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VK7AX > NEWS 03.08.09 04:20l 521 Lines 26079 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 2ND AUGUST 2009
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Contest News
Remembrance Day Contest
The RD Contest is VK's major amateur radio contest and runs for 24 hours over the 15th and 16th of August.
As heard on the WIA National broadcast the Remembrance Day Contest commemorates the amateurs who died during WWII and is designed to encourage friendly participation and help improve the operating skills of participants. It is held close to 15 August, the date when hostilities ceased in the south-west Pacific area.
This year it runs from 0800 UTC Saturday, August 15, until 0759 UTC on the Sunday.
A perpetual trophy is awarded annually to the WIA Division with the best performance. The name of the winning state is inscribed on the trophy, and that state then holds the trophy for 12 months.
Take a look at the WIA website contest page for more details about this year's RD Contest.
http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/rdcontest/
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RD Weekend - VK7 BROADCASTs
The RD weekend is the one weekend that the VK7 Broadcast Officer and Rebroadcasters get to have a rest and play radios…HIHI.
So, in two weekend's time there will not be a WIA or VK7 Regional News Broadcast.
The opening address of the RD weekend will be heard on repeaters around VK7 from around 1745 or 5:45pm or 0745UTC on Saturday night with the start of the RD contest from 1800 or 6:00pm or 0800UTC and it runs for 24 hours till 0759UTC.
http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/rdcontest/
And remember, you have to be in it to win it.
And also look out for those International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend stations who will be operating around VK7.
(73, Justin, VK7TW, VK7 News and Broadcast Coordinator)
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VK7 Stations OPERATING IN THE ILLW
The International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend came into being from the Scottish Northern Lighthouses award weekend and over the past 10 years it has grown to over 300 lighthouses in some 51 countries around the world participating in the event.
The event is always held on the 3rd full weekend in August starting at 0001 UTC on Saturday and finishing at 2359 UTC on Sunday. It also now coincides on the Sunday with the International Lighthouse Day which is an event organised by the International Association of Lighthouse Keepers whereby as many world lighthouses will be open to the public for the day.
The event is NOT a contest, each station's operators decide how they will operate their station regards modes and bands.
The ILLW website contains a wealth of information and well worth a look, the address can be found on the email and internet editions of this broadcast.
http://www.illw.net/
The VK7 stations that are currently registered for participation are:
Winston VK7EM who will be operating from Mersey Bluff Lighthouse and is number AU0040.
Wayne VK7FWAY and Eric VK7FEJE who will be operating from Table Cape Lighthouse and is number AU0039.
Bill VK7MX, Duncan VK7FLAK and XYL VK7FYMX will be operating from Low Head Lighthouse which is number AU0048.
Gavin VK7VTX will be operating on Flinders Island at the Pot Boil Channel lighthouse which is number AU0062 and IOTA number OC-195, and,
John VK7ZZ will be operating from Cape Bruny Lighthouse which is number AU0005.
Make sure you give these stations a special call if you here them during the weekend and in the RD.
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VK7 EVENTS CALENDAR
A summary of the events across VK7 over the coming months:
REAST – August 5th – Up Close and Personal with the International Space Station – 8pm – Queen's Domain Clubrooms
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#UCAPWISS
CCARC Radio Experimenters and Social Group – August 8th - Coffee morning at the Fuchsia Fantasy Tea Rooms from 10:15am
http://www.my-x15.net/ccarc
NWTATVG – August 8th – Dinner Meeting at the Bass & Flinders Restaurant Ulverstone commencing around 4.30 PM.
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/atvgroup
NTARC – August 12th – Special General Meeting to consider motion to incorporate and the adoption of new set of rules at Alanvale Polytechnic Block B – 7:30pm
WICEN Tasmania (South) - 14th & 15th August – Horse Endurance Ride safety checkpoints - Clifton Vale between Dysart and Elderslie – survey on Friday afternoon, ride on Saturday - 6.45 am start
http://tas.wicen.org.au/
RD CONTEST & ILLW – 15-16th August – Remembrance Day Contest and International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend – Please Note: No broadcasts that weekend.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#RDContest
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VK7 Regional Broadcast
http://reast.asn.au/news.php#roster
There are many opportunities in the broadcast roster for anyone who is looking to become a rebroadcaster on the many bands we go out on each Sunday. If you would like to fill one of those gaps on either a regular or irregular occasion then please contact the broadcast coordinator. We have designs and can built patch boxes just for this application if necessary.
http://reast.asn.au/images/PatchBoxPCB.jpg
We are looking for HF operators especially on 20m and UHFCB Channel 15 in Hobart but if you are interested in other rebroadcast frequencies then I look forward to hearing from you. The more that volunteer the less everyone has to do.
