REAST will be holding a Standard, Advanced Licence & Regulations Assessment Day. Assessments commence at 10AM. If you would like to participate in this session then please contact Reg Emmett VK7KK – REAST Learning Organiser on email: reast.assessor@gmail.com or mobile: 0417 391 607 at least a week prior to the session. Courses available There are a range of options available to study for amateur radio examinations. We recommend the Silvertrain for Advanced and Standard Training material and courses. More information can be found at: https://www.silvertrain.com.au/ An alternative is the Radio and Electronics School courses for Standard and Advanced training material. More information can be found at: www.res.net.au Happy Studying

Wednesday May 13th from 7:30pm, it’s REAST Forum Night, and this time we’re diving into the new band plans. With recent changes affecting where and how we operate, this is your chance to get across what’s shifted, what’s new, and what it all actually means on the air. Whether you’re into digital modes, voice, or CW, understanding the band plan is key to staying effective, compliant, and not accidentally annoying half the band. Join us in person at the Queen’s Domain clubrooms or catch the session streamed live as we walk through the major updates, highlight where different modes now sit, and help you make sense of the changes. If you’ve been wondering where to operate or just want to avoid becoming “that station”, this is one night worth showing up for.

What is Tecnorama I hear you ask?   https://technorama.org.au/ The vision for Technorama is that it becomes the focal point which brings technologists together, and supports their efforts. The objects for Technorama: To further the education and development of technologists within community broadcasting, and to provide opportunities for interaction To conduct conferences, seminars and events in support of these aims and  To engage in any other activities, real or virtual, in support of these aims What does this have to do with amateur radio? I’m glad you asked! The skill set of technologists in the Community Radio Sector is a mix of IT and RF engineering. Guess what it matches the skill set of amateur radio operators really well. We are gathering for the night at the Howrah Community Centre for a short presentation on Tecnorama by John Maizels VK4APM via zoom then we will be taken on a guided tour through the brand spanking new Hobart FM radio community radio station by Community Radio Engineering Guru - Jim Parish. Howrah Community Centre Google Maps This should be a fascinating night show casing Community Radio technology and support. Wednesday the 6th May at the Howrah Community Centre at 11 Howrah Rd, Howrah and park in the Southern Carpark - closest the river from 7pm. There is nothing at the Queens Domain clubrooms that night. See you there for a fascinating night. 73, REAST Committee

REAST will be holding a Foundation Training and Assessment Day. Foundation Licence training commences at 9AM and Assessments commence around 1PM. If you would like to participate in this session then please contact Reg Emmett VK7KK – REAST Learning Organiser on email: reast.assessor@gmail.com or mobile: 0417 391 607 at least a fortnight prior to the session. Foundation License Handbooks are stocked at the Queen’s Domain Clubrooms which is open on Wednesday from 12Noon-2pm and 6-10PM. There are credit card facilities available and the price is $35 or they can be ordered through the WIA, see the Foundation Manual Page. Courses available There are a range of options available to study for amateur radio examinations: A Self Study Manual is available for the Foundation Licence REAST Foundation Licence Training Videos – 10 REAST YouTube videos WIA Foundation Licence practice examinations Other self study options – self study – there are many courses of study available through books, the Internet and CD-ROM; or, By completing correspondence courses; or, Study in a radio class. Please contact us for more information Happy Studying

April is REAST 3D Printing and Amateur Radio Month. Praj VK4MPB/7MPB has been building 3D printers since 2011, back when you didn’t “print a file,” you nervously injected raw G-code into what was essentially a heated toaster that had ambitions of becoming a Replicator. Slicers were cryptic and confrontational bits of software, firmware updates required emotional resilience, and bed levelling was practically a sacred ritual involving tiny hex keys, deep breathing, and intense philosophical debates about 0.2 millimetres of Z-offset. A good first layer wasn’t expected, it was negotiated - sometimes aggressively. My printers still live in the garage, where they’ve evolved from temperamental science experiments that occasionally produced abstract art - or spectacular nests of plastic spaghetti - into surprisingly competent little manufacturing units. While I was chasing the mythical perfect first layer (and cleaning lumps of molten filament off nozzles), additive manufacturing quietly matured. The same core principles behind those early DIY machines now produce surgical implants with bone-growth lattices, aerospace components with internal cooling channels that can’t be machined, advanced engineering parts and some spectacular art - all in a mind boggling array of materials. And yes, it turns out the same technology responsible for heroic prints and catastrophic spaghetti is also brilliant for us radio amateurs. From portable HF and SOTA/POTA gear, to clever shack fixes, to RF experiments that genuinely move a NanoVNA trace in ways that only makes me more curious, 3D printing has become a real engineering tool. Praj will be sharing some of the practical, creative and genuinely cool things you can do with it today - in everyday life, in serious engineering, and in amateur radio - along with a few demonstrations to prove it’s not just enthusiasm for melting plastic. Expect nostalgia, curiosity, a bit of garage-born instability… and the unshakeable belief that if I just level the print bed one more time, this time it’ll absolutely be perfect. Truth! When: 8th April 2026 from 7:30pm in the clubroom and streamed See you there REAST Committee

