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Text edition: VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 16 February 2020
(Note.. please remove spaces in email addresses before using)
VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 16TH FEBRUARY 2020
------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the VK7 Amateur Radio News for the 16th February 2020. This broadcast is brought to you by VK7WI, and read today by
Justin, VK7TW.
This broadcast utilises repeaters around VK7 and the following HF rebroadcast stations:
On 3.670 MHz by Ross, VK7ALH
On 7.140 MHz by Justin, VK7TW
On 14.130 MHz by Garry, VK7JGD
On 28.525 MHz by Tony, VK7VKT
On DMR Talk Group 5 and D-Star Reflector 091 by Clayton, VK7ZCR
This broadcast is repeated on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on
repeaters VK7RAA in the North and VK7RTC in the South.
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CALL TO ACTION:
Future of Amateur Radio Poll #1
When the foundation license was made available in the mid 2000's a decision was taken at the time to create a 4 letter callsign
that would distinctly identify foundation users.
This callsign - colloquially known as a call has remained in existence from this time.
Recent changes to the License Conditions Determination (LCD) have permitted operators with foundation licenses to operate digit
al modes.
One of the challenges that has been created is that a number of the digital modes require, by design, a callsign that does not
exceed 6 characters. The current call has 7.
This has resulted in a situation whereby foundation licensees are unable to fully leverage the new license conditions in the ma
nner that was intended by the updates to the LCD.
The WIA predicted this challenge in our joint response to the ACMA LCD consultation process in August 2019.
During the process of developing the joint submission to the ACMA a number of key issues were considered prior to making the re
commendations that were made in this submission.
* The purpose of callsigns
* The demonstrated negative social impact associated with the existing F call arrangement e.g. Callsign discrimination
* Changes in technology over the past 15 years
* The social benefit of various options presented
Selection Criteria:
It is the view of the Wireless Institute of Australia that any callsign changes should:
* Permit the use of all digital modes by foundation users
* Conform to the international Amateur Radio Service 6-character callsign format
* Encourage inclusive behaviour within Amateur Radio.
* Be aligned with the WIA's call sign for life vision
* Permit simple implementation without significant cost or new administrative processes
* Present no material impact to other operators quiet enjoyment of the amateur service.
* Scale to support amateurs into the future
This document describes the options that have been presented for resolving this matter and the issues associated with each opti
on contemplated in these terms.
WIA Recommendation:
Having reviewed the available options, there is only one proposed option that achieves a positive outcome across all the above
selection criteria. This is Option 1, as described in detail below.
Why: The WIA is of the view that the best balance of objectives is achieved through the removal of all based callsign allocatio
ns (prefixes) for both foundation and other callsigns.
Note 1: The historical reasons for the use of prefixes (Z, Y, F etc.) no longer exist. The information that is embedded in the
callsign in terms of license class is readily available through public databases.
Note 2: Option 1 does not imply that a current foundation license holder needs to change their current callsign - it is entirel
y at the discretion of the individual to retain their existing 7-character F call or not.
Please take a moment to read through the attached PDF information pack which relates to the Foundation Licence Callsign Structu
re.
All WIA members will be invited to participate in the Poll. Non-WIA members may register to participate in the poll by register
ing at the following address poll.wia.org.au
WANTED
Clayton, VK7ZCR is looking for a copy of the 815 repeater manual.
You can give him a call on 0466 588 193
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QSL NEWS
Report - from Herman VK7HW Manager of the WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
As mentioned over several broadcasts, Herman VK7HW has recently delivered any long stored and unclaimed QSL Cards to the WIA He
ad Office for archiving.
On checking call signs in Call Books, QRZ.COM and against the ACMA Database, a significant number were not listed in any.
The current list of Cards held is included in the email version of the broadcast.
Please contact Herman if you can assist in delivery of any of the cards in your area.
If you have any questions re QSL cards, please contact Herman by email vk7bureau @ wia.org.au
73, Herman, VK7HW, WIA Manager VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
-----------------------------------------------
AA, AAA, AB, ABY, AC, AL, AM, AP, AV
BA, BB, BM, BP
CC, CH, CJ, CV, CX
DD, DG, DK, DX
EK
FALX, FAZZ, FG, FGGT, FJFJ, FLAR, FOTR, FTAS
GA, GH, GL, GZ
HCH, HRW, HVK, HZ
IK, IS
JB, JJ, JJJ, JON, JP, JW
KBA, KD, KJ, KK, KRJ, KX
LAZ, LCW, LDH, LF, LH, LM, LW
MAG, MBD, MBP, MD(dm), ME, MHZ, MI, ML
NA, NC, NET, NMH, NRF, NSE, NTE, NWQ,
OK, OR, OT
PAL, PSJ, PW
RG
SV
TCE, TED, TK, TR, TU, TX
VAC, VAZ, VKV, VR, VZ
WA, WC, WT
XDM
YAD
ZA, ZCK, ZE, ZJJ, ZM, ZT, ZX, ZZ
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH WEST
North West Tasmania Radio & TV Group
Annual General meeting
The NWTR&TVG held its annual general meeting on Saturday 1st February.
