WESTLAKES NEWS FOR THE 20TH OCTOBER 2013

Yesterday at the club were a large gathering of SDR radio fanatics to listen to Norm VK2KNC give a lecture on various types of SDR software and how it is used. The library was almost filled to capacity which is good to see. Towards the end of lecture Marcel VK2FMDB gave demonstration via the internet of WEB SDR receivers. To finish up on this lecture - job well done Norm and Marcel. The meat tray raffle was conducted and Greg VK2CW reached in selected this weeks lucky meat tray winner. In the right hand of VK2CW was the ticket of Herb VK2ZVF ( another of the clubs regular winners ). Enjoy the meat tray Herb. Also at the club yesterday was a very tired Richard VK2FRKO who just finished doing a 12 hr stint fighting the Cabbage Tree Road fires. Richard had some interesting stories to tell us. Richard said that he needed a holiday. Michael told of the wildfire that destroyed the service station near Doyalson. Michael complained that they sold cheap fuel and that was where he bought it from. Now I have to pay top dollar and buy it elsewhere. The IRLP Node has been very quiet this last few days, The reason was found yesterday morning... Someone had turned the radio off. It is situated in the Computer room with it’s own computer. PLEASE... DO NOT TURN IT OFF!!! I know that you feel you are doing the right thing but please do not touch. Some will notice a length of coax running down the hallway and into the shack. This is also for the IRLP to connect to an outside antenna using the Patch Panel in the shack. Again...please do not touch the coax going into the panel. This is only a temporary measure and will be corrected soon. That plea is from Dave VK2RD and Geoff VK2EO There are still a number of next years call books which the club is taking orders for. Please see or ring Greg VK2CW to order you book. Candidates doing the Foundation licence were busily being instructed by Geoff and Steve and Geoff had a group in the radio shack. Great work guys. PR4AmateurRadio Expo will take place on April 13-15, 2014 The WIA is strongly behind this Expo which harnesses its many affiliates as they showcase the benefits of modern amateur radio and engage the community. A commitment of up to 12 hours is being sought on a day by them. Like other promoted activities people do better understand, appreciate and may join them. The promotion of amateur radio relies on having the right messages and trained radio amateurs to effectively give them. Apart from having knowledgeable radio amateurs on hand, please also consider that they should reflect the community by their different age groups, both sexes, and that they are trained in what to say on the day.At all times act and look professional. For the best image a display must be neat, tidy, and always safe. This is an excellent opportunity to expose the public to the many diverse positive elements of amateur radio and how it fits into the community. Part of the effort should be designed to get people interested in and taking up amateur radio. It helps to have Foundation Licence training and assessments ready to go after Easter giving those attending the Expo or reading about it in the local newspaper a chance to give us a try. The choice of a location is important to give amateur radio good exposure to the public. The opportunities exist, however it does require advance planning including site owner approvals. The guidelines and other details about how to join for the PR4AmateurRadio Expo will be issued later. AIM: To publicise modern and diverse amateur radio that is easily accessible to people from all walks of life. Through exhibitions, showcase the very diverse hobby enjoyed by those of all ages, gender and ability. On air support may be given by WIA Directors, Office-bearers and members. WHEN: The weekend of April 11, 12 & 13 April 2014 gives the choice of using any time on the Friday, Saturday or Sunday. A public event on one of those days should provide good exposure for the hobby. REGISTRATION: Now invited on the form on the webpage. After the Expo send a report of the event to the WIA to receive a Certificate of Appreciation. Each Foundation Licence holder having contributed to the Expo, and proven media coverage, will be recognise. PLEASE READ THE FULL STORY ON THE WIA WEBSITE. JOTA: 19th - 20th October 2013. JOTA is the annual event in which about 500,000 Scouts and Guides around the world speak to each other by way of amateur radio. News from VK3. TV switch-off to catch some: When Australia’s final analogue TV transmitters now