Q-News AR News from Queensland

Hi and welcome to Sunday 13th of September, or whatever date it is where and when you're listening. We try to keep things uncomplicated. You're listening to QNEWS across Queensland, and I'm John VK4JPM Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club with a bit of a splash for members, guests and travellers. OK, and anyone else who happens to be listening. If it is indeed Sunday, then tomorrow night from 1900 you'll find us all at Community Radio Station 4DDB. Our club is being handed the red carpet treatment, with the question: does treating red carpet make it a better sound absorber? We're all set to learn about acoustics, balanced audio lines, microphone patterns, analogue consoles, digital links, high power FM transmission, and the most important thing of all: how critical air conditioning is to a radio station. These are just some of the skill areas that are involved in tech for broadcasting, and so many of those technologies are useful to know when you dabble with amateur radio. And how valuable is this knowledge? The best thing you can do is come along and find out for yourself. It's all relevant: hams invented broadcasting, and most broadcast engineers have a ham ticket even today. The World Famous Toowoomba Carnival Of Flowers starts next Thursday and one of the first feature events is the Grand parade next Saturday, the prediction is for good weather. Why not have a go at qualifying for the club's Garden City Award during the Carnival of Flowers? Details on the website at ddrci.org.au/awards, or look for the link on the homepage. JOTA and JOTI are coming up, and we're planning to help aspiring scouts and guides get on the air and discover that ham radio is fun, and even though everyone has a mobile phone and can call overseas for free, there's nothing quite as exciting as starting an over-the-air conversation with someone you've never met. And that's how so many friendships start. If you're involved with Scouts or Guides, and you'd like to join our party or get us involved, why not send an email to education@ddrci.org.au and we'll help. A 10 year old cub just out of Brisbane recently qualified for a licence, and we'd love to help get more people of that age into the hobby. Education@ddrci.org.au is the email address to make contact. And if you've got some time over the 16th-18th of October and can help with the club's JOTA/JOTI activity, could you put the dates in your diary, and then let us know that you're available? An email to secretary@ddrci.org.au would do that. Last week we invited you to work as many bands as you could in one sitting as part of the 52-week ham challenge. This week is similar but different: how many modes can you work in one operation? AM? FM? SSB? Digital? Double-cross-carrier-orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplex-suppressed-intelligence? There are so many modes from which you can choose. The important thing is: have a go, and see what happens. Details at hamchallenge.org, or check out our website where there are pointers to so many things of interest. That's it for this week. The words and music from this segment are available for replay and download on our website at ddrci.org.au, and contributions are welcome. Questions, musings, articles, and grand final tickets can all be sent to secretary@ddrci.org.au Our 2m net follows at 1000 on Sundays on VK4RDD or Echolink - feel free to join us. Thanks for listening. I'm John VK4JPM, secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club. 73s until next week.

John Roberts VK4TL Left us on Monday 24th August in his 97th year. John had what some would describe as an absolute passion for Radio and was always experimenting and building transceivers and amplifiers with many fine examples still in use today. In his earlier years he was an engineer on the infamous Radio Caroline ship and was also an operator of the RAF Gibraltar Club station ZB2A. With many callsigns over the years from places he was deployed with the RAF he ended up in Australia where he went on to become the long time broadcast engineer for Commercial Radio group NQ radio which seen him to retirement. John was President of TREC with multiple stints between 2003 and 2019 and was very dedicated to helping out with horse endurance rides and manned the base station many many times over the years. Over the years John experimented with 6 metres, Satellite Work, and Earth Moon Earth on 1296 before downsizing to move to Cairns from the Atherton Tablelands. Vale John Roberts VK4TL, Silent Key Hi, and welcome to the QNEWS segment from the Darling Downs Radio Club, and this is the week beginning from Sunday 6 September. I'm John VK4JPM and from this week we are officially in spring. If you want a bit of fun, don't forget that Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers starts on 18 September and runs through to 8 October, with the big parade on Saturday 19 September. Our next club meeting is in a little over a week on Monday 14 September, and from 1900 we'll be onsite at Toowoomba's radio station 4DDB. Did you know that broadcasting came from work done by early ham radio experimenters, and sometimes WAS the experiment? It's time to find out how broadcast radio works these days, and visit the newly re-roofed 4DDB studios. The station's transmitter