CRARC Update – July 2026

The CRARC committee meets on-line on the second Wednesday of the month to discuss the running of CRARC. This email is an outline of items covered and other topics potentially of interest to CRARC members and is promulgated to keep members aware of what is going on. 

Topics Discussed

The committee discussed 

• Quangsheng radios sale to members 
  The committee have decided to offer the Quangsheng UV-K5(8) handheld radio, that we provide to qualifying foundation course graduates, to club members as well.  The UV-K5(8) is a 5W dual band VHF/UHF handheld which is quite capable, and also cheap enough that losing or damaging it is less of a problem.  These radios come with a programming cable and USB-C charging but without the cradle.  They are available at the CRARC Shop for $45.  These are for licensed members only and a limit of one per person.
• SouthFest 2026
  SouthFest 2026 will be held on Saturday 21 November 2026 near the Tuggeranong Town Centre and the club is looking for someone to manage and run a CRARC stand at the event.  CRARC has participated in this for the last few years and a new organiser is needed.  If you would like to contribute to the club and run the event or would like to assist in staffing the event, please contact the CRARC committee via committee@crarc.org.au.
• Membership Payments
  Graham, VK1GVC writes;
  Speaking as the CRARC membership person I thank all those members who have renewed their membership recently, particularly those members who paid via TidyHQ as it is easy and painless for all concerned.  If you pay by bank transfer then it is, to use a technical expression, a pain the bum for me as it needs manual reconciliation and a lot more faffing around.  I’m prepared to do it for multi-year renewals as TidyHQ doesn’t yet allow that option but for single year payments I urge you to pay in TidyHQ
• Foundation Course – 18/19 July
  CRARC run regular foundation courses throughout the year.  The course this month is fully booked with 13 students and the following course in September already has several bookings.  A huge thank you to all of the presenters and assessors for the time and effort they put in.

Upcoming Club Events

Tech Night –  Wednesday 15th July 2026 

This coming Wednesday is Tech Night and we will continue looking at a 1948 vintage Collins radio

Graeme VK1IO will be building and programming the Club’s Allstar Node as well as testing if time allows.  He is the person behind the recent Allstar nets on the Bulls Head repeater and he’s working on a more permanent setup for the club to replace the experimental box of wires and things in his shack.

UV-K5(8) Handheld – With the club providing them to new hams, and now making them available to members there is a lot of interest in the Quangsheng UV-K5(8) handheld.  Bring yours along and ask any questions you may have.

There have been big changes in VKDMR recently with Matt, VK2FLY completely rewriting the master server and enabling new capabilities.  If there is enough interest we will discuss the changes and new capabilities and how to use them.

There will undoubtedly be small groups discussing other topics of interest so please do not hesitate in bringing up any items of Ham Radio that may interest you

• As per usual, Coffee, Tea and biscuits will be available and Pizza will also be available for $5.00/slice. 
• Doors open at 6:30pm

General Meeting – Wednesday 22nd July 2026

The following Wednesday is General Meeting Night. 

Andy VK2OGR will be talking about Batteries.  Andy describes himself as a ‘safety engineer who says NO for a living’ and he’s seen a few safety problems he is willing to share.

The talk will cover;

• Basic galvanic cell and battery composition;
• How a Lithium cell can go wrong
• What you can do if it happens
• Examples of what went wrong

If time allows, Andy will show a few slides about Sodium cells which are the next big thing.

• As per usual, Coffee, Tea and biscuits will be available and Pizza will also be available for $5.00/slice. 
• Doors open at 6.30pm

Fifth Wednesday Of The Month – Wednesday 29th July 2026

CRARC often runs activity events when the calendar gives us a fifth Wednesday in a month.  This month we thinking of running a 2m or 70cm sprint where you try to make as many contacts as possible in a limited time – rules and details will be advised closer to the event.  This event is on-air only and can be done from home.  Newly licensed hams are especially encouraged to give it a go.

Foundation Night – Wednesday 5th August 2026

On the the first Wednesday of the month after a Foundation Course the club runs a Foundation Night as an introduction to the hobby for new hams.  The event is run as a sort of mini general meeting with presentations on topics across the breadth of Amateur Radio and various practical displays.  Members are welcome to attend and are encouraged to bring along items that might be of interest to new hams.  For more information, contact Bob, VK1ED via email at committee@crarc.org.au.

Current Repeater and Beacon Status

Repeater	Status	Comment
Isaacs 2m Analogue	Operational
Isaacs 2m D-star	Operational
Isaacs 2m beacon	Operational
Isaacs 70cm Analogue	Operational
IRLP/Echolink	Operational
Isaacs 70cm DMR	Operational
Bulls Head 2m Analogue	Operational
Ginini 2m Analogue	Operational
Ginini 2m APRS	Operational
Ginini 70cm Analogue	Operational
Ginini 23cm Beacon	Not Operational	Removed from site for upgrade and re-alignment

The UHF repeater on 439.950 MHz on Isaacs Ridge has had a couple of incidents of appearing to be locked on transmit.  This seems to last a few minutes up to a few hours.  The repeater and IRLP/Echolink node is still usable during this event and investigations haven’t shown any interfering signals nor a signal on the input.  It seems to have settled down for the moment and we’re keeping an eye on it. 

Full details on each of the above services are available on the club’s website at www.crarc.org.au.

Club News and Information

Membership

As at the June Committee meeting, club membership was at 188 financial members, 6 of which are life members.  Since we only switched over to rolling membership dates a few years ago, we still have many memberships that expire on the 30th June which always drops the numbers as some memberships are renewed late.  As always, if you have any membership queries or problems, contact Graham on membership@crarc.org.au and visit crarc.tidyhq.com to renew or update your membership.

Education

The next Foundation Course will be on the 18/19 July.  It currently has 13 candidates booked.  The following course is on the 19/20 September and currently has 4 bookings.

WIA Weekly Broadcast

There is a broadcast of the weekly WIA News at 9.00am local time via our VHF and UHF repeaters on Mt Ginini, 146.950 MHz and 438.050 MHz.  Callbacks are welcome on both frequencies after the transmission.  

Club Website

The club runs a website at www.crarc.org.au where you can find information on the club’s activities, repeaters, beacons and events.  It’s worth paying it a visit regularly to checkout the blog and events pages for new information and upcoming events.

 

Club Merchandise

The club has T-Shirts, Polos, Hoodies, Sweaters and Caps available via our merchandise store at merch.crarc.org.au.  Items are printed with the club logo, your callsign and your name and each item sold provides a small contribution to the club.  With Winter here it’s time to order that Hoodie or Sweater to wear to club meetings and events!

Club Shop

The club is providing the Quangsheng UV-K5(8) handheld radio to licensed members.  To get yours visit the CRARC Shop at https://www.crarc.org.au/shop/.