WESTLAKES AMATEUR RADIO CLUB BROADCAST NEWS FOR 5TH AUGUST 2012.

Welcome to this week's local news broadcast. This is VK2ATZ, The callsign of Westlakes Amateur Radio Club located at Teralba, Lake Macquarie. Your reader this morning is Barrie. There may be a simulcast being transmitted this morning on 3.565 MHz courtesy of Warren VK2UWP Callbacks follow at the conclusion of this news.Then at 9.30am is a relay of the Australia-wide amateur radio news from VK1WIA. It was meeting time again at the club for our August monthly meeting and some of the items discussed were - Emergency exits for radio room and library, on going for costings etc, Lighthouse weekend away ( NORAH HEAD LIGHTHOUSE )in a fortnights time. Richard vk2rko will be bringing his antennas down and the club will bring down the transceivers,ATU's and power supply and laptop computer for logging the contacts that we make. It should be a good weekend away. Garry VK2DBI will be looking after the running of the Rickety Kate so please support him as all money raised will go to help pay our lease that we have with Lake Macquarie Council. Next weekend, the RD Contest will be held and radio operators are required as this is a 24 hrs contest. Please note the new time that the contest will start 1300 hrs Saturday until 1300 hrs Sunday. Can you spare an hour or so to help log the contacts or operate a radio, please contact Barrie VK2ABD and register your name. After the meeting the meat tray raffle took place and last weeks meat tray winner Garry VK2DBI was at the club to draw out of the ticket tumbler this weeks winner. This weeks lucky winner was Alec VK2ZM. Congratulations Alec enjoy your meat tray. After the drawing of the meat tray, Diane VK2FDNE with the excellent help of Penny and Leigh VK2KAL laid out on the table a fantastic spread of nibblies which was enjoyed by all. There were a number of birthdays being celebrated this month and we wish them all a happy birthday and yes the cake was very nice. The September monthly meeting will be held on the 8th September and NOT on the 1st Saturday as normally held. Both President and Vice President will be away so please take note of the next meeting date. At the club yesterday there was a hive of activity. Some members were showing off their new project( broadcast receiver) and one member had quiet an impressive unit. This project for members who have missed what the project is, it is a broadcast receiver with most of the components been able to be purchased from our store. A prize for the best looking and working unit will get a prize donated by Geoff ( VK2GL). So come on, come to the club and get your bits for the receiver and have some fun. Last Thursday Les VK2RJ was at the club house to show a number of members how to use and operate WINDOWS 7. About 15 people were there and came away with much more knowledge on how to use this operating system. It has been suggested that Les run another class on a Saturday so that other members that could not be there last Thurday can come along and learn more about WINDOWS 7. Please register your name with the club secretary or see Les at the club. Are you a Amateur Radio operator living in the Hunter? Why not join our club and take part in future events. Please contact our club secretary Barrie at our postal address. New members most welcome. Reminder of our Field Day which will be held on the 16th of September. This is a Sunday. All the usual stall holders will be there as well as Andrews Communications. Westlakes famous jelly bean guessing competition, BBQ and raffles will be there. This is your club so if you have anything which you would like to donate ( no TVs, VCRs or computer monitors). Ring the club for further details. Stall holders as well as boot sales are most welcome. VK5DGR to receive ARRL Technical Innovation Award. The ARRL Board has awarded the 2012 ARRL Technical Innovation Award to David Rowe VK5DGR for his work on the amateur radio Codec2 low bit rate speech codec. The ARRL Board minutes for July 20-21 say: 32. On motion of Mr. Norris, seconded by Dr. Weaver, the following was ADOPTED with applause: Whereas David Rowe, VK5DGR, has been a major leader and the primary technical author of an open-source CODEC2 protocol, designed to address the impediment to the development of amateur digital-voice posed by closed sources protocols; and Whereas the open-source nature of this work is a major step forward in the development of digital voice communications; Therefore, the ARRL Board of Directors awards the 2012 ARRL Technical Innovation Award to David Rowe, VK5DGR. On hearing of his award David Rowe VK5DGR said: When I first became interested in Ham Radio as a 12 year old in the late 70's my grandfather bought me the 1979 ARRL handbook. Quite an honor to one day be contributing back to this fine hobby that was my start in a communications and electronics career. That version of the handbook even had a chapter on "Narrow Band Voice Modulation" - an esoteric analog technique to compress speech by removing chunks of audio bandwidth. Who would have thought that 30 years later I 'd be contributing in the same area....... Record year for the ILLW With less than two weeks to go, the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend has already exceeded last year's total of 470 registrations in its 15th year and is headed for a new record. The 48 hour fun event has steadily grown from the 158 in its first year and most of those early registrations continue to be involved. In the United Kingdom there are 60, and half of those can be found in England. There are plenty throughout Europe including Germany on 52 and The Netherlands 25. North, Central and South America have more than 80 stations registered with Argentina, Canada, Chile, Curacao, Honduras, Mexico,Panama and Puerto Rico plus 55 in the USA. Nearly 70 been received from Australia and New Zealand, South Africa has 15 and no matter where you are there will be plenty to work. Most issue special QSL cards. The mainstream media continues to run the story. The Clare Herald reports that the Loop Head Lighthouse in County Clare will be on air courtesy the Limerick Radio Club EI0LHL. It will join others to participate in promoting public awareness