20170423 - From the desk...

There were turbulent times when the WIA divisions were amalgamated into a single national body and some of you are still smouldering over what happened. Somewhat similar to what has just happened with the recent election at the WIA. Despite the history and wrongs that can never be righted it is more important than ever that we have a united front when there is such pressure on the radio spectrum. I have heard cynics suggest that as amateurs we will only have 2 metres and 70 cms in the VHF UHF and above frequencies as the government will tap the rest of the spectrum to the highest bidder. Conversely we may get access to more HF bands as they are considered unreliable. Experiments by amateurs in the realm of HF digital modes both for data and speech suggest that the write off of HF may not be factual. All in all now is the time for change.

So this brings me to the role of the WIA. At present the Institute has two roles, that of education and assessment and the other of political lobby both within Australia and world wide. Maybe it’s time for the roles to be more clearly divided. Perhaps put up some Chinese walls to separate politics and lobbying from education and assessment..

Which brings me to the position of this news. We have proudly been broadcasting as VK6WIA or VK6WI since 1931. For a few years now there has been some structure put in place with the formation of WA Amateur radio News incorporated. Is it time for change by acknowledging that the role of this news is to inform all of you that are interested in radio about what is of interest to us in VK6 and not to be seen as an agent of the Wireless Institute of Australia. By using our own call sign VK6ARN we can signal an editorial independence and a reaching out to all of those interested in Amateur Radio and not just those who are members of the WIA. To some extent this is happening already with this broadcast being delivered by many media outlets and to a far wider audience than just Western Australia.

Please let me know what you think via newswest@vk6.net

This is Andrew VK6AS