From Newsgroup: alt.ham-radio.slowscan

WIA news on tsunami disaster

WIANews 2005 January Two Wireless Institute of Australia



Official Amateur Radio News from WIA Australia.
Audio in MP3 Audio here on the WWW. This page researched and written
by AMATEUR RADIO OPERATOR vk4bb



wiabroadcasters information, callbacks etc.
WIANews - WORLDWIDE AMATEUR RADIO NEWS - originating from VK1WIA


Listen to WIANews WORLDWIDE in MP3 Audio.

NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL
OPERATIONAL (dx swl contests ww interest groups)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



December 2004 and for the month the world was trying for and working
A DX-Pedition in the Bay of Bengal, north east of Sri Lanka.
Yes for the first time in some 17 years VU4 was "on the air".

Thousands of miles away, just off Indonesia the plates glowed!

No not your average Ham Radios Finals, but the earths plates moved,
an earth quake produced a tidal wave or Tsunamis which raced across
the world, from Exmouth on the VK6 coast to 6O Somalia.!

The VU4 Andaman Islands were one of the close land areas to the
epicentre of the earthquake which apparently set off multiple
aftershocks and several tidal waves (tsunami) which killed over
80 thousand people in the area. Hard hit VU, VU4, 9M, 4S, 8Q, YB, HS.

VU4 is a barren Island and herself is the home of the only active
volcano in India.

(audio courtesy vu2pop)

Multiple sources reported a VU4 DXpedition YL, Bharathi, on the air
several hours after the quake and tsunami. VK6APK, Alex, heard her
around 1000Z and she was reporting "there is no electricity or
telephone
communication. All of the team SAFE, but the islands are accounting
for about a third of India's death toll.."

Bharathi is being touted in the VU mainstream press as
Andaman's 'Angel of the Seas'. In fact a grateful Indian army is
supporting
46-year-old Bharti Prasad with gear and batteries as the Delhi-based
housewife has networked ham operators across the nations to reunite
families and help in relief and rescue operations.

"When the tidal waves struck, we just turned the beacon towards India
and
since then, we have been flooded with messages," she said.

"Bharti, we are now on air. You take care. You are the Angel of the
Seas.
Without you out there, rescue will halt," a voice from Indonesia
crackled
in her hotel room, badly-damaged by Sunday weeks devastation.
(pactor posting supplied)

VK1WIA News spoke with Sandeep VU2MUE in India, (audio interview)

Dear OM GRAHAM KEMP, VK4BB
Sorry for the delay. My office Internet was down. Forwarding
this e-mail from VU2UKR (Sunil) from my home now.
Hams from India are handling emergency traffics continuously...
Best 73 -Sandeep, VU2MUE

Contact with VU4RBI [ Port Blair ] established from New Delhi [
VU2UKR ]
General Information passed are:-
1: People being evacuated from Nicobar Region to Port Blair.
2. Port Blair Area Safe
3. Ships/ Boats not Allowed to venture - So only means is by AIR.
4. Power supply resumed in Port Blair Area, Many Phone Lines Working,
Drinking WATER is scarce.
5. Nicobar is badly affected, Communications is a total failure in
Nicobar
Area.
6. Coastal Areas of Nicobar totally washed off. At Head Quarters all
are
safe.

HAM Radio Station set up at Nicobar [ VU2MYH / VU2DVO ] .
They are able to have DIRECT contact with VU4RBI in Port Blair [ D C
Office /
Administration ] on 40 Meter band [ 7.090 / 7.095 MHz ] On 20 meter
the
Frequency is 14.191 MHz.

Messages of Welfare being exchanged with VU4 and VU2 main land via
HAM radio.
There are a Lot of HAM radio Station from the Main Land in support
for the on
going emergency communications.
PSK31 was used during times of QRM.
Various HAM stations on Stand by heard at Delhi on 14 MHz, To name a
few :-
VU2HFR ( om Horey ) , VU3DJQ ( om Ram), VU3CYL (YL Sindhu ),
VU2MUE ( om Sandeep ), VU2MY (om Suri ), VU2AF ( om Adolf ),
VU2WMY (om Mani ) , VU2PEB ( om Pradeep) , VU2WAP ( om Miku ) VU2GHX.
HAMS in South India, are being asked to keep watch on the emergency
Frequency 14.191 MHz and 7.090 MHz and stand by !

