Image Archive 2010-2019

Welcome to the Archives

Photographs from the decade - 2010 - 2019

This page will be updated if more photographs are found of past club activities.
We are building these pages into a photographic walk down memory lane and breaking them into PhotoArchive1 the early decades, then Photo Archive 2 2000 to 2009,
Photo Archive 3 with 2010 to 2019 and finally with Photo Archive 4 2020 to Present Day.

If you have any photographs of club activities which you would like the share, please contact the Webmaster.

What a decade!

We built a new repeater site, launched an ARPS Gateway, sent helium balloons to the edge of space, built a shed on Mt Goonaneman, had dinners and lunches, held working bees and were generally busy all the time.
Along the way, in 2011 we held our 50th Anniversary celebrations too.

Special events are on dedicated web pages

Our 50th anniversary has a separate webpage at Golden Jubilee

We opened a new Repeater site on Mt Watalgan and launched VK4RBW

Our helium balloon projects are on this Habe Project page.

So too our Shed Project

2010 Activities

Built new repeater site, held WICEN open day & built APRS gateway

John (Rusty) McGrath 2010 Bundaberg Senior Citizen of the year

Rusty at 80 years & insert from about 1965

VK4APQ Keith Haverfield sk. Sadly we lost a senior member VK4APQ, a past President who oversaw the Mt Goonaneman tower project in the 80's

We remembered the past with VK4IL's 1964 Deltahet Project

We lost the 2010 interclub challenge to Hervey Bay Club, we needed tissues

And we all had a good cry

President Rusty VK4JM hands the Pat Dryden Trophy back to HBARC president Wade VK4W

Look what We Won

OK, let's put it into perspective

Full story of the new Mt Watalgan repeater site

VK4RBW ICOM Repeater
ARCOM Controller & Duplexer

Plaque acknowledges Bundaberg Regional Council funding towards the project

There were a couple of short speeches

The Mayor Cr. Lorraine Pyefinch was the guest of honour

With the words "VK4RBW is now on the air" the Mayor launched the repeater

Presentation of a gift to the Mayor to mark the occasion

In August we set up a display at the Lifestyle Expo as part of Seniors Week

Laptop displays photos and Club wepages

FT401, IC735 & Kenwood Antenna Tuner

Display material including Brochures and Foundation Training manuals

Coax samples, Morse Keys (from Murmansk Arctic convoy ship and home made project)

QSL Card display. Yaesu 857D in WICEN portable configuration

Two Club antenna projects. Copper dual band and 2M fox hunt yagi

Rusty VK4JM talks to interested visitor

Joscelyn VK4JJ ready to greet people at the Lifestyle Expo Part of Seniors week 2010

APRS tracking VK4BRG's flight simulator

On a foggy morning we ventured to Mt Goonaneman for a working bee

This is what a September morning looks like on Mt Goonaneman

Installing smooth panels to reduce access to tower

It was a safety requirement to prevent climbing

Almost finished..It's a thing of beauty

New RCD GPO installed for safety on the mountain

Installing extra window security

Might as well trim the lantana

Chipping out those pesky weeds

Well deserved lunch break in a magic location

Time to go home

Loading up an old tower

Trailer snakes down the track

WICEN Open Day we had 21 attendees

The new Yaesu FT-857D portable stations

VK4JRO tunes in a unit

Visitors from Bundy & Hervey Bay look on

VK4DAD, VK4FKEV & VK4BRG work on another unit

It was time to go outside and erect the E.N.V.I.S. 40M Dipole

Teams followed simple training sheets

The Dipole is complete

A last minute run through on RF safety and the day was complete

New Mt Watalgan APRS Digipeater VK4RBW-3. Joins VK4RBU-3 on Mt Goonaneman

New APRS i-Gate full details at APRS page

Success! It works

The APRS set up at the VK4BW clubrooms

October - Time to go to JOTA at Wyper Park

Scouts make radio contacts

A highlight was talking to Scouts camping in Sherwood Forest

Xmas break up party at Railway hotel

VK4ION shows the Trivia prizes

Trivia contest was won by Judy De Serio

VK4UD makes sure VK4EMU has his head screwed on !

More gifts Judy and that's the end of 2010

There is a dedicated page for the celebration of our Golden Jubilee

The year began badly as the Burnett River flooded cutting Bundaberg in half. It reinforced that we needed to re-think our WICEN Portable Stations.

