The committee, members and friends of the Tablelands Radio and Electronics Club Inc. were saddened to hear of the passing of Aubrey McKibben VK5QD on Tuesday the 21st of November after a short but fierce battle to overcome a brain tumour.

Aub was a founding member of the Tablelands Radio and Electronics Club Inc. and was present at the very FIRST meeting back in July 1988 which was held to test the chances of forming a radio club. Aub was active in the club for some time as President and took part in many club activities before moving to VK3, and then onward to VK5 in more recent times.

Aub was a gentleman always willing to offer advice or help wherever he could. As a Ham, Aub was known to many people all over the world. He had a distinct voice which was easily recognised on air and he was a fine operator. He mostly used a Kenwood TS530S which he purchased new and had kept in great condition. He was a great believer in the use of “Open-Wire Feed-lines” and had written several articles explaining the advantages that they offered over other methods and was always willing to discuss and teach others regarding this subject. A short time after being diagnosed Aub posted several pieces on his QRZ page and I encourage you all to take the time to read the biography as it really brings out the nature of a wonderful man. I believe the world in general and also that of Amateur Radio will be much poorer as a result of the passing of Aub. To Aub’s wife of over forty years and to his family, we extend our deepest condolences. Vale, Aubrey McKibben VK5QD

Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. We seem to live in a secret place that the rain god struggles to find and penetrate. We haven’t missed out entirely and the lawn is sprouting where the soil moisture has risen. Of course, this is a benefit to the HF operators as the more water the soil can absorb, the better the ground wave signals will be. Once the last of the storms have exited, the lower bands should be a joy to work on. Of course, if you have been paying attention to the forecasts from the weather bureau you will be prepared for the storm crashes emanating from the speaker or headphones with the expectation that the storms along the east coast and inland could continue for a few days yet. Hopefully, the rainfall is beneficial to areas in need as we live in the la Nina weather pattern. It seems the regulator is still stirring the edges of the amateur community with the redistribution of spectrum for the mobile phone service. This is the reason that the WIA is so important. It negotiates with the ACMA and has delegates included in the Australian contingent to the World Radio Conference where internationally the allocation of spectrum is decided. A lot of this work goes on behind the scenes, so to speak, and it would benefit us if more publicity was given to these important activities. As the time comes for the introduction of the Class Licence, I am hoping that a simpler set of guidelines will replace the current LCDs. The British regulator had a convenient solution with about 14 pages of “regs” that could be downloaded and printed with your PDF licence form. We can but hope that the new processes and structures are for the assistance of the clients and not simply shifting the workload from the regulator. There are lots more topics that we could discuss but a form of the dreaded lurgy has infiltrated my system and getting my thoughts together has been a challenge. I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that's what I think, how about you?