From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 25 / 05 / 2017 
Author : WIA Board

Video recordings of the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) annual general meeting and Open Forum held in Hahndorf are now available to members.  The draft minutes of the Board of Directors meeting held on Sunday 21 May, are also available.

The un-edited videos and draft minutes are available for viewing by WIA members and can be found under the ‘WIA Information’ menu on the WIA website.  WIA members who have not already done so, will need to register with MEMNET and setup their member logon password.

The release of the videos, and the minutes for each meeting of the Board, were decided by Directors for the benefit of WIA members.

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 23 / 05 / 2017 
Author : Jim Linton – VK3PC

Noel Ferguson VK3FI of Mildura and Graeme Scott “Scotty” VK2KE from Albury were made Honorary Life Members at the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) annual general meeting in Hahndorf South Australia.  Noel (pictured right) became a radio amateur in May 1958, was an avid homebrewer, very active in education, special events, promotion, and operating.

Graeme, a radio amateur since 1957, was formerly with the WIA Education Committee, and for many decades a teacher and mentor of Amateur Radio throughout Australia.

In other recognition, the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Coordinator and telebridge station, Shane Lynd VK4KHZ, received the prestigious Chris Jones Award.  He was overwhelmed.  Former ARISS Coordinator and still a telebridge, Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI, talked briefly about Shane before making a surprise presentation of an ARISS Certificate for his 10 years of involvement.  It was later learnt that Tony VK5ZAI, the Chris Jones Award 2009 recipient, also received a 20 year ARISS Certificate for his contributions.

The Ron Wilkinson Award went to Phil Moat VK4CDI for his 23cm band moonbounce (EME) experiments focusing digital modes, resulting in the world record distance contact of 18,918.3 km with Aleksandr EA8DBM on 27/11/2015. Continue reading →

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 21 / 05 / 2017 
Author : WIA Board

The Wireless Institute of Australia Board of Directors held its first meeting in Hahndorf South Australia today electing its leadership for the year ahead.

The new President is Justin Giles-Clark VK7TW (pictured), and Vice President David Ford VK4MZ.  Both were elected unopposed.

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 20 / 05 / 2017 
Author : Roger Harrison – VK2ZRH

The long-awaited Radiocommunications Bill 2017 – a draft of what will become a new Radiocommunications Act – was released on 18 May, along with a raft of supporting papers and fact sheets; 17 in all.  The Exposure Draft of the Radiocommunications Bill 2017 comprises 21 Parts and runs to 217 pages.  However, it is incomplete, as the subject of broadcasting is to be covered separately, later.

The Department of Communications and the Arts is seeking stakeholder feedback, with a closing date for submissions of 30 June 2017.  For those interested, the Bill package needs to be read in conjunction with the Department’s “Spectrum Pricing” paper.

A single licensing system is promoted as the centrepiece of the Bill.  The current system of apparatus, class and spectrum licensing will disappear.  The new system is promoted as providing “… a more administratively streamlined approach for users in regards to licensing, planning, allocation and renewal, and [to] give users greater certainty of process.”  Under the new framework, the key characteristics of a licence – including such parameters as allocated frequencies or frequency bands, permitted transmitter power, and transmission bandwidths, as well as other technical and administrative details – will be specified on the licence itself.  The Department of Communications and the Arts say this parameters-based licensing will provide greater clarity for the user.  The Bill provides for licences to be issued for terms up to 20 years.

Amateur radio licensing and licence conditions are not mentioned in the Bill as these are matters that will be covered by what is known as subordinate legislation – the regulations set out in a licence conditions determination document.  Likewise, licence fees and taxes are not included in the Bill.  To regulate the use of spectrum without a licence – currently covered under Class licensing – ‘Spectrum authorisations’ will be developed and issued by the ACMA.  According to the Department of Communications and the Arts, “Spectrum authorisations will not have to be applied for and no fees will be payable.  The core feature of authorisations will be that they are intended to allow radiocommunications devices to be operated in certain parts of the spectrum on a shared basis, subject to common conditions. Continue reading →

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 17 / 05 / 2017 
Author : Roger Harrison – VK2ZRH

The WIA has advocated and promoted reform of the Amateur licence conditions since it was invited by the ACMA to provide a submission on the subject in 2014.  The Board and Spectrum Strategy Committee made extensive efforts since then to “prepare the ground” with the ACMA on the proposed changes to Amateur licence conditions and the principles underlying the proposals.

In April 2016, an updated submission was provided to the ACMA, again, at its request, which consolidated what had transpired over the period since the first submission, along with Amateur community and member feedback, periodic discussions with the ACMA, and the federal government’s Spectrum Review.  That submission can be downloaded here.

In summary, the underlying purpose is to enable greater self-determination for the amateur service, along with proposing updates to the licence conditions for all licence grades in order to ensure amateur radio remains relevant in the digitally-connected age.  Key proposals include:

• enabling use of digital modes for Foundation licensees
• access to more bands for Foundation and Standard licensees
• relaxing permitted bandwidths for all license grades
• removing mode restrictions
• enabling DIY construction for Foundation licensees
• review of Foundation callsigns to provide 3-letter suffixes
• increased maximum power for all licensee

This consultation exercise is to provide the ACMA with formal evidential support for the proposed changes to the Amateur licence conditions.

The key principle is that future licence conditions should not unnecessarily limit the breadth and depth of experimentation amateurs can explore and the technologies capable amateurs may wish to adapt and exploit.

WIA member or not, your responses have equal weight.

60 metre band: Note that, as the ITU adopted a world-wide secondary allocation at 5.3 MHz at the World Radio Conference 2015, the WIA is already working with the ACMA to make this band available to Australian amateurs.  It is already noted in the Australian Radiofrequency Spectrum Plan, which came into effect on 1 January 2017.  See more here.

Three phases of consultation

This consultation will be conducted in three phases: 

Phase 1 – general principles – open now.  Closes on 4 June 2017. 
Phase 2 – proposed changes to each licence grade – opens 5 June 2017, closes 25 June 2017. 
Phase 3 – outstanding issues – opens 17 June 2017, closes 30 June 2017.

To provide your responses to Phase 1, go here.