links had to come down and be re-erected, so there's going to be a good story about how to do that work and keep program running 24x7. All the usual club hospitality plus more as we tour the studios, look at racks, discuss servers, and see how radio is made. All the details are on our website at ddrci.org.au, and look for the calendar entry on the home page. Jamboree of the air is coming up on the weekend of 16-18 October, and the club has been reaching out to our local Scouts and Guides. Last weekend was definitely bit special for a local Scout Troop in Withcott. Dave VK4JPS, along with Perry VK4PER, responded to a call from pack leader Baloo to bring a group of scouts up to speed with what we do as hams. Dave prepared a three part evening, with some simple Morse Code flashing using Arduinos, a sample Fox Hunt with gear from Bruce VK4MQ, and there was a live HF Demo on 40m under the Callsign VK4SAA, kindly made available with permission from Bunda (Chris the QLD JOTA Lead for Scouts). Big thanks to our two contacts: VK4WSG from Townsville and Harry VK2HKE from Wagga Wagga. It was great to have Dave and Perry work with two freshly minted calls (Dan VK4SPN and Andy VK4ODN who made their first QSOs under their own calls). This further inspired two potential hams, Tim and Angus, who were treated to some theory and practical exercises, and Vector Network analyser demos all around. The Week 37 ham challenge is to get on air and work every band you can in one operation. Grab a cup of something, and hit the airwaves on whatever your gear will allow. For double plus points, get some gear you don't normally use and expand the count of bands you cover. Why not try some crossbanding? Get a bit more familiarity with how other bands work. It's all in good fun, and adds to your store of experience. if you missed any of this information, it's all on the website at ddrci.org.au, including the text of this bulletin and online audio replay - just have a look over to the right side. On Sunday morning our 2m net follows at 1000 on VK4RDD or Echolink - feel free to join us. Thanks for listening - I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club.

From Darling Downs and the World comes this week's grab-bag of news from the Darling Downs Radio Club. Hi, I'm John VK4JPM, Secretary of theClub. Coming up after QNEWS, starting at 1000 if this is the morning edition,you're invited to join our Club Net either via VK4RDD repeater on 146.750 (and don't forget the 91.5Hz CTCSS tone), OR - if you're brave - join via Echolink. Look for VK4DAK-L or node 6925. And on our website there will be link to the easy-peasy instructions for using Echolink. For those who went looking on the site last week and didn't find anything: it wasn't your fault. Despite being highly technical people, sometimes murphy wins. So... check it out. ddrci.org.au and if you can't find a mention on the home page directly, check that we might have hidden it as a calendar entry... that's the scrolly thing that is at the top of the home page. While you're there, check the detail on the next club meeting, coming up on Monday 14 September. We're visiting community radio station 4DDB-FM, where they are literally raising the roof as you hear this. That's in turn meant taking down the transmitter link, and changes in technology, so there will be much to discuss and learn. As hams we can experiment with microwaves, but if you're a 24x7 radio station everything has to be rock solid. We'll discuss 10GHz, 5Ghz and lots of digital stuff, like how much. forward error correction does it take to change a light bulb? The studio itself is good old analogue audio, so much to learn there. If you've never seen a broadcast station: here's a place to start. Details in the calendar entry on the home page and EVERYONE is welcome whether you're a club member, a licensed ham, or none -of-the-above. Just pretend to be interested and we'll let you in. The 52 Week Ham Radio Operator Challenge is now at week 36 because... it's week 36. And in week 36 you're invited to push the homebrew envelope. The first part of the challenge is to use a piece of homebrew gear to make the contact. It doesn't matter if you have to dust off that heathkit; build a tuned van-der-graaf generator, or construct a special antenna... although to be fair, EVERYONE makes their own antennas so it's an easy target. Then comes part two: to claim the prize in week 36 the person at the other end should be using home brew too. Here's a chance to phone a friend, or just get on air and see what happens. You could be really surprised. Next week we're going to report on some of our outreach work with scouts and guides, and don't forget that JOTA/JOTI is coming up in October. That's in our calendar too. But if you'd like something not in the calendar, ask about our tailored education and training. What would it take to update your skills from nothing to Foundation, or from a lower to a higher class licence? Let us help. Drop a line to education@ddrci.org.au and let us help you to kick a few goals. That's it for this week: 2m net follows, and if you missed anything or you can't find an answer on the website, email ecretary@ddrci.org.au and someone who looks a lot like me will get back to you pretty quickly. Until next week, I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club.

