VK National Field Day

The Australian annual WIA National Field Day takes place on the weekend of the 13th -14th April 2013.

This coincides this year with the IARU World Amateur Radio Day weekends (the IARU day falls on the 18th and it is suggested to celebrate this event the weekend before or after this date).

Details of the IARU W.A.R.D. - http://www.iaru.org/world-amateur-radio-day.html

Details of the WIA National Field Day -  http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/nfd/

Registrations are just starting to come in for the WIA NFD, whose aim is NOT a contest, rather a publicity event to introduce the hobby of Amateur Radio to the general public, to attract more people into the hobby.

The Central Coast Amateur Radio Club, on the Central Coast of New South Wales Australia, is leading the way with two stations (VK2WFD/Pand VK2EH/P) registered to be active on Sunday the 14th.

CCARC - http://www.ccarc.org.au

Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference - 2013

The Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference (GAREC) is the premier annual event attended by those with an interest in amateur radio providing emergency communications during training exercises or in response to disasters.  Since it was first held in 2005, the conference has taken place in all three IARU regions and is open to all emergency communications groups.

In 2013 GAREC returns to IARU Region 1 and will be held in Zurich, Switzerland between 25th to 28th June. The conference has been timed to precede Europe's largest amateur radio exhibition, HAM RADIO in Friedrichshafen so that people can enjoy both events.

General information on GAREC 2013 including information on the venue, registration fees and the tentative agenda and the registration forms is now available on http://www.garec2013.ch/ . This website will be updated frequently to keep all updated with the latest news and program changes. For more information you may also email info@garec2013.ch

Among the draft topics to be discussed are the relevance of Amateur Radio Emergency Communication in the '1st World', the HAMNET high speed data network along with presentations from the three regions of the IARU and also some presentations from groups with recent disaster relief communications operations.

The past presentations from the conferences including GAREC 2012, are now available at http://www.iaru.org/garec.html

2013 Southeastern VHF Society Conference

The 2013 Southeastern VHF Society Conference, sponsored by the Florida Weak Signal Society, will be held 19 and 20 April 2013 at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, 1550 N. Atlantic Ave, Cocoa Beach, FL.

There will be a full slate of events including, a surplus tour, antenna range, noise figure testing, Friday luncheon with WB4SLM and Friday night flea market.

There will be vendor displays and technical presentations both days.

The Saturday night banquet will have awards for the best paper and the best presentation, the K4UHF and Runkle honors and presentation of the Fall Sprint winners.

For attendees, there will be a shack photo contest to be judged by the XYLs. Prizes for the best and worst.

More information - http://www.svhfs.org