PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE VK2 DIV. This is Michael Corbin VK2PFQ Last Friday night 16th September, there was a meeting of the Divisional Council at Parramatta. At 18.55 I received a fax message at the Office from Roger Harrison....It was his resignation. The letter was read at the meeting as the first agenda item. The council resolved to accept Mr. Harrison's resignation but added that it did not agree with reasons specified therein. As far as I was concerned, that was that. I had determined that I would only mention the fact in passing on today's broadcast. Bob Lloyd Jones VK2YEL, for reasons best known to himself, decided that all the world should share the contents of this letter even thought it was addressed to "The Council" of the WIA ......Consequently, he put the letter on packet. It is for this reason that I read the letter on this Broadcast.... complete and unabridged..... The Council Wireless Institute of Australia New South Wales Division PO Box 1066 PARRAMATTA NSW 2124 I formally tender my resignation as a Councillor of the WIA, NSW Division, effective immediately. I do this after due consideration of the prevailing situation, events since the AGM in April, knowledge of actions being embarked on by the President and certain Councillors, and following careful consideration of legal advice. I have no confidence in the management ability and practices, nor the business acumen, of the majority of Councillors. I have seen abundant example of this, which has led me to this view. I have already highlighted not only questionable practices and actions, but those which transgress the law, as well. I am aware from recent actions that this will not only continue, but escalate. There are Councillors who show utter contempt for the wishes of the majority of members and the interests of the Division, and contempt for the principles of the hobby. They show contempt for the Division's Articles of Association and contempt for the Corporations Law. Five Councillors have shown despicably shabby contempt for the proper treatment of the Division's highly regarded, loyal, honest, hard-working and efficient employee, Margaret Morris. Under the circumstances, where I am aware that other Councillors are in dereliction of their duty to the principles of the hobby, the members, the Division, the Articles and the Law, I feel I cannot carry out my own duties to the extent necessary, given the situation. When Margaret Morris returns, I will cooperate with her to 'tie up loose ends' so that her job can be carried out. I am forwarding my keys under separate cover. Yours sincerely Roger Harrison VK2ZRH I make no comment as to the contents of his letter. However, on behalf of the Division I would like to offer sincere thanks to Mr. Harrison for the, positive things, he did whilst a member of the Divisional Council over the past years. Mr. Harrison's resignation has prompted a reorganization of the Office Bearers of the Caretaker Divisional Council. Firstly the Council decided, as is normal under the Memorandum and Articles of Association, to fill the casual vacancy created by this resignation. The next eligible person is Tony Liolio VK2ZLT. I contacted Tony yesterday and he indicated that he would be delighted to fill this position on Council. The position of Office Manager, previously filled by John Robinson, has been taken over by Pixie Chapple VK2KPC. Parramatta Security Office Portfolio of Security Officer, currently occupied by Jim Walker VK2XJW, has been given more "teeth". The Council decided that Jim should be able to act independently. If keys needed to be cut he should be able to get them cut, without delay. Having a title is one thing, lacking authority, another. The position of Secretary will be decided next Friday week, when we are up to strength. It's only fair that ALL nine Councillors should have a say in who they believe should have this job. I believe that we have a golden opportunity to put the Institute back on track. Accordingly I call for the support of all members. Come on Bob. That means you too..... and what of you Mr. Kentwell? How about some support from you as well. Let's look at your latest packet for some inspiration and I quote... "for the rest, they have made me realise that we, the Radio Amateurs who enjoy C.W.,ATV,FM,SSB, home brew of same and all our activities are at a turning point...." Well said Julius. If what you