER MAIL,
as well as sending/receiving texts via other digital modes like
PSK31 and RTTY.

Pictures can also be transmitted wirelessly via SSTV, and, with an
increasing number of Ham radio satellites and balloons, one of which
is believed to have been mistakenly shot down recently, hams can
monitor the weather on a real time basis as well as communicating
via these birds.
The National Science Foundation awarded a nearly 50,000 US dollar
grant to Nathaniel Frissell, Ph.D., assistant professor physics
and electrical engineering at The University of Scranton, to support
"The Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) Workshop 2023."

He also received a grant of just over 25,000 dollars from
Amateur Radio Digital Communications to support the workshop.

The HamSCI Workshop 2023 will take place Mar. 17 and 18 at The
University of Scranton and the historic Radisson at Lackawanna
Station.

On line registration to join from the comfort of your own home
via ZOOM is also available

tinyurl.com/5xc3zh3s
Ahead of Region 3 news, for our final story from Region 2 this week,
we visit with a group of hams in Minnesota USA on a wintertime
fishing expedition. Kent Peterson KCDGY from ARNewsLine tells us
what they caught while at the lake. Here's a hint: It wasn't fish.

"In Minnesota, it's considered a winter tradition for some people
to go out on the frozen lakes for fishing. One group that took to the
frozen waters in the Twin Cities region of the state were hoping for
a very different kind of catch: They set up their equipment on
White Bear Lake at Mahtomedi Beach in the hopes of reeling in some
QSOs while operating portable.

This was the February 11th "Hams on the Ice" event where antennas took
the place of fishing rods and the waves being plumbed were radio waves

The four-hour event drew 20 or so amateurs. Some brought portable
heaters. Others simply were warmed by the idea of working some DX
-- and many did. This was the amateurs' winter equivalent of a monthly
group gathering known as Hams in the Park held during warmer months.

According to a video on the YouTube channel of Matthew, KLWC, the
hams were also there to provide an opportunity for some of the regions
youngest licensees: With a little help, some of the newer hams got
their first contacts on HF radio.

With mic fright being a big concern for a lot of newcomers, you might
even say they broke the ice.
REGION THREE

INDIA

Ham radio could be one of the most useful technologies whose
potential is evergreen, said the founder of the National Institute
of Amateur Radio S. Suri VU2MY.

In an effort to create awareness about the same, his book
The Untapped Potential of Amateur Radio serves as a guide to all
who wish to learn the workings of ham radio.

The book was launched on the occasion of World Science Day at the
NIAR campus by V. Sivakumar, IGP Intelligence, Telangana Police,
T. Hari Babu, IRRS, Deputy Director, Ministry of Communications,
and G.L. Rao, Chairman, NIAR, all of whom are avid ham enthusiasts
themselves. The event had not just regular hams in attendance, but
also doctors, engineers, advocates and journalists who have over the
years nurtured their interest in the workings of radio. ------------------------------------------------------------*
HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT

--------------

NOW CONTEST WISE:-
--------------
2023
--------------
--------------

ARRL DX PHONE CONTEST THIS WEEKEND

This contest sees us, VK, as DX stations and we contact W/VE
stations only. 0000 UTC Saturday through 2359 UTC Sunday.

(ARRL)

--------------

The 86th Commonwealth Contest BERU HAPPENS 11-12 March - CW only.
between 1000utc and 1000utc

(NZART BREAKIN and RSGB)
--------------

MARCH 18 - 19 (the 3rd Weekend) John Moyle Field Day
UTC 0100 Saturday to 0059 Sunday.
(wia.org.au)--------------
YOTA CONTEST
Youngsters On The Air
1st round 22nd April 0800 1959 UTC
ham-yota.com/contest/

--------------

MAY SIX Saturday Harry Angel Memorial Sprint 106 mts an annual 80m
contest event, first established in 1999, to commemorate the life of
Harry Angel VK4HA who at the time of his becoming a Silent Key was
the oldest licensed amateur in Australia. (106)
The duration of the contest is 106 minutes one minute for each year
of Harry's life.

The Harry Angel Memorial Sprint has been run annually since 1999
It is usually held on the first Saturday in May each year
10:00 UTC - 11:46 UTC (wia.org.au)

--------------

MAY 20-21 Don Edwards Memorial Slow Morse Contest
begins the weekend after Mother's Day.

