Reply-To: nationalnews@wia.org.au

Weekly news from the WIA:
MP3 edition of news available at: http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2023-09-10.mp3 Text edition:

2023 SEPTEMBER 10 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 SEP 10 2023
IN OUR 28th YEAR OF NON STOP 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.
REGIONN ONE

UBA, ROYAL BELGIAN AMATEUR RADIO UNION has been advised by their
regulator, the radio amateur service in Belgium now has access to the
frequency range 40.660 40.690 MHz on a secondary basis for holders of
a class A operating certificate i.e. the HAREC licence.

Quite a few conditions are in place including a power limit of 5 W ERP,
a bandwidth limit of 3 kHz and it will not only be mandatory to keep a
logbook in which all transmissions are noted BUT at the end of each
year, the holder must submit his logbook to BIPT, their regulator.

This is an important development as Belgium now joins Ireland (EI),
Slovenia (S5) and South Africa (ZS) with official amateur radio
allocations on the 40 MHz band.
UK RADIO FANS LAUNCH PETITION TO SAVE BBC's LONGWAVE SERVICE

Radio fans in the UK are raising their voices - and a petition - to
convince the BBC to keep a longstanding favourite radio service.
We hear about their efforts from Amateur Radio NewsLine and Jeremy Boot
G4NJH.

A petition drive has been launched to press the BBC to reverse its plans to take its longwave service on 198 kHz off the air by 31st March 2024. The BBC made the announcement in May 2022 that it was closing its longwave
transmitter, describing it as a dying technology.


According to the petitioners on the Change.org website, the single longwave transmitter at Droitwich is efficient, covering most of the UK and northern Europe. It is viewed as one of the more historic features of the BBC, and its planned shutdown would come a mere six months before it marked its 90 years
on the air. The Change.org petitioners called it [quote] "a historic radio lifeline." [endquote]


BBC Radio 4 has already begun a public information campaign to convince listeners to make the change from longwave to the broadcaster's other platforms. Those platforms are expected to carry many of the programmes now
on Radio 4 Longwave, including Test Match Special, Yesterday in Parliament, Shipping Forecast and the Daily Church Service. The BBC has been following listeners' trend toward favouring digital radio and has acknowledged on its website that a wide range of alternative listening services have become available.


This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

REGION TWO

On-Air Special Event Celebrates 56 Years of Handiham Program.

Tomorrow, Monday, September 11, as part of the 2023 Handiham Radio
Camp, they will be conducting a special event QSO party to honour the
56th Anniversary of the "Courage Kenny Handiham Program".

The goal is to work as many stations as possible throughout the United
States and beyond on both SSB and CW on 10, 15, 20, and 40 meters
from 16:00 21:00 UTC.

Using both W 0 ZSW and W 0 EQO, two call signs with a rich history in
the Handiham Program.

The Courage Kenny Handiham Program helps people with disabilities earn
their amateur radio license and get on the air. The goal is to assist
in all aspects of life while promoting STEM related activities. Since
1967, the Handiham mission has been To empower people with
disabilities to reach their full potential in every aspect of life. RadioShack's New Owner Plots Old Comeback Strategy:

RadioShack has been acquired by El Salvador-based Unicomer Group with a
plan to overhaul its website and add new programs driven by its
heritage in technological innovation for franchised operators.
RadioShack will seek to establish an Amazon.com storefront and revive
franchise development.

Founded in 1921 to provide equipment for amateur ham radio operators, RadioShack now has around 400 stores worldwide, down from a peak of
over 7,000 in 2003.

REGION THREE

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in 2014 carrying 239
passengers with its final resting place remaining a mystery - however,
amateur radio technology may have found it according to a new news
story attributed to mirror.co.uk dated September 1 2023.

tinyurl.com/muptnfxa

It is believed flight MH370 could be found about 1,560km west of Perth,
thanks to the amateur radio technology Weak Signal Propagation
Reporter, or WSPR. WSPR was used by researchers to track the Boeing
777's flight path for six hours after contact was lost.

