Q-News AR News from Queensland

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Weekly podcast produced by QNews in Queensland Australia covering Amateur radio news items.

Episodes

  1. 5d ago

    Q-News for November 1st 2026

    Ian McCosker VK4PF passed away on Thursday 17th of September 2026 at the age of 95. Ian was first licensed in NSW as VK2AXI. Ian and his wife Gilian (Gil) ran a very successful sales and servicing home electronics business in Moree NSW for a number of years. They then moved to the Gold Coast in 1972 with their 2 daughters, and, after arrival Ian joined the Gold Coast Amateur Radio Society where he was an active member for many years and had been very well known on the HF and VHF bands. He attended the HamFests regularly, even attending last year. Ian VK4PF worked for Laser Electronics for some time and was very involved with Laser technology in those early days. He remained a member of the Gold Coast Amateur Radio Society until his passing. Our thoughts are with his family Vale Ian VK4PF Long time radio operator Eldon Bryant VK4GUN has gone Silent Key Eldon passed away during the morning of Thursday 29th October following complications which added to ongoing health issues that finally vanquished Matman. Eldon, member and past Secretary of The Townsville Amateur Radio Club Inc., was a member of the Wireless Institute of Australia and long before attaining callsign VK4FNQA (which he converted to VK4GUN) was a very prolific DXer on the 11metre CB Band. Eldon was also active for a long time on the online system CQ100 which he used to maintain contact with radio friends when the HF band conditions were poor. How did he get the handle Matman? Eldon commenced a career in textiles, at one stage being the regional sales co-ordinator for large carpet companies. Eventually he and XYL Roslyn went it alone and set up a trimming business in Aitkenvale called 'Matman and Roslyn'. The Matman moniker stuck from then on. VK4GUN was a remembrance for the time he served in National Service in gunnery, for that service he contracted industrial deafness which he coped with for the rest of his days. Thumping the drum on Amateur Radio Eldon was active as long as health would allow with communication support events, was a founding supporter of the AM and CW on ANZAC Day operation, tried many new things on-air (remember the Isotron antennas at Cranbrook), supported the on-air nets locally and regionally. We have lost a radio amateur who personified the have a go outlook on life and we will miss his friendship and support in the years to come. Vale Eldon (Matman) Bryant VK4GUN, Silent Key This is Allan VK4HIT with news from Ipswich and District Radio Club. The club has been using and promoting amateur radio in Ipswich and surrounding areas since 1962. Starting with the JOA JOTI event. No fewer than 11 licensed amateurs supported the day. 150+ Scouts came through on the day, making it one of the biggest JOTA-JOTI events in Queensland. Groups rotated through five stations, each run by a licensed club operator. On Monday night October 5 the International Space Station came over Ipswich, and there was a group standing in the Deebing Street carpark pointing antennas at it. Twelve members and guests on the sign-in sheet for October’s Digital Interest Night, long weekend and all, two of those guests came down because they saw the posts online. That is a win before a single antenna went up. Expressions of interest are open for the club’s November 2026 Standard course. The plan is to start on Wednesday November 11 at 7 pm, subject to receiving enough interest. Normally the aim is for a small class of around 4 to 8 students, so please go to the club’s website to express your interest and to find out more information or email Greg at vk4gjw@gmail.com Finally, the club launched GOTA – or get on the air day – on Saturday September 26. It turned out to be one of the better weekends at Deebing Street with portable HF stations out the back of the clubhouse, a couple of 4WDs in the car park put up vertical antennas, and the club shack was also on air. Reporting from Ipswich, this is Allan VK4HIT

