Q-News AR News from Queensland

After 14 years of rebroadcasting the WIA National News and QNEWS at 9:00am every Sunday morning on 1848 kHz across South East Queensland, Tim (VK4VI) has decided it’s time for a change of guard. To keep this Sunday morning tradition alive, Mick (VK4CRC) and I (VK4KY) are continuing the rebroadcast using a roster system. Call-backs are always welcome after the news. We also welcome feedback and signal reports via email. Our respective email addresses can be found on QRZ.com. Many thanks to Tim for his 14 years of dedicated service in keeping the Sunday morning broadcast going! Andy VK4KY Hi, and welcome to another Sunday. I'm John VK4JPM, Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club and thanks for joining QNEWS. This is the one place where nobody is going to ask you to like or subscribe. Tomorrow night is our monthly club meeting, and we've made a small change. OK, it's a big change: the planned subject has had to be moved to December, so mark Monday 14th in your diary when Justin VK7TM will join us - and more information on that plus debrief on Ham-e-Con in the coming weeks. The club meeting tomorrow night, Monday 9 November, is something we've never done before but should be a heap of fun. Come and participate in a live unboxing! Earlier in the year the Club received a major bequest of gear with instructions to make it available to people who care. The gear came from residence in Australian and UK, and was collected and loved over a long period. It was sealed in the most amazing packing and we're pulling out maybe five cubic metres of it to unpack at the Guide hut in Harristown. Details of the location are on our website right now, along with pictures to give you some idea of what is coming. The idea for the night is to come along; maybe bring your dinner; be part of the unpacking, and see what's in the boxes... and we don't know. It's like Christmas on a mega scale. Definitely there is some highly prized old-school ham gear; lots of spares; partly or completely finished projects; and... well, no promises other than most of the boxes we've opened so far have been full of treasures. And yes, we're going to be open to offers on the night. You might well find that left-handed-reverse-thread-knurl-tapper that you've needed for ever. If you want to show, sell or swap some gear yourself, bring that along too. Or just come for the fun and a chance to natter. All starts tomorrow night Monday 9th, at 1900 over at the Kanyana Guide Hut in Harristown Toowoomba. Details at ddrci.org.au. The meeting will NOT be online, and we're not publishing inventory, so the only way to find out what's available is to be there in person. Over at the 52 week ham challenge, it seems we missed number 45 and I've been scratching my head trying to work out how the leap week happened. Two of my diaries confirm that we're in week 46 from tomorrow, and last week I told you about week 44. Confused? No problem - there are two activities you can try. Week 45 was pretty simple: try a new award. If you haven't tried the Club's "Garden City Award" then head to ddrci.org.au and click on the Awards tab at the top. The week 46 challenge is a bit more challenging but a great way to learn; it's build and measure an RF filter. At the simple end that could be a 1/4 wave stub, or if you want to go all out then why not try to make a cavity filter? There's no end to the fun you can have. That's it from us this week. If you have any questions, or if you'd like to send a picture of your filter, the email address is [email protected] Our club net follows the morning broadcast at 1000 on VK4RDD or Echolink. Support QNEWS and National News by jumping in on the callbacks, so that we know you're listening - Gary would love to hear your voice. Until next week 73 from John VK4JPM and the Darling Downs Radio Club.

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 [email protected] 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

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 [email protected] 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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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-gook, 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 [email protected]. I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club, and 73s until tomorrow night or next week.