-------------------------------------------------------------------69 2023 DECEMBER 31 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 DEC 31 2023 IN OUR 28th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS WOW WE GET AN EXTRA DAY THIS YEAR! Last week I signed off by saying that it was the last broadcast of the year, NOW I am told TODAY is the last day of the year...> so we gained a day! THIS WEEK:- WIA director, Steven Green, VK2TSG .- Wireless Institute of Australia Technical Advisory Committee Chairman Grant VK5GR .- PLUS MUCH 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, this is one of your national WIA directors, Steven Green, VK2TSG, with the final 2023 Board comment this New Years Eve. Not only do we have the New Year to contend with as we move into 2024, but here in Australia and its territories, we also have the new class licence arrangement starting from the 19th of February. This will include a revised qualifications framework, new call sign arrangements, the ACA managing qualifications and callsign services, as well as accrediting examiners. Further details will be available on the WIA website, although there were reservations held over class licencing. The WIA have worked closely with the ACMA to ensure that amateurs retain equivalent privileges, and we thank the ACMA for their efforts. As a volunteer organisation, member contribution to our activities is essential and we are presently seeking expressions of interest for several roles, including... Digital Modes Advisor, QSL volunteers, Application Developers, and graphics or web designers. I myself recently attended the Amateur Radio New South Wales site at Dural; they had requested additional people for their broadcast roster. Although I tend to have limited time, I'm looking forward to helping out where possible, to try to ease-the-load for this hard working and dedicated team. Even if you are far away, differently abled, or unsure how you could help, get in touch with the WIA, your state or territories' amateur radio group, or affiliated club to see what you can do. Often, the experience you gain in these roles can help towards furthering your career or other prospects and interests. And if you can't contribute directly, why not see if there are a few people close by that you could bring into Amateur Radio? We are looking forward to seeing attendees at the WIA AGM in May 2024 in Bundaberg, Queensland. Here I'll be presenting a short talk on what I've learned in brief from the prepping community here in Australia. And I must say thank you to those who offered feedback recently on my last broadcast news on the topic. Making some corrections that were quite helpful. Lastly, tomorrow is a special day for my family, with my Grandmother Dulcie celebrating her One-hundred-and-sixth Birthday, yes 106.. although not an Amateur, Dulcie wound thousands of coils for AWA Aircraft Radios as part of their military work in world war two, and has many fond memories of the contributions of 'Wireless' in her lifetime. This leads me to wonder what Radio stories all of your families may have to share... Happy Birthday Dulcie !! This has been Steven Green VK2TSG closing the Board comments for 2023. Until next time 73, and Happy New Year. WIA - TAC Hello all from Grant VK5GR, your new Wireless Institute of Australia Technical Advisory Committee Chairman. Firstly I just wanted to say thanks to the WIA board for accepting my nomination. I also wish to acknowledge the many years of work put into this role by my predecessor, John Martin VK3KM, whom was one of my very early amateur radio mentors (and now is sadly a silent key). Hopefully I can fill his very big shoes! I also wish to thank several of the departing TAC committee members for their contributions over the years, including Rex VK7MO, Wally VK6KZ, Barry VK2AAB and Peter VK3PF. They are now seeking to retire from the committee, opening the way for new blood to join the team. Thank you all for your efforts over many years. Now, to start the process of replenishing the team, we wish to welcome Hayden VK7HH who will take over the VK7 regional representative as well as Kevin VK4UH who is taking on the Microwave advisory role. After a further review of the committee structure and responsibilities, other roles will be opened in the coming months. Stay tuned for more details. Next up, with 2024 almost upon us, it is time to consider the current issues before the TAC. One of the early projects we have identified was a need to update several of the band plans, following several recent regulatory changes. The bands we studied include 6 metres (following standard grade licenses getting access to the entire band), 9 centimetres (3.4 GHz) following the complete withdrawal of 3400-3600 MHz in populated parts of Australia, and 70 centimetres where some clarifications have been proposed for repeater station allocations. In order to develop appropriate changes, the TAC has prepared a consultation