Hi. Thanks for joining the Darling Downs Radio Club QNEWS segment - it's most likely Sunday, 8 Feb, and I am very pleased to be back in the land of the living. Tomorrow night, Monday 9 February, is the first of our member and tech meetings for the new year, and the topic is tada antennas. You can join us in person or by telepresence, and if you do, it's going to be just like being in the room with the rest of us... Although people in the room get tea, coffee and tam-tams, because we're that sort of group. Antennas are a very broad topic, with lots to know, lots to learn, and lots to swap. Tomorrow night, we'll do all of that, using a discussion format where we want to know what's worked for you, and what hasn't. Along the way, we will investigate verticals and beams, matching, DX and local, transmitting and receiving, and both well-known and more obscure options. Club member Bob VK4ZOW has been playing with yagis using the bent driven element, and has tales of amazing DX using yagis from two elements up. There's a bit about that on our website in the invitation to the meeting, and it's worth a read. One discussion I'm looking forward to hearing: what are the recommendations for a decently working antenna that can be installed on a suburban block? That's increasingly important as some of us transition from the family home to community living, where a tower might not fit. Bring along your experience, your trials, tribulations and failures, and we'll have a great discussion. That's at the District Scouts HQ in Newtown, Toowoomba... 10 Victory Street. All the details are on the website, so easy to find. The meeting will start at 1900 AEST to give us time for a bit of a club update; we've been pretty busy over the break, as regular listeners will know. Things are going well, and there are a heap of questions that we'd like to ask you, so we can shape what's coming up this year. We're scheduling several projects, and now is the time to open discussions for the Club's entry in the John Moyle Field Day, only six weeks away on March 21. If you're listening to this and you're not a member, then a reminder that the discount rate is 50% off right now - that's for all memberships - so full individual is only $20 right now. Pensioner, student and youth memberships are even less. And the family membership is also discounted. Before I go, have you been following the HamChallenge? Details are on our website, or you can go directly to hamchallenge.org. This is week six, with a very curious challenge to whistle a digi or CW QSO. In case that sounds too hard, there is a very big hint on how you could make either of those modes possible. And like travelling to Melbourne, getting there is half the fun. Amateur radio is about experimenting and discovery, which is what the Ham Challenge is designed to encourage. We think it's a pretty cool program. So all that again: tech and member meeting tomorrow evening from 1900 AEST - and everyone is welcome whether in person or remotely informal lunch on Sunday 22 Feb put 21 March in your diary and plan to join us and help with the John Moyle Memorial Field Day, and there's no better use for $20 right now than a quick press of the "join" button on the website. The website is at ddrci.org.au, and if anything is weird we're listening via the contact form, or secretary@ddrci.org.au. I'm probably not going to be able to reply if you try to get me via whistling DIGI or CW, but it's worth a go. Who knows? The Club 2m net follows at 1000 eastern on the club repeater VK4RDD. Thanks for listening. I'm John VK4JPM and how about I see you tomorrow night? 73.