say, is, fair dinkum, then..... we're counting on you for support. How about us all being on the same side for a change? . It's really only just a hobby after all. I think the futility of all these goings on were expressed admirably in a recent packet from Steve VK2ESL of Walcha, N.S.W. I'll like to share it with those who don't have packet radio as I believe Steve has summed it all up pretty well. His packet originated as a result of some "messages" entitled "Reason for N.S.W. Drought" and "not quite right TRASH." From: VK2ESL To: WIA @ VKNET I have just come in from what has been another pretty miserable day here on the farm. It's Friday, and that is stock feeding day, so it's up to the silo with the feed cart and crank up the small auger to fill the bin once again. The first mobs of sheep to be fed are lambing ewes, the first thing to greet me as I drive into the paddock is the sight of the body's of dead lambs abandoned by their already weak mothers. I manage to get the feed out without a starving ewe falling beneath the wheels of the vehicle. The next job is to check the dams. Some are dry but most have a small puddle in the middle of a sea of mud, the once flowing creek is all but dried up and often I have to pull sheep out of the mud as they are too weak to get out themselves. Today I also had to sell more sheep in an ongoing program of destocking as continued hand feeding will eventually exceed the commercial value of the animal and also dry up my financial resources. I was a bit lucky as I sold about 75% of the mob, and gave the rest away to the same bloke to save me the job of shooting them. This afternoon I came home and the mailman had left me a pile of bills and the dreaded bank statements. That basically was my day. The one thing that lifts me up a bit is to get out here in the shack and use my amateur radio gear to chat to others and have a laugh or two, or discuss the latest antenna project or plans for our local packet network, just something to cheer me up and forget for a little while the catastrophe that is taking place right outside my door. So!! What do I see this evening when I looked through a few messages on my local bbs? 2 messages, one titled "The real reason for drought" and the other in reply "not quite right." Now these two messages used drought in a jokingly way to continue their pitiful arguments re: the WIA. I think the two fellows concerned should be ashamed of themselves for treating drought as a bit of a joke. It might be a good idea if you people get off your backsides and leave your poisoned word processors alone for a while and get out in the bush and have a good damn look about. You know, Amateur Radio is one of the greatest interests one can have, especially out here in the bush. It provides us with the means to stay in touch with ever changing technology and also makes it easy to communicate with others with similar interests. For Gods sake, give this WIA thing a bit of a break and lets all be mates for a change. Compared with what we out here are going through the arguments that have been raging on in N.S.W. for the last year or so are to me are quite mundane. Steve....VK2ESL I'll leave these sobering thoughts with you. See you next week. Divisional News --------------- New Broadcast time ------------------ Please note : From Sunday 2nd October the morning broadcast will commence at 10 am. ------------------------------------------------- WIA Trash and Treasure sale --------------------------- Sunday the 25th September is the date for the next Trash and Treasure sale. Opening time for sellers is 1 p.m. and for buyers is 2 p.m. The cost for sellers is $5.00 for W.I.A. members and $10.00 for non members. There is no way to predict what will be for sale, but there is always some treasure. See you there. Roger VK2ZIG & Cesar VK2TCM. --------------------------------------- Broadcast Roster ---------------- Steve Pullen requests that all members of the Broadcast roster team advise him urgently by the end of this coming week of any likes, dislikes, desires, exclusions, etc, etc.. He's currently preparing the new three-monthly roster and he'd like to hear from you if you have any problems with certain dates or alignments. Any budding engineer or announcer is invited to contact him -- we have, of course, a few vacancies, particularly in relation possibly to the earlier start at 10 am. If you need to contact Steve please do