VK2 Div. President's message This is Michael Corbin VK2PFQ. There's treachery afoot once more in the ranks of Amateur Radio. Last weekend a group of malcontents and "has beens" engineered a meeting, under false pretences I have been informed, by the Secretary, at the Westlakes Amateur Radio Club. What did they do? What did they achieve?....from what can be gathered.... nothing.. and why is this so, do you think? It's because, I believe, they are driven by the wrong motives. They preach the gospel of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. You've heard it all before and you've heard how much it cost before ....Oh!.. you haven't. Well why don't I remind you. It cost the members of the division $54,012.97. Yes you heard correctly $54,012.97...Half of which was spent "getting even"... Trying to get rid of "undesirables". Well I for one will never let this happen again to this division for as long as I occupy the Chair. I for one will not sit by whilst individuals such as those who organised such a meeting, once more lobby to immerse this division in a campaign of... "GETTING EVEN." How could anyone support a group whose platform is, and I'll quote from a message put out by their Minister for Propaganda ..."to examine the memberships of those members who have (done) so much harm to the division, the matter has already been determined by the best legal company in the business. If these members are found guilty, they can be reviewed so they can no longer disrupt progress of the Division" unquote. Now where have we heard this sort of clap trap before? Hmmmmmmmmm!!!!....and these blokes believe that the membership, indeed the hobby, want a return of these sorts of goings on...Do the members want the Division to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to get even. I DON'T THINK SO. You people are going to have to come up with a better reason than this for taking over the running of the N.S.W. Branch of the W.I.A. I wonder what we could spend the $54,012.97 this rabble wants to spend, on MORE LEGAL FEES?????? The list is endless. Forget it guys. Why not, instead of this counter productive nonsense, get on with the business of enjoying Amateur Radio? Forget this "getting even" business....Bury it forever along with those ringleaders who subscribe to such a course of action. It has been asked in some quarter, why nothing has been done about the legal business....Well it's simple....We owe the Solicitor $16,062.67....that's the $16,062.67 someone people on the last Council chose to ignore existed... Until this is paid, it's unethical of us to expect the solicitor to work for us on anything else. Why has this not been paid....because some of the same group, have not made themselves available to sign the necessary cheque. NO! NO! NO! Not the same cheques we had trouble with before. We fixed that other cheques business up by removing some signatures and adding others. This is a different cheque account. I won't bore you with the details except to say that it is our Investment Account .....Well these signatories were not present at the last Council Meeting and probably won't bother coming to the next one. So knockers please note....If you want the thing to go to Court it is really up to you....organise some signatures for the cheques and the account will be paid immediately. Lewarne and Goldsmith have submitted an account. An account which was, way way below what they were entitled to charge. The "A" Team, above all, should appreciate that, as it was them who dealt with Lewarne, NOT ME! All the Legal profession goes on holidays in January. This means that all such Businesses need to get together a great deal of money to cover the Holiday Pay due to their employees. Our Solicitor have a right to expect payment for ser- vices provided. They should not be expected to go into overdraft with the bank because of a delinquent debtor. As stated at the last Council meeting, as things are presently going, we seem likely to have this matter resolved by April. That's five months to go. Four months if you take the Legal professions' Christmas Holidays into account. Whilst this is not my own personal preference, it seems that it will be the case. I could go on and on about this "meeting of treachery", but to what end. I'll do so when the time is right and that will be at Election time. It won't be, as my detractors would have you believe, according to the same rules they used at the last Election...It will be fairer. EVERYONE, even my detractors will get a fair go. In the true Australian tradition...that's a promise....Remember I'm......NOBODY'S MAN.....That's what probably upsets