WIA licence assessment system complies

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 17 / 12 / 2016
Author : Fred Swainston – VK3DAC

The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) continues with its successful Amateur Radio accredited assessors program of licence assessments and callsign recommendations under a Deed with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).  However, a lot of mis-information is circulating about the WIA Assessors and Learning Facilitators, and even the validity of the Australian amateur licence exams.

Recently, the ACMA Deed that underpins the WIA Exam Service has been wrongly interpreted by some, although it had been explained earlier by the WIA.  The Deed with the Commonwealth sets out the conditions of how the WIA manages examinations, the issue of certificates of proficiency and callsign recommendations.

Periodic reports on it include key performance indicators, which measure the performance of the WIA along with its meeting of the Commonwealth’s cost recovery guidelines and the maintenance of standards.  The Deed requirements have been met, the WIA assessments are valid, and will continue while the current structure is in place.

Now, let us look at the history of how it began.

The WIA, led by then-President Michael Owen VK3KI (SK), signed a Deed of arrangement with the ACMA in 2009 to formalise the contractual arrangement, which included that the WIA would later also give callsign recommendations.  After running successfully for some time, it became evident that maintaining a Registered Training Organisation for the WIA was not realistic, due to the high cost.  The WIA brought the issue to discussion meetings with ACMA and the exam instructions were changed to allow for flexibility in the WIA’s Amateur Exam Service.  This means that the WIA training is compliant as long as the Assessors and Learning Facilitators continue to meet the ACMA and WIA agreed standards.

The WIA is not in breach of the Deed, as has been claimed.

Fred Swainston VK3DAC 
Trainsafe Australia 
WIA Nominated Training Organisation

Morse code club lifts its profile

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 16 / 12 / 2016 
Author : Jim Linton – VK3PC

The callsign VK2FDU for FISTS Down Under has been on the air for six months with it operated portable by members who had a lot of fun.  So far it has been activated in VK2, VK3, VK4 and VK5 on a roster basis of usually a week with nine taking up the offer.  The same VK2FDU callsign program will be used in 2017 and roster slots are available.  Maybe the club’s other callsign ZL6FF in New Zealand will join the move.

The FISTS Down Under club runs two evening nets, the CW Net on Tuesday by Arthur VK2ASB and the QRS Net (Slow Morse) on Wednesday from Garry VK2GAZ.  The FISTS CodeMate initiative is available to help anyone learn or improve their CW skills.  See the URLs below:.

New FISTS website: Link  (http://www.fdu.org.au)
VK member volunteers for VK2FDU: Link
VK2FDU log: Link
Club net details: Link
FISTS CodeMate: Link

Australia ends major shortwave broadcasts

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 08 / 12 / 2016 
Author : Jim Linton – VK3PC

Radio Australia will turn off its shortwave service to the Pacific and Papua New Guinea on January 31, in favour of more localised FM radio outlets and internet streaming.  The independent international media organisation is part of the government-funded public Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The ABC International shortwave services will be replaced by a more robust FM transmitter network and an expanded content.  While shortwave has served audiences well for many decades, it was now nearly a century old serving a very limited audience.

At the same time, the ABC will end its shortwave service to the Northern Territory for basically the same reason.  ABC’s domestic shortwave service has stations at Roe Creek (Alice Springs), Katherine and Tennant Creek, with all three able to be received in parts of the Kimberley Region.  The ABC said the move is to dispense with outdated technology and expand digital offerings.  The majority of the Northern Territory audience currently access ABC services via AM and FM and all ABC radio and digital radio services on the Australian Government funded a free-to-air Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) service.

The ABC, working alongside SBS, is planning to extend its digital radio services in Darwin and Hobart, and to make permanent its current digital radio trial in Canberra.  Extending DAB+ to eight capital cities will ensure ABC digital radio reaches an additional 700,000 people, increasing the overall reach of the public broadcaster to 60% of the Australian population.

Creating a 2m Fm Repeater with a Raspberry Pi and a RTL dongle

Stuart VK2FSTU has found an neat step-by-step article detailing how to create a 2m repeater with a raspberry Pi – Anton ZR6AIC writes:

I will be using a rtl dongle to receive my input signal on 70cm frequency configurable on the amateur 2m or 70cm band.  The receiver signal will then be demodulated and retransmitted with a DSP Library simulating a FM Signal using a GPIO pin on the Raspberry as an transmitter.

As mentioned above, the project interestingly uses a GPIO pin on the Pi as a transmitter with attached antenna (which is certainly novel, but not exactly high power!).  Note the article is quite technical (as you’d expect).

Check out the article here and have a look at the video demonstrating it in use below:

 

Quest for 1kW in Australia

1kw

From the WIA, original post here.

Date : 27 / 11 / 2016 
Author : Jim Linton – VK3PC

The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) is keeping alive its advocacy that Advanced Licensees be allowed to use up to 1kW power.  The WIA Spectrum Strategy Committee has put to the ACMA the issue of high power beyond the present limit of 400 watts peak, in its “log of claims” after the now-infamous high power trial in 2013.

Many radio amateurs ask why is it that we just can’t have it, like in so many other countries – New Zealand, America, Canada, Japan and so on?  Spectrum Strategy Committee spokesman Roger Harrison VK2ZRH says the central issue comes down to that of compliance with electromagnetic radiation standards in Australia.  The ACMA uses the term “electromagnetic emissions” – abbreviated EME – but the acronym EMR (for electromagnetic radiation) is also widely used for the same thing.  Australia is unique in the world when it comes to radiocommunications regulation, embodied in licence conditions, and compliance with electromagnetic radiation standards.  Here, the two things are linked – but nowhere else in the world.

In Australia, our radiocommunications regulator – the ACMA – has the responsibility to ensure compliance, and every licensee (not just radio amateurs) is required to comply.  The ACMA has a responsibility to the public, to ensure that electromagnetic emissions from all radio transmitting systems do not present a harmful situation.  In fulfilling that responsibility, the ACMA needs to know where possibly harmful transmitter systems are located and that such locations are recorded on a licence.  With that understanding, the Spectrum Strategy Committee is working with the ACMA to develop suitable procedures under which radio amateurs interested in running high power can make an application that meets the ACMA’s technical and regulatory requirements.