Why not give it a go and become part of the hard working team that brings you a broadcast 51 weeks of the year!
I look forward to hearing from you.
Do you realise that you can receive this broadcast in text form with all those wonderful web addresses and a bunch of other interesting material each week delivered free to your email inbox?
Just send a blank email to vk7regionalnews-subscribe(AT)yahoogroups.com and follow the directions and you will be receiving the broadcast via email.
Further details can be found on the email and internet editions of this broadcast….HIHI.
VK7 Regional News Group Email Addresses
Post message: vk7regionalnews(AT)yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: vk7regionalnews-subscribe(AT)yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: vk7regionalnews-unsubscribe(AT)yahoogroups.com
List owner: vk7regionalnews-owner(AT)yahoogroups.com
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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NORTHERN NEWS
Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club
NTARC is going to have a Special General Meeting on the 12th of August, where we will consider a motion to incorporate and the adoption of a new set of rules accordingly. We want as many members as possible to turn out to this meeting and contribute to the discussion and then make a final motion on the issue. Bill VK7MX has been working very hard on tweaking the new set of rules for NTARC, and if you have access to the NTARC Yahoo news group via the internet, Bill has placed the proposed rules there for viewing. This is a very important issue for the club at the moment, so please take the time to read the proposed rules and come along to the Alanvale polytechnic meeting venue on the 12th of August.
Bill has also managed to get hold of a good quantity of 20pF mica compression trimcaps which are suitable for the traps of a HF multiband vertical and other antennae projects, so see Bill if you need any of these.
Over the coming months we hope to have a guest presenter from the Bureau of Meteorology, and another dinner meeting at Tranquillity Gardens. Plus with some of the planned technical projects and presentations in the pipeline, there should be something of interest for everyone.
Thanks from
(Jason VK7ZJA, NTARC Secretary)
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NORTH WEST News
NW Broadcast Reminder
The RAOTC News Broadcast can be heard in North West Tasmania on the Mount Duncan repeater 146.625Mhz at 8.30PM Monday, the same time as the VK3 relay on 3650Khz.
(Winston VK7EM)
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North West Tasmania Amateur Television Group
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/atvgroup
Next Club General Meeting
At the last General Meeting of the club, it was decided to conduct the Next Meeting as a social event in the form of a Dinner Meeting.
The meeting will take place at the Bass & Flinders Restaurant on Saturday 8th August commencing around 4.30 PM. Members will need to confirm numbers for booking purposes no later than Monday 3rd. August. That's tomorrow.
Preparations for JOTA/JOTI
With one of the goals of the Club being to assist with communications and AR Promotion at the forthcoming JOTA/JOTI in OCT. 2009, initial arrangements and contact has been made with District Commissioners, Scout Leaders and Groups in the North West to have a more structured approach to this year's events.
A meeting will be convened within the next few days to begin coordinating what is hoped to be a successful event this year. More info on the planning as we get closer to the event.
73's until next time.
(Tony VK7AX, News Officer NWT-ATV Group)
And Tony let the Broadcast Editor know that this news was written from his hotel room in Hong Kong – who ever said this broadcast didn't scour the globe for international content…HIHI [Ed]
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Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club (CCARC)
CCARC News
http://www.my-x15.net/ccarc
The CCARC held a general meeting on the 25th of July and welcomed new members Peter Aichberger VK7LCW and Chris Gray VK7KEE . The meeting was well attended and members are advised that the next meeting will be a "social meeting" on the 29th of August. It is anticipated that we will have a guest speaker providing a session on radio controlled model aeroplanes.
The Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club Inc. is now able to offer full assessments to its members, and to any other person who are interested in upgrading their Amateur Qualifications or sitting any other of the Licence Exams. Details may be obtained from Keith Winkler VK7KW the clubs Training Organiser / Learning Facilitator.
Keith can be contacted on telephone 64282185 or email winklerkw(AT)hotmail.com.
