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VK7AX > BCAST 03.12.23 09:42l 489 Lines 24728 Bytes #139 (0) @ WW
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VK7 Amateur Radio News 03Dec23
Text edition:
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VK7 AMATEUR RADIO NEWS BROADCAST
FOR SUNDAY 3rd December 2023
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Welcome to the VK7 Amateur Radio News and this was first broadcast on Sunday the 3rd December 2023. At the mike of VK7WI this week is Justin, VK7TW.
On Sunday this broadcast goes out on repeaters all over VK7 and on digital radio - DMR Talk Group 5 and D-Star Reflector 91C by VK7ZCR.
We go out on medium and high frequency courtesy of the following rebroadcast stations:
On 1.862 MHz by Any Takers,
On 3.670 MHz by Ross, VK7ALH,
On 7.140 MHz by Garry, VK7JGD,
On 14.130 MHz by Dale, VK7DG,
On 28.525 MHz by Tony, VK7VKT.
We also go out on UHF CB Channel 24 thanks to Mark VK7FMAC in the Hobart area.
You can hear this broadcast again on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RAA in Northern VK7 and VK7RHT in Southern VK7.
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RAOTC News
Monthly Broadcast for November
Further to that mentioned on the WIA National News, this is another reminder about the RAOTC broadcast for Monday the 4th of December 2023 at 8 pm local time; thatâ€Ös tomorrow night for those listening on Sunday.
The first article describes the authorâ€Ös experience hiring a Tesla car in Canada. He claims it to be more like driving a laptop than a car. Having to negotiate menu driven controls via the touch-screen is just the beginning. The tale is amusing or maddening depending on your point of view.
The second article is part 1 of a series called ‘History of the Transistor and its early developmentâ€Ö. The first successful transistor was demonstrated in Bell Telephone Laboratories in December 1947; its development pioneered a new aspect of quantum mechanics called ‘Surface Physicsâ€Ö.
Starting with the bipolar junction transistor or BJT then the field effect transistor or FET then leading into the metal oxide semiconductor or MOS device which has become the most widely manufactured device in history.
The date again is December 4th. Call backs will follow on both networks. Please call in if you are able; this provides the RAOTC broadcast committee with an idea of how many are listening to these broadcasts.
If you miss the off-air broadcasts you can listen to the audio file on the RAOTC website:
https://www.raotc.org.au/
73, Peter VK7PD
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Contest news
Spring VHF/UHF Field day.
Thanks to all who operated in the Spring VHF and Above Field Day last weekend. Logs must be received by midnight EDST, Monday 30 January 2023.
Only electronic logs in VKCL or Cabrillo format are accepted now (no PDF or Excel, etc), unless some disability necessitates a paper log, which must be submitted as set out in the Rules.
https://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/vhfuhf/
Upload your log files to the Field Day web site via this Link available on the email edition of this broadcast.
https://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/upload/
73, Richard, VK7ZBX
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Statewide News
Thursday Night SSTV Nets
Another great net night that saw the following participants, VK7s – ZAB, FGGT, PD, ZGK, EV and KT and all sharing over twenty photos.
The various subjects were:
A sunset over water and an Aurora Australis
An HF Digi-mode transceiver the size of a Raspberry Pi3
The scenic Launceston City Park including a Russian cannon from the 1856 Crimean War and the home of the Japanese Macaque monkey colony
A mural on a Brooker Highway underpass, vintage advertising for Pianos & Radios on the side of a multi-storey building and the Hobart Rivulet
Fishing boats in the North and South of the island
Single and duel engine light aircraft
A classic fire engine and a SES 4x4 truck
And tonightâ€Ös supper is a couple of trays of scones
Remember Ken VK7KRJâ€Ös and Steve VK7OOâ€Ös fully automatic 24/7 monitoring sites that allows anyone who has sent an SSTV picture the ability to check them on their pages almost immediately, any time, both South and North Tasmania.