so -- call him on his home number: 476-1845. WICEN News This is a reminder that the Sydney WICEN 2m repeater has had its cavities re-aligned, and objective reports are welcome; perhaps as a result the regular Sydney WICEN net can start again. Unfinancial members are reminded that their membership will officially terminate on 30th September. Hunter meetings are held on the third Monday of the month at the Emergency Operations Centre, corner of Elizabeth and Hannel Sts, Carrington, commencing at 7pm. The September lecture, held tomorrow, will be in the form of various videos of interest from Mt Macedon, the Australian Emergency Management Institute. Looking ahead to October, there is the VRA Annual Conference on the weekend of 8-9th October, to be held in Wagga, and further details will appear in a later broadcast. As a result, the Management Committee meeting next month will move to 15th October, which unfortunately conflicts with JOTA. The "Hawkesbury Classic Paddle" is on 22nd-23rd October, and the WICEN Co-ordinators Conference is on 29-30th October, at Bathurst. WICEN is always looking for members to provide the community with communications assistance. Write to WICEN (NSW) Inc, PO Box 123, St Leonards 2065 for further information, or come up on one of the WICEN nets: Blue Mountains on the first Monday of each month at 8.30pm on channel 7175 simplex, Hunter each Wednesday at 7.30 pm on channel 6900, Northern Rivers each Wednesday at 8pm around 3610 kHz, Central Coast each Thursday at 8.30pm on channel 7125, and Sydney each Thursday at 9.30pm on channels 7150/8275. If there are any other regular nets then we'd like to hear about them. WICEN is always looking for members to provide the community with communications assistance. Write to WICEN (NSW) Inc, PO Box 123, St Leonards 2065 for further information, or come up on one of the WICEN nets: Blue Mountains on the first Monday of each month at 8.30pm on channel 7175 simplex, Hunter each Wednesday at 7.30pm on channel 6900, Northern Rivers each Wednesday at 8pm around 3610 kHz, Central Coast each Thursday at 8.30pm on channel 7125, and Sydney each Thursday at 9.30pm on channels 7150/8275. If there are any other regular nets then we'd like to hear about them. WICEN (NSW) Inc. operates a telephone BBS, and it is accessible at speeds from 300 to 14,400 bps on (02) 888-2763. Brett VK2XMU is the "Sysop", and all listeners are invited to use it. Many programs, such as "virus scanners" and "PGP", are available for downloading. -- Dave VK2KFU, WICEN (NSW) Inc. Publicity Officer News briefs ----------- The Great Australian Science Show is currently running at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum. The show is a collection of 30 interactive exhibits,including the "Starlab" mobile planetarium, a "cyberspace" exhibition entitled "Artists thinking about science", and an interactive CD-ROM demonstration curiously titled "Typhoid Mary". The exhibition closes this Wednesday. Texas Microsystems has produced for the United States Army prototypes of a "combat-ready" hand-held personal computer. Christened "The Grunt", the 486SZ-based PC is part of a long range plan to equip soldiers with advanced communications facilities in the battlefield. The US Army may have been upstaged however, at least where size is concerned; watch manufacturer Timex, is in a joint project with Rank Xerox and Microsoft is to launch a personal computer in a wristwatch. The computer is one of a series of wearable computer- based products coming out of Japan; earlier products include wristwatch-sized television sets and mobile phones. For those who really can't bear to be away from their computers, Spacial Systems integration of Melbourne has previewed "the first truly wearable, ruggedised portable, fully integrated PC". What all that means is that this computer has a variety of miniature keyboards, interfaces to a hand-held cellular fax, and a head band with a built in video display, and voice recognition, among other things ... with special adaptors, it can even be used under water. The company expects to sell the system to the emergency services and military and industrial users. Not in my backyard ... please! Most of us remember the heavenly sight of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 colliding with the planet Jupiter, and many Amateurs noted unusual signal patterns on the HF bands as the comet fragments entered