The club has also prepared a two page Information Pack called "Information for Exam Candidates" which details documents required to be obtained by the candidate prior to assessment, a complete breakdown of all costs involved in assessments and methods of payments.
This document may be downloaded from the Club's Website and the address can be found on the email and internet editions of this broadcast.
http://my-x15.net/ccarc/
The CCARC Committee is in the process of completing a Foundation Training Package. This will enable the club to offer a two day Foundation Training Course, with Exam assessment to be held on completion. Details will be made available upon completion.
Please note that the club website suffered a security breech about a fortnight ago and Firefox web browser users will receive a warning from Google about the site being a "reported attack site". However while the problem did not relate to any of the club pages and was rectified almost immediately, the warnings persist. Google it seems, is very slow to remove the warnings despite being notified of the cleanup.. Firefox users are advised it is safe to click on "ignore this warning" or to change the Firefox security options by unticking the check box marked "tell me if the site I am visiting is a suspected attack site" and proceeding through the site.
Two of the club's members, Wayne VK7FWAY and Eric VK7FEJE will be participating in this year's "International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend" on the 15-16 August 2009. They will be operating from the Table Cape Lighthouse located at Wynyard. They will be using the Club's Callsign VK7NW, so please listen out for their calls over that weekend.
(David Cleland, VK7DC, Secretary, CCARC)
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The Radio Experimenters and Social Group will be having a Coffee morning on the 8th. August 2009 at the Fuchsia Fantasy Tea Rooms located at 75 Lillico Road, Lillico for a 10.15 to 10.30am start. Those who wish to order a Coffee Mug with the Club Logo or any other photo please attend and place your order/s. Hope to see you all there and bring a friend.
From the Coordinator
(Vernon French, VK7VF)
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Southern News
Southern APRS I-Gate Update:
The Southern APRS I-Gate VK7HSE-3 run by Scott (VK7HSE) has recently undergone a software change! It was using APRSD (a Linux daemon) However, a recent computer upgrade to a x86_64 architecture, and the software - APRSD doesn't want to play fair! by segmentation faulting when a client connection to it is started!
The solution:
It now runs the Java application - javAPRSServ (ver. 3.14b06). This is the same software that the main APRS Tier 2 Servers run! So if there are any anomalies please report them to Scott by E-mail and the address can be found on the email and internet editions of this broadcast:
http://www.vk7hse.hobby-site.org:14501
For interest sake this address is also the web monitor page for the I-Gate. APRS client connections can also be made to this I-Gate, information on available ports, etc are on the website.
(73, Scott Evans, VK7HSE)
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WICEN Tasmania (South)
As heard on the National WIA broadcast…..
Looking for a healthy add on to your amateur radio interests?
A day out with your radio on a farm property, or in the bush?
Want to take the YL or XYL and the kids?
Want to help others and their families engage in healthy outdoor activity?
How about an activity where motive force is restricted to one horse power, and where you can talk to the drivers as they pass?
Where the fuel used is grown in the paddock and a minimum of greenhouse gas is produced - naturally.
Here's your chance.
WICEN Tasmania (South) regularly provides safety checkpoints for the Southern Tasmania Endurance Riders.
Their next ride on the 15th of August is close to Hobart, on the Clifton Vale property between Dysart and Elderslie.
Ideally, you will arrive on Friday afternoon or evening and enjoy a social evening and a night in camp to be ready for an early start on Saturday morning.
Camping not your thing? You could arrive no later than 0645 on Saturday morning and not miss out.
If you can make it on Friday afternoon, you can join in the pre-ride survey we always do to check out the network.
A 4WD would be useful so as not to limit the checkpoints you can cover, but it's not essential.
Not all checkpoints are off the beaten track or you could go with another operator, or stay at the Base.
At a checkpoint, you note the number and time each rider passes through and call it through to Base.
You keep an eye on water troughs and top them up as needed from drums left by the ride team.
If a horse becomes lame, which is rare, you call for a float.
At Base, you record the calls as they come in from the checkpoints, and pass any messages to the Secretary's tent.
Riders' family members, strappers and other supporters often enquire as to the progress of their rider.
So, if you want to get out of the shack, get some fresh air, help others involved in a great family activity and use your radio for something useful and enjoyable, mark your calendar now for the 14th and 15th August.
Give Chris VK7FCDW or Roger VK7ARN a call to let us know you'll be there and so we can give you the info.
