Well it’s that time of year again! The CCARC Wyong Field Day will be held this Sunday, 28th Feb.
Here’s the layout of the trader’s area for 2016:
Please be sure to visit our good friends VK4ICE and Radio Supply:
Note this year’s absence of Andrew’s Communications.
The field day is held at Wyong Racecourse. Travel information is here.
See you there with your ORARC Shirt and Badge on!
From the WIA, original post here.
Date : 19 / 02 / 2016
Author : Fred Swainston – VK3DAC
The ACMA will cancel your callsign if it doesn’t receive a response to your renewal invoice within a limited time after the expiry date. The ACMA will lapse the licence, and your callsign will then be available for re-issue. A few people try to get their licence back after it has expired, but are told by ACMA to apply for a callsign through the WIA Office to re-start the process. This means that the WIA needs to make a callsign recommendation and submit this to ACMA with a licence application, to enable a new licence to be issued. However this is not always under the previous callsign, because as we have explained, it may have already been issued to someone else.
The answer is to always know your ACMA Amateur Licence renewal date, whether or not you receive formal renewal, and make sure you renew it to keep the callsign. ACMA’s Amateur licencing process relies on you keeping your contact details current with their office.
The Australian Radio & Electronics School (RES) has made available a free 2-3 day amateur radio Foundation licence course App for Apple and Android devices
The applications were made possible by sponsorship from the WIA in cooperation with RES. Both applications once downloaded and installed require no internet connection. In the iOS version the videos are download once only as needed and no further downloading required. Both courses are supported by RES.
Both courses are the same and comprise of easy to follow instructional videos.
Please help promote amateur radio. These courses are a good marketing tool should you meet someone interested in Amateur Radio.
This short course is suitable for about 11 years and up.
Apple iOS devices – iPad / iPhone click here. Android link here.
From ARVic, original post here.
A terahertz (THz) transmitter with a per-channel data rate of ten gigabits per second over multiple channels has been revealed. The Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan’s Hiroshima University and Panasonic Corporation announced the development of the transmitter as a silicon CMOS integrated circuit.
It could mean data rates ten times higher than current technology. Details were given at the International Solid-State Circuit Conference held on January 31 to February 4 in San Francisco, California.
The frequency 275 GHz to 305 GHz is higher than those used in the millimetre-wave spectrum but have a much wider bandwidth. THz waves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum between infrared and microwave. Some research projects are looking at that spectrum, also called the submillimeter band.
This frequency range is unallocated, and to be discussed at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2019.
Read the detailed press release here. Image from this article re the upcoming $570M market for Terahertz products.
Via the WIA, original post here.
Date : 17 / 02 / 2016
Author : Jim Linton – VK3PC
The International Amateur Radio Union President Tim Ellam VE6SH/G4HUA has presented David Sumner K1ZZ with the IARU’s prestigious Michael J. Owen, VK3KI, Memorial Award. Tim Ellam cited David Sumner’s “skill, diplomacy, and encyclopedic knowledge” of Amateur Radio, and his role on the international scene, as most deserving of the award.
Michael J. Owen VK3KI (sk), a towering figure in the IARU and the WIA, died in 2012. David Sumner started with his service at the watershed World Administrative Radio Conference in 1979, which yielded the so-called “WARC bands,” 30, 17, and 12 metres. Dave Sumner has travelled to more than 60 countries in connection with his ARRL and IARU responsibilities, which include 17 years as IARU Secretary.
The IARU Administrative Council had kept quite its award decision until it could be presented to the ARRL CEO in person. That opportunity arose when Dave Summer K1ZZ was the keynote speaker at the Orlando HamCation banquet on February 13. In accepting the award, Dave Sumner called Michael Owen “a dear, dear friend” and “a very special person.”
A sometimes-emotional David, who steps down on April 18 as the head of the American Radio Relay League ARRL, told the audience about the role that Amateur Radio has played in his life. In his speech he described himself as being passionate about Amateur Radio. David said: “Our challenge is to explain our passion, how to convey it to younger generations, that have grown up at a time when instant global communication is taken for granted. Can we do it? Can we explain the allure of acquiring the knowledge and skill to communicate anywhere on – or in orbit around – the planet without relying on any infrastructure whatsoever? I believe we can.”
David Sumner cherished the privilege of being able to turn a passion into a career, spending 34 years guiding the ARRL headquarters staff. Among his remarks were that he never wanted any other job, and enjoyed playing a part in defending Amateur Radio spectrum. In a lengthy speech, he praised various radio amateurs who were significant influences on his life and his career. These included Nobel laureate Joe Taylor K1JT, who developed the WSJT software suite that spawned the popularity of JT65, JT9, and other “weak-signal” modes.
At World Radiocommunication Conference 2012, Joe Taylor received the International Telecommunication Union gold medal – introduced as a radio astronomer who got there through Amateur Radio. Dave Summer held him in respect and awe, adding “It was probably the proudest moment I’ve had in Amateur Radio.”