The Executive elected were:-
President Shirley VK7HSC
Vice President Matthew VK7ML
Executive Officer Kirsty VK7FKKK
Secretary Anne VK7BYL
Treasurer Eric VK7EV
Membership Officer Eric VK7EV
And Eric offered to continue on as Club News Officer
Repeater Committee:-
Dave VK7DC and Matthew VK7ML
VK7EV, News Officer
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CHAT and SHOW GROUP
Hello to our group.
On March 7th it will be the next group gathering at the Penguin Sports Centre, Ironcliffe Road, Penguin and it will commence at
2pm and is open to local members as well as visitors to our State if in Penguin on that day.
The aim of the group is to create interaction and friendship between operators, whether a club member anywhere or not, from any
location. Just a meet and greet day with some other activities supplied by group members. So, if you have anything you would l
ike to show, or you have made or collected something, bring it along, or, if there is a subject you would like to discuss, come
along and join us.
I do ask for a small offering of food for afternoon tea from every one and I provide tea and coffee.
So, drop in any time from 2pm until 5pm, though getting there for the start will ensure you are less likely to miss any talks g
iven. The doors do remain open until 6pm if necessary, but drop in until 5 is so that any late arrivals have time to chat.
Cheers from Shirl VK7HSC
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH
SOTA and WWFF Parks and Reserves Group
Meeting times are from 10:30am on Monday and Friday At Glebe Gardens Cafe, 166 Henry St, Launceston.
For more details contact Al on Mobile: 0417 354 410.
(73, Al, VK7AN)
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Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club Incorporated
www.ntarc.net
We commence this week with a report on the NTARC Annual General Meeting held last Wednesday 12 February and which saw an attend
ance of 26 voting members and 2 visitors.
Extensive reports by the President, Treasurer, each of the club activity leaders and the all-important Auditor's statement were
tabled and each well received by the membership, leaving all with the sense that 2019 had been another great year for NTARC.
The elections saw the return of Idris VK7ZIR as President, Peter VK7KPC as Vice President, Yvonne VK7FYMX as Secretary, Andre V
K7ZAB as Treasurer, and Roslyn (no call sign) as committee member.
Roger VK7ARN was again re-appointed as our Internal Auditor and Yvonne VK7FYMX was re-appointed as our Public Officer.
All the club activity co-ordinators were again appointed to their respective tasks;
Tony VK7YBG as Northern Repeater Officer, David VK7JD continuing his role as Project Manager for Mt Arthur, with both being ass
isted by Paul VK7KPA and Andrew VK7DW as Assistant Repeater Officers. Further afield, Hayden VK7HH continues as our Repeater Of
ficer (South), assisted by Michael VK7MRS.
Tony VK7YBG will be stepping down as the weekly WIA broadcast facilitator at the end of the month due to work and family commit
ments. Idris on behalf of the members thanked Tony for all his work over the past 15 years as the WIA broadcast facilitator. A
roster will be established and Peter VK7PD, Andrew VK7DW and Peter VK7KPC have already put forward their names to take part. If
any other member would like to assist then please contact Peter VK7PD.
Other club activity coordinators agreeing to continue in their roles for 2020 were Peter VK7PD as the Education Officer, Peter
VK7KPC as our JOTA/JOTI Coordinator and Norm VK7KTN as our Safety Communications Coordinator.
The business of the meeting proceeded at a good pace, with the agenda completed by 2018hrs. President Idris therefore brought m
atters to a close and proceeded to open the February General Meeting which was completed by 2040hours. This was followed as usu
al by what else but a very heavily laden supper table which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Once again, our lady members excelle
d themselves.
OK, that was the AGM done and dusted. Moving right along, the following item is courtesy of Peter VK7PD who provides all with a
report on the latest up on the mountain.
Mt Arthur Repeater Upgrade Trip February 2020 Following removal from Mt Barrow, the 6 metre repeater had been at the Mt Arthur
site since 2015 but the duplexer cavities had been withheld for retuning and testing, meaning the repeater had been out of acti
on for that time.
