NZART Headquarters Infoline Issue 231
05-JUNE-2011
NZART Website: http://www.nzart.org.nz/home/

In This Issue

*Notes From Conference in Upper Hutt
*FMTAG Notes For HQ Infoline-231
*Interesting Links From John ZL1GWE
*VHF/UHF/SHF Contest Notes
*Housekeeping
*Attachment for Infoline Branches Subscribers: infoline-231.doc

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Notes From Conference in Upper Hutt

As usual the weekend commenced with a meeting of Council here on Friday morning, the following is a report on business discussed:

Incoming Council members, Warren Harris ZL2AJ, Stephen Hayman ZL1TPH, Simon Lewis ZL4PLM and Terry Thomas ZL4TAE were welcomed. Michael Owen VK3KI, President of Wireless Institute of Australia, and John Longayroux VK3PX, Treasurer of the Wireless Institute of Australia, were invited as special guests.

Next Council elected Vaughan Henderson ZL1TGC as vice-president. Vaughan was elected unopposed.

Following a suggestion from Evan Sayer the Association Treasurer, Council agreed that a review of the current NZART Constitution is to be undertaken. One of the main aims of this review is to gain charitable status and potentially save having to pay tax.

Council formally approved a submission from the Radio Electronics Group granting them NZART Branch status.

Council again thanked Evan Sayer for ensuring the Associations financial audit was completed in a timely and professional manner.

Council resolved that subscriptions for 2012, will remain at $95 for Transmitting/Non-Transmitting individual memberships. Those members who pay their subscriptions before 30 November, will go in a draw to win a dual band hand held radio.

A membership promotion will be undertaken this year, with a further handheld being offered as a prize. Payment for the new members must be received by the 31 December. Council are very conscious of falling membership and encourage newcomers to the Association and feel a membership drive with the opportunity to win a prize may assist in increasing members to the Association.

More about these special prize draws will be advised in HQ Info-Line once Council has finalised the detail.

Council also wish to emphasise the need for all Branches and members to subscribe to HQ Info-line. This was an initiative by Jim ZL2BHF some years ago and is now scribed by Jamie Pye ZL2NN, as a form of communication to members between the bi-monthly issues of Break In and the monthly NZART Official Broadcast. HQ Info-line is sent via e-mail fortnightly and contains many updates from Council, FMTAG, Awards etc so that members get the most up to date information. To make sure that you receive HQ - Infoline, just complete the details on the NZART webpage.

Saturday morning proceedings commenced promptly at 8:30 am, having confirmed a quorum of 1145 members being represented.

Life Membership Awarded

Following a report from Council, that concluded with a recommendation to the AGM, that ZL2TAR be award Honorary Life membership to NZART, This was received with acclamation by attendees of the AGM.

Chris Hipkins MP For Rimutaka Welcomed All to Upper Hutt

At this time, just prior to morning tea, there was a small adjournment where the Chris Hipkins MP for Rimutaka welcomed everyone to Upper Hutt, followed by Stuart Watchman ZL2TW who gave a very insightful account of his traumatic experience during the 22nd February earthquake in Christchurch, where he was attending a medical conference at the Grand Chancellor Hotel. As usual Stuart was able to make all smile even about such a catastrophic event.

Those in attendance at the AGM from Christchurch, appreciated Stuart's presentation, as it was not only very graphically informative, but typical of how us kiwi's are able to keep going in trying times and keep a sense of humour.

The minutes from the AGM in Auckland were confirmed, then Evan Sayer, the Association Treasurer briefly detailed the annual reports, further emphasising a need to review our Constitution in order to gain charitable status. Evan also reminded those present that in 1998, the Association was operating with a deficit of over $200,000, however now we have reserves of over this amount. He did warn that while this shows that financial difficulties have been overcome, there still remains the need to increase membership.

All officers reports were presented and accepted. The hard working Officers of the Association, who are obviously undertaking their roles with professionalism and effectiveness, are to be thanked as there were no questions from the floor seeking clarification of any reports.

REMITS

Remit discussions commenced, with some very robust discussion. It was great that so many branches had actively considered each remit, as 4 of the 13 presented, required a count of votes.

