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VK7AX > NEWS 29.11.09 12:25l 469 Lines 21875 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: VK7 Regional News Broadcast for 29 November 2009
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To : NEWS@WW
VK7 REGIONAL NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 29TH NOVEMBER 2009
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VK7 EVENTS CALENDAR
A summary of the events across VK7 over the coming months:
NTARC – November 30 - NTARC member gathering at Lilydale for a feed and coffee prepared by VK7YUM!
REAST – November 30 & December 1 – Foundation Licence Training Course – Queen's Domain Clubrooms from 7pm
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#FoundationLicenceCourse
REAST – December 2 – End of Year BYO BBQ – Queen's Domain Clubrooms from 12pm till late.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#EOYBBQ
CCARC – December 5 – Inaugural Christmas Style Dinner / Social Evening at the Best Western Bass & Flinders Convention Room, Eastland's Drive East Ulverstone. 6.00 – 6.45 for 7.00 pm.
http://www.my-x15.net/ccarc
NWATVG – December 5 – General Club Meeting – Jim VK7JH Talk at QTH of Tony VK7AX.
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/atvgroup
REAST – December 7 – Foundation and Other Licence Assessment session – Queen's Domain Clubrooms from 7pm
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#FoundationLicenceCourse
December the 9th is fast approaching, which is of course the date NTARC – December 9 - Christmas BBQ at Myrtle Park - Campsite 11.
REAST – November 9 – ATV experimenter's nights – Queen's Domain Clubrooms – around 7:30pm.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
NWATVG – December 9 - Club's Christmas Dinner at the Bass & Flinders Restaurant, Ulverstone, 6.30 for 7.00pm.
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/atvgroup
WICEN Tasmania (South) Inc – December 12 – Christmas Lunch and XYL Thank You – Riverview Inn, 12:30.
http://tas.wicen.org.au/
REAST – December 16, 23 – ATV experimenter's nights – Queen's Domain Clubrooms – around 7:30pm.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
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Northern News
Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club
Well, what a soggy start to the VHF/UHF Field day. Hope you're making some good contacts despite the rain, and don't forget to fill out your log sheets and submit them.
This Monday the 30th NTARC members will gather at Lilydale where David VK7YUM will keep everyone well fed & coffee'd up, all you need to supply is some good conversation to go with it.
Speaking of food & good company, December the 9th is fast approaching, which is of course the date for NTARC's Christmas BBQ at Myrtle Park. We've been given campsite 11 for the evening, just look for the plethora of cars sprouting antennae and follow your nose to the aroma of cooking meats.
The VK7RSC 10 metre beacon has recently been relocated and is on the air from Alanvale campus of the Tasmanian Skills Institute. Launching its 10 watts CW signal into the air is a half wave dipole, and reports are that it's been heard in VK2 & VK6 already. Listen out on 28.267 MHz for this beacon.
With a little luck, the 2010 WIA Centenary Call Book will be landing here shortly, and if you would like to get your hands on one, please let Ann VK7FYBG or Jason VK7ZJA know, and we'll arrange it for you.
Thanks from
(Jason VK7ZJA NTARC Secretary)
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NORTH WEST News
North West Tasmania Amateur Television Group
http://www2.vk7ax.id.au/atvgroup
Next Club General Meeting and Xmas Dinner
The next General Meeting of the Club is scheduled for Saturday 5th. December, YES, THAT'S NEXT SATURDAY!!
Venue will be the QTH of VK7AX. Commencing around 2.00PM.
Jim VK7JH will be guest speaker at this meeting and will be giving us an insight into his travels during his extensive holiday trip earlier in the year.
Bookings have been made for the Club's Christmas Dinner which is to be on Wednesday 9th. December at the Bass & Flinders Restaurant, Ulverstone, 6.30 for 7.00PM sit down.
Members and friends will need to advise the Club in due course of their intention to attend for booking purposes and numbers.
As usual all persons welcome at both meetings.
Foundation Licence Assessment Results
Congratulations to Ursula Roos, Graham Anderson, both of Burnie and Andrew Kirkpatrick of Devonport for accomplishing passes at theTheory, Regulations and Practical Assessments held at Ulverstone on Saturday 21st. November.
All 3 have applied for their Foundation Licences and it is hoped it will not be too long before we hear them on air and ask local amateurs to make them feel welcome to the amateur airwaves.