  2. Oct 23

    Q-News for October 25th 2026

    Hi there - it's been quite a block of days with lots of news. I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club, and this is our QNEWS contribution for week of 25 October. Coming up: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Midterms and several other events that have nothing to do with hams so... they won't be mentioned. Before I start this week, I'd like to throw a 52-week challenge of our own to all other radio clubs in Queensland. DDRCi has been contributing to QNEWS every week for a bit over two years now. There's always stuff to talk about, but this is a shared channel and it's there for you too. There might be 5000 radio clubs in Queensland, and you must have something to tell your members... so why is it just us every week? Can we help you to get on air? What messages can you bring to the world of amateur radio listeners... or even professional radio listeners. We'd all like to know about what your club is doing. And we'd like to build up the news a bit. If there's anything we can do to make your life easier or even possible, please send a quick email to secretary@ddrci.org.au and let's do something to break the barriers and get you on the radio. Last weekend Darling Downs club helped out with Jamboree on the Air, and you can check our website to see how it worked out - ddrci.org.au. To say the place was crawling with young people seeking a bit of tech would be a serious understatement. Around 30 joeys, cubs and scouts joined us at the Harristown Hut, where we'd deployed our club trailer and had all manner of comms running. HF on 80 and 40, 2m on the repeater and simplex; more Raspberry PIs than you could ever eat running Jamboree on the Internet; more Raspberry Pis teaching morse code; fox hunting; and a BBQ. What more could you possibly want? Thanks to all the folk from the club and scouts who pitched in to make the day a success, and we've definitely got a thing going. Over the weekend we also ran exams, and two more club members have moved up the ladder. Our next club meeting, and it's open to everyone, will be held on the second Monday of November - which happens to be the 9th. Justin Giles-Clark recently attended a national conference on SDR, STEM and Citizen Science. That last one is almost the very definition of amateur radio, and we all know about STEM - science, technology, engineering and mathematics. There are exciting opportunities for hams, especially as we move towards the total solar eclipse that's going to happen in July 2028. As with most of the meetings that the club runs, the focus is on "how does this information help YOU, and what can you usefully do in the short term?". As a bonus, Justin is on the Board of the WIA, and he's the convenor of this year's Ham-E-Con, that will have finished the day before our meeting. So Justin is going to be awash with useful information, and he's a great answerer of questions. More info next week, but right now: put the date in your diary and don't lose it. Monday 9 November, at the Harristown location. Details on the website at DDRCi.org.au Thanks for joining us. If it's the morning, then callbacks are next followed by the DDRCI 2m Net on VK4RDD. I'm John VK4JPM and you should be able to toot me too if the mastodon thing has worked. See you on QNews next week.

  3. Oct 16

    Q-News for October 18th 2026

    Hi. Hope you're having a good JOTA weekend; talking to lots of scouts and guides - on-air and online - and making our next generation of hams feel welcome. I'm John VK4JPM Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club, and if you're listening to the Sunday morning edition of QNEWS then we're over at the Kanyana Guide Hut right now doing our bit to get a heap of young people on air. Have a listen out, and I'll tell you more in a sec. If you missed last week's meeting: it was a cracker, with 22 members and guests coming out of the woodwork to talk LoRa and Mesh. The club has a solar MeshCore repeater running at Harristown, adding to the collection of mesh devices slowly invading Toowoomba. We discovered what to do with a companion, how to find hardware, and where to tap into resources. There will be more of this coming, and look for some detail on the website as we build our story. Thanks again to Ben VK4AFB, Sam VK4SAM, Perry VK4PER, and especially to Dave VK4JPS who coordinated all the research and did the presentation on the night. Our next meeting is scheduled for 9 November, and we'll let you know what and where shortly. But put the date in your diary. JOTA and JOTI are running and National News will have told you all about what's happening. If it's still Sunday morning, we'll all be over at the Kanyana Hut having a heap of fun and preparing to run our regular Darling Downs Sunday morning Club 2m Net from the site. Listen out for us on the VK4RDD repeater - which also would be a good liaison point if you'd like to set up local contact - and check our website for the JOTA calendar entry. Click through that and you'll find times, places, frequencies, and other secret initiatives. We're onsite today from 1000-1300 or a bit longer, and you're welcome to drop past and help us to encourage the scouts and guides. If you can't make it over, don't forget that it's not a contact until there's someone at both ends - you can do your bit to help simply by being on air and listening for our callouts. According to the scout.org website, JOTA officially ends Sunday 18th at 2345, but they haven't said where. So pick a location and listen for CQ DYB. Fun fact: officially DYB hasn't been used since 1967. If you hear it, maybe there's a timewarp at work? This week's challenge in the 52-week extravaganza is to drain a battery in one operation. What they mean is to pick an off-grid battery power source and run on that until it's dead. You might use a 100AH accumulator or just a single button cell. Both of those come with bragging rights if you max them out in a useful way. And if you think that's crazy, a Mesh contact using uber low QRP is not impossible and qualifies. Check out the website at hamchallenge.org, and while you're there click through the entry for DJ5CW on the leaderboard. That's Fabian, who is one of the masterminds behind the challenge, and his comment about week 31 and greyline propagation. He was particularly chuffed during German morning twilight to be able to find Barry VK2BJ on 80m in the middle of our afternoon; a smidge over 16,000km. Yes, it's possible. Reminders that we're taking bids from interested people to gain or upgrade your ham licence: we don't char ge for training or assessment, and we'd love to help you get on the road. Email education@ddrci.org.au to find out how easy it is to get started. We don't bite. QNEWS is broadcast twice every Sunday, and it's available for download in text and audio - you'll find both of those on our website at ddrci.org.au. If it's Sunday morning **right now**, then Club 2m Net kicks off at the top of the hour, and this week we're anchoring live from the Kanyana Hut to give additional experience to some scouts and guides - we might even have some VI4WID second operators if we can get them over being mike-shy. Let's make them feel welcome. For the Darling Downs Radio Club, I'm John VK4JPM. Catch you next week.

