� QNEWS MARCH 9 2025 - VK4 ON AIR --------------------------------------------------------------------* DID YOUR CLUB TELL ANYONE ABOUT AMATEUR RADIO THIS WEEK? --------------------------------------------------------------------* THE FOLLOWING NEWS CAN BE HEARD FROM OUR AUDIO SERVICE Available in Audio RIGHT NOW QNEWS thanks to Tony VK7AX can be found on www.vk7ax.id.au/wianews/ 180.150.53.59/wianews/ QNEWS audio ready to download thanks to Brendan VK4BLP from www.wiaq.org.au Also search QNEWS (make sure it IS the Ham Radio QNEWS) in your podcast. --------------------------------------------------------------------* VK4 SILENT KEYS @ WIA YEAR FROM MAY 6 2024 SK CALL SK NAME DATE ADVISED BY VK4PS ALAN STEPHENSON 23/05/24 (vk4zz) VK4FANG ROGER HARNDEN 22/07/24 (vk4zz) X/VK4TC Terry Harding Cain 30/07/24 (vk4zz) VK4CWJ GORDON WEBSTER July 2024 (vk4vp) VK4SWR JOE SEBAST5IANI 03/07/24 (vk4zz) VK4TE ALEX McDONALD 27/09/24 (vk4ra) VK4NL NOEL DESJARDINS 16/10/24 (vk4vp) VK4RG RON GRANDISON 22/12/24 (vk4hit) ---------------------------------------------------------------------* SUNSHINE COAST http://www.wia.org.au/clubs/vk4/SunshineCoastAmateurRadioClub/ Maleny VK4RSC 146.850 and 438.075 VK4RSN 53.7 Noosa Heads VK4RSL 146.825 and 438.175 SCARC is having a car boot sale on March 22nd at the clubrooms 85 Godfreys rd Bli Bli. Entry and traders tables are free but we do require bookings to secure a traders spot. It will be located in the grounds of the clubroom so if you need shade apart from the few large trees, you will have to organise something yourself. There will be Egg and Bacon rolls and drinks for sale as well as some great bargains to be had. Traders can setup from 8am and general entry from 9am Details of how to book a traders spot are on our website - vk4wis.org (Gordon VK4VP) DARLING DOWNS RADIO CLUB http://www.wia.org.au/clubs/vk4/DarlingDownsRadioClub/ vk4wid@gmail.com Hi - I'm John, Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club and this is QNews for Sunday 9 March. I'm sure you all know the phrase "we live in interesting times", and this time is spectacularly interesting. QNews is assembled on the Thursday before broadcast, and written prior to that... so as I record this segment pretty much everything I say is going to be a best guess. Cyclone Alfred is already being felt through preparation for an event with which many of our clan have no experience, and with potential outcomes that nobody can predict beyond likelihood. So the first mantra for today is: whether or not we can predict an event and its outcomes, an event only becomes a disaster when preparation is inadequate, or the situation totally overwhelms resources available to cope with what's happening. The key is planning. Most of what I say from here on is going to be speculative if you're listening on Sunday the 9th, but if you get the text edition that is distributed on Friday you could be ahead of whatever curve is being thrown at us. At this stage, the club meeting on Monday 10 March will go ahead. Simon VK4TSC and Alan VK4AL from the Brisbane WICEN group are coming along to talk about emergency preparedness and WICEN: what WICEN is; what WICEN is not; how WICEN operates in our region; what you'd learn from being involved with WICEN, and how you can get involved. All great topics and extremely relevant to dealing with emergencies. It's still possible that Simon and Alan won't be able to make it from Brisbane, in which case we will either have a natter night at the Toowoomba Library Meeting Room, or we will send an email on Monday afternoon to cancel the meeting. The home page of our website will be updated with latest status, so keep a check. Assuming of course that we can still update the page. Still in in the nature of preparedness, next weekend is the scheduled John Moyle Memorial Field Day event for 2025. Our club is planning to operate in 6-hour mode from the rear of the Danish Flower Art complex on New England Highway just north of Highfields. The rules require that all operations - including battery recharging - be portable and entirely away from power-points and permanent wiring. If you've never done a John Moyle Field Day, here's an interesting opportunity - in the aftermath of Cyclone Alfred - to see how portable operation can work. We will let you know in the coming week how to get involved, what's happening and indeed if our participation is still going ahead. A forward look at the diary. Our next Member Meeting will be on Monday 14 April and the topic is RADAR and LIDAR, and how those are used in mobile situations. Yes, two words that strike fear into the hearts of many on the roads, and two technologies that you might want to understand a bit better. How do they actually work, and when don't they work? All will be revealed. That's the second Monday of the month, which is 14 April, just ahead of Easter. And finally: watch this space for a change of date and possibly venue for our next club lunch. The normal date clashes with Redfest and we think you shouldn't try to be in two places at once. The lunch will probably move to Sunday 13 April, and we will discuss that at the meeting tomorrow. Cyclone Alfred is expected to hit The Downs around the same time that you would hear this on-air. Please stay safe and don't take risks. Keep an eye on our club website for meeting updates, and drop a line to Secretary@ddrci.org.au if we can help. With any luck, internet and phone will still be up, but if not... there's always Amateur Radio! Until next week, 73 from John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club. TOWNSVILLE http://www.wia.org.au/clubs/vk4/TownsvilleAmateurRadioClub/ vk4wit@wia.org.au 4773 1196 or 0408 001142 po box 333 Garbutt East, QLD 4814 www.tarc.org.au TARC did the 2025 Defence Welcome to Townsville Expo. 1st March, the birthday of both the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Navy saw the running of the Defence Welcome to Townsville Expo, organised by the Directorate of Regional Engagement, Defence Member and Family Support, Joint Support Services Division, Military Personnel Organisation, Department of Defence. The Welcome Expos are held in communities where Defence members are stationed and have been held in Townsville for many years. The Townsville Amateur Radio Club Inc. has participated in many of the Expos under the leadership of RAN Veteran Iain Morrison VK4IGM to fly the Amateur Radio flag in the Defence Community. The 2025 Expo was supposed to have been held on Saturday 8th February but had to be deferred due to Defence personnel being deployed in North and Far North Queensland to support relief efforts during the Monsoon Weather Event. With Cyclone Alfred safely out at sea (for Townsville) and with most Defence personnel back in town, the Expo was held at Townsville Stadium, Murray with excellent weather and good attendance from exhibitors and Defence families. theTARCinc was there in strength with fearless leader Iain/VK4IGM assisted by Richard/VK4PQV, Dave/VK4HDG, Lyndall/VK4ZM and Gavin/VK4ZZ setting up at 7-30am with battery operated audio-visual display, a working HF/VHF/UHF transceiver, a HF Loop antenna on tripod, a hands on send your name in Morse Code setup, a live demonstration of Steve/VK4GFR Kiwi-SDR remote controlled receiver, pamphlets and give away copies of Amateur Radio Magazine and Back-scatter. The team were joined by Wallaby Bob/VK4WJ and were kept busy catching up with members of other community organisations (Flinders Region Girl Guides have already grabbed us for JOTA) and fielding enquiries from Defence families. The TARC stand was visited by Grant/VK4GWA who was involved with running the Townsville Aero Modellers stand just down the lane, Marion and Joe/VK4AM (a RAAF veteran), Mark/VK4TSV, Jo and Ben/VK4YT, Peter/VK4PJH and Sammi and Snow/VK4ME (an Australian Army veteran) and we visited Nigel/VK4NAR - The Sallyman - for the occasional coffee refill. We also took turns in going to see Iain/VK4IGM driving a Tuba for Townsville Brass. We were visited by the youth leader of Florence Bay Rovers - they are keen to become radio qualified during 2025. The Midday closing time came around too soon and packing up only took half an hour! The hams finished up and were well satisfied that the presence of Amateur Radio was well re-energised amongst the Defence community and community groups in the Townsville region. Iain/VK4IGM thanks everyone who assisted with the Expo display and hopes for a good roll-up for the early 2026 event. Prepare for lots of rain and a few days imbibing in your favourite ale and nibblies hoping there is not too much wind and the floods go down quickly cheers fm the bleary og --------------------------------------------------------------------* Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. It is just weeks ago that areas to the north were fighting the force of nature with homes flooded and roads cut. Only last week I commented on the vague pattern that was the path of Cyclone Alfred and wished him away. This week the south of Queensland and northern New South Wales are feeling the brunt of what a cyclone can provide and we have no assurance that the system is moving far away or dissipating any time soon. My earliest memories of weather like this are of being stranded on the farm that my parents owned and getting the thrill as military aircraft flew low over the paddocks and dropped fodder to stock on adjoining farms. Back then, the rescue boat was a sturdy wooden vessel propelled by about half a dozen oarsmen whose task was to best the raging brown water to offer assistance. Local radio amateurs used shortwave radios to pass messages to and from the flood bound areas. I was too young to know that they were involved, then. These days the communities depend on the services of emergency workers and volunteers and the boats tend to be metal and powered by petrol engines. A smaller crew means more goods or passengers can be taken aboard. Radio amateurs may assist on an a hoc basis or some are involved in local disaster support but the ubiquitous mobile phone is thought by many to provide communications and safety. As we have personally experienced, when the cell service runs out of battery power people can be without communications for days until battery charging is provided by emergency generators or re-connection of mains electricity. It was with a certain feeling of satisfaction that I watched news reports of retailers running out of generators as the seriousness of the impending threat dawned on people. It is perhaps too late to be reminding listeners about the service an amateur station can provide if there is preparation for conditions like the passage of a cyclone. However the whole situation should provide a lesson in preparedness on personal, domestic and community levels. As we can’t be sure of where Alfred will travel before finally blowing itself out, we should be encouraging others to be properly prepared in the next few days and then look over what did and didn’t work for them. For all those directly effected I trust you stay safe and the disruption to you and your friends and family is not too great. I personally know many amateurs live in the path of the cyclone or its area of influence. I hope your antennas came down when you wanted them and not when the gales hit. I trust you kept your food fresh and the lights stay on. Best wishes from the QNews Team. I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I think�.how about you? (vk4zpp@wia.org.au) -------------------------------------------------------------------* Social Scene VK4 - Redcliffe & Districts Radio Club REDFEST April 12 at Deception Bay North State School. (wiacal) VK - WIA AGM May 3 - 4. Hosted by Bendigo Amateur Radio & Electronics Club and their Technology Expo (vk3gtv/wiacal) VK - Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Association 50th anniversary Glen Waverly July 26 president@alara.org (vk2ayl) VK4 - GOLD COAST AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY � 2025 HAMFEST NOV 9 (vk4dmh) Country Paradise Parklands 231 Beaudesert Nerang Road. TO SUPPLY QNEWS ITEMS:- Send SCRIPT to qnews@wia.org.au send audio to http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/upload/ If you would like to submit club news items for inclusion in QNEWS broadcasts, please email your item in text to:- qnews@wia.org.au THEN submit audio:- To submit audio email qnews@wia.org.au and ask for the current password then read "how to submit items" in the weekly news page on http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/contribute/ Remember the sooner you submit audio material the more the likelihood of it being broadcast in the very next edition QNEWS. Each item will only be broadcast once, if you want a couple of mentions, please submit different slants to keep your event 'fresh .� A reminder when supplying HamFest info we obviously can't plug DEALS from commercial traders "on air", but we at the WIA will put your supporters 'goods' in this text edition "no worries." We will not give blatant 'plugs' to raffles, be it raffles at the event or "on-line". Subscribe: QNEWS-VK+subscribe@groups.io Group Owner: QNEWS-VK+owner@groups.io Help: QNEWS-VK+help@groups.io TO CEASE GETTING THIS EMAILED SERVICE:- Unsubscribe: QNEWS-VK+unsubscribe@groups.io WHO LISTENS TO RADIO? WHEN IS NEWS READY TO DOWNLOAD? Join the REBROADCASTERS List? (subscribe for an automatic feed.) Email to vk1wia-broadcasters-join@lists.wia.org.au from the email account that you wish the emails to go to. -----------------------------ENDS------------------------------------*