From: richardm@runx.oz.au (Richard Murnane)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc,aus.radio
Subject: VK2WI Weekly News, 3rd January 1993
Date: 2 Jan 93 20:20:28 GMT
Organization: RUNX Un*x Timeshare.  Sydney, Australia.

[A Happy New Year to all our readers! - Richard VK2SKY]

VK2WI Broadcast, 3rd January, 1993.  Copyright 1993 WIA
(NSW) & contributors.  Material may be used elsewhere if the
source is acknowledged.


                 VK2WI WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN

                            for

                     3rd January, 1993


Our 23 cm repeater is currently out of service for routine
mainatenance.  We'll advise you when it's back on-line.



               THE MAJOR NEWS ITEM THIS WEEK:

                         Silent Key
            VK2WI Holiday Transmission schedule
                   Special Event Stations
                    A DX Review of 1992

plus...
        How to Use the VK2 Divisional Voice Mailbox
                 Have You Heard the News?




                         SILENT KEY

We regret to start the year with news of a silent key.  Bob
VK2CAN has advised us of the passing of John Adkins VK2ZBA
on Christmas Day last month.  John was well known in the
Sydney area among users of the various 2 metre band
repeaters.  We extend our sympathy to John's family and
friends in Amateur Radio.


Vale, John VK2ZBA



            VK2WI HOLIDAY TRANSMISSION SCHEDULE

The regular live broadcasts from VK2WI resume next Sunday.
10th January 1993.

Even though the divisional office is closed for the
holidays, you can still submit items for the broadcast by
fax, packet radio or post, but if you send items by post,
please clearly mark the envelope for the attention of the
broadcast officer.




             WIA MEMBERSHIP PROMOTION CONTINUES

You didn't get that new rig you wanted for Christmas?  Never
mind, there's still hope, bacause if you join the WIA, or
renew your membership, before the end of February, you could
win a new mobile or hand-held transceiver.

If you've been thinking about joining the WIA, this would be
a good time to do it.  All grades of membership are eligible
to win, and you'll be helping to secure the future of
Amateur Radio in Australia.

If you'd like more information, you can contact the
divisional office when it reopens on the 11th January 1993.

This promotion has been organised by Roger Harrison VK2ZTB
from the newly-formed Advertising and Publicity Section of
the NSW Division of the WIA.





               AMATEUR CLASSES STARTING SOON

If you're a Shortwave Listener, and have been thinking about
New Year's Resolutions, here's one for you: why not become a
licensed Amateur?

The New South Wales Division will begin Amateur Radio
classes on the 1st February 1993.  If you'd like to get
yourself an Amateur Radio license, if you'd like to move to
a higher grade of license, or if you'd just like to learn
more about Amateur Radio, come join the class at Parramatta.

Many Amateur Radio clubs also run their own classes and
examinations.  The staff at the divisional office will be
happy to tell you the location of the affiliated club
nearest you.

But, if you're too far from your nearest club, or if you're
unable to travel, you can still earn your ticket with the
help of Australia Post.  The WIA runs a correspondence
course for all Amateur certificates, and you can progress
through the course at a pace that suits you.

For details of this and other WIA services, please write to

            The Wireless Institute of Australia,
                        PO Box 1066,
                       Paramatta 2124
                         Australia

or phone the divisional office when it reopens on the 11th
January; the number is (02) 689-2417.




             DIVISIONAL LIBRARY NEEDS HANDBOOK

Our Divisional Librarian, Aub VK2AXT, is looking for a
handbook and/or operating instructions for a Collins S-line
Linear, model 30S1.  If you have a handbook for this
equipment, the Divisional library would appreciate the
donation or loan of the manual.

The Division is building up a good collection of handbooks,
so that members can avail themselves of this valuable
reference material.  If you have any surplus manuals or
handbooks for any type of radio equipment, the divisional
library can offer them a good home.

   -- Aub VK2AXT, VK2 Divisional Librarian




                   SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS

VI150SYD finally ceased operation at 2355Z on the 31st
December, having notched up over 500 contacts in its last
week of operation.  One of the last contacts made was on 20
metres, with a new Special Event Station, VI6CKB, in
Kalgoorlie, which will be active throughout 1993.

[If I may digress for a moment. At about 1840Z on the 31 Dec 92,
I also worked Steve at W1AW, who sounded like he had serious
doubts about the validity of the callsign, though he was too
polite to ask! Would one of the ARRL fellows please tell him
I was legit? :-) Ten metres seemed to die about 15 minutes from
the end, so I listened on 15m, heard a few stations, called CQ
for 10 minutes without reply, and was about to give up when I
tuned around and heard a pile-up with Victor UD0EX on Sakhalin Island.
Got in easily (with 100W from my FT757 into a TH6 - oh, what a
feeling!), so it was a nice one to finish off with.  Mind you,
my 1993 Oz callbook lists UD0 as Azerbaijan, so these guys were
far from home without a portable prefix.