  4. Oct 8

    Q-News for October 11th 2026

    Hi and thanks for tuning into the broadcast - I'm John VK4JPM, Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club, unless I'm mistaken there's a great chance that this is Sunday 11 October. In the mornings the club 2m net will be on in just under 30 minutes, and you can find all about that on our website at ddrci.org.au. It's a friendly net where we go round twice and see what's happening and what projects everyone is working on, and whether it's rained. Shoes and ships and sealing wax sort of stuff. IF you've never joined us before, why not do that - via VK4RDD if you're in the Darling Downs region, or via EchoLink if you'd like some excitement. Last week I mentioned Mesh, Mish, Mash, Mush and Mosh. Yes, they are all real words. Tomorrow night, Monday 12 October, we're meeting at our spot in Harristown for a bit of a mesh bash. It's our regular monthly club meeting night, and the topic is Mesh Networking for Hams. You can attend either remotely by Zoom or in person, and this time we're pleased to say we have something special either way. Not only will the team explain what LORA and Mesh are all about: thanks to Ben VK4AFB we now have a solar MeshCore repeater running on the Flag Pole at the hut. The MeshCore repeater is working a treat, and Dave VK4JPS has already had a few good QSO's down to Brisbane. He's exercised all kinds of functions including PING, TEST and both Public and Private chat groups, and he's proved how useful it can be by checking in on discussion about the firebombing aircraft returning to base, enroute from east of Toowoomba. If you already have a bit of Mesh kit, follow the guide on the Meshcore Website to flash your Companion device, send out an Advert, and see who's out there on The Mesh. If you're on Discord, you can join the MeshCore Groups, and see what observers are reporting from the Mesh. And if all that sound like gobble-di-g**k, join us on Monday the 12th to learn what it's about. The Darling Downs Radio Club is building an active mesh with links to Brisbane, and 6-8 Club members are already engaged with this emerging Tech. The good news is that, just like Echolink, it's easy to get started on MeshCore. Tomorrow night, from 1900 with tea, coffee and nibbles; you can attend by zoom and all the details are on the website at ddrci.org.au JOTA is coming up over the coming week, and we've engaged solidly with some local troops. Our team headed by Sam and Perry has done a sterling job of setting up the hut and readying the trailer. The current plan of on-air activities is on the website right now in a calendar entry with the JOTA logo, so check there for detail. The summary is that we're going to run live at Harristown on Saturday 17 October from 0900 to 2100, and we want you to drop by and join in. We'll have HF and VHF already rigged, and there will be internet terminals available to support JOTI. On Sunday 18 October from 1000-1300 there will be an additional influx of scouts from down the valley, and we'd like you to help them experience what our hobby is really about. If you have a few moments on either day, we'd love you to join us - there is a link in the calendar entry where you can add your name to the roster. We're not just doing this for the scouts: if you've never operated FT8, don't know about grid tracker to monitor propagation, or have no idea how to turn on a Raspberry Pi, then you should come along and learn heaps. Nobody is born with this knowledge! Check the JOTA/JOTI calendar entry on the website for details and links, and keep an eye out for frequencies that we're using so that you can respond to a JOTA CQ call. you can find all the info you missed at ddrci.org.au; you can join the club in under five minutes by clicking on the big red button; and we're here to answer your questions if you send an email to secretary@ddrci.org.au. I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club, and 73s until tomorrow night or next week.

