[continued from previous message]   
      
   Volunteers, the WIA Board and to the many stakeholders that the WIA engage   
   with all around the World, we wish you all and your families a very Merry   
   Christmas, prosperous and safe 2025.   
      
      
   To Graham VK4BB, on behalf of everyone at the WIA, thank you for your   
   tireless work in bringing us this broadcast every week without fail.   
      
   I look forward to the year ahead and this has been Scott Williams, WIA   
   President .   
      
      
   Merry Christmas to all.   
      
   I'm Pete Cherry VK2LP, the Returning Officer of the Wireless Institute of   
   Australia.   
      
      
   Election of Directors for the WIA   
      
   In early November I announced that nominations to become a director of the   
   WIA were open.   
      
      
   There are 4 positions up for election this time around.   
      
   Nominations for position of WIA Director closed at 2.30pm on 16 December   
   2024.   
      
      
   At the conclusion of the period allowed for nomination there were 5   
   nominations.   
      
      
   Accordingly, an election will be held by Ballot.   
      
   Details of the nominees will be emailed to all members and published in the   
   January/February edition of Amateur Radio magazine.   
      
      
   Members must be financial as at 31 December 2024 in order to vote in this   
   election.   
      
      
   Election material will be sent by email to all members, so please check the   
   membership portal to ensure that your correct email address is recorded.   
      
      
   This year the election will be held electronically with an option for a   
   postal vote.   
      
      
   Application for a postal vote was printed on the reverse side of the Amateur   
   Radio Magazines November / December issues address label.   
      
      
   An application for a postal vote is also available for download from the WIA   
   web site.   
      
      
   A link is in the text edition of this broadcast.   
      
   Registration for a Postal Vote have been open since November and will close   
   at 2.30pm on Tuesday 24 December 2024.   
      
      
   An Application for a postal vote may be posted to the WIA post office box or   
   delivered to the National Office or sent by email to the returning officer.   
      
      
   Details of which are on the application for a postal vote form.   
      
   This announcement has been spoken and authorised by Pete Cherry VK2LP, the   
   Returning Officer of the Wireless Institute of Australia.   
      
      
   Now back to the special ALARA edition of the WIA National News.   
      
   AUSTRALIANA   
      
   Researchers from the University of South Australia (UniSA) have   
   developed an innovative night-time navigation system for drones   
   by combining celestial navigation with vision-based technology.   
      
   Designed for environments where GPS is unreliable or unavailable,   
   the system identifies stars in images captured by the drone and   
   comparing them to a database, achieving positioning within 4 km   
   during tests on a fixed-wing drone.   
      
   Unlike traditional star-based navigation systems, UniSAs solution   
   is lightweight, cost-effective, and does not require stabilisation   
   hardware, making it suitable for smaller drones.   
      
   (vk7news)   
      
   Australia's competition watchdog said there was a need to revisit   
   efforts to ensure greater choice for internet users, citing Google's   
   dominant search engine market share and its competitors' failure to   
   capitalise on the artificial intelligence boom.   
      
   Australia has intensified the spotlight on the tech giants, which are   
   mostly domiciled in the US. It was the first country to make social   
   media platforms pay media outlets royalties for sharing their content   
   and last month, it passed a law that banned social media for children   
   aged under 16, and has proposed a law that could impose fines of up to   
   $50 million on tech giants if they suppress competition and prevent   
   consumers from switching between services.   
      
   These proposed measures have been agreed to in principle by the   
   government, ACCC said, and it will close its enquiry by next March.   
      
   (itnews.com.au)   
      
   EDUCATION.   
      
   North East Radio Group (NERG) Training Courses   
      
   NERG have 3 accredited assessors and conduct regular in person training   
   at their Briar Hill club rooms. In person training provides students a   
   more interactive environment to learn, ask questions and meet   
   likeminded people.   Over the last year NERG has successfully trained   
   and guided 18 Foundation and 5 Advanced students to get their   
   certificates and gained 20 new members for the club.   
      
   NERG will continue in person training in 2025   
      
   Foundation Training and Exams:  One day training and exam session   
   the 4th Saturday of the month starting February   
      
   Standard and Advanced Exams:  From 2:00pm ALSO 4th Saturday of   
   the month.   
      
   Advanced Training sessions Tuesday nights from 7:30 over 12 to 14   
   week period commencing Tuesday 11th February.   
      
   Everyone interested in attending one of these sessions should contact   
   NERG via email at training@nerg.asn.au or visit the NERG   
   website   
      
   nerg.asn.au   
      
   (sourced to VK3BOY)   
   ------------------------------------------------------------*   
   INTERNATIONAL NEWS is with thanks to ARRL, DX-WORLD, eHam, Hackaday,   
   IARU, ICQPodcast, IRTS, NEWSLINE, NZART, RAC, Radioworld.com, RSGB,   
   SARL and the World Wide sources of the WIA.   
      
   The IARU Monitoring System has released a log with accompanying video   
   of hundreds of examples of non-amateur transmissions taking place   
   across the amateur radio HF bands during 2024.   
      
   Examples include DRM broadcasts from Communications University of   
   China, SuperDARN radars from across the globe, CODAR, British,   
   over-the-horizon-radar, as well as CBers and pirate radio operators.   
      
   All these hundreds of non-amateur transmissions - the majority of them,   
   long-lasting - are a big annoyance for we amateur radio operators   
   that try to enjoy our hobby in the bands that are allocated to us for   
   that purpose, as they drastically reduce the usable spectrum in these   
   bands.   
      
   Click through to the PDF to see YouTube videos of SDR recordings of   
   many of these instances of non-amateur transmissions.   
      
   tinyurl.com/373b6hc2   
      
   Graduation day came early for a group of students at Staten Island   
   Technical High School in the USA, an ARRL Education Model School that   
   grew out of the league's Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology.   
      
   One hundred and fifty-nine students, that's correct 159, took and   
   PASSED their FCC licensing exams - 18 of them upgrading to General   
   and Amateur Extra.   
      
   The program is overseen at the school by teacher Everton Henriques   
   KD 2 ZZT.   
      
   The students received congratulations from the league's Education and   
   Learning Manager Steve Goodgame, K5ATA and ARRL Hudson Division   
   Director Ed Wilson N2XDD.   
      
   The world turned its attention to Kolkata as HamFest India 24 when it   
   opened its doors to hundreds from the international amateur radio   
   community.   
      
   Delegates representing the amateur radio community from Nepal, Oman,   
   Germany, Dubai, the US - and more than 16 states from around India   
   converged in Kolkata on the 14th and 15th of December for HamFest India   
   24. The national amateur radio convention took place at the   
   Sister Nivedita University and was hosted by OSCAR India.   
   OSCAR India is an organisation with an educational mission and its   
   name stands for Open Source Classes for Amateur Radio.   
      
   Participants included representatives from the Nagaland State Disaster   
   Management Authority, the National Disaster Response Force, the   
   India Meteorological Department and the National Disaster Management   
   Authority.   
      
   Still in Kolkata India:   
      
   A student from New Barrackpore, who was suffering from memory loss and   
   went missing a couple of years ago, was found in a Prayagraj asylum.   
      
   He had been arrested by UP police.   
      
   The student was reunited with his family thanks to the efforts of a   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)