The results are as follows:
Remit 1, Carried, on vote count,
Remit 2 Lost on vote count,
Remit 3 Lost on voices
Remit 4 Lost on voices
Remit 5 Lost on voices
Remit 6 Lost on voices

Remit 7, having received an amendment to include 160m, which was passed by the floor, Carried on vote count.

Remit 8 Lost on vote count
Remit 9 Lost on voices
Remit 10 Lost on voices
Remit 11 Lost on voices
Remit 12 - withdrawn
Remit 13 - withdrawn

Throughout the remit discussions, some presentations of awards were made, to break the intensity of the meeting.

Arthur Godfrey ZL1HV Branch Award

The recipients of the Arthur Godfrey ZL1HV Branch Award were:

Neil Gibbons ZL2TNG, Maurie Vile ZL2ADP both from Upper Hutt branch, Paul (Jono) Jonassen ZL1UP Hamilton branch, Topsy Scott ZL2LS Nelson branch and Maurice McNab ZL3MEM from Christchurch West Branch.

Branches who have taken time to submit these very worthy nominees for consideration are thanked and the opportunity to reward and publicly recognise the efforts of their members is very timely.

The citations for these awards will be appear in the August issue of Break In.

Rothschild Cup

North Shore Branch received the Rothschild Cup this year, with a total of 13 successful candidates passing their amateur radio examination in 2010.

Next Conference

Letitia (Topsy) Scott, took the floor, inviting all to attend the annual conference in Nelson next year. Topsy and the Branch President Paul ZL2CQ have considerable plans underway for what promises to be a very entertaining and fun event.

New Award

This year, from a Nelson branch initiative and sponsorship, a new award was introduced, to recognise a 100% pass mark (that's 60/60 result) in their examination, in the year preceding conference, for amateurs not otherwise eligible in the Best Examination/Youth Achievement Award. There were three recipients of this award for 2010, Suzette James ZL2SGC, Nelson Branch, Jonathan MacKenzie ZL3JDM, Christchurch Branch and Murray Smith ZL2MJS Lower Hutt branch. Well done to you all.

The Best Examination Result

The Best Examination result went to Thomas Fellows ZL3PSG aged 16 for a pass of 55/60.

There were no nominations for Young Amateur of the Year award, therefore Nelson Sound, who have offered to sponsor this in future years, generously agreed to offer it to our Best Examination result recipient. Congratulations Thomas on receiving a dual band hand held.

General Business

The meeting proceeded to general business with a motion being put from ZL3BM: "That a vote of No Confidence be placed on all current Councillors". This was seconded by ZL2TDD but was lost on voices.

Stephen Cooper ZL2WAU of Tararua Branch asked branches to look through their archives for any amateur radio videos or DVD's here in New Zealand, that can be used on their Tararua Regional TV station which will soon also be broadcast on other Regional TV stations.

Finally it was announced that this year's very worthy recipient of the Amateur of the year Award, was David Searle ZL3DWS for the tremendous results he achieved in his Buildathon projects. David has recently moved from Christchurch for obvious reasons to Bondi in Australia.

David was contacted later in the evening by Terry Carrell ZL3QL. Terry reported David was overwhelmed at the recognition of his work and has asked that this message of his thanks be sent to you all.

Hasn't taken David long to get himself a VK call sign! Many thanks to David, you are missed.

KORDIA

As was mentioned in the May Official Broadcast, we have had some very excellent news that KORDIA will not be charging NZART for the rental on their sites, for the next 5 years. Although we have yet to confirm this in a formal contract, Vaughan Henderson ZL1TGC and Otago Branch 30 are to be heartily congratulated for their by no means small involvement in bringing this about. Thanks to you all.

WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI Spoke to The Meeting

The WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI spoke to the meeting, informing all of the events of the Wireless Institute of Australia in the past year. Michael is very keen to promote VK attendance at the NZART conference weekend and encourages ZL hams to do the same in Australia.

Stirrers Award

The final order of the day was to appoint the stirrers award...this year the recipient was Topsy ZL2LS for appearing in her very skimpy red night attire and almost causing the President to return to smoking, having received such a shock.

The meeting concluded at 2:59pm followed immediately by the AREC forum.

AREC Forum

The forum commenced with a presentation from Geoff Chapman ZL3PX on AREC's involvement in the Christchurch earthquake.

Matthew Lloyd then gave a presentation on his role with the Red Cross telecom response unit.