serving Melbourne, Geelong and surrounds are closed on December 10, at least 5 per cent of people will get caught with no television.The old transmissions are to disappear in favour of new TV with its multitude of channels. The former analogue frequencies are up for sale in the so-called digital dividend. Being found frequently in Melbourne-Geelong are those who use to watch Community Television Broadcaster Channel 31, but are unaware it earlier shut-down and moved to 44 digital. The experience elsewhere in Australia found at 5-10 per cent of people still watched analogue TV, but get caught by the switch-over which requires a desk-top device or a new receiver. On YouTube of course there will be news reports of people ignoring the warnings or leaving their purchase late after analogue TV ends. Have you got any friends in VK3 you had better send them a reminder. There have been some members asking of a net that Westlakes was going run on 40 meters. As far as I know we are still waiting from ideas from members e.g. time date and frequency. Got some ideas please contact the club secretary at the clubs postal address or see Barrie in person at the club. It is on again - a Car Boot Sale at Westlakes. Free to sellers and to all who attend. Not only that, there is a free sausage sizzle for all. It will be held in the club grounds, York Street Teralba on Saturday 9th November starting at 9 am. Full details will be in our November Magazine. WORLD NEWS: SSTV Handbook Martin Bruchanov, OK2MNM, has written a Free e-book for ham radio operators and radio listeners interested in special communication modes for image transmission – SSTV, radio facsimile (WEFAX) and digital SSTV (HamDRM).You can download the entire book or view on line... http://www.sstv-handbook.com/ Thanks to US shutdown, pirate radio activity reaches an all-time high. As frustrated as many are over the US government shutdown, it nonetheless offers one unique benefit to the shortwave radio community, and to pirate radio in particular - no FCC enforcement: Read the full story at: http://swling.com/blog/2013/10/thanks-to-us-shutdown-pirate-radio-activity-reaches-an-all-time-high/ Well that's all the news I have this week. Do you have a news items that you would like read out on a broadcast? Contact Richard VK2FRKO on email address vk2frko@tpg.com.au or give the item to Richard at the club. Now to wind up. Westlakes Amateur Radio Club Inc. is located in York Street, TERALBA - and is open on Saturday from around 11:00 am. Also on a Tuesday evening from around 6:00pm. To make contact at other times, try dialling (02) 49 581588 where an answering service operates. Visitors are always welcome at the club. We have plenty of tea, coffee, long-life milk, a good Canteen and an interesting selection of biscuits.

WESTLAKES NEWS FOR THE 13TH OCTOBER 2013

We start todays news broadcast with news of a SILENT KEY. STAN LLOYD, VK2AYL passed away last Tuesday 7th October. The funeral notice will be in Tuesdays Newcastle herald and the funeral will be held at RYHOPE Lawn cemetary. Vale Stan VK2AYL Yesterday was the clubs October meeting. Dave VK2RD took the chair in the absence of Steve VK2WL who had a prior commitment. Welcomed back to the club as a member, was Paul VK2BPL. The other new members were Nigel VK2FNT, Bruce VK2FSAD and Barry Gilbert - still waiting his callsign. Its ok Barry, you should have it by Christmas.The Committee and Members would like to welcome you to the club. Greg VK2CW advises that there are 13 Call books left to be sold. If you require one get in quick or you will miss out. The meat tray raffle took place after the meeting and last weeks winner, Penny reached in to the ticket tumbler and drew the ticket out belonging to 1st time meat tray winner Peter Waeger. Congratulations Peter. Make sure you are the club next weekend to draw our next winner. Enjoy. After the meeting a feast was put on by Penny who slaved away in the kitchen cooking mini pies, sausage rolls,cakes and other goodies. Thanks Penny - will have to see about getting you a pay rise. Next Saturday in the Westlakes Library is a lecture on SDR transceivers/receivers. This lecture will be presented by Norm VK2KNC who is a master at lecturing. This is must see and listen to lecture. Be early so that you don't miss out on a seat. Lecture to commence at 1300 hrs. Also at the club were most of the crew from STONE THE CROWS net. Ted was handing out cake to all the crows who were celebrating 25 years of the net. Sorry there were only enough pieces of cake for the crows. The YL of Peter