Community & Business
29 November, 2024
Conversations from another world
EIGHT students from Kairi State School are now Australia’s youngest licensed amateur radio operators after they competed in the largest amateur radio contest in the world.
The Year 5 and 6 students took part in the CQ Worldwide Radio Contest and contacted a total of 31 different countries with the help and mentoring from the older amateur radio operators from the Tableland Radio and Electronics Club.
To the sound of “CQ Contest. CQ Contest. This is Victor, Kilo, Four, Kilo, Sierra, Sierra. VK4KSS”, the students belted out their identifier club name to make radio contact to countries from Alaska to Ogasawara Island.
In the 2023 competition, Kairi State School Amateur Radio Club (VK4KSS) came in at 4th in Australia and 8th in Oceana in their category. However, the competition conditions this year were more challenging due to high solar winds and geomagnetic activity.
Since the inception of Kairi’s school radio program, they have gone from strength to strength, winning the 2022 Encouragement Award in the Queensland State Finals of the Resilient Australia Award.
The school library now has a fully functioning radio in the school library.
The school acknowledged the “enthusiasm and guidance” of Tableland Radio and Electronics Club president Stuart Dunk, who installed their radio system and assessed their Foundation Licence Exams.
Countries contacted for the CQ Contest:
Alaska, Hawaii, North America, Jamaica, French Guiana, North America, Madeira Island, Mozambique, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Czech, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Oman, Arab Emirates, India, West Malaysia, Indonesia, Mongolia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, Ogasawara Island, Mariana Island and New Caledonia.