In a new 229-page report, the team say: "The results represent credible
new evidence. It aligns with analyses by Boeing and drift analyses by University of Western Australia of debris recovered around the Indian
Ocean."

The final resting place is slightly north of previous estimates. The researchers said: "Together with the data, a comprehensive picture of
the final hours can be collated. Flight MH370 was diverted into the
Indian Ocean where it crashed of fuel exhaustion at some point after
the last signal after midnight.

At the time of writing, MH370 still has not been found despite
extensive surface and underwater searches. -------------------------------------------------------------------*
HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT

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

Quite a lot of increased activity has been heard through the week from
the UK.

Air Ambulance Week 2023 has been taking place and it ends today Sunday
the 10th of September. Lots of amateur radio stations have been on the
air to help raise awareness of the lifesaving work that is carried out
by the UKs air ambulance charities.

airambulancesuk.org

Then starting yesterday, the popular Churches and Chapels on the Air
event, also known as CHOTA, has been taking place.

wacral.org

(rsgb)
--------------
NOW CONTEST WISE:-
--------------

ALARA Contest - August 26 - 27

This is a reminder that if you participated in this contest you need
to submit your logs AND logs need to be received by the Contest Manager
by the 30th September 2023.

email:
alaracontest@wia.org.au
--------------

The 64th Scandinavian Activity Contest will be held on 16 and 17
September for CW and the SSB leg 14 and 15 October.

Scandinavian stations, i.e., Aland Islands, Denmark, Faroe Islands,
Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Jan Mayen, Market Reef, Norway, Svalbard
and Bear Island and Sweden will try to work as many non-Scandinavian
stations as possible and vice versa.

A great contest to maybe pick up some rarer stations.

Complete information of the SAC events can be found at
sactest.net

(sarl)
--------------

OCTOBER - Oceania DX Contest

PH - The first full weekend in October each year 0600 UTC
Saturday to 0600 UTC Sunday

CW - Second full weekend in October from 0600 UTC Saturday to
0600 UTC Sunday

Log deadline for PH and CW logs - 31 October.

Managed by the Oceania DX Contest Committee.
info@oceaniadxcontest.com
--------------

NOVEMBER VHF-UHF Spring Field Day.
25 - 26 November.
0100 UTC Saturday to 0059 UTC Sunday BUT to make it a
little fairer in VK6, they add 3 hours onto start and
end times.
(wia.org.au) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DX WINDOW --------------

Greg, 8 P 9 GB from Barbados, IOTA number NA-021 from the 8th to the
15th of September on 60-10 metres and possibly 6 metres. During their
local afternoon hours he will be on SSB; in the evenings he will operateCW. (ARNewsLine 2392)
-----------------

Harald, D 44 TWO from Sao Tiago, IOTA number AF-005, Cape Verde until
the 17th of September using CW, SSB and FT8 on the HF bands and 6 metres. He will also operate via the QO-100 satellite.

(ARNewsLine 2392)
--------------

BRAZIL.

Members of the Liga de Amadores Brasileiros de Radio Emissao are QRV
with special event call sign ZV 201 ID until today, September 9 to mark
the 201st anniversary of the independence of Brazil.

QSL via LoTW.

(eHam)
-----------------

The special callsign VI7ALARA is active on the HF bands until the 8th of November, commemorating the Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Association's meeting to be held in Hobart, Tasmania. The callsign is being operated by a number of YLs in Tasmania and throughout Australia. See QRZ.com for more details.

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

NET ADVICE

NEW ZEALAND

Grandparents Grandkids Amateur Radio Net
Sunday 1 October (NZ Grandparents Day) 3PM their local time.

Peter Henderson ZL1PX, writing in NZ INFOLINE says "Every radio club
in the country needs more members. Here a chance to do something
about it by creating a happy, successful memory of ham radio in your grandchilds life by inviting them to your shack and tuning in to
Grandparents Grandkids Net.