of lighthouses and lightships and their need for preservation and restoration. On leaving the Club yesterday, 1 member in his car was heard tooting his horn 3 times before reversing his car. Greg VK2CW was seen laughing his head off. Good on you Richard. WORLD NEWS: Ultra-low power 2.4GHz transceiver platform draws less than 10mW. August 03, 2012 // Julien Happich reports. The IcyTRX developed by CSEM is a new transceiver platform that consumes less than 10mW and is well suited to ultra-low power RF applications such as Bluetooth low energy, WirelessHART, and IEEE802.15.4. The IcyTRX platform has been designed with the goal of reducing power consumption well beyond the state of the art, as well as allowing the use of small coin cell batteries, thus extending battery life and miniaturization far beyond that obtainable today. In addition to a market-leading power consumption of less than 8mA at 1.2V, IcyTRX offers a highly integrated design avoiding external matching components. With a footprint under 2mm2, the chip supports a variable data rate of up to 2MBits/s. Designed in a standard digital 90nm CMOS process, the IC is available as a silicon-proven IP and under license for integration into RF SoCs. In the world's worst blackout in recent times power was cut to 700 million people in India. Jayu Bhide VU2JAU reports that the North-East grid failed due to a fault in the plant and 20 states were affected by the power failure. Work to restore the power was in progress. National Coordinator for Disaster Communication in India, Jayu VU2JAU said that New Delhi had its power cut for 12 hours yesterday. He said in the evening power was restored to some parts of Delhi and the surrounding areas. The work to restore was still in progress. "Hams in and around the affected areas were ready for the emergency communication required during power cuts," said Jayu VU2JAU. They provided emergency communications during the outage, all voice repeaters were in order and did not fail despite the heavy duty back-up power needed. He said, "Hams will still be on their toes until completepower is restored." Further reports on the crisis are expected later. Luckily, said Jayu VU2JAU, "Everything went well and no major casualty was reported". Up to 20 of India's 28 states were plunged into darkness as suppliers failed to meet the growing demand caused by air-conditioning units, flat-screen TVs and other gadgets. Hundreds of trains failed, traffic lights were out, surgical operations cancelled, and underground miners were trapped when their lifts broke down. The blackout raised concern about India's infrastructure. 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 Afternoons from around 12 noon. Also on a Tuesday evening from around 6pm. 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, and an interesting selection of biscuits.

WESTLAKES NEWS FOR 29TH JULY 2012:

Welcome to this week's local news broadcast. This is VK2ATZ, The callsign of Westlakes Amateur Radio Club located at Teralba, Lake Macquarie. Your reader this morning is Barrie. There may be a simulcast being transmitted this morning on 3.565 MHz courtesy of Warren VK2UWP. Callbacks follow at the conclusion of this news.Then at 9.30am is a relay of the Australia-wide amateur radio news from VK1WIA. The activity room was buzzing with activity once again yesterday with the latest project been built. That is the receiver built with 1 valve and parts from the club store or from members junk boxs. The competition is going to be close for the judging with almost completed projects. This is what the club needs - more members getting involved in club activities. Also Herb was there demonstrating his audio amp with parts bought from the club store. Next Thursday commencing in the classroom (1000 hrs) VK2RJ Les with applying his knowledge to interested members who wish to know more about the WINDOWS 7 operating system. So far there are about 8 people who will be going. If you have a laptop with Windows 7 on and you wish to come along please contact Les VK2RJ. Make sure your laptop has a fully charged battery. The canteen will be open for lunch as Diane will be there. The meat tray this week was carefully selected from the ticket tumbler by Gloria who just happened to be in town with Keith - VK2PKT. You will be thinking that either Gloria or Keith won the meet tray. Well the lucky winner was Garry VK2DBI. Well done Garry and enjoy the meat tray. On the lunch menu yesterday other than pies and sausage rolls was a stew served up with mash potatoes and slices of a French bread roll. From the members who ate it came great reports. Next weeks menu will be sausages either on a roll or bread. If you have something you want put on the menu please see Diane in the canteen. Diane likes to provide a different meal each weekend. Reminder of our Field Day which will be held on the 16th of September. This is a Sunday. All the usual stall holders will be there as well as Andrews Communications. Westlakes famous jelly bean guessing competition, BBQ and raffles will be there. This is your club so if you have anything which you would like to donate ( no TVs, VCRs or computer monitors). Ring the club for further details. Stall holders as well as boot sales are most welcome. The next Westlakes Club general meeting will be held on the 4th AUGUST as both the President and Vice President Geoff VK2GL will be in the chair. Ricketty Kate is once again been run at the club and this fund raiser will basically cover the clubs Council Rates. Please support this raffle. Confidence of a record ILLW year. With nearly 340 registrations so far in the 15th annual International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend in August, what will be the lucky 400th entry? We have seen the Moritzburg light in Germany score the 100th followed by Point Fermin in the USA as 200th and St Tudwal's lighthouse in Wales as the 300th. Organisers of the fun event held on the third weekend of August are ready for the 400th registration and as it seeks to break last year's record of 470 from 55 countries. Several nations are meeting their total at this time with a virtual flood of registrations in the final weeks. Westlakes A.R.C. will once again be operating