QNEWS for this week (261011)
QNEWS DDRCI 261011
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 flagpole 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.
I’ve mentioned Merch over the last few weeks. The order we’re about to place will close tomorrow after the meeting (that’s evening of 12 October). There’s a calendar entry on the website to help you decide important information, like what name and callsign to put on the shirt, and how much it costs. It will take about three weeks for production, which will be just in time for Melbourne Cup day, a christmas present, and your ability to look the part at the upcoming contests. Check out the calendar entry for Merch at ddrci.org.au
It’s week 42 of 2026, and this week’s challenge is to make QSOs around the compass in one operation – which they define as someone North, South, East and West of you. And if it helps, in good Aussie tradition you could claim daylight saving confusion and log a few of the squillion contacts that you made while you were helping with JOTA. Check out detail at hamchallenge.org. While you’re there, note that in week 43 they want you to do as many contacts as possible on one battery, even if it’s a button cell. So put your batteries on charge this week and be ready.
The Club 2m Net will kick off at the top of the hour if it’s Sunday morning, and you’ve missed it if you’re listening on Sunday night. Either way, thanks for hanging in: 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 .
I’m John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club, and 73s until tomorrow night or next week.
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Renew your membership: https://www.trybooking.com/DMSZB will take you directly to the form
GreyLine propagation: check out https://www.onallbands.com/gray-line-the-twilight-zone-of-radio-propagation/
Everything you want to know about the club starts at https://ddrci.org.au/ or your favourite search engine.
The 52 Week Ham Challenge is at https://hamchallenge.org/
ADSB Support: https://adsbsupport.com/ for information or applications to host a receiver, which is free if you’re approved! And you’ll get free access to some really interesting online stuff as a result.
Additional info about FreeDV:
Info: https://freedv.org/
Download: https://freedv.org/download/
Getting started:
or https://evoham.com/freedv-for-beginners/
Joe, VK3SRC, has a good getting started here: https://www.sarcnet.org/page-21.html
Peter VK3TPM has a blog post about RADE with some video demos: https://blog.marxy.org/2024/11/machine-learning-comes-to-amateur-radio.html
Good demo of RADE over a long path: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6mWgxaNT0s
You can get support from the community and developers by joining: https://groups.google.com/g/digitalvoice
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VK4RDD is located southeast of Toowoomba on a high spot. Output frequency 146.750 with -600kHz transmit offset and 91.5Hz CTCSS tone
Great training materials at Jules Workshop: https://www.julesworkshop.net/Amateur%20Radio%20Group/3%20Foundation%20licence%20page.html
Club nets: weekly on 80m and 2m. Details on the home page at https://ddrci.org.au – scroll down and you’ll find all the frequencies and times.
Stuff for sale locally
https://vkclassifieds.net.au/vk2ri/#listings