WESTLAKES NEWS FOR SUNDAY 1ST DECEMBER 2013

Well last week the broadcast almost didn't happen, but thanks to the Hunter Branch we were able use VK2RNC 146.900 MHz repeater. I have been told that VK2RTZ took a direct lightening strike which took a few components out in the repeater. The club thanks Peter VK2ZTV and Graham VK2FA who took time to go up and do the necessary work to fix the repeater. Thanks guys- job well done. Also with the numerous lightning and power outages during the week, the IRLP Node would not come up on the repeater. Dave VK2RD along with assistance of John VK2JJW tried a few things to get it going but no go.. A decision was made to throw the big switch and hope the system would reset itself and... Bingo... away she went, so IRLP Node 6040 is again operational. Thanks John. . At your club yesterday was Barry VK2BZ, back from his baby sitting duties in QLD. Hope your all relaxed now Barry. Happy Birthday to Bill VK2XT who celebrated his 101st yesterday with around 30 friends having lunch at Wests Cardiff. Quite an interesting afternoon and a chance to put a face to the name of a few attendee’s. Good on you Bill... In the library at around 2 pm were a great number of members waiting for the draw of the meat tray. Nigel VK2FNT who was chief ticket cruncher and also called to the library was Ally VK2AFZ who reached in and choose a ticket which took Greg VK2CW a good minute to un crunch. On the ticket was was written STELLA. I wonder who that ticket belongs to? Yes its another meat tray to the Smith Family again. Congratulations Stella enjoy the meat tray. Please be careful when you come to the club as the grounds are very wet due to rainfall that we have had over the last few days. Don’t forget... Only 2 weeks to the Westlakes Christmas Party to be held on Saturday 14th December commencing around 11:00 am. All supplied, Just bring your own drinks and nibbles and of course your XYL too. Vandalism at Radio Club. Around the weekend of November 17 considerable damage was done to the club rooms of the Summerland A R C at Lismore. Club President Ross Dowse on VK2WI News reported much equipment was stolen and a major inspection and clean-up has been held during the past days. Club activities were put on hold until the next general meeting planned for today, Sunday the 1st of December. You should be on the lookout for strange offers or possible unusual activity with the radio equipment. You should inform the Summerland club executives or the authorities of any information you may become aware of. It is only a few weeks since Summerland club member John VK2JWA was attacked by intruders in his home which they subsequently set on fire causing considerable damage. ILLW reaches 100 on its list. The honour of being the 100th registration in the annual International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend goes to South Australia's Point Lowly Lighthouse, to be activated by the Whyalla Amateur Radio Club VK5BWR. Club President Alex Glinski VK5ALX says the activation will be within the heritage listed caretaker's cottage. Previously club members put VK5BWR on air from an emergency generator room, and some spent the night rugged up in sleeping bags or on the back seat of their cars. Alex VK5ALX claims that with the more comfortable overnight accommodation available for members it will be the best weekend ever. Whyalla's annual show which attracts 20,000 people is also on the same weekend and some of the visitors will also come to the Point Lowly Peninsula and lighthouse. This means that VK5BWR set-up in a courtyard has a great opportunity to promote Amateur Radio activity and a bit of lighthouse history. Built in 1883 the lighthouse is Whyalla's oldest structure standing 15 metres tall, made of local sandstone, and on a point jutting into the northern end of the Spencer Gulf. Powered these days by electricity and a powerful tungsten halogen lamp, it started with a wick burner fuelled by mineral oil and then a kerosene vaporising light unit. Made redundant by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority in 1993, it was bought by the Whyalla City Council in 1995 with help of the South Australian Government. Under local control the light was reactivated after it and two cottages had been beautifully restored. If you want join 22 countries which have already registered a lighthouse, lightship or marine beacon, or to see the event guidelines for August the 16th and 17th, visit the website www.illw.net That item from Jim Linton VK3PC For those of you that like chasing a bit of DX try making contact with Indian special event station AU2JCB. Look for the Indian special event station AU2JCB, which will be active until December 10th. Activity will be on 80-6 meters SSB, SSTV, PSK and FM. Suggested frequencies are (depending on the propagation): 3710, 7040, 7150, 14220, 14250, 14310, 21280, 21310, 28490, 28510 and 28545 kHz. FM mode: 50800, 51500 and 29700 kHz. If higher bands are open, operations will be on those bands. The operator will be Surabhi, VU2DSI. QSL direct (with 2 IRCs) to VU2DSI. Operations are to celebrate the 155th anniversary of the birth (November 30th) of Sir Jagadeesh Chandra Bose, India's great scientist and inventor who they consider the "Father of Wireless Communication". Also try listening out for Kiritimati (Christmas) Island Tim, NL8F reports that he plans to be active as T32TM from the Captain Cook Hotel, located on Kiritimati [Christmas] Island (OC-024), Republic of Kiribati, between 27th November and 4th December, 2013. QRV on 160-10 metre SSB or RTTY. Tim plans to operate part of the day and spend the rest of his time seeing the island or trying out the world class Bone fishing in between QRV periods. QSL via K8NA. Website: www.t32-2013.com/ Lissenung Island P29VNX. IOTA frequencies 30/10m CW, RTTY & PSK31. Further information: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~yy7a-ysd/P29VNX-2013 Event date: Sunday, December 1, 2013 (Starts today). Event end: Friday, December 6, 2013 Infant airlifted after swallowing "button" battery: Parents are being warned of the dangers of button batteries ahead of Christmas after RACQ CareFlight Rescue airlifted a baby boy who swallowed one on the Sunshine Coast recently. It's prompted a warning on the dangers of the tiny toxic objects. "Button batteries can lodge in the oesophagus of infants and cause serious injury or even death if they go undetected," CareFlight's Chief Medical Officer Doctor Allan MacKillop said. A four year old Sunshine Coast girl died in July after swallowing one of the small batteries which are used in toys, games and many household items such as torches, car keys, TV remotes, watches and calculators. "If they become stuck in the oesophagus they can immediately begin to burn,doing serious damage," Dr MacKillop said. Each week four children are taken to emergency departments across Australia after swallowing the tiny batteries. The elderly are also urged not to store the batteries in pill containers as the small objects can easily be mistaken for medication. AUSTRALIA TO SAVE WINAMP: The fate of the veteran media player app Winamp remain in limbo after AOL's announcement last week that it would shut down Nullsoft and end support of these products called winamp AND shoutcast. Although there have been reports that Microsoft is in talks to buy both Winamp and Shoutcast, neither company has commented publicly. So a Melbourne, VK3 based web developer and the owner of a web hosting company Peter Zawacki, has started a Change.org petition urging AOL to either keep Winamp alive or release its code as open source. Zawacki and a group of like-minded developers have created a website to simply explain their cause, writing, "The history of digital music started with Winamp. Winamp is still one of the best music players out there. It's SIMPLE TO USE And lots of people still use it." Well that's all the news we have this week. Do you have a news items that you would like read out on a future broadcast? Then 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...