paper, which is accessible via the WIA news website. The paper discusses the proposals for each band and welcomes feedback on these from all licenced amateur radio operators. We encourage you to take the time to read the paper, consider the impacts on your activities, and share your feedback! The closing date is the 31st of January 2024. We look forward to hearing from you. Well thats all from me this week. 73 from Grant VK5GR, for the WIA Technical Advisory Committee ------------------------------------------------------------* INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to IARU, RSGB, RAC, ARRL, NZART, eHam, AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, eHam, Radioworld.com Hackaday and the World Wide sources of the WIA. REGION ONE JAMMING. FPV drones are a signature weapon of the Ukraine conflict, and jammers to stop them are a matter of life and death. Both sides have fielded jammers and drone guns firing beams of radio waves to knock out drone communications, these jammers are said to take out thousands (YES THOUSANDS) of drones a month. Now a Russian group claims to have developed a magic radio for FPVs which is highly resistant to jamming. A physicist with the handle DanielR evaluated the device minutely in a detailed Twitter thread. From a technological perspective there is nothing surprising here, DanielR said, but the device does make efficient use of cheap, off-the-shelf components. Racing quadcopters converted into cheap kamikaze drones are used by both sides. They are capable of diving into foxholes and bunkers, chasing down trucks, and even destroying main battle tanks from five or more miles away. Often jamming is the only protection, but this device claims to nullify it. bit.ly/3ty5XMA REGION 2 Status of CQ Magazine: ARRL has heard from many members concerned about their print subscriptions to CQ magazine. CQ magazine is not an ARRL publication, however ARRL members enjoy the ability to pursue earning the CQ Worked All Zones and Worked All Prefixes awards through Logbook of The World. CQ Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU, acknowledged the delays in delivering CQ magazine. He indicated that the November and December issues are delayed but plans are to get them out to the readership as soon as circumstances permit. HOWEVER In another message circulating on some mailing lists, a reply to an inquiry explained that due to funding issues they have temporarily suspended publication at this time. "Our apologies for this inconvenience and we hope to be back up and running soon." It is unknown exactly what funding issues the magazine has encountered, but CQ Communications, Inc. has discontinued other publications within their operation over the last few years. CQ-DATV ceased its free online publication in 2021. CQ VHF ceased publication in 2013 along with Popular Communications magazine and merged with WorldRadio into an online digital Publication in 2014. While it is Santa Claus who delivers toys to good boys and girls around the world on Christmas Eve, and is even tracked by NORAD each year, the United States Air Force also does its part to provide goods to islanders throughout Micronesia as part of what is now the Pentagons longest-running humanitarian airlift operation. The tradition began during the Christmas season in 1952 when a B-29 Superfortress aircrew saw islanders waving at them from the island of Kapingamarangi, 3,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. In the spirit of Christmas, the aircrew gathered some items they had on the plane, attached the bundle of supplies to a parachute, and dropped it to islanders below, giving the operation its name. At the time, the island had no electricity or running water and was periodically hit by typhoons. While certainly meant to be good deeds, the first Christmas Drops that followed werent exactly a success. Some containers fell into the water, while others werent discovered for months, but the Air Force honed it skills and the program has continued to grow over the past seven decades. Today, airdrop operations include more than 50 islands throughout the Pacific. CONDUCTED FROM GUAM NOT THE NORTH POLE While Santas base of operation remains in the North Pole, Andersen Air Force Base (AFB), Guam, has been the base camp to airlift donated goods to the islanders throughout Micronesia. Operation Christmas Drop is a PACAF event that includes a partnership between the 374th Airlift Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan; the 36th Wing, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam; 734th Air Mobility Squadron, Andersen AFB of the 515th Air Mobility Operations Wing, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; the University of Guam; and the Operation Christmas Drop private organization which leads the fundraising and donations for the operation. C-130J Super Hercules crews airdrop food, supplies, educational materials, and toys to islanders throughout