开云体育

QNEWS NOVEMBER 24 2024 - VK4 ON AIR

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DID YOUR CLUB TELL ANYONE ABOUT AMATEUR RADIO THIS WEEK?


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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/
203.31.7.19/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.



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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 DES JADINS 16/10/24 (vk4vp)
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DARLING DOWNS RADIO CLUB

vk4wid@...


Hi - John VK4JPM Darling Downs Radio Club Publicity Officer with the club
update for Sunday 24th of November.

Before we start with next meeting, pop Saturday 14 December in your diary.
That's the planned date for our annual outdoor club lunch and barbecue,
which will be held in the Toowoomba area. Details coming, but weather
permitting it will be a day for everyone: hams, YLs, YOTAs and most
likely with a few actual activities to show what our hobby is about. And
a certain amount of eating and social activity will take place.

Our next club meeting tech session on Monday 9 December will take us into
the exciting and very accessible topic of Software Defined Radios. This
is where the traditional circuitry of LCR front ends in mixers, filters,
amplifiers, mod/demods, detectors, and all manner of RF signal handling is
replaced by software and some embedded electronics. As a result you can
do amazing things in very small packages.

John VK4JBE will be our expert guide into the SDR world to help you
understand what you can and can't do. This could be as simple as browser
access to online SDR sites all over the world, or you could use your own
dongle with Windows, Mac, Linux or Raspberry Pi front-end. John is
bringing a heap of hardware to demonstrate, and we're going to allow extra
time if you bring your own hardware along. Speaking of which, if you want
to buy an SDR dongle, check the websites for the well known online
outlets. For under $100 you'd have just enough time to get one delivered
ahead of the meeting if you order today - and if that's the sort of thing
you might do, look on the web for RTL SDR V4. Many of the Chinese sites
and local suppliers are comfortably able to deliver to Darling Downs in
under two weeks.

By the way, Dave VK4DN's talk on balloons was fascinating, and has
resonated with a number of members. Are you interested in doing something
yourself or getting the club involved with such a project? Talk to us!
Secretary@... will find us.

Don't forget the 2M club net on VK4RDD every Sunday at 1000, and the 80M
net on Saturdays at 1930.

If you didn't write down any of that, check the website. It's all there,
and you can click through the calendar entries for more detail. Plus you
can read this month's newsletter, and get access to all our other good
info.

Finally: if you haven't renewed your membership, now would be a good
time... think of it as your Santa's gift to the club. Membership is only
$30 per year, and less for concessions. Your membership helps fund
activities, and lets us know you care. The membership form (for joining
and renewals) is on the website. And if you just want to get on our
mailing list, that's fine too. Drop a note to Secretary@... and
we'll make things happen to keep you informed.

Once again: Monday 9 December for the SDR tech session, and Saturday 14
December for the BBQ.

That's it for this week - 73 from John VK4JPM for the team at the Darling
Downs Radio Club.





VK4 SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- VHF
BRISBANE VHF GROUP


To paraphrase an old song – remember, remember, the 8th of December!

This is Roger Harrison VK2ZRH for QNEWS.

I kept my VK2 call sign when I retired to the Gold Coast in 2021 and
promptly joined the Brisbane VHF Group, with whom I had enjoyed much
correspondence over some decades. Besides, my firm friends from yonks
ago, those major microwavers Doug VK4OE and Kevin VK4UH, are prominent
member and my not joining would have been to my utter shame!

I’m here to remind you, patient listeners, that the Brisbane VHF Group
is having a Showcase Day on everything about those mysterious upper
bands, from VHF to microwaves, on the 8th of December! This Showcase
day is happening at the well-appointed Redcliffe and District Radio
Club facilities.

The Showcase is also open to other groups and amateurs, too. Maybe
you’re a deep-space SWL!

There’ll be demonstrations of stuff you’ve never seen, along with a
shed-load of show-and-tell, and to keep you there for longer, we
promise to lay on a BBQ lunch and drinks! What better way to spend
your Sunday.

Remember, remember, the 8th of December!

As our Group President, Kevin VK4UH says – the success or failure of
the venture depends on members’ participation. Get there. I’ll be
walking, and I’ll be there!

This is Roger Harrison VK2ZRH for QNEWS on behalf of the Brisbane VHF
Group



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Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking.

There are lessons to be learned from activities on the internet and it is
not only
the phishing and other scams that we need to be aware of.

In the last month or so, I have received bogus friend requests from at
least three
supposed amateurs. After checking the bona fides of the requests, I have
done the
appropriate thing and reported these actions. I am not surprised that the
practical
hypocrisy of the social media platform when they declined to remove the
cloned
accounts as they didn’t breach their amorphous community standards.

The gargantuan video repository that provides a reasonable income to
regular content
creators has similar issues when it comes to ethics and standards. Anyone
who has
fallen foul of the anonymous and perhaps fictional “fact checkers” must
ask what are
the standards of behaviour that these platforms supposedly uphold?

If we look back to the recent US elections and the posts that appeared on our
screens, it was apparent that there were at least two worlds at war and
the truth of
what was proposed could not be reconciled between them on so many times.

This is something that we have been seeing debated in our own Australian
parliament
with a bill presented to make media companies adhere to the truth. The
question that
many have is who decides what is true? When we think back to the COVID
pandemic and
what we were advised as matters of public health and compare that with the
scientific studies that are being published now, it seems obvious that
what we were
told is being confronted by different outcomes today.

So it it is that we electronics nerds use the tools at hand to improve our
understanding of our subjects of interest. We turn to recognised
authorities such as
published handbooks and reliable internet resources to clarify points and
settle
points of confusion. This brings us back to the popular platforms which
increase
their bases of knowledge by unimaginable amounts each day.

Years ago a new word was introduced to us, that is “wiki”. Here is a tool
that is
maintained by volunteers and which aims to provide correct and accurate
detail on
subjects which interest at least enough people to prepare and maintain
posts on
them. I see that these on-line sources of “fact” have largely replaced the
weighty
books called encyclopedias and their successors on digital media. Still
errors occur
in wiki posts and it depends on the knowledge of the editor to get
corrections
posted.

Fortunately for most of us, amateur radio is a practical occupation where
frequent
debates as to theory can be left to the chemists, physicists and engineers
and the
benefits of their debates can inform us what best to do. All that I am
suggesting is
that we need to exercise the same amount of caution when using the
internet for our
learning as we do when we use the internet for sensitive things such as
maintaining
personal records and activities like banking.

With words of caution in my ears, I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I
think….how about you?



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Social Scene

Brisbane VHF Group Showcase Day December 8 at Redcliffe and District
Radio Club. (VK2ZRH)




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