Theyll never forget the day Grandad/Grandma talked on the radio
with them. And, eventually, that will lead some of them to join
NZART and a local club.

How is it run?

Invite your grandkids over for a midday meal. After its cleaned
away, get them in the shack and introduce them to Grandparents -
Grandkids Amateur Radio Net.

A net leader will call for check-ins at 3 PM. When all families are
checked in, every participant will get a chance to describe their
grandparent or grandchild on a friendly ham radio connection with
such topics as what does my grandad/grandma like to do?
What does my Grandson/granddaughter like to do?

2M repeaters will be used for each NZ region ------------------------------------------------------------*

REWIND

Space Shuttle Remembered in todays REWIND.

Im VK4FJRK

Last July, marked the 12th anniversary of the last Space
Shuttle mission. Ham astronauts operated amateur radio in space
on a number of shuttle missions, providing many with their first
opportunity to contact an astronaut in space -- an opportunity still
actively pursued today through Amateur Radio on the International
Space Station (ARISS).

Over three decades, the five NASA space shuttles were launched on
135 flights to orbit. The shuttles collectively travelled more than
537 million miles and spent more than three and half years in orbit.

355 people flew aboard the shuttles, including Sally Ride, the first
American woman to fly to space. Her first mission was aboard the
Challenger in 1983.

Missions averaged about 10 days, with the shortest at 2 days, 6 hours
and the longest 17 days, 15 hours.

Mission objective included building the International Space Station,
carrying large satellites to space and maintaining equipment like the
Hubble Space Telescope. Ten missions remain classified, with little
to no information publicly available.

Ultimately, the fatalities on Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003
helped bring about the end of the Shuttle program. The investigation
in the loss of Columbia concluded that safety improvements would be
costly. The program was shut down after construction on the ISS was
complete.

My time is up - for REWIND, I'm John Knox VK4FJRK.

[ANS]
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WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS
SUMMITS ON THE AIR, WORLD WIDE FLORA, FAUNA PROGRAM,
PARKS ON THE AIR and other ADVENTURE GROUPS.

hema.org.uk/index.jsp
minesontheair.com/about-mota
parksontheair.com/
sota.org.uk
sotawatch.sota.org.uk/en/
facebook.com/SotaAustralia/
wwffaustralia.com/

In New Zealand, hams will be activating summits and remembering a
devoted SOTA friend and colleague, as we hear from Jim Meachen ZL2BHF
on Amateur Radio NewsLine..

The sudden death of Andrew White, ZL3CC, in March of 2018 was a difficult
loss for many of the amateur radio friends who had come to know the Christchurch operator through Summits on the Air and his SOTA activation
blog. New Zealand hams are especially grateful that Andrew played a big role
in establishing SOTA on the South Island. On May 1st, 2016, the day that the South Island officially became active in the SOTA programme, Andrew wrote happily on his blog and thanked the many friends on the team who helped make
it happen.


Many of his radio friends set aside the closest Saturday to what would have been Andrew's birthday to hold Andrew White ZL3CC memorial day. This year it
is on the 9th of September. It is a day of activation, summit-to-summit contacts when possible and then fellowship at a nearby cafe, often near the Banks Peninsula summits. Operators will be able to honour Andrew and work toward the ZL3 award at the same time.


It would no doubt please him to know that the South Island summits are still alive with RF.


This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- CW
www.morsecodeclassnet.com

Learning to send and copy Morse code involves many skills;

Vince Alvino, writing in turbofuture.com has an article on such skills.
in this article, he covers six of the most important ones and knowing
these will make anyone a better CW operator. They are:

Listening
Timing
Instant character recognition
Codes and abbreviations
Attention
Mirroring

Mirroring I hear you say?