On Saturday February 8th, repeater officer Tony VK7YBG organised an expedition to rectify this. The party consisted of organise
r, Tony VK7YBG, Site Manager David VK7JD, our Southern Repeater Officer and the VK Link Coordinator Hayden VK7HH, assistants An
drew VK7DW, Tim VK7KTC, Peter VK7ZPE and Peter VK7PD.
There were 2 major objectives, they being to make the 6 metre repeater operational and install a small auxiliary tower adjacent
to the southwest corner of the hut.
Main physical tasks of the labour force were to carry the duplexer cavities and tower up to the site then install the tower. Ph
otos of this operation can be seen on VK7 Amateur Radio Facebook page.
Major activities included moving the APRS antenna from the northern mast to a temporary mount on the shed, installing the 6m re
peater antenna on the northern mast, drilling rocks to mount the new tower and guy points, configure hardware to enable VK Link
ing of the 6 metre repeater and install the Duplexer.
Tim and Tony busied themselves with the antenna moves while Andrew and Peter VK7ZPE performed the rock drilling closely supervi
sed by David. Hayden addressed the repeater installation and configuration while VK7PD held the ladder and tower when he wasn't
getting in the way.
By early afternoon the repeater was working and a contact was made with VK7SW in Scottsdale. It was observed that in the absenc
e of a signal, the mute was held open by noise that was soon traced to the solar regulator, this was not unexpected as a simila
r problem had been encountered on Mt Duncan some years previously. This will mean another trip to install filtering when it is
also planned to install the APRS antenna on the new tower.
As he had further to travel, Hayden left the site ahead of the rest but called in when he found himself bushed. This happened t
o the writer in the same place on a previous trip. Extra markers which were placed had been obscured, allegedly by overzealous
members of a local walking group. Under different circumstances the consequences could be dire. Fortunately, Hayden was soon gu
ided back onto the track and continued home.
A very successful day's work with much achieved.
73, Peter VK7PD
2020 Membership renewals - I know that I said I was going to do this in the week just gone by but that never happened, due to m
y need to attend to all paperwork required for the AGM. So, a final reminder notice will be sent out this week to those who hav
ent as yet renewed their 2020 membership. Your membership for 2019 expired on 31 December and your name now appears on the m
embership register as an unfinancial member. It will remain as such on that register until renewed or until 30 June, when your
name must be removed if your annual subscription remains unpaid at that date.
In the interim, a reminder that NTARC's 2020 membership fees are $35.00 for a Full voting member and $5 additional for each Fam
ily member that the voting member wishes to add to his or her primary membership..
Coming events
Technical session - The next session will be on Wednesday 19th February and will commence at the usual time of 7.30 pm, running
through to 10.30 pm, at the Club room Archer Street, Rocherlea. Pop in, catch up with fellow amateurs, bring along something t
hat you are currently building or just ask questions? You might also be able to answer some from other attendees. That is what
the evenings are all about, anything of a technical or near-technical nature, however defined, is fair game. Endless tea and co
ffee along with biscuits is available for a small gold coin donation.
Shack clearance auction - Saturday 29th February. As mentioned previously all items have been stored in the main hall and the l
ast day for viewing will be Friday 21 February. The following week all items will be catalogued and in some cases a reserve wil
l be applied in readiness for the auction. Viewing on auction day will commence at 10.00 am with the auction to commence at noo
n. Auctioneer on the day will be Nic VK7BEE.
March general meeting - Saturday 14th will be a BBQ meeting but we will not be having a BBQ instead we will be having sandwiche
s, fruit and cheese platters. We thought a change from BBQ's would be nice. NTARC will provide all the lunch fare which will co
mmence at noon, cost $10.00 pp and this covers your lunch and afternoon tea. The meeting will follow at 2.00pm. As always, we a
sk for donations of cakes, slices and other delights to share at afternoon tea.
Coffee mornings - are normally held every Monday and Friday in the NTARC Club rooms and are now back in full swing. Catch up ti
me is from 10.00 am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all.
Please remember that aside from the good company, funny stories by our Entertainment Officer Ebenezer VK7AT and genuinely good
fare on offer, these coffee events are normally a good opportunity to collect your QSL cards.
As I remind all every week, please demonstrate your appreciation of all the effort that goes into operating the club and its fa
cilities and the other services we provide, by joining us at these sessions, enjoying the company, coffee and the cake.
Finally
A reminder to all members that if you have any items of news you would like added to our weekly roundup, then please email them
to the following address
ntarc.emails @ gmail.com
However, it would be appreciated if any news could be sent no later than 17:00 hours on the Friday prior to broadcast, to allow
its timely insertion into the NTARC segment.