If there are Short Wave Listeners in the N/West area of VK7 interested in becoming an amateur or require more information about the hobby or training sessions, please contact the Club, contact information included in the text edition of this broadcast or simply Google the `North West Tasmania Amateur Television Group'.
73's until next time
(Tony VK7AX, News Officer NWT-ATV Group)
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Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club (CCARC)
CCARC News
http://www.my-x15.net/ccarc
Cradle Coast Amateur Radio Club members are reminded that it's Inaugural Christmas Dinner/ Social evening at the Best Western Bass & Flinders Convention Room, Eastland's Drive East Ulverstone on Saturday the 5th of December with a roll up time of about 6.00 – 6.45 and a sit down at 7.00 pm.
If you are attending this event then please advise David VK7EX promptly of you intentions.
If you are a non amateur or a short wave listener living in the North West, or West coast of Tasmania, and would like to become a licenced amateur radio operator, then come along to the meeting and find out about this interesting hobby. If you cannot make the meeting but would like to find out more about the hobby then contact the learning facilitator, Keith Winkler VK7KW, or any of the committee members. Full contact details are available on our website which can be easily found by a "Yahoo" or "Google" search of CCARC TASMANIA.
(David, VK7DC, Secretary, CCARC)
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Southern News
WICEN Tasmania (South) Inc
http://tas.wicen.org.au/
WICEN End of Year Lunch
If you were thinking of saying 'Thank you' to your XYL for letting you play radio, how better to do it than by taking her out to lunch.
You can do this in the safe company of other amateurs all doing the same thing, or just plain celebrating, at the RIVERVIEW INN at Lower Sandy Bay on Saturday on the 12th. of December. 12:00 for 12:30
The WICEN South group have booked the Inn for sole use so you are assured of pleasant company. Harmonics are welcome, as are non-licensed radio enthusiasts. Any amateurs visiting from the North and Northwest are equally invited.
RSVP to any WICEN South members, or Rod VK7TRF, on 0417314425, QTHR Callbook, Emails via WIA address.
http://tas.wicen.org.au/
(Rod, VK7TRF)
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Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
December EOY Event
To celebrate 2009, REAST will be holding a BYO BBQ this Wednesday, December 2nd at the Queen's Domain clubrooms.
All members and friends are invited.
Starting at 12 noon and running through until late and this should cover both the lunchtime and evening attendees.
See you there.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#EOYBBQ
(REAST Committee)
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Education and Training
Reg VK7KK, the REAST Learning Organiser lets us know about the next REAST Foundation training and assessment sessions.
The Training Sessions will be held tomorrow, Monday 30th November, and Tuesday the 1st December with the Assessment session on Monday the 7th December.
All sessions will take place in the REAST Queen's Domain Clubrooms from 7pm to 10 pm.
Some participants may feel that they do not need to participate in the training programme, they would then just need to attend the assessment evening.
If there are candidates interested in Standard or Advanced assessments they should also enquire.
Reg can be contacted on 0417 391 607 or email: assessor(AT)reat.asn.au
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#FoundationLicenceCourse
(73, Reg, VK7KK)
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Saturday Afternoon Groups
The Saturday group have just a couple of spots left for the visit to the Bureau of Meteorology site at Hobart Airport on the 5th of December and the Ultimate Aviation Experience on 12th December where we will be visiting the Tower, Rotorlift Rescue, Fire and Rescue and the Australian Federal Police.
For more info or to lock in one of the last spots contact Tony VK7FTCL at toneman(AT)bigpond.com or call 0418136596.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#SatArvoGroup
(73 Tony VK7FTCL and the Saturday Afternoon Group)
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ATV Experimenters Night
ATV Nights get back under way on December 9th from around 7:30pm.
We will be putting the ATV studio back together so, if you would like to learn how it all works, the next few ATV night would be a great learning experience.
Hope to see you along.
http://reast.asn.au/events.php#ATVnights
(73, Justin, VK7TW)
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Satellite News
New Ham Antenna Installed on the ISS Columbus Module
ARISS US Hardware Manager Lou McFadin, W5DID says that all the teamwork and effort to expand the ARISS amateur radio station aboard the ISS were successful on November 21 when the new dual band 2m/70cm antenna was installed on the outside of ESA's Columbus module.
