Wayne Gooda VK4YWG went Silent Key in Townsville University Hospital on Friday 19th June following a protracted battle with spinal cancer. The expert and considerate care he received in the Palliative Care Ward, along with being with family members ensured his peaceful passing. Wayne was a committee member and past Club Technician with The Townsville Amateur Radio Club Inc. and was also a member of the Wireless Institute of Australia. Amongst many activities on Amateur Radio, Wayne was a long time Packet Sysop maintaining a 2400 baud FBBS on the 6metre band and also established the first high power DMR Node in Townsville. Along with wife Cate he was also very active in supporting the Flinders Region Guides with the Jamboree On The Air activities, regular club communication support activities and social events. In his working life Wayne hit big goals when, as a Telecom Australia (and eventually Telstra) technician, maintained telecommunications infrastructure across Central, North and Far North Queensland, before moving into project management with jobs such as the Townsville to Tennant Creek Optical Fibre Project in the 1990s and the Mumbai Optical Fibre Network Upgrade Project in the early 2000s. Wayne's gregarious outlook, expert help and extensive technical knowledge will be sorely missed by Radio Amateurs and the community he was involved with. Vale Wayne Gooda VK4YWG, Silent Key. If you're listening to this live on a ham radio channel, it's most likely Sunday 5 July and the fireworks on the other side of the earth are about to happen. I'm John VK4JPM, Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club, and one day I'm going to try to bounce a VHF signal off a spinning Catherine wheel... because it's worth a try, and there might be a contest category that I can win by doing it. Dianne Main VK4DI. The detail for the meeting on the website right now at ddrci.org.au, along with a timeline of contests, and a bit about Di who discovered amateur radio while she and husband Bill were in Western Australia. Less than a year later she entered the Remembrance Day Contest to help some scouts get a leg up and they won the WA section. Di was hooked. From there she has taken challenge after challenge, including running JOTA in Kalgoorlie for five years, getting her US Extra licence a couple of years back, and the ultimate challenge of being one of the WIA's contest runners. Di promises to spill the beans on how you can be a better contester, how you can keep better score, how to pick the right categories, and how to have an enjoyable time doing all that. Monday 13 July at the hut in Harristown, with all the details and how to join the webcast if you can't make it tucked away on the home page at ddrci.org.au and check the calendar scroller. Two important bits of housekeeping. Users of the club's VK4RDD will need to have a 91.5Hz CTCSS tone on the transmission from this coming Tuesday 7 July. No tone, no kachunk, so be ready. We have lots of activities coming up, and as a member you'll find out first. Coming up in August: our next freebie education class to turn you from nadio into radio - yes, we'll plug you full of enough stuff that you can get your foundation licence or upgrade to a higher class. Further info about that from education@ddrci.org.au, and you can ask about dates and times. We'd love to help get you on air or doing more. And speaking of which, the club has a heap of gear for sale, some of which will be available at the club meeting on the 13th. If all of this has been too quick, too garbled, or too much like speed morse, then check out the website or send an email to secretary@ddrci.org.au and we'll help.
