20170618 - In the news this week

In the news this week, the VK Shires QSO party 2017 was on last weekend, but your job as contester isn't over until the logs are submitted. The deadline for log-submission is Saturday the 1st of July and you need to send it in via email. Tools exist to convert your paper log into electronic form, see the vk6.net website for the link to how to do this. [http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/wavks/]

Denis VK6AKR reminds us that the International Museums Weekend will be on again soon and you and your club are invited to play on-air. The WA VHF Group will be operating from 09:00 through about 18:00 on Sunday 25th (June) on HF, VHF for any local contacts, and will attempt to get some activity using DMR. You can participate on the third or forth weekends in June this year. [http://www.radio-amateur-events.org/IMW/]

Holger from the ZM4T contesting team has let us know that the raw claimed scores for the CQ World Wide WPX CW Contest are out. Check your callsign online to see how it compares. The link is on vk6.net. [http://cqwpx.com/raw.htm?reg=OC&mode=cw]

The VK Contesting Club reminds us that the ZL Winter Sprint series started on Tuesday, but it's not too late to get involved. The sprint runs for six consecutive Tuesdays, the first three on 40m, the last three on 80m. Check the vk6.net website for the link to the ZL Winter Sprint. [http://zl3x.com/zl-winter-sprint/]

Kevin N8VNR has been playing with noise reduction for CODEC2 by pre-processing the input signal. If you'd like to see how he did it, check out his post on the freetel-codec2 mailing list. The link is on vk6.net. [https://sourceforge.net/p/freetel/mailman/message/35886355/]

In SOTA and Parks news this week, Paul VK5PAS lets us know that Andy VK5MAV will be activating the Whitsunday National Park VKFF-0534 this weekend and if you're not into Parks, it's also an IOTA activation for OC-160. Look out for VK9MAV this weekend.

VKFF Awards have been awarded to:

• Graziano IW2NXI

• Mark VK4SMA

• Cliff VK2NP

• Adam VK2YK

• Sergio VK3SFG

• Chris VK3PAT

• Brett VK2VW

• Les VK5KLV

• Neil VK4HNS

• Gerard VK2IO

• John VK5NJ

• Steve VK7CW

• Ken VK2KYO

• Geoff VK3SQ

• Dennis VK2HHA

• Simon VK3ELH

• Marija VK5FMAZ

• Cliff VK2NP

And because Paul doesn't have enough to do, he's also published the latest issue of Out and About in VK5. Check the link on vk6.net. [http://www.vk5pas.com/out-and-about-in-vk5.html]

Andrew VK1DA has let us know that there's now a tool for SOTA activators. The tool, made by the Swiss SOTA group allows you to compare your callsign with that of another Amateur and see which peaks you've activated that they haven't and vice-versa. You can find the link on vk6.net. [https://hb9sota.ch/sota-activator-diff/]

Tony VK3XV lets us know that he's travelling to the US to participate in the ARRL 2017 Field Day (June 24-25) as part of the W6SW Multi-Multi station. Prior to Field Day on Friday June 23 (and possibly? Thursday June 22 UTC) he will be activating the Los Padres National Forest KFF-0639. Times will be very fluid and subject to the W6SW Field Day station set up requirements, however he aims to be on air as much as possible prior to the event. He'll be listening for VK/ZL. If you'd like to make the contact, listen out for W6/VK3XV on 7.144  /  14.244  / 14.310MHz.

David VK3IL is planning to activate Pyramid Hill and Mt Matlock on Sunday and if you're listening to this news early, there's a chance you'll also catch him on Mt Torbreck on Saturday. He also has tentative plans for the next weekend in the Southern Alps.