some of them the most... They thought I was... THEIR MAN.....They neglected to ....Read the label!!!!! The next Council Meeting is set down for the 9th December. I would like to make this into a Christmas get together. Minimal business and lots of good fellowship. To this end, mark it in your diary. But more on that next week. And don't forget that other party next weekend at Joe's place VK2KAA. She has been kind enough to make her home available, all she needs is for you to ring her....Why not straight after the Callbacks. The details are in Club News and no, she doesn't care whose side you're on....Just come along for some good old-fashioned camaraderie. See you there....and don't forget today is TRASH AND TREASURE SUNDAY and boy oh boy, do we have some treasure for you. If you have not made an offer on that Deceased Estate gear that was in AR this month then....this is your opportunity to have a good look at it.....It is in MINT Condition....But then isn't everything that's for sale at the Trash & Treasure? Before I go this week....You will recall that earlier in the week we had terrible storms over most parts of NSW. It seems that one member of the Amateur Radio Fraternity, a friend of mine called Brent alias VK2PB decided that this was as good a time as any to replace the headlights in his car..... Getting together the necessary tools etc. he began to remove one of the head- lights when all of a sudden..BANG!! He was thrown to the ground but really does not remember clearly exactly what happened. Obviously he was admitted to hospital. Then followed a period of uncertainty....Another member of our group Jeffrey VK2EO relayed the message to us having heard about it on the commer- cial radio news... The good news was that Brent was released soon after from Hospital. Many tests were made and he does not appear to have suffered any bad side effects except for some stiffness in his body and a slight stutter which fortunately gets better by the day....What a lucky escape...The moral, if there is one....Don't change your headlights before an electrical storm.....no matter how far away it is. If you do. Don't do it outside. But if you must...Do it well away from your Ham Radio mast. Fortunately the Lightning appears to have struck the Mast NOT Brent. Brent has kindly offered to touch any Lottery Tickets or lotto numbers anyone cares to send him. Usual conditions and/or percentages apply. On that happy note. ... See you next week. Federal news Restrictions lifted for UK Hams Amateurs in the United Kingdom are now able to run more power on segments of the 180 m and 8 m bands. In addition, restrictions on antennas and effective radiated power (ERP) on 6 m have been lifted. On 160 m, UK holders of the Class A livense may now use 400 watts output between 1810 kHz and 1850 kHz as the power restriction on the 1810-1830 kHz has been lifted. However, the power limit for the 1850-2000 kHz segment is still 30 watts. On 6 m, UK holders of the Class A and B licences are now able to run 400 watts between 50 MHz and 51 MHz. Between 51 MHz and 52 MHz, they are still restricted to a power of 100 watts. Restrictions on ERP and antenna height which applied to the 50-52 MHz band have been removed. Maritime mobile operation on 6 m is now permitted in the UK, also. Meanwhile, UK amateurs are now required to notify their local regulatory authority, the Radio Investigation Service (RIS), if they operate an unattended digital station. Operators have to notify their local RIS office on how to close down their station in an emergency. W.I.A. examinations The next exams to be held at W.I.A. N.S.W. Division will be on Sunday the 11th December 1994. This will be your last chance to obtain your licence this year so don't miss out! Applications are available from the Divisional Office by phoning 689-2417 between 12 pm and 1pm or leave a message on answering machine at other times. Applications will close on Thursday 1st December 1994 at 2pm. Jim Walker VK2XJW Exam Co-Ordinator Deceased estate Mrs. Deal, phone 809-2831, has a lot of old radios, reels of tapes and host of other bits. She needs help to dispose of the gear, call her on the weekends. from Aub Topp VK2AXT Librarian ------------------------------------ Circuit wanted A senior electronics enthusiast is attempting to restore a Philips R.F. signal generator, model TA101A, circa 1948, and would find a copy of a circuit or manual invaluable. As Philips in Holland cannot help, (and are somewhat amazed to learn of the continued existence of such a unit) could anyone with the appropriate information kindly contact Bob, VK2CAN, QTHR, who will be delighted