Arasu VU2UR sends more..
Dear Graham,
Thanks for the mail and your concern about our welfare.
I am OK. But, seeing the visuals and hearing the descriptions on the
radio, it is unbearable tragedy indeed to all of us.

VU4NRO is operating from the Collectors Office in Port Blair.
VU4RBI is QRV from Sinclair Hotel 5th Floor.
VU4MYH is QRV from Car Nicobar Is. They can be heard on
14190.8,14200,7095 kHz.
More than anything, personnel are needed to dispose of the bodies
in a mass grave or mass cremation, as the delay in this causes,
epidemics to raise their ugly head. Potable drinking water,
medicines and shelter are the other priorities.

And in the midst of this post apocalyptic tragedy Arusu VU2UR
Still managed to sign with a " Best wishes to all, 73, HNY 2005,
de Arasu VU2UR".

(audio net courtesy vu2pop)

From the dxld group, from Samut Sakhon, Thailand, about 50 miles
south
south west of Bangkok is HS0ZCW who is in direct contact with VU4RBI
and
VU4NRO as well as stations in India and 4S who have called in from
time
to time. VU4 is readable by him on both 40 SSB and 20 m almost all
any
day or night.

1. Bharathi is continuing to operate in emergency communication mode
now and
has done so virtually every minute since the earthquake shook us all
out of
out rooms. She and Saraha set up one of the DXpedition radios about
30
minutes after the quake on a table outside the hotel... in the
garden...with
a mobile whip and the hotel's generator for power. When the
generator had
to be shut down for an hour from time to time, she used an automobile
battery and lower power.

2. Local authorities ask for the team's help to do communications of
all
kinds. The first messages were H&W from the folks standing around
the table
to the India mainland. Many concerned people got news from loved
ones,
often within minutes because the India mainland phones were working
ok
(except parts of the coast, of course). Once word spread, many
others
showed up to request a message and were served.

3. Recently, Ram (VU2MYH) and another of the team were despatched to
one of
the Nicobar Islands that was hard hit. They are there now and I am
listening to them pass messages now as I type this. They are using
VU4NRO
and batteries and one of the DXpedition radios.

4. Bharathi's Port Blair location has electric power, local phones,
and some
international phone service now. Despite continuing small tremors,
she has
recently relocated her station back into the Hotel and is using the
larger
antennas again.

5. A small tremor was reported just now from Port Blair. No damage.

6. Normal DXpedition operations have been, of course, suspended.
Please do
not call VU4 stations unless they call you. The future of normal DX
ops is
in doubt for the time being, as u can understand. We must think
months, at
least, before we can relax into the fun of DXing there again.

7. Delivery of H&W messages is vy difficult. Please do not ask for
same
unless the party is likely to have a real problem, such as disabled
or on
medication, I would advise.

8. Based on what I have heard, Sri Lanka 4S may be in the most
trouble these
days... horrible reports are coming out of the immediate events and
now the
recovery is bedevilled with lack of everything.

EVERYONE, BE VERY CAREFUL TO REPORT ONLY WHAT YOU DIRECTLY KNOW
ABOUT. DO
NOT REPORT ANY DEATHS AT ALL NOR ANY INJURIES BY NAME TO THE NEWS NOR
TO THE
GENERAL PUBLIC. THAT IS THE AUTHORITIES JOB. Make your reports to
legit
authorities instead, or quote another public news source. Think
about
donations to established organizations like the Red Cross, Salv.
Army, etc.
as a way to help. Thanks to all for your notes of concern for the
team and
myself.

73, Charles Harpole k4vud@hotmail.com


Your tuned to VK1WIA the Wireless Institute of Australia.