from the Norah Head Lighthouse. All the beds are full but you still can come down and operate the radios. Tea and coffee will be available as well as sandwiches for lunch. Plasma TV interference: There is a video on Youtube that shows you what Plasma TV interference sounds like. Take a look as it is very interesting. WORLD NEWS: With a new technology dubbed nPola, Seoul Semiconductor claims it has achieved a breakthrough in LED lighting: nPola LEDs produce 5 times more light that standard LEDs with the same surface. What's more, Seoul sees the potential for a further tenfold light intensity increase. The new product, which SSC holds the unique patented technology rights to, has been under development by SSC for over 10 years. The brightness has been dramatically improved by 5 times over the conventional LED on a same surface area and will be improved up to more than 10 times in the future. Currently, the brightness of a power chip LED in mass production is around 100 lumen but this new product, introduced by Seoul Semiconductor, produces 500 lumen which is 5 times better than a conventional product. As an example, when making a LED bulb for a 60W household bulb replacement, generally, 10-20 LED packages are used but when this new product is applied, the same brightness can be achieved with only 1-2 packages. During the technology presentation in Jong Lo Gu (Korea), Seoul Semiconductor CEO Jung Hoon Lee expressed strong confidence in the new product by saying "For the past 20 years, I've worked very hard in this industry and it is safe to say that this new product is the culmination of 20 years of core technologies. It is the final stage of the LED development process." SSC will immediately begin production of this new product, and it will start sales in strategic markets abroad. Professor Nakamura Shuji, who is also known as the father of LED, was also present at this event to comment on the technology of SSC. Professor Shuji Nakamura, continuously discussed as a candidate for the Nobel prize in physics, is currently a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is also an advisor to SSC. Cree expands CR series LED downlights for residential and commercial applications July 24, 2012 | Christoph Hammerschmidt | 222908040 Cree expands CR series LED downlights for residential and commercial applications LED lighting technology company Cree, Inc. introduces a new 4-inch CR4 LED downlight and a higher lumen output 6-inch downlight. The new six-inch CR6 downlight uses 87 percent less energy than comparable incandescent lighting and delivers payback in less than one year in many commercial installations, the company claims. Both new products are powered by Cree's proprietary TrueWhite technology to deliver exceptional 90+ CRI. This technology delivers high light quality and maintains color consistency over the rated lifetime of the product, all while maintaining high luminous efficacy, the company claims. The downlights can easily be installed into most standard 4-inch and 6-inch recessed housings – making them suitable for use in both residential and light commercial, new construction or retrofit, applications. The CR4 LED downlight delivers 575 lumens and more than 60 lumens per watt and is a direct replacement for a 50 Watt 4-inch incandescent downlight. The new CR6 LED downlight delivers up to 800 lumens and up to 67 lumens per watt and is a direct replacement for a 90 Watt 6-inch incandescent downlight. The CR Series is dimmable to 5 percent, is designed to last 50,000 hours and features a five-year warranty. The new CR Series is qualified for both residential and commercial Energy Star standards. This higher standard of performance opens up opportunities for more incentives and rebates available from utilities and other entities – further lowering price and barriers to mass LED adoption. The CR6-800L can replace up to 90 Watts incandescent lights and uses only 12 Watts of input power. With typical commercial usage of 12 hours per day and the U.S. national average $0.11 per kWh electric costs, lighting-related HVAC impact and relamp maintenance reductions, many upgrade installations will pay for themselves in less than one year. In European markets with their typically higher energy costs, the lamps most likely will return the investment even faster. Heathkit Declares Bankruptcy, Closes for Good (Again) The July 19 edition of The Herald-Palladium -- a newspaper serving the communities of Benton Harbor and St Joseph, Michigan -- is reporting that Heathkit Education Company has declared bankruptcy and has officially closed its doors after defaulting on its lease. According to the paper, Heathkit employed more than 1800 people in its heyday after World War II; when it finally closed, its workforce totaled fewer than six people. This is the second time since 1992 that Heathkit Educational Services has shuttered its doors. In August 2011, Heathkit announced it was returning to the kit building business, and in September, that it would once again be manufacturing Amateur Radio kits. Heathkit owner Don Desrochers told the newspaper that he has filed for bankruptcy and a bank now owns what’s left of Heathkit; the bank is disposing of some items via online auctions. “The situation was purely one of the economy,” he explained in the article. “Heathkit was primarily dependent upon federal and state funding for schools. Spending in education continued to drop down, and it was economically unfeasible to continue operating. When we got back into the kit business, we were losing the education business faster than we were growing the kit business. It was not sustainable.”Desrochers -- who served as Heathkit’s President and Chief Executive Officer from 1995-2000 before purchasing the company in 2005 -- told The Herald-Palladium that closing Heathkit was hard for him: “It was a tough decision, but you can’t operate and lose money. Hopefully the employees will find other employment. They were great, loyal employees for a long time.” . 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 Afternoons from around 12 noon. Also on a Tuesday evening from around 6pm. 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, and an interesting selection of biscuits.