Hi, this is Bob, VK4BOB up in the tropical paradise of Cairns. Ten hams from Cairns Amateur Radio Club travelled up to Cooktown in Far North Queensland on 14 August 2026  to operate the next day, Saturday, from the carpark by the Grassy Hill Lighthouse using the club’s call VK4GrassyHillLighthouse. But first, on Friday evening many of us enjoyed a sunset cheese and bikkies cruise on the river and into the mangrove swamps. On Saturday a few of us also activated POTA locations including the Grassy Hill Lighthouse State Heritage Area, Endeavour River, Endeavour River National Park, and Black Mountain National Park. For some of our newer members these were their introductions to this part of our hobby. Much of the day up on Grassy Hill seemed to be spent socialising rather than playing radio, especially with hot dogs for lunch then later spag bol and curried rice for dinner plus snacks and freshly brewed coffee throughout the day. Just after sunset however we saw on the weather radar a rather nasty stretch of rain heading up the coast towards us. We had the large gazebo, cooking gear, tables, chairs, antenna, radio, batteries and all the other stuff packed away in record time just as the first drops of rain hit us, so unfortunately there went the evening’s chances of some good DX. Cairns Amateur Radio Club stepped up and the callsign was transferred to us. We’ll be back there next year for sure and visitors will be welcome. So start planning now! Well Hi - it's Sunday 23Aug and time for a bit of a look at what's coming up for the Darling Downs Radio Club  and other things.  Almost sounds like the title of a song. The Management Committee met last Sunday and decided... ooh, lots of important stuff, which will be detailed in a note to members and others shortly.  We're only just out of the blocks from the AGM, and already setting up meetings for the coming year and working towards our big goal of a permanent clubhouse. Congratulations to Perry, VK4PER, who joins us as a member of the Management Committee.  Perry gained his Australian licence earlier this year using the club's assessment team, and hasn't looked back. If you're in the Downs area and would like to get or upgrade your licence, we're here to help.  There's no charge for assessments or coaching; that's how keen we are to give you a start or improve your skills.  And there are no gender or age barriers.   Many of our members have had a licence since their teens, and intend to keep going until... well, just keep going.  Gotta love this hobby. Our next club meeting is on Monday 14 September, and we're touring radio station 4DDB.  Community radio is such a great training ground, where you can learn all kinds of skills that are useful in the big world, and give back to help others create content.  The tour will show you what goes into a radio station to make it work, and how signals move around.  Come and learn about balanced lines, circular polarisation, and audio interfaces. All stuff that you can use around the shack to improve what you do on-air. Monday 14 September, at 4DDB in Toowoomba and details are on the website at ddrci.org.au Last Sunday we ran our first full weekly-2m-net using the refurbished repeater - now improved with Echolink.   Getting on Echolink as a user sounds intimidating, but is easy once you have the steps in place.  We've put a guide to doing that on the website, cleverly hidden as a calendar entry on the rotator - just go the homepage and wait until the obvious words come around, then click.  Simples!

Ken Fuller VK4KF left us on 5th August aged 98 years. He met his wife Pat when she was still a teenager on the range west of Sydney. Ken worked in the Queensland Rail Workshops in Ipswich, and went on to be a draftsman while studying Engineering part time. He was part of the crew monitoring rocket launches at Woomera, before becoming Science advisor to Federal Ministers in Canberra. He and Pat enjoyed sailing and after retiring they spent some years on their yacht along the Queensland coast. There he discovered Amateur Radio and received his full call with help of Amateurs on the Sunshine Coast. He gave up sailing in his 90s and went into care recently. This restricted his Amateur activity. There will be a service for him at Saint Lukes church Wooloongabba on 21st August at 11 am. Vale Ken Fuller VK4KF SK It's 16 August on the Darling Downs and most other places in Queensland. I'm John VK4JPM Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club, and we're celebrating the last day of Ekka by wondering what we might have put into our high-value showbags. You know the deal with sample bags: for $25 you get three candy bars, a plastic toy, a puzzle, a pack of crisps, and a comic that's been out of date for years. We can do better than that: for the $3 hamfest price, our pack contains 20 resistors in a value you can't use, half an Elektor kit from a british supplier, a compact fluoro tube, and a three-year back issue of an electronics magazine with part two of a thing you want to build - and no way to get the other issues. And if none of that made sense, we can help you upgrade your electronics knowledge through club meetings, radio training and our regular updates. Drop a line to education@ddrci.org.au and we'll help. Closer to home, we spent this month's club meeting looking at repeaters, and how they really