20170514 - NewsWest for Sunday 14 May 2017
Post date: May 13, 2017 8:31:22 AM
In the news this week we look at the 800th edition of the Friday Night Technet hosted by Reg VK6BQQ, the current Solar Flux, the Helpline, Andrew's Editorial, Foundations of Amateur Radio and meetings this week.
We also take a look at what's making news this week in our hobby and what made the news 50 years ago this month in our historic look at AR Magazine thanks to Will VK6UU.
This week the outgoing board of the Wireless Institute of Australia confirms that is chasing shadows and continues to support secrecy. In a statement on the WIA website the board states that "The WIA has also decided not to stream this year’s AGM and Open Forum proceedings." the reason given is that there is "no ability to vet its content prior to transmitting". That means that there are things that might come up during the AGM that the WIA board wants to hide and censor.
This decision was made despite a petition that received 80 signatures within 24 hours, currently it has over a hundred signatures and counting. We have been advised that many WIA members will be recording these public proceedings despite this Orwellian board decision.
The WA Amateur Radio News team continue to receive copies of Motions on Notice submitted to the WIA Secretary. There are currently at least 10 motions on Notice which the board has decided won't be accepted because the motions were sent after the agenda was posted in the March 2017 edition of AR Magazine. According to the board, this means that only motions accepted somewhere in January would be acceptable. Long before the election results were known.
Additionally the board released the current accounts and invited questions to be submitted before the 8th of May. The three former Treasurers have submitted three pages of questions which to date have not been acknowledged by the board. You can read these questions on the vk6.net website where you'll also find copies of the Motions on Notice.
We wish the incoming board all the best and trust that they'll be forthcoming with the information that the outgoing board is desperate to hide.
On-to other Amateur Radio News this week.
The team who activated Amsterdam Island are working on getting to Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, midway between the Antarctic, the tip of Africa and the tip of South America. The project, started in 2007, has inched forwards with a Letter of Intent signed with a Chilean maritime and aviation company who took some of the team to Peter Island in 2006. This is likely the most expensive DXpedition ever attempted and the operating team have committed to fund up to 50% of the costs. Find the link to donate on the vk6.net website.
Staying on the parks theme, during the AGM weekend several VK5 amateurs are going to make themselves available to take teams of three out into the parks around Hahndorf on Sunday morning next week. If you're at the AGM, meet at the Gums Bistro at the Hahndorf Resort Tourist Park at 9am SHARP.
And finally this week, as indicated previously, Midway and Kure Islands have been reinstated as DXCC entities. Turns out that these two islands had been incorrectly removed as DXCC entities. So, you should probably recover those deleted log entries, since they are worth two countries in your log.
Producer: Onno VK6FLAB
