Qnews for August 2nd 2026

CQ CQ this is VK4KSS Victor Kilo Four Kilo Sierra Sierra calling CQ and standing by, Over. On Thursday the 30th of July, The Kairi State School Radio Club, Using the callsign VK4KSS, had an on-air practical session as part of their ham radio studies for their grade 5 and 6 enrichment class. Under the guidance of Stu VK4SDD the students made contact with many stations across VK4 on 40 Metres under trying conditions. This time on air aids them in achieving a foundation licence and is good practice for the CQ Worldwide SSB Contest coming up in October. This has been Ben VK4 Yankee Tango for the Tablelands Radio and Electronics Club. Proud Supporters of the Kairi State School Radio Club. Hi there:  it's Sunday 2 August;  the moon is half gone;  our club's AGM has happened, and a loud buzzing noise appeared from the nation's mobile phones last Monday.  I'm John VK4JPM, Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club and this is QNEWS from the club for this week. The Club's repeater - VK4RDD at Preston - is getting a further makeover.Work on blueprinting the audio has resulted in a massive improvement of sound quality.  We're now working on the hamsters that power the Controller, which is on the bench getting a thorough refresh.  We've been talking to the manufacturer and we hope to have a few bugs ironed out by next weekend.  Meanwhile if you do come up and want information, one of us will be happy to give you the time or temperature, with or without DTMF tones. On the fundraising front, we have advance notice that our entry in the great Bunnings Raffle was successful, and the club is scheduled to cook snags on 19 December.  Write down that date:  19 December, and let us know if you're available. What did you think of the Ausalert test?  Do you have one of those phones that are non-mainstream?  Apparently if your phone runs Graphene OS, the message would have been a "presidential alert", and that text can't be changed at the moment.  More importantly, the test showed that 94% of towers broadcast the alert, which means that 6% didn't broadcast it at all.  In a real disaster, you would want to be listening to your local community radio station or ham radio repeater as well.  We definitely have a role to play in emergency communications. The HamChallenge.org people updated the website over the weekend and we now have challenges through to week 43.  The one we missed last week is fascinating, and you can still have a go:  it's "Make a QSO using Greyline Propagation".  This is literally the twilight zone of HF, where just before sunrise or just after sunset mystical and wonderful things can happen to the bands.  I've popped an interesting link in the text edition of this bulletin, which you can download from the WIA or find on our website at ddrci.org.au.    Also on our website at ddrci.org.au you'll find details of the next club meeting on Monday 10th of August, news from the AGM about your newly elected committee, and a reminder that memberships are still due and you can renew very quickly online using the big red button. That's it for this week.  If you have news or other info that you'd like to get to Darling Downs Radio Club members, drop a line to [email protected],   I'm John VK4JPM for the Darling Downs Radio Club.  73 until next week