WESTLAKES NEWS FOR 22ND JULY 2012

Yesterday at the club was fairly quiet but you may of seen someone walking around with a new callsign. Yes, it was Barrie ex (vk2bxd). Barrie now has the call of VK2ABD.Congratulations Barrie on your new callsign. The meat tray raffle ticket was carefully chosen from the ticket tumbler and the winner was Penny (XYL of VK2CW). So embarrassed was she the tray was handed back and the re-draw was won by that new-fangled Barrie VK2ABD. I wonder how many of you managed to write to your local Federal member and complain about the cost of Amateur radio licences. They say its how much its costs the A C M A to handle the paperwork related to Amateur radio. I wonder when they will out source their work overseas. Something new for the computer. Hitachi have come up with a 1st. It's a 4TB HARD DRIVE that is the same physical size as your old Hard Drive. Now you can't complain about not having enough disk space. While on the subject of Hard Drives why not check out SSD - SOLID STATE DRIVE that’s no moving parts. At the moment the drives are quite expensive but in time the prices will come down. They perform much faster and are more reliable. Also you have to defrag them. The Activity room was a buzz with action. Our projects officer Norm was busy showing the new receiver to budding experimenters and builders. Also in the Activity room was Herb VK2ZVF who had a FM ( could of been AM ) radio built out of bits and pieces from the store and his junk box. Will this end up as another project for WESTLAKES? Also in the Activity room was David VK2UDW. Now you are most probably wondering what David was doing in there as well. He was getting expert advice from Norm VK2KNC on how to make his brand new computer operated antenna analyser work on his laptop. Not sure how David ended up whether Norm got it working or not. Also at the club was Penny. Now was Penny there to win that fabulous Westlakes meat tray again? No Penny was their to man the canteen in the absence of Diane. Diane also made a brief visit to drop off fresh biscuits for the biscuit barrel. Thanks for your help Penny. Last night several clubs in the Hunter took part in the VK TRANS TASMAN 160 and 80 meter digital modes contest. Voice and digital on 160 meters and digital on 80 meters as the Phone section on 80 meters has already taken place. Hope you went well in the contest guys. Reminder of our Field Day which will be held on the 16th of September. This is a Sunday. All the usual stall holders will be there as well as Andrews Communications. Westlakes famous jelly bean guessing competition, BBQ and raffles will be there. This is your club so if you have anything which you would like to donate ( no TVs, VCRs or computer monitors). Ring the club for further details. Stall holders as well as boot sales are most welcome. The next Westlakes Club general meeting will be held on the 11th AUGUST as both the President and Vice President will be away. I am sure we can another week. ILLW continues to grow. With 315 registrations so far, the 15th annual International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend in August is headed for another record year. Australia has the most registrations followed by the United States and Germany, with lots of nations represented. Being among the new ones are Austria, Chile, China, Curacao, Gibraltar, Honduras, Island of Man, Italy, Northern Ireland, Romania, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and the Ukraine. A month to go and now is the time to register a lighthouse or lightship for the 48 hour fun event held on August 18 and 19, or even part of the weekend. WORLD NEWS: FCC fines Alaskan CBer for interfering with Air Traffic. The ARRL reports on FCC action against a CBer accused of interfering with air traffic on 21.964 MHz. On July 17, the FCC announced that it had issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture and Order ( NAL) in the amount of $12,500 to Glenn S. Yamada, of Kenai, Alaska. Yamada is accused of “apparently wilfully and repeatedly violate[ing] Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and Sections 95.409(a) and 95.411(a)(1) and (b)of the FCC Rules by operating his CB radio “without requisite Commission authorization.” In January 2012, the FCC received a complaint regarding interference to an authorized user in the aeronautical band -- a safety of life service -- on 21.964 MHz. According to the FCC, the complaint “Concerned a male subject talking and interfering with the control and monitoring of air traffic over the North Atlantic.” The FCC’s High Frequency Direction Finding Center (HFDFC) monitored the frequency over the next few days, and on January 31, “observed a subject matching the details of the compliant transmitting on the frequency 21.965 MHz. ” The HFDFC noted that the subject was using the call “1600 Alaska,” that the actual operating frequency was 27.025 (CB channel 6)and that the transmissions were coming from Kenai. Haraoa ZL9HR DXpedition to Campbell Island Things are moving quickly on preparations for the Hellenic Amateur Radio Association of Australia's ZL9HR DXpedition to Campbell Island (650 km or 400 miles south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean). For those who hate all the hype of the Olympics, Campbell Island is the furthest point on earth that you can stand on, away from London, England! The complete crew of 10 operators is now set (with some reserves in the waiting list should a member have to cancel). The operators are: Tommy VK2IR, John VK3YP,Les W2LK, Gene K5GS, Don VE7DS,Istvan HA5AO, John 9M6XRO, David K3EL, Jacky ZL3CW and Tom KE4KY. A list of equipment that will be taken is already on the web site and the first of the Yamaha generators is due to arrive in Sydney in the next few days. This along with some of the other equipment will be put to the test in the upcoming “Trans-Tasman” 160m SSB contest that the HARAOA won last year and are eager to win again. Heavy workloads on the equipment will also occur in the 80m RTTY section of the same contest. Keen DX-ers who may be looking to get ZL9 on a particular band and mode to move towards a DXCC or other award, should go to the survey on the website at ZL9HR.com and vote for which bands and modes they would like to hear ZL9HR operating on! Well that's all the news we 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 Afternoons from around 12 noon. Also on a Tuesday evening from around 6pm. 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, and stale biscuits. Thank you for reading.

