Contents

Australian Amateur Radio FAQ

5. Further information sources

Last updated: 14-Oct-07

Wireless Institute of Australia

The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) is an Australia-wide organisation which represents the interests of amateur radio operators.

The WIA represents the interests of radio amateurs and negotiates for changes to licence and operating conditions with the Australian Communications Authority.

Other Federal activities include publishing the highly-regarded Amateur Radio magazine, co-ordinating amateur licence examinations, running transmitting contests, band planning, international representation and more. The Wireless Institute of Australia is the oldest national amateur radio society in the world, and is a founder member of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU).

In 2004 the WIA changed from a federation of State/Territory based associations, to a single national body, to which all Australian licenced radio amateurs are encouraged to join. Membership of the WIA is not compulsory, but there are many benefits, including Amateur Radio magazine, subsidised use of the QSL bureau, cheaper awards, discounts on books, and occasional other special offers which become available from time to time. The WIA is also the loudest voice available for lobbying the ACA.

The postal address of the WIA is:

P O Box 2175, Caulfield Junction, VIC 3161.

The WIA Office is staffed between 9:30am and 3:00pm. The phone number is (03) 9528 5962 and fax is (03) 9523 8191.

The email address for the national office is nationaloffice at wia.org.au.

Links to international associations and organisations can be found in the Radio Links page.

Radio clubs

Radio clubs are the local face of amateur radio activities in each city or region of Australia. They also provide services such as repeaters, beacons, meetings, news broadcasts, the QSL Bureau and more.

Contact details for the radio clubs for each state are listed at the WIA website under the main menu item "Clubs". The first club listed in each state effectively is the former Division of the WIA.

Most clubs serve a particular town or region. Typical activities include study courses, examinations, excursions, social events, field day contests, constructional projects and on-air gatherings (or nets). Some fortunate clubs have their own rooms, while others meet in school classrooms or scout halls. Joining a club is a good way of meeting amateurs in your area.

The WIA website lists all clubs in Australia. If yours isn't there, follow the links on the site to update their details.

Australian Radio Clubs

New South Wales - VK2

Other Clubs

Australia's larger cities include formal and informal special-interest groups. These cater for activities such as VHF and microwaves, amateur television, repeaters, amateur radio direction finding, digital communication, and scouts in amateur radio.

Other special-interest groups are nation-wide. Examples include the Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Association (ALARA), the Radio Amateur Old Timers Club (RAOTC) and the CW Operators QRP Club.

Amateur radio news services

A good way to stay abreast of current amateur radio happenings by listening to your local weekly amateur radio news broadcast. In most cases these bulletins go to air each Sunday and were usually produced by the local WIA Division prior to the restructure of the WIA in 2004. A national news services is now broadcast in all states followed by local news. News bulletins are often also available via other media such as web pages, e-mail, packet radio, audio off the internet. Broadcasts normally run for about 30 minutes and include items from clubs and special interest groups, advice of licence classes, contest information, propagation conditions, meeting notes, hamfest happenings, technical items and more. For this reason they are essential listening for both the newcomer and experienced ham.

Receiving amateur news services is very easy. All bulletins are transmitted on the 144 MHz amateur band - listeners in most areas can receive the broadcasts on a no-frills VHF/UHF scanner receiver. Some news bulletins also make use of the 1.8 MHz band. If you are not too far away, an AM broadcast receiver modified to cover 1.8 MHz will receive the transmission adequately. Details of frequencies and times are available from the links above.

What magazines cover amateur radio?

Several Australian magazines cater for the electronics and radio hobbyist. Most are available from well-stocked newsagencies. These include:

Amateur Radio

This is the official organ of the WIA, and is available to members who elect to receive it. AR, as it is affectionately known, contains articles and columns on many aspects of amateur radio, such as DX, contesting, VHF/UHF, newcomers' topics, repeaters, Morse code, club news, propagation and much more. Not available in newsagencies. Covers more facets of amateur radio than any other magazine, and has more in-depth articles for the newcomer and experienced amateur operator.

Radio and Communications

This monthly publication was an amalgam of the former Amateur Radio Action and CB Action magazines. R&C contained articles on scanning, shortwave, CB and amateur radio. It is no longer published but you may find back issues offered on vkham's classifieds, in the classifieds in Amateur Radio magazine and on Ebay, apart from local libraries, radio clubs and the magazine collections held by individual radio amateurs.

Radiomag

This monthly hobby radio publication was launched in 2001 but is no longer published. Back issues may be found as described above.

Silicon Chip

This is a general interest hobby electronics magazine which does publish projects and articles from time to time that are of interest to radio amateurs. Silicon Chip tends to provide for the technically-inclined electronics hobbyist.

Electronics Australia

EA tended to emphasise consumer electronics, with a sprinkling of constructional projects. This magazine is no longer produced, but archives and other material can be obtained via the Silicon Chip link above.

