NZART Headquarters Infoline Issue 250
04 May 2012
NZART Website: www.nzart.org.nz

In this issue:

• From the desk of HQ
• Notice of Intent to place Branch 82 into recess
• VK/Trans-Tasman Contest
• FROM THE VHF-UHF-SHF CONTEST MANAGER
• FMTAG NOTES FOR HQ INFO LINE 250
• 12^th USA ARDF Championships
  •  
    1. Break-In-Closing Date Reminder: Copy for the May/June 2012 issue of Break-In-closes on 10 May 2012.
    2. Copy for Break-In: Copy is welcome in most electronic formats but word.doc files are preferred. Photos and other graphics should be send as separate discrete files (*.jpg preferred); not as embedded pix in the body of the text. Please ensure that suitable descriptive captions/legends are included with your copy.
       All received copy will be acknowledged to confirm receipt.
       Thank you for your cooperation.
       John Walker ZL3IB Editor.
    3. Break-In: Early receipt of copy is much appreciated
    4. Break-In-AREC Column: The close-of-copy date is the 5 May 2012 for articles for publication in the AREC COLUMN OF BREAK-IN. Photos, if available, to be on a separate floppy or CD (with captions), posted DIRECTLY TO US. Use the Call Book address. All other material can go to e-mail: 
       zl3qr@nzart.org.nz or zl3ov@nzart.org.nz
    5. The ARRL and WIA Weekly News
    6. Subscribe TO/FROM Infoline

   

  Debby Says…For some reason I have received a number of calls from members who have not received their Break In. It appears the NZ Post gremlin has stuck again, therefore please advise me ASAP if you have not and I will send another one to you.

  As we are getting closer to conference it’s time to consider if your branch will be represented at the AGM. If not and you wish your votes on remits to be included, please forward to me and I will arrange for a proxy to represent you. If however you have some-one in particular that is willing to do so from another branch, please forward the results to that person.

  Finally my apologies for no Info-Line last week. I somehow got out of sync with the dates that Jamie Pye and Jim Meachen had prepared and are advertised on our web page… Hopefully as time goes on, we will be able to find a more suitable Editor for HQ Info-line

  Talk soon…Debby ZL2DL

   

  Notice of Intention to place the Southern Wairarapa Branch 82 into Recess

  Council has received a request from the one remaining member of the Southern Wairarapa Branch 82, to place the Branch into recess.  Repeated attempts by that member over the last 10 years to interest amateurs living in the Southern Wairarapa area to join the Branch have not met with any success.  This notice is being placed in HQ InfoLine and also in May/June Break-In to advise members of the intention to place Branch 82 into recess.  If any amateurs in the Southern Wairarapa area are interested in re-forming the Branch, please advise Debby ZL2DL at NZART Headquarters either by email or in writing.  Closing date for expressions of interest is Friday 22 June 2012.

  73

  Vaughan Henderson ZL1TGC

  NZART President 

  VK/Trans-Tasman Contest

  The 80m Phone VK/Trans-Tasman contest will be run this year on Saturday 12 May 2012, from 8 UTC to 14 UTC (8pm-2am NZST), with the best 5 of the 6 hours counting toward the final score.
  
  Rob, ZL3AKM, who has been assisting the previous contest manager for a number of years, has now become the new contest manager following Bruce's resignation after more than 10 years service.
  
  There have been a number of changes for 2012, most significantly, the old web site is no longer active. The main website for the contest is now the Trans-Tasman contest page on the WIA website:
  http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/transtasman/
  
  There have been a few other changes to the scoring system, including the removal of the "participation factor" and changes to the way group points are score. These changes, and the full rules, can be found on the WIA Trans-Tasman contest page.
  
  The 160m Phone and both 80m and 160m CW and digital trans-Tasman contests have been combined on a single evening to  include single band and mode categories, through to dual band multi-multi categories, and to increase activity and provide more operating fun for everyone!
  
  The combined 160m Phone and 160m/80m CW and Digital contest will be help on Saturday 21 July 2012, 8 UTC to 14 UTC.
  
  Details on the WIA trans-Tasman contest page.
  
  73
  
  Rob, ZL3AKM
  Contest Manager

   

  FROM THE VHF-UHF-SHF CONTEST MANAGER

  LOW BAND CONTEST

  The preliminary results are:

  The overall winner was ZL4AA, in second place ZL2FAE, and in third place ZL3ED.

  ZL4AA had the highest score on each band.

  The best DX was 643 km on 2 metres, between ZL2FAE and ZL4AA.

  The full results will be posted on: www.vhf.org.nz, once the Contest Committee has finished cross-checking the logs.

  THE NEXT CONTESTS

  The next contest is the Hibernation Contest, all bands 50 MHz and up, on Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th of June 2012. This is the weekend after Queen's Birthday weekend. The operating times are: Saturday 1700 to 2300 NZST and Sunday 0700 to 1300 NZST.

  The contest after that is the Brass Monkey Contest, all bands 50 MHz and up, on Saturday the 4th and Sunday the 5th of August 2012. The operating times are: Saturday 1700 to 2300 NZST and Sunday 0700 to 1300 NZST.

  The Contest Rules are available at:

  www.vhf.org.nz/VHF-UHF-SHF-ContestRules

  All contest logs should be sent, to arrive within two weeks, to: zl2wa@clear.net.nz

  with Contest Log in the subject line, or by post to:

   

  Contest Manager

  Wellington VHF Group

  P.O. Box 12-259

  Thorndon

  Wellington

   

  Please include your email address if you wish to receive the results as soon as they are available.