the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau. These islands are some of the most remote locations on the globe spanning a distance nearly as broad as the continental U.S. Though Santa can travel around the globe, the PACAF has proven also to be up to the challenge of reaching the far-flung islands. STILL FAIRLY LOW TECH Operation Christmas Drop relies on C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft rather than a reindeer-powered sleigh, but the airlift operation remains rather low-tech, as aircrews are linked to the village via ham radio as they fly overhead and drop supplies. On Christmas Eve, Brian Justin Jr., WA1ZMS operated his experimental station WI2XLQ on 486 kHz AM for the Reginald Fessenden commemorative transmission. Another transmission will take place today, December 31, starting at approximately 21:00 UTC and will run for 24 hours. All transmissions will only consist of the two Christmas songs claimed to have been played by Fessenden on his violin, during his historic broadcast on Christmas Eve in 1906, as well as a brief bible verse. WI2XLQ's voice ID and transmission description will be broadcast via a computer-generated voice. The story of Fessenden's alleged first voice transmissions, using an Alexanderson alternator on December 24 and December 31 in 1906, has never been proven to have taken place. "While doubt remains that such a transmission ever took place, Fessenden did perform some crude voice transmissions over a few miles distance in early December of that year near Washington, DC, as a demonstration for the US Navy." Fessenden is credited for his early pioneering work of human speech using RF rather than the typical spark generated CW operations of the time. Long wire antennas with a simple, modern software-defined radio are recommended to copy WI2XLQ. SWL reports can be sent via email to WA1ZMS@ARRL.Net and an email confirming the reports will follow. Audio samples of the reception are also welcomed at the same email address. REGION THREE China has released one of its spaceplanes into the sky once again. The top-secret spacecraft, dubbed Shenlong, was released December 14 but no one really knows why. It's the spaceship's third mission into space and, in regards to why its up there, Chinese media has given quite a vague explanation. Amateur radio operator Daniel Estevez has since looked into the signal being emitted and says it's 'clear' that it 'doesn't have much data in it', as per IFLScience. What the signals contain remains unclear, but Tilley says that the mysterious objects seem to the strongest signals while passing over North America. -------------------------------------------------------------------* HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT -------------- -------------- NOW CONTEST WISE:- 2024 -------------- -------------- ARRL's Straight Key Night (SKN) is held on January 1, from 0 hours UTC through to 2359 UTC. Many of we hams look forward to SKN as one of the highlights of our operating year. Wireless Men and Women participate using Morse code. All you need is your favourite straight key or bug. Many participants tend to dust off vintage radios and keys and put them back into service each year just for the fun of it during this event. All hand keys, regardless of age, are welcome. The number of contacts you make is not important. The reward is meeting new friends as you get together on the air. arrl.org/straight-key-night (eHam) -------------- Ross Hull Memorial Contest. Running on VHF and above for the month of January. You nominate the best 7 day or 2 day period per category. For more information visit the contest page at wia.org.au/members/contests/rosshull/ (VK2TBC) ----------------------------------- JANUARY 2024 VHF-UHF Summer Field Day. 13 - 14 January. 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) ----------------- AUSTRALIA DAY CONTEST This contest is to encourage Amateur Radio promotional Activity around the world and is designed to encourage friendly participation and help improve the operating skills of participants. It is held on the Australia Day Public Holiday, 26th of January. Amateurs here in in VK will endeavour to contact other amateurs around the world. Some VK operators will be using the AX prefix to celebrate Australia day, as its wanted by many amateurs. Scoring is distance based and calculated using 4-character grid squares. (wia.org.au) -------------------------------------------------------------------- DX WINDOW TO THE WORLD. -------------- SWITZERLAND. Special event station HB 8 DELOY is QRV until THE END OF TODAY, utc DATE / TIME. This outfit has been commemorating the first transatlantic contact that took place on November 28, 1923 between stations 8 AB and 1 MO. QSL via HB9ACA. Another "cross the water" commemorative station hails from right here in AUSTRALIA. Members of the Wireless Institute of Australia are QRV as VK 100 ZL also until todays end to commemorate the first wireless contact 