PS - The Brighton Pony Club are catering on Friday evening and Saturday, so you won't have to take a heap of food, just a snack for lunch if you're not at the Base.
(Roger, VK7ARN, Secretary WICEN Tasmania (South))
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Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
August Presentation Night - Up Close and Personal with the International Space Station
REAST's August presentation will be a session of excellent video presentations centred on the International Space Station.
We get an up close and personal tour of the inside of the ISS with astronauts Mike and Gernady which provides a fascinating insight into life on the ISS.
There will also be a short video on the ISS contact with Barbara Morgan and her home school in Idaho USA through the Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) program. Some other great ISS videos will also be shared.
Please note these DVD contain material that is not generally available to the public.
And a big thank you to Tony VK5ZAI for sharing these presentations.
These will all be projected on the big screen.
See you there on August 5th at 8pm in the Queen's Domain Clubrooms.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#UCAPWISS
(Justin, VK7TW)
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REAST ATV Experimenters Night
Last Wednesday night was another great night of ATV and experimenting.
It was great to see Frank VK7FINF along and it could not have been better timing.
Justin VK7TW presented a presentation of how stereoscopic 3D cinema is created and the technology behind it. After going to Ice Age 3 with his son he was intrigued as to how the technology worked and after a little research a short presentation to the ATV audience was given.
Frank who is in the film and television industry was able to provide many great comments and fill in some of the gaps with the technology and current practice.
The presentation covered information about the many cues that the brain takes to determine depth. This was followed by a description of the geometry of stereoscopy and particularly the interocular or how your eyes perceive depth through positive, zero and negative parallax. The systems currently on the market are based on the standard 65mm interocular distance namely the distance between your eyes. With computer manipulation of left and right views of the same thing the illusion of depth can be created. Negative parallax creates the illusion that the object comes out of the screen at you. Zero parallax means the object is on the screen and positive parallax creates the illusion that the object is behind the screen.
These systems rely of some fancy software to calculate and separate the images for left and right vision and these are them mixed and sent to the high power digital projector along with a sync system to an LCD screen in front of the projector to effectively multiplex the left and right images up to 144 frames per second to cope with 3D motion effects. The difference between left and right images is made by polarising the light in the opposite polarisation and the brain does the rest.
The watcher wears a pair of cheap disposable polarised lens glasses that have one lens left hand circular polarised and the other lens right hand polarised.
We finished off with a 16minute tour of the Australian War Memorial that Justin VK7TW has put together after a recent tour.
This week is the monthly REAST presentation and the ATV nights get back underway in a fortnight.
See you in a fortnight around 7:30pm for another great night of ATV and experimenting.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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Satellite News
Space Shuttle Endeavour to Deploy Student-Built Satellites
The space shuttle Endeavour landed last Friday, July 31, and deployed four student-built satellites, all with telemetry downlinks in the 2 meter, or 70 cm, amateur bands.
The twin spherical satellites -- named Castor and Pollux – were designed by students in cooperation with the Naval Research Laboratory as part of the Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE). Both satellites will transmit 1200-baud packet radio telemetry on 145.825 MHz. Hams are encouraged to submit telemetry reports with special QSLs and mission patches planned.
Check the ANDE Web site for updates.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/STP-H2-ANDE.html
Castor and Pollux will carry an FX.25 experiment that adds Forward Error Correction to standard AX.25 packets. The hope is that FX.25 will improve communication efficiency while still being compatible with existing packet equipment. The satellites will also occasionally run GMSK/FX.25 modulation experiments at 9600 baud.
In addition to Castor and Pollux, Endeavour will also deploy student satellites from the University of Texas and Texas A&M. The tiny picosatellites, christened BEVO-1 and AggieSat2 respectively, are part of an ambitious experiment that will ultimately culminate in autonomous docking of picosats in orbit. For this mission, however, BEVO-1 and AggieSat2 will launch as one unit and then separate to collect position data and test a new NASA Global Positioning System receiver known as DRAGON.
BEVO-1 will transmit Morse code beacons (20 WPM) or packet radio data telemetry at 437.325 MHz. AggieSat2 will beacon at 436.250 MHz.
The satellites will primarily transmit 9600-baud packet telemetry when over the United States. As with Castor and Pollux, reception reports are welcome.
