Ipswich & District Radio Club

Home
Australia
Ipswich, QLD
Ipswich & District Radio Club

Call Directions Website

The Ipswich & District Radio Club Inc. was established on 28th August 1962. It is a warm, friendly and inviting club to all those interested in Amateur Radio.

It serves the needs of the Ipswich and West Moreton area, and has approximately 60+ members. is a non-profit, voluntary, community based organisation comprising of Amateur Radio Operators and those interested in radio communications mainly from Ipswich and its surrounding areas. Amateur Radio (sometimes called Ham Radio) is part of a truly international hobby open to licence holders of all ages to use designated radio frequencies for the purposes of private recreation, wireless experimentation and self training in communications. It also contributes to the community by being available to provide help with communications during times of civil emergencies and natural disasters. We are also here to help local people to become licensed amateurs and to broaden their knowledge of radio, electronics and communications by running a variety of activities. These include Foundation and Standard courses, workshops, group activities, social evenings and special interest groups. Anyone is welcome to attend our social and general business meetings and see for themselves first hand what is happening in this broad and far ranging technical hobby. The club operates a number of repeaters, with a linked repeater network located on the Knobby, Raymonds Hill and Spring Mountain. Details of the frequencies can be found on our website at https://vk4wip.org.au. Normal meeting nights are usually held on the 1st, 2nd and 4th Monday of each month, from 1930Hrs to 2130hrs. Other meetings can be held at various times and these will be advertised on the page. We would also like to publicly thank River 94.9 for their ongoing support over many years. Without their help, our repeater network would be a mere shadow of what it is today, and not the envy of many other clubs in Queensland. Thank you River 94.9.

19/10/2026

150+ Scouts and Guides on air for JOTA-JOTI! 📻

On Saturday the club hosted a combined JOTA-JOTI day at the clubhouse at Denmark Hill for Scouts from the Moreton Region and Guides from the Moogerah Region. More than 150 youth and leaders came through, making it one of the biggest JOTA-JOTI events in Queensland.

Groups took turns on HF, DMR, AllStar and MeshCore, all under the eye of a licensed club operator. DMR was the busiest station, with long chats into VK2 and contacts across VK3, VK4 and VK5. MeshCore, which sends text messages over radio with no phone network, was the favourite with the younger members.

Out in the park, every Joey and Cub had a turn with a tape-measure yagi on the fox hunt. Scout leaders ran the soldering and Morse code bases, where around 110 electronics kits were built.

A big thank you to the club members who gave up their Saturday, and to the Moreton Region Scout and Moogerah Region Guide leaders who organised the day.

Want to give amateur radio a go? Come along to a club meeting or check out our Foundation Course on the website.

Full write-up and photos: https://ipswichradioclub.org.au/150-scouts-and-guides-on-air-for-jota-joti-2026/

15/10/2026

📡 EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST - STANDARD AMATEUR RADIO LICENCE COURSE

Ipswich & District Radio Club is looking for expressions of interest for our next Standard Amateur Radio Licence Course.

https://ipswichradioclub.org.au/standard-upgrade-course/

Subject to receiving enough interest, we are planning to start on Wednesday 11 November 2026 at 7:00pm (We recommend arriving 15-20 minutes early to settle in), with Wednesday night classes through to 9 December and in-person exams at the clubhouse on Saturday 12 December. (We can schedule the Exams for a time that also suites your schedule and availability)

This course is suitable for:
• Foundation operators ready to upgrade to Standard; and
• newcomers who already have a solid electronics, electrical, communications or technical background and want to go straight to Standard.

The ACMA Standard syllabus assumes Foundation-level knowledge, but you do not have to hold Foundation first. We have had some excellent students successfully enter amateur radio directly at Standard.

Standard gives you broader operating privileges than Foundation, including access to additional amateur frequencies and higher power limits — up to 100 W pX on applicable frequencies and modes under the current Amateur Stations Class Licence.

The course includes preparation for:
• Standard Theory — 50 questions, 60 minutes, 70% pass mark
• Standard / Advanced Regulations — 30 questions, 30 minutes, 70% pass mark

The regulations paper is the common Standard / Advanced regulatory component, so the course also covers the regulations knowledge used for the Advanced pathway.

✅ Course is FREE
✅ Exams are FREE
✅ You do not need to be a club member
✅ Training and exams are held in person at the Ipswich & District Radio Club clubhouse
✅ We normally aim for a small class of around 4–8 students

For existing Foundation operators, the normal ACMA cost after passing is the application fee for your upgraded recognition certificate. New entrants will also need an amateur call sign. ACMA fees are paid directly to ACMA after your successful results are processed.

Our Training Officer Greg Walker VK4GJW has helped many amateurs gain their first qualification and upgrade through the licence levels, and is a fantastic asset to the club and wider amateur radio community.

Interested?

Message the club page, or email Greg directly at:
📧 [email protected]

Greg will provide more information and confirm the course once we have enough expressions of interest.

