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   I am Pete Cherry VK2LP, the WIA Returning Officer with an update on the   
   WIA Elections.   
      
   As previously advised four (4) directors will retire at the conclusion of   
   the next Annual General Meeting which will be held in May 2025.   
      
   These Directors are:-   
   Giles Kirby VK5GK, Scott Williams VK3KJ, Peter Clee VK8ZZ and Peter Schrader   
   VK4EA. Each retiring director was eligible for re-nomination.   
      
   A call for nominations for the position of Director of the WIA was made in   
   the WIA National News Broadcast and in Amateur Radio Magazine in accordance   
   with the Election Regulations.   
      
   I advised that five (5) nominations from WIA members were received for the   
   position as director of the WIA. These nominations were valid and received   
   by the advertised closing date.   
      
   Those nominations were for:   
   Giles Kirby			VK5GK   
   Klaus Illhardt 		VK3IU   
   Peter Clee			VK8ZZ	   
   Peter Schrader  		VK4EA   
   Scott Williams 		VK3KJ   
      
   As there will be four (4) vacancies at the conclusion of the AGM and five   
   nominations were received, an election was necessary. Voting was by   
   electronic means and 14 members elected to vote by postal ballot. Voting   
   opened on the 1st of February 2025 and closed on the 28th of February 2025.   
      
   With the voting not being compulsory, voter participation was very high.   
   Over 44% of eligible voters cast their vote.   
      
   Counting had been finalised and an email went out to Members on 28 March   
   with the results.   
      
   The results were the four incumbent Directors being re-elected.   
      
   FOR FULL DETAILS CLICK HERE   
   vote.electionrunner.com/election/ANPop/results   
      
   I take this opportunity to thank all of the nominees and congratulate the   
   successful candidates on their election to that important role. And thank   
   you to all the members who cast their vote.   
      
   This has been Pete Cherry VK2LP   
   WIA Returning Officer   
   ------------------------------------------------------------*   
   INTERNATIONAL NEWS is with thanks to Amateur Radio Daily, ARRL, DX-WORLD,   
   eHam, Hackaday, IARU, ICQPodcast, IRTS, NEWSLINE, NZART, RAC,   
   Radioworld.com, RSGB, SARL and the World Wide sources of the WIA.   
      
   Mark Gooding, NZART Returning Officer has posted the results of the New   
   Zealand election where he reports that the voting papers received   
   represented 13.28% of the total membership of NZART.   
      
   Those positions being voted on were:-   
      
   North Island Warren Harris ZL2AJ with 136 votes.   
   Don Wallace ZL2TLL - 119   
      
   Elsewhere Cam Woods ZL1DKS - 106   
   Terry James ZL1HOG  98   
      
   Others such as President and South Island did not require votes.   
   The Directorate of IPandT orchestrated an exciting Scientific Expedition   
   for students from Sri Vijaya Puram and nearby areas, offering a unique   
   glimpse into the fascinating world of Amateur Radio.   
      
   Sri Vijaya Puram, is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,   
   a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal.   
      
   The event, held at the Andaman Sunset View Resort in Mouwa Dera, Kurmadera,   
   brought together 35 students from classes 6 to 9 of Government schools,   
   who had the rare opportunity to engage with foreign experts from   
   DX Adventure, Belgium.   
   Repair work that a ham radio operator and fellow club members conducted on a   
   shared repeater site in Washington State has cost the ham his government   
   job.   
      
   Asotin County officials said that Russell Pelleberg KA7MPX was not   
   authorized to give the other members of the Hells Gate Amateur Radio Club   
   access to the secure site and that their work caused a communications outage   
   and a power meter disturbance for other users of the site. County agencies   
   operate two nearby radio repeaters and the local utility, Clearwater Power   
   Co., also has facilities.   
      
   According to a report in the Lewiston Tribune, KA7MPX said he had discussed   
   the work with county commissioners and they appeared to be supportive.   
   He told investigators that he had even written a resolution for the county   
   to vote on but there were delays producing the document. The newspaper   
   report said he has apologized on behalf of the club for proceeding ahead of   
   the necessary vote and that the hams meant no harm.   
      
   No criminal charges were filed or recommended. Pelleberg, who has worked in   
   government for 35 years, was terminated from his job as the countys   
   public works director in late January.   
   Organised crime gangs are turning to AI-powered scams and payment systems to   
   target victims, allowing them to rapidly and more cheaply scale up   
   operations globally and making them harder to detect, Europol has warned.   
      
   AI technology means they can craft messages in multiple languages and create   
   highly realistic dupes to impersonate individuals and blackmail targets in   
   global cyber fraud operations, the law enforcement agency of the EU said in   
   its European Serious Organised Crime Threat Assessment report.   
      
   "The very DNA of organised crime is changing. Criminal networks have evolved   
   into global, technology-driven criminal enterprises, exploiting digital   
   platforms, illicit financial flows, and geopolitical instability to expand   
   their influence," Catherine De Bolle, Europols executive director, said.   
      
   In early December 24, it said it had taken down an encrypted messaging   
   service MATRIX that was used for international drug and arms trafficking.   
      
   Europol listed cyber-attacks, migrant smuggling, drug and firearms   
   trafficking and wrongdoing in waste management among the fastest growing   
   criminal threats on the European continent.   
   Researchers have broken a distance record in quantum communication by   
   sending a secret encryption key nearly 13,000 km from China to   
   South Africa, using a cheap, lightweight microsatellite.   
      
   The satellite was able to send pulses of laser light, put into special   
   quantum states, from a rooftop in Beijing to another at Stellenbosch   
   University near Cape Town.   
      
   The pulses formed a quantum key that was used to encrypt two images   
   one of Chinas Great Wall and one showing part of Stellenboschs campus.   
   The feat, a kind of encryption known as quantum key distribution, is a step   
   towards being able to send ultra-secure messages between any two locations,   
   however distant.   
   Some 175 scientists, students, professors, and amateur radio operators from   
   around the world gathered in person and virtually mid-March to share   
   research, educate each other, and network at the annual HamSCI Workshop.   
      
   HamSCI, the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation program, aims to promote   
   collaboration between science, amateur radio, and education. The 2025   
   workshop was hosted this year by the New Jersey Institute of Technology.   
   The program featured 30 talks and two dozen poster presentations, many   
   focused on the HamSCI communitys research activities during the 2023   
   annular and 2024 total solar eclipses and its ongoing programs to involve   
   amateur radio operators in collecting data for research on space weather and   
   its impact on the ionosphere.   
      
   Now we all can visit and enjoy the YouTube video of the event by clicking   
   the link we like on this weeks WIA National News.   
      
   youtube.com/watch?v=VGoP7hYjGhQ   
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   OPERATIONAL NEWS - A FELIX VK4FUQ PRESENTATION   
      
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   NOW CONTEST WISE:- 2025   
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   CQ WPX Contest is on air as I speak with SSB March 29 - 30.   
   The CQ World Wide WPX SSB Contest uses the 160 to 10m bands   
   where contests are permitted, the exchange is   
   signal report and serial number.   
      
   CW version will happen May 24 - 25.   
      
   (cq/rsgb)   
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   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)