Many of our Nautical friends will know of the great work done by Mike
Pilgrim K5MP
and his Boat Watch Net which relies heavily on the WINLINK program.

(audio interview k5mp)

In a future issue we will look at this group in detail, but for now
suffice
to say from contacts at the WINLINK network we can report as of this
hour
to over 40 mariners in the affected area of the Tsunami have reported
in
that they are safe:

Due to space and time constraints, the information listed here is
without
any reported details.

AA1SA, AB8HP, AC7QK, DH1MZ, DH2SU, DL1YJI, DL6YDX, HB9BSB, HB9DTQ
KB3IUG, KC0LGO, KC5MNL, KD7PND, KD7SVT, KD7SVU, KF4PHC, KG6CWR,
KG6HFI, KG8NG, KH7NL, KM9D, KO4YI, LA8JIA ,M0BKR, N1MQZ, N3VEY,
N6BYZ,
N9GFT, NH6AX, PA2ALK, SM5GNI, TJ2MO, VE0ME, VE0MXA, ZL1JCB.

One graphic description follows, supplied by Mike.

"We're ok but 6 people died in Nai Harn Beach where we were. 2 locals
died
in the beach restaurant we frequent and had dinner on xmas eve. All
the
small restaurants gone.
Was scary. I had almost gone for a swim 5 minutes before it hit.
I would have been a goner. We were only 100 yards from a rock wall
and anchored near many other boats. Was mostly concerned we would
drag
anchor and hit the wall where the waves were crashing in 25-30 ft.
high.
Even though we had lots of friends here it was every man for himself.
We
are still tracking down all our yachty friends. We know some suffered
boat damage but don't think any of our yacht friends died. We had
been
in some of the more worst hit places in the last 10 days.
Scary to think where we might have been!"
(www.boatwatchnet.com)


So, what can we as VK amateurs do to help?

More importantly WHAT CAN WIA NATIONAL DO?

Primarily man a "listening watch" and await any official request, it
is 3rd
party traffic rules which we must still contend with. John Weir is
our
WIA National coordinator for WICEN, John has appointed Ken Fuller as
OC
this operation, this "listening watch". Although these 2 gentlemen
come
from VK3 and 4 IT is a National WIA Operation..


(Audio interviews with John and Ken)


In our audio section of the news you will hear from G3ZHI who
explains
how EchoLink is helping combat the dreadful propagation and is
bringing
the news in real time to your PC.

Ian deals in the main with the HS end of operations, now with more of
the
Thai scene, here is VK3FFF

"Graham, An Amateur Radio Victoria Councillor Jim Baxter VK3DBQ
spotted
this internal RAST appeal for help, and suggested it be passed on to
WIA National, Rgds Jim VK3PC".


Tony Waltham, HS0ZDX is Vice President, RAST, Radio Amateur Society
of
Thailand and also Editor, Post Database The Bangkok Post's weekly
technology section.

HS0ZDX says RAST is now accepting donations and will pass on all
financial
support received to the Thai Government and give full credit to the
international amateur radio community and to the individual donors
and
donor organisations.

HS0ZDX spoke with President Mrs Mayuree Chotikul, HS1YL, and to
other officers of RAST as to what their society might be able to do
to
help in the wake of this disaster and, in particular, as to how to
respond to
offers of help and support already received from ham friends around
the
world.

They agree that what is now needed the most is help for the many
thousands
made homeless by the tsunami and so RAST is now accepting donations
and
will pass on all financial support received to the Thai Government
which
has opened a channel for this.

Full credit to the international amateur radio community and to the
individual donors and donor organisations of course.