WESTLAKES NEWS FOR 15TH JULY.2012

Well the meat tray raffle was carefully selected from the ticket tumbler by Leonie VK2FHRK. On the winning ticket was the name Julie. Some of you are going to be thinking- who is Julie. Well Julie just happens to be the daughter of Greg (VK2CW) and Penny. Well the meat tray was once again went to the Smith house hold. Congratulations Julie enjoy the meat tray. News on the Lighthouse and Lightships weekend. The Saint Tudwal's Lighthouse in North Wales is the 300th entry in next month's International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. A group from the Strumble Head Contest Group GC0OBS, led by Warwick Hall G4WMH will activate the lighthouse on a small archipelago lying south of Abersoch at the western end of Tremadog Bay. The white light and shorter range red flash navigation device was built of stone in 1877 after the island group was bought by Trinity House, the main lighthouse authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. Despite the economic and political change occurring around the globe, this fun weekend, now in its 15th year, continues to be on course. The basic objective is to promote public awareness of lighthouses and lightships, their need for preservation and restoration, and to give amateur radio some publicity. In the lead on 50 registrations is Australia, followed by the USA (48), Germany (44), and then England (24), Netherlands (19), Scotland and South Africa (12), Argentina (9), Sweden (8), Portugal and Puerto Rico (7), Finland, Poland and Wales (6). The registrations so far come from more than 30 countries made by clubs, groups and individuals.Recent new entries include those from Mexico and Spain, with many more sea-going nations to join in the event on August 18 and 19.While on the lighthouse weekend, a group of Westlakes members will be attending Norah Head Lighthouse on that weekend so the club is looking for radio operators to man the radios during the day and night. If you are interested please contact Barrie, the club Secretary to register your name. Sun unleashes X-Flare. Space Weather reports that sunspot AR1520 unleashed an X1.4-class solar flare on July 12 at 1653 UT. They say: Because the sunspot was directly facing Earth at the time of the blast, this is a geoeffective event. Stay tuned for updates about possible CMEs and radio blackouts. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded a flash of extreme ultraviolet radiation from the blast site. The UV and X-ray pulse from the flare will have partially ionized Earth's upper atmosphere on the dayside of our planet, disturbing the normal propagation of radio signals. Haraoa ZL9HR DXpedition to Campbell Island announcement. The team at the Hellenic Amateur Radio Association of Australia are pleased to announce that the landing permit for the ZL9HR DXpedition to Campbell Island has been issued by the New Zealand Department of Conservation. The DXpedition will take place between the 28th. of November and the 9th. of December. An international team is being assembled for this event on the sub-Antartic Campbell Island. This will be the biggest DXpedition by an Australian club in 25 years and the biggest one in 2012 worldwide. For all information please go to the DXpedition website at ZL9HR.com. 10 year-old Radio Ham on TV Jason Brand VK2FJAB (10) was interviewed for the morning 'Today' show on Channel 9 in Australia. He talks about amateur radio and his Do-It-Yourself space projects. Check his full story on youtube. For those Amateur radio operators who like Space stories, this story is for you. Space Shuttle Grand Finale 2010-11. McLean Fahnestock has produced a High Definition video work showing all 135 space shuttle launches. Watch Grand Finale 2010-11. Google the above and have hours of viewing. Norm (VK2KNC ) has a project in the making. It,s a 1 valve broadcast receiver( plus other components).Norm had the working prototpe on air in the Westlakes activity room yesterday. All parts are available from the Westlakes store. As reported last week, Geoff ( VK2GL) will donate a prize to the winning receiver. All projects will be judged at our Christmas party. Listen to future broadcasts for Norm's up and coming projects. Reminder of our Field Day which will be held on the 16th of September. This is a Sunday. All the usual stall holders will be there as well as Andrews Communications. Westlakes famous jelly bean guessing competition, BBQ and raffles will be there. This is your club so if you have anything which you would like to donate ( no TVs, VCRs or computer monitors). Ring the club for further details. Stall holders as well as boot sales are most welcome. Well that's all the news we 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 Afternoons from around 12 noon. Also on a Tuesday evening from around 6pm. 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, and a rather dull selection of bland biscuits. Thank you for reading.

BROADCAST NEWS FOR THE 8th JULY 2012.

