This Saturday, Luke VK3UKW and Darrin VK3VDP will be activating the club station VK3BNW from 12pm noon and then work the Trans-Tasman contest starting 18:00.

The contest runs from 08:00 UTC to 14:00 UTC i.e. 18:00 to midnight local.

The Trans-Tasman is a low-band contest designed to encourage HF activity between Australia and New Zealand. Allowed bands are 160m, 80m and 40m.

Scoring is calculated across three 2-hour windows with prefixes worked counting as multipliers.

Tune up that dipole and give us a call, or take the opportunity to spectate or participate from the club rooms. And if you’re a newcomer to the hobby or just haven’t gotten to contest much yet, we’d be very happy to show you the ropes!

Contest information and rules can be found on the WIA’s website:
http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/transtasman/

Luke VK3UKW
EMDRC Contest Manager

So where did it start, the ILLW started in the Northern Hemisphere 1998 the AYR Radio Group was looking to create an event for their members during summer that was part field day, and something that would be novel and interesting. Also to give the hobby exposure to the public. The Scottish Northern Lights Award was created, for the 3^rd weekend in August.

Today some 40 countries are involved, with around 500 lighthouses being registered and activated that weekend. It’s not a contest but an opportunity to work a field day operation from a lighthouse, or in some cases from the comfort of a maritime museum. Working from a maritime museum, also provides an opportunity to share and expose our hobby to the general public. It’s a good fun weekend, and you may see parts of our coastline, that you may not normally travel to.

This year we are planning to go to Deal Island is under the control of Parks Tasmania. The light is actually Australia’s highest elevated light, some 305 metres above sea level, the stone white structure being only 22 metres high. Constructed in 1848 by the New South Wales, Tasmanian and Victorian Governments, the lighthouse was constructed from local granite, on the highest part of the island. The location proved its demise, as most days the lighthouse sat inside any passing cloud. It was decommissioned 1992.

Parks Tasmania have been very supportive of the pending activation this year. I think it will also be quite a rare activation, sort after by ILLW (AU0129) participants, along with IOTA. (OC-195).

So, at the moment have a small team of keen operators, as we get closer more logistics planning, and a close eye on the weather.

To participate in the weekend, suggest visit www.illw.net, guidelines are there, plus a registration page. Also, a list of lighthouses, you can also Google Lighthouses Australia, has an excellent list of lighthouses, go to the Victorian section.

Get involved and enjoy….. VK3ILH

Have your say on the future of amateur radio in Australia!
Some time ago, the ACMA solicited the WIA and RASA for desired changes to the operating conditions (LCD) and qualification, licensing and any other matters related to amateur radio regulations. The WIA and RASA in turns consulted with amateurs and produced submissions to the ACMA.

The ACMA has considered these submissions and taken them into account to create a comprehensive proposal for changes to the license conditions and other amateur radio matters and is now soliciting consultation from any interested member of the public.

The ACMA’s proposal contains many good items that will improve conditions for amateurs in Australia and certainly we should commend them for that. For anything that we disagree with, we have the opportunity to make our voice heard now.

You can find the ACMA’s call for consultation and the full proposed changes here: https://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/proposed-changes-to-amateur-licence-conditions

As a representative to over 250 radio amateurs in Victoria and one of the biggest radio clubs in Australia, we want to help our members make their voice heard. To that end, the club is soliciting your input and will make a unified submission to the ACMA in response to their call for consultation.

Please send your comments to Bob VK3AIC by email: lcd at emdrc.com.au The deadline to submit the consultation papers is August 9, 2019, therefore we must ask to receive your comments no later than 31 July. 

Please note that RASA is also running a survey to inform their response to the consultation process: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KDZTR2P

And finally, if you want to make your own personal submission to the ACMA, we highly encourage you to do so. Instructions for making a submission can be found on the ACMA’s call for consultation: https://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/proposed-changes-to-amateur-licence-conditions

QRM.guru has been developed to assist radio hams in dealing with RF noise.  This is an educational and reference resource.  The information provided on these pages is not unique or regarded as a new discovery. Read the article in The Radio Bulletin – QRM Loop Antenna.

Ralph VK3LL takes us through the station setup of the VK3KQ Contest Station. VK3KQ and VK3LL are always coming up with and experimenting with station add-ons like the True North Electronic Compass Controller and the Raspberry Pi Station Controller. Both these add-ons are the creation of Ralph VK3LL and Damian VK3KQ. Video by VK3PZ.