Image Archive 2020-current year

Welcome to the Archives

Photographs 2020 - Current Year

This page will be updated as further events take place during this decade.
We are building our photo archive into a photographic walk down memory lane and breaking them into PhotoArchive1 the early decades, then Photo Archive 2 covering the decade 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 the 20's will be

We barely felt effects of the Pandemic and managed to grow and prosper, and will continue to share our photos with you here.
So far this decade we've celebrated our Diamond Jubilee, that's 60 continuous years for our club. We've partnered with a school so students could talk to the International Space Station and still had time for Club Displays, BBQ's, lunches, workshops and WICEN activities.

Special events are on dedicated web pages

Talking to the ISS we chronicled the journey on our ARISS page
We created an internet relay gateway with details at the IRLP Project

2020 Activities

We had a display at Jaycar, upgraded the tower on the mountain and toured the old 4BU site

When social distancing allowed, we had a display at the local Jaycar store

Our banners certainly alerted passersby to our presence

David VK4DN organised the display with the store manager

The tower guy wires on Mt Goonaneman needed replacing

The tower is 600m a.s.l. and the moisture from surrounding forest takes a toll on the wires over time

It takes a lot of manpower to pull the new wires into position

While on site we would mount this microwave antenna to experiment with signals back to Bundaberg

A series of ropes and pulleys and it wound its way to the top

To be fitted off by the rigger waiting on the tower

A quick check with this sophisticated drone and all was well

The local AM station 4BU is closing and we were invited for a tour of the outgoing facilities

Impressive banks of equipment

Analogue gear is beautiful and shows craftsmanship not obvious on today's digital equipment

A thing of beauty

The tower is massive

It will have to come down in the near future

Thee club formed in 1961 and in 2021 we celebrated our Golden Jubilee and became one of the oldest Amateur Radio Club in Australia

2021 Activities

Celebrated our 60th Birthday, talked to the International Space station and acquired a workshop

The BIG event of 2021 was the ARISS project with 12 Avoca students chatting with an Astronaut on the ISS.

All the images and back story are at the ARISS webpage

In appreciation of our JOTA support each year, Scouts have loaned us a shed... all we need to do is empty and clean it... before shot

And after a week of intense effort... the after shot. We now have a workshop and storage place in North Bundaberg,

We had to make a few repairs, like replacing windows and fitting a new door

Now it's secure and we have a place to hold an open day or workshop

The first load of rubbish is off to the dump

A new rack and equipment is installed at Mt Goonaneman

Since we built the storage shed we actually have room to expand in here

We had a display at Jaycar, while observing all the health requirements

Garry VK4WTZ welcomed the Jaycar manager and the public

We supported the Mens Shed organisation at their wellness expo

Garry VK4WTZ, Gail VK4ION & Lorraine VK4FHAM

A donation of a tower to the club, we just had to dismantle it

We're relocating this tower as a permanent fixture at Wyper Park for our Jota event with the Scouts

Ubobo our campsite for WICEN supporting the Curtis Coast Trail Riders at their annual 2 day event in the mountains of the Boyne Valley

Our training courses were in such demand we ran intense weekend lectures. VK4ION pictured training 4 enthusiastic locals

As part of the 60th birthday celebrations we had an open day at our 'shed'. These youngsters enjoyed using real Morse Code keys

In October we went to Jota at Wyper Park

We had the scouts making kits while awaiting their turn on the radio

The youngsters come in small groups to talk on the radio. The aim is to chat with other scout groups around Australia

2022 Activties

WICEN goes to Ubobo, we camp for a couple of contests and try our hand at the Bunnings Sausage Sizzle

A problem at our SES Shack when a coax came adrift in the storms

It meant a trip up the ladder for Ross VK4JRO who reattached the coax

Testing, testing, SWR all good. The old equipment in the image is used to train students. Old analogue pieces show students how things work

ANOTHER power outage on the mountain

Ergon assumed it was a pole fuse... nope!

Turned out is was a fault in their huge transformer... all fixed, power restored

VK4JRO, VK4DAV and VK4KDS made the trip up to check the outage and awaited the ergon team

All set up for a workshop to build Flower Pot antennas

The Nth Bundy shed is perfect for group gatherings and workshops

A quick run through of the project for the attendees

Brett VK4TTO under scrutiny from other members

Michael VK4JAF reducing shrink wrap to cover the internal wiring

Detailed worksheets for all the participants so they can make this versatile 2m/70cm vertical antenna

Ross VK4JRO fitted off the coax connectors

The club went portable for the John Moyle contest

Dan VK4OH and Garry VK4WTZ logging contacts

They camped and operated well into the night, Brett VK4TTO and Ross VK4JRO

David provided a delicious curry for the campers

In May WICEN went to Ubobo, to provide comms for the Curtis Coast Trail Riders weekend event in the mountains This was our camp prior to....

Do you notice it's raining, and raining.. we were cut off by flooded creek and bogged to the axles... great weekend though

VK4ION & VK4UO just sitting, chilling... before the dramas began

A fellow camper was DETERMINED to get that fire going

We reverted to HF radio and had messages relayed to family by helpful amateurs who heard our distress call once we realised we couldn't leave the site. The event had to be cancelled, a shame for the 100's who attended.

With nothing else to do and the OPEK antenna working a treat decided to chat DX for a long while with a guy just south of Tokyo Japan.

This is why only 4WD were even attmpting to get out. We were eventually towed out of the property, one by one.

Most people walked around barefoot as the thick, claggy mug had sucked shoes and thongs into the muck

We love this little mule, it's so powerful it was snap-pulling bogged vehicles out of trouble

May meant another working bee on the mountain, the weeds had taken over again

New batteries to be installed

Rusting bolts to be replaced

A new antenna is sent up to the rigger on the tower

Our rigger replaced an antenna that was shredded in a lightning strike. We're back to full strength on Mt Goonaneman

BARC went fundraising with a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle. The money raised allowed installation of 3 new antennas at two repeater sites, so was very worthwhile

The team, hard at work for the club fundraiser

Chief cooks, Ross VK4JRO and David VK4DAV

There was always a steady stream of customers waiting for their snags

In July we had a BBQ with the Hervey Bay club at Woodgate

The Woodgate park has great BBQ facilities for our sausages and onions

It's quite a tranquil site, with a short walk over to the ocean

August was the RD (Remembrance Day) contest, the club set up at Wyper Park for an overnight event

It's a great quiet location for playing radio

The members worked overnight and made 107 contacts in the contests

2023 Activties

This is NEXT YEAR so no photos yet... unless we develop time travel in the meantime!

That's the end of our photographs 2020 to Current Year

If you're looking for other archive images:
Images 1961 to 1999 follow this link
Images 2000 to 2009 follow this link
Images 2010 to 2019 follow this link

Many thanks to club members who forward their images to us so we can continue to build the club history through photos.

Last update: Aug 2022