WESTLAKES NEWS FOR SUNDAY 2nd February 2014

Last week there was no broadcast and as it was Australia Day all/most of our news readers were away. Yesterday, was the clubs February meeting. Some of the topics up for discussion were our clubs involvement at this years Newcastle Show, repainting of the outside of Eastern wing ( common room to the education end ), fitting of timber work to finish off the exit door in that wing and make it water proof. If anyone can help in any of these activities please see a committee member. There were 4 new applicants for membership approved and welcome to the club guys and don't be shy to ask questions. About 40 special 50th Anniversary shirts have been ordered so if you have ordered one please pay the club treasurer. The clubs special callsign VI2ATZ50 has been issued in readiness for our 1 month of on air activity. You never know the club may even have a special QSL card printed. Our last meat tray winner, Maurie ( VK2CD ) was not at the club to draw a winning ticket from the ticket tumbler. The ticket tumbler was spun, Jason ( a new member to the club ) was asked to reach and select a ticket. Jason's hand went in and out came the ticket belonging to Les VK2RJ. Congratulations Les enjoy the meat tray. After the meeting the members enjoyed a VERY DELICIOUS spread prepared by Penny and assisted by Leonie. Thanks Penny and Leonie job well done. What can our club do to promote Amateur radio further? The club is about to embark in 3 days of promotion at the Newcastle show. Perhaps you have some ideas that you can share with us. WIA AGM AND CONFERENCE MAY 17 and 18 2014 to be held in VK4. GREAT AUSTRALIAN LIFESAVER: Brisbane duo Ken Macken and Hugh Geiger are counting on a rush to buy their CloudPhone, a one button cell phone. It won't hit the marketplace until August at the earliest, but confident of its success particularly with the aged they are. CloudPhone has been touted as a life-saving device. CloudPhone - which has one button and doesn't have a screen - is a voice-controlled phone worn around the neck. It has a 10-day battery and can make calls to designated contacts, track the movement and location of wearers, and detect if they have taken a tumble. If that occurs, the CloudPhone asks the user if they are ok, and if the person says they are injured or doesn't reply, the device sends an emergency alert to saved contacts' smartphones. If that fails, it can be programmed to ring 000. WORLD NEWS: From the ARRL. KAY CRAGIE, N3KN, RE-ELECTED AS ARRL PRESIDENT. Congratulations to ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, on her election to a third two year term in that leadership position. N3KN is the League's 15th president,. She lives in Virginia, and has been in office since 2010. Listen Before Transmit software. It can be annoying when someone transmits over the top of an existing contact, now Steve N2CKH has developed this nifty lil software that may make this a thing of the past Listen Before Transmit (LBT) involves software automatically checking the entire pass band before transmitting to ensure the channel is clear of any SSB, CW or Digital signals. If any signals are present the transmission can be inhibited and the operator informed. The software Steve N2CKH has developed appears to be very effective, in his testing, it has so far successfully detected all human generated signals in the pass band that can be heard by ear or seen in a waterfall display.What’s the world coming to, Are we getting lazier or dumber? The FT5ZM team is very active from the rare DX entity, promising it will be for more than two-weeks on all bands 160-10 metres, on Phone, CW and RTTY. RESTRUCTURING: CUBA GIVES HAMS ACCESS TO 60 METERS Cuba's the Ministry of Communications of Cuba has given hams in that island nation what amounts to strictly controlled access to the 5 MHz or 60 meter band. The rules change was approved on January 20th gives Cuban Novice class operators a power limit of 50 watts while high class license holders can run up to 100 watts maximum power out in emergency conditions as needed for a reliable link establishment. That seems to mean once any Cuban official declares any sort of a crisis situation exists that all other operations must cease immediately and the spectrum will be restricted for emergency communications only. But access to the new allocation by Cuban hams will not be immediate. According to Pavel Costa, CO7WT, as reported in the Southgate News, getting on the new allocation will require a request to the related authority and the agency's approval before hams in Cuba will be able to fire up in the new spectrum. As to whether this will be a spot frequency or continuous allocation was not mentioned in the CO7WT report. Have you ever surfed the net and got annoying pop ups and adds? Well there is a small program ( which is free ) called Adblock plus. This is available for IE,Google and Google Chrome. Works well when watching YouTube videos. REMINDERS: Paul, VK2HV has a small fold over tower for disposal. Located at East Maitland, give Paul a shout on 146.775 for more info. The club’s 40 metre Net held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning each week continues to be active. We have had stations call in from VK5, VK3 and VK7 last week Why not join us on 7.150 Mhz at 09:30 am and tell us what you are up to. Everyone is welcome. Only 3 weeks to get ready for....THE BIGGEST FIELD DAY IN AUSTRALIA. The CCARC are very proud to announce this year's Wyong Field Day on Sunday February the 23rd will be a date not to miss with traders and commercial sellers all available on the day. Come along and have a good day out, catch with old mates or even buy some new gear. See you there. Have you tried this program out yet? HamSphere is a virtual Ham Radio Transceiver. Once installed, you will be able to communicate with thousands of Amateur Radio operators and Radio Enthusiasts in over 200 countries around the world. You can even use HamSphere without a Ham Radio license by using a special HamSphere call sign. HamSphere is a highly realistic shortwave simulation based on SDR (Software Defined Radio) technology. Just Google Hamsphere and have some fun. You can even put it on your Android or Iphone ICOM CELEBRATES 50 YEARS: 2014 is a very special year for the Icom family as it marks the 50th Anniversary of the founding of ICOM Inc. Founded in 1954 by Tokuzo Inoue, the company has grown into a world renowned manufacturer of Business radio, Amateur radio, Marine radio, Aviation radio, Navigation products and Communications Receivers. The company continues to look forward and recently the company has moved into digital Amateur radio products (D-STAR), digital two way radio products and systems including NXDN, dPMR and P25 products under its IDAS digital brand. ICOM is located in Osaka, Japan and is a rare example of an electronics manufacturer who has not shifted production to lower cost countries, it has kept its production base 100% in Japan and that commitment to quality is one of the founding precepts of the brand. The Wakayama Icom plant has an advanced production system to produce the entire range of multi-mode wireless communication products. Design and manufacture processes are certified to ISO9001/ISO9002 quality and ISO14001 environmental procedures. Today ICOM looks very different to what it was 50 years ago. ICOM Inc is now a publicly held Japanese corporation; its stock is traded on the Tokyo and Osaka Stock Exchanges. The company has an international sales and service network around the world, today selling in over 80 countries around the World Subsidiaries can be found in the US, Australia, Germany, Spain and China. Despite their size and success ICOM’s founder Tokuzo Inoue is still a huge influence in the running of the company today. 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.