When starting a new conversation (QSO), it is best to mirror the speed
of the other person. This is a distinct sign of a good operator, and
not just in CW. The first thing is to identify their speed and adjust
to them. Then, you want to match their QSO by sending your information
in the same format they sent to you.

If they send their location, name, and weather report. Then return the
same three things in that order; after that, add something new or turn
it back over to them.

It is difficult to know the skill level of someone you just started a
new QSO with, and this makes it easier for them to copy what is being
sent. This is called mirroring because your sending format matches, or
mirrors theirs.

(eHam)
September is Canadian Straight Key Month

The Straight Key Century Clubs yearly on-air event promotes the clubs
many Canadian members. This year VC 3 K is the special call sign that
has been granted in Canada for this event, which is referred to as
Canadian Straight Key Month.

VC3K runs September 1 through September 30 and is a perfect time to
introduce or reacquaint Amateurs to the fun of hand-keyed Morse code
sent with straight keys, bugs, and side-swipers.

SKCC members and non-members alike are welcome to hunt the Canadian
based VC3K stations. Non-members are encouraged but not required to
use straight keys for their VC3K contacts.

SKCC website skccgroup.com

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

NASA officials have sounded an alarm about the agencys Deep Space
Network, a collection of antennas here in Australia and in California
and Spain, used to maintain contact with missions scattered across the
Solar System.

Everything from NASAs Artemis missions to the Moon to the Voyager
probes in interstellar space rely on the Deep Space Network to receive
commands and transmit data back to Earth. There are currently around
40 missions that rely on the DSNs antennas to stay in communication
with controllers and scientists back here on Earth.

Another 40-plus missions will join the roster over the next decade or
so, and many of the 40 missions currently using time on the network
will likely still be operating over that time.

We have reached a really critical point on the DSNs aging
infrastructure, said Sandra Cauffman, deputy director of NASAs
astrophysics division.

(ANS)
WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - IOTA

On October 4th 2023, a band of ten experienced ham radio DXpeditioners will
be QRV from Swains Island in the South Pacific.


Particularly those in VK4 Swains Island is NOTHING to do with your
off coastline Swains Reef.

This much sought after QSO on Swains is ranked #27 on the Club Log
most wanted DXCC list. DX Hall of Famer, and W8S teammate, Adrian
Ciuperca KO8SCA explains their entire operation in detail including
the teams unique relationship with the island owners, the Jennings family,
who are providing a significant amount of logistical supportfor the trip.


Before you get on the air to make your contact, learn more about Swains and
the effort being made to bring you this rare DXCC, IOTA and POTA contact.


youtube.com/watch?v=0w0FXQ7E0yE
(dxworld)
IOTA Ltd has, from 1 September 2023, established a DXpedition Fund to
help reduce the costs of expeditions to the rarer and less accessible
IOTA groups.

Administered by the IOTA Board it will consider making grants to
operations from IOTA references confirmed by less than 25% of IOTA
members based on the last 10-year listing in IOTAs Most Wanted List.

The grant request should be submitted more than 30 days prior to the
operations start and the evaluation and grant process is based on
various criteria including the rarity of the IOTA reference,
planned number of stations on the air, of days operating, of contacts
made, of bands and modes used, QSL and QSO matching practice and
estimated cost of the expedition project.

Applications should be addressed to
dxp-fund@iota-world.org.

(dxworld)

WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - MARITIME
INCLUDING ILLW NEWS - ILLW 17th August 2024 to 18th August 2024

Australian lights planned and advised to WIA :-
AU 0102 Point Charles NT - Darwin AR Club

So I am sure more than one club already has plans for 2024, let us know
here at the news desk so we can start reminding all of what is going to
happen August 17-18 NEXT YEAR.

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
Hurricane Idalia:

FCC Approves ARRL Petition to Aid Emergency Communications

ARRL the USA National Association for Amateur Radio has received
approval from the Federal Communications Commission for an emergency
waiver to facilitate amateur radio emergency communications for
hurricane relief.

