DARLING DOWNS RADIO CLUB Hi. This is QNEWS for Sunday 7 December, and I'm John VK4JPM - Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club. Three important messages from us for this coming week. Number 1. Our next club meeting is on Monday, 8 December, which is possibly tomorrow (by the time you hear QNEWS). The meeting will be in person at 2 Victory Street, Newtown, and online. The meeting format is a round table. 2m FM is still the band of choice for repeaters and a general natter, and it's hard to find someone these days who doesn't have at least one handheld device. What functions can you use, and what functions need a manual and three hours of tuition to access? Is the default software better or worse than the replacement options, and which replacement might be best? What are your likes and pet peeves? Have you tried any of the add-on hardware to extend bands and modes? Is Chirp the key to an easy life? And... where do you find a decent antenna? All these questions and more will be answered... or maybe not, if it turns out there aren't answers. We're also thinking about what we could do to make 2m work better around the Downs, and you might like to weigh in on that discussion. We'd like your thoughts. So our last meeting for this year should be a good one. We kick off at 1900, and the details are on the home page at ddrci.org.au. Number 2: This year's end-of-season lunch is a BBQ on Saturday, 13 December, and we're returning to Webb Park on Dudley Street in Toowoomba. If you've never heard of that location - Webb Park that is; we're pretty sure you know where Toowoomba is - it's easy to find on the map applications, and just as easy to find in reality. We can't promise that we'll be alone, or that the weather will be perfect, but we can tell you that there are four hotplates under cover, lots of picnic benches, reasonably good parking, just a gentle walk down the hill to the main area, and an absolutely spectacular view east towards Brisbane. FM propagation will be excellent. It's not a POTA park, but there will be plenty of opportunities to test out anything that will run on batteries, and there are lots of trees to hang the longwire. All welcome, families and young people particularly, and it's the standard deal for this type of gathering: no charge, and BYO everything. Maybe even a spare chair in case others grab the tables first. Or just be there early. That's the DDRCi end-of-year lunch next Saturday, 13 December. We kick off at 1130, and the day will run until the last person leaves. Full details can be found on the club website at ddrci.org.au. Talk-in will be on 2m simplex 145.650, and via the club repeater VK4RDD on 146.750. And speaking of which, if you're listening to QNEWS on Sunday morning, 7 December, the regular club net will kick off on VK4RDD at 1000. Why not join us? Number 3: Australia might shut down over late December and January, but the club won't. If you're interested in sitting an exam or doing some training to get you there, drop us a line via the education hotline: education@ddrci.org.au. We've been having a great time helping all kinds of folk to get on air for the first time or upgrade their existing qualifications, and it's a smooth process. Ham radio is such a broad area, with so many sub-genres, that it's hard not to find something interesting to do - and plenty of uncharted waters and experimentation to be done. The licence allows you to do just that, pretty much the only form of ACMA licence which permits and encourages do-it-yourself and rev-it-up activity. Let us help you get there. And that's it for this week. You can get in touch with us via the contact page Until we see you next, 73 from John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club.