work. Turned out that cavity filters and stacked folded dipoles are more of a black art than we thought, so the session was very well received, just like our updated repeater. Echolink and IRLP have been enabled on VK4RDD, and you can check those out now - the downloadable Echolink app will help you find the repeater pretty easily. VK4RDD also has some new idents, reminding users of the CTCSS access tone, and pointing to the website for further contact. It was great to see so many new faces at the meeting, and a lot of gear was sold at insane prices. Next month's club meeting will be offsite: on 14 September we're going to visit community radio station 4DDB in Toowoomba to see how broadcast audio works. Broadcasting and Amateur Radio share a lot of skills and background, and it's amazing how much fun you can have with both - sometimes even combining the two. From a radio studio you might not get as many distance records, but you could definitely get a few long playing records. There are many hams who have had careers in radio, and many people in radio and TV have become hams... in all senses of the word. The date again for the visit to Radio 4DDB: 14 September; if you can hear or read this you'll be welcome, and details will be appearing on the club website at ddrci.org.au Coming up soon on the website will be some feature articles, pointers to a some e-magazines that have been e-mailed to us, and the article by Warren VK4FJ describing how to clean back and replate a 100-year-old morse key. The club VK4RDD net is up following the callbacks, and we'd like to hear from stations who can help us test echolink. I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club. Until next week, thanks for listening.

This is Allan VK4HIT with news from Ipswich and District Radio Club. We’re into August already which means its annual general meeting time for the club. This will be held on Saturday August 22 at 10am. This month’s business meeting is once again on the same day as the AGM. A reminder that annual dues need to be up to date to vote at the AGM. July’s business meeting noted in the WICEN report that the Lake Manchester event has been cancelled by the organisers. The next WICEN event is the Mt Glorious Trail on November 8. There was plenty to talk about in general business, so members are urged to check their emails for the minutes. The next contest is the Remembrance Day contest on August 15 – At July’s meeting Di VK4DI explained it was a good opportunity for all clubs to engage in a social activity and play radio. The club now has a new online dashboard, providing one central location for viewing the status of our digitally linked repeaters. The dashboard includes access to information for the club’s DMR, P25, D-STAR, YSF and newer AllStarLink repeaters. Greg VK4GJW has started yet another Foundation course with six candidates in what is a busy year of training for the club’s training officer. And two new members were welcomed last month – Matilda Walker and Craig Burnett. Hi from the Darling Downs Radio Club for week beginning Sunday 9 August, and lots of stuff happening this week. I'm John VK4JPM Club Secretary. The AGM was wonderful; we easily made quorum and had lots of people attending remotely. Good on you! The important motions were carried unanimously after vigorous discussion. Our new rules are on the website for you to check, and all the reporting has been submitted to Fair Trading. So now we wait for a bit. Tomorrow night is the club's monthly meeting, and lots of stuff happening. Firstly, we're encouraging a bit more social stuff so come along for the natter and we'll be providing tea, coffee and tim-tams.. and maybe a bit more. We had cheese and bikkies at the AGM, and that went pretty well. The meeting detail is on the website right now at ddrci.org.au, but here's a taste of what we're doing: with the updated repeater and controller now in service, come and see some of the backup hardware and learn what it takes to make a repeater work. there will be a bit of experimenting and guidance for IRLP and Echolink so that you can see how that works if you've got something interesting - either old or new - bring it along for show-and-tell there will be further update on how we're doing with the clubhouse project and * we have a massive amount of gear for sale on-site, and it's a good chance to come and peruse before the good stuff goes. Well, it's all good stuff, but that item you really want - the reverse-threaded low-impedance high-current medium-voltage twelve-pin Z-FET might be snaffled up by the time you get back. Don't say we didn't warn you. The WIA has offered a $50 subsidy for club members to join the WIA or renew your subscription. If you're under the pump financially, or maybe retired and on a tight budget, please drop us a line. Don't be bashful: your WIA membership allows the club to get a good rate on insurance, which is massively important to the club. Application is through the club, not to the WIA directly. If you'd like to follow up, send a note to secretary@ddrci.org.au. And speaking of membership, if you haven't renewed your club membership now would be a good time. The AGM kept the rates at the same level for the coming year, so we're still one of the best-value clubs in Australia. Go to the website and click the big red join/renew button to make things happen.

