It is with sadness that we report the passing of a real gentleman and former member of the Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio Club known affectionately to all as Doctor Rod VK4MRC.

Rod Cardell was well-liked at the club and in his community and died December 27th in Nambour after ill health, his funeral was held on January 3 and attended by family, friends and club members. Dr Rod a retired doctor and former Ansett Pilot, was born in Brisbane on the 4th of July 1932 and was a child of WW2, living in the shadow of Mt Louisa Townsville in Far North Qld from 1942 to 1945 adjacent to the Stock Route Airstrip which became a US and Australian Air force base during the war. He had many great adventures and put them to paper in 1991 when he wrote the book, “Wings Around Us” which includes the story of how his father refused to sell his house to make way for the Airbase, so it was built around them. He is missed by his children, grandchildren, club members, and the local community. Vale Dr Rod VK4MRC.

Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking.

The fireworks that marked the New Year Celebrations are now just a memory but the world around us continues with infinite variability. The possible peak of activity may be upon us for Sunspot Cycle 25 with solar flares, radio blackouts and amazing DX if I understand the reports. The weather has been going to be wet for days but the skies cleared and people have been looking forward to basic services such as electricity, telephones and the internet. Areas that suffered from storms and deluges with extreme damage to housing are ironically getting water back to their homes as the localised flooding recedes.

At my QTH, we had storm activity and woke up the following day, New Year's Eve, with no internet. With the brilliance of the design of the NBN, this also meant no home telephone and our main service provider and the one I use as backup were all unavailable. A day without online entertainment was little more than an inconvenience but it indicated how many advisory services are now geared to delivery via the Internet. We had no access to immediate weather advice or means of accessing it other than via good old-fashioned broadcast, free-to-air, services. It seems the outage was localised as it has not been mentioned on any service that I have used.

We woke up for New Year's Day with the service restored but stories running in the news are indicating many people have been without services since Boxing Day and they live not knowing what is happening in the community that sustains them. For these people, it would seem the planners have put all their eggs in one basket and then dropped it.

It is interesting to hear the electricity supply people saying that the quickest way of restoring power to many areas is to set up small networks that transportable generators can service. Then as if this is the ultimate fix, hearing from one spokesperson that this solution will save householders from having generators. Sorry mate, but since when has redundancy of services been unnecessary? Householders might not have the means to replace telecommunications but should be able to protect themselves with readily available equipment.

I wonder what involvement there has been in the whole weather-born situation from radio amateurs and whether radio clubs have been able to assist during the Christmas to New Year period. I am not aware, at this stage. Have you been affected or has your club suffered loss or been involved? This is the news that should be shared widely. There is a spirit of generosity within our community but for it to be demonstrated, the needs have to be known.

There has been some interesting activity during the recent heatwave in the south of the State with VHF signals being received in places quite distant from their source.

I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I think….how about you?