Weekly news from the WIA:
MP3 edition of news available at:
http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2024-03-10.mp3 Text edition:

2024 MARCH 10 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 MARCH 10 2024
IN OUR 29th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS

THIS WEEK:-

WIA SECRETARY PETER VK8ZZ. -

WIA CONTEST MANAGER FOR THE JOHN MOYLE FIELD DAY VK4AE DENIS. -

WIA AFFILIATED CLUBS CO ORDINATOR ANGELO VK2NWT. -

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE, 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

WIA Callbook

The current database used by the ACMA to record amateur licenses is no
longer being used for individuals and clubs callsigns, now that we
have moved to a class license. The ACMA have ruled out maintaining any
such database of amateurs in Australia.

I have been contacted by many dissatisfied amateurs that have written
to their local federal member to request the reinstatement of amateur
callsigns in the ACMA RRL database. Whilst the Board do not have any
formal position, I too have written to my local federal member urging
them to reinstate this essential service.

The WIA are now looking at producing a callbook for use by amateurs.
The last callbook was printed over 5 years ago. We would like to hear
from amateurs as to the method to be utilised for inclusion or
exclusion of details in a callbook. Such things as:-

Should we include an amateurs Name?
Should we exclude an address?
Should we just include a postcode?
Amateur License level of proficiency.
Should it be an OPT IN or an OPT OUT model?

Please send your thoughts for consideration to secretary@wia.org.au
The Board of the WIA will be 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 were referred to the printer. These issues included paper
creases, ghost images, poor colour reproduction, and a number of other
issues. The Board apologised for these issues and have noted an
improvement in recent editions. Please email the Board and the Editor
with any issues that you may wish to raise about the quality of the
magazine.

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.

WIA Merit Awards

WIA Merit Awards to be awarded at the Annual General Meeting to be
held in Bundaberg over the long weekend of 4 and 5 May 2024 will close
shortly. If you know someone that has made a contribution to Amateur
Radio that you feel should be recognised with an award then please let
us know. A nomination form is available on the WIA web site.

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

This has been WIA Director and Company Secretary Peter Clee VK8ZZ..

INSURANCE.

Hello, this is Angelo VK2NWT WIA Affiliated Clubs Coordinator.

As mentioned by WIA president Scott Williams in last weeks Broadcast,
the commencement of the new insurance year for WIA Affiliated clubs
starts on the 1st of April which is now only three weeks away.
Accordingly, this is another reminder that WIA Affiliation on an
ongoing basis requires that at least 25% of your clubs membership are
also current members of the WIA.

The process for advising the WIA of your membership is easy.

The nominated person in your club should log onto your WIA club page
and navigate to the bottom where you will find the Club Membership
List now appears. In the dropdown box enter the callsigns of all your
club members. Those club members that dont have a callsign should
have the letters SWL entered alongside their name. The WIA can then
cross-reference the callsigns to determine your clubs WIA membership
level. An email detailing this process will be sent to all WIA
Affiliated clubs shortly. As I have banged on in the past it is
therefore vital that that your clubs contact details are in fact
up to date and accurate so that you dont miss out on the
correspondence that both the WIA and GippsInsure will be sending you.

Finally, something for all clubs to consider: With the transition to
Class Licensing and the abolition of annual licence fees, we are all
better off now by at least $55 every year. So why not encourage other
members in your club to put those savings to good use and join the WIA
and bolster those numbers in your club?
You can view the WIA Policy on Club Affiliation and how to join on the
WIA Webpage or follow the links.

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

WIA Membership:
wia.org.au/joinwia/wia/aboutjoin/

As always, if you have any questions about this issue or WIA
Affiliation matters in general please contact me via 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, ICQPodcast,
Radioworld.com Hackaday and the World Wide sources of the WIA.

Bob Heil, K9EID, Silent Key

The man who defined the sound of live rock n roll music and brought audio
engineering principals into mainstream amateur radio use, Dr. Bob Heil,
K9EID, has passed away at the age of 83. He was an ARRL Life Member and in
the ARRL Maxim Society. A Facebook post from Heil Ham Radio paid tribute to
their founder: Bob fought a valiant, yearlong battle with cancer, and passed
peacefully surrounded by his family.

Heil founded Heil Sound in 1966, through which he created the template for
modern concert sound systems for musicians like the Grateful Dead, The Who,
Joe Walsh, and Peter Frampton. The talk box used on iconic live record
Frampton Comes Alive! was of Heils design. His audio engineering products
have been featured in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and he was honoured in
2007 with the Parnelli Audio Innovator Award for his impact on the live sound
industry. My life has been about achieving great sound, whether on the
concert stage or in the amateur radio world, Bob Heil recounted in 2022. Ive
watched Heil Sound go from a regional sound company to a world-class
microphone manufacturer. This company has been my passion, he said.

A fire has destroyed a transmitter building serving WCMU Public Media,
knocking off the air one of its FM signals and one of its TV stations
in the USA.

It may take months to get them back up.

Licensed to Central Michigan University, the organization serves the
central and northern parts of the state. The fire took down the
signals of THE 92 kW FM station WCML and its TV station WCML
Channel 6.

We anticipate it may take several months to restore full service to
northeast Lower Michigan, the organization posted on its website.

It also said the cause of the fire was unknown.

IRELAND and the WORLD.

St. Patricks day is almost upon us. In fact Sunday March 17.

and THAT means GB3SPD will be on air from the Emerald Isle.

12 noon on the 15th March to 12 noon on the 18th March.

Many people worldwide, annually celebrate St Patrick's Day by
going green, with many amateurs running special event stations
as part of the festivities. St Patrick's Day is a celebration of
legendary Irish saint and a national holiday in Ireland that is about
fun and celebration.

So join the fun and GB 3 SPD (St Patricks Day)

FLORIDA - USA

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station - had a big
celebration recently in Florida, and Newlines Neil Rapp WB9VPG was
fortunate to attend. Neil filed this report while he was still
there -- giving listeners a sense of all the excitement.

"ARISS celebrated the positive impact of 40 years of amateur radio on human
space flight at its conference held late last month at the Centre for Space
Education: Astronauts Memorial Foundation near the Kennedy Space Centre in
Florida. One hundred and ten leaders, volunteers and fans of the program
gathered to hear and see memorabilia from the past four decades and got a
look into how to rocket into the future. Keynote speaker Richard Garriott,
ex-W5KWQ, inspired the group toward a bold future and passed his license exam
at the conference to become re-licensed. His previous license had lapsed not
long ago. ARISS also had a few announcements, including a new partnership
with Estes model rockets and expansion of the SPARKI radio kit availability
for school classrooms. HamTV will return on the next ISS supply mission,
SpaceX 30, scheduled for mid-March and be returned to service soon after. Lou
McFadin, W5DID, received a special achievement award for his work in building
amate!

ur stations in space since the very first one on STS-9, which carried the
first Spacelab mission and the first astronaut representing the European
Space Agency 40 years ago. Of course, the crowd was treated to a live contact
with astronauts on the ISS as three youths presented their questions to the
astronauts.