The July meeting of the club took place yesterday and some of the topics discussed at the Committee meeting were passed via those in attendance at the General meeting. An Emergency exit for the Library and radio room discussed and passed and now costing of these doorways will be sort. Australia Day 2013 discussed and once again Westlakes ARC will be in attendance. Volunteers required. Two new members were accepted into the club - Welcome Rob and Peter. They both want to do their Foundation licence when the next course comes around. After the meeting Barrie, ( last weeks meat tray winner ) reached into the ticket tumbler and drew the ticket belonging to June Webb. Congratulations June and enjoy the meat tray. The clubs new project officer has submitted his 1st new project to the club. Norm has chosen to build a broadcast receiver with 1 of the components being a 12AT7 or 12AU7 valve. This project was in the May Edition of Amateur Radio. The valve is available from the Westlakes store but the same valve is available from Jaycar for $30 if you wish to pay that price. Some of the other components will also be available from the store. At the end of the year and at the clubs xmas party Geoff VK2GL has donated a prize for the best receiver. So get going on this great project and bring it along to the club. The club will once again be taking part in this years RD CONTEST. This is a 24 hrs contest and the club is looking for members to assist work the radios and computers. Please see Allan ( VK2JED ) if you can assist in this contest. While on contesting Westlakes A R C came 2nd in the John Moyle Field Day contest and equal 8th place in the 80 meter Trans Tasman contest. Congratulations to all members who assisted us in these two contests. The Westlakes Cup will once again be run and the date set down is the Saturday 15th September. Rules of the contest will appear in AR and the club magazine shortly. Rules are also on the Westlakes webpage. This contest runs for 1 hour only so why not get involved and have some fun. WINDOWS 7 lecture: Les VK2RJ has offered to run a lecture and demonstration on a date to be set. Les has asked that interested persons make contact with him either by email or see Les down at the club. The weekend at Norah Head light house is fast approaching and operators for the radios are needed. All accomodation has been filled but I am sure that in a pinch we could find you some space on the floor somewhere. Please contact Barrie or see Diane if you can assist. A new power point has been installed in the radio room thanks to Dennis VK2XDW. A possible Trash and Treasure day for members will be held after our Main Field day in September. Remember, whatever you bring and don't sell you must take all items home with you. There will be no skip bin available on the day. A discussion was held on a new multiband loop antenna for the club and will be installed in the next month or so. SAFETY RECALL: An electrical safety recall has been issued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for a selection of HPM white extension cords. According to NT WorkSafe, the extension leads were sold nationally between 1 March and 14 June 2012 in the following retail outlets: Mitre-10, Officeworks, Dick Smith Electronics and Big W.NT WorkSafe executive director Laurene Hull said the wires in the leads had been accidentally transposed during manufacture, meaning the pins on the plug may not be wired to the correct aperture on the socket, leading to a risk of an electric shock. The recall recommends consumers who have purchased the extension leads should immediately unplug the item and discontinue use. Identifying features are... R2702 - 2 metre white extension lead R2703 - 3 metre white extension lead R2705 - 5 metre white extension lead R2707 - 7 metre white extension lead R2710 - 10 metre white extension lead R2715 - 15 metre white extension lead R2601 - 1 metre white extension lead with piggy back plug R2602 - 2 metre white extension lead with piggy back plug R2604 - 4 metre white extension lead with piggy back plug R2606 - 6 metre white extension lead with piggy back plug R2610 - 10 metre white extension lead with piggy back plug Affected products have the date code 02/12, 03/12, and 04/12. What are the hazards? If the Active and Earth wires are swapped, there is a risk of electric shock if the extension lead is used with a Class 1 (earthed) appliance. What are the defects? The wires have been accidentally transposed during manufacture, meaning the pins on the plug may not be wired to the correct appature on the socket. 420-430 MHz in Australia: WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI has released an update on the 70 cm amateur radio band. Internationally, the 420 - 430 MHz part of the 70 cm band exists by a footnote allocating the band on a secondary basis to amateur only in the USA, Jamaica, the Philippines and Australia. In fact, use of the part of the 70 cm band 420 to 430 MHz in Australia has been restricted to Advanced licensees and further restricted by various exclusion zones in NSW, the ACT, and the Jervis Bay area, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne. In April 2008 the WIA reported on the public consultation by the ACMA in respect of its review of the band 403 – 520 MHz. From the outset it was obvious that the amateur band 420 – 450 MHz would be affected. Fairly early on, the bands 430 – 450 MHz was announced to be “out of scope” for the review. However, the ACMA has indicated that segment from 440-450 MHz may be used on a temporary basis by displaced land mobile services until they are relocated during the transition phase. In September 2008 the WIA reported on the release of the submissions received by the ACMA, and in June 2010 the WIA further reported on the ACMA’s announcements. An examination of the WIA 70 Cm Band Plan shows that the band 420 – 430 MHz is largely “Restricted”. The band is allocated in Australia to radiolocation and mobile as primary, and that primary mobile use is by government networks supporting essential and emergency networks supporting police, fire and ambulance. That use commenced in 1999, and since 2009 the Council of Australian Governments has supported interoperability and harmonisation of those services. The only real problem that the withdrawal of this segment creates is that there are a number of repeater link assignments that will need to be moved by 1st January 2013. There are some 34 licensees affected, mainly clubs. In addition, there are other amateur repeater links that may be able to operate beyond that date, and the WIA is currently negotiating with the appropriate parties. When the matter is clarified, the WIA will also be in contact with the relevant licensees. While the ACMA will be formally writing to the affected licensees, the WIA has undertaken to contact each licensee as soon as it is able to do so, to ascertain whether there are any special difficulties in moving and to ensure that the WIA repeater frequency coordination is available to assist as required. Despite the issues yet to be resolved, the ACMA has advised the WIA that the band 420 to 430 MHz will be withdrawn as a secondary allocation at least for general amateur use from 1st January 2013. WORLD NEWS: Computer Virus Could Leave Thousands Unable to Use Internet. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world could be in for an unwelcome surprise Monday, unless they check their computers now for malware that infected their machines a year ago. The virus caused by Eastern European computer hackers will make it impossible to access the Internet. • DNS is Domain Name System, an Internet service that translates user friendly domain names into numerical IP addresses • DNS and DNS servers are necessary to access websites and send e-mail. • Criminals who control a user's DNS server can control the sites that user connects to on the Internet. • The DNSChanger malware lets criminals infect computers. • The malware replaces user's DNS server settings with servers operated by the criminal. Facebook and Google, websites used by billions of people every day, are alerting users who they suspect may have infected computers. They also provide information on what people can do to fix the problem.The hackers used an online advertising scam to take control of nearly 600,000 computers last year, harvesting information about users and directing them to fraudulent websites. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation smashed the computer ring and temporarily set up two Internet servers so that users can remain on line. But that temporary fix will be closed down at 0401 UTC Monday. 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 Afternoons from around 12 noon. Also on a Tuesday evening from around 6pm. 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, and an interesting selection of biscuits.

