Weekly news from the WIA:
MP3 edition of news available at:
http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2024-04-07.mp3 Text edition:

2024 APRIL 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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NATIONAL NEWS FOR WEEK COMMENCING APRIL 7 2024
I'M EDITOR GRAHAM VK4BB

WIA

JOIN THE WIA
tinyurl.com/yyj87b9y

WIA AGM NEWS

Gidday! This is David VK4DN from the Bundy Amateur Radio Club.

Just a reminder that if you are attending the National WIA Convention
and AGM in Bundaberg on the 4th/5th May and flying into Bundaberg,
please make contact with our club and let us know the time of your
arrival so we can make sure to meet you at the airport in our Minibus.
The driver will take you to your accommodation and will also ferry you
to and from the WIA Convention, Gala Dinner and AGM.

So if you are flying into Bundy, please let us know your incoming
flight time.

Also, if you havent already registered for the event, the bookings can
now be made via the WIA website.

memnet.com.au/MemberSelfService/EventBooking.aspx?selectedEventId=1

There will also be opportunities for spouses and family to attend
tourist venues in Bundaberg over the weekend such as the historic
Bundaberg Rum Distillery tour / etc.

If you have any questions, let us know!

73 from David VK4DN Secretary - Bundaberg Amateur Radio Club.

AUSTRALIA

SEE YOU IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY.

And what better way to "SEE" than by drone.

Businesses, investors, training providers and industry stakeholders
have been invited to participate in the Northern Territory Governments
Drone Technology Innovation Cluster to grow the Territorys drone
industry. Challenge participants will design a proposal for the Drone
Technology Innovation Cluster to facilitate the development of drone
and associated industries in the Territory.

The winning design proposal will be judged based on which concept
offers the most value for the Territory.

The winning consortium will be able to negotiate a contract with the
Territory Government for the procurement of the proposal and also
receive $100,000 in seed funding.

One group showing interest is said to be Surf Life Saving NSW.
One of the SLSS units is the provider of the largest coastal uncrewed
aerial vehicle surveillance program in the Southern Hemisphere.

tinyurl.com/2cses9yb

(NT Govt.)
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS With thanks to DX-WORLD, IARU, RSGB, RAC,
ARRL, NZART, eHam, AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE, ICQPodcast,
Radioworld.com Hackaday and the World Wide sources of the WIA.
World Amateur Radio Day is celebrated each year on April 18.

The theme for 2024 is, "A Century of Connections: Celebrating 100 Years
of Amateur Radio Innovation, Community, and Advocacy." The global event
spans 2 days: Thursday, April 18, 0000 UTC to Friday, April 19,
0000 UTC.

On April 18, 1925, the IARU was formed in Paris and will celebrate its
centenary in 2025. American Radio Relay League Co-Founder Hiram Percy
Maxim was the organization's first president.

All radio amateurs on earth are invited to take to the airwaves to
enjoy the global friendship with other amateurs and to show their
skills and capabilities to the public. WARD is not a contest but rather
an opportunity to talk about the value of amateur radio to the public
and fellow amateur colleagues. It is also a great opportunity to talk
about local radio clubs and amateur radio in local media.
Belgium:

23 cm band Restrictions

Belgiums regulator the BIPT has published draft restrictions on
amateur radio operation in their 23cm band.

The new restrictions include:

Class A (equiv. our full call) a whopping loss of almost 52 MHz.
Size of band proposed to be reduced from 60 MHz to 8.24 MHz with
the satellite allocation reduced to just 2 MHz., 1260-1262 MHz and the
antenna elevation must always be more than 15 above the horizon and
the transmission power is limited to 50 W EIRP.

amsat-uk.org/2024/04/01/belgium-23-cm-band-restrictions/
UK

Congratulations are in order for Chris Whitmarsh, G 0 FDZ who has been
presented with an RSGB Lifetime Achievement Award by RSGB President
John McCullagh, GI 4 BWM and RSGB Board Chair Stewart Bryant, G 3 YSX.