Overseas magazines

  • QST (journal of the ARRL), comes with a membership of the ARRL
  • 73 Amateur Radio Today - published from the 1970s to 2003 - you may find back issues interesting reading though they will probably be a bit out of date these days
  • CQ
  • Practical Wireless - from the UK
  • Radio Communication (journal of the RSGB)
  • Break-In (journal of the New Zealand Amateur Radio Transmitters - NZART).

Some clubs and WIA Divisions publish newsletters for members. These range from a few stapled sheets, to magazine-style publications from the larger clubs and specialist groups like the CW Operators QRP Club and the Radio Amateur Old Timers Club.

It's not exactly a magazine, but a valuable source of information is the WIA Australian Amateur Radio Callbook. Not only does it list the callsigns, names and addresses of all Australian amateur, but it includes information such as band plans, accredited examiners, repeaters, VHF-UHF records, TV frequencies, countries, awards programs and contests. Of course, after you get your licence, you have to get the callbook, just to make sure you're in there :-) The Callbook is usually released towards the end of the year and can be purchased through WIA offices, radio clubs or outlets such as Dick Smith Electronics.

Reference books, technical, construction and operating

Two major sources of useful reference books are the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) which both publish a wide range of technical, construction, operating and general text books on the subject of amateur radio. Both organisations publish a general handbook which have become known as "the ARRL handbook" and "The RSGB Handbook". The ARRL handbook is published in softcover and hardcover forms. Many hams buy one every few years to keep up with the latest projects and information about newer technologies especially digital communications, VHF/UHF techniques, merging computer and radio technology etc.

You can buy the ARRL handbook and other ARRL products direct from the ARRL, locally from WIA outlets or radio clubs, or you can buy online via Amazon Books, who may also offer second hand copies of older editions. If you buy from Amazon, please use these links. The prices quoted by Amazon.com are US dollars so be aware of currency differences.

You can also sometimes buy Amateur Radio related books and manuals via classifieds sites such as VKHAM, Ebay, and eham.net, though some overseas sellers are reluctant to sell to foreign countries. Having a credit card or Paypal account is vital if you want to buy from overseas sources.

Some specific books available at Amazon are linked here. For more suggestions visit my Ham Radio Bookstore for books about ham radio

Other web resources about amateur radio

Radio amateurs have been quick to embrace the internet.  Many thousands of webpages now provide information about almost any aspect of amateur radio. 

There are several well known web-rings focussing on amateur radio websites. The Australian Amateur Radio webring has about a hundred web pages set up by Australian radio amateurs, including this VKFAQ site. You can follow automatic links from one site to the next, using the Next and Previous links in the Webring table on the home page of each site. The VKFAQ home page includes links to other sites in the Australian Amateur Radio and Amateur Radio World webrings.

You can also go to the home page of Ringsurf which hosts the software and database driving the webrings. Once you are there, use the search facilities to find webrings related to any subjects you wish.

For newcomers to Amateur Radio in Australia, Peter Parker VK3YE maintains VK3YE's Gateway to Amateur Radio. This site for the newcomer to amateur radio, contains many in-depth articles on various facets of the hobby.  Information on becoming licensed, constructional projects, operating and equipment is also provided. 

What internet newsgroups cover amateur radio?

Internet newsgroups tend to cover topics of broad amateur interest. Examples include general amateur radio topics in a particular country, antennas, digital communication and amateur equipment.

The Australian newsgroups are

  • aus.radio.amateur.misc which replaced the aus.radio newsgroup around July 95. The aus.radio newsgroup originally started out as a mailing list, ar-list, which was started by Dave Horsfall VK2KFU, some time around 1987.
  • aus.radio.amateur.digital, for the discussion of digital modes, including packet radio
  • aus.radio.amateur.wicen, which carries messages re WICEN

International newgroups covering amateur radio include

What e-mail lists cover amateur radio?

E-mail lists have become very popular for amateurs interested in specific interests within amateur radio. Mailing lists set up by Australian amateurs cover topics as diverse as microwaves, repeaters, low power, low frequencies, amateur radio direction finding, VHF and more. One-way mailing lists (where the list moderator only can post) are also extensively used for sending amateur news bulletins (eg QNEWS or APC News).

Because most people check their e-mail more frequently than look at a newsgroup, they allow more rapid distribution of information than newsgroups. Their limited membership (sometimes controlled by a moderator) tends to mean that the discussion is of a higher quality than on some newsgroups. They are much quicker to set up than a newsgroup, so can be established at short notice to discuss a matter of current interest (eg a new piece of equipment). Subscribing to mailing lists is free.

There are many radio-related mailing lists hosted by Yahoo, where they are known as Groups. You can go to the Groups home page and search for groups by name or keyword. You will find groups focussing on every brand of radio and in some cases focussing on one specific radio, such as the IC703 or the FT817. There are groups discussing portable and mobile operation and some groups discuss operating portable radios on HF bands, while actually walking around either in the city or up in the hills (search for HFPACK or HFPACKCW).

You will also find many other mailing lists hosted privately.

For VHF-UHF enthusiasts in Australia there are several groups available and they are listed on the vkvhf lists page.