CQ CQ this is VK4KSS Victor Kilo Four Kilo Sierra Sierra calling CQ and standing by, Over. On Thursday the 30th of July, The Kairi State School Radio Club, Using the callsign VK4KSS, had an on-air practical session as part of their ham radio studies for their grade 5 and 6 enrichment class. Under the guidance of Stu VK4SDD the students made contact with many stations across VK4 on 40 Metres under trying conditions. This time on air aids them in achieving a foundation licence and is good practice for the CQ Worldwide SSB Contest coming up in October. This has been Ben VK4 Yankee Tango for the Tablelands Radio and Electronics Club. Proud Supporters of the Kairi State School Radio Club. Hi there:  it's Sunday 2 August;  the moon is half gone;  our club's AGM has happened, and a loud buzzing noise appeared from the nation's mobile phones last Monday.  I'm John VK4JPM, Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club and this is QNEWS from the club for this week. The Club's repeater - VK4RDD at Preston - is getting a further makeover.Work on blueprinting the audio has resulted in a massive improvement of sound quality.  We're now working on the hamsters that power the Controller, which is on the bench getting a thorough refresh.  We've been talking to the manufacturer and we hope to have a few bugs ironed out by next weekend.  Meanwhile if you do come up and want information, one of us will be happy to give you the time or temperature, with or without DTMF tones. On the fundraising front, we have advance notice that our entry in the great Bunnings Raffle was successful, and the club is scheduled to cook snags on 19 December.  Write down that date:  19 December, and let us know if you're available. What did you think of the Ausalert test?  Do you have one of those phones that are non-mainstream?  Apparently if your phone runs Graphene OS, the message would have been a "presidential alert", and that text can't be changed at the moment.  More importantly, the test showed that 94% of towers broadcast the alert, which means that 6% didn't broadcast it at all.  In a real disaster, you would want to be listening to your local community radio station or ham radio repeater as well.  We definitely have a role to play in emergency communications. The HamChallenge.org people updated the website over the weekend and we now have challenges through to week 43.  The one we missed last week is fascinating, and you can still have a go:  it's "Make a QSO using Greyline Propagation".  This is literally the twilight zone of HF, where just before sunrise or just after sunset mystical and wonderful things can happen to the bands.  I've popped an interesting link in the text edition of this bulletin, which you can download from the WIA or find on our website at ddrci.org.au.    Also on our website at ddrci.org.au you'll find details of the next club meeting on Monday 10th of August, news from the AGM about your newly elected committee, and a reminder that memberships are still due and you can renew very quickly online using the big red button. That's it for this week.  If you have news or other info that you'd like to get to Darling Downs Radio Club members, drop a line to secretary@ddrci.org.au,   I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club.  73 until next week

I'm John VK4JPM, Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club and this is QNEWS for week following Sunday 26 July. And... I can hardly contain myself with excitement: only four sleeps to go until our Annual General Meeting on Thursday 30 July. The AGM is important for a heap of reasons. We've proposed some amendments to the constitution to streamline our further registration as a not-for-profit association. And we're going to talk about what it might take to settle in to a permanent clubhouse, possibly the first time in the club's history. And we have some fundraising exercises to discuss, a bit of gear to sell, and most importantly: elections for four of the committee members. You might remember that last year we changed the constitution so that half the committee retires each year, and this is the first test. Nominations have now closed but there is one committee position to fill and nominations will be called from the floor. It's your club, so why not pitch in to help run it? Details of the AGM are on the website and all are welcome, but only paid up members of record will be permitted to vote. If you've been incredibly... um... delayed in getting your membership renewed, there's still a few seconds to press the red button and renew your membership, and we'll still love you. Don't forget to fill in the part of the form that asks also if you're a WIA member, so that we can get the good insurance deal. And if you really can't attend please send an apology to secretary@ddrci.org.au so that we can officially show that you care. Nice. Next Month's club meeting on Monday 10 August is in advanced planning stages, but you'll have to wait a couple of days to find out - we'll have it locked in by the AGM and in next week's QNEWS. Or check the website, where most things are nicely up-to-date. On Monday 27 July - that's probably tomorrow - the first national test of the Ausalert system will happen. Stand by your phone at 1400, and wait for the message. I'm hoping it will be the Lotto numbers for Thursday, although it's not clear what would happen if seven million identical entries actually won first