The Waverley Amateur Radio Society is on the countdown to its centenary on 27 January 2019!

The ‘Century for Centenary Project’ is the first of the activities to celebrate the centenary of the club’s founding in 1919.

The ‘Century for Centenary Project’ is very simply, a project intended to encourage member’s activity on the radio, with the aim of achieving the DXCC (DX Century Club) award, and as many other operating awards as possible for club callsign VK2BV,  in the next three years to the centenary in 2019.

Operating awards are issued for achievements in working contacts and receiving verifications by QSL.  Examples of some awards include the ‘DX Century Club’ for working and QSLing 100 DX ‘countries’ (entities) on HF, or ‘Worked All States’ on VHF.   There are a range of operating awards on offer through a number of programmes administered by the WIA, ARRL, eQSL and QRZ.com among others.

Financial members of the club can read further on how to participate in the Century for Centenary Project.

The special guest speaker for the Wednesday monthly meeting on 18 May is Mark Fahey.  Mark Fahey is a well known expert on North Korean broadcast media, who will be speaking  about his six visits to North Korea, where he not only documented and photographed propaganda as a part of every day life, but using clandestine recording devices, monitored and recorded North Korean radio and tv broadcast media signals.

Mark has documented this project as an interactive media e-book, Behind the Curtain.
http://www.behindthecurtain.asia/

This year, the Waverley Amateur Radio Society celebrates its 90th anniversary as a WIA affiliated club.  Fittingly, the club welcomed WIA President Phil Wait VK2ASD as guest speaker at the club’s monthly meeting on 16 March 2016.

After joining members for dinner in the Rose Bay RSL Club, Phil spoke about three broad areas in a wide ranging presentation.  Phil began with a review of the role of the WIA and its range of members services, such as Amateur Radio magazine, the QSL bureau, as well as its roles in advocacy with government, international liaison and coordination, and its role in amateur radio education, licensing and callsign administration.  Phil provided a snapshot of the WIA today, reviewing the state of membership and financial health, as well as addressing some of the criticisms leveled at the WIA, including a review of recent operational challenges and responses (more on these issues can be found in the April 2016 issue of Amateur Radio).

Today the Waverley Amateur Radio Society celebrates its 97th birthday!
On the evening of 27th January 1919, a little over two months after the end of the Great War, the Waverley Amateur Radio Club was formed at a meeting held at ‘Altmont’ 13 Macpherson St, Waverley, the home of Frank Geddes Snr in the eastern suburbs of Sydney.
Amongst those in attendance were some of the first Australian amateur experimenters, first licensed in 1911; Frank Leverrier KC (XEN, 2BK, Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney & first President of the Wireless Institute of NSW), Malcolm Perry (XCP) and Ray Allsop (XCA & founder of the Raycophone radio company). The founding members of the club also included Frank Geddes Snr, Frank Geddes Jnr, Les Holdgrove, Eddie Bowman, F. Swinbourne, R.D. Charlesworth, Alan Burrowes, C. Doyle, Gordon Thompson (2GT, VK2AVT & Hon Life Member until becoming a silent key at the age of 96 in 2001).
The Waverley Amateur Radio Club was formally incorporated in 1920, and issued its first club license, N249 in the same year. The club was based at ‘Almont’ 13 Macpherson St, Waverley until the 1950s. The club was once affiliated with the ARRL and has been affiliated with the WIA since 1926. Apart from the period of World War II, the Waverley Amateur Radio Society has been continuously licensed since 1920, with the following callsigns: N249 (1920-1922), 2BV (1922-1925), A2BV (1925-1927), OA2BV (1927-1929) and VK2BV (1929-1939 & 1946-present).

https://vk2bv.org/home/waverley-amateur-radio-society-home-page/club-history/qsl-cards/

The Waverley Amateur Radio Society will activate VK100ANZAC on Thursday 29OCT15 0000 UTC to Wednesday 04NOV15 2359 UTC.

In this activation, the Waverley Amateur Radio Society remembers one of its earliest club members, 16062 LCPL Daniel Williams, who served with the 1st Signals Squadron, ANZAC Mounted Division and the 2nd Signals Squadron, Australian Mounted Division from 1916 to 1919 in Egypt, Palestine, Jordan and Syria.

Daniel Williams was born in Birkenhead, England and lived in the Sydney suburb of Little Coogee, now Clovelly. Williams enlisted as a signaller in March 1916 and arrived in Egypt in December 1916, to train as a telephone operator and linesman with the Signal Squadron, Imperial Mounted Division, which later became 2nd Signals Squadron, Australian Mounted Division.

In December 1917, Williams was posted to 1st Signals Squadron, ANZAC Mounted Division, where he first saw action at the Battle of Jerusalem. Williams served through the remainder of the Palestine campaign including the battle of Jericho and into the campaign in Jordan, including the battles of Amman and Es Salt and in the Jordan Valley, where he was wounded by shell concussion in June After a period of recovery, Williams returned to the front and was posted to 2nd Signals Squadron, Australian Mounted Division in Syria on 26 October 1918, one day before the signing of the Armistice by the Ottomans, ending the war in the Middle East.

Daniel Williams returned to Australia in September 1919. Williams joined the then Waverley Amateur Radio Club, formed in January 1919, and was already a member when the club was issued its first experimental license, N249, in August 1920. The Waverley Amateur Radio Society remains the local amateur radio club for the City of Sydney, the inner west and the eastern suburbs. It is Australia’s oldest continually licensed amateur radio club, and celebrated the 95th anniversary of its first license in August 2015.

The Waverley Amateur Radio Society proudly remembers LCPL Daniel Williams, one of its founding members, and remembers all signallers who served in World War I.   The Waverley Amateur Radio Society’s VK100ANZAC activation from 29 October to 04 November falls between anniversary of the Armistice of 27 October 1918 which ended the war in the Middle East, and the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended the war on the Western Front.   The coming of peace paved the way for the foundation of the Waverley Amateur Radio Club, in January 1919.

Daniel Williams wearing his Returned From Active Service badge, with early members of the Waverley Amateur Radio Club in 1920.

2nd Signal Squadron, Australian Mounted Division, in Palestine.

A telephone operator/linesman, 2nd Signal Squadron, Australian Mounted Division, Palestine.

A simple way of getting onto APRS with a cheap handheld and an old Android phone running APRSdroid.

http://qrznow.com/get-started-with-aprs-for-only-30/

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