The request, filed by the ARRL Washington DC Counsel, sought a waiver
of HF symbol rate restrictions.

The waiver, which was granted August 30, is for a 60-day relief period
from the rules, based upon the immediate need related to the threat of Hurricane Idalia. It would cover use directly related to any additional hurricanes that may develop within the 60-day period. Only messages
related to these hurricanes would be permitted to be sent via the
higher-speed modes, and only publicly documented modes would be
allowed.

ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE 5 MHV, said the
rate increase will help response abilities. The increased symbol rate
provides for faster more efficient message transmissions for digital communications. These modes such as WINLINK are used to send forms for
served agencies and other data that can be vital during a disaster,
he said.
MEANWHILE.

Section Manager of the ARRL Northern New Jersey Section Robert Buus,
W2OD, and Section Manager of the ARRL Southern New Jersey Section
Tom Preiser, N2XW, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with representatives from the American Red Cross New Jersey Region.

The MOU focuses on disaster planning and response for communities
within New Jersey during and after a disaster event.

As part of the MOU, Amateur Radio Emergency Service teams in New Jersey
will aid with communications in support of disaster relief through
training, testing, and exercises, and by providing emergency
communications to support local shelter operations. This is especially important when normal communications are disrupted or overloaded.

(eHam)
------------------------------------------------------------*

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.
It's on this Thursday September 14

The Hunter Radio Group's meeting at Newcastle TAFE at the school of
electronic trades at Tighes Hill will be an extra special event.

And you don't have to be there to take part as ARNSW is providing a
ZOOM Link .... details in the text edition of this news.

What's so special you might ask?

Jonathan Taylor, K1RFD, the developer of EchoLink, will be the featured
speaker all the way from Connecticut USA between 6 and 9pm Eastern
Australian Standard time which means he's making a major effort as his

time is 15 hours behind ours!

With around half a million registered Amateur Radio users worldwide, EchoLink has proven it's flexibility and popularity with compatible

software versions now available for just about any operating system,
even including mobile phones!

Jonathan is a very cluey guy so this event promises to be something out of
the box and unlike anything else you would expect from a Radio Club meeting.


Join us at the Club, or join the ZOOM link between 6 and 9 pm NEXT THURSDAY.

For the Hunter Radio Group and WIA National News, I'm Grahame, VK2FA.

************************************************************************

ZOOM details from Eric, VK2VE

Eric van de Weyer has invited you to Hunter Lecture Jonathon Taylor
Title: Hunter Lecture Jonathon Taylor
Location: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89884640439?pwd=OTFVTjFjM2tteUhNQmRuclp2RVpLZz09

When: Thursday, 14 September 2023 6:00 pm 10:00 pmOrganiser:
Eric van de Weyer <evdw@iprimus.com.au>
Description: ARNSW Events is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom
meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89884640439?pwd=OTFVTjFjM2tteUhNQmRuclp2RVpLZz09

Meeting ID: 898 8464 0439Passcode: 898540

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
VK2 - SARCFEST 8am Saturday 23 September (vk2acd)
VK - ALARAMeet2023 4/5 November in HOBART (luther8@bigpond.com)
VK3 - Rosebud RadioFest at Eastbourne Primary School Sunday,
November 12 (vk3pdg)
VK5 - Amateur Radio Experimenters Group Radio & Electronics Sale
November 26 (vk5qi)

---------------------------------------------------------------------
2024 IT'S A DATE

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.

VK - WIA AGM MAY 4 5 - BUNDABERG. (vk2tsg)
VK - National Volunteer Week Monday 20 Sunday 26 May 2024.
National Volunteer Week (NVW) is Australias largest annual
celebration of volunteers and their important contribution to
our communities.


Reception Reports

WIA News rebroadcasters often give Short Wave Listeners a
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We will not give blatant 'plugs' to raffles, be it raffles
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------------------------------------------------------------*

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) ------------------------------------------------------------*

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