At our end, I blooded a couple of Limited calls (== Codeless
Techs?) from my radio club at times during the week. They were
used to operating only on 2m repeaters, so it took them a while
to get into the modus operandi. Sorry if this annoyed any of you
in the pile-ups! - VK2SKY]

We'll have more details of VI6CKB in a later bulletin.

Many thanks to all of you who operated and contacted
VI150SYD throughout 1992.


To Mark the closing of the Adelaide Coastal Radio Station
VIA on 31st January, VK5WC and VK5ZRH, in conjunction with
the South Coast Amateur Radio Club, will be operating a
special event station at the current site of VIA at McLaren
Vale, South Australia.

VIA was commissioned in Adelaide on October 1st, 1912.  Its
original callsign was POA (Post Office Adelaide).  In 1947
OTC took over control of the station which at that time was
running from Rosewater in Adelaide.  1963 saw the station
relocate to its final home of McLaren Vale south of Adelaide
in the Southern Vales wines district.

To commemorate the years of service VIA gave to coastal
shipping around Australia, the special event callsign
VI5VIA will be activated between January 29th and February
1st 1993.

The station will be operational on all HF bands and some
VHF/UHF operation will also take place. Special QSL cards
will be made available to mark the event.

VI5VIA will be active on the following frequencies +/- QRM:

1830    3590   7080    14295   21180   21275  28470   KHz

Operation will be on phone, with some CW, possibly also on
the WARC bands of 10, 18, and 24 MHz.

At this stage, the station plans to run 24 hours a day
during the event.

VI5VIA is also planning to operate on VHF and UHF; details
are available on the packet network.

QSL details are still being organised but will probably be
via the VK5 QSL Bureau.

   -- Grant VK5ZWI @ VK5TTY in Adelaide
      South Coast ARC Publicity officer




                    A DX REVIEW OF 1992

1992 saw many changes in the world of Amateur Radio DX, with
several new countries and callsign prefixes coming into
existence.

With well over a million Amateurs now, Japan used up its JA
to JZ prefixes, and started issuing callsigns beginning with
7J, 7K, and 7L.

Britain introduced its Novice license, issuing "2"-series
prefixes for these new Amateurs.

The political upheavals in Yugoslavia and the former Soviet
Union brought about major changes for Amateurs: three new
countries have been "born" (re-born?) out of the old
Yugoslavia, namely Slovenia (S5), Croatia (9A), and
Bosnia-Herzegovina (4N2).  A fourth republic, Macedonia
(4N5), is still being considered.

The turmoil in Yugoslavia has not kept Amateurs off air, but
we nonetheless hope that peace will return to the region
during 1993.

The former Soviet Baltic states: Estonia (ES), Latvia (YL),
and Lithuania (LY) are now active.  A number of other
callsign prefixes have come out of the old Soviet Union,
such as Georgia (4J4), but they have not been officially
promulgated.

The reunification of East and West Germany saw most of the
Y2 to Y9 East German callsigns disappear, to be replaced by
DL prefixes.

China began issuing BZ callsigns, to allow its citizens the
use of Amateur Radio, for the first time since the "Cultural
Revolution".

Overall 1992 was a dramatic year, both in world politics and
Amateur Radio.  Let's hope that in 1993, Amateur Radio will
be a vehicle for promoting peace and understanding
throughout the world.

   -- Jim Linton VK3PC (with additional comments by
      Richard VK2SKY)




                         WICEN NEWS

Things have been quiet on the emergency services front
lately, though we can report that WICEN is currently seeking
a new State Coordinator, following the recent resignation of
Phil Greentree VK2IW.  Phil has done excellent work in
promoting the resurgence of interest in WICEN in New South
Wales, and it will be no easy task to step into his shoes.
If you would like to give some of your time to promote
Amateur Radio's service to the community, please contact
WICEN by writing to PO Box 123, St Leonards 2065.

You can also call into the WICEN HF net on Tuesday evenings,
at 8:30pm local time, on 3615 kHz LSB, or in the Sydney
metro area, the Thursday night VHF net on the Chatswood
repeater 147.150 MHz, starting at 9:30pm




                     IPS WEEKLY REPORT

               25 December - 31 December 1992

[No IPS Weekly summary was received at the Divisional office
this week - I have extracted the following from the daily
IPS reports for the last week.  Any mistakes, blame me! - VK2SKY]

Date         25    26    27    28    29    30    31

10cm flux   136   131   125   127   125   126   130
A index      03    03    05    29    42    10   (12 est.)
T index     100   120   120   130    60    70    40

                    Summary of activity

Solar activity was low over the period, very low on the
27th, and moderate on the 31st.  No flares were reported.

The geomagnetic field at Learmonth (WA) was mostly quiet or
quiet to unsettled during the period, with minor storm
levels after 2000 UTC on the 27th; it was quiet to active on
the 28th, and unsettled to active on the 29th.

The disappearence of two filaments on the 22nd and 23rd of
December might be the cause of predicted disturbances.

MUFs at Sydney were near normal or enhanced by up to 40%
during the period, and reduced to near normal after 1700 UTC
on the 30th.

         Forecast for the next week (1 - 7 January)

Solar:           Low

Geomagnetic:     Generally quiet to unsettled, with possible
                 brief brief periods of active levels.