Also if you missed the net there are archives of all SSTV nights. These photos can be seen on Kenâ€Ös 2m SSTV website as an infinitely-scrolling web page or on NTARCâ€Ös website under blogs and arranged as weekly nets.
https://vk7oo.tasme.com/vhfsstv
https://sstv.vk7krj.com/scrolling%20web%20gallery.html
https://www.ntarc.net/blogs
73 from Andreâ€Ö VK7ZAB
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QSL NEWS
Report - from Herman VK7HW Manager of the WIA VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
The current list of cards held as at 24 November is in the email version of the broadcast.
If I am holding card(s) for you and you would like them mailed to you rather than being delivered on an opportunity basis please send me some stamps. Thanks to those who have sent stamps. While SAE's are OK, I prefer stamps as I can then provide an appropriate envelope to suit the number of cards.
Herman has a copy of the Log File for VK7WIA and will be getting cards ready to distribute in the next week or so and will likely send VK cards to the various States Inwards QSL Bureau. If you want your card direct please send me a stamp. As usual happy to send cards for VK7 amateurs to the regular distribution teams or distribute them on an opportunity basis. Thank you to those who have been in touch requesting a VK7WIA QSL Card
If you have any questions re QSL cards, please contact Herman by email vk7bureau(at)wia.org.au
Thank you to those Amateurs who have been in contact with Herman about their QSL card(s) listing.
73, Herman, VK7HW, WIA Manager VK7 Inwards QSL Bureau
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Cards held at 24 November 2023 ( Any errors in the listing are mine, I sometimes miss culling a call sign)
The following recent delivery have been added to the main list below :-
AP, BBB, BO, CMV, CW, DD, DG, DP, DW, EA, FG, GC, GH, GN, GS, HDM, HH, HOB, HSD, IAN, JB, KO, LW, MAG, MD, MHZ, MR, MRS, NET, NRT, OTC, PD, ROY, WIA, WN, WUU, WX, XTC, XX, ZBX, ZGK,
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A, AAA, AAD, AAE, AAH, AAP, AAR, AB, AC, ACE, ACG, ACN, AD, ADE, AED, AG(2014), AGC, AHT, AIR, AJC, AKK, ALZ, AM, AN, ANC, AO, AP, APZ, AR, AS, ATH, AXZ, AY, AZ
BA, BB, BBB, BO, BPV, BT, BYE
C/GH, CA, CBK, CBR, CC, CEJ, CJ, CL, CMV, CV, CW, CX
DC, DD, DG, DIK, DM, DN, DO, DP, DQ, DW, DY, DZ
EA, EE, EG, EI, EK, ER, EV
FADZ, FALX (alx), FAZZ, FCDW, FCIA, FF, FG, FGGT, FLAR, FLI, FPRN, FRJG(RG), FTAS
GA, GC, GEL, GGZ, GH/C, GM, GN, GOP, GR, GS, GW, GZ
HBR, HCH, HCK, HDM, HDX, HH, HOB, HL, HPD, HRS, HSA, HSD, HSJ, HVK, HZ
IAN, ID, IK, IS
JA, JAZ, JB, JCR, JGD, JJ, JOK, JP, JW
KA, KAC, KBA, KD, KDO, KI, KJ, KJL, KKR, KL, KO, KRJ, KT
LCW, LDH, LH, LL, LLL, LM, LT, LVH, LW
MA, MAG, MBD, MC, MD, MEL, MET, MHZ, MJ, MOO, MR, MRS, MS, MX
NA, NC, ND, NEC, NET, NFI, NIK, NRF, NRT, NSE, NSS, NTE, NVH, NW, NWQ, NWT
OB, OR, OT, OTC
PAF, PAL, PBD, PD, PM, PRN, PSH, PSJ, PSZ, PW
QK, QP
RG/FRJG, RJ, ROY
SN, STO, SV, SW, SZ
TCE, TED, TK, TO, TS, TUX, TW, TX, TZ
UJ
VA, VAC, VAO,VAZ, VDC, VEK, VH, VR, VTM
WA, WC, WH, WIA, WL, WN(0), WO, WT, WUU, WX
XDM, XTC, XV, XX
YN, YUM
ZA, ZBX, ZE, ZGK, ZJJ, ZK, ZM, ZMS, ZT, ZTA, ZX
VI70MI [2018], VI70HI(op DIANE[2018]), VI75G [2023], VK75FAA
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH WEST
NWTARC Christmas Function
The North West Tasmania Amateur Radio Club, will be holding their Christmas Luncheon on Saturday the 9th December from midday.
