Weekly news from the WIA:
MP3 edition of news available at:
http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2024-03-17.mp3 Text edition:

2024 MARCH 17 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 MARCH 17 2024
IN OUR 29th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS

THIS WEEK:-

WIA Vice President Lee Moyle VK3GK. -

ACMA to search for QRM in Batesman Bay area. -

Denis VK4AE contest Manager for the John Moyle Field Day. -

Congratulations due to VK5DG in the top 50.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S 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 Vice President Lee Moyle VK3GK.

Are you planning on attending the 2024 WIA AGM and Conference in
Bundaberg on the weekend of the 3rd, 4th and 5th of May? If so keep a
lookout for the Bundaberg Radio Clubs promotion in AR magazine next
month as it details whats on and where. It will be a long weekend in
VK4 so plan and book your accommodation soon. Registration and AGM
booking links should be on the WIA website shortly.

Last weekend was the BERU Contest, the WIA board thank all amateurs
that participated and a special thanks to the two VK teams of
operators and also the WIA members that took up the opportunity and
operated a Head Quarters Station using the WIA prefix. We had
operators from VK2 to VK7, no VK1 or 8 this year. Lets try for a
clean sweep in 2025.

Its nearly a month ago that the Class licence was introduced.
All is well and we press on with minimal impact to operating on air.
Meanwhile, in the background, ACMA continues to update and hone the
assessor facilities for providing free Amateur examinations utilising
the volunteer assessor network. From all reports, the ACMA Assessor
portal is functioning very well and once a callsign is applied for,
it is issued within a few days.

Were you previously a WIA assessor?
Have you considered returning to rejoin the Assessor cohort?
ACMA are accepting applications for new and previously qualified
assessors to join with the current ACMA assessor group. Of course
there are some simple criteria that you need to meet just like when
the WIA conducted exams so nothing new there. Apply via email to:
ARassessors@acma.gov.au

If you are an assessor and on Facebook, Marc Hillman VK3OHM has set up
an assessor group for discussions and general help. You can find it by
searching Facebook for ACMA assessors ( and also using the
following link: facebook.com/groups/2092573064431607 )

The WIA through its working groups and Board continue to engage with
ACMA on a regular basis. The relationship is robust as discussions
continue on topics such as High Power Permits, Operational
improvements and other matters. If you have topics or issues you would
like tabled to ACMA, please email the WIA office for its
consideration.

Keep in mind that WIA Affiliated Clubs will need to consider insurance
renewals by April 1st with the Insurance broker GippsInsure.
We expect they will be issuing renewals soon if not already.

Thats all for this week, for now, 73 From Lee VK3GK

ACMA

Peter - VK2AN has lodged a complaint with ACMA about interference
affecting the whole of the Batemans Bay area. It sounds, he says,
like distorted 50Hz harmonics and affects frequencies from 100Khz to
over 4Mhz.

ACMA relied saying "an ACMA Field Officer will contact you and if you
have a further query please contact our Service Centre."

So if anyone else has a problem with QRM, be like Peter and contact
ACMA.

(sourced to wia secretary)
________________________________________________

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.

IARUMS Wiki

An IARU Monitoring System Wiki has been published to assist users in
recognizing and identifying the most usual modes used by non-amateur
radio stations in the HF amateur radio bands.

It contains a discreet technical description for each mode, as well as
audio recordings, waterfall screenshots, and video captures of the
transmissions. This Wiki will be updated as new signals are received
and processed, and as better screenshots / audio / video recordings
of them are received.

The IARUMS Wiki can be directly accessed via thee link in this
weeks WIA National News Service.

iaru-r1.org/spectrum/monitoring-system/iarums-wiki/
APRIL 18

Every year on April 18, Radio Amateurs worldwide take to the airwaves
in celebration of Amateur Radio and to commemorate the formation of
the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) on April 18, 1925.

The IARU has announced that the theme for this years World Amateur
Radio Day will be:-

A Century of Connections:
Celebrating 100 years of Amateur Radio Innovation, Community
and Advocacy.

No doubt Felix will soon start letting us know of world special event
stations during forth coming Operational News segments here on
WIA National News.
SARLINK IN UKRAINE

Starlink receivers need positioning and precise timing information to
function, and currently the best way to get that information is the
use of global navigation satellite system such as GPS.

Unfortunately, the antenna used for this secondary satellite
connection leaves something to be desired. Of course, when it comes to
solving Starlink problems, theres no one better than Oleg Kutkov,
whose duty is to fix and improve upon Starlink terminals used in
Ukraine and when the specific problem is GPS bands getting jammed by
the invading military, you better believe that a fix is due.

Oleg sets the scene, walking us through the evolution of GPS circuitry
on the Starlink terminals. Then he shows us the simplest mods you can
do, like soldering an improved passive antenna in place of the chip
antenna currently being used.

According to the blog from Oleg what he has come up with, well
differences are impressive, Starlink terminals with active antenna
mods were able to get GPS signal in areas with active jamming going
on, while the unmodified ones could not.

Hopefully his blog is still available as it's a must read for anyone
wondering about GPS antenna reception problems in customer-accessible
devices. This is not the only Starlink hardware mod Hackaday have
seen Oleg make, they recently covered his Starlink Ethernet port
restoration journey that meticulously fixes Ethernet connectivity
oversights in the newer models, and the blog also has an article about
powering Starlink terminals without the need for PoE.
ISRAEL

Need to 'RE'-charge your batteries?

ARNewsLine have reported on a company in Israel doing just that.

It seems technology developed 10 years ago in Israel to permit
wireless transfer of power has begun showing up in some world markets.
The over-the-air system uses infrared sent from transmitters that
transform electricity into infrared beams which they then send to
nearby devices that need their batteries recharged.

Line of sight is necessary for the transmission to be successful and
one transmitter's signal can cover about 130 square meters of area.
For it to work, each device needs to have receivers attached to
convert the infrared signals back into electricity.

The company, Wi-Charge, has trademarked this far-field wireless
technology under the name "AirCord." It is designed to replace the
traditional need to plug devices in using cords to recharge them.
According to the company website, the technology is already in use in
some countries in the retail, commercial and industrial sectors.

Wi-Charge states that AirCord sends narrow beams that focus only on
the devices equipped with receivers and has been certified as safe by
the Food and Drug Administration and Underwriters Laboratories in the
US and by the International Electrotechnical Commission in the UK.
Finally, if you're planning to visit us down under here in Australia
anytime soon and want to get on the air, listen up.

Whether you are a US Technician class operator, a Foundation licence
holder in the UK or a ham with entry-level privileges in certain other
countries, the new class licence arrangements here in Australia now
permit you to get on the air - up to a maximum of 365 consecutive
days. Visitors from a list of countries no longer need to make a
separate application for a licence; they need only append VK slash
before their home callsign.

The ACMA has posted a list of countries with currently recognised
foreign licence equivalents who may operate under Australian licence
conditions. Visit the ACMA page at the address given in the text
version of this weeks news

acma.gov.au/overseas-amateurs-visiting-australia

The ACMA makes it clear, however, that hams seeking to relocate
permanently to Australia still need to apply for a licence in VK
and receive a new VK home call.
Speaking of 'home calls', I'm VK2LAW reporting from the international
news desk here in Sydney.
-------------------------------------------------------------------*
HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT