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20-January-2008

Headquarters InfoLine No: 153

NZART's Headquarters InfoLine No: 153. General Secretary, Debby Morgan ZL2TDM advises:

Remits and Subscriptions

Repeaters and Beacon Payments

2007 Membership promotion

Jock White Field Day 23rd and 24th February 2008

Contest News

VHF Contests

HF Contests

More RFI?

BreakIn Closing Date Reminder

AutoSubscription and UnSubscribe

Dates for Official Broadcast (OB) and Headquarter's InfoLine (HQIL)

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20-January-2008

WIA arranges AX prefix for 26 January 2008

Amateurs should get on air and honour our National Day This prefix is only available for occasions of special national or international significance, such as the Australia Day, ITU Day or the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Occasions warranting the use of the 'AX' prefix are determined by ACMA in consultation with the WIA.

Under such circumstances:

the 'AX' prefix, which will be made available to all amateurs, may be used in lieu of the normal 'VK' prefix;

allocation of the prefix will be restricted to the duration of the occasion;

In consultation with the WIA, the ACMA has agreed to make the AX prefix available for Australia day 2008. The use of the prefix is only available from midnight to midnight local time on Australia day .

Michael Owen, President WIA, said that all Australian amateurs are encouraged to get on air on the 26th and use the AX prefix fully. Its a great opportunity to honour our national day in this special way.

Call CQ CQ CQ using AX instead of VK prefixing your call sign as recognition that the prefix means something special to us all.

Full story From www.wia.org.au

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18-January-2008

Motorola Completes Tender Offer for Yaesu's Parent Company

On Wednesday, January 16, Motorola, Inc announced that its subsidiary, MI, Inc, has successfully completed its tender offer to acquire a controlling interest in Vertex Standard, parent company of Yaesu. The tender offer period expired on January 15 with approximately 5.4 million shares tendered and accepted. On November 5, 2007, Motorola launched the tender offer, in cooperation with Tokogiken (a privately held Japanese company controlled by Vertex Standard's president and CEO Jun Hasegawa) with the intention of forming a joint venture to develop and sell Vertex Standard products and develop select Motorola products. All regulatory clearances required for the completion of the transaction have been obtained.

Full story From arrl.com

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18-January-2008

Hiram Percy Maxim II Passes Away at 72

The grandson of ARRL cofounder Hiram Percy Maxim, W1AW, died at home in Lyme, Connecticut on Saturday, January 12 after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. Hiram Percy Maxim II called HPM just like his grandfather was 72. Not a ham, Maxim told the Newington Amateur Radio League at an October 2002 meeting that he doesn't feel he shares the inventive talents of his grandfather and greatgrandfather, who held many patents between them; Maxim's greatgrandfather invented the machine gun. He told the club audience that his grandfather took on radio and filmmaking as diversions from inventing an endeavour he considered extremely hard work. He also thought of Amateur Radio as a means to "bring together" individuals from distant locations and believed that communication was a key to better understanding other people and cultures. The elder Maxim often referred to as "The Old Man," or "TOM" was an amateur film buff, and a highlight of his grandson's 2002 presentation was a short 16 mm film that showed the elder Maxim and some of his friends working, relaxing and frolicking on the grounds of the family's summer home in Lyme, Connecticut, where HPM II lived until his death. His son, Merritt Maxim, told the ARRL, "Even though he didn't have an Amateur Radio license, he was aware of the importance of his family's role in founding the League. Through his father, my grandfather an active engineer he continued to maintain an interest in all things mechanical."

(From arrl.com)

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12-January-2008

Tait (Electronics) Splitoff Breaks Ownership Model

Tait Electronics is opening the door to outside shareholders for the first time bysplitting off promising hitech parts of the business.

The electronics exporter, which is based in Christchurch, is protected from foreign ownership because Sir Angus Tait put it into a trust about 14 years ago. He died last year, aged 88.

Yesterday, however, it announced part of its group research division had been spun off as a separate company. More such moves were likely.

Full story From stuff.co.nz

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6-January-2008

Solar Cycle 24 Begins

According to the Solar Influences Data Analysis Centre, Solar Cycle 24 has begun. In a report issued on 4 January 2008 the Centre identified a high latitude sunspot group.

The group, first noted by the Catania solar observatory, has been identified using the butterfly rule as the first in Cycle 24.

After the last few years of declining conditions, we can now look forward to a steady improvement in HF propagation until the cycle peaks, which is expected to be around 2013.

(From RSGB Web site)

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5-January-2008

Online Help To Identify Data Modes

There are a bewildering number of digital modes on the air these days. While decoders are readily available, it can take a practiced ear to work out what mode is in use

Recognising this issue, the British Amateur Radio Teledata Group has put downloadable

The idea is that by listening to the samples you can more easily identify modes you hear on the bands.

(From RSGB Web site)