It will be held at the Lighthouse Hotel, Ulverstone, with a large table booked for the event, members can purchased meals from the menu.
And we will provide festive items, come along enjoy the fellowship, and wrap up a great club year.
73, Eric, VK7EV,
News Officer, NWTARC
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH
SOTA/WWFF PARKS GROUP
The Summits On The Air/World Wide Flora and Fauna parks group meets twice weekly – Mondays and Fridays 10.30AM till 12.00 at the Glebe Gardens Cafe, Henry Street, Launceston.
For more information contact Al on 0417 354 410.
73, Al, VK7AN
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Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club Incorporated
www.ntarc.net
First off, a quick catch up on the last couple of Club Technical nights that have been carried over.
Andrew, VK7DW turned up with a handful of, what we initially thought were QSL cards, however they were pictures! He had been lucky enough to decode SSTV images during test transmissions from the International Space Station earlier in November.
Back in September the Service Module experienced component failure with the SSTV system. It was initially tested in early October and I quote from the ARISS web site “there were some odd behaviour by the radio so the test has been suspendedâ€.
The November tests appear to verify that the replacement hardware was now functioning correctly.
As with orbital passes they donâ€Öt always work into your daily schedule nicely but Andrew armed with handheld, antenna and decode software on his smartphone managed some excellent images. ISS images are transmitted on 145.800 MHz and in the typical PD120 format. Thanks for the images and update Andrew.
Ross, VK7ALH had a “work in Progress†with him, in the form of a 1KW input Linear Amplifier that was working…. except it was only putting out about 250 Watt. Thatâ€Ös about half the output power one would expect from the four MOSFET output devices. The main heatsink is mounted internally on the side of the case with ventilation grills on the bottom and top. All protection fuses were intact and voltages were present. On further investigation Ross had found that a pair of output FETs located at one end had indeed failed. Probably the best explanation is that part of the top ventilation grill was accidentally covered and the pair of FETs located below had over heated and “cookedâ€. Needless to say the protection fuses were saved. Hihi
A couple of replacement devices and hopefully another job off his bench.
Peter, VK7KPC brought along some of his post auction spoils that he was successfully bid for at the recent NTARC auction. The card box contained many interesting goodies. A well-presented QRP 80M SSB transceiver kit called ‘Tiny Timâ€Ö from Walford Electronics, UK. A home-brew QRP CW Transmitter / Beacon for the 160m and 80m bands. Plus tucked away at the bottom of the box was a very neat Drew Diamond, VK3XU HF three band CW Transmitter. I have a funny feeling that some of these items will probably be tested during the upcoming Wednesday night TestNet and TechNet sessions.
Andreâ€Ö, VK7ZAB brought along an early Christmas present in the form of a 5W five band Digi-modes HF transceiver. This is from QRP-Labs, a model QDX and is the same size as a Raspberry Pi 3. This kit has all the SMD or surface mounts components factory assembled on the single PCB, only “through hole†components to worry about.
The transmitter doesnâ€Öt use SSB modulation, only single tone FSK and covers the popular WSJT-X, JS8call and some FL-digi modes like RTTY and Olivia. It can be built to operate off either 9V or 12V DC and the transmitter is an efficient balanced Class D push-pull Power amplifier. As there is no SSB modulation there is no carrier or side tones to suppress and therefore only requires a simple Low Pass Filter on the output. The receiver is an SDR or Software Defined Radio using the embedded 24bit sound card. There is only a single USB cable to the controlling PC, Laptop or Raspberry Pi and if these are setup with VNC then it could be controlled from a smart phone or remotely.