to pass it on. Bob, VK2CAN WICEN News This is supposed to be a quiet time for WICEN, but in the past we have had fire, flood, tempest, and earthquake around this time of the year; about all that is left is famine (unfortunately, we may already have this in the form of the drought) and plague (hopefully WICEN will not be involved in that one!), so do not be complacent; keep your equipment ready at all times for a sudden activation. Members are reminded that the closing date for the Newsletter is this Wednesday. For next month, there is the Blue Mountains meeting on Monday 5th December (and what appears to be a variety of Christmas parties by various Clubs). Also, WICEN has been requested to assist with the NSW Water Ski Association "Lion Island Classic", on Sunday 11th December 1994. Along with the usual 2m requirements, long distance communications are required from Croppy Point to Laughtondale, and this will probably involve 80m. At least six personnel are required, from 0900 to 1430, and those interested are invited to contact David Ramsay VK2KLX. Those regions wishing to have their activities publicised on this broadcast are requested to get the details to the Publicity Officer, Dave VK2KFU, by Thursday night at the latest. Packet radio is the preferred medium, to either VK2AAB or VK2OP BBS. 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. -- Dave VK2KFU, WICEN (NSW) Inc. Publicity Officer Bits and Bytes Welcome to this segment of the Broadcast, resurrected after some years, in which we take an irregular and often irreverent look at the high-tech industry, and computers in particular. Pentium chip doesn't add up -- well, divide, actually ...The hot news today is that so-called "power users" who bought the new "Pentium" chip have discovered that its calculations are not quite up to scratch, in fact, in certain cases they can be blatantly incorrect! These users, who perform heavy computational work such as ray-tracing and mathematical modelling, have discovered that if certain numbers are divided by each other then the Pentium chip reverts to single precision instead of the intended double precision. In a concocted example which involves just a few operations, the result is "256" instead of "0", so this is hardly a harmless bug as some people are claiming! The problem seems to stem from the actual "bit pattern" by which floating point numbers are represented in computers, and certain numbers possess certain bit patterns which tickle whatever bug is on the Pentium's silicon. In the meantime, Intel are denying that this is a major problem (the Herald notes that Intel officials were aware of this problem as far back as June, but continued to ship the defective chips re- gardless) and are demanding that their customers show evidence of an actual problem before they will replace the faulty chip (there must have been thousands, if not millions, of these expensive chips shipped). Listeners will be aware of other floating-point problems in Intel chips, although it is agreed that this is a difficult thing to get right. Those with access to "USENET" can check out the stories over on "comp.sys.intel". Spell Checker Goes Berserk; Editorial Maimed Meanwhile, while still in the Land of the Free (where else do we hear whacky stories?), we note that a human being had suddenly turned into an infamous program loader. The following sentence was taken from Richard Cohen's column on page A19 of the November 15, 1994 Washington Post: "GOP national chairman Haley Barbour instantly announced that New York City was no longer in the running for the Republican National Convention, and, more ominous, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, the state's leading Republican and Pataki's Disk Operating System (DOS), said he would not seek revenge on Giuliani." The only explanation we can come up with (other than Sen. D'Amato really being a copy of DOS) is that Cohen typed `doss' instead of `boss', and the spelling checker not only corrected it to DOS, but spelled the acronym out since it's the first appearance of it in a non-computer-related news story. (Courtesy of Bob Bane, Global Science & Technology, Inc.) The above information was abstracted from a variety of sources, including but not limited to "comp.risks" and "comp.sys.intel". Contributed by Dave VK2ZTB News briefs It's been another quiet week for communications news, but those wh were interested on the recent High Court ruling regarding our defamation laws might like to know that the days of astronomically high damages awarded by juries will soon be a thing of the past. In future, it's the judges who will determine the damages