Q-News AR News from Queensland

About Q-News AR News from Queensland

Weekly podcast produced by QNews in Queensland Australia covering Amateur radio news items.

Publisher

QNews VK4BB

Category

leisure · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 Jan 2024

Latest episode

16 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

143 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Oct 2026

   Q-News for October 18th 2026

   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 education@ddrci.org.au 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.

2. 

   8 Oct 2026

   Q-News for October 11th 2026

   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 secretary@ddrci.org.au. I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club, and 73s until tomorrow night or next week.

3. 

   2 Oct 2026

   Q-News for October 4th 2026

   Hi, and before we start: hands up who got the clocks wrong this morning? I'm John VK4JPM Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club, and I've danced around so many timezones in the last week that I'm not even sure that this is Sunday. But it is, unless you're listening to this on delay or from the weblinks on our home page. Did you know that you can access our QNEWS segment online? ddrci.org.au and keep your eyes peeled. Important news about our next meeting, which is in a little over a week on Monday 12th of October. The topic is Mesh, the umbrella term for peer-to-peer comms via a LoRa backbone, supplemented by additional protocols. If that made no sense at all, and there's no reason why it should, then this is a good meeting for you to attend. Just like SSB and FT8 and a heap of other modes that we now take for-granted, Mesh is going to play a part in your future. There are many people who think that Mesh is a solution looking for a problem, and we'll talk about that because it's important. There are many online stories which talk about Meshcore vs Meshtastic as though both platforms are football teams. They aren't and we'll do a bit of a comparison to help you understand. Here's the offer: come along and let's go through the basic concepts of Mesh, the benefits of Meshcore over Meshtastic, what you can do in terms of hardware, and how to configure device and software options. By the way, if you have a mesh device that you haven't started using because there's not much traffic on older systems, then we have good news for you. We'll run through flashing devices, and setup. If you don't have a device, there's just a chance that if you order now you'll have it in a week in time for the meeting. Check the monthly meeting calendar entry on our website for tips on where to look for bits and bobs. And we'll have a solar repeater running onsite ready for you to use to test your devices. The date for the diary: Monday 12 October, just over a week away, and we'll be at Harristown for this one. Everyone is welcome, especially if you're from out of zone, and the meeting will be available by telepresence. Now: a quick word about JOTA and JOTI: on the weekend of 16-18 October there will be scouts and guides looking for hams with whom they can make contact. Please be ready to get on-air and participate. Nothing is more depressing than calling CQ without a response. Check out the website to see what the club is doing, and how you can pitch in. Ham challenge is up to week 41, the week for contributing something open source to your fave project. It's not true that you have to write five modules to contribute. Fixing a few spelling mistakes in documentation is just as important. Maybe even creating documentation if none exists. Pop an idea into the GitHub repository or online forum. As the entry says: don't be shy. Everyone was a newby once. The 52 week ham challenge is at hamchallenge.org, and as far as I can see there's not a single VK in the list... so you can notch up a first pretty easily. Check the website for info on how to place an order for Darling Downs Club merch: we're about to arrange more shirts and caps. Closing date for orders will be the day after the meeting, meaning that we'll take orders onsite with delivery about two weeks later. Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers is still running, and the special Garden City Award is still within reach: look for the awards tab on the website and have a go. On Sunday mornings, if that's when you're listening, then hang around for another 20 minutes and join the DDRCi club net on VK4RDD or Echolink. I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club, and we'll be back on Sunday 11th to remind you about Mesh, Mish, Mash, Mush and Mosh. I'll explain next week, but until then 73s and thanks for listening.

Podcast Authority Score: 46 / 100

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Engagement

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