This unit will not do CW but there is another newer version, the QMX that includes CW.
This should keep Andreâ€Ö busy over the Christmas break. The link is in the text version of the broadcast.
http://shop.qrp-labs.com
As always equipment pictures are available on the NTARC Web site under “Blogs†for this broadcast.
NTARC Auction Hosting – Well as I said last week the “Shack Clear-out Auction†is all over bar the shouting. The weather held off fairly well but we decided not to risk things by putting up the refreshment gazeebo. There was just under two hundred Lots and over three hundred items making up the Lots.
Nic VK7WW was the auctioneer for the day and he maintained a breakneck speed churning through the programme, quite literally “the quick and the dead†with only a short refreshment interlude about mid-day.
There was very “robust†bidding on some of the sought after Lots and some unbelievable bargains to be had on other Lots.
Thank you to everybody that helped swell the number of lots to be auctioned and to the buyers that bid for the items. Thank you to all members that helped with the hall set up and the displaying of all the items ready for auctioning. A huge thank you to Nic for his enthusiastic auctioneering, you certainly made the event lively and engaging.
Now the dust has settled all that remains is to package up the remaining mainland successful bits and shipping them off to Victoria and South Australia to eagerly awaiting amateurs.
End of Year Club Celebration – is this Wednesday night the 6th of December. To be held at the Iron Horse Bar and Grill located at 468 Westbury Rd, Prospect Vale, Launceston. We will be in a quiet function room at the rear of the dining area. Tables have been booked under the name of NTARC and the Menu is a-la-carte. We will be arriving at 6pm for a 6:30 meal.
You can still book in, itâ€Ös not too late, just be quick and e-mail the secretary at secretary(at)ntarc.net. We will need to confirm final numbers with the Iron Horse by Tuesday night.
A link to the Iron Horse location and menu information is available in the text version of this broadcast.
https://www.ironhorsebar.com.au/
Just for information, the main access to the restaurant is via a wheel chair and climbing friendly gentle ramp.
Club membership renewal - Itâ€Ös that time of the year again - All club members should receive an e-mail with instructions on renewing their membership for 2024 soon. For those that we donâ€Öt have an e-mail address for, you should receive a letter and renewal form send via snail mail.
Now back to the house keeping.
UPCOMING EVENTS
End of Year Club Celebration – is this Wednesday night, the 6th of December at Iron Horse Bar and Grill.
The TestNet and TechNet session – Every Wednesday, TestNet/CW course on 3.580MHz from 7pm till 7.30pm…. and a TechNet on 3.567MHz from 7.30pm till about 8.30pm. Your host for the evening will be Nic VK7WW.
Club General Meeting – Wednesday 13th December. Held at the NTARC Club Room, Rocherlea Scout Hall, Archer Street, Rocherlea. Meeting commences at 7:30pm.
Coffee Morning - held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Time is from 10am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all there. So why not pop in and join us for a cuppa, there is endless tea and coffee along with biscuits available for a donation.
The Club Technical night – Is now in recess and will be resuming in January at a date to be announced.
FINALLY - A reminder to all members that if you have any items of news you would like added to our weekly roundup, no matter how trivial, then please email them to the Secretary at the following address news(at)ntarc.net all items to be received no later than 5pm on the Friday prior to the Broadcast.
Thatâ€Ös all folks,
73 from Stefan, VK7ZSB, Secretary NTARC Inc.
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NEWS FROM THE SOUTH
WICEN Tasmania (Sth)
WICEN ensures Scouts are kept safe at their 2023 Clark Trophy Competition.
WICEN members, Gary, VK7JGD & Anthony, VK7AG attended the 2023 event, providing safety communications along with scoring traffic at Oatlands on the 18th & 19th of November.
With over 50 participants for the 24 hr event, both operators were kept extremely busy operating three, YES that's correct, 3 radio channels which also made for a huge amount of paperwork that had to be completed on the go too.
Their operating location was on a hilltop in the middle of the farm property used for the hike camp competition.
The Scouts were on one CB channel to provide HQ with their overnight camp locations as well as any safety or medical requests.