  5. Oct 2

    Q-News for October 4th 2026

    Hi, and before we start: hands up who got the clocks wrong this morning? I'm John VK4JPM Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club, and I've danced around so many timezones in the last week that I'm not even sure that this is Sunday. But it is, unless you're listening to this on delay or from the weblinks on our home page. Did you know that you can access our QNEWS segment online? ddrci.org.au and keep your eyes peeled. Important news about our next meeting, which is in a little over a week on Monday 12th of October. The topic is Mesh, the umbrella term for peer-to-peer comms via a LoRa backbone, supplemented by additional protocols. If that made no sense at all, and there's no reason why it should, then this is a good meeting for you to attend. Just like SSB and FT8 and a heap of other modes that we now take for-granted, Mesh is going to play a part in your future. There are many people who think that Mesh is a solution looking for a problem, and we'll talk about that because it's important. There are many online stories which talk about Meshcore vs Meshtastic as though both platforms are football teams. They aren't and we'll do a bit of a comparison to help you understand. Here's the offer: come along and let's go through the basic concepts of Mesh, the benefits of Meshcore over Meshtastic, what you can do in terms of hardware, and how to configure device and software options. By the way, if you have a mesh device that you haven't started using because there's not much traffic on older systems, then we have good news for you. We'll run through flashing devices, and setup. If you don't have a device, there's just a chance that if you order now you'll have it in a week in time for the meeting. Check the monthly meeting calendar entry on our website for tips on where to look for bits and bobs. And we'll have a solar repeater running onsite ready for you to use to test your devices. The date for the diary: Monday 12 October, just over a week away, and we'll be at Harristown for this one. Everyone is welcome, especially if you're from out of zone, and the meeting will be available by telepresence. Now: a quick word about JOTA and JOTI: on the weekend of 16-18 October there will be scouts and guides looking for hams with whom they can make contact. Please be ready to get on-air and participate. Nothing is more depressing than calling CQ without a response. Check out the website to see what the club is doing, and how you can pitch in. Ham challenge is up to week 41, the week for contributing something open source to your fave project. It's not true that you have to write five modules to contribute. Fixing a few spelling mistakes in documentation is just as important. Maybe even creating documentation if none exists. Pop an idea into the GitHub repository or online forum. As the entry says: don't be shy. Everyone was a newby once. The 52 week ham challenge is at hamchallenge.org, and as far as I can see there's not a single VK in the list... so you can notch up a first pretty easily. Check the website for info on how to place an order for Darling Downs Club merch: we're about to arrange more shirts and caps. Closing date for orders will be the day after the meeting, meaning that we'll take orders onsite with delivery about two weeks later. Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers is still running, and the special Garden City Award is still within reach: look for the awards tab on the website and have a go. On Sunday mornings, if that's when you're listening, then hang around for another 20 minutes and join the DDRCi club net on VK4RDD or Echolink. I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club, and we'll be back on Sunday 11th to remind you about Mesh, Mish, Mash, Mush and Mosh. I'll explain next week, but until then 73s and thanks for listening.

  6. Sep 25

    Q-News for September 27th 2026

    Hi at whatever time you're listening to QNEWS: this is the edition for week commencing Sunday 27 September, and 2026 is fast running past. I'm John VK4JPM Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club with this update. In two weeks and one day it will be Monday 12th of October, the second Monday of the month and the date for our regular Club Meeting. The October topic is Mesh communications. A quick web check will tell you that Meshtastic and MeshCore both use LoRa radios for off-grid mesh messaging; but what does that actually mean, and how do the systems work. There's also a lot of discussion about Meshtastic vs Meshcore, almost like they are opposing NRL teams. At our next meeting, we're going to introduce the topic of Mesh in a way that's helpful, and give you some examples of what you can do with Mesh messaging. And our team of experts will show you how easy it is to start experimenting with Mesh and what practical outcomes you might get - plus it will be a good opportunity to review some of the underlying technology that supports Mesh. More information coming, and you can find all the detail for the meeting now in the calendar section of our website at ddrci.org.au 12 October at the Harristown location. JOTA/JOTI season is fast approaching, and the Darling Downs Radio Club is working with a number of Scouts and Guide groups around the region to support this well regarded gateway to the hobby of a thousand hobbies. Dave VK4JPS and Perry VK4PER are putting together a number of activities to be run over the period of 16-18 October, including a 40m station to talk to the relatively close and eastern seaboard contacts; and an FT8 station that will work the bands and try to demonstrate changing propagation throughout the day - using grid tracker for some visuals. We'll show how you can use a simple Arduino nano to decode CW and using a flashing LED to send a message. We'll also have a workbench to encourage hands on-learning, with a multimeter and voltage dividers to learn about ohms law in a practical way. Our aim is to not only show amateur radio at work, but to encourage the guides and scouts to learn from the experience. If you have any other great JOTA activities you can suggest email, us at education@ddrci.org.au and we'll see if we can add them to out agenda. Or if one of the activities we've described gets your interest, and you'd like to know how we plan to run it, email us and we'll let you know. Education@ddrci.org.au Last week's 52 Week ham challenge asked you to work an early shift. This week is "work a late shift" but once again the definition of "late" is left to you. My day typically ends around 0100 wherever I am, but lots of people find 1800 a bit late and are preparing for bed. The aim here is to pick a time you don't normally work the bands, and do something different. You never know who and what you might find. And two things we haven't mentioned for a while: Mastodon, which you've possibly never used and which is the underlying communications tool for the Challenge community; and all the challenges can be logged - there are points for completing each challenge. Looking at the leaderboard, you could easily work your way back through some of the activities and run up a score high enough to be noticed. If you're listening to the Sunday morning broadcast edition, the club 2m net follows this broadcast on VK4RDD and Echolink. We welcome stations calling in via the net, and it's great way to stay in touch. If you've never tried using Echolink, check out the website where you'll find a heap of information on how to get started and make it work. In particular, there's a button pointing to the website that shows you the status of the link and our repeater... that's fun to watch. Thanks for listening. I'm John VK4JPM, for the Darling Downs Radio Club. Until next week 73s and thanks for listening.