Jupiter's magnetosphere. But one important question has been doing the rounds since the big collision, namely, "could it happen here"? The answer is "quite possibly" ... last month comet Machholz-2 was discovered by Calif- ornian amateur Astronomer Don Machholz. He estimates that next month, the comet's 6.8 year orbit will take it within 15 million kilometers of Earth; further observations will be needed will be needed to determine how close the comet will get on subsequent passes. Astronomer Rob McNaught of the Anglo-Australian Observatory at Siding Spring say that Machholz-2 is only one of 16 comets known to cross Earth's orbit, and that there are only 13 astronomers world-wide looking for such comets. And finally, a new FM radio station has started, serving Sydney's gay community. The station is one of a growing number of "narrowcast" stations, serving special interest groups. The station's owners have chosen the rather tongue-in-check callsign of 2GAY-FM; it is not known how the people over at 2DAY-FM feel about another station with a similar callsign. One wag writing to the Sydney Morning Herald suggested we might soon have a talkback ststion called 2SAY-FM, a subscriber-funded station called 2PAY- FM, among others ... News Briefs looks at communications new items that appear in the mainstream media. Thanks this week go to "The Australian" and "The Sydney Morning Herald". If your local or regional paper runs an item of interest to Radio Amateurs, why not send a clipping to the Divisional office? Richard Murnane VK2SKY IPS WEEKLY REPORT ----------------- 9 - 15 SEPTEMBER 1994 ISSUE No 36 DATE OF ISSUE: 16 SEPTEMBER 94 INDICES: DATE 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 10CM 87 82 81 77 76 74 72 A 28 13 14 11 14 9 ( 5 ESTIMATED) T 30 26 17 16 16 18 26 SUMMARY OF ACTIVITY SOLAR ACTIVITY WAS LOW 11TH SEPTEMBER AND VERY LOW FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE PERIOD. THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD AT LEARMONTH (WA) WAS UNSETTLED TO ACTIVE ON 9TH, QUIET TO UNSETTLED 10TH-12TH, AND 14TH, AND QUIET ON 13TH AND 15TH SEPTEMBER. THERE WAS A SHORT PERIOD OF MINOR STORM LEVELS ON 9TH, AND A BRIEF ACTIVE PERIOD WAS OBSERVED ON 10TH. IONOSPHERIC F2 CRITICAL FREQUENCIES AT SYDNEY WERE NEAR PRE- DICTED MONTHLY VALUES THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD. FORECAST FOR THE NEXT WEEK (16 - 22 SEPTEMBER) SOLAR: VERY LOW. GEOMAGNETIC: QUIET TO UNSETTLED. IONOSPHERIC: NEAR PREDICTED MONTHLY VALUES THROUGHOUT THIS WEEK. COURTESY OF IPS RADIO AND SPACE SERVICES, SYDNEY SUMMARY BY PAT VK2JPA ANARTS BROADCAST OFFICER CLUB NEWS Wagga Amateur Radio Club news ----------------------------- The Wagga Radio Club meets on the last Friday of each month at 2000 hrs at the SES building Ferneleigh Road. The club celebrated its 26th year of operation and this was celebrated with a dinner at the local RSL club and was a great success. The club runs two nets, the 1st net is on each Sunday at 1200 noon on 7.165MHz. The second net is run every Tuesday night at 2000 hrs on 3.605. We run, at the moment, 4 awards; these being the Wagga Basic Award followed by Silver, Gold and the 360 Award. This last award has only 32 amateurs qualified for it. We finally have packet up and running here in Wagga and thanks has to go to John VK2BXD, Mike 2DAI and Allan 2KAW for all the work they did to get it running. If anyone wishes to contact any member of the club they can do so through the three above members, also Sid 2SW is now up and running and having a ball with this mode. The callsign for Wagga is as follows: VK2BXD-1 44.136.71.1 or @W.VK2BXD.AMPR.ORG [ ??? ] Alternatively you can log on to VK1BUD-5 and Wagga is listed as a port. We would like to apologize to any Amateur passing through our area for any trouble that they experience with our Ch3 repeater. We are suffering from severe intermittent interference problems, but we have work in the pipe line to correct this as soon as possible. Once again we offer our apologies for any inconvenience that this may bring about. Ch50 is usually monitored while these problems exist. 