Another channel was used by the leaders at various locations to forward scoring information from the activities they were judging.
A 2 metre channel was used by the WICEN crew to then relay this info down to the HQ location at the property homestead.
The hilltop relay station was needed as much of the activity area was screened from HQ by the same hill.
They also needed to keep a listening watch on the radios overnight in case of emergency.
Not sure how windy it was up there but all seemed to go well.
Thanks gents for a job well done!
Peter Dodd VK7KPC
Project Commissioner Radio and Electronics
Scouts Tasmania
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Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania
https://www.reast.asn.au/
https://www.facebook.com/reasttas/
https://www.youtube.com/reasthobart/
December End of Year Activities
Today REAST is celebrating the end of a very successful 2023 with a free BBQ, car boot sale and fox hunts on the Queens Domain.
It gets underway from around 11am at the Queens Domain clubrooms.
Bring along your preloved items for redistribution at the car boot sale.
The fee for carboot sellers is the enormous amount of $5 into the donations box or tap at the square.
The foxes will be released after lunch around the top of the Queens Domain and we will have some prizes for those lucky enough to find those pesky little foxes.
See you there.
73 REAST Committee
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DATV Experimenter's Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeW6zUt0WOo
We started the evening with the recent received Gibson Girl Lifeboat Radio introduction. This radio was successfully bid for at the recent NTARC Mega Auction. It is named after Charles Gibson drawings in the 1890s of hourglass figured women.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_Girl
https://www.wftw.nl/gibsongirl.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_radio
We went through a brief history of the development of lifeboat radios - appearing between WWI & WWII - starting with the Germany NS1 then became the NS2. In the 1940s - the British came up with the design of the T1333 from the NS series. These sets came with Box Kites to fly the 500kHz antenna.
The US based their lifeboat radios SCR-578 on the T1333 and came up with the US version.
Justin VK7TW went through the circuit diagram of the SCR-578 and pointed out these units were not crystal locked and had output of 3-4 watts at 500kHz.
We went through the features of the SCR-578 on screen and the top instructions and crank handle operation and installation. There are two lamps that indicate the correct speed of the cranking and the optimum tuning.
Justin then went through the insides of the SCR-578 - the crank arrangement is a marvel of mechanical engineering to generate the low and high tension along with the CW keying.
We had a demonstration of the operation of the unit and we zoomed in and showed the clubrooms maritime watch clock showing the transmitting (Green) and the receiving (Red) time periods.
We went though the kit that the SCR-578 was part of including a box kite, balloons, hydrogen generator and SCR-578 which weighed 34 pounds.
We then took a look at the now built TNC-Pi - running the YAAC application for packet radio listening using a 2m handheld and we showed how it picked up the APRS signal from the VK7TW-9 van.
https://tnc-x.com/TNCPi.htm
This week's show we will be showing the built TNC-Pi, some more on experiments with AI and Arduino code generation plus more. See you there or on the stream.
We stream the nights on the REAST YouTube channel.
https://www.reast.asn.au/news-events/live-stream/
https://www.reast.asn.au/special-interest-groups/amateur-tv/
https://www.youtube.com/c/ReastHobart/
We also go out on RF - DVB-T 7MHz Standard Definition on 445.5MHz. So, if you have a TV, Set-top box or USB DTV Dongle that you can tune and scan 445.5MHz and you can see the Queens Domain, then you have a good chance of receiving the DATV Experimenter's Night Signal. Look out for VK7OTC.
73, Justin, VK7TW
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Training and Assessments
Our next REAST training and assessment day will be on the 24th February 2024.
If you are thinking of booking for training or assessment next year please let Reg Emmett VK7KK REAST Learning Organiser know ASAP by phoning 0417 391 607 or via the REAST Website Contact Form.
https://www.reast.asn.au/contact/online-contact-form/
Check out the REAST Foundation Licence Training Videos that can be found on the REAST YouTube Training and Assessment playlist.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsnsP_zjw831mdC6sY4XqavRUY-53ZWUn
73, Reg, VK7KK
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Regular VK7 gatherings and events over the coming months:
Regular gatherings:
Sewing Circle Net – Daily on 3.640MHz commences at 5:00pm AEST.
