[continued from previous message]   
      
   as we learned to do during the many lockdowns of 2020.   
      
      
   Our club ran a Fox Hunt and BBQ earlier in the year, and that was massively   
   successful.  We're planning an end-of-year event based on the same process.   
      
      
   But the biggest gains come when you think really big.	The Darling Downs   
   Radio Club recently had the opportunity to be part of the Toowoomba Carnival   
   of Flowers.  We started by wondering if we could help with communications and   
   marshalling - the traditional skills of a radio club.  But since that was   
   largely covered by others, we looked further and realised that we could   
   actually be IN the parade with a float.  A bit more of the story about what   
   we did - and the video of how we looked - is on our website at ddrci.org.au.   
   If we'd just done comms, hardly anyone would have seen us.  By leaping for a   
   higher bar, we were seen by tens of thousands of people, the council knows   
   exactly who we are now, we attracted a few more members, we have the   
   attention of several businesses and partners, and we created new merch.   
   Everyone benefits.  Oh, and those of us who were in the parade had a REALLY   
   good time.   
      
      
   So if you're a member of a club, on the committee of a club, or an outsider   
   looking for ways to make things more interesting:  go social!   
      
      
   I'd love to know what you think.  secretary@ddrci.org.au and look for the   
   Parade story on our website at ddrci.org.au.   
      
      
   I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club... but really for ham radio   
   all over the country.  Let's have fun with our hobby.   
      
   AUSTRALIANA   
      
   At the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) taking place in Sydney this   
   week, representatives from the United States and Australia gathered to sign a   
   framework agreement that strengthens collaboration in aeronautics and space   
   exploration between the two nations.   
      
      
   Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy and Australian Space Agency Head Enrico   
   Palermo signed the agreement Tuesday on behalf of their countries,   
   respectively.   
      
      
   Australia is an important and long-time space partner, from Apollo to   
   Artemis, and this agreement depends on that partnership, said Duffy.   
   International agreements like this one work to leverage our resources and   
   increase our capacities and scientific returns for all, proving critical to   
   NASAs plans from low Earth orbit to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.   
      
      
   Australian Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science Tim   
   Ayres said the signing builds on more than half a century of collaboration   
   between the two nations.   
      
      
   Strengthening Australias partnership with the U.S. and NASA creates new   
   opportunities for Australian ideas and technologies, improving Australias   
   industrial capability, boosting productivity, and building economic   
   resilience, Ayres said.   
      
      
   Known as the Framework Agreement between the Government of the United States   
   of America and the Government of Australia on Cooperation in Aeronautics and   
   the Exploration and Use of Airspace and Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes, it   
   recognizes cooperation thats mutually beneficial for the U.S. and Australia   
   and establishes the legal framework under which the countries will work   
   together.   
      
      
   Potential areas for cooperation include space exploration, space science,   
   Earth science including geodesy, space medicine and life sciences,   
   aeronautics research, and technology.   
      
      
   NASA has collaborated with Australia on civil space activities since 1960,   
   when the two countries signed their first cooperative space agreement. The   
   Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex played a vital role in supporting   
   NASAs Apollo Program, most notably during the Apollo 13 mission. Today, the   
   complex is one of three global stations in NASAs Deep Space Network,   
   supporting both robotic and human spaceflight missions.   
      
      
   One of the original signatories to the Artemis Accords, Australia joined the   
   United States under President Donald Trump and six other nations in October   
   2020, in supporting a basic set of principles for the safe and responsible   
   use of space. Global space leaders from many of the 56 signatory countries   
   met at IAC in Sydney this week to further their implementation.   
      
      
   As part of an existing partnership with the Australian Space Agency,   
   Australia is developing a semi-autonomous lunar rover, which will carry a   
   NASA analysis instrument intended to demonstrate technology for scientific   
   and exploration purposes. The rover is scheduled to launch by the end of this   
   decade through NASAs CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.   
      
      
   NASAs international partnerships reflect the agencys commitment to peaceful,   
   collaborative space exploration. Building on a legacy of cooperation, from   
   the space shuttle to the International Space Station and now Artemis,   
   international partnerships support NASAs plans for lunar exploration under   
   the Artemis campaign and future human exploration of Mars.   
      
   ------------------------------------------------------------*   
   INTERNATIONAL NEWS is with thanks to Amateur Radio Daily, ARRL,   
   DX-WORLD, eHam, Hackaday, IARU, IRTS, NEWSLINE, NZART,  RAC,   
   Radioworld.com, RSGB, SARL and the World Wide sources of WIA.   
   Ray Pratt, 92, has made friends with fellow radio users all over the world   
   for more than four decades. But the wheelchair user says this vital link   
   could now be severed as Stockton Council would not let him keep the two poles   
   supporting an antenna in his back garden.   
      
      
   No neighbours put objections in to the widower and great-grandfather's   
   planning application. But the council rejected it, saying the slim metal 10m   
   and 7.5m "masts" outside his bungalow were clearly visible over fences, from   
   gardens and above rooftops. Planning officers argued the structures were   
   "lightweight and slender" but 3.7m taller than the bungalows. They said the   
   poles "would dominate the rear gardens harming their enjoyment for the   
   neighbouring residents."   
      
      
   Ray, a former fisherman and tanker driver who has served in the Merchant   
   Navy, said: "They've told me to take it down. It's my life. I think it's   
   disastrous. It's taken away my life. I'm 92, I probably haven't got long to   
   go and they're going to deny me the little bit I've got left." Ray has his   
   radio equipment set up in a back room and logs all his contacts on the   
   airwaves each day. He said: "I can be here for hours, if the conditions are   
   good, just talking to people."   
      
      
   The RSGB was pleased to welcome Callum Anderson, MP for Buckingham and   
   Bletchley, to the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park recently.   
   Callum enjoyed seeing the history of radio, watching live CW contacts and   
   listening to his voice coming back from space, having been relayed via   
   satellite.   
      
   Callum was invited to meet a small group of senior RSGB representatives   
   who emphasised the important role of amateur radio in encouraging young   
   people into an engineering career. Getting involved in Science,   
   Technology, Engineering and Maths activities gives a great foundation   
   that could lead some young people to follow in the footsteps of radio   
   amateur pioneers who led the development of many wireless technologies   
   that we rely on today the RSGB emphasised.   
      
   Most importantly the visit gave the RSGB an opportunity to show the   
   problems that Electro Magnetic Disturbance can cause to wireless   
   reception. Examples of EMD include household appliances, Broadband FTTC   
   and green energy from solar panels and windfarms, where the signal levels   
   are thousands of times stronger than the expected levels given in   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)