   

  FMTAG NOTES FOR HQ INFO LINE 250

  NZART COUNCIL REVISES ITS LICENCE FEE POLICY

  As mentioned in “From the President” (page 3 March/April Break-In), NZART Council has revised its Beacon, Link and Repeater Licence Fee Policy. Here are more details.

  Council resolved to encourage the transfer of Repeater, Beacon and Link Licences from NZART to the equipment-owning Branches, and to impose a surcharge of $5.11 per licence, to offset NZART HQ costs, on those licences that remain with NZART.

  The MED's Annual Administration Fee, for an Amateur Beacon, Link, or Repeater Licence, is $46.00, if paid by credit card via the MED's SMART website, or $51.11, if paid by cheque to the MED's Business Service Centre. The $5.11 surcharge recognises the cost to the MED of processing a manual payment.

  Previously, NZART HQ requested payment of $46.00 from Branches and forwarded the full amount to the MED.

  The NZART HQ cost of processing a manual payment are similar to those of the MED and, therefore, NZART Council decided to introduce the same $5.11 surcharge per licence for all Licence Fee payments made via NZART HQ.

  The following Branches (and Affiliates) will benefit from the licence transfer:

  03        Western Suburbs

  05        Christchurch

  08        Eastern Southland

  22        Marlborough

  23        Marton

  24        Motueka

  26        Nelson

  28        Whangarei

  33        Rotorua

  34        South Canterbury

  35        South Otago

  37        Southland

  38        Taumarunui

  42        Titahi Bay

  46        Wairarapa

  48        Wanganui

  49        Westland

  51        Eastern Bay of Plenty

  55        Waitomo

  56        Christchurch West

  60        Taupo

  61        Central Otago

  64        North Otago

  66        Auckland VHF

  67        Kawerau

  68        North Canterbury

  78        Far North

  82        Southern Wairarapa

  84        Bay of Islands

  85        Mercury Bay

  86        Suburban

  87        South Taranaki

  Auckland AREC

  CARDS

  Branches wishing to avoid paying the $5.11 surcharge for each licence need to arrange transfer of their licences from NZART to the Branch. To start the licence transfer process, please send an email to FMTAG to receive an information pack: fmtag@nzart.org.nz

  NZART Council has confirmed that the revised policy does not apply to National System or International Beacon Licences.

   

  PROPOSALS

  None this time

   

  FINAL RECOMMENDATION TO NZART COUNCIL

  NZART Council, at its 1st of May meeting, approved the following Final Recommendation, which can now proceed to licensing.

  Branch 74 Wellington VHF has applied for an APRS Digipeater at Kaiwharawhara Hill, located at TOPO50 BQ31 494.93 316.03. The transmit and receive frequency will be 144.575 MHz in accordance with the band plan. An engineering investigation, in accordance with MED PIB38, confirms that there will be no interference to other stations.

  COMMENTS AND APPLICATIONS

  Please send your comments and suggestions on the above matters, 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 website:

  http://www.nzart.org.nz/fmtag/index.html

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

  The current status of Applications can be viewed on the NZART website:

  http://www.nzart.org.nz/nzart/fmtag/fmtag-apps-being-processed/

   

  European Football Championship 2012 on the AIR"

  …. is an on-the-air activity which promises to be a great deal of fun, organized by Polish and Ukrainian amateurs affiliated with PZK and UARL.
  From June 1 to July 5  2012, there will be numerous special event stations active on the air. They will be operating concurrently with the 2012 European Football Championship, which this year is organized jointly by Poland and Ukraine.

  More detailed information about our activity can be found on our website  http://efc2012.pzk.org..pl

  We welcome you and look forward to seeing you on all the amateur bands from June 1 to July 5,  2012. There are two awards which can be earned during this period, as well as many interesting QSL cards and prizes.

  On behalf of the entire team EFC2012 on the Air

   

  Vy 73 de

  Roman
  SQ2RH

  www.sq2rh.it2.pl

   

  12^th USA ARDF Championships

  Registrations are now being accepted for the Twelfth USA ARDF Championships, which will take place in the forests near Mt. Laguna Village, about 45 miles east of San Diego, California.
  
  Activities will get under way on Wednesday and Thursday, May 30 - 31, when an optional two-day "training camp" will take place.  The official championships opening will take place on Friday, June 1 with practice and equipment testing sessions. The two-meter contest will take place on Saturday, June 2, after which all will gather for a banquet in the evening.  Sunday's schedule includes the 80-meter contest and an awards ceremony, timed to end in mid-afternoon to accommodate those who must hurry home.
  
  The official event Web page at www.homingin.com has the registration form.  It is important for participants to register right away.  The organizers need an accurate head count and assurances that there will be sufficient attendees.  It's also important to make reservations now if you want to stay at the event headquarters, which is Laguna Mountain Lodge.  (Nearby camping is also available.)
  
  Transportation and lodging information is on the event Web page, as well as the daily schedule, competition rules, transmitter and map information.  For questions and regular updates, you can subscribe to a group mailing list for participants and others interested in these championships.
  
  We look forward to seeing you at the USA Championships!
  
  Joe Moell K0OV
  USA ARDF Coordinator
  www.homingin.com
  k0ov@homingin.com

   

  Housekeeping

  Next NZART Official Broadcast is on Sunday 26^th May 2012. Next HQ-Infoline e-mailed on FRIDAY 18^th May 2012. Closing date for this is Thursday 17^th May.