73 Paul VK2MAL President Wahroonga Historical Radio Association -------------------------------------- An important and historical event in the development of world wide communications by wireless occurred on 22nd September, 1918 when the first direct wireless messages from Great Britain to Australia were received at Wahroonga. These messages were transmitted from Wales using a 200 kiloWatt spark gap transmitter on 14,300 metres. The Wahroonga Amateur Historical Radio Association, in conjunction with The Dragon Amateur Radio Club of Wales, will be commemorating this event next Thursday, 22nd September working a special event station with the callsign VK2WAH for 24 hours commencing at 10.00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Depending on a number of operators on hand, frequencies will be: voice 3.570, 7.070, 14.170, 21.170 and 28.570; C.W. 14.035; locally the call may be heard on 2 metre FM repeaters and on Packet. The Dragon Amateur Radio Club using the callsign GB2VK will be operating at the same time on 14.175 and 21.175 voice, and 14.020 and 21.020 CW. A QSL card may be obtained for one 2 way contact. Australian Amateurs should send a stamped and self addressed envelope with their QSL card to W.A.H.R.A., PO Box 600, Wahroonga, 2076, or via the bureau. For further information contact Jo Harris, VK2KAA on 02 489-4393 or on Packet. David Ramsay, VK2KLX Secretary Norther Corridor Radio Group Hamfest '94 ---------------------------------------- Perth Western Australia The Northern Corridor Radio Group, (N.C.R.G.), in the northern suburbs of Perth will hold the 6th annual Hamfest at the Les Hansman Centre on Walter Rd. Morley on November 5th at 10.am. With a record attendance last year and even more to offer this year, the N.C.R.G. is hoping for an attendance of over 1000 for Western Australia's premier hobby electronics and communications event. This year, the majority of Perth's hobby radio retailers will have displays along with special interest groups such as the QRP, VHF, Microwave/UHF, Digital, Repeater and ATV groups as well as the W.I.A. bookshop. All the major radio manufacturers will be represented including Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu, Barrett, Codan and Tait as well as some big antenna manufacturers such as Terlin, Venross and Antenna West. It is also envisaged that most retailers will have "specials" on for the Hamfest so why not save that purchase for this occasion. There will also be food and drinks on sale throughout the day. In addition to the commercial and special interest displays, there are the car-boot sales in the car park outside the hall which proved so popular last year. Entrance fee this year, remains at $2.00 per person including a ticket for the door prize whixh will be drawn before the close of the day's festivities. Anyone wishing to join the large group of people holding stalls at this year's Hamfest should contact Duncan Page on 09-2401933. Trade stalls will be charged at $20.00 each and tables can be rented at $5.00 each (max. of 3). Car-boot stalls will attract a fee of $10.00 per car. If you are considering a trip to the "State of Excitement", why not schedule it for early November and come meet the largest gathering of friendly hobby radio enthusiasts in W.A. The Les Hansman Centre is just 7kms from the centre of Perth and ample accommodation should be available at this time of the year in the city centre. A listening watch will be kept on Channel 4 (146.800 Rx/146.200 Tx) by the N.C.R.G., (VK6ANC), through the day for the benefit of our visitors. Further enquiries can be made to Steve Kennedy VK6RK on 09-3057566 or to Duncan Page on 09-2401933. from Steve Kennedy VK6RK Fishers Ghost Amateur Radio Club -------------------------------- There will be a meeting of members of the Fishers Ghost Amateur Radio Club, on Tuesday 29th September at 7.30 p.m. at the Campbelltown High School, Beverley Road, Campbelltown. The speaker will be Jack Heath, who will deliver a lecture on phase locked loops. There will also be a trash and treasure sale that evening. From, the Secretary, Peter Kloppenburg VK2CPK Blue Mountains Amateur Radio Club Inc. -------------------------------------- A note for your diary ... The Blue Mountains Amateur Radio Club is organising a Computer and Communications Show on Saturday 27 November. National and regional companies have indicated an interest to display their products and there will also be a flea-market for the buying and selling of second-hand equipment. The date again - 26 November at Springwood High School in the beautiful Blue Mountains. Bring your family and make a day of it - refreshments will be available throughout the day. Further details will be announced in