Weekly news from the WIA:
MP3 edition of news available at:
http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2024-01-21.mp3 Text edition:

2024 JANUARY 21 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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NATIONAL NEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING JANUARY 21 2024
IN OUR 29th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS

THIS WEEK:-

WIA YOTA committee member Alec VK2MV. -

WIA Affiliated Clubs Coordinator Angelo VK2NWT. -

WIA Director and Company Secretary, Peter Clee VK8ZZ.

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

This is WIA Secretary Peter Clee VK8ZZ.

Please excuse my rough voice as I was hospitalised for 2 weeks over
Christmas with Covid and related issues. Having now been out of
hospital for 3 weeks my voice has still not totally recovered at this
stage.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

The membership database that issues the renewal notices for the WIA
has been plagued with issues in the past. The WIA have moved to
utilise a new domain name for renewal notices and you should see
renewal notices being issued from our @wia.au domain name already.
Membership anniversaries will now shortly be moved to the beginning of
the following month currently noted on the database. So that all
renewals will fall on the first day of the month. Please log onto your
membership account using the memnet portal to check the current
status of your membership.

WIA CALLBOOK

The current database used by the ACMA to record amateur licenses will
no longer be used for individuals and clubs callsigns once they move
to a class license on 19th February. The WIA are now looking at
producing a callbook for use by amateurs. The Board of the WIA are
currently considering what information will be included in the
callbook and the option of opting in or opting out of inclusion in
future editions of the callbook.

AMATEUR RADIO MAGAZINE.

The September / October edition of Amateur Radio magazine had some
issues which have been referred to the printer. These issues included
paper creases, ghost images, poor colour reproduction, and a number of
other issues. The Board apologise for these issues and have noted an
improvement in the November / December edition. Please email the
editor of AR with any issues that you may wish to raise about the
quality of the magazine.

editor@wia.org.au
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

The WIA are currently looking for an application developer to assist
the IT committee with a number of projects. Any members who are
proficient in application development are encouraged to contact the
secretary.

secretary@wia.org.au

Finally, I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Year,
this has been WIA Director and Company Secretary, Peter Clee VK8ZZ
wishing everyone a happy healthy and prosperous 2024.

Hello, this is Angelo VK2NWT WIA Affiliated Clubs Coordinator.

Well with the New Year already well underway Id once again like to
remind all Club secretaries to please ensure that your Clubs
committee contact details currently displayed on your WIA webpage
are indeed accurate.

In the coming months, the WIA will be contacting all Affiliated clubs
with notice and instructions for your club to apply to renew its
Public Liability Insurance policy which will be due in early April.

Now a reminder to all clubs that in order to qualify as well as
maintain your WIA Affiliation status at least 25% of your clubs
membership are required to be current members of the WIA. Most clubs
easily comply with this requirement; however, some may have fallen
behind and will put your club at risk of losing WIA Affiliation and
subsequent access to the significant premium savings the WIA has
negotiated on behalf of all Affiliated Clubs. So, in order to not miss
out on this significant WIA benefit please ensure your Clubs WIA
membership numbers are at the required level and that your club
contact details are up to date so that we dont miss out on contacting
you.

You can view the link the WIA Policy on Club Affiliation in the text
version of this segment.

wia.org.au/members/clubs/about/

If you have any questions about this issue or WIA Affiliation in
general, please dont hesitate to contact me by email on
vk2nwt@gmail.com

This has been Angelo VK2NWT for WIA National News.

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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.

DONT USE REGIONS FROM HERE ON IN

IARU Monitoring System Region 1 December Newsletter

Last months edition of the IARU Region 1 Monitoring System newsletter
has been published. From this issue onwards, they announce that some
videos about the discussed signals recorded during the issue's month
will be included. This adds a new and welcome dynamic to the reports
enabling you see to see the characteristics of the intruder and/or
interference source for yourself.

The newsletter and further information about the IARU activities may
be found at www.iaru-r1.org
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary-General, mentioned amateur radio in her
speeches at the WRC-23. In the opening remarks, Doreen recalled emergency
communications: It is amateur radio operators who are able to send damage
reports in the epicentre of an earthquake when all other communication
channels were down. At the closing remarks, she reinforced the
technical-experimental aspects of the service: We also saw a well-supported
compromise for amateur radio community and, of course, it is always terrific
to see how active that community is. These WRC outcomes will help them
continue to experiment and explore with new technologies, as well a
supporting technical competence development.

A total of 151 Member States signed the WRC-23 Final Acts, a record of the
decisions taken at the conference including both the new and revised
provisions of the Radio Regulations. It represents the agreements on
revisions to the global treaty governing the use of the radio frequency
spectrum, both on Earth and in space. The agreements reached at WRC-23 are a
testament to the unwavering spirit of cooperation and compromise among all of
our members, said Mario Maniewicz, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication
Bureau. Navigating the complexities of spectrum sharing to update the Radio
Regulations has helped us forge a path that provides a stable, predictable
regulatory environment essential for the development of innovative
radiocommunication services for all.

Amateurs in Germany who are using temporarily allocated frequencies
on 160 metres, 6 metres and 4 metres - as well as Class E licence
holders being allowed to use the 13cm and 5 cm bands - have been given
a six-month extension from the telecommunications regulator BNetzA.

The announcement was made in the regulator's newsletter which noted
that the extension expires on the 30th of June 2024. Until then, all
licence, class, polarisation and power restrictions remain in place
and use continues to be on a non-interference basis.

The extension permits the use of 1.8 and 2.0 MHz on weekends for
contests. It also grants continued use of 50 to 52 MHz and
70.150 to 70.210 MHz.
Vulcan Centaur Triumphs in Maiden Voyage, Peregrine Lander Faces Lunar
Setback

Vulcan Centaur, a new heavy-lift booster, successfully completed its
inaugural flight. However, the mission took a bittersweet turn as the
Peregrine lander, set to be the first American spacecraft to touch down on
the lunar surface since 1972, faced significant challenges shortly after
separation from the Centaur upper stage.

Originally planned for launch in 2019, the Vulcan program encountered delays,
however, the January 8th launch marked a significant

achievement. Powered by liquid methane and liquid oxygen, the
Vulcan Centaur demonstrated successful flight, a milestone for
American orbital rockets using this propellant combination.

While the Vulcan Centaur celebrated success, the fate of the Peregrine lander
took a dramatic turn. Initial reports suggested a promising start when
Peregrine separated from the Centaur and established communications with
ground control. However, soon after enabling its propulsion systems, the
lander faced difficulties maintaining its orientation, leading to a rapid
depletion of its batteries.

January 8th showcased both success and setbacks in space exploration. The
Vulcan Centaurs triumphant launch demonstrated progress in rocket technology,
while the Peregrines struggles highlighted the inherent difficulties of space
missions. As technology advances, the moon remains an enticing destination,
with the upcoming Nova-C landers launch in February offering renewed hope for
successful lunar exploration. The events of this day remind us that despite
the challenges, the pursuit of space exploration continues unabated.

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