The best way to transfer funds to RAST for this purpose is by wire
transfer, the details of which follow: Siam City Bank
Ratchawat Branch No 111
Account Type: Savings
Account Number: 111-2-22688-4
Account Name: RAST
(Full name: Radio Amateur Society of Thailand, under the Royal
Patronage of His Majesty the King)

We also ask that all donors send details of their support to
dx@thai.com by email or by Fax to +662-321-6443 for our records so
that

Thank you
Sincere 73,
Tony Waltham, HS0ZDX
Vice President,
Radio Amateur Society of Thailand
Under the Royal Patronage of His Majesty the King

From HS to 4S, here's Felix VK4FUQ

Victor 4S7VK is the President of the National Organization of Radio
Hams
in Sri Lanka. He has advised us via VK2DAY that they had set up
emmergency communications via HF and VHF with 2 teams going non stop.

4S7VK says...
"The situation is terrible. I feel more than 50,000 may have
perished.
our Radio Amateur teams are in very bad disaster areas and gave the
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister's Office communications with the
coordinating
Government Officer, which had NO communication until we went in to
establish HF links.. Our control centre was inside the Prime
Minister's
Official house in his operational room, this shows the world how they
valued
Amateur Radio services.

Even Satellite phones failed and only HF link was possible.
Just plain uncomplicated Short Wave saved lives".

Now some QRG's and URL's as we put this story to bed for the week..

Some frequencies to listen to for Disaster Relief communications
following the tsunamis, but more importantly to steer clear of
as far as transmissions from VK are concerned. Most of these were
published by vk4bb in his NEWS EXTRA last weekend, but again..


Dr Sarath 4S7SW operating near Mathara Hospital in Southern Sri Lanka
on
14195 and 21295kHz

VU4 Indian Emergency Net on Andaman and Nicobar Islands
14193 and 14160KHz

Earthquake Thailand news 24x7 EchoLink node 46601
HS1WFK-l node 46601 is giving news updates 24x7 on the situation

http://www.qsl.net/g3zhi - many ham radio links

Indonesia - 7055kHz

Thailand - 7075kHz

VU4MYH is QRV from Car Nicobar Is. on
14190.8
14200
7095 kHz.

The Indian group is working on 7050 and 4S7 group on 7060.

Much is being written of Ham Radio's worth in local and international
press,
Graham VK6RO suggests you visit an excellent report on hams in
disaster,
he says "this is real good press"

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/12/30/stories/2004123000350100.htm

We do offer a word of caution, particularly to club bulletin writers
unless your prepared to write or phone for written approval to use
mainstream media stories, abide by the copyright rules, or just post
urls such as above!


So, a HUGE thank you this week to the DOZENS who helped by supplying
info, contacts, etc. Always a danger doing this, in case I leave a
call out
a big thank you to EVERYONE.

g3zhi hs0zdx k5mp vk2day vk3dbq vk3fff vk3ki vk3pc vk4fuq
vk4kf vk4zz vk6ro vs7vk vu2jhm vu2mue vu2pop vu2ukr vu2ur
WIA National News, ARRL, ARNewsLine and WICEN's John Weir.




WIA NATIONAL NEWS FROM VK1WIA
AROUND VK IN 80 SECONDS
VK3
The Melbourne 2-metre band propagation beacon VK3RTG
on 144.430MHz has gone QRT.
An inspection has found the fault, its 12 MHz crystal failed after
giving 40 years of reliable operation. Custodian of the Amateur Radio
Victoria beacon, Ron Cook VK3AFW reports that oscillation
resuscitation
attempts were unsuccessful and a replacement has been ordered.


VK7
Next year's officialdom kicks-off with the REAST's first Annual
General Meeting on the 2nd February 2005 at the Domain clubrooms at
8pm.

The Northern Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club will be holding their first

AGM on Feb 9, 2005.



EDUCATION YOUTH AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMATEUR RADIO
PRESENTED BY VK4CO RONNEE MEACHEN.

NICK VK2HUB, SARC51, GETS HIS APPRENTICESHIP.
Nick Baker knew early what he wanted to do with his life.

Subjects at school and work experience were all taken with an end in
mind.

Nick finished Year 10 with better than average passes in the English,
maths, science, geography and history. However he has always been a
practical person, enjoying the hands on work involved in computers,
wood work and more importantly electronics.

Electronics was his best mark.