80m section Saturday 20th May 6 to 9pm Sydney time.
40m section afternoon of Sunday 21st of May, 1 to 4
Sydney time. (vk2wi)
--------------

JUNE 24-25 WINTER VHF-UHF Field Day.

0100 UTC Saturday 24 to 0059 UTC Sunday 25
BUT in VK6 add 3 hours onto start and end times. (wia.org.au)
--------------

JUNE Weekend prior to 2nd Monday of June VK SHIRES
--------------
--------------
--------------
DX WINDOW--------------
--------------

VI 10 SOTA all year from summits in VK1

--------------

The Special Event Station VI 100 MB is active all year,
celebrating the centenary of VK2's Manly & District Radio Club.

(Richard Murnane)
--------------

A group of amateurs, including Dan VK6NAD, and Michael, VK6TU will
activate the yet to be confirmed call sign of VI 6 CRO in recognition
of the NASA Carnarvon and Overseas Telecommunications Commission
historic location April 17 to 23 to coincide with the massive surge
of visitors as a result of the April 20 Eclipse event in the area.

The Station will be set up in the middle of the historic OTC buildings
between the Casgrain Horn used during Apollo 11 and the large
30m Dish.

Also near the station site is the Carnarvon Space and Technology
Museum which Moon Astronaut Buzz Aldrin opened in 2012.

(hamradiodaily)

--------------

GUAM.

QRV is N 7 JVJ until April 28 on 40 to 10 meters using SSB and FT8.
QSL via operator's instructions.

(eHam)

--------------

------------------------------------------------------------*

WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS

ATV (Every pixel tells a story) -
tinyurl.com/WIA-News-Videos
THAT LINK IS A VIDEO VERSION OF THIS NEWS COMPILED BY VK5BD BEVAN

Hackaday has published an entertaining YouTube video,
Searching for Space Pirates on Old Military Satellites.

The video explains how U.S. Fleet SATCOM UHF transponders,
still in space from the 1970s, are being used illegally,
often for criminal purposes. It also describes using a simple
RTL receiver to listen in on these pirate transmissions.

The video is available on
hackaday.com/2023/02/24/hunting-for-space-pirates/

(ans)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- CW
www.morsecodeclassnet.com

Nervous Novices CW Net on 80m

A new weekly CW net has been recently started in Ireland and could
be the formation of maybe similar here in VK?

It is a friendly place for inexperienced operators, for anyone still
learning Morse, and for those who would like to have a chat using CW
without feeling the pressure of a traditional QSO. This new Nervous
Novices Net takes place every Wednesday at 2030 Irish local time,
somewhere between 3.5503.555 MHz.

Good operating practices and quality sending are highly encouraged
but are not required. There is no maximum speed, however, the net
requires that all operators QRS to the slowest participant so that
everyone can copy.

For those still new to CW, this sure sounds an enjoyable way to
improve your skills.

(irts)

In South Africa another CW idea is to create some space for the
new amateur radio CW operator, without feeling intimidated trying
to break into a conversation at normal speeds. The first SARL CW QRS
week runs from Wednesday 3 March to Tuesday 9 March with activity
from 15:30 to 16:30 UTC each day. The exchange is a RST report
and your name. Nothing more!

(SARL)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER
AMSAT-VK Secretary - secretary@amsat-vk.org

The USA's Federal Communications Commission has approved Amazons
plan to deploy and operate 3,236 broadband satellites, subject to
conditions that include measures for avoiding collisions in
low Earth orbit.

Amazon got initial FCC clearance for its Ka-band Project Kuiper
constellation in 2020 on the condition that it secured regulatory
approval for an updated orbital debris mitigation plan.
The FCC said its conditional approval of this mitigation plan allows
Kuiper to begin deployment of its constellation in order to bring
high-speed broadband connectivity to customers around the world.

The conditions include semi-annual reports that Kuiper must give the
FCC to detail the collision avoidance manoeuvres its satellites have
made, whether any have lost the ability to steer away from objects,
and other debris risk indicators.