WESTLAKES NEWS FOR MAY 27TH 2012. Well this is another good story item. The meat tray was carefully chosen out of the ticket tumbler by none other than Allan VK2JED. The lucky winner was yours truly - Barrie VK2BXD. I will enjoy the meat tray. The clubs Major Field Day will now be held on the 16th September – that’s 1 week later than previously advertised because of Fathers Day. So please note the new date and re write in in your diary. Please, we DO NOT WANT old VCR's, TV's,computer monitors( unless they are flat screens). Please contact the club if you are not sure if the club needs that item or not. VK9PN DXpedition to Lord Howe Island Patrick, VK2PN and Mira OK1NG are on Lord Howe Island for a week, to be joined later by Chris VK3FY. They will operate as much as they can until the morning of the 30th. of May. They will take part in the CQ WPX CW on the weekend. Operation will be on CW and SSB on the 20, 30, 40, 80 & 160m bands. Check the clusters for VK9PN to see where they are operating. The Foundation Licence that was set down for yesterday had to be postponed to another date. As soon as a date has been set all candidates will be notified. Do you know the difference between an iphone,ipad,tablet and an ipod? The iPhone is a smartphone made by Apple that combines an iPod, a tablet PC, a digital camera and a cellular phone. The device includes Internet browsing and networking capabilities. The ipad is a 9.7 inch touch screen tablet PC made by Apple. The iPad is basically a netbook without a keyboard, which allows it to be smaller and lighter without sacrificing much functionality. A tablet PC is a wireless personal computer (PC) that allows a user to take notes using natural handwriting with a stylus or digital pen on a touch screen. The iPod is a combination portable digital media player and hard drive from Apple Computer. The original version was about the size of a deck of playing cards, with a monochrome screen and a 5 gigabyte capacity. iPods can be now be purchased with up to 60 GB of hard drive capacity and color screens capable of playing television shows, videos or movies uploaded from a PC. WORLD NEWS. New Handheld on the market. Yaesu FT1D Digital Handheld One of the most eagerly awaited products at Dayton Hamvention was the new Yaesu FT1D digital and FM handheld. It has, for an Amateur Radio rig, a number of innovations: - A microphone that uses a mini-USB plug and has a built-in camera for low resolution (320x240) pictures, - An 80 character group short messaging facility - 9600 bps data transfer - Micro-SD card slot - E-GPS facility Although the optional extra microphone has a camera, there appears to be no way to display the pictures on the radio which some may see as reducing it's usefulness. The use of 9600 bps with 12.5 kHz channel spacing (is it 10 kHz in Japan?) was a surprise. Some had expected it to support 5 or 6.25 kHz channel spacing with a resultant data rate of 4800 bps (digital speech using an AMBE vocoder only requires a 3600 bps data rate). The modulation used is what Yaesu describes as C4FM otherwise known as 4 level FSK or 4-FSK and is the same as that used for Digital PMR-446 equipment. 4-FSK has advantages over other types of digital modulation such as GMSK. Both ICOM and Kenwood have been producing 4-FSK equipment for the PMR market since 2007 so in some ways it's surprising that Yaesu beat them both in releasing an amateur version of 4-FSK. As yet Yaesu hasn't announced any mobiles, base stations or repeaters so it appears that FT1D's can only talk to other FT1D's in digital mode. Check it out on the web. ARRL launch digital QST magazine The ARRL has launched an International Membership with a digital version of QST magazine for $39 US ($40 AU). QST is one of the world's leading amateur radio magazines and the digital version should have an appeal to English speaking radio amateurs around the world. It could be that in certain countries some amateurs may prefer the digital QST to locally produced publications. According to ARRL the new format offers several advantages including enhanced content, timely access, and a more interactive experience. The digital edition is easy to navigate; flip pages from cover-to-cover, zoom in/out, search (full text), print and share, and follow live hyperlinks. Each issue will include unique, digital-edition-only content—video, audio features and extra content. The ability to print the magazine means you can use free utilities, such as CutePDF Writer, that appear as a printer to create PDF's, however, the quality isn't that good. As well as the latest issue ARRL members can access the digital QST archive which starts with the January 2012 edition. Well that's all the news we 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 Afternoons from around 12 noon. Also on a Tuesday evening from around 6pm. 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, and an interesting selection of biscuits.