Then Jeff announced their new National Training Officer, who is Brian Purdie ZL2ADL.

Richard ZL1BNQ gave a brief overview on the old training modular system AREC have used in the past, with a view of modernizing it.

Finally Bill Olsen ZL4AE, gave a presentation on his 6 week trip with Red Cross to Tunisia.

IARU

Running concurrently was a forum by the IARU committee, who are busy preparing budgets to submit to Council for delegates to attend the WRC conference in Geneva in 2012 and the IARU Region 3 triennial Conference in Ho Chi Minh City 2012.

Saturday Evening

The evening commenced with a wonderful talk from guest speaker Ian Johnstone, known for his presentation of the original Crimewatch series and various radio and TV broadcasts.

After a sumptuous meal, we could dance the night away with a rock and roll band featuring songs from the 50's, 60's and 70's.

Sunday

Sunday morning saw a little more precipitation than was expected, however the usual AGM's and forums were not deterred.

WARO AGM

At the WARO AGM Margaret ZL1MB was re-elected as President, Cathy ZL2ADK was elected Vice President, Lynnette ZL1LL Secretary and Janet ZL1JAN Treasurer.

Topsy ZL2LS won the Thelma Souper Memorial Contest, with Sharon ZL2BQ second and Catherine VK4GH third.

The OM section went to Bill cousins ZL2AYZ.

SPAM and OTC

The SPAM and OTC AGM's were also held on Sunday morning , with no change in either.

AMSAT - ZL AGM

25 members attended the AGM, chaired by President Terry Carrell ZL3QL - there were no changes to the committee. Kiwisat progress is now very near completion hardware wise and software is progressing well.

Kiwisat Update

Over 45 members attended the Kiwisat forum. Ian ZL1AOX ran a presentation which included a short video by Fred Kennedy ZL1BYP on the clean room at Massey University in Albany showing the almost complete Kiwisat.

Ian then introduced via Skype, Clayton Gumbrell VK1TKA in Canberra Australia, who described the software development - a first at an NZART conference.

Terry Osborne ZL2BAC completed the presentation showing his progress with the Ground Station Telemetry decoding software.

Other forums

Included in the Sunday afternoon programmes were forums on Police Digital Radio by ZL2FY, STSP Repeater Build by ZL2TW, Voice Over Internet Protocol by ZL2UDF, VHF/UHF by ZL4PLM, APRS by ZL2MAX, PIXIE 11 - JOTA Construction Project by ZL1TGC, and D-Star by Eddie Ross from ICOM.

Sunday evening is to be entertainment by Don Wilson whose claim to fame was the song BIG NORM back in the 1970's.

Upper Hutt Branch

Finally thanks goes to the Upper Hutt Branch for putting on another excellent annual conference.

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FMTAG Notes For HQ Infoline-231 

Outage of Web-Based MED Services

Members will now be aware that all of the MED's web-based services were offline on the 18th, 19th and part of the 20th of May.

The impact on the Amateur Radio Service was relatively minor: repeater licence applications could not be processed during the outage.

However, the same problem that affected the Callsign list, provided by the MED for Call Book, has re-appeared: all of the Temporary Callsigns that have expired in the last two years are displayed as if they are still current.

We await an updated report from the MED.

Final Recommendations

NZART Council, at its face-to-face meeting on 3rd June, approved the following applications, which can now proceed to licensing by the MED. 

