Weekly news from the WIA:
MP3 edition of news available at:
http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2023-10-01.mp3 Text edition:

2023 OCTOBER 01 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 OCT 01 2023
IN OUR 28th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS

THIS WEEK:-

WIA Director Giles Kirby VK5GK provides the board update. -

WIA AR Magazine Editor in Chief VK2ZRH Roger Harrison looks at his
latest issue.

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

This Tuesday night, Oct 3, is the 5th anniversary of the VKDMR Net.

The net started off small when I was living in Queensland and has grown
exponentially over that time.

I've had people call in while caravanning utilizing their hotspots and
even had a few people call in while Maritime Mobile.

So, dust off those radios and come get your callsign in the log.

Timings have changed due to Daylight Savings and are as follows:
Qld - 7pm,
NSW, ACT, Vict. and Tasmania - 8pm,
Sth. Australia - 7.30pm,
NT. - 6.30pm and
Western Australia - 5pm.

Don't you just love Daylight Saving timings across our country!

So, please come and join us on TG505 on Australia's largest digital
amateur network. This has been Peter, vk5dmr and vk4nbl for vk1wia.

WIA

JOIN THE WIA
tinyurl.com/yyj87b9y

This is WIA Director Giles Kirby VK5GK providing the board update.

Last week the ACMA consultation on Assessor Accreditation and Arrangements
closed and the WIA made a ten-page submission. This submission was an
excellent collaboration between the Education and Spectrum Strategy
Committees of the WIA.

Online collaboration spaces like Google, Teams, and Slack are one of the
great things to come of the different ways we live and work in recent years.
Especially useful to us given that we have committee members from all over
Australia and overseas.

The WIA is positive about the direction that the ACMA is taking in relation
to setting up the Assessment service from February 2024 when the Deed expires
with the AMC.

The submission asks some key questions that include - why there is a 50 km
limit for remote assessments, use of home premises, public liability cover,
digital literacy concerns, further clarification about process, recognition
of prior learning, and fees and charges.

There are also some questions about how the transition process will work
along with ensuring and maintaining the integrity of the assessor system.

On behalf of the board, Id like to say a huge thank you to the Education and
Spectrum Strategy committees for their input and to Justin Giles-Clark VK7TW
for bringing it all together.

You can find a copy of the WIA submission to the ACMA on the WIA Website news
feed.

Ive said this before, but the WIA relies on the passion and drive of
volunteers to represent the amateur radio service. A relatively small number
of dedicated individuals give their time and effort to support the future of
amateur radio in Australia, and to each and every one of them, I am immensely
grateful.

This has been your board update. Best wishes and 73s. This is Giles Kirby
VK5GK for the VK1WIA national news.

I DID RECEIVE A JOT POINT LAST MONDAY, SEPT 25, THAT DARWIN TO JAPAN
2 METER CONTACTS WERE MADE RECENTLY 20 PLUS ON FT8 AND SSB. RICHIE VK8RR
HAS TOLD WIA NEWS HE WILL SEND US A REPORT SOON SO WE AWAIT THAT AUDIO.

IN THE MEAN TIME A REPORT NOW ON THE LATEST ARMAGAZINE..
So dudes! This is Editor-in-Chief of Amateur Radio magazine, Roger Harrison
VK2ZRH.

This week, I have to fall on my knees and do a mea culpa for an error I
committed last week.

In introducing the new Listening-In column, I paid tribute to a previous AR
magazine columnist, Robin Harwood VK7RH, who contributed Spotlight on SWLing
for decades.

Mistakenly, I said he was a silent key, when in fact, hes alive and kicking!

My forehead hit the space bar on my laptop keyboard on being advised of this
followed by an email from Robin himself!

Nobodys perfect! Thats not an excuse, just a painful fact. My apologies,
Robin. I look forward to receiving the article you offered and giving it a
run in Listening-In!

Recovering my composure . . . what else is there in Issue 5, which has begun
landing in letterboxes and newsagents this past week.

Given that the ACMA is currently consulting the radio amateur community about
working out the details of how examinations and assessments will be carried
out in future, it so happens that we have a very timely article on something
of a stumbling block of where exams may be held.