WESTLAKES NEWS FOR THE MAY 20TH 2012. At the club yesterday was a small group of members who all bought tickets in the meat tray raffle. John, who had won the last 2 meat trays was there again to try his luck. Well John spun the ticket tumbler and he reached in a selected a ticket. Well well what a surprise when someone else was selected. VK2JED was this weeks lucky winner. Enjoy the your tray this week Allan and congratulations. Allan ( VK2JED ) advises that a new JAYCAR store will be opening tomorrow at Tuggerah Shopping centre. I believe that there may be lucky door prizes. The contest logs have been sent away for last Saturday nights VK TRANS TASMAN 80 Contest. A total of 1143 points was scored. Not too bad as the atmospheric noise was very strong. Thanks to all the members who assisted on the night. Well done. Next contest that the club will be taking part in will be the RD contest in August. Also in August is the Lighthouse weekend at Norah Head. It is always a good weekend away. Out in the yard yesterday was Geoff (VK2GL ) who was making and showing our latest Foundation Licence students all about antennas etc We wish them good luck in there examinations. Westlakes 2012 Field Day has been set down for Sunday 2nd September so please mark your calenders with this date. Please we DO NOT WANT old VCR's, TV's,computer monitors( unless they are flat screens). Please contact the club if you are not sure if the club needs that item or not. Have you forgotten about the Whafflers net every Wednesday night commencing at 1930 hrs on 2 meters - 146.575 MHz. Listen out for Robert VK2MF who is Whaffler Controller. WORLD NEWS: Two New Lighthouse Activations: TC1ILH and TC6KLH. This Fri-Sun May 18-20, 2012, TCSWAT & GITRAD, in collaboration with Coastal Safety Administration, will be operating from some Black Sea coast lighthouses for the first time. TC1ILH Igneada Lighthouse, the most North Western Turkish lighthouse, will be activated by TA1ED, TA1FR, TA1PB, TA1HZ and TB1CIG; while TC6KLH Kerempe Lighthouse will be activated by TA2RX, TA7EA, TA7EB, TA7EM and TA7BB. Activity will be on HF bands, 80m to 10m, and 2m over the Black Sea contacts will be tried as well. QSL via TA1HZ; but please read the QSL info on the website before QSLing direct. Milestone for wi-fi with 'T-rays' BBC News report that researchers in Japan have smashed the record for wireless data transmission in the terahertz band, an uncharted part of the electro-magnetic spectrum. The data rate is 20 times higher than the best commonly used wi-fi standard. As consumers become ever more hungry for high data rates, standard lower-frequency bands have become crowded. The research, published in Electronics Letters, adds to the idea that this "T-ray" band could offer huge swathes of bandwidth for data transmission. The band lies between the microwave and far-infrared regions of the spectrum, and is currently completely unregulated by telecommunications agencies. Despite the name, the band informally makes use of frequencies from about 300 gigahertz (300GHz or about 60 times higher than the current highest wi-fi standard) to about 3THz, 10 times higher again. From... The Ohio/Penn DX Packet Cluster DX Special Bulletin No. 1062.2 VK0H, HEARD ISLAND. Dated May 15th: "After 5 months of planning, Cordell Expeditions is pleased to announce a DXpedition to Heard Island, Territory of Australia, in early 2014.We have assembled a core team, arranged for the vessel, and are awaiting the landing permit and radio callsign. Initial team members, collaborating organizations, and other resources will be announced in the near future. The expedition will be multi-disciplinary, with three major activities: Communications, Environmental Science, and Documentation. We will be active on all bands and all modes, implement a variety of innovative real-time communications technologies, and field a variety of scientific projects that are designed to observe and document some of the unique resources on this extraordinary island. We will use the latest version of DXA (www.cordell.org/DXA) for real-time online presentation of log data, images, and video from Heard Island. This project follows the very successful expedition to Heard Island carried out by this group in 1997. Details of that operation can be seen at www.cordell.org/HI. The website for the 2014 DXpedition is www.cordell.org/HD. We invite your participation in this project, as a potential team member, supporter, or eventually as a callsign in our radio log! If you have a particular interest in Heard Island or may be interested in joining the expedition, we invite you to contact us. For information, please contact the Expedition Leader, Dr. Robert Schmieder at schmieder@cordell.org." NOTE FROM EDITOR: Here at the Dayton HamVention, I learned that a second group is also planning an operation to Heard Island. Hopefully, more details will be forthcoming..... 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 Afternoons from around 12 noon. Also on a Tuesday evening from around 6pm. 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, and an interesting selection of biscuits.