April is 3D Printing and Amateur Radio Month at REAST. We’re flipping the usual order and swapping Presentation and Forum nights so members can actually show off their creations. Yes, this is your cue. Bring the brackets. Bring the enclosures. Bring the antenna mounts that only just survived the last SOTA activation. Bring the clever shack fix that solved a problem nobody else noticed but you absolutely could not ignore or live without! And before you start getting suspicious, no, this is not an April Fool’s prank. We genuinely want to see your Amateur Radio-related 3D printing projects. From humble lumps of filament to beautifully engineered pieces of RF-adjacent brilliance, take us on the journey. Show us the experiments, the failures, the “I’ll just tweak the Z-offset one more time” moments, and the final masterpiece that somehow works better than it has any right to. Wednesday 1st April 2026, from 7:30pm In the clubrooms and streamed. See you there. REAST Committee  

REAST will be holding a Standard, Advanced Licence & Regulations Assessment Day. Assessments commence at 10AM. If you would like to participate in this session then please contact Reg Emmett VK7KK – REAST Learning Organiser on email: reast.assessor@gmail.com or mobile: 0417 391 607 at least a week prior to the session. Courses available There are a range of options available to study for amateur radio examinations. We recommend the Silvertrain for Advanced and Standard Training material and courses. More information can be found at: https://www.silvertrain.com.au/ An alternative is the Radio and Electronics School courses for Standard and Advanced training material. More information can be found at: www.res.net.au Happy Studying

Something a little different is happening at REAST this month. On Wednesday March 18 from around 7pm, we’re combining good food with good radio for a relaxed evening of conversation, tinkering and experimenters’ chat. Thanks to our Chef Extraordinaire Tony VK7VKT, we’ll have hot roast rolls and vegetarian options available on the night. It’s a simple idea – grab a roll, catch up with fellow amateurs, talk radio projects, swap ideas, and see what everyone has been experimenting with lately. At just $5 a roll, it’s an easy and affordable dinner with friends while enjoying our favourite topic… amateur radio. Softdrinks are also available for discounted rates. So come along, bring your stories, your projects, and your appetite. Good food, good company, and plenty of radio talk. That sounds like a pretty solid Wednesday night. We have closed off orders however, there will be some spare so, come along and try your luck and you can pay via the Square in the clubrooms. See you there REAST Committee

This forum night will be a little different - we will have some HP & IFR Communication  Service Monitors and Power Supplies available for testing your 2m/70cm radios and Allstar/DMR nodes. We are looking to cover the following tests (these may be subject to change): Frequency Power output Deviation SINAD distortion Receiver sensitivity DTMF Level (if available) Audio level Have a suggestion for some other tests - let us know. Due to time constraints - we will only be testing and letting you know where things might need some attention and it is the responsibility of the owner to make these adjustments. We hope to see you along with your radios. 73, REAST Committee

Heath VK3TWO/VK6TWO will be taking us on a tour of Meshcore. Remember Packet Radio in the 80’s well Meshcore is a modern equivalent on the 900MHz ISM band so, you don’t have to be a licenced amateur. MeshCore is developed by HAM's, but available to all. MeshCore is a decentralised text-based communications platform. It is designed to run on commodity, affordable development boards and uses LoRa radios to create a meshed network. MeshCore works well over long distances and sub-optimal RF conditions due to the underlying LoRa radios. It uses flea power and has a small physical footprint. It is ideal for out-of-band communications that don't rely on traditional telecommunications or electrical infrastructure to support it. Great for the Preppers out there! Messages are sent from a Companion device, which are then relayed through Repeaters to reach the destination node. Guess what – there are even Bulletin Boards (BBS’) out there…LOL! Many of the Meshcore repeaters are stand alone solar powered so, look Mum no internet required – when all else fails the Meshcore nodes (like the cockroaches) will survive! Oh and for those hard-core packet radio users - you can run APRS over LORA (running on Meshcore)! There are many different meshcore setups available and prolific documentation so, Heath will be decoding where and what information is available. https://wiki.meshcoreaus.org/

REAST will be holding a Foundation Training and Assessment Day. Foundation Licence training commences at 9AM and Assessments commence around 1PM. If you would like to participate in this session then please contact Reg Emmett VK7KK – REAST Learning Organiser on email: reast.assessor@gmail.com or mobile: 0417 391 607 at least a fortnight prior to the session. Foundation License Handbooks are stocked at the Queen’s Domain Clubrooms which is open on Wednesday from 12Noon-2pm and 6-10PM. There are credit card facilities available and the price is $35 or they can be ordered through the WIA, see the Foundation Manual Page. Courses available There are a range of options available to study for amateur radio examinations: A Self Study Manual is available for the Foundation Licence REAST Foundation Licence Training Videos – 10 REAST YouTube videos WIA Foundation Licence practice examinations Other self study options – self study – there are many courses of study available through books, the Internet and CD-ROM; or, By completing correspondence courses; or, Study in a radio class. Please contact us for more information Happy Studying

The Annual General Meeting of the Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania Inc. will be held at 11am on 15th February 2026 in the Queens Domain clubrooms. The AGM will be followed by a free BBQ for members. Nominations closed on 7th February 2026. Nomination form. The ordinary business of the annual general meeting is to be as follows: to confirm the minutes of the last preceding annual general meeting and of any general meeting held since that meeting; to receive from the committee, auditor and servants of the Association reports on the transactions of the Association during the last preceding financial year; to elect the officers of the Association and the ordinary committee members; to vote on an amendment to the REAST Rules; to appoint the auditor; REAST Committee.