Hi - you're listening to QNEWS, most likely on Sunday, the 23rd of November 2025. I'm John VK4JPM, secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club, with a helpful burst for members.. and everyone else interested in amateur radio west of Brisbane. But. I'm going to start with a repeat of last week's shout-out to all club officers and committees in greater Queensland and just across the border, because it's resonated... a bit. And it should resonate a lot. QNEWS is a great way to get club info to a wide audience, and it's surprised me that so few clubs use it. It's one of the things that we might address at a meeting of club officers in the future, but that's in the future, and we should start now. So I'll repeat my offer. If your club has meetings coming up, or if you have activities regularly scheduled - for instance, if everyone turns up on Saturdays for a natter, or if you are planning something for the end-of-year, why not tell everyone? People will travel from all over the state and beyond if the invitation is interesting enough. And don't forget that a listener might opportunistically be in your area and would love to join you. But they won't come if they don't know what you're doing. And even if you don't have a formal meeting in the works, trust me: other hams and shortwave listeners and even CBers are interested in what your club does. Anyone with a $30 Baofeng can listen to QNews, even if you don't hear them talk back. The key message is: let's all tell each other what's happening, and what's coming up. It's good for membership, good for cross-pollination of clubs, good for activities, and good for the hobby. Writing and voicing a segment isn't impossible, and doesn't need a recording studio. If I can help you get on board with the QNEWS process, drop me a line to secretary@ddrci.org.au and let's talk about how to get started.

Probably this is a good time for the reminder that all the material from our EMR session with John VK4JBE is on the website, in the homepage rotator - that's the carousel on the home page just after the "Join our Club" button. And while you're grabbing the EMR templates and documentation, check out all the other activities that Darling Downs Radio Club has coming up! Our next in-person club member meeting and tech natter will be on Monday, 8 December at 1900. Details on the website, but expect a bit of discussion about Chinese 2m (and 70cm) handhelds, and some show and tell. For those of you joining remotely: this is another of those round-table sessions where we all learn from each other. What hand-helds are you using now? When you paid $300 for an old-school device, does it work better than the $30 cheapy? We'd all like to know. That's on Monday, 8 December at 1900 in person and online.

If you need to upgrade or convert your licence, then Darling Downs Radio Club can help. Since there's no ACMA process to recognise prior qualifications (like if you have an overseas licence), redoing the exam is the simplest option, and we can help. There's no charge for the licence assessment - we run exams regularly because we're awesome and because we actively want more people to be involved in our hobby. Talk to us about how and when by sending an email to education@ddrci.org.au. The best way to be informed about club activity is to check the website or to register on our mailing list. Club members find out first, so there's an incentive to join - and individual membership is $30 or less right now. Go to the website ddrci.org.au and press the big red JOIN button. Until next week, thanks for listening. I'm John VK4JPM, secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club.