Work experience was conducted in his holidays at Lismore TV and
Antennae
in Year 9 and at Wollongbar Electrical Services in mid Year 10.

When most students were celebrating the end of Year 10, Nick was
completing
more voluntary work experience at Malmac Electrical and Thearle
Electrical
in Lismore.
Before he could do any of these, he also completed his Work Cover
Greencard
so he could go onto worksites.

All this, with his love of communications and Amateur radio has
helped him
get an apprenticeship in Engineering - electrical/electronics.

Nick got the call to go for an interview at Harwood Sugar Mill.

They were particularly interested in his Amateur Radio skills and how
these
could be transferred to the workplace.

At 15, he is the youngest apprentice taken on for about 10 years.

Congrats Nick.



INTERNATIONAL
From the Amateur Radio Tech file, word that Advanced Micro Devices
and IBM have jointly developed a new strained silicon transistor
technology. Prototype transistors posted a 24 percent performance
increase.


Radio World On-Line says that the Berlin and Brandenburg Media
Authority has called for Eureka-147 broadcasts in that portion of
Germany
to end, stating the technology is outdated and that a new standard
for
digital radio should be adopted by 2007.


Digital camera sales worldwide reached $24 billion by the end
of 2004 and will rise 29 percent to reach $31 billion in 2009.


Science On-Line reports that the worldwide population of wireless
telephone subscribers in now estimated to be almost 1.5 billion.
That's roughly about one quarter of the world's population.
Subscribers have doubled in the past five years, and the fastest
growth is now occurring in China, India and Russia.


HOP TO SPECIFIC WIANews TOPICS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WIANews - OPERATIONAL NEWS - originating from VK1WIA

Listen to WIANews in MP3 Audio.



CONTESTS AWARDS and SPECIAL EVENTS WITH CHRIS EDMONDSON VK4AA/VK3CE


D A T E L I N E

SUMMER VHF-UHF FIELD DAY 2005
Saturday and Sunday January 15 and 16, 2005.

Duration in all call areas other than VK6:
0100 UTC Saturday to 0100 UTC Sunday.

Duration in VK6 only:
0400 UTC Saturday to 0400 UTC Sunday.


A station is portable only if all of its equipment is transported
to a place which is not the normal location of any amateur station.
Operation may be from any location, or from more than one location.

Logs must be received by Monday, February 7, 2005.
Early logs would be appreciated.




The Bass Amateur Radio IRLP Group in a joint venture with an American
Club
are currently putting together an IRLP contest together.

What is required from IRLP Operators and Node Owners are ideas for
such a contest. The BARIRLPG has a sponsor who will donate a trophy
every year to the winner.

The US side will manage the contest

Remembering that it will be for IRLP only and no other modes.
So as not to have any delays to your replies
please send them in by the end of February 2005
to The Bass Amateur Radio IRLP Group.
PO Box 2280, ROSEBUD PLAZA, ROSEBUD
VICTORIA, Zip 3939, AUSTRALIA
email to IRLPcontests@bassirlp.cjb.net




CONTEST RESULTS.

Wadda Cup Results Announced

And the winner of the old mug is VK3EK.

The Central Highlands Amateur Radio Club of Tasmania (CHARCT) 2004
80m Dash for the Wadda Cup Contest and trophy has been won by Rob
Ashlin, VK3EK. Rob is no stranger to contesting and now counts the
Wadda Cup among the growing list of contests that he has conquered.
Rob came close to winning the cup in 2002, finishing in second place.

It was also a near miss in 2003, as Rob finished third. Is there
value in persistence? You bet. Rob wins the Wadda Cup trophy, a
replica of the trophy (to keep for all time) and first place
certificate.



MEDIA WATCH and PR OPPORTUNITIES
Central Coast Amateur Radio Club Inc.
Field Day at Wyong

"This is Leigh VK2KAL with a Central Coast Field Day,
Update.

Yes February 20th, 2005 is the date for the next
Central Coast Field Day at Wyong.

You can see Major Radio and Electronic Equipment
suppliers together under one roof, with many dealers
showing the latest offerings and great bargains,
See our web site for an up-to-date listing.