That gives all a chance to get the NTARC segment together and off to Hobart in time for collation into the VK7 Broadcast. Your
continued cooperation in this regard will be gratefully appreciated.
As always, I look forward to seeing you at Rocherlea.
73, Yvonne VK7FYMX, Secretary NTARC Incorporated
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NEWS FROM THE SOUTH
Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
REAST Presentation Night
Last Wednesday night we were privileged to have QRP Guru Peter Parker VK3YE along with his presentation "Fun with QRP".
Peter started with what is QRP?, reasons to operate QRP, does QRP work? Then the presentation moved to a review of commercial a
nd kit transceivers, kits and semi-kits and homebrew.
Peter then moved to batteries, recommended antennas, antennas to avoid, antenna materials, supporting the antenna, matching the
antenna and making contacts.
Peter then posed the question "are conditions that bad" with some examples of DX contacts. Moving to HF pedestrian mobile Peter
outlined his loop and wade-tenna antennas. There was a great summary video of QRP contacts that finished with another station
not believing it was a QRP contact.
Peter finished with his summary and some great promotion of the many books that he has published including the recent "Australi
an Radio Handbook" which is now available in Jaycar stores. Peter took questions from the audience and we then had a coffee to
finish the night.
A huge thank you to Peter Parker VK3YE for coming along and giving us a fantastic presentation on Fun with QRP.
The presentation was streamed and recorded by the DATV Experimenter's Group and can be found on the REAST YouTube channel and t
he link can be found on the email edition of this broadcast.
https://youtu.be/FZM-ttY2XVE
Paul VK7FPCL who is the president of the Peter Parker VK7 fan club even got his electronic copy of his Australia Radio
Handbook digitally signed by Peter on the night. On ya Paul!
73, Justin, VK7TW
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DATV Experimenter's Night Wrap-Up
We get back underway with our DATV Experimenter's Nights this Wednesday night from 7:30pm.
There are three experimenter's who are working on improving the power levels of their 1296MHz rigs - VK7ZBX, VK7ZMS and VK7TW.
Richard VK7ZBX has streaked ahead and almost finished his new high power Russian 23cm rig, on ya Richard. Therefore, Murray and
Justin are playing catch-up and will be doing some power measurements on Wednesday night.
We will also have a wrap-up of the Summer VHF/UHF Field Day results that were released this week.
I am sure there will be a range of other projects being undertaken on the night and these will feature in the DATV studio and c
lubrooms. So, if you have a project, bring it along and talk about it.
We go out on RF on 445.5MHz DVB-T 7MHz Standard Definition. So, if you have a TV, Set-top box or USB DTV Dongle that you can tu
ne and scan 445.5MHz and you can see the Queens Domain, then you have a good chance of receiving the DATV Experimenter's Night
Signal. Look out for VK7OTC. We also stream the nights on the REAST YouTube channel and Facebook.
https://www.reast.asn.au/special-interest-groups/amateur-tv/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC64To_tq1E7PfK1pqtX_vRw/
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
We get underway with the DATV Experimenter's Night from 7:30pm.
We look forward to seeing you there.
73, Justin, VK7TW
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Fighting fire with comms firepower
By Jonathan Nally
Thursday, 13 February
The NSW Telco Authority found itself in the thick of battle during the recent bushfires.
During this summer's awful bushfires, firefighters both volunteer and professional along with numerous other emergency pers
onnel, utilities crews, council employees and many others, have worked tirelessly over many months to tackle the crisis. And ma
ny of those personnel have worked almost continuously during that period.
Unseen in the background, others too have been working to provide and maintain essential services to those frontline crews and,
by extension, the wider public.
That dedication is exemplified by the NSW Telco Authority, whose Network Operations team and Telecommunications Emergency Manag
ement Unit had provided 150 continuous days (as of early February) of 24-hour emergency coordination of telecommunications supp
ort for the bushfire operations, including having liaison officers based at Rural Fire Service headquarters when required.
The support has been vital in assisting the NSW Rural Fire Service, Fire and Rescue NSW, NSW Ambulance, NSW Police and the Stat
e Emergency Service perform their roles.
The Authority is responsible for managing the Government Radio Network (GRN), the primary network for NSW government agencies a
nd emergency services organisations that use mobile radio communications.
The GRN provides the essential link between headquarters and firefighters on the ground, in all corners of NSW, supporting ever
ything from firefighting to air operations, ambulance response and other emergency services tasking.
Almost 10 million calls were made across the GRN between 1 November 2019 and 1 February 2020.