He will also discuss if this course is right for you; if you are unsure and can also look at scheduling in exams for a time that better suites you if the scheduled exam day does not suite.

06/10/2026

WE HEARD THE ISS! 🛰️

You little ripper. On Monday night the International Space Station came over Ipswich, and there was a mob of us standing in the Deebing Street car park pointing antennas at it. Twelve members and guests on the sign-in sheet for October's Digital Interest Night, long weekend and all, and two of those guests came down because they saw our posts online. Welcome aboard, legends!

No fancy rotator. A handheld Yagi in one hand, a tracking app in the other, and you follow the thing from one horizon to the other. 💪

Inside, the shack screens had the ISS track over Australia and the waterfall tuned to 437.550 MHz. Out the back, a mobile station was running off the tailgate of a ute with the decoder up and ready.

And we heard it! The signal from the ISS was coming in strong as it went over. Straight up though: we did not get a full picture decoded this time. That happens with satellite work. Everyone who was there got hands-on with tracking a pass and pointing a Yagi, and next time this crew already knows the drill.

Big thanks to everyone who brought antennas, radios and laptops along and shared them around.

Never done this before? No licence is needed to receive. ARISS runs these events a few times a year, so follow the page and we'll sing out when the ISS is next sending pictures. Digital Interest Night is on the first Monday of every month at the clubhouse, and visitors are always welcome.

Full write-up and photos: https://ipswichradioclub.org.au/we-heard-the-iss-at-digital-interest-night/

📍 10 Deebing St, Ipswich

Ipswich & District Radio Club, Inc. – VK4WIP

29/09/2026

📣 WANTED: SATELLITE TRACKERS! 🛰️
Can you point at the sky? We need you!

G'day legends, we need YOU on Monday night!

The ISS is beaming down pictures on 70cm, and we need a crew outside the clubhouse following it across the sky with handheld yagis. No fancy rotator required. You ARE the rotator, mate! 💪

The plan (Mon 5 Oct):
🕖 7:00pm: get there early and we'll help you install the apps and set up your radio
🛰️ 7:41pm: the ISS rises and climbs to about 44° around 7:46pm. If it all lines up, we should grab 2 to 3 pictures. Be outside with your gear ready by 7:35!
🌙 About 9:18pm: a bonus pass for the keen crew. It only reaches about 13°, so it's a long shot, but it's a free go!

Bare minimum kit:
📻 A handheld that does 70cm, tuned to 437.550 MHz FM
📱 A phone with Robot36 (Android) or SSTV Slow Scan TV (Black Cat Systems) on iPhone. Hold it near the speaker and let it decode, or record the audio and decode it later
📡 A yagi if you've got one. We'll have club ones to share

The technique:
- Point where the tracking app says the ISS is, and follow it smoothly
- Signal fading? Give the yagi a slow twist. That's polarisation, not you stuffing it up!
- Tune 437.560 as it rises → 437.550 at its highest → 437.540 as it sets

Never done this before? PERFECT. That's exactly who this night is for. No licence needed to receive, so bring the kids, bring a mate!

Want to practise first? Try Sunday 4 Oct at 8:28pm. It goes nearly straight overhead at about 84°!

All the details: https://ipswichradioclub.org.au/can-you-point-at-the-sky-catch-iss-pictures-live-at-mondays-digital-interest-night/

Who's in? Drop a 🙋 below so we know how many trackers we've got! 🙌

27/09/2026

GOTA Day - what a ripper of a day, thanks everyone who came along! 📻

Yesterday's Get On The Air day at the clubhouse was a great success, easily one of the better weekends we've had out at Deebing St in a while. We ran portable HF stations out of the back of a couple of 4WDs in the car park, put up vertical antennas, and had the club shack on air as well.

More than a dozen people came through during the day. Members and visitors got proper hands-on time on the radios, everything from voice contacts to watching digital signals from around the world come in on the laptop maps. A few of us stuck around well after dark, operating under head torches in the bush behind the clubhouse. Nine of us were still there when the pizza turned up.

Highlights included SSB contacts into Spain, France and Italy, all from a car park in Ipswich. Not bad going for a Saturday!

We also had a crack at fox hunting in the bushland behind the clubhouse, tracking down a hidden transmitter with direction-finding gear. Everyone agreed it's a lot harder than it looks.

Best of all, a couple of visitors enjoyed the day enough to put in membership applications. Welcome aboard!

Big thanks to the members who brought gear, set up stations and spent the day helping newcomers get on air.

Full write-up and more photos on the website: https://ipswichradioclub.org.au/gota-day-what-a-ripper-of-a-saturday/

If you missed out and want to try amateur (HAM) radio, come along to one of our meetings or ask us about the Foundation Course, our entry-level licence.