You can also see Vintage and Historical Radio Exhibits
and Amateur Television Demonstrations.

Accommodation can be scarce on the Central Coast at
Field Day time, so prior booking is advised.

For further information:-
Write to, CCARC Field Day, C/- 18 Daley Ave, Daleys
Point, NSW, 2257
E-mail, vk2afy@hotmail.com
Or web site, www.ccarc.org.au

This is VK2KAL Leigh, and your tuned to VK1WIA"



Media Watch Continues - a sign of the times
In its current edition, Time Magazine has referred to amateur radio
as
a "faintly embarrassing hobby".

The publication with a pre-eminent news magazine statue and a large
readership, obviously has acutely exposed the ignorance of its writer
and editors about amateur radio.

The immediate reaction of aggrieved radio hams is to write a letter
to the
editor, demand an apology and/or threaten to cancel subscriptions.

However, the old saying that "every cloud has a silver lining"
comes quickly to mind.
The backhanded editorial comment offers an opportunity to set the
record
straight about amateur radio and achieve some positive publicity.

Time Magazine will definitely be reporting on the Asian Tsunami
Disaster and
hopefully make accurate reference to the role played by radio
amateurs in
providing emergency communications.

Undoubtedly efforts are now underway to help Time Magazine in this
regard.

The underlying poor image of amateur radio is a threat to its future
well-being almost in the order of magnitude to other more readily
recognised threats to our access to spectrum.

URL of Time Magazine article
http://www.time.com and search or maybe direct at

http://www.time.com/time/press_releases/article/0,8599,1009842,00.html

This is Jim Linton VK3PC and you're tuned to VK1WIA.



WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- ATV (Every pixel tells a story)
Some of the VK7 Southern ATV group were asked to provide a video and
audio link to a Big screen in the overflow park at Nut Grove beach at

Sandy bay for the Hobart Carols by the Bay.

They were told that an OB (outside broadcast) van would be providing
them
with the feed for transmission.. Little did we know that the OB van
had
been dispatched from the Gladesville Amateur Radio ATV Club in
Sydney.

A quick call on the repeater regarding ATV, saw a number of local
amateurs
drop bye to inspect the equipment and see how it all worked, very
impressed
with the unit.

The year of 2004 saw many ATV experiments conducted, transmissions
from
Mt Wellington, on 1250MHz and 10 GHz voice, 444.25 by Justin VK7TW
and Ian, VK7ZIF. Transmissions from the club site around Hobart
metro area on 1250 MHz from the repeater site on Guy Fawkes Hill as
well as a Full duplex contact between Ken, VK7DY to Reg VK7KK at
Acton.
(Ken VK7DY via vk7wia)



WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- DIGITAL
Packets last hooray?

The VK5RAD Amateur radio site at Crafers will be closing down SOON.

Due to the site owner deciding to increase the site rental to
commercial
rates there is no option but to abandon the Crafers site.

Arno VK5ZAR reports from the South Australian Packet Users Group.

"SAPUG has been co-sharing the site with the voice repeaters while
the WIA
has been paying for all site fees i.e., Callsign and rental/power.
With
the voice repeaters being closed down or removed to a yet
undecided
location, possibly not packet suitable, SAPUG has no option but to
remove
the Rose Node also from the site and relocate with hopefully
minimal
interruption to the service.

SAPUG now urgently needs to find a new location for the (VK5RAD) Rose
Node
that still meets all the linking requirements and at minimal cost.
We
need a site that has "Line of Site" (LOS) with Lochiel for the
north/west
links and to Fulham for the VK5SPG BBS link plus good coverage for
the 2m
user port north and south.

SAPUG is currently looking at a number of possible sites but each
will
incur costs and has limitations. Some costs are for the
installation of
equipment at a new site but the main problem will be ongoing
Callsign
licence fees and site fees like power etc, which SAPUG has not
planned for
or able to cover with a drop in membership over the years.

