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Amateur Radio New South Wales
BN98112045
Originally formed in 1910 as "The Wireless Institute of NSW" our organisation is one of the oldest
radio societies in the world. The name "Wireless Institute of Australia (NSW
Division)" was adopted in 1922. There followed separate state
"divisions" which essentially took care of the members at a state and local
level, there was also a Federal Division (based in Victoria), which amongst
other things represented us all at a National and International level. It
also printed the "Amateur Radio" magazine.
Over a period of time there were various
"arrangements" between the state divisions and the Federal division,
especially to cover the cost of the magazine. In general membership of a
state division meant that you were also a member of the Federal division and
the membership fees were apportioned accordingly.
In 2004 the
organisation of what was generally called the "WIA" changed with the
re-structure of the Federal Division into a National organisation which still
represented it's own members and other Hams at a National and International
level, also retaining the publication of Amateur Radio magazine and
absorbing various services previously provided by the state divisions (QSL
Bureau etc). In general the state divisions reformed into large "clubs"
located in their particular state.
The WIA (NSW Division) signed an Implementation Agreement
with the "National" Wireless Institute of
Australia on December 10 , 2004. As a result, we have agreed to generally identify
ourselves as "Amateur Radio New South Wales".
The major difference
for Australia's amateur radio operators (and others interested in allied
hobbies) was that to support and be involved in the activities of the
National and the state based organizations they now needed to be financial
members of the separate organizations. In general the new state based
"clubs" continued to support the Ham Radio community at a local level.
In fact most of "our" members are also members of WIA (National) and local
clubs. The "Amateur Radio" magazine is also now available at your local
newsagents as well as posted to "National" members.
In the case of "Amateur Radio
New South Wales" we provide regular broadcasts, repeaters and signal beacons
on most Ham frequencies. We also provide technical advice on frequency
allocations, Licence training and assessments. Field Days, Trash and
Treasure events and Deceased Estate disposals sales are amongst the services
we provide our members and also the general amateur radio community. We are
currently expanding our services with a large shed on our Dural property. In
fact I think our transmitting facility at Dural may now be unique in
Australia as most other Ham broadcast are studio generated and re-broadcast
on a local basis, whereas Dural covers most of the east coast of Australia
and out into the Pacific region. We do re-broadcast a recording of the
"National" WIA news and in turn our own broadcasts are re-transmitted by
local clubs into areas or at times unavailable to Dural.
Currently the WIA (National) are,
on a commercial basis, Australian amateur radio operators "interface" to the
ACMA on matters of licenses, training and frequency allocation.
All of this means that now each
organisation levies it own membership fees :
WIA (National) - annual fees to cover services provided to it's members and
the Ham radio community, at a
members option they can also pay for and receive the Amateur Radio magazine
(or buy it at
their local newsagents).
Amateur Radio New South Wales (ARNSW) - by-annual (or five yearly) fees to
cover services provided to it's
members and the Ham radio community, which (as mentioned above) include
broadcast, repeater
and beacon facilities from our property at Dural. ARNSW (in general)
supports Hams in NSW.
Local Clubs - annual fees (usually) to cover costs of Club premises or
meeting venue and (often) a Club repeater
and workshop facilities. These Clubs usually provide provide support to
members in a particular area or
even a particular aspect of Ham radio (QRP, Satellite etc)
NOTE: The above lists are by no means exhaustive and
an operator or a person interested in Ham radio or electronics should check
the individual organizations to see what level of support they provide for
their particular interests.
Contact Details ( NSW
Office)
The ARNSW office and member
services are now established at our VK2WI site at Dural NSW.
Office : ARNSW,
63 Quarry Road, Dural NSW 2158 Australia
Postal: ARNSW, PO Box 6044,
Dural Delivery Centre, NSW 2158
Email:
Our new email address is
office@arnsw.org.au
, we retained the original vk2wi@ozemail.com.au
for a transition period, however it will close down on 28th February 2010. The new email address acknowledges your message
and passes it along to the appropriate person
Telephone: 02 9651 1490 (normally
goes to a message bank which is checked regularly)
Fax: 02 9651
1661
Free Call: Disconnected due to lack of use (25/10/09)
For Business matters -
The Secretary - if needed - can be contacted direct on mobile 0400 445 829
or by email office@arnsw.org.au
.
