Via the WIA, original post here.

Date : 06 / 08 / 2016
Author : Roger Harrison – VK2ZRH

The WIA has lodged a submission with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) concerning interest in an amateur allocation in the 70 MHz band.  On 22 June 2016, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) opened consultation on proposed updates to frequency plans for the 70.0-87.5 MHz and 148-174 MHz VHF bands, with a closing date of 1 August 2016.

You get little time to respond to government consultations these days.  The ACMA is proposing to update its Radiocommunications Assignment and Licensing Instruction document, which covers these VHF bands, known as RALI MS 42.

As the WIA had signified interest in a 70 MHz amateur allocation to the ACMA back in July 2014, the Spectrum Strategy Committee decided that a submission to this consultation was in order, principally to flag the amateur radio community’s interest.  Historically, the 70.0-87.5 MHz band has been used by commercial, community, government and defence communications services.  However, the WIA has been aware for some time that interest in, and use of, 70.0-70.5 MHz has declined across Australia.  There is also a Low Interference Potential (LIPD) band at 70–70.24375 MHz, with a maximum permitted power of 100 mW.

The WIA is pitching for use of an amateur allocation between 70 and 70.5 MHz that aligns with allocations across Region 1, which covers Europe, Russia, the Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa.  These Region 1 allocations are widely known as the four metre band.  The band 69.9 MHz – 70.5 MHz is listed in the “European Table of Frequency Allocations and Applications” as a secondary amateur allocation.

It remains to be seen whether the ACMA’s consultation round on RALI MS 42 will flush out renewed interest from other stakeholders.  Whatever changes the ACMA decides to make to the RALI, there’s another step to go, with consultation on updating the Australian Radio Frequency Spectrum Plan (ARSP) to commence shortly.  The ACMA reviews and revises the ARSP after each World Radiocommunications Conference.  The last one was WRC-15, which concluded at the end of November last year.

The WIA submission to the ACMA’s consultation on RALI MS 42 can be viewed below.
ACMA – Proposed updates to RALI LM 2 and MS 42 Link
European Table of Frequency Allocations and Applications Link
The Four Metres Website Link

Related Files:
WIA submission re 70 MHz Update RALI MS 42
Appendix 1
Appendix 2

Via Stuart VK2FSTU, from Engadget.com, original post here.  Written by Jon Fingas.

The internet just marked another major milestone.  The first website,  Tim Berners-Lee’s description of the World Wide Web project, went public 25 years ago on August 6th, 1991.  The launch was unceremonious — Berners-Lee announced the project on a Usenet group, and it wasn’t until after August 23rd that new users visited the site.  However, the launch effectively marked the start of the web as a widely available tool.

There wasn’t exactly a rush to embrace the technology, mind you.  The big leaps toward the mainstream came in 1993, when NCSA released the first widely popular web browser (Mosaic) and CERN helped adoption by making the web’s software both free and open source.  Berners-Lee’s original approach to the web treated it more as a platform for academic collaboration than a revolution.  Still, there’s no denying that the events of 1991 got the ball rolling on a fundamental shift in communication.

From the ABC, original post here.  By Simon Leo Brown, 774 ABC Melbourne.

A keen mountaineer who died trekking in Tibet has left a rare computer collection behind as his legacy.

Surrounded by bushland in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne is a wooden shed with barn doors.

It closely resembles a shed in California where, in 1939, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard launched the company that would become HP.

The much larger Australian shed is home to the HP Computer Museum, filled with ageing computers, printers and calculators, most of which are a dull light grey.

“Dove grey, very hard to get these days,” former HP technician David Collins said, adding that HP had released a few machines with red panelling “but it never caught on”.

Mr Collins has taken up the challenge of fixing some of the older malfunctioning equipment, but he was not the one who amassed the collection.

It belonged to Jon Johnston, an American-born former HP employee who moved to Australia in 1989 with his wife Sue.

Many of the items he collected from clients who were upgrading their equipment, at first in his role at HP and later while running his own company selling HP products.

‘Revolutionary’ computer to turn 50 years old

Mr Collins first met Mr Johnston last year.

“As I started to have a little bit of spare time, with my kids getting a little bit more independent, I reached out to Jon knowing that he was literally just around the corner from where I lived,” Mr Collins said.

“He had all this great equipment in his museum, and from the [museum’s] website I could see that some of it needed fixing.”

He said Mr Johnston gave him a few minor, expendable items to repair — “in case I messed them up” — before suggesting he attempt to repair the museum’s most prized possession, the HP2116a.

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