In the order, the FCC also requires Kuiper to ensure plans to de-orbit satellites after their seven-year mission keeping inhabitable
space stations in addition to the International Space Station in mind.

twiar.net/?p=14524

(TWIAR)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR OLD-TIMERS
qcwa.org
raotc.org.au

Hallo everyone, this is Clive VK6CSW. Unfortunately, there will be
no RAOTC bulletin tomorrow. Due to personal circumstances, producer
Bill VK3BR has had to resign immediately from this position. A
volunteer to take Bills place is urgently sought. However, the
April news should appear on schedule.

Some good news. Chris VK6JI has volunteered to assist webmaster
Andrew VK3CAH. Chris is well qualified in this area and the website
has been brought up to date. Have a look by typing www.raotc.org.au
or just Google RAOTC broadcasts and follow the links.

The March issue of the RAOTC journal OTN was posted on February 19th,
so keep an eye open for your copy.

VK6 Members and Friends of the RAOTC are reminded that the monthly
lunch will be held on Tuesday, March 14th at the Woodbridge Hotel in
East Guildford. All are welcome.

Once again, no RAOTC bulletin this month; the next one will be on
Monday, April 3rd.

73, Clive VK6CSW.
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- YOTA
(Youngsters On The Air)
facebook.com/yotaregion2
youtube.com/channel/UClAapljf0VQ751sOgu2IzaA
twitter.com/hamyota
ham-yota.com

Freshman Katie Campbell represented Columbiana High School at a
national Amateur Radio Club Convention in Orlando last month
(HamCation 2023). She was selected to give a presentation in the
Youth Forum entitled The ABCs of a YL in STEM, School Amateur Radio
Clubs and Code Coaching.

In the presentation, Katie explores gender disparity in STEM and
asserts the early introduction of Amateur Radio is a potential
solution to that issue.

Katie has an extra-class-level license (the highest US level available), a process she began when she was in fifth grade as a result

of being a founding student-member of Columbianas Amateur Radio Club.
Katie hopes to encourage other young women in STEM to put themselves
out there and learn more about the field as well as teach others; its
important to get young women in leadership positions to provide
diverse views.

Katie will next travel to Dayton to present Young Ladies in
Morse Code in May and will be teaching a morse code class in
Ottawa, Canada at the YOTA Camp in July. She hopes to continue
participating in presentations and teaching Youth Amateur Radio.

tinyurl.com/yc75jbbc

Space Station Contact With Students In Malta

An ARISS contact between students at Stella Maris College, Gzira,
Malta, callsign 9 H 1 MRL and the International Space Station took
place successfully February 15. It was the first ever ARISS contact
from the European island nation of Malta.

ISS crew member, astronaut Josh Cassada, KI5CRH, used the ISS
callsign OR 4 ISS on the downlink frequency of 145.800 MHz.
The ARISS team Malta made use of the callsign 9H1MRL, the club call
of the Malta Amateur Radio League, MARL.

The downlink signal was receivable in the British Isles and across
Europe and the contact was conducted by five local radio amateurs;
Dominic 9H1M, Manuel 9H1GW, Andrew 9H2AV, Trevor, 9H5TS and
Anthony 9H2AS from the station set up in the schools auditorium
with a 10 element crossed Yagi and rotator on the roof.

Stella Maris College is part of a network of Lasallian Colleges
that include De La Salle College and the Mellieha Retreat Centre.
The schools take their inspiration from their founder, John Baptist
de la Salle. In the Christian faith, John De La Salle is Patron
Saint of Teachers.

(amsat.org)

"Thanks Michelle and Alec

Speaking of Alec, he, along with his dad, Pete VK2LP took a detour
from a recent trip to Melbourne to catch up with Bruce VK3FFF and
myself in Bendigo. It was a great opportunity for three WIA News
presenters to get together. A photo of us can be seen on Bevan VK5BDs
video version of the broadcast.

tinyurl.com/WIA-News-Videos
THAT LINK IS THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS NEWS

Cheers, Col
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
Region 1 3760 7110 14300 18160 21360 kHz

Region 2 3750 3985 7060 7240 7275 14300 18160 21360kHz
One month in and the rescue and recovery operations continue after
those earthquakes struck Syria and Turkey with casualties reaching
nearly close on 50,000.

Please note these frequency's, 28.540 MHz, 3.777 and 7.092 hams
are asked to keep these frequencies clear for emergency traffic.