Statewide SSTV Net - held every Thursday night via the North/South Link on VK7RAF/VK7RJG from 7:30pm. In the North and North West - VK7RJG on 438.55 -7MHz and in the South - VK7RAF (146.650 -600kHz) CTCSS tone 141.3Hz to link RAF North-South.
State-wide – MICROWAVE QSO Party – following the Sunday broadcast call-back on 1296.15 MHz FM. One group in the greater Hobart area and another in the greater Launceston area.
Then North-south digital contacts on 1296.2MHz using Q65-60B.
Stations in the Launceston area transmitting on the odd minute. Southern stations on the even minute.
SOTA/WWFF Group – Meeting Mondays and Fridays 10.30-12.00 midday at Glebe Gardens Cafe, Henry St, Launceston.
NTARC - TestNet and TechNet session – Every Wednesday. TestNet/CW course on 3.580MHz from 7pm till 7.30pm…. and a TechNet on 3.567MHz from 7.30pm till about 8.30pm. Your host for the evening will be Nic VK7WW.
NTARC Coffee Morning - held every Friday in the NTARC Club rooms. Time is from 10am to noon and we look forward to seeing you all there. So why not pop in and join us for a cuppa, there is endless tea and coffee along with biscuits available for a donation.
NTARC - Club Technical nights - In recess until January 2024.
NW VK7 – Wednesday from 8:00pm local – NW Tassie Amateur Repeater Group Net on VK7RMD
NW VK7 - Thursday commencing at 8:30pm local - N.W. Tassie 2m DX Net 144.190 USB
NW SSTV Nights - Monday 22nd of January 2024 - hosted by Eric VK7EV from 7:30pm using VK7RMD 70cm repeater on Mt Duncan on the 4th Monday in the Month.
Events:
REAST - December 3 - EOY BBQ, Car Boot Sale and Fox Hunt - Queens Domain Clubooms from 11am after broadcast.
NTARC - December 6 - End Of Year Celebration at the Iron Horse Bar and Grill - 468 Westbury Rd, Prospect Vale, Launceston - 6pm for a 6:30 meal.
NWTARC - December 9 - Club Christmas Luncheon from midday at the Lighthouse Hotel, Ulverstone.
NTARC - December 13 - Club General meeting will be held in the Rocherlea club rooms from 7:30pm.
--------------------------------
A reminder to those people rostered for next weekâ€Ös broadcast:
Newsreader: VK7TW
Repeaters: REAST, NTARC and in the NW thanks to N W T A R C, West Coast Radio Group, Cradle Coast Radio Amateur Radio Club, VK7AX, VK7JH and VK7DC
160m: VK7GS
80m: VK7JGD
40m: VK7DG
20m: VK7TPE
10m: VK7VKT
UHFCB24: VK7FMAC
DMR: Talk Group 5 and D-Star: Reflector 91C VK7ZCR
--------------------------------
You can hear this broadcast again on Tuesday night at 8:00pm on repeaters VK7RAA in Northern VK7 and VK7RHT in the South.
A huge thank you to all people and organisations that assisted with this broadcast.
--------------------------------
That concludes our VK7 Amateur Radio News Broadcast for this week.
You have been listening to or have just missed VK7WI. Next week the National WIA news can be heard at 0900 followed by the VK7 Amateur Radio News around 0930 hours.
Items for the broadcast can be emailed to vk7arnews(at)gmail.com
Further information about the broadcast can be found at the VK7 Amateur Radio News Groups.IO Group.
https://groups.io/g/vk7arnews
The deadline for items is 21:00 on Friday prior to the Sunday of the broadcast.
Callbacks will be taken on the frequency to which you are listening. Relay stations will use their own callsigns during the callback.
On behalf of the VK7 Amateur Radio News Team, 73, stay safe from Justin, VK7TW.
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(Posted to the packet network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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