I’m John VK4JPM, Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club, and welcome to a bit of a QNews special. This past week I’ve been in Fiji taking part in the Pacific Media Partnership Conference, especially a session on disaster readiness and risk management for Broadcasters. Response to a hazard is about preparation, one area where Amateur Radio operators have always played a very important role. Our club is stepping up focus on areas of our hobby where a bit of prep will pay off in a big way. Our next meeting, focused on natural hazards will be the Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network, or WICEN. On Monday 10th, Simon Chantrill VK4TSC from the Brisbane Area WICEN group is joining us to talk about the role of WICEN; across the country and in Queensland. Not every WICEN activity is an emergency many events are peaceful and community-oriented and how we learn the skills we need when a hazard goes pear-shaped. As Simon says: WICEN is a state of mind and being ready is everything. So write that down: 10 March at the Toowoomba Library for our March Technical Meeting and member night.

Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. The week has passed and I wonder how many of us were surprised by an unexpected love token for St. Valentine's Day? In the gloom of the current news cycle where crime and cost of living issues seem to head the broadcast news service,s there seems to have been little weight given to what can be a special good news event on the calendar. Better news has happened for the people in north Queensland as the low-pressure systems have moved the rains away from major population centres and the massive range of jobs in restoring normal life and livelihood gets underway. Whilst the roads may get repaired and the shelves of the shops are restocked, one constant reminder of flooding is the smell. It is something I first experienced in my school years and most recently in a trip to Brisbane over a decade ago. Clean water and sunlight still seem to be the best cleansing agents after the silt and debris are removed. I have mentioned before that when I worked at night, I used to enjoy getting the written version of the amateur radio news downloaded on packet radio. These days we are fortunate that not only are there many volunteer re-broadcasters but audio and video versions of the news are available. As a reminder to listeners in the Wide Bay area, there are alternatives when copy 2m is poor and if you watch the video you get broadcast quality sound. By the way, I still get the text version of the news and that allows me to catch up when life gets in the way. It was worthwhile seeing someone replying to a post, online, that now was a good time to get involved in amateur radio with simple equipment. The writer reminded us that in another 5 years or so, the sunspot cycle will no longer be giving us the gift of great DX on the HF bands and maybe a low-powered radio would need to be replaced by a more standard 100W one. The truth is that many people started out running lower power to meet their licence conditions and they developed great skill in pulling signals into their shack and also succeeded in completing contacts at that lower power. I have met and heard operators who never felt compelled to go to higher power and this is one of the great things of our activity. There are so many modes and methods which we can use and explore and not feel we are less than a “big gun” who chases rare DX with maximum power. At some suitable time, I want to dabble with some of the digital modes that will run on my station equipment. One area of annoyance for me is the so-called improvements and additions that are being supplied by the Windows operating system. As a firm believer in the KISS, keep it simple stupid, principle these new extensions to the operating system are just taking space on my hard drive. I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I think….how about you?