Lou congratulated the team, "This is an example of what can be achieved by volunteer hams working closely with a space agency. This antenna project was funded entirely by AMSAT-NA and volunteers who built the antennas for both an ESA experiment and for ARISS. I am very proud of all the teamwork and effort that has gone into this project."
The new ARISS antenna is very similar to the antennas already on the Russian service module. Now that the antennas are in place the ARISS team will be working to bring amateur radio to the Columbus module.
In conclusion Lou noted the tremendous contribution from ESA for the experiment, the launch and the EVA making this expansion of amateur radio aboard the ISS possible.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php
(AMSAT Website)
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SO-67 Operational At Predetermined Times
South Africa's amateur satellite SO-67 was initially expected to be commissioned and fully operational by the end of 2009. More recently it was suggested that the commissioning phase might take as long as 6 months.
But, the latest information received from Jan-Albert Koekemoer of Sunspace, has put an end to any thought of ever having the satellite operational on a full time basis. Instead, it will continue to be switched on only at predetermined times.
(AMSAT-VK Mailing List)
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Antarctica Now Active on the Birds
On the evening of 27 November at 0816 local time a contact between ZL2BX (Alan) and KC4USV from McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
KC4USV will be active this weekend so please alert the VK's and ZL's, its time to have some fun!
(Cheers from McMurdo Station Antarctica from KC4USV and Judy VK2TJU)
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And we finish today's broadcast with a few notable birthdays!
Satellite News
AO-7 has 35th Birthday on 15 November
Sunday the 15th November marked the 35th anniversary of AO-7 reaching orbit. AMSAT-OSCAR 7 was launched November 15, 1974 by a Delta 2310 launcher from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Lompoc, California.
AO-7 was the seventh OSCAR (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio) satellite to be launched since the inception of the OSCAR program. AMSAT-OSCAR 7 built by a multinational team under the direction of AMSAT-NA and was launched November 15, 1974 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Lompoc, California. AO-7 carries two working linear transponders, one in Mode A (145.850-950 MHz uplink; 29.400-500 MHz downlink) and another in Mode B (432.180-120 MHz uplink; 145.920-980 MHz downlink). It also contains two working beacons on 29.502 and 145.972 MHz. A third beacon on 435.1 MHz has been reportedly heard sporadically, and a fourth beacon on 2304.1MHz was never turned on.
In mid 1981 AO-7 ceased operation due to battery failures. It was thought at that time that the batteries had shorted. However on June 21, 2002 Pat Gowen, G3IOR reported hearing AO-7s 2m beacon. After the news was relayed through AMSAT bulletin boards, several more hams monitored the satellite.
AO-7 continues to operate continuously, albeit a bit whimsical. After emerging from an eclipse AO-7 may turn on in one of four modes. Mode A and Mode B are shown above, and Mode C is a low power version of Mode B. Mode D is a beacon only mode. It is impossible to distinguish between Modes B and C.
If you're not set up for the linear satellites but have a receiver with CW/SSB capability on 2 meters, try listening to a pass. The middle of her Mode B downlink passband is 145.950 MHz, and you will find most of the activity occurring between 145.940 MHz and 145.960 MHz. Generally, you'll hear CW operators below 145.950 and SSB operators above 145.950.
Interested? Take a look at the links on the email and internet editions of this broadcast for more details:
http://planetemily.com/ao7/main.php
Online log:
http://www.planetemily.com/ao7/ao7log.php
(Tim, N3TL via the AMSAT News Service)
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History News
Australia's first 'iPod' marks 60th birthday
CSIRAC, the world's oldest intact computer and the first ever to be made in Australia, turns 60.
The CSIRAC - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research organisation Automatic Computer - is housed in the Victorian museum and has today been granted heritage listing as part of its birthday celebrations.
It is the first computer ever to be made in Australia; the fourth computer ever to be made in the world; and the only first generation computer that remains intact.
Museum Victoria's senior curator of information and communication, David Demant, describes himself as the computer's caretaker.
He says the CSIRAC represents the beginning of the modern computer age.
"It is one of the first computers that started the digital technology revolution, which has completely changed the planet," he says.
"The potential of what is happening today was in CSIRAC... you couldn't do the same things back then because it didn't have the power or the memory or whatever, but essentially in principal the structure of computers has remained the same since CSIRAC."