Jules Perrin VK3JFP, a long-time assessor and also a member of our
Publications Committee, describes a recent incident in which exam assessments
were withheld until the issue of whether they were conducted at premises
other than his residence was resolved.

This is a must read article that is of particular interest to all present and
past assessors, as well as clubs, and for that matter, anyone with an
interest in the governance of amateur radio in Australia.

The issue has been referenced in the WIAs recent submission to the ACMAs
consultation on Proposed amateur radio qualifications and assessor
accreditation arrangements.

For the solder smoke brigade we have a nifty mod for the Poppin Pulser test
project, published in Issue 2.

Remember that? It generates an audio pulse for testing and setting up
transceivers and linear amps saving you having to whistle or repeat haaa-lo.
Keith Gooley VK5OQ describes how he substituted a MOSFET in place of the
LED-LDR assembly that pulsed the audio tone in the original project designed
by Jim Tregellas VK5JST.

October being Jamboree on the Air month that is, JOTA we have Alec Cherry
VK2APC with Below 25, a column about young people on the air, who outlines
the story of how JOTA came about in the late 1950s and was joined by Jamboree
on the Internet JOTI in the late 1990s. JOTA with JOTI bursts into life
over 20th through 22nd of October.

The Geelong Amateur Radio Club celebrates 75 years of life this year! Tony
Collis VK3JGC tells the story of the Clubs formation and later acquisition of
the call sign VK3ATL. To mark its diamond jubilee, Geelong ARC obtained the
special event call sign VI 75 G, for use all year. Look for it on the bands
theres a special QSL card to be had.

If youre keen on playing ham radio in the outdoors, youll be eager to read of
the 2023 Pilliga Park-fest. This annual event is for participants of the
World-Wide flora and Fauna (WWFF) and Parks on the Air (POTA) programs.

The 1st event was held at Dorrigo last year and written-up in AR Issue No.4
for 2022. As for last years Park-fest article, this year also deserved a
poetic introduction:

To the wild Warrumbungles, they drove far and wide
Braving roads and wild jungles, reaching Pilliga Parkside

Marty Nelson VK4KC tells about the adventures of the 20 participants.

Elsewhere in Issue 5, Will McGhie VK6UU goes into remote stations, with a
focus on VK6CRO, located at Carnarvon, which is on Western Australias coast
some 890 km north of Perth.

Completing Issue 5s focus on When all else fails, we have an article on the
role amateur radio plays in the new $25M purpose-built Disaster Emergency
Management Centre on Queenslands Gold Coast.

In addition, Newcomers Notebook goes into the matter of the Go Box a
complete, all-in-one portable amateur radio station. Something that you can
pick up and take with you in an emergency where independent communications is
needed.

A Go Box is also great for POTA, SOTA and other outdoor amateur radio
operations.

Whats more Spectrum Horizons is back with an article detailing how two clubs
with keen interests in VHF-UHF and microwaves, one from VK2 and one from VK4,
got together on a lonely lookout in northern NSW to do it differently for the
2023 Winter VHF-UHF Field Day. Its a soliloquy on a sojourn.

This issues ALARA column from Jenny VK3WQ updates details on the ALARAmeet
event happening in Hobart in four weeks time. VI7ALARA can be worked until 9
November.

Spread over three pages, this issues Over to You has some interesting and
entertaining letters to peruse and amuse.

Amateur Radio magazine, Volume 91, Issue Number 5 for 2023.More guts. Less
gab.

Serving Australian radio amateurs for 90 years. Available in print and
online.

Im Roger Harrison VK2ZRH for VK1WIA 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

WRTC 2026 becomes an RSGB affiliated Special Interest Group.

The United Kingdom is delighted to have been awarded the hosting
rights for the 10th WRTC taking place in July 2026.
Every 4 years, much like the Olympic Games, the World Radio Sport Team
Championship, known as WRTC, relocates itself to a new host nation.

WRTC is a radio contest event, designed to provide a platform for
high-achieving ham radio contesters to compete on a level playing
field in the same geographic region using identical antennas,
output power and other operating conditions.