Genesis

WA Amateur Radio News (WAARN) was formed as an Amateur Radio Club in late 2014, and was incorporated in Western Australia as an association in January 2015.

The principle activities of WAARN are the compilation and broadcasting of the weekly NewsWest Amateur Radio News programme for Western Australia, and maintenance of the VK6.NET website. Other activities include development and staging of activities that educate Amateurs on aspects of their hobby, and promote Amateur Radio to the general community.

NewsWest

NewsWest is produced every week by a small team of WAARN members. We're all volunteers and donate our resources to Amateur Radio. The team changes from time-to-time, but the current team members are Bob, VK6POP;  Roy, VK6XV; Andrew, VK6AS,  Mike VK6KMS, Paul VK6EMD and Greg VK6LH.

In addition to these team members, a whole range of volunteers put the news to air every week. Their contribution is valuable, and is regularly acknowledged on-air and, you can thank them when you provide a call back at the conclusion of the news.

Amateur Radio news broadcasts commenced in Western Australia in 1931.

vk6.net

The vk6.net website has been part of Amateur Radio in Western Australia for a long time. It was initially set up as a gateway to Amateur Radio in the State. The website became out of date, and the then NewsWest team sought permission from the domain holder (Robyn VK6XRE) to take up management of the website, and set about re-designing it and updating the information. Credit must go to Onno VK6FLAB who did most of the initial work on the website.

If you have content, or an update, send an email to newswest@vk6.net and the team will update the website.

WAARN Educational Activities

We have developed a list of educational activities that will enhance the skills of our members, and those of any others who care to enrol. Our first effort in 2015 was "Newshound101" where we taught the participants how to write a script and to record it using Audacity.

Our next effort was a large event, "Perth Tech 2016", this time a one day seminar in Perth in April 2016, aimed at providing a handful of presentations and demonstrations by Amateurs who are skilled in particular subjects.  PerthTech has become an annual event.

WAARN Participates

WAARN began fielding a team in the Aussie contests in 2015. We entered the John Moyle Field Day and the Remembrance Day contests. We will continue to put up a team for these activities. We have been present at Hamfests where we have done live broadcasts of NewsWest, or operated a stall.

Live Broadcasts

We have done live broadcasts from Hamfest in the past, however it's a huge undertaking with a couple of members having to dismantle their shack to bring equipment for the broadcast.  Because of these difficulties, live news programmes may not happen again, however it may be possible to record a news programme live for later broadcast.