History
The first meeting of the Darwin Amateur Radio Club was held on 7 November 1966. The Darwin Amateur population at that time consisted mainly of Government workers who had transferred for a 2 or 3 year posting from interstate. While the general population of Darwin today is less transient than in earlier years, membership of the club has remained at about 25 with numbers only occasionally rising as high as 50.
A home for the club has from the first meeting been an ongoing issue with the first meetings held at private homes. Over the years the club has met at various locations around the city. From August 1975 the club met in an underground Civil Defence Bunker that had been built during the Indonesian confrontation. The bunker was cyclone proof but became damp and musty during Darwin’s wet seasons. The facility came complete with a two cylinder Lister diesel standby generator.
Classes for the Amateur Operators Certificate of proficiency were run by the Darwin Community College at the bunker and equipment was purchased by the college to set up the first club station, the equipment included a Yaesu FT101E HF transceiver with a Yaesu 6 Meter transverter and an Icom IC22 2 meter FM transceiver.
In late 1977 the College ceased classes at the bunker and the equipment had to be returned. In February 1978 the Civil Defence Bunker was handed back to Emergency Services and the facility was upgraded for their use. The club then met for a time at Casuarina High School before moving to an old WWII building on the East Point reserve in 1979.
Numerous working bees made the building habitable, but security was a major issue with constant vandalism due to the remote location. Beacons were housed in an adjacent building with antennas on a 30 foot freestanding mast mounted to the concrete roof. A 20 Meter beam antenna was also erected at the site on a 2 section guyed Hills winch up mast. This location was officially opened By the Hon Nick Dondas, the speech being broadcast on 20 m and monitored in Adelaide by the WIA. Adjacent to the East Point reserve the Darwin Model Aircraft association has their club facility so operation on 10 metres was an issue with interference from our transmissions causing loss of control of model aircraft.
After being asked by the government to vacate the east point facility, the club met for a short period in the Hibiscus Tavern at Leanyer. This wasn’t altogether suitable and in 1983 the club was granted the use of a large room in the Fannie Bay Sports House facility. The Club was alerted to the availability of this by the wife of Terry, VK8TA. This facility was previously a Department of Health stores building and came with its own air conditioning unit. Several working bees were conducted to repaint the interior and erect the tower and antennas. Much of the station work was done by Frank, VK8FT and later, other members.
The club remained in this location for 30 years. This long term home allowed members to accumulate a very large quantity of equipment and general ham radio junk much of which was disposed of at club auctions by the “official” auctioneer, Spud, VK8ZWM. The remainder of this treasured junk became a huge issue when the club was asked to vacate the facility as the building was to be demolished to make way for an affordable housing development. Sports House was demolished in 2014.
The Darwin Amateur Radio Club was again looking for a new home. The Club has again had good fortune with the Knucky Lagoons Recreation Reserve offering us the use of a shared community facility. We are indebted to the Litchfield Club station. The Club shares this home with other community groups such as the Scout Association and the Darwin Gem Club.
Club Activities
Almost since its inception, the Club members have provided the manpower and expertise for the Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network (WICEN) first raised after Cyclone Tracey by Doug, VK8JD and continued on by Trevor, VK8CO.
In the late 1970s, 2 m SSB became a little popular with the IC202 being common. It never seemed to catch on too much.
Fox Hunts were regularly held on 2 m FM and some ingenuity was shown building portable beams. Some quite dastardly hiding place were devised always providing a challenge. The starting point was always the water pipe at Yarrawonga, now long gone. Often the hunt concluded with a BBQ. There was always some sort of “prize” and one year, an ham radio supplier donated a Yaesu 2 m hand held. This caused some serious participation as in those days, handhelds were expensive. It was won by Rob, VK8KRM and John, VK8NJM.
Repeaters where then considered as all 2 m communications both fixed and mobile, was done on simplex. Many inventive mobile antennas were seen around early Darwin. The first repeater, VK8RDA was built with much of the work done by a small group including VK8ZWM, VK8FT, VK8CO with several others contributing. It initially consisted of an FM-828 with 6 cavity filters. The controller was fairly basic and eventually Rob, VK8KRM designed and built a more modern one. It then became an ongoing challenge to find a suitable location for it. For many years it was co-located with NAVCOM (Bob Stroud) on a building in the CBD (Marrakai Apartments I think). This worked well until the residents became annoyed at all the RF getting onto their TV sets and the Body Corporate kicked most installations off.
Barry Burns, VK8DI, at the time worked for PAWA and got us permission to use the new Palmerston water tower. Eventually we got access to several other towers and the number of repeaters increased. Those locations had a sad end when cost recovery and liability became an issue.
The Beer Can Regatta
The Club/WICEN became involved with the Regatta by providing communications on the beach. This was financially good and boosted the coffers handsomely. In the early days (1977) there wasn’t too many portable handhelds on the market so we contributed greatly. There was even one year that WICEN actually ran the Regatta…!!! A scary task. Spud was most times the spruiker on the beach for events.
Mindil Markets
As the markets grew in popularity in 1980 and 1990, the car parking became quite chaotic. WICEN/DARC was asked to act as parking guides using 2 m. A roster was maintained ensuring there was adequate operators there. This also proved to be a good source of income for many years.
The Club as ACMA examiners
When it became possible for accredited examiners to conduct exams, several members were approved to conduct them. We could make up the exams based on a ACMA question data base which was then submitted for approval. Many Darwin amateurs got their licence this way. Exams were held regularly and included Theory, Regulations and CW. This continued when the Novice licence came into being. Similar exams at a lower theory level and included a practical test.
Location change 2022
In May of 2022 Darwin Amateur Radio Club vacated the Knucky Lagoon Building due to several factors. We moved our monthly meetings & club events to Darwin’s 97.7 Building on Dripstone Road. This has proven a great location and we acknowledge the support of Darwin’s 97.7
New Home for VK8RTE - 2024
In September 2024 Darwin Amateur Radio Repeater 147.000 was relocated to its new home at the Charles Darwin University Building in the CBD. The Repeater now has excellent coverage of the Darwin & Rural area’s. A huge thanks goes out to CDU for their ongoing support.