Affiliated Clubs Presidents' Webinar Draws Strong National Participation

A Wireless Institute of Australia's Affiliated Clubs Presidents' Webinar was held on Sunday 12 July 2026, attracting a peak attendance of around 40 participants from affiliated clubs across Australia. These webinars continue to provide an important opportunity for club leaders to hear directly from the WIA Board, exchange ideas and discuss practical ways to strengthen amateur radio at the grassroots level.

The meeting covered a broad range of topics including a very positive ACMA regulatory update, significant progress on the Radio and Electronics School and WIA educational partnership, the WIA membership hardship applications, a report from the recent NZART AGM, the development of the WIA 5 MHz Land Mobile Usage policy for affiliated emergency communications and WICEN groups and the continuing expansion of support services for affiliated clubs.

There was a reminder that the WIA Grants Program also remains open, and clubs were encouraged to take advantage of the funding opportunities available.
There was an outline of the Affiliated Clubs support program with work progressing on partnering with an organisation who specialises in supporting Associations through the provision of a comprehensive resource library covering governance, constitutions, model rules, policies, finance, membership systems and ACNC compliance. The emphasis is on a practical knowledge base for clubs and this will involve the establishment of a Discord server for affiliated club executives as a way of encouraging collaboration and sharing ideas between club leadership teams and this is currently underway.

Presidents also received updates on several important WIA initiatives, including the continuing redevelopment of the VK Callbook, Distance Records and Repeater and Beacon Register, along with new dashboard capabilities. The Board acknowledged the outstanding work being undertaken by Hillary (VK2AZ) and Tim (VK2XAX) on this project. Other topics included progress on making the Foundation Licence Manual available as a PDF while continuing to offer printed copies via print-on-demand services, the release of the new WIA publicity brochures, and the incorporation of the remarkable project by VK6UU to digitise AR Magazine archives dating back to 1933 into the new WIA Website.

The next Affiliated Clubs Presidents' Webinars will be held on 20 September and 6 December, continuing the WIA's commitment to regular communication and stronger support for Australia's amateur radio clubs.

Page Last Updated: Thursday, 16 Jul 2026 at 20:29 hours by Justin Giles-clark

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