📍 10 Deebing St, Ipswich
🗓️ Next up: Business Meeting Monday 7:30pm

Ipswich & District Radio Club, Inc. VK4WIP

21/09/2026

BIG WEEKEND COMING UP, VK4WIP MOB!🎙️

Mark it in the log, mate: Saturday 3 to Sunday 4 October, the "Twisted Pair" shack out at Lockyer Waters is lighting up as VL4R for the Oceania DX Contest (OCDX SSB), and it's our club's 2nd contest training weekend of the year!

Bill VK4ZD and Diane VK4DI are throwing the shack doors open again (five acres, proper antenna farm, about 20 minutes NE of Gatton) and this time they've got Tilly VK4TLY on the mic too! her 2nd contest ever, and her very first since pulling on that Standard Licence.

That's a massive step up, and I want every one of you listening out there to give her a fair go on the bands. Patience and a warm welcome, that's the VK4WIP way.

Whether you're chasing multipliers, keen to learn how a real M2 station runs, or you've never sat behind a contest logger in your life

**this is exactly what training weekends are for.**

Come out, watch, ask questions, jump on the second radio for a run. All interested operators welcome, no experience required, just curiosity.

Listen for VL4R across the bands that weekend and give the team a shout. Who's coming out to Lockyer Waters, and who's tuning in from home to work them?

19/09/2026

JOTA prep just got serious. Today we ran our whole repeater network flat out at once, VK4RBX carrying local and internet-linked traffic, a fox hunt beeping away in the background, and a link all the way to a net in WA. All at the same time. Zero hiccups.

Then we swapped to HF for the arvo and ran two bands side by side without a hitch.

Swipe through for a look at the live dashboards behind VK4RBX and VK4RAI, the repeaters that carried it all.

Thanks to everyone who came down and put the gear through its paces!

https://ipswichradioclub.org.au/putting-the-repeaters-through-their-paces-ahead-of-jota/

16/09/2026

🏆 Righto legends, QG62 is on the map!

Bill VK4ZD, Diane VK4DI and Alan VK4AJG parked themselves out at the Twisted Pair Shack for the WIA Remembrance Day Contest 2026 and came home with 1st Place VK4 AND 1st Overall — Multi Operator Multi Transmitter, final certified score 973 points. That's not "not bad for a club effort," that's genuinely flogging the field.

Three operators, one callsign (VL4R), a whole weekend of radios running hot and a trophy shelf that just got heavier.

Worth a mention: Tilly had her first-ever time on air that same weekend, trained up by Diane on the gear but with no callsign of her own yet, she couldn't go on the contest log this time round. 😢

Full result plus the certificate's up on the website:
https://ipswichradioclub.org.au/vl4r-1st-place-vk4-remembrance-day-contest-2026/

73 from the Ipswich & District Radio Club 📡

15/09/2026

Build night at Deebing Street - and every single one fired up first go!

What a ripper session, mate. 8 of us elbow-deep in PVC pipe and tape measures, drills going flat out, and 4 more keen ones standing round soaking it all up for next time.

Built a batch of tape measure Yagis from scratch under Greg VK4GJW - a bit of poly pipe and a hardware store tape measure turned into proper working RDF antennas. Sounds too easy to be true, but she's dinkum RF gear once it's cut and spaced right.

And the best bit? Every single one worked. Passed the SWR checks, no duds, no head-scratching over a dodgy reading. Eight for eight.

Ripper effort from everyone who picked up a drill for the first time, and top marks to the old hands mentoring alongside them. That's what keeps this club ticking.

If you were one of our four watchers this time, your turn's coming - next build night you're getting a tape measure in one hand and a Stanley knife in the other. Come on down and get amongst it.

Full write-up and photos: https://ipswichradioclub.org.au/build-night-at-deebing-street-every-single-one-fired-up-first-go/

73 from the Ipswich & District Radio Club
VK4WIP

07/09/2026

G'day gang - strewth, what a night at Digital Night!

At least 13 through the door down at Deebing Street, maybe more. That's a proper roll-up, and it tells you the hobby's alive and kicking in Ipswich.

Huge thanks to John VK4MUD, who spent the whole night elbow-deep in codeplugs, programming radios for anyone who needed it - and even took one member's rig home to finish sorting it. That's the real mentor spirit right there. Legend.

Next week - Greg VK4GJW runs the tape measure Yagi build again. PVC, a tape measure, some solder, and you walk out with a working antenna. Don't be spooked, Greg'll have you cutting elements like a pro.

Later this month - GOTA Day (Get On The Air), a full radio day at the clubhouse organised by Brandon VK4BRW.

Get around it, Ipswich - see you at the next one!

Full write-up and photos:
https://ipswichradioclub.org.au/digital-night-radios-sorted-and-a-cracking-turnout/

Address

10 Deebing Street
Ipswich, QLD
4305

Opening Hours

Monday

7:30pm - 9:30pm

Telephone

+61428999640

Website

https://ipswichradioclub.org.au/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Ipswich & District Radio Club posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your organization to be the top-listed non profit organization in Ipswich?