[continued from previous message]   
      
   The Board of Directors of the  Yasme Foundation has also announced that it   
   has made a grant to support a portion of RM Noise operating costs. The RM   
   Noise project uses AI with the goal of removing noise from SSB voice or CW.   
      
   ournetplace.com/rm-noise/   
      
   Recognizing industry growth and student demand, a university in northern   
   Washington State in the US has developed a full Electrical and Computer   
      
   Engineering Department on its campus - and it's being chaired by an amateur   
   radio operator, KG 7 WFT.   
      
      
   The Zero Retries Newsletter, which reports the development in its latest   
   edition, said that Janelle Leger, dean of the College of Science and   
   Engineering, credited student and industry demand as the primary reasons for   
   creation of a new department. She said the move is being made with support   
   from the state to create the degree programs. Majors will select from four   
   programs, which include wireless networking and signal processing focus, as   
   well as AI, electronics and energy.   
      
      
   The professor chairing the new department is Andy Klein. On the university   
   website, the professor writes that having a standalone department will pave   
   the way to creating partnerships and internships with companies and generate   
   more internships for students. Andy Klein is an amateur radio operator who   
   received the callsign KG7WFT in July.   
      
   SOUTH AFRICA   
      
   All successful candidates from the October Radio Amateur Examination who   
   submitted their documents have had their licence applications filed with   
   ICASA. This has been confirmed by the SARL RAE Manager.   
      
      
   ICASA has committed to issuing the licences as soon as possible. Once the   
   SARL receives them, they will be e-mailed to candidates. Candidates are   
   reminded that the SARL agreement with ICASA allows new operators to go on the   
   air as soon as they receive their exam results and call signs, even before   
   the licence document arrives.   
      
      
   It's congratulations to the team at the Radio Society of Great Britain's   
   National Radio Centre, NRC.   
      
   They were selected for the 2025 Sir Arthur Clarke Education and Outreach Team   
   Award for their work advancing knowledge into amateur radio satellite   
   communications. The British Interplanetary Society conferred the award which   
   was accepted by RSGB General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB; NRC Coordinator   
   Martyn Baker, G0GMB; and NRC Volunteer Brian Hardy, G4BIP.   
      
      
   The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is taking steps to ban a   
   China-based telecom company from providing international and domestic telecom   
   services to and within the U.S.   
      
      
   The FCCs Order to Show Cause begins the process of revoking the authority of   
   HKT (International) Limited and its subsidiaries. The FCC says that HKT is   
   affiliated with a CCP-controlled entitynamely, China Unicom, which the FCC   
   says is on its Covered List due to national security concerns.   
      
      
   The Commission says that its action against HKT is consistent with previous   
   bipartisan efforts to deny or revoke authorizations to Chinese state-owned   
   enterprises seeking to provide telecommunication services in the U.S.   
      
      
   If your plans next year include attending Ham Radio Friedrichshafen in   
   Germany, you may want to set aside a day to consider some sky-gazing that has   
   long been a companion to amateur radio.   
      
      
   Astro, an astronomy trade fair is making its premiere next year. The   
   exhibition centre that will be home to the large ham radio trade fair from   
   June 26th through to the 28th will also be welcoming amateur astronomers and   
   technology hobbyists on June 27th. Space is being set aside in Hall B1 for   
   the trade fair focusing on astronomy, astrophotography and related   
   activities, giving hams and others many more worlds to explore.   
      
   WEIRD AND WONDERFUL   
      
   THIS, will be music to your ears, or maybe not. Jim Davis W2JKD explains.   
      
   "When the musician-composer duo of Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe launched their   
   new album, "Liminal," on the 10th of October, they really launched it, in   
   every sense of the word. On Facebook, Brian Eno described the pair's musical   
   partnership as [quote] "exploring an intimate and unfamiliar new sonic world"   
   [endquote]. So what better venue for it than some far-away sonic world? The   
   pair beamed the album into space via microwave transmission five days after   
   its release. At the helm of Liminal's lift-off was Nobel Prize-winning   
   physicist Robert Wilson operating the Holmdel Horn Antenna in New Jersey   
   which had played a role in helping prove the Big Bang Theory.   
      
      
   The microwave horn antenna, as it turns out, is a well-tuned instrument of   
   music as well as science. For Beatie Wolfe, this was actually its encore   
   performance. Robert Wilson helped broadcast a previous album of hers in 2017,   
   a work known as "Raw Space."   
      
      
   Music, the universal language, is now the universe's language. Even NASA has   
   got into the act. In 2008 the space agency marked its 50th anniversary by   
   sending a recording of the Beatles' "Across the Universe" into deep space.   
   Last year its Deep Space Station 13 radio dish antenna in California beamed   
   the first hip-hop song into space, Missy Elliott's "The Rain (Supa Dupa   
   Fly)."   
      
      
   This past May, the European Space Agency broadcast a Vienna Symphony   
   Orchestra performance of Johann Strauss' "Blue Danube Waltz" from its radio   
   antenna in Spain at the speed of light in the direction of the Voyager 1   
   probe.   
      
      
   This is the never-ending journey of music. It is now surrounded by   
   constellations and CubeSats, dancing with the stars.   
      
      
   This is Jim Davis, W2JKD".   
      
   -------------------------------------------------------------------   
      
   OPERATIONAL NEWS - A FELIX VK4FUQ PRESENTATION   
   --------------   
      
   YOTA Contests December   
      
   The Fishers Ghost Amateur Radio Club are hosting the inaugural   
   VK YOTA CONTEST, the entire month of December.   
   yota.fgarc.org.au/   
      
   Then just 3 days from the end of what we call the VK YOTA CONTEST comes   
   ROUND 3 of the YOTA contest organized by the IARU R1 Youth Working Group   
   in cooperation with the Hungarian Amateur Radio Society.   
      
   DECEMBER 29.   
      
   A great way to gain extra contacts for the VK Contest organised by   
   Fishers Ghost AR Club.   
      
   yotacontest.mrasz.org   
      
   --------------   
   --------------   
   NOW CONTEST WISE:- 2026   
   --------------   
   ---------------   
      
   1st January 2026  NZART Centenary 100 QSO Challenge   
      
   You are invited to kick off the NZART Centenary year in style with a fun,   
   on-air event. Can you make 100 contacts in 24 hours?   
      
   1101 31 December 2025 UTC, i.e.  0001 NZDT 1st January 2026 to   
   1059  1 January  2026 UTC,     2359 NZDT 1   January 2026.   
   Object:   
   To celebrate the start of the 2026 NZART Centenary Year by making 100 QSOs   
   with amateur radio stations in 24 hours.   
      
      
   All bands including WARC as this is NOT a contest.   
   All modes are permitted.   
      
   Special categories include   
      
   Most Portable stations:Most DXCC Entities:   
   The fastest to work 100 QSOs as judged by the time of their hundredth QSO.   
   Most Modes: For the person who uses the most different modes in makingtheir   
   100 QSOs.   
      
      
   Full details on the new NZART site which Bruce will tell us about in a   
   moment, but the link is in the text edition of this weeks WIA NATIONAL NEWS   
      
      
   sites.google.com/view/zl-amateur-radio-hsistory?usp=sharing   
   (NZART)   
      
   MARCH - Jock White Memorial Field Day   
      
   This annual contest is named to honour Jock White ZL2GX, NZART Contest   
   and Awards Manager for over 40 years, for the service that he gave to   
   NZART during that time.   
      
   Feb 28, Saturday, 1500-2400 NZDT and Sunday March one 0600-1500 NZDT.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)