division prize: $1.23. Most of us should receive a sample "critical alert" which is the highest class of alarm. A critical alert punches through, so your phone will vibrate and make a noise even if it is in silent or do-not-disturb mode. The only way to NOT receive the alert is for the phone to be switched off, or in aeroplane mode. Be warned: if it's inappropriate for the phone to sound, turn off or disconnect from network. The club repeater, VK4RDD on 146.750 has now had its audio blueprinted and is back in service with CTCSS tone 91.5Hz working perfectly. See if you can notice the difference? We'd love your comments on the club net that follows QNEWS at 1000 on Sunday morning. As we move into week 31 of 2026, two things happen: the days are just enough longer that you might be seeing some decent solar generation, and the Ham Challenge page is due for an update. At time of writing it stopped at week 30. But for the moment we'll remind you of the week 30 challenge which is meet a ham personally you only know from the bands. I'm sure we all have besties who are on air but never met in person. Well, here's a tip: come to the AGM on Thursday, where there's bound to be someone there who you've never met in person. We are just so social! That's all a lot to take in so the reminders: Next Thursday 30th at 1700 for the AGM. Monday 10 August for the club meeting, with the location to be divulged. Monday 27 July for the first national test of Ausalert. And the club net on VK4RDD follows at 1000 today. We're always listening for your questions or comments via secretary@ddrci.org.au, and everything that's important is on the website at ddrci.org.au

From Toowoomba, centre of the universe, comes the Darling Downs Radio Club's contribution to QNEWS for Sunday 19 July. I'm John VK4JPM, and I've just reconfirmed why it's a bad idea to eat chocolate before you record the news. Thanks to all the people who sent positive feedback after last week's piece in National News. We now know what caused the Telstra outage: a clock that went backwards to the wrong epoch, and then told all the downstream servers they were wrong. Even though things can't possibly fail with networks, they do. That's why being a well-prepared amateur radio operator is so important - we won't go out when a server spits the dummy. The club meeting last Monday with Di Main VK4DI was wonderful, and Di was her usual high energy self. She provided some really good tips for contesting, and if there's interest we plan to run a weekend workshop on contesting at a future date. Also in the not too distant future, but dates not set, we are going to schedule some upgrade assessments for Foundation to Standard and Standard to Advanced - plus we're always available to help Foundation applicants to get to their first rung on the ladder. For both of those, drop us a line to education@ddrci.org.au and we'll put your name into the planning list. Coming up in the next two weeks: the first national Ausalert test is at 1400 on Monday 27 July. This is going to send a text to every phone in the country to confirm that the system works, and will work in an emergency - provided there's no clock failure. One thing that is important: if you have a mobile phone that you don't want to be heard, ensure that it's off or silenced for the test. This is probably going to be a bit like those science fiction movies where the aliens ping everyone at the same time. If you see a spaceship during the test, it's probably a coincidence... but see if you can bounce signals off it while it's there. There's no truth to the rumour that aliens rely on 2m handhelds. The other important event is the Club's Annual General Meeting at the Guide Hut at 1800 on Thursday 30 July. All the details are different from last year, but the AGM packet has gone to all members of record. If you haven't renewed your membership, you have less than a week before we draw the line ahead of the meeting. And if you're a member and you didn't get the AGM packet, please send a note to secretary@ddrci.org.au, and we'll sort out why it didn't appear. Membership renewal is via the big red button on the home page, and we have proof that the process can take less than five minutes and is secure. Week 30 of the 52-week Ham Challenge starts tomorrow, and it's still antenna month. You can read about it at hamchallenge.org, where you'll find that the aim this week is to "Build the cheapest antenna you can, and make a QSO with it". My money, and I'm really cheap, is that an unbent dry cleaning hanger is the go if you can still find one. Would certainly work on 2m or 70cm, and you can practice tuning radials at the same time. Probably won't work so well on 20m, but worth having a try anyway. What could go wrong? Hoping that all the repeaters are working this week, and thanks for listening. I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club. This is Gareth VK4GED You would have heard in a recent WIA National News broadcast about the WICEN Nets that are held on HF every week from VK4 and every month from VK2. Let's not forget the Brisbane Area WICEN Group has also been running its VHF Net every Sunday evening for several decades: Commencing at 7.30 pm local time, the net has been on VK4RBN but is now on VK4RES; The repeater's output frequency is 147.225, the offset in your transceiver is 600 kHz up, with a tone of 91.5; Net Controller is Gary VK4ZGB who will welcome all newcomers.