2011 Activities

Happy 50th Birthday to us, we had floods, build WICEN cases, worked hard and had some fun

Three robust portable stations, see the Case Build here

Equipment is fixed permanently to a removable shelf

Portable station can be used in or out of the box

Everything you need is under the shelf

Designed to go into the field, to withstand being transported in a floodboat and even 'spritzed' with water. Proving a great success, and they'll last for years

Working bee on Mt Goonaneman Clearing lantana from the site

Councillor Lynne Forgan worked hard & took her tea break on the roof enjoying the view

Linda Sullivan core fills besser blocks in the top retaining wall

Cleared boundary and treated pine log installed

Everything is neat and tidy and will be fine for a few months

Buxton BBQ with Hervey Bay club

Members enjoying a cuppa

VK4UD, VK4JM, VK4KUS & VK4XZ enjoy the sun

Sausages were the order of the day & chatting while stirring the BBQ

HBARC won the Pat Dryden trophy Rusty is gracious in defeat, Wade was cocky!

Rusty eagerly accepts the 2nd place trophy. It's the revamped Try-Arder Cup

The little cup has grown.. the Try-Arder cup has blossomed into a bejewelled monster

August Lighthouse weekend and we were feeling the cold

Our shade shelter at Burnett Heads Historical light

It was time to pack up... Bob was still talking

Bob still talking

Table gone...

Chair gone Bob still talking...

It was JOTA at Wyper Park

VK4DAD showed the scouts Morse

Some enjoyed the Morse key

VK4UD showed scouts the radio

We had a display at Guides Jamboree at Gin Gin as well

The rack on Mt Watalgan is filling up nicely with equipment

2012 Activties

WICEN Exercises, new equpment and fun outings

International Lighthouse Event

VK4FABF on-air Burnett Heads Historical Light

It's a simple but effective portable station setup

A display of QSL cards and photos for the public who pass by

Its not a contest but we record the contacts & send QSL cards to mark the event

In July the Buxton BBQ with Hervey Bay Club & awarding of the interclub challenge trophies

Wade receives the 2nd prize

Wade seemed reluctant to part with the major trophy

Great facilities at Buxton and sausages & onions smelled great

Rusty was just chlling and practicing his speech

New Icom & Arcom arrive for the Town Repeater on the Hummock

Icom & Arcom at the Hummock

VK4JM & VK4JJ at a club dinner

VK4JRO & Carol

VK4FKEV & Linda

We held a WICEN Exercise transmitting between Bundaberg & Gayndah

Ross & Matt Dyer from Council

VK4JRO was Bundaberg Operator

Emergency Personnel watched the exercise

The exercise proved HF for short distance comms between Gayndah & Bundy which impressed the EMQ people

Radio messages were transcribed

The portable station on display

Gayndah team put an antenna on a ute and made contact with Bundaberg

Xmas break up dinner

Secret Santa was a hit with happy winners around the table

Darrall VK4FABF won the Handheld Radio prize donated by Marg & Anske

Ross has all the Club Logo Gear and that's the end of 2012

2013 Activties

Workshops and Lighthouses

Mid year dinner

It's June, we celebrate xmas early

August workshop

Members passed their projects around to inspire others

VK4ION showed her Raspberry Pi running a media centre

VK4FPDG Tape-Measure Yagi

Tape Measure Yagi parts kit

Members assembled the kits

Tape Measure Workshop August

Coffee break & chating about projects

We actually learn a lot chatting

Setting up ILLW

Anske VK4CAB creates display

VK4UD & VK4ION on-air @ ILLWg

VK4JJ & VK4JM

VK4BRG & Sue

VK4JRO

Joscelyn VK4JJ

Perfect blue sky, a little shade tent and the old lighthouse for our contesting

Jamboree On The Air at the Scount camp @ Wyper Park in October

It's an annual Club Station Event & members camp overnight

Listening to calls

On air at JOTA

November Workshop on SDR & drones

SDR kit for workshop

VK4FPDG explains SDR

SDR signals displayed

VK4BRG software controlled drone

VK4BRG Home built quad copter

Winners! 2013 Contest winners VK4FPDG VK4JRO VK4SR & VK4OH

2014 Activties

A year of disaster, displays & workshops

WICEN Training: Maps & Compass

VK4JRO & VK4FHAM WICEN Training

Workshop using simple electronic components

We learn fundamentals of electronic circuits

VK4FABF & VK4OH undertake the build. Understanding circuitry takes patience

Success when the circuit lights up. We uploaded pages of our basic electronics courses if you're interested

