Weekly news from the WIA:
MP3 edition of news available at:
http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2024-04-21.mp3 Text edition:

2024 APRIL 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 APRIL 21 2024
IN OUR 29th YEAR OF NON STOP NEWS

THIS WEEK:-

Steven Green VK2TSG National WIA Director. -

David VK4DN Secretary Bundaberg Amateur Radio Club. -

Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC), to aid missions requiring extreme
precision on the moon.

AND as time ticks by, you'll hear lots more 'news you can use'

PLUS WAIT - THERE'S MUCH 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

Hello, this is Steven Green VK2TSG, one of your National WIA
Directors.

Do you remember being a newcomer to Amateur Radio, or perhaps you've
had a friend in this situation recently? Hearing terms being thrown
around before they are explained can sometimes be daunting, or even a
little off-putting.

Consider a beginner picking up a publication only to find it difficult
to fathom the purpose of an interesting looking device within, let
alone understand some of the terminology.

The nature of Radio means that there are so many facets and areas of
information to pick-up on, that the learning curve is quite steep,
knowing where to begin can be difficult, so hearing unknown terms adds
proverbial noise to the mix.

As Amateurs, clubs, and the WIA, we need to consider this, and how
newcomers to radio will relate to technologies discussed. This might
be a little easier to adjust to than you might think, simply adding a
few sentences explaining what a device is used for, or where a device
is used, and why, goes a long way towards forming those links in our
education. We might also take a few more words to spell out an
anacronym when it's first used in a conversation or article, after
which we can use the initials again. Theres actually no need to reduce
the technical content, or 'dumb-it-down' as some would say, it just
takes a few moments and a few extra words to open up our conversation,
article, or presentation to a larger audience. It helps grow
understanding and interest in learning more, although it won't create
complete understanding, it may even have the reader putting your
article aside for further study or to come back once they have learned
a-little more.

Never be hesitant to ask questions, or provide feedback, and
suggestions on how we can make Radio, particularly education, more
accessible or easier to relate to. We all have a shared interest in
bringing more people into Amateur Radio and this is where you can play
a part.

Until next time, 73 - that's best wishes, from Steven VK2TSG...
WIA AGM

Gidday Australia!

This is David, VK4DN from the Bundaberg Amateur Radio Club!

Can you believe its now only 2 weeks away until the WIA Convention
happening here in Bundy? (Wow! where did the time go!?) Its going
to be a great weekend for amateurs visiting our town from all over
Australia!

The event includes not only the AGM and Gala Dinner, but also a great
Hamfest and Commercial Expo! The Hamfest and Commercial Expo will
have many interesting displays and you will be able to grab yourself a
bargain with show specials of new gear and also lots of used equipment
from the many vendors.

Also, there will be lots of great giveaways and door prizes

Bundaberg is an RV friendly town so if you are planning to setup camp
on the weekend, there are lots of options available!

Dont hesitate to contact our club if you have any questions about the
WIA weekend or to book a table for the Hamfest - We look forward to
welcoming you to Bundaberg on May 4th / 5th only two weeks away!!

73 from David VK4DN Secretary Bundy amateur radio club.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS With special thanks this week to
AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE.

Trash From The ISS May Have Hit A House In Florida

A few weeks ago, something from the heavens came crashing through the
roof of a Florida home, and NASA is on the case.

Home owners were not at the residence at the time. A home security
camera captured the sound of the crash at 2:34 pm local time and that's
an important piece of information because it is a close match for the
time US Space Command recorded the re-entry of a piece of space debris
from the space station. At that time, the object was on a path over the
Gulf of Mexico, heading toward southwest Florida. This space debris
consisted of depleted batteries from the ISS.

If the object is owned by NASA, the home owners insurance company could
make a claim against the federal government BUT it gets more
interesting if this material is discovered to be a human-made space
object which was launched by another country, which caused damage on
Earth, that country would be absolutely liable to the homeowner for the
damage caused.

amsat.org/ans-105-amsat-news-service-weekly-bulletins/
NASA has been tasked by the White House to establish a lunar-centric
time reference system, known as Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC), to aid
missions requiring extreme precision on the moon.

The agency has until the end of 2026 to set up LTC, which is not akin
to Earths time zones but provides a frame of time reference for the
moon. LTC will accommodate the slightly faster passage of time on the
moon, approximately 58.7 microseconds each day compared to Earth, due
to its lower gravity. It will serve as a benchmark for timekeeping for
lunar spacecraft and satellites, crucial for their missions.

NASAs Artemis program, set to begin astronaut missions to the lunar
surface in 2026, necessitates LTC for synchronization among Earth,
lunar satellites, bases, and astronauts, without which data transfers
and communications could be compromised. Developing LTC will require
international agreements, possibly influenced by the Universal
Coordinated Time standard, with potential implementation involving
atomic clocks on the moon and adherence to existing space agreements
like the Artemis accords.
YOU MUST NOT SELL

This item brings the latest chapter in a long-simmering patent dispute
between Motorola and Hytera.

A US federal court in the Northern District of Illinois has prohibited
Hytera Communications, a major provider of two-way radios, from
selling, distributing or importing its radios [quote] "until further
notice," [endquote] requiring the company to pay a daily fine of
$1-million to the court if they do not comply.

Even as it acted in compliance with the US court injunction, Hytera
separately announced it was withdrawing its own counterclaims against
Illinois-based Motorola that it had filed in a Chinese court. Hytera
has denied claims that its H-series radios have infringed on Motorola's
trademark and copyright.

The US court injunction banning the radios' global sales came just as
Hytera was preparing to show at ISC West, a major security conference
being held in Las Vegas.
TOWER OF POWER

This year has not been kind to broadcast radio towers in the United
States. The latest towers to be destroyed are in West Virginia but this
time it was by an act of nature - a fierce windstorm with gusts of up
to 90 mph.

The high winds destroyed two of the four towers serving the West
Virginia Metro News network's flagship radio station, WCHS-AM and its
sister FM station. WCHS, a news, talk and sports broadcaster.

The AM radio station, which broadcasts on 580 kHz with a 5 kw signal,
is the Primary Entry Point Emergency Alert System for West Virginia.
Its programming serves the southern and southwestern part of the state.

Questions remain on how or when the towers would be replaced.
A Florida researcher has developed three-dimensional RF filters that
may one day save space inside smartphones and Internet of Things, IoT
devices, leaving more room for batteries and someday paving the way for
6G wireless devices operating in the terahertz range.

The researcher calls RF filters "the entire backbone of wireless
systems."

Writing earlier this year in the journal, Nature Electronics, it was
explained how the 3-D filters were developed to take the place of more
commonplace flat resonators which have varying thicknesses depending
upon the wireless frequencies they are using.

By comparison, the 3D resonators, known as ferroelectric-gate fin, or
FGF, are able to handle frequencies between 3 and 28 GHz.
The March edition of the IARU Monitoring System Region 1 newsletter
has been published. Of note this time is a Coastal Ocean Dynamics
Applications Radar reportedly interfering with almost ALL of the
twelve-meter band.

The IARU Monitoring System Region 1 has started an action about this
radar. You can learn more about this in addition to the wide array of
strange and unidentified signals impacting our amateur radio bands at
www.iaru-r1.org