Demant says the computer can be explained simply as the first iPod.
"You could say that CSIRAC was the first iPod if you like... you would feed in your paper tape and CSIRAC played the music," he says.
"And today you have a little chip in which you record your music, you put your recorded music onto the iPod, and the iPod - which is basically a computer - plays your music."
The CSIRAC was designed from scratch and hand built in 1949. It was run off paper tape, which Demant says probably now constitutes the worlds oldest software library.
"It consisted of nine cabinets, which are about seven foot high and about a very fat person's width, and there was a console and the computer was driven," he says.
"It wasn't automatic like we know today, you actually had to intervene every now and then in running a program and it ran off paper tape... so its output was paper tape and there was no screen as such."
The CSIRAC was used for a range of scientific and industrial purposes including crystallography, electronics, building frame analysis, loan repayments and weather forecasting.
In 1951 it generated the world's first computer music and it could also host games.
"People were trying to explore its capabilities and they tested everything," says Demant.
"In one of the games there was a string of lights on one of the cabinets and the computer had to predict your next move.
"So if you moved the light to the left and the computer predicted that you were going to do that it would shift the light to the left, but if it had failed to predict you it would move the light to the right.
"They were very simple games, but nevertheless they were games."
Demant says Australia's first generation of software programmers were trained on the CSIRAC.
"It was the training ground for computer software programmers in Australia," he says.
"It was the beginning of the Australian software computer industry because it wasn't just a hardware computer, it produced software as well."
Heritage Victoria's director of collections, Elizabeth Triarico, says the CSIRAC is significant historically, scientifically and technologically.
"It is the first technology object to be put on our state register which is quite a significant thing in itself," she says.
"It is something of very high significance to Australia and not just Victoria."
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/11/25/2752906.htm
(Written by Amy Simmons from the ABC Science Website)
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Web & Email Edition Extra Bits!!
100-Million-Core-Supercomputers-Coming-By-2018
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/11/16/1849259/100-Million-Core-Supercomputers-Coming-By-2018?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+slashdot/eqWf+%28Slashdot:+Slashdot%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
What are Apple up to?
http://www.geeknewscentral.com/2009/11/16/apple-what-are-you-up-to/
Don't Piss off your Web Designer!
http://gizmodo.com/5412249/this-is-how-a-pissed-off-designer-quits-his-job
Gizmodo's Best Gadjets of 2009
http://gizmodo.com/5411442/the-best-gadgets?skyline=true&s=i
Greg Todd – VK7YAD Papers Tabled in Parliament
http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/papers/u79_2009.pdf
Size isn't everything when it comes to the brain!!!
http://abcmail.net.au/t/717998/957242/14051/0/
California Bans Big Watt-Guzzling TVs
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/nov/18/calif-requires-tvs-to-be-more-energy-efficient/
The following URLs are courtesy of CG Communicator:
This tuning dial could bring back a flood of good memories:
http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/Images/zenithdial.JPG
Distracted driving reaches new highs with this setup:
http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/Images/distracted.jpg
IBM unveils the biggest brain simulator yet:
http://tinyurl.com/Brain-Simulator
This is what really happens inside a modern birdhouse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA1Go-f1kZc
The following is courtesy of the ABC Science Mailing List:
== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ==
The full Moon is Wednesday December 2. In the morning, Mars is readily visible in the eastern sky. Red Mars moves from the constellation of Cancer into the constellation of Leo. It is a distinct gibbous disk in a small telescope, and becomes bigger and brighter during the week. Saturn is low in the morning sky this week, but is now readily visible before twilight sets in. Mercury returns to the evening sky, it can be seen above the south-western horizon half an hour or so after sunset, below the 'hook' of stars that is the tail of Scorpius, the scorpion. Jupiter is easily seen as the brightest object in the western evening sky. Jupiter's moons are readily visible in binoculars or a small telescope. On Tuesday December 1, the Moon passes in front of the Pleiades cluster around 11:00pm local daylight saving time, Alice Springs and Darwin will have the best views.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/723370/957242/11560/0/
Do you have some interesting internet 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
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: VK7ZK
40m: VK7RO
20m: VK7IL
10m: VK7ZGK
UHF CB: VK7HGO
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.
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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