to be awarded, and the amounts will be in line with those given to people who suffer physical injuries in accidents. Pretty soon, it may once again be safe to criticise the actions of others, even on packet, without fear of legal reprisals from those with fragile egos. You'll still have to make sure what you say is true, so no making up stories now, otherwise we can all look forward to the day when the only lawyers on our band will be those with their own callsigns. ******** In Hong Kong, a struggling local TV station came under fire when it tried to grab the attention of potential advertisers. Their ad, a poster depicting Europe's most infamous war-time dictator, contained several dubious slogans, including (wait for it): "Thank goodness he couldn't advertise on ATV". Hmmmm... ******** Finally, an idea for anyone wishing to pick up one of the Instit- ute's awards for technical innovation: CSIRO scientists have developed an antimethanogen, a compound which, when added to the feed of livestock, reduces the emission of greenhouse gases -- from both ends. Can anyone suggest a way this new substance might be applied to Amateur Radio (packet perhaps?). ********* "News briefs" looks at communications news items that appear in the mainstream media. Thanks this week go to "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 ----------------- 18 NOVEMBER - 25 NOVEMBER DATE OF ISSUE: 25 NOVEMBER 1994 INDICES: DATE 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 10CM 80 78 79 78 76 78 79 A 5 17 23 6 6 3 (4 ESTIMATED) T 36 33 5 28 45 10 37 SOLAR ACTIVITY WAS VERY LOW THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD. THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD AT LEARMONTH WAS QUIET,OR MOSTLY QUIET 18TH, AND 21ST-24TH NOVEMBER, UNSETTLED ON 19TH, AND AT ACTIVE TO MINOR STORM LEVELS ON 20TH. IONOSPHERIC F2 CRITICAL FREQUENCIES AT SYDNEY WERE MOSTLY NEAR NORMAL OR ENHANCED BY 15-30 PER CENT, EXCEPT FOR ENHANCEMENTS OF UP TO 50 PER CENT ON 18TH, AND DEPRESSED PERIODS OF UP TO 20TH-21ST NOVEMBER. SPORADIC E BLANKETING OCCURRED AT TIMES ON 20TH-22ND. FORECAST (25 NOVEMBER - 01 DECEMBER) SOLAR: VERY LOW GEOMAGNETIC: ACTIVE TO MINOR STORM LEVELS EXPECTED DURING INTERVAL 25-27 NOV. IONOSPHERIC: DEGRADED HF COMMS CONDITIONS EXPECTED 26-27 NOV. NEAR NORMAL ON OTHER DAYS. COURTESY OF THE IPS RADIO AND SPACE SERVICES SUMMARY BY PAT VK2JPA ANARTS BROADCAST OFFICER INVITATION The Wireless Institute of Australia in conjunction with WAHRA, AAPRA, SPARC and other groups is pleased to announce that there will be a social function and get-together at the home QTH of Jo, VK2KAA, on Sunday 4 December 1994. All Amateur Radio Operators are welcome to attend the barbeque which will commence at 5.00 pm. The QTH is 59 Westbrook Avenue, Wahroonga. The function will cost $10 per head and in the interests of catering, would you please contact Jo at the above address by Sunday 27th of November to indicate your intention to attend. Pre- payment for the function would be appreciated. Wives and friends are very welcome. A pool is available so bring your "Cossie". Please bring your own drinks. Jo's telephone number is 489 4393. She can also be contacted on Packet via VK2AAB or on the Hornsby repeater, on 147.250 MHz. We are looking forward to seeing you there to celebrate the passing of a turbulent but interesting year, 1994. Club News Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club ------------------------------ Members and friends of the Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club are reminded that the next series of broadcasts and call backs will take place on Monday December 5. Times and frequencies will be as follows: 10 AM. MELBOURNE TIME (2300 ZULU) 145.700 MegaHertz FM AND 7.060 Megahertz LSB 3650 MegaHertz LSB 11 AM. MELBOURNE TIME (0001 HOURS ZULU) 14.150 MegaHertz USB beaming NORTH from Melbourne 12 NOON MELBOURNE TIME (0100 HOURS ZULU) 14.150 MegaHertz USB beaming WEST from Melbourne 8.30 PM MELBOURNE TIME (0930 HOURS ZULU) 3650 MegaHertz For the benefit of members of friends who, for whatever reason are unable to hear any of the morning transmissions. Callbacks will follow all six transmissions. News for inclusion in the club broadcasts will be welcomed by Club Secretary Arthur Evans VK3VQ or Allan Doble VK3AMD both of whom are OK in any call book. From the St George Amateur Radio Society The next meeting of the Society will be held at the usual venue, that is in the 1st Allawah Scout Hall, corner of Bellevue Pde. and Blakesley Rd., South Hurstville at 7.30 pm Wednesday evening the 7th of December 1994. Due to illness the Society's guest speaker for its