100 years ago between Australia and New Zealand. QSL via bureau. (eHam) -------------- GREECE. Special event call sign SZ 65 RAAG is QRV until todays end (Dec 31) to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Radio Amateur Association of Greece. Activity has been heard on all bands using CW, SSB, and various digital modes. QSL via LoTW. (eHam) -------------- EAST KIRIBATI. Members of the Rebel DX Group are QRV as T 32 TT from Christmas Island, IOTA OC-024, until January 12. Kiritimati (Christmas Island) Time is UTC + 14 and it's a bit of a giggle when you look at how the old time keepers mapped out that time zone, check out a map ! Not to be confused with a couple of better known Christmas Islands, this one, T32, is actually Kiritimati, a rather straightforward respelling of the English word Christmas in the Kiribati language, The island has the greatest land area of any coral atoll in the world, about 388 square kilometres and is part of Kiribati, a country encompassing 33 Pacific atolls and islands. OK so that's your geography lesson class! T 32 TT is on 160 to 6 meters using CW, SSB, FT8, and FT4. QSL via OQRS. (eHam and vk4bb) -------------- MOROCCO. Yannick, F6FYD is QRV as CN 2 YD until March 15. ------------------------------------------------------------* WORLD WIDE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS ASTRONOMY The 10-year amateur radio special event and countdown to the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto will continue February 11 - 19, 2024 (UTC), and celebrates Clyde Tombaugh's discovery from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona of Pluto. Members of the Northern Arizona DX Association will operate from Lowell Observatory and their home stations using the special event call sign W 7 P. The annual QSL cards, the event certificate, and more information about the event can be found at W7P 2030 (nadxa.com). (arrl) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - FINAL FRONTIER AMSAT-VK Secretary - secretary@amsat-vk.org December 6 marked the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station. On December 6, 1998 the first two elements of the station, Unity and Zarya, were mated by the crew of space shuttle Endeavours STS-88 mission. Since then, 273 people from 21 countries have visited the station. (ANS) Voyager 1 has stopped returning useful data to Earth due to a problem with the spacecrafts Flight Data System computers. It could take several weeks for engineers to develop a new plan to remedy the issue. Launched in 1977, the spacecraft and its twin, Voyager 2, are the two longest-operating spacecraft in history [behind AO-7, that is]. In addition, commands from mission controllers on Earth take 22.5 hours to reach Voyager 1, which is exploring the outer regions of our solar system more than 24 billion kilometres from Earth. That means the engineering team has to wait 45 hours to get a response from Voyager 1 and determine whether a command had the intended outcome. (ANS) NASAs Mars Rover, Perseverance, recently marked 1,000 sols, i.e. Martian days on the red planet, after landing at Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. Its companion Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, the first robot ever to explore the skies of a world beyond Earth, made its 70th flight on Friday, December 22. (ans) QRP SATELLITE ALOFT. HADES-D satellite has been commissioned. After a trial period in which its behaviour has been tested at the radioelectric, systems, and energy performance levels, the FM repeater is left active for general use. At the request of AMSAT-EA, AMSAT has designated HADES-D as Spain-OSCAR 121, i.e. SO-121. The repeater works with FM/FSK with an uplink frequency of 145,875 MHz and a downlink frequency of 436,663.5 MHz. It is recommended to use Narrow Band FM. AMSAT-EA is drafting a use and operation manual, which will indicate in detail some of the characteristics of the satellite and its working modes. Although it is not definitive, Amsat-EA is considering some special operating options such as reserving a day of the week exclusively for digital communications following the example we know with the AO-92 bird. HADES-D is the first satellite with FM repeater service mounted on a pocket cube platform. This standard is the smallest in terms of normalized satellite sizes. HADES-D size is 8x5x5 cm. Its panel surface and battery size are much smaller than the rest of the satellite repeaters in use, so HADES-D is not comparable to most of them either in radiated power or signal strength. HADES-D should be considered a QRP satellite. (AMSAT-NA) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - IOTA In the World of IOTA DX, listen for 3B9AT from Rodrigues Island, IOTA Number AF-017, now until the 6th of January. SSB, CW and FT8 on 80-10 metres. See QRZ.com for QSL details. Listen for J8TT from St. Vincent, IOTA Number NA-109, until the 5th of January, SSB, CW and digital modes on 40-6 