From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 15 / 09 / 2016 
Author : Jim Linton – VK3PC

The four callsigns marking the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan during the Vietnam War have made contacts, even though propagation has not often been favourable.  The Battle on August 18, 1966, had 108 ANZACs greatly outnumbered, with heavy losses on both sides, and them eventually winning against a large enemy force.  A high degree of interest exists whenever VI4BLT50 in Queensland, VI6BLT50 in West Australia, VI1BLT50 Canberra, and VI8BLT50 in Darwin are on the air.

The DX contacts particularly have lots of questions about the activity and this also resulted in 7,000 hits on the qrz.com information.  The WIA arranged callsigns with the ACMA granting licences 30 days which ended this weekend.  The commemoration is to end at midnight AEST on Saturday.  Organisers will then files their logs and create a report on the event that is expected to be in the November edition of the WIA journal, Amateur Radio magazine.

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 10 / 09 / 2016 
Author : Jim Linton – VK3PC

In this digital age it’s important to be correctly recorded with your current postal and email addresses, to make sure you are kept informed.  The problem is made more difficult because of an anti-spam measure used by some internet service providers to no longer bounce invalid email addresses and organisations are unaware of changes to email addresses.  This can and does affect membership renewal notices and the services through the Membership Management System called MEMNET.

It’s easy to check your records online through MEMNET, and the small number who don’t use email can update their details by using the Member Inquiry form.

MEMNET was launched two years ago and has about 75 per cent of the membership registered.  It has now been substantially upgraded reflecting the comments received, making it more user friendly.  It enables the digital edition of Amateur Radio magazine to be downloaded, participation in the WIA awards program, and more.

Get with the digital age by registering with MEMNET today, or check that your details are correct.

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 10 / 09 / 2016 
Author : Jim Linton – VK3PC

The marking the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan during the Vietnam War is continuing with the three stations reporting difficult propagation at most times.  Mal VK6LC reports that operators at VI6BLT50 are averaging only about two hour openings a day mostly to Europe on the 20 metre band.

Phil VK6GX is still pounding away on CW and Martin VK6RC fills the gaps in the evening.  The dedicated commemoration by the VI6BLT50 team has tried the weak signal PSK31 mode, with some over 300 contacts made already.  VI6BLT50 is this weekend until Monday has VK6LC, VK6OZ and VK6VCK at the low band antenna farm in the west – so look for it on the band.

Mal VK6LC says QSL’s are arriving and soon all VI6BLT50 contacts will be on the ARRL Logbook of The World.  In Queensland, VI4BLT50 is on air with poor band conditions although contacts are still being made with VK, ZL and overseas stations.

The operators are VK4ERM, VK4DMC, VK4ZD, VK4CL, VK4KJ, Stu VK4SDD, Merv VK4DV, and Bernie VK4KX.  Dale VK4DMC reports that despite the conditions the response received during QSOs has been very encouraging.  Tex VK1TX is also putting VI0BLT50 on air and experiencing the same propagation from Canberra.

The WIA obtained callsigns are on air for 30 days, and listed at www.qrz.com.

Via Southgate ARC, original post here.

Hand-carried QRP Antennas, by Peter Parker VK3YE, is the new book that takes the mystery out of portable antennas.

After inviting you to assess your needs, it discusses the pros and cons of popular types.  Its style is brisk and practical with almost no maths.

Many ideas for cheap but good materials suitable for portable antennas are given.  Beginners and those returning to radio after a break should especially find this section handy.

Finally there’s construction details on a variety of simple but practical antennas and accessories suitable for portable operating.  All have been built and tested by the author over almost 30 years of successful QRP activity.

Hand-carried QRP antennas is an ebook readable on most devices (free software available if you don’t have a Kindle).  It’s Peter’s second book, following on from the popular Minimum QRP, released last year.

More information: http://home.alphalink.com.au/~parkerp/handqrp.htm

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/vk3yeradiobooks/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imFk17gARiA