[continued from previous message]   
      
   The Board has determined that the election of directors shall be   
   conducted by ballot. Nominations opened on 1st November 2024.   
      
   Four directors retire at the conclusion of the next Annual General   
   Meeting which will be held in May 2025, namely Scott Williams VK3KJ,   
   Peter Clee VK8ZZ, Giles Kirby VK5GK and Peter Schrader VK4EA.   
   Each retiring director is eligible for re-election.   
      
   Nominations are called for from persons seeking election as a director   
   of the WIA.   
      
   A director must be a voting member of the WIA, must hold an Australian   
   amateur radio license and a Company Director Identification Number.   
   Any person wishing to nominate as a candidate for election as director   
   of the WIA must deliver or cause to be delivered to the Returning   
   Officer a WIA nomination form by not later than 2.30pm on 16th   
   December 2024. The forms are available on the WIA web site or you may   
   telephone the national office to receive a nomination form.   
      
   tinyurl.com/mr4cabfv   
      
   Candidate information will be posted online and emailed to members.   
      
   Members are requested to ensure that their email address is correctly   
   recorded on the WIA membership register.   
      
   Nominations received by facsimile or by electronic means cannot be   
   accepted.   
      
   This has been Pete Cherry VK2LP   
   WIA Returning Officer   
   ------------------------------------------------------------*   
   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.   
      
   3 STRIKES AND THEY'RE DOWN.   
      
   A tower broadcasting a Missouri AM station is the third to be   
   destroyed in October, after the 75-year-old structure collapsed   
   on October 24. A snapped guy wire caused the tower for Joplins   
   KRMO-AM 990 to fall to the northwest, narrowly missing the   
   transmitter hut.   
      
   According to the Lawrence County Record, Eagle Broadcasting co-owner   
   Dewayne Gandy was mowing near the site when he witnessed the towers   
   sudden fall. The structure, built in 1949, had recently undergone   
   maintenance.   
      
   The Gandys say they will rebuild the tower on the same site.   
      
   The collapse is the latest in a string of incidents leading to the   
   destruction of broadcast towers in the USA.   
      
   A helicopter crash near downtown Houston on October 20 resulted in   
   four fatalities and caused the collapse of a tower broadcasting two   
   TelevisaUnivision stations. They were struck off air when the private   
   touring helicopter made contact with the structure.   
      
   A hot-air balloon participating in the Albuquerque International   
   Balloon Fiesta collided with and destroyed a 650-foot AM radio tower   
   October 11. The Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office reported that the   
   balloon, carrying three passengers, landed safely in a nearby field.   
      
   FELIX VK4FUQ told you about it, and that special event DX has now come   
   and gone.   
      
   October 18 the RSGB, Mill Hill School and a team of radio amateurs in   
   New Zealand marked the centenary of the first successful two-way   
   trans-global communication between radio amateurs in the UK and   
   New Zealand.   
      
   The original contact between Frank Bell, 4AA in New Zealand and   
   Cecil Goyder, 2SZ in Mill Hill School in North London was re-enacted   
   at the school on a wavelength as close as possible to the original.   
      
   Members of 2SZ's family watched the re-enactment and chatted to   
   pupils. As part of wider celebrations for the day, the school put on   
   activities including a build-a-radio workshop.   
      
   RSGB Life Vice-President Don Beattie, G3BJ said that he was delighted   
   by the success of the event and that it had given pupils the   
   opportunity to learn how ground-breaking that first radio contact was   
   with New Zealand.   
      
   Call sign G2SZ was operational for four days surrounding the   
   centenary, during which operators achieved approximately 1,250   
   contacts.   
   A CONTEST A LIL DIFFERENT   
      
   SWL Contest 2025   
      
   For SWLs interested in medium and shortwave broadcast DX, you may be   
   interested to learn about a dedicated SWL contest taking place next   
   year. The contest will start on the 1st of January 2025 and finish on   
   the 28th of February 2025.   
      
   The categories include the 522 to 1710 kHz medium wave band only,   
   the 2.300 MHz to 26.100 MHz shortwave bands, or a combined   
   medium and shortwave band category.   
      
   You can use a real radio or a web-based software-defined receiver.   
      
   Further information may be found via a web search for   
   "SWL Contest 2025".   
      
   swling.com/blog/2024/10/frank-provides-swl-contest-2025-updated-rules/   
      
   Administration Eases Restrictions On Space-Related Exports   
      
   The Biden administration has eased export restrictions on U.S.   
   commercial space companies to ship certain satellite and   
   spacecraft-related items to allies and partners.   
   The changes are intended to make it easier for the growing U.S.   
   commercial space industry to expand sales while also protecting   
   national security and foreign policy interests.   
      
   Certain items involving remote sensing spacecraft or space-based   
   logistics assembly, and servicing spacecraft will no longer need   
   licenses for shipment to Australia, as an example, the Commerce   
   Department said.   
      
   Some less sensitive satellite and spacecraft parts and components will   
   no longer require licenses for shipment to over 40 countries. The   
   countries include Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and most of   
   the European Union.   
      
   Singapores 4300 km Undersea Transmission Line With Australia   
   Clears Regulatory Hurdle.   
      
   Recently Singapores Energy Market Authority (EMA)  granted Sun Cable   
   conditional approval for its transmission line with Australia.   
   Singapore has been faced for years now with the dilemma that its   
   populations energy needs keep increasing year-over-year, while it has   
   very little space to build out its energy-producing infrastructure,   
   least of all renewables with their massive footprints. This has left   
   Singapore virtually completely dependent on natural gas-burning   
   thermal plants.   
      
   With no nearby countries to obtain excess power from as is common in   
   e.g. the EUs integrated energy market, an idea was floated in 2020   
   by Australian company Sun Cable for the project, called the   
   Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPL). This would entail two transmission   
   lines:   
      
   The 800 km long DarwinLink to a yet-to-be-built multi-GW, 12,400   
   hectares solar farm in the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory.   
   This link would be rated for 4 GW of transmission capacity.   
      
   The 4300 km long SingaporeLink HVDC line from Darwin to Singapore,   
   rated for 2 GW (1.75 GW after losses).   
      
   The current planning for the whole Sun Cable project is set for   
   completion by 2035, with construction yet to begin on all components.   
   There are still many uncertainties to be resolved, as the 1.75 GW that   
   would be provided 24/7 to Singapore would have to be backed up by   
   significant grid-level storage on both sides, which is not an easy   
   problem to solve.   
      
   If completed, it would be the worlds longest electricity transmission   
   line.   
      
   -------------------------------------------------------------------   
      
   OPERATIONAL NEWS - A FELIX VK4FUQ PRESENTATION   
      
   --------------   
   --------------   
   NOW CONTEST WISE:- 2024   
   --------------   
   --------------   
      
   THIS WEEKEND NOVEMBER 2-3   
      
   The International Police Association Radio Club has invited all radio   
   amateurs around the world to take part in its contest which takes   
   place every year on the first complete weekend in November.   
      
   This year, the CW section Saturday 2 November from 0600 to 1800UTC.   
   The SSB section Sunday 3 November from 0600 to 1800UTC.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)