Workshop learning to solder

It's harder than it looks to solder small components

VK4UD concentrates on the work

Ron VK4BRG ran the Workshop

VK4FHAM & VK4ION learn Morse Code

WICEN attends Wartburg disaster display

Wartburg display. We were one of many exhibitors

WICEN members attend Disaster Expo

WICEN Display. Members VK4FHAM & VK4FCCW

It's October and JOTA with Scouts

Another JOTA weekend with Scouts @ Wyper Park

JOTI - Jamboree On The Internet @ Wyper Park

Club Contest winners for 2014

Xmas luncheon @ Phat Tonys

Silly Secret Santa gifts

Great food and good company

And games of skill... and that's the end of 2014

2015 Activties

WICEN goes Bush. We attend Yesteryear Rally & commission new gear on Mt Goonaneman

Balun Workshop back to the old reference books

Wind double strands of copper onto a ferrite core

And keep winding until the required number of turns

Time to solder & test to ensure continuity & resistance

It all fits neatly fits into a plastic box

Now it's ready for use, to join balanced and unbalanced lines

April, Tegege Yesteryear Rally Club display

VK4HAX & VK4UD

Old radios suit a Yesteryear rally

VK4HAX chats with a visitor to the display

May, WICEN field exercise at "Clarkeys Reloaded" trail ride event

Ross VK4JRO works with a Sweep Rider

Rider's briefing gives everyone the scoop for the 2 day event

It's a family camping event over the two days

Huge numbers come to trail ride through the bush

Three courses, Junior, Novice & Open really test the riders

SES direct riders while we provide comms in the rugged bush

June, Up to Mt Goonaneman

Official unveiling of new repeater equipment

Short speeches & a few laughs

Guests Wayne Bennett & Lyn Forgan inspect the gear

VK4JRO points & explains haha

Glorious winter weather for the event

We had a good turnout of members too

Cr. Lyn Forgan &; VK4JRO - brings 2015 to an end

An epic achievement, and it's own webpage, for the club's launch of the Helium Balloon project

2016 Activties

We went into outer space & preserved our past

Time to preserve our history

We found history behind the art

The new look - past preserved

A Workshop to make 40M traps

A simple method of coax on a former

Some of the finished products ready to take home

Testing to ensure the resonant frequency

We enjoyed our annual BBQ with Hervey Bay Club

VK4KDS, VK4ION & VK4FCCW at Woodgae BBQ

New members VK4FIBN & VK4FORD

New member VK4FSTU & Farewell Secretary VK4ION

VK4OH set up our ILLW station at Burnett Heads community centre

VK4FABF came to assist and put VK4BW Club Station on air

Another workshop in September

Workshop to show what members are working on

Tower upgrades on Mt Goonaneman VK4FABF is fitted to harness

And up they go, replacing antenna along the way

VK4DN & VK4JRO inside the shack

Members were lucky enough to get a tour of the Broadcast Australia control room

Broadcast Australia gear - what we wouldn't give for their budget

Club event to launch a helium balloon it began with planning meetings. Full story at Habe Page

Fox hunting sessions learning to track the beacon once it comes back to earth

Everything delivered to site and ready to fill the balloon

The 2016 HABE Crew 5-4-3-2-1... Let go

Camera recorded some great shots on assent and descent

That is the edge of space folks!

Xmas breakup @ River Cruz

Nice luncheon on the river bank, and that's the end of 2016

Our shed on a mountain top has it's own webpage at Shed Project

Also the 2nd balloon project is showcased on the HABE Project

2017 Activties

We built a shed on a mountain top, and went into space again

We started the year with a power outage. Our power line is under THAT tree

It's rugged bush and Gary is looking for a safe path

Ergon team to the rescue

Meetings to launch another helium balloon

The 2017 HABE launch crew

Payload in a sturdy foam box

Ready to launch Habe 2

VK4OH VK4DN recover the payload

August VK4JRO at Lighthouse Weekend

VK4OH provided the gear

VK4JRO and VK4OH. More on this annual event is at the ILLW Webpage

We needed storage on the mountain and had to carry materials by hand to the top

Never were they so glad to reach the top.