Amateur radio continues to be the major link for communication for
the entire area. Turkish amateur radio operator Aziz Sasa, TA1E, has
been at the disaster areas coordinating frequencies for the teams
and carrying out search and rescue operations. Sasa was interviewed
on the BBC Digital Planet program, where he talked about the
continued amateur radio help during the disaster.

An audio link to the program is available here.
bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct31zr

While the entire program lasts 46 minutes, the interview with Sasa
is within the first 6 minutes.

(arrl letter)
------------------------------------------------------------*

2023 Social Scene

Clubs are welcome to submit text with audio for this section

Details of all WIA affiliated clubs and societies can be found
on the WIA website, including email addresses and website links.
VK3 - Melbournes Wyndham Amateur Radio Club HamFest today 5 of March.
(vk2zrh)

VK4 - REDCLIFFE - REDFEST APRIL ONE (vk4tfn)

VK3 - Antennapalooza at Drouin West April 15 & 16 (vk3kj)


VK - WIA AGM May 13 at 10:30am AEST proposed for Canberra (vk8zz)
A hybrid event conducted both in person and by video
conference and able to be viewed on an internet streaming
platform.

VK5 - SERG CONVENTION and FOX HUNTING CHAMPIONSHIPS June 10 - 11 (vk5dj)
VK4 - SUNFEST SEPTEMBER 9 (vk4an)
At Mountain Creek State Schools massive air conditioned
auditorium, just off the Sunshine Motor Way. Mountain Creek
is tucked in to the west of Mooloolaba
VK - ALARAMeet2023 4/5 November in HOBART (luther8@bigpond.com)

Reception Reports

WIA News rebroadcasters often give Short Wave Listeners a
welcome to the broadcast as they commence call-backs
straight after the Local News. Local news follows National
news in all states. It would be great if those SWL's would
email their reception reports and location to
callbacks@wia.org.au
Submitting news items

If you would like to submit news items for possible inclusion
in the VK1WIA broadcasts, please email your item in text to nationalnews@wia.org.au and don't JUST send url's links or
posters, but take the time to pen YOUR contribution.

To submit audio, email nationalnews@wia.org.au
and send BOTH the audio and the text

We would appreciate items certainly no longer than 1.5 mts in
length as we only have a half hour.

Remember the sooner you submit material the more the
likelihood of it being broadcast in the very next edition of
WIA National News.

Each recorded item will only be broadcast once, if you want a couple
of mentions, please submit different slants to keep your
event 'fresh' and always if the news room is to read your
item --- write it in the 3rd person. (First if YOU are
reading your own item)

Promote your local rebroadcast; details on wia.org.au/members/broadcast/contribute/

A reminder when supplying HamFest info we obviously can't
plug DEALS from commercial traders "on air", but we at the
WIA will put your supporters 'goods' in this text edition
"no worries."

We will not give blatant 'plugs' to raffles, be it raffles
at the event or "on-line".

------------------------------------------------------------*

Oh... and to contact us with your news because
If It Matters To You It Matters To Us!
Click the links below to download the most recent edition of
National News, BUT this is ONLY the backup site!

WIANEWS backup thanks to Brendan VK4BLP can be found on
wiaq.org.au

BACKUPS OF THE BACKUP!! thanks to Tony VK7AX
www.vk7ax.id.au/wianews/

wia.org.au/members/broadcast/wianews/ (This is the link
to the original text version and original audio on wia site) ------------------------------------------------------------*

WIANews - we've reported...YOU decide.

TWITTER 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 our dedicated band of broadcast volunteers who
utilize their time and equipment in bringing you this weekly
broadcast.
Who and where are they?
wia.org.au/members/broadcast/where/
Promote your local rebroadcast; details on wia.org.au/members/broadcast/contribute/
The purpose of "WIANews" is to rapidly provide news of
interest to WIA affiliated clubs and 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 IF broadcast, are
done so in the spirit in which they were submitted."

If you would like to see the call-backs reported each
broadcast, OR have call-backs to contribute to the National
News call back tally then please send through your call-backs
to callbacks@wia.org.au
How do I join this National News List?
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Email to vk1wia-news-join@lists.wia.org.au
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Open mail program which sends mail from the address you want
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You will be sent a confirmation mail and must follow the
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Once your unsubscription has been processed, you will
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------------------------------------------------------------*

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--- MBSE BBS v1.0.8 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: Wireless Institute of Australia (3:633/280.2@fidonet)