WEST AUSTRALIAN VHF GROUP (INC) Minutes of 534th General Meeting, Monday September 22, 2003 Held Wireless Hill Meeting Room, Applecross President, Alan VK6ZWZ, opened the meeting at 2030, following the AGM. Apologies: Cec 6AO, Ben 6IC, and Phil 6ZKO. Visitors: Ron Morosko, K5LLL and Ron Morosko Jr NN5DX. MINUTES: The minutes of the August meeting were read and accepted. (Luigi 6YEH/Terry 6ZLT). Business arising: The order for 2.4 GHz modules had been abandoned as repeated attempts to contact the vendor had been ignored. CORRESPONDENCE: In: * AR and DUBUS magazines. * ACA invitation to the public meeting about the Regulations review. * LISWA database update. * Melville City database update. * Term Deposit Statement. Out: * To ACA advising of Review attendees. REPORTS: Treasurer: Chris 6KCH advised that:- * The bank statement for September had yet to be received. Satellites: Al 6ZAY reported that contacts were to be had with the USA on AO-40. Foxhunt: Phil 6AD advised that the monthly foxhunt had been deferred until Saturday 27th September. Starting time 2000 from Kings Park. Beacons: Wal 6KZ reported that:- * VK6RPH, VK6RSP (5 & 10 Ghz), VK6RSW, VK6RBS, VK6RSX, VK6REP and VK6RBU are operational. * The installation date for VK6RST Mt Barker set for 5th October is holding. A party comprising Alan 6ZWZ, Jack 6KDX, Brian 6YAU and Wal 6KZ in company with site owner Tim Smith would attend. The 10 GHz and 432 MHz tx's had been soak tested. All materials were now on hand with the exception of some coax cable for 432 MHz which will be collected from Phil 6ZKO shortly. * A number of N type male connectors were still needed for beacon projects. Donations were called for. * The Southern Electronics Group had advised that VK6RTW Albany is no more. The licence has been surrendered due to rising costs and diminished SEG member base. It is therefore proposed to negotiate with the SEG to add 144 MHz (but not 50 MHz)to the VK6RST Mt Barker licence. It is understood that the existing 50 MHz beacon transmitter will be available by the SEG if someone wishes to take up the matter of continuing the 50 MHz service in Albany. In anticipation of the successful conclusion of the transfer of 2mx to VK6RST, an additional coax run will be done on October 5th. A 25W Group tx is already available. The antenna proposed is an omni of the same design as VK6RPH, VK6RSX and VK6REP. * The VK6RBS 10 GHz transmitter is awaiting soak testing. Terry 6ZLT will coordinate the installation assisted by Luigi VK6YEH. Luigi 6YEH advised that investigation of the 2.4 Ghz beacon project for Wireless Hill was proceeding. GENERAL BUSINESS: (1) The Chairman invited input from the American visitors about activity in Texas. Ron K5LLL was active on frequencies from 50 MHz to 3456 MHz, including the USA allocations at 222 and 900 MHz. Powers of the order of 10W and 22dBd antenna gain at 3 GHz were in use. K5LLL used a rotatable "gridpak" dish side mounted on his mast. Best DX worked exceeded 2000Km on tropo propagation. Ron NN5DX commented that he was limited to 50 to 432 MHz but enjoyed being the only VHF/UHF operator in his grid square. He was looking into setting up a 900 MHz beacon. (2) Alan 6ZWZ announced the results of the September 2003 VHF Scramble. Points scored were: 6NGW 11, 6ZLT 12, 6FO 12, 6XRE 16, 6ZWZ 21, 6ZKO 24. Phil 6ZKO was pronounced the winner. It was noted that a modification to the rules was needed to allow Novice operators to claim the same points (double) as those working them. (3) The Chairman opened discussion about the proposed ACA Regulation and Licensing Review. Considerable debate ensued in an attempt to establish a Group position for a submission to the consultative process. It was generally agreed but not unanimously that:- * There should be a "Foundation Licence", which would offer access to all bands and all modes but with power limited to 10 watts. * Strong objection would be made to the ACA proposal to introduce a "no interference" policy for amateur operators in relation to "domestic equipment". It is essential that Amateur Licencees should not be discriminated against and unjustly held responsible for EMC problems due to substandard equipment, or penalized in circumstances where the real or perceived problem cannot be fixed because of non cooperation by neighbours. * The ACA proposal to replace the present State indicator following the VK prefix with an arbitrarily assigned digit 0-9 is strongly opposed. A geographically based callsign allocation template is much preferred as an aid to station identification. The suggested advantage in callsign portability is of lesser significance than consistency of location information carried by the callsign. * The Group supports the process whereby Australia participates in the "CEPT" concept of international interchangeability of Amateur Licences. * The ACA proposal to introduce a form of Class Licensing for Amateur Radio Service as defined by the ITU is not favoured. The present Apparatus Licensing system where individuals hold a station license is preferred. The ACA's own arguments in the Review Discussion Paper on page 29 support the the idea of continuing with the present system. In particular the statement under "Administration" that "...Apparatus Licensing creates a direct relationship between the ACA and individual Amateurs, which is beneficial to both parties in circumstances of interference investigation and resolution..." is by far the preferred position. It also appears that from the ACA's advice under "Reciprocal Licensing" that international interchange is easier to achieve under an Apparatus Licensing regime. Chris 6KCH will prepare a submission to the ACA based on these views. The meeting closed at 2230. ......................President ....................Secretary