As the WIA will possibly not be supporting SAPUG and the new site I
will
be asking all WIA members who currently use the packet network and
are not
SAPUG members now to also support SAPUG with donations otherwise
the
network will close.
We can not run with a negative balance sheet for long !!

Depending on the site we finally locate there could be a number of
changes
to the packet node.
1 Possible Callsign change if the WIA keeps the VK5RAD call for the
voice repeaters new location. Requires a major firmware rebuild
for
the ROSE EPROM's.
2 Possible user port frequency change to 147.600 due to possible
site
conflicts at 144.925 Mhz.
3 Possible poor coverage south to Victor Harbour etc due to new
sites
that are possibly available not being on suitable ridge tops.


Thanks, Arno".



The FCC for the first time has approved use of a software defined
radio
device in the US. This new class of equipment allows users to share
limited
spectrum, increases flexibility and reduces interference concerns.
SDRs can change frequency range, mode or output power without
resorting to
hardware changes or switches. This programmable capacity permits
radios to
be highly adaptable to changing needs, protocols and environments.
(ARRL LETTER)



WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- FINAL FRONTIER
VK5AGR is the AMSAT National Coordinator, vk5agr@amsat.org
VK5ZAI is the Australian Co-ordinator for ARISS.

AMSAT-VK UNOFFICIAL HF Net.
2nd Sunday each month.
November through March 0900 UTC 7.068 MHz
April through October 1000 UTC 3.685 MHz


ARISS News
History was made December 17th when 300 primary school children
witnessed
Irelands first schools contact with the international space station,
VK1WIA
brought you that story thanks to Tony VK5ZAI, now we bring you some
of
the audio.

MP3 audio recording at ariss.uba.be/2004_12_17.htm


The youngsters' final question--and Chiao's reply to it--got the
entire
student group and audience of onlookers giggling. One pupil wanted to
know
if there were toilets on the ISS and how astronauts dealt with bodily
functions while wearing their space suits.

"Life doesn't stop when you come into space," Chiao said. He
explained
that there not only are toilets aboard the ISS but diapers for the
astronauts to wear while they're suited up for travel. "But we try
not to
have to use them," he added. "so, we try to prepare ourselves
before."

The link-up was very successful and the audio was connected to the
public
address in the auditorium with excellent quality.
Jim Barry EI8GS filmed the entire operation for the Cork ATV Group.
(irts/arrl letter/tony vk5zai)




WW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- VHF AND ABOVE

Always GREAT to hear of the fun side of Ham Radio, not the bickering
which takes over many a Ham Forum and even on the bands!

Let me share the excitement one VK4 ham enjoyed just this week.

"I must say that perhaps I have been concentrating too much on HF DX.
I had my first 2m DX contact this morning using SSB and found it
extremely
rewarding - more so than on HF.

I had always been under the impression that you needed lots of power
huge
antenna systems and very sensitive receiving equipment to use this
mode. I
certainly don't have that here, an IC706G and Diamond X50 vertical at

around 40 feet high.

I think that I may need to invest some time and build a nice Yagi.
This
will certainly make the contacts stronger and more frequent.

Thanks to VK5UBC for answering my call this morning (00:38 UTC)
PF95JJ to
QG62mi - 1572km. Maybe nothing to crow about but this has opened up a
whole
new world for me :-) "

And that from an Amateur who puts in one hell of a lot of time
bringing
in newbies, none other than Adam VK4KSS who helps out with Ron's on
line
Radio School!


It seems that Brian WA1ZMS, just can't get enough gigahertz.
He reports WA1ZMS/4 worked Pete, W4WWQ/4, December 21 on 403 GHz CW
for a
new DX record QSO of 1.4 km. "Signals were very weak on the W4WWQ
end,
while several dB of margin existed on the WA1ZMS end.
The December 21 QSO exceeded the stations' former "best DX" on 403
GHz of
0.5 km. It also "conquers the 1 km barrier for amateur frequencies
above
400 GHz--except for visible light."
(Mount Greylock Expeditionary Force Web site/arrl letter)


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