Good Morning and wecome to another local news broadcast for 2011. This is VK2ATZ, The official callsign of
Westlakes Amateur Radio Club founded at Booragul in 1964 and now located at Teralba, Lake Macquarie.
There is no HF simulcast being transmitted today because of the absence of Warren VK2UWP.
Callbacks follow at the conclusion of this news and it's all repeated again at 7 pm this evening. Westlakes local
news can be heard each Sunday on this repeater, VK2RTZ, at 9am local. Following at 9.30am is a relay of the
Australia-wide amateur radio news from the VK1WIA.
The February edition of Westlakes monthly magazine is in the mail after a working bee in the club library yesterday.
The electonic version will appear, as if by magic, in email inboxes tomorrow for those members who choose to receive
the magazine in that format. The front page features a dramatic photo of "Dare-Devil Ted", VK2UI, plummeting to earth
after leaping from a plane at 14,000 feet last Saturday. Ted was at the club yesterday, looking none the worse for wear
and displaying a collection of amazing colour photos of his leap.
Beware of fake Icom IC-V8 hand held radios. Icom is out to stop whoever is supplying counterfeit copies of its popular
IC-V8 2 meter hand-held radios. Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, reports that fake transceivers, battery packs
and chargers began being reported in 2010. Icom says that the difference between a real model IC-V8 handheld and the
knock-off phoney radios are so small that a blind user might not know they are using a fake radio. For example, the number
2 key on the real IC-V8 is for the " Beep" function. On the fake radio number 2 is "VOX". Also, on the back of the real Icom
product the serial number tag is black while it is white on the fake radio. Even accessories are being cloned. The F21 Battery
Pack looks like an Icom but there are two differences. The fake does not have the ICOM logo, and carries the Part Number
BP-208 instead of BP209N as found on the real Icom battery. Lastly, the optional factory remote microphone is designated by
Icom as the HM-133 while the counterfeit is HM-133V. Icom says that a real HM-133V is for other radios in their product line.
Icom asks that if you find a product that you may suspect is counterfeit, report it to the company's support centre.
Why would anyone buy a fake Icom .... probably because they are half price.
The first monthly meeting for 2011 will be held in the Westlakes Club Library next Saturday afternoon. Afternoon tea a-la-
Gloria follows. Among the matters to be decided are two applications for membership. As the club's financial year ends
tomorrow, the treasurer will detail the financial results of the years activities. Although the books have yet to be audited,
The annual turnover for the year was approximately $25,000 - another record.
Rember the "woodpecker", that horrible interference from "OVER THE HORIZON RADAR" both ours and theirs that could be heard on
HF 20 years agO? It looks like it's back. The latest issue of the free IARU Monitoring System newsletter reports on Russian
radar noise on 7 MHz. The newsletter says that the Over the Horizon Radar from Russia was active between 7000 and 7200 kHz
with burst transmissions on 5 different frequencies on December 30th of 2010. The pulse rate was, as always 66.66 pulses per
second. Meantime, another Over the Horizon Radar that is based in Cyprus has been destroying communications on the 10 MHz band
every afternoon. It seems like the price of eternal vigilence must be amateur radio interference.
Did you know that one third of "snow spotters" (not snow droppers) in the USA are radio amateurs? There are 6,000 snow spotters
across north America whose job it is to predict approaching snowfalls. Spotters must be at least 16 years old and undergo a free
training course. They then log onto the National Weather Service site and report their observations. Of the 6,000 spotters, 2,000
are ham radio operators. The number of "snow droppers" who are amateurs remains unknown.
A total of 81 tickets were sold in Yesterday's meat tray raffle - a near record. The winner was drawn by Dave VK2RD who plucked
the ticket of Diane VK2FDNE from the ticket tumble barrel. Congratulations Diane.
Nanosail-D is a NASA nanosatellite that ejected unexpectedly on January 17 from a larger NASA satellite. Nasa has asked Amateur
Radio operators world-wide to try to hear the baby signal. The NanoSail-D beacon sends an AX.25 packet every 10 seconds. So far,
NASA received almost 470 reports from amateurs in 11 countries. This tiny satellite is 650km above earth and the beacon should
transmit up to 120 days before the battery dies. The frequency to monitor - if you have nothing better to do is 437.20 MHz.
Well that's all the news I have this week.
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