VK2GFE cooked the cakes. The STONE THE CROWS net is on EVERY SATURDAY mornings at 0600 and usually goes for about an hour on the frequency of 3588KHz. So why not join in. ALL WELCOME. Also at the club yesterday was Peter VK2GFE who was showing everyone his homebrew DISCONE antenna made out of stainless steel. What a magnificent piece of home brewing. Great to see again members doing home brewing. The current Foundation class led by leading instructor Geoff VK2GL were busy outside and Geoff was showing them how to erect dipole antennas and set up a station outside. Not sure how many contacts were made but maybe you can come up and tell us more of what happened during call backs. Heard a rumour that Ken VK2KJ was leaving us for a better feeding paddock up North. In about 1 months time I believe. It is on again - a Car Boot Sale at Westlakes. Free to sellers and to all who attend. Not only that, there is a free sausage sizzle for all. It will be held in the club grounds, York Street Teralba on Saturday 9 November starting at 9 am. Full details will be in our November Magazine. Remember... What you bring and do not sell you MUST take it home with you. AMATEUR RADIO NSW BARBEQUE: ARNSW is having a barbeque on Sunday 10 November at 63 Quarry Road Dural. Gates open at 9.30 and entry is free to AR NSW members, others pay $10. Registration is required prior to entry and there will be a membership list at the gate Some traders will be in attendance and food will consist of a continuous sausage sizzle, hot dogs, tea, coffee, soft drinks and ice cream all free to AR NSW members. There will be 4 lecture presentations each of about 45 minutes on:- 1 HF antennas 2 P25 3 Microwave 4 Software defined radio. All done by hams who have specialist knowledge in their fields. Due to space restrictions, each presentation is limited to 30 pentodes.Registrations for these lecture presentations are filling fast so book early to confirm a seat lf you would like to register for the event including a particular presentation on your preferred topic, you might email fieldday@arnsw.org.au as we need to know numbers for seating and catering purposes. Leave your name, callsign and a contact number The address again, fieldday@arnsw.orq.au Entry to the lecture presentations is sequential receipt of registration, that is, first in best dressed As a special bonus to our members, in the afternoon, we will be raffling a beautiful pair of strippers... Wire that is... lf any member has recording equipment and is prepared to organise a recording of the lecture presentations for some of our country members, would they please contact the office on 9651 1489 and leave contact details Submitted by Al Hirschel VK2KAM AR NSW event commander Up Up and Away. WIA News reminds radio amateurs who launch small balloons and Quad Copters of the need to keep away from structures such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In this day and age of we hams launching small balloons and using ATV on board easily purchased quad copters and the like, comes this story with a message in its tail. A mystery drone crashed into the Sydney Harbour Bridge causing counter terrorism officers to be alerted and an investigation by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. The incident occurred Wednesday week, just a day before the start of the International Navy Fleet Review. However police believe the two were not linked. A spokesman for CASA confirmed it was investigating the incident. He said those operating remotely piloted aircraft must keep them at least 30m away from any people, buildings or structures and to check with local council where they can be used. He said airspace around the Harbour Bridge was restricted, even for small aircraft such as drones. Australians not malware wise. Nearly half of all adults or more than seven million living in Australia who regularly use the Internet for personal purposes don’t believe they will suffer from malicious software, or malware for short. Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has also found that ten per cent who use home-based computers or laptops on the Internet fail to have virus protection while another eight per cent don’t regularly update it. Malware allows others to steal personal identities including login details a worrying possibility in this increasing digital society. The Australian Internet Security Initiative program reports that 35,500 Australian IP addresses a day are infected by malware. Well that's all the news we have this week.

WESTLAKES NEWS FOR OCTOBER 6TH 2013.