Recipient Chris is the only amateur in the UK to have had a two-way QSO
on every single amateur band for which we are licensed.

Now THAT is some achievement!
HOLLYWOOD

FCC AUCTION PROGRAM RECEIVES EMMY AWARD

The Emmy Awards, best known for their celebrity recipients, has a new
well-known recipient among the ranks: The US Federal Communications
Commission.

That report comes to us from ARNewsLine and George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU.
GEORGE: In the US, the Emmy Awards bestowed by the National Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences, are best known for acknowledging stellar
achievements in the television industry. This year, however, a somewhat
unconventional award recipient stood out among the more typical
award-winners in entertainment and sports programming.

The Federal Communications Commission, the US government regulatory
agency, was the recipient of a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for
having held a broadcast auction. The auction, which took place over
several years, opened the door for TV stations to receive incentive
payments in exchange for their return of underutilized parts of the
broadcast spectrum. The funds the stations received enabled them to
reinvest in their own operations while the newly available spectrum was
auctioned off to wireless broadband carriers, to use for 5G or other
services.

The auction brought in a gross total of $19.8 billion in US currency.
Fifty broadcasters received a total of $10.05 billion in payments.
Another $7.3 billion went into the US Treasury to help reduce the federal
deficit.

This is George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU
Students from Plymouth State University in the USA will be spending
30 hours releasing human-sized weather balloons, one per hour, to
collect data on temperature, humidity, air pressure, winds and
ultraviolet rays between the ground and about 100,000 feet during the
April 8 Total Eclipse.

They're one of 55 teams around the country doing this in a project
coordinated by NASA. Another project triggered by the eclipse involves
amateur radio operators throughout the country who will be using their
signals to study the effect of the moons shadow on the ionosphere.

This upcoming eclipse offers all sorts of opportunities to discover
more about how our universe works. While many will watch the Moon and
Sun share the spotlight that day, some students at Case Western Reserve
University are focused on the space between, specifically the hundreds
of miles far above the clouds but below outer space known as the
ionosphere.

Members of the Case Amateur Radio Club, W8EDU, are among those across
the USA and the globe set to test what happens when the Moon gets in
the way of the sun and how that impacts (or doesn't) radio
communications.

An Indiana county that will experience totality during the April 8
solar eclipse is cranking up the power on its Travellers Information
Radio Station to help visitors. The station normally runs at 10 watts
but for the period April 115, its allowed 100w and an antenna height
close to twice its norm. The station will provide locations and
details of free events and viewing sites throughout the area.

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HAM RADIO OPERATIONAL NEWS - IT'S A CONTACT SPORT

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NOW CONTEST WISE:- 2024
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IARU HF World Championship the second full weekend of July i.e. 13-14.
Starts: Zero hours UTC Saturday
Ends: 2359 UTC Sunday
(CQ)

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Trans-Tasman Low Band Contest

July 21st 2024

The Trans-Tasman contest, always held on the 3rd weekend in July,
aims to encourage Low Band activity between VK and ZL

Only contest bands 160 80 and 40M are allowed with SSB, CW and
Digital (i.e. RTTY OR PSK)

This contest is another official WIA Contest and will count towards
the Peter Brown Contest Champion Awards.

(wia.org.au)
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YOTA Contest 2024

The next 2 sessions of this year's YOTA Contest will be from 10:00 to
21:59 UTC on 21 July and 29 December on the five classic bands
CW and SSB.

Everyone can work everyone.

The complete rules can be found on
ham-yota.com/contest.
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AUGUST 17 - 18

Remembrance Day Contest.

This contest commemorates the Australian Amateurs who died during
World War II and is designed to encourage friendly participation and
help improve the operating skills of participants.

It is held on the weekend closest to the 15th August, the date on
which hostilities ceased in the southwest Pacific area.

A perpetual trophy is awarded annually to the Australian state or
territory with the best performance. The name of the winning State
or Territory is inscribed on the trophy, and that State or Territory
then holds the trophy for 12 months. The winning State or Territory
is also given a certificate, as are leading entrants.