In 2015, the Waverley Amateur Radio Society marked the 95th Anniversary of the issue of its first radio license on 18 August 1920. The club has been very active in amateur radio activity ever since, including organising some of the first international DX contests in Australia.
The club offers amateur radio activities on both a regular basis and in annual contests.
Regular Activities
Weekly
Monday Night Net. The club radio net is open each Monday night from 8pm on the VK2RBV 70cm repeater. 438.1125 MHz -5.4 MHz 91.5Hz CTSS
Tuesday Club Working Bee. The club is usually open each Tuesday from 10am – 4pm. Members and visitors can operate the club radio shack.
Monthly
Shack Night. The club is open on the first Wednesday night of each month from 7.30pm-10pm. Members and visitors meet to operate their own radios or operate the club shack. Learn to operate your new radio or learn to operate a new mode.
EME Project Group. The club’s Earth-Moon-Earth or ‘Moon Bounce’ group meets on the second Tuesday night at the club on the second Tuesday of each month from 7pm -10pm. Club members are developing a EME capability from scratch, including antenna construction, software development and scientific and technical development.
Project Day. The club is meets on the first Saturday afternoon of each month from 1.30pm. Members can work on their projects at the club or meet other members to work on joint projects. Members and visitors can operate the club radio.
Century for Centenary Project
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.
Contests
This is not a complete list of contests, but a list of contests and activities in which the Waverley Amateur Radio Society has participated in recent years, or Australian focused contests, particularly suitable for beginners of all license grades.
3rd Weekend of March. The aim is to encourage and provide familiarisation with portable and field operation, and provide training for emergency situations. The rules are therefore specifically designed and focused to encourage field operations.
Harry Angel Memorial 80m Sprint
1st Saturday of May. The Harry Angel Sprint is an annual 80m contest event, first established in 1999, to commemorate the life of Harry Angel VK4HA who at the time of his becoming a Silent Key was the oldest licensed amateur in Australia. The duration of the contest is 106 minutes one minute for each year of Harry’s life. The “HA” is open to all grades of licence holder and is particularly suited to operators new to contesting.
3rd weekend of June. The Field Days have separate sections for single and multiple operator stations. The duration of the Field Day is 24 hours, but there are also 8 hour sections for operators who may not be able to camp overnight. Most club stations prefer to operate for the full 24 hours. The Field Days also generate plenty of activity from home stations, so there is also a separate Home Station section. All contacts must be simplex: contacts through repeaters or satellites are not allowed. There is plenty of FM activity, but one feature of the Field Days is a high level of SSB activity.
Saturday night of the 3rd weekend in July. The contest has an aim to encourage Low Band activity trans Tasman that is between VK and ZL. This contest has its origins in the first 80m Trans-Tasman contest organised by the Waverley Amateur Radio Society in 1922.
This contest commemorates the Amateurs who died during World War II and is designed to encourage friendly participation and help improve the operating skills of participants. It is held on the weekend closest to the 15th August, the date on which hostilities ceased in the southwest Pacific area.
International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend
The basic objective of the event is to promote public awareness of lighthouses and lightships and their need for preservation and restoration, and at the same time to promote amateur radio and to foster International goodwill. Waverley Amateur Radio Society activates historic Macquarie Lighthouse (AU0022), the site of Australia’s first lighthouse.
JOTA/JOTI – Jamboree of the Air/Internet
Each year on the 3rd full weekend in October, the Scouting movement holds a world-wide “Jamboree of the Air” and “Jamboree of the Internet” where amateur radio clubs provide the facilities for scout and guide groups to get on the air and contact each other.
The club is host for scout groups from the surrounding district, with the clubroom usually open from the Saturday afternoon up to midnight. Scouts are given the opportunity to operate our internet and radio equipment to contact other groups and enjoy a variety of activities.
The contest runs over two weekends in October and has SSB, CW and SWL categories. The Oceania DX contest is Oceania’s only international style contest where contacts with stations all over the globe are able to participate. Oceania stations may contact any station for QSO points whilst non-oceania stations are required to contact any station in Oceania for QSO points.