1. Branch 63 Upper Hutt has applied to add the D-STAR DV digital mode to, and change the location of, its Mount Climie 860 repeater. The new location will be Topo50 map reference BP32 798.83 423.94. An Engineering Evaluation, in accordance with the MED's Radio Licence Certification Rules (PIB38), shows that the repeater's transmit frequency can remain on 438.600 MHz and the receive frequency can remain on 433.600 MHz, and that there will be no interference to other stations. 
2. Branch 74 Wellington VHF has applied to increase the power of, and add the P25 digital mode to its 6625 repeater located at Hawkins Hill, Topo50 map reference BQ31 449.78 236.89. An Engineering Evaluation, in accordance with the MED's Radio Licence Certification Rules (PIB38), shows that the repeater's transmit frequency can remain on 146.625 MHz and the receive frequency can remain on 146.025 MHz, and that there will be no interference to other stations. 
3. Branch 74 Wellington VHF has applied for a 32 cm repeater located at Colonial Knob, Topo50 map reference BP31 513.58 426.16. FMTAG has chosen a repeater transmit frequency of 927.800 MHz and a receive frequency of 921.200 MHz. An Engineering Evaluation, in accordance with the MED's Radio Licence Certification Rules (PIB38), shows that there will be no interference to other stations. 
4. Branch 74 Wellington VHF has applied for a 6 m repeater located at Colonial Knob, Topo50 map reference BP31 513.58 426.16. FMTAG has chosen a repeater transmit frequency of 53.750 MHz and a receive frequency of 52.750 MHz. An Engineering Evaluation, in accordance with the MED's Radio Licence Certification Rules (PIB38), shows that there will be no interference to other stations. 
5. Branch 85 Mercury Bay has applied for a National System repeater located at Opito Bay, Topo50 map reference BA35 513.81 313.73. FMTAG has chosen a repeater transmit frequency of 434.800 MHz and a receive frequency of 439.800 MHz. An Engineering Evaluation, in accordance with the MED's Radio Licence Certification Rules (PIB38), shows that there will be no interference to other stations. 
6. Branch 85 Mercury Bay has applied for a National System UHF Linking Station (ULS) located at Opito Bay, Topo50 map reference BA35 513.81 313.73, to link to Mt Edgecumbe. The link transmit frequency will be 434.975 MHz and the receive frequency will be 439.975 MHz. An Engineering Evaluation, in accordance with the MED's Radio Licence Certification Rules (PIB38), shows that there will be no interference to other stations.

Comments and Applications

Please send your comments and suggestions on the above matters and recommendations, and on any other FMTAG matters, by e-mail to: fmtag@nzart.org.nz

Applications for repeaters, beacons, digipeaters, point-to-point links, and so on, should be made on the latest version of FMTAG Form 10. The latest versions of FMTAG Form 10, and the explanatory Form 10A, are available on the NZART web site:
http://www.nzart.org.nz/nzart/fmtag/

Completed forms should be sent by e-mail to  fmtag@nzart.org.nz

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Interesting Links From John ZL1GWE

Amateurs Assist American Red Cross
Served Agencies After Joplin Storm:

from The ARRL Letter on May 26, 2011

Website: http://www.arrl.org/

Radio Amateurs Assist American Red Cross, Served Agencies After Joplin Storm:

On Sunday, May 22 at 5:41 PM, the single deadliest twister in almost 60 years -- and the second major tornado disaster in less than a month -- swept through the southwestern Missouri city of Joplin, slamming straight into St John's Regional Medical Center. The tornado killed at least 117 people. As soon as the storm cleared, area Amateur Radio operators responded to requests from the American Red Cross and local hospitals to provide communications support.

http://www.eham.net/articles/26108

FEMA Administrator Calls Amateur Radio
“The Last Line of Defense”

In an FCC forum on earthquake communications preparedness, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate described the Amateur Radio operator as “the ultimate backup, the originators of what we call social media.” The forum-- held May 3 at FCC Headquarters in Washington, DC -- brought together officials from the White House, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), FEMA, the FCC and the private sector. Fugate and FCC Bureau of Public Safety and Homeland Security Chief Jamie Barnett gave the opening remarks.

http://www.arrl.org/news/fema-administrator-calls-amateur-radio-the-last-line-of-defense

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Contest News

VHF/UHF/SHF Contest

VHF++ Hibernation Contest (1st SAT JUN 2nd if Conf)   11/12-JUN-2011

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Please think of the environment before printing this e-mail

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Housekeeping

Next NZART Official Broadcast is on SUNDAY 26-JUNE-2011

Next HQ-Infoline e-mailed on SUNDAY 19-JUNE-2011

Headquarters-Infoline is a twice-monthly bulletin of news from NZART Headquarters. News and items of a general or technical interest are also included. These are obtained from various sources. The bulletins are e-mailed directly to Branches, the amateur radio packet Bulletin Board Service and to others that subscribe through the NZART Website at: 
http://www.nzart.org.nz/join/e-mail-lists/join-infoline-list/

Regards, Jamie Pye ZL2NN, Editor zl2nn@nzart.org.nz