November meeting, David Pack VK2GIO was unable to attend. David is now well again and has indicated that he will be there to give his interesting talk and demonstration on Amateur Television at this December meeting. Members and interested visitors should not miss this opportunity to improve their knowledge of this emerging facet of our hobby. The Society is pleased to advise interested amateurs that its repeater VK2RDX normally sited on Mt. Bindo and some time ago made unserviceable by repeated vandalism is now up and running on test at a temporary site in the Mt. Victoria area. Unfortunately this new site is considerable lower in elevation than Mt. Bindo and even though some reports are good, many others indicate a loss in coverage and signal strength. The Society intends to retain its site at Mt. Bindo in anticipation of talks with the Forestry Commission regarding improved security being fruitful. This could be some time away, but would mean that VK2RDX could be resited back to Bindo with a higher degree of safety than at present. Visitors are always welcome to club meetings, coffee, tea and biscuits are provided and the members look forward to meeting those interested in attending. frm Allan VK2XF Publicity Officer AATC The next general meeting of the A.A.T.C. Inc. is on December 11th, the second Sunday of the month at 1.00 pm at Amateur House, Parramatta. The technical lecture on the day will be on (a) Power supplies and as a backup lecture (b) will be on gel-cel sealed lead acid batteries plus a demonstration of an 8 channel relay controlled output from your IBM computer so you can operate external devices via the keyboard. The committee wishes to thank all those who attended the AATC- Christmas bar-b-que. Very special thanks to Dave and Judy catering serices. Calling all AATC - don't forget to put your thinking cap on for Wyong display next year - remeber it is only 12 plus weeks away. So start sorting out what items of equipment you wish to display. No flying leads with RCA or BNC plugs attached will be displayed. Newsflash from the Publicity Oficer to be discussed next meeting. Item 1. - The 11kv power supplies and item 2. the 200 foot tower. For more information about the A.A.T.C. listen to the net on Tuesday nights from the Liverpool area on 146.625 MHz - approx 19.30 hrs - or watch us on 1250 MHz from our Oaldale repeater any- time. AATC Inc. Publicity Officer Bob Barnes Packet meeting The Packet Group of the Fisher's Ghost Amateur Radio Club are pleased to announce their 2nd get-together for System Operators, Service Providers and other interested parties. The meeting is intended to be both inform each other on experiments and networking as well as to provide a forum for some form of network planning primarily in the area south of Campbelltown into the Southern Highlands. At the meeting will be 9600 baud modems, kit TNC's as well as a 4800 baud Baycom style modem. There will also be information provided on Spread Spectrum Packet networks and high speed broadcast techniques. The meeting is at the regular Fisher's Ghost Club venue of Campblltown High School in the room under the HF Yagi. It is on NEXT SUNDAY 5th December starting at 10:00 am. We intend to break at around noon so be sure to bring meat and drinks for a BBQ. Once again the Packet meeting is next Sunday at Campbelltown High School at 10 am. Darryl VK2TDS Coming events Now, a summary of upcoming events of interest to members and other Radio Amateurs ... Solar '94 Conference & Exhibition. . . . . . . .Wednesday-Friday Divisional exam applications close (contact Jim VK2XJW) Thursday Manly-Warringah Radio Society Christmas Function . . . . .Friday WAHRA, AAPRA, & SPARC Christmas Party. . . . . . . . next Sunday Summerland ARC Christmas party . . . . . . . . . . . next Sunday Blue Mountains WICEN meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 December Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club net . . . . . . . . . .5 December Fishers Ghost Packet Group meeting . . . . . . . . . .5 December St George ARC meeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 December Waverley ARC Christmas Dinner. . . . . . . . . . . . 10 December NSW Water Ski Ass'n Lion island Classic (VK2KLX) . . 11 December Divisional exams at Parramatta . . . . . . . . . . . 11 December Summerland ARC exams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 December Australian Amateur TV Club general meeting . . . . . 11 December 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, 27th November 1994. Copyright 1994 WIA (NSW) & contributors. Material may be used elsewhere if the source is acknowledged.