Via Lifehacker, from the SMH.  Original posts here (and here)  By Liam Mannix, 13/1/17

Paul VK2ICQ adds:

Ubiquiti Wireless equipment mentioned in this article is what ORARC will be using for the linking of our repeater sites.

Like countless other Australians, Haywards Bay resident Daniel Saffioti did not have access to the NBN.  So he decided to do something about it.

His solution was to set up a wireless bridge and mini radio dish to beam the NBN directly into his own home – all for a few hundred dollars.  Here’s how he pulled it off (and overcame a big bump along the way.)

The last straw for Saffioti came in mid-2014 when the NBN installed a fibre pillar right in front of his house – but refused to connect him.  The Commonwealth public servant had endured years of “awful” ADSL in Haywards Bay, south of Wollongong, and now NBN was right on his doorstep but still totally inaccessible.

“It runs right past my house, and it goes to the new people in the estate, and it does not go to me at all,” he told Fairfax.

Mr Saffioti’s solution to slow internet may be the most creative yet.

Bugger it, he thought. I’ll just beam the NBN 12 kilometres to my house – right over that range of hills.

Mr Saffioti is the chief information officer for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, which means he gets to play with some exciting technology.

In the past, he’d messed about with installing wireless bridges.  These devices, which come with their own mini radio dishes, allow internet signals to be beamed for up to 50 kilometres.

For hardware built for business, they are “incredibly effective at an amazingly ridiculous price point,” Mr Saffioti writes on LinkedIn, where he detailed his DIY-NBN project.  You can pick up the dish and access point for under $400

They worked so well, Mr Saffioti decided to buy a few for his own use.

With those in hand, the other thing he needed was someone willing to share their NBN connection.  Luckily, he had a friend based in nearby Kiama, one of the first towns in Australia to be connected to fibre.

That friend was good enough to agree to let Mr Saffioti share his connection, if he could work out how to.

While he and his friend were within the 50-kilometre range of the wireless bridge, they had a big problem: a big hill.

Or more specifically a patch of hilly country directly between their two properties.

The wireless bridges need line of sight for fast speeds.  If Mr Saffioti couldn’t find a way to get line-of-sight, the connection wouldn’t be much quicker than his slow ADSL, making all his effort worthless.

Luckily, Mr Saffioti’s friend had a cousin, and he just happened to live right in between the pair, elevated on a hill in Oak Flats.  And he couldn’t get NBN either.

That meant he was only too happy to have a wireless bridge set up on his house to bounce the signal – while also getting fast speeds himself.

Fully installed, the project beams NBN about 12 kilometres from Kiama to Oak Flats, and then about another three to Mr Saffioti’s place in Haywards Bay.

The link has been running well ever since, with regular download speeds of about 70mbps down and 35 up.  Total cost of the project: about $1000.

Originally, the high-speed broadband network only connected new homes in Mr Saffioti’s area.  However, late last year the NBN got in contact with him to let him know he was now, finally, eligible to connect to the fibre network.

He’s considering it, he says with a laugh.

From the Independent.co.uk, 10/12/16 by Max Benwell, original post here.  Via Stuart VK2FSTU.

At the end of a year where the world has become increasingly bewildering and alien, a new site invites listeners to cross borders, and with profound results.

Radio Garden works like any other digital radio but, in this case, the world is your tuning dial.  As you turn it with your mouse, gliding between borders, over cities and towns, it crackles and tunes into every station available in the area.

The project was designed by Amsterdam’s Studio Puckey and released on Monday.  It lets users listen to 7,877 radio stations around the world by dragging and dropping a pointer over a 3D Google Earth interface.

I started browsing Radio Garden in Europe, and slowly went from west to east, from London and Paris through to Germany and Lithuania.  I found out what techno they’re listening to in Berlin, before swinging over to catch up on the latest pop music in Kazakhstan.

There’s something profound about going around and eavesdropping on what people are listening to all over the planet.  Dragging and dropping from place to place, you get glimpses of different countries, cities and regions, and not just through the music, but the adverts and talk show discussions.

Going further afield I got hooked on South Korea’s KCR, a station that plays non-stop classical music.  I then tuned in to a Sri Lankan talk show, before heading south west down to Africa where I discovered a radio drama broadcasting in northern Madagascar. Continue reading →

From The Register, 3/1/17 by Shaun Nichols, original post here.  Via Stuart VK2FSTU.

Cofounder ejects over blacklist for bad reviews.

The developer of Ham Radio Deluxe – a popular app used by thousands of hams – has restructured its management following claims it punished users who wrote critical reviews.

HRD Software said in a statement on Friday that co-founder Rick Ruhl will step down to pursue other interests.  Ruhl, along with co-owners Mike Carper and Randy Gawtry, ran the radio software company after buying the rights to the code in 2011.

The reshuffle comes after HRD found itself under scrutiny after it remotely disabled copies of the software belonging to users who spoke out against the company on various amateur radio websites and forums.

“Ham Radio Deluxe software would have been abandoned in 2011 without Rick’s partnership,” said HRD co-owner Dr Michael Carper.

“Rick’s day-to-day leadership in running the business has contributed to the vitality and functionality of Ham Radio Deluxe.”

Ruhl was, essentially, blamed by customers for his organization’s poor handling of complaints and bad reviews.  After one user went public about how his copy was blackballed in revenge for posting a negative review, it was followed by further claims that HRD had similarly retaliated against others – and had maintained a “blacklist” of radio handles that had been blocked from using the software.

Though HRD at first pinned the balls-up on a rogue “contracted support employee,” Ruhl eventually accepted responsibility for the blackballing and said HRD Software would remove the blacklisting of the call signs.

“No one is going to be sued.  I made a serious mistake and error of judgement in this and many cases and I am truly sorry,” said Ruhl.  He had earlier left an angry message on one blacklisted person’s voicemail, threatening legal action for speaking out against his company.

“I apologize publicly…  I do have diabetes and sometimes this affects my judgement and it did in that voicemail.  I truly regret it.  I’m talking to my doctor about changing my medications so I won’t have any more low sugar.”

“[HRD’s cofounder] Randy, Mike and I are discussing my future with HRD.”

In addition to shifting Ruhl out of the company, HRD said it will be updating its end-user license agreement to “modernize and renew” its customer support policies.

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 14 / 01 / 2017 
Author : WIA Board

The election of the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) Board of Directors by postal ballot will happen in March; the nomination of candidates closes with the Returning Officer on January 31. 

The nomination requirements are in the Wireless Institute of Australia Regulation Postal Ballot for the Election of Directors, that is on the WIA website via this Link and available on request.

That regulation sets out the formalities of nominations, and the conduct of the election by ballot that closes on the 27th of March. Official notification of the call for nominations was in the December edition of Amateur Radio magazine.

Nominations are sought from WIA members to be a Director of the company, the Wireless Institute of Australia.

This year all seven positions on the WIA Board are open.

If you consider your skills and experience can add to the requirements of being a voluntary director of a modern not-for-profit organisation, then please consider nominating.

The Returning Officer will send out candidate information and a ballot paper in March.