20180408 VK6WIA NewsWest for Sunday 8th April 2018.

This week I promise you no humbug, trickery, chicanery or deceit.  I did hear one person during the week asking on air “is it true that Foundation licencees……?”.  April always gets off to a good start, and thanks everyone for being good sports.

Instead of April tomfoolery, this week we’re taking a look at Amateur Radio history including an account of past Amateur Radio News as recalled by Don Graham, a glimpse of Radio communications in world war one, and an account of the history of VK6RLM repeater.  We’ll be congratulating a group of Aussies for taking out the top position in a recent international contest, and of course we have our regular weekly spot from Onno, Roy is having the week off. and of course we’ll tell you who’s meeting and when.

(Newswest is produced by volunteer members of WA Amateur Radio News.  The content of our news programmes comes from a variety of sources, and may not reflect the views of the Wireless Institute of Australia, or WA Amateur Radio News.  NewsWest is produced and presented in the open spirit of Amateur Radio.)

Since 1931 this is NewsWest, amateur radio news for amateurs by amateurs right here, right now.

On behalf of the team here at WA Amateur Radio News, thanks for taking the time to tune in, on-air, on-line or on-demand, it's great to have your company.

As Glynn mentions, next week is the New Amateurs edition of the news, where we welsome and encourage those who are new to the hobby, or have recently returned. We'd love to hear from you about your experiences as a new ham. Send your story to newswest@vk6.net before noon on Friday.

If you have questions or comments, feedback, good or bad, the address is newswest@vk6.net.

You'll find links to resources on the vk6.net website where you'll also find information on where to hear the news, where to download it, how to rebroadcast this news and how to register your callbacks.

If you want to join in, you can. Send an email to newswest@vk6.net and we'll be happy to respond. Send your stories, tall or true, audio production, scripts, events, updates, membership information, meeting announcements, AGM alerts, contests, swap-meets and more to us and we'll happily present your contribution on-air.

Please register your callback, either on-air, or on-line. Visit vk6.net and click on the callback button. You can also subscribe to our announcement list and we'll let you know when the news is hot off the press.

Originating in Perth Western Australia NewsWest is produced by WA Amateur Radio News for listeners on-air, on-line and on-demand.

You can tune into this news on-air across many amateur frequencies, download the show from vk6.net or subscribe via your favourite podcast application, whichever way you're listening, whether you're a licensed radio amateur or not, experienced or just a beginner, old or young, thanks for being here and thanks for joining us.

Get your copy: http://vk6.net/news/

NewsWest is broadcast and relayed across VK6 and far beyond by many transmitters and operators. Details can be found on vk6.net.

The main VK6 NewsWest broadcast occurs at 09:30 WST (01:30 UTC).

If you'd like to broadcast this news in your local area, you can. There are no restrictions on broadcasting NewsWest, other than that you must broadcast it as supplied without any modification.

We ask that broadcasters advise us that they're transmitting the news.

Our address is newswest@vk6.net

Producer: Bob VK6POP

Duration: 28:20

Last year some dude in Michigan, literally, that’s how he describes himself, started a survey to get some demographic information on the state of amateur radio, He thought it would be cool to know things like…

The 2017 survey received 668 unique respondents and provided a rather unsurprising birds-eye view of the hobby:

- 2m is a favorite band
- Hams like direct QSLs best
- And, wait for it... only 12% of respondents are under the age of 35

I wonder what that picture looks like for VK???

It’s a little surprising that the IARU or other lobbying organisations like the WIA rarely release demographic surveys, considering the ACMA and other regulatory bodies tend not to. If you don’t ask the question, you won't get an answer.

Many thanks to Dustin N8RMA for putting the survey together and publishing the results last year. Here’s to looking forward to some awesome new data this year!

For those concerned about their personally identifiable information (call sign) going on the internet, although “callsign” is a required field, you don’t actually have to put your callsign…just put N/A or something if you would like to remain anonymous.

Any information provided will only be used, by Dustin, on the survey results.This response data will not be given or sold to anyone, ever. All the demographic stuff is optional, it’s a good baseline but not needed. Dustin is not affiliated with a marketing company or any ham radio lobby or company, just a dude in Michigan. Plus you know who he is so you can hunt him down - if you feel like a visit to Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Thanks to Sterling Coffey - N0SSC, and his blog for helping us put together this story.

Link to Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2gJ0xG_2EeFAgInFRM0NYi4eW93IBqlBbpBAB2Hx6zkYPNw/viewform

Link to 2017 Results: https://sway.com/dBedey0zHZEjk0Xt

As we let you know in February, the CQ WPX SSB contest is on as we speak, and no matter when you listen to this broadcast on Sunday, is still in progress.

The CQ World Wide WPX Contest is based on an award offered by CQ Magazine for working all prefixes. Held on the last weekend of March (SSB) and May (CW), the contest draws thousands of entries from around the world.

If you missed the SSB contest this weekend, the CW segment takes place on
May 26 - 27, 2018.

On both weekends - the contest goes from 0000 UTC Saturday to 2359 UTC Sunday.

There are entry categories for single and multi-operator, each, all or single band, which are then further divided into power classes of less than 5, 100 or… wait for it… 1500 watts.

There’s also a section and entry-criteria for a ROOKIE class.

Single Operator stations may operate 36 of the 48 hours – off times must be a minimum of 60 minutes during which no QSO is logged.

Multi-operator stations may operate the full 48 hours.

Only the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 metre bands may be used. Observance of established band plans is strongly encouraged.

The final score is the result of the total QSO points multiplied by the number of different prefixes worked.

Link: http://www.cqwpx.com/

Link: CQ WPX Fan page - www.facebook.com/cqwpx