Orbiting at a relatively low altitude of 185 miles, these satellites should be easy to receive with standard FM transceivers and omnidirectional antennas. They should enjoy an operational life of 3-6 months and will likely re-enter the Earth's atmosphere within a year.
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/07/29/10990/?nc=1
(Sourced from the AMSAT Mailing List)
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Web & Email Edition Extra Bits!!
ILLW Official Website:
http://illw.net/
Give Away of the Day
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/
The NASA Torture Chamber – for spacecraft!!!
http://www.wired.com/science/space/magazine/17-08/st_vacuumchamber
Hacking with SMS!!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/31/smart_phone_hijacking/
Astronomical Society of Tasmania
http://www.ast.n3.net/
NASA TV Streaming Feed
http://nasa.tv/
Remembering "Nautilus 90 North"
http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2009/07/24/10981/?nc=1
IEEE P1901 Working Group Approves First Draft BPL Standard
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1901/
Music-Powered Microfluidics
http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/diagnostics/musicpowered-microfluidics
ThinkGeek Store
http://thinkgeek.com/
They Really shouldn't have broken his guitar!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
This is Cool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNtU0aRu7Co
USS Normandy Website
http://www.normandy.navy.mil/default.aspx
The Lunar Walking Problem
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/nasaarchive_gravitysimulator/
The following links are courtesy of the ABC Science mailing list:
== JOIN THE BIG AUSSIE STAR HUNT! ==
Can you find south without a compass? Can you spot the Emu in the Sky? Here's your chance to learn about your night sky and help us measure light pollution in your local area. If you join our Star Hunt Survey and enter our competition during National Science Week (15 - 23 August 2009) you could WIN $2000 of ABC Shop goodies! Visit the Big Aussie Star Hunt website to get ready for National Science Week. This week learn about the seven sky features in our virtual tour, and practice using our downloadable sky maps and audio tour.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/581652/957242/11221/0/
== IN DEPTH: AUSTRALIA'S FIRST ASTRONOMERS ==
Astronomy didn't start with the Greeks. Thousands of years earlier Aboriginal people scanned the night sky, using its secrets to survive in the Australian landscape.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/581652/957242/11302/0/
Do you have some interesting amateur related sites you have some across in the last week – send them in to justingc(AT)ozemail.com.au
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VK7 Regional News Group Email Addresses
Post message: vk7regionalnews(AT)yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: vk7regionalnews-subscribe(AT)yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: vk7regionalnews-unsubscribe(AT)yahoogroups.com
List owner: vk7regionalnews-owner(AT)yahoogroups.com
VK7 Virtual BPL Tours Update
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdcY0Eetvsw - Mt Nelson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gsxpya3CnQ - North Hobart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7DfdxjRkpU - RU ready for BPL?
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If you are interested in becoming an amateur radio operator or upgrading your licence then we suggest you contact your local club for details and/or take a look at what the Radio and Electronics School has to offer. They have a range of courses that can be delivered through a variety of methods.
They can be found at: www.radioelectronicschool.com
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Finally today, a reminder to those people rostered for next week's broadcasts:
Newsreader: VK7FB
160m: VK7DM
80m: VK7EM
40m: VK7JGD
20m: VK7AR
10m: VK7ZGK
UHF CB: VK7ZCR
HF CB: VK7TED
Thanks to all people and organisations who assisted with this broadcast.
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THAT CONCLUDES OUR VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST FOR THIS WEEK.
YOU HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO OR JUST MISSED VK7WI. NEXT WEEK THE NATIONAL WIA NEWS CAN BE HEARD AT 0900 FOLLOWED BY THE VK7 REGIONAL NEWS AT 0930 HOURS.
DETAILS TO SEND NEWS FOR THIS BROADCAST CAN BE FOUND AT REAST.ASN.AU AND THE DEADLINE FOR ITEMS IS 21:00 ON FRIDAY PRIOR TO THE SUNDAY OF THE BROADCAST.
DETAILS TO SEND NEWS FOR THIS BROADCAST CAN BE FOUND AT REAST.ASN.AU AND THE DEADLINE FOR ITEMS IS 21:00 ON FRIDAY PRIOR TO THE SUNDAY OF THE BROADCAST.
VK7 Regional Broadcast & News Coordinator
Justin Giles-Clark, VK7TW
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- NEWS POSTING TO PACKET -
Courtesy Tony VK7AX VK7AX(AT)VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC
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