  7. Sep 18

    QNews for September 20th 2026

    It's Sunday 20 September and spring is springing, especially in Toowoomba where the Carnival of Flowers is now in full swing. I'm John VK4JPM Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club and welcome to an update for club members and listeners. Last Monday we visited radio station 4DDB and really did learn a heap of stuff about broadcasting. The big message is that broadcast technology IS incredibly broad, and you can have a heap of fun applying skills that you already have, and you get to work with all kinds of gear that is bigger than anything we play with in amateur radio. There are 460 community broadcasting stations in Australia and all of them are looking for tech support. So if you're listening to this broadcast, you're already pre-qualified, and there are people who would love to hear from you. And we can help you make the connection to a station near you. If you'd like to know more or get an introduction, drop me a line via Secretary@ddrci.org.au Our next club meeting will be on Monday 12 October, in the Hut at 18A Memory Street Harristown. The topic is very timely: Mesh. There are many people who have started with LoRa, moved to Meshtastic, and then discovered MeshCore - by which time it was all too much fun to stop. Mesh is an incredibly useful technology and with lots of opportunity to do something that hams are good at: experiment and see what happens. At our meeting you'll discover why mesh technology has so much potential, and how to get involved. We won't be going into every nut and bolt, and you won't learn everything about mesh, but you'll leave knowing what you don't know, and where to go next. That's our Mesh overview meeting, on Monday 12 October, and details are on the club website at ddrci.org.au Over at VK4RDD the club's repeater, EchoLink has settled in nicely, and got a reasonably good workout on last Sunday morning's 2m net. At least one participant joined the net from a phone in his car, and the audio was super-clean and clear. It's really easy to get started with EchoLink, and there's a heap of good information on how to get going. Check out the club website for that initial leg-up. During September we're going to keep reminding you that qualifying for the Club's Garden City Award is both fun and easy, and if you apply before end of Carnival on 5 October we'll even recognise your effort with a special annotation: the during the Carnival of Flowers connection. Check the website at ddrci.org.au and click the awards tab at the top of the page for all the detail. Now an ask: how about sparing a few hours to help the club with our JOTA/JOTI efforts over 16/17/18 October. As a licensed ham, you're just the person we need to inspire the next generation of enthusiastic operators - in this case through scouts and guides, and on a worldwide stage. Can you let us know when on those dates you'd be available to help a bit, and we'll do the rest. education@ddrci.org.au is the email address for that. That's all for this week. Instant replay of both words and audio can be found on our website at ddrci.org.au. If you have a thought for a meeting, or an article of interest, or a burning question, please send a note to secretary@ddrci.org.au and we'll help. Promise. The DDRCI Club 2m net follows at 1000 on Sundays on VK4RDD or EchoLink - feel free to join us, and with EchoLink in place you really can join the net from anywhere at all. I'm John VK4JPM, for the Darling Downs Radio Club. Until next week 73s and thanks for listening.

  8. Sep 11

    QNews for September 13th 2026

    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.

  9. Sep 4

    QNews for 6th September 2026

    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.

  10. Aug 27

    QNEWS for 30th August 2026

    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.

  • 10 Episodes

About

Weekly podcast produced by QNews in Queensland Australia covering Amateur radio news items.

Information

  • Creator
    QNews VK4BB
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Please acknowledge if you re-use content from this podcast
  • Show Website
    Q-News AR News from Queensland

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