metres. Again see QRZ.com for QSL details. PJ7/VA3ITA from Saint Martin, IOTA Number NA-105, until today the 31st of December on SSB and the digital modes on 40-10 metres. QSL via LoTW only. (iota from ARNewsLine 2408) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR OLD-TIMERS qcwa.org raotc.org.au Hallo Everyone, This is Clive VK6CSW reminding you that in accordance with tradition there is no Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club broadcast in January. The first RAOTC bulletin for 2024 is scheduled for Monday February 5th. However, Members and Friends of the RAOTC in Perth are reminded that the first monthly lunchtime meeting for the New Year will be held on Tuesday January 9th, at the Woodbridge Hotel in East Guildford starting at 11.30 am. Everyone is welcome to join in and have an eyeball QSO. Full details are published on the RAOTC website raotc.org.au under the sub-heading Luncheons. There is adequate car parking at the hotel but if arriving by train be sure to alight at Guildford East, repeat Guildford East station. On behalf of the RAOTC, I hope everyone has had an enjoyable Christmas and best wishes for a happy, healthy and safe New Year. 73 from Clive VK6CSW. WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO AMATEUR YOUNG TIMERS - YOTA (Youngsters On The Air) facebook.com/yotaregion2 facebook.com/groups/YOTAOC/ youtube.com/channel/UClAapljf0VQ751sOgu2IzaA twitter.com/hamyota ham-yota.com The Intrepid-DX Group has announced the winners of their Fourth Annual Youth "Dream Rig" Essay Contest. The first-place winner is Abigail, KK7CFJ; in second place is McKenzie, KO4GLN, and the third-place winner is Cameron Frey, KD9VGV. The recipients' ages range from 11 to 19 years old. Thirty essays were received from young amateurs in Canada and the US, and the judges reported that each essay was unique in thought and very well written. Extra consideration was given to the essays with correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling. The essays gave interesting perspectives on how to reach out and connect with us, we today's youth, and those ideas will be shared in subsequent postings. The Intrepid-DX Group is a US-based non-profit organization that promotes amateur radio activities around the world. The Youth "Dream Rig" Essay Contest is designed to gather the views and ideas of young people involved in amateur radio. And as I leave you this week, (and year) a reminder Youngsters on the Air month is nearly at a close. This month has been filled with some brilliant activity from young people using special callsign GB23YOTA, among many other "YOTA" suffix special event callsigns. We thank everyone who has been involved, from those who have been supervising we younger amateurs, to those making contact on the air. (arrl/rsgb) WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- VIDEO. ATV SSTV and other forms such as YouTube. Peter VK3BFG is your WIA ATV representative. pcossins@bigpond.com tinyurl.com/WIA-News-Videos THAT LINK IS A VIDEO VERSION OF THIS NEWS COMPILED BY VK5BD BEVAN NASA has released a three minute video retrospective of its accomplishments in 2023. The video may be viewed at the link in this weeks text edition of WIA NATIONAL NEWS. youtube.com/watch?v=YQWespzOtzI (ANS) As NASA advances toward using laser light instead of radio to enable more rapid, efficient deep-space communication, a Jet Propulsion Lab scientist's tabby cat helped prove that this option has real possibilities. A 15-second, ultra-high-definition video of the cat named Taters was successfully beamed from NASA's Psyche spacecraft, traveling 30 million kilometres - in less than two minutes to Caltech's Palomar Observatory. The images travelled at 267 megabits per second - the maximum rate to show that data can be sent from space at rates that are more than 100 times greater than radio systems now in use. Of course, no one asked for Taters' opinion about laser but the cat's feelings were evident from the video: The graphics contained in the images displayed include the cat's heart rate, colour and breed - while showing Taters engaged in a favourite activity - chasing a beam of light from - what else? - a red laser pointer. (ARNewsLine 2408) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2024 IT'S A DATE Clubs are welcome to email 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 - BARG HamFest 4th of February next door to BARG clubrooms at Ballarat Airport 10:00 am. barg.org.au/ (vk3kqt) VK4 - Redcliffe and Districts REDFEST April 6 (vk4tfn) 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. VK3 - SPARC Rosebud RadioFest November 17 at Eastbourne Primary School, Allambi Ave. Rosebud. (vk3pdg) FINALY A FINAL REMINDER, ACTUALY ITS REMINDER NUMBER 13 TO SAY AS OF 2024 THERE IS NO AUDIO FILE WITH THE NUMERAL 32 IN IT. SO AGAIN IF THATS THE FILE YOU USED FOR ANY AUTOMATED REPLAY OF THIS OR QNEWS.. CHANGE IT PRONTO! ------------------------------------------------------------*