NOTE:
Please MAIL completed application forms (Membership and Exams) to our Post
Box address. Forms emailed or Faxed often do not transmit clearly and also
"sit" in the PC or FAX until someone actually attends to the machine. It is
also more secure and private when cheques or credit card details are
submitted by mail.
Office Hours:
As our office is currently
not
attended on a regular basis during the
week, FL Manuals and CallBooks can be picked up on Sunday morning, but
only by prior arrangement.
Our entries in the phone books
have changed, you will
now find us under our trading name of "Amateur Radio NSW" (as we
are now known), for a time we supported pointers in the phone book from the headings "ARNSW" and
"WIA (NSW Division)" to our entries under Amateur Radio NSW, but
this does not seem to be needed any more, it is also quite expensive. This
information is also available from the "White Pages" on the Internet.
News and
Information for the VK2WI Broadcast
Although our office is not staffed through the week, the mail, phones and
FAX are checked regularly, however could you get the items in as
early in the week as you can so that we get a chance to process them for the
weekend.
Items for inclusion in
the VK2WI Broadcasts are best emailed to our news team at
news@arnsw.org.au
however our old one at
arnews@tpg.com.au
will be retained for a transition
period to give plenty of time for our news contributors to adjust their
address books.
The new address will acknowledge your message and pass it along to the News
Editor.
Membership and Renewals
Please go
HERE for information on Membership
and Renewals. If at any time you
simply wish to check the expiry date of your membership or advise us of
a change in your personal particulars please either send a letter to our P.O Box
address or email our Membership Officer at
membership@arnsw.org.au
Trash and Treasure or
Disposals Sales
When we have a Disposals Sale running information can be found
HERE at other times please
contact our Disposals Officer at
disposals@arnsw.org.au if you have equipment for disposal.
Contact Details
(Dural VK2WI Transmitter Site)
ARNSW are in the progress
of upgrading the facilities on our Dural site, with new buildings and
facilities, to provide enhanced
services to members and visitors. We make the weekly VK2WI news broadcasts, hold our regular Trash and
Treasure events and have the Homebrew Technical Meetings at this facility.
Our various beacons and repeaters also run from here.
Address : ARNSW (VK2WI), 63 Quarry Road, Dural NSW 2158
The site is just north of the
round-about at Dural, turn right at the lights into Quarry Rd, about 2Km
along on your left look for the white fence and the transmitting tower .
Telephone : 02 9651 1489 (VK2WI voice line)
The phone line into the transmitter building is there mainly for the safety
of the broadcast crew. However on Sundays mornings listeners may phone on this line to
advise of errors or omissions in the broadcast, VK2WI transmission faults or
genuine emergencies. On Trash and Treasure or Special Event days use this
number to request transport from the local bus stop.
Please note that only on Sundays during
holiday breaks can news items be submitted on the VK2WI voice line. These
items are only broadcast if authorized by a Senior Broadcast staffer or an ARNSW Councilor, all items must be authenticated before going to air. At
other times all News and Reports are to be submitted through our office
using mail, FAX or phone contact and the
news team email address of
news@arnsw.org.au As mentioned above there is an answering machine on our office phone line
and a toll free line for NSW country callers. Access to this site on non-event days is
severely restricted, any arrangements for deliveries or pick-ups MUST
be made through our office or with one of the ARNSW Councillors.
During event days there is plenty of parking on site,
usually a BBQ (friend of the family prices) and a friendly cup of tea/coffee
in the shack with our Broadcast staff. At other times the facilities are
open only whilst making broadcasts or carrying out maintenance on the
equipment or grounds.
If you need to get here by public transport to our Sunday events, check HERE
for details.
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