QNews for February 22nd 2026

Welcome to QNEWS for week 8 of 2026. I'm John VK4JPM, secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club, with our contribution. One of the real charms of a club is when it can provide some social activity between birds of a feather, and the Darling Downs Radio Club does that on the even months of the year. So here it is February and today at lunchtime (if you're listening on Sunday 22nd, of course) you can come and join us. You don't have to be a member of the club, and it doesn't matter if you don't know anyone because we're really friendly. We'll be hard to miss, because we're in the club shirts with our names in bright yellow letters and club caps. Very hard to miss. The February lunch is a very social barbeque starting from 1130 or so, at Peacehaven Botanic Park on Kuhls Road just south of Highfields. Stan Kuhl - that's K U H L was a dairy farmer who used to own most of the land in the area, and in 2005 he donated 4.7 hectares of land to be developed into a botanic park. The council has even expanded it a bit since then, with a plant sales area that will be open from 0900 on the day. We're going to be at the barbeques on the western side... plenty of parking on-street close to the BBQ area, or actually off Kuhls Road which is slightly a bit more of a walk but good exercise and very pretty. And there's tons of seating and undercover tables so you only need to bring what you plan to eat and drink. The location is good for HF and VHF so bring a radio if you feel like it. We'll be listening on VK4RTQ repeater and 146.500 simplex in case you get lost, and we'll answer to VK4WID. All the details are on the website at DDRCi.org.au. You don't have to register, but we'd love to get an email to lunch at ddrci.org.au to let us know you're coming. Next: More good news on the licence front. Club member Perry decided that it was time to do the Foundation Assessment and sailed through the theory and prac exams. By the time you hear this he might even have his call. Well done Per. We'd love to help you get started or do an upgrade, and there's no charge for that. Just drop a line to [email protected] and let's have a chat about how to make your ham aspirations a reality. This is week 8 of 2026, and if you're following the international ham radio challenge at hamchallenge.org you'll find that the week 8 challenge is to do some experimenting with APRS. That's the Amateur Radio Packet Reporting system, and there's a pretty good Wikipedia article that explains what APRS is all about. If you haven't ever played with APRS, it's not too hard to get started and there are plenty of resources available to help. Even looking up the history on the web is interesting, and there's a VK APRS site hidden in there with some useful local tips - helpful, given that APRS is designed as a real time protocol for local material. Let us know how you go. And finally: lock in the date of 9 March for our next club meeting. We'll tell you more about that next week. Wrapping up: the bi-monthly is Sunday 22 February (most likely that's today) and all the details are on the club website at DDRCi.org.au. Turn up a bit early if you'd like to buy some plants at the nursery, and it's a BYO everything event. As always we're listening, so if you have an idea for a meeting or activity, want to check any of the info I've just provided, or just make contact, drop an email to [email protected] and as Perry will tell you: we respond very quickly. I'm John VK4JPM secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club. Our 2m weekly net follows at the top of the hour on VK4RDD. Till next week, 73 and good packeting!