Wellington VHF Group, Inc: Online.

Updated: We also were mentioned in an article in the Upper Hutt Leader on 4 March 2009. Click to view a scan of the article.

8 members of Wellington VHF Group, assisted by 6 members of Hutt Valley Amateur Radio Club, assisted Hutt City's 'Leisure Active' and Upper Hutt City Councils' 'Activation' groups with Bike the Trail, a scenic fun bike ride between Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt, and Hikoikoi Reserve in Petone, Lower Hutt, this morning.

The 'Bike the Trail' route. The full route is 24km long; an abbreviated course was available starting in Stokes Valley.

Wellington VHF Group is looking for volunteers from within the group and from neighbouring radio clubs for an upcoming sports event - the 'Bike the Trail' event run by Upper Hutt and Hutt City (Lower Hutt) councils on Sunday 22 February.

The Annual General Meeting of the Wellington VHF Group was held last night, 31 October 2008; this was held immediately after the General Meeting and prior to the Special General Meeting previously referenced, and the AREC AGM.

Among the items of note:

Just like in 2007, Wellington VHF Group assisted with the Scouts "Jamboree On The Air" (JOTA) this year. A combined effort on the part of the Paparangi and Newlands Scout Groups, the Wellington VHF Group team lead by Mark Foster ZL1VMF and ably assisted by Tom Clarke ZL2TDD and Bruce Packer ZL2ABC, led the guys and girls in pursuit of Radio Knowledge and a bit of fun. The special callsign 'ZL2JOTA' was ours to use for the event.

The next SIG, is planning for the Onslow College Adult Education Programme Ham Radio Classes. Due to the non-availability of our leader John ZL2HD on the original SIG date, it has been decided to swap the Meal & Movie and the SIG dates.

The Ham Radio Classes planning SIG will now be 7:30pm 3 July at the QTH of David ZL2SX. The Meal & move will now be 6:00pm 10 July at the Reading Cinema, Courtney Place.

Regards
Brian ZL2BRF

Yes, another year has come and gone. It is four years since the Limited and General Licences were amalgamated at 0000 NZST on Thursday the 17th of June 2004.

Please join Branch 74 in celebrating the anniversary, by checking in as above.

Thanks must go to Fred Johnson, the NZART ALO at the time and the current Advisor to the Wellington VHF Group, who brought this significant improvement in Amateur licence conditions.

The next General Meeting of the Wellington VHF Group will be held on Thursday 29 May at the Tawa Community Centre.

Our guest speaker will be Mr Rex Aubrey of the New Zealand Red Cross. Rex is actively involved in assisting the Red Cross from a communications and technology perspective and this has synergy with what Amateurs are already active with in the world of AREC - Rex is well known to many AREC participants through his involvement in Search and Rescue and we look forward to hearing his presentation on this most relevant of subjects, considering recent events in Burma and China.

The Combined Amateur Radio Clubs of Wellington invite you to attend the annual Wellington Radio EXPO '08 to be held on Saturday 15 March 2008.

A sale of Amateur Radio and electronic items open to members of the public.

Entrance fee (buyers) is a $4.00 door charge. Vendors entry is covered by their table space purchase.

Date: Saturday, 15 March 2008
Time: Doors open for vendors at 7.00 am. Doors open for the public at 10.00 am.
Venue: Knox Church, 574 High Street, Lower Hutt
Talk in: Climie 730 - call ZL4FUN for driving instructions, or any other information.

Members of the Wellington VHF Group assisted the Paparangi Scout Group at their Jamboree On the Air (JOTA) event held at Paparangi Scout Hall in Wellington on Sunday 21 October. Operating as ZL2WA, Wellington VHF Group members Brian Fearnley ZL2BRF, Mark Foster ZL1VMF, John Andrews ZL2HD and Jim Parnell ZL2APE shows the boys and girls from Paparangi Scouts, Northland Keas and Ngaio Venturer Unit around their hobby and made contact with Scouters from all across New Zealand and the World.

Scouts and Amateur Radio: A great combination!

There will be a Branch 74 AREC Section meeting to be held at the special interest group meeting slot on Thursday 4th October at the Tawa Community Centre commencing at 7.30pm. All members are welcome. The topic of the meeting in an update on AREC matters and discussion of a development programme for the Group's AREC section.

- ZL4JY, Section Leader