Well the club was a hive of activity yesterday. More people than ever turned up. In the activity room Norm VK2KNC was trying to repair Barrie's Icom 725 that sustained some serious damage after travelling to VK3. The VK3 could not get the radio to work at all and after contacting Barrie he returned the radio. Anyway, Norm had found that the circuit board on the front panel had split. After fixing that up and getting the display to work, it was found that the transmit button was broken as well as the 3 light globes on the display. Norm had a full crew helping him. Working behind Norm was Maurie VK2CD who was also getting Norm to assist him get his SDR software to work on his laptop. Norm was very busy and said he will be back in a months time. Also on the same bench was Marcel VK2FMDB and his laptop showing Richard VK2FRKO some finer points on the CHIRP software for programming handhelds. Maurie was also out at his car testing one of his HF Vehicle antennas that one of his customers had bought off him and it worked very well. Another happy customer. Not sure what Dave VK2RD was doing in the radio shack BUT it could of been in preparation for the Oceania DX contest. In the kitchen Michael VK2CCW was busy cooking hamburgers and steak sandwiches with salad. Pies and sausage rolls were also on the menu. Absolutely filling Michael. Please support the club by buying your lunch there as it helps supports the club. Richard VK2FRKO was seen purchasing coaxial cable - looks like he has work ahead of him. Yes the club does have various items and coaxial cable to sell so why not ask before visiting elsewhere and by doing this you support the club. Greg VK2CW was seen wandering around selling tickets for the meat tray raffle and trying to fill the money bag up with money. A ticket was drawn and and you wouldn’t want to know it, Penny’s name came out. Enjoy the meat tray Penny and Greg and see you at the club next week. It is on again - a Car Boot Sale at Westlakes. Free to sellers and to all who attend. Not only that, there is a free sausage sizzle for all. It will be held in the club grounds, York Street Teralba on Saturday 9 November starting at 9 am. Full details will be in our November Magazine. Peter Sturt VK2ZTV has been carrying out Amateur Digital Television Tests on 446.50 MHz. We believe this is the first Amateur Television digital transmissions in Newcastle. These transmissions can be watched with a 70 Cm beam pointed at Cardiff Heights or a vertical colinear antenna. Grahame VK2FA & Charlie VK2CLH have both been watching Peter's state of the art transmissions. Grahame has a 16 element phased array antenna and Charlie has a vertical colinear antenna on his roof In Warners Bay. If people are interested in observing the trials and tribulations of this experimentation, most set top boxes and TV's will tune to the 446.5 MHz frequency if you do a manual scan by entering the frequency before you press ok. Reception reports can be sent to newcastleatv@gmail.com. I am sure if any one would like further information Peter, Grahame or Charlie would be happy to give you anymore information you might require. Submitted by Grahame VK2FA. UP AND COMMING EVENTS: SDR Radio demonstration Saturday 19 October Amateur Radio Exams at Westlakes Saturday 26 October Inaugural Michael J. Owen VK3KI Award announced. The Administrative Council of the International Amateur Radio Union held its annual meeting on 2 & 4 November 2012 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Due to the passing of Michael J. Owen VK3KI, who had been a member of the Administrative Council for most of its existence and had been a long time contributor to the efforts of IARU to promote and preserve amateur radio, the AC decided to establish an award in recognition of this. The Michael J. Owen VK3KI Award was established to recognize an individual or individuals that best exemplify the dedication and hard work of IARU volunteers. Following an IARU request for submission by member Societies of possible recipients, the AC at its meeting in Cancun Mexico on Sunday 22 September 2013, considered submissions and agreed to jointly award the first Michael J. Owen VK3KI Award to Dr David Wardlaw VK3ADW and Wojciech Nietyksza SP5FM. David Wardlaw became involved with the IARU in 1968 as a part of the Secretariat provided by WIA for the inaugural conference of IARU Region 3 in Sydney. While serving as WIA President he attended the 1976 IARU world meeting in Miami, held in conjunction