Ionospheric:     MUFs enhanced by 20-30%

-- Courtesy of IPS Radio and Space Services




                       COMING EVENTS

WIA recruitment promotion (win a rig!)   until 28th February
VI6CKB Special Event Station active . . . .  throughout 1993

Closing date for Fisher's Ghost ARC exams  . . . . WEDNESDAY
VK2TTY transmissions resume  . . . . . . . . . . NEXT SUNDAY
VK2 Divisional office reopens  . . . . . . . .  11th January
Live transmissions from Gladesville ARC resume  13th January
Fisher's Ghost ARC examinations  . . . . . . .  17th January
Divisional Council meeting . . . . . . . . . .  22nd January
Closing date for Waverley ARS exams  . . . . .  29th January
Divisional Trash and Treasure Sale . . . . . .  24th January
AX5VIA Special Event Station active . . . . . 29th January -
                                                1st February
Divisional Amateur Radio classes commence  . .  1st February
Closing date for divisional examinations . . .  4th February




                         CLUB NEWS

The GLADESVILLE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB resumes test
transmissions on TV channel 16+, which is 444.25 MHz vision
and 449.75 MHz sound.

Modifications have been carried out on the transmitter and
tests will commence from today (Sunday), and then on
Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday evenings while TV channel 35
is on air.

The club would appreciate signal reports via 2 metres on
146.925 MHz, or the club telephone (02) 427-0530 after
hours.




     HOW TO USE THE VK2 DIVISIONAL VOICE MAILBOX


[The following information was not part of the regular news
bulletin, but is provided here for the benefit of those of
you who might not have regular access to the packet system,
and those who would like to leave comments on the news, but
are unable to do so via radio - VK2SKY]


The Divisional voice mailbox carries highlights of the
WIA weekly broadcast, and is usually updated following
the Sunday morning broadcast

You can access the voice mailbox by dilling (02) 552-5188.

After listening, you can either hang up or leave a message
by speaking after the invitation.  If you have a "DTMF"
telephone or some other sender, more facilities are
available by pressing the "#" key.

The keys on your DTMF telephone perform the following functions:

"1" -  Rewind message by 10 seconds.  Pressing "1" "1" in
       quick succession rewinds to the start.

"2" - Stop message playback: press "2" again to restart.

"3" - Fast forward: advances the message by 10 seconds.
      Pressing "3" "3" in succession skips to the the end.
      This will also happen if you press the "hash" key.

"4" - Reduce playback speed.

"5" - Tell when the message was posted.

"6" - Increase playback speed.

"7" - Press this and nothing happens.

"8" - Set volume control to normal.

"9" - Increase the playback volume.

"#" (hash) - Skip to the end of the message.




              HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS?

It's the intention of the New South Wales Division of the
WIA to provide a comprehensive news service for members
throughout the state.  To this end, the WIA provides a
weekly news broadcast on most HF Amateur bands, as well
as frequencies in the VHF and UHF regions. Of course, the
latter don't travel very far, so extensive use is made of
automatic and manual relays to regional repeaters, so that
those of you who don't have access to HF can still keep up
to date with the latest events in the world of Amateur Radio.

However, the broadcast is not relayed to ALL repeaters in
New South Wales, either for technical reasons or because of
decisions made by the custodians of those repeaters, (for
example, perhaps because they see no demand for such a service
in their area).

If you are living in an area which does not currently receive
the WIA weekly news bulletin, but you would like to avail of
this service, please let us know at the divisional office,
either by writing to PO Box 1066, Parramatta 2124, or by
sending packet mail to VK2WI @ VK2RWI.NSW.AUS.OC

Please indicate the area where you live, the name of your local
radio club, and the callsign/frequency of the repeater on which
you wish to hear the broadcast.

73 de Richard VK2SKY, VK2 Divisional Broadcast Coordinator




                    ADMINISTRIVIA

Live news bulletins, complete with callbacks, will resume
next Sunday, 10th January 1993.

The divisional office will reopen next Monday, the 11th
January, but you can still send in items for the weekly
broadcast by fax, post, or packet radio; if submitting items
by post, please mark the envelope for the attention of the
broadcast officer.  You can also leave mesages on the office
answering machine: the number is (02) 689-2417.

Items for inclusion in this bulletin may be sent by mail to
Post Office Box 1066, Parramatta 2124; by fax on (02)
633-1525, or by packet radio to "VK2WI at VK2RWI".
News highlights are also available on the divisional voice
mailbox on (02) 552-5188, and you can leave a message
afterwards if you wish.



VK2WI Broadcast, 3rd January, 1993.  Copyright 1993 WIA
(NSW) & contributors.  Material may be used elsewhere if the
source is acknowledged.

-- 
Richard P. Murnane                     "Making it up? Making it up? Why should
Internet: richardm@runx.oz.au          I want to make anything up? Life's bad
UUCP:     uunet!runx.oz.au!richardm    enough without inventing more of it."
Packet:   VK2SKY @ VK2RWI.NSW.AUS.OC   - Marvin the Paranoid Android
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc