� QNEWS MARCH 30 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) VK4NOE FRED WHITE 29/01/25 (vk4eht) ---------------------------------------------------------------------* DARLING DOWNS RADIO CLUB http://www.wia.org.au/clubs/vk4/DarlingDownsRadioClub/ vk4wid@gmail.com Hi, I'm John VK4JPM Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club on QNEWS for Sunday 30th of March. We are officially one quarter of the way into 2025 and the club is just getting started. In celebration of that, a short one this week with the pointers that you might have missed if you weren't listening to last week or the week before. And it's important to know because in two weeks we have a run of three events back-to-back, and everything is different. Here we go. On Saturday 12 April, many of us will be heading to Redfest. You'll recognise us thanks to the bright yellow badges, so come and say "hi". And now for something completely different. As you've heard, this year Redfest clashes with our regular bimonthly club lunch date. So we've moved lunch to the next day, on Sunday 13 April, and we're going to try a new location a bit down in the valley. Come along and meet the gang at the Withcott Hotel, just at the bottom of the range. We'll be at the front dining area, probably near the fireplace, and we won't be hard to spot. The Withcott is conveniently located on the highway, has a ton of parking, and has a reputation for a good meal. This is an informal gathering, so just turn up. Bring a mate or the family, and you don't need to be a member. And closing the trifecta on our three club events in a row: Monday 14 April is our next member meeting and will be held at the Toowoomba Library at 1900. Our treasurer, Cameron VK4CSS will talk about RADAR and LIDAR. Cam will present about radar and lidar speed measurement, including the history of radar and lidar; give a brief chat about over-the-horizon radar; explain how radar speed measurement work including videos to demonstrate, and he'll talk about when radar or lidar doesn't work. And why would you want to attend? Well, you might even learn something about both technologies that could save you being accused of an action that can't be proved or where the measurement can be shown to be inaccurate. Got it? The date again: 1700 on Monday 14 April at the Toowoomba Library - where the parking is plentiful and under cover, and once again we welcome members and non-members alike. Finally: calling all Fox Hunters. Saturday 10th of May is our inaugural annual Club Fox Hunt and BBQ day. It's all been mapped out; we'll shortly tell you the starting location for participants, and the lunch location for people who just want the BBQ. In between starting line and lunch we'll be making it easy for first time FoxHunters, and interesting for those who have done this before. Start thinking about pulling a team together. And members of other clubs are welcome to join us, especially if you think you can teach us a thing or two! As always: all this info, along with any updates, is on our website at www.ddrci.org.au. Just select All Events from any of the calendar entries to see everything that's coming up in our diary. We're listening for your query via secretary@ddrci.org.au or the contact-us form on the website. And two hints: if you're not a member and you join from 1 April, you get 15 months of membership through to end of June 2026. Also: all the times in this news are AEST, and Daylight Saving Time ends next Sunday, 6 April. I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club - 73 and see you next week. Redcliffe and Districts radio club. http://www.wia.org.au/clubs/vk4/RedcliffeAndDistrictRadioClub/ REDFEST 2025 Latest Update. Greetings from the Redcliffe & Districts Radio Club VK4RC. Robert Thomson VK4TFN here. REDFEST 25 "Adventures on HF" will go ahead at 9:00am on the 12th April. It's only two weeks away. Our new venue is: The Deception Bay North State School, Old Bay Road, Deception Bay. There's still a few tables left if you hurry. $15 per table. Email redfest@redclifferadioclub.org.au The ICOM IC-7300 raffle, at $5 each we have plenty of tickets. For more info about REDFEST go too: www.redclifferadioclub.org.au/redfest ALARA will be there and we'll have tables set aside for the ladies, so gents: bring your women folk along. At our REDFEST Cafe you'll find good coffee and tea with cakes. Bye for now and 73's from The Redcliffe & Districts Radio Club VK4RC. Thank you Robert VK4TFN 0428 044 992 --------------------------------------------------------------------* Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. And so the wet weather continues but unlike the movie, “Ground Hog Day� the location changes where the heaviest falls and damage occurs. Sadly some areas in the north of Queensland are getting a repeat dousing and flood and the inland is getting floods which for better or worse may remain for many days or weeks. For the farmers who look forward to rain at the right time of the season it may improve their income in the long run and for the house holders who have been surrounded or evacuated, relief can’t come soon enough. I would imagine that many amateurs have developed a routine of checking the weather, space weather and propagation charts as a way of planning their activities. The long term forecasters are an indicative service to the agricultural industries but our Bureau of Meteorology is relatively cautious in issuing trends in the weather for as much as the commuter and tradie might like the assurance of perfect knowledge, forecasts beyond days, even when based on good averaging of data, tend to fall into the crystal ball style of guesswork. So it is with the solar activity that gives such wonderful conditions for long distance communications and within hours or days can provide a total blackout on many bands. Just as the Earth has patterns of activity in wind and ocean currents, these too can alter drastically and quickly as the information from the amateur radio balloons circling the planet can report. The solar cycle of activity averages around 11 years from peak to peak and within that we can plan and speculate on what activities we might be able to accomplish. As we grow into familiarity with the various skills that make our operations more enjoyable and interesting, we accumulate a store of knowledge which is applied to radio but also aids in so many other areas. Sadly there is a level of confusion coming from across the Pacific as the new US administration assails the community with instructions and demands. The final outcome of the shutting down of its overseas broadcasting can only be guessed at and the cleaning of the FCC book of rules may or may not change how amateur radio is conducted within the US jurisdictions. I mention this as in the past week, our regulator, the ACMA, has been releasing many papers to its client base via email and web site. We are fortunate that order stays with the governance of radio communications in this country, rather than the tumult we can see elsewhere. It was good to note that during the John Moyle Field Day, various clubs were able to quickly re-organise their operations to accommodate the weather over the weekend. Having flexibility in planning events can smooth the way to success in so many things. 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------------------------------------*