QNEWS - APRIL 23 2023 - VK4 ON AIR --------------------------------------------------------------------* DID YOUR CLUB TELL ANYONE ABOUT AMATEUR RADIO THIS WEEK? --------------------------------------------------------------------* THE FOLLOWING NEWS CAN BE HEARD FROM OUR AUDIO SERVICE Available in Audio RIGHT NOW QNEWS RUNS 4.00 and thanks to Tony VK7AX can be found on www.vk7ax.id.au/wianews/ 203.31.7.19/wianews/ QNEWS audio ready to download thanks to Brendan VK4BLP from www.wiaq.org.au Also search QNEWS (make sure it IS the Ham Radio QNEWS) in your podcast. --------------------------------------------------------------------* Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. I am sort of a proselytiser for the club and social side of the amateur radio community. I mean, like many of us I want to see this community continue to expand and grow with the involvement of as many people as we can find to enjoy this recreation. Fishing might be the most popular past time in the country but amongst the pursuits that are technical, well I would like to see others get the enjoyment and involvement that we obviously have. To this end I periodically offer prompts as to what we can consider to grow our club membership and get the story of amateur radio percolating in the community. Pointers to activities and groups and segments of the local community have been relatively plentiful and I dare say will continue to be as the recruitment and retention of members ensures the continuity of a great story. Some years ago, the Wireless Institute of Australia produced a publicity kit that could be used to draft press releases and this was accompanied by poster artwork which could be reproduced to promote events. We no longer hear reference to these items and like the National Field Day that they supported along with World Amateur Radio Day, 18th April, they seem to have been archived as pieces of history no longer relevant. Well to a point that might be true because the mass media has moved on with many of the local papers caught under a monopoly ownership with publication now only online and only available to paying subscribers. Broadcasters are being caught in the jaws of needing money and having the various internet and social media platforms engorging on the advertising revenue that once supported everything from the buy and sell pages of the newspapers to production of local content and the buying of rights to popular programming. The art of the journalist is still surviving and newspapers, radio and television may be holding on to their place against the onslaught of the internet and when it comes to getting publicity out to the broad community, we depend on those professionals to present it. This brings us back to the publicity kit. Now putting things together and distributing it may need to be a bit more sophisticated than previously. We have our smart phones with nice cameras to capture still and video images. Local TV stations in my area ask for video and papers will gladly accept stills of good quality that are suitable for print. We are fortunate that the tools to show our function, our community service are in our hands these days. Videos only need to be short so we aren’t looking for a Spielberg production just a glimpse to whet the interest of the viewer. Now to my mind this all suggests that some of the hams who have the experience in the media could get their heads in front of their devices video cameras and revamp the old material to make it work for us today. I know the skills are in our audience and we just need to be given the direction to get it done and out to our clubs. I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I think....how about you? -------------------------------------------------------------------* 2023 Social Scene Clubs are welcome to submit text with audio for this section VK - WIA AGM May 13 at 10:30am AEST Canberra (vk8zz) A hybrid event conducted both in person and by video conference and able to be viewed on an internet streaming platform. VK4 - SUNFEST - SEPTEMBER 9 (vk4an) At Mountain Creek State School’s massive air conditioned auditorium, just off the Sunshine Motor Way. Mountain Creek is tucked in to the west of Mooloolaba VK - ALARAMeet2023 4/5 November in HOBART (luther8@bigpond.com) TO SUPPLY QNEWS ITEMS:- Send SCRIPT to qnews@wia.org.au send audio to http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/upload/ QNEWS Tips to get MORE out of your weekly newscast on VK4WIA If you would like to submit club news items for inclusion in QNEWS broadcasts, please email your item in text to:- qnews@wia.org.au THEN submit audio:- To submit audio email qnews@wia.org.au and ask for the current password then read "how to submit items" in the weekly news page on http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/contribute/ Remember the sooner you submit audio material the more the likelihood of it being broadcast in the very next edition QNEWS. Each item will only be broadcast once, if you want a couple of mentions, please submit different slants to keep your event 'fresh .‘