Next to Triple Zero, this is the most important emergency communications network in NSW, said the Authority's Managing Director
, Kylie De Courteney.
The Authority has worked closely with agencies to protect radio communications towers throughout the crisis, some of which were
damaged by the fires.
Bushfires put a huge strain on our telecommunications infrastructure, limiting radio coverage and mobile phone coverage,” sai
d De Courteney.
It was vital to get the Government Radio Network communications back up for firefighters so fleets on the ground and in the air
can continue to coordinate operations, response and recovery, she said.
Where network infrastructure was damaged by the fires, the Authority rapidly deployed a series of ‘cell on wheels (COWs) port
able base stations.
After two Government Radio Network sites at Mt Wanderer and Batemans Bay were destroyed in the fires, we immediately deployed C
ellsOnWheels to provide temporary radio communications at these sites, including working with the Australian Defence Force to a
irlift equipment from Coffs Harbour to Cooma, De Courteney said.
The Authority's bushfire support efforts also included restoring or expanding critical communications where existing infrastruc
ture had been destroyed or where mains power supply was not available.
More than 20 portable generators were pressed into service to ensure electricity could be maintained where mains power had been
affected, and many were put on standby for deployment into areas identified as being at risk from the fires.
As well as restoring communications, the Authority proactively put portable generators on standby, readied capacity expansion k
its to manage radio congestion, and stationed four COWs at sites identified as being at risk of being affected by the fires.
The sites were made operational using temporary satellite infrastructure, to provide essential and enhanced radio communication
s coverage for emergency services.
During the firefighting operations, more than 10 Optus Satellite Services very-small-aperture terminals (VSATs) were used in af
fected areas to supplement radio communications.
NSW Telco backhaul architects also designed a satellite solution and installed it into portable pelican-style cases. The system
used Kymeta satellite panels, which unlike a typical dish that must be physically aligned to a satellite are electronically st
eered and enable rapid deployments.
The Authority also worked with carriers to fix damaged infrastructure to restore essential services such as internet access, mo
bile phone coverage and electricity for hospitals, businesses, volunteer organisations and other services.
Read more: http://criticalcomms.com.au/content/public-safety/article/fighting-fire-with-comms-firepower-243878976#ixzz6Dv5ufOCk
CriticalComms
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Regular VK7 gatherings and events over the coming months:
Regular gatherings:
SOTA Group - Monday and Friday Coffee Sessions from 10:30am at Glebe Gardens Cafe 166 Henry St, Launceston
NTARC - Monday and Friday Coffee Sessions from 10am, Technical Sessions on Wednesdays from 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm in the clubrooms
Archer Street, Rocherlea, Launceston.
REAST - Wednesday Night Experimenters Group from 1930 in the Queens Domain clubrooms.
REAST - MICROWAVE QSO Party – following after the Sunday broadcast on 1296.15 MHz FM.
Events:
NTARC - 12 February 2020 - NTARC AGM - Club Rooms, Archer Street Rocherlea commencing from 7.30 pm
REAST - AGM Sunday 16th at 11am, Domain Club Rooms
NTARC Saturday 29th - Shack clearance auction
NW Chat and Show Group - March 7
NTARC General meeting Saturday March 14th
Meet the Voice - 22 March at Ross http://meetthevoice.org/meet-the-voice
WIA - Annual Conference weekend of 8-10 May 2020.
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A reminder to those people rostered for next week's broadcast:
Newsreader: VK7ZIR
Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and Spectrum Tasmania
80m: VK7JGD
40m: VK7ALH
20m: VK7FB
10m: VK7VKT
DMR: Talk Group 5 and
D-Star: Reflector 091 VK7ZCR
-------------------------------------------------------------
This broadcast is repeated on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RAA in the North and VK7RTC in the South.
Thanks to all people and organisations that assisted with this broadcast.
-------------------------------------------------------------
That concludes our VK7 Amateur Radio News Broadcast for this week.
You have been listening to VK7WI. Next week the National WIA news can be heard at 0900 followed by the VK7 Amateur Radio News a
t 0930 hours.
Items for the broadcast can be emailed to vk7arnews @ gmail.com
Further information about the broadcast can be found at the VK7 Amateur Radio News Groups.IO Group.
https://groups.io/g/vk7arnews
The deadline for items is 21:00 on Friday prior to the Sunday of the broadcast.
VK7WI is now closing but will reopen shortly for callbacks and relay reports. Callbacks will be taken on the frequency to which
you are listening. Relay stations will use their own callsigns during the callback.
>From the VK7 Amateur Radio News, it is 73 from Justin, VK7TW.
------------------------------------------------------------
(Posted to the packet network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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