It was prefabricated sections so it is removable. Full story at the Shed project page

We had a display at the annual Tegege Yesteryear Rally

Tegege showcases equipment and farmings from the past, so we displayed older equipment for the patrons

People come to see old farming techniques and our radios fit right in

WICEN uses the annual Curtis Coast Trail Ride weekend as a field event. We set up a base station

Held at Clarkeys near Lowmead, we set up gazebos in the bush with stations operating on 2metres.

The stations are at furtherest points around the track so that riders have a safe place to call in, and we can relay messages back to base

We use our WICEN portable cases as they contain everything we need

Simple vertical does the job to reach base in the rugged mountain setting

This little Mule is the workhorse of the weekend, ferrying bikes and riders who come to grief

Riders are given a briefing about the course and what hazards to expect

A pack of riders stop by our station to ask which way they should go... we have no idea lads!

Our campsite, we're getting set up

Night around our campfire, solving the world's problems and chatting

A great bush setting for some photography

VK4DN all the gear and ready for a tower climb

A working bee tower climb with some stunning photos of the climb

Looking up

And looking down

There are quite a few antennas on the tower, each strategically placed to avoid interference

Say cheese

Now keep climbing

We went bush for the August RD Contest

On a property outside of Bundaberg, it's quiet and only the livestock for neighbours

Our campsite

The team worked on into the night

Just to prove we were on air and not sitting by the fire chatting

Nice night shot of our station

Dawn over the property

VK4JRO, VK4DN and VK4OH still working next morning

VK4OH, VK4JRO and Renee

ILLW this year was a little more relaxed, VK4OH provided all the gear

We all took it easy this year

2018 Activties

2018

Oh goodness, we desperately needed a working bee to get the site back under control after the wet season

Look who else moved in while we were on a break

We held a workshop

We went to Clarkeys in May for the Curtis Coast trail ride event. Thought it might rain, so locked up some of our gear in an old cabinet

We set up the remote gazebos for our stations and sat quietly in the bush until needed

Clarkeys was a very laid back event and Gary is demonstrating, while Stu just looks on in amazement

Little vertical secure in our gazebo roof

Winter working bee on the mountain, which member knew how cold it got up there?

We didn't know Queensland thermometers went this low

The lantan invades our site each wet season and must be cut back to boundary

And it's a manual task to chip out the invasive weeds.

VK4DN bbq'd some sausages for the workers

Site looks neat and tidy once again

August and it's Lighthouse weekend

Dan VK4OH set up a station adjacent to the lighthouse

It's a peaceful site

There is the historical lighthouse and a park which runs down to the ocean

A simple vertical HF antenna served Dan well

And the sun goes down

August is also the RD contest and it was an overnight event for members, VK4JRO and VK4APP

The camp site, that's sand on the ground, not snow, we are in Qld after all

A simple set up but very practical, the club now has a great array of 'field day' gear

And world problems are solved while watching the bush tellie!

Two hams work on into the night, making contacts - and that's the end of 2018

2019 Activties

We installed some solar panels and WICEN went to Ubobo

A major project was installing Solar at Mount Goonaneman and Stu used his drone to check the antennas on the tower

Isn't this a magic photo taken by the drone. That's our valley and portion of our tower

The cyclone proof frame had to be installed on the roof as the first step

The two solar panels were fitted to the frame

Cabling and controller, and it all checked out

Stu controlling his little friend

And the drone came home

WICEN again supported Curtis Coast Trail riders at their Ubobo site for the weekend

That's Isaac VK4NEU working one of the remote stations

They are long tracks and riders take breaks at our stations

Just some of the motorcycle enthusiasts, they're all well set up for camping for the 2 day event

That's Isaac VK4NEU again, he's quite cosy too

We had a total power outage on the mountain late one night, so Ross attended and ran some checks

These guys are amazing and work 24/7 even on a remote mountain top

Time to check the big transformers behind the chain wire fences. Problem resolved and Mount Goonaneman came back to life

That's the end of our photographs 2010-2019

If you're looking for other archive images:
Images 1961 to 1999 follow this link
Images 2000 to 2009 follow this link
Images 2020 to Current year 2020 to current

Many thanks to club members who forward their images to us so we can continue to build the club history through photos.
** we don't always have names to go with the photos - so apologies for any missing names **

Last update: Aug 2022