with the Region 2 Conference, at which the global objectives and strategy for WARC-79 were developed. Wojciech Nietyksza, SP5FM began his long and intensive IARU involvement as a member of the IARU team attending the 1974 Maritime Mobile WARC in Geneva. From that time through WRC-03 he was the most consistent face of the IARU at ITU meetings and conferences. He was elected Vice Chairman of Region 1 in 1975 and was re-elected to that position every three years until 1999 when he relinquished it for Tafa Diop, 6W1KI. Wojciech remained a member of the Region 1 EC and chairman of its External Relations Committee through 2002. Summits on the Air continues to grow in VK. The Summits on the Air (SOTA) programme is now operational in vk2 and vk4, with over 1000 summits in vk2 and over 500 registered so far in vk4 with some large regions still to go. All regions of VK2 are registered so there are summits all over the state. In VK4, the two southeast regions and the Capricornia and Wide Bay & Burnett regions are registered at this point. I can also pass on the news that VK6 is being surveyed at present and I will leave detailed announcements to those doing the work. To mark the launch of SOTA in vk2 you are invited to join in a SOTA QSO party on Sunday 13th October. If you can, activate a nearby or distant summit yourself. If you prefer to operate from your home or other portable location as a chaser, do join in. The activators need to make at least 4 contacts to qualify their activation. SOTA is not a contest but is an operating award programme. You can record your contacts in an online log and claim points for your contacts. A major benefit of participating in the SOTA programme is that to activate a summit you must do at least some walking (the last 25m of altitude). As many mountains have no vehicle access anywhere near the top, this sometimes means you and your fellow activators need to walk 1, 2 or more km, carrying your radio station, food and water, navigation and safety equipment. Many radio amateurs around the world are now enjoying this combination of amateur radio with some level of bushwalking. It is good for the health. For more details about the award, the summits already registered, activators' guides and online maps and spotting websites, start your search at SOTA.org.uk. 73 from Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH association manager for SOTA in VK2. WORLD NEWS: Former P.O.W. Dorothy Susie Davis Thompson KF5IX - SK at 95 Dorothy Susie Davis Thompson’s path to a lifetime of service to her fellow man began with her birth. Born in Shanghai, China on October 26, 1917, where her grandparents toiled as missionaries. Her father, Alfred Davis, was an importer of electrical equipment. In 1937, at age 19 she left her home town of Shanghai and came stateside to New York City, where she entered the Columbia University Nursing School. While at Columbia, the Japanese invaded China and her family managed to flea China for safety in the Philippines. Despite a bout of rheumatic fever Dorothy graduated in 1940 from Columbia University - Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing. She then travelled to Manila, reunited with her parents and Eva, and began working at Steinberg General Hospital . On September 2nd, 2013 Captain Dorothy Susie Davis Thompson-KF5XI United States Army Nurse Corps, Ex-Prisoner Of War, Hero of the United States and of the Philippines, healer of the sick, and Amateur Radio Operator passed away at the age of 95. Did you remember to put your clocks forward 1 hour this morning. If not, you have missed the news. Daylight saving started this morning at 2:00 am... Remember if you are on the roads that Double Demerit points and fines apply till midnight Monday. This being a long weekend.. Well that's all the news I have this week. Anyone have any late breaking news? Do you have a news item that you would like read out on a broadcast? Contact Richard VK2FRKO on email address vk2frko@tpg.com.au or give the item to Richard at the club. Now to wind up. Westlakes Amateur Radio Club Inc. is located in York Street, TERALBA - and is open on Saturday from around 11:00 am. Also on a Tuesday evening from around 6:00 pm. To make contact at other times, try dialling (02) 49 581588 where an answering service operates. Visitors are alway welcome at the club. We have plenty of tea, coffee, long-life milk, a good Canteen and an interesting selection of biscuits. Thank you for listening. Good morning all.