due course. Alex VK2KAS B.M.A.R.C. Publicity Officer Waverley Amateur Radio Society ------------------------------ The next monthly meeting of the Waverley Amateur Radio Society will be held on Wednesday, 21st September at Waverley Council's Multi-Function Centre located at 31 Spring Street, Bondi Junction, beginning at 7:00 pm. The main topic for the evening will be a talk by Aub Topp (VK2AXT), the W.I.A. Librarian who is to describe the facilities offered by the library. Full details of the Society's new permanent premises which will be open next month and allow 24 hour access will be announced at this meeting to which all are welcome. Simon Buxton - VK2EII - Publicity Officer Summerland Amateur Radio Club ----------------------------- The next outing for members, families and friends, will be a picnic BBQ at our repeater site, VK2RIC, at Parrot's Nest. If time permits, a mini working bee will be held to improve the performance of our "Sally" (VK2RIC). Bring your own everything and meet at the base of the tower at 11am on Sunday 26th September. More details from Steve, VK2JSM, 066-626693, or Ric, VK2EJV, 066- 895137. Graeme, VK2GJ, Publicity Officer VHF-UHF DX Group ---------------- This is a final reminder that the next VHF-UHF DX Group meeting will be held next Tuesday 20 September at Amateur Radio House. This meeting will be an equipment workshop on the con- struction of high power linear amplifiers and low noise preampli- fiers. Working examples of linears and preamplifliers will be exhibited to demonstrate how practical construction problems are solved. All listeners are invited to attend. The Group also sponsors activity nights on 144 MHz on Tuesdays and 70 centimetres on Thursdays. Why not check into the Group's Sunday evening net on 146.5 MHz FM for details of Group activities. The Sunday evening net starts at 8:15 pm. Submitted on behalf of Richard Sourlie VK2ARS Liverpool and Districts Amateur Radio Club ------------------------------------------ The Liverpool and Districts Amateur Radio Club held its Annaua General Meeting last Tuesday night and the outgoing committee wish to welcome our new office bearers: Paul VK2UPB is President and Repeater Officer. Brad VK2QQ is Vice- President and Publicity Officer, Bob VK2IRG is our Secretary and Dave VK2KLU is our Treasurer. The Committee's number are also made up with Hoss VK2ICE and Mike VK2KSI. Congratulations gentlemen! Wayne VK2TBF surprised us with a donation from our repeater users. It seems he's been passing that ugly hat of his around and collected a sizeable sum from the regulars on our 6625 repeater to help with its upkeep and improvements. The AATC has also made a donation to LADARC for its use of the repeater and the money was most gratefully received. Thank you AATC, thank you Wayne and thanks to our repeater users for the support! We really need it! Brad VK2QQ Publicity Officer Coming events "Great Australian Science Show" P'house Museum to . . Wednesday Hunter WICEN meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monday VHF-UHF DX Group meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tuesday Waverley Amateur Radio Society meeting . . . . . . . Wednesday Manly-Warringah Radio Society lecture night . . . . . Wednesday Special event Marconi- Australia contact VK2WAH . . . .Thursday CQ WW RTTY DX Contest . . . . . . . . . . . . Saturday - Sunday Divisional Trash & Treasure Sale . . . . . . . . . Next Sunday Summerland ARC outing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Next Sunday Motorola 66th birthday special event station . 25-26 September Morse classes commence at WIA Parramatta. . . . . .28 September Unpaid WICEN memberships expire . . . . . . . . . .30 September Wagga ARC meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 September VK/ZL Oceania DX Contest Phone. . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 October WIA (NSW) broadcast goes to 10 am . . . . . . . . . . 2 October Do you have an event you'd like publicised on the weekly broad- cast? If so, then please send details to the Divisional Broadcast Officer, Michael Corbin VK2PFQ, by phone on (02) 626- 9288, or by fax on (02) 626-6066. Items can also be forwarded to the Divisional Office. ----------------------------------------------------------------- VK2WI Broadcast, 18th September 1994. Copyright 1994 WIA (NSW) & contributors. Material may be used elsewhere if the source is acknowledged.