Weekly news from the WIA:
MP3 edition of news available at:
http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2024-01-07.mp3 Text edition:

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2024 JANUARY 7 VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA
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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

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And so it's welcome, welcome, welcome
How do you do hellow
We'll give you all the pertinent facts in this
The first edition for 2024 of
NATIONAL NEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING JANUARY 7
IN OUR 29th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS

THIS WEEK:-

WIA Director and President Scott Williams VK3KJ. -

WIA Returning Officer John Marshall. -

WIA Director Giles Kirby VK5GK. -

WIA's manager of VHF-UHF Field Days Roger Harrison VK2ZRH.

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

Hi there, this is WIA Director and President Scott Williams VK3KJ
and welcome to the WIA broadcast for the first time in 2024.

I hope all WIA members and broadcast listeners had a very enjoyable
Christmas and celebrated the commencement of the New Year.
Our thoughts certainly go out to all of those that have been impacted
by these adverse weather events leading up to Christmas and in the
past week.

I know Queensland has been hit very hard with of course cyclone Jasper
causing significant damage and flooding in the region around Cairns.
And then just to top things off, Christmas day brought significant
damage to the Gold Coast region with monsoon type rain fall and severe
damaging winds. I know the Tamborine mountains and slightly inland
from the Gold Coast was most impacted with many houses lost and many
tens of thousands of people without power for many many days. In fact,
I have a friend on the Gold Coast in the Hinterland who is still
running on generator power whist they try and rebuild the electricity
supply network in his area.

Let hope these extreme weather events end soon and we can all enjoy
this holiday and festive season a little more.

I want to share some very sad news that we have received at the WIA
in the past days. Patrick Emery (Manager, Licensing Allocation
Section) of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA),
experienced a medical event on Christmas Eve and was subsequently
diagnosed with an advanced brain tumour. He was rushed to Austin
Hospital in Melbourne however, Patrick passed away peacefully
surrounded by his beloved family. Our thoughts and condolences are
with Patricks wife, two daughters, family, friends and colleagues
at this tragic and very sad time.

Patrick was 52 years of age, a qualified Lawyer and someone that at
the WIA we respected tremendously. He has been instrumental in leading
the recent consultations in class licensing and someone that we at the
WIA considered very engaging, professionally competent and fair.

Patrick was also a well-known music writer and published articles in
The Australian, The Age and a range of other print media. I know the
music industry are in shock with Patricks passing and of course at
the WIA we will miss him immensely.

Thats it for me this week and I will keep it short and sharp. I am
still on annual leave and enjoying some time around the property and
of course making that odd contact on air.

The new DXCC and awards year has kicked off for 2024 and already I see
some VKs have worked over 100 countries within 24 hours. There is
plenty of activity on the bands so hopefully between thunderstorms,
bolts of lightning and heavy rain, you will find a moment to enjoy
this great hobby.

I hope everyone has a prosperous and safe 2024.

Thats it for me this week and this has been Scott Williams, WIA
President for this weeks WIA National News.

DECLARATION of ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

Clause 14 of the Constitution of the WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA
(WIA) specifies the way in which Directors of the WIA are to be
elected to that position.

Three (3) directors will retire at the conclusion of the next Annual
General Meeting which will be held in May 2024, namely Lee Moyle
VK3GK, Steven Green VK2TSG and Chris Dimitrijevic VK3FY. Each retiring
director was eligible for re-nomination. A call for nominations for
the position of Directors of the WIA was made in the WIA National News
Broadcast and in Amateur Radio Magazine in accordance with the
Election Regulations.

I advise that I have received Three (3) valid nominations from WIA
members for the position as director of the WIA by the advertised
closing date for nominations, as follows:-

Steven Green VK2TSG
Lee Moyle VK3GK
Chris Dimitrijevic VK3FY
As advised in the Call for Nominations there will be three (3)
vacancies at the conclusion of the AGM to be held in May 2024 and
therefore no election will be necessary. I therefore formally declare
these Three (3) nominees as having been elected to the position of
Director of the Wireless Institute of Australia. These Directors elect
will take up their role at the conclusion of the Annual General
Meeting in May 2024. They will remain in that role for a period of
two (2) years.

The existing four (4) continuing Directors are:-
Scott Williams VK3KJ
Peter Schrader VK4EA
Peter Clee VK8ZZ
Giles Kirby VK5GK

These continuing four (4) directors will retire at the conclusion of
the Annual General Meeting in 2025.

I, John Marshall, the duly appointed returning Officer of the
Wireless Institute of Australia confirm that these results are valid
and in accordance with the Constitution of the Wireless Institute of
Australia and the Election Regulations.

The Constitution and Election Regulations of the WIA provide that it
is mandatory for the announcement of the incoming directors be made at
the Annual General Meeting. However, is has been the norm to announce
the results prior to the AGM once they have been finalised by the
Returning Officer.

I wish the incoming directors well in there forthcoming 2-year term.
This is John Marshall, WIA Returning Officer

This is WIA Director Giles Kirby VK5GK.

Happy 2024 to everyone. Just a short one from me today.

Wed like to remind members that nominations for the WIA Merit Awards
to be presented at this years AGM in Bundaberg should be submitted to
the WIA secretary ( secretary@wia.org.au ). Nominations for this award
will close on March 1st 2024. Details are available on the WIA web
pages.

wia.org.au/members/wiaawards/about/

I look forward to meeting many of you in Bundaberg this May 4th.

It will also be interesting to see what solar cycle 25 holds for us
this year. Will it be larger than predicted or just sooner. Hopefully
the New Years Eve solar flare was a good omen.

Best wishes everyone. This was Director Giles Kirby (VK5GK). 73s.

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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.

WIRELESS WEATHER AFFECTING THE PACIFIC OCEON AREA.

Mere hours after emerging over the sun's eastern limb on Dec. 31st,
big sunspot AR3536 erupted, producing a major X5-class solar flare.

This is the strongest flare of Solar Cycle 25 (so far) and the most
powerful eruption the sun has produced since the great storms of
Sept. 2017.

Radiation from the flare caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over
the Pacific Ocean.

spaceweather.com/images2023/31dec23/blackoutmap.jpg

Ham radio operators noticed loss of signal at all
frequencies below 30 MHz for more than 60 minutes after the flare's
peak.

It was too soon to know for sure, but this explosion probably
launched a coronal mass ejection into space. Because the blast site
is located near the extreme eastern edge of the sun, the CME was
unlikely to have a significant Earth-directed component.

Update: This explosion caused a solar tsunami. You can see the shock
wave in this animation from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

spaceweather.com/images2023/31dec23/tsunami_red_strip.gif
Last week on the news we, whilst doing an item on CQ Magazine
mentioned how CQ-DATV ceased its free online publication in 2021.

Although that IS still to be read on the net, clarification re
'Status of CQ-DATV is in error.

Terry Mowles VK5TM, as the PDF editor for the magazine, made contact
to advise that CQ-DATV is an independent publication out of the UK and
has no association at all with CQ Communications, Inc.

The free magazine is still produced every month by Ian Pawson G8IQU,
Trevor Brown G8CJS, Terry Mowles VK5TM and Jim Andrews KH6HTV.

Now even further...

Mark WC3W from dxmarathon.com says the annual DX Marathon Program will
remain viable with or without CQ Magazine.

The program does not receive any financial support from CQ nor do they
draw any resources to operate the